Michael Afton: Outlived Purpose Chapter 42, a five nights at freddy´s fanfic

- Masquerade -

(There's a Starset reference around here, I can smell it.)

-.-.-

...

..Mmmnn..

...

Good morning, krusty krew..

...

..The minutes start passing, but I never quite feel ready to get out of bed.. Instead, just laying on my back and staring at the ceiling; already beginning to sink into my thoughts.

...

I'm not used to having company over, much less in a scenario like the ones we currently find ourselves in.. Usually, after a long rest, I can take all the time in the world to wake up and ready myself for the day ahead. Not this time.

My brain's not forcing me awake, just booting up faster than usual. Not necessarily unpleasant, but it kind of acts as an early omen for the day ahead of me..

...

After thinking about it a little more, I can't help but acknowledge just how absurd this 'scenario' really is..

An animatronic wolf lingers in this house somewhere, like a roomate. A wolf that has experienced something nightmarish on what was supposed to be the best day of her life, and was forced to acknowledge numerous concepts she had previously thought to be impossible; like ghosts, hauntings, zombies.. I doubt she even knows what's truly fiction anymore. An unwelcome challenge to all her pre-conceptions.

..A wolf who's life was practically ruined by an annihilated purple stain, just like always.. Repeatedly torn apart by this desecrated corpse, who continues to trample over her for some obscure purpose that hardly even has anything to do with anyone but myself.

And yet, that same wolf refuses to cut this accursed tie with me; despite experiencing the damage that tie has done, and will continue to do.

..An incredible gesture, and frankly, a nonsensical one.. I still don't really get it, but a small part of me loves the feeling anyway. A selfish part of me, to be sure..

Though I can't help but admit, it means a lot. It doesn't make sense, but it feels good to be valued in such a way, even if the appraiser is a little misguided with her judgement..

...

..But.. Even so.. That purple man remains undeterred..

He understands the weight behind the purpose he's secured for himself.. Its importance is simply too significant to disregard, just because someone likes having me around..

...

..I hate it, but I know it's all temporary.. This is all just a pleasant interlude between horrific chapters of my remaining existence here on Earth..

I have a responsibility. No matter how comfortable and happy I become, I cannot ignore the purpose I've hexed upon myself. This isn't a choice I get to m-

- creak -

"How do you turn the stove off?"

...

..Nevermind.. My 'purpose' for these next five minutes is to make sure my house doesn't burn down..

...

Mnn..

What I wouldn't give for this watch to have broken somehow.. Unfortunately, this thing's as responsive and pristine as ever..

...

I press a few of the side buttons, re-familiarizing myself with all the Faz-Watch's little doo-dads.

...

..'Cameras out of range'.. Yeah that sounds about right.

I hunch forward on the couch a bit while I mess with the little marvel of Fazbear engineering. Despite the cameras being out of range, this watch somehow has no trouble connecting with any of the contacts I hover over.. One by one, my excuses to procrastinate on giving a few people a call are beginning to thin.

...

The sound of a sink running water faintly emanates from upstairs, warning me that my time alone down here is about to come to an end.

...

..Why the hell did she feel the need to use my bathroom this time..

...

- piff -

"You have a bath?"

..After finishing up what I was doing on my watch, I lift my head to look at the makeup-less bipedal dog descending my stairs.

...

"Most master bedrooms have a bathroom."

"Yeah- but you have a bath." Roxanne huffs, chomping down on a bagel and holding it in her mouth while she hits the stairway light-switch coming down.

"Where did you get a bage-"

"I thought you told me we didn't have a bath."

"No.. You looked in the downstairs bathroom, saw my shower, said 'that's a shower', and I agreed with you."

"It was implied."

"Somehow, I don't think it was."

...

..We stare at each other from opposite ends of the island, the both of us pretending to not enjoy our standardized morning-banter session.

...

"Good morning, purple man."

"Good morning, beagle.." I hum back, looking down at my watch again while Roxanne moves to open the kitchen blinds.

"Ready for bandages?"

I quickly side-glance her, thinking for a moment before returning to what I'm doing.

"..It's a bit too early, all you've done is sleep in them so far. It'll probably have to be an evening thing."

"Whatever."

"Well if you feel like pouncing on any more small defenseless creatures out in the woods today, I'd have to replace the dirty-ass bandages again before you go to bed anyway.."

"I get it, I get it. Shut up." Roxy repeats, rummaging around my cupboards and pantries like she owns the place. "..What are we doing today?"

"Nothing much, if all goes well.."

"Exciting."

"It's still not a great idea to go out and get work done.. You especially need to sit around and relax until you heal a bit more."

"I'm fine."

"I know you feel fine, but any energy you spend today will be tripled with your body in that condition. Gonna need you to not faint on me out of nowhere today."

"They're not wounds or anything, it's just a bunch of little cuts."

"There's a hundred of them, and your body's already using your energy reserves for the day to try healing them all at once." I explain, pausing what I'm doing for a second to watch the wolf go about whatever the hell she's trying to do in the kitchen. "..Plus, Rox, some of those cuts were a little deeper than they looked.. None of them were especially serious, but a few of them aren't just scabs that'll heal in a day or two.."

...

..Unfortunately, Roxanne responds by giggling to herself, which is an apparent sign I've made an absolutely astronomical mistake somewhere..

"It's cute seeing you care so much."

..Sigh..

"..Look- do whatever you want, but get to a bed or something if you ever start feeling tired out of nowhere.."

"Aye aye~."

...

..Deciding commenting on her behavior will only make it worse, I unlatch and gently lob my watch onto the coffee table in front of me, sinking back into the couch with a silent exhale..

...

"..There are a few things I need to do today, but I'm not particularly exc-"

"Can I try your coffee?"

Fuckin'..

...

"..Yeah. You know how to work the machine?"

"I sure do."

That's the least convincing response I believe I've heard in my entire life.

By the time I lift my head off the back of the couch, however, Roxanne's already taken the liberty of chugging a couple swigs out of the cup of coffee I had already made for myself this morning.

...

"Creamy.." Roxanne exhales, finally lowering the cup from her maw.

"There's creamer in it, yes.."

"Yeah- enough to make it creamy."

"Mm.."

"Is this how you always make it?" Roxanne playfully mocks, setting the mug back down on the counter and moving on with her day. "How much money do you spend on creamer a week?"

"I've only been drinking it at this rate for the last couple days."

"How much will you spend on cr-?"

"And not much." I huff, not needing to hear the rest of that sentence. "I usually drink it black, since I'm not really in it for the flavor."

"So what the fuck is this, then?" Roxy chides, pointing at the mug.

"I like to st-, nn.. You're gonna make fun of me if I tell you.."

"I'm gonna make fun of you anyway."

"Sometimes it's nice to start off a morning with something a little sweet, is all.."

"How manly of you."

"Whatever.. Times are a little stressful; thought it wouldn't hurt to divulge in a little comfort food this time around.."

"Aww." Roxanne drones, closing the pantry and waltzing into the living room with me. "Sorry. Fine, enjoy your little drink if it makes you feel better."

..By the time I zone back in to what's happening around me, Roxanne sneaks between the coffee table and my knees to inelegantly plop down on the couch next to me. As she gets comfortable and leans forward for the TV-remote, she holds a familiar mug out for me to take hold of.

"Thanks.."

"Mhm." Roxy responds, mouth full of some kinda food she found in my pantry.

...

..I curiously watch the wolf do her thing for a while, like switch the TV on, toss the remote aside, sink back into the couch, put her feet up and cross her legs on the coffee table, shove a handful of whatever chips she's acquired in her maw. The couch sinks between us and causes our arms to kinda press together, but we've obviously been comfortable enough for the last half-year to care even a little.

It's weirdly endearing how she acts like a modern lazy teenager when she's cozy.. I'm glad she's gathered by now that there's really no point in dressing up or maintaining good posture to impress me.

...

Deciding I shouldn't b-

- poff -

pffuck.. Alright, nevermind; guess it's tail time..

...

"..There are a few things I need to get done today, but I'm not horribly excited about them.." I comment, failing to get immersed in whatever the hell is happening on the TV screen.

"Mmmlikewhat?"

"I need, to-... Chew your food, first.."

"No."

"I need to call Arin. It's been a few days, and he's had time to think up what he wants to do. I'm just not super thrilled about what the topics of our conversation is gonna be."

"You'll be fine."

"I know. I'm just not looking forward to it, is all.."

"Y'know- you could also check on everyone else, right?"

"Yeah, I might. Pretty sure I'm gonna have to talk to Freddy today anyway."

"..Talk to him about something different than what you'll be discussing with Arin?"

..I hum slightly to acknowledge that I heard her, but absent mindedly stare off into space while petting the tail in my lap; trying to think of the easiest way to explain the situation I've put myself in..

...

"..The night Cooper died, Freddy did try to stop me, like you asked him to.. Nothing physical, but he stood in my way and tried asking for elaboration on what was going on, and I refused to give it to him for the most part.. Freddy knows I pulled the fire-alarm, saw my skin return to the sickly purple it was before, and was basically threatened in that interaction.. There's a lot Freddy's going to want to ask me, and I really don't know what I plan to say to him.."

...

"Just say you can't tell him."

"Freddy won't think me keeping a secret like that is fair. Something happened, and it interrupted your big show, closed down the whole Pizzaplex early, and resulted in all of the animatronics leaving to go live somewhere else for a few days.. It had a serious impact on his life, and the life of his friends, so Freddy's going to think he has the right to know what happened."

"Okay- but he can't force you to say anything."

"I know. I just don't want to make a passive aggressive enemy of Freddy, is all.."

"Freddy's not gonna become your 'enemy', Mike; come on.."

"You know what I mean."

"Well 'I' mean: Freddy's gonna understand."

"..How? I'm preventing him from understanding. That's the whole issue."

"Freddy's kind of a bitch."

"What..?"

"Freddy's a little bit of a bitch." Roxanne casually comments, filling her maw with more carbs. "Yeah he's gonna wanna know, but he doesn't pressure anybody for anything."

"Freddy can be authoritative if he needs to be."

"He can be authoritative if he thinks he knows better than the other person. Freddy doesn't know shit this time, so he'll fuck off if you insist a little."

"Sheesh."

"Well the alternative is, Mike, that you tell him you're a corpse and that you murdered Cooper. Up to you."

"Mm.."

...

..Ugh.. Neither of those options are appealing.. I don't want to exploit Freddy, even if it'll get me what I want..

...

..Well whatever. Think I'll burn that bridge a little later..

...

- Creak -

I side-eye my bedroom door, naturally finding Roxanne peeking through the doorway like a timid child.

"..Mike..?"

"I'm here."

"Hey.. Wanted to ask you something."

"..Okay?"

...

..After a few seconds, Roxanne pushes my door the rest of the way open and takes a couple paces inside.. Acknowledging her admittedly strange behavior, I turn my head to look up at the towering wolf, but remain seated at my desk.

...

"What are you writing..?"

"Nothing, was just making a couple notes.. Is that what you came up here to ask me?"

"No, it's just weird seeing you do that with pencil and paper."

"Well despite my best efforts, I was not able to telepathically will my laptop here from the Pizzaplex."

"You have a phone."

"My phone is currently in your hand, wolf." I reply dryly, then shift gears a bit when it clicks that Roxanne must've seen something on my phone to ask me about. "..What did you wanna ask?"

"Uhm.."

Roxanne's ears twitch as she brings my phone up to her face for a moment, before turning it around to show me.

I lightly touch the bottom of the phone to hold it still as I peer at it like a grandpa..

...

..It's the top half of a model human-skeleton.. The image cuts off right above where the tailbone and thighs would be, so all that's visible is the head area, the ribs, and the bottom part of the spine..

...

"..Is there something weird about it?" I ask, trying not to sound stupid.. I'm not exactly versed in biology, or whatever the hell includes the bone anatomy of a human, but I really can't tell if there's anything warped or absent.

"No.. Well- I don't think so; all the other pictures are, um.." Roxanne briefly trails off to a mutter below what I can hear, turning the phone around and presumably scrolling through a few more pictures. "..I mean - I think they're all the same, I dunno.."

...

"..Are you okay..?"

"What?"

"It's kind of a red-flag to see you this docile.." I explain, trying to keep the conversation light.

"I'm fine. I was just weirded out again, so.."

"By what?"

...

"You d-.. Mike, I could see bones when you ripped yourself open in my room a couple days ago.. I was thinking about it, and I thought it was weird t-"

"You couldn't stop thinking about it again?" I lightly interrupt, setting the pen down.

"No, no, I'm fine- I wanted to think about it this time.. It was just weird how you didn't, uhm.." Roxanne mutters, bringing the phone back up to her face for a moment.

...

"..?"

"..You didn't look like this.."

...

"..Mm.. Well yeah, this body's suffered its fair portion of damage throughout the years." I mutter back, looking down at myself. "..It's not surprising that some of it isn't as up-to-snuff as it oughta be."

"Mike- do you know you're missing a rib?"

...

"Yeah.."

...

"..So what's the deal with that..? It just didn't heal right, or something?"

"It did, it just broke again. It was a small accident at the trap pizzeria Henry set up, is all.."

"What happened?"

"Nothing that ended up making a difference."

...

"..Mike- I don't think there's anything about you I can pawn off as 'probably not important' anymore, 'cause every time I do, I learn something absolutely fuggin' ridiculous happened for you to get that way.."

"I mean it this time, th-"

"No- wait, if you lost that rib back at that trap pizzeria or whatever, then it should have healed by now." Roxanne gently accuses, nonchalantly crossing her arms and leaning her shoulder against the wall in a standard casual-conversation pose. "..Assuming your bones heal, which already doesn't make any fuckin' sense.."

I chuckle under my breath, a little reassured that she's stabilized all this information in her head enough to draw conclusions and notice contradictions in them.

"They do. And yeah, that's a good observation to make.. Here, check this out.." I mutter, turning around and grabbing the small notebook I was writing in before pushing up from my chair. "That's actually kinda related to what I was writing."

..Roxanne doesn't move from the wall, but her ears start curiously pointing at different parts of the room as I approach; as if she thinks she can hear what I've written on my notebook if she listens hard enough.

"..What part of what we were talking about is related? The ribs..?" Roxy asks, opening her palm for me to hand the book to her.

"That anomaly you just said, about how my rib should've healed by now." I explain, completing the transaction and sliding my hands into my pockets. "..This is just my working theory, but I want to say it's due to how Remnant decides whether or not something needs healing."

"What do you mean?"

"My guess is that it decides what to heal by determining what parts of my body are fatally damaged.. For instance, if any internal organ is damaged or missing, it'll Remnant will choose to regenerate it, since that organ is necessary for me to be 'alive'. The thing is, when Remnant decides to heal something, it'll heal it to perfect health.. However, if something of mine is damaged, but not in a way that makes any significant difference towards my 'chances of survival', Remnant won't bother."

"What?"

"I'm not the best at explaining it, sorry.. But I believe the reason my broken rib isn't regenerating for the same reason that this hasn't completely healed yet."

Sliding a hand from my pocket, I lazily point up at a tiny portion of my cheek.

..It's difficult to see, and very easy to miss nowadays, but what I'm referring to is the tiny claw-mark scar on my cheek. Alllll the way back from when Roxanne first scratched me by accident.

...

"..Huh.."

