Chapter 163

Spiral

Ruby's head was bent forward so her hair obscured her eyes, but her grip on Hedy's hand was bordering on painful. She was shaking ever so slightly.

Hedy let go of Jeremy to free her other hand and pulled Ruby into a tight hug, sobbing quietly and partially from relief that Ruby really did get away. She didn't even want to think about the epiphany they all just had…

She was trembling from too many emotions.

Puppet had his head bent down too, head in his hands while his long fingers curled around the edge of his mask.

It was him? He was why they couldn't remember?

"Puppet..." Goldy murmured breathlessly, touching his shoulder while Spring shifted closer, still crying.

"Please," Puppet said, shrugging her hand off. "Goldy, I don't remember this."

"But, it happened."

"I see that. I just..." He stopped and laughed with no humour, startling them. "You heard what I said. New memories." There was dry mockery in his voice. "Then we were put in storage. All the Toys and I. What kind of cruel irony is that?" he said bitterly.

Goldy didn't have an answer for him.

Mangle looked sad and angry all at once. All the Toys did.

"I guess Puppet and Ruby have the oldest deal now," Mike said as a simple statement.

"No," Jeremy said, barely audible. "Puppet and Ruby's was just the longest-running. They happened to beat out Hedy and Ruby's deal for 'longest time to be fulfilled' by a few months."

Hedy managed to find her voice as she wiped her eyes, her thoughts still too scrambled to realise what her brother was saying. "Jeremy, what I promised...it couldn't have been a deal. Not a real one. I-I didn't come back," she said shakily, still cradling Ruby close. She sounded so small and younger, not like the grown woman she was now. "I said five minutes."

"Five minutes means nothing to a toddler. All I understood was that time had to pass. And then you'd come back. You didn't come back that day. Not then," Ruby murmured. "Only over a decade later. You did come back in the end though." she gave a humourless laugh. "We both tied ourselves to Freddy's in different deals."

Her shoulders were tight and she was clenching her free hand into a fist.

"I ran away from my own damn memories," she hissed and the lights above them shattered. "Like a fucking coward."

"Ruby-" Goldy tried but Ruby suddenly ripped herself out of Hedy's arms and began pacing.

"I forgot. I wanted to forget."

"Lass-"

"I swore to always come back, and I did."

"Ruby-" Bonnie sounded worried as the walls shuddered.

"I swore to come back and I did. And my parents died on the way back from here. They died because of a fucking corrupt cop. I could have given my dad the information he wanted! But I chose to forget!" she yelled the last part and the tiles under her feet cracked as she fell apart. "It's my fault."

Hedy shook her head, her tears coming harder as she also lost control. But like always, her abilities were more emotional and psychological than physical like Ruby's.

"No. I took everyone with me. None of it would have happened if I went alone. Even your parents. If I had just..."

They were both going in circles, spiralling in their self-blame and guilt.

The ghosts flinched, Benji covering his ears in comfort as a terrifying amount of guilt and pain slammed into all the ghosts. If the ghosts had breath, it would have been knocked out.

Spring reached for Hedy as she cried, but Goldy grabbed him and held him back.

He glared at her and tried to struggle free.

This was his kid hurting! It didn't matter that they couldn't remember.

"Goldy! Let go!" Spring snapped, although it came out like a hiss.
Goldy didn't answer, maintaining her grip. Spring stopped struggling as he noticed Goldy's trembling.
Her eyes were shut and she was turning away from Hedy, trying to ride out the pain coming off the woman in waves. But she didn't block it out.

It wasn't the exact emotions, like anger or pain or sadness, just undefined pain that was hard to decipher but they suddenly were forced to sense anyway with Hedy forcing her pain through their souls like a firehose. It translated into a deep vibration in the centre of their chests that threatened to tear them apart.

It was like the wordless screech of a microphone feedback loop as Hedy mentally clawed at anything in desperation, both crying for help and pushing them away. And yet at the same time, she was desperately trying to pull Ruby back from some kind of edge. But she couldn't do much without being on her own stable ground in the first place.

Cheryl burst into tears, trying and failing to put up a mental wall between her and Hedy. But she never had to before, so she didn't really know how. She just knew it could be done.
The kids weren't as good at blocking out other ghosts' feelings. Ginny could, being with Goldy so much, but she still wasn't very good.

The girls were emotionally feeding off each other in a messed up feedback loop, and it was quickly getting worse.

