Author's Note:

I'm sorry for the issues that happened with last week's chapter. Hopefully the same doesn't happen this time. To avoid that issue in the future I'll be uploading the story to Archive of Our Own as well over the next few weeks. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 108

FNAF 4 Night 2 (One More Time)

The clocks chimed, Hedy took a breath, and they all went to an empty main room.

Hedy decided to properly introduce Mike to Toby and Chi.

"You remember Mike," Hedy said, gesturing at him.

"Not his name," Chi said. She didn't blink while looking at Mike. It was kind of creepy.

"Are you stupid or something?" Toby asked, glaring at Mike, distrustful.

"No...I'm the night guard..." Mike said. He noticed the expressions they had when he said that.

Hedy looked uncomfortable and pained.

"That's not a point in your favour," Toby said.

Hedy sharply smacked his elbow with the back of her hand.

"You're being snippy," Hedy said with a very dry tone as she flipped through the cameras looking for the others.

"Why can't I be? He's a stupid dude, who-"

"I'm also standing right here."

"Who's going to die."

"No one's going to die," Hedy said, her voice getting softer. It was a bit shocking with how sharp she was a moment before.

Mike watched as Toby flinched and bowed his head, deflating. He looked at Mike out the corner of his eye before staring at his feet.

The chicken shifted and opened her mouth to say something before deciding against it.

"You guys should go look for the others," Hedy said.

They didn't look too keen on leaving Hedy but they did as asked, glancing back at Mike before they turned the corner.

"So...they really don't like me," Mike tried to joke but it fell pretty flat.

Hedy gave him a sidelong look.

"They're stressed," she said. "And you're new. They don't trust many humans."

"I'm sorry?" his apology ended up sounding more like a question. And was he apologising for being human?

Mike started at the sight of Foxy walking in supported by Teddy but quickly got his breathing under control.

"Your wrist okay?" Mike asked awkwardly, noting the weird angle the hooked hand was bent.

Foxy stared at the man wide-eyed as Teddy helped him sit down on the floor. "What are you doing here?!" He winced at his own volume and held his head in pain. Damn migraine...

Mike looked at the other door as more bots appeared.

"Oh no..." Chica muttered, staring at Mike as she walked in with Freddy, Toby of all bots guiding them while Chi was behind.

Mangle appeared in the door.

"Mangle?" Hedy asked.

Mangle shifted. "I found Bonnie. He can't walk..." She sounded guilty. None of the Toys, her included, were strong enough to carry the Originals alone.

"I'll help..." Toby said awkwardly.

Mangle shook her head. "Uh...I don't think he should move yet."

That seemed to alarm Foxy and the others. Foxy even tried to get up to go find Bonnie himself but Hedy harshly held him down by putting her weight on his shoulder.

"Tell him I'll be there as soon as I can," she said calmly, though she was still clearly worried.

Mangle nodded, glancing curiously at Mike. "I'll stay with him," she promised Foxy quietly.

He grudgingly nodded at her and she disappeared back out the door.

"Foxy?"

Foxy winced at her voice and Hedy hummed apologetically. "Sorry. What hurts?"

Foxy growled a little. "Check over e'ryone first."

Hedy glared at him. "Did anyone find Spring or Goldy yet?" she asked the room.

"Goldy's probably in her poster," Chica admitted.

"We haven't found Spring..." Toby looked worried.

"Oh!" Before anyone could stop him Mike ran off toward the kitchen. He was back a second later holding something.

"This poster?" he asked, holding it up, "It was in the kitchen in a salt circle."

Hedy blinked.

Goldy's poster wasn't usually an actual physical thing. It just sort of existed in the cameras down a hallway that didn't actually exist (except in the camera) unless the building wanted it to. It all hurt to think about...

She must have purposefully put it there to take herself out of the equation…

Hedy had to admit it was smart. "Yeah..." she said. "Just...um... carefully put it on that table over there. Face up."

Mike nodded and did so.

He sat down. "Seriously. Whatever you need me to do..."

"I..." Hedy looked at him weirdly.

The others did too.

"Why are you still here?" Foxy grumbled. There wasn't much hostility though. He just sounded tired.

Mike crossed his arms a little awkwardly.

"Everyone keeps asking me that."

"Because it's a good question," Hedy said as she continued to look for Spring.

Mike was quiet for a minute as he sat in his chair and looked at them. His hair was messy. He looked tired and there was a wariness in his eyes when he looked at any of the bots. But it was dampened by something else.

He asked the question carefully, noticing how the bots stared at him waiting for him to explain himself.

