Going Home in a Box

by Mable

(Sequel to Can't Go Home Again and Almost Feels like Home) Freddy Fazbear's has returned from the grave and brought something of hatred and agony with it. Their livelihoods on the line, Mike, Marionette, and the others must learn to handle this new threat. This is easier said than done once Foxy finds himself snared by the new location, and the white rabbit now pulling the strings.

74. Chapter 74

Mable: Every story begins somewhere…

---

Going Home in a Box

Chapter Seventy-Four

(Jake & Andrew)

There was another major energy leakage in the basement. This time it had moved to underneath the daycare but once again was hard to pinpoint down. By now protocol had changed. Realizing that the active leak was moving around- likely a sign of numerous issues instead of one fixed one- the idea was to reroute power away from the basement until the leak either 'moved' or could be located.

As ineffective as this was, none of the technicians would argue with a quick solution over scouring the basement for something that simply wasn't there. All they had to do was reroute the power.

Unfortunately, the problem was located under the daycare. Which meant that they were going to have to get into that storage room behind the balcony. Which meant they were going to have to deal with the notable uncooperative Daycare Attendant.

They waited until the daycare had closed for the day before heading through the daycare towards the theater. They had not alerted Sun in the hopes that they could slip in and out without him noticing, but that was not the case. While he was in the middle of cleaning up, he still noticed the team of technicians tromping around the playground. He hooked onto his wire and lifted himself above the wall to spy.

That stealthy tactic lasted only a few moments before Sun's curiosity won out. "Yoohoo! Ahoy, fellow workers! Where are you off to?" he inquired. His delightful greeting covering up his suspicion.

"Someone answer him," Chaz requested. The other technicians either gave him a weird look or otherwise kept their mouth shut, leaving him to deliver the news. "Thanks, Crew. Alright- Energy leak in the basement, Sun! We're going to reroute the power!"

Sunny flinched and his hands clenched. "Y-You mean from my room?" he asked nervously.

"From the backroom!"

Which meant his room, yes. Or more accurately, his and Jake's room. That could not happen.

"What?! But- But it's messy! You didn't give me any warning! How am I- You're just going to have to wait until I clean up, okay? I'll be really quick, pinkie promise!" Sunny desperately pleaded. He swung in on his wire until he was grabbing and climbing the netting. His nervousness showing through on how he manhandled the net.

Chaz had learned from experience that it was best to not play along with Sun.

"Sorry, Sun, but the sooner the better. We'll be in and out."

"But all my stuff's probably in the way, y-you won't be able to get by, I'm sure!"

"We're not going to touch your stuff, Sun," Chaz said with an exasperated sigh. It was like talking to a fussy kid sometimes, one who wouldn't listen to reason or accept no for an answer. "We'll be quick."

"…OKAY! Well, that's gooood!" Sunny said tensely. He released the netting and swung all the way back to his balcony before hopping off onto it. "I'll- I'll just tidy up a little while you're letting yourse-self in!"

Sun promptly dove into the balcony, vaulted over the railing, and nearly landed directly on top of Jake who had been standing there listening. He grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him in a frenzy.

"They're coming in! They're coming in right now rightrightnow!"

If Jake's mouth could've dropped open it would've, because this wasn't good at all. He grabbed Sun's arms to stop the shaking and the two stood there momentarily before, without a single word, they bolted away from each other.

What came next was a frenzy of moving stuff. Sun was snatching up boxes and stacking them in front of the door to buy them time while Jake was gathering up his things in his arms. He couldn't let the technicians see his experiments- his control panel, his wrench, his bits and bobs- if they saw the pieces of Staff Bots, they would only pin the worst on Sun.

"It's fine, it's fine! They just want to get to the breakers!" Jake whispered in a panic. Mostly to himself as Sun was ticking way too loud to hear him.

The Daycare Attendant rushed over to assist Jake and soon they were both carrying armfuls of stuff to the tunnel. They shoveled it into their private room as fast as they could. Parts, spare parts, spare heads, spare blankets; anything they didn't want the technicians to get their hands on. In the short time they had they managed to whittle down the mess of stuff.

They were down to the last of it when Sun yanked away a tarp and they saw the one thing that they had to hide more than any other.

An old endoskeleton. It was largely intact, save its missing lower leg, which was currently attached to Jake's own, but entirely unresponsive. Jake and Sun shared a panicked look before attempting to move it.

They were halfway across the room when they heard the poster door into the theater open.

"Hurry!" Sun hissed.

"I'm trying!" Jake replied. "Don't panic!"

"IT'S TOO LATE FOR THAT!"

They reached the wall and Jake started to line up the endoskeleton to push it through the tunnel. Sun's head snapped to the door as he heard the footsteps in the hallway and he then reached out, yanked Jake aside, and all but shoved him into the tunnel instead. Leaving the endoskeleton to slump with a heavy thump.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Jake whispered as he was pushed through. He righted himself enough to crawl through and fell out the other side.

Sunny shushed him before trying to get the endoskeleton through the hole. He quickly changed tactics and hopped into the tunnel legs first, turning himself around to pull the endoskeleton in after him.

The doorknob turned and the door opened a smidgen before thumping into the stacked cardboard boxes. It thumped it again.

"Sun, did you block the door again? Come on, unblock the door. We've got to get in there," Chaz called in. "…For crying out loud."

"What now?"

"Just push," Chaz said.

With them forcing their way in, Sun was running out of time. Unfortunately, the stiff and uncooperative endoskeleton fought any effort to fit through. Though it could've also been Sunny's panicked movements and otherwise impatient tugging that had its shoulders repeatedly bumping the edges. The bumping of the tunnel coinciding with the bumping of the door.

With no other options, Sunny dropped the endoskeleton and slid back through the tunnel and into safety. He hastily put a blanket up to cover the hole, holding it tightly to the wall with his hands and bent knees. He and Jake listened through the wall as the men struggled with the door, unintentionally wedging it further up against the stack of stuff used to block it.

Sure enough, the technicians were finally able to force the door open. Sunny was kicking herself for not taking more time with the endo but knew that likely they would've seen him through the crack in the door. He should've thrown a blanket over it, hid it in the crawlspace under the balcony, something. Now all their hopes rested on the team somehow not noticing the unrecognizable endo laying outside of their hidey hole.

The technicians shuffled in and looked around at the room.

"I thought this was going to be like a green room," someone said.

"Nah, it didn't get finished," another said.

"What a dump! Ray would've never let this go."

