Author's Notes: We're not sure when we'll be able to get back to a regular schedule but we'll try to write as much as we can. Life's just been hectic lately. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 165

Jeremy's Night

It was silent. The pizzeria was closed.

They watched, expecting Scott or Derrick, maybe Joseph. But instead, a slim teenager with red hair walked in, whistling. He had a backpack and headphones connected to a walkman.

"Who the hell is that?" Ruby asked, genuinely confused. It occurred to her that they might see Jeremy but that was definitely not him.

Hedy shook her head. "No idea."

Jeremy stiffened and sat up straighter. He recognized this. He didn't have any idea why they were watching this though. He and the bots already knew what happened, for the most part.

The boy, probably sixteen or seventeen, hopped into the chair and checked his watch.

He looked at the phone, which had a blinking red light.

"Weird way to send training tapes but sure." He shrugged as he pushed a button, then leaned back and spun around.

"Uh, hello? Hello, hello? Uh, hello and welcome to your new summer job at the new and improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

"What?" Hedy said, looking at Jeremy in alarm and clearly confused.

Ruby was staring in confusion while some of the bots mirrored her expression.

The Originals didn't remember much clearly from this time.

Goldy glanced at Jeremy.

Jeremy was staring straight ahead. He grimaced. He should have known the building was going to be a jerk about this. He just wasn't sure why. All it was going to do was shame Puppet and the Toys, and make the Originals upset.

"Just watch," he huffed. Jeremy gestured at the screen.

There was the sound of rapid footsteps.

The teen looked up, startled, and the recording paused. "Wh-who's there?" his voice cracked as he fumbled with his flashlight and pointed it down the hall.

"Fuck! Get that thing out of my face!"

A different teenager, one they were familiar with by now walked into the room and walked up to the desk like he owned the place. He was wearing the security guard uniform, hands in his pocket and missing the hat.

"H-how'd you get in!?"

"Stole my uncle's keys," Jeremy deadpanned. He was tense and had the air of someone who's patience was thin. He seemed angry but calm for the moment. "Fritz Smith, right?"

Ruby raised an eyebrow and looked at Jeremy. Then she grinned.

"The future cop broke in."

She found way too much humour in that.

"And who names their kid Fritz?"

Jeremy snorted. "Someone who didn't mind him getting bullied all through middle school. And I didn't break in. I had a key."

"That you stole from Uncle Scott," Hedy reminded.

Jeremy just sighed. "Quit laughing, Ruby. It's not that funny."

"I will take my humour where I can get it right now you juvenile delinquent."

Fritz stammered. "Y-yeah. Who are you?"

"Jeremy."

"Jere-," Fritz stiffened. "Fitzgerald?"

Jeremy didn't answer.

"Y-your sister was in the paper..."

"You think I don't know?" Jeremy snapped. He backtracked. "Sorry. It's...it's been a rough couple days."

"What are you doing here? I heard you were..." Fritz swallowed and he looked a little frightened. "...Uh..."

"I wasn't arrested. Who the heck told you that?"

"Uh...I-I heard it at school. People were saying you haven't been in school for a while and that you were a suspect and..."

"My little sister was in the damn hospital and five little kids I babysit for are missing! Why the fuck would I care about going to school?!"

"S-sorry. It...was just a rumour."

"People are stupid. They see something in the paper or hear about something, get some stupid idea in their head and then they're telling it to others like it's a fact." Ruby's voice was unexpectedly scathing. "Nevermind that they don't know the person or people involved or that they don't know a damn thing about the situation."

Jeremy glanced at her. He frowned, slightly worried. "Ruby, it's fine. I dealt with it."

She just let out an irritated scoff and glared at the screen.

Jeremy scoffed. "Yeah well. I'm taking over for you. You can go home, man."

Fritz looked surprised. "B-But, Mr. Cawthon said you weren't coming. He called me today and said the position opened up."

"I changed my mind."

"I'm on the payroll. I really need some cash. I can't just..."

