Author's Note:

Enjoy the chapter. We've been waiting to drop this one forever.

Chapter 95

Spring

"Do I want to know how your guy got this stuff?" Hedy asked as she stared at the boxes of parts that had been delivered in the dead of night by a guy in a ratty hoodie and dark jeans.

Ruby thought about it. "Probably not."

Hedy decided that she'd rather not question it and just accept that Ruby's friend came through with getting her the parts they needed.

She sat in Parts and Services with all the boxes that were dropped off, sorting the parts and labeling what she could with strips of masking tape.

"You don't need to hang around," she said to Ruby, whose smile while chatting with the shady delivery guy disappeared as soon as she laid eyes on Spring again.

Ruby shook her head slightly.

"How long do you think?"

Hedy sighed. "I don't know. I have to get started and we'll see."

"But do you have an idea?"

"I don't know," Hedy said, a little firmer.

"But can't you guess?"

"Ruby."

Ruby scowled at her and didn't apologize.

They looked up as the door opened and Puppet poked his head in. He and Ruby glared at each other for a long moment. Hedy was tempted again to tell Ruby that Puppet was the one that spotted Sally but he'd probably get all snippy if she did and she didn't' know how Ruby would react honestly. Sally was still a sensitive topic.

"Close the door, Mari," Hedy said.

"Teddy said the parts came," he said coolly, slipping in.

Hedy gestured widely at the boxes she and Ruby set beside Spring's unconscious frame.

Puppet came over and immediately picked up a motor, inspecting it, almost ignoring Spring's body. "This is the wrong kind."

Hedy glared at him. "It's just a different brand. They don't make the ones you told me about anymore."

"It's not going to work," he hissed. "The torque is too much on this. It will tear his arm off."

"How about we try first, prick," Hedy retorted. She called Puppet a prick only when she was getting upset with him but her tone was calm and her eyes didn't have any malice. She didn't seem angry.

"We can dial it back, but if I got one that had less tension, we can't make it stronger."

Puppet stared at her with a squint, glancing at Spring.

Ruby watched with furrowed eyebrows, listening to them argue.

Puppet was sounding like a mechanic. It was weird.

They eventually seemed to agree on something and Hedy steeled herself.

"Ugh..." she said as she opened up Spring's suit again.

The cleaners hadn't touched Spring on the inside like promised, but that meant the stains and smell lingered. They couldn't do anything until he was in a more stable condition.

Puppet didn't react except to take Hedy's place as she rolled back to gag and catch her breath.

Ruby shut her eyes sharply and refused to puke as the sickly rancid smell wafted toward her, released into the open air.

Hedy shuddered.

"Perhaps you should wear gloves," Puppet suggested with a deadpan tone.

Hedy shook her head. "I need my fingers to feel the small pieces. Do you think we can remove him from the suit if we tighten down some of the locks?"

Puppet frowned and didn't answer at first. He took one of Hedy's flashlights and looked inside. He hummed.

"We need to weld together this part before we can move him," he said, pointing at something with his long fingers, moving so Hedy could see. "His spine is attached to the suit. Theoretically, we can detach it. Unscrew it and cut it away from the stitching. But Spring wasn't made to be removed from his own suit like the Originals."

"Well, that's changing," Hedy muttered.

Puppet stilled. "What?"

"We're getting rid of that ridiculous suit mode. No one's ever going to use him like that again. It's disgusting. Can you imagine just...losing your own free will like that?" Hedy sounded oddly angrier than the situation called for, her voice taking on a seething tone.

She didn't really need to explain the reason for her anger though.

Ruby snarled. She hated it all too. She couldn't imagine how the whole thing felt to Spring. And Goldy.

"Losing yourself?" Mari said softer than usual as he answered Hedy. He'd never been possessed, as far as he knew, and he wasn't a wearable suit. But... not in control of your own fate was something he understood.

The girls looked at him but didn't press and he hoped neither of them mentioned this to the Originals or Goldy. They disliked him enough without feeling like he was attempting to sympathize with something he couldn't.

