Author's Note:

Thanks to Jen and Killcode for their help and ideas! Also thanks to Boop for inspiring one of the scenes.

Chapter 139

Night 5

It was still early in the morning and the cleaners were griping in the kitchen about the trap of Ruby's that Spring had set off. She hadn't actually been using her normal pranks all week so they'd been getting a break the last few days.

Hedy was also griping about the trap but more because she was cleaning the paint out of the joints in Spring's fingers and wrist.

Everyone else was busy with their own things, like Foxy no doubt plotting Calum's demise, or they were hanging around Toby protectively like Teddy, much to the rabbit's confusion.

Chi found herself alone in the Toy's room, thinking over the night and the glee she'd felt scaring Mason and his team so much.

Enjoying it that much… did that make her a bad person?

"Hey," a soft voice interrupted her thoughts, and she looked over to find Chica shifting awkwardly in the doorway. "Heard you had a busy night."

Chi looked away and back down at her hands. She heard Chica come further into the room.

"Did you scare the heck out of them?" Chica asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," Chi told her, but she didn't sound happy. She didn't feel it either. She felt a sort of grim satisfaction, but that was all.

"Why don't you sound too thrilled about that?" Chica asked curiously.

"Because I enjoyed it," Chi found herself saying, wondering why she was telling the other chicken this. "Because I enjoyed it too much. I shouldn't have. I'm supposed to be better now."
There was silence for a moment before she heard Chica give a quiet chuckle and turned in time to see the older chicken sit down next to her.

"Chi," Chica sounded vaguely amused. "Do you think Ruby enjoyed messing with you guys that first week you were here?"
Chi automatically scowled at the memories. The teen had been downright gleeful.

"Yeah," she mumbled petulantly.

"Do you think it's wrong that she enjoyed it so much?"
Chi looked up now in confusion.

"She was doing it because you guys had hurt us and she's protective," Chica continued. "She terrorised and attacked you guys all week. Most people would say that that's really immoral. But she enjoyed every second of it. But it doesn't make her a bad person. Just… one with grey morals. She didn't actually hurt you guys after all. Did you hurt any of those idiots?"
"No!" Chi was quick to assure her. "I just… really scared them," she finished lamely. She was about to add something, but decided against it.

Chica gave a smile. "And why did you scare them?"
"Well, 'cause Mason scared Toby."
"So you were doing it to protect him." Chica gave a shrug. "Sure, some might say it was the wrong thing to do, but it's not like any of us can say we have the best morals. They're permanently skewed after everything we've all been through. Even Spring, who's the most innocent of all of us. He's done some morally grey stuff too. He killed Michael. And he meant it. And he doesn't regret it."
"He shouldn't," Chi's voice dipped into petulant territory again. "Michael deserved it."

Chica huffed a laugh. "He did. We're all pretty messed up Chi. But as long as we never cross the line we'll be okay."
Chi had heard Ruby say something like that before. Something about a line she shouldn't cross.

"What line?" she ended up asking.

"Well, that's up to each of us," Chica admitted. "You need to find the line that you refuse to cross. The thing that you refuse to do because it'll send you right back to square one or straight into insanity. Ruby's the one that taught us about it. We were still pretty wrecked with guilt after that last night where the kids took control when she first started. She got hurt, you know? But she sat us down one night and told us that if we didn't want to end up repeating mistakes, we had to find our lines. They're different for all of us. For Freddy, it's never letting rules get in the way of protecting someone again. I never asked Bonnie and Foxy what theirs are. I've got a feeling that Foxy can probably go pretty far before he reaches his though. But that's fine because it's his. It's not mine and I don't have the right to tell anyone where their line should be."

Chi frowned. "Hedy would say murder is a pretty universal line no one should cross."

Chica glanced at her with a sad smile. "Chi, if there was a man about to kill Hedy, would you think it's wrong to kill him in her defence?" she asked gently.

"No…" Chi murmured. "I could put up with Hedy being sad, or mad, about it. I'm pretty sure she'd defend herself too if she had too. It would be harder on her though."

