Author's Note:

Been a bit. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 166

What's Death?

Ruby actually looked mildly creeped out by what just happened.

"What were those keys for?" She asked. "And that might have joined my nightmare collection."

Jeremy shuddered while Puppet didn't answer.

They watched as Jeremy ran into the room and vaulted over the desk. He grabbed his bag and ran back out. The camera followed him as he sprinted through the building straight to the front doors, somehow not running into anyone.

However, something shifted along the ceiling just barely out of view of a few cameras they followed.

Mangle tried not to make a face.

Jeremy was lucky she hadn't been interested in him the first night. She was still processing everything by then.

Hedy looked at her in confusion and worry as Mangle took her hand.

But Mangle didn't want to tell her that for the longest time, she didn't know that Hedy had survived.

She thought her best friend was dead at the time.

Puppet back then never thought to tell them that Hedy had got away. Not for years. He was the only one who knew.

The Toys, and the Originals later, always thought Hedy had died with the rest of them and just hadn't stuck around for some reason. They just didn't talk about it, but Puppet knew some of them were still upset about that.

Jeremy tried to open the doors but they were locked. He shook them a couple of times and let out a few choice words as he searched his pockets in a panic.

He backed up a bit and ran at the glass, kicking it. But that only ended with him laying on his back with the wind knocked out, questioning his life choices.

"Scott's keys. One of them went to the front door," Jeremy said, finally answering Ruby's question.

Hedy blinked. "You left them on the desk?"

"I was trying to break into the manager's office," Jeremy defended.

"You freaking thinkScott didn't make a copy of the manager's office?!" Hedy snapped at his stupidity. "I was six, or seven, and I still remember how much he didn't trust her, much less like her."

Jeremy stilled. "Ah... I didn't occur to me at the time. I just knew the Manager was the only one who was supposed to have a key."

Hedy stared at the screen with a glare.

"Are you...worried about me?" Jeremy looked confused at Hedy's reaction. It was usually him who was concerned about whatever was going on with her. He glanced back at the screen. "I'm...fine."

"I don't get a fucking dopamine hit from the game like Ruby," Hedy snapped. "I actually don't appreciate watching you or anyone else almost die because literally all my childhood friends either turned mentally unstable, were tortured until they were, dead, or some combination. So excuse me if you did your game because of something as stupid as leaving your fucking keys on the table."

"Amateur mistake," Ruby muttered under her breath.

Mangle stilled and stared at the floor while all the other Toys froze.

The kids refuse to look at anyone.

"Did you really not have any other friends?" Chica asked quietly.

"I did not have any friends until my accident. And I only had one I'd call close when I started college three years ago," Hedy said blandly, still mad as she stared at the screen. "That's not the point."

Ruby didn't comment. She'd also only really had friends in the bots. Sure she had a couple of people she'd call friends but no one really close. More like acquaintances she was nice to. Before she lost her parents it was because she was a weird kid. After...she just didn't let anyone close.

Actually...Hedy was the first person she did let close.

And it was always uncomfortable when she remembered that the rest of them really didn't like the 'games'. She was the only who genuinely found them fun.

"Alright, I was stupid," Jeremy conceded, automatically trying to calm Hedy. "I had bad horror movie instincts."

Hedy didn't look as appeased as he wanted. It was hard to forget that at the same moment that past-Jeremy was trying to open the door, she was crying through the night at the hospital. Her dad was probably drinking while Scott was trying to not to lose it. Puppet was literally going insane and dragging the Toys down with him, and the kids were probably truly realizing they were dead. There was a lot happening that she just wasn't seeing on the screen but everyone could guess.

The building gently tried to send her a small wave of "reassurance" but she sharply pushed it away on instinct and felt the walls seem to retract as if hurt and confused by her rejection.

Hedy stifled a wince. She hadn't meant to react like that. She didn't realize how defensive she was as she cycled through various stages of shutting down. Having a consciousness with a direct tap into her emotions was not good for her habits of ignoring things until she had a controlled place and time to let it out.

Goldy flinched as if she was struck as well.