Jeremy fished something out of his pocket. "One hundred dollars and fifty cents. This is how much you'd make this week. I'll let my uncle know."

"This looks sketchy, dude," Fritz pointed out.

Jeremy sighed. "Look, it's for your time that you planned out already. It was a mistake on my part. Just don't tell Scott about this or he's going to be pissed. I'll tell him I covered for you and it'll be fine."

A few people glanced at Jeremy again.

"Huh, you're not a bad liar," Ruby muttered.

Jeremy huffed but rolled his eyes. "Thanks? I think."

"You sure you don't want to be home?"

"I need to keep busy right now. It's fine."

"If you say so," Fritz hesitantly took the cash and gathered his stuff. "Night, Jeremy. Nice to meet you. I hope things work out for your family."

"Yeah, see ya," Jeremy said.

He sat in the chair and waited several minutes. Distantly they heard the chime of a clock.

The phone rang again.

Jeremy looked a little surprised. "What are you doing now, Scott?"

He listened to the tape, not commenting on "old location." He seemed concerned about Scott's mention of Michael's "complaints."

He looked angry at Scott saying "safest place on earth."

"Uncle Scott, I get you can't say anything to piss off management, but how the hell do you sound so calm saying that?" Jeremy actually sounded a bit jealous of Scott's calmness.

Then it mentioned the bots wandering into the office and music box and he looked utterly confused.

"Night mode? Going toward where the people are? You're taking this bullshit to a whole new level, Scott. It just affects the Puppet! You know he hates that..." he snorted, feeling dumb for talking to himself. "Did he try to tape you to the ceiling again? This is payback isn't it?"

Everyone looked uncomfortable with his casual attitude. They did have a feeling they knew what was coming.

Ruby on the other hand, turned to Puppet with wide eyes. "Taped him to the ceiling?" she sounded way too interested.

"It was a long long time ago," Puppet said, squinting at Jeremy. He always thought Jeremy thought of them as just robots. How much of their self-awareness did he understand as a teenager? They didn't interact much before everything happened.

"You see, there may be a minor glitch in the system, something about robots seeing you as an exoskeleton without his costume on, and wanting to stuff you in a suit, so hey, we've given you an empty Freddy Fazbear head, problem solved!"

Jeremy smacked the pause button on the phone. He stared at it for a long quiet second.

Abruptly he started giggling. "Shit, Scott!" He glanced at the empty Freddy head and cracked up laughing.

Ruby turned and looked right at Jeremy. "Even I didn't start laughing at that," she told him with a raised eyebrow. "Should we be concerned?"

"Scott...had a weird sense of humour," Goldy admitted in Jeremy's defence. "It's actually not that far off to think it's a joke."

Jeremy made a strangled noise as he further explained. "Scott used to scare the crap out of all the new guys and the kids who came to work for him by hinting they might get stuffed in a suit. That was before it actually started happening. It was just a joke back then, playing off the idea of people getting startled when the bots moved. The new guys would be all jittery around the bots until they figured out Scott was messing with them. He thought it was hilarious."

"It used to be funny," Bonnie mumbled. "I used to play along…"

Michael muttered an insult at Scott under his "breath" as quietly as he could. Him hiding the kids like that to spite Scott and the bots and then them turning around and making Scott's lie real sure shut the man up. Like karmic irony. It was hilarious at the time, but he didn't dare smile at the moment.

Ruby turned hard eyes on Michael, rapidly putting it together.

"We'll never get through this if you keep stopping to beat Michael up," Timmy sighed without even looking their way. "Can't you just save it up for after?"

The teen grumbled but settled again.

"He says one thing and I'll cover Betty in salt and give her to Jeremy for the night."

"Can you just do that anyway?" Jeremy asked.

Ruby studied Jeremy for a moment and thought about the stuff they'd seen today. "Actually, sure. You need it for closure I think."

"Thanks," Jeremy said.