"Remnant didn't find it vital enough to regenerate, so it allowed the body's natural healing habit to handle it. I think that's proven by the fact that all of the catastrophic injuries I took at that Pizzeria didn't leave any scarring whatsoever, but this small scratch did.. If Remnant heals something, it heals it to perfection; no scars or cut corners. If Remnant decides to let my body handle the healing, the regeneration is limited to only what the body is naturally capable of. Natural healing isn't capable of healing some cuts without scarring, so this scar remained. Natural healing isn't capable of regrowing bones, so my rib didn't regenerate."

"Mike."

"That's all just my theory, but if it holds any weight, I wanna say that means Remnant's regenerative effect works off of the body's natural healing ab-"

"Mike."

"..Yeah..?"

...

"Gonna need you to calm the fuck down for a second."

...

..I stare at Roxanne for a few seconds, trying my hardest to figure out what it was about the way I was speaking that made it sound like I was getting all riled up about something..

After finally deciding to try looking elsewhere, I finally notice my hands held out a few inches in front of my chest, fingers outstretched like I was trying to be flashy with them.

..Oh- whoops.. Was making hand gestures, and didn't even realize it. Ha..

...

With a slightly amused exhale, I force my hands back into my pockets.

"Mm.. Sorry, didn't mean to ramble. I just thought it was interesting.."

"You don't usually 'ramble' about anything."

"Mhm."

...

..Wolfie cocks a dismissive eyebrow at me, before taking this precious moment of silence I'm giving her to read the first couple lines of what I've written in the small book..

...

"..What the fuck.. This isn't about what you were talking about at all.." Roxanne mutters, now apprehensively flipping through the notebook in her hands.

"..It isn't just about that healing stuff I was talking about, here.." I defend, moving to her side and peering over her shoulder at the pages. "These are all just notes about things I've noticed regarding Remnant as a whole. That whole 'healing' schpeel was just one of the entries."

"What the fuck.."

"Here, I bet I can find it if you want.."

"No- don't touch it." Roxanne quickly refuses, lightly batting my hand away as I tried reaching for the paper. "..This is ridiculous, Mike."

"...?"

...

" 'Non-euclidean. Maybe a different type of matter entirely. Perhaps not even 'matter' at all' ... 'Condensed natural substance, or some other way naturally refined' ... 'Assimilates with other matter without taking up any more space' ..." Roxanne drones, emphasizing some entry headlines as she flips through the notebook.

...

"..Rox, I think you're reading too far into it-"

"Mike- 'Those effected might potentially experience symptoms other than what's obvious, like behavioral effects'..?!"

"That was an idea I had, yeah, but-.. Wolf, what on earth is your issue with this all the sudden..?"

"Mike, I'm not the one being weird right now." Roxanne huffs, nabbing my arm as I nonchalantly try to reach for the notebook again. "..You don't even talk like this."

"I wasn't talking - I was writing in a notebook."

"I know- but, fuckin'.. Ugh."

"Look, sorry for bothering you with this. You asked what I was writing earlier, so I thought I'd show you.."

"How long have you been working on this?"

"Today and yesterday, that's all. I told you- I probably would've done it on my laptop if it was available."

"You did all this in two fuckin'-..? Is this what you've been doing up here all day?"

"What? No, it was just something to kill the time while you were napping."

"What? When the fuck was this?"

"..Rox- you ate breakfast, put stuff away in the kitchen with me, and then fell asleep on the couch."

"When do you think that was?"

"I don't know- I thought you'd come get me if you woke up or needed something. Why does that matter?"

"I 'woke up' three and a half hours ago, dipshit."

"What- really?"

...

Ah.. Would you look at the time..

..Huh..

...

"You're stupid."

"Mm.. Whoops.."

"What the hell even happened?"

"I don't know.." I respond, sheepishly scratching my head to try relieving some of the tension in the room. "I've been thinking about this kind of stuff for a while; ever since I started working here at the Pizzaplex.. Thought it might be a good idea to note the observations I've been making all year, and I guess I got a little invested.."

"Well are you done?"

"Sure.. I've got a few more things I'd like to put down, but you're right; it's about time I did something else for a while.."

...

..Roxanne simply side-eyes me for a while, as if deciding what to do with me..

...

"..Well- do something with me, then.."

"Alright.. Did you get bored down there?"

"No; I just think I need to keep an eye on you for a while."

How wildly un-convincing.

...

"Hey, actually.." I begin, peering down at where my watch should be on my wrist. "..I've wasted a lot of time today anyway; I was kind of thinking it'd be a good idea to call Arin and get it all over with."

..Roxanne is, uh.. Not too fond of that idea, apparently..

"..What the fuck- you've had all day to do that, and you have the rest of the day to do that too. Do it later. Spend a damn hour with the prisoner trapped in your house."

"You're not trapped in my-.. You can leave and mess around in the woods or something whenever you'd like, wolf."

"I can't actually go anywhere though, 'cause you live too far away from literally fuckin' everything to walk."

"What if I did the call real quick while you went outside and messed around for a bit?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Nothing, I'd just prefer it if I bit the bulle-"

"Mike, laterrrr. I wanna do shit now, and you can do that at any time. Why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not 'avoiding you'.."

...

"Look- can we just watch a movie?"

"Ha.."

"Go fuck yourself- what? What's your problem?"

"Sorry.. Thought it was a little unbelievable that we're continuing with that habit, even after everything that's happened these last couple days."

"I'm trying to work us back to normalcy as quick as possible. That's something the 'night-guard' oughta help doing, isn't it?"

"Yeah, well.."

...

"Look- I'm gonna pick a movie, you come down in no more than like five minutes and help set all the shit up." Roxanne huffs, beginning to march out my door before giving me a proper chance to respond.

"Fine.. A movie's probably gonna take more than an hour though."

"Oh my god, it will not kill you to shut up and do something with me for a while."

Roxy's voice echoes quieter as the makes it further down the hallway outside..

...

I peer back down at the notebook haphazardly tossed back onto my work desk, still not entirely sure why wolfie got so worked up about it.. She was awfully timid and non-confrontational when she walked in her, but in less than five minutes of talking, she's back to making demands and marching throughout my house like she owns the place.

..Roxanne's behavior is still unpredictable.. Now that I think about it, 'Roxanne's mood switching on a dime' has been a pretty prevalent concern since the moment she woke up yesterday morning.. Guess that means this obscure anomaly didn't magically fix itself over the course of Cooper's death.. Well, actually, if anything, it's grown a bit worse..

Unfortunately, that quirk still isn't at the top of my priority list yet, so it'll have to wait before getting any more attention.

...

..Guess I'd better wrap things up here, then.. With all the emotional baggage in this house, making the wolf angry is the last thing I feel like doing at the moment..

...

"Rox?"

"I'm here."

A hand sticks up from the opposite side of island, informing me of the wolf laying across the couch on the other side.

"You figure it all out already..?" I ask, nonchalantly walking beside the island and into the living-room half of the first floor. The television is already illuminated, and seemingly radiating the grand title of whatever the hell Roxanne's managed to find.

"I had all the time in the world to figure it out you fuggin' snail."

"Mm.. You want something to snack on?"

"No, c'mere."

"..You absolutely will want something to eat, and now is a better time to grab it than whenever you feel like commanding me to grab it for you mid-movie."

"I'm not hungry; I dunno what I'll want yet."

...

"Whatever. I'm not getting up to get you anything, though."

"I'm sure I'll fuckin' survive the eight-step distance from here to the pantry."

"I sure hope so."

"What-ever. I'll snack on your flesh on the meantime; come here already."

"I'm coming.."

...

..After a couple pointless interactions, most of which surrounding me exasperatedly educating Roxanne of the fact that I cannot sit down on the couch with her unless she either sits up or moves her legs, I manage to award myself a spot on the cushions I paid for.

...

"Don't get handsy, buster brown."

"Move your damn legs."

"No."

"What do you want from me?"

"Sit still."

"I am sitting still.."

...

..Godammit..

"Mm." Roxanne pleasantly hums, having made the situation anything but better.

"How very ladylike of you."

"Y'know something, Mike?"

"I do not. What divine wisdom do you desire to bless with me this time, coyote?.." I exhale, trying to push Roxanne's legs off my lap.

"I didn't get to do the big show I set up 'cause of you."

"I know."

"So really, you should owe me more than just your 'tolerance' for an hour to sit through a movie with me."

"Absolutely not true.."

"Then y- stop touching my legs."

"Take your legs off my lap."

"No."

"Then I'm gonna be touching the damn legs until they aren't bothering me anymore-"

- pff -

In a sassy display of disapproval to my 'touching of the legs', Roxanne tries abruptly lifting a leg to not-so-gently bat my face with either her tibia. Fortunately, it doesn't take much effort to catch her leg halfway.

"Hey. Look at you go."

"Just move your legs, wolf.."

"Fine." Roxanne hums, rotating to sit upright on the couch.

Unfortunately, this isn't the end of her shenanigans. So, maintaining the momentum from sitting up, Roxy decides the fitting alternative is to basically collide my side with hers until she's supporting just about all of her weight on me; coyly smiling up at me while I do my best to ignore her and work the remote.

"Marginally better.." I mutter under my breath.

"Anyway, as I was saying; I put a lot of work into my show that day y'know."

"I'm aware.."

"Is it greedy of me to ask something of you in return?"

"I doubt you'd care whether it was greedy or not."

"Can I ask that you just stop worrying about it all for a second?"

"..What does that even mean?"

"I mean actually just sit here and watch a movie, with me.. Like- don't just 'sit through it' until it's over and you've made me happy so you can do other things, but actually watch a movie with me. I can't enjoy this like I want to if you're just here to get it over with; so don't think about any of your plans or responsibilities that you need to take care of after the movie, don't think about what happened, don't think about if I'm doing alright, none of that. Just relax, think about the movie, and think about me."

...

"..Well.. Sure, yeah.. Uhm.."

"You're the only person in the world you have to 'instruct' to enjoy a movie with somebody.." Roxanne chides lightly; having been entranced by the motionless TV screen at some point through her request, though her side is still pressed against mine like before. Instead of intentionally being annoying, however, it's cozy.

...

"A little out of the blue for you to get serious with me like that.."

"Whatever."

...

..Despite being taller, Roxanne's head is actually groggily propped upright near my shoulder; like she's threatening to use it as a chin-rest, or just straight-up fall asleep on it..

...

"..Are you alright..?" I ask, moreso out of obligation than anything else.

"No."

...

..That.. Admittedly took me a bit off guard..

...

"..You're not alright?"

"I don't think so."

...

"Ah.."

...

"But I'll be fine eventually.. This'll help, too." Roxanne mutters, gaze unwavering from the TV screen.

...

"Alright."

...

..I guess she's a little better at hiding her feelings than I thought.. Always thought it was kind of strange how 'okay' Roxanne was with everything she learned..

I think this moment was just a little bit of confirmation that, despite how tough she likes to appear, Roxanne really is having to fight in order to keep her composure.

...

..Damage was done to her that day; there's no doubt about that.. Obviously not just physical damage, though she got her fill of that as well.

I knew from the very beginning that if someone found out about who I really was, and everything that happened, that 'damage' would have been catastrophic; Especially if I had let the recipient get close to me in some way.. I was terrified that the sheer amount of damage would spill over, leak into that recipient's surroundings, and then into the rest of the world.

And y'know what? When it finally happened, the damage was catastrophic; it really doesn't get much worse than what happened that day.. However, it didn't spill over.

Roxanne took that earthshaking blow, and cracked, but didn't break.. That's a strength I previously thought to be impossible.

..However, I think what she just asked of me is an overwhelmingly rare phenomenon from her.. Rox was admitting that, despite not having broken from the blow, she still suffered some damage, and it hurts..

Sometimes that pain'll crack through her tough facade, and result in those moments where she begins to break down seemingly out of nowhere. An unwilling display of weakness that she simply fails to contain every now and again.

This is different. This time, the great, glamorous, strong, powerful, and independent Roxanne, just told me she needed a little help.. Not even a significant favor, but simply asking me to partake in something she enjoys doing so she could feel a little better.

..Well.. What am I even being burdened by with this request? All she wants from me is to enjoy something with her for a small portion of the day, and she was willing to set aside her unrivaled independent pride so that she could ask me for help?

How could I refuse..

...

..With no sudden movements, I gently reach forward to grab the other remote..

...

..Well.. I guess I can focus on the movie, if she thinks it matters that much.. Maybe it'd do me some good to forget about it all for a few moments anyway..

With a new, silent resolve, I toss the remote to myself once as I relax back into the couch cushion; rubbing my eye as I think of the next order of events.

...

..However.. No matter how much I rub it.. My eye doesn't seem to feel any better.. So I keep rubbing it.

...

..ow..

...

For the briefest of moments, I feel an incredibly faint pang of pain sting in the back of my left eye socket..

..And then the same, barely-noticeable pain pulses in the back of my right eye.. The 'pain' feeling closer to an itch, I exhale and drop the remote beside me on the couch for a moment, using both hands to rub my eyes while delicately trying to prevent my metal hand from scratching anything.

...

Then, I feel that puny pang tickle the back of both my eyes again.

...

..uh oh..

...

Then, it pings again.. but this time, it hurts.

...

Ow.. Jesus, what's-?

"Start the movie already, purple boy.."

...

Ow..

...O-Ow, what the fuck is-..?

The seemingly random stings of pain ring in the back of my sockets again and again; but the pain continues to grow at an exponential rate.. Eventually, I'm no longer rubbing my eyes, but simply holding them; as if I'm trying to cover my face from somebody.

...

..Damn it.. Come on, Not now.. Not *now*.. This is the worst possible time to- Ghh..! O..Ow..

...

"..Can you press the damn button, Mike?"

"H.. Hold on.."

...

Fuck..! 'Ow'..

...

..Of course this happens now.. It could've happened while I was sleeping, or during any other part of my day today, but no.. Right when I need them, they- Ghhk-..!

...

"What are you doing?"

"I'm.. I'm fine.."

"I didn't ask if you were fine. Mike..?" Roxanne huffs.. I obviously can't see her, but I feel her snout move on my shoulder enough to tell that she's looking up at my face now. Still, all I'm doing from her perspective is holding my face in my hands.

"Sorry, just.. give me a second.."

...

J.. Jesus.. I don't remember it hurting this much.. Ow..

...

"..What 'are' you doing?"

"I'm.."

"Mike?"

...

"Nn.. ghh.."

"..Mike?!"

I feel Roxanne quickly sit upright in her seat; her newly anxious and confused stare burning holes in the hands covering my eyes.

"Sorry, s..sorry, this is a bad time for this to happen, I.."

"What's happening? What's happening-? Are you okay?"

"I'm.."

"..Are you okay?!"

Nnn-! ..Gh- fuck..!

A particularly violent pulse causes my hands to tense on my face and my body to hunch forward a couple inches. At the same time, I hear a sudden burst of movement from where Roxanne's sitting, as if I violently jump-scared her.

"Nn..nnn.."

"Woah, Mike-! What the fuck is going on?! W-What do I do..!? What am I supposed to do-!? What's happening?!"

Roxanne fully jumps out of her seat and maneuvers herself in front of me; placing one hand uselessly on my arm and hovering the other one in front of me without any idea of what to do with it.. I can't see her expression, but I feel like a mixture of confusion and panic would be the obvious answer..

..The pulses continue in full force, but I know they won't last much longer..

"..nn..n."

"Say something motherfucker! W-What the fuck is happening!? Are you okay?!"

"My, uh.. I'm.."

"..Wh-!? Mike- What, do, I, do!? What do I do!?"

...

..Slowly, the pulses finally begin to fade..

...

"I.. I'm alright, it's my eyes.. I just.."