Ruby shook her head minutely and glanced at Hedy in mild confusion.

She was looking tired now, far more quiet about everything than before. The revelations of the night were finally catching up with her.

Jeremy gave up on the door and raced back to the safest place he could think of.

"What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck..." he muttered as he looked through the shelves and drawers for anything to defend himself with.

He had the right mind to pick up the phone and dial someone.

He waited for a moment. "Scott? Something..." he stopped and cursed. "Oh for the love of God, you have a cell phone for a reason. Fucking pick up!" Jeremy groaned and ran his hand down his face, still clearly mostly confused and freaked than thinking his life was in danger. "Please pick up. Some of the gang are acting weird and I don't know what to do. Call me back, please. Who am I kidding? You never check your voicemails you hypocrite."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "The phone guy is bad with his phone?" she asked with a ghost of a smile.

Jeremy grunted. "Cell phones were still pretty new at the time."

They jumped as the video started to quickly fast-forward through Jeremy's first night.

They saw flashes of Toby, Bonnie down the hall, Jeremy freaking out and diving out of the way as Chi went for him as the Freddy head accidentally got knocked off the table. It was moving too fast to see what happened but Jeremy ended up with the head on his and the Toys eventually left.

Toby's ears went back. Part of him was wanting to see what was so different about how he acted back then, but on second thought, he was probably just the same as when Hedy first found them and maybe even when Ruby played her game with them. There wasn't anything new there and the building probably already knew that.

Right as he thought that the video stopped long enough for them to see past Past Toby stalking down the halls.

"Where are you, you MONSTER?!" he shouted, and even he in the present was surprised by the anger and desperation in his voice.

"Quiet!" Puppet snapped as Toby wandered into the room with the Prize Corner. The music box was playing now. "You don't want him to know where you are."

Toy Bonnie turned away from both Puppet and the camera, covering his eyes.

A small broken sob cracked out of his voicebox.

Puppet stilled. He waited a moment as if thinking. "Don't cry. We...don't get to cry...not yet. You're stronger than this," despite sounding like he was trying to comfort the Toys, there was still malice in his tone that he just couldn't suppress.

Toy Bonnie nodded still turned away as he sobbed. "They're hurt. Real bad, Puppet. We can help them get better, right?"

"That is the plan."

"I don't understand what's wrong with them..."

"They are..broken. When a human is hurt too much they...shut down. And they don't wake up."

"But they can be fixed right?"

There was so much childish hope in his voice it didn't sound like him.

Toby watched, stiff. He couldn't remember a time he didn't understand what death was in some form.

Ruby glanced between the Toys. They'd been so young at this point… At least the Originals were older, jaded by a betrayal already as they were used for parts.

The Toys were basically babies.

There was silence as Puppet tried to figure out how to explain. "Come here…" he said softly.

Toby stumbled closer and let out confused electronic sobs as Puppet pulled him into a hug over the edge of his box. He wrapped his long arms around the rabbit's neck and rocked him a bit.

"No," he said, a thread of bitterness and grief in his voice. "They were hurt too much. They're broken. All the way through. The kids that we talked to are...ah...like their hard drives. It's all that's left. There's...nothing..." Puppet paused as if to reset himself from his own sorrow.

Ruby stilled as she listened to Puppet talk. Death was always a difficult topic for her. She tried to be flippant about it most of the time and usually she succeeded. But other times it was something she rebelled against at a deep level.

She missed the ignorance she had as a child…

All she'd been left with was the cold, hard truth and no option other than to accept it.

Toby wasn't looking at the screen. He wasn't even embarrassed, just sad. He didn't know when Puppet got so much colder. He forgot Puppet used to comfort them.

The other Toys tried not to react much but it was clear they were having similar, difficult, thoughts.

"There's nothing we can do but help it hurt less and..." Puppet actually seemed to hesitate, but only for a moment. "Help them leave."

Toy Bonnie looked somewhat alarmed but didn't pull away. "Leave? Why would we want them to leave? They could get hurt again."