"Is it really so crazy to think...that maybe..." He shrugged a bit. "Someone cares enough to just try helping."

Hedy looked up frustrated. "But why should you care?!"

Mike put up his hands "I don't know okay? I'm here, your freaking building let me in, so..." he waved his hands. "Let me help."

"Fine," Hedy snapped. "Take Teddy and go look for Spring."

"Great. Cool. I can do that," Mike said, really just happy he wasn't going to keep being interrogated on his motivations.

Teddy was still eyeing him suspiciously as he followed Mike out.

Everyone else turned to Hedy with identical 'I don't like this' expressions.

She groaned. "Do I look like I'm happy about this either? I don't even really know what to do with him! And I can't just stick him in the office and be like, 'Hey, chill out here for six hours. You know what to do'."

"Why not just kick him out?" Foxy muttered. That was definitely Ruby's influence because she could see Ruby literally kicking poor Mike out for trespassing on her territory.

"The building let him in before twelve," Hedy deadpanned. "Going directly against the building never ends wells, unless I'm particularly pissed about something." She glared at the wall. "I'm not there. Yet."

It wasn't really all the building's fault though. Well sort of, but not really.

Hedy 'knew' it was just paying attention to how they felt. It didn't really understand the concept of Mike possibly getting killed. And that was what bothered her.

They lapsed into silence. Goldy didn't appear out of her poster and Mike and Teddy were taking a while to find Spring. Michael had left him out of sight of the cameras somewhere.

Hedy quickly got to work. After a quick argument, she (again) agreed just to check Foxy and not fix anything until she got a look at Bonnie.

"You freaking stubborn overprotective..." Hedy muttered at him through her teeth.

He only huffed in response. No wonder he and Ruby got on so well. Both overprotective to the point that they disregarded their own health. Or did Ruby just pick that up from him when she was a kid?

Eventually Teddy and Mike reappeared with Spring.

It was...bad.

He was awake too, and in that state Hedy really wished he wasn't. Spring seemed a bit too out of it to notice what was going on or who was around him so he didn't even notice Mike holding him up.

It looked almost like Michael had let himself get hit by a car in Spring, somehow, and then took something sharp to punch holes in his torso. Spring's side was caved in and there were exposed wires while one leg was turned strange. Each of his fingers on one hand were individually broken. And there was the distinct smell of something burning.

Freddy's eyes widened. Maybe it was a good thing Goldy was staying away.

Spring's eyes focused just enough to see Hedy and the closest others as Mike and Teddy carefully lowered him to the floor.

Even Mike, not knowing anything about these bots, didn't want to risk hurting the rabbit trying to get him on a table.

"Spring..." Hedy said. Climbing down, she sat next to him, getting leaked oil all over her pants.

Spring's eyes widened just a bit and he weakly tried to push her away. His voice cracked and he cried.

"Spring, I'm going to shut you off for a while," Hedy whispered.

Spring shook his head, which only ended up showing where Michael had severed some cables in Spring's neck. "N-no, please don't."

"You're in a lot of pain," Hedy said.

He kept shaking his head which was only making the damage in his neck worse.

The Toys who were present looked horrified while the Originals in the room seemed to understand his reluctance.

"Spring...Spring, come on. Don't-" Hedy said, trying to calm him down and make him stop moving.

"Hedy, please don't shut me off."

"I have to. You're hurting."

"I can handle it."

"I can't!" Hedy snapped and Spring stilled. She winced and kept her voice soft as she looked over the damage. "Spring...please. I have to bend things back in place and cut wires to redo them. You know how much pain that causes. I don't want to hurt you more."

In some part of his mind that wasn't distracted by how much pain he was in, Spring listened to how calm she sounded.

It hurt more to know that it was a lie, an act that she was putting on for their sakes. It was all because she had to be the one to take care of them now. They were all essentially helpless to whatever the ghosts' wanted. Even the Toys were out of their element. Even if they didn't say it out loud, they were relying on Hedy a lot for how to handle this.

As for Puppet? Spring didn't know what Puppet was doing or thinking about all this. He seemed much more calm than the Toys, but he wasn't putting on a gentle tone like Hedy, not that anyone expected him too.

Goldy couldn't even handle being out of her poster right now.

They were an absolute mess.

After far too much back and forth, Spring finally relented and let Hedy shut him off, with the promise to turn him back on in two hours no matter what state she had him in.

For Mike, it was depressing.

Spring seemed dead with those injuries and the glassy look with no lights behind his eyes.

Mike had to look away for a moment when Hedy did it. It felt wrong somehow...