"Unless there's a reason for his health, we need to start locking down the spring locks, permanently," Hedy said. "After he's stable of course." She frowned a bit at Puppet. "I want to start replacing his structure with a solid endo."

"He should wake up before you try..." Puppet said, hesitant. Truthfully. He didn't know what made them alive. He was afraid it wasn't just their hard drives, especially since what he had could barely be called one. If their...souls... were bound to their endoskeletons too, well...Hedy shouldn't replace Spring's until he could respond to sensations and pain. Nearly thirty years and Puppet still avoided replacing his own pieces out of fear of losing his life to something he didn't know was attached to it. He shook himself, refusing to sound "worried." "He might...prefer...you don't."

However, Puppet seriously doubted Spring would have such a complaint.

Ruby watched from her seat on the other table as they got working. It was weird seeing Puppet like this. He let Hedy take the lead and mostly explained things and inspected the parts.

It was oddly peaceful.

It felt like an autopsy.

She didn't like it.

Time passed slowly and some bots visited them. Mostly the Originals.

"What are you doing now?" Ruby asked, for the umpteenth time.

Hedy sharply laid down her wrench and she and Puppet both glared at her.

Freddy sighed and shifted at the two's glares. "Come on Ruby..."

The teen glared at him and stubbornly refused to move even though Puppet looked like he was considering throwing the screwdriver he was holding at her.

Days later, Ruby was hovering again. She'd been doing it every spare moment she had that lined up with when Hedy, and Puppet, were working. The teen just would, not, leave.

Hedy didn't have the heart to make her go.

Everyone knew that she was anxious about the bot waking up and no matter how many times she was told that it wasn't her fault, she still clearly blamed herself for his condition.

At the moment she was sitting a table away and watching Hedy go about her work. Puppet had left ages ago after explaining everything to Hedy, he just couldn't stand the night guard being so weird.

Hedy really didn't know how much needed to be done before Spring would turn on by himself, if ever. She plugged in the hard drive ages ago after checking it over with Puppet and connected the power source, but nothing happened. She hadn't announced when she did that, deciding to be sneaky with it specifically because of the pain and disappointment that him not turning on immediately would cause the others. Her heart sank when he didn't, but she swallowed the lump in her throat and went back to soldering more circuitry and wires in the hole in his side where she cut away the suit in another place.

Spring wasn't completely fixed, probably wouldn't be for a long time, just like Mangle. But the worst of the worst was patched up and she figured he could sit up and walk if he was awake. It would be uncomfortable, but not intensely painful. His suit was still a torn rotting mess though. She was leaving that for much later, as it was cosmetic work and most of the fur and foam should be replaced anyway. Basically, he was looking much worse than he actually was currently.

Ruby had initially badgered Hedy for updates on the bot until Freddy talked to her and she backed off. Goldy visited sometimes but seeing her friend so bad off was hard on her and she didn't stay long.

No one was actually sure how much Ruby believed that he would wake up, or whether she was just stubbornly hopeful.

Tonight it was just them, the others back to their normal routines. No one had seen Michael around since he showed up to taunt Hedy and with the danger gone, they returned to what they usually did at night.

Ruby was actually quiet for once, alternating between watching Hedy and checking the tablet. Until something caught her attention that is.

"Uh, Hedy. Is something short-circuiting? His hand's twitching." She pointed out.

Hedy's head shot up to look at the hand as she jerked her soldering tool away from the circuits, thinking she really had shorted something. After a moment she took her dullest flashlight and pointed it at Spring's eyes. She had already put the mask back on the head's shell so the yellow rabbit's admittedly still freaky face stared back at her.

She caught her breath as the yellow-white bulbs flickered behind the glass eyeballs before turning on completely, illuminating the irises. The eyelids twitched and she watched as the old camera-like lenses set in the middle of the eyeballs spiraled in and out as they tried to focus.