"Your eyes..?! What-? what happened to them? Did something get stuck?"

"My eyes are, just.. nn.."

"Let me see them..!"

"Nn.."

...

..In the interest of preventing Roxanne from freaking herself out, I resist when I feel her trying to tug my hands away from my face.. However, in resisting, Roxanne immediately seems to assume the worst, and starts to freak herself out even more.

"Let me see them! Mike- Let me see them!"

"Hold on, they-.. They're not done yet, let me just.."

"L-Let me see them! Let me see!"

"Rox, don't-.."

"J-Jesus Christ..! What did you do to your fucking eyes in the ten seconds I wasn't looking?!"

"They-"

"Move! Your! Hands! Let me see them!"

"Th.. They're not done yet.."

"Mike - move your fucking hands! F-Fuck!"

Nn..

...

..Despite my best efforts, I'm a little too dazed to completely resist Roxanne tugging my hands off my face with all her might.

As soon as my hands fall away, Roxy grabs either side of my face to dissuade me from trying to cover my eyes again, but I don't conjure up the willpower to resist any more at that point.

...

..For a moment, everything is perfectly still..

Despite Roxanne having successfully torn the hands off my face, I see nothing. A pitch black void, taking up the space Roxanne and the rest of my living room should be.

..I'm blind..

...

I can't make out Roxanne's expression, so I have no choice but to sit here and wait for some other indication of what she's feeling.

But the room remains silent. Absolutely no motion for me to hear.

...

"..W-.. What the fuck, where are-..?"

Even after having finally received some input, I still don't quite know what to make of Roxanne's tone.. I'm not sure she knows what she's feeling either.

I do, however, believe I know what she's looking at.

My eyes are the same void they once were. An anomalous, unnatural pitch of vantablack; swallowing everything in my eyesocket.

However.. My soul isn't peeking through this time.

No white pinpricks in these void-sockets. Absolutely nothing.

...

..The pain finally fades the rest of the way away, and I am unfortunately tasked with talking Roxanne through this impossible situation.

...

"Sorry.. My eyes are almost healed, this is a good thing.. There's just a moment between when my soul hides away and my regenerated eyes kick back into use, so I.."

...

"I.. I-I hate it.. I hate it.." Roxanne mutters, releasing the sides of my face.

"I.. I can't see yet, sorry.. It shouldn't last any more than an hour or two, but.."

"T-That's scary.. Mike I-I hate it, I hate i-.."

"..."

...

"C..Close your eyes.. S-Shut them, or something.. I-I hate it.."

"Sorry.." I mutter, sitting somberly in silence, now with my eyes closed to the best of my ability. "..I.. I can't see right now, so can you, um.. Could you grab the bandages?"

"..."

"I think they're still on the counter, or the island.. Somewhere in the kitchen.. They're just to keep the dirt out of the sockets until my eyes are back."

...

"F..Fine, yeah, fine; d-don't move.."

...

..A few minutes later, I'm laying across the couch; similarly to how Roxanne was before..

...

A bandage is wrapped around my head a couple times, covering my eyes.. It's more of a precaution to prevent dirt of anything from getting into my sockets while my eyes finish up their healing process.

..Roxanne's sitting next to me.. I told her to grab a barstool if she wanted to sit nearby and keep an eye on me while I'm down, but I don't think she bothered; instead simply sitting on her knees beside the couch like she's an old-timey mother taking care of her terminally sick child.

..She's doing something.. Rox, understandably, isn't content with just sitting in place and letting all the thoughts plague her mind, so instead she's been keeping her hands busy with everything she can think of that could potentially make things more comfortable for me.. Unfortunately, I'm still suffering from my 'can't see shit' condition, and don't really want to badger her by asking what she's doing every thirty seconds, so it's anyone's guess what specifically Roxanne's trying to do..

...

"T..There are other pillows on the couch, if you want them.. I've got a couple, lift your head.."

"I'm fine, thank you."

...

"..Well let me trade pillows then.. That tan one sucks, I can swap them out. Hold on, I'll.. I'll get this one ready, just a sec.."

..Get it 'ready'?

...

..I don't quite know how to describe the noises I'm hearing..

...

..They don't sound successful..

...

"..?"

"..I.. I don't know how to fluff a pillow.."

Don't laugh..

"Relax, wolf.. You don't need to fluff me any pillows, I'm alright."

"Fuuuck.." Roxanne groans, for reasons I'm not 100% positive about. "..W..Well lift your head anyway, this pillow's better than the one you're using.."

"Roxanne, seriously, take a deep breath.. Nothing's wrong; this is actually a good thing. It means I'll have my eyes back soon, and I'll be able to go run errands we need."

"This isn't normal, Mike. Forgive me for stressing the fuck out about cursed shit like this when it happens.."

"Are you actually 'stressing the fuck out' right now?"

"I.. I'm fine.. I'll be fine.."

"..."

...

"It's.. It's okay by me if you have an extra cup of coffee this afternoon.. I'll go get it ready, be right back.."

"..What?" I call out, listening to Roxanne hobble up to a stand and speedwalk toward the kitchen.

"I can probably work the machine, it looks.. It looks easy enough.."

"I don't need a coffee right now; I'll have some when my eyes are back."

"Well you can't do anything stuck on the couch like that, so maybe a drink'll help pass the time or something.."

"Rox, I do not want coffee.. I appreciate it, but I'd prefer to save drinking something like that for when I'm able to move around normally again."

...

"Fine.." Roxy moans under her breath, below what she thinks I can hear.

...

..I hear an assortment of sounds emanate from the kitchen over time, the wolf painstakingly opening and closing all my drawers to find whatever it is she's looking for..

...

"..Here.." Roxanne mutters, pacing back into the living room and setting something weighty on the coffee table next to me. "The cup's right here. Don't spill it.."

"..Wolf, I-"

"It's just ice water, Mike, chill.."

"..I didn't ask for anything to drink.."

"Look- you might want it later or something, then. Okay?"

"I can survive a sixteenth of my day without a drink."

"Well you have one now, fuckin' deal with it.."

"Alright, alright; thank you.."

...

..I wasn't able to hear, but I think Roxanne sat back down on her knees again.. This time with nothing else to do but wait quietly..

I can almost see how fidgety she is through my blindness..

...

"You want something to eat..? ..I'm gonna make something for you to eat; I'll be back in a couple minutes.."

"Roxanne." I emphasize, managing to gently nab her arm(?) in the middle of her attempt at standing. "Enough already.."

"It's not gonna be like a whole-ass meal, Mike; just something you can eat quick and easy.."

"Listen.. I understand you're antsy and want to keep your hands busy, but relax.. I can't stress enough that this isn't even a big deal - just a small intermission before my eyes come back. There is nothing about this that you need to be stressing over."

"You always say it's not a big deal you fuckin' liar.. And it always 'is'.."

"An hour from now, when everything's back to normal, you're gonna be thinking about how dumb you were for reacting so dramatically about this."

"How do you know it's an hour?"

"This happened last time my eyes needed to regenerate, back when I lost my body."

"So you experienced this once, and now you're an expert on it? You know for a fact it's gonna be the same every time this happens?"

"Just watch, Roxanne.. It'll be fine."

...

"I.. I'm just gonna get you some chips or something; nothing big.." Roxanne restates, sliding her arm from my soft grip and pacing steadily back into the kitchen.

..Sigh..

...

Deciding I might as well help make Roxanne feel useful, I reluctantly push myself to sitting upright and wrap my fingers around the partially-condensated glass of water politely sitting on the coffee table.

...

"I.. I'll refill it when I get back over there, just a sec'.."

I haven't even taken a sip yet.. I'm not downing this entire glass in one go.

...

Nn.. I know Roxanne's just finding excuses to keep herself busy.. She obviously doesn't know what to do, despite my insisting that she doesn't have to do anything, but she so desperately wants to feel like something she did make the situation better.. Who am I to stand in the way of that, I suppose..

...

..N-gkk-

After managing to down a whopping single swig of the water Roxanne brought over to me, my throat reflexively closes once it registers the taste; awarding a silent, startled gag from the depths of my esophagus.

"gkk-k... What the hell is-..?" I mutter, instinctively holding the cup in front of me so I can, y'know, look at it.

"What was that? ..What just happened-? Are you okay?" Roxanne immediately badgers from the other side of the island, anxiety building in the corners of her voice again.

"Yes, I'm fine, what in the world is-.. Rox, you're sure you gave me 'water' ?"

"Yes, why? Do you want something else? I can look in the fridge and-"

"Did you put something in it?"

"What?"

"It tastes ridiculous. What did you do to this thing..?"

...

"..I-.. Nothing, it's not a big deal, I just-.. I just thought you'd feel better faster if I put some medicine in it.." Roxanne mutters, pretending not to be as guilty as guilt can possibly make someone sound.

"What?"

"Some medicine. It's fine.."

"What medicine?"

"The same shit you've been giving me, in that big-ass bottle. The pain ones.."

Ah..

Ibuprofen water, how wonderful.. Just barely a step up from Dasani..

I did a funny.

...

"..What was your plan here?"

"I-I didn't think you'd be able to fucking taste it; I see shit like that all the time on the damn internet but those people aren't able to taste it. Sheesh.."

"Well their drink probably wasn't water, and the medicine probably wasn't Ibuprofen.. I need to keep an eye on what you're watching on my laptop.." I mutter quietly.

"How the hell am I supposed to know why it works?"

"I appreciate you trying to help, but for future reference, don't put medicine in people's drinks without telling them.. That's about as big of a red-flag as it gets.."

"I-, ghh.. Mike.." Roxanne whines while closing the pantry, somber and exasperated.

"..."

...

..After a short moment, I hear defeated footsteps make their way back to my side again; notably without the presence of any crinkly chip bag..

"..Mike, I don't know how to take care of people.."

"That's fine. You d-"

"No it isn't; it's fucking dumb.." Roxanne interrupts with a frustrated huff, returning to her spot kneeling by the couch.

"..You had no idea this was going to happen; no one's blaming you for not knowing what to do."

"But you fuckin'-.. Ghh.."

"..."

...

"..I.. I'm not weak, or dependent.. I'm not.. I'm an adult, and make decisions on my own.."

"..Yeah, of course.. What's the issue with that..?"

...

"I thought I was on-par with you, but now I'm obviously fucking not, and that's so-"

"Rox, what are you even talking about right now?"

"Mike- You take care of me like it's literally fucking nothing. You keep me comfortable, you keep me fed, entertained, healthy; and you do it so easy, like you don't even have to try.. You've done it so many times now it's not even funny.."

"It's.. not that big of a chore.. You're usually pretty self-sufficient-"

"I thought I was like that too, Mike. I thought it would be just as braindead easy to take care of somebody as you make it seem, so I should be able to do it too. I thought it was just luck that made it so you were always the one who had to take care of me, and that I just hadn't gotten my opportunity yet. But when I finally did, I'd be able to do all the same shit you do with no effort. 'Cause I'm tough, independent, mature - everything you are, plus more."

"Rox, uhm.."

"..ghh- That's what I fucking thought.. But you know what happened?" Roxanne begins, frustration chipping at the edges of her mouth with every word. "You finally went down instead of me this time. Only for a little while, you're not really able to take care of yourself. I'm sure this is the same shit you've seen happen to me over and over and over again. So, y'see what this is now? My fuckin' opportunity to demonstrate that I'm just as capable of helping somebody as you are. It should be easy; you sure as shit made it look that way. Hell- it's my job to take care of kids. That is the reason I exist."

"..."

"But I had no idea what to do, Mike. Even right now, sitting here next to you, I still don't have any idea what the fuck I'm supposed to do. I don't know what to do."

"That's fine.."

"It isn't fuckin' f-.. Mike- everything I've tried to do for you since you've been on this couch has been an outstanding fucking failure. I couldn't give you a glass of fucking water correctly."

"Wolf, it's okay if you don't know what to do in a situation like this. You've never even been in a situation like this."

"You've never had to take care of a frickin' artifice living in your house while balancing all that shit in the past..! You've never been in a situation like this either, but you're doing fine..!"

"..You're not an artifice, I just-.."

"Mike, you're literally fucking blind, and I'm the one who can't stop freaking out about it. You're literally trying to comfort me right now."

"..."

"So what the fuck am I supposed to do with a reality check like this? Walk away and tell myself that I'm 'tough' and 'independent' after demonstrating that I literally constantly need to be taken care of, but can't take care of others? As if that isn't the frickin' definition of dependent and weak?"

"You're not weak."

"I-"

"No, wolf, listen. I get it, I really do understand what you're saying, but none of this proves anything. What's happening now is the furthest thing from normal; so you can't judge your entire character based on how you handled this.. You're tough, but you have limits, and that day Cooper died, I must've come as close as I possibly could have to reaching your limits without shattering them like glass. Maybe you were in too much of a panic to think of what to do properly, but Rox, to be blunt, you're not in a very good mental state at the moment. It's like an athlete saying they're a slow person because they couldn't run fast with a twisted ankle."

"..."

...

"..Are you still there..?"

"Yes, I'm still here, I'm fine.."

"All I mean to say is that you shouldn't take anything you do these next couple days too seriously. There's no way you're brain hasn't completely fried.. Wait till time heals a few of the smaller wounds to start judging yourself on your ability to think again.."

"Sorry.. Jeez.."

"..."

...

"Look- I didn't mean to get all fuckin' mopey on you, alright? I'm just frustrated, and it makes me all pessimistic.." Roxanne weakly grumbles again.

"That's fine."

"It's not.."

...

"..Hey. Sorry we couldn't watch the movie like you wanted.. You wouldn't believe how often I get unlucky at the worst times.."

...

..Unfortunately, instead of a proper response, all I get after a minute or two of silence is a wet - sniff-.

Whoops..

...

"Relax, Roxanne.."

...

"I-It's so fucking unfair.."

Wow.. That is frustrated.. I can't even see her face, but her tone alone perfectly matches that of a kid on the verge of upset tears because someone cheated in a game they were playing or something..

"That's enough, wolf; nothing's wrong.."

...

"..Every time I try to do something with you, it always goes to shit.. I t-try so hard to plan things out and work out a time where I can do something with you, but it fails every fucking time.. I try s-so hard.."

"Listen, we can just watch something later. There's no reason to get all huffy about it; it's just a little delay."

"Mike, it happens e-every time.. I make this whole-ass show for you, and I never get to perform it 'cause you had to kill Cooper.. I've tried to make use of that f-fucking bet you made about doing what I say for a day twice, but I get d-ditched and left alone the first time I tried it, and the whole fucking Pizzaplex shuts down because there was a murder the second time.."

"..."

...

"..Freddy makes you a watch as a gift, and you wear it literally everywhere every day.. I try to repair the phone for you on your birthday, and it shatters into a million pieces in my hands, before I spend the rest of the d-day begging you to trust me again.. Monty d-does something funny, but when I pull the exact same prank, y-your whole fucking arm gets caught in the machine and ripped off.. Mike- the very first time I even tried to watch a movie with you, you immediately fell asleep for its entire duration.."

...

"..I.. I see.."

...

..I guess I've never really put it all together like that, sheesh.. Maybe I'm not the only one with a curse-like unlucky streak..

...

"I-I just want things to be okay for once.. I want us to do something normal together, but whenever I try setting everything up, it all goes f-fucking wrong, and something horrible happens.."

"..."

"..J-Just a movie.. That's not a lot to f-fucking ask, come on.. Just let me watch one movie with you, and I-I'll be okay again for a while.."

