A shrill giggle sounded in the darkness of the hall.

Baby came to a stop. One that was far too abrupt. She straightened herself up, furiously wiping away the oil that threatened to drip off her face and onto her clothes. With half of her face knocked askew, it was hard to look composed. She tried anyway. She refused to look even remotely close to what she had been reduced down to earlier.

Now that her head wasn't pounding quite as hard, Baby could better gather her thoughts. The waters of the vicious, rapid stream of her consciousness were not nearly as murky. Not as red.

Something scuttered across the floor, much like a mouse or rat, but the sound was too harsh to be a real animal. It was something sleek and metallic searching for nonexistent handholds on the linoleum flooring.

Insects began crawling under Baby's metal plating. Even if she knew that she was simply being messed with, things like this always made them start up.

They crawled over wires. Over metal rods. Over joints. Over circuit boards. Over blood. Her dried blood. Not hers or the guard's, but hers. It wasn't even there anymore, but it was it was it always would be no matter what a permanent stain on everything a nice reminder—

"Are you trying to make my power module short out, Bonnie? Because if so… you need to work on your approach."

Pink eyes peered up at Baby. "It gets the employees real good."

"The new ones, maybe… And speaking of new employees, do you have any idea who thought it was a good idea to make a disgusting mess near Lori's Gallery?"

"Nope." Bonnie shook their head. Then, after a beat, suggested, "Maybe it was whoever decided to pay you a visit earlier?"

Baby kept her expression neutral. "Oh, know all about that, do you?"

"Well. Freddy and Foxy told me that you looked rough," came the careful response. "What do you think? Is all the icky stuff a human's fault? An animatronic's? Both?"

"I think I'd like to place more faith in the animatronics here… but…"

"You're paranoid?"

"Yes. Awfully paranoid. How do any of you put up with me?"

"Dunno." Bonnie giggled again. "I guess none of us can blame you."

A splotch of oil began to seep into the red fabric of Baby's suit coat. She smiled. "I guess not. I'll see you around, Bonnie. I still have things to take care of."

"See ya."

With haste, Baby walked the rest of the distance to the Funtime Auditorium. Her hands were caught between doing two different things: trying to get the oil out of her clothes and raking her fingers over her arms to get the prickling to go away. Unfortunately, she didn't have claws or nails like Foxy and Ballora and wasn't accomplishing much of anything.

When Baby punched in the code for the door lock and stepped inside, she was glad to be greeted with nothing but the all-encompassing sound of silence. Normally she found it suffocating, but right now it was far better than the alternative: Freddy and Foxy competing to be as loud as possible. She had already dealt with enough of them for one night.

It wasn't until Baby was much closer to Parts and Service that she realized she wasn't alone in the space despite no loud voices greeting her.

"Lori?" she questioned tentatively, although there was no mistaking her shadowed figure for anybody else's. About half of Baby's apprehension faded into relief. "What are you still doing here? Are the Minireenas okay?"

"They're fine." As soon as she said that, Baby got close enough to see a small, stark white face with a wide smile peer over Ballora's shoulder, followed by another, and another. All three Minireenas waved at her.

Baby gave a small, awkward wave in return, finally put at ease. "That's good. I'm glad."

The Minireenas started giggling and disappeared behind Ballora once more. If Baby didn't already know better, she would think they were being shy.

"I wanted to help you fix your face."

"Oh," was all that Baby could manage to say in response.

"Yeah. 'Oh.'"

When Baby did not move or reply in any way, Ballora rolled her eyes. The smile tugging at the corners of her pink-painted lips made it clear that she wasn't all that put off by her lack of reply or blank stare. "Come on." The dancer took one of Baby's hands in her own and pulled her into Parts and Service.

The heavy door behind them swung shut of its own accord, making the already slightly stuffy room feel even more so. "Sit." Baby allowed herself to be pushed onto the conveyor belt, which was responsible for taking up the majority of the space. "Move your bangs out of the way for me."

Baby pushed back her hair. It had become plastered to her forehead with oil.

"Does it still hurt?"

Yes. "Not as much as it did earlier."

"That's good." Ballora gently forced open the crooked faceplates, then pointed to a shelf. "Can you girls bring that toolbox over here?"

As she turned back towards Baby, the corners of Ballora's mouth ticked up once more. Baby returned the smile. It was difficult not to.

