Author's Note

Okay so extra chapter! This is a one-shot that takes place way earlier in the timeline of the story. Discord voted on a few things like which characters to focus on and when it takes place. Hope you enjoy! There'll be extra chapters more often since Discord gives us a ton of ideas. Feel free to join us there if you're interested. The code is b9kAt2m. You just add it to the usual Discord invite link.

One-Shot 1 (Freddy and Goldy)

Is It Really Over?

(Takes place soon after Ruby's first week.)

Freddy was sitting in the main room, thinking. So much had changed in such a short amount of time that he could barely believe it.

He could hear Foxy and Bonnie running somewhere nearby with Ruby, laughing.

They hadn't laughed like that in years, not even around the children.

Chica had actually gone into the kitchen to make some pizza, saying that if the teen was going to be running around all night she would need something to eat. She'd been humming when she left.

Freddy felt lost. The ghost kids weren't even showing up anymore, apparently scared off by Ruby for the time being. Everything had changed but...it felt too good to be true.

He saw Goldy pop up out of the corner of his eye but didn't turn to look at her.

"What's got you thinking so hard?" she asked gently.

She'd always been easier to talk to than the others. Foxy, Bonnie and Chica were very much more focused on the present than the past or future. They'd never understood his tendency to worry.

"I'm waiting to find out the catch."

"The catch?"

"A deal is stopping the kids from making us hunt nightguards. The new nightguard is a kid we all loved, someone who makes us all happy and tries to help. It's too…" he trailed off.

"Too good to be true?" Goldy asked knowingly.

"Yeah. What do we do when she leaves Goldy? The deal is only valid as long as she's the nightguard. None of us would want her to be trapped in this job forever. We get the kids for a while, when they're young and happy. But we've always got to let them go. We're going to have to let her go too and then it'll all start again."

Goldy hummed non-committedly. "Maybe. I think we'd have a hell of a time trying to make her leave though." She grinned at his muttered 'Language'.

"They always leave Goldy," he reminded her.

"Maybe," she repeated. "I'm not going to be the one to tell Ruby that though." She looked at him. "Ruby's not everyone."

"No," he admitted. "She's not. But we shouldn't keep her here. That's selfish."
"I don't think we've got much of a choice in the matter. She's not really the type to do as she's told."

"No she's not," he sighed, listening as another bang went off in the building.

They were silent for a moment.

"I don't think there's a catch this time Freddy," Goldy murmured and he could hear the hope in her voice.

"There's always a catch," he argued.

"Maybe not this time."

Freddy sighed in aggravation. He didn't know how Goldy had held onto that optimism through everything. Through losing Spring, losing Puppet, through the Toys' cruelty and the many times they were put in storage.

She even lost her endoskeleton and yet she was still so hopeful, still able to believe that things could get better.

"You're too optimistic," the words were the start of an old argument and Goldy smiled slightly.

"And you're too pessimistic."
They lapsed into silence. They'd never really ended that argument. They'd never agree on who was right there but they'd both accepted that.

Freddy remembered the days when… when Puppet, who they were probably never going to see again, would throw in his own sarcastic commentary on Goldy's endless optimism. And Goldy would just laugh, never taking anything the older bot said to heart.
That was before he grew cold and cruel, before he started heading down a path Goldy could never follow. Not with her soft heart.

Before he was gone.

He might not even be alive anymore, rusted away in some forgotten corner, the Toys with him.

He was lost long before that.

Back then, Spring would always be the one who ended the lighthearted argument, his own realist point of view helping him to relate to both sides.

Freddy stopped his own thoughts. Why was he thinking about Spring and Puppet and the Toys? He hadn't thought about them in so long. There wasn't much point. They were long gone and most likely never to be seen again.

"I think Ruby deserves some optimism," Goldy broke the silence after a bit and Freddy glanced at her.

She looked lost in thought. This was a new addition to the age old argument.

"Why is that?"

Goldy paused to gather the right words. "She's not an optimist. But she's also not a pessimist. I don't even think she's a realist. She's just determined to make her own good fortune instead of waiting for it to happen to her. When she learnt about the kids, she didn't think of the potential outcomes. She just...made the one she wanted to happen, happen." She paused again. "I think she needs others to believe in her though. Living life that way, it's got to be exhausting."

Freddy mulled that over for a moment.

"I didn't think of it like that."

"Ah to be young and naive," Goldy darted away as he tried to smack her ear.

"I'm only a few years younger Goldy," he tried to sound stern but it was hard to fight a smile.

She just laughed at him. "Every year counts Freddy!" she sing-songed.

She booped his nose playfully.

They heard a gasp and turned around to find Ruby stopped dead in the doorway.

"Your nose squeaks!"

"Oh no..."

"How did I not know that your nose squeaks?!"

Goldy giggled.

"I should have known this! I have years of booping to make up for!"
"Please don't."

"Stand still so I can boop you."
"No."
"Freddy! Come on!"

"No, get off me Ruby, I'm not a jungle gym."
"What's going on?" Goldy turned to Bonnie who'd asked the question. Foxy was snickering behind him.

"Freddy's nose squeaks!"

"Oh, you didn't know?"

"No!"

"Ruby! Get off! Ack!"

Squeak.

"Seriously?"

"I'm happy now."

"You're impossible. Stop laughing Foxy."

Flash!

"Did you just take a picture Goldy?!"

"Maybe."

"You- Ruby are you getting off or not?"

"I'm comfortable."
"You're perched on my head like a cat."

"So?"
"Oh for- Foxy stop laughing!"

"I'm putting this picture on the wall."
"Don't you dare Goldy!"

Bonnie finally broke down laughing too, his and Foxy's chuckles mixing with Goldy's giggles. Ruby reached down and booped his nose again, a triumphant smile on her face.

Freddy sighed.

He found he couldn't be too mad though. He met Goldy's eyes. She looked happy.

Maybe there wasn't a catch to it after all...