Author Notes

I just have to say this first. Please please don't use reviews to ask when the next chapter is coming out or complain about it taking too long. I will stick to the schedule I set up and as long as nothing tragic like my internet going down or my laptop breaking happens, I will keep to it. I try and upload chapters as the day changes here on the site since that's about ten in the morning where I live. But please remember I'm not always by my computer at this time. If I go out that day then I will only be able to update later, like today. Please keep this in mind.

Other than that, thank you all again for all the reviews and for reading this story. :) I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 24

Reflections

Ruby stared at her ceiling thoughtfully. It was between her afternoon nap and her shift and she found herself thinking about, well, a number of things.

Forefront on her mind, were the personalities of all her new co-workers.

She'd had a few days to learn about them by now and was thinking the information over. Compared to her 'bots they were exceptionally different.

More different than she thought was possible since they were supposed to have 'similar but new and improved programming'.

"New and improved…right." She muttered.

Toy Freddy was the least annoying of the bunch. He seemed like more of a stick-in-the-mud than Freddy though. She had often heard him going on and on about rules she had visited for the interviews. He was a walking talking rulebook it seemed. Freddy may have been stern, sure, but even he would bend the rules now and then.

And he knew how to have fun.

She groaned as she remembered one incident the previous night. She had hit Toy Freddy with her water gun. He had WHINED. Actually, honestly, WHINED about it. She rolled her eyes at the thought. Then he'd tried to shout a lecture about improper use of water in the pizzeria at her while she ran away.

Just…really?

She shook her head while covering her eyes.

At least Toy Bonnie knew how to have fun but…

Wow.

She had never wanted to kill someone so damn badly in her life. He was beyond annoying and obnoxious. He also had the worst superiority problem out of the group.

She'd seen him playing with some kids and he STILL looked obnoxious while he did it. She really didn't know what the manufacturers had been thinking with him.

'Let's make him as annoying and full of himself as possible' probably.

She rubbed her face and then propped her head up in her hands on the table, staring blankly at the computer in front of her.

"And he never shuts up." She muttered to herself. "Ever."

Sure Bonnie was a prankster and mischievous, with maybe a little bit of an ego, but he was nowhere near as bad as that Barbie Rabbit. This wasn't even her personal preferences coming into play. She couldn't believe these badly behaved, ill controlled animatronics had actually been brought in to REPLACE the originals.

If it were up to her they would have been back in the boxes the day after their arrival.

His screams were also ridiculously girly.

Then there was Toy Chica…Oh how she wanted a mute button. She never stopped TALKING. About the most ridiculous things too. She squealed and giggled incessantly and was just all around annoying. She also complained every time she got hit with a prank, saying that she was 'dirty' now. She cleaned herself up after every single prank it seemed. Unless she needed help, then she had to wait and did she complain.

Just thinking about those three were giving Ruby a headache.

Mangle… well, she didn't seem so bad. She was insanely shy, playing with the younger kids when Ruby had seen her. She still couldn't talk and she'd admit that everything about the poor 'bot set off her sympathy alarms. She'd been trying not to bother her every night. But still…she couldn't shake off the feeling that there was more to Mangle than she was showing.

After all, cute animals could still bite.

She started doodling on a piece of paper on the table. She'd tried to get some information about the pizzeria off the internet again and once again, nothing.

Her mind drifted to the other Toys.

BB…well, she'd be surprised if they found him anytime soon. She snickered to herself. It was going to be hilarious when they found him…eventually.

She really needed to figure out how to rig the fake cannons in Pirate's Cove to fire the annoying bowling ball. What had they been thinking, when they made him?

Maybe he was defective…

Then there was The Clown. Or The Puppet or whatever. He was still creepy as anything. Maybe if she stuck a picture of a face on his mask it would make it better?

She mulled over that thought for a while.

But to do that she'd have to get close to him…

What did he even do in the pizzeria anyway? She hadn't seen him away from the room his box was in and she certainly hadn't gone in there willingly yet so what was his job?

