I woke up, seeing nothing but pitch black.

To my left, a pair of eyes let out a soft glow that cut through the darkness. Freddy was watching me carefully as I sat there. "Hey…" I said weakly, pulling my head up dizzily as I was still exhausted. "I'm sorry about slashing you open there… It's just…" I tried to add, grunting a little as I pulled my leg up to my chest. "I know it's hard on you," I heard Freddy say, leaning forward and patting me on the shoulder with a sigh, soon leaning against the wall once more. "Yeah… She had just made me think about it so much… I couldn't control myself," I admitted, looking down and feeling a chill run up my spine as I thought about what I had done. "Bonnie had said she asked you to help her practice last night," Freddy told me, causing me to look over at him. "Last night? What time is it," I asked as he chuckled slightly before responding. "It's a little after 9 PM," Freddy replied as I leaned my head back with a groan. "I want to know what happened yesterday," Freddy added. "She told you, didn't she," I asked him. "She did, but I want to hear it from your point-of-view," He told me.

"Well, we had gone to the second floor for a little bit. She had asked me about the picture, and grabbed at my arm…" I told him with a sigh as the memory ran through my mind once again, causing me to grunt slightly. "Reminded you of the incident," Freddy asked as I looked over at him. "Yeah," I admitted regretfully, looking down at the floor again, feeling my stomach churn from the guilt running through me.

"You should go apologize to her," Freddy told me, catching my attention as he stood up. "Oh, and sorry about the shirt," He added, causing me to look down seeing that he had accidentally ripped my shirt apart, leaving mere fragments around my arms and neck area. "Freddy, what the hell," I asked, rolling my eyes as he chuckled and left the room. I groaned as I got to my feet, stumbling around the room while I tried to walk to the door through the darkness, bumping into a shelf in the process.

I managed to stagger out the room, into the hallway that led to the arcade room and the next hallway. I rubbed my hand on my tan shorts and looked down seeing a black stain where I touched it. "Shit," I mumbled to myself as I walked down the hallway towards the bathroom and walked in, making my way towards the sink before washing my hands and forearms in an attempt to wash the synthetic blood out my fur. The water turned black as it dripped from my hands, draining out into the sink. The fur on my hands went from a dark crimson to a bright red color as I turned the water off and grabbed some paper towels, drying my hands. I looked into the mirror seeing the slivers of cloth around my neck and arms, causing me to rip them off and throw them into the trash since they no longer covered my torso.

I turned around, walking out the room into the hallway as I heard laughter from the main room. Curiosity piqued and I walked down the hall, heading towards the main room to see what they were laughing about. As I walked out from behind the wall, I saw Toy Bonnie and Bonnie on the stage, Bonnie seeing me as soon as I stepped out. "Foxy, why don't you have a shirt," The purple rabbit questioned me with a chuckle as someone else wolf-whistled from the upper levels. "They got torn up, remember," I asked him as I turned over to the first level seeing everyone sitting down except for Mangle with Bonnie and Toy Bonnie who were on stage.

"Where's Mangle at," I asked them. "What do you need to see her for," Toy Freddy questioned with a sense of attitude as he gave me a dirty glare, seemingly trying to intimidate me, which wasn't really working considering he could be classed as a dwarf when compared with me. I stared him down with a flat look before Toy Chica elbowed him in the side and he finally backed down. "She's in her room down the hall to the right there," She replied, pointing to the hall behind me. "Thanks," I told her as I went to turn around before stopping and looking back over to light brown bear. "Also, no need to get so defensive, chubs," I said with a smirk, soon walking down the hall towards the large room behind the three levels, hearing the others laughing at my comment.

I got to the room and looked around. Chairs were scattered around the room, facing a stage that sat in the far right corner, and a door to the left of it. A large box that had was decorated to look like a treasure chest sat in the corner to the left of me as I walked through towards the door. Soon enough, I made my way to the door and knocked on it, waiting for a few seconds before I heard the door open. I looked down soon turning away abruptly as the vixen was entirely exposed. I heard the door slam quickly as she gasped, most likely just realizing that she wasn't clothed, but the image of her was burned into my mind for the foreseeable future.

'Not that I don't mind, but still.'

After a few minutes of waiting she pulled the door open once again, this time wearing the white T-shirt and black sweatpants from yesterday. "What is it," She asked with a flustered face as she leaned against the door frame. "Well, I wanted to apologize for yesterday, and now," I replied as I rubbed the back of my neck. "Maybe we could go to the arcade, like you wanted yesterday to talk?" "I could do that," She told me as she stepped out the room, closing the door behind her.

