Note: Mike is not Micheal Afton or any other Mike's from the Fnaf Series. I thought it was funny to use the name though.
Harriette took a deep breath, waving goodbye to Mr. Spider, and one of the raccoon kits that had wondered in to share her dinner with her. She wasn't planning on doing this often. This might be the only time she did it, but she still needed to be able to go around the Pizzaplex at night if she wanted to be able to live here on her own. There were simply things she didn't have access to in the light of day with all those people around. Like the laundry room, plus she didn't want to risk having to relieve herself in the trash that made up the area around her 'home'. She'd been lucky thus far; not having any accidents was mostly the result of not drinking anything for way too long before bed. She was always waking up with her throat too dry to function.
Besides seeing all those happy families; couples holding hands, kids between pairs of parents, Mummies or Daddies with any number of kids. Even Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents. Harriette didn't have any grandparents. It's one of many reasons why she'd had to live with the Dursley's. She shrugged the mostly empty bag, it just had the clothes she'd worn, she'd decided to take with her. She planned on collecting any freebies she could.
Uncl- Vernon had always hated freebies. Hated the people who lived off them. Harriette didn't have the luxury of being prideful. She was an orphan now, and she didn't want to end up dying. And she didn't see why she shouldn't take stuff that was being given away. She was her own person now. She had to be.
Harriette made her way up to the first floor. Sticking to the side areas. She remembered Mr. Moon complaining about there not being more than one or two security guards for the whole plex. The building was huge, Harriette was sure that it would take hours to find someone who broke in with just two people. Today wasn't one of the days there would be two people. Harriette had overheard that one was sick. The company wasn't even going to bother with having someone fill in cause they already had Mr. Moon so why would they. The people talking about it seemed to be frustrated by it. Harriette wasn't entirely sure why. She'd overheard them complaining about working here already, before. Oh, well, maybe adults were just weird, maybe she just didn't know enough about it. Whatever the case she'd probably be able to avoid the one guard.
She walked to her first destination, the lost and found.
She expected the room to be different. Everything was thrown about in a pile on the floor. Okay not everything. But there was a lot of it. She was able to find a few articles of clothing, mostly shirts. That was fine, you could wear pants and shorts way longer then shirts. She found a sweater too! She wasn't as cautious about size as she was about other things. She could wear clothes that were too big any time. It didn't matter to her as much. But she didn't want to take anything she thought someone might come back for. Once she'd collected the items she was going to take she left to head to her next location. She'd need to do laundry and she knew from lots of sources that there were two, one by the employee lockers. She'd have to use that one, since she… She shook her head, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. She'd look through other shops to see if she could pick up other things while she was waiting for her clothes to get done. She didn't find it that hard to get there. She read the instructions and delt with the guilt of using the employee clothing detergent. She worried about leaving her clothes, it turned out. So she waited for the timer to run through. Once her clothes were done she went back up to look for other stuff she could use. Maybe she'd find more clothes, or decorations for her 'home'. She didn't deserve nice things, but nobody was there to stop her, so she'd let herself be a little selfish. She found her way into the front area, then back to another gift shop. There were a lot of them. She was tempted to take some of the snacks off the shelves. She still had plenty, she couldn't steal things just cause she'd never had them before. Gummy Fazbears were not essential. She shoved her hand into her pockets. Wandering to the place that had the sign saying that it was one of the freebies. She found a wind up thing on the shelf, like a giftbox mixed with a jack in the box. She shrugged her bag further on her shoulder and turned the crank. It made a jingling sound. She looked around feeling nervous about it now. She shrugged her bag onto her should more tightly. She took another breath and then turned the crank further, it took several second, and when it popped Harriette flinched back hard enough to know herself down.
She stood looking at the item. It was a froggy magnet. Kind weird, but kind of cute. She picked it up. It probably would stick to her 'home's' wall. She was putting it in her pocket when she heard someone shouting.
"Hey!" She turned around, to see the security guard standing there. She ran around the Aisle slipping under a weird stand just before the rushed round and past, she rushed out, dodging toward the exit. She made it out and weaved into one of the other halls. "Come back here you little-!" the man shouted. Harriette dived around obstacles and around corners. Using her freak powers to make it harder for him to follow. She ducked through bathrooms and around barriers. She got far enough a head of him that she ducked into one of the other tightly packed displays. She covered her mouth, holding it despite her heart pounding in her chest. She stayed there for several minutes. Waiting till she could no longer hear his footsteps over the sound of the air cooling system. Then she waited a little longer, tears pricking her eyes.