"Hey, enough," Chaz swiftly shut down. "Panels over in that corner."

"What's that?"

Footsteps came closer and Sun cringed. Jake, who was sitting behind him holding his shoulders, leaned in a little more to listen.

"What is this? Chaz, you need to take a look at this."

They were right outside the tunnel. Sun's shoulders dropped in defeat.

"Do I really have to? Because I'm sort of doing something here," Chaz said. Though he said it while coming over, and then stopped before he reached the tunnel. "…Wait, what?"

Jake and Sun tensed at that shift in tone.

"What is that doing here?" Chaz asked.

"I guess someone was storing it back here. You're good at this sort of thing; what character do you think it was?"

"I don't know, but I know where it came from. Me and Ray found that thing over at that old Freddy's factory." He sounded downright befuddled. "I thought that was burned months ago. I can't believe it got up here!"

"You don't think…?"

"Sure, probably."

Sun could tell they were talking about him and grumbled a little to himself. Jake patted his shoulder.

"Okay, let's get this done. I don't want to hang out here all day."

So, the technicians got to work messing with the electrical. They had to move more stuff around, including moving some boxes and the table closer to the tunnels. At one point the power went out and the technicians began to talk in panicked, whispered voices- save Chaz, who kept trying to shush them so he could fix the issue. Though Moon came out, there was no chance of him going anywhere with Jake's warning death grip on him.

Eventually they finished after a little longer.

"Alright, Sun! We're getting out of here!" Chaz called.

"Gooood~!" Sunny called back.

"Bring that table back," Chaz said to someone. Then he gave a subtle mutter of, "Grab that too."

Some stuff began to get moved around outside the tunnel. Sun could've sworn he was hearing them fiddling with the endo, but it was masked by the moving of cardboard boxes and the screech of someone dragging the table. Something that immediately caught both his and Jake's attention because it was sure to leave big drag marks across the wood.

But finally, finally they left. Sun waited until they were past the poster door and shut it behind them before dropping the blanket and hurrying out.

He was met with a horrific sight and gave a flustered cry, hands flying to his head.

"No, no, wait! What?!"

"It's okay! It's okay. We'll buff it out," Jake assured.

"We can't BUFF it out!" Sun cried. "Because they TOOK our BODY!"

"Wait, they did?!"

Sun rolled out of the tunnel and onto his feet before gesturing his hands down at the empty space where the endoskeleton once was. "Our body! It's GONE!"

Jake stuck his head out and looked down and much to his horror saw that the endo was moved. He looked around quickly to see if it had just been moved, but no. It was gone.

He knew he had a bad feeling when Chaz mentioned it was supposed to be burned. He hastily climbed out of the hole.

"Don't worry, we'll just get it back! They're probably taking it downstairs."

"Yeah, to the FURNACE!" Sun lamented. His head then snapped to the balcony. "Maybe I can catch up with them."

"No! If you do that- We can't risk them finding out about what it is, or connecting us to that, or you know…" Or Sun and or Moon getting in a fight over the endoskeleton and getting himself shipped down to the furnace. "They only run it during afterhours, right?" Sun nodded in a panicked and frenzied way. "Then they'll probably do it at eleven tonight. If we can get over there, we can wait them out and then go in and grab it before it burns!"

"Yes! I can do that!" Sun agreed.

"Not alone, you can't," Jake insisted. Sun's shoulders dropped with dismay as Jake crawled back into the tunnel to grab his control panel. "They'll probably take it to the furnace under the atrium. It's closer, it's smaller. I can get us maps, I can open doors, I can get us down there, and then we bring it back together."

As much as Sun wanted to fight it, after his utter failure to move it alone earlier he knew it was better to take the risk and accept the help. He couldn't have another slip up and not get it through on his own. He was kicking himself for that.

They agreed: they were going to get it back.

That endoskeleton meant more than those technicians would ever know.

…

..

.

..

…

Today he didn't feel sick.

It had been getting worse. The weakness, the sickness, the pain spreading from head to limbs that could only be treated with pill upon pill, injections, and bitter liquids. But today he woke up in a daze, feeling so detached and weak that he could barely lift his arms and he couldn't really feel his legs. But he wasn't sick. He was just tired. Tired and weak.

His ever-present caretaker, Margie, was at his side from the moment he woke up. Petting his head and giving him sips of water, crying when he wasn't looking. He could see how blotchy her face looked from stealthily wiping away tears. He knew that she was crying for him and maybe something was going on that he didn't realize, but he was too tired to even worry about it.

He wanted to sleep, but something told him to stay awake.

Afternoon came and with it arrived a clear head. He looked out the window at the sunny day outside and considered asking to be taken outside, but he was almost too tired to speak. He kept nodding off right when he had the gumption to do so.

Then Jake woke up and decided that he wanted something.

"Si… Simon?..."

Margie was there, and she sprung up to get him Simon.

Simon was his best friend and favored companion. Well, since his father had gone and he had become so confined to his home. He couldn't play with kids his age. He couldn't really play much anymore recently, but he had Simon.

But Simon wasn't just an ordinary doll. Dad said he was magic. Which Jake hadn't really believed at first until he discovered Simon's special secret: he could talk. Every night before bed, when Margie wasn't around, Simon and he would talk and make up stories about the adventures and fun he couldn't have. Simon always knew what Jake wanted to do and how to make it sound so vivid and wonderful.

Jake loved Simon. He loved their little stories and he loved to get lost in the adventures he couldn't have. And he loved his dad. He loved how sometimes Simon would say things that sounded like something his dad would say.

He wished he was here.

He would've wished for his mother too, but she had passed when he was very young, and he couldn't remember her well. Margie had always taken her place since then. She had been the one to take care of him, help clean him up, keep his father company. She was here now and that was all that he needed. Her and Simon, they would keep him company.

He was surprised how heavy his arm was when he put it around Simon. He couldn't even pick the doll up, just hold it against him.

"Th-Thank you…" he said. "…Margie?"

"Yes, Sweetie?" She smiled lovingly with big sad eyes.

"Thank you… for taking… care of me."

Every word felt so heavy that they barely made it up and out of his mouth.

She couldn't help it. Her eyes swelled with tears. She choked a little before recovering enough to pet his head.

"I love you so much, Jake," she told him. She gave him a kiss on his forehead and continued to pet his head.

"I love… you too…" Jake said. "And… Simon too."

"And Simon too."

Simon didn't reply of course. He wouldn't until tonight and Jake only wondered if he would be able to talk back. Maybe he would just have to listen. He could listen. Like now, listening to Margie's humming as she continued to pet his head.

