Author's Note

Apologies for the upload days I missed. I had a hectic couple of weeks with a work deadline last week. To make up for it a little I'm going to upload on Friday this week as well. Sorry again!

And thanks again to Corona Pax. There's no way I would have made the upload today without her help.

Chapter 76

Open Sesame

Waking up was scarier than losing consciousness, oddly enough. She didn't understand where she was, only that it didn't smell like pizza and little children with a faint after-smell of metal and electronics. It was clean, sickeningly so, with chemicals drowning out the stench of illness and death. A hospital?

It was a hospital, she was sure. Unless she was in a morgue, which with her luck seemed equally as possible. She couldn't see. Why couldn't she see? More importantly she couldn't breath!

There was something in her mouth. In her throat. At the same time she realized she couldn't see because the room she was in was dark and her eyes were fuzzy.

"H-hedy!…shhh...I got you hold on. Hold on."

She gagged and coughed as a tube was pulled out of her throat and there was the weight of someone hugging her. Instinctively she hugged back, weakly throwing her arms around Jeremy's neck. He was shaking. Or maybe she was.

As her world began to settle she didn't ask where she was or what happened. She knew.

Jeremy tried the keys again, a bit more frustrated now. His hands were calmer so it wasn't his fault the stupid door didn't want to open. He muttered under his breath in frustration, about ready to kick the glass in if his nerves were as fried as they were earlier that day.

She gave an unimpressed scoff and her voice was sharp.

"Jeremy, give me the keys!" Hedy snapped impatiently, her voice a little raspy from disuse and having a breathing tube shoved down her throat.

Jeremy glared at his sister and handed her building keys over, staring in disbelief when the front doors unlocked without a struggle this time.

She shrugged, too focused on the thousand worries all demanding attention in her head to consider it all that strange. "Come on. We took long enough to get here."

"It's almost six," Jeremy said, accurately guessing what Hedy would ask/demand next. He pushed Hedy's hospital chair. Her wheelchair was still in Fazbear's Fright and he hadn't retrieved it yet.

Hedy didn't respond as she thought through what she might say, coming back alive and marginally well and dearly hoping Ruby hadn't done something she'd regret. They hadn't been able to get a hold of anyone so no one knew that they were coming.

The main room was empty to her shock, but they found everyone after they traced the source of a loud banging that was echoing through the otherwise silent and explosion-free building.

The animatronics were gathered haphazardly around the divider door between Fazbear's Fright and the rest of their home. The gaudy sign that Ruby had declared to vehemently hate because it reminded her of amusement parks and clowns swung and rattled above the door each time Foxy rammed into the piece of wood.

It felt like it should have been made of reinforced steel with the abuse it was taking and not crumbling under. It wasn't even dented.

Teddy grimaced. Could he get nauseous? The smaller bear didn't think so. He didn't even know what nausea was supposed to feel like. But he understood pain, at least, and Hedy once said nausea was like a special kind of pain that sort of "twisted" and went up from your middle to your head sometimes. Thinking of Hedy made this weird painful feeling he had worse.

Foxy slammed into the locked door for what seemed like the hundredth time that night and everyone winced.

Balloon Boy let out a near silent whine and pressed harder against Teddy's side.

The reverberating sound of metal hitting a metal doorframe hurt their ears and seemed to sink into their endoskeletons.

Teddy nervously wrung his hands but didn't say anything. He hadn't said anything all night, not even as Ruby slipped through the main room on her way to her shift. The night guard barely said anything herself beyond an emotionless 'hi' when she saw them all and Teddy was too terrified to ask about Hedy.

He wanted to know. They all did. They needed to know. But at the same time...he didn't know if some of them could handle it if...the news wasn't what they wanted to hear. He wasn't even sure if Ruby knew Hedy's state. He'd never seen the annoying and confident night guard so...subdued before. The fire burning in her eyes and the way even the Originals gave her a wide berth only made his anxiety rise. Sure the girl was irritating and all, but she was a constant in the pizzeria. Like Hedy was. It didn't matter what happened, they could always rely on Hedy to calmly sort everything out with a sarcastic jab while Ruby would fiercely hold onto and protect the pizzeria she'd practically staked a claim on.

But now Hedy was gone and Ruby was silent and distant, leaving the bots feeling lost and unsure without their two anchors.

"Foxy, hold on!" Freddy said, his voice cutting through the horrible echoing fears in Teddy's head. "It's not worki-"

"Get out of the way, Freddy!" Foxy snarled at his friend, teeth flashing as he sprinted to get another head start.