Hedy looked at him, slightly concerned. Jeremy didn't take pleasure in seeing Michael hurt like she did, and to a greater extent how Ruby did. Things are always fair with him. Jeremy wouldn't hurt Michael any further past what he saw as justice.

Michael shifted.

He actually wasn't sure what to expect from Jeremy when the man was pushed. Was the attempt to burn him and Spring a fluke or Jeremy willing to go too far?

Jeremy managed to stop his hysterical laughing as the phone call finished up.

He picked up the head on his desk. The amusement had faded, but he still smiled. "Yeah. That's the most awful, ridiculous solution to avoid talking with them for six hours. And I thought I had social anxiety. At least give the poor guy a paper plate instead of shoving his head in this thing." He stuck his head in and looked around, hands on his hips. "There's a camera watching somewhere in here isn't there? Scott, you bastard."

Hedy snickered at her brother's behaviour and glanced at the bots. She started laughing harder.

They clearly knew Jeremy was still there on screen and could hear him, but Toby suddenly looked irritated, his green glass eyes flicking across the screen.

"I thought you turned the facial recognition thing off," Teddy groaned.

Bonnie and Chica both seemed annoyed too, searching for the teen on-screen even though they knew they wouldn't see him. Freddy just sighed while Foxy snickered.

"It's part of your visual processing code. The database thing is a different program and screwed it up," Hedy said. "I don't know why it's so glitchy with everyone but Foxy."

Mike looked confused. "Is he like invisible to them or something?"

"He just doesn't register as being there anymore," Foxy explained. "It works on everyone but me, Goldy and Puppet. And BB."

"So weird," Ruby muttered. "Why would anyone stick their head in someone else's head?" she looked a little disturbed.

Jeremy shrugged. "I was messing around here. And later I couldn't find anything else. It was really weird though."

"It's creepy," Ruby shuddered.

Everyone looked at her.

"The weirdest things creep or freak you out," Chica muttered.

Jeremy took the head off and set it down back on the desk.

His amusement was gone.

With short movements, he went around the desk again, opening drawers and looking through the mess of papers, completely ignoring the tablet.

The screen switched to another clip sometime later.

Jeremy was out of the office.

Ruby's eyebrows went up a little at that.

"You left?" Mike asked.

Jeremy didn't answer for a moment. "I didn't know I was in danger yet."

He apparently hadn't run into anyone yet. In fact, there didn't seem to be any action from the animatronics. At least none that Jeremy seemed concerned with. He kneeled in front of a door, "Manager's Office", printed on a plaque above him. He was quiet and focused as he carefully worked the lock, a small black case with thin tools on the ground beside him.

Ruby scoffed. "Amateur."

"I'm concerned that you know how to pick a lock," Mike admitted. "But I'm not surprised."

Ruby smiled sweetly. "A petty thief owed me one so he taught me."

"I'm concerned with the company you keep," Freddy eyed her.

Ruby just shrugged. "I taught Foxy and Bonnie."

"What?!"

"Well, it's not against our programming," Foxy pointed out. "How do you think we keep getting into the staff room?"

"Give up, Freddy," Hedy chuckled.

The bear still didn't look too pleased.

Jeremy was getting a bit frustrated with the lock. Just as it seemed he was about to get it, a noise caught his attention and he froze.

He ducked to the side with a shout just as a chair was thrown at him from offscreen. It crashed against the door and clattered to the floor. One of the legs was bent now.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" he swore, scrambling to his feet. He pointed his flashlight at whoever threw it. "Bonnie? H-hey. What are yo-!" He shouted and ducked as another chair almost hit his head, which at that force might have seriously hurt him.

Everyone but Ruby winced. She tilted her head slightly.

"Huh, his aim was pretty bad back then."

She was trying really hard not to lose it after seeing how bad off Bonnie looked back then. Where the fuck was his face?!

She twitched slightly and Foxy looked at her in concern.

