Okay, so I feel like this message should not need to be said, but please do not copy/plagiarize characters or chapters I have written!

Someone who I will not name has been doing this and has done it over twenty times on three different accounts. They do not credit me and pass it off as their own work. I've asked them to stop numerous times, and yet they persist. Apparently, they've copied other people's work as well.

Coincidences happen. I do not own an idea, name, or colour scheme. But when they start to add up, it becomes something else. And copying and pasting someone else's work does not count as a coincidence. Again, it is only one person. All my other readers are amazing people :)

Sorry for the negative tone, and onto the reviews!

MoonTheMagical: Ooh, what zAnY sHeNaNiGaNs would they get into then? I'll definitely use that one for a Christmas chapter.

SomeRandomRobo: I'll use this one, it's really good!

there's also something cool at the end, so wait to check it out!

(oh and I used SomeRandomRobo's idea for this chapter :))

Enjoy!

Chapter 56

Socializing With The Outside World

"Sure, I'd love to come with you to your work! It sounds cool, a night shift at a horror place."

That's what Ducky and Myah had enthusiastically replied to Ruby asking if they wanted to visit her during work with the twins. And now Ruby was starting to seriously regret her decision. Like, how would they respond to a literal serial killer? Even though Springtrap had promised not to kill anyone, Ruby didn't trust him. How could she? He was, in fact, kind of the worst. What if he hurt them, or worse? Ducky and Myah were nice. They didn't deserve that.

Ruby sighed. Whatever. They were already here, and if Springtrap hurt them, he'd have her to deal with.

She went to the front, where Ducky, Myah, Tulisa, and Josh were all standing around chatting, waiting for Ruby to let them in with her keys.

Ruby waved to them after parking her apple-red bike in the bike rack. They noticed her and waved back. She took a moment to gaze at her surroundings.

The building looked wonderful at night, with the neon orange-and-green sign lighting up the darkness around them. Street lamps cast firefly-like beams of light into the sweep of autumn blackness. Headlights of cars illuminated the dusty roads and orange vests of pedestrians taking a midnight stroll downtown.

Ruby shook herself from the beauty of her town and headed straight for her friends.

"Hey Ruby! We were just talking about how the plural of moose should be meese. Not 'moose'. It just doesn't make sense!" Myah exclaimed.

And wow, did Myah look stunning. Captured in the bright yellow glow of the street lamps against the dark gaze of night, she was absolutely breathtaking. Her outfit was a tennis skirt the colour of fresh-fallen snow, with a top and sneakers to match. A faux-fur lime-green jacket perched on her arms. Myah's dark ebony hair curled down her back, a stark contrast to her marble-white skin. Her eyes were like pools of the night sky, dappled with stars and sparkles.

And how did Ruby express her feelings of amazement to this alluring girl?

Ruby giggled. She giggled, like one of those anime schoolgirls! She'd never made a noise that high-pitched in her life! Ugh. Stupid, stupid mouth

Ruby smiled awkwardly to distract from the noise that had come from her mouth. "So, uh, let's go in!"

"Let's!" Ducky did a fist pump as Ruby unlocked the door.

The five of them trailed into the building, with Josh flicking on the bright neon lights. Everyone but Ruby admired the place, the occasional compliment thrown at the decorations or a prop or the coolness of it all. Ruby led them through the halls, hoping to get them to the main hangout place without any trouble.

Ducky gasped.

"Woah, what's this place?" He ducked into the mock security room, curiosity lacing his words. Ruby followed him.

"Uh, maybe you shouldn't be in here. C'mon, let's just go with the others to the-"

"What's this button do?" Ducky asked, pressing a button on the tablet. A child's laugh rang out, and suddenly there was a metal clanking sound coming from a vent.

Ducky froze. "W-what is that?"

Ruby groaned. "Dammit, I told you not to touch anything!" This was going to be a nightmare to deal with.

"Hey! Strawberry Shortcake! Keep it down, will ya? I had to deal with those bloody children all day, and I'm trying to sleep-oh, who's your brightly coloured friend?" Springtrap poked his head out of the large vent beside them, tilting his head calmly like a puppy.

"AHHH WHAT THE HECK!" Ducky fell over on his chair, toppling to the ground. Amber eyes darted to the monster in front of him behind a curtain of tousled chocolate locks. "WHAT IS THAT THING?! AND WHY'S IT SMELL SO BAD?!"