She gave about five seconds to that thought before his face creeped her out again and she moved on.

Finally there was Hedy.

…

…

Really, Ruby…didn't know what to think of her.

She was obviously there for a reason (and Ruby really needed to stop getting distracted from asking about her 'Uncle Scott') but she just couldn't figure it out.

She wasn't blind either.

She'd noticed that Hedy was never in the same room as her 'bots when she was alone, always having the Toys or Ruby with her. She also never met Foxy's eyes. Flinches weren't something that she missed so if Hedy was so scared of the originals then why was she there?

And why didn't she seem bothered by the Toys?
The Puppet was just a pain so why put up with him? She'd seen the mechanic get annoyed with Toy Bonnie and BB as well. She also ignored Toy Chica's endless, endless talking sometimes. Seems she was pretty close to Toy Freddy and Mangle though.

She didn't seem to be supporting their night guard murder desire however.

Which didn't make a lot of sense.

She was friends with them, but was on Ruby's side in the whole killing night guards thing. She chose to work there, but she was scared of the originals.

She also called 'Steve' Uncle Scott.

Why was she there?

Ruby glared at the screen since no answers magically popped into her head. She sighed and leaned back in the chair to stare at the ceiling again.

All in all, she didn't know how Hedy tolerated those Toys. They acted like teenagers sometimes…

Ruby sat bolt upright, mouth popping open in a silent 'oh'.

"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered.

She looked at the time. It was still far too early but she needed to talk to the 'bots. She'd just wait it out there.

She grabbed her bag and almost ran to Freddy's.

The 'bots were just about to relax in preparation for the new night when Ruby burst through the doors.

"Ruby?" Freddy asked in surprise, the rest of the gang looking over.

Luckily the Toys were already in the other room.

"A little early there lass." Foxy frowned at her in confusion.

It was only eleven.

"They're teenagers!" she exclaimed, waving her hands in the direction of the doorway that led to the Toys.

There was a moment of perplexed silence.

"What?" Bonnie asked, tilting his head.

Goldy materialised and felt her temperature.

"No fever." She frowned.

Ruby waved her away.

"The Toys! They act like teenagers! Or stereotypical ones at least." She amended.

She was a teenager too after all.

"Uh, still not following." Chica admitted.

Ruby took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"How much experience did they get? Working?" she asked.

"About a month maybe?" Freddy frowned, trying to think.

"Well." Ruby looked at them all. "Compared to you guys they're still kids! Never mind teenagers."

They still looked confused but Freddy looked like he was catching on.

"When you guys started, you weren't like you are now right? Experience changes you." Ruby pushed, trying to get them to realise it.

Freddy nodded thoughtfully. "We were really different."

Goldy caught on next. "Oh yeah! Bonnie was way more reckless until his one prank almost got someone hurt. Freddy had to learn when to make exceptions to the rules. Chica couldn't cook and Foxy was actually kind of mean."

"So experience made you guy work on the flaws until you became better 'bots." Ruby nodded her head. "The Toys never did that."

It finally hit the others.

"They never learnt to temper their flaws." Chica murmured.

Everyone looked thoughtful.

"Toy Bonnie's annoying and short-tempered and all that but he hasn't had a reason to try and change that yet. Toy Chica is still insanely selfish because she doesn't know better. Toy Freddy's still so obsessed with rules because he hasn't learned that they need to be ignored sometimes." Ruby was pacing. "They never had the experiences like you that taught them to change. They've been in storage where those personality flaws just remained stagnant."

Foxy frowned. "Mangle's changed quite a bit lass. I'll admit she was a bit of a bloodthirsty girl back then."

Ruby shrugged. "I think something happened to change her. I don't know her since she's always hiding away."
"The Puppet's been around pretty long too." Goldy added. "He's been around for almost as long as I have."

"Then he's just a creep." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Why is this important?" Bonnie asked.