Chica looked up at the ceiling. "It's something that comes with experience and you guys didn't get a lot of it. The world's not all black and white. There's a lot of grey in it. It's something humans are used to but we have to learn it ourselves. So you can never say 'this thing is always wrong' or 'this is always right'. Cause there's always going to be a situation where it might be the opposite. You'll learn that as you go. But Chi." Now she looked straight at the younger chicken. "You can't let anyone tell you where your line is. Not even Hedy can. It's something you've got to figure out on your own or else it won't be yours. You can look at Hedy's morals for sure, but you can't let her dictate what yours should be. Look at her and Ruby. There's a lot of stuff Ruby does that Hedy disagrees with morally. But she doesn't try and change Ruby unless what she's doing is hurting someone. Like Ruby's tendency to manipulate to get what she wants. Hedy's been working to break her of that habit. But for us… we've got to figure out that final line by ourselves."

She looked forward to the opposite wall again. "Puppet's been struggling to find it himself for a while now. He crossed that line a long time ago and it's taken him a long time to find his way back with Hedy's and Goldy's help. But now he's got to do the rest himself. Then you've got Spring who doesn't really remember much but his is already set in stone. He's never going to hurt someone unless he's protecting someone he cares about." She chuckled. "Goldy said she thought Spring was going to punch Calum when he pulled Ruby away from the jerk." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know where Goldy's line is. Not really. She never crossed hers but she's been around almost as long as Puppet so… her morals are more complicated than ours but less messed up than Puppet's."
She looked back at Chi. "Sorry, this is probably all pretty confusing to dump on you suddenly."

Chi shrugged. "I'm following. Mostly. It is a lot to think about," she admitted. She looked down. "Last night, I did scare those jerks. Like I meant to. But there was a moment where... I was holding Mason and… There was a moment where I almost thought I was about to hurt him. Kill him. Maybe. But I didn't."

"And that's the important part," Chica told her softly. "You wanted to but you didn't. Ruby always tells us that we can feel like doing something all we want, but it's what we choose to do that's important."

Chi nodded, unsure what else to say. "Does this feeling ever go away, you think? This...shame. At least, I think it's 'shame' but I'm not sure."

Chica stared straight ahead of her. "I'll let you know if mine ever does."

Calum was starting to regret this. This guy Henry had agreed to do an interview, but really it seemed like he needed a therapist instead. He had ignored all of their subtle prompts to get back on topic, and had instead spent the last… Calum didn't even know how long, ranting about how much he hated his job. Not because of anything supernatural, just the job in general. He was pretty sure that Mason had even stopped recording so they didn't waste the expensive film, even if it was from one of the crappier cameras since their main one and most of the film they miraculously had gained was long gone in some fucking impossible maze.

"And another thing!"

Calum thought he heard Kevin sigh in boredom behind him.

"That fucking manager! Fuck! The things I could say. Expects so much, but when do we ever get anything back? The only reason we actually get paid a reasonable wage is because of that bloody night guard sticking their nose in. The manager wouldn't know how to treat his staff if it kicked him in the fucking face. And-"

"Wait, wait," Mason spoke up, his face matching the confused expressions of the rest of the team.

"He? I thought you were talking about the manager? Ms Fitzgerald?" He paused to look at the others.

"I mean, I thought she was...alright." Sure he was annoyed how she blew them and all the terror they went through off, but she hadn't done anything really against them. "At least compared to her little sister."

Henry stared at Mason in realisation for a second before he seemed able to answer.

"Yeah.. Ms Fitzgerald. Yeah, she, uh… she's a real piece of shit, y'know? Yeah. Really bad manager. Awful. Terrible."

He had gone very pale.

"Anyway, uh…" Henry stood, looking very much like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. "I'd better be getting back to work. Children to feed, you know how it is…"

He quickly left the room and shut the door behind him, sighing in relief. How could he be so stupid as to forget that Hedy was acting as manager? At least it was over. He turned to go to the staff room, but stopped short as he saw Ruby leaning against the wall. Had she been there the whole time? How much had she heard?!

"You know I didn't really mean any of that," he appealed to the teen before she could say anything. "I was just acting!"

She raised her eyebrows.

"I think you're the only person who hasn't had to act at all in their interview," she said, giving him a wide smile that Henry knew from experience meant danger. She just watched as the man backed away down the corridor to take the long way to the staff room.

Jess and Olivia looked up from their conversation as he slumped into a chair next to them.

"You good? How was your interview?" Jess asked in concern.

"If I don't come to work tomorrow, Ruby has murdered me."

The women exchanged a glance.

"But I thought Hedy said we could say anything? Like just make anything up to feed them? What did you say?"

