"I've got a good feeling about tonight," Dean said, rubbing his hands together. Earlier, he had sent Sam out to get some food and told him not to hurry back, to take some time to smell the fresh air. Sam had stared at him skeptically, but Dean had merely smiled at him without showing any teeth.
"You won't be bored here by yourself?" Sam had asked.
"Oh, no, I'll uh, get some reading done," Dean had replied. "I'm sure Cas will pop in soon anyway."
Sam had just nodded at him before stepping out the door. When he came back two hours later, Dean was sitting on the bed in a different shirt. His hair was wet. So was Cas'. He said nothing.
"Well, you're in a good mood tonight," Sam said as he sat down his coffee and settled into his chair. Dean looked sideways as Cas and raised his eyebrows slightly. The corner of his mouth pulled into a lopsided smirk and Cas smiled faintly as he met Dean's gaze, looking down and then away.
Sam pushed down the laugh that was rising in his throat and ended up coughing instead, blaming it on the coffee he hadn't yet touched as the recording clicked on.
"Hello, hello? Hey! Hey, wow, day four. I knew you could do it."
"Yay us," Dean said flatly, glancing at Cas, who smiled broadly back at him now that Sam had his back turned.
"Uh, hey, listen, I may not be around to send you a message tomorrow." A banging sound could be heard in the background, and Dean furrowed his brow. "It's-it's been a bad night here for me. Um, I-I'm kind of glad that I recorded my messages for you, uh, when I did." The banging was getting louder now. "Uh, hey, do me a favor. Maybe, sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits in the back room? I'm going to try to hold out until someone checks. Maybe it won't be so bad." The banging was starting to get so loud it was drowning out his words. "Uh, I-I-I always wondered what was in all those empty heads back there." The sound of a chime playing could be heard through the recording, but Dean glanced around nervously anyway, just to be sure. "You know, oh, no-" Suddenly there was the sound of a scuffle. An animatronic screech, not unlike the one they heard when they were jumped their second night, and then the recording cut to static.
After a few moments of silence, Dean was the first one to speak. "I take it back. This is going to be a bad night."
"We need to check out the back room," Sam said quickly.
"The back room?" Dean repeated. "Sam, Phone Guy wanted to look into the back room and that's when they killed him. Did you hear the banging?"
"It was more than one of them," Sam agreed. "So what do you think? They teamed up? Group effort?"
"Maybe," Dean spread his hands. "I don't know, they've been attacking us one at a time so far. But if we go out there-"
"I can go," Cas suggested.
"No," Dean said a little too fast, spinning on his heel. "No, you stay here, with us."
"Dean-" Sam started.
"No, it's too dangerous," Dean said. "Besides, we need you here. Eyes on both doors, remember?"
"Dean-" Sam said again.
"Check the cameras," Dean said finally. End of discussion.
"It's not even 1 AM and Foxy's already coming out," Sam said. On the screen, Foxy was already halfway off the stage, paused in mid-run.
"Conserve the power," Dean said in a low voice, looking in Cas' direction. Cas sulked, turning away and saying nothing. "Oh come on-"
"I can go, Dean," Cas said in a gravelly voice as he turned back towards Dean. "I'm an angel, you ass. You can see me on the cameras. I'll be fine."
"We don't know what's in that back room-" Dean started.
"I'll find out, and I'll let you know," Cas said. He took a step closer to Dean, his face hovering just in front of Dean's. Dean's bright green eyes dropped from Cas' eyes, to his lips, then back up again. His breathing became shallow as he stared into Cas' fervent ocean-blue eyes. Cas inclined his head ever so slowly in what could barely be called a nod before he turned and walked wordlessly out of the room. Dean blinked a few times and sucked the air into his lungs before exhaling loudly through his nose.
"You okay?" Sam asked.
"Pull up the monitors," Dean said quickly, walking over to Sam. "Follow him."
"Dean, we can't waste the power."
"Sam-"
"Dean, it just turned 1 AM and we only have 87% battery left," Sam said. "Dean, he'll be fine."
Dean's nostrils flared. "Check the others."
"Foxy hasn't moved. Just man both lights, okay? I don't want to waste all the power on the monitors," Sam said.
Dean bit his tongue and checked both lights. Both hallways were dark. He didn't hear anything, although he couldn't be sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign.