He laid there for a little bit longer before deciding that he would sleep for a while. Only a little while. He closed his eyes and felt himself drift. Everything felt fuzzy but pleasant.

He held tightly onto Simon.

Jake went quietly, surrounded by love.

…

He had never been so afraid.

His head hurt, his body hurt, but nothing hurt more than the wounds. Digging deep into his stomach and chest and oozing out heat across his body. He was feeling colder and colder with every passing moment. Though whether that was from the bleeding or because of where he was, he didn't know.

The trunk offered no warmth. And it was open, so the chilly air was still making it in.

He couldn't move. He couldn't even get out if he wanted to.

Everything felt like too great of an effort, so he could only stare out at the back of dirty building- at the dumpster, at the brick wall- and hope someone would eventually come out the back door and find him here. Except they wouldn't because Freddy's was closed. As the man with the sickening grin had reminded him when he showed up. The only people who knew he was here was him.

Maybe the janitor would come back. The janitor was the one who caught him. The janitor was the one who left him with him, so maybe he would come back to investigate. Someone would have to eventually come by.

His stomach hurt. He felt like he was going to be sick, but he just couldn't. He was lightheaded and dizzy, but it was slowly fading overtime as his head ached and his heart thumped harder and harder. He was so cold.

And what was worse was that this was all his fault. He knew he was going to get in trouble trying to sneak and stay the night here. He just didn't think this was going to happen.

For the first time in his life, he wanted to go home.

That was when the backdoor opened. He felt a moment of hope, but it was very faint. Too disoriented to celebrate or even speak, and hoping they noticed him, whoever they were. As long as it wasn't him.

But what came out of the building was something much more unexpected.

It wasn't a person at all, but a long, lanky, familiar form.

It was the Puppet from the Prize Corner, and it was floating. As though it was dangling on invisible strings it slipped out the door and out into the rain. It was a frightening sight. Or it should've been, but after tonight he didn't feel much of anything.

Maybe it was a smart robot. He heard about how some of the robots were supposed to be able to protect kids, the plastic looking ones that didn't sing as good as the old ones. Maybe this Puppet thing was like them. Maybe it could tell someone that he was here and then they could come get him. He didn't care who, he just needed help.

But the Puppet was looking the other way. It floated over and then began to look in the dumpster.

Andrew mustered up all the strength he had to lift his arm, only for it to become too heavy and land on the edge of the trunk, his hand dangling out.

The Puppet spun around and stared directly at his dangling arm. Its eyes white dots, its usual smile twisted up into a sorrowful frown. Andrew didn't even think about it, he wasn't thinking of much. The Puppet came over and opened the trunk and looked down at Andrew's body shoved into the back. It shuddered and purple paint stuff poured out of its mask's eye holes.

It hunched over him and carefully slid its arms underneath him before scooping him up into them. Andrew briefly roused from his dazed state by the motion, but any efforts to move were in vain. He was helpless. Yet as he was cradled into the warm fabric arms and against its chest, it didn't seem too bad. He felt like he could drift off to sleep right then.

He vaguely noticed being carried inside. He barely noticed he was being taken into the back. He saw a funny, squat dog animatronic that he didn't recognize before his vision faded too much for him to make out anything.

He barely felt himself being put in.

Andrew went in fear, but he was not alone.

…

Jake felt like he was drifting in a slumber. He heard things as he slept and he felt himself getting moved, but only in the lightest ways. It felt like being rocked in tepid bathwater. So distant and separated from him.

Until the voices had grown louder. The voice, a man's voice- a doctor's? Was he asleep in the hospital? Sick in bed? Had the tumor taken away his sight and ability to move? He didn't understand what was going on and though he felt lucid and relaxed, away from any danger, he was starting to grow more scared. A muffled man's voice. He had to pay attention. He had to focus.

Slowly the words untangled itself.

"-ine specimen. The first fully active remnant carrier that I have found. I read a report on a spotting of a feral dog that attacked a man last week- bit his finger off! I am assuming this is that dog and will be taking any precaution possible to avoid the same fate. Now, let's see what you're hiding… Hmm… The battery is unusually warm and corroded. Perhaps this is where its remnant is localized."

There was a squeaking noise as something was moved. Then a clatter and clicking, shifting, and banging of something thrashing. There was a growl and whine that sounded almost doglike.

The man sighed. "Resistance. Unfortunately, it seems we will have to administer an electrical current to subdue it. It really is a shame, but I cannot risk it with these teeth. Flesh easily gets caught in metal. Now, if I do not cross three or more shocks, we shouldn't see any damage in the body. The remnant, regardless, will stay intact. Though without a proper body we cannot see the full extent of its spread. Which is why we will be moving the localized remnant into body B. But first we must get there."

Jake didn't understand nor like what he was hearing. He tried to focus and see, unsure exactly what was being strained to do so. He couldn't feel his face and couldn't blink, but his head suddenly felt notably heavy and then he started to see movement. Shadows and lights, a sharp light and a moving shadow, and he tried to focus and see more.

It was then that he realized that there was no way he was at home or at the hospital. He had no idea where he was.

"We will begin electrical sedation now."

There was a crackle of electricity and a howl that sounded like a dog. Jake felt immediate horror. It sounded like someone was shocking a dog.

"Still active. Here goes a second round of electrical sedation."

Hearing it howl and wail filled him with shock and worry, and it continued to build as he tried to fight himself to do something. To wake up, get up, and save the dog. He wanted to scream, to howl just as loud as it did, but he had no mouth.

But he did have a voice. He screamed and yelled and tried with all his might before something popped in his chest and it flowed through on crackly static like water.

"Leave him alone!"

The sound of the electrocution immediately stopped. A shuffling somewhere in the room.

"Who said that?" the man asked in surprise. His footsteps came closer. "…Was… Was it one of you?"

It sounded close by and while Jake didn't really feel safe, he spoke up.

"I'm here."

His voice sounded so weird. It sounded like he was speaking through a phone, and the phone wasn't where his mouth was but from somewhere further down. Maybe he WAS in the hospital, and they gave him weird medicine that was making him confused. He had that happen once before surgery, when the walls were wobbly and kindly nurses looked like aliens.

He could hear someone walking up, but he couldn't see them. Then the world shifted a little. He was being moved but it was all still hazy so he couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening except someone might've picked him up.

"Was that you?" the man asked. His voice so close and so loud even in quiet disbelief.

"Yes," Jake said quietly.