"I called Hedy a piece of shit while trying to cover my tracks after forgetting she was acting Manager," Henry said miserably.

The man just sighed as the two burst into laughter. Having his uniform bedazzled would be a blessing at this point. He glanced at the camera (it was a shit move that the actual Manager even had a camera in the staff room in the first place). The light wasn't on but he didn't trust that Hedy wasn't watching and possibly laughing. Hopefully she wasn't mad.

Later that night, Kevin snuck away for a smoke while Calum yelled at Mason for losing their biggest several-thousand-dollar camera that had been a rental. Again. Of course Mason yelled back about the demon chicken maze, being left behind, blah blah blah.

Meanwhile, Shania kept interrupting about all the negative energy they were creating and tried to get them both to hold rose quartz or some shit.

Okay, maybe he was smoking way too much this week, Kevin thought. It certainly gave him the munchies all night and like hell he was going to eat anything in this disgusting kid's restaurant.

Shania's all organic granola bars would have to do. She wasn't going to miss them.
Could anyone really blame him? He was stressed and did not care to be "present" for any of this freaky shit.

He opened the back door, wincing as it creaked, and propped it open with a brick that was sitting outside before digging in his pocket for a blunt.

Hopefully no one noticed him, by himself, smoking.

Of course someone did.

He was a couple puffs in before the outside light above the door flickered slightly and he froze.

Probably just electrical issues.

It was probably just a breeze that sent a chill that took over his whole body. He was standing in an open door, although it was much warmer outside than it was inside.

But he could ignore that.

Yeah.

"Hey."

Kevin yelped at the voice and spun around, hiding the blunt behind him. "Nothing!" He stared at the guy in front of him. "Who are you?"

The dude smirked in amusement. "Michael. The night guard? Geez. How much of that did you smoke?"

Kevin's face twisted in confusion. "I...uh...you look different, Mike." And his uniform was kinda different. More 'retro'?

"It's Michael. Fuck, have you just been high all week?"

"No! I...uh…"

"Relax, dude. I'm not tattling on you," Michael/Mike(?) laughed as he came over and leaned on the doorframe all friendly-like. "I ain't a snot nose little brat."

Kevin was still staring, wondering if he was going crazy. He was sure this was a different guy, right? But he couldn't be. Shit, he needed to stop smoking…

Still, he might tell the manager Kevin brought weed into her children's restaurant.

"You uh...you want a hit, man?"

Michael sighed dramatically and looked out at the back parking lot. "Wish I could, kid. Haven't had any in fifteen years."

Kid? This guy looked at least a few years younger than him.

"I swear. This is the good stuff. It's clean. Barely addictive at all." Kevin was getting a little desperate. If Michael took some, then he wouldn't be able to tell the Manager or her freaky little sister about him right? That would just get him in trouble too.

Michael snorted. "Is that what your dealer told you?" He stared at the blunt Kevin was holding out and considered something, but didn't take it.

Kevin suddenly frowned as his fuzzy brain caught up to something Michael said. "Wait, fifteen years? How old are you?"

He looked like he was twenty-five at most.

Michael smirked again. "I'm older than I look, buddy ol' pal." He laughed, really giddy about some inside joke that only existed in the man's head. "There's something about being stuck here that really kills your aging."

Well, that was a freaking weird as hell sentence.

Little things were added up in Kevin's subconscious and he was really starting to get freaked. There was just something off about this guy. He mostly seemed normal, likeable even, but there was just something.

"H-how… how long have you worked here?" Kevin tried making polite conversation.

"Pfft. Oh you misunderstand. I said that I was stuck here. Not that I worked here."

"But you said you were the night guard."

"Oh I was. Until that rabbit that spooked you idiots yesterday crushed my skull and stabbed all my organs."

"Wait?" Kevin paled. "What?"

"You heard me," Michael said, turning to face Kevin fully and standing up from leaning on the doorframe. He had the biggest grin.

As Kevin stared, frozen in fear, Michael's face started to melt into something else. Blood dripped out of his nose and eyes as parts of his sockets caved in, rips with dark red stains started to appear on his torso and….

That was all Kevin saw before flight or fight properly kicked it and he ran, yelling profanities and dropping his blunt.

Michael cracked up laughing as he reversed all the gory shit. Hurt like hell to let it just happen. Shame the dude didn't stick around for the full thing. Also shame he couldn't pick up the blunt.

