Author's Note

I wanted to thank Corona Pax for helping me with the last few chapters, especially this one. This part of the story wouldn't be nearly as good or interesting without her help.

Other than that, all I've got to say is enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 65

Night 2 Take 3

The evening before the second night the inhabitants of the building were waiting for Ruby to arrive. The same fear they'd felt the night before was building again as they wondered what would happen during this shift.

The unexpected guest didn't help matters.

"I see the company still has no sense of design. Place still looks like crap."

Heads turned in shock towards the new voice that broke through their anxious thoughts.

There was a quiet gasp and the ghosts who'd been bugging Hedy much to the bots' discomfort suddenly disappeared.

Hedy herself froze, her hands hovering over the wiring in one of Mangle's legs.

She didn't look up at the voice, already knowing who it was, long past memories of that voice just as clear as the present. Instead her eyes darted to Jeremy across the table from her. He was stiff, looking up from the tablet she let him borrow with equal parts curiosity and rage. She felt Mangle gently grab her wrist, the bot trembling just slightly but still wanting to comfort her friend.

The Originals and Toys both wore similar expressions of shock, though the Toys looked more fearful. The Originals leaned more towards anger.

Goldy was nowhere to be found, having sensed him moments before he walked in. Apparently, she had better senses than the children.

Springtrap grinned at them from the doorway, pleased his entrance had garnered such a strong reaction. He whistled. "You're all still functioning! I'm impressed. Though looking at me, I really shouldn't be." His red eyes scanned the room with an unconcerned ease. "Got to love this supernatural building right?"

"Leave." Freddy shook off his shock and stood abruptly, his voice deeper than normal. It gave the humans there chills and Jeremy remembered why he didn't like them. "You can't be here. That wasn't part of the deal."

"Freddy!" the rabbit greeted as if the bear was an old friend, still grinning in amusement, not at all threatened by the robot staring him down. "Looking good. Your suit's not faded at all! Did you dye your fur or is that blood? Dried blood leaves a nice brown color don't you think?"

"Leave." Freddy growled again. Foxy had stood up as well now to back the bear. His shock had given way to fury but he stayed in place and settled for glaring at the yellow rabbit.

Springtrap's grin took on a more sinister appearance. "Make me, you hunk of junk," he growled, his wide smile belying the threatening tone as his eyes drifted to the fuming fox.

Freddy glared at him for several seconds before the rabbit abruptly laughed making a few of them cringe.

"That girlie's deal says as long as I don't have my fun with any of you, I can basically go wherever I want. I just can't kill her here and she can't use this area to hide." He smirked knowingly. "And you can't do anything about that. So!" he clapped his hands and rubbed them together excitedly. "Are you going to introduce yourselves? I see new faces." His eyes drifted to the two humans in the room, who previously thought he hadn't even noticed them.

Jeremy and Hedy remained silent, even as Mangle hissed and the other Toys shifted.

Springtrap noticed. "Ooh, protective of a couple adults are we?" He eyed Puppet's box knowingly, though the slender old robot didn't show himself.

Strangely enough, the killer didn't call the oldest robot out although he did look very smug about something.

Toby tried to retort, "Y-you leave H-...them alone." He winced as the threat fell flat and Teddy glared at him. BB was hiding behind him, whimpering softly.

Springtrap scoffed. "Pathetic. Though I am curious. Why would you care-" He cut off his words as he actually looked at the man and young woman.

Jeremy's expression stayed the same as that inhuman piece of filth studied his face.

Springtrap's red eyes went up and down, taking in the man's appearance carefully. He didn't even look at Hedy.

After a long pause he made a strange noise, and it took them a second to realize he was snickering.

"Jeremy?" he cracked up, shocking them all once again, "Jeremy Fitzgerald?! What dragged you back into this hell hole!?" Springtrap howled in laughter. "I thought you died!" he brushed past Freddy to stand in front of the humans to get a better look, ignoring the bots that stood up as he got too close.

Mangle was still sitting on the table and growled at him as he studied Jeremy like she wasn't inches away from him.

Jeremy's face darkened. Part of him was horrified at the familiar tone the rabbit was using. "Do I know you?"

