Chapter 9

While Gregory was finishing his bath and getting new clothes, Heather put the Roxy themed Faz-Watch on her left wrist and looked around Astre's bedroom.

The room itself had white walls with a turquoise colored carpet and ceiling which was dotted with golden yellow glow-in-the-dark star stickers. There was a plain black bed with pastel green sheets and pillows and a bright yellow comforter, a brown dresser with six drawers and cyan knobs on it that Heather assumed had Astre's other clothes in, a black vanity table with yellow star-shaped light bulbs dotting around its mirror and five ornately decorated boxes that were yellow, blue, green, purple, and pink left on it, a leather black chair that Heather remembered seeing in barber shops, and a black shelf that contained some music CDs, some books which Heather knew were cookbooks and jewelry making manuals, and a box which Heather could tell were filled with those beads you could get at any craft store.

'Jeez... reminds me of the time when I saw the V's old college dorm room,' Heather thought as she noticed a photograph on top of the shelf.

The photograph itself was in a Monty-themed picture frame. It depicted Astre with her arms around another woman and both of them were smiling. The Astre in the photo wore a sleeveless jade green ballgown with black sashes and bows, a pair of black opera gloves, a pair of black high heels topped with green bows, a pair of silver earrings with star-shaped jade gemstones hanging from them, a silver chain necklace with a black star-shaped pendant hanging from it, turquoise lipstick, and green eyeshadow.

The other woman had long white hair, Caucasian skin, and golden yellow eyes. She wore a long-sleeved pastel pink gown with small white sequins dotted all over it, a pair of dark pink high heels topped with red bows, a gold chain necklace with a rainbow pendant hanging from it, pink nail polish, red lipstick, and pink eyeshadow.

'Who is that?' Heather thought as the bathroom door opened and Gregory stepped out.

Gregory's hair was now cleaner and tamer than before. He also changed from his old shirt and shorts to the Freddy shirt he had found in the men's room, a pair of black cargo shorts that were a bit longer than his tan ones, a pair of Glamrock Freddy themed shoes since the ones that had the tape on them were beyond salvation now, and a jacket that was like Heather's but Glamrock Freddy themed. He had a new Glamrock Freddy band-aid on his right cheek even though Heather knew at this point the scratch must have healed up.

"Looking good, kid. How do you feel?" Heather said as Astre came out of the bathroom.

"I feel a lot better, now. Thanks for the other clothes, Astre!" Gregory said as Astre sat on her bed.

"No problem, Starling. Besides, I had ordered the wrong size on those shorts by accident. Good thing I don't have to throw them away anymore," Astre said with exhaustion.

"Hey, Astre. Who's this woman?" Heather asked as she pointed to the photo.

"Oh, her... That's Reina, or Queen Reina as she was known around here. She was a CP like me. But she just... disappeared one day. No one knows what happened to her," Astre replied as she took out her Monty-themed Faz-Watch from her bag and put it on her left wrist.

"Like Cherrie and Bella?" Gregory asked.

"How do you know about them?" Astre asked.

"I found a note talking about them. Did you know who they were?" Gregory replied.

"Yeah. Bella Fazbear was Freddy's twin sister. Well... As close as a sister she could be. She was the drummer for the band and had her own attraction called Bella Basketball, which I think is still around. She was a good entertainer. Never got mad at anybody, treated kids right, and a good friend. As for Cherrie Cat, she was the original keytarist and the one Roxy replaced. Unlike sweet Bella, Cherrie was a cat who didn't back down no matter what anyone said. Her attraction was Cherrie Casino. It was like this "kidified" version of a casino you'd find in places like Las Vegas. She was also a good friend. I miss them as much as everybody else does," Astre explained.

"So, what happened to them?" Heather asked.

"For Cherrie, Management said she had gotten into an "accident" and had to be decommissioned. As for Bella, she went in the Parts and Services tunnels, but never came back out," Astre responded as she fiddled with the strap of her bag.

"No one went looking for Bella? Or tried to fix Cherrie?" Gregory asked.

"No, and no. They don't care. As long as their "golden children" are around, they won't give a damn if the rest of us disappear. They'd just replace us and start the cycle all over again," Astre responded with a glint of hatred in her eyes.