What a waste.

He wiped the phantom sensation of blood off his cheek although it had already disappeared, turned to leave, and almost walked into Goldy. She glared at him, arms crossed. "Thought I told you to stay in Fright," she told him in that dangerous tone he was loath to say she picked up from his mother.

"Fuck."

The teams had run into each other again when they were swapping rooms and naturally Calum had to pick a fight.

John only rolled his eyes and ignored him as he walked past, making the other man scoff.

"That eager to join all the ghosts?" Calum mocked, already riled up for the night and pissed about Kevin running in, screaming about some dude with blood coming out of his face. Part of him believed his cousin, part of him thought Kevin was high and reacted to the psycho stuff that happened the previous night, part of him was pissed they still didn't have anything on camera when the other team didn't seem as bothered.

Mariah made a soft, protesting noise as she turned. "You shouldn't talk like that," she reprimanded. "It's disrespectful to make light of their suffering."

Calum actually laughed at them. This broad sounded worse than Shania when she was really trying to sell her "sensitive" shtick. "Right. I should really care about the feelings of some spirits," he snorted. "A bunch of idiot little kids who got themselves killed really deserve that respect."
John's entire team stiffened. What did he say? What the hell were these guys doing?

"And then according to the rumours, a bunch of basic wage night guards got themselves offed. Not exactly anyone I'd respect." Calum said. He wasn't about to let these posers or whatever freaking ghosts were around think they were actually scared of all the fucked up shit that had happened.

"Hey!" John spun around to glare at him. "People got killed here! You can't mock that!"
Calum just smirked and looked at Shania. "Bet that whole 'Steve was here' thing was another night guard. Probably as dumb as all the others. Just another idiot who got himself killed."
Shania smirked back, although it was a little strained. "Probably. The spirits I'm sensing aren't exactly 'bright'."

Avery took a step forward like she was about to punch the other woman but Miriah caught her arm to stop her, glancing around nervously.

"You really shouldn't insult the dead," she murmured.

"You really shouldn't," a young boy's voice said, very clear and loud enough for them all to hear.

Calum paled but scrambled for recording equipment hanging off Mason.

Miriah turned, trying to find the direction of the voice while Shania screamed a little and swung her hand out with her largest pink crystal. "Hello!?" She paused. "Wait, please come back!"

Nothing.

"Shit," Calum snapped. "Why weren't you recording?!" He shoved Mason's shoulder.

"I didn't know we…" Mason tried.

"You don't piss off ghosts," John tried to say emphatically.

Eric was not filming either.

Calum sneered at him. "You shut your poser mouth. Clearly telling it like it is and hurting their little 'feelings' works to make them show up, so I don't want to catch you leeches copying us."

"You are an idiot," John finally said. "You know they're real now so you also know that you can't just make them mad! Some ghosts are dangerous!"

"And you know this for a fact," Calum laughed.

"Yes! I don't know how many ghost encounters you guys fake, but we don't!"

"Well no one's died yet so I'm inclined to believe these caspers can't actually do jack shit," Calum poked John in the chest.

"Yet?!" Avery snapped. "You're going to wait until someone dies to pull your head out of your ass!?"

"Fuck off," Shania said.

Avery growled but Miriah grabbed her arm again.

"Let's go," she said pointedly to John as she dragged Avery out the door with a bag of equipment and shot Eric a look to follow her.

John stared at Calum and his team for a moment longer, a flash of pity in his eyes as he backed up a few spaces before leaving.

Mike did not have to have his earpiece in to know that everyone was pissed.

Hedy was being very silent and he was seconds away from going to find her hiding place to give her a hug.

But he had an idea now.

Eric was starting to get very nervous now. Miriah could be stubborn when she could sense a ghost presence, and she was almost refusing to leave the room at this point. She was also in a bad mood after listening to that other team. Unfortunately, they had also met a fair amount of stubborn ghosts in their time too.

"Please," the woman said, practically begging this ghost, whoever they were.

"I just want to help you. Don't you think it would be nice to have somebody to talk to?"

The spirit box started making static sounds, and the whole team looked towards it.

"Miriah, we've been at this for almost half an hour now," Avery said gently when nothing happened for several more minutes. "Maybe we should try somewhere else and come back later?"

Miriah opened her mouth to argue when actual words suddenly started coming out of the spirit box, still difficult to hear but definitely real words.