Sam sighed, idly moving the camera back towards the Cove. "Dean, Foxy's gone." He flicked the camera over to the West Hall just in time to catch Foxy sprinting towards the office door. Dean rushed and closed the door literally just in time. He could see the blood-smeared snout on Foxy's fur as the door just managed to close, trapping it outside. There was a bang on the door, and Dean watched the power drop a full percent over Sam's shoulder. Dean flicked the lights twice and opened the door. Foxy was gone.
"Back in the Cove," Sam sighed, scratching behind his ear uncomfortably. "That was a close call, Dean."
"Tell me about it," he murmured. "No sign of Cas on the monitors?"
"Thought I saw him around the East Hall," Sam answered. "Though how does he know where to go?"
"He doesn't," Dean muttered, trying not to think about it.
"But what if there's another animatronic we don't know about in the back room?" Sam asked. "Maybe one more violent so it's confined back there-"
"It's Cas, okay?" Dean asked sternly. "You heard him, he's an angel. He'll be fine."
"Foxy's coming out again," Sam said, pulling up the feed that showed Foxy at a mid-run off the Cove stage.
"Like we don't have enough to worry about," Dean muttered.
"As soon as he comes, get ready to close that door," Sam said.
Dean stood by the West Hall doorway; hand on the door button, while Sam periodically checked the monitor to make sure Foxy hadn't moved. He didn't check any other cameras to save power.
Suddenly Dean heard a laugh off to his right and quickly shut the door. "Did you hear it that time?"
"Hear what?" Sam asked. "Chica outside?"
"No, the laugh," Dean said. "Freddy's laugh."
"I-" Sam shook his head, making sure Foxy was still there. "I didn't hear anything Dean. Open the door, we need to save power."
Dean reluctantly opened the door as he flicked the lights, making sure there was nothing in the hallway. But he had heard a laugh. This time, he was sure of it. Freddy was out and about tonight – what if he had found Cas?
"Bonnie's in the supply closet," Sam reported. "And-" He paused. Now he heard it too. A deep belly-laugh hue-hue-hue that didn't sound completely human. It sounded…distorted. Mechanical. Dean slammed the East Hall door shut again and waited a few moments before flicking on the light. Nothing there.
"I need to go after Cas," Dean said. "2 AM and he's still not back."
"You can't leave," Sam said hotly. "Freddy's not joking around tonight, Bonnie is in the closet down the hall, Chica's probably in the restroom or something and Foxy's just five seconds away from tearing my frontal lobe off. What if I can't get to the door in time?" Dean pursed his lips. They hadn't seen Chica yet. What if she had gone after Cas?
"He can take care of himself, Dean," Sam said, as if he had known exactly what Dean had been thinking.
Suddenly there was a low mechanical rumbling outside and Dean checked the lights. Bonnie was standing directly outside the West Hall door. Dean tapped the button lightly, watching the door slide shut. He went over to the other door and opened it, flashing the lights quickly to make sure Chica wasn't there.
"Take a look at this," Sam said, gesturing for Dean to hurry. Dean hesitated, glancing at the open dark corridor before joining Sam at the monitor. Chica was in the restroom, all right, but something was wrong. It's head was twitching like it had a nervous tick. It glared at the camera with unblinking sullen eyes, his head twitching to the side every two seconds. Twitch twitch. Twitch twitch.
"Maybe it attacked Cas," Dean said. "Maybe he uh, smashed it over the head and got away or something."
"I thought I noticed Bonnie doing it too," Sam said. "In the supply closet. I only saw it quick so I thought I imagined it, but if Chica's doing it too-"
"What, they're literally becoming twitchy now?" Dean asked. "Twitchy for what? Revenge? Blood? What is it they're after?"
"Still trying to figure that out," Sam said lightly as he skimmed the monitor over the Cove again to hold Foxy in place. "I can't find what they did with the kids' bodies, and we're here all night so we can't exactly head out to the local cemeteries and check to see if there's any empty coffins. We can't even get a name or a fixed number of how many kids there were."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Dean asked.
"I'll call Bobby again in the morning," Sam sighed. "Dean. Door!" Dean closed the right door. "No, Dean the other-" But the door was already shut to protect them from the evil mechanical rabbit when the evil mechanical fox came forward and knocked twice. The power dropped six percent.
"Great," Dean laughed. "Just great. You want Cas to go off and explore some maybe-empty costumes. He's not back yet, and we have to survive three and a half hours on forty-nine percent power."