Both Gregory and Heather were horrified at this revelation. If Fazbear Entertainment did not care about their animatronics, why give them the ability to think for themselves at all?

Before the kids could ask anymore, a knock was heard on Astre's door.

"Who is it?" Astre asked as she let go of her bag.

"It's me, Moondrop. Freddy is with me," Moondrop replied as the door opened.

"Where are the others?" Gregory asked.

"Sundrop is asleep. After the events from earlier, he needs to recharge. But he will be alright in a little while. As for Stardrop and Mr. Hippo, they are going to help patrol," Freddy replied.

"So, do we have an actual game plan going?" Heather asked.

"Yes. First, we will have you and Gregory escape the Pizzaplex. I don't know what this "Harlequin" and his companions want, but I will not let you two get hurt," Moondrop replied.

"Why do they even want us? What did we even do?" Gregory asked with a pout.

"I don't know, Gregory. But I definitely don't want to stick around long enough to find out," Heather chimed in.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going," Astre said as she got up from the bed and put on her messenger bag.

Suddenly, her legs gave out from underneath her and she fell.

"Astre!" Gregory said as he rushed to her side.

"Damn it... Did I forget to charge or something?" Astre muttered as she tried to force herself to stand.

"Easy! You've already pushed yourself enough," Moondrop said as he picked her up bridal style and left the room.

Freddy was also beginning to show signs of exhaustion as well.

"So have I. Come along, there is a charging station outside of the Daycare," Freddy said as he opened his stomach hatch.

"Okay," Gregory said as he put on his backpack.

He noticed it was lighter than before. He looked at Heather's backpack looked heavier.

"I'll handle the toys while you take care of the shirts, alright?" Heather whispered.

Gregory nodded as he got inside Freddy's stomach hatch. The rest of the group then followed Moondrop up the stairs. Suddenly, Heather stopped in front of a party room door and asked, "Mind if I pop in here for a bit?"

"Of course. Do not be long," Freddy responded as he kept walking.

She nodded and went into the party room. She looked around and found the drink dispenser. She pressed on all of the buttons to see if it was full, but it was not to her dismay. She found a plush toy of a red-haired clown wearing a red dress and a plush toy of Glamrock Mr. Hippo. She unzipped her backpack which had the Chica, Roddy, Sundrop, and Stardrop plush toys in it and added the two she had found. She zipped her backpack back up and left the room. She then went inside a party room close to the shutter door. She found a Glamrock Freddy action figure placed on a party table, put it into her backpack, and saw a message near another door.

"CUSTOMER COMPLAINT- The pizza we ordered was weird. Some pieces were different sizes or didn't fit together. One of the slices even had different toppings. Have you been recycling the old pizza from other tables or the trash? I'm never coming back here unless you change your ways!- Angry Mom."

'Wait... These guys recycle their pizza?!' Heather thought as she suddenly felt queasy.

She then saw a nearby trash can and hunched over it as she vomited any food she had eaten into the plastic bin. Once she was finished, she groaned.

"Ugh... I am not going to eat the pizza here for a while..."

She wiped her mouth of any remaining vomit, sat in one of the chairs, and took a couple deep breaths. Suddenly the lights went out in the entire daycare. Heather began to panic as she got out of the chair and ran out of the party room.

"Heather, where are you?!" Gregory yelled through Heather's Faz-Watch.

"I-I was in the party room..." Heather said as she began to speed walk.

"Be careful! I saw a dancing lady walk by! She might be one of the bad guys!" Gregory said.

Before Heather could respond to Gregory, she heard a buzzing sound and saw something come around the corner. It was a tall and slender figure. Judging by the rabbit's body shape it looked to be female. This rabbit lady was wearing a light blue bow on her chest, had a creepy smile, long black whiskers, and a pair of glowing red eyes. The rabbit lady skipped towards the desk without a care in the world.

'Wait... I remember her...' Heather thought.

Suddenly, her head began to throb as some painful memories started to come back to her.

"I finally got you where I want you, pretty wolf..." an older man said as a twelve year old Heather tried to get out of his grip.

