Lalalalala I have definitely overbooked myself! New year plus 3 animation projects plus this equals a lot of stuff that is entirely my fault.

Whatevs it's all fun anyways.

ERMMMM I don't remember who made this song but you all know it LOL

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 111

Here Comes The Sun!

Tulisa clapped her hands. "Everyone, it's the last day before we have to leave tomorrow!"

"Who wants guacamole on their eggs?" Ducky asked as he poured the egg mix into the frying pan.

Ruby and Josh stuck up their hands.

"So back to what I was saying, we've got to do something special tonight. Like a send-off for our trip."

"Oh, I just remembered the crazy dream I had!" Myah exclaimed, grabbing a clementine and jabbing her thumb into the centre.

"Crazier than mine?" Ruby, who was sitting cross-legged on the counter, asked dryly.

"Shoot, I should've used a bigger pan," Ducky muttered.

"We could go to the beach. Maybe roast some hot dogs? Vegetarian for me, obv," Tulisa continued.

"In my dream, I was back in school, except there was sand everywhere, and all these little hermit crabs were everywhere. But everyone just kept walking like it was normal!"

"Wait, who wants guacamole again?" Ducky called.

Two hands shot up.

"That reminds me. Josh, you've got to grab sauerkraut from the market today."

"What?" Josh scowled around his toast from where he was sitting at the table with Myah. "Why me?"

"And then my cousin Hana comes up to me, and she asks for my homework, only I didn't do it, so she screams at me!"

"Because, Josh, I've been asking for a jar all summer and you always forget. It's obnoxious."

"I wonder if this would be good with onions," Ducky mused.

"Lise, you're the only one who likes that sauerkraut shit. It's weird."

"It's healthy."

"So I tell the Queen Of Ugly Hana that my dog ate it, and she's like, you don't have a dog, and I'm like, you haven't visited since I was born, how would you know?"

Ruby frowned. "Don't be mean."

"She killed Avie's hamster and kicked them when they cried ."

"How old was Hana?"

"Thirteen. That's the same number of stitches Avie had to get."

"Yeesh." Ruby widened her hazel eyes. "So what did Queen Of Ugly Hana do next?"

"So do you stop scrambling once they're runny, or does that mean they're still raw?"

"I guess I can go to the market, but you have to pay. Are we even allowed campfires this time of year?"

"We are, I checked. Oh, and pick up some hot chocolate too."

"And then Hana morphs into this rabbit character from a book I was reading, only now she's so small the crabs ate her up!"

"This patch of eggs is still runny! I H-A-T-E these small pans!"

"You've gotta pay for the hot chocolate too. I'm broke after buying this cool hoodie."

"Josh! You're supposed to be saving money for soccer gear, remember?"

"It is a pretty cool hoodie, Lise." Ruby admitted. "You should check it out."

"I guess the crabs didn't really eat her, though. They kind of, like, stepped on her. I think."

"Okay, I think the eggs are done. Probably."

"Josh, it doesn't matter if it was a cool hoodie or not, Mom and Dad are going to be livid!"

"Or maybe the crabs did eat her. I think I was sort of awake because I remember my pillow was like, overlaying my vision."

Ducky squinted, prodding at them with his flipper. "I'll keep stirring, just to be safe. Don't want salmonella!"

"Whatever! I'll just get a job or something to pay for my soccer stuff."

"No, the crabs definitely stepped on her. I remember now."

"What happened next?" Ruby asked.

Myah hesitated. "I don't remember."

"Wait, no, salmonella, that's with…oh, it is raw eggs, I'm dumb."

"Just don't get me wrapped up in it," Tulisa huffed. "One of my resolutions was to stop being a doormat and to start standing up for myself."

"Doing a damn fine job of that," Josh mumbled.

"Um, guys, are scrambled eggs supposed to be this black on the bottom?"

Ruby peered over at them. "Just cover 'em in guac, it'll be fine."

"Wait, I do remember! Then I found my homework in my pocket! It was like this old computer game I used to play when I was little, with this yellow fish who solved mysteries, only it was on my phone. Except I didn't know who to give it to."

Tulisa crossed her arms. "Just buy them soon, because I've got a million e-mails to write before school starts, and I want to get them done before tonight for our campfire."

"I'm putting guacamole on all of them!" Ducky yelled, scooping the eggs onto plates and dumping the spread on the charred parts.

"And then I woke up. Pretty weird, right?"

