Chapter 171

I Missed It?!

It was just past six when Ruby started stirring. Hedy had sent Jeremy updates during the night so he knew they were alright. Although she was suspiciously vague.

He watched the teen anxiously, wondering if there'd be any improvement from the previous day.

He got an answer pretty quickly.

"This isn't my bed," the teen muttered after a moment, jerking upright. She frowned when she saw Jeremy.

"No. It's Hedy's," he said from the rocking chair across the room, closing his book with a pencil between the pages.

She stared at him for a moment before the memories from yesterday hit her. Then Jeremy got treated to her rather impressive vocabulary of swears. She dropped her face in her hands and groaned.

Jeremy stood up and sat on the edge of the bed, just watching her carefully for a moment. "Back with us?" he asked.

She groaned again. "Did I seriously just...shut down? I don't remember anything after Black being an ass."

Jeremy nodded, handing her a glass of water off the side table. "I drove you here, Hedy talked to Alice, I made dinner, then Hedy and I put you to bed. You were technically awake the whole time."

Ruby glared into the glass. Then her eyes widened and darted to the window. "What time is it?" she demanded.

Jeremy looked at her calmly, knowing that hesitating would make it worse. "Before you freak, everyone's okay."

Ruby grabbed him by his shirt collar and dragged him forward, glaring. "What. Time. Is. It?" she growled.

Jeremy stifled his yelp and clawed at her fingers on instinct before composing himself. He remembered the time he saw when he checked his watch just as Ruby was waking up.

"...Ah...Just after six. Six- ten-ish," he said, trying to slowly lean back and pull away.

Her eyes widened again and she let go abruptly, causing him to fall backward.

"Shit! Why am I here?!" she yelled as she scrambled out of the bed.

Jeremy half-rolled off the side of the bed as the momentum made him slip off the edge and pull the blanket down with him.

"Ruby, slow dow-!" he grunted as he tripped a little on the tangle around his legs while getting up.

"Excuse me?!" she snapped as she spun around to glare at him. "Slow down?! I wasn't there for my shift!"

And there was the panic.

Jeremy kicked off the blanket trap and scrambled to follow her as she left the room, grabbing his keys and phone and the shoes he had tucked them in. He chased Ruby down the stairs.

"Ruby! Wait. You're not listening. Everyone's okay. I promise!" he said quickly, vaguely noticing Sarah poked her head out of her room to stare at them in confusion as they disappeared to the ground level.

"What happened last time I wasn't there?!" the teen threw back at him, a tinge of hysteria and a lot of guilt colouring her tone.

"Ruby...Ruby, wait," Jeremy tried, hopping as he yanked on his shoes. "They're okay. Hedy's been texting me. The kids-"

"What?!" she spun around to face him at last. "What did they do now?"

There was actually some disappointment in her tone. She had started to expect better from them. Her panic was overriding her reason for once.

"Nothing," Jeremy was surprised by that himself. "They did nothing. They sat with Hedy all night. I'm telling you, the Originals and Goldy are okay."

She just blinked at him for a moment, stunned speechless.

"What?"

"I know how it sounds," Jeremy said, "I'm having trouble believing it."

Jeremy did his best to maintain eye contact while tying his shoelaces.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at him. "You said the Originals and Goldy. What about Spring?" she demanded. The frantic panic had disappeared.

Jeremy paused.

"Michael still an asshole..." he said with a lowered voice. "Hedy says they're okay though. She's okay. And she didn't seem overly concerned about Spring either."

Ruby still looked unhappy with, well, everything. But she was a lot calmer now at least.

"I'm still going," she told him stubbornly.

Jeremy nodded.

"...Can you handle one more drive? Otherwise, I'll walk with you."

Hedy could give him a ride back.

The teen hesitated, visibly torn. Technically her phobia of cars hadn't decreased at all, she was just more motivated to deal with it than usual.

"...I'll walk," she finally said. After everything she didn't think she could climb into another car unless the pizzeria was burning down.

Jeremy nodded and set his car keys on a table in the hallway near the front door. He opened it and gestured her through.