"No...they. Need to leave. It hurts them if they stay for too long without a body." Even Puppet didn't sound sure.

It was strange to hear Puppet speak when he was as inexperienced with ghosts as the rest of them.

Puppet would have frowned a bit if he could. Anything he knew of ghosts at the time was from the many books he read. And movies. He hadn't known about Timmy yet.

Timmy ducked his head. He knew they were supposed to move on. But he wasn't ready. Not yet.

Not yet.

Ruby glanced back at the ghost kids.

They resolutely refused to meet her eyes, but they didn't seem keen on watching either. It felt almost like pity from Puppet. They didn't like it out where Ruby could hear it too.

Yes, it hurt, just existing. It was hard to explain but it drove them crazy. It never left. They could get lucky and ignore it if distracted by doing something, like talking or listening to Hedy, but it always came back. No matter what. It wasn't even a pain that could be one thing, like a headache or a sore tooth, or even a broken rib.

"Being dead sucks..." Felix muttered in agreement with past-Puppet before he even realized he said it out loud. He ducked and angrily curled in on himself. So what? It wasn't like they were ever going to move on now anyway, not with Ruby in the way.

Benji whimpered a bit. He had mentioned something to Ruby during his breakdown but he couldn't quite remember all of it.

Hedy flinched. She felt it sometimes. It was hard to explain but it was awful. But she could run from it if it got too much, which it always did before long.

The teen didn't say anything though. She just looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath and holding it for a moment before letting it out. Foxy looked at her in hidden alarm, recognising her coping mechanisms. This had been going on too long.

Ruby could understand. She really could. You didn't have to be dead to find just existing suffocating.

They didn't get to hear Toy Bonnie's response and only got a glimpse of him nodding before the video clip forwarded again.

They were all silent as they anxiously waited for the next clip, glancing at Jeremy occasionally.

The video settled. They couldn't tell what time it was, but based on how Jeremy kept frantically checking the clock every few seconds, he was cutting it close.

They got a few clips of him quickly checking the front door through the cameras, likely waiting for someone to show up and let him out.

The bots flinched at his obvious distress.

In the present, Jeremy wasn't freaking out as much as he felt like, though it was mostly for the other's sakes. If he just had himself to be concerned about, he would have turned off the television and driven off as far away from the building as possible. To somewhere void of screens and any sort of electronics the building could possibly cruelly use against him.

Jeremy's spine straightened just a bit more as something caught his eyes. The view switched to show two people outside by the front doors– a woman and Ruby's dad.

The sneer from Puppet at the sight of the strange woman wasn't all that out of place, even without knowing who she was, but the expression of utter distaste on Goldy's face was certainly more noticeable. It wasn't much different from the other bots, with various individualities, except for Spring who didn't remember her.

Ruby sat up straight at the sight of her father though, gaze fixed to the screen.

She had a very short, somewhat slanted haircut that was shorter in the back that didn't really fit her face. She wore a business suit, and seemed to be having a one-sided argument with a very patient Derrick with one hand on her hip holding a set of keys while she very exaggeratedly looked at her watch.

"..." Spring was silent for two seconds as he stared at the slightly grainy image of a strange woman and noticed the other bots' expressions. Expressions usually reserved for one specific person if he was being irritating while they worked. "Is that the old manager?" he asked.

"Was her name Karen by any chance?" Hedy snorted dryly, genuinely not remembering.

"Did she ever demand to speak to herself?" Mike added with no small amount of glee for the irony in his eyes despite the younger Jeremy's situation. It clicked the second he saw a haircut that anyone internet savvy avoided like the plague these days.

Ruby squinted at the walking stereotype. "Is she still alive, where does she live and can I mess with her?"

"Ruby..." Freddy trailed off.

"She clearly made your lives difficult. She authorised the 'maintenance'!" she practically sneered the word.

Goldy counted on her fingers with a distant look as she remembered.