Springtrap laughed harder and didn't answer. "You were planning to go into the military after school weren't you? How'd that work out? Wait, wait, don't tell me," he waved his hands in a backtrack fashion. "Did you flunk out? Did you get a background check and they decided you were too crazy to keep around? I bet 'robots tried to kill me' was a hard sell."

Jeremy stared, clearly disturbed that the murderer knew so much about him. He racked his brain, trying to think of who would know all that. But Springtrap's next words made him pause.

"How's your little sister?" Springtrap asked, his gleeful tone twisting as his fake joking smile turned genuine with eagerness.

Everyone else stiffened and tried not to give Hedy away with their glances. The Originals glanced at each other and the clock. He'd timed it perfectly. Ruby wouldn't be there for quite a while still. Hedy had been coming earlier to get in extra repair sessions on Mangle.

"Poor kid, after everything that happened," he said with a mocking undertone. "I heard she got hit by a car. Never learned if she survived though. Did she? I hope she did." He paused as if disappointed, "It would be really annoying if a stupid car took that away from me." He shrugged, "Little brat probably stepped out into traffic on purpose. Wouldn't blame her."

"You bastard..." Jeremy snarled, surging to his feet.

Frankly, the animatronics couldn't even find themselves bothered by the swearing for once.

"Oooh, finally some reaction," Springtrap said. "I was starting to think you didn't care about her any more. I mean, you didn't seem to before. How many times did she try to get you to help her find the 'secret playroom'?"

Jeremy seethed, glaring daggers. Abruptly, he grabbed one of Hedy's wrenches that was sitting on the table.

"Jeremy-!" Hedy and a few of the bots, notably Freddy and Mangle through a static screech, tried to warn him.

He really did try to strike the guy but a tremor shook the building, making them all stumble. Jeremy tripped and went down, falling over the table and on one of Mangle's legs as his strike swung wide and the wrench flew through the air. Mags' metal knee knocked the breath out of him, leaving him gasping.

Hedy jerked her head to the side, the wrench swishing by her ear where her head was a moment ago and clattering across the linoleum floor.

Mags squeaked in fear and stopped glaring at Springtrap to check Hedy's brother worriedly.

"Idiot," Puppets muffled voice drifted from his enclosed box.

"Ah ah. Careful, Jeremy," Springtrap singsonged, "I don't think the building cares if you hurt Wiggy. Accident or not." Sickening "concern" coloring his amusement at the building protecting him.

"Hello Hedwig," he said, turning his head and greeting the girl, revealing he knew it was her the whole time.

Hedy glanced up at him silently over her brother's frazzled body as he lay draped over the table between her and her demon, trying to catch his breath.

Springtrap leaned in and over Jeremy as the man struggled to get up without slipping off the table. "It is you!" He brightened at her reaction. "I wasn't sure if I heard right when the night guard mentioned a 'Hedy' working as the resident mechanic."

He tilted his head, almost friendly-like. "Long time no see kiddo. Damn, you really grew up."

They all bristled.

Creep.

Freddy watched carefully, his eyes darting to Hedy.

Jeremy shoved the murderer away with his shoulder as he finally stood back up, the brushing action not counting as an attack to the building. "Stay back," he coughed, still a little breathless.

Springtrap's red eyelights flashed to Hedy's legs and her chair, ignoring Jeremy. "The wheelchair's new. I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away for long." He leaned a little closer smiling as his voice dipped lower. He laughed. "Guess you were smart enough not to come back as a night guard, like your stupid uncle. Damn that would have been awkward. And a pathetically short run."

Hedy narrowed her eyes.

Suddenly, Springtrap's eyes shifted to a spot just behind Hedy's chair.

Hedy followed his gaze and looked to her side, jumping slightly at the icy feeling at her elbow.

One of the kids hadn't left. He half hid behind Hedy's chair, his faint, translucent form only noticeable when he moved just slightly. He was glaring at Sprintrap in a mix of dry rage and fear, the emotions apparently distracting him from staying entirely invisible.

The Originals stiffened, Bonnie in particular.

Springtrap smiled as he leaned, uncaring that he was very close to Mangle's claws. "There you are. Where have you kids been hiding, hmm? It's not like there's many places to go."