"I visit my dead friends and an ancient immortal god in my dream," Ruby quipped.

Myah smacked her with the sleeve of her light pink cardigan. "No fair! Nobody can compete with that."

"Myah, darling, you'll never win a weirdness contest against me."

Tulisa took her plate from Ducky, then passed it back with a sniff. "I said no guacamole."

Ducky threw up his hands. "I give up."

Tulisa handed them all lists. Everyone dispersed to grab their specific items for the campfire, and when they came back there was a mountain of stuff they needed to organize.

"Ugh," Tulisa moaned. "This is going to take eons."

"They've got free containers at the nurse's hall. I could go get them if you want," Ruby volunteered.

"Fine." Tulisa stuffed a bag of marshmallows into a tote bin. "Take Josh."

Josh looked up from his phone. "Hey! Why me?"

"You've been scrolling for fifteen minutes now while the rest of us are working our butts off. Go with Ruby."

Ruby and Josh slid on their flip-flops and headed down the dead yellow lawn that stretched under all the cabins. The campsite road was never busy, so they walked down the middle of it, kicking at pebbles.

"So, are you doing lacrosse again this year?" Josh asked, shoving his hands in his light gray hoodie pocket.

"Nah."

"Seriously? You're really good, Rubes, especially for someone who's only been competing for three years."

"Yeah, well." She sighed. "Working the night shift means I gotta sleep as soon as I get home, eat dinner on my bike, then do schoolwork at my job. Lacrosse meant my sleep was cut in half, and my mom was kinda ticked that I kept passing out in class. I can't have her stopping me from work, obviously, which meant I had to either drop out of school, or lacrosse, so…"

"Damn." Josh frowned sympathetically. "That sucks."

"Mm." Ruby shrugged. "I guess I might join up again if no new locations pop up. Takes a lot of exercise to get these guns!" She flexed her noticeably toned biceps, the scars rippling.

Josh laughed. "I feel like if you were a guy, you could beat the shit out of me."

"Who says I can't now?"

"Fair enough." He looked up. They were under the shady blanket of pines where a food hall and nurse's office were lined up, a billboard in between. "Hey, look at that." Josh stabbed a finger at a colourful notice with animatronics fitting some sort of clown theme. "Some sorta party rental business. Says it's under the Afton Robotics L.L.C."

"No freaking way," Ruby murmured, scanning the page. Blah blah blah…Circus Baby's Entertainment & Rentals? That's the place Michael's sister disappeared at, right? I thought it closed…

"Looks like you're not doing lacrosse, after all," Josh commented.

"Should've figured as much." She exhaled, turning away from the billboard. "Let's get those bins before your sister tacks us to this board."

~lll~

"Campfire ban!" Tulisa exclaimed. "The radios all said it was okay!"

"No roasted marshmallows," Ducky sighed.

"No hot dogs, either," Josh added.

Ruby slumped across Myah's lap, stretched out on her stomach. "Guess I'll die."

Myah patted her back. "There, there."

"What're we supposed to do? Eat them raw?" Tulisa opened the fridge door, scanning their shelves.

"We could like, microwave them." Myah suggested. "Then they'd get all gooey."

Ducky wrinkled his brows. "Can you microwave hot dogs?"

Ruby tilted her head to the side. "Maybe Lise's weird tofu ones."

"Hey!"

"Okay, so no campfires." Ducky thought for a moment. "We could have—"

Tulisa raised her hand witheringly. "Don't you dare say scrambled eggs and guacamole."

"Ugh. Fine."

"I liked your eggs, Ducky," Myah reassured.

"Thank you! See, you guys should be more like Myah."

"Whatever, egghead." Ruby threw a pillow at him. "You are what you eat."

Ducky squirmed away from the attack. "Someone's cranky today."

"Yeah, and you ate, like all of our toast earlier." Tulisa commented. "What's up?"

"Sorry," Ruby sighed. "I'm just stressed, is all. It's that trial thingy tonight for my friends and I really want them to pass and get into the afterlife."

"Do you, though?" Ducky asked quietly.

She frowned, tucking a piece of red behind her ear. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, they've been your closest friends for like, three years now?" Tulisa prompted. "You've been through so much together. You're like family. It must be hard saying goodbye."

"They've been trapped for over a decade. They deserve rest." Ruby replied, but she wasn't looking at them.

"Ru?" Myah asked gently, running a pale hand through her long crimson waves. "It's okay to be sad. Even if it's their time, you've spent every night with them for thousands of days."