The man had short blonde hair that looked greasy, tan skin, and brown eyes that were filled lecherous desires. He wore a black business suit that gave off the idea that he was important.

"Get away from me!" Heather yelled.

"You can howl all you want, wolf. No one will hear your cries once I'm done with you," the man said as he reached under her skirt.

Suddenly, a door quietly opened and a female figure wearing a bunny costume appeared. She put a finger to her lips as she slinked behind the man.

"You're actually going to listen to Daddy?" the man asked, clearly drunk as he began slurring his words.

Suddenly, the rabbit lady grabbed on the man's leg and forcefully dragged him away, which caused him to scratch the skin of Heather's inner thighs.

"What the hell?!" The man yelled as he looked behind him and saw the rabbit lady.

"You didn't play nice. Now you need to be punished," The rabbit lady said, like she was a mother disciplining her child.

Heather managed to push herself up to a standing position and noticed the now forming scars on her thighs.

'Oh god... Am I going to die?!' she thought with fear as the man said, "Wait a minute... you aren't even supposed to be here! You're really going to betray your master for some little girl?"

The rabbit lady merely shrugged her shoulders at his words.

"Alright, you bitch. At least I can finally get rid of another one of you fucking-"

The rabbit lady chopped at the back of his neck, which made him fall unconscious and drop the gun he had pulled out. She stepped over his body as she walked to Heather.

"Please don't hurt me... I didn't want it..." Heather sobbed as tears streamed down her eyes.

The rabbit lady tilted her head as she asked, "Why would I hurt you?"

She then embraced the confused Heather and patted her back.

"I saved you from the bad man. I will never hurt you," the rabbit lady said as she let go of her and wiped Heather's tears.

Suddenly, police sirens rang out from outside the abandoned building.

"Run away, my little pup," the rabbit lady said as she began to skip away. "And try not to get caught in his trap again."

Heather managed to calm down her breathing as the memories faded into her head.

'She said before that she would never hurt me. But I'm not going to risk it,' She thought as she jumped into the party room near the reception area.

She hid underneath the bench as the rabbit lady skipped past the door. As soon as she was far enough, the buzzing sound stopped and Heather got out from underneath the bench and walked out of the party room. She then speed walked to the shutter door and ended up at the same spot she first woke up in.

"Heather! You're okay! I thought that rabbit lady got you!" Gregory said as he ran towards Heather and hugged her.

"You saw her too?" Heather asked.

"Yeah. When Freddy was charging his eyes got all red and fuzzy. While he was fixing it I heard this weird sound and saw the rabbit lady I warned you about. Once she left, Freddy's eyes went back to normal and the noise stopped," Gregory explained as he let go of her.

"What about Moondrop and Astre? Didn't they see anything?" Heather asked.

"No. Both of us got the same interference that Freddy did. Then he started talking about what a fountain was," Astre said as she walked up to the children.

"Where is Moondrop?" Heather asked.

"He went to go do his patrols once I finished charging," Astre answered as Freddy came out of the station.

"Are those things really safe?" Heather asked.

"The recharge stations were designed to not open until an animatronic's battery is fully charged or when the station's energy reserves are empty," Freddy answered as he came up to the group. "And for your information, there is no rabbit at the Pizzaplex... Not anymore."

'There was a different rabbit here before? Did the same thing happen to him like it did to Bella and Cherrie?' Gregory thought.

The shutter door opened and Sundrop skipped out.

"Much better..." he said with a yawn.

"Hey Sundrop? Did you see a dancing rabbit lady on your way out?" Gregory asked.

"A dancing rabbit lady? Nope! Why do you ask?" Sundrop replied as he patted Gregory's head.

"It's nothing..." Gregory said as he thought, 'Could she be the Fazbear Fright? Or is she with the people that were controlling Moondrop?'

"This is insane. It's like this whole place is out to get us!" Heather said as she pulled at a chunk of her hair.

"Well, Moony isn't going to anymore... But I would never hurt anyone!" Sundrop said.

"Sundrop is right. And me, Freddy, Stardrop, and Mr. Hippo aren't either," Astre said with certainty.