"Bonnie or Benji?" Hedy asked with a reserved tone. She still wasn't too sure who was in control during Jeremy's week. She couldn't imagine the Originals were immediately willing to help. The only ones who might have been morally sane that week were Goldy and the Originals and they couldn't have been faring well. But maybe she was wrong and the having no choice in the matter came after things had calmed down and they snapped out of it. Maybe they had gone after Jeremy in anger. She really didn't think that was the case, but she had never asked.

Puppet was his desperate self.

The Toys were basically toddlers at that point. Toddlers that were easy to frighten and manipulate. Barely alive and suddenly dealing with children killed on their watch.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at the screen while the Originals shrugged.

"We don't remember much from that time," Foxy admitted. "Just...pain."

"It's Benji," Ruby told them. "I can't see the eyes from this angle but from the way he's moving, it's Benji."

Everyone stared at her.

"Benji is left-handed, Bonnie is right-handed," she explained further, like it was obvious.

"...Huh. You're right," Hedy said while Benji frowned and looked at the screen closer.

It was a fuzzy time. Even the ghosts didn't remember much. Pieces. Feelings. Mostly confusion and pain.

Mike chuckled. "You're so hyper-observant it's kinda creepy."

"Thank you," Ruby flicked her hair out of her face.

"Why on earth was your first response to throw a chair at me?" Jeremy asked, internally weirded out he was able to even ask his attacker that as he watched his younger self make a break back to the office.

The kids all looked like they weren't sure what to feel about this. They were still stinging from the girls' righteous anger over the week of Ruby's coma, but the animosity seemed to have dissipated, just for now at least. The trauma was outweighing everything, even the fact Hedy still hadn't forgiven them and probably wouldn't for a long time.

They all had just basically watched the kids walk to their deaths on screen. It was hard to be angry at them at that exact moment. It was complicated.

Benji at the very least seemed to be on both Hedy and, weirdly, Ruby's good sides at the moment. It was annoying the other kids.

"I was scared."

That simple phrase hung in the air longer than Benji meant, or wanted.

"Shut up, Benji," Felix muttered.

Benji looked at him, suddenly a little braver. "We were scared, dummy."

Felix glared at him. "What are you talking about?! We were angry. We had a right to be angry!"

"But we were scared first."

"Both of you," Hedy said, tensing up "We're almost done. Don't lose it now. We can talk about all this later."

"You don't get to say anything! You weren't even there!" Felix snapped, the bad memories coming to the surface with these clips. His eyes widened and he recoiled in regret as Fredrick, Ginny, and Cheryl looked at him.

"No..." Hedy said, with a blank expression. "I wasn't."

Ruby stayed out of it for once and the bots all looked uncomfortable.

There wasn't much they could say. This was messing with all of them. It wasn't a time they wanted to remember.

One glance from Ruby did stop Michael from saying anything thankfully.

"Hedy...I'm sorry," Felix said. "I didn't mean..."

Hedy laughed humorlessly. "You're apologising? That's new. You're right. I wasn't there."

"Hedy, I didn't..."

"Felix, if you push me, I'm going to say something I'll regret. We'll talk about it later."

Felix stared down and nodded while the others flinched.

An awkward silence fell and the building didn't continue the video yet.

"To be fair, an apology is progress," Ruby pointed out.

Everyone was just too stunned by the fact that Ruby had defended the ghost kids to say anything.

"But seriously work on your brain-to-mouth filter Felix," the teen added.

She didn't look at them, keeping her eyes on the tv.

Since when was Ruby was mediator?

Hedy frowned, slightly irritated with Ruby that the teen felt the need to defend the kids from her. What did that say about her? Or about how angry she was at them?

Felix didn't respond, not even to glare at Ruby. He just stayed staring at the floor.

The camera view switched to the office and they expected Jeremy to come running through the door. But he hadn't arrived yet. Instead, thin black fingers gripped the edge of the visible vent opening and Puppet slid out. He stood at the desk, picking up the tablet Jeremy hadn't cared to pay attention too.

There was a derisive scoff when he noticed the music box control, but Puppet wasn't the type to talk to himself.