"Which one are you..." Springtrap mused, mostly to himself. "I didn't always bother with names. Faces though..." he started. "Oh right, you're the one that cried for your mommy."

For the first time in more than a decade, the Originals saw a flash of terror and sorrow on a ghost's face, the mask of anger dropping for the shortest of moments.

A light flickered above them, whining as it got brighter and making the others worry it was going to shatter.

Springtrap didn't glance up at the thing, though he definitely noticed. His smile twitched.

Hedy's eyes stared at the murderer in cold hatred, but she didn't sneer or frown, the rest of her face carefully blank.

The kid beside her seemed almost human. But the moment was gone as soon as it came and his face twisted into a murderous glare.

The light dimmed, still flickering slightly.

"Or are you the one that tried to bite me? That was hilarious."

"Benji, don't respond," Hedy said coldly as she noticed the light settle, without looking away from the decrepit animatronic.

"She speaks! Tell me Wiggy, was it Phone Guy that convinced you or did you decide to follow in your old man's footsteps for this job?"

Springtrap noticed some of the bots look at Hedy with surprise, notably Bonnie, whose face was one of horror and bad memories. "What's the matter Bon-Bon? Didn't you know their old man was the one responsible for that great facelift of yours?"

Bonnie shrank back as Toby winced, half expecting Ruby to come flying through the door with her bat, despite the fact that it wasn't him bringing up Bonnie's face this time. He hadn't even done that in a while. Enough dents reminding him not too.

Foxy made a strange clicking noise as his endoteeth snapped closed without his main face moving. It was similar to a human grinding their teeth.

Chica shot Springtrap a withering glare and took Bonnie's arm.

Springtrap looked up at a metallic rattling sound, noticing how the other robots in the room were standing closer, staring at him angrily. The rattle came from the pink and white fox.

"Well," he said with a dark chuckle. "Better get ready for tonight. I hope you all haven't got too used to how nice things are with that girlie around."

Jeremy seethed but no one said anything until the footsteps had long since faded away.

Godly appeared, looking like she had been crying again, but no one called her out on it. They were all disturbed to see Spring…like that.

"He was way too focused on you, Hedy," Jeremy muttered while Freddy nodded in agreement.

They all ignored the ghost, not sure how to react to him. Foxy had moved to stand next to Bonnie again and was talking quietly to him.

Benji watched them all silently, not moving from his spot next to Hedy.

"He basically ignored us," Toby mentioned.

Chi glared at him. "Don't tell me you're jealous. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Why would I be jealous?!" Toby snapped, insulted that Chi was saying he wanted attention from that evil jerk.

"He was testing us," Hedy said. "Looking for what buttons he can push. What he can torture us with without breaking the rules." She turned back around and gestured for Mangle to get off the table.

"You okay?" Mangle signed.

"I will be when six hits." Hedy glanced at "Benji", "Why'd you stay?"

The room tensed, mostly because of the Originals. None of the ghost children had broken off from the main group before.

The ghost was silent, mildly surprised she was even speaking to him. "I don't know," he said eventually, shrugging.

No one said anything in response.

"You should go to the others," Hedy finally said.

"Benji" looked toward the door to the hallways for a couple seconds, as if listening for something. Abruptly he sneered and shook his little head. "Nah. Ginny's mad I stayed. She's just going to complain all night."

Jeremy stared. "...Where'd they go?" he said hesitantly. It didn't feel like talking to a kid. He remembered Benji as a really funny little boy. Shy. Smart. Stuck to Fredrick and Hedy like glue in particular while Felix always dragged him into trouble. This ghost felt more like an angry echo, a mere shadow.

The kid glared at Jeremy hatefully and didn't answer.

Hedy snapped her fingers to get his attention. "Benjamin."

The ghost glanced at her. "Fred's hiding in the generator. Cheryl and Ginny are staying in some heads in the parts room. Felix's in the lights." He shot a cold glare at the ceiling. "You were a lot of help."

A different set of lights flickered, almost indignantly, in response.

Hedy looked at him silently for what felt like a minute. "Don't mess with anyone, don't be a jerk to the bots, and don't mention killing Ruby or any other night guard a single time and you can stay and watch cartoons on my computer."

