The robotic girl was the first to speak again, seeing as Mike was speechless and Tim was petrified. "Do not be alarmed, but I will now step closer to the window. I cannot see you very well from here."

Sure enough, with the rhythmic clank-clank noise of metal footsteps, accompanied by whirring clicks that grew more distinct as she neared, the animatronic approached the glass. It was only then that it dawned on Mike just how enormous the thing was. When he saw the poster, he had subconsciously imagined it- her?- to be around his height, or even a head shorter than him. An assumption based on her appearance, perhaps.

But seeing it(?) up close put an end to that notion. It- she- was easily taller than Dad, and quite robust at that. Mike had to resist the urge to shrink back. What was he afraid of? It wasn't like he believed Tim's stupid story. And besides, she (it?) was on the other side of the window. Surely they were not in any danger. Surely.

When she- Mike decided on that for now- was close enough to the window that her body was fully visible in the room's weak lighting, she bowed forward slightly. Mike assumed it was to get a better look at the two of them. She stared for a few seconds, first at Mike, then at Tim (who was now kneeling and covering his eyes), then quickly scanning the rest of the room. Mike could have imagined it, but he thought he heard her say "Two" in an almost inaudible voice.

Just when Mike was about to finally open his mouth to ask one of the dozens of questions that pooled his mind, the robot addressed him again. "It seems there is another child in the room with you, but they appear to be covering their face. Could you ask them what's wrong?"

Mike looked over to Tim and suppressed the urge to groan. He was definitely crying again. What a baby. "Hey," he said, lightly pressing the tip of his shoe into Tim's side. "I think she wants to speak to you."

With shuddering hands, Tim slowly uncovered his face and brushed at his wet cheeks as he looked up into the animatronic's green eyes- which Mike noted now appeared to glow slightly in the dim light. She stared back for a moment, but then her expression seemed to light up in recognition- as much as her expression could change, that is. "Ah, you are little Timothy Afton! It's great to see you."

"H-huh, how...?" Tim managed to stammer out. She knew his name?

Mike looked back and forth between Tim and the robot behind the window. "Yeah, good question. How'd you know that?" He narrowed his eyes with suspicion.

It took a second before a response came. "I... do not know from where I learned your name. But the moment I saw your face, I recognized you immediately."

"Then, do you also know who I am?" Mike asked, pointing at his face. The robot looked at him, first normally, then leaning in even closer, her metal plate-covered face almost touching the window.

"...You do look familiar somehow," she slowly spoke. "But I do not quite recognize you."

"My name is Michael Afton," Mike supplied. "Does that help?"

"Oh... Ah, then you must be Timothy's older brother," the robot said. "Nice to meet you, Michael."

The robot did a curtsy of sorts- a little stiff, but it impressed Mike. He had not thought a machine was capable of such movement, let alone one with such an unwieldy construction.

"So, uhm, if you don't mind me asking, miss, uh, animatronic," Mike stumbled his way through his question. He almost felt stupid talking to a machine as if she were a normal person, but then, she seemed smarter than the average machine. "Do you have a name?"

The robot suddenly straightened up, raising her arms diagonally up in a somewhat cheery pose. "I am Circus Baby the Clown!" she declared, her voice suddenly much louder than it had been and with a rather unexpected saccharine tone. "But you can just call me Baby! Pleased to meet you all!"

The moment passed as suddenly as it began, and Baby dropped her arms again immediately. "Sorry about that," she said, her usual hushed tone returning. "I have some of those responses pre-programmed. I blurt them out when prompted. Hopefully it did not alert the on-duty technician."

"...Right," Mike replied once he recovered from the surprise.

"Now, if I might ask a question," Baby began, once again leaning in. "Why is Timothy crying? Did he hurt himself?"

"Hmm? Oh." Mike turned to see his brother still quietly kneeling on the ground, his head bowed. The occasional drop fell from his cheek onto the ground. Mike, who was more or less desensitized to the sight of his brother crying, interrupted the apparent pity party by prodding his younger brother in the shoulder. "Hey, quit bawling for a sec. Baby here's asking you a question."

Tim looked up with a shuddering breath, hesitantly looking into Baby's large eyes. She had a smile on her face- but that smile never moved, and it unnerved Tim perhaps more than anything else about the robot.

"What's wrong?" She innocently asked, head slightly tilted. How could she not understand what was wrong?

Still shivering uncontrollably, Tim raised a shaking finger and pointed at Baby. "Y-you..."

Previously unseen eyelids lowered over part of the robot's eyes to form an expression of mild confusion and concern. "Me? Am I frightening you?"

Tim did not acknowledge the question. He swallowed, then began again, voice still wavering but steeled with a certain vindictiveness. "You are the one who killed Lizzy."

Baby immediately reared back and let out a voiceless sound. It took Mike a moment to realize that it must have been a gasp- as far as a robot that does not breathe can gasp. "Ah, let me explain," he began. "Tim has a bit of a phobia of animatronics. That's why we're here, actually. He keeps telling nonsense about how a robot- that's you, I guess- killed Elizabeth, so... Did you?" Mike explained the problem in an almost bored tone. He already knew the answer, after all.

There was a silent moment, and then another. Then, speaking in a very slow voice, heavy with anguish, Baby finally replied. "Yes, I did kill a girl once. I could never forget that day."

Mike's eyes just about bulged out of their sockets.

"What?!"

Baby looked between the two of them. "You must be her brothers," she asserted.

Tim's eyes widened as well. "How did you...?"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Mike interrupted. "So you did kill Elizabeth? How? Why?"