"Because, that means they can still change!" she grinned at them. "They can still learn and then they won't be such a pain to work with!"

"You're optimistic." Goldy muttered.

They were surprised that Ruby was so willing to give the Toys a chance. Their group was a little divided on the subject. Freddy and Chica were curious while the others were more grudging.

"Oh but experiences? They can hurt." Ruby's signature smirk reappeared on her face.

Oh, so that was what she was going for. That made more sense.

"What are you planning lass?" Foxy asked, fighting a grin.

"They need a few decades of experiences if those feelings of superiority are going to get squashed. So I'm going to focus on knocking them down a peg or two. Or ten." She looked almost giddy with excitement. "Up until now it was just revenge. Now? Now its revenge and teaching them a few lessons. I like teaching lessons."

"Might not be so easy." Freddy warned her. "They're really influenced by the Puppet."

Ruby looked thoughtful. "And you're sure the wood chipper is out?"

"Yes." Freddy answered sternly.

"Fine. Then whatever he says I'll prove him wrong." She shrugged.

"You seem very into this." Goldy pointed out.

"Oh yes. There's nothing I like more than knocking some jerks down and showing them that they're not the centre of the solar system." She rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

They looked at each other for a moment before shrugging. There wasn't much of a point in trying to stop her once her mind was made up.

Hedy was packing her bag and inspecting her tools in preparation for the night but her mind was elsewhere.

Her thoughts were stuck on the night guard of course.

The girl was just too…strange. She didn't make much sense. She freely put herself in harm's way for what reason? She was already proving that she could easily avoid the Toys by using the vents. Having the originals helping her would have guaranteed that she wouldn't be in any danger.

This deal wasn't even going to bring about a permanent solution. If she won, the Toys would just have to wait until she left the job to continue.

"Did she even think this through?" the mechanic murmured to herself, worrying her bottom lip.

Strangely enough, she also didn't seem to be trying to get rid of them even though she clearly preferred the originals. She was just trying to win.

And annoy everyone as a side effect.

There was still chocolate in her chair.

Hedy put her bag down and rubbed her face.

Was there any logic to Ruby's thought processes or actions? Probably not. She seemed to be trying to accomplish something though. She'd already temporarily stopped the originals killing night guards, although Hedy didn't really know the story of how.

That was more than Hedy had managed though.

She had come here to…what? Prove herself? Stop any more murders? She wasn't really sure anymore actually.

Ruby didn't seem to need much help and Hedy couldn't even look at the originals without breaking into a cold sweat. Her brother's stories still echoed in her mind…

She shook her head and sighed, rubbing her face.

Then there was that unexpected part of Uncle Scott leaving those tapes. She was curious about why Ruby called him Steve though.

"I wonder how Uncle Scott's doing." She murmured.

She hadn't seen him in a long time.

"Maybe, when Ruby actually stops giving me death glares every time I talk to her I can ask if she knows where he is."

Ruby glanced at the clock for the fifth time that minute. She was itching to start the night, fueled by her interesting realisation.

"I'm actually feeling sorry for the Toys now." Foxy murmured softly to Freddy.

Freddy nodded his head slowly in agreement.

"I'm not." Bonnie grinned.

"You never got rid of that vindictive flaw." Freddy rolled his eyes.

The rabbit shrugged, going back to cleaning his guitar.

Goldy and Chica were setting up the projector and going over the movies Ruby had while she paced back and forth, eyes on the clock.

When it finally hit five to twelve she grinned and started heading to the office.

"Class is in session kids." She skipped out the room.

The 'bots watched her go.

"I'm really glad that nostalgia saved us from that level of sadism." Bonnie admitted.

The others all nodded.
"We didn't ask where Balloon Boy is." Goldy realised.

"Not our problem." Foxy shrugged.

"They'll find him eventually." Freddy didn't look interested.

Foxy grinned at him. "She really is a bad influence on you too."

Author Notes

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Night 3 up on Sunday.