Ruby shuddered. "That wouldn't have been out of place in a horror movie."

Puppet chuckled at that.

Hedy looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You've never seen a horror movie."

Puppet stilled and met her look. "You don't know that." There was slight amusement in his tone.

Finally, Michael had something to say that probably wouldn't get him beat up. So long as he didn't mention he did it out of spite against his dad.

"I took Puppet to the movie theaters as a kid," he snorted.

Puppet looked irritated and glared at Michael for, admittedly slightly, ruining the moment for him. "You just used me to get into rated R showings," he retorted.

"Not my fault they didn't think a scarf and sunglasses were suspicious. There was even Dad's trenchcoat involved for fuck's sake."

Ruby turned and looked at Puppet in disbelief. "How the hell did you pass for human?! You're a walking stick! With a mask for a face!"

"I do look in a mirror once in a while, you know."

"To be fair," Hedy said, also intrigued. "No one's first thought of a thin guy with glasses, scarf, and a trenchcoat is going to be 'walking stick with a mask for a face'."

"One lady asked him to take it off," Michael said, snickering at the memory. "We scared the crap out of her and ran."

"And that was the end of that," Puppet said.

"Nah we went back a few times because you wanted to see The Shining and The Thing and some other crap," Michael retorted. "She just stared at us and didn't say anything."

Ruby kept staring at Puppet.

"I want to have a horror movie night," she admitted.

She turned to Michael. "You're not invited."

Michael had a flicker of disappointment flash across his face before he scoffed and glared, tempted to flip her off.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea..." Hedy said cautiously. "I think you're the only one who likes those. Well. Puppet now."

The others only looked curious. They'd never seen horror movies.

Goldy shared a knowing look with Puppet, stifling her snicker. That could be amusing.

"Oh come on Hedy, they've seen just about every genre except horror by now," Ruby whined. Honestly, whined.

Hedy didn't seem very impressed and looked at Ruby out the corner of her eye with a slight squint. She found the goriest of horror movies made her sick and hoped those types weren't on Ruby's shortlist.

Knowing her, they probably were. She wouldn't put it past Ruby to try and show the bots Saw as their first horror movie.

Puppet set down the tablet and deftly reached across the table to snatch up a set of keys. He studied them for a moment.

"What're you up to?" Ruby muttered suspiciously. "Creepy slender man bot is up to something."

"You are NOT showing them Slender Man," Hedy felt the need to ban that from the start.

No need to give Puppet ideas…

Puppet tossed the keys up in the air twice before plucking them out of the air with his other hand. He scoffed, but it sounded slightly like an angry laugh.

"Every night, when I go out," he said, but his tone was strange.

It took most of them a moment longer than it should have to realise he was singing.

But there was rage and stress in his voice. The nursery rhyme seemed threatening, not calming. He had a beautiful singing voice that only made it worse, giving the song an eerie quality that would send shivers up anyone's spine.

"The weasel's on the table. Take a stick and knock it off. Pop goes the weasel."

Goldy was the only one who didn't look caught off guard by Puppet's voice but was more sadly surprised by the fact that he was singing at all, even the frightening way he was.

"Horror movie," Ruby whispered. She wouldn't admit that this reminded her a little too closely of Nightmare Puppet.

That distorted tune still haunted her a little.

His voice and demeanour were cold, very much unlike the bot that played with the girls and braided Ruby's hair.

Then he took the keys, tucking them in his little hidden pocket that used to hold hair ties.

He flippantly shoved the purple hat Fritz had left on the desk onto the floor as he passed, chillingly humming. "All around the mulberry bush..." He murmured.

He drummed his fingers on the desk for a moment, checking the tablet, possibly to see where Jeremy was.

"The monkey chased the weasel."

He didn't even pause at the sound of running footsteps

"The monkey thought t'was all in good fun..." He left the song on an unfinished note, slipping back into the vent just as Jeremy ran back in.

"Pop goes the weasel," Ruby murmured in the silence.