She'd almost got caught for a frog magnet. She should have known better. She doesn't deserve nice things. She doesn't deserve happiness. She's a waste of space and a nasty gross freak, and she doesnt' deserve to be safe, and now she never will cause she got greedy. She forced down her tears and looked around, making sure the cost was clear. She could see a vent across the large, cavernous hall. It didn't have a vent cover. She sprung free of her hiding spot. She didn't stop running till she'd dived into the vent, squirming around corners till she was sure the guard couldn't find her. Then she laid against the vent floor mouth covered with her bag and hand and sobbed.
So, stupid. Greedy, stupid, worthless freak. Vile, ugly, wicked, nasty, worthless, selfish, stupid, greedy, greedy, greedy, greedy.
Moon was just about finished with his second patrol when Mike came running up to him. He was out of breath so it took him a moment to actually be able to speak, and when he did it was way too loud..
"Somebody broke into the plex!" Mike shouted
"Huh? Seriously, it's probably a racoon again Mike," Moon calmly
"It's not, I saw some (British insult) kid stealing one of the free gifts!"
"Stealing. One of. The free. Gifts." Moon said slowly.
"Yeah!" Mike shouted.
"Fine, I'll check the security cameras," Moon groaned.
Harriette made it back to her hiding spot in the dump. She dropped her bag onto the ground, looking over everything. She was probably going to have to leave. She'd worked so hard to make the place feel like… Like something. She couldn't really think of anything, her hands wandered into her pocket and she felt the frog magnet, pulling it out she looked at it. She felt her face scrunch and tears spring to her eyes she was going to toss it, throw it as hard as she could. She lifted her arms to do just that, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't steal it, it wasn't it's fault that she'd gotten caught, not really. It was hers. She clutched it in her hands, and started crying against it. Tears dripping on it's as she curled in and collapsed.
"I was good," Harriette sobbed. "I did all the chores, and tried not to complain. I took care of myself, I was good. I did-I really did do my best." Harriette sobbed.
Moon found the 'intruder' on the camera's. The child wasn't more the four feet. It wasn't their tiny size that gave it away that the they were a child. It was also the behavior. Small, skittish movements, scurrying away from darker spots. Looking to the toys and candy for a little longer, before choosing to scurry on. Choosing only the free things. While the child was wandering back up from the lower range they picked up a piece of trash left by them. The kid kept their hood up, the common jacket reminding Moon of the one Nova had given Harriette. He shook his head. He couldn't get distracted. Mike would throw a fit. He watched as the kid got to the small free give away item. The child had turned it cautiously. When it popped open it made the kid jump, and fall. When Mike had called out to them they'd turned, froze if Mike had properly done his job he would have already been able to call the kids parents and get them home. The kid ran, diving under a display counter, letting Mike pass, before running out. Moon almost growled when he heard Mike's voice yelling at the child. He'd already been tempted to before when he'd called the child an insult. The child was clearly scared. He was impressed with the child's skill at avoiding capture. Ducking and weaving, dodging and blocking, and finally hiding again. Ducking under another display. The kid stayed there for a quite sometime. When she finally slipped out of the hiding spot her familiar face was no longer covered, except maybe by tears.
"They left the building already," Moon said. "Great, so you can report that you lost a child who broke in to steal free stuff. Bye."
"What?! Are you serious, bloody hell," the guy grumbled. "Look what do you say we keep this to ourselves. They didn't break anything right, and all they took was the free gift, right?"
"Correct," Moon said. "I couldn't care less, you were the one who lost them. It's your problem to report." Moon walked away. "And because you wasted all my time, I have another patrol to go to. Use the fazwatch next time, that's why it's company issue."
"Alright," Mike said. "Thanks."
"Whatever," Moon said. "Just do your job unless you want to loose it."
"Alright, alright," Mike said.
Moon made his way through the pizzaplex. He didn't have a lot of time. A scare like that would probably make the kid run away. Moon couldn't let that happen.
What even happened? Sun asked. Looking through the camera's feeds looking for anything to tell him where to have Moon go.
I don't know, Moon answered. But we won't find out if we don't find Harriette before she runs away.
The dump was a disgusting part of the pizzaplex. Why would they even need such a thing down here. Moon stepped down the final steps that separated the dump from the rest of the pizzaplex. It was far too big.
Why doesn't anyone ever just take things to a real dump?! Sun grumbled in their shared mindspace. It's ridiculous. Moon couldn't help but agree. They hated this place. It didn't help that they often threw away perfect functional staff bots. Making the place even worse, and a place they were forced to frequent. They hadn't been down in a while, they hadn't needed to as much anymore.
At least it makes repairing the staff bots easier. Moon said, half joking.