He watched as Hedy checked over everyone before telling him to stay behind while she went to go work on Bonnie.

None of the bots really spoke to him, and he didn't blame them. It was probably difficult to find something to say.

He glanced at Foxy as the bot stopped staring.

Foxy leaned his head back and closed his eyes with a grimace.

Freaking migraine...

"Those kids..." Mike said, after a minute, drawing attention. "They were...uh...Hedy's friends when she was a kid, right?"

Puppet scowled at him. "Yes."

He frowned. "Why were they trying to hurt her too then?"

Foxy's eyes snapped open. He stared at the ceiling wide-eyed, not saying anything.

Chica was the one to speak, "...they what?" in such a broken tone that Freddy focused on her distress before the words actually hit. When they did, he stilled too.

The kids actively targeting Hedy was very different from them snapping by accident.

Mike stayed quiet for a moment as he did his best to read their reactions.

"We, as in Mari and I—"

"Puppet," Puppet correctly harshly. Only Hedy called him "Mari." He reluctantly accepted that.

"Puppet and I overheard..." Here Mike trailed off awkwardly, unsure how to specify Freddy and Chica, or really, the kids that had been possessing them. "A couple of the...uh... ghosts talking about hurting Hedy."

The Originals looked ill at the news and Puppet shot Mike a very annoyed look. He shifted awkwardly.

The Toys in the room stayed silent as they processed the news in utter horror.

Chi was crying. She was sitting on the floor against a wall with her head tucked in her arms.

Toby looked pissed, while Teddy was in a bit of shock.

BB was utterly, terribly quiet.

Who knew how Mangle was going to react when she heard.

"Don't..." Freddy chose his words carefully. "Don't tell Spring. Not...yet..."

Puppet didn't look happy, but he didn't argue.

Mike wasn't about to make a promise like that, not when he didn't know Spring that well. "If he asks..."

Puppet made a noise that was a bit rattly and it took Mike a long second to realize he was being growled at.

Mike blinked at Puppet. "I barely know any of you. I'm not comfortable making promises like that. Sorry..."

Hedy came back into a very heavy atmosphere. The bots looked even more upset than when she left and Puppet looked like he wanted to murder Mike.

The Originals looked horribly guilty while Toby looked the angriest she'd ever seen him.

"The fuck did you do?" she asked Mike.

He stepped back and put his hands up.

How the fuck was she the scary one after everything that happened so far?

Her eyes flicked to Spring's unconscious body. It was instinct. She didn't really think Mike had done anything, not with everyone else there. But her distrust was projecting.

Mike opened his mouth, then closed it.

Hedy narrowed her eyes. "Don't talk about me behind my back."

"I was just..." Mike said. "Concerned."

"About what?"

"..." Mike frowned. "You...were surprised when..." his eyes flicked to Foxy. He still didn't know how to talk about the ghosts. "Felix...?"

Was that the name?

Foxy made a strangled noise and looked at Hedy alarmed. His eyes flicked over her, looking for injuries or a hint of blood, while the other two Originals present looked even more terrible.

"Mechanic."

"Shut up, Foxy. I'm fine," Hedy said.

"What happened?" Foxy demanded.

"Nothing," Hedy said. "I'm fine. You have a migraine. I have a flashlight. Connect the dots."

For once he didn't look annoyed about the flashlight trick. He actually looked relieved.

"I just asked... why they would be targeting... you," Mike admitted. "I didn't mean to upset anyone."

Hedy rolled her eyes slightly. "They aren't thinking straight. We just have to deal with it now."

Toby's eyes narrowed, but at the same time he looked disbelieving. He couldn't tell if Hedy really was unconcerned or just lying about how upset she was. She was good at that.

Puppet wasn't giving anyone a clue either.

Mike stared. "That is...disturbingly flippant."

"I don't know what they're thinking, just that they aren't," Hedy said.

"You've got to have an idea..."

"It doesn't matter."

"...Maybe it does?" Mike asked. He had to admit he was curious about her take on the situation, even if he felt bad pressing. He didn't want to bring up the reasoning the ghosts gave just yet.

Hedy leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She suddenly looked tired. She pinched the bridge of her nose and moved next to Spring to work on him.

"Maybe they think killing me will protect me. I dunno."

That...sounded somewhat like what Mike and Puppet had heard.

Mike swallowed and Hedy saw his expressions as the bots' upset looks twisted.

"Rational human logic is not their strong suit," Hedy said dryly as she skillfully sliced the ends of frayed wires spilling out of Spring's torso, leaving clean bits of copper behind before wrapping the ends in red tape.

