Author's Notes

Again thanks to Corona Pax who is really helping me keep up with my chapters. This would be late otherwise. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 84

Goldy

Hedy left, heading toward Parts and Services like she said. She hadn't lied about needing something. She got what she needed but instead of heading back the way she came, she took a detour.

After a few turns that didn't make sense with what she knew as the layout of the building, she found what she was looking for.

A poster that half the time didn't exist and the other half only existed in the camera feeds.

"Goldy. Come on. I'm back," she said softly.

The image of Goldy, in much better shape than she was now, didn't move or flicker in response.

"Goldy," Hedy said, a little sterner.

The poster didn't change but Hedy felt something in the air shift, like a ripple. And suddenly she was acutely aware of Goldy behind her before she made a sound.

"Hedy." the ghost bear sniffled and the mechanic had the feeling that she was close to just disappearing again.

She had a very different presence from the ghost kids, a warmth even though she was a ghost.

Hedy turned around before Goldy even finished the word and looked up at her. She reached out and grabbed the fur of the ghost's hand.

"Goldy. I'm right here. I'm okay. See?"

The bear wouldn't look her in the eye.

"You almost died." She choked out. "And I...I could have stopped him. I knew the deal didn't apply to me. But I didn't..." She was shaking slightly. "It's my fault."

Hedy wished she had enough strength to stand up and hug the bear, pain be damned. But she was too weak at the moment. She pulled Goldy's hand closer and hugged it, resembling a small child.

"It wasn't your fault," she said, cheek against Goldy's elbow. "You couldn't have known I didn't apply either. I didn't know. Michael got lucky for just a moment. No one blames you, least of all me. And I'll say the same thing to Spring when he wakes up. I don't blame him either."

Goldy hiccuped before suddenly lunging forward and hugging her.

"If I just did something...instead of doing nothing...It just hurt so much to see Spring like that."

"I know," Hedy said, wincing from the pain in her heart that wasn't all there a moment before and the tears that pooled in her eyes. It didn't all belong to her. "I'm so sorry." She put her face into Goldy's fur and squeezed her eyes shut as she cried, some of them Goldy's tears but not all. "I'll try my best to wake him up," she spoke shakily. She wasn't sure if she could but she had to try. The thought made her cry harder and she hoped Goldy couldn't feel her emotions like Hedy could somehow suddenly feel hers.

Hedy didn't suddenly become a "ghost." She always was one, since she was little. It was bizarre noticing all these things now when she always should have.She wondered if it was just her awareness of her nature that brought all the weirdness out.

Goldy shook her head.

"As long as...That man...can't hurt him anymore..." her tone was venomous when mentioning Michael. "That's already more than I thought would happen. Don't put that pressure on yourself Hedy. I know it's bad." She closed her eyes and looked away. "I think Spring forced his springlocks to give way. To stop him..."

Hedy looked shocked at Goldy's words but only for a moment. She nodded weakly, still teary eyed. She felt sick to her stomach now. "I saw...It wasn't just a few that were loose, like if they got wet or something...accidental. They were all..." she trailed off. Did Goldy know about the body? How Hedy had to clean Spring out days ago?

Goldy squeezed her eyes shut tight.

"You know a lot more in here when you're a ghost." She whispered, putting a hand on Hedy's head and petting her a bit. "I always knew...They didn't take him out. I could sense it I guess. That's why Michael never lost his grip."

Goldy sounded so old saying that. All the bots had an "almost" ageless air to them, not adults, but not really children either (with maturity levels varying all over the place.) Like cartoon characters. But Goldy's voice bled in the way someone long resigned to the unfairness of the world did.

Hedy flinched as fear hit her gut at Goldy's choice of "you." It was a simple practical word choice but she gripped Goldy's fur tighter and she let out a shaky breath, just to prove to herself she was still alive. She had ignored it up to this point. She wasn't dead. She knew that. But everything felt so off and wrong and...cold. She threw it off with a zombie joke before but she was scared. Terrified. She was terrified of being a ghost. Terrified and confused.