Bonnie whimpered and the bots shared a worried glance. Foxy glared venomously at her.

Benji looked like he was about to argue and dismiss Hedy but she interrupted.

"More Scooby-doo episodes have come out in the past fifteen years," she said.

The mean comments died on his incorporeal tongue and for once he looked conflicted. Hedy didn't wait for an answer and quickly set up a spot in the furthest corner of the room away from the bots as they quietly watched, Foxy switching between glaring at Hedy and watching Bonnie carefully.

Benji hesitated before he followed curiously.

"I'm serious," Hedy said to the ghost kid sternly as everything was set up, "You even mention the word 'nightguard' once, then I'm getting the salt. Understand?"

"I don't need to do anything you say. You can't boss me around."

"Uh huh...Why's that?"

"We don't..." he trailed off, not actually having an answer and Hedy knew it. He glared at her. "I'm three months older than you!"

Hedy blinked at him, "You've gotten yourselves mixed up, Benji. You're a year younger than me. Felix is three months older."

He seemed taken aback.

"Ha!"

The lights flickered sharply, making Freddy think they were going to shatter, and the ghost that used to possess Foxy suddenly appeared next to Hedy and the other ghost. "I told you so."

Benji glared at him. "Shut up."

Felix grinned maliciously. "Make me."

"Both of you stop it," Hedy ordered. "You both can stay, along with any of the others, if you don't harass anyone. Clear?"

"What if the nightguard's annoying?" Benji asked mockingly.

"She's the measure. If you do something to anger her, I'm not going to stop her from driving you out. She's got enough to deal with at the moment without you being difficult."

"What if we do follow your rules?"

"Then you stay and I'll explain to Ruby. Then she can be mad at me all she wants."

"Are we making a deal?" Felix asked, a grin spreading on his face as he cocked his head.

"I'm not resorting to a deal," Hedy said warningly.

"Whatcha gonna do to make us listen then? We don't have to!"

"No you don't. But I'm hoping you actually still care what I think, if we're really friends."

The two boys actually looked surprised.

"Of course we're friends," Benji said, surprising all of the bots.

"Then act like it," Hedy whispered harshly.

"Aw, you're not still mad about Mr. Scott are you?" Felix rolled his eyes.

The Toys glanced at each other nervously. Teddy shot a cautious glance at the already uncomfortably Originals.

Hedy glared at the ghost. "Get out."

"What?"

"What did I just say? What were the rules?" Hedy snapped.

"I didn't talk about killing him!" Felix said indignantly. "I was just asking!"

"Out!"

To everyone's utter surprise, Felix didn't keep arguing or petulantly refuse to leave. He glared at Hedy and disappeared.

Benji didn't look like he cared too much, though he did stare at the spot where Felix was a moment ago for several seconds.

"He better actually be gone," Hedy warned.

Benji shrugged and nodded. "I want to watch Scooby-doo now."

Hedy wordlessly got the video playing and rolled away when the ghost was situated, staring at the screen in intense concentration and, dare she say it, interest.

"What are you doing, mechanic?!" Foxy snarled under his breath, a hiss much like Mangle's in his throat.

Hedy was quiet for a long time as she got to the group. She glanced back, making sure the ghost wasn't listening.

Her eyes flashed to Foxy. "He's scared," she said it quietly.

They were quiet for a really long time.

"He's...he's the one who..." Bonnie vaguely pointed at himself and his head, unable to make words form at the moment. He still didn't make eye contact with Hedy.

Hedy nodded quickly, apologetically. "I know. I-I I don't know!" she blurted in exasperation. "I'm making this up as I go okay?"

"Making what up?" Freddy murmured, watching Foxy warily. The fox was easier to work up with all this stress over Ruby.

"Those brats..." Foxy seethed. "Mechanic ye don't even-!"

Jeremy stiffened at the malice in Foxy's voice, scooting a little closer to his sister.

"What Foxy is trying to say," Freddy interrupted, "Is that we understand you want to help them. You...you have that right. You were there. You were friends."

Hedy frowned at him, wondering if the Originals had discussed her, ghosts, and murderer in private. Probably.

