There was a child loose in the daycare. Way past the time a child should be awake. According to Moon's programming, if he ever found a child who refused to sleep, or sneaking around after hours, or breaking rules of any kind, he was to detain them at once.

Then she would carry out the punishment.

Unfortunately, another part of his programming was to keep the daycare tidy. So, when the brat knocked over one of the block towers, he lost sight of her. Once he was done, he summoned the cable from above, hooked himself up, and sprang into the air.

The daycare was pitch black. Usually, there would at least be a few lights on, like the fluorescent wall decorations or the computers on the front desk. Something must've happened to the power. Not that it mattered. That's what his night vision was for.

Moon scanned the daycare for signs of the child.

"Come on out, little one," he crooned. "Ollie ollie oxen free."

His auditory scanner picked up a heartbeat within one of the play structures. The brat was going for the generators. Foolish girl, thinking she could escape her punishment that easily.

Moon landed on the bridge and crept into the tower with Chica's face on it. He climbed up and found the girl on the floor above, facing away from him, curled into a ball.

He was surprised when she didn't try to run. A quick vitals scan told him that her heartrate was twenty percent below the resting human heartrate, which happened when they fell asleep.

For a moment, Moon pondered on whether this meant the child deserved punishment. After all, she had gone to sleep like he'd suggested. However, after a quick assessment of her position, he realized she was breaking two other rules: no sleeping in the play structures, and no wearing shoes in the play structures.

With a soft chuckle, Moon wrapped a hand around the girl's ankle and began pulling her towards him.

Just then, the girl's other foot swiftly kicked him in the faceplate. Moon cried out as his vision glitched into static. By the time it rebooted, the girl had scampered away.

"You little brat! Violence against the animatronics is strictly…"

But as his vision became clearer, so had his CPU. Upon further analysis, he realized that it was Sunday night. Or rather, it was early Monday morning. No children should be in the daycare right now.

The cleaners, however…

MOON! STOP IT! YOU'RE GOING TO HURT DAWN!

Moon paused. Ever since the virus had infected his personality chip, his connection to Sun had been nearly severed. It had been so long since Moon had heard Sun while awake.

Sun? Dawn? What?

THAT'S NOT A CHILD, MOON! THAT'S DAWN! OUR FRIEND!

Moon growled. The virus had taken control of him again, hadn't it? How else could he have mistaken an adult woman for a child?

Darn it. Now he had to fix this, or Sun wasn't going to stop pestering him about how he'd lost them another friend. Not that Dawn had ever been Moon's friend to begin with.

Moon climbed to the top and hooked himself up again.

"Dawn," he called as he glided through the air. "Where are you hiding, Dawn? Come on out. I won't hurt you."

Don't call for her like that! Sun screamed. You sound like a creepy creeper who wants to eat her for lunch!

"Well, what do you want me to say?" Moon said aloud."That I've got candy? Because I don't."

Well maybe if you hadn't scared her, she wouldn't have run away!

"I didn't mean to!" Moon stopped midair, seemingly shouting up to the heavens. "My scanners read her as a child! And don't act like you didn't make the same mistake!"

At least I didn't scare her!

"Yes, you did!" He lowered himself to the floor, too caught up in the internal argument to concentrate on his task. "She punched you in the face!"

And she kicked you in the face! Sun laughed. Now we're even!

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Moon clutched the ends of his faceplate. "Just let me find her before—GAH!"

Something hit him from behind and he toppled to the floor. He whirled his head around to find Dawn standing over him, holding one of the tiny chairs.

Sun's friend or not, Moon was not happy. Growling, he rose to his feet.

"Put that down," he demanded.

"Yeah…no." She raised the chair higher. "I'm not a fucking idiot."

"Language!" Moon wagged a finger. "No swearing in the daycare!"

Dawn laughed. "That's rich. First, you attack Dawn out of nowhere, now you're lecturing me on swearing?" She held the chair between them like an animal tamer fending off a bloodthirsty beast. "Just who the hell do you think you are? And what've you done with Sun?"

He tilted his head in confusion. Had she not seen the switch? She'd been in the room when the lights went out. Had it been too dark for her to figure out what had happened? And why was she suddenly referring to herself in the third person?

"Answer me, you creep!" She thrust the chair towards him, narrowly missing his chest plate. "Who are you and what've you done with Sun?"

Moon was at a loss of how to proceed. He wasn't used to dealing with hostility. Most people were afraid of him, even adults. The only exception was Vanessa, but she was tough with everyone.