Ruby chuckled wryly. "I've said goodbye to them twice now, and they just keep coming back. You'd think it'd get easier." A disobedient tear slid out. Traitor.

"Oh, Ruby," Tulisa whispered, coming over to hug her. The others followed, wrapping their arms around her like a big dogpile.

"Oww! You guys are squishing me!" Ruby laughed through her tears. "Lemme go!"

"Never," Myah giggled, kissing her salty cheek.

Ruby squirmed around for a bit before going limp like a possum. "I am happy they're moving on," she mumbled into the couch cushions. It felt warm and safe there, surrounded by comfort and the people she loved. "I really am. It's just that I've put so much of myself into them that it'll feel like I'm not whole when they're gone."

"It will feel like that for a while," Tulisa agreed, and her deep blue eyes were clouded and far away. "You love someone, and when they get torn away, it's like the end of your world. It's unfair. But you'll survive it, and have the memories to hold close." She kicked her feet, covered by the beat-up red Converse she'd worn every day since Isaac, her old boyfriend, was killed by William Afton. Ruby squeezed Tulisa's hand, who gave her a small smile.

"And at least you'll have us," Josh added. "Though I don't know if that's much of a consolation prize."

Everyone elbowed him.

~lll~

Sweat trickled down Ruby's neck as she hauled three coolers, laden with food and drinks and stacked on top of each other down the beach. Just because she was strong didn't mean she was that strong.

"C'mon, Ruby, pick up the pace!" Tulisa hollered like a drill sergeant as she carried her light load of folding chairs down the rocky path.

"Easy—gasp—for you to—pant—say!" Ruby grumbled. "You're carrying—inhale—five pounds. It feels like I'm carrying our whole—exhale—school soccer team."

Josh glared at her. "I take offence to that."

"I take offence to—wheeze—your face."

"That's stupid. Everything you say is stupid."

"Josh."

Myah burst into giggles (which she could do very easily over her load of fleece-lined blankets.) "You two fight like siblings."

"I'm the older one," Ruby and Josh said at the same time.

Ruby gave him an incredulous look. "Josh, I'm seventeen."

"Seventeen inches tall, maybe." He stretched up, flexing his height. "Six foot two, you shorty."

"Literally nobody asked you."

"SANDWICH TIME!" Ducky shouted, crouched beside a fire pit containing nothing more than blackened charcoal and ash. It was surrounded by a ring of flat gray rocks with sun-bleached driftwood logs perfect for sitting on around it. Tulisa was setting up blankets in case they got cold from the freezing sea wind, and Ducky was getting out the cutlery. Ruby had the sandwich material in the ridiculously heavy coolers she was carrying.

She pulled out the ingredients. Ham and cheese, tofurkey and turkey, lettuce and tomato, mustard and mayo, peanut butter and jam. They had a bag of sliced white bread which Ruby was very not used to—her mother had been a health food nut even before they were rich and their bread was always whole wheat and brown and chock full of seeds and chopped nuts.

Ruby stacked lettuce, tomato, and ham on two slices and then squirted mustard all over.

"Ew, mustard," Tulisa said, wrinkling her nose. "That's so spicy."

Ruby grinned maliciously. "You're gonna freak when you see what I brought for chips."

Catiously, the younger girl rifled through the bag of snacks, pulling packages out one by one, each redder and more flame-covered than the last. Takis. Lime Extra-Hot Takis. Jalapeno Cheetos. Extra-spicy—ramen?! "Do you just…crunch on this thing?"

"Ooh, gimme." Ruby snatched it, ripped open the plastic, and crunched on the rectangle of dry noodles, chewing loudly.

Ducky stared at her, half-awed and half-terrified. "Huh."

She finished her noodles and everyone dug into their sandwiches. Around them, couples took long walks along the shore, little kids played in the waves, and dogs nosed at everything that smelled funny. The twilight sky was a dusky indigo as the sun dipped beneath the ocean surface.

The group swapped stories and shared snacks, sipping on fizzy pop. Ruby noticed Josh drinking a brand of canned beer she'd seen her mom drink before, but didn't say anything. She didn't really care if he did, she knew he was responsible and all that, it was just one of those things you don't really think about so it's a surprise when it happens.

Ducky pulled a long stick with a blackened tip and a small lighter. A purple crystal glinted off his silver ring. "Are we allowed incense?"

Tulisa wrinkled her nose. "In-what?"

