"Put this on and we can get started, alright? The process shouldn't take very long."

Oh, how I enjoyed the small gratification of removing soaked jeans stuck to my legs! The feeling was quickly replaced by the intense discomfort that grew from sitting stark-naked in a cold, stiff hospital gown in front of a man twice my age. Since I had gotten a view of my entire body, I noticed that the pale green of my skin had become darker in places; my joints appeared almost reddish-purple-hued and felt soft to the touch. My face wrinkled in disgust- maybe a little fear, too.

"Your skin is getting worse by the hour," observed Funtime Foxy. Circus Baby agreed with him. I made a small whimper noise and hugged my once attractive body.

The CAT scan machine filled up a majority of the small room, its clean, white surface contrast to the yellow walls. The wide and empty tube reminded me of a huge doughnut.

I haven't eaten anything since that weird butter stuff, I realised with a grimace. By the door, a glass window gleamed in the harsh light. I did a double-take. My brain ached thinking about seeing a robot in a clown mask standing there. The operator slapped the top of the machine, alarming me back to reality.

"Okay, get in," he said with a smirk. He saw my brows snap together and pursed his lips. "It's not that bad. You just lay there and we zap you with radioactive lasers." His hand waggled at the patient table. My jaw clenching, I sat down. Animatronics shifted around in my body again and pretzeled my stomach.

"We're gonna dieee, " Funtime Freddy's whine rang in my ears. I could tell he strained his voice to keep it just below a yell.

"We're not going to die," Circus Baby told him, then added quietly, "hopefully…" I shivered, shocked as my back pressed against a firm icy surface. Beyond my feet brooded the gaping hole of the thick doughnut machine. My head began to swim. For just a second, I imagined the inside of the machine swirling with arrays of sharp teeth. I gulped down my racing heart.

I think we might actually die.

When I looked back up, the tan face of the radiologist peered over me. His moustache stretched.

"Are you readyy?" he sang as if this was an amusement park ride. He snapped up one of his thumbs. My heavy arm somehow raised my hand and I formed a thumbs-up in return.

"S-sure."

The guy nodded, grinning ear-to-ear, before strutting away. He activated the scanner. My brain provided me with the lovely image of another silently-whirring machine. My heartbeat seemed to rattle my entire body. Biting my cheek, I traced the lines of the ceiling with my eyes. This isn't that machine. This is okay.

"The Scooper…" I heard Ballora wail in a deep and desperate tone. The flickering Scooping Room lights played before my eyes; its alarm playing in my sensitive ears.

No-no- Let's just do this! It'll turn off or something! I squeezed shut my eyes to mentally block the distractions. My hand itched for contact with another. Any hand would do- Mabel's, Sasha's, Chelsea's, or even Father's if he'd ever be willing to.

"Ohh, and-" called the man who prepared to scan me, "-don't move. You can breathe slow but try to keep as still as possible." Soon after he said that I began to move not of my own volition. The quaking began in my feet and fingertips. It spread across my body like a scorching dust storm, centring in my gut. The tube passed over my stomach with a vibrating hum. My pace of breathing hastened. I clenched my fists, my muscles tensing up trying to stop the violent juddering. Nausea mixed with my fear.

"Hey, you gotta calm down! Stop mov-" The radiologist paused to gasp at something out of my view. "Wh- why's the screen doing that?!"

"I-I can't-t stop!" I cried, my voice breaking up and faltering. "I'm n-not doing tha-that!"

"HE KNOWS!" Funtime Foxy screamed while Funtime Freddy spilt in a glitching tone, "I-I'M SORR-RY! I'M SCARED! WHERE'S BON-BON? B-B-BON-BONN-N!" His exclaim shot out of my mouth. "I'M SCA-RED!"

"CALM D-DOWN!" Baby directed, but her voice shook all the same. Our combined fear brought tears streaming down my face. My arms flailed, out of my control now. Static blinked in my vision as I heard my body's skin plates dividing in a series of tiny rips. The lights of the room snapped on and off without rhythm and soon, so did the CAT scanner. The machine gave a low, ugly purr when it entirely shut down. As well as the rest of the building's power.