Ginny grabbed Cheryl and held her close while Felix tried his best to shield the others from Hedy. It wasn't very effective.
It absolutely sucked that Hedy didn't even seem aware of what she was doing, her mind drifting away from the present.

Neither of the girls seemed to really notice they were falling, Ruby cracking the floor beneath her and Hedy crying her tears into their eyes while the non-ghosts could only frantically try to calm them down.

Hedy's waterfall of sorrow barely brushed against Ruby's psyche and a wall was violently thrown up. The teen had never been good at the emotional side of the ghost stuff and her instinctual reaction was to slam a metaphorical door on it, especially when upset.

Hedy faltered, flinching in pain like she had been punched but she was too distracted to really notice.

Michael seemed to take pleasure in the show for only a moment before the pain and unconstrained rage hit him and his face dropped to terror. He tried to move the furthest away from them within the salt and covered his ears, gritting his teeth as he attempted to ride it out.

"Hedy. Ruby, y-you've got to stop," Timmy tried. "You both need to stop."

Foxy grabbed Ruby in a hug, murmuring rapid words to her and gradually she seemed to calm down. Eventually, she pushed away from him and walked towards the door, not looking back at them.

"Give me a minute," she mumbled, and slipped out, no doubt to pull herself together privately. She hated losing control in front of people she didn't trust. Especially Michael.

"Hedy," Goldy hesitantly put her hand on the mechanic's shoulder now that one half of the spiralling duo had pulled herself somewhat together. She gently patted Hedy's back, not sure if the contact was welcome. Hedy was too much of a swirling mess of emotions to read. "You can't blame yourself for something you did as a kid. You were six. Seven maybe."

Hedy just shook her head and pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes as she cried and gasped through the tears.

"That doesn't mean anything," she sobbed, broken.

The ghosts looked between themselves.

"H-Hedy," Mike whispered, taking her hand in both of his and kissing it. "I know it hurts. but please… you need to breathe."

Jeremy shifted his little sister closer to her chair and moved so Mike could get closer to her in a rare lack of overprotectiveness.

Goldy glanced at the other bots, but she didn't let Spring go just yet even as he started squirming again.

Foxy looked between the door Ruby left through and Hedy.

Toby was tugging his ears anxiously, and when the hell did he pick up that habit?

Puppet was staring at nothing.

Hedy looked at Mike in confusion through her tears as she better grasped that she was safe now.

Goldy knew Spring was going to lose it if she held him back any longer, and it seemed like Hedy wouldn't panic or have a flashback at Spring touching her anymore. The mechanic's mind felt conscious enough.

Spring was still unsteady, so Goldy helped him down. He wordlessly pulled Hedy into a hug, shakily crying but trying not to as he cradled her like she did for Ruby a moment before.

She latched onto him, shaking as her sobs didn't stop.

"Ruby," Hedy hiccuped through Spring's ratty fur, closing her eyes as he stroked her hair like a child. "Ruby," Hedy begged. "Someone check on Ruby, please. There's more."

"More?" Jeremy asked, his voice cracking.

Hedy just pointed at the camera without even looking at it. "It's paused...not stopped."

Jeremy closed his eyes, tempted to throw the thing at a wall.

The building hummed as if to soothe him, which was an unfamiliar sensation. It hadn't cared much about his mental state before. It couldn't affect him directly, but he could feel the purring under his feet. He was too angry with it to really appreciate the gesture though.

Foxy stood up and Bonnie shifted to join him.

So did Puppet.

They stared at each other.

Eventually, Foxy gave Puppet a vicious glare while Bonnie hesitantly nodded, sitting down. This was something that involved him more than them…

Ginny knelt in front of Hedy and Spring as Puppet left.

"Wiggy...we blame a lot of people, you know. We did a lot of…things because of that. But we never blamed you. You didn't kill us."

"I know that!" Hedy choked. "But a lot of people didn't and you still went after them. You never said I was the one who..." She hiccuped. "He was after me." She glanced sideways at Michael, who still looked stunned from what he sensed from her and Ruby. "He was planning for me. Just me. You weren't supposed to die." She looked away in her guilt. "It was just me. I was supposed to die."

Ginny gathered as much strength as she could to whack Hedy in the side of the head. "You dummy! Don't say that!" The blow was weak and feathery, but she still connected, knocking Hedy's head to the side and dragging some hair across Hedy's face.

Hedy looked at her in a mix of surprise and grief, too distracted by her own tears to be angry. It didn't really hurt.

