Chapter Eighteen

Good Morning

Princess Quest III. Something… drew him in. Letters tied to scores flashed on the otherwise dark screen.

Find the glitches. Save her.

Gregory approached the arcade cabinet and took the joystick in his hand.

The world went still and quiet as if holding its breath.

The princess stood in the office. The sole door on her right opened when she approached, and she walked into a decrepit hall with broken checkboard tile. The bipedal glob bunny monsters attacked, but she cut through them. At the end of the hall were two doors–a double door at the end and a smaller single door on the left. She went through the double doors to find a decrepit party room. The large stage at the end was blocked as the floor fell away in a half-moon. There was a bridge leading to it, but the curtains were locked. She went through the door on the right, only to come upon a conveyor belt. The game was… weird. There was a whole puzzle involving needing to stay on and off of the conveyor belts. Monsters attacked, and if she fell off the conveyor to the emptiness, she would lose a heart. Here, he lost the game. Thankfully, it only took him to a GAME OVER screen with a broken standing mirror and snuffed-out candle. He tried again. It was hard and creepy as he passed a broken piece of the floor where a giant, ancient version of Chica stared through the floor. There was a conveyor belt puzzle using the shadow princess in the next room to get to a flaming purple chest. However, there was no key in the chest. A green bunny plush stared through the screen at him. Purple flickers danced around the image before it fell away. The conveyors weren't working anymore. The princess crossed back through the party room into a door at the other end. This led to a wide space with a dirt ground and a maze with Foxy in it. Except, this Foxy was on fire and his felt casing, though not burned to cinders, was patchy. When the princess stepped into the maze, Foxy chased after her. A few braziers needed to be lit before the center of the maze was open to enter. That flaming purple chest held a very familiar item: a smiling rabbit mask. This one had a much darker patch over its red eye with round pupils, but it was otherwise the same as Vanny's. This item, too, had purple specks flicking about it. The princess went back to the party room and into the hallway and the red door next to the double doors. A flaming red chest sat there. When the princess interacted with it, the plush and the mask disappeared. In their place was a strange, flaming purple key. That key opened the stage. The princess walked on the stairs around the stage. A decrepit path spattered by monsters led into a wide area. A giant wall or maybe a door took up half the screen. Purple vine flames wreathed around each side of the wall door. A giant lock with a key etched in green took up space on its left side. Green veins emanated from the key-shaped hole into the lock, where purple goo slithered out or reached up from the puddle of purple beneath it. It was hard to tell whether the lock spilled it, or the goop reached up for it.

The sword of light swiped over the door.

The door opened.

A scream pierced the darkness.

The screen went black.

ERROR

The word appeared in red blocky letters.

The boy turned around. A breeze fell through the hole above and whisked down the halls like a heavy sigh. "I think I did it. Hopefully." He ran to the computer screens. He caught Vanny in front of the computer in the middle, staring dumbly at the screen. After a few seconds, she raised her head to look up at the camera and then back at the suit on the wall. She took off the mask and blinked rapidly, her green eyes catching the light her mask once filtered. Bright blonde hair ran down further into her suit while a few strands whisked before her face.

Officer Vanessa ran out of view of the camera.

He heard the hard, quick patter of footsteps–nothing like the quiet, slow skip Vanny took on.

Officer Vanessa ran around the corner and stopped upon seeing him. "You're here. And you're alive."

Gregory nodded.

Officer Vanessa put a hand to her chest. Her eyes slipped down. "And I almost killed you."

"I mean… sorta." Gregory shrugged half-heartedly. "But I figured… you were like the other animatronics. Something infected them. And I freed them. I mean, by sort of deactivating them, but I still freed them."

Officer Vanessa ran her fuzzy fingers through her hair, dislodging clumps of sunny follicles. "We should get you out of here. Thank you, Gregory. For freeing me. Your friends should be free, too. Everyone should be."

Gregory grinned. "Monty, Roxy, and Chica should be here any moment!"

Officer Vanessa jolted. "Really?"