"And trying to make me into a suit," she said, not looking at anyone but staring blankly at the ceiling. "Signed off on the hacking with that stupid facial scanner thing. Shipping the Toys and Puppet away. Hm. Cheated Joseph out of, like, a year's worth of overtime pay because he was at the hospital. Fricking hated Scott. Oh, and she refused to give Joseph time off right after Hedy was born, and compared her a watermelon." She didn't need to remind them that it was also right after Hedy's mom had died. "Hated her for being around all the time and getting free food and stuff."

Ruby snorted. "Watermelon," she snickered, drawing some indignant looks.

"Hm. I actually recall that," Puppet said dryly, ignoring Ruby. "She yelled at Joseph for not sending Hedy to daycare and took anything she broke or ate out of his paycheck."

Hedy frowned. "I didn't actually break a lot, did I?"

Puppet didn't answer. But he squinted at her. There was the barest hint of amusement, but easily drowned out in Puppet being himself.

"Bad influence," Ruby muttered to Foxy who smothered a grin.

Hedy, however, took a little humor in it and smiled. "I was an adorable watermelon," she said vindictively.

"Oh, and I'm pretty sure she and that evil cop guy dated for a little bit, but it was either a really short time or it didn't work," Goldy shrugged. "Or I was just really really bored and made it up because I saw them talking out back sometimes."

They expected Ruby to explode into a rant or demand her address but she was giving Goldy a weird look instead. For once they couldn't read her.

Jeremy sneered at the mention of Black, but there was a flicker of interest as he squinted at the woman. Something told him he might need another interview with Black at the jail. And figure out where she was these days. Some of the other people that were involved in the cover-up had tried to cut a deal with him the moment they realized how much trouble they were in. That woman was probably somewhere out there in her fifties, having watched the news and panicked that he was going to show up at her door with handcuffs. Which he was. That is, if she was involved as much as he suspected. Being a nasty human being didn't automatically qualify her for accessory to murder.

Ruby's gaze flicked briefly to Jeremy before it returned to the television. She was always strangely quiet whenever Black came up. The anger and hate that exploded out when she first found out never made a reappearance.

They almost wished it would. Ruby going quiet was somehow worse.

Jeremy spent too long anxiously watching the front door, bouncing his leg. It slipped his mind to watch the other cameras. The moment the manager moved to turn the key, even if it seemed to not be quite six yet, Jeremy was out of the chair and sprinting for the door. He barely got through the first hallway when Toby caught him, tripping the boy.

The blue rabbit seemed surprised too but barely hesitated before he cruelly stomped on Jeremy's elbow and pinned him, putting more weight down by the second.

Mike paled a bit. That was not a good angle for an arm.

"What is with you and the arms?" Ruby complained, gesturing to the arm he'd broken accidentally.

Toby ducked his head, shooting her a weak glare.

Maybe there was a crack but they couldn't hear because Jeremy screamed in pain and blindly kicked, twisting around as far as he could. He managed a glancing hit at Toy Bonnie's knee that sent the rabbit stumbling to the side, his foot lifting off Jeremy's arm.

Toby curled in on himself, looking nervous with a glance at Jeremy.

The Originals didn't look very happy for a different reason. If the building was willing to show any of the Toys being violent, they desperately hoped it wasn't going to think it's okay showing the Originals actually killing anyone. No one needed to see that. The other bots could all deal with that, but it would hurt to watch the horror on their humans' faces. Ruby might hide it the best, but even she would have to be shaken by seeing that. Hedy would get sick and start crying, think about Scott. Mike might pass out and Jeremy would absolutely get sick, even with his experience. It was one thing knowing what happened, another to see it. That wasn't happening. Foxy would break the tv if the building even tried to show them stuffing someone in a suit.

Jeremy for his part didn't look particularly upset despite watching himself be injured, but he noticed Toby staring. "What?"

Toby swallowed and looked down.

Ruby looked vaguely annoyed. "What is with you and breaking arms?" she asked Toby again in a huff. "I'm pretty sure it was the same arm too!"

"Ruby!" Goldy sounded half-exasperated and half-amused. "Read the room!"

"I failed the class on social cues and flunked the tact test," Ruby shot back immediately with a smug look.