The boot-up sequence took far longer than it should have but it was actually happening. Ruby only jumped up and darted over when the bot gave a low whine of pain. He didn't seem completely with it yet.

"Hedy, is he waking up?" she demanded, keeping her voice low.

Spring's eyes had closed but he tilted his head slightly and his ears twitched at the sound. Otherwise, he didn't move. Did he even realise Michael was gone yet?

"Yes," Hedy whispered, elated. She almost didn't believe herself. "He is. He actually is..." Suddenly, she looked worried. Oh no. How would he react? How were they going to calm him down?

"Should I get Goldy?" Ruby asked, thinking the same thing. She was watching Spring anxiously, taking in every twitch and slight movement. The Originals hadn't taken this long to wake up after their possession. He seemed to only be half-conscious, aware of being in pain but not much else.

Suddenly Ruby backed up.

"Should I leave? If he remembers anything he'd just know me as attacking him."

"I don't know," she said uselessly.

Hedy didn't know. She really didn't. "Just stay with me for a minute 'til we see how he reacts." Maybe they should get Goldy but her mechanic side told her she needed to make sure he was okay first.

"Spring?" She murmured cautiously. The name felt strange in her mouth. "My name's Hedy," she said, winging it, "I've been repairing you. Can you hear me?" She spoke a little shakily, unsure how much he remembered or if he knew who she and Ruby were. She dearly hoped he didn't, the idea of him being awake during the week making her sick.

Ruby hovered nearby and waited, just as worried and showing it for once.

Spring scrunched his eyes tight for a moment before slowly opening them. He looked more than a little dazed and Ruby winced at the clear pain they could see in them. It took a long moment but his eyes, white now instead of red, eventually focused on them and abruptly they filled with an overwhelming amount of guilt with a touch of confusion. The teen's heart sank at the idea that he did remember at least some of what happened that week.

The bot tried to jerk upright but fell back down with a cry as metal screeched and his body refused to work with him.

Hedy panicked, wincing at the noise and instinctively covered her middle in sympathy. She was still healing and tensing up or moving too fast always hurt. "No! Don't move so fast. Go slow, please. I had to keep a lot of your skeleton loose."

Confusion and guilt were still the dominant emotions in his eyes but there was a touch of fear too.

"What happened? Why..." he looked around, struggling to focus before his eyes widened abruptly at the genuine sound of his own voice. "He's not there?"

There was such fragile hope in his voice that it broke Ruby's heart and she came closer.

"No, he's gone. He can't possess you again," she told him, drawing his attention to her.

"How? Why...I hurt you...both." he looked away from them, trying to process everything that happened. "I hurt so many...I couldn't stop him."

Hedy blinked trying to get used to his mostly unfamiliar voice.

"It wasn't you," she whispered gently but firmly. "It never was you. I'm okay. We're okay. I promise..." Her voice cracked and she fought back tears at the idea he saw what Michael did to her. She had nightmares, though she never admitted it to the others. They'd only worry. She couldn't imagine what Spring felt.

"I've had this talk with the others. What happens when you're possessed isn't your fault." Ruby told him sternly, stance changing to that stubborn older sister one she had when lecturing the bots.

They noticed that the reference to 'the others' just seemed to make him more confused.

"How..." he trailed off as he tried to piece together what he did remember. It was very fragmented and they could tell that he wasn't too sure about what had actually happened.

"How what?" Hedy prompted carefully, gently pressing the rods of a voltmeter to some exposed circuits on the leg she replaced, worried about a short from the noise it made when he moved. It was fine thankfully.

Ruby was quiet for a moment as she studied the bot.

"Spring..."

He looked up timidly.

"What do you remember? In general?"

The rabbit fidgeted slightly. "Not much," he admitted softly. "Bits and pieces, when he was..." he trailed off and swallowed. "He did awful things." his gaze flicked over to Hedy.

"Okay. But what do you remember from before he possessed you?" she asked carefully.