Spring shot a restrained but sharp glare at Ginny, probably the first negative reaction he'd directly had toward one of the children.

"It wasn't like you forced us to come," Frederick said. "A secret room sounded...fun."

"We always thought you died too, but you got to go to heaven for some reason, so we just wanted to be happy for you," Cheryl said.

"We were really happy when you showed up again," Ginny said. "Benji ran in saying 'Wiggy's a grown-up!' and broke a light. We didn't believe him for a while."

Benji looked at Hedy for a long moment. "It wasn't your fault." He frowned. "What the Night Guard said, about how her parents died? It wasn't her fault either."

"Yeah," Felix said begrudgingly, "She was a baby. The stupid policeman cut the brakes. It's his fault. He killed them, not Ruby," her name didn't seem to fit right in his mouth and he grimaced. "Ruby is still a night guard... and she's annoying. But she didn't kill us and she didn't kill her mom and dad." He crossed his arms and scowled. "Doesn't mean we don't hate her now. She keeps getting in the way."

Foxy scoffed something derisive at the kid under his breath.

Most of the bots knew the kids weren't being genuine. They were probably desperate to calm Hedy down and would say anything. Still, there had to be a sliver of honesty in their words.

It was weird having the kids admit they understood their decisions. On the other hand, it made their choices worse.

Outside in the hall, Ruby glared at the floor, refusing to look at the bot as Puppet said nothing and they listened to the kids speak to Hedy.

"You were two years old," Puppet said evenly, quietly, so the rest couldn't hear them.

Ruby looked at him and he felt the ground beneath him shudder, but he didn't respond to it.

Puppet stood for a moment before continuing. '

The night guard was going to listen to him one way or another.

"Ruby." There was a note of resignation and sternness in his voice as he used her name. It felt strange. "I may not remember making that deal with you, but I know exactly what I would have been thinking at the moment. I had been through this thrice before."

He held up three fingers, one whole hand. "Timmy. His...his sister Elizabeth. And..." he froze. "and Charlotte." There was a sharp pain, as he said that name for the first time in many, many years.

Ruby set her jaw tightly and stared at him. He couldn't tell if she was surprised by the fact that he was talking about this or not.

He had long figured she at least knew about Charlotte. How, he didn't know.

"I knew the police would see the blood. I knew they would want to ask you questions. Even if your father didn't want to, I knew he would have tried to get something from you. "

Puppet stared at her, very sure of his own past thought process. "You saw my reaction. I knew you had seen something that maybe was important. I had to have known you saw someone wearing Spring. I heard what you were saying about the 'bunny.' But I still agreed to your deal. I didn't have to. Maybe I was wrong. I didn't trust the police to do anything useful with you and I knew it would have traumatised you further." He paused.

"It was your idea, but my choice to make us all forget., just to...save you the pain."

Puppet looked back into the room from the dark hallway they stood in. He watched the bots and two humans speak softly to Hedy, still trying to talk her down from hysteric tears while the ghosts were watching now, letting them be after saying their piece. Even the Originals were trying to help as they waited for Puppet and Ruby to come back. Spring was still holding her while Freddy crouched beside them, gently but sternly telling Hedy she wasn't allowed to be speaking like her life was something to trade for anyone else or anything that might have happened.

Puppet watched Foxy drop the usually gruff way he spoke to the mechanic to agree with Freddy and in the same breath tell Jeremy not to blame himself either.

He actually used Hedy's name for once. Actually, he said Hedwig in a low calming croon usually reserved for Ruby at her worst, if he ever saw it.

"Hedwig," Foxy murmured again as he knelt by Spring. "You need to breathe, lass."

"I c-can't…" Hedy stammered, her eyes shut.

Mangle sat close to Hedy and Spring, practically pressing against the rabbit to be close to her mechanic. She didn't know what to do. What to say. She made a soft crackly purr.

"It's alright," Chica said gently to Hedy. She gestured for Spring to help Hedy sit up a little more. "It's ok, sweetheart."

"I shouldn't have come back!" Hedy sobbed. "Then I just ran away and left you all…"

At Goldy's encouragement, Mangle and Teddy murmured variations of "It's okay" and "Everything's alright now" over and over again as Chi and Toby whispered how it wasn't her fault.

BB settled for patting her arm and sadly asking her not to cry.

Kitty wandered in, perhaps hearing the distress. Spring gently picked the cat up and set her in Hedy's lap as he gestured to Mangle to take Hedy.