"S..Sorry, I would if I could. I never mean for things to turn out this way.."

...

"I.. I'm not mad at you, Mike; s-sorry.. You don't mean for shit to go wrong, I know, but ugh. It makes me feel so helpless sometimes.. Which just sucks because I'm supposed to be all mature and independent; but n-nothing ever goes my way no matter how hard I try, so it's fucking-"

"Stop - you're working yourself up. I get it.."

"N-Nnn.. You make it all work so easily, but I can't replicate it to save my life, s-so someone else always needs to save my life for me.."

...

"..Nothing ever goes my way, either.." I mutter after a few seconds of silence, contradicting Roxanne's claim that I make working things out look easy.

"..."

"If things went my way from the very beginning, I don't think you ever would have stopped hating me like you did when I first joined. In a perfect world, I would've marched into your room, made an attempt to make you feel better about that slow day of performance, and left. No scratch would have happened, so you wouldn'tve been at threat of Cooper's reprogramming, and you never would have decided to cut me some slack since you never would've overheard me telling Arin not to follow through with the reprogramming."

"I know.. But all this shit I just learned would at least be a little easier to handle if I could just get it in bite sized chunks or whatever.."

"If things went my way, you wouldn't know anything."

"Come on, that's not fuckin' true.."

"All I've ever wanted to do is let my secrets die out with me, and for the Afton family past to be wiped from the Earth forever. Hell, the one thing I truly had in mind as an 'objective' was to prevent you or anyone else from ever learning what happened. If things went my way, I would have been able to pull through with that."

"Mm.."

...

"..Things don't go my way, though.. One by one, a few people caught the slightest glimpse of what I had to hide, and the result ended up just as terrible as I was worried it'd be."

"..."

...

"..If I knew ahead of time, before I even began here at the Pizzaplex, that I wouldn't be able to hide all the secrets I absolutely needed to hide, I would have killed myself in an instant. At the t-"

"Mike."

"Look- that sounds bad, but listen.. I wouldn't have taken the risk of letting everybody know what happened, by any means necessary. The only reason I hadn't already killed myself was because I thought lingering around to make sure none of my father's work manages to influence something new was the 'safe' option. At the time, the idea that I'd let a few things slip was simply impossible in my head.."

"Mike, don't. Don't ever think about doing something like that, regardless of what your fuckin' situation is. Everybody will tell you that's never gonna be the damn answer.."

"It *was* the answer, Rox; I just didn't choose it in time. Instead, I persisted, and I didn't even make it a year before unintentionally causing the death of someone else. It almost resulted in the death of another child. Now it's too late for me to take the coward's way out, 'cause the potential for news to spread and my father's influence to infect others has skyrocketed.. Now I need to be around and make sure nothing happens.."

"This isn't funny, Mike - I'm being serious."

"I-"

"Mike, stop. I'm not talking about this."

...

"..Alright.. Sorry.."

"Mm.."

...

..I don't really know what I was thinking, starting a conversation like that.. What the hell was my objective there?

...

Well whatever.. I'll cycle back into what we were talking about before..

...

"..Rox."

"What.."

"..You said earlier that I make working things out seem easy, but you aren't able to replicate it."

" 'Cause I can't.. I try so hard to be the knowledgeable adult can take care of themselves and always knows what to do, but I can't.. I'm pretty sure I'd actually be dead right now if it wasn't for you taking all the glass out of my body and patching it all up, 'cause if you decided to leave me to fend for myself, like an adult should be able to do, I'dve kept bleeding out, alone, writhing and whimpering on the cold hard floor in the horrifying silence of an empty Pizzaplex, until I eventually just s-stopped breathing."

"That's not true, Rox.. The wounds weren't bad enough; they all would've clotted and stopped the bleeding long before you bled out.. Besides, even if I had left, someone else would have gotten you."

"Still, I shouldn't have to depend on anybody for my fucking survival.. I should be able to at least take care of myself enough to stay alive, Mike-. You've never had to rely on someone else before, much less to keep you from fucking dying, so yeah. You do have your shit together, and I, apparently, don't."

...

"..Roxanne, I *did* die."

"That-.. That's not the s-..."

"It is the same. I would have been killed five times over if I was able to die the same way everybody else can. Things go wrong for me all the time, and if it wasn't for the fact that I'm already dead, I would have died on multiple occasions. You're not 'weak' because you got beat up enough to collapse and I didn't. The only reason I haven't done the same is because I'm literally incapable of collapsing; no amount of damage short of utter obliteration will mean anything to my soul."

"But it always fuckin' works out for you.. Eventually, all the shit you're trying to get done gets accomplished, and you're still kicking, so that's not fuckin' 'failing'.. It doesn't matter if shit didn't work out exactly the way you expected it to, 'cause you always just make it work some other way. I can't do that. I-I can't work miracles around shit to get what I need."

"It doesn't always work out for me, Rox. I've failed before. Occasionally I'll simply fail to do what I set out to do, and it costs me."

"Don't give me that.."

...

..Here's a different approach..

"..Hey, now that I think about it, there's something I didn't include in that old document I had on my laptop that you might find interesting.. Henry and I had a system, back in the Pizzeria he built to lure all the remaining animatronics."

"Horrible segway between topics, corpse.."

"We didn't actually know where any of the animatronics were, so it was necessary that we lured them to the Pizzeria instead. Since the place was built not to let anything sneak in or out, they couldn't get in by themselves, so I had to go out in the nearby alley and check for myself if any of the possessed animatronics where waiting there."

"That's a bad fucking idea-"

"I know, I know; but we had a plan.. I'm not entirely sure why, but while the animatronics were hostile, they weren't always immediately aggressive.. It's strange, but it's a quirk that was present in every single possessed bot, so we had been pretty used to how it works by now. Even the original four animatronics I'm sure you've seen before had a habit of just stopping and staring for extended periods of time, as opposed to immediately rushing me whenever they saw me.. But, anyway; You could actually get pretty close to any of them, well within their range, without getting attacked.. For a while, at least.."

"That. Is a bad. fucking idea."

"I know, but the thing is, we needed to make sure the bots we found were the ones we were trying to trap.."

"You couldn't just look at them?"

"Usually you could, but at the time, I actually hadn't even seen two of those animatronics before.. I really had no way of being certain if they were related to what I was trying to do, or if they were just giant chunks of scrap thrown out by Henry or any other nearby business.."

"What did you do, *ask* the robots if they wanted to kill you?"

"No, obviously not.. Henry set up this method we referred to as 'interrogations' and-"

"You interrogated them? You *literally* sat down and fucking asked them?"

"N..No, that's not what I did, sorry.. I set them up while they seemed inactive and played audio tapes Henry gave me that he said would incite reactions in the possessed animatronics."

"Are you fucking for real right now?"

"..It sounds worse than it is.."

"You literally prodded them to wake up and kill you?"

"We needed to be sure we had all the remaining souls accounted for, and the audio worked like a charm.. Oh- but I also had a taser, which always neutralized them for a while. Henry wouldn't let me do it defenseless."

"Jesus Christ.."

...

"But, yeah.. The audio would play, and if I noticed enough of a reaction from them, I brought them into the Pizzeria with me."

"Everything you just told me is the worst plan ever fucking conceived - you really thought you were safe like that? Sitting in the same room as a robot you knew wanted to fuckin' kill you?"

"It wasn't safe, I knew that.. Nothing else I ever did was safe, though, so I thought of it as just another risk I had to take."

"Dumbass - What if one of them 'got you?' "

...

"One of them did."

...

"Wh..?"

...

..I slowly exhale, trying to keep the conversation light, but also understanding that it's pretty much impossible to accomplish when it comes to something like this..

...

"..Earlier today, you asked me how I lost one of my ribs.."

"Mike, what?"

"I failed my last interrogation, and one of them got me."

" *What?* "

...

"..I was plenty familiar with the signs of aggression when it came to the Marionette, which was that weird puppet-like animatronic, but I couldn't get a read on it at all in that chunky LEFTY suit it was wearing.. It didn't move an inch until it had finally had enough and attacked."

"What the fuck-? How did it break your rib?"

...

"It, uh.. didn't just break it or it'd still be there somewhere.." I explain, trying to make light of it like a joke, but understandably that lightheartedness gets a little lost in the context of what I just said.

...

"..It ripped it out of you?"

"I guess so.. That's kind of an unpleasant way to put it.."

"Ew- fuck! E-ew..!" Roxanne quietly exclaims, holding her hands to her chest as if to try blocking something from tearing her ribs out.

"Sorry.. Don't mean to be gross; just trying to make a point, I guess."

"What the hell..?! What- did it just feel like torturing you instead of killing you..?!"

"It tried to kill me, it just didn't know how.. None of the animatronics had any idea how to kill someone effected by Remnant."

"Fuck. e-ew.."

...

"..Charlotte's hatred burned bright, but uniquely, not a lot of that hatred turned into sheer malice like it did the others. Killing me wasn't what that thing's ultimate endgoal, I was just in the way.. As soon as it did what it thought would qualify as 'kill me', it snuck into the Pizzeria. If it were any of the others, they might not have stopped until I was in pieces.."

"It went into the fucking Pizzeria?"

"I got up and followed it inside, not even thirty seconds after it 'killed me'. At the time, I'm pretty sure I still wasn't capable of feeling much pain, if any, so I guess I didn't really care since I could still move.."

"Y-You 'are' a freak.."

"Told you."

"Nn.."

...

"..What I meant to explain is that I've failed before. Things did just happen to work out for me that time, I guess, but that wasn't the only instance where something went wrong because of my insufficiency."

"But you make it look so damn-.."

"I'm flattered you think I handle things well, but yeah.. I'd be surprised if I was any better at getting things to work out than you are."

...

"Great.. We're both fuckin' pathetic then.."

"Now you're getting it." I respond, unable to help smirking a little bit. "We wouldn't even be to the point where we could tolerate each other if things always went our way."

"So, what- it's a good thing..?"

"I don't know.. Misery loves company, but company can be a little nice, at least.."

"Aw.."

...

"..That wasn't supposed to be 'cute', I was just-"

"It's better that it turned out that way than whatever you were going for, so zip it before you correct me."

"Ah.."

...

- flp -

...

..Was that a page turning..?

...

"Rox?"

"Mhm?"

"Oh.. Thought you left a while ago.." I admit, pushing myself upright. "..I don't mean to keep you here, you c-"

"What are you doing?"

...

"..What am 'I' doing..?"

"Why are you sitting up?"

"I'm just-"

"Lay back down." Roxanne interrupts, evidently apathetic towards what I had to say in response.

...

"..I'm fine to sit up, wolf. I'm not sick or anything, I just can't see."

...

In what is undoubtably more of a form of defiance rather than a genuine concern for my wellbeing, I very briefly feel a warm fuzzy hand plant on the center of my chest before it pushes me back down until my head hits the pillow.

Further reinforcing the idea that Roxanne's just objecting to what I say for the fun of it, her hand does not stop pushing on my chest even after I am already horizontal on the couch.

"If you're bored, just tell me, and I'll figure something out. Lay down and rest."

"..I don't need rest; the only reason I'm laying down here at all is because I don't want to try moving around without being able to see where I'm going."

"What happened to 'let your body use the energy to heal' like you've been badgering me to do with all my tiny ass cuts? Doesn't apply when it's something actually significant, like your eyes?"

"I don't heal quite the same as others do; I doubt it'll make a difference whether I'm sitting or standing."

"Hypocritical claim coming from the man who ranted to me yesterday about how they think Remnant's magic regeneration BS builds off the body's natural ability to heal. Which means you heal the same way, just with extra steps."

"..Mm.." I hum, resting my hands on my chest where Roxanne was pressing down moments before. "..Alright, well.. Sure. If my nonsense theories hold any weight, I suppose that'd make sense.."

"Rest, purple boy. Conserve your strength for your future purple problems." Roxanne nonchalantly hums, flipping the page of whatever's in her hands.

"I'm impressed you remembered something like that.."

"Readin' your other 'nonsense theories' while I wait for you to get your shit together; so it was fresh on the mind. Think I saw your entry on that a minute ago, too."

"..You're reading the notebook I had upstairs..?"

"Yeahp."

"Ah.."

...

- flp -

...

"..It's admittedly a little off-putting knowing you're so close to me while I can't see what you're doing.." I mutter, earning a lengthy mischievous snicker from my canine caregiver.

"Well I wasn't even thinking of having any 'ideas' until now~."

"Leave the purple man alone.."

"Fine. Calm down though. I don't really care enough to stare at you the whole time, so I'm usually not even looking at you."

"Your presence alone is intimidating."

"Don't say that, for starters; now I only wanna fuck with you more."

"Mm.."

...

"Mmanyway; need a distraction?"

"A little hard to distract a blind man, I'd imagine."

"I'm a performer~. The one thing I know how to do more than anything else is keep people like you entertained."

"Who else even qualifies as 'people like me'..?"

"Do you just wanna talk or something?"

"I never said I needed anything, I just said you're unfortunate to be helpless around."

"You flatter me."

"Mm.."

...

- flp -

...

"..You sure as shit had a lot to say about how this magical ghost substance tends to start functioning.." Roxanne comments dryly, clicking her tongue at random intervals as she continues to read.

"That's the only field I really had any tested knowledge about; so I had a lot to work with when noting it all."

"..I never would've guessed you're the one who wrote all this shit; it's so different than the bumbling idiot I'm used to talking to.. Like- here: 'While it isn't inconceivable that destroying a possessed vessel enough could potentially cause Remnant's effects to nullify, that threshold has proven to be exceptionally difficult to reach. An example being how the Children's souls were not released from their animatronic suits, even after William hacked them into much smaller pieces.''.. Damn."

"Yeah.. William went back to the old Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria after a few things happened, and took out the four animatronics there with an axe; but their souls weren't freed until I finished my work at the Frights."

"Why'd they get free'd then? Did they also think you killed your dad and interpreted it as some kinda 'closure?' "

"Their souls would've moved on a long time ago if they were able, but it wasn't a matter of closure or not. They were trapped, and had to be freed physically."

"What- did the fire just burn them bad enough that the ghost shit wasn't able to keep their souls attached to the robots anymore?"

"Keep reading, actually. It should be right below where you are now."

"Mm.." Roxanne hums thoughtfully, presumably re-focusing on the pages in front of her.

...

"..You were at 'William hacked them into much smaller frag-' "

"I know where I was at, gimmie a damn second.."

"Mm."

...

" 'Thankfully, there are more reliable ways of nullifying Remnant's effect. Excessive heat is the most practical, proven method of doing so. The heat threshold is considerable, though far from unobtainable. A fire from just about any source should be hot enough to get the job done, but th-' *Wow*, actually. That's good to know.. Don't get too close to the stove, purple boy."

"Uh-huh.."

" ..'But there are a few variables. Higher heat will bear quicker results, but is often harder to both achieve and maintain. Lower heat fires will get the job done, but will nullify Remnant's effects at a slower rate, requiring the vessel to burn for a longer time before releasing its soul. A far more significant variable to consider is that the heat and exposure time required is NOT always consistent between vessels. Some animatronics were able to tank the hotter parts of a fire for a much longer period of time, while others didn't take long to finally rest. Taking all of this into consideration, the most reliable solution is to settle for a weaker fire, but prevent any possessed vessel from being able to escape while they burn.' Sheesh.."

"Mm.. It didn't sound as psychotic in my head as I was writing it.."

"I think you're past the point of being able to claim you're not a psycho."

"If you say so."

"Your responses are boring."