"In my defense..." Toby murmured.

"Be very careful what you say next," Foxy interrupted with narrowed eyes.

Toby shut his mouth and Jeremy smirked.

He sighed after a moment of looking at Toby's discomfort, especially after seeing the rabbit break down to Puppet like he had. "I'm not actually sure you broke my arm. It hurt like hell and I couldn't move it for a while but nothing was out of place. I didn't go to the doctor."

Hedy looked at him with a clear "you're an idiot" look.

"Doctors overreact about everything," Ruby shrugged.

No one looked impressed with that statement.

Hedy's look slid from Jeremy to Ruby but she was verbal about it this time. "Careful. I might tell Dr. Cecil you said that," she threatened.

Michael secretly agreed with Jeremy and Ruby. He never liked doctors either. Specifically, he hated hospitals. He refused to look at Timmy as he thought that.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at Hedy. "You wouldn't. Cause then I'd tell her about your eating habits Miss 'instant noodles are a food group'."

Hedy looked, ironically, betrayed while Jeremy was nodding with Ruby and Mike shifted guiltily. Her expression was actually pretty funny and several of the bots laughed despite the tense air.

Ruby just stubbornly stared her down. It was rare that she agreed with Jeremy against Hedy.

"I never said noodles are a food group," Hedy argued lamely.

Even the building seemed to take amusement from that, but it thankfully saved her and played the video.

They all turned back to watch except Ruby who gave Hedy a very disbelieving eye roll before turning away.

Brat.

Hedy matched her and the bots had trouble not being amused by how alike they could be at times. It was especially funny after seeing what Hedy was like as a child and how she (most likely) influenced Ruby.

Jeremy was very lucky and able to break away from Toy Bonnie. He frantically raced toward the door holding his arm and practically crashed into Derrick right as six hit.

"Woah there kid," Derrick looked surprised and worried. "You okay?"

Jeremy couldn't even speak. He winced as his arm was jostled and glanced around with wide frightened eyes, like an animal.

"We...we can't... The animatronics...!"

"Jeremy?" The Manager stared at the boy with thinly pursed lips."What are you doing here? You broke in again didn't you? I told your father I'd have you arrested for trespassing if I ever..."

"You don't...you don't understand..." Jeremy babbled, trying to grab the adults and drag them out the door. "Please. Please. I th-think they're trying...trying to kill me..."

"Jeremy," the old Manager hissed viciously. "Don't be ridiculous."

Derrick shot the manager a glare as he tried to calm the distressed teen down.

"Deep breaths buddy. You're going to pass out otherwise."

"I can't..." Jeremy's legs seemed to go out from under him, but Derrick had already seen him lose colour in his face and get the distant look of someone fainting.

"Alright, there you go. Just have a seat," he said, helping the teen into a sitting position beside a wall, even as Jeremy was conscious a moment later looking both loopy and panicked at the same time.

"He shouldn't be here," the Manager said. "Like you said Detective," there was biting sarcasm in her voice. "You wish to treat my establishment as an active crime scene? So I'm sure having random teenagers who have no business on the premises are an issue. I'd appreciate it if you removed him. I might just not press charges." She glanced at the boy again and frowned. "Isn't he a suspect!?"

Derrick raised an eyebrow at her, anger covered by a cool, professional mask.

"And exactly how would you know the suspects in an ongoing case?" he asked politely.

The way he spoke reminded them all of Ruby's 'I'm speaking nicely but I'm actually coming up with ways to make your life hell' mode.

It certainly reminded Jeremy of a few times when Derrick pulled that tone out while dealing with difficult people at the station.

"Simply an...observation," the Manager said, actually letting through a possible thread of nervousness at the man's tone. "It just seems...ah...obvious..." When Derrick didn't respond she continued a bit, not sure what else to do besides shut up (since apparently that didn't occur to her). "It's a bit of a...coincidence it was only his little sister we found... i-isn't it?"

Jeremy was numbly shaking his head.