The Toys all looked distracted, painfully remembering the immediate aftermath of what they just watched. The Original's horror started that night.

Puppet looked back at Ruby, pushing through whatever discomfort this caused.

The building had seen him as an advocate, letting his deal affect them all when he didn't think he had the right to speak for any of the others.

"I was clearly too late to save Hedy," he said. "You saw the blood on me. I remember finding her. She was covered in blood, some of it hers, and screaming hysterically. Her fingers were cut and bleeding from trying to get a vent open and she was struggling to breathe from her ribs being broken. Probably stomped on or kicked by Michael. I was obviously panicking and didn't want to put you through the chaos I had left Hedy with after taking her to the adults."

He had to pause a moment and sort his thoughts out.

"If you're going to base who to blame for your parents' deaths on why you couldn't have told your father about someone using Spring, then you need to be blaming me. You were two years old and couldn't have known, but I knew what was being risked and still made that choice, knowing full well I could have been impeding an investigation. All because I didn't trust the police anymore. For good reason. It was that man, Black, who's to blame, both for my distrust and your parents. But it was never you." Puppet's voice took on a threatening tone, but it sounded so fake after everything that just happened. "Blaming yourself is an insult to me and my ability to choose—something that's dear to me as a creature that at one point was just a thing that only had code to follow for my choices."

Ruby let out a harsh sigh and covered her face with her hands. There was a moment where she just stood there, muscles tensed to do something, lash out, or run.

He didn't know.

Then she spoke, for once sounding her age. Like a confused teenager instead of the confident night guard that always seemed to have something to say.

"I gave up my memories of you all. Of you. Of the Toys." She paused. "I…loved you all…"

Puppet twitched in discomfort, but Ruby didn't see.

"Like I love the Originals." Her hands were still hiding her face, but her voice wavered. "And I just...lost that." She gave a bitter laugh. "And then I meet you all again and we all hate each other. Oh, the irony."

She didn't know how to handle this sudden reveal. She had clearly liked the Toys, and adored Puppet. But those memories were lost. She was extremely loyal to those she cared about, though, and felt like her dislike of them was a betrayal of a sort. But at the same time, she couldn't just...drop it. There was too much new history between them all. Hatred. Deals. Games.

The knowledge of lost friendships stung like an open wound. She felt like shit selfishly leaving Hedy to her similar feelings. Hedy lost them all too. She used to be close with the Originals. Spring. Her. And now those relationships were long gone, either stolen or lost in Hedy's memories. Ruby just…couldn't deal with Hedy's feelings on top of hers. She didn't want to deal with the guilt.

She rubbed at her face and finally dropped her hands. Taking a deep breath, she pulled her usual sarcastic mask back together, covering the confusion and vulnerability that Puppet had just barely glimpsed.

It made him uncomfortable, seeing that.

"You can go back, Clown boy. That video doesn't mean you have to suddenly change how you act around me." She shrugged. "The past is gone."

He could definitely feel the building give its version of a long-suffering sigh at Ruby's words. It waited a long time to reveal this all. No wonder it got irritated at the fierce animosity between them when he first arrived. It was probably very upset with his behaviour.

Puppet didn't respond for a moment. After what he saw, he knew the past him would have hugged her right now and told her it was okay to let go and drop that mask. Tell her she needed to cry. But he just couldn't. It felt wrong. Inappropriate. It angered him off to no end that this is what they were left with. The past wasn't gone, but it might as well have been.

He turned. "Pull yourself together, Night Guard," he said, but the low harshness in his voice was tempered. "There's more to the tapes and I think Hedy will need you."

The string of curse words was unexpected. And honestly, where did a teenager learn some of that?

"There's more?!" there was a definite whine in her voice. "Fuck, building, you are damn close to getting on my shit list."

The building just gave an amused hum as she stalked back into the room and plopped down beside Hedy and Spring again, glaring a hole through the tv.

Hedy looked exhausted now, still tense. It was one thing knowing the moment was coming, but now that it was over, she was afraid of what could be next as her cracked mind settled.

The picture flickered before settling on a familiar office.

They couldn't tell what time it was or how long after… everything… happened. The camera seemed to be hidden again.

That still didn't make any sense. Did the building move it?

Moments later, Scott walked in. He stopped at the desk and leaned on it with both hands, head down, looking about to fall over. The security uniform jacket was crumpled and tied around his waist; his sleeves unevenly rolled up while his shirt was wrinkled and his hair was a mess.