In my fogged mind, I heard the Funtimes screaming and glitching. Their voices faded away as if I'd been whisked away on a train. I blinked. My eyelids did not open.

01100011 01101001 01110010 01100011 01110101 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100010 01111001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110011 01100101 01110011 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110100 01110010 01101111 01101100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01110011 01100101 01101100 01100110

Pink doubled afterimages displayed the broken world like a mega-screwed-up VHS tape. Static faded in repetition. My muscles were limp and gave distant aches. Actions blurred in my eyes.

The man. Screaming. Can't move. Tears streaming. What's going on?! Hands flying wildly. My arm splitting apart, stretching and crunching. I'm trapped! Warm, pulsing neck. Voices. I'm trapped! The blinding glint of Father's knife.

A scream emerged from my dry throat. My flickering voice reverberations shredded my eardrums. "What's- wha-what's- what's-s going-g-g on-on-"

And suddenly, I felt the gravel of the parking lot underneath my sneakers; the rocks stabbing between every groove. The sweat-slick hair on my head swayed in the wind. My skin felt heavy and drenched. I couldn't tell what I was doing. I wasn't doing anything. Was I just standing? Adrenaline rushed through my veins, pulsing through my heart. My limbs swished back and forth- I was running. I couldn't feel the action but I felt each muscle move individually and our force breaking the air. Feverishly dizzy, I tried to gather a conclusion.

It's- I- I saw- what- I'm- how- what did-

My fried brain could not gather anything.

"Mi-a- Mic- ael-"

I know that! I focused on the voice. It began to mix with those that belonged to familiar robots. They're talking.

"…appened? What did they do to you?!"

Mabel! When recognition came to me, so did reality. The girl stood before me with saucer-wide eyes, wringing her hands. My heart twinged. She's scared of me again! What did I do? What did-

"Can we still get waffles?" the raspy voice of Funtime Freddy sounded out of my mouth. Mabel stepped back in shock. She bumped up against the front of the car.

"That's not me! " I tried to say, but my voice echoed in my skull. "What?" I couldn't open my mouth at all. "I can't talk! I can't- I can't move! I- why can't I do anything?!" When I shut up, I heard the rhythmic orchestra of my heart pounding, my lungs breathing, my blood rushing, my organs working and fluids travelling, my hair rustling; and something making quiet beeps and ticks in my chest. The urge to cover my ears tore my brain in half. This is how the inside of me sounds?! What the hell?!

"I think you lost control," Baby realised, wiggling each of my fingers.

"You think so? Give me back my body!" I declared as my own voice trailed behind my words in a muffled monotone. This feels too weird! Am I even in my body?

"I don't know how to do that yet, Michael!"

I caught a glance at my atrocious appearance: my jacket zipper fastening the fabric together at the near middle, poorly hiding the hospital gown that was certainly not red before; my sleeves rolled up and revealing what looked like deeply cracked skin and smeared blood on my arms. What did they do?!

"Y-you- you're talking about yourself like-" Mabel stammered over her words, her cheeks blanching. "You're possessed. You got possessed."

"Mabel, can you hear me?!" I attempted to yell. She didn't react to it, so she didn't hear it. I noticed Chelsea hiding behind Mabel's leg. I tried calling out to her, "Hey! Chelsea!" The Bidybab continued to stare bug-eyed at my face, her teeth grinding together. I saw the terror in her plastic eyes. She'd never thought she'd see me covered in someone else's blood. Neither did Mabel. I wanted to tear out my hair and cry.

"Actually, we're inside his body!" Funtime Freddy explained to Mabel. The feeling of his chuckle escaping my throat perturbed my hazy mind.

I can't control anything. I really can't control anything… this wasn't- we wanted the doughnut scan thing to turn off and it did but it wasn't supposed to do this!

"Yes, we're literally under his skin," Funtime Foxy added. He used my hand to gesture to me. Mabel planted her hands on the hood of her dad's car, breathing as if she'd run a marathon.

"Uh… c-can I speak to Mikey, please? I- I think he needs way more help than I thought."

I groaned in exasperation. "Baby! You have to explain everything! I look crazy! You're making me sound crazy! You gotta fix this!"