That's true. It could be a lot harder to fix our friends.
It's not exactly a safe place for a child to be hiding though, is it?
No, Sun said, it was practically a sigh. Where would a child hide in all this mess? What if we didn't get here in time? What if she's already gone and we didn't even know she was here and?
Your spiralling.
I can't help it.
We'll find her, she'll be fine, Moon said. She didn't come up from this.
What if there's a way out of here from down here?
There isn't. Moon assured.
They spotted it then, a small light in the darkness. Moon stood a little taller to try and see it. Something was in the way. A tiny structure in the dark. A table on its side, a table cloth, and a light shining through the thin plastic. Moon picked up his pace. He picked his way through some of the larger pieces of trash, and ducked down to face the curtain. Moon took a simulated breath.
"Knock Knock," Moon said. Harriette appeared in the doorway, clutching her plushies, looking at the ground.
"Please don't kick me out," Harriette said.
"Oh," Moon said. "I…" Moon paused. "How did you even end up here? What happened?" Harriette teared up. "Can I give you a hug?"
"You'll get into trouble," Harriette sobbed.
"Somethings are worth getting into trouble for," Moon said. "And for me, your one of them." Harriette looked up at him. Wave wobbling, scrunching, trying so hard not to cry, before throwing herself into Moon's waiting arms and letting out her tears.
"He threw me away," she sobbed into his chest. It took several moments for her to get her next sentence out "She didn't even try and stop him." Another long pause, filled with desperate sobbing gasps, Moon rubbed Harriette's back trying to sooth her. "They never loved me and they were never going to." She was talking faster now only stopping to gasp in a sobbing breath. "Why? Why couldn't they love me? I was trying my best. I tried so hard, I didn't mean to be a problem! I tried to be good! I tried to be kind, and do my chores, and-and-and. Why couldn't they love me? Why am I not loveable? Why-?" Moon cut her off there.
"You are not unlovable," Moon said, a little sharper then her meant to. "Just because someone can't love you doesn't mean your not loveable. If someone doesn't love you it says more about their values then about your worth." Harriette's breathing, slowed, eyes wide as she looked up at him. "You are worthy of so much more love then what you were given." He held her face, rubbing away her tear. "You are so precious to me, and there are plenty of people who are waiting to meet you, waiting to love you, and they don't even know it. They hurt you because their was something wrong with them. Not because there was something wrong with you." He wrapped his arms around her again. "You are good, and you are kind, and you do your best," Moon said. "Despite how you were treated you taught yourself how to be good, and how to care. Your so strong Harriette." Moon said. Moon could feel Sun's own love for this little girl radiating from their shared mind. "Sun agrees. He says I'm totally right."
You are, Sun said.
"Promise," Harriette asked.
"Promise," Moon said, ruffling her hair. "Now let's get you to the daycare."
"No!No!No!" Harriette squirmed trying to free herself from Moon's hold, he carefully let her down, but held her hands.
"What?"
"I can't!"
"Why?"
"I can't!" she shouted, freeing herself from his hold.
"Why not, take a deep breath, and explain," Moon said calmly. Harriette sniffled her breath, sucking up a concerning amount of snot.
"You'll get in trouble," Harriette said.
"And I told you that your worth getting into trouble for," He brushed a strand of her hair from her face, she closed her eyes at first, then looked surprised.
Maybe warn her next time, Sun suggested.
"Sorry, I forgot." He said to both Sun and Harriette.
"Forgot what?" Harriette asked.
"To warn you before touching since, well, since your relatives are the worst," Harriette giggled at Moon's comment. Her face was still red and splotchy, tear streaks, and probably a more then a little sweaty.
"It's okay," Harriette said. "I don't mind you touching me."
"That's good," Moon said. "But I should still get permission. Now why can't you come to the daycare." Harriette shifted, then shook her head. "C'mon, I won't tell anyone your there. I want you there. Do you not want to go to the daycare?"
"No, I mean yes! I mean of course I want to live with you!" Harriette shouted. "But…" she trailed off. She pouted not wanting to continue.
"But?" Moon asked.
"I don't want you to get in trouble," Harriette said.
"Well, lucky thing I won't," Moon said.
"Really?" Harriette said. "Are you sure?"
"Promise," Moon offered her his pinky. She looked at it for a moment before nodding, taking hold of the offering with her own. "Then it's settled, your coming home," Moon picked her up.
"Home," Harriette said, slow and low, then she smiled. "Home."
Note: I lost my bookmarks, and I've given up on looking for the stupid things again. I'm just going to bleep out the british insults. Profanity filters or something… IDK