"Not particularly since his sister is traumatised and shows zero fear when around him," he answered calmly, hand reassuringly on Jeremy's shoulder.

"Shit he's furious with her," Ruby muttered with wide eyes.

Jeremy was the only other one who knew that tone.

Derrick was pissed.

Ruby actually hunched down a little unconsciously. Her dad could be scary when mad. It had very rarely directed at her, usually if she almost got hurt with some dangerous stunt. It only took one lecture from him to drill the lesson in.

"I'd appreciate it if you left the police work to the professionals and refrained from spreading baseless rumours."

Jeremy's stern stare broke into a fond smile. It even had a vindictive undertone to it.

Ruby's lips quirked up a little as well.

"Right...ah...w-well," the woman stuttered a bit. She stiffly held out the keys. "We open at 9. The cleaners come at 7. I...expect you to not disturb our customers while you," she waved her hand, "Look around. We don't want to...ah...unnecessarily frighten anyone."

"N-no, please. Something's..." Jeremy tried to catch her attention. "The bots..."

"Young man. Be grateful I won't be going to your father about this. He has...enough to worry about." With that and a cautious glance at Derrick the Manager stiffly walked passed them toward her office, Jeremy staring after her and glancing around for danger.

Derrick waited a moment before tugging Jeremy up. "How about we get you some water huh?"

Jeremy numbly nodded, limply following the man, jittery as they passed through the rooms toward the staff room.

He violently stiffened when they entered to pass through the main room.

The Toys were up on the stage, off it seemed.

Derrick walked past them without much concern. He glanced back at the halted Jeremy.

"Kid? You okay?" he called in concern.

"I'm sure you guys all got a kick out of playing possum and messing with the night guard's heads after six," Ruby muttered suspiciously.

She knew they all thought it was funny to do it now, letting a parent think they were powered down.

Jeremy hesitantly crossed the room, staring at the Toys with distrust.

Derrick turned and right as Jeremy was about to leave the room Teddy glared his direction.

Jeremy jumped and ran to catch up with Derrick.

Mike winced. That was Jeremy after night 1? Geez, how did the guy cope? (He shouldn't talk.)

Toby looked sheepish while Chi and Teddy looked a mix of amused and guilty. Teddy pulled off the guilty part better.

Ruby pointedly glared at them. "Knew it," she muttered. She paused. "Eh, I'd do the same."

They didn't doubt that for a minute.

Derrick got Jeremy settled with a glass of water to calm him down.

Jeremy stared distrustfully at the man as he shakily took a sip.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" Derrick asked after a moment of silence, letting Jeremy catch his breath.

"I don't know," Jeremy said. "I'm going crazy..."

"Hmm," Derrick hummed softly. "You've had a rough time. Just talking about what you think happened might help?"

"You're not going to believe me," Jeremy said quietly. "I'd rather not look insane in front of the guy who can put me in jail." He was still clearly nervous, but lucid at least.

"Try me," Derrick gave him a kind smile. "I have a three-year-old who routinely manages the impossible."

Jeremy looked at him for a long moment.

"Notice anything strange about this place?" he asked softly.

"Strange how?" Derrick asked, clearly deciding not to bring up the disappearances at all. "Like how the rabbit bot kept looking in the closet today?"

Ruby blinked and then looked at Toby, a grin slowly creeping across her face. "Did...you try and copy Bonnie's closet glitch?"

"What?! No!" Toby vehemently denied as Bonnie gave him an odd look. "I was just looking for something!"

He really didn't like the wide, gleeful smile on Ruby's face.

Jeremy looked at Derrick for a long moment. "The bots are...a-alive, you know. And no one seems to think it's weird."

Derrick was quiet for a moment as he thought. "Alive how?" he asked. "Do they act like more than their programming?"

Ruby was staring at Toby with a shit-eating grin still, distracting herself from seeing her dead father on screen for too long.

"They... they..." Jeremy glanced away. "They think. Actually, properly think. Like you or me. And they know they're not really the characters. I'm a hundred percent sure they know they're robots."

Puppet looked at Jeremy. "I thought you didn't know we were self-aware."