"Yeah! They said they were coming down to save us since we were trapped down here," Gregory explained. His smile fell. "Oh, you think they'll kill you. Uh… yeah… about that…"

Officer Vanessa sighed. "Honestly… I get it. I deserve it, after what I've done. Just… he's gone, now. There won't be any more disappearances. You're good to go."

The boy asked, "Well, what about you? We're leaving. Where are you going?"

Officer Vanessa didn't answer.

"What about Freddy? Sun and Moon? What did you do to them?"

"Freddy should be free. Sun and Moon… mostly. It's nothing the next engineer team can't fix."

Footsteps thundered down the left hall. Officer Vanessa flinched and hunched her shoulders, her eyes on her fuzzy paws.

Monty leaped into the room with a roar. He caught sight of Officer Vanessa immediately. "Vaaaaaaaaanessa?" He stopped growling.

Roxy charged in. "What? Officer Vanessa?"

Chica jogged in after them. "Why i-i-is Offic-c-cer Vanessa here-re-re? Did you fi-fi-find Vanny?"

"Vanessa!" Freddy called. He ran around to stand beside Gregory. The boy stumbled back a few steps as Freddy held him tight and pulled him back.

Gregory patted his hand. The bear shot a confused look at the boy.

Gregory said, "Yep! Found her! Uh, sorta."

Officer Vanessa raised her hand. "That was me. I was Vanny."

Roxy snarled and lowered her head, baring her claws. "So, it was you!"

"You're the one who turned us against the kid!" Monty claimed.

Chica asked, her voice inquisitive rather than raised in anger or accusation. "Why ca-a-an I see yo-yo-you?"

Gregory stepped forward. "Wait, wait! I think Vanessa was in the same boat as you guys."

All eyes were on him, now.

Monty cocked his head. "What?"

Roxy turned her yellow eyes back on Officer Vanessa. "No, that's not right. She's a human. Humans can't get hacked like animatronics."

"But they can be possessed?" Gregory offered. "Look, whatever happened… I did something and then Vanny, er, Vanessa, started acting differently."

Officer Vanessa said, her voice quiet and scratchy, "The lights turned back on. I don't remember… anything past that. The lights turned on. Something happened and then I could think again. I spent so long changing between not being able to think and having blanks in my memory, it was shocking. His presence wasn't there, anymore. I saw Gregory through the monitors, and I saw him as a child instead of a little soul." She still didn't look anyone in the eyes as she spoke.

Roxy growled.

Chica chipped in, "You know, tha-a-at sounds fa-a-amiliar. I wasn't thin-in-inking that we-well, either. When I s-s-s-saw Gregory, I s-s-saw a security aler-er-ert. I didn't see a ki-ki-kid. Then I wo-wo-woke up in Parts and Ser-er-ervice. It was sur-sur-surprising to see Gre-e-egory."

Monty huffed, "You know, you're onto somethin'. I'd been lookin' for the little sucker myself. He's lost, y'know. She, er, you told us to find him. But when I saw him, I just… heh. Guess gettin' thrown off the catwalks did a lot more good than harm."

Freddy said, "Gregory was not my friend. I thought he was my friend, but when I saw him, he was not."

Gregory took his hand. "It's okay. We're friends now!"

Roxy shook her head. "Are you listening to yourselves?! I don't care what happened, she's still a human. Humans can't get hacked. If wasn't for her, none of us would be in this mess!"

Freddy chimed in, "Roxy–"

"Oh, don't start! You weren't destroyed!" Roxy spat. "You don't know what it was like!"

Chica stepped closer to her. "But I-I-I was, Roxy. I under-der-derstand."

Roxy turned her head but didn't look at Chica. "You didn't almost get your head taken off by a go-kart."

"Well, I was pu-pu-put into a gar-gar-garbage compac-c-ctor," Chica pointed out.

"Not to mention–" Monty put in, "–I fell off the catwalks. Like, way up high. The last time I did that, I lost my arms."

Gregory stamped his foot. "I think if anyone has the right to be mad at her, it's me. And I'm not mad at her. Because she was possessed. And I wouldn't have known that if I just went ahead and attacked her. Freddy taught me that you shouldn't do anything out of revenge. Since it wasn't her fault, killing her would just be revenge."