"You… You spoke…" He gasped deeply and sputtered afterwards. "Could it be a prank? Someone speaking through a connected radio… But no, it couldn't be. No signal could reach. A prerecorded message? If you can understand me, repeat the following phrase: a broken bulb blinks brilliantly."

"A… A broken bulb blinks brilliantly," Jake replied. He was becoming more frightened. "Where's Margie? Where am I?"

"I don't believe this… I cannot believe my luck!" The man gave another gasp, though now one filled with joy and excitement. "This- This is astounding! I knew eventually one would- I must document this!"

Jake was jarred and shook as the man ran somewhere nearby. He heard the click of a button.

"This is incredible! I'll document the time later, but I have just discovered the first known reported case of aware remnant! Non-feral, responsive."

Jake was jarred again and then released from the man's grasp and sat down. The only reason he realized as much was the lack of movement and the faint feel of a firm surface beneath him.

"Beginning the interview now." The man set something down beside him. "Now then, can you hear me?"

"Y-Yes. Where am I?"

"Good. Now then. What color is the sky on a sunny day?"

Jake was confused. "…Blue?"

"Slight hesitation but still capable of answering the question through recollection alone! Let's do another repetition exercise…"

The asked him so many questions, asked him to repeat so many phrases, and didn't answer any of the questions Jake asked. He could hear scribbling so likely the man was writing down his answers and observations too, but he seemed unwilling or unable to really listen.

"I want to go home," Jake had half-begged.

"If you heard that, that must have been a recollection of the moment before the initial transference of remnant. Incredible! Terribly sad, but still: incredible!"

The man never answered. He asked and asked until he was done, and then he got up. Jake could hear him walking around and talking but was helpless to do anything but lie there.

"We need a more secure vessel. The remnant will not survive in a structure so lacking in pliable metal elements, but body B would be perfect. Using both sources of remnant I may be able to stabilize an intelligent entity out of them yet!"

Jake didn't understand what the man was talking about, but he had a bad feeling.

The next thing he knew, the man was putting something very close to his face. He heard the creaking of metal and yanking, peeling, the popping as something came off him. His face burned momentarily, the first thing he had truly felt since he had woke up down there. As though someone had popped his face off.

And not too long after that but he was carried somewhere loud and hot. He felt a sudden movement and saw nothing but a bright light and heard the crackling of fire around him.

And then suddenly Jake felt the whole world fade and shift, rolling him around like he was swirling in a whirlpool, drifting down the drain, and then dropping him heavily into a weighted body. It was a frightening, jarring feeling.

The scariest part being that he didn't know how long had passed. It almost felt like waking from a dream. It could've been mere minutes or a few hours and he wouldn't have known the difference.

But there was one big difference though and that was the shadows. Faint foggy shadows dancing across his vision. He could just barely make out something. He couldn't rub his eyes and they wouldn't open wider, so he just tried to focus intensely on one spot as long as he could. Slowly his vision started to edge in. The center opened and he was staring at forms in front of his eyes.

He could see the man walking around in the basement, recognizing the silhouette of a man and hearing his footsteps. Eventually the man came over and crouched down before him. He looked to be an older man in a white lab coat- he looked like a doctor, but this didn't look like a hospital. The walls were grey and faded. Just like the man's grey faded hair, though his facial details, while close, were hard to specifically make out.

"Can you hear me?" the man asked. "Answer if you can."

Jake was too afraid to respond.

"Hmm… No! No, I'm sure the transference was successful. Perhaps a trickle charge on the battery may help. A small jolt to get everything moving."

The man wheeled over some sort of black box and unhooked two cables from it before reaching for him. Jake braced himself to be electrocuted, only to have the man reach and clamp the wires onto something on his chest. Jake's gaze edged down to see what he had done, and it looked like he had attached them to the battery lodged in his chest.

"There we are! We'll see how it handles."

The man got up and putzed around some more, excited and jittery, asked Jake another question that he didn't answer, and then finally left.

Finally, Jake was alone. Except that he wasn't alone.

Almost immediately after the door shut and the footsteps on stairs faded away, the machine's arm leapt up and swung around. It moved in a disjointed and confused fashion before thumping onto and patting the chest, finding the wires. It yanked at one of them.

"Wait, wait! Stop!" Jake cried.

The arm paused. There was a lingering pause.

Then Jake heard a very quiet voice. It sounded like it was coming from inside his head or just behind him.

"What?" it asked. It sounded like another kid, a boy.

"Don't mess with that! I- I don't know what it does. I don't want to get shocked."

"What?!" the other voice asked again. Though before Jake could explain, it clarified its question. "Wait, that- you're that kid who yelled earlier! Where are you?!"

"I'm right here. Where are you?"

"HERE. WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Uh… I think I'm in some sort of robot… Wait, but you're controlling the arm, right?"

The arm dropped instantly.

"Right?"

"I was. You can see me?"

"No, I can't. The arm you were moving is the arm of the robot I'm in."

"…We're both in here?"

The boy's unease made Jake equally anxious, but he didn't have time to even ask before the other blurted out.

"Ugh, come on! That's not fair! How can we both be in the same robot?!" he vented. "First the stupid dog and now this thing and I can't see, and I'm stuck in some wacko's basement! What's going on?!"

It almost sounded like he wasn't surprised by the whole robot thing. Jake wasn't entirely convinced he wasn't still asleep, so he just went along with it tentatively.

"I hope that dog's okay…" he said worriedly.

"I WAS THE DOG!"

There was a long pause as Jake processed that.

"The dog was a robot too!" the other boy explained. "I was stuck in it and then he started to take me apart, and then… that's when you yelled."

"Oh…" Jake was becoming more convinced that this couldn't be real. "Who is that man?"

"I don't know, but he's a real creep."

"His name's Taggart. He's some sort of doctor who works on stuff like us."

The endoskeleton lurched at the unexpected voice. Its head started to shift around. It was almost disorienting as it moved, especially since Jake wasn't controlling it. Andrew was. He looked off towards the wall.

"Up here!" The voice called again.

"Look to the right a little," Jake said.

"What?" the other boy asked.

"It's coming from that shelf over there."

"Wait! You can see?!"

"Yes? I told you, I saw the arm move."

"You didn't- ugh- Why can you see and I can't?!"

"Because he's got the face, Smarty-pants."

The other boy's voice clammed up at that explanation and he jerked their head a little to the right, back towards the shelf. That was when Jake finally saw the source of the voice. It wasn't a human at all.