"Why?" Gregory asked.

"We... do not know. We want to help you both. Perhaps the others want to help as well," Freddy responded.

Gregory was not sure about that. Unlike Heather, he was the one that dealt with Chica, Monty, Roxy, and possibly Roddy, Hulda, and Barbara sounding creepy and trying to approach him violently.

"I'm not sure about that. For some reason, you guys are different."

"Gregory..." Heather said, knowing she could not relate to him in that moment and checked her Faz-Watch and noticed the day and current time. "1:00 am on a Sunday. Man, now I know how live streamers feel."

"Oh my, it's already Sunday?! I'm not normally supposed to be up this long!" Sundrop said as he held his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, well, we're all having a lot of "firsts" this week," Astre said with a sigh as Sundrop let go of his head.

"Do not panic, everyone. We are still going with the plan. Gregory and Heather, hold up your Faz-Watches," Freddy said.

The children did as he commanded and held up their arm with the watch on it. Freddy closed his eyes while his processors made a series of technical noises. When he opened his eyes a beep was heard from both of the watches. The children looked at their watches and saw an icon of Sundrop, Moondrop, Astre, Stardrop, and Mr. Hippo on the screens.

"What is this?" Heather asked.

"This is the "Fetch" program. Normally, this is reserved for Faz-Watches worn by employees. But for you two, this will be a special exception," Freddy replied.

"What does it even do?" Gregory asked.

"Basically, it calls one of us to the one who requested us via a signal sent to our processor. This way you will be able to call for help without actually needing to give away your current location," Freddy replied.

"I can help you, as long as we don't go anywhere that's... really dark," Sundrop chimed in. "For those places, you can call Moon."

"Me, Stardrop, and Mr. Hippo could talk one of the other animatronics or Vanessa into going somewhere else if you need to, if my conversation with Roddy earlier is anything to go by," Astre said as she winked at the children.

They both smiled at the robots but Gregory's faded as he asked, "Will you really come to one of us?"

"Of course, Superstars. As long as we have power and can reach you," Freddy replied.

While Heather felt embarrassed at the nickname, Gregory liked it. It made him feel even more cared for. Something he hadn't felt as much since Vincent was put in the hospital.

"Well! I better get back to the Daycare. Call me if you need any help, Starbeams!" Sundrop said as he waved goodbye and skipped back into the daycare.

"I better get going too. And Heather, keep your hood up. If we're lucky, Vanessa's going to mistake you for a new CP model. See you later, Starlings," Astre said as she left the group with a finger salute and walked into the Daycare as well.

Freddy opened up his stomach hatch and Gregory climbed in. Once Freddy closed it, he held out his hand for Heather. She took it with a smile as they walked back into the main lobby.

"Woah... talk about a grand entrance," she mused as she noticed the giant golden statue of Glamrock Freddy singing his mechanical heart out.

"We can now access the Main Atrium with the new security badge."

When they walked into the elevator Freddy let go of Heather's hand and let Gregory out of his stomach hatch. She then put her hood up as he said, "Good news, you two. I have identified two possible exit points you both can use."

That made the children perk up.

"You have?" Gregory asked.

"What are they?" Heather asked.

"The first exit is the main loading dock located under the food court on the first floor. The second is a fire escape located on the third floor Prize Counter. Check your Faz-Watches. I will mark both locations on your Faz-Maps."

The children looked at the bear with confusion and annoyance written on their faces.

'They really are like siblings...' Freddy thought as he said, "You two do not have Faz-Maps? Apologies."

"Do you know where we can get one, Freddy?" Gregory asked.

"We should be able to obtain a couple from the greeter on the central balcony of the Main Atrium," the bear responded.

The children nodded as Gregory pushed the Freddy-shaped button and the elevator began to move upwards. While waiting in the elevator, Gregory looked up at Freddy.

"Freddy... Can I ask you something?"

Freddy gave a soft look while Heather's was one of curiosity before he responded, "Of course, Gregory. What is it you wish to ask me?"

The boy looked at Freddy's blue eyes and asked, "You know Vincent Laverre, right?"