We began walking out the room as I looked at her shoulder seeing the stain on it. "Once again, I'm... sorry about that," I told her, pointing at the stain as she turned over to me with a smile as her eyes seemed to unwillingly glance down at my torso for a few brief moments. "I guess it was an eye-for-an-eye," She replied with a giggle as I looked down at the floor with a slight smile. "I feel like I got the worse end of the stick," I replied, looking back up at her as we got to the entrance of the arcade. "What if I was to say this was my favorite shirt," She asked with a grin as we stopped for a few seconds. "What if the shirt I had was my favorite," I replied as she stared at me for a few seconds, seemingly thinking. "I guess we're even then," She smirked, walking into the large arcade room that had four skeeball lanes in the far-right corner with several more arcade machines to the right, lining the wall. A pillar stood right in the entrance, with some machines surrounding it that I couldn't tell were for. In the middle of the room, two air-hockey tables were sat side-by-side in front of a prize counter, to the left of the tables were two rows of arcade machines with several more machines lining the walls around it.

"This is… Large," I said as I followed her into the room, soon seeing her find a stool to sit on beside the counter. "Yeah, did you ever have something like this at your old location," She asked as she turned around facing me from the counter, while I got beside her at the counter. "We had a few machines… But they didn't really work and were more decoration than anything," I replied as I leaned my back against the counter, facing the rest of the room. "Would you mind sharing any stories from when you performed," She asked, happily leaning towards me against the counter, and resting her jaw in her palm. I thought for a few minutes before responding, "I… I would rather not... not right now, at least" "Oh…" She replied in a disappointed tone as she sat up again, examining the room around us as I stared at her.

"Well… What if you were to give me advice like I had asked yesterday," She asked as she turned her head back towards me, still seeming on edge. "Alright," I replied, causing the vixen to smile as she continued looking at me. "Thank you," She said as she slid off the stool, landing on her feet before starting to walk towards the other side of the room. "Where are you going," I asked her as she walked past the air hockey tables, soon turning back around towards me. "We can't be in here all day," She replied with a smile as I started walking towards her. "Why not? Isn't like there's much to do anyway," I told her, stopping in front of her.

"I thought that we could probably sit on one of the upper levels with the others and talk for a little bit," She said as she turned around and began walking towards the other end of the room, passing the several arcade machines. I followed the vixen to the exit that was placed right in front of the end of the hallway and beside the entrance to the building. I traced my eyes over her figure as I followed her through the building. She just seemed... appealing, in a way. Like she was someone that I would want to be around. The others were all sitting on the first level, filling the table they all were sitting at.

"Remember that time when we were performing and Foxy fell through the stage," Bonnie asked with a chuckle as we walked into the room. "Remember that time that you tripped into the table and nearly ruined a kid's birthday party," I asked him as he looked over, with Freddy bursting out in laughter at my comment. "I thought we weren't going to talk about that," Bonnie said as I walked up the ramp behind the vixen. "No, that was funny," Freddy said in between laughs as I leaned against the rail looking at them. "Maybe you can tell me some stories of yours since he won't," Mangle said, pointing a thumb in my direction as she leaned on the other rail. Bonnie looked at me for a second as I mouthed "no" to him before looking back at the vixen. "Nah," Bonnie replied as she looked over at me disappointed expression. "Really," She asked with a groan as I huffed with a grin, bumping my fist over my mechanical heart a couple of times.

"My question is; how the heck did you fall through the stage," Toy Bonnie asked me as I crossed my arms. "We had just set up the pirate ship I had, and we had to take apart the stage to reinforce the joists. Well, to my surprise, we didn't bolt down a few when we had fixed everything up. So, we went a few days without realizing the mishap, then one day as I'm performing, I hop off the ship and fell right through the stage. Let's just say I didn't have a good day," I told him as the purple rabbit beside him began chuckling. "You had a pirate ship," Mangle asked with an awestruck tone as I looked over at her. "It wasn't seaworthy or anything, just a prop" I replied as she continued staring at me while I looked back at the others.

"So, any ideas for what we can do," Freddy asked us as I started scratching the left side of my neck. "I could go for something to eat," Toy Bonnie said as a few of the others agreed with him. I continued scratching my neck, feeling an odd satisfaction as my claws dug in, slowly digging out fur and parts of the rubber as I pulled my hand up and down. After a few seconds, I felt someone rest their hand on my shoulder and I looked over seeing Mangle's hand covered in some of the synthetic blood as she pulled my hand away from my neck which was also covered in the black liquid.