"It's like smoke that smells good," Ruby explained. "But not a vape. Ducky's not a chuff-huffer, he just has one."

"I'm asthmatic," he sighed, pulling out a blue inhaler. "Why does everyone always forget this?"

"Nooo! It's your chuff! Everyone run!" Ruby shrieked, dashing circles around the logs, then collapsed in the sand coughing and kicking up dust.

"I just did laundry," Tulisa complained, putting her head in her hands.

Myah walked over and tried to pull Ruby up, but she grinned an evil grin and tugged her down with her into the sand. "MUAHAHA!"

"Guys, Tulisa just did laundry," Josh mimicked.

Tulisa shoved him. "Shush, or I'm telling Mom what you're drinking."

Slowly, Josh lifted his can and drained the contents over her head, amber liquid spilling droplets down her hair and face.

Tulisa stared at him, open-mouthed, before a smile split her face. "You have made a very, very bad decision, little boy." She pounced on him like a wildcat, tackling him onto the ground.

"Great," Ducky sighed, watching the others tussle. "Now I'll have to do all the laundry."

Ruby emerged from the ground, wild-eyed and sandy-haired, breathing hard and grinning. "Sorry, Duck, I'm nocturnal."

"I think we got that already," Josh sighed, kicking his sister off of his leg.

They sat back down on the logs. The biting wind whispered through the trees and tangled both their hair and the seaweed scattered on the beach. Ruby saw Myah shivering and took out a patchwork quilt from one of the Tupperware bins, wrapping it around her shoulders. Ruby, noticing there were only four blankets, didn't take one for herself, even though she was only wearing her gray cotton sleep shorts and black Fazbear's staff hoodie.

Myah pouted and stretched her arm out, holding a corner of the blanket in her fist. "Aww, you're cold too. Here. We can share."

Ruby smiled gratefully and huddled close to her, warmed by both the quilt and her girlfriend.

"Can I light the incense, or are you guys going to roll around in the dirt again," Ducky drawled.

Myah clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Yes yes yes! Do it!"

Everyone watched, enthralled, as Ducky carefully lit one end of the long stick with his lighter. The amber flame sparked to life and smoke twirled from the tip. A pleasant smell like leaves and dried flowers wafted through the air, and Ruby felt a sense of calm wash over her as if she was drifting in the sea and letting the waves bathe her face.

It reminded her of the herbal teas Mangle used to brew back when the pizzeria was open. Bonnie would complain, like usual, about it tasting like lawn clippings, but she'd caught him drinking some for himself a few months later.

Ruby smiled fondly at the memory. She couldn't wait to see her friends again.

"Perfecto!" Ducky cheered in Spanish.

Suddenly, both the crystal in his ring and the little flame on the incense stick began to glow purple. Beams of violet light shot in front of him, widening until it opened a tall, swirling portal.

Everyone stared at it, open-mouthed. Ducky cleared his throat, his guilty gaze flickering over to Ruby. "Did not mean to do that."

There was a sound like someone moving through water and Katy stuck her head through the spiral portal, raising her pencil-thin eyebrows. "You know ya could've just slept, right?"

"Oh, I know," Ruby sighed.

"Well, you're here now. Wanna just come early?"

"But I'm having fu-u-un," she whined. "I was gonna have this really great bag of chips!"

"And now you can go on a really great Shadow visit," Katy deadpanned. "Hurry up. Michael's already here."

Ruby blinked. "Michael? I didn't know he was coming."

"Yeah, him n' Jer have been gabbing their heads off for ages. It's makin' me wanna yak. C'mon."

Reluctantly, Ruby stood up and stretched, yawning. "See you guys in the morning, I guess."

"Have fun!" Myah called.

"Don't die!" Tulisa added.

"That would really suck for me since you have all the biology answer keys for eleventh gra—ow!" Josh shouted, cut off by Ducky punching him.

Ruby took a deep breath and one last look at her friends, then followed Katy into the portal.

A/N

Yippee! Lore!

Okay so expect some very frequent updates as I rush to finish this arc. I have 2 pre written chapters up next, and then…let me count…5ish more to go?

6 if we do a QnA, which we miiiight not since there's been nobody reviewing LMAO

Question/Challenge: What's your personality type on the Myers-Briggs test? You can look it up if you don't know. Mine is ENFP-T, though I'm a 50/50 extrovert and introvert.

Same personality type as all my favourite characters! Junko, Sayori, Pinkie Pie, Jinx…

Have an amazing day/night!

~Ghost