Everyone watched silently, wondering where this was going now.

What more did the building want them to see?

Footsteps approached the office and moments later Derrick appeared. He looked exhausted, his mouth set in a severe frown and his eyes hard. This wasn't Ruby's dad. This was Sergeant Stone at the moment.

"Hedy's been taken to the hospital. I got the other guys to hold off on asking her any questions. She's not ready for that yet. She needs to be looked over first."

Scott nodded, unable to speak for a moment. He didn't look up and kept his head bowed over the desk. "Th-thank you." His voice cracked. "Is she going to be..." he shook his head. Of course, she was going to be okay. "Did you...did you find the others yet?" There was weak hope in his voice. "There's nothing...nothing on the cameras. Some of the tapes. They're missing."

Grief passed over Derrick's face. "We didn't. Not yet. We're still looking. We have to talk to Hedy as soon as we know she's okay." He paused. "The management is trying to force us to leave."

Scott growled weakly. "They're just...protecting the company. They're doing their jobs. I'm supposed to ask you to leave too," Scott said, anger dripping from his voice. "Convince you that someone probably took them away. Left here with them. They're out in the woods somewhere. Anything to..." he clenched his fist. "Anything, so you'll leave. Having police around is bad for business."

Derrick's expression darkened. "Well, it's not going to work as long as I'm in charge of the case."

Scott slumped. "They always say that." He abruptly swung his arm, hitting the fan off the table in anger. It hit the ground with a crash that made them all flinch on the other side of the screen. "How many times!? We can't close...we CAN'T. I can't let this place close. The bots. What would happen to them if we did?! But this...this..." he covered his face and collapsed into the chair. He had cut himself hitting the fan and the unprotected blades meant blood was trailing down his arm. He didn't seem to notice.

Jeremy's breath hitched as the last minute processed. He never knew how much Derrick and Scott spoke.

Ruby didn't take her eyes off the screen, expression carefully blank.

Derrick sighed and stepped closer, tugging on Scott's arm to check on the damage.

"I swear Scott. I'm going to find out the truth about what happened. No matter what," he promised.

Hedy had a pained expression and tried not to let her tears well up again. All those years thinking no one else cared…

Scott shuddered and looked up at Derrick in panic, glancing around and at the ceiling. He ripped his arm away. "No, Derrick, y-you can't say things like that. You can't promise things. You can't sound…absolute. Like that. Not...not here," he said, sounding frightened and a little bit insane. "T-take it back. I-I think you can, if it's a promise to yourself, not me. Please, don't promise me that. Don't say 'no matter what.' Never say that here."

Derrick frowned in confusion at Scott's reaction.

"It is a promise to myself too, Scott. I'd never be able to live with myself if I didn't do everything I could."

They could see where Ruby got her stubborn determination from.

"It's too close. You're going to confuse it, you're going to make it think it's a deal," Scott said, devolving into muttering to himself.

The building didn't react though. They didn't hear it shudder or creak. It didn't help Scott's paranoia, compounded by a lack of sleep and his stress.

"He...he knew about the deals?" Hedy murmured, shocked.

"Scott, I think you need to rest. You've had a massive shock today," Derrick told him gently, guiding him into a chair.

Ruby only frowned slightly, still not saying anything.

"Scott set up the deals for the night guard position," Goldy murmured. "The rules for the game."

"He...?" Jeremy said, looking at Goldy in alarm. "...Of course, he did..." He looked pained, trying not to think about what exactly Scott could have traded for something as massive as those rules he set in place.

Mike quietly watched the screen, just…thinking about those tapes he listened to.

"No. I-I can't stay here. I looked for the tapes like you asked. I need to get to the hospital."

"Scott please, you need to breathe. Do you think you can answer a few questions? We can go to the station if that's easier for you. But we can't go to the hospital, yet. There are too many people. We can't stress Hedy out more."

"What if something happens? What if they come back?" Scott tried to jump to his feet as a horrible thought came to mind. "What if whoever did this goes to the hospital?"

"Scott, I've got a couple of the officers I trust the most keeping an eye on Hedy. I'd put my daughter's life in their hands if I had to, that's how much I trust them. Hedy is okay. You need to just breathe for a minute."

Scott nodded weakly and took a deep breath.

"You have a daughter." It wasn't exactly a question, but there was still a thread of confusion in Scott's voice.