Freddy hummed and said, "Yes, that is correct. Doing something out of malice or revenge will just allow the other person to lash out in malice or revenge. It creates a terrible, terrible cycle."

Gregory's Fazwatch beeped.

Gregory looked down at it and then grinned. He looked back up. "That's Mr. Remington! He said he'd be here!"

Officer Vanessa raised her eyebrows. "He did? I don't remember… how did you call him?"

"Front desk phone," Gregory stated simply. "Anyway, I better go. Go… uh…"

Officer Vanessa walked back down the hall. "Come on, I'll show you."

"Okay!"

Gregory led the way to the Daycare. While Officer Vanessa, Freddy, and Gregory could all go in one elevator–and even then Freddy became nervous–the others could not fit all at once. "He's always in the Daycare," Gregory said. "Right? Except for that time a few minutes ago. But other than that, he's always there."

Officer Vanessa, her bunny suit next to the creepy rabbit suit under the Pizzaplex, stated, "Sun and Moon were programmed to stay in the Daycare. As I did not tell them to go anywhere and it is not time for Moon to patrol, they should be there."

Gregory strutted down the dark, star-speckled hall between the entrance area and the Daycare. "It's not like he's small. We'll find him and bring him to Parts and Services and then he and Moon won't be evil or anything anymore."

Though the closer Gregory neared the shutters leading to the Daycare, the more his anxiety came crawling back. By now, he should hear the music of the Daycare. That spunky, random, bouncy music that always played while it was light out. Even when they walked through to the Daycare waiting room, Gregory could barely hear a sound outside of their footsteps.

The boy ran up to the decorated wall and looked inside. The lights glared down, shining off colorful bars and glowing over the patchwork ground. Not a bit of movement or sound squeaked from the place. "Um, Vanessa?"

Officer Vanessa stopped beside him. "He should be here. He works here. The music should be on. It's always on when the lights are on. It can only be deactivated manually. Considering the S.T.A.F.F. bots don't know how to do that, and you and I are the only humans in the building, it has to have been him."

Gregory's eyebrows furrowed. "But he loves music. Maybe he turned it off before he left and just… well, no. How do you forget to turn music back on?"

Officer Vanessa led them down the stairs and to the double doors.

Her hollow knocks rang through the silence.

…

Officer Vanessa eyed the door and knocked again.

…

"He can't ignore me like that!" she puffed and pushed open the door.

Gregory ran in before her and looked around the gargantuan play place. How would they find him here? If he was even here!

Officer Vanessa yelled, "Sun! Sun, we need you over here!"

Gregory puffed. "That didn't work. Maybe he's just scared of you."

She nodded. "That could be part of the problem."

"Are you sure he's here?"

"Positive." Officer Vanessa raised her voice again, though this time she lost the edge. "Sun, could you please come out? We need to talk to you!"

Freddy called, "Sun, I understand you must be upset. But we wish to speak with you! Could you please come out?"

Gregory yelled, "Sun, come on! Please? Where'd you go?"

…

Gregory turned back to her. "He's not here."

"Of course, he's here," she scoffed. "He literally can't be anywhere else. Unless… no." She shook her head. "He can't be anywhere else. He's just being stub… shy. Or something."

Gregory eyed her. "Unless what, Vanessa?"

She stated, "He is supposed to stay here unless a child is in danger, a staff member has given him an order, or it is time for Moon to patrol. That's it. The only reason he can't be here is because he got stuck somewhere. I remember that happened once with Moon. He got stuck to a cord in the atrium and had to stay there until I found him much later."

Gregory groaned and tipped his head back. "So, we're gonna have to search every room to see if he's stuck somewhere? What if he's in a vent?! Do we have to look in the vents, too?!"

Officer Vanessa shook her head. "No. We'll just check his room." She turned around and left the Superstar Daycare. "If he's not in his room, then we search the entire mall."

Gregory blinked. "He has a room?" He ran to catch up with her as she ascended the stairs. "Where? I thought he was supposed to stay there."

"He has a room above the Daycare. See that balcony?" She gestured vaguely to the wall with the sun and moon above the ball pit.

"Oh, yeah. The castle tower thing. There's a room back there?"