"Try changing the frequency a tiny bit," Avery suggested, and Eric adjusted it ever so slightly.

The words that came out in a young man's voice were… definitely not what any of them were expecting.

"RA RA RASPUTIN, LOVER OF THE RUSSIAN QUEEN, THERE WAS A CAT THAT REALLY WAS GONE. RA RA RASPUTIN-"

Eric clamped his hand over the small speaker on the spirit box and looked at Miriah.

"That's your ghost?"

The woman looked concerned.

"I don't… know?"

She bit her lip and then decided to try again.

"Spirit, are you angry with us? Have we done something to upset you?"

"Maybe we just got a nearby radio station," John muttered.

The singing abruptly stopped and Eric tentatively removed his hand.

"Am I angry?" The same voice came through the speaker

"You're standing in the spot where I died. In my corpse, practically. It's a bit rude. Fucking move."

Miriah squeaked and her hands flew to her mouth. She didn't care about smudging the lipstick she had put on just to be in front of the camera.

Her short cry was enough to cover up the faint voice of a little boy, "Liar. It's not even the same location, Michael."

No one noticed, although they might later if they reviewed the recording.

Nobody seemed to know what to do. There was silence for a good long moment before the voice in the spirit box started humming the same song as before and Eric promptly shut the thing off.

Avery was supporting Miriah now, almost holding the woman up as she trembled.

"He hates us…" Miriah whispered, breaking the eerie silence.

John immediately yanked the door open and they rushed out, Miriah sitting down against the wall as soon as she was out.

"I need a break," Miriah said quietly. She looked calmer now she was out of the room, but kept glancing at the spot right next to her, as if someone was standing there leaning over her.

"Let's go back to somewhere there's more light," Eric suggested, and the team quickly moved down the corridor.

They didn't see a golden bear materialise in the corridor behind them, smack something violently into the wall, and then disappear again.

They also didn't hear a young voice sigh. "Idiot," it mumbled.

Mason was a bit of a wreck by now and so was Kevin. Shania was still stubbornly putting on a brave face to "show these boys" she wasn't afraid.

Meanwhile Calum was confusing bravery with being a jerk. Somehow, somehow, Calum was more determined to get "his" footage and win the contest, although Mason wondered if it was a matter of pride over money at this point.

Mason was the one originally gung ho about ghost stuff, but almost dying puts things in perspective. Somewhat.

"You...you probably shouldn't have said the things you did," Mason said.

"You scared?" Calum demanded.

"No!" Mason paused as Shania snorted. "What am I saying? Yes! I almost died yesterday. And you left me behind to die."

"You're being dramatic. You didn't die. It was probably one of that little brat's pranks again."

Shania grunted. "I can't believe you almost hit her."

"...Spoiled little shit probably needed it," Calum muttered. "I bet she and the manager are a couple of orphans and big sis spoiled the crap out of that brat. Why else would that kid be living with her older sister? She's probably never been put in her place in her life."

"Probably…" Mason mumbled, glancing at Kevin who had been wearing a paranoid expression all night. "Uh...are we just ignoring the freaky rabbit that grabbed her?"

It was silent for a moment and Shania paused getting ready for the camera, freezing her hand holding her mascara. "Probably just another one of her pranks. Something tells me she's….um...controlling those freaking things."

Yeah that was probably it. Definitely not ghosts (although it was hard to ignore the weird voice and that chicken acting 'alive'.)

"Hey guys!" The chipper voice made them all jump and shout a little.

Mike looked confused at the reaction as he jogged up behind them. "Uh...hey! Sorry I haven't been checking up on you guys as much. Kinda backed-up on work."

What the hell was the night guard doing besides watching the camera that he was "backed-up on work?"

Mike completely ignored Kevin studying him cautiously. "What's up? Do you guys need anything? Find anything interesting?"

Calum gestured for Mason to point the camera at Mike and start recording, which seemed to surprise Mike a little.

"Actually we had a couple of questions."

Mike rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… uh sure. Sorry, I didn't know we were doing an interview. My hair probably looks like shit. Oh fuck, sorry. Sorry! You can bleep that out right?"

"Yeah whatever," Calum waved him off. "I had a few questions about this place, Mr. Schmidt."

"Yeah?"

"What do you know about the ghosts here? You had to have heard or seen something, working here at night. All alone."

Mike chuckled. His eyes darted around. "I..I don't have much to say."