Puppet stared. His deal with Ruby included all that "belonged to the building." He didn't consider that meant Scott. He looked at Jeremy. Jeremy counted as an employee, too, by then.

Derrick's expression turned confused for a moment before it disappeared. "Yeah, Ruby. She's two. She..." he looked at the wall. "We think she saw something. She came back with blood on her cheek and neck. She won't say a word, though. My wife took her home. She was playing with Hedy the last Rose saw."

"I'm so sorry," Scott's eyes widened. "Is she alright?"

Derrick nodded stiffly. "We'll take her to the doctor tomorrow just in case, but she seems fine. But...I'd rather you didn't mention the blood to anyone else... I don't want her involved, if it isn't necessary. I took samples of the blood and put it in evidence. If she says something important, I'll do it but..."

Jeremy stared, disturbed to see Stone admit to possibly messing up a chain of evidence. It didn't seem like a line Derrick would cross. He was a good cop. He followed the rules. He knew how important a little bit of blood and where it was found could be. But…

Jeremy glanced at Ruby.

Derrick had to be terrified. He wasn't acting it, but he had to be worried about his daughter. He wouldn't have wanted to put Ruby through what Hedy had to deal with during the investigation. Could Jeremy really blame him? Still, it was uncomfortable seeing Derrick falter at the high standards he usually held.

It was a harsh reminder that there was never black or white. The world was just painted in shades of grey.

"You'd do anything to protect her," Scott said, nodding. "My...wife and I never had kids. I don't think we could. Hedy's my sister's daughter, but when Maren died, I promised I'd look out for her. She might as well be mine." He shook his head. "Joseph. He's...barely been able to cope the last few years. I don't know what this is going to do to him. I don't know what it's going to do to the other parents if we don't find them..." Scott breathed. "I have to do something...I can't just..wait around for someone to tell me what to do."

Derrick was glad Scott sounded less hysterical. "You can help by staying calm, Scott. Can you think of anyone acting strangely recently?"

"N-no. The Puppet tells me if someone strange comes in. He...he didn't see anything." Scott looked away. "He's... I don't know. He's acting...strange. He found Hedy...I need to speak with him."

Derrick paused. "Scott," he hesitated. "This might be hard to hear, but I wasn't talking about a stranger. Have any of the employees been acting out of the ordinary?"

Scott looked at him. "What? No. I know everyone here. They..." he hesitated and shook his head. "I can't think of anything. Not right now."

Derrick stared for a moment. "Alright," he said. "Try to think. We'll come back to it. What about the animatronics? You said Mari was acting strange. Is there any chance..." he sounded pained suggesting it.

"No." Scott snarled the single word. It was the most anger they'd ever heard from him.

The bots actually recoiled at the absolute certainty in his voice.

Ruby's mouth twitched into a proud smile. "Atta boy Steve," she murmured.

Goldy wanted to cry again, hearing the care in Scott's voice.

He loved them.

Derrick blinked. "Alright, Scott. I didn't want to believe it either. He's Ruby's favourite. I had to ask though."

Scott stared at Derrick for a moment. He seemed confused. "Puppet doesn't...get very close to many kids. Besides Hedy. He does his job and tries not to do much else. It's nice he's someone's favourite, though. Good for him." He sobered a bit. "He's...probably freaking out in his box right now. Did anyone try speaking with him?"

Derrick nodded, knowing the conversation was getting very off track but letting Scott say and ask what he wanted just to keep him calm.

"I told one of my guys to, but he said Puppet just repeated lines like he wasn't alive and tried to offer stuff from the prize corner."

Scott didn't seem surprised and nodded, looking away.

"The other animatronics were more responsive but they were acting mostly confused about what was going on. I don't think they really understand."

"They understand," Scott said quietly. "They understand kids are in danger, but it takes a while for them to learn complexity. Right and wrong. They're too young for this. They weren't supposed to learn like this."

"You seem to know a lot about the animatronics."

"I helped make some of the early designs for most of them," Scott said. He chuckled, but it came out like a sob, "I...I tried to tell Will, their inventor, that Puppet was a bit too creepy looking for little kids but he didn't listen and let Puppet pick out his own colours and most of his own outer design. Glad your daughter doesn't agree with me. He's strange, but he's a good kid."

"Kid?" Derrick seemed confused at the choice of words.

"It's...it's a joke. He's not really a kid, but he is eleven years old."