The toolbox was unceremoniously dumped onto the workbench. Ballora popped it open and expressed her gratitude to the Minireenas.

"...Lori?"

"Hm?"

"I..." Baby stopped herself. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. I was already here, so it just made sense to—"

"No, no. I meant… in general."

"I'm not following."

"Just. Thanks for just being the way you always are, I suppose. After everything."

"I meant what I told you earlier," Ballora replied after a moment's pause.

"We're all ticking time bombs, I just so happened to be the first to go off, right? Even then, I still don't understand how you can still stand to look at me the way you do." A Minireena crawled her way from Ballora's arm and onto Baby. Although she usually never paid any acknowledgment when they did that, she couldn't repress her slight shudder this time around. "The others—"

"Have they been giving you trouble?"

"No," Baby lied. She was good at that. Better at it than she was at most things. Said a lot about her, didn't it? Liar. Liar. The voice in the back of her head trying to justify what she was doing had long ago become faint. It was unnecessary, anyway. Nothing but a nuisance getting in the way of Baby hearing more important things.

Everything was happening as it should… For the most part. Some of them could stand to dial down their eagerness.

Everything was going to work out. It was going to get better. They deserved it. They deserved the best.

"I mean, they are a bit upset. There's no doubt about that. The weird energy is palpable, but it's not as if one of them did this to me. Ow—"

"Sorry," Ballora apologized, pulling away and turning to the toolbox once more. "You know, Foxy did bring up the possibility that another animatronic did this."

"And you asked whether he truly thought that one of us could do that to the other. Lori, look at me." The dancer tilted her head back up, her eyes narrowed slightly to lessen the sting of the room's soft light. "I doubt it. You know how Foxy is. He loves adding drama to things and hardly ever believes the theories he comes up with. Do you think he or anyone else here would be willing to do something like this?"

"...No." She let out a sigh. "No, I don't. I just…"

"Want a concrete answer of some kind?"

"Yes."

Vision returned to Baby's left side. "It's not like I can say anything for certain since I… I don't remember much, but still… I don't think it was one of us."

"What do you remember?"

Ushering the Bidybabs into the vent with the loose cover.

Knowing his intent as he entered. The big grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. The unexpected company following behind him.

The words that practically locked her place, rendering her attempts to fight back practically nonexistent.

The silent cries.

The pain. The pain and waiting for it to be over and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting it hurt it was okay but it hurt—

"A figure entering. Getting the Bidybabs out of sight. Getting hit a bunch of times, then finding myself alone on the floor."

"Hit with what?"

All Baby could give was a shrug. "Something real hard. I don't know, Lori. I wish I did. Maybe more of it will come back to me later."

Ballora was quiet as she finished up Baby's repairs. Baby could practically see the thoughts swirling around her head. "Can you try to close your faceplates?"

Baby was able to successfully close all of her faceplates, even the ones that had been previously knocked crooked.

"Seems like my work here is done."

"You already said not to worry about it, but thank you." As she stood, Baby pressed a kiss against Ballora's forehead. "We should return to our spots. I doubt we have much time left to ourselves. Do you want to walk together? I'll carry the girls if you want." She shot them a look. "You three need to keep your hands out of my pockets, though."

"I…" Ballora paused, watching as the Minireenas latched themselves onto Baby. It didn't make her shiver this time around. "I'd like that."

What Ballora originally intended to say never ended up being uttered. Probably for the best.

"Hello, Parts and Service. Miss me? Doubt it." Scraps dragged her claws across the surface of the workbench, gouging marks into it. "Bet you're still sick of seeing my face. Oh, she's back again, you think. So needy. Just so you know, I'm not here for me. I'm here for Ballora. Need to take care of some scratches. Maybe this time around, you won't disappoint me."

Lolbit lurked in his Auditorium. Right beside the door to Parts and Service. Just when he thought the clown couldn't get any stranger, she started talking to a room.

He's been keeping an eye on her since she showed up a few days ago. He simply can't shake his suspicions.

"I am more than familiar with feeling hopeless… but I have only known it to swallow me whole here. I wonder, are you truly meant to help service anything here? I find that hard to imagine. They like us when we're broken. They must."

From what Lolbit could tell, Scraps had no clue that she wasn't always as alone as she thought she was.

"...Don't you agree, Foxy?"