"Yeah, I don't really believe that."

Mike blinked at Calum's aggressive interviewing. "I mean...I uh…" He glanced at the camera nervously. "Can you turn that off for a second."

Calum waved for Mason to put the camera down, but Mason didn't turn off the camera. Somehow Mike didn't seem to notice the blinking light.

"I'm not supposed to say anything," Mike said nervously.

"So you do know what's going on here!" Calum accused.

Mike put his hands up and stepped back a little. "The...the last head of security. The guy who trained me... he said there were just some things I didn't talk about...if...if I wanted to keep this job. And I don't think he meant I would get fired...Then one day he was acting weird a-and he told me some things." Mike swallowed. "I never saw him again. Steve just...disappeared. Most of him…"

Shania gasped and shared a glance with Calum. "Steve?"

"Most of him?" Mason stammered.

Mike paled. "I shouldn't have said that…I should not have said that."

The air around them noticeably dropped a few degrees.

Kevin screamed as Mike stiffened in terror, not even turning to see the yellow thing hovering behind him.

It was a bear, a yellow bear with empty black eyes and odd spaces in the joints and floating. Tiny pin prick white eyes that gave Mason flashbacks to the chicken stared them all down.

It was only a second.

Suddenly the bear grabbed Mike on the sides of his head and they both disappeared, Mike's scream cut off.

"No, you shouldn't have," a female voice that they had heard before, whispering to them, said, the sound bouncing around the corridor with their screams.

"It..it was probably just another one of that brat's pranks," Calum said for the millionth time after they had calmed down and stopped running.

They were running a lot these last few nights. But now they were prepping more equipment for another room, trying to convince themselves that what they saw wasn't real, just like everything else.

Mike was fine. He was obviously in on it.

He was probably just going to walk in the next morning and pretend like nothing was wrong!

"Calum? What's this place called again?" Mason asked, he was twiddling with video settings and keeping a careful eye on the disabled animatronic in the corner.

"I think it's the uh…" The "team leader" consulted a map on his phone. He decided to be the one with the map after whatever the hell happened in that back room with the shelves.

"Prize corner? No, Kids Cove." Calum looked skeptically at the slumped over fox animatronic on the corner. "Weird. I thought Pirate's Cove was the same thing?"

There was no sign of the stage or the pirate ship playhouse and it's ballpit.

"Is it just me, or does it look even worse than the last time we saw it?" Kevin wondered out loud.

With a crack, the fox's neck straightened to look directly ahead.

Both heads. It made them all shudder to see that endoskeleton head.

Mason fumbled the camera and pointed it at the suddenly active animatronic. Then, after a moment, he remembered to turn it on.

"Hey hey! Welcome to K-Kids Cove! Remmmmm-…er to share! Play is much fun-unner when everyone is involved." The fox's voice was riddled with static and auditory glitches. Calum made eye contact with Mason and he nodded back to indicate they were rolling.

"Would y-you all like to hear a st-story?" Her voice was…its voice was starting to freak Mason out. He didn't know why he'd referred to it as female, it was just a robot. There was a long unnatural pause before the robot almost seemed to roll its eyes. The eyes in the endoskeleton head at least. The fox head had nothing but empty black holes.

Also… was it's upper body twisted in a weird way? He couldn't see properly.

"Would you?" It repeated, and a chill went down Mason's spine. Shania let out a barely audible whimper.

"Uh…yea?" Calum said, wondering if he was actually communicating with a spirit or just a defective robot. All they heard was whirring for a moment, then the animatronic slowly started to get to its feet. Mason backed away, and not just to get a clearer shot. The damn thing was taller than him by a good foot!

It was definitely twisted in an unnatural way. It didn't look like that before.
Calum stumbled back while the others froze on the spot.

No one noticed as a clawed hand yanked their 'fearless leader' out of the room abruptly.

"Once upon a time there was a boy in an enchanted forest hunting a dangerous animal that would make him famous if he managed to kill it. Deeper and deeper the two boys t-traveled through winding paths and deep trenches. Then, in the distance, they heard it's call. It sounded something like this…" It paused,and no one moved.

The animatronic's jaw fell open with a clank causing Mason to jump. Then intense static played from its speaker, with a barely decipherable male voice underneath.

Shania yelped and gripped the crystal hanging from her neck.