Derrick nodded, still looking confused. "Yeah, Ruby, she's a little...unconventional." he chuckled, expression softening. "She was so mad I painted her room pink. Demanded black with white stripes. Not hard to figure out why."

Ruby buried her head in her hands and groaned.

Chica couldn't help smiling a bit at that while Mangle, Teddy and Chi each had their own smile, just a little more pained.

Toby was just looking at the floor and still too upset at everything, including what Puppet did to them, to react much.

Puppet made a weird snort that seemed like a strangled laugh at the image of a two-year-old's bedroom with his colour scheme, but it was dampened by him processing the entire relationship.

Hedy liked the Addams Family and Tim Burton movies and it seemed more like something she would do in her teen years, rather than any sane parent for their toddler.

"Heh. Puppet over here stealing all the favouritism," Bonnie said. He said it like he was joking, honestly attempting to make light of it for Ruby's sake, but there was a note of jealousy and disbelief at the idea that was way more reality than he was comfortable with.

Foxy was glaring. The only reason he wasn't glaring at Puppet at the moment was that he was trying to be the better bot.

Not that everyone couldn't tell they weren't already upset about it.

Puppet looked ahead and didn't bait Foxy or Bonnie.

Hedy looked at him for a moment before looking at Ruby. They were going to have to talk about it. Probably not now, but soon. "Guys...you didn't have any competition when you were back in service," she reminded.

Bonnie flinched a bit and glanced at Foxy. "I know...Sorry, Puppet."

Puppet violently stiffened and blinked at him, clearly surprised at the apology. He didn't want anyone's pity for the consequences of his choices. More accurately, he didn't expect it. Wouldn't admit that though, even to himself.

Ruby just kept her face hidden in her hands, not getting involved in everything for once.

Hedy had a bad feeling that Ruby was going to dive headfirst into denial and pretend that this changed nothing. Getting her to cooperate in talking it out would be like pulling teeth.

She turned her attention back on her uncle and Ruby's dad.

Scott had stopped speaking. He nodded at Derrick.

"She sounds like a great kid," he said. "Hedy would like her."

Hedy flinched. She would have forgotten Ruby by then. Actually, if she was in the hospital, she had probably forgotten everything by then, blocking it out.

"W-well yeah, of course," Derrick said, then shook his head. "Scott, I really need you to focus. There has to be something that was different recently. Did anyone change shifts out of the blue?"

"No...uh, actually, I switched a few shifts around yesterday. Our night guard asked to have the day shift, which worked out at the time because my nephew needed some work and he has school during the day," Scott's eyes widened. "Oh no, where's Jeremy? I...I didn't call him. Does he even know what happened?"

"Wouldn't Joseph call him?"

"I...I don't know. Joseph he...this is going to sound awful but he might not. You saw him. He was a mess. I wouldn't put it past him to forget."

Derrick swore quietly. "We can call to inform him if you don't feel up to it?" he offered gently.

Everyone glanced at Jeremy, wondering how he was taking this.

Jeremy stared at the screen.

"Dad didn't call me," he informed them."That's how I met Derrick. How I remember meeting him." He scoffed. "Dad really messed up a lot, didn't he?"

"He was a single father," Hedy said, sounding more like she was convincing herself. "In a job that was making him hurt people he was supposed to take care of. Still grieving Mom. Overworked. Never home. Budding alcoholic. Trying to figure out how to get you into college. And his daughter was being treated at the hospital for injuries and a possible murder or kidnapping attempt and had just watched five of her friends murdered in front of her by someone she trusted."

"Don't defend him, Hedy," Jeremy said, softer as he didn't miss how Hedy was disassociating herself.

"I'm not. I'm angry. Just trying to understand. It doesn't excuse anything, but I…" Her voice cracked. "I-I really need to not be hating my dad right now."
"Parents are humans and they suck sometimes. Doesn't mean they don't love you," Ruby muttered, not looking at either of them.

She'd had many children at the orphanage talk to her about this before. They needed the reassurance that their parents still cared about them and in most cases they did. There were the exceptions but most of the time, she stuck by this belief.

Jeremy huffed weakly, but Hedy forced a nod.

She knew Ruby was talking to her like a child, but maybe she needed it.

Mike glanced at Michael. He took Hedy's hand in his, relieved when she responded with a slight squeeze, her hand shaking a bit.

"I'm okay," Hedy whispered to him, so quiet no one could hear as she leaned her head against Mike's for a moment.

