Author Notes

Hope you all enjoy. :)

Chapter 33

Forgiveness

The first thing Mangle saw when she woke up was static, her processor coming online before her yellow eyes did.

Everything hurt!

It made her want to scream. She couldn't tell what exactly was hurting nor could she remember what happened as her mind slowly rebooted.

"Mags? Can you hear me?"

That was Hedy!

Why did she sound so sad though…

Did the others kill the night guard? Was that why Hedy sounded strange? It was night six after a-

Mangle's train of thought derailed as memories, very bad memories, from earlier came flooding into her mind.

Kids…children…they…

It happened again. She was …that's why everything felt wrong and she hurt all over.

Mangle sorted through what she remember from the night. There were a few missing pieces, like the memory files were corrupted but…

She remembered kids. Taking her…apart. She almost tried to keeping herself from going further but pushed on.

And Puppet came in and told them to stop. When they left, disappointed, he told her that the night guard had told the kids to do it.

The night guard…Mangle wanting to growl or hiss or something!

But she was too tired. She remembered being angry and then someone, an employee found her, and she snapped at him and he ran. Then….

Hedy came. That's right…

Hedy came and tried to calm her down along with the others but…

No! She didn't…she couldn't have. Did she? Did she try to hurt Hedy?! What was she thinking?

"Mangle, you have to wake up now." Hedy said again, almost pleadingly, which was strange coming from her.

Hedy never pleaded.

But Mangle didn't want to get up. She was too guilty. Maybe Hedy should just leave her be.

Or better yet take her apart the rest of the way.

Already halfway there, so she guessed that was a start...

Then the night guard came and the game began and the others had asked earlier if she wanted to help them now. She agreed but couldn't tell them why she wanted the guard dead since she couldn't talk, nor could she use the whiteboard anymore.

Then…she was hunting. It was…fun…

She stalked the night guard and it was funny when Ruby got the others with her pranks. That was fine though, less people in the way. Let her prey take out the competitors and then Mangle would get her all to herself.

But wait…Hedy helped the night guard… She was helping the person who hurt her! Hedy betrayed her. She wasn't her friend. She wasn't…her friend. It was a lie! Hedy was a liar.

But still… Mangle didn't really want to hurt the mechanic. So she didn't go after her, instead focusing on Ruby.

After a while Mangle got annoyed with the night guard's escapes and hated Ruby even more, then…

She almost killed her. She almost killed Ruby. She almost killed again.

No. What was she thinking?! She hadn't wanted to kill again after meeting Hedy but she was going to…But Ruby hurt her…

Mangle let out a strangled static moan that sound vaguely like a sob and opened her one eye. She kept the eye that was in her second endo-head closed.

The first thing she saw was Hedy in front of her with her glasses on and a concerned expression. Suddenly the mechanic smiled softly.

"Morning Mags." she sighed and reached out to pat Mangle on the head.

However, Mangle jerked backward in horror and slipped off the table she was on. She hit the floor with a painful clatter and cried out with a pained screech.

"Mags?!" Hedy said in worry and quickly came around the other side.

Behind her, Mangle saw Freddy grab Ruby's shoulder to keep her from following the mechanic.

"Mangle? What's wrong?" Hedy asked.

"Besides the obvious."

Mangle tried to look around for the other Toys and soon found them standing a ways away nervously.

"Shut up Toby." Hedy snapped. "Mangle. Mags. It's okay. Everything is okay."

'No! It wasn't okay!' She wanted to yell, to scream. 'I tried to kill again! Stay away!'

Somehow, it was like Hedy could read her mind.

"Mags! I'm fine! Everyone is okay. Ruby won. The game's over and you're going to okay."

'She hurt me!' Mangle wanted to say and awkwardly scooted her twisted body away from Ruby and a bit farther from Hedy. Instead she simply looked away and shut her eyes.

"Mangle." Hedy's voice was still soft but somehow serious. "This wasn't Ruby's fault. I'm not sure what Mari told you but she didn't tell those kids to hurt you."

Mangle wasn't sure if she should believe Hedy. The Puppet had never lied to them before.