"I'm starting to gather that," he admitted shakily.

"You shouldn't be here with all of them after you Hedy," Chi told her in a small voice.

Hedy didn't say anything for a long moment. She concentrated on Spring, glancing at his empty eyes.

"Probably. But I'm not very good at doing what I should."

"This is not a joke, Hedy," Puppet said. He had climbed in his box and was standing up inside, his fingers tightly curled around the edge as his pinprick white eyes stared at the mechanic.

"Oh, really, I couldn't tell."

"Hedy," Puppet said.

"Look." Hedy turned from her work to glare at the rest of them. "I'm staying. I'm coming back every night and I'll do my job every morning. End of discussion."

"This is not the kind of 'discussion' you just get to end," Puppet said, leaning forward sharply.

"We don't want to hurt you Hedy," Chica whispered in a pained voice.

"You won't," Hedy assured, her voice softening.

She glanced at the door as Mangle and Bonnie appeared, the former helping keep the latter stable. Bonnie's lower spine was not in great shape, nor was one of his legs, internally.

Bonnie leaned on the wall as he and Mangle began to listen.

"You do not know that," Freddy said.

"I do."

"Mechanic..." Foxy said. His voice was tight. "...Hedy…"

Hedy flinched a little and actually looked at him. He didn't call her by her name often.

"...it's still us. At the end of the night, no matter who is in charge, it's still us who have to wake up and see…"

"It's not your fault," Hedy snapped "Fuck, I thought Ruby drilled that into your heads already."

"That does nothing to help us when we wake up with blood literally on our hands!" Foxy yelled at her.

"We're helpless to stop it Hedy," Freddy's voice was soft. "We don't even remember what happens. We wake up wondering if this night was the night we were used to kill someone again."

Hedy was a little startled by Foxy's shout. She noticed Mike wince too. She took a small, slow breath through her nose while Freddy was speaking.

"I will be okay," she promised, quietly. "We can get through this. And if anything happens to me..." she cracked a tiny mischievous smile. "Mike here can handle it."

Freddy looked at her tiredly, suddenly exasperated despite his sadness.

Chi was still crying, but now she was distracted as she tearfully glared at Hedy for "admitting" what could happen, even if it was clearly an awful (but working) attempt to distract them.

"I know you're joking," Mike said, his awkwardness suddenly evaporating, "But given how I know about ten-percent of whatever the hell is going on, that statement was terrifying."

"Thank you."

"You are insane," Mike sighed.

Hedy looked at him weirdly, mildly insulted. She was insane? Mike didn't know Ruby.

"How do you think Ruby will feel if she comes back only to find you dead?" Foxy asked flatly. He looked exhausted. Between the stress over Ruby and the disaster of the night shift, he was completely drained. So were the others actually. The Toys also weren't used to being the responsible ones. That burden was tiring them out too.

"She'll tear me a new one. We'll cry, then we'll move on with moving me on," Hedy said, the dry morbid humor really coming through with just a bit too much realness. "Which may be an issue because I sure as hell have some unfinished business."

They looked even more horrified.

Mangle, who had been surprisingly quiet with the news about the kids, was so upset at the thought that she made a noise similar to the kind of distressed static she cried in before her voice was fixed.

Bonnie absently reached out to hold her by the arm for a second while still leaning on the doorframe trying to manage the physical pain. He thought she looked like she was about to fall over.

She didn't.

Puppet made a strained noise as well and bent over, pressing his face against the edge of his box, still gripping the same edge with his hands.

Hedy got the vague feeling Goldy was listening, even in her poster, because she sensed the mixed around feelings of someone wanting to scream at her and cry at the same time, while desperately hugging her wordlessly.

"But it's not going to happen," Hedy said gently with just as much fact in her voice. She wasn't oblivious to their reactions. "I'll be fine. This guy will be fine. You'll be fine. She'll be fine, and freaking pissed, and we can deal with whatever's next."

Goldy popped into view in front of her looking torn between panic and anger, startling Mike.

Mike resisted the instinct to yelp in surprise at the bear's appearance and covered his mouth.

"You've told Ruby how many times to be careful?" Goldy asked Hedy with a strained, nearly-angry voice. "That her life matters just as much as everyone else's. And she listened. She's still reckless, but not as much as she used to be. Are you just a hypocrite then?!" she demanded. "You can't promise you'll be fine! Ruby never went up against all the kids and Michael at the same time! The kids managed to hurt her when she only had one night with them! How can you say that it'll be fine?!"