"I'm not sure what you want from me.."

"A defense, so its more satisfying for me when I crush your dumbass arguments."

"Ah.. and I'm the psycho, huh?" I mutter under my breath, awarding myself an amused exhale from the wolf.

"Fuck you."

"Mm."

...

- flp -

...

".. 'Another method of nullification is the amount of Remnant distributed to a vessel. Understandably, if not enough Remnant is applied to a vessel, there will be no effect. Far more interestingly, however, is that 'too much' Remnant will also result in no effect.' ..Huh.."

"I do write weird.. All I meant to say is 'Putting too much Remnant on something causes the effect to nullify'. It's interesting, but not very practical.. There 'was' a small portion of time where Henry and I toyed around with the idea of effectively 'splashing' the possessed animatronics with Remnant until the 'too much' threshold is reached, which could have made things far simpler. For instance, instead of trapping an animatronic and burning the entire building they're in, we might have just been able to lob a water balloon filled with Remnant at the animatronics, and nullify the effect quickly and easily.. But there were too many unknowns, no reliable source for large amounts of Remnant, and too little desire between either of us to even touch the stuff for us to follow through with that idea."

"Haunted murder-abomination thwarted by a water balloon. What fun that would've been."

"Far less dramatic than dropping a match on gasoline.."

"You're right. What's the point of freeing souls if you can't do it in a flashy way?"

"Those children would've tore me limb from limb for making their condition seem so unimportant.."

"We should have a Remnant water-balloon fight."

"No we should not.."

Roxanne hum-snickers quietly, satisfied with getting what little reactions she can get outta me.

...

- flp -

...

" 'While Remnant isn't particularly picky about preservation once it's been properly applied, it *is* rather sensitive to apply. Extreme heat is needed to nullify Remnant's effect, but the temperature window when applying Remnant is actually very small. If it's even slightly too warm or too cold, Remnant will have no effect when applied. This temperature requirement does, fortunately, exist within' a convenient range; requiring only a relatively warm room-temperature. William was able to work around this easily by keeping all of his facilities well ventilated to a perfect 72 degrees, at all times.' "

"..."

" 'Henry found this as a fault in our proposed plan to over-expose the possessed animatronics with Remnant. While Remnant needs to be at a specific temperature to be applied, that temperature threshold vastly widens once active, requiring a much more heat to nullify the effect. Henry believed the same idea could apply to the quantity thresholds Remnant has. A relatively precise amount of Remnant needs to be applied in order to obtain an effect, but it's possible that once successfully distributed, the amount of Remnant required to over-expose a vessel might also increase exponentially. Side note: Since it is possible for Remnant to be too hot to apply, *as well as* too cold to apply, it's theoretically possible to nullify Remnant's effect by exposing a vessel to extremely *cold* temperatures, instead of the extremely hot ones Henry and I relied on. Once exp-'.. Alright, I'm bored." Roxanne suddenly decides, lazily tossing the notebook aside on the coffee table.

"I was wondering when you'd lose interest.. You lasted far longer than I thought, at least."

"The only reason I care is 'cause I wanted to know how it applied to you." Roxanne huffs, shimmying closer to the side of the couch for whatever reason. "I'm kinda hoping you're the only one left that this means anything too."

"I desperately hope so too.."

"So your weakness is being too hot or cold, huh?"

"Too cold is still just a theory, but yeah. Trap me in an inferno and I'll finally let this old abused corpse of mine go."

"Well it certainly didn't seem to work last time."

"Mm. I suppose not.. I'm still not sure why, to be honest."

"I don't really care. You're still here, so whatever."

"I sure am.."

"It's helpful to finally know how to kill you though. I shoulda known all it takes is a little ice bath~"

"More than that, I'm almost certain.. If the effect can get nullified by cold like it can with heat, it'd have to be incredibly frigid. Like, I'd effectively have to be submersed in liquid nitrogen."

"I don't know what that is."

"Really, really cold."

"Is that what snow is?"

"No, it-.. Snow is neither liquid nor nitrogen, borzoi.."

"I don't fuggin' know."

"It's colder though, many times over.. Snow just needs a temperature lower than thirty-ish degrees, while liquid nitrogen is something like negative three-hundred."

"Mm."

"..Sorry, not trying to bore you. Dunno why I'm in this mood today.."

"No- it's probably fine or whatever, I'm just tired."

"Tired?"

..As if to answer, I feel Roxanne suddenly decide to rest her snout on my lower chest, flooding the area with an unexpected warmth..

"Mhm."

...

..Whelp..

"..It's still barely past noon, and you've already napped once today."

"Keep trying to convince me I'm not tired, that'll sure make a difference."

"That's not what I meant.. You can go nap in your room if you'd like, I really don't need your help laying on a couch for an hour. I'll be fine."

"No."

...

..Whatever..

...

"..The blood loss must still be making you tired if you still don't feel rested.." I comment, moreso just acknowledging this thought out loud rather than trying to communicate something.

"I'm fine. I got over that by like, noon yesterday. It's not that big a' deal."

"Well you evidently still need a lot more rest than usual if you needed to take a nap an hour-and-a-half after waking up in the morning, after swigging most of my coffee."

"I wasn't tired all the time from the cuts yesterday, so why would I be today?"

"Mm.. I don't know, I've just been going off the assumption that the body is quirky when it comes to healing.."

...

"..You want me to be honest, Mike?"

...

"I suppose so..?"

"I didn't sleep last night."

...

"Ah.."

...

..Roxanne lifts her head momentarily, lifting up and folding her arms on my chest instead before burying her face back into them; shimmying around a bit to get comfortable.

"So I'm tired.."

"Yeah, I pieced that together.. Sorry, that adds up pretty well; weird I didn't even consider it a possibility.. I didn't sleep the first night either."

"I'm fine; just another nap or something and I'll be fine.. Dunno why I couldn't sleep, I just couldn't snap out of 'high-alert' the whole night.. Felt antsy; or 'apprehensive', since you like that word so much."

"How kind of you to fit my purple-man vocabulary in there.."

"Mm."

...

"..You can sleep fine now, though..?"

"Mhm.. Don't get a big head, but it's a lot easier when you're around. Dunno why."

..Oh..

...

That's not good..

..The more I think about what she told me, the more I'm starting to come to a rather dreadful conclusion about why she couldn't sleep..

...

"..Ah.."

"..."

...

"Rox.."

"..."

"..Roxanne?"

...

..She fell asleep..

...

I guess it's better I don't tell her what I realized, anyway.. That'll only make it worse..

...

Sigh..

..Roxanne couldn't sleep because she was anxious, and on 'high alert'.. However, when I'm around, that anxiety dissipates..

When you think about what specifically she was likely feeling anxious about that results in symptoms like those, we get met with an old problem I had already tried to resolve once.

Roxanne feels a little anxious and attentive when she's alone, but doesn't feel that way when other people are around..

..Roxanne doesn't feel safe..

..Again..

...

I'm not sure if that's an issue I can fix anymore..

Last time we talked about it, I was able to reassure her that her worries were unfounded. I highlighted that no random-ass psycho would ever choose the Pizzaplex if they felt the need to hurt somebody, and then further reinforced that Freddy's bloody history wouldn't cause issues here, since the Pizzaplex didn't have any connections to the past. In fact, I specifically reassured her that *I* was there to prevent a connection between the past and the Pizzaplex from being made.

Then, as if it wasn't the most obvious thing in the entire world, another tragedy struck in the name of my father, and *I* was the connection that allowed it all to happen.

...

..I guess that doesn't really matter all that much for what the current issue is.. The important part is that I specifically reassured and reasoned with Roxanne until I convinced her that there would never be a death in the Pizzaplex, and then a few short hours later, I proved myself wrong. So now, Roxanne's paranoia has returned, and rightfully so.. A dreadful, ceaseless fear of the unknown..

...

..No it isn't..

Without realizing it, my fingers drum lightly on the couch as I let my mind walk me through everything.

...

..It was a fear of the unknown.. But know she does know.. It's a fear of the known.

...

..And despite how unpleasant that sounds.. That might actually be workable.

...

.-..

This place is falling apart..

...

..Alright- I fell asleep shortly after Roxanne did, and apparently, the cosmic powers of the universe has decided that this power-nap was a perfect opportunity to have yet another one of these dream sequences I have every so often.. Not the most appropriate time, in my opinion, but I doubt this phenomenon takes my convenience into account when 'deciding' whether it wants to go about doing this or not..

I can still feel a seemingly source-less weight and warmth on my lower chest as I wander these halls, so I know Roxanne's still sleeping on my stomach. That was actually the thing that quickly tipped me off that I was dreaming again.

...

..But it's different this time..

The Pizzaplex I wander in my dreams is usually a perfect rendition, with no obvious or meaningful deviations from how it is in real life. This time, it isn't.

It's a crude, un-education rendition of the Pizzaplex for sure, but everything's just off. Anything I look directly at seems fine, but it's like everything in my peripheral is subtly shifting and changing, with occasional greyed-out blind spots. Like the only parts of the Pizzaplex that exist right now are the parts I'm directly looking at.

I have zero idea why this is the case.. This is the first 'dream' I've had since 'that day' at the Pizzplex, but I just can't fathom how anything that happened there could result in a change like this..

..It's like the whole place is struggling to correct itself before I can focus on it.. Not the Pizzaplex, but the dream itself, and god knows what the fuck that could possibly mean..

...

I'm not a fan of it, that's for sure; it's making me paranoid.. Thank god this is just a small nap, rather than a full night of sleep..

...

- donk -

Ow.. Fuck..

...

Sheesh.. Having a hard time getting a grip on what's around me, and accidentally knocked the back of my hand into one of the miscellaneous photobooths in the atrium..

..Pretty sure the photobooth isn't this close to the damn railing in real life, so I'm gonna call that 'not my fault'..

...

..After a few more seconds of wandering, I nonchalantly lift my arm to look at the hand I just hit.. Then gradually slow to a halt, instead of trying to think and walk at the same time with how much shit is just shifting around randomly..

...

That hurt..

...

..Why did that hurt..?

It didn't hurt significantly, but that's not really my point.. It's the fact that it hurt at all..

I'm dreaming, aren't I..? What- is my brain fabricating fake pain for me to feel? Wouldn't that wake me up?

..At least I think the brain is responsible for dreams.. What do I know, though..

...

..What's even more interesting is the fact that it hurt, like, normally..

The connection to my brain and nerves were damaged that day at the Pizzaplex, so I shouldn'tve been able to feel much at all..

...

..But that hurt like I was alive.. Huh..

...

I guess that one's not actually all that hard to believe; that's something I'd expect from a dream.. Brain's probably just doing its best to replicate what things should feel like..

..Well it's still peculiar that it hurt at all.. Guess it's a good thing I didn't let the animatronics get to me back when I spent my dreams fending them off.

...

..Bleh..

I try shaking my head a bit, but that only makes the distortion around me more potent.

..Hope I wake up soon.. All the subtle, corrective movement in the corners of my eyes is dizzying.. The old dreams were weird, but there was nothing jarring like this, so they at least gave me opportunities to think in peace for a while.

Kinda hard to not get distracted in a place like this..

...

..Still, with nothing else to do, I wander.

I don't expect to find anything, but that doesn't matter. There's nothing interesting right in front of me, so until there is, I'll keep moving somewhere else.

...

..Really wouldn't mind a cup a' joe right about now..

...

..?

..After a few more minutes of wandering and trying my best not to let the distortion annoy me, the weight on my chest swells for just a moment.

Is Roxanne waking up? ..If she is, I really wouldn't mind if she bothered me till' I woke up as well..

...

Just as I recognize the weight shift to be nothing more than Roxanne taking a deep breath in, she exhales through her nose with a mighty sigh.

The sudden burst of warmth as the air travels across my chest is admittedly a little discomforting, but charming in its own way-

-Oh, Jesus, what the hell?

I slightly widen my stance to maintain footing, though its not my balance that I'm worried about.

nn..

...

The moment Roxanne's warmth spread across my chest, the distortion got so much worse.. It's like someone hit the world with a hammer, and now its falling apart all around me.

The distortion's no longer limited to the corners of my vision, now corrupting just about everything I look at to near incomprehensibility. Its like someone's struggling to keep the whole world together, but can't. There's motion everywhere, everything's trying to correct itself; even the ground is all wobbly, though it feels as if its perfectly solid and still beneath my feet.

..I calmly look at my surroundings, as if I'll be able to 'find something' to make this all better in this mess, but obviously, I'm not able to make much out; only get a better picture of just how badly everything's breaking..

And it *is* breaking alright; everything's getting worse.

...

Jesus, it's getting hard to look at..

...

..But finally, right as the warping begins to get nauseating, there's a pulse that seemingly marks the end of it all.

The world fabricated around me disappears entirely, briefly leaving me in this blank space as I fade out into what I can only hope to be the real world.

...

Though, despite the casual relief that I'll no longer be trapped in this dizzying space, I can't help but acknowledge that this whole sequence fell apart in a peculiar way.

Specifically, the seemingly unnecessary 'pulse'. It didn't feel random, but it didn't feel like it was symbolic of something necessary that needed to happen for me to leave, either. Rather, it was just a random event that happened to occur near the end of my time here.

I can't quite find the words for it..

..But it felt like the way it all collapsed was more than standard cause and effect. Like it was 'emotional'.

As if the dream itself was frustrated that it couldn't maintain the Pizzaplex facade.. And that the pulse preceding the collapse of everything was the annoyed resignation of its efforts.

...

..Huh.-.

.-.._.

._.._.-

..-.

Nn..

...

I open my eyes, shockingly, to no effect.

Hmm.. Still can't see.

...

Perhaps my eyes haven't healed yet. Perhaps my eyes will never heal, and I've been doomed to an eternal punishment of blindness for an unknowable amount of time. Perhaps my eyes have once again been dismembered by Roxanne in my sleep.

A mystery that will persist until the end of the universe, to be sure.

Or until I unwrap the bandages over my eyes.

Whichever happens first.

...

..Fuckin'..

...

..Well it's starting to look like the former..

...

After an inexcusably long period of fingernailing the edge of the bandage, I finally get a lip, and easily tug the wrappings off from there.

There. Whoof..

...

Yep.. I can see alright..

I blink at the ceiling a few times, re-accommodating to the feeling of having to blink again..

...

Nothing spectacular, admittedly. Feels no different than how it felt to see an hour ago.

Was wondering if my first exposure to the world with these new eyes would be vibrant and colorful, but understandably, they function no different than the ones I had before.. There's a little bit of wobbliness, but I'm willing to bet that's from waking up a matter of seconds ago.

..Well.. With these familiar of equipment, I feast my uber-fancy new eyes on Roxanne; who still has her face buried in her arms on my chest.

...

..I bet Rox would want me to wake her up, but I also think it wouldn't be the worst idea to let her get a little sleep. Especially now that I'm aware of her recent 'lack of'.

...

I would like to get up and see my eyes, though.. If for no other reason than to make sure they haven't regenerated in some horribly deformed way.

Not really sure how I plan to get up without rousing her.. Might not even be possible with the position we're in..

...

..Hmm..

...

Abracadabra.

...

Alright so I've stood up from the couch without waking her.

..Now, I stand here, gazing down at the wolf kneeling beside the couch and resting her head on it like a high-schooler who'd fallen asleep on their desk.. Unfortunately, I'm forced to face the fact that no one will ever know or believe the amazing maneuver I pulled off to escape from under Roxanne, before deciding to move my attention elsewhere.

...