"Yes. His charging station and some stuff I guess he collected are there." Officer Vanessa rolled her eyes. "He collects stuffed animals and gifts the kids give him."

"Oh? How do you know?"

"Because I visit there," she answered plainly. "When I was trying to find a way to escape… him, I needed a place to stay. Since barely anyone even knows the place exists much less goes there, it was perfect. I couldn't sleep there, though. Not with them there."

Gregory crossed his arms. The S.T.A.F.F. bot patrolling the walkways passed by. Though one's flashlight glowed over Gregory's face, he hid beneath the cap and hoodie. Officer Vanessa snapped, "Move it!"

The S.T.A.F.F. bot kept moving.

Gregory looked around at the concession stand behind the set of shutters at the end. "Hey, I didn't see any food."

"It's locked up at night to keep Chica from eating it," Officer Vanessa answered. "Chica still sometimes finds it, though. She's become much more erratic and compulsive lately."

Gregory snorted. "Wonder why."

"She shouldn't be anymore."

Officer Vanessa stopped in front of a painting of Foxy the Pirate Fox over a scene from some movie, probably. A huge ship traveled over roaring water. A yellow version of Chica as a mermaid posed on a rock while a brown Freddy and Bonnie both in pirate wear flanked the picture. She grabbed the painting by the edges and pulled it.

It clicked and opened for her.

Gregory gasped and ran inside. He passed by an overturned plastic moving box. "Weird. Why is this here?"

"We need to have a way to visit Sun and Moon," she answered. "Since we can't risk anyone else coming in here–guest or staff–it's hidden. Most every worker here isn't high enough in authority to come in here."

"Why can you? You're just a security guard," Gregory pointed out.

"Because I snuck in here, of course." As they neared the end of the hall, she announced, "Sun, it's Gregory, Freddy, and Vanessa. Are you in here?"

Something shuffled, but only just a little.

A slightly familiar, masculine voice said, "Sun, I know you're upset. But please, at least look at me."

Gregory ran ahead of her and into a disaster. He jolted and blinked a few times. But the mess of toys, plush objects, mechanical parts, and a little playhouse still stayed. Part of the floor was raised so that it met the balcony above the Daycare. Curled up in the far corner, hiding behind his red and gold striped knees, was the Daycare Attendant. Standing in front of him was a man in a set of blue clothes splotched with the occasional stain.

The man looked back at their approach. "Hello Officer Vanessa, Freddy. You must be Gregory."

Gregory nodded and ran up to him. "Yeah! Is Sun okay? Why is he in here? And why is the music off? If the music's off, you guys heard us downstairs. Why didn't you guys answer?"

"He's very hurt and scared right now," Mr. Remington said. "So, we need to be patient."

Sun curled up tighter around himself.

Mr. Remington sat back on his heels. "I know some bad things happened tonight."

"Bad things?!" Sun burst out. His head snapped up from behind his knees and he stared straight at the head engineer. "Bad things?! I–I hurt Gregory! That's not bad that's absolutely horrible! A-and I scared him. Moon scared him and tried to hurt him. I know he feels awful, he has to. But he's still not talking to me. I'm supposed to protect and watch children. Gregory is my friend and I hurt him!" Sun wailed and hid inside of himself again. His whole shook in what Gregory could assume were sobs.

Gregory looked back at Freddy, who stared down at his feet and then at Officer Vanessa, who hunched her shoulders and looked away. Mr. Remington jolted and raised his eyebrows.

The boy sighed and walked up to Sun. "I know. But that wasn't you. You were being controlled. You and Moon are great."

Sun managed to whine, "I scared you. M-Moon was sick. He's still not feeling well. But I was. I'm not sick. It was my fault!"

Gregory shook his head. "That's dumb. It's not your fault. Vanny made you do that."

Mr. Remington looked back at them. "Vanny?"

Sun countered, "I still did it! I could! I'm not feeling well. What if I hurt you again? Gregory, you need to leave!" Sun pulled his head up again. "Something could happen to you again. You need to leave right now!"

Gregory crossed his arms. "Nope. Not leaving."

"Gregory!"