Spring ducked his head. "Nothing. I remember something snapping and then it hurt a lot." he weakly gestured to his chest. "Then...then he was there. And I couldn't do anything."

Ruby patted his shoulder gently before turning to Hedy. "Do you think that's damage or that it's caused by trauma?"

Hedy had a guilty and distressed look. "I-I'm not sure. It could be that 'printing' corruption like I said or likely both." It was something for her to look at in his code. She tensed, terrified she had messed something up with Spring's memory.

Ruby suddenly caught her shoulder and turned her so that she had to look at her.

"Hedy. Spring woke up. Yeah, it sucks that his memory is sketchy but he's awake. And that's cause of you. So if I'm not allowed to feel guilty about night six then you're not allowed to feel guilty about not being a miracle worker. Michael did more damage than either of us could," she stated firmly.

Hedy nodded but looked at Spring with a weak apology. "I'm sorry you can't remember. I can work to recover as much as I can." She looked worried. "So you don't remember that day..." She stopped and shook her head. "No. I'm sorry. We shouldn't talk about that yet." She took a sharp but hesitant breath. "Do you know who Goldy is? Or Puppet?"

Spring looked away and shook his head.

"It's all just...pieces... And nothing before he was there," He answered quietly.

All his memories were of being trapped and in pain...

Hedy and Ruby shared a glance.

"You're safe," Hedy said, "We're safe." She forced a shaky sigh and as soft a smile as she could muster though she couldn't hide her mixed stress and relief. "It's very nice to finally meet you, Spring."

Ruby suddenly grinned. "Welcome to this very messed up family."

Spring looked confused but also hopeful.

"I'll go tell the others," Ruby told Hedy. "And warn them about the memory loss."

Hedy nodded shortly and waited with Spring.

He stared quietly for a minute.

"I'm so sorry..."

Hedy shook her head. "It wasn't you," she repeated sternly.

"Are...are you okay?"

"I will be," Hedy said, honestly. She still had a long way to go. The horrible scar would never heal, and the doctors didn't think she'd ever gain full use of one of her lungs again. Her insides were etched with scar tissue.

Spring looked away making a noise like a stifled sob. "How can you even look at me? After what...I...he...did?" He looked down at his incomplete hands. "We...don't even know each other." His eyes drifted to the tools beside her. "And you helped me?"

Hedy didn't say anything for a moment as she put away a couple of tools she didn't need.

"I'd be lying if I said I was completely unbothered looking at you, but it was easier than I thought, seeing you as a different person," she said. She looked at him, considering.

"Can you promise not to tell the others something?"

Spring didn't know how to respond but she spoke again anyway.

" When I was...dying," she said carefully, quietly, "I was more... vindictive than I was scared." She ducked her head. "For a moment, I was just happy Ruby was going to make Michael pay for everything. But..." She stopped. "I can't remember much but I kept going in and out and at one point I think I was conscious enough to realize I wasn't dead yet. And then I was scared because I thought about the last thing I said and realized I didn't want hate to be the last thing I felt before I died or you to be caught in the middle of my hate. I didn't want to be like the kids."

She sucked in a breath. "They killed a lot of people, even...even someone who cared for them, because they were so angry that innocents didn't matter as long as they got their anger out. I told myself, if I survived, that I would care what happened to you. I refused to hate or blame you because I didn't want Michael to make victims of either of us anymore. And I think maybe we can do better than the others he hurt. Make it so that last bit of fear and grief that follows him around finally dies. So yeah, I'll get you fixed up, with everyone's help." She smiled weakly, "We can get better together okay?"

Spring was too emotional to talk so he just nodded silently instead.

They were both damaged by Michael, but they could stop him from winning. He'd clearly been pleased to see what happened to the kids after they let their hate consume them. They wouldn't let him have that pleasure with them.

A knock on the doorway caught their attention.

"Can I come in?" Goldy was floating there nervously.

Hedy looked up, noting Goldy's timing and wondering if the suit had been listening. She didn't call Goldy out though and nodded before looking at Spring.