Springtrap rested his chin on a furry green hand, looking perfectly innocent.

"Excited, are we? And mind you, I'm not fond of the teenage boy scent myself. Also, I'm a corpse inside a suit. What do you expect, for me to smell like daisies and brownies?"

Ruby sighed. Oh boy, here they go. Now she'd have to explain everything that had happened the past fifteen years.

"Ducky, this is Springtrap. Homicidal immortal bunny. Killed fifteen people directly, six indirectly. Eleven of those were children under the age of ten. Blah, blah, he's trapped here with the spirits of the kids he killed. Also, he killed my bio-dad. I had hoped we could go the night without me having to explain this, and yet here he is."

Ruby turned to Springtrap, who was laughing to himself at Ducky's confusion.

"And Springtrap, if you harm one hair on any of my friends' heads, I will grind you into pieces and scatter those pieces all around the zero corners of the Earth, do I make myself clear?" She growled.

Springtrap shot her a blindingly bright grin.

"Sure thing, Lobster-Wig. I find him amusing, anyway." An idea sparked in his gray eyes, usually a bad sign. "Ooh! Hey, Rubber Duck, want to see the corpse insi- "

"Okay, time to go." Ruby dragged an utterly confused Ducky out of the security office by his hood, sighing to herself. Great. Now she'd have to explain the nine ghosts living here, too. And she'd have to trust that the two of them keep it a secret.

Ducky stared at her. "So…what the heck was that?! You just, I don't know, forgot to tell us there was a zombie bunny murderer living here with nine ghost children? What?!"

Ruby let go of his hood and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Uh, pretty much, yeah. I'm sorry, I just hoped he wouldn't be here tonight. He usually just hangs around his own room and reads. Or, I don't know, plots gruesome murder fantasies in his head. I have no idea what goes on in that twisted mind of his."

Ducky still looked a bit unnerved, which made sense. After all, you'd be a bit confused if you had discovered immortality was possible, ghosts existed, and there was a serial killer in the same building as you.

They reached the rest of their friends, who were admiring the epically spooky decorations around them. Myah noticed and grinned.

"Oh, hey! Where did you guys go-"

Suddenly, she froze. Every hair on her body stood on end. A cold swept through her, chilling her to the bone. Her inky eyes drifted upwards. Behind Ruby.

"W-whatever you do, do not look behind you." Myah spoke every word with a terror-induced serenity.

Ruby, being a rule-breaker, looked behind her.

And, lo and behold, to everyone but Ruby's surprise, stood Springtrap. Fangs bared, claws sharp and outstretched, and a sort of look in his eyes that was...well, creepy.

Ruby just sighed and looked up at him with absolutely zero patience left.

"Springtrap, why the hell did you follow us? Nobody is impressed."

Springtrap gasped, putting two hands on his cheeks in mock horror.

"Profanity!"

Ruby groaned. "Come on, I wanted to introduce you to my friends in a flattering light!"

He smirked.

"You want flattery? I can do flattery." He struck a dumb pose and raised his voice about eighty decibels higher. "Omigod, where did you get that jacket? We should totes go to the mall next week, girl-friend!" He shook himself, snapping out of it.

"God, that was awful. And so is that jacket! U-G-L-Y. Seriously, it's brighter than a leprechaun on steroids. Plus, it totally clashes with our whole...aesthetic. Sorry, but it's a no from me, sweetheart." He shot her a cheeky grin.

Myah glared at him. "Hey! You're one to talk, Mister Dark-green-on-dark-green. You kinda blend in a little too well with this whole place. It's a tad matchy-matchy."

"All the better to jumpscare you with, my dear." Springtrap trilled, a devilish smile on his face.

Myah wasn't fazed. "Uh-huh. Show me this alleged 'jumpscare', we'll see how scary you really are."

Springtrap raised an eyebrow. "Fine then. You asked for it."

He took one menacing step forward. Myah awaited with a slight pang of anxiety for the inevitable jumpscare, with a leap and some claws and teeth. But it never came. Then she saw the waiting look of his face and realized that was the jumpscare.

Myah laughed, well, more of a wheeze. She pointed to him amidst her laughter.

"That- that was pathetic! Oh my God, I've seen butterflies with more terrifying jumpscares than you. That was weaker than my mom's coffee!" She continued to laugh for a few more seconds, with a slightly embarrassed Springtrap looking sheepishly off to one side, avoiding eye contact.