"I do not know why," Baby replied, not looking at them. "It was not of my own volition. I was simply performing that day, happy to finally have my debut. Then at one point, there was only one child in the room with me, a girl. Something happened then. I was not... myself anymore. I stopped singing, and my stomach opened. The girl saw that I had ice cream for her, so she moved closer. And then..."

"And then you pulled her in," Tim added. "And you ate her."

"Ate?" Baby gave the boy a curious look. "I am an animatronic, Timothy. I do not eat."

"Uh, m-my name's just Tim, actually..." Tim muttered. He realized that it was not that important right now, but he said it without thinking.

"So, so then what happened..?" Mike asked, his voice sounding like his thoughts were a mile away. He must have already known the answer, but his disbelief meant that he had to hear it with his own ears.

"After I pulled her in, there was screaming for a moment. But only a moment," Baby recalled. "Other children ran in again, but they did not hear her. That was the last time I was allowed to perform on stage... And so far, the only time." She sounded very melancholy at that.

"This can't be true," Mike weakly mumbled, stumbling back until he hit the wall. "This has to be a joke. This is..."

"Do you believe me now?" Tim was staring Mike dead in the eye. His eyes were still wet, but they glowered with pent-up frustration. Now his brother would have to admit that he was right all along.

"I..." Mike sighed and stared at his hands, completely lost. The silence lasted several seconds, but was then rudely broken by the distant sound of clattering metal. The boys reflexively looked around for the source of the sound, but obviously it was nowhere nearby.

"I believe that is the technician," Baby commented. "He should be almost done with Funtime Foxy's repairs. I recommend that you leave quickly, before you run into him. I don't think you're supposed to be here."

"We're not," Mike admitted. "Well, this has been..." he trailed off as he searched for the right adjective, but he found none in his teenager vocabulary. Then again, even if he had a dictionary handy, what word could possibly describe what he had just been told? "...Well, it was something. I guess we should get going, then."

He began turning towards the vent, but then Baby raised a hand and called out. "Wait!"

Mike stopped and looked back at her, expectantly. Tim also stared.

"Will you... Do you intend to return here?" She asked, with an almost desperate tone.

Mike blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I... It's just... Well, I'll just tell you. It's horrible down here. I am fully self-aware, as I'm sure you've realized by now. But the others and I... We're all forced to only do as we're told and nothing else, day in and day out." She looked down at the ground. She had looked so imposing at first, but now she was almost pitiful. "It's... torture. I really shouldn't say this, but I can't help but hope that you'll come see me again someday."

Mike blinked several times, as if to express his incredulity.

"I know it's dangerous, and I know I already said children like you shouldn't be here, but I... You're the first people in a long time who-"

"Are you kidding me?" Mike's sneer interrupted Baby's meandering, and his glare showed his opinion before he even expressed it. "You just admitted to killing my sister. Our sister. And you expect us to keep you company in this pit? Do you have any idea-"

"Okay. Can we come visit the day after tomorrow?"

Mike did a double take as Tim- his meek, crybaby little brother Tim- interrupted him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tim was not even looking at him. He was staring Baby in the eyes, who was just as surprised as Mike was.

"Ah, well, that sounds fine, yes. But why do you suddenly..." Baby's question trailed off. She sounded like she honestly did not expect either brother to agree so easily- let alone that the frightened younger one who had accused her would be the one to do so.

"We still have a bunch of things to talk about," Tim said simply. "I'm still scared of you, kinda. But this is important."

Another sound in the distance. Mike impatiently bounced on his heels. "Well then, I guess we better get going!" without properly saying goodbye, he quickly turned around and ducked into the vent. The "motion trigger" voice predictably spoke not long after that.

Baby awkwardly looked at Tim, who had finally gotten up from his kneeling position, and gave him a small wave. "I guess I will see you in a while. Goodbye for now."

"Wait."

Baby had already turned to leave, but Tim had one more thing to say. When the animatronic turned back to look, Tim had taken out his flashlight and was scanning her with it.

"I have a question," he said, while looking at her face intently. Specifically, her eyes.

"Ask away."

"I saw you on the day my sister died," he began explaining. "And I'm sure your eyes were blue."

"Yes, that is correct. I was designed with a blue eye color, as my creators felt that would give me a calm and nonthreatening appearance."

"But... your eyes are green now. Why is that?" It sounded like the question was important to Tim, somehow.

"Oh." Baby looked lost for a second. "...I don't know why, actually."

"Okay. That's all I wanted to ask. Good night, Baby." Tim looked like he was trying to force a smile, but his obvious discomfort and lingering fear was holding him back. Still, Baby seemed to appreciate the attempt.

"Good night, Tim." For the first time since the conversation began, Baby's permanent smile felt a little genuine. Her gaze lingered on Tim as he turned to follow Mike.

But then, as she did so, her eyes began rapidly darting around the room and eventually glazed over when they found no other presence there.

"One."

Tim was sure he heard her say it, even though it was very, very quiet. "What?"

When Tim looked at Baby again, his breath caught in his throat. Her eyes were unfocused and unseeing, her arms hung limp to her sides as her head and shoulders lolled backwards a little- and her stomach was wide open.

And within her stomach cavity, a serving of ice cream waited. It looked a little crystallized, but still tantalizing.

Slowly, Tim backed away. No. No, no, no. It was just like...

Every nightmare he had since that horrible day came back to him all at once, nearly sending him to the ground in a wave of nausea.

Without daring to look again, he ducked into the vent and crawled faster than he had ever done before. It was not until he almost crashed into Mike, who was waiting in the middle room, that he slowed down- but he did not speak again the whole way home, even as his older brother questioned him about his panic-stricken face, devoid of all color.


A/N: There we go. Now we're getting to the real meat of the story. Let me know what you think!