Happy Pride Month! (yes I'm late to saying this) No matter what your sexuality or gender is, just know that I love and support you :). I'll try and do a chapter for it, I'm just not to sure how to do it.

ok so I just realized that Ruby's mom should have already had kids by now, but I figured I'd wait a bit, at least till Ruby's back. also another chapter with ice cream in it. i think i just really want ice cream.

Reviews!

Penguimom: I don't know, spice girls are pretty pog!

Sadfox729: YEAH VLAD, THE BABY IS YOURS. Seriously, I'd totally watch that show if it was a thing.

Chapter 33

Ruby And The Beach Day

Sparkling sea, burning hot sand, bright sunshine. Surfers with their boards, little kids building sandcastles, families enjoying picnics...Ruby loved the beach.

She yawned and slathered more sunscreen onto her arms. She may love the sun, but the sun certainly didn't love her.

It was the last day of their field trip, and Ms Diaz had decided on a beach day for their group. She had said that they could take it easy from all the science projects she'd been throwing at them the past week, and only gave them a beach bingo sheet, with stuff like seagulls and crabs and shells on it.

"Hey, who's up for some beach volleyball?" Josh called.

Camilla, Olive, and Levi all raised their hands. Ruby was going to, but she hung back. She had a mission, and that was to find Steve Anderson and question him.

Tulisa flipped a page in the book, titled 'The Cellar', by Natasha Preston. She was pretty absorbed in it, and had been reading for two days straight.

Ruby scanned the beach. What did she know about Steve? Well, that he lived here. And that he used to have a wife and a daughter. That wasn't super useful, she wished she had more of a physical description. She tried Googling him, but unfortunately there were a lot of Steve Anderson's in Saffron Falls.

"Steve! Can you throw me the water bottle?"

Ruby's ears pricked up like a cat who'd just heard a mouse. She immediately stood up, mumbling some half-baked excuse to Tulisa and dashing off to this 'Steve'.

"Sure thing, Dahlia. Here, can you take the backpack with snacks to Cole and Zinnia? They must be hungry after playing in the water for so long."

The man had dark skin, blue eyes, and a cloud of black hair. He was wearing lime green floral swim trunks and was calling to a brunette watching two energetic kids. Still young, so there was a possibility he remarried and started up a family again. Although he certainly didn't bear much resemblance to the blonde-haired hazel-eyed girl in the photo, maybe one of her parents had siblings with blonde hair. Happened a lot.

Ruby cleared her throat.

"Excuse me? Are you Steve Anderson?" She asked, shifting from side to side awaiting a reply.

He turned around and examined her. "Who are you?"

Ruby paused. "Um, Ruby. Ruby Roxanne. You, uh, looked like someone I know." A thought struck her. If she said her name was Ruby, would he think she was his daughter? Whatever. She obviously wasn't, they looked nothing alike.

The man shook his head.

"No, I'm not. I'm Steve Jones. Both Steve's though, haha."

Ruby laughed along awkwardly.

"Sorry about that. Have a nice day!"

The man waved and turned back to his family, who were all happily munching on chips and potato salad, drinking down juice boxes, and swatting away the occasional wasp who wanted in on this sugar action.

Ruby trudged back glumly. Yet another fluke. She highly doubted she'd find him. Why could he have some exotic name, like 'Ambrose Indigo', or something like that.

Tulisa glanced at her with sympathetic blue eyes.

"Rubes, you can't just pounce on every Steve you meet. You've gotta be methodical about this."

"Methodical, schmodical. If we do it my way, we'll find him faster."

Tulisa yawned and stretched out on her sunny yellow towel that matched her sunny yellow tankini. The top piece was plain yellow, the bottom was striped with tiny sunflowers. Ruby was just wearing some plain black bikini and white terry-cloth shorts, nothing too exciting.

A group of three girls walked by, about the age of thirteen. One of them was carrying a big cookbook with them.

The girl with the straight brown hair caught Ruby staring and whispered something like "Hide it, Darbie!" to the red-haired girl, but she wasn't completely sure. Whatever.

"Hey, Ruby, could you get me an ice cream cone? There's a truck down there. Mint chocolate chip, please, here's the money." Tulisa passed her a five-dollar bill.

Ruby grinned.

"Back in a flash."

She pocketed the money and headed off to the truck and- Holy crap, was that the line? It stretched nearly halfway across the beach! Well, that was no big deal. She was speedy. She'd just speedrun it! The only problem was, how would she speed up time?

A tall man with fluffy blond hair and clear blue eyes got in line behind her. Ruby figured that maybe she could strike up a conversation while she was at it.

"This is a really long line for ice cream, huh?" Ruby said, turning to the man.

He rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. It's expensive too, but worth it. At least it's well made."

Ruby smiled. "That's good. I'm getting it for my friend, we're here on a science field trip." She paused. Should she really be telling a stranger this? What if he was a creep or something?

But luckily, he broke into a smile. And not a creepy stalker one, but a real smile.

"Raya Diaz, right? She's my friend Mahathi's younger sister. I figured I might run into her at some point. She's awesome, right?"

"Totally." Ruby was relieved. Someone she could trust to talk to in line.

"My name's Ruby." She stuck out her hand.

There was a flash of recognition in the man's blue eyes, but he didn't say anything about it.

"I'm Steve. Steve Anderson."

Ruby could hardly believe it. Just wandering around and not being organized had actually worked! Here was Steve Anderson! And his looks matched up, both him and the girl in the picture having blonde hair.