"Yeah, well, I bet you couldn't do any bet- AAH HOLY SWISS CHEESE!"

Myah leapt into him with sharp neon nails digging into the fur of the bunny suit. Springtrap screamed like a little girl and dragged himself away from a wildly cackling Myah. He shot a dazed look back at her, shaking his head.

"Nope. Nope nope nope nope. I don't like this one, Tomato-top. I don't mind the creepy Shining twins, and I don't mind the noisy one, but this one is like...like a squirrel on twelve cups of coffee. Like my daughter, I suppose. Except with a horrendous taste of style and stupid hair." Springtrap decided.

Ducky stared at him in disbelief. "You have a kid?!"

Springtrap glanced at him. "Had."

"What, did you mur-" Ducky was cut off by a hefty shove from Springtrap. He coughed, looking up at him in fear. Springtrap stared down at him with obvious distaste.

"Heyyyyy, how about you kindly shut the fuck up? Did that thought ever occur in your tiny little flea brain?" Springtrap mocked. "Bloody imbecile! I have half a mind to grab some of Mangle's needles and thread and stitch up that blabbing mouth for good! That'd be fun, I haven't gotten to practice sewing for a while. 'Course, it'd be excruciatingly painful for you, but I couldn't care less as long as it's not happening to me!"

"Haven't you heard of the Golden Rule?" Ducky asked, almost a whisper. Springtrap just laughed and waved a hand.

"Rubbish. Everything they teach you in school is complete rubbish. Where's the Golden Rule when your children murder each other? Where's Prince Charming to sweep you off your feet when you even things out and your best friend thinks you've gone mad? Nothing really matters, so why not just raise a little hell during the time you're on this godforsaken planet? Why not murder a few dozen people, terrorize a town, ruin a few hundred families- ha-ha!"

"Y-you're insane!" Ducky whimpered. Springtrap laughed, a deep cackling laugh, like a witch.

"Sure I am! Your point? Come on, kid, you've gotta be a bit bonkers to function in this society. I've seen the internet, people obsess over serial killers with great hair and an anthropomorphic animal alter ego all the time. I mean, it's not like any of this matt- "

Having had enough, Ruby stepped in between the two, facing Springtrap.

"Okay, okay! Enough with your angsty 'nothing matters' talk! Jeez, you're starting to sound like 2017 me on Timblr." Ruby rolled her eyes. She turned to Tulisa, Josh, and Myah, who were frozen stiff watching the battle unfold and gestured to them.

"Come on guys, let's go. You too, Ducky. We didn't come here to make small talk with bootleg Bugs Bunny over here."

Ducky shot one last look at Springtrap and headed down the hall with the others. Springtrap frowned.

"Whatever. Point is, Elizabeth was a bother anyways, as were the other irritating rats I had to raise. That's a whole other thing though, and frankly, I don't care enough to tell you. Have a good night, see you in your nightmares!" He waved goodbye cheerfully and skipped down the hall.

Ducky shivered. Gah, he was probably right. Stupid zombie rabbit. He'd have nightmares for weeks.

Ruby and others finally reached the door to their main hangout. She flung the door open with a flick of the wrist and whirled around to see her friends all chilling in the main room. She turned back to her friends.

"Meet...the ghosts!" She cheered.

Silence. Josh leaned over.

"Uh, Ruby... there's nobody there."

Ruby slumped. Crap. She'd forgotten about that bit. Ruby turned back to the ghosts, who had noticed them and we're watching intently.

"Hey, Mari? How do you do that thingy where humans can see you?" She asked.

Mari shrugged. "Uh, I think you just...will it, if that makes sense? Like, think really really hard about it, and bam! Visible."

Jojo gasped. She crouched down and focused as hard as could. Suddenly, Tulisa gasped.

"Jojo? Is that you?"

The little girl grinned. "Yay! Tu-lisey can see me now!"

She ran over and gave her a hug on the waist. Tulisa laughed and patted her head. "Have you gotten taller since I last saw you?"

Jojo shook her head.

"Nope! Mari says that 'cos we're not possessing anything, me and the others will stay our age forever. Like how Cassidy and Mari are mentally and fizzy-cally fourteen and thirteen, so me and Malcolm will be children forever!" She said all this in the most upbeat tone ever.