She stalked through, tension thrumming through her. At least she seemed back to normal after her breakdown. That empty look in her eyes was gone.

Jeremy walked with her quietly, keeping up with her.

Ruby paced herself thankfully, so Jeremy didn't feel like dying twenty minutes in.

He wasn't ready for a marathon and his dress/work shoes weren't made for long distance walking, much less a run.

He still didn't know where the teen got all her energy from. She had a terrible sleep schedule and wasn't always hyped up on coffee or sugar. She just always had energy somehow.

When they reached the pizzeria she marched straight up to the doors which unlocked on their own. At least the building seemed to realise she wasn't keen on waiting long enough to pull out her keys.

Then she came to an abrupt stop.

"What the..." she stared at the paint and glitter that spotted the floor and walls in confusion.

Jeremy's eyes widened in confusing flashbacks as he shifted a step back at the splattered color. Instincts told him to be wary of incoming paint balloons but nothing came as he tensed. Standing next to Ruby snapped him out of it quickly.

"I don't...Did you do this?" he asked confused, even knowing that didn't make any sense.

What the hell happened?

Hedy had assured him everything was ok, even sending a few pictures of her sitting with the ghosts. But she was sparse with the details. He assumed all the bots were just helping keep Sprintrap corralled as the hours ticked by,

Ruby gave him an incredulous look. "I was sleeping all night!"

At least she seemed as confused as he was for once.

"But...how..."

"Hey guys! Everyone's in the main room," Hedy's voice clicked on through the speaker nearest to them, starting Jeremy. She sounded tired but amused and the soft little clinks of metal said she was busy working on someone with the tablet's microphone close to her. "And don't worry, we got pictures."

"And video!" Benji's voice interrupted. He sounded like he was just laughing.

All that startled and confused Jeremy even more.

Ruby's confused frown deepened as she started heading to the main room.

"What the hell happened?" She demanded loudly.

No one got the chance to answer since Foxy, Bonnie and Goldy practically tackled her to check that she was alright.

Jeremy gaped at the bots' paint and glitter smeared forms, noting it was the kind of mess when they weren't the target but the ones who were just a bit careless as the aggressors.

His eyes shifted to Hedy as Foxy picked Ruby up, checking her over.

Hedy was looking on with a small upturned smirk as she paused her work on Spring.

Jeremy's eyes widened as he finally saw the rabbit's state.

For once Ruby was distracted from reassuring the bots about her wellbeing as she yelled, "What the hell happened?!"

"Oh," Goldy said, glancing at Spring. She smirked sharply, pleased with the memories. "Michael didn't have a fun night. But we did."

Jeremy's eyes widened in mildly disturbed horror as he stared at the bots. Then his face twisted in concern more than horror.

"He's fine," Mike said while blowing glitter out of his nose.

"You know no one would easily want to just hurt Spring," Hedy said calmly, picking paint out of her hair. "He's okay. He didn't feel any of it."

Ruby looked between all of them while Foxy and Bonnie fussed over her.

"I'm so proud of you all I think I might cry," the teen admitted. "I'm also pissed that I missed this!"

Hedy smiled widely and reached over as far as she could from the table she was sitting on to present her phone to Ruby.

"I got pictures. Ginny got video." Hedy glanced down at the tablet and her smile widened as she barked out a laugh. "And Michael still looks like a beat-up neon frog."

"SHUT UP!" Michael's false bravado mixed with a panicked shout came through the tinny tablet audio. He ran to hide as soon as six am hit, the salted paint sticking to him.

Ruby let out a delighted laugh, so very different from how she'd looked the previous day. "You are the BEST!" she made grabby hands for the phone.

"I know," Hedy said with a smirk. "And I think most of us got some long-awaited revenge on him."

"It felt good..." Teddy admitted. "Did we go too far?"

They were startled by a scratchy noise they couldn't recognize immediately. It took a second for everyone to realize it was coming from Spring as he laughed at Teddy.

"Spring!" Hedy snapped at him while Goldy gasped at little and came beside him. "You're not supposed to wake up yet."