The bear's face perked up and his ears wiggled.

"I do know him, Gregory. He has always helped me and my friends whenever we experienced malfunctions, and he was always a wonderful person to talk with."

"What did he talk about?" Gregory asked as he slightly tilted his head.

"Whenever my friends, my sister Bella, or myself were upset, Vincent would always talk to us to help us feel better. He was very good at calming Monty, Cherrie, Moondrop, Astre, and Hulda down and knew how to comfort Chica, Roxy, Stardrop, Sundrop, Roddy, Barbie, and Bella." Freddy replied.

"What's with the interrogating all of a sudden, Gregory?" Heather asked. "Do you know the guy or something?"

"Well, yeah. I met him before I met you. He helped me when I got hurt a long time ago."

Heather's jaw dropped as she processed what Gregory said.

"Y-You're telling me... that you met the Robotology Ruler himself... and never told me?!" Heather yelled as she regained her senses.

"Well, yeah. I mean, you never asked so..." Gregory said.

Heather pouted as she pulled at her hood in embarrassment. Freddy let out a soft chuckle as he said, "That does sound like something Vincent would do."

Before the children could ask any more questions they jumped back and grabbed Freddy's legs for safety after the Map Bot startled them.

"Hello. Please take this map. Take a map."

Gregory took the two maps from the map bot as Heather took a couple deep breaths to calm down. Gregory gave one to Heather once she was fully calm and they both let go of Freddy's legs.

"Superstars. Before you two decide which exit you will try, I believe Stardrop slipped something into your bag, Gregory," Freddy said in a teasing tone.

Gregory took off his backpack and unzipped it. He noticed two slips of golden yellow colored paper with a white star on it. He took them out and gave them to Heather to hold on to.

"What are these?" she asked as Gregory zipped up his backpack and put it back on.

"These are Party Passes. They are used by guests to gain admittance to the many attractions of the Pizzaplex. Astre had told me about how you were curious about Bella and Cherrie, so I asked Stardrop to put a couple in your bag," Freddy replied.

"We can really go in their places?" Heather asked as she handed one of the passes to Gregory.

"Yes. But unfortunately, due to some connection problems in Cherrie Casino, you two will not be able to call anyone for help," Freddy replied.

"So... Bella Basketball it is?" Gregory said.

"Yep. Let's check out the former drummer's place," Heather said with a nod.

Another chapter completed. I was unsure if I wanted to do the Loading Dock vs Prize Counter choice this chapter, so I decided I'm going to save that mess for another day.

1. Like I said last time, I changed Gregory's clothing to be more Glamrock Freddy themed. Also, I put a new Glamrock Freddy band-aid on his cheek because at this point, it's become a Gregory staple.

2. Honestly, when I was writing out Astre's room, I was thinking about the bedrooms of the main girls from the "Clique" novel series.

3. Yes, I gave Astre my hobbies of beading and listening to music CDs.

4. I finally introduced Queen Reina, or just Reina. It may be her from before Rewired happened, but it still counts.

5. Yes, Astre has a Monty-themed Faz-Watch. I WAS going to make her Monty's love interest at first but changed my mind. I'm just going to improvise from here on out.

6. Astre DOES hate the way Fazbear Entertainment has been doing things but knows she can't do anything right now considering who is currently in charge.

7. From here on out, Gregory is going to handle the shirts and keychains while Heather gets the plushies and action figures.

8. I FINALLY gave exposition about Bella and Cherrie.

9. Listen, if I found out that I had eaten POSSIBLY recycled pizza, I would probably feel grossed out too.

10. Finally showed where Heather's scars came from. Also, how did that man know the rabbit lady?

11. The "Fetch" program is my way of explaining how Gregory or Heather would call one of the animatronics over to where they are.

12. Yes, Sundrop has Nyctophobia. I know it sounds stupid because he is a robot, but considering how much he talks about keeping the lights on, I decided to make it canon in Rewired.

13. I know what I said back in Chapter 7, but Astre will also be referring to Heather as "Starling" as well.

14. From here on, Barbara will be referred to as her nickname "Barbie".

See you all in Bella Basketball next chapter!