"You're in my head," she said shakily with a weak laugh, still sobbing. She came here to comfort Goldy. What was she doing?

Goldy hugged her tightly again.

"You're not dead Hedy. The building just treats you like it. I'm sorry I didn't see it. You're not actually a ghost though. I promise."

Hedy nodded weakly, feeling like a defenseless little girl again. This is getting pathetic, she thought to herself, Grow up. She wiped her eyes and sniffed. The fear was still there, twisting in her stomach, but it lessened at Goldy's words.

"Will you come back, please?" Hedy said softly. "I need your help distracting Ruby. The others are too scared to at the moment."

"What happened to Ruby?" She asked in concern. "Oh, and Hedy? The ghosts can't leave without something strongly connected to the building anchoring them. You can leave anytime and don't have to come back. You're fine, not a ghost." She soothed again, trying to help ease her remaining fear.

"Goldy...Get the heck out of my head..." Hedy said with a fake scold, not really meaning it, and managed a little smile but it dropped a bit. "Jeremy accidentally mentioned how he and Amelia knew Ruby's parents. She was shocked, then sad and upset. She pushed it under the anger already."

Goldy's expression dropped. "That's not good. She doesn't like mentioning them. I can try and help. Is...Is Spring there?" She asked nervously. She wasn't sure if she was ready to see her injured friend.

Hedy shook her head. "Still in Parts and Services. I...haven't been to see him yet...I've been working on Mangle." She smiled, wondering if Goldy had been paying attention to recent announcements. "I got the parts for her voice."

"Really?!" Goldy looked thrilled for the fox. "That's great news."

She hugged Hedy again, this time just cause she could.

Hedy giggled, just as happy about Mangle. "It is."

"Want to freak out your brother?" Goldy asked, leaning back a bit.

Hedy looked at the bear oddly. After a second she looked a little ill. "Teleport?" she asked hesitantly.

Goldy nodded.

"...Sure," Hedy said then let out a grin. "Right next to him. Oh, I don't know if you know. His wife is here. I mentioned her earlier. Amelia. She doesn't know about you. She might try to hit us if we're too close. She'll definitely scream."

"Next to Jeremy but not next to his wife." Goldy nodded. "I can do that. When it's not because of the tablet I can be really precise about where I pop up."

She had a mildly evil grin that reminded Hedy of Ruby. The bear touched her shoulder and there was a second of complete disorientation before they appeared beside Jeremy who startled so badly he fell off his chair with a scream. The Toys jumped as well while the Originals barely even flinched. They were too used to Goldy after years of exposure to her.

Ruby merely glanced up at Goldy, looked at Jeremy and then cracked up. Even Puppet had to smother what sounded suspiciously like a chuckle at the reaction.

Amelia took a breath and put down one of Hedy's wrenches she had picked up during her own startled scream.

"What now!?" she said, staring at Goldy. "Who's this?!"

Jeremy glared at Hedy and Goldy as they laughed at him lying on the floor.

"It was her idea," Goldy stage whispered, pointing at Hedy with a grin.

"Wh-Hey! Lie!" Hedy protested. She squinted at Jeremy with tilted head and a grin. "But I don't disapprove." She turned to Amelia, interrupting Jeremy's attempts to tell her off. "Say hi to Goldy."

"Hi? I'm Amelia..."

"I know," Goldy chirped. "Jeremy's wife. Hedy's sister-in-law."

"Well...don't creep her out," Hedy mildly scolded.

Goldy gave a partially sheepish shrug. In truth she looked pretty pleased with herself overall.

"Goldy always knows what's going on in the building." Ruby piped up after getting her breath back. "That was good. I approve."

Hedy squashed her nausea from the teleporting and smiled wider. It was good seeing Ruby happy, even if it was a mask. They we're going to have to deal with that sometime.

"Ah..." Amelia said lamely, clearly disturbed. "Any other surprises in this insane asylum?" she joked with a weak laugh. She ran her hand down her face tiredly and groaned.

Hedy came beside her and patted her arm in sarcastic comfort, still grinning.

Jeremy, still on the floor, moaned. "One of these days... One of these days I'll get back at you..."