There was a rabbit plush sitting up on the shelf propped up against a box.

It looked to have been a light yellow once, but a buildup of grime gave is a dull, almost greenish splotchy hue in some places. There was a big brown stain around its left eye. It would've looked like a patch if not for how it was shaped, like it had oozed down its face. Like it had been dipped in the mud or chocolate sauce, some sort of viscous liquid. It had round pink cheeks, one was notably scuffed, and an unraveled blue bowtie with the strands sticking out of its neck. Its pink eyes stared ahead blankly.

"Who are you…?" Jake asked warily.

"Just call me… Bunny!" the doll answered. It didn't move though. "Don't sound so spooked. I'm no different than you guys! Have you guys seen yourself?"

"No," the other boy said poutingly.

"We're… We're in some sort of robot," Jake explained to him. "It's made of metal and has long arms and legs, and there's a… car battery in the chest?"

"That came out of that stupid dog I was in. Good riddance, the dog sucked. And it was starting to smell like hot glue."

Or burning plastic, perhaps.

This was all rapidly becoming too much for Jake.

"How did we get here? What- What are we doing here?!" Jake asked. He started to become more panicked. The robot's voice box starting to make hazy and crunchy noises instead of the panicked sounds he wanted to make.

"Calm down, it's not that bad!" Bunny called. "And I can tell you that. That Taggart guy gathered us all up and brought us here. He's got tons of machines and toys that he's collected and done science experiments on."

"But how did I get here?! I was home! In bed! I-I'm not supposed to be here…"

"…Me neither," the other boy added quietly. As though he wasn't as convinced.

"Huh. Well, depends. What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was…. I was in bed, going to sleep…" Jake quietly said. "Margie, she's like my Mom, she was with me and she gave me Simon, he's my doll, to me. Then I fell asleep and I woke up and couldn't see, and that's when I heard the dog and yelled."

"…You sleep with a doll?" the other boy asked in disbelief.

"Simon's special. He's not just a doll," Jake explained.

"Well, we'll see! What's he look like?" Bunny asked. Jake was about to answer when Bunny added on, "And I mean his face. What's his face look like?"

"Uh… He had a big smile and big eyes, but one was scribbled out because I got a black eye… And he's got stuff on his mouth, like pizza sauce. He's all white, by the way."

"Okay, so a white roundish face with a scribbled-out eye and a big smile. Yeah, I've seen it."

"You have?"

"I'm looking right at it."

"…What?"

"Yeah, what?" the other boy asked as well.

"That's the mask that's on the robot you're in. It's like attached to the face. It doesn't look like it goes to it at all, so… that explains why." There was a pause before Bunny quietly added, "Sorry, but I think you must've died."

Even stuck in this body, Jake could feel the shock. He just couldn't feel any physical manifestations. No racing heart, no sick stomach, just dry shock and no way to express it.

"What are you talking about…? What do you mean?! What do you mean I died?!" Jake cried.

"You die and you go into robots or toys or whatever," the other boy said. "It happened to me too. That's how I ended up in that dog."

Jake was still in a state of panic. He was waiting for something to jump out and startle him so he could wake up and realize this was all a bad dream, but it wasn't happening. The longer he sat in this body, the more it felt real.

"…Were you sick or something?" Bunny asked.

"…Yeah. I had a tumor in my head. A tumor's like a ball of stuff and sometimes... it grows somewhere where they can't take it out." Jake tried to take a calming breath like Margie had once taught him only to realize that he wasn't and couldn't breathe. He didn't even feel like he had to. "…I think I did die…" he realized. "…But what am I doing here?"

"You held onto Simon. When you were talking to Taggart- do you remember that? You were IN your doll. And now you're in this end-o-skeleton and he's attached your doll's face to its. So, yeah, he put you in the end-o."

It was enough to send Jake reeling. He had so many questions but couldn't ask any. He wanted to freak out, but he had no heartrate to speed up or lungs to hyperventilate with.

"You guys should introduce yourselves. You're going to be really close for a long time!" Bunny suggested. An awkward pause followed. "…Sorry, bad time."

At least it gave Jake something to focus on. "O-Okay, uh… What's your name? Not Bunny, I mean you in the robot too?"

"You can just call me Dead Meat, because that's what we are. That or "Creepy Guy's Science Experiment"." Jake was silent at the resistant and the boy made a huffing noise. "It's Andrew."

"Nice to meet you."

"Is it?" Andrew challenged.

Jake was a little taken aback by the abrasiveness. "Uh, I guess not. Sorry. I was just being nice."

Andrew paused and then gave a tiny huff.

"…It's okay," he mumbled.

"There you go! Okay, now we all know each other and we're kind of friends…" Bunny interrupted. His voice fell to a whisper just loud enough for them to hear it. "How about you start getting us out of here?"

"What?" Jake asked.

"Taggart's going to come back and test you to see if you're still alive. He's going to do all that stuff he did before, shocks, pop quizzes, and there's nothing you can do. Unless we escape! I'm ready to go. I've been stuck on this shelf for so long there's dust building up around me!"

"Getting out of here sounds good to me," Andrew agreed. "You see a way out, Jake?"

"There's the door he went out of. It sounded like he went up some stairs too."

"Then we're not going up there! Look around. Here."

Andrew began to almost wildly swing their head around to look, which was more disorienting than helpful. Though then Jake spotted something.

"Wait! Over there, to the left! There's a little window!" Jake pointed out.

It looked like a little basement window. High towards the ceiling and covered in metal bars, but still a window.

Andrew began to try and get up. It was an awkward motion, and it became apparent quickly that his arm was the only limb he had full control on. Yet he managed to crawl in the direction of the window, the endoskeleton body squeaking with every motion, and Jake's quiet directions leading the way.

They reached the wall and Andrew used it to get them on their feet. It wasn't until they were up on unsteady legs that Jake realized he could feel them. He could feel the pressure on the legs, he just couldn't figure out how to move them. It was almost like the feeling of his legs being asleep.

Their hands made it to the window and Andrew felt around the circumference of it.

"I think we can fit through," he said. He blindly patted over his body. "Yeah, we'll fit."

"There's bars on the other side though," Jake warned.

"Urk- What?! Why did you tell me to go to the window if there's bars?!"

"I thought maybe we can pull them off. We're a robot, right? We should be strong!"

This body was much sturdier and taller than his last one…

"…Good point."

Andrew balled up his fist in preparation to break the glass.

"Don't forget to grab me on the way out," Bunny said from the shelf.

"We won't-," Jake assured.