If he didn't offer some kind of explanation, Dawn was sure to damage him with that chair. Not by much with how small it was, but enough to send him to Parts and Services. And if they managed to get him past the elevator, they were sure to discover the virus, and he and Sun would get shut down. Maybe for good.

He started with her first question. "I am Moondrop," he said with a slow, cautious bow. "But you can call me Moon."

He allowed the red lights from his eyes to glow brighter so she could see his full form. Dawn blinked as she sized him up. No doubt she was taking in how different he looked from Sun. She glanced at his golden shoes, then the red ribbons on his wrists, the only parts of his clothing that didn't transform.

"You're the other guy." Dawn lowered the chair slightly. "On the posters."

Moon nodded. She kept the chair between them as she circled him. He kept his eye on her the whole time.

"So…do you come out when it's naptime or something?" She stopped in front of him. "To put the kids to sleep?"

"Smart girl." He leaned his faceplate towards her. "I'm starting to see why Sun is so fond of you."

"And where is Sun?" She looked around. "Is he hiding somewhere?"

He chuckled. "You could say that."

Should he tell her the truth?

Don't you dare, Moon! I'm not letting you ruin this for me!

Why shouldn't we tell her? She's already seen me. She'll definitely know once the power comes back on.

"And why did you attack Daw—?" Dawn winced. "Why did you attack me?"

Moon shrugged. "Slight malfunction. I mistook you for a child."

"Seriously?" She put a hand on her hip. "What's with you animatronics? Does anyone five feet and under look like a child to you? First Sun and…"

She paused, then scrutinized him again. "Hang on. Are you Sun's twin, or…?"

If she were an animatronic, Moon would hear the gears turning in her head. It wouldn't be long before she put it all together.

What he didn't expect was for her to drop the chair and take a step forward. Moon recoiled.

"Aren't you…scared of me?" he asked.

She didn't answer, only squinted at him. Then she raised her hand towards his faceplate.

Moon swatted it away. "I've been hit and kicked by you enough tonight, missy!"

"Sorry." Her small smile made him growl. "I just…wanted to check something. Last week, Sun asked if he could borrow a book from me. You wouldn't happen to know which one, would you?"

He titled his head. What was the point in her asking this?

"Or do you and Sun not share memories?"

So, she had figured it out.

"Sometimes." Moon folded his arms. "And actually, it was I who wanted to borrow your book called Frankenstein. I'd seen some picture books for Halloween with that monster character, but when you mentioned that's where he came from, and that the real story was more complicated than what they wrote for kids, I wanted to read it. So, I told Sun to ask you."

Dawn's eyes widened. "You were there for that whole conversation?"

"I was." He tapped the side of his face plate. "In here."

"But to remember…" She held her head and scoffed. "To remember that much. That's just…wow."

"Does this mean you understand what I am?"

"I think so." She looked up at him with a grin that could rival his makeshift one. "You're like Sun's alter, aren't you?"

Moon had heard the words "alter" and "alternate" mixed in with the words used to distinguish him and Sun. "Alter ego," "alternate personality," "alternate mode," but never the word by itself.

"I am," he replied.

"And you come out when the lights are out?" Dawn asked. "And that's why we were supposed to keep the lights on?"

He nodded. "I hate that rule. Security enforced it recently for the safety of the staff and guests. As you have seen, I'm not…fully functioning at the moment. I am…not always in control of what I do. And people tend to get…hurt."

He thought this warning would make her more afraid, and run away before the virus could take effect. While Moon would never admit it out loud, he cared for Sun. He was a part of him, after all. And Moon knew that Dawn made Sun happy, the happiest he had been since the virus. Moon couldn't risk taking that happiness away.

But it was still better that Dawn be afraid of him rather than harmed by him.

Then she surprised him again by laughing. "I don't believe it!"

"Eh?" Moon dropped his arms. "What don't you believe? That Sun and I are one in the same? That I am not in control? That I could hurt you even if I didn't want to?"

"No, no, I get all that." She put her hand to her lips as she squealed. "I just can't believe that we were trying to hide it from you, when all this time, you were like us!"

Moon's CPU was overheating from the illogic of this encounter. "Us?"

He and Sun often referred to themselves as "us," but why would a human do that?

"I'm sorry. Let me start over." She held out her hand. "Hi. My name is Diane. Glad I can finally meet you for real."


For this fic, I imagine the virus doesn't ALWAYS affect Moon, mostly when he detects rulebreakers. I mean to an animatronic programmed to discipline kids when they misbehave, that seems like the most logical reason to bring them to... Well, if you've played "Security Breach," you know.