"Foxy," Freddy tried again but was hurriedly yanked out of the way by Bonnie, almost falling on the rabbit.

Bonnie flinched with the rest of them but didn't try and stop the stubborn fox who charged at the door regardless of whoever was in the way.

Foxy slammed into the door. Again. The fox grunted and, for once, didn't immediately back up for another try. He steadied himself against the door and angrily hit it with his fist. "OPEN YOU BLOODY-!" He cut himself off and banged his forehead on the door. "AUGH! Come on."

The hallway descended into an tense silence at the pained tone in his voice. Foxy suddenly sounded childish, and Toby could easily say it was one of the most disturbing things he's ever heard. And the fear… None of the Toys had ever heard fear in Foxy's voice. The pirate was too tough, too strong and fast that fear was not something they'd ever associated with him. He'd shown frustration and anger when they were retired, resignation and bitterness when the ghosts forced them to hunt and kill. But never fear.

No one said anything. They just stared at the door. It was almost six and none of them had any idea what was going on over there. They heard no explosions. No shrieks. No bits of glitter drifting in from the vents.

Silence had never felt so loud or terrifying.

Not even Toby or Chi said anything. Like Teddy, they barely spoke since last night. Even the day time staff had noticed the Toys' unnatural silence and asked if they were broken or something. The Originals had more practice pretending everything was fine, with false smiles and laughs as they entertained the children.

Toby had forced a smile and shrugged off their worries like they were supposed to. Freddy had caught his eye across the room and his eyes flashed with a sad understanding. How had they gone about their jobs everyday feeling like this? The blue rabbit had felt guilt twist in his chest as he watched the Originals smile and laugh while they really wanted to shout and scream and cry. He hated feeling guilty.

Then, to every animatronic in earshot's horror, that staff member had asked if they needed to call Hedy.

The day staff didn't know.

Toby just...froze. Then Bonnie was there telling the employee that there might be a pile of unexploded glitter bombs in the craft box and the man was off running. The older rabbit glanced at Toby, dropped his gaze to the floor and back up before walking away. And the Originals continued on, covering for Chi when she shakily excused herself and disappeared into Parts and Services where the children couldn't see her.

Mangle wasn't in the room at the time, thank goodness. She would have burst out crying and ruined her work with the kids. They could never do that.

Puppet heard what happened from his room, closed the Prize Corner, and went to tell Mangle to check on the chicken, ignoring the annoyed look from the human manager. He barely spared the man a glance but that was just enough to terrify him into silence.

The manager never dealt with them. He barely dealt with Ruby except when she forced him to. The animatronics were pretty much autonomous in the pizzeria now as the humans had no authority over them. If they tried anything they risked Ruby coming down on them like a ton of bricks.

Freddy caught some of the staff whispering amongst themselves and Chica witnessed her own bit of muttering in the kitchen between pale, shaken looking cleaning staff and the cooks.

Two of the day guards quit an hour later, casting terrified looks back at them as they went out the door. It had been a while since Freddy saw those looks. He had forgotten how terrible they made him feel.

"My turn," Mangle signed stiffly, breaking them out of their thoughts as she jogged down the hall farther than Foxy did.

The red fox looked frustrated and dizzy, but the locked door still held to his dismay.

Teddy jumped in panic and accidentally jostled BB who'd also gone wide eyed in concern. "Mags, no! You're gonna crack your suit," Teddy yelled at her.

"I. Don't. Care!" she signed, snarling, tears in her eyes. "I'm going to tear him APART! If he can break the deal, so can I." There was defiance in her yellow eyes and Teddy knew that if he could hear her voice, it would be cracking in pain and desperation. She was broken, emotionally.

Mangle snarled at the barest look of concern Foxy flashed her as she backed up. If he wasn't so wrapped up in trying to get to the night guard he'd probably be physically holding her back himself.

Mangle didn't care. She was already broken. And she was staying broken until Hedy fixed her. Hedy and only Hedy was ever allowed to touch her from now on. The management could hire someone else. She didn't care. She'd rather eventually waste away to a mute tangle of pieces than let anyone take Hedy's promise of fixing her away, even if Hedy was gone...and...a-and couldn't keep her promise. If Mangle broke herself further while bringing pain to that evil piece of shit (yes, she could swear in her head, coding be damned) so be it!

Mangle grit both sets of teeth and sprinted.

"Mags!" Hedy's voice startled them.

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed and just another reminder that an extra chapter will be out on Friday.