"Have I mentioned how much I love you?" Hedy said innocently as Goldy chuckled at Jeremy's threat.

"I'm a terrible influence." Ruby decided.

"Of course you are." Freddy answered immediately. "That's common knowledge."

She grinned up at him while Foxy sauntered over to stand by Goldy. "We should pair up to do that sometime." he commented.

That idea sounded purely horrible to Jeremy. The way the fox was looking at him also gave him the feeling that Hedy wasn't a target. This might be Foxy's revenge for upsetting Ruby...he was scary when protective.

If Jeremy admitted it, Foxy was scary all the time to him.

"Please don't," he complained, pulling himself up. "Your teeth still give me nightmares." He laughed. "Man, I'm so glad I didn't have a gun back then. My teenage nerves wouldn't have handled it well. Probably would have just made you mad."

"And left bullet holes in the pizzeria wall," Hedy pointed out, still grinning. "Not the best idea while you're a murder suspect."

"Don't know why anyone's scared of them." Ruby muttered, rolling her eyes. "They're walking plushies."

Hedy stifled a grimace and violent shudder at the word "plushy." She wouldn't dare let Ruby see.

Mangle saw Hedy's reaction out of the corner of her eye and a grin snuck up her face.

The Originals just shook their heads in amusement. This was a regular thing she said.

"You're the only employee that thinks that Ruby." Bonnie told her with a slight smile.

She huffed and crossed her arms. "They're idiots. Except Jerry. Jerry is okay. And besides, you wouldn't have been able to bring a gun in. The building doesn't like them. Just makes them disappear."

They all stared at her for a moment. "And you'd know that...how?" Freddy asked warily.

She shrugged.

"Ruby..."

"I would have shot blanks." she mumbled. "It never gave me my gun back either. Do you know how hard it is to get one?"

Jeremy suddenly seemed panicked and distracted, making a point to ignore Ruby's highly illegal and very worrying implication for just a moment. He stood and hurriedly checked himself, revealing a holster well hidden under his jacket. Empty.

"Oh, frick. Hey!" He snapped at the ceiling. "I need that for work!"

The building rumbled slightly, startling Amelia, and Jeremy glanced at Hedy who grimaced.

"Hedy. I could get fired for losing it," Jeremy scolded.

"I didn't take it," Hedy said, miffed.

"Your...half-sentient pal did! What am I suppose to tell my chief? A supernatural haunted children's restaurant stole my department issued and registered gun?"

"Hmm. Forget fired. You're going to a mental institution." Hedy wasn't sure how to feel about Jeremy accepting her connection to the building so quickly, even faster than anyone else had outwardly shown. Was this really normal to him already or was he just too done with everything to really care anymore?

"Hedwig."

"You're assuming I can do anything!" Hedy put her hands up. Suddenly she frowned and glanced up at the ceiling with a startled look, as if someone had called her from a distant hallway

Ruby of course found the entire thing funny. She was rolling around on the floor, gasping for breath.

"I vote the building makes him do something embarrassing to get it back." she suggested when her laughter died down. "Or..." a wicked grin spread across her face. "Hide and seek."

The Originals shuddered. "Oh now I feel sorry for him." Foxy muttered, giving Jeremy a pitying look.

Hedy had a far off look that worried them for a moment. She blinked at Ruby. "Oh come on, don't give it ideas-" she cut off and growled. She facepalmed. "It liked the second idea," she muttered as the building shifted again.

Jeremy looked resigned. "I'm going to have to crawl through the vents aren't I..."

"Among...other things..." Hedy said, annoyed at the presence in her head but amused at the situation. "I think it may have just moved some of Ruby's...leftover traps...around too. Nice knowing you."

Jeremy suddenly looked like he wanted to bang his head on a wall, but that would just be the building doing one more thing to him. He rubbed his eyes with a groan. "What did I ever do to you!"

"Brought a gun," Hedy said.

"Shut up."

There was also a slight hint of protectiveness that Hedy could feel. The building liked Ruby, the teen had her own bizarre relationship with the place even though she couldn't sense it like Hedy could. So the building may have been as keen to do this as it was because of Jeremy's accidental slip earlier that hit Ruby so hard.