"I told you that I am not leaving until I fix you! And that still counts even though I tried to fix you but only made things worse."

Officer Vanessa chimed in, "I made things worse."

"Yeah, whatever. The point is: I'm not leaving. Now come on! We've gotta get to Parts and Services."

Sun shook his head and hid again.

Mr. Remington took a deep breath and turned back to Sun. "Okay, so, I don't know what happened. But I do know you, Sun, Moon. I know both of you. If you don't want to go to Parts and Services, that's okay. Could you please tell me why?"

Sun whimpered, "Officer Vanessa tried to fix me, but she couldn't. Th-the other engineers wouldn't listen to me. It's scary there."

Mr. Remington shook his head. "Well, looks like some people have some explaining to do. You are not okay. But there isn't a thing wrong with you I can't fix. You don't have to go to Parts and Services."

"I tried to hurt Gregory. They're just going to disassemble me."

Mr. Remington huffed. "Who told you that?"

Officer Vanessa shuffled her feet.

"They won't. I won't allow it. Don't you remember the last person who threatened to do that?"

Sun hesitantly nodded.

"I set her straight, didn't I?"

Sun nodded a little more quickly this time.

"Now, you don't have to go, but you do need repairs done. I think I can do some repairs here. Maybe not all of them. But I'll fix you. I'll make sure you won't hurt Gregory again. I can help you come back, Moon. You don't have to be shy. I'm here to help."

Sun peered over his knees. "You can make Moon come back?"

"I can."

Sun nodded and got to his feet. "Okay."

Gregory ran to Freddy's side and grabbed a hold of his hand. He looked back at Sun. "Come on! The sooner we get there, the sooner we can fix you!"

Gregory waited diligently in Parts and Services. He stood back and watched as Officer Vanessa messed with the terminal and typed in code and whatever she needed to do. Mr. Remington was in the cylinder itself, doing something and occasionally talking to Officer Vanessa. She didn't look at him, even when he responded. The mechanical arms twitched with each small movement, though some moved a longer distance or pulled up into the ceiling again.

Gregory leaned on Freddy, who held a hand to his shoulder to keep him upright. Despite Gregory's complaints that he could stand on his own, Freddy reminded him that he had stayed up all night and it was okay to be tired.

Roxy, Chica, and Monty did not stand with them. Once the rest of the engineering crew came back, they would be shut down and taken out for extensive repairs. Officer Vanessa doubted they would be transported somewhere. Considering Gregory fixed some of the worse parts, they should be back in working order fairly quickly. Even Freddy was going to be put down, at least for a little while, to continue repairs.

Sun and Moon didn't need to do any of that. They weren't technically broken.

All but one of the arms retreated. After a few moments, that one did, too.

Officer Vanessa stepped back.

The cylinder opened.

Sun ducked out as quickly as he could and looked at the two staff members, as Mr. Remington quickly left the cylinder, and then at Gregory. "Hey, Friend!" Sun exclaimed.

Gregory jolted out of his stupor and stood up straight. He inadvertently flinched when Sun took a big, bouncy step forward.

Sun stopped. "Oh. I'm so sorry! Did-did I scare you?"

Gregory shook his head. Still, the image of Sun in the atrium, his head blocking out the lights, perched atop Gregory's hiding place like a cat refused to leave. At least Sun in his room looked so sad and defeated he wasn't a threat in any shape.

"That's okay," Sun said. "I understand. Um… can I do anything? To make it up to you? Moon is okay! Moon is very sorry for what happened and didn't mean for anything to happen."

Gregory nodded. "I know. Moon was sick." He took a deep breath. Vanny just messed with Sun right before Gregory went out to find her, just like she messed with Freddy. Sun was okay. Moon was okay. They were both okay. They wouldn't hurt him.

Gregory cautiously took a few steps forward. Sun went to meet him, though significantly slower. He still had a bounce in his step and rang the bells on his wrist and feet with each dramatic movement.

Gregory hesitated. He could hear the clicking of Sun's inner mechanisms, just like he heard Moon's.

Gregory held up his arms.

Sun plucked him off the ground and held him close in a hug.

Gregory… returned the action.