"But they aren't..." Freddy paused, "Hedy, they're not children. Not anymore. We can't even see them that way."

"And we're made to recognize and be friends with kids," Chica added.

"Yes, that," Freddy nodded, "But we can't even do that anymore with them. Haven't for a very long time ever since they made us..." He trailed off.

"Kill people," Hedy said bluntly.

Oof. The Originals flinched and the Toys wanted to take a step backward.

"My point is, we never wanted to hurt anyone, the Toys were manipulated because they didn't know better,.."

Teddy opened his mouth to argue but froze and backtracked, stepping on Toby's foot when it looked like the rabbit was about to say something stupid. Again.

"But the children, and Puppet really..."

"They don't deserve yer pity!" Foxy snapped at Hedy, his pirate accent growing thicker as he got more worked up.

Mangle glared as Foxy stepped closer to yell at her friend. He didn't look like he wanted to hurt her though, his eyes were lit with frustration and betrayal behind the anger and it was pretty easy to tell he was angry with the situation more than with Hedy.

"...Probably, not," Hedy admitted softly, glancing at Benji, who glanced up at Foxy's yell but merely grinned and looked down again.

He could guess what they were talking about.

Hedy was quiet for a long time. She shook her head.

"Look, I know you're upset. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I understand how souls and ghosts work or anything like that. But to me they seemed like only a bundle of pain and misery and anger completely disconnected from their humanity. Just..." she sighed, and looked up questioningly. "It might be a loss, but they are my friends. Let me try to get through to them," she begged.

"It's not going to work," Bonnie said softly, fearfully.

"I have to try."

Freddy stared at her for a moment. Suddenly he grunted. "Ruby's going to be mad."

"Mad about what?" Ruby's super happy voice chirped. But her scary expression sent Toby running at first glance even though it wasn't directed at him.

"Ah frick," Hedy muttered, while Chi squealed in fright, still on edge since Springtrap left.

Ruby glared and dropped her bag off into a chair, glancing at the clock. "You actually got here before me!" Her eyes darted to the ghost in the back, too engrossed in his cartoon to even notice her for once.

Her expression darkened immediately and she looked ready to explode.

It took Hedy almost until their shift started to convince Ruby to ignore the ghost "at least for tonight"

"That brat messes with ANY of my bots Hedy, and there'll be hell to pay." She hissed at the mechanic a few minutes before she had to be in Fazbear's Fright.

Hedy nodded, still keeping a hold of the salt that Ruby had produced from nowhere. The nightguard glared at her again before telling the Originals that she'd see them after her shift.

She grumbled about ghosts all the way to the second office.

Ruby had just sat down and picked up the tablet when the chimes went off and the phone rang.

"Uh, hello hello!" the familiar greeting echoed in the room.

"Hello Steve! Your niece is annoyingly nice to those stupid ghost brats."

"Uh, for today's lesson we will be continuing our training on proper suit handling technique."

"Sounds fun." She started checking the cameras, looking for Springtrap.

"When using an animatronic as a suit, please ensure that the animatronic parts are tightly compressed and fastened by the springlocks located around the inside of the suit. It may take a few moments, to position your head and torso between these parts in a manner where you can move and speak. Try not to nudge or press against any of the springlocks inside the suit. Do not touch the springlocks at any time. Do not breathe on the springlocks, as moisture may loosen them, and cause them to break loose. In the case that the springlocks come loose while you are wearing the suit, please try to maneuver away from populated areas before bleeding out, as not to ruin the customer experience."

Ruby snorted. "Seriously? Steve…just…seriously?"

"As always if there is ever an emergency, please note there's a designated safe room. Every location is built with one extra room that is not included in the digital map layout programmed in the animatronics or security systems. This room is hidden to customers, invisible to animatronics, and is always off-camera."

Ruby looked up in interest. "Invisible to the bots? I wonder if they built one here…They better not have. This is their home."

"As always, remember to smile. You are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

"Yeah yeah, positivity and all that. You Steve, are forever the optimist." Ruby sighed as she found the creepy killer on the tablet. "Well, time to get to work. I've got a lot of irritation to work off now. Stupid ghost brats…bothering my bots…Hey, I wonder if Hedy inherited your optimism?"