"Spring, this is Goldy. She's an old friend of yours. You were made together."

Spring looked at Goldy nervously, not recognising her. It clearly hurt the bear a bit but she hid it well.

Instead, she moved to float next to the table.

"I'm sure you'll remember eventually." She gave him a small smile before looking at Hedy with a hopeful expression. "Can I hug him? Just a little?" She wasn't sure how damaged he still was.

Hedy smiled. "He's good. Just be gentle." Not that Goldy could be anything but gentle.

Goldy lit up and hugged Spring carefully. The rabbit still looked confused but he did lean into the hug. Maybe a part of him remembered her.

Hedy decided to let Goldy have her moment and left Parts and Services, knowing the bear would ask Spring to come out with her in a minute. She figured Spring could handle himself that much. She met the others gathered in the main area.

The Originals were looking excited and nervous while the Toys looked more wary. The Toys didn't really know Spring all that well.

Ruby moved over to her. "Goldy with him?"

"Yeah," Hedy said, wiping her hands off with a rag. "He didn't recognize her like he said. But Goldy took it well." Hedy laughed a little. "She asked to hug him."

The Originals and Ruby smiled. Goldy always liked to hug. Even Puppet relaxed a little at the news.

"And he's definitely not Springtrap?" Toby sounded a bit skeptical. The Toys were struggling to separate the two and were still upset about Hedy's injury.

"Barbie rabbit," Ruby growled in warning.

Hedy shot him a surprisingly patient look. She could understand where he was coming from. As far as she knew, most of what they knew of the bot was "Springtrap" so it'd be tough to accept Spring wasn't him or Springtrap trying to trick them. Still, the Toys didn't need to be saying that.

Spring had enough guilt and pain.

"He's not Springtrap. He's a survivor of Michael just like the rest of us in one way or another. Be kind to him," she stressed. "If I'm okay with him then you can be too. At least pretend for my sake, okay? And don't say anything about him being Springtrap." If it was any other situation, she'd be stricter about her request. But she could see the fear in Toby's eyes. Even Mangle was trying to hide her suspicion, though she was willing to trust Hedy's words more readily.

Ruby let Hedy have her say but added her own warning.

"He's a bot just like everyone and I'm in charge of the animatronics. Just like if anyone messed with any of you, I'll make you regret it if you mess with him."

She met Toby's glare until he looked away.

Chi didn't look happy and Teddy was unsure. But they weren't willing to cross both girls. Hedy might be saying it nicely now but if they did become cruel they didn't doubt that she'd make them regret it before Ruby did.

"Guys?" Goldy said, poking her head through the doorway. After a quick glance to see if everyone was there she gestured for Spring to follow.

He was standing, which made the girls incredibly relieved, though it was clearly difficult and he braced one mostly fixed but still robotic hand against the wall. His white eyes shifted around in fear, clearly taken aback by just how many "others" there were and he froze, unwilling to come further into the room. He couldn't look any of the "strangers" in the eye and looked toward Ruby and Hedy for a tiny sense of familiarity to ground himself. He didn't say anything and lowered his eyes to stare at the ground between them as he tensed, unsure if there was anything he could say.

Hedy rolled over and gently took his other hand over the wrist, the one she replaced, just to show the Toys, at least, she wasn't scared of being next to him and that she had forgiven any non-existent wrongs.

Chica broke first, rushing forward to pull him into a gentle hug.

"We missed you so much Spring!" she told the startled bot. "It's so good to see you as yourself again."

Freddy acted next and went over everyone's names so that Spring would know who everyone was.

Foxy stepped forward when he was done. "We know what it's like to have someone else in your head," he told Spring. "None of that was your fault and we don't blame you for it."

The Originals had all relaxed at seeing him up and walking. Puppet hovered in the background, not saying anything and the Toys just looked uncertain. Toby kept his mouth shut though.

It would take a long time before Spring was even remotely close to fixed. But they'd get there.

They'd get there with the relationships as well. They just had to take it slow.