"So, Steve. Did you ever live in Hurricane?" Ruby asked as casually as she could.

"Yes, when I was younger. I grew up there, and then I moved here in my early twenties." Steve had a faraway look in his eyes, as if he was remembering the past. Good memories or bad, Ruby couldn't tell.

"Why did you move? I mean, Saffron's great and all, but Hurricane's not too terrible."

He sighed. "Just had to get away from it all. One of my family members died there when I was younger, and when I was old enough, I took off."

"Oh, I'm sorry. That's terrible."

Steve smiled. "It's okay. I'm over it now."

Ruby took a deep breath. This was it. Now or never.

"Do you know anything about Freddy Fazbear's?" Ruby asked.

Steve's face locked up.

"Why do you want to know?" He asked, his voice cold and clipped. Ruby fumbled for an excuse.

"Oh, well, I work the night shift there, and I thought you might know. Y'know, you having lived there and stuff." What a terrible excuse. Why couldn't she think of something better? She wasn't being subtle at all.

Steve sighed. "Well, I used to work there. I was a mechanic, as I love to work on robots, and I worked on animatronics. I helped build Maggie, is she still up?" He had a fond look in his eyes, and Ruby realized he still had a sort of attachment to the place.

"Yeah, she is."

Steve smiled. "That's nice to hear."

Ruby pressed further. "So, why'd you quit? Seems like a pretty cushy job, especially if you're into programming and engineering and all that."

Steve glanced forward. "Oh look, you're next."

Ruby looked forward, and wow time had flown quickly! She paid for Tulisa's ice cream and stepped aside to let Steve pay.

"What's your favourite flavour?" He asked her.

"Cotton candy. But you don't have to-"

"Nonsense. Here you go." Steve passed her a second cone, which Ruby took gratefully. He stared at her closely. Ruby glanced over at him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Steve jolted back, embarrassed. "Sorry, you just kind of look like somebody I used to know."

Ruby realized he might be checking her out to see if she looked anything like his daughter. Which was interesting, because didn't his daughter die?

Ruby ate some of her ice cream. Mmm. Cotton candy bliss. Perfection.

She figured she should get back on the case. Ask him about Afton, or his family. She decided on Afton.

"Hey, do you know what happened to the old president, William Afton or something? He just disappeared a while back, and nobody's seen him since. I'm pretty sure he was around when you worked there." Ruby asked, trying her best to sound innocent and genuine, like she didn't have a clue.

Steve stared at her.

"Why are you asking me all these questions? Why do you want to know all this?"

Ruby racked her brain for some excuse.

"Um, well, I just wanted to know. I'm really... interested in Hurricane's history."

"Then look it up on the internet, or in a book. You don't need to ask some random guy you met on the beach who doesn't even live there anymore." Steve reasoned.

Ruby figured that if she was going to ask him, she should ask him now. She may never see him again, after all.

"Steve, do you know anything about the Freddy's murders?"

Steve's face went rigid, his eyes turned cold. He stared at her with a new emotion in his eyes: anger. The four words he spoke were laced with rage.

"Did he send you?"

Ruby recoiled. "What? Who?"

"Don't play dumb. You know who. What, is this a test of loyalty to the promise? I did what he said! I stayed out of his way! Tell him I don't have anything to do with this anymore. I didn't tell anyone, I didn't even look for her. We're done."

Ruby shook her head. What was happening?

"I swear, nobody sent me."

Steve snorted.

"Likely story. Why else would you be drilling me with questions, and have the name Ruby of all names? I uphold my end, and he has to uphold his."

A sudden look of panic flashed in his eyes. He ran a hand through his blond locks.

"Is this a threat? Is he going to kill her? Tell me he's not going to kill her." Steve asked, though it was more like he was begging.

"I don't know! Who's 'he'?"

Steve fixed her with a steely glare.

"Drop the act. Is. He. Going. To. Kill. Her." Steve spoke slowly and carefully, as if she was a one-year-old who didn't understand anything.

Ruby had no idea what was going on but she knew that she'd figured something out. She had a good idea of who they were: his daughter and Afton. She knew she should tell the truth.

"Okay. My name is Ruby Roxanne, and I've been trying to solve the case of the Freddy's murders. I heard that you lived here, and I've been trying to find and question you. I swear, Afton didn't send me, if that's who you're referring to. So your daughter is still alive, then? She didn't die? What about your wife?"

It wasn't until the words were out of her mouth that she realized that was a highly insensitive thing to say. Why did she always do this? She mentally cursed herself.

Steve just laughed.

"And here I thought you were here for ice cream. Tell Afton I left him alone, and he has to do the same. Leave me and my daughter alone."

"But-" Ruby reached out, but he was already walking away and to his car.

She sighed, sand burning her feet, cotton candy ice cream dripping down her hand. Wait. Cotton candy ice cream dripping down her hand? She yelped, and ran to give Tulisa hers before it met the same fate.

"Thanks! You were gone for a while. Long line?" Tulisa slurped her ice cream.

Ruby sighed and drew a line in the sand with a nearby stick. A hermit crab scuttled by, and she crossed it off her scavenger hunt list absent-mindedly.

"Something like that."

A/N

gasp. guys they met each other omg.

so I've been trying to get the plot moving because I want to finish this first act by August. I'm separating the games into 'acts', and I was wondering, should I make them all one book, or separate them into different books? personally, i want to make them all one book, but let me know your opinions on it!

~ghost