"Ah, shit," I mumbled as I turned towards her, holding my neck. "Are... are you okay," She asked, seemingly not knowing how to react as the liquid trickled down the front of my torso. "Yeah, is there somewhere I can clean up quickly," I asked her as she pulled me up to the second floor and dragged me to the left, heading down the little walkway which had a rail overseeing the main room to the left. The others thankfully paying zero attention as she pulled me into a medium-sized room that had two couches, one against the wall and a second jutting out from the side of it, separating the room in two halves. "Sit there," She told me, pointing at one of the couches as she walked into a room to the right.

I walked to the couch that separated the room and sat down on the end, looking around and seeing a table in the corner in front of me which had several chairs around it. To the left of me, several pictures lined the wall, except they weren't hung and were simply laid against the base of the wall. Other than that, the room was pretty barren aside from the rug underneath my feet and a chair that sat in front of me facing the two couches. "Okay, I got something," The vixen said as she walked beside me and sat down to my left with a wet rag. "How did you do this without realizing?" "When you've seen what I have, this doesn't affect you," I told her with a slight chuckle to how she was freaking out, but she looked at me confused. "What do you mean," She asked as she rubbed the side of my neck with the cloth.

I thought for a minute as I felt the cloth drag across the wound, wondering if I should tell her about the incident. "The picture I have…" I said before stopping. "You know what, it's a story for another time." She looked at me with a disappointed expression as I said that. "I would like to hear some of your stories sometime," She said softly as she pulled the rag away and groaned. "What's wrong," I asked as I looked at her seeing it completely covered in the liquid. "Come on, I need to grab another rag," She said, pulling me with her as she walked over to the doorway. "Jeez, you could just let me follow," I told her as we walked into the room seeing that it was covered in tile with two doors against the back wall which both had labels for both men or women. There was a shelf filled with towels and rags beside a sink on the corner of the room, a small bench sat beside the sink.

"Sit there," She told me, pointing on the end of the bench beside the sink as she threw the stained rag into a bin. "Alright," I said as I sat beside the sink and watched her grab another rag and wet it. "Wouldn't you want to dry and wipe up the synthetic blood?" "I'm trying to make sure it doesn't soak into your fur," She replied as she finished up wiping my neck, soon looking down at the black liquid covering my chest. "Fair enough," I told her as she continued staring at my chest. "… Are you alright?" "You did all this to yourself," She said in a tone of disbelief as she wiped the liquid off, exposing several patches in my fur that shaped claw marks. "Why," She asked me as I sighed, knowing there was no way I could get out of this.

"Mangle, I… I don't know how to explain this," I began as I scooted over a little, providing enough room for her to sit down. She sat down beside me, staring into my eyes with concern as I tried to think. Thankfully, the bleeding had slowed drastically, allowing me to sit there without the liquid pouring from my neck and shoulder. "I really want to tell you what's wrong, but... I know it would probably drastically change your opinion of me," I told her with a sigh, not able to bring up the memory again. "Foxy, you can tell me," She said, resting her hand on my shoulder, careful to not stain the fur on her hand. "I'm sorry," I muttered to her with a deep sigh, shaking my head slowly as I rested my elbows against my knees. I felt her rest her head against my arm, rubbing my back as I sat on the bench, wanting to tell her what happened but not able to stomach having to remember the memory anymore. "It's alright," She told me softly, continuing to rub my back, rustling my fur as she did.

I kept staring at the white tiled floor, wishing I could tell her, but as I felt her rub my back it felt like she put me in a trance. The memory no longer seemed as bad as it originally was, it no longer ran through my mind, destroying anything in its path. Instead, it was simply... there. At the back of my mind. Granted, it still ate at my mind it was no longer destroying me, which I was incredibly thankful for. I turned my head towards her, seeing her cheek resting against the back of my shoulder with her eyes closed. "How about I tell you some stories as you patch me up," I suggested with a smile as her ears perked up. "Could you tell me about when Bonnie fell into the tables," She asked me as I sat straight up, looking at her. "I thought you'd ask about that one," I said with a slight chuckle as she stood up and grabbed some patches from the shelf with another rag which she also wet.