Had he?

However… Mangle wanted to believe Hedy more than she wanted to believe Puppet.

It hurt though. Why would he do that?

Mags couldn't help but let out another weird sob and whimpered.

'I'm so sorry'. She wanted to cry. 'I tried to kill again! I'm sorry! You'll never forgive me for doing this again.'

"Mangle please come here?" Hedy asked.

Mangle shook both her heads fervently.

"She not mad at you Mangle." Toy Chica assured.

"I'm not. Honest." Hedy said. "And Ruby isn't either. Right?" She looked to the night guard questioningly.

Ruby actually glared at her.

"You're kidding right? I'm buddies with the 'bots who tried to kill me. We're good fox." she shrugged.

She found that bluntness was usually the best way to avoid misunderstandings.

Hedy shot Ruby a look that clearly said that she disagreed but focused on her friend.

Mangle looked down and backed away until she was against a wall.

"See Mangle? I'm serious." Hedy said. "Everything is going to be okay. No matter what happens, I'm always going to be here to fix all of you up and you're never going to stop being my friend. So quit sulking and come here." Hedy said gently though her words were still a little sharp.

Mangle didn't look at her. Instead she reached up with a few limbs and pulled herself up until she was hanging from the ceiling again.

'I'm a monster. You need to stay away from me.' She wanted to say.

This time she looked at the others pleadingly, trying to get her words across.

However, Hedy wheeled up to her until they were face to face. "Mags look at me."

Mags just flinched and contemplated making a break for the door. Maybe she could hide in Parts and Services. It was appropriate after all.

She jerked slightly as Hedy reached up and held her ear. "I saw that. Don't run away Mags. The only one blaming you is yourself. Nobody hates you and nobody got seriously hurt."

Mangle let out a rattle noise from the back of her throat. After a moment she carefully nudged Hedy's shoulder with her nose. It was embarrassing but really, the only way she could communicate at the moment was through noises and body language.

"I'm fine. Perfectly fine." Hedy answered.

Mangle nodded weakly, clearly not entirely convinced. She then looked over at Ruby.

Foxy glared at her. If she tried anything...

Mangle hesitantly approached. Crawling over Hedy, across ceiling towards Ruby.

The originals looked nervous as Mangle lowered herself until she was eye to eye with Ruby. Mangle glanced between her, the originals, and Hedy before cautiously nudging Ruby the same way, in her uninjured shoulder. She was asking if the night guard was okay. Without the haze of anger clouding her thoughts she truly regretted what had happened.

Ruby looked surprised for a moment but then she brightened.

"Aww, you're adorable you know that?" she laughed, picking the weirdest reaction as usual. "I'm good. Nothing I haven't dealt with before."

She bounced in place a bit.

"Nothing some rest can't fix."

She was pretty good at reading body language so she gathered most of what Mangle was trying to convey.

"Besides, it was a completely natural reaction. Not like you've had good experiences with night guards before, so it wouldn't take much to believe something like that."

Ruby seemed to have moved on from the whole thing already.

Mangle still looked ashamed but nodded. She turned back to Hedy who had followed.

"Feeling bet-Oof!" Hedy jerked in surprise as Mangle suddenly pressed the top her head into Hedy's stomach and chest in her own version of a hug.

Her loose metal parts rattled a bit as she sobbed, but nodded.

"Uh..okay..." Hedy looked a little confused but hugged Mangle back and patted her head.

"...Awwww..." giggled Toy Chica with a little squeal. "That's so cute!"

Mangle's second head shot up and glared at Toy Chica as Mangle bared her teeth and half-heartedly snarled, not moving from her spot.

Hedy glared at everyone over the top of Mangle's ears with a look that said 'never speak of this'.

Ruby suddenly jumped up on Foxy, determined to break the tense mood.

"Fox cuddles!" She yelled as he caught her in surprise.

The original shook their heads in amusement.

"You never stood a chance." Goldy said, floating above the Toys as Foxy freaked out about her jumping around while she was injured.

Author Notes

Puppet confrontation coming up in Wednesday's chapter.