The night guard jumped to her feet, eyes lighting up in excitement.

"I love this place." She bounced in place. "Okay so the rules of hide and seek. The whole building is the playground and it only ends at six. You must not get found. The vents in the main building are off limits since the bots can't fit. Whoever is searching can use whatever methods they want to find those hiding. So who's playing and who's it?"

"I'm out." Freddy immediately, and emphatically, said followed by Chica. "Not after last time."

"It's not fair if I play. I'll watch everyone." Goldy added.

"I'm in." Foxy grinned, eyes on Jeremy. "I want to be it."

"I'm in too." Bonnie looked excited and there was a slightly vindictive look in his eyes when he glanced at Jeremy.

Jeremy swallowed his flashbacks.

"So Foxy's it. This'll be a challenge!" Ruby was so excited she was completely missing the fact that her bot brothers were purely thinking revenge right now. "Who else is playing?" She looked at the Toys expectantly.

Mangle clapped her hands and cackled, making Hedy roll her eyes.

"I want to play," Chi said.

"Sure," Teddy said.

"Eh..." Toby looked at Foxy a little frightened. "I...think I'll skip this round..."

BB shook his head frantically.

Puppet made a strange noise a bit like the one earlier, leaning elbows on the edge of his box. "I'll...participate," he said, surprisingly.

More terror flashed in Jeremy's eyes and he moaned. "Where's that fricking music box..." he muttered under his breath.

Puppet glanced at Jeremy and glared.

"Wow. Wasn't expecting Mari," Hedy snorted, "I'll play on principle. Though you're going to find me in like...two seconds." She chuckled and glanced at the ceiling again. "Jeremy. You have to look for your gun all the while. It's hidden somewhere. If you can't find it, or you get caught, you have to try again tomorrow."

"Greeaaat," Jeremy said. He glanced at Amelia, almost pleadingly.

Amelia looked conflicted. "Why not...?" she shrugged worriedly, no idea what she was getting into. "But I'm not helping you, honey."

"Crap…"

"Oh! The extra rules!" Ruby cried out, almost forgetting. Here the Originals smirked. They knew what was coming. "So alliances are allowed."

Here Foxy and Bonnie definitely grinned evilly at Jeremy.

So many teeth…

"Also, everyone gets a weapon!"

She pulled a bag into sight and started throwing weapons at everyone including paintball guns and glitter bombs. She even tossed some over to Puppet without hesitation.

"You're not out if you get hit by something. Foxy has to actually catch you." said fox looked far too comfortable with the paintball gun in his hands. "You get caught you either go back to the main room or you join Foxy as 'it' and help him find more."

She was busy wrapping a scarf around her face for some reason, confusing the Toys.

"Can I snipe?" Goldy asked, holding up her bedazzler.

"Yup. Goldy is random and just around to make it more interesting." Ruby explained.

"Gonna be a ninja again?" Bonnie asked.

"Of course! You guys still haven't found me when I'm in ninja mode."

"Good luck." Freddy said and sat back with Chica, Toby, and BB to watch the show. "She hasn't lost a game."

"Why do I feel like sitting this one out is a good idea?" Toby whispered to himself.

"Do I get the gun if I win?" Ruby wondered.

"NO!" all the bots answered.

"It could give him motivation?" Ruby suggested.

Jeremy muttered something. "Hell no. But..." He grimaced. "I'll take you to my shooting range if you want..."

Ruby lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Deal!" the building shuddered around them as the building took it to mean a literal 'deal'.

"I'll worry about that later." Foxy muttered. "For now, don't we have a hunt to start?"

That choice of words was definitely on purpose.

Hedy actually looked reproachfully at Foxy instead of a Toy for once.

"Oh, no flashing the bots with the lights." Ruby added casually. "I'll beat you near to death if you do."

Jeremy didn't even wait for Foxy to start counting. He ran.

Hedy laughed at the speed he moved as a few others realized they probably needed the headstart too.

Foxy was smiling.

Too many teeth...