Josh coughed. "Um, wow. That's, er, cool."

One by one, the other ghosts in the room appeared, everyone reacting joyously every time. Except Ruby, because it was pretty normal for her at this point.

They separated into groups, each talking and catching up with each other. Cassidy found herself in a conversation with Myah, who shuffled her feet, awkwardly thinking of something to say.

"So, I met Springtrap. How...how do you live with him?" She asked tentatively.

Cassidy smiled, but it looked forced.

"Oh, I don't. Trust me when I say every day is hell. I watch the clock tick endlessly, knowing I'll never escape. He reminds me constantly, this knowledge haunting every corridor. It's horrendous, and I got my wish of being dead. Now I wish it was all gone. Shadow was a walk into the park compared to this."

Myah blinked. "Oh-kay then."

Cassidy twisted her head to one side black bangs falling into her eyes. "I want to kill him. I want him to feel unimaginable agony. It's like there's this creature inside of me that wants to rip and tear and shred and it will only be satisfied with his blood on my hands."

Myah nodded, backing away slowly. "Um, I'm going to go...talk to the others. You, uh, you have fun there."

She ran over to Ruby.

"Jeez, Rubes, why is everyone here so needlessly violent?" She huffed. The red-haired girl turned around and noticed her standing there.

"Ah, you've been talking to Cassidy. Yeah, uh, she's got some...stuff she's gotta work through. Um, maybe leave her alone for a bit. The others usually aren't as bad."

Ruby led her to five brightly coloured individuals who were throwing glass marbles into a hat - or trying to, at least. The one with short, curly blonde hair got one in, and the others cheered.

Ruby wandered over to them.

"Hey guys! This is the girl, Myah, I was telling you about!"

Now, from the way she'd described Myah, the five ghosts had gotten a pretty dang good idea of how Ruby felt about her.

So of course, Chica was skeptical.

"Huh. She's...shorter than I thought she'd be. And that jacket... interesting choice. Of course, I wouldn't wear that, it clashes with my whole... thing. But if you want to wear that, then who's stopping you?" Chica shrugged, her passive-aggressive energy radiating off of her. Mangle nudged her friends and walked up with a smile.

"Hello there dear, it's a pleasure to meet you. I love your outfit! The jacket looks so soft!" Mangle praised.

Myah gave her a half smile. "Thanks, not many people have exactly sung it's praises tonight."

Ruby gasped. "I adore your jacket. Don't even."

Myah giggled, hiding her slightly reddened cheeks behind a manicured hand.

Mangle rolled her eyes. "Ah, they're just jealous of its awesomeness, pay them no mind. But seriously, what is that made of? It's fantastic! I'd love to use it in my next clothing project."

Myah brightened. "Sure!"

The two of them went off on their fashion rant, chatting about different fabrics, sewing machines vs hands, and clothes they'd seen or owned. Across the room, Ducky had joined Foxy, Jojo, and Bonnie in throwing the marbles. Josh, Tulisa, Freddy, Chica, and Mari chatted in another corner, with Mal and Cassidy doing their own thing.

Ruby smiled. It was nice to see her friends getting along. She headed for the marbles and tossed a jade-green cat's eye one aimlessly in her hand, ready to play.

A/N

Google docs was being fun and decided to crash every time I opened it! So, I shared it on Drive to my alt, took screenshots of the chapter, uploaded them to an image-to-text website, copied the screenshots, pasted them into Word, and replaced all the words the website didn't pick up. That was an adventure.

OKAY FUTURE ME HERE. I WAS WRITING IN DOC MANAGER, SO THEN I HAD TO GO FOR DINNER SO I CLOSED MY TABLET AND IT FRICKING RESET THE TAB. I SPENT THREE HOURS ON THE CHAPTER AND I WAS PROUD OF IT UGHHHH I HAVE TO REWRITE ITTTT

It's like the universe doesn't want me to write. This was insanely annoying.

Anyways, the surprise! I have a DeviantArt account now! My username is: ghooostexe. I just kept adding O's till it wasn't taken. I won't post there often, but if I draw something then that's the place I'll be putting it, if you want to check it out sometime :)

Question/Challenge: Are you an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert? I think I'm either an extrovert or an ambivert.

Have an amazing day/night, and remember to take your whale on a walk!

~Ghost