"You're speaking too loudly," Circus Baby grumbled, then said to Mabel, "Mikey can't talk right now. He… well, he lost control of his body when the CAT scan dramatically reacted to it. We haven't figured out how to fix that yet." I watched my arms draw together. Baby cleared my throat. "Anyway, I'm Circus Baby."

"No! Don't introduce yourself! You need to give me back my body!" I hollered, to no avail.

"THE NAME'S FUNTIME FREDDY! HAHA!"

"This wondrous voice belongs to the one and only, Funtime Foxy! It's a pleasure to finally speak to you directly."

"…I'm Ballora."

"But you can call us… Ennard!" Baby ended. "I came up with the name just now." Mabel squinted.

"Seriously?! That's stupid!" I exclaimed in my own head, to which Baby rolled my eyes.

"Do we really need a name, though?" Funtime Foxy passively agreed with me. "Is it really necessary?"

"I think it's pretty NEATO!" bubbled Funtime Freddy. Funtime Foxy shook my head.

"What if we made it, 'Funtime Ennard', to add a little pizzazz? A little sprinkle of fancy? Just a touch of-"

We all startled at the blare of sirens approaching.

"We are NOT going to jail!" I insisted in panic, yet again trying and failing to move my own extremities. "Ennard" stumbled into a hurried scramble and flopped into the car. The driver stood outside, her feet rooted to the ground and her eyebrows raised to points.

"Do you want to go to jail?" Baby stuck our head out from the backseat window. Mabel blinked into focus, yelping, "Oh!" and dashing to the driver's seat. She could barely start the car, her fingers were shaking so bad. Groaning, the car rolled out of its parking spot.

"We're running from the police," she hoarsed as she stepped on the gas. The car zoomed down the dark, vast road. "We're- we're actually running from the police."

"Driving, technically," Baby decided to comment. Mabel tensed her shoulders at the soft feminine voice coming from me.

"Oh God, and my best friend is insane. He's gone insane. He got possessed or something. Insane." She slapped the steering wheel and choked on a pained, quavering laugh. "I'm going insane! I'm dreaming. I gotta be." Shaking her head, she brought her eyes to the rearview mirror to stare at me.

"I'm so sorry, Mabel! " I knew she couldn't hear me blurt it out. " It's crazy and weird, but it's not a dream!"

"So, y-you in Mike's body," the distressed girl began, "why? Like, explain. Please?" Funtime Foxy spoke up, using my hands to motion exuberantly.

"We needed a proper disguise to get to the surface, see. Michael Afton's pretty fragile and not all that good-looking- in comparison to me, that is-"

" WhAT -" He ignored my outburst. "-so, personally, I consider this body a bit of a downgrade in terms of appearance, but he's as close to human-looking as we could get, so whatever!" I saw Mabel's brow furrow in confusion.

"Um… what? What do you mean surface? What d- happened? And- and don't you dare say he's not good-looking!" she sputtered with a defensive glare crossing her perplexed expression.

"Thank you," I hummed. She had remarked about me in the past, but this time it struck me differently. I felt my ears heat up a little.

"We're animatronics," Circus Baby gave an explanation next. "We were built by Michael's father, who-" Mabel interrupted her with a scoff, "Of course it was him. Of course. All the stuff he makes is pure evil. They killed his k-" Mabel touched a nerve because Circus Baby balled up my fists.

"We're not evil! We had to escape! He was hurting us! We were treated like circus animals!" Her emotions twisted my face into a scowl. We pointed at Chelsea, who snapped upright and played with the hem of her dress.

"Tell her," the clown robot ordered. "You know how bad it felt to be trapped down there." Mabel whirled in her seat, judging Chelsea with a scrutinizing stare. The Bab's face was blank.

"Well… it was very dark."

Baby narrowed my eyes, then said what she expected Chelsea to, "We were punished every time we tried to escape!" Looking back at the road, Mabel's face softened in the mirror.

"So you just wanted to get out."

"Yes."

"And you used Mike's body to do that." Before Baby could continue, Mabel asked another question: "Did he- did he agree with that? I mean, I- I don't think he would do that, you know." Baby hesitated.