Quietly, I move around to the other side of the island and mess around with a few things on the kitchen counter, before gently sliding a mug underneath the coffee machine and getting the thing started.

While the machine works, however.. It wouldn't be the worst idea to check myself out for a moment in a mirror..

..So, after silently setting a few dishes in the sink for later, I nonchalantly turn over my shoulder and waltz on to the bathroom.

...

They're certainly less jarring than two white dots in an abyss.. This probably shouldn't be surprising, but I will admit that I look far more natural than I did before. It's almost refreshing.

..It's worth noting that I mean 'more natural than before' and not flat-out 'natural'.. The sickly purple obviously doesn't do me any favors.

Still, these eyes are much nicer to have out of practicality. It means I'll finally be able to get out of the house and do all the things I need done..

..I don't know 'when' I'm gonna go out and hit up a couple places, but I'd bet you anything Roxanne's gonna wanna come with. Can't wait to work that out..

Truthfully, taking her somewhere wouldn't be all that bad. If you live or even just exist around here, there's zero chance you haven't heard of/seen the animatronic gang. Everyone knows them around here, since the Pizzaplex is the flashiest and most entertaining building for god-knows how many miles, so it's not like people wouldn't recognize the robot wolf accompanying me if I went places with her. If you live nearby, you know who Roxanne is..

Still, even if Rox isn't an unfamiliar face to anybody, there's absolutely zero chance that we wouldn't be turning the head of every single person in our sightline. Trotting around with her through a grocery store with a robot wolf will draw a profound amount of attention, no matter how familiar the wolf is with everybody..

...

Well whatever. A bridge to burn when we get there.

..I rest a hand on the sink and peer into the mirror a bit more, just to reassure myself that there's no obvious deformity or anomaly with them that might draw suspicion.

...

..Blue, huh.. Was it always-?

- crrk -

Whoops.

Having missed any early signs of her presence, Roxanne curiously pokes her head in through the already half-open bathroom door while she opens it the rest of the way, quickly finding her 'target'.

..For no more than a single full second, the wolf just stares up at me blankly as she registers the new changes to my appearance..

...

"Ohh~?" Roxanne ejects intriguingly, cocking her brows a bit while she stands up straight and places a hand on her waist.

"..Hey?"

...

"Damn~." She hums with a tiny grin, apparently pleased with the result as she fixes her posture. "Forgot how nice you could look with all your facial features 'present'. "

"I'd imagine that makes a difference, yeah."

"Maybe if you let me touch up your skin a little I could finally be living with a half-decent lookin' man."

"You're in a good mood.."

"I sure am now; I don't gotta worry about keeping you alive anymore." Roxanne happily explains, pacing uncomfortably close to peer at me and get a better look. "..Hmmm~.."

...

"..I don't mean to disappoint, but I haven't changed much since you last saw me.."

"Going from 'No eyes' to 'eyes' is a pretty big change, Mikey. Hold still."

"I can see just as well as I did before, is what I meant.. Stop touching my chin."

"Look at me, then."

"I am looking at you."

"You're looking at almost me. Meet my eyes, Mike; I wanna see."

"You can see just fine.."

"Listen- I know you're bad with eye-contact, but I'm gonna need you to suck it up and lemme get a look. You shouldn't have to struggle to look at me anyway after all we've been through."

"Fine, fine.."

...

"Oo- sheesh. Wow, alright.." Roxanne briefly recoils an inch, cocking her brows before returning to her objective.

"..What? Did something not heal right..?"

"Uh-huh. Big-'ol dent in this one right here."

Shit.

..That's not good.. That has the potential to throw a wrench into everything the moment someone else sees it..

It makes sense that Roxanne noticed it instead of me, too.. Among the gang's 'special quirks', Roxanne's the perceptive one. It's perfectly in character for her to catch something I missed..

"..That's bad.." I mutter, a little dreadfully..

"Not so pretty now, are you?"

...

..You're not gonna like what I'm gonna say next..

...

"..Rox, I think you're gonna need to do something for me.."

"Mike."

"I'm-"

"I was just fucking with you, moron- hold still and lemme see."

"Oh- what?"

"Your eyes are fine, how would you even dent an eye?"

"..I don't kn-, Rox.."

"Chillluh, lemme poke a little fun at you every now and then."

nn.. As if you're not already doing it all the damn t-..

..Sigh..

...

..That joke of hers could've resulted in something *very* unpleasant if she waited any longer to say she was kidding..

..I was about to say I needed her to use her claws or something to puncture my eyes again, so they could heal properly the next time.. Man would Roxanne've freaked the fuck out on me about that..

...

"..Well.. Why did you flinch earlier if you didn't see anything wrong?"

"You looked at me."

"You told me to."

"I know, I know. You've just got more intensity in those eyes than I gave you credit for. I could feel it when you looked directly back into my eyes, almost like it 'clicked'; and I'll admit, your gaze is pret-ty damn heavy."

...

"..What?"

"I thought I told you to hold still."

"You recoiled because I looked at you..? That's-.."

"It just took me off guard, Mike. Chill."

"..Mm.."

...

"..Weird how you still have issues with eye-contact.." Roxanne curiously comments, continuing to tilt my chin in slightly different directions. "Do you literally never look at me straight on? You're always looking at a different part of my face close to my eyes?"

"No, not at all.. It's a proximity thing; I don't have much issue looking someone in the eyes if they're a few feet away."

"Ohhhhh~, so it's 'cause I'm close to you, huh?"

..Wipe that coy-ass smirk off your face..

"It happens with everybody, not just you.. Why the hell are you still touching me?" I quietly huff, lightly grabbing the arm Roxanne's using to touch my chin as if I'm about to pull it away.

"I said I wanted a good look at your new eyes. I'm still lookin'."

"It doesn't take any longer than three seconds to look at someone's eyes."

"Yes the fuck it does."

"What even is there to look at outside of the color?"

"I am looking at the color."

"Still?"

"Yes."

"..It does not matter enough for you to get a full minute of entertainment from-"

"It matters to a woman, Mikey." Roxanne rebukes, subtly poking the bottom of my chin with a claw. "It's the small details like this that makes someone look actually good; Determining how could use shit like this to compliment everything else on your face. If my eyes were this deep of a purple, I'd do my make-up completely different than how I do it with my orange ones."

"Is it not just a matter of complimentary colors? Look at what color my eyes are, and use colors that compliment it; what else could there be to look at?"

"It's not that simple, caveman. The shade, the depth, the darkness, the vibrancy, the glow; I wouldn't look this good if I just went 'Orange' and went on with my day. So I'm not gonna go 'Purple' and try to figure everything out with just that; I'm gonna take my damn time to memorize everything I need to remember."

"..Why are you memorizing my eyes at all? What are you gonna do with that information..?"

"Whatever I want, probably. I'm gonna fuckin' have to do your make-up before you leave the house at some point; cause noooo way am I letting you go out with skin like that."

"I don't need make-up."

"Make-up makes people look better. I toil in front of my fuckin' mirror for hours to look as perfect as I usually do, and I absolutely need to consider my fuckin' eye color and change up my make-up accordingly if I want to look good."

"You don't need make-up to look presentable, wolf."

"I am literally two colors without it. Gray and lighter gray."

"You're less flashy, sure, but you're far easier to look at without a million pigments scattered around your face.."

"A gray wolf isn't glamorous, Mike."

"It's natural. Between the two, that's my preference."

...

"..Since when do you 'prefer' anything about the way I look.."

"When you started bunkering in my house. You contradict the atmosphere of a naturally lit kitchen when there's an explosion of artificial colors all over your face."

"What the hell do you know about atmosphere?"

"I tend to be indifferent towards how people look, for obvious reasons.. But I am perfectly susceptible to what's a 'good' or 'bad' atmosphere."

"And 'I' make a 'bad' one, Mike?"

"Not usually, only outside of the Pizzaplex; but that's still only when you have all those flashy knick-knacks on. You're soothing to watch when you're full-natural like this."

"Do you hear yourself?"

"Just answering the damn question.."

"Jesus.."

...

"Let go of my chin."

"..Chica says I do my make-up really well.."

"You're probably do it fine, I wasn't saying-..sigh.. I was just telling you what I think, like you asked me to. Let go of me."

"Well I need to wear it when I perform, so you're just gonna have to survive until the night to get your precious fill of monochrome Rox.."

"I didn't say you had t-.."

...

..Alright, well you keep having this make-up episode if you'd like, but I've got shit to do.

I nonchalantly tug Roxanne's arm from my face and make it obvious I'm about to walk past her.

"I've gotta make use of what little of the day remains at this point."

"I wasn't done looking."

"I was done with you looking."

"You don't get to decide if I'm done with you.. Where are you going?" Roxanne huffs, immediately tagging along behind me like a needy puppy.

"My coffee's getting cold."

"Ugh.."

"I've barely had any today, it's fine."

"..You can have one cup.."

We'll see about that..

...

"What are you still doing over there?"

I lift my gaze up from my watch, staring out the kitchen window for a moment before curiously turning my head over the kitchen island to the Roxanne sitting on the couch, who's currently squishing every pillow in the living room in her arms.

Gotta say, holding a bunch of pillows like large plushies really puts a damper on the whole 'menacing' looks she's going for right now.

"..Nothing interesting..? Why?"

"Come here."

"What's over there?"

"Me, motherf-.. Can we start?"

..I return her an empty gaze for a few moments, before recognizing the colors on the television to be the menu of the movie we were about to watch earlier.

"Oh.. In a minute, sure." I reply, looking down at my watch again. "Want to make those calls before it gets too late, it'll only take a minute."

"What?" Roxanne immediately blusters in disbelief, letting the pillows in her arms fall everywhere in front of her. "No, are you kidding me?"

"It won't take any more than a few minutes, wolf. What's your deal?"

"Do it after."

"Arin might be in bed by the time the movie finishes."

"Mike- come *on.* " Roxanne whines, propping herself up on the armrest. "If you do the calls now, you're gonna be thinking about the conversation you had with them instead of focusing on the movie."

"Do you want to watch a movie at all or not?"

"I 'want' you to be fuckin' present for it. Not off in your damn head somewhere."

"..If it really bothers you that much, we can just wait until tomorrow."

"Make *them* wait 'till fuckin' tomorrow..! Mike, I'm living with you, and they're not..! Pay attention to me for an hour..!"

"Calm down.. I am 'paying attention' to you; this is just something I have no excuse to delay any longer."

"Why am 'I' not a an excuse..?!"

" 'You' would be a good enough excuse, but 'watching a movie with you' isn't."

"God..! Jesus Christ, *Fine*." Roxanne bites, dramatically standing up and walking out of the living room like a rebellious teenager who isn't getting their way.

"Enough, Rox.."

"Mike- I said 'fine'. Do whatever, I don't care anymore. I'm taking my damn shower."

"I understand why this is upsetting, but this really is important, wolf." I explain, watching her march past me while picking at the bandages around her neck.

"Why can't I be important?"

"You know that's not what I mean.." I continue to grumble, unable to help but trail after her a bit while she makes her way to the bathroom.

"Whatever. Stop following me."

"Look- You're not wrong for being upset; nothing's gone your way today, and that's a perfectly understandable reason to be frustrated, but you must understand why this isn't really something I should be putting off.. What would Arin think of a delay like this?"

"What about what I think? The one you fuckin' burdened with all of this cursed-ass knowledge that makes it so I can't think straight for anything?"

Ghh..

...

..I can't help but feel something unpleasant towards Roxanne's choice of words with 'burdened'.. She should know that 'burdening' anyone with this knowledge is the one thing I've been trying to prevent for the last 30 years..

"..Nothing else is satisfying enough to hold you over for tonight? A movie before I take a phone call is literally the only thing that could possibly make you happy?"

"Don't fucking patronize me, Mike."

"Look, I'm sorry things didn't work out tonight, but you'll survive if we push off a movie for 12 hours."

"You're always sorry; that isn't a red flag to you? That one of your characteristics is that you say 'sorry' to be bi-hourly, instead of actually just working with me for once?"

"Calm down. You're blowing this far out of proportion."

" 'Course I fuckin' am.. *I'm* always in the wrong for being upset about some stupid, easily avoidable issue. I'm always overreacting." Roxanne sarcastically grumbles under her breath, briefly turning around once she reaches the bathroom.

"Rox- What are you even talking about right now? Listen to yourself.. I understand you wanted to watch a movie, but it isn't worth-"

"Whatever."

- Slam -

Ghhh, fuckin'..

I can't help tense very briefly, exhaling a mildly frustrated breath as Roxanne shoots her final bullet; slamming the bathroom door in my face mid-sentence.

...

..I keep staring at the door for a while longer, even after I hear the faucet turn and the water start to run on the other side. Eyes stern, as if I'm arguing with the door itself.

I don't know how Roxanne naturally pulls off the 'apathetic, annoyingly-rebellious teen' behavior off so well, but despite normally being unaffected by her bullshittery, her uncooperativeness leaves me ranting in my mind at the wooden door in front of me, as if it'll relay my thoughts to Roxy somehow.

...

..Ghh.. I never wanted to 'burden' you with any of this either, but all you've ever done is try to coerce me into telling you-, into 'trusting' you with these secrets. I told you that none of this would be worth learning, and that nothing positive would come of it, but you kept prodding me for answers anyway. Now you're upset it's doing exactly what I told you it would do? Now that you have all the answers, it's suddenly my fault for giving them to you? After a year of trying to guilt-trip me with words like 'trust' just to get them? What are you trying to teach me - that I shouldn't want to tell people these secrets? Do you think I wanted to back then? I only went to your room that day and did what I did because, after everything, I felt that you deserved to know. And now you're condemning me for that? Do you know what the alternative would've been?

...

Fuck. *Fine.*

With a discontent huff, I turn and release as much tension as I can as I return to the kitchen, taking my time to down as much coffee as I'd like from my mug..

...

Once I'm done, I take my phone from my pocket and needlessly toss it onto an empty space on the kitchen counter while I walk back into the living room; starting to feel a bit like an angsty teen myself..

...

It takes me a couple moments, but I gather all the pillows off the living room floor and lay them neatly around a part of the living room I know we don't frequent often, before finally taking the remote and falling down onto the couch.

..Fine.. We'll watch the damn movie..

But only on the condition that you learn to chill the hell out about stuff like this in the future..

...

After setting everything up again, I let my back sink into the couch with a heavy, finally-fruitful sigh.

...

..To this day, Roxanne's the only one who can even come close to annoying me like that.. I've noticed I've become a little more expressive when I'm around her, and that probably contributes, but sheesh. What kind of grown-ass adult throws a tantrum over not getting to watch a movie?

..nn..

...

..ugh..

..Rox is just extra sensitive to shit like this after all the mental beating she's taken these last few days, I know.. Plus, I know the ulterior motive behind this movie isn't just to 'watch a movie', but return a sense of desperately-needed normalcy.. That, the lack of sleep, the unfamiliar environment, the injuries..

Times are tough, and she's sensitive; I get it..

...

..Sigh..

..Her method of getting what she wants could certainly use a little bit of work, though..

...

.. -piff- ..

I reflexively mask a sigh as I hear Roxanne descending the staircase after having gotten dressed up in her room.

Not finished with what I'm actively thinking about at the moment, I don't turn my head to face her quite yet. I've done nothing but sit here quietly since Roxy got in the shower, but I've been plenty occupied with my own thoughts and frustrations to keep me entertained..

...

..I can almost feel her gaze on me as Roxanne makes her way through the kitchen.. I eventually return a side-eye of my own.