He was cut off by the cracking of glass as Andrew punched the window into pieces. He then speedily pulled out the rest of the glass before feeling for and tackling the bars. He grabbed them in his hands and pulled, wedging his boney metal knees on the wall, and hearing them grind as he pulled with all his might.

There were dull footsteps upstairs.

"He heard you! He's coming down here!" Bunny warned.

Jake began to panic as well. He felt so helpless, only able to watch as all of this went down. Or perhaps not.

Like with his vision, he focused all he could. He made every effort to move his arms and hands, like trying to shake out uncooperative limbs. Trying his hardest to mimic and contribute to the gestures Andrew was making.

With that extra surge of strength, one of the bars was pulled loose and was then slid out. It was tossed aside and both hands were used on one to try and pull it free, but then the door was thrown open.

Taggart took sight of the endoskeleton actively trying to escape the basement and was filled with shock and awe.

"By Gods, it's awake. It worked! You're- Wait! Stop that!" Taggart looked around and ran to a nearby table. "Will need to- begin electrical sedation- immediately!" he said as he scrounged through the buildup of items.

"He's going for the shocker! Now's your chance!" Bunny yelled. Taggart looked back in surprise at the unexpected new voice.

With Taggart aside, the path to the door was open. Jake shoved the body so hard that it lurched.

"That way! The door! Run!" he cried.

Andrew didn't need to be told twice and started a clumsy run towards the door, bumping into the shelf Bunny was on in the process.

But there was Taggart, quick with his taser and running back to block the door. His eyes still wide with awe but now also with fear. Afraid to let them get away, afraid to get hurt, it was unclear.

"Stop! STOP! He's blocking the way!" Jake warned.

The body staggered to a stop before Andrew began to back away, head turning and moving as he struggled to see and Jake having to fight to keep his eyes on Taggart.

"Please, calm down. I mean no harm!" Taggart assured them. But after all he had put them through it was hard to believe it. "Come here, please. Jake? Jake, if you can understand what I am saying, then please stop. This is a safe place!"

It was impossible to believe him, and his use of Jake's name only made him more fearful. Their shoulder bumped the shelf.

"I-I don't know," Jake whispered.

But Andrew did. He heard the panic, he heard the pleas, he heard Taggart getting closer, and he felt the shelf.

He grabbed the shelf and with one yank brought the whole thing down on Taggart.

Taggart screamed, Bunny screamed, the shelf crashed down, and Jake was struck by horror at the scene.

"Andrew?!"

"Help me!" Andrew yelled over him. "Tell me where to go! I can't see!"

"To the right! More- stop! Turn left and then it's straight to the door!" Jake directed.

Andrew began to run for the door, slamming into it and slamming it shut before grappling for the knob.

"Wait, what about- what about Bunny?" Jake asked.

Andrew wasn't paying attention. He threw open the door and into the stairwell, hitting them and landing on them on his knees. He began to crawl up them like an animal, like a dog.

"Andrew!"

"NO! COME BACK! COME BACK! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE WITH THIS NUTCASE!" Bunny yelled.

With that cry fueling him, Jake grabbed ahold of the body in some way and held. He forced those limbs to stop, he forced those hands to tighten, and he held on even as they feel forward and crashed face-first into the stairs.

"What?! What?!" Andrew cried out from inside.

"We have to go back and get him!" Jake yelled back. He held on tightly, refusing to budge.

"Okay, okay! FINE! Just tell me where he is!"

Andrew pushed back and turned, and Jake released, and they were falling back out the door in a frenzied stagger. Jake looked around before spotting the rabbit plush half pinned under the shelf.

"OVER HERE! DOWN HERE!" Bunny was yelling.

"Do you hear him?!"

"Yes!"

"He's right in front of us, sort of to the right, under the shelves!"

The endoskeleton dropped to its knees and felt around. Jake using his effort like on the stairs to pull Andrew in the direction of the rabbit, and soon they pulled up the shelf enough to grab it.

"We've got you!" Jake said.

"GOOD, now let's get out of here fast! Go, go, go!"

The endoskeleton staggered back out. Neither of them spared a look at the man trapped under the shelves. Neither wanted to see for their own reason.

At the top of the stairs, they found themselves in some sort of lived-in warehouse filled with all forms of machinery and equipment. They were all running blind, nearly crashing into anything that got in the way of their fleeing body, and eventually escaped to the outside. It was a sunny day and the land around the warehouse was mostly barren, but they were exposed.

"We're out?!" Andrew asked.

"We're out!" Jake said. "But… But I don't know where to go."

"Where ARE we?! What do you see?!" Andrew pressed.

"It's a lot of desert…"

"We've got to hide somewhere someone's not going to find us. Like that shed over there! Wait this out. Then when it gets dark, I know where we can go."

With nowhere else to turn, they did as told. They hid out in that old shed despite whatever they heard outside. Jake watched the light through the crack in the door until the sun went down, and then they left and went to this place.

After a walk that took hours- during which they lost their way more than once- they ended up finding the place. It looked like an old, derelict factory. They let themselves in.

"What is this place?" Jake asked.

"Some sort of old factory where they dump stuff. I got dumped off here before I got dumped off with Taggart."

"Wait! So, this is the place where that creep found you? What if he just comes back?!"

"IF he comes back, then I've got you two to help move me to another room, right?" Bunny suggested.

Jake looked around at the building. It was cold and dusty. Empty except for boxes of stuff. One was tipped over and spilled broken toys out across the floor.

"Look at all these toys…" Jake murmured.

"I can't," Andrew muttered.

"Sorry."

"Don't expect them to talk back like I do," Bunny remarked.

Jake always had a soft spot for toys, and since the rest of the place was so desolate, he preferred to keep his focus on them. Think about what it might be like to clean them up and play with them.

He didn't want to think about home.

Because he knew- he didn't have to ask, he knew- that he wasn't going back.

…

Jake wasn't sure how many days they had been in the factory. Long enough that he wasn't so numb anymore. Probably about two or three, but sometimes it was hard to tell unless they were by the windows.

In this time Jake had started to get a little more control over the endoskeleton, though it still paled in comparison to how much control Andrew had. Not that he really fought for it. Andrew spent a lot of his time sulking and there wasn't much to do, so he let Jake do whatever.

Jake had taken to collecting toys from the boxes. He didn't really have the means to clean or repair them, so he just stacked them on shelves and tables until sometime when he could. At least it got them off the floor.