"You might as well tell her," I sighed. "You told her everything else." It felt wrong to let Baby explain the things to Mabel; however, I never had the balls to say it myself.

"He didn't," Baby finally answered. Her voice was slow and careful. "We- I tricked him. I tricked him into thinking that he could fix me, and that I could fix him. I know that was bad- and maybe evil. But I felt that I had to. There was no other way."

"There's always another way," Mabel argued almost inaudibly. Ennard tugged the seat belt strap and watched it snap back to my chest. Baby looked down at the gooey red stuff all over my clothes. I felt guilt and hatred resonating from her the longer she stared.

"I didn't mean to," she said with a volume not loud enough for Mabel to hear.

"We got scared," the other Funtimes mumbled.

"I know," I sighed. " But that doesn't change anything. We're all at fault here."

The radiologist's terrified scream surrounded me.

We sat there for several minutes in agonizing silence, save for Mabel's occasional quiet ramble. She ranted about how she could find a way to get rid of "the bad robot issue"; she was indecisive about whether that required a surgeon, a mental hospital, or an exorcist. With a frown, she asked about aliens, then scolded herself for being ridiculous. She compared the situation to that of a horror drama film and winced when she realised she was the misinformed side character. Her eyes gleamed with tears the entire time. She didn't allow herself to cry. Anxiety seemed to tear her apart by the second.

In the back of my mind, I was still captive. I watched and listened to the sounds of bodily functions and the oppressed sounds of the car. Ennard and I collectively stared out the window. The whirling shadows of clouds in the early morning sky mesmerised me but didn't distract me from my thoughts.

I should have tried harder to get control. Now someone else is dead. He didn't deserve it. It's my fault again. And Mabel's really going to leave now. She's not going to care anymore…

Mabel's father's old car pulled into the ragged driveway, its wheels cracking the pebbles softly. The sky glowed a deep scarlet behind the looming silhouette of my house.

"Thanks for taking us home!" Funtime Freddy cheered. Mabel turned off the car. She stared ahead for a while, in a daze. Then, with a sigh, she rammed her head against the steering wheel. Her curls fell over her face as she sat there. Seconds later, she broke.

"I just want Mike back," she sobbed, barely audible. "I just want him back."

My heart split into a million pieces.

"He's in there somewhere. He's probably scared and hurting… I'm so s-sorry… I knew he'd been acting too weird. And here he is, with some w-weird robot people controlling his body an-and maybe even his mind! Covered in what I hope isn't either his or someone else's blood. They had to have done something to him at the ER. He wasn't this screwed up before." She straightened her spine, leaning back against the seat. "I don't want to believe that he's- he's turning bad or something- he'd never hurt anyone like that. But if he's really g-going full-on murderer, I can't- I-" Her chest shuddered and she gulped. I finally registered the tears on my own face.

"I'm not going to be that!" I cried. "I won't let it happen!" My claim was hard to believe at this point.

"I can't live with that. I could never. Best friend. Lost his mind. I let him. It would be all my fault," Mabel continued to weep to herself. She wiped a tear from her chin, then shook her head. "All my fault. I don't know what to do." My cold inner voice wavered as I murmured in my head.

"I don't know what to do either."

One of the Funtimes opened my mouth to reply, but Mabel snapped her head around to face us all of a sudden.

"Let him talk! Give him his body back so I can have him back! Get out of him! Something! Please!" Her puffy eyes released tears again.

"I don't know how to let him talk!" Baby exclaimed back, slamming my fist on the seat. "And we can't just hop out of his body! Until we figure this out, we-" Funtime Freddy interrupted her, tying up my tongue for a moment.

"W-w-wait WAIT! LOOK!" He pointed my finger out the window. Everyone but Mabel turned to squint through the darkness. Is that- no, it can't be.

The glimpse of a purple car door brought tingles of hope to my body.

"It's Father! He's back!" I didn't realise how excited I sounded at first. I didn't care about anything he did in the past- I just wanted him to be there; to tell me that he'd fix everything. Hoping that he'd hug me was definitely a ridiculous wish.