"Dean-"
"We're not going to be able to do this," Dean said. "We're not going to be able to do this and if something happened to Cas, even he's not going to be able to save us this time."
"Well, then we fight," Sam said. "We brought the bag."
"Yeah, a lot of good a bunch of hammers and crowbars are going to do us if those things jump us at the same time," Dean huffed.
Dean heard the laugh again and punched the right door shut angrily. He flicked the lights and opened the door, then did the same to the left door.
"Foxy's back in the Cove," Sam said. "Chica is gone – no, wait – Chica's in the East Hall, um, I can't find Bonnie."
"Well, he-"
"Shit," Sam huffed. "Foxy's already coming out of the Cove. Again."
"Isn't that the third time tonight?" Dean asked. "What's his deal?"
"Maybe he senses Cas roaming around?" Sam asked.
"He should be back by now," Dean said, glancing at the time. It was almost four now.
"Foxy's staying put, Bonnie's in the supply closet-" Sam started but shut his mouth immediately as the laughter started again. Not one laugh, but two this time. Hue-hue-hue. Hue-hue-hue.
Dean slammed the right door shut, then checked the lights and opened it again.
"Dean, look-" Sam pointed at the East Hall corner monitor. Freddy was standing there, a teddy-bear shaped shadow with two white glowing eyes.
Dean cursed under his breath. "So he's right there, Foxy's going to make a run for it any second now, and Cas is MIA. Could it be any worse?"
"It just turned 4 AM and we are at 32% power," Sam said. "I think tonight we're going to have to fight our way out of here."
Dean turned around briefly just to pull a crowbar out of his bag, feeling better with it already in his hand. "I need to look for Cas, man. Something ain't right, and we may need him to get out of here."
"Dean, you can't leave me," Sam said quickly.
"Scared?" Dean asked teasingly.
"Dude," Sam said, spreading his hands.
"Okay, okay," Dean said, scratching the tip of his nose with the back of his hand. "Look, this whole situation stinks. I say we come back tomorrow night and just torch the place."
"And put the company out of business?" Sam asked. "And put all these employees out of work?"
"Hey, it's not really an honest living when you have to replace all your night guards on a weekly basis," Dean said. "The cost of all those carpet-replacements alone-"
"Dean, door!" Sam yelled and Dean smashed the button shut just in time.
"Okay, I see your point," Dean breathed. Foxy banged several times on the door and the power dropped down to eleven percent. Dean glanced at the clock. It wasn't even 5 AM. They were dead men standing.
Dean flashed the lights and opened the door, expecting to see nothing, but his heart seized when he realized that Bonnie was standing directly in the doorway. He let a brief strangled cry escape from his throat as he slammed the door closed.
"Here you go," Dean said, dumping the bag of tools on the floor next to Sam. Freddy laughed, and Dean checked the door and the lights methodically. No one there.
"5 AM, 5%," Sam said. "Did we bring the blowtorch?"
"Uhhh-" Dean searched through the scattered mess of weapons on the floor. "Shit, I think I left it in the trunk."
"Dean-" Sam hissed, then tapped him twice on the shoulder and pointed to the right door to show he heard something.
Dean got up and checked the lights. Chica was right outside.
He shut the door.
Four percent.
He waited a few minutes, then checked the lights.
Chica was gone.
He opened the door.
Three percent.
He thought he heard something at the left door.
He checked the light.
No one there.
Freddy laughed.
He closed the right door.
One percent.
Sam got up from the monitor, a hammer in one hand and an axe in the other. Dean grabbed his crowbar in both hands. Instead of cowering against the wall, they stood back to back, Sam facing the left door and Dean facing the right.
"It was nice knowing you, Sammy," Dean said. He could hear Sam exhale loudly, but he said nothing. This was it. Cas was probably dead, stuffed into a suit in the back room like they were about to be. Then Sam would be dead. Then he would be dead. And then he would be carted off down to hell. Again. He hadn't really thought about that. He put it out of his mind whenever possible, like any sane person would try to do, but when it got right back down to it, he was going to die and this time there would be no body to bring him back into. No way to resurrect a body that had its face smashed in by a buttload of metal wires-
Zero percent. The power went out. There was a pause. The right door slid open.
"Don't move," Sam said under his breath. "If we don't move, maybe they won't see us."
It sounded like the stupidest plan Sam had ever come up with, but Dean himself had thought of worse plans himself, and so they stood frozen in the darkness, back to back, breathing shallowly out of their noses.