Currently he and Andrew were an object on the floor. They had sat down in the corner to rest while Bunny was propped up on another shelf. Things were quiet, which Jake both appreciated and found sort of depressing.

Being in the robot was weird. Late at night he would suddenly get a burst of energy and want to run and move, but really couldn't. Sometimes in the afternoon he would get tired, like now. He didn't have to eat or drink, but he could still feel tired, and somehow, he could still sleep. He could even dream.

He had a dream about his dad last night. He had been working really hard today to find and put up toys, so much so that he didn't have to think about the dream. Now that he was stopped and sitting it crept up on him.

While Margie took very good care of him, there was nobody Jake loved more than his dad. He was the best. He was funny and smart, and always came up with fun things for them to do. Even when Jake couldn't go out and play like he used to. When he was home, they were inseparable. When he was gone, Jake spent most of his time waiting for him to come back.

The problem was that Jake's dad was in the army and sometimes they had to send him off to faraway places. His dad had told him plenty about it, but he still felt like he didn't know much about what he did or why he had to leave. All he knew was that someday he would come back. Jake's dad promised and he never broke a promise. Never. Even if plans had to change, he found a way to pull through.

The thought he would never see his dad again made him hurt deep inside.

He felt weirdly alone here. He wasn't alone, especially with Andrew wedged up against him, but he felt alone. Bunny was chatty but Andrew got annoyed if they talked too much, and Jake didn't know what to talk about anyways.

Jake's life had shrunk so much before this happened. His only stories to tell were the ones he made up with Simon. His only memories were too sad to think about. He felt trapped. A crushing trapped feeling-

"Jake?!"

Andrew's cry snapped him out of his thoughts. "What? What's wrong?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong?! I said your name like twenty times! That's what's wrong!" Andrew snapped.

Jake hadn't even been paying attention. He heard Andrew start talking but just hadn't… he hadn't been thinking of much else beyond that crushing ache.

"Sorry! I was just distracted."

"Well get un-distracted!"

This was weird. While Andrew seemed to be a little harsh, he seemed unusually angry from that alone.

"What's wrong? Why are you so upset?" Jake asked.

"I don't like to be ignored," Andrew huffed.

Oh.

"Oh."

…

…

"I don't know, I thought maybe you… left or something," Andrew unexpectedly continued. "Because we're both in here. Maybe you just went away."

"Oh… I'm sorry," Jake said in surprise.

"Don't say it like that. It makes me sound stupid," Andrew muttered. "Just forget it."

"Okay," Jake agreed, "…But I'm not going anywhere. Even if I did, I'd tell you first. And take you with me since we're in the same body now."

"…Good."

There was another uneasy pause. Jake expected it to last but again Andrew broke it.

"…Sooo, you like toys?"

This was the first time Andrew had shown any real interest in him. It was unexpected, but a distraction much appreciated.

"Yeah. I couldn't go outside so I had a bunch of toys, but Simon was my favorite. We used to make up stories together."

Jake trailed off and they sat there in silence for a beat.

Then a second.

A third.

"Are you going to tell one?" Andrew asked.

Jake was surprised. "You want to hear one?"

"Sure, I'm bored. There's nothing else to do. No TV."

"Count me in too! I'm about to go crazy up here. Watching you two walk around's all I've got," Bunny added.

"O-Okay! Well… Once upon a time, there was a kid named… Simon. He liked to play baseball. One day his dad took him to a game, and he watched all the players playing and decided, 'I want to do that too!' So, he signed up…"
…

Arguments weren't unheard of. Even when they were one-sided arguments between Andrew and usually Jake.

What was a little less expected was what came after this argument.

"Look, I don't mean to boss you around, it's just…" Andrew paused for a moment before asking, "Have you ever been so angry you just wanted everyone to know it?"

"Not really," Jake admitted.

"YES! Now you're speaking my language!" Bunny chimed in. "First of all, you may not have noticed, but I'm a Bonnie doll. I can't move, I can't walk, I can just sit here and hope someone moves me, but ask? Nooo. Nobody's going to touch a talking doll. Except you two, but when are you going to get the chance to take me somewhere fun?"

"Well, yeah, that's bad. But that's not what I meant," Andrew said with exasperation. "I just meant… Look, I… Ugh."

The endo dropped its head into Andrew's controlled hand. Jake let him do it, waiting patiently for him to continue. Bunny more or less waited on the edge of his seat.

"I'm sorry, Jake… For yelling at you," Andrew quietly apologized.

"I forgive you," Jake assured him.

"…And I'm sorry you got stuck with me."

"What?" Jake was taken aback. "No, don't say that! It's okay to get upset."

"It's not just this time! It's all the time. I've always been a jerk to you, and you've always been nice to me… I don't deserve it."

Jake's heart ached at Andrew's weak tone. "Yes, you do."

"Why?"

"Because you're my best friend."

Andrew gave a humorless laugh, like he didn't believe him.

Jake continued, "And you've been protecting us since we got here."

"We wouldn't BE here if it wasn't for you," Bunny added in. "You got us out of that basement. That took a lot of guts!"

"Eh, maybe…" Andrew murmured.

"He's right," Jake insisted.

"…Am I really your best friend or are you just saying that because we're stuck together?" Andrew asked.

"You're my best friend," Jake said honestly.

"…Thanks."

He could tell Andrew was smiling from his voice.

"Yeah, THANKS GUYS."

He could tell Bunny was not.

…

It was cold. Even in a cold, metal endoskeleton it was a cold night.

Jake took them over to the shelf and grabbed for a messily folded, stained, and abandoned blanket. It was small and super soft to the touch, even if it desperately needed a wash. It was a soft blue with ducks on it.

Jake draped it over their shoulders with his arm only to have Andrew yank it off with his own.

"There's no way."

He sighed. It looked like Andrew was going to be difficult again. "Come on, please? I'm cold. You're cold."

"No! I don't want to snuggle up to that gross old baby blanket."

"It's not gross! It's just a little muddy."

"Ugh. How old are we, four?"

"Come on, Andrew. There's nothing wrong with liking little kid stuff. It's warm and comfortable. Feel!"

He pressed the blanket to their chest, the one place where they both fully felt together, and rubbed the plush fabric against them.

"Feel?"

"I feel," Andrew muttered.

"Then you feel how soft it is." Jake managed to get it around their shoulders with little help from Andrew, tucking it in around them. "There! Better?"

Andrew muttered unconvincingly.

Shortly after that, he and Jake started to collect more blankets, and he no longer griped about their color or pattern.