"I thought we scared that crusty Afton off for good," Funtime Foxy grunted. Mabel turned to look now, her brows lifting. Funtime Freddy pressed my face and hands against the window. Wide-eyed, Chelsea peered over my shoulder. "He's back."

"I didn't think he'd ever come back," Baby began. "What if he could fix this? We'll make him fix this. He'll fix us so that Michael has primary control again. Then Mabel wouldn't be sad anymore." The mentioned girl wiped her eyes and straightened her spine.

"He can- he can really fix him?" Doubt brought a little edge to her voice. Nodding, Ennard almost sprawled out on the driveway trying to hurry out of the car. They brushed the rocks off my soiled jeans- which now lacked a belt- after yanking them up to my belly button. The evening air chilled my skin and dried my wet clothes. Chelsea followed me quietly, as usual.

"Would he even want to fix us?" I pondered, then blurted to the robots, "Wait, don't just leave Mabel there." We pivoted to face her; she still sat in the car, trying to grasp all the hell that had happened in 12 hours.

"I… I hope you can forgive us," Baby apologised. She held my hands together. "Michael will be fine by tomorrow. We'll still be here, but just in his head. It'll be as if we weren't there at all."

"You're trying to make her feel better," I observed. I was surprised Baby would do that but flattered. Regardless, my urge to embrace Mabel didn't falter. We can't hug her looking like this.

"Okay," breathed Mabel. She didn't sound very convinced. To me, Baby spoke gently, "I mean the same to you as well. I- I hope that you can move again soon." She paused halfway through her words. I knew she kept something back.

"Thanks," I said.

When we turned back to go inside the house, my feet froze in their tracks. A violent shock zipped through every atom in our bodies. The tremours began again.

"N-n-no-o!" I shrilled, my voice chopping apart as it pushed past my lips.

"Oh, God! Not again!" Mabel's voice cried out from miles away. "I can't just sit here again! I don't know what to do!" I gritted my teeth and clenched my spasming muscles. My eyes saw white and blue flashes. A mechanical screech sounded from me; every body within screamed in agony. Even my thoughts broke apart: What- wha- what's hap-pening?! We're not doing the CAT sca-an anymore! I felt the cool air on my skin, then I didn't; then I did. The hot-cold flickers dizzied my frenzied mind.

"CONTROLLED SHOCK! NO-OO! IT H-HURTS!" Funtime Foxy squealed while Freddy recited his programming, "WE GOTTA G-GO B-BACK TO-TO OUR ST-A-AGES!"

"DANCE AWAY THE PA-AIN!" bellowed Ballora and flung my arms up despite our rapid seizing. Without a stage to automate to, the animatronics freaked. Circus Baby yelled something about hurting, but my hearing faded too quickly. No! I can't! I can't! My eyelids fluttered like a slot machine and threatened to close. The world sped before my fizzling vision once again.

Crying and screaming! PAIN! Go back! Teeth chattering. STaGE! I can't move! Trapped! She's hurting us! Hurting! PAIN! I can't- I- Grabbed my leg. Foot connected with small plastic face. Mabel. NO! Body warmth. I need- I need to control! It hurts! The blinding glint of Father's knife.

Mabel's gurgled scream shattered every trembling bone inside me. Yet again, hot blood gushed between my fingers.

NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO! NOT HER!

I wheezed a cry of anguish. My legs became jelly. The gravel knocked what little air I sucked up out of my shivering lungs. Through the fizzing screens flipping in my vision like channels on a television, I noticed Mabel curled up across from me. Her face draining of colour, she pressed her fingers over open, oozing orifices in her chest and gut. She gasped and coughed in ugly splutters. No scream escaped her mouth.

And that look. I can never forget the way her hollowing eyes bore holes in my soul.

"Mab-b-bel," quietly whimpered my jittery voice. As quickly as it came, the controlled shock's voltage left my body and Ennard's. Our convulsing reduced to little twitches and shivers.

"M-Mabel-l…"

"Welcome back," calmly greeted a familiar British accent.

After blinking through dancing colours and blazing tears, I glared at dull silver eyes and a thin-lipped smile looming over us.

Father!