"Goldy..." Hedy said, her voice quiet to hide the cracks. "I don't make deals. But I also don't make promises I'm not sure I can keep. I don't know how this is going to go. I refuse to die, but I'm not blindly saying everything will be okay out of stubbornness."

Goldy was almost about to be the last gate that opened the floodgates if Hedy didn't keep her emotions under control.

"None of us are Ruby," Hedy said. "But it's not like glitter bombs and tasers are just something only she can use."

Mike was looking both confused and interested in hearing bits about this Ruby that was still missing for some reason. He was very worried about where she could be... The recordings gave him the impression she was pretty young.

"Salt can't stop them in bodies, but it still freaking hurts to push through and they're not going to cross a salt line easily. Water still makes everyone but you lock up. Foxy is still allergic to flashlights. The Toys are still more agile than you guys, no offense. And last I checked, the building still likes me more than the kids and definitely more than Michael. It doesn't like to feel you hurting either. It wants to help. This isn't a lost cause. We just have to get through each night one by one."

Goldy looked about to cry. None of the Originals were looking at her, but no one was arguing anymore.

"If you die," Goldy told her in a shaky voice. She forced as much of a scold into her voice as she could, but it still cracked. "I'm never going to forgive you…"

"I know," Hedy said, tears pricking at her eyes. "Can I have a hug, please? Ev….even if you're mad at me?"

The bear darted the few feet forward to pull Hedy into a hug, shaking slightly.

Mike was still very confused but he stayed quiet. He didn't want to interrupt.

Hedy wrapped her arms around Goldy's neck and tightly hugged her back while the ghost-bear knelt beside the wheelchair and silently loosed tearless sobs.

Mangle sniffed, itching for a hug too. She wasn't jealous of Goldy, but until this was over she knew she and a few of the others were going to need some physical contact with Hedy just to remind themselves and their screwed up processors she was still alive.

Even those of them that weren't close enough to be touchy with their mechanic were going to need the physical reassurance, especially since they couldn't have the same from Ruby.

Mangle saw how Foxy relaxed just enough to not panic about Bonnie's condition earlier, all because Hedy leaned her weight on his shoulder and grounded him. Maybe it was weird, but frankly, they couldn't afford to care.

Ruby wasn't there. She wasn't there to jump in Foxy's arms at inconvenient moments or tackle Goldy in attempts to drag the floating ghost to the floor. She wasn't there to boop Freddy's nose in the middle of his sentence or playfully poke Bonnie's ear to make it flick or help Chica comb out patches in her suit from food spills. She wasn't there to tease Teddy about the rules or mock-grudgingly help Chi find ingredients for something despite the chicken's refusal of help. Ruby wasn't there to flick or tug Toby's ears or smack the back of his head for saying something offensive. She wasn't there to guide Mangle's still slightly inaccurate fingers to help her learn the right sign-language word.

She wasn't even there to have a pickpocket game with BB and pat his head when she let him win.

Ruby wasn't there to strategically hook her arm with Spring's to sit next to him and chat about a random subject when his mind started to wander to darker places without Hedy nearby.

Ruby wasn't there to mess with Puppet's box, then freak and take a swing at him with Betty or her fist when he goes to tell her off and forgets that storming around a corner or up behind her are bad ideas.

Mangle ticked through everyone.

Even Mike. He didn't know her, but he was affected by her. He had her job. He was here, helping them just because he could. He was here because Ruby wasn't.

Mangle cataloged all the little things Ruby did to put her little emotional fingerprints on them, even the Toys who were still being jerks. Mangle had never seen Ruby or Puppet touch, but that was just how they were.

Puppet's personality didn't leave much room for even pretend affection and why should it? They hated each other. They got on each other's nerves. That was their communication. But still...

Mangle watched Hedy hug Goldy while softly cooing.

Hedy was not the kind of person that liked to touch others a lot, or liked to be touched. Affection could be very hard for her sometimes. But that hug was real, and all of this pain was falling on their mechanic in one way or another.

Ruby wasn't there to help Hedy. She wasn't there to jokingly tug at Hedy's hair or mischievously take the chair's handles to race down the hall against Hedy's will. She wasn't there to sit shoulder to shoulder with Hedy on the couch after Freddy locked them in the staff room and made them both promise to do some schoolwork.

Ruby was gone, far away, and of them, only Hedy could see her and hold her hand.

Mangle didn't think the other Toys had even really noticed how much they missed the teenager yet. They still scanned the room automatically before remembering that the teen wasn't there and deflating slightly.

You didn't know what you had until you lost it...