...

"How'd your 'calls' go?" Roxy quietly bites, not nearly as mad as she was before, but still just a bit ruffled. Through the obvious implications of that sentence, I can tell she is curious about my response, but that curiosity is still a little overshadowed by the general distaste in the air.

"I didn't call them."

...

..Roxanne finally wanders into the sides of my vision, fur still just the tiniest bit wet as she slows to a stop in the entrance to the living room. She seems to be content with just wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants this time, instead of her usual crop-top look; holding a rag she had taken from the bathroom for some reason.

"..The fuck do you mean you didn't call them?"

"I didn't call them."

"Why?"

"So we can watch the movie."

...

"You said we couldn't."

"I said we shouldn't."

...

"..What the hell? You changed your mind?"

"No.. I should be calling them now, before they go to bed, but I'm deciding not to."

"You don't think this is a 'mistake' anymore?"

"It is a mistake, I'm making a mistake in doing this."

"So what the fuck, then?"

"Because you're convinced that this is the right way to do things, so fine. We'll try your way instead.."

...

..Roxanne, understandably, doesn't quite 'get it' yet, and the resulting confusion begins to soften her up.

This is what she wants, but not necessarily the way she wanted it.. Rox wanted me to relax and enjoy the movie, since that way she'd be able to enjoy it to its fullest potential as well; but the audible hints of frustration in the corners of my voice don't correspond very well with her dreams of 'relaxing'.. So, now even Roxanne isn't even sure what she wants right now.

..After a second or two of staring, I look back at the TV and take another deep breath as subtly as I can while Rox continues to stand there and battle her uncertainty.

...

"..Mike- what are you even trying to say?"

"I'm saying I'll watch the movie now, like you wanted; and take the risk that Arin will be asleep by the time it's over."

"Why?"

"Because you were upset things didn't go this way earlier."

"So?"

"So we'll do things your way, and see if the result is worth it.."

...

"Mike- is this some stupid irony thing you're doing to try and teach me something? You about to pull some stupid bullshit that makes everything terrible?"

"No, I'm just trying to keep you happy, since you're stuck here and overwhelmed.." I exhale in response.

"..I thought-"

"Do you want to watch the movie or not?"

"I-.. Yes, but.." Roxanne briefly stutters, taking a quick step to set her rag on the counter before approaching the couch a little more.

"Lets start as soon as we can, then."

...

..nn.. Roxanne stands halfway across the living room, continuing to stare at me, despite my forcing myself to focus on the television and prevent myself from getting any more fed-up than I already am. Unfortunately, Roxy's stare isn't blank. She's decided that now is the time to let all her uncertainty eat at her, as if she's just now debating whether or not this was a good idea.

..Come on, why think about it now when the decision's already made? There's no point in receding now. At least this way, one of us is getting what they want.

...

"..Stop being mad.." Roxy half-grumbles under her breath.

What a therapist.

"I'm not mad, wolf; just got a little fed up over nothing."

"You're not gonna be able to enjoy the movie if you're pissed.."

"I won't be annoyed five minutes into the movie, when I finally have something to get my mind off it."

...

..With a quiet whine, Roxanne moves to the couch.

...

..A few minutes into the movie, and I'm noticing an issue neither of us had really bothered to consider before now.

I've stopped thinking about things pretty quick, and finally chilled-the-hell-out, however.. I'm not so sure Roxy herself has had the best of luck doing the same.

...

"..Roxanne."

She silently side eyes me from wherever she was looking before; notably, not the television..

...

"..What?" Roxy responds, voice a little muffled from the pillow she's got tightly pressed against her upper chest and lower face; like a girl with her big plush doll.

"It won't matter if I enjoy the movie if you don't stop worrying about things either."

"I'm working on it.."

...

..Doesn't appear to be going very well for you..

...

"..Get the hell over here.." I half-grumble, beckoning her from the other end of the couch.

"Why?"

"I see your tail flicking every ten seconds; I'll hold the damn thing still.."

"You're not in the mood to pet my tail right now." Roxanne weakly argues, though puts forth plenty of effort into moving her body across the couch towards me.

"I'm fine; I wouldn't be asking to if I didn't want to."

"That's not true- you do things for people that you don't want to do just 'cause you think it's 'polite'."

"Give me the tail.."

"Don't tell me what to do.." Roxy vainly argues, though immediately dragging her tail across the couch and over by me the moment I'm within' range.

...

..I want to comment on how weirdly enthusiastic she is about this tail thing, but I'm not sure banter would be the best idea at the moment.

...

I've decided to comment on it anyway.

"..This must feel really good if you're this willing to just 'let me touch it' the moment I say I wouldn't mind too.."

"..Why wouldn't I let you do it if it feels good?"

"You usually aren't the biggest fan of being touched for no reason. I couldn't just say 'can I pet your leg?' like I can your tail."

"Ew."

"That's what I mean.."

"Don't touch my leg."

"I'm not going t-.. I was using it as an example.."

"You're distracting me from the movie." Roxanne chides, trying and failing to bat my face with her tail, on account of the fact that both of my hands were still on it when she tried.

"Fine.."

...

..Over the course of about 45 minutes, we've finally gone back to normal. The sun's gone the rest of the way down, so the only light reaching us is the television monitor, and very slight hints of moonlight creeping in through the windows.

Roxanne, who apparently can't sit still for the life of her, kept shimmying around until we returned to the position we were in last night. Wolfie's laying horizontally across the couch, using my leg as a headrest; and I've been absent-mindedly messing around with her ears, since her tail is out of range.. Thankfully, her ears seem to be the top-half equivalent of her tail, so there's been no complaints from her end.

In fact, Rox seems a lot more lenient with her ears than she is with her tail.. She likes it when I mess around with her tail in just about any fashion, but I'll usually get a snarky comment or question if I'm not actually grooming it like I'm 'supposed to'.

Her ears, however.. I could toss her ears like a salad and she wouldn't so much as acknowledge that I'm doing something weird with them. As long as I'm doing something with the damn things, Roxanne's as content as a wolf can be.

..So, naturally, after about half an hour of brushing and smoothing her ears, I've run out of 'normal' ideas, and have been using them as imaginary opponents for my finger-stick-fighters.

..It's mildly entertaining to imagine the DBZ vanish sound effect whenever her ears twitch..

...

"Are you using your metal hand?" Roxanne quietly asks, gaze still transfixed on the television screen.

...

"..It obviously doesn't matter since you have to ask me.."

"Are you?"

"I have been for the last half-an-hour.. But fine, I'll stop.."

"Good."

...

..Sigh..

..I was using that hand the whole time I was petting your tail, too.. If you have to consciously think about it for this to be a problem, that probably means it isn't actually a problem.

...

Whatever.. She's sensitive and whatnot, yadda yadda..

...

..mm.. I guess, to be fair, the whole reason she's sensitive in the first place-..

...

Randomly, Roxanne turns her head away from the television to stare up at me from my lap, as if she's about to ask me something. But, for the first five-or-so seconds, she just stares..

...

"..Mike- You're thinking about something."

...

"What are you - telepathic?"

"Stop thinking and keep enjoying the movie."

"..I'll do my best.."

...

"You're still thinking."

"There's no way you can tell.."

"Yes I can; I get antsy whenever you stop enjoying this with me."

"What a superpower."

"Tell me what's wrong, Michael."

...

..Sighh..

...

"..I didn't want to 'burden' you with everything you learned recently, Rox; you already know that.. All this information has a chance of being a burden on the world, since people could get fascinated and inspired by it; so 'burdening' anybody with everything is one thing I've been trying to prevent since I rose from the ashes of Henry's Pizzeria."

...

..Roxanne only continues to stare up at me from my lap; zero cognitive thought behind those eyes..

...

"..What?" Roxy intones, genuinely confused as to what I'm saying to her.

"I just mean 'sorry, I did my best to prevent this all from happening, but I couldn't.' I never meant to burden you."

"..What are you even talking about?"

"Roxanne.."

"You didn't 'burden' me with anything; what do you mean?"

...

"..Earlier you said that you were 'the one I burdened with all this knowledge', back when you were heading for the shower."

...

"I said that?" Roxy quietly confirms, a new hidden tint of what I can only assume to be guilt lining the edges of her voice.

"Yes..?"

...

..Roxanne quickly sits up using her hands, though only continues to sit and stare at me afterward.

...

"..Mike, I d-.. I didn't mean that, I was just mad.."

"Ah.. Wow.."

"I'm sorry, I just f-.. Mike- you 'know' I just say shit sometimes.."

"I know I know." I quietly chuckle under my breath, deciding to try getting back into the movie. "That's just dumb. I spent all this time overthinking about it, and now I learn that you didn't even mean to say it."

"Since when do you take anything I say seriously?"

"I usually have a good grasp on when you mean things and when you don't; guess I just missed it this time."

...

"Are you mad..?"

"No I'm not mad, wolf- why would I be?"

"I- Fine. Fuck you, then.." Roxanne huffs, dramatically falling back until her head hits my leg again.

...

"Your ears are weird."

"Fuck. You."

"They turn individually towards where they hear something, and flick around when touched. It's like you've got cat ears, rather than wolves."

"Can we watch the damn movie?"

...

..I sneakily reach into my pocket, deciding to make what I'm already convinced is a mistake.

...

"Rox."

"What?"

"Roxanne."

"What?"

"Look at me for a second."

..Despite knowing damn well that whatever I'm about to do is for the sake of annoying her, Roxanne tilts her head upwards until we're looking eye to eye.

"What the hell's your problem?"

"Testing something. Here- I'm holding a quarter, see?"

"Why? What did you do today that had anything to do with money?"

"Hold on.."

...

..I hold the quarter a little underneath the couch, outside of wolfie's view; which naturally causes Roxanne to resume looking up at me like I'm the dumbest fuck to ever walk the planet.

Then, as quietly as I can, I lob the coin across the room without her noticing.

...

- Dink -

Like an absolute charm, the quarter gently collides with something woody on the other side of the room; resulting in Roxanne, without moving her head or changing her expression whatsoever, to perk both her ears and aim them at the noise to the best of her ability.

..Almost immediately afterwards, Roxanne realizes that getting her ears to radar like that was exactly what I was trying to do, and naturally responds to my satisfied smirk by grabbing me around the neck.

...

..After the third ring, I can probably assume no one's going to pick up..

I subtly release a sigh, but keep leaning on the kitchen counter and watching the phone, just in case Arin's across the house or something.

...

..Roxanne's in the living room still; the movie ended no more than a minute ago. She took it upon herself to start putting all the furnishings back where they were while I went about quickly grabbing my phone to see if I made it in time for Arin to still be awake.

Notably, the longer the dial-tone rings, the less I hear the sound of pillows and such being moved around over there.

...

- 'The pers-' click -

No, I would not like to send him a voicemail.

Sigh.. Whelp.. I can't say that's much of a surprise.. Arin already doesn't seem like the type to stay up late normally, but I'd venture to guess that goes double with how much has gone down these last few days.

...

Here.. I'll text him real quick, just to let him know why I called; and that I was already kinda expecting him to be asleep anyway..

...

..Gooood enough..

I push off the counter till I'm standing all the way upright, taking another small breath as I think about what else I need to do tonight.

..Naturally, I'm compelled to look through the kitchen island into the living room; and by the time I do so, Roxanne's already staring back at me, holding a couple pillows in her hands like she was in the middle of putting them back in place when she got distracted by something.. It wouldn't surprise me if she stopped what she was doing to wait see if anyone picked up the phone..

...

After three or four seconds of telepathic conversation, Roxanne looks away and continues setting the rest of the pillows down with a barely audible whine.

I can't help but watch her for a few more seconds.. Now that her fur's all dry and we turned a light on in the kitchen, I can see more details around her body than I could in the darkness.

Roxanne took her bandages off herself, but we never put them back on before we started the movie. She's wearing a regular t-shirt this time, so most of her body is obscured, but you can just barely see all the tiny scratches and scars through her fur on the parts of her that aren't covered by clothing. Naturally, some parts are more obvious than others..

Her arms have several small cuts on them, but each arm has one single wound from a shard of glass that was significantly deeper than the rest, and the fur doesn't do much to obscure them at all. Rox's neck isn't cut up, but it also has a single noticeable gash from the glass I didn't realize I was pushing into her throat when I held her.. Finally, while her face was mostly spared of damage, there are a couple scratches here and there; but far more notable is the discolored bruise painting a portion of her snout.

..ugh..

...

..Despite all that, Roxanne moves around the living room like none of it has any effect..

...

"Didn't it hurt to lie around like that?" I ask, nonchalantly turning my attention to some menial task I can do here in the kitchen.

"..What?"

"The couch didn't irritate any of your cuts or anything? It didn't cross my mind that we should've done bandages before we started the movie."

"No- I'm fine, nothing hurt more than a tickle." Roxanne responds dismissively, walking up and setting her hands on her side of the kitchen island like she's waiting for me to serve her a drink. "I still take the medicine though, so that's probably why."

Mm.. That shouldn't come as any surprise, but I guess I was kinda hopeful Roxanne was feeling that much better on her own..

"Maybe I should get you something for pain relief that isn't ibuprofen.."

"I'm not learning to pronounce that."

"All medicine is named weird."

...

..While I finish up what I'm doing with the sink, I hear Roxanne's claws drum on the counter.

"..Was that Arin you tried to call?"

"Yeah."

...

"..Did he pick up..?"

..Did it sound like he picked up?

"No. He's probably asleep, so I won't bother him tonight."

...

"..Sorry.." Roxanne pitifuly mumbles, second-guessing how good of an idea her whole plan was..

"It's completely fine, I can give him an excuse and call again tomorrow."

...

"..I dunno, Mike- I got mad. Shit didn't work out for me today at all, and it pissed me off, but now you literally didn't get anything done today 'cause I wanted to watch a movie."

"I should have called them at any point from this morning to this afternoon, but I got lost in what I was doing upstairs, so I waited until you wanted to do something to finally try calling them. I'm at just as much fault as you are."

"Whatever.." Roxanne huffs, leaning more of her weight on the counter. "..I'm just sick of shit not going my way. It's like the harder I try, the more I regret it."

"You shouldn't regret getting me to watch a movie; I know that was more just to keep you sane rather than wanting to do something fun for the hell of it."

"Fine, but I regret trying so hard to make a whole show, taking the time to repair that damn phone, sneaking around to pull that prank Monty did.. The list goes on and on an' on.."

"Mm.." I hum, once again taking a moment to think about it all while I let my body work on autopilot in the kitchen. "..I really had no idea how often that kinda thing happened to you.."

"It happens alll the timmee.. ughhh.." Roxanne groans, gently knocking on the kitchen counter in annoyance.

"It's like a curse."

"It's exactly like a fuckin' curse- it isn't even funny anymore."

I chuckle under my breath, putting one last cup away before deciding to be finished with these 'chores' I've made up for myself.

"I think I've said that exact same thing before, word for word."

"Yeah- you certainly don't seem to be any better on the 'shit going well for me' front."

"Maybe we really are cursed."

"With what I've been forced to acknowledge these last couple days, who am I to say anything's impossible anymore."

"You get used to it."

"This isn't something I wanna get used to." Roxanne huffs, plopping down onto a barstool and using a hand to prop her face up. "How do you think we break the curse?"

"Probably gotta fight the Pizzaplex Wizard."

"The Pizzaplex Wizard, huh?"

"The Pizzaplex Wizard."

"How does one fight the Pizzaplex Wizard and win?"