"What the fuck. What the fuck!" Mason muttered, almost dropping the camera and running out right there. But that would make three expensive cameras he's broken, dropped, or lost by now. He could do this… He shoved a microphone in Kevin's hand and pushed the dude closer to the robot.

"The three boys raced closer and closer to the sound, their hearts beating loudly in their chests. They reached a clearing and stopped, for the animal that terrorized their vil-ii-llage was in the center. The four boys crept up closer to the beast, close enough that they could see the sun shining on its white fur. And see the glint of red on its maw and claws. The five boys aimed their guns, and FIRED."

Kevin dropped the microphone with a clatter at the sharp uptick in volume and swore.

"But they didn't shoot at the beast. They all shot each other, the five boys all shot one of their own, except for one. One remained, the smoke still curling out of the barrel of his gun. The bullet he fired was buried deep in another boy's skull. Splattered with his friend's blood, he wordlessly turned from the beast and tried to run. The pale fox got to her feet and tore into the last boy's back. Feasting on the poor fool's flesh." It's voice had almost become passionate at the end having inflections and tone. And somehow that scared Mason the most. Then with an ominous creak, the fox's right eyelid closed…and opened in a deliberate wink. The second it moved towards them, Mason was practically flying out the door followed closely by Shania. A haunting woman's laugh echoing behind them.

"So how long did it take you to come up with that one, Mags?" Hedy asked.

Yeah, she sounded pissed about the whole, 'undoing her hard work' thing.

HOWEVER, Mangle had been very careful about twisting herself up being more "cosmetic" than structural. She wasn't in any pain with her parts rearranged, especially since Hedy had begrudgingly helped so she and Ruby wouldn't break anything. It would take about ten minutes to put everything back where it was supposed to be.

And she had the blissful opportunity to sardonically smile at Puppet and say, "Wanna help?" To which he wisely left his own Prize Corner with his box and his book. Part and Services hadn't been far enough away from either team to get the work done without being caught.

"Five minutes."

"You're not allowed to watch anymore horror movies with Ruby," Goldy muttered. "But on the topic of horror movies…"

They ran, not noticing the absence of Calum as they just tried to get away from that creepy fox.

Shania shrieked as she tripped over something as she turned a corner. Grumbling to herself she turned to see what she'd fallen over.

It was that golden bear, leaning limply against the wall.

Mason whimpered and Kevin looked about to start running again.
"Is that…" Kevin whispered.

"Blood?" Mason finished breathlessly.

Splattered across the front of the bear was the striking red of blood. They all stared, frozen for a moment. And then they blinked and it was gone.

"What the fuck?" Mason whispered fearfully.

Shania stared numbly. It had been there. She'd tripped over it. They hadn't been imagining it. So what did that mean?

"Hey… where's Calum?" Kevin asked after a moment.

The red fox robot slammed Calum into the wall and leaned in close with a snarl. The man couldn't even breathe he was so terrified.
It wasn't acting like a robot.

It was moving smoothly with none of the jerky hesitations they'd seen in the others. And there was something in those eyes… something dangerous.

"You thought you could try and attack the lass and nothing would happen?" the voice was deep with a slight metallic tinge to it but it wasn't anything like the voices Calum had heard from these robots up to now. It sounded too… alive. There was also a distinct lack of a pirate accent.

The fox had him pinned to the wall with one hand wrapped around his throat, easily holding him off the ground.

Calum just stared, petrified.

Was he going to die?
"The others are having their fun Calum," the bot said softly. "But if you hurt anyone here, if you try to hit Ruby again, I'll make you regret ever setting foot in Freddy's."

It stared down at him for a long moment before finally dropping him. Calum was too terrified to look up as metal footsteps grew further and further away.

Ruby leaned against the wall, listening to Calum's desperate gasps for air. It made her angry, that these people had scared Toby and made Foxy angry enough to break character.

It made her mad that they had mocked the deaths that had happened in this place and in other locations.

"Ruby?" Timmy asked softly.

She shook her head. "Come on kid. Still up for helping me with my idea?"
Timmy only hesitated for a moment. "Hedy's going to be mad but I agree. They kind of deserve it."
He followed her through the building until she was slipping through the door to Fazbear's Fright. She followed his directions until she was in an out-of-the-way room.

"Well well, what brings you here Ruby?" Michael drawled as he faded into view, glancing at Timmy.

"Mickey," Ruby smirked at him. "How about a deal?"