Hedy blinked and looked at Jeremy irritated. "When you freaked out and first drove down here I spent an hour explaining they were alive. And you just ranted about screwed up programming."

Jeremy genuinely looked confused too. "I...must have forgotten."

"How the hell do you forget something like...!" Hedy cut off with a glance at Ruby. She looked pained and glanced at the ceiling.

The teen was still being uncharacteristically quiet, gleeful grin from before gone again.

Foxy spoke up in Jeremy's defense surprisingly. "With some of your memories fading because of the deal, it's not surprising that others turned fuzzy."

"I'm not quite sure not to respond to that," Derrick said honestly. "That scares you?"

"It's not that. It's that...something's wrong. They know what happened. They...should..." Jeremy bowed his head for a moment. "They...should know it wasn't me..." It was quiet and it took a moment of watching the grainy image to realize Jeremy was crying. "It wasn't me...I promise...It wasn't me, Sir. I swear..." Jeremy sobbed, suddenly sounding very young. "I would never hurt any of them... I wouldn't hurt her. It wasn't me, Sir."

Derrick was frowning on screen. "Hey kid, breathe," he soothed. "I'm the lead on this case and while I'll admit we can't rule you out because of procedure, you're so far down on the list of suspects that I wouldn't worry. You have an alibi since you were with friends and your sister doesn't show a negative reaction to you." He squeezed Jeremy's shoulder. "What's got you so worked up?" His frown deepened. "Did someone say something?"

Jeremy looked up, and they could see the desperation in his eyes. "They said I was sick in the head. They asked if I enjoyed...They asked if I..." Jeremy turned his mouth into his shirt to stifle a gag and violently shuddered. He shook his head when he wasn't at risk of throwing up.

He was very quiet after a moment of gathering himself. "It...it doesn't matter," he whispered, gaze down. "I think the bots think it was me. They were..." he clearly hesitated outright saying they were trying to kill him. "Acting very strange last night."

Now there was a glint of anger in Derrick's eyes, a look they were all familiar with in Ruby's. "Jeremy, who said that to you? It's very important okay?"

Jeremy seemed too scared to answer. He looked away and swallowed.

In the present, Jeremy listened carefully. He barely remembered this. He barely remembered the interrogations.

"Jeremy, if people are harassing you then I need to know." He took a deep breath. "And if there are police harassing you then I definitely need to know because they're keeping their actions a secret from me."

Jeremy stared at him, still not entirely sure he could trust Derrick. "The.. man who picked me up at the mall. Jones, I think?"

Jeremy straightened. "I knew it," he hissed.

"He and...Detective McGraw? They were together in the room with me. I..." Jeremy paused. "I think they turned the camera off. One of them slapped me. I can't remember who." He stared at Derrick, tense and distrustful, as if prepared to run at the slightest bad reaction. Cops looked out for each other after all. He was being stupid for even saying anything.

Jeremy stilled and frowned. He actually knew McGraw. The man retired a little after Jeremy graduated. He never liked him as a teacher, but his memories must have really faded if he couldn't remember that.

"Hm," Hedy hummed. She was glaring at the screen and drumming her fingers on her armrest.

Toby swallowed a bit nervously.

Ruby leaned back, squinting up at the ceiling.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered.

They all glanced at her.

"I went to a couple of parties they held, at the station. They were in honour of… of my dad. When I was stable enough I agreed to go to a few thanks to my therapist. I remember guys with those names. Old bastards who could never look me in the eye. I thought they didn't like the reminder of my dad. But… if they were Black's little minions…"
She grit her teeth, glaring up as the lights flickered a little.

Jeremy leaned toward her. "Hey…" he said gently. "It's okay. Tell me about it after this and I'll take care of them. Okay?"

Ruby gave him a tight nod, dropping her gaze to where her hands were clenched in her lap.

Foxy shot Jeremy a rare grateful look. That wouldn't be a positive distraction from the videos. Quite the opposite really.