Mike pulled back and stared at her. He relaxed just slightly, but still glared at Michael in hatred.

On-screen Derrick calmed Scott down and promised he'd call Jeremy as soon as he was finished talking to Scott. He'd handle the family stuff personally.

Scott nodded guiltily.

Derrick pulled out his notebook. "Michael Afton. Like Afton Robotics?"

Scott stiffened a little and looked confused. "His father started the company. Will's a close friend of mine."

Michael stilled and stared at the screen.

"And Michael's not helping run the company?"

"He...and Will aren't close," Scott said hesitantly. "Michael was never interested in the bots or the restaurant."

"Then why work here as a guard?"

"He told me he couldn't get a job anywhere else," Scott chuckled. "Which is a bit strange. He was always so charismatic. Ace any interview. Smart kid. Get to know him and he's...well...he's a troubled kid."

"He ever violent?"

"He..." Scott looked freaked for a moment. "You don't think..."

"I'm just asking questions right now, Scott."

"I know Michael though. He wouldn't..." Scott trailed off. "He's not a suspect is he?"

"It's too soon, Scott," Derrick said. "Where was he today?"

"W-working. He was working the dayshift with me."

"Do you know where he was the whole time?"

"What? Of course I d-" Scott stopped. "I mean, I saw him. But the manager told me he left early."

"Why?"

"He hasn't been feeling well the last few days. Lack of sleep, he said. That was why he asked to switch shifts. He officially starts in a few days but he asked to come in because we were so busy."

"He asked?"

"Yeah," Scott said. He added quickly, "But he always asks for extra shifts. It's not anything strange. Extra money you know?"

Ruby was watching with narrowed eyes, her attention on her father. Looking at his body language...he thought something was off about Michael. Her dad often went with his gut, something she picked up from him.

"Hmm," Derrick didn't contradict Scott, keeping his expression neutral. "Do you have an address for him on file? We want to speak with all the employees that were here today. Even if they went home. They might have seen something important."

"I...have his mom's address. But she passed away recently. Michael's kind of bouncing around with his living situation. I can give you the last address I have for him but it's about three months old. I stopped by last week, but no one answered."

"You try to look out for him, don't you?"

"I try. I mean, he's the son of one of my oldest friends. His father was there for me when I was in a rough patch. I know how it feels."

Michael couldn't help scoffing.

Scott was always too nice to him.

Ruby turned only slightly, not looking at Michael but still speaking to him.

"I have just had a massive revelation dropped in my lap, I'm looking at my dead dad and I found out Hedy was my friend when you almost killed her. Remember that line I told you about Michael?" She never called him by his name. "I am this close to crossing it again." She held her hand up to show her thumb and forefinger centimetres apart. "Do not push me right now."

Something flashed through the ghost's eyes. They weren't sure what, but he settled down again. Timmy looked at Ruby in concern, obviously knowing what she was talking about.

Hedy ignored them and kept watching.

"I understand. Thanks, Scott."

"Derrick. Do you have anything else to ask me? I...really need to get to the hospital."

"No. I'll ask you to come to the station if I do. Call me if you remember anything."

"I will."

Hedy tried to wipe her eyes the best she could as the building gave them a break. "Sorry for freaking out earlier," she mumbled, shooting a sorry look out the corner of her eye at Ruby.

There was a mix of glares and perplexed looks shot her way. Most of them couldn't stand that Hedy felt guilty about any of this.

Ruby had her lips pressed in a thin line. She didn't like Hedy's words either. Out of everyone, Hedy deserved to feel whatever the fuck she wanted. It wasn't her that should be sorry. Ruby was the one who screwed everyone's heads up.

"Don't apologise," Spring pleaded to his kid.

Hedy shrugged. She just stared at the screen, staring at Scott and how upset he looked. She didn't remember much of what followed. She remembered multiple visits to the hospital. Harsh lights. People touching her, checking her over. Asking her questions. Her crying for "Daddy" and Jeremy and her brother getting into a fight with someone because they wouldn't let him in the hospital room. That memory was a bit clearer. But everything else was so fuzzy. She'd slept a lot, or tried to. People were always asking her questions. She didn't even remember her answers.

Jeremy abruptly stood up. "I need some fresh air," he said, leaving out the front doors. No one stopped him. They heard the doors slam. He'd be back in a few minutes.

Ruby just sat quietly for few heartbeats. Then, moving smoothly, she pulled the other girl into another hug, but still didn't say anything.

What could really be said?