I told her several stories from the old location, one about when I accidentally collapsed a table just after putting it back together, another was when Bonnie and Chica tried to have a baking contest and of course, Bonnie lost with style as his cake was covered in literal pieces of carrot as he tried to make carrot cake. She had cleaned and patched up the hole in my neck soon after I finished the last story I could think of without remembering the incident. "Who knew you were so destructive," Mangle giggled as I motioned towards my neck and chest causing her to roll her eyes at me. "Well, want to head back to the main room," I asked before standing up with her. "Sure, we can sit on the third level like yesterday," She replied as she walked towards the door.

I followed her out the door, into the other room which had the couches, soon skipping it and walking out into the hall with the rail which overlooked the stage. The neon lights on the rail shined a green shimmer on my fur as I followed the vixen off the second floor. As we stepped out onto the ramp I heard everyone shouting at Bonnie. "Bonnie, what the heck man," Toy Bonnie shouted as I looked down seeing the purple rabbit had spat his drink out and spilled it on the floor. "Holy shit, is he fucking smiling," Bonnie shouted with a grin as I walked down, Freddy also freaking out as he saw me.

'Shit, am I smiling?'

"And here I thought you rarely curse," I replied to Bonnie as he tried to pick up the ice from his drink. I picked up a lone ice cube and pitched it at the purple rabbit, who managed to catch it before it could hit him in the head. "I thought you almost never smiled," Chica told me as Mangle walked into the third level, leaning against the rail as she watched us banter back-and-forth. "Just because I haven't smiled for the past couple weeks doesn't mean I never smile," I said as I followed the vixen into the third level. "More like a month," Freddy replied with a chuckle as I rolled my eyes and leaned over the rail a few feet away from Mangle. "Teach me your secrets," Bonnie pleaded from the lower level to Mangle as she giggled a bit. "It took me a month just to get him out of his cove!" I watched as she shrugged to the purple rabbit causing him to do an exaggerated groan, falling to his knees on the floor.

"Bonnie, you sound like a cat getting beat by a coat hanger," Toy Bonnie told him causing the others to chuckle, except for me and Mangle. "How in the hell do you know what that sounds like," I asked the blue rabbit with the vixen chiming in, curious as well. "It's a phrase," He replied causing me to become even more puzzled. "I've... never heard of that before," I told him as I turned around and sat down at one of the tables. "I don't know about that rabbit at times," Mangle sighed as she sat down opposite of me. "Here here," I replied, letting my accent through slightly on accident.

"I didn't know you had an accent," She said, leaning forward as she stared at me with curiosity in her eyes. "It's not something I tend to use now, but it slips at times," I told her as I laid my head back, relaxing. "Well, would you mind using it for a little bit," She asked as I looked at her. "I'd rather not… It brings up bad memories," I told her, causing her to sink in her chair a little in disappointment. "I'd wish you'd tell me what was wrong," She mumbled causing me to sigh as she was slunk in her chair. That statement made me stop and look at her. Why was she so adamant about helping me?

'I wish I would too.'

And why did I want her to help me?

"Tomorrow, I wouldn't mind helping you practice," I blurted out in an attempt to cheer her back up, knowing I'd probably regret it but still felt like I should. "Really? Thanks," She exclaimed, gaining her cheery attitude back quickly as she looked at me with a smile. "Don't mention it," I told her as I sat up, correcting my posture again. "I could go for something to eat," She said as she leaned back in her seat. "I think they have some leftovers down there," I told her as I stood up and looked over the rail at them. "Hey, are you guys going to finish that," I shouted down to them, pointing at the rest of the pizza they had on the table. "Nah, have at it," Toy Chica said as I began walking down the ramp towards them.

I walked to the table and grabbed the rest of what was left of the pizza, thanking them as I turned around and walked back up to the top level and placed the pizza on the table in front of Mangle. "Oh, wow," She said as I sat down, grabbing a slice. "Didn't expect you to simply grab a pizza from nowhere," She said with a slight giggle as she grabbed a slice herself. We ate off the pizza for a little while, soon just talking with each other about random stuff as the others opted to practice. The day-well, the night passed by quicker than we had expected, prompting us to go into our positions as workers came in to help prepare for the upcoming opening.

"Hey, you'll be practicing with me tomorrow right," Mangle asked as we walked down the hall, making our way to her cove. "Yeah, I will," I replied as she had her hand on her hip in the doorway. "Alright, thanks," She told me with a smile as she went to turn around. "How about make sure you have clothes on this time," I called to her causing her to turn around, facing me with a bright blush across her face as she hushed me, before continuing to her bedroom. I continued to the darkroom I was supposed to be in, and flopped down in the corner of the room, hidden in the darkness as I fell asleep, surprisingly peacefully.

'There's just something about her...'