"S-Sorry..." Spring whispered with a wince still laughing. "I just...hehe..."

He dissolved into another bought of giggles while Hedy muttered under her breath and went to shut Spring off herself.

He was obviously in a lot of pain.

Puppet crossed his arms and squinted once he got over his surprise.

"I'll go...I'll go back to sleep!" Spring promised. "I was just curious about what you broke. And well...ow." But he giggled again, maybe a little hysterically.

Ruby had an odd expression on her face.

"I think I might be a bad influence. On all of you." she looked between Teddy and Spring especially.

"No, Spring was always like this. He's a troll, he just doesn't remember," Goldy told her calmly. It was a lot easier for them to make jokes like that now with Spring being in a much better place

Spring snickered again, wincing with a tiny moan he wasn't able to stifle.

He was drenched in paint and various liquids that sopped his fur and oozed out between joints. Stuff was literally dripping to the floor and he sparked ever so often. Glitter was everywhere. Little bits puffed out his voicebox as he talked. He had one arm disconnected, several broken fingers from Michael trying to punch someone, plenty of snapped spring locks, and a few too many dents to be comfortable.

"Where's Kitty?" he asked.

Puppet huffed and picked up the cat that was looking up at her dad from the floor. He held Kitty at arm's length with a grimace to show Spring as she squirmed. He wouldn't let the cat snuggle with Spring at the moment. Too dangerous. "She's fine. You can have her when you wake up." He set the cat down and ignored her indignant meow that she hadn't been put on the table with Spring.

"Aw," Spring complained.

Ruby studied him for a moment and then rolled her eyes. "I am officially no longer the most reckless regarding my own physical health. Is Michael still out? I've got some pent-up aggression to get out and if I can't hit the actual murderer I'd like to hit a murderer."

"He's in time out," Ginny spoke up with a forced smirk, unable to look directly at Ruby for the moment.

Felix lifted his hand and pointed at the main stage. Specifically, he was pointing backstage. He also didn't look directly at Ruby.

Ruby paused and turned to look at the ghost kids in the room. They couldn't read her expression and it made them nervous.

"You surprised me," she said after a long moment of silence. "Thank you."

Then she was off to bother Michael, leaving the room in stunned silence. Ruby didn't often genuinely thank anyone.

"I'm still..." Jeremy sputtered and shook his head. "What exactly happened?"

"We just played a little game," Mike said with a smile. "Whoever messed Springtrap up the most got the most points.

Spring laughed.

"But..." Jeremy gestured at the rabbit.

"Hedy made me a program I could quarantine myself in and cut off all sensations. I was just watching. I think I made Michael mad. He kept telling me to shut up but he couldn't do anything."

"Ah. You were conscious," Puppet sighed.

Spring gave him a thumbs up before he couldn't hold the hand up and it smacked the table with a thud.

Hedy growled a little at him for moving.

"How's Ruby?" Bonnie asked nervously. She was too good at hiding her emotions to take her normal behaviour at face value.

"She's..." Jeremy looked in the direction the teen went and frowned. He sighed. "I can't say much. She just slept. There were only a few seconds this morning where she seemed to think about what happened before she realized what time it was and nearly killed me. She didn't say a word while we were walking."

"What...what happened?" Goldy asked quietly. "What did Black say to her?"

Everyone had paused now to listen to Jeremy's answer. Most of them were still struggling with the fact that Black managed to, temporary as it was, break Ruby for a time.

Jeremy scowled and glanced away.

They watched him curl his fist as he took a breath.

"He was only remorseful because of the consequences he's faced. He kept talking as if he didn't have a choice. I think what got to Ruby was him saying something about it being her dad's faults for not listening to us when Black..." Jeremy paused. "And me...told him to back off the case and let it go."

Puppet looked at Jeremy with a frown, not pleased to hear the man had wanted to give up like all the other adults at one point. But Hedy didn't look upset with her brother, so he left it alone in lieu of what Black had done.

Jeremy sneered. "Simply put. He blamed Derrick for his own death, and Rose's, and Ruby getting hurt." He hissed out. "I wanted to punch him so badly..."