Derrick's expression darkened. "I'm going to look into this. Those two aren't even on this case. What the hell are they thinking? If either of them approaches you again then you call me, alright kid?" he pulled out a card from his pocket and held it out to Jeremy.

Ruby sighed and rubbed her face. "I remember he complained about some cops to mom. I never thought it was serious. He always stopped when he noticed me and changed the subject. Wonder if it was them."

"Maybe..." Jeremy said as he watched his younger self shakily take the card. He was a kid. "I always found it strange how there were some he just didn't like. I had always thought cops were close knit and looked out for each other. I never liked Jones or McGraw, but I couldn't really remember why when I actually joined the academy." He looked annoyed at his missing memory. He suddenly snorted. "Heh. They avoided me. Didn't realise that until now."

Hedy squinted. "Assholes."

Jeremy smirked at her. "Jones actually came up to me. Said 'no hard feelings?' I had no idea what he was talking about."

"When?" Hedy asked with an angry streak in her voice, curious if it was during her brother's training or more recently. Like after Black was arrested.

Ruby was tugging at her shirt sleeve, something she only did when she was deep in thought about something.

She hadn't visited the police station since Jeremy revealed Black's little secret. Couldn't. She did remember those two cops avoiding her like the plague any time they were there. Her dad must have really scared them.

"Last week," Jeremy admitted, "When I visited to turn in some paperwork." He decided not to mention the comments made not very subtly behind his back by other officers. Or the ones made to his face. He snorted at the irony of an older man having a better memory than him when Jeremy was the one with the negative reason to remember the encounter. Seriously. He didn't even remember getting slapped.

Ruby suddenly scowled. "What the fuck?!" her outuburst startled quite a few of them. "Seriously?! He pulls that and then has the absolute gall to say 'no hard feelings' after you just arrested a corrupt cop?!"

Jeremy snorted at her indignant anger. "Maybe it's a good thing it didn't click until now." He admitted. It was an old raw nerve at the moment and with all the freshened memories he didn't trust that he wouldn't have snapped at the man for the injustice.

Ruby scowled at him. "No hard feelings my ass," she snarled. "He deserves to have a knife shoved up his-"

The building decided to keep going before Ruby could continue with that particularly violent and disturbing idea.

"I think you need a breather, kid," Derrick said softly, almost like he was speaking to Ruby in the future. "Did you walk here?"

Jeremy nodded mutely.

"How about I take you ho-" He was interrupted by Jeremy's head shake.

"...All right," the detective didn't press. "How about some breakfast?"

Jeremy glanced behind him. "Aren't you here to work? You should-"

"I'll come right back after I know you're not going to pass out on me," the man assured.

Even in the situation, he was such a dad. Ruby bit her lip and looked away from the screen.

Jeremy hesitantly nodded and both of them disappeared from the camera's sights.

"So he helped you?" Back then?" Goldly asked quietly.

Jeremy paused before nodding. "A lot. He..." he paused. "He probably saved my life." Jeremy didn't look at Ruby.

Ruby wasn't looking at him either. She kept her gaze on the screen but it seemed more like it was a case of her refusing to look away than actually wanting to watch.

Hedy had a small scowl. She was quiet for a long minute and it was clear the building was waiting for her to say something.

"How come..." she asked hestitantly. "How come I'm the only one who didn't know him and Rose? How come I didn't grow up with Ruby like I should have, even without those initial memories?"

Jeremy didn't answer.

"Jeremy. Why did I never see them again?"

"We moved..." Jeremy said lamely but refused to look at her too for the moment.

Ruby frowned and glanced at him, hearing the odd tone in his voice.

Hedy squinted. "Jeremy."

"We moved away, Hedy," Jeremy retorted.

"You still drove three hours to come back to town for training and visiting Amelia every week."

"That's different."

Everyone was looking at the siblings now, hearing Hedy's suspicion and Jeremy's almost guilty tone.

Hedy..." Jeremy obviously didn't want to be telling her the answer she was looking for.

The building decided to intervene, leaving the question unanswered. Although Hedy still eyed her brother with irritated suspicion...