Suddenly, out of the darkness, Freddy laughed. It sounded like it was coming from the right door, but suddenly Freddy's eyes and smile lit up on Sam's side. The music box started playing its child-like tune, and Dean tightened his grip on his crowbar. But they didn't move. Sam kept his eyes closed, not even daring to look at it. Maybe if he didn't see it, it wouldn't see him. Child's logic, but this was a child's playground, wasn't it? But he could still hear the music box, droning on and on, and for some reason Dean realized that the music was playing longer than before.
And then, just like that, the music went off. Freddy's face disappeared. Sam kept his eyes shut, listening intently to every sound around him, even Dean's breathing, which in his opinion Dean was doing far too loudly. They waited. They stood perfectly still. Waiting for Freddy or whoever to strike first. They waited. Dean stared into paralyzing darkness. Waiting-
The clock hit 6 AM and the chime rang to signal the end of their shift. They stood frozen in confusion for another moment until the day power source kicked on.
"We made that by-" Dean pinched his index finger and thumb together. "-that close. Quarter of a second." He threw his arm around Sammy, pulling him into a half hug. "Didn't think we were going to make it there."
"I know, you kept saying," Sam said. For some reason, he still looked nervous.
"What?"
"Cas…"
The smile slipped off Dean's face in an instant. How had he-?
Dean threw the weapons back in the sack as fast as possible and slipped it over his right shoulder, heading out the right door. He had just about made it to the back room when the day manager came in. "What are you two doing?"
"Me?" Dean asked. "Oh, we were just, uh, just wanted to check-"
"You're not allowed back there," the day manager said, putting his hands on his hips. "Your shift is over, get out of here."
"Okay, but first-"
"Do I have to call security?" he asked in a high-pitched nasally voice.
"We-we are the security," Sam said quietly. The day manager just blinked at him.
"You won't be for much longer if you two don't get out of here right now," the day manager said, pointing at the door.
"Fine, fine," Dean said quickly, holding up his hands in surrender. As he was walking towards the door, he stole a glance at Freddy, who was leering at him from the stage. Smug little son of a bitch.
As the door clanged shut with a little chime behind them, Dean raked the cold morning air into his lungs.
"What are we going to do, Dean?" Sam asked. "He-"
Suddenly there was a soft woosh of the wind blowing gently, and Dean spun around to see Cas standing there, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Cas-"
He rushed forward and grabbed Cas' face in both hands, almost toppling him over. He stood there for a moment, feeling Cas' light stubble against his palms, taking him in. He was here. He was safe.
Sam cleared his throat, and Dean almost pushed Cas away in his scramble for distance. Suddenly his relief turned to anger. "We were almost mush-meat in there. What the hell happened to you?"
"I-uh," Castiel shrugged sheepishly. "I was attacked, from behind. The, Big Bird, as you say, attacked me. I tried to exorcise it but nothing happened. I was trying to get into the back room and that's when Freddy jumped out at me."
"Are you okay?" Sam asked.
"I-" Castiel looked down at his shoes and then up at the sky, swirling his finger around to show that he had gotten the hell out of dodge.
"So you just left us?" Dean asked incredulously, eyes wide.
"I was going to come back," Cas said. "But when I was ready to come down I heard Sam telling you to just stay still, not to move. I didn't want to…make you move."
"Cas-" Dean lowered his head and clapped Cas' shoulder, squeezing it so tightly his knuckles turned white, but only for a moment.
"Tomorrow night, I will be much more useful," Cas said, looking up at him. He looked so earnest and eager, like a child determined to prove he could do something right. Dean wouldn't say it, but it broke his heart whenever Cas looked at him like that. He looked so fucking innocent.
"No, tomorrow night, we-" Dean dropped his voice to make sure the day manager couldn't hear. "We torch the suckers."
"Give it one more day," Sam said. Dean rolled his eyes. "I'll get Bobby on the phone, we'll get him out here, figure something out. Four against four."
Dean sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Fine, call Bobby, see what he says. He'll tell you I'm right."
"We'll see," Sam said, pursing his lips as he climbed into the passenger side of the Impala.
Dean sighed and turned back to Cas. "You coming with?"
Cas bit his lower lip and looked down at his shoes before looking back at Dean and raising his eyebrows to ask, 'Am I forgiven yet?' Dean sighed and clapped Cas on the shoulder, steering him towards the car. "Come on, Cas. Let's get out of here."