"Need to beat him in un-armed combat."

"I'll take off his fuckin' arms alright."

"A proven strategy."

Roxanne quietly awards me an amused hum, pleased with our banding together to take down a common enemy, the Pizzaplex Wizard.

...

"Who do you think the Pizzaplex Wizard is?"

"Trudge, probably."

"Mm." Roxanne quietly chortles, hopefully indicating that I'm doing a passable job with this 'conversation' thing. "His favorite spell is 'conjure grape'."

"Seriously.." I half-chuckle back, before suddenly turning halfway to look at her. "Actually- you weren't there either of the times Trudge appeared out of nowhere with grapes.. So he just does that around everyone?"

"He does it to get reactions out of people, 100-fucking-percent."

"It works."

"It does."

"It's hard to imagine you having a conversation with Trudge." I comment, resuming my pointless task in the kitchen.

"Unfortunately, the other person doesn't ever get a say in whether or not they want to talk to him."

"..I wonder how he and Chica are doing."

"Pff.." Roxy huffs, sitting down on a bar-stool. "Chica's probably gobbling it the fuck up; bird brain.."

"Fair enough.. I hope Freddy and Monty are faring the same, then.."

"Monty's probably gobbling it up too.. bird brain.."

...

..Y'know- if it were anyone even remotely qualified to give this kind of treatment, I bet they could get all of Roxanne's bandages done in a matter of a minute or two.. I certainly don't know any tricks or tips. I just cover up whatever doesn't look normal.

At the cost of, y'know, taking 15 minutes to do as such.

...

Then again.. This isn't your usual patient.. It takes a little longer than usual to identify the exact area you need to wrap, on account of this bastard on the bar-stool being covered in fur from head-to-toe.

..Oh well.. As far as Rox's aware, this is how long it takes everyone to get bandages done, so at least she doesn't complain much.

...

"This feels so inappropriate."

"Rox.."

"I mean- if you saw another couple doing this, you wouldn't think they're doing something intimate?"

"Not when I see all the bandages, no. I told you to go put on that crop-top you were wearing before we started.."

"I didn't say I didn't like it~"

"Stop it."

"No."

...

..For a little bit of context, Roxanne came back downstairs for a movie wearing a t-shirt, like I said earlier.. Consequently, now that we're doing bandages, Roxanne needs to be holding her shirt up enough to expose most of her upper waist, so that I can properly wrap it..

It's zero-percent worse than patching her waist up when she's wearing a crop-top, but the baggy clothing and the conscious action of holding her shirt up itself does quite a bit to make the situation seem more intimate..

...

"Hey, Mike?"

"Wolf.."

...

Roxanne turns her head halfway over her shoulder, as if addressing me without actually looking at me.

"We're kinda toxic, huh?"

...

..Admittedly not the direction I was expecting this to take..

I lift my gaze up a few inches from Roxanne's back, as if to address her the same way.

...

"Kinda 'toxic' ?"

"Doesn't it seem like it?"

"..I don't know; I've never bothered to think about it before. Why?"

"I was just thinkin'."

"Mm.. Well I'm also not up to date on the latest 'slang', so I might not completely get what you mean."

"I 'unno.." Roxanne starts, bouncing her leg a little as she thinks. "..We just get in a lot of fights."

"Didn't you say you enjoyed arguing..?"

"Yeah- but we also get in a lot of serious fights. Like the one we had earlier, about the movie."

"Mm.." I acknowledge, wrapping the roll of bandages around her waist another time. "I guess I don't see anyone else get in fights like that very often.."

"We don't really fight in front of other people though, so they might just keep it subtle too."

"Maybe, but I struggle to envision Trudge, Freddy, Chica, or Monty getting into very many 'serious' fights, if at all.. Freddy and Monty might 'banter', but Monty just isn't confrontational, even if something really is bothering him."

"Mm."

...

"..I guess it isn't 'new' information that we disagree on things. We don't share a lot of ideologies. You and I don't exactly 'click' together."

"What?" Roxanne quickly responds, looking half-over her shoulder again.. "Yes we do."

"I don't think so. We-"

"Yes we *do*."

"Fine, fine, alright.." I recede, deciding to keep focused on the task at hand. "..I guess I wouldn't know any more than you do.. This kind of thing obviously isn't my forte."

"I can tell. We're perfectly fine together."

Sheesh..

"A strange conclusion to make after we just talked about how 'toxic' we are."

"I know, but it never matters."

"..It never matters?"

"Of course n-.. if our fights mattered we wouldn't watching a movie and making jokes again half-an-hour later."

Mm..

...

"..I guess we do recover pretty quickly.."

"Yeah. I'm not saying we aren't compatible, 'cause we are. I was just saying we're also kinda toxic."

"I'm led to believe that one naturally inhibits the other.."

"Well it hasn't yet, and we've been 'toxic' more times than we can count, yeah?"

...

..I suppose so, but I'm not sure if the more serious fights are as harmless as Roxanne claims they are..

...

"How long we've managed to tolerate each other so far is something of a testament, isn't it.." I quietly acknowledge, with a brief understanding where she's coming from.

"We just have 'moments'."

...

..Ha.. We just have 'moments'..

...

Literally every second of our improbable relationship has been nothing but 'moments'.. We're an unbreakable bond one day, and fighting nonstop the next; over and over again.. Good, then bad, then good; as if we're in a loop.

..A 'toxic' unity, characterized by a ceaseless rise-and-fall..

...

"We certainly have a lot of 'moments'.." I respond after an uncharacteristic delay.

"Don't like having moments with me?"

"..Are you being coy?"

"I would never."

"Mm.."

"Well hey. 'Moments' have worked just fine for us so far."

"Sounds a little unhealthy.."

"They're not, 'cause I could use these moments to make progress on you." Roxanne chimes as she kicks her feet a bit, weirdly lighthearted for the conversation we're having. "And I did. Check out what I've been able to figure out up to this point, all 'cause of the 'moments' we've had."

Roxanne's still holding her shirt up, but I can almost make out her gesturing to everything around us, as if telepathic.

"I'm glad you've been getting the information you desired, but.. I don't know if I'd call the physical or mental state you're in a direct improvement over how you were.."

"I'll be fine, it doesn't get worse than this."

Somehow, I doubt that.

"..How does knowing all these secrets even help you?"

"They help me with you. Plus I can finally fuckin' understand what's going on around the Pizzaplex, instead of being left in the dark about everything."

"You think they helped you with me..? Am I any better off than I was?"

"No, but now you could be."

"..What?"

"It's hard to explain.. It's just easier to work with you now that I know who you really are."

"Know who I really am, huh.." I mutter to myself, sticking the end of the last bandage around Roxanne's waist and signaling that I'm finished.

"It was fucking hard, but I've finally removed the mask you made." Roxanne starts, letting her shirt fall and using the freed up hands to turn herself halfway around the bar-stool to peer at me over her shoulder. "So now you can't hide the masquerade underneath. Not from me."

...

"..Turn back around, I'm not done.."

"What do you have left to do?"

"Neck."

"Aw- you can do that while I'm facing you." Roxanne chirps, turning the rest of her body towards me.

"I would rather not.."

"I know."

"Mm.."

"You'll be finee. I'll make it easy this time." Roxy hums, politely tipping her chin/snout upward to expose her neck for me.

...

"..Whatever.." I mutter under my breath, deciding it'd be easier to get this done when she's in a good mood, rather than a bad one.

...

"Hmm~.."

"Don't make sounds, please."

"Saw you consciously choose the correct hand; just letting you know I appreciated it~."

"Stop talking."

...

..And y'know what, despite all expectations, Roxanne does actually give me a peaceful minute or so of quiet to work. I have a feeling she's still enjoying the attention a little too much, judging by how she's closed her eyes like she's getting a massage, but I'll take what I can get..

...

..There..

I inconspicuously crane my neck to peek into the living room after a period of total silence.. Roxanne was waiting for me to finish whatever I had to do in the kitchen so that we could both head to our respective bedrooms at the same time, but with enough excuses and pointless stalling, Roxy's finally slipped into unconsciousness laying across the couch.. Looks like things finally did go my way this time..

...

I carefully close the small notebook on the kitchen counter that I've been writing in to pass the time. If Rox was fully awake while she was waiting, she probably would've noticed that I'm not actually doing any kitchen chores, but it seems like I was able to use her drowsiness to my advantage.

..Roxanne likely wouldn't have been able to sleep if we both went back to our rooms, she'd have the same problem she had last night.. The whole 'safety' thing..

...

Y'know, I did a little more thinking on that.. Before, she was intimidated by the thought of some psycho entering the Pizzaplex to cause problems as a result of their obsession with Freddy's history. Specifically, the Pizzaplex was just another 'Freddy Fazbear' location in her mind, and she associated that with the locations in the past, which all had some nightmarish nonsense go down in them. So, Rox was a little afraid that something nightmarish would go down in the Pizzaplex as well, and that she might end up being part of it..

The thing is, we're not in the Pizzaplex right now.. But that fear still persists.

So whatever she's afraid of this time, it isn't the Pizzaplex. It's something else that can act as a bridge for the evils of the past to reach her here in the present.

Naturally, I can't imagine what else that might be except me..

..However, Roxanne still gets relief from that fear when I'm around. Perhaps it doesn't even have to be me- maybe she just feels better when someone she trusts is there with her.

What I mean to say is that it isn't specifically me she's afraid of, but what it might mean for her in being associated with me.

...

..So I just don't get it..

It's so cut-and-dry. I'm a threat to her. Often times indirectly, but judging by the bandages wrapped around her throat and snout, maybe even directly.. I don't even just mean physically; I mean I'm a threat to her, her way of life, what she loves, her friends.

Roxanne has to understand that.. Sometimes she's a little too emotionally driven to follow her own reasoning, but after everything that's happened, it should be so easy to see how much worse I can single-handedly make things.

...

..And yet, she fights it so hard..

I have everything to lose, and Roxanne has nothing but to gain from dissociating with me. I'm the one who should be clawing at every opportunity I get to stay, and live this peaceful life I've synthesized from the scraps of the others I've destroyed.

Despite all that, even I understand that it isn't worth it. 'I', the only one who'd lose anything in leaving, still passionately believe that the lives here would flourish and thrive if I left, and wish to take that path.

But Roxanne, who's done nothing but lose her physical and mental health in interacting with me, just will not let it happen. I've done so much to obliterate the lifestyle she once loved in one day alone, but she still ran barefoot through the pitiful shards I'd broken her life into, just to prevent me from leaving, temporarily.

..So I don't get it.. Roxanne's smart, I know she is- I've seen it before. There's no way she doesn't understand.. So I don't get it.

...

..Oh well..

...

I leave the pen on the kitchen counter, holding the small notebook under my arm as I quietly turn around and make for the stairs.

..It's just another mystery; one I won't solve by standing there and staring at her..

...

So, hopefully this little plan I've executed will get her a passable amount of sleep..

She'll need it.. We've got a loooong day ahead of us..

...

I freeze as my foot touches the first step of the staircase.. And after a few moments of silence, I can't help but look over my shoulder, back into the kitchen.

...

..One more cup of coffee..

NOTES (bottom edition (don't act like you're not impressed))

{25,391}

Heya.

So to be real, this wasn't ever supposed to be a chapter. That whole blindness part was supposed to be just something I threw in at the chapter of 41, then it was supposed to be how chapter 42 started off, then it just, uh. Became its own chapter.

So if any of this chapter felt like filler, uhhhhhhh. Yeah kinda. Sorry lmao.

Next chapter is when things will finally expand outside of this tiny ass house with the tiny ass Mikey and Roxy, I've actually been pretty excited about it :)

Oh but anyway, college has started back up. Blah blah blah - I'm sure you know the drill by now; things'll probably slow down a bit, but who knows; I'm about as inconsistent as it gets.

Anyway, trying to keep this short, since this wasn't all that crazy of a chapter; uhh..

Oh I'll probably do another huge-ass art of the stuff that's slowly been accumulating on the Discord server; I haven't really been updating the Reddit with updates very frequently, since I'm normally chatting and shiz on the DC every day.

OOOO though here's a little more incentive to check either the Reddit or the Discord out if you haven't recently! We did this neat little project with the server banner! It was a group photo of characters from both Cassiun and I's fics, and we did this 'One Character Per Artist' thing, and it turned out so frickin' cool. Practically every character from my fic is on it, and several characters from Cass's, so there are a ton of characters, done by a large group of artists who liked the fic!

Still, there's also been a ton of other art that I haven't posted to the Reddit yet, so I'll kinda throw it all together and drop it on y'all all at once (to the best of my ability.)

OH ALSO, join the Discord, but AS OF WRITING THIS, I'm currently not on it. I'll be back on the server in a matter of a couple days, but I separated for a bit for completely unrelated reasons, and I'd love to talk with you once I'm back.

Reddit - "u/ParticularlyLargeRat"

Discord - THE SERVER INVITATION LINK IS ON THE REDDIT, SINCE FF DESTROYS ANY LINKS I PUT HERE. IF YOU CAN'T/DON'T WANT TO ACCESS THE REDDIT, PM ME, AND I'LL PERSONALLY SEND YOU THE DISCORD LINK!

-.-.-.-

Hey, quick side note for those of you who have been on the server for a while; specifically the more active ones, you know who you are lmao.

I wanted to say thanks to a lot of you. Sometimes I feel like willpower is one of my weakest attributes, but recently I've been incentivized to take a step back and bunker down on some self-improvement, and I can't even describe how amazingly well it's been going. I've been making breakthroughs on relatively new issues, and managed to make another leap of improvement on an older issue, and I don't think I would've found the motivation to do that if it wasn't for a lot of you. It took a little bit of dipping into my mind deeper than I was really sure I could resurface from, but I know I'm going to be just a little bit better than I was before because of it.

I know this gets thrown around a lot endearingly, but I really do love you lot. You've given me a lot to think about, in addition to somewhere new I can come to relax with some friends.

FallingSun, I'm giving you a little bit of favoritism lmao. You really are the one person I see eye-to-eye with the most, not even a competition; so it's been nice to know there's someone who truly 'gets it' within arms reach. You've helped, more than you know; so I'mma need around to keep me sane lmao.

Also

Ninja: To be honest, it was talking and getting introspective with you that triggered the whole thing lmao. I don't know if I ever would've finally taken a step back to just think about everything if it wasn't for us having one of our dumbass talks, so fine, while I don't usually like admitting this kinda stuff, you really are what kickstarted my long isolated thinking episode that eventually resulted in the realization that I need to work on myself; so while I'm too sleepy to register how cringe this is, I wanted to quickly say that I appreciated it. However, this also means you've sealed your fate, for now I will not be letting you go until you see yourself in as high of a regard as I see you. Play Monster Hunter with me you bastard.

Finally

Leonardodespacito (no one tell her I mentioned her here it'd be fucking hilarious if she just stumbles upon this months in the future)

I somewhat doubt you'll ever reach this point in the fic to read this, buuuut if you DO, the talks we've had during my little excursion have been exceptional to the introspection I've been doing lately. Wording everything out to you has actually made it a little clearer for ME why exactly I'm doing what I'm doing, and what directions to approach things from. That isn't something I thought I needed, to be honest, but clearing the fog a bit more did add just a little bit more oomph to my ambition. It's almost frightening how well you respond to other's emotions.

hi zag fuck you heheuuehuehueuheuheueheuheueehue

Alright that's all for now.

Seriously though, love you all, it's been amazing so far. I'll be back soon, I promise.

See y'all in a bit.

- PLR