"You should have," Foxy muttered, looking furious.

"Do you think she got the closure she was looking for?" Goldy asked softly.

It was frustrating to them that they could do nothing to the person who had hurt Ruby.

"I'm not sure," Jeremy said. "Maybe. I got the sense she said what she needed too and maybe she heard from him what she needed to. She probably never wants to see him again."

They all fell silent before an explosion and Michael yelling knocked them out of their thoughts.

"We should keep an eye on her for a while," Goldy murmured. "I don't think she's going to talk about it with anyone."

Jeremy stared in the direction of Michael's shouting. "Did you get any closure?"

"Pfft," Toby snickered.

Mangle smirked. "I call it karma. And no. Not really. It did help though."

"I got to punch him," Mike said proudly, earning an irritated eye roll from Hedy as he held up his bandaged hand.

"Nice," Jeremy said with a grin.

"Goldy kind of scared all of us. She can match Ruby in viciousness sometimes," Bonnie whispered to him.

"Really..."

"I can hear you," Goldy said sweetly. "And you're right." She squinted a bit.

Spring chuckled, slightly afraid. But if Puppet didn't seem surprised by Goldy's attitude he supposed it wasn't a new thing for her.

"Spring. Shut down!" Hedy snapped.

"How're you doing Spring?" Jeremy asked, earning him an exasperated look from Hedy.

"I'm fine. It was fun to watch him panic for once. Only Ruby ever managed that before." the bot shrugged, winced and then gave Hedy a sheepish look.

"Spring, shut down," Goldy gave him a scolding look. "Before Hedy just turns you off."

Spring mumbled a vague complaint before shifting under her stern gaze.

"Fine..."

A moment later the lights behind his eyes shut off and he went limp. Well, limper. But he had forgotten to actually close his eyes so Mike and Jeremy shuddered at the creepiness. Hedy muttered about Spring's growing stubbornness.

Goldy floated closer. "You know...Spring could out-stubborn Puppet?" she sounded a bit wistful. "Sometimes when I see him do stuff like this, I hope that some of the old Spring is coming back."

"...Maybe it is," Hedy sighed as she shoved the broken arm closer. "I wish there was more I could do to help.

They fell silent again, listening to Michael yelling at Ruby as she let off some steam.

At least the night had been nowhere near the disaster they'd feared. And the deal was back in place so the kids weren't giving off waves of energy much to their relief.

It had been a very… cathartic night.

Revenge was petty, but sweet.

Everyone was cleaning up, Hedy not wanting to drop this mess on the cleaners. So they were trying to get rid of the worst of it.

Jeremy was still trying to process it all.

The kids didn't possess the bots.

The bots got some revenge on Michael.

And someone needed to teach Spring about self-preservation.

He looked up, distracted from his thoughts by quiet footsteps.

Ruby stood in the doorway looking unusually nervous.

What now?

The teen shifted her weight for a moment before walking forward. She wouldn't meet his eyes as she stopped in front of him.

"Thank you. For taking me there," she murmured. "I needed to face him. It sucked but I needed it."

She shifted uncomfortably again.

"You should have this," she mumbled.

She held something out and for a moment Jeremy couldn't breathe.

It was Derrick's badge. The one he got when he first graduated.

"I've got his detective badge. And I knew this one was in his desk still. No one dug around in there. The folder was for me. It's where he kept the dumb notes mom would write him and stick in his lunch. I wrote a few too… but… I think he'd want you to have this badge."

She was still holding it out to him. It was old and well-worn, but it wasn't a surprise Derrick had kept it. He was the sentimental type.

Jeremy's hands moved but he was too stunned to say anything for a moment. He ran his thumb over the details as he stared.

He looked up at Ruby. "Thank you," he said quietly. "This means a lot to me."

Ruby looked terribly awkward and far out of her depth but she nodded.

She seemed about to say something before stopping and shaking her head.

"Thanks for giving me the truth," she whispered before spinning and bolting from the room.

Too many genuine feelings for her apparently.