…

Over time Jake and Andrew had started wandering around outside of the factory and closer to distant houses or an even further town. They had to walk for near hours to reach anywhere and it was dangerous, but Andrew was restless. So, every once in a blue moon Jake would indulge- that was how they eventually discovered a dump and scrapyard technically within walking distance.

A few times they had walked past or through a local park, but tonight something caught their interest there. Someone left a backpack on the bench. Andrew almost immediately taking the liberty of snatching it up and ducking behind cover.

"Andrew, that's stealing!" Jake scolded.

"At most we're stealing, like, school supplies. They'll get more," Andrew brushed off.

"But…"

"Looks like a kid in elementary school, right? They practically give them supplies!"

Jake hadn't been to school in years, but he was pretty certain that parents bought the supplies. It was clear that he wasn't going to get anywhere with him as Andrew unzipped the backpack and began to rifle through it.

There was a pencil case, some crumbled up papers, work books; just random school stuff. Nothing they would take interest in, except for a book that Andrew spotted and pulled out to see the cover of. It depicted a group of kids with bindles and old timey clothing standing in front of a caboose, all looking around in surprise as though something exciting was happening outside the border of the pictures.

"The Caboose Kids?" Jake asked.

"You've never heard of them?" Andrew asked.

"No. You?"

"I read them in school. Or the teacher read it to us. They're pretty dumb."

Though he said that, Andrew seemed to be keeping their head down staring at that book for a long time. He made no attempt to put the book back or anything. Jake couldn't help but take notice.

"…What were they about. Kids riding a train?"

"Pretty much. A bunch of kids with no parents run away from an evil orphanage and go live in a caboose. Then they travel around with the train and stuff happens."

"That sounds cool, not dumb."

"Meh."

Andrew still wouldn't put down the book.

"What's wrong?" Jake quietly asked, setting any pretense aside.

"I don't know… I guess it's the first time I thought about my old life in a long time. Back when I was a real kid," Andrew confessed. "…I actually liked these books. A lot. I didn't tell anyone, but I used to think about them a lot. I'd wish that I could run away and hop a train or something… I guess I kind of did. Except the train's a lot smaller and has legs."

Jake couldn't help but snicker a little at that. Though instead of being offended, something tense in the body lightened a little. As though Andrew too was relaxing.

"You know… We could probably read through this book in one night. We could stay awake and just push through the whole thing. I want to read it! I want to get on the train too," Jake said.

"What? Wait, what happened to not stealing? That sounds a lot like stealing," Andrew said, almost teasing him.

"It's not stealing if we read it in one night and get it back here before morning. What do you say?"

"Eh, okay. But only because we don't have anything else to do."

They took the book and hiked the long way back out to the factory, sat down, and immediately began to read- taking turns reading out loud so Bunny could hear. At first only Jake read out loud but eventually Andrew began to do so as well, taking over rather abruptly- much to Jake's surprise and delight.

It felt like the first time he had seen, or heard, Andrew happy. It made him happy too.

…

At some point dumpster diving became a favored pastime. Not in dumpsters though, but in the actual dump. They would sometimes find toys and other neglected things to bring back to their home. Such as right now.

"Look at these!" Jake proclaimed. He reached under some stuff and grabbed a tangled bundle of Christmas lights, freeing them with a quick tug and knocking over some stuff in the process. Though his attention was more on the lights. They were tangled up, but they didn't look too old. "It's shame they're broken," he sighed.

"…Well, maybe they're not. Come on."

Andrew took the lead, and they went to a small building located by the back of the dump. There wasn't much in the building except some trash and what looked to be a barely used trash compactor.

He must've had a hunch as he led them straight to the nearest outlet and plugged the lights in. Half of them lit up.

"Good enough?" Andrew asked.

"Yes! How'd you know they'd work?!"

"I figured someone just threw 'em out because they were tangled up or half dead. It's a little of both, but beggars can't be choosers."

"That's so cool," Jake agreed. "I wish we had power back at the factory. We could bring them back with us and put them around our hidey hole."

"Yeah…" Any of Andrew's previous interest quickly deflated, but only for a few seconds. "…You know, if we're going to start hanging around her more, maybe we should make a hideout here too?"

"That's a great idea! We could make it in here and just hide it in the back where no one can see it."

"I don't know. Someone might walk in and see us. That'd be like setting up shop on the side of the highway."

"No, we could make it work! We could… We could take a tarp and make it into a tent and then block it with trash so it's camouflage," Jake explained. Andrew gave an unconvinced noise, but he was about to change his tone at Jake's next statement. "And then we could fill it up with blankets and camp out in it. It would be like the hideout the Caboose Kids had! We wouldn't have a trapdoor, but… Who knows! Maybe we could make one."

"…Okay, maybe," Andrew agreed. He led them over to look around at the back corner. "Maybe over there?"

"That'll work!"

"And we could string these lights up in the inside. Wait, hey, this is great! These are only half lit up and it's THIS side, the plug-in side. The ones outside of the tent won't be glowing so nobody will see them!"

"Right!"

"Oh man, I think we're onto something." Andrew excitedly tapped his fingers onto the bundle of lights as he looked around. "This'll be way cooler than the factory. Just as long as we don't get caught."

"Oh yeah, that would be bad," Jake agreed. "…There's just one thing…"

"What? Andrew asked.

"Well, being under trash and hidden in the corner… I think we've got no choice but to call it a hidey hole."

"I'm not calling it a hidey hole," Andrew said flatly.

And he didn't… for a while.

...

Years passed.

…

Bunny had a delightful wakeup call to having an old, smelly teddy bear dangled before him. He couldn't even so much as shirk away.

"Ugh. Where did you find that thing?" he asked.

"We just bought it from a toy store. Where do you think we got it? The dump," Andrew replied.

"Looks like it should've stayed there," he quipped with disgust. "Looooks like a Tag-Along Freddy."

"So, you know what this is?" Jake asked.

"...THIS is a Tag-Along Freddy?!" Andrew asked.

At the same time. There was a pause as the two voices quieted to process what each other said. Unable to even look at each other.

"Wait, you know what this is too?" Jake asked in surprise. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I've never seen one or anything, I just heard about them. Get this: there was this kid who had one and it told him to jump off a cliff, and he did," Andrew explained.

There was a doubtful pause between half of the endoskeleton and the haunted plush.

"Trust me, it happened. It's a long story."

"O-kay... So, what's a Tag-Along Freddy? Just some sort of toy that talks?" Jake asked.

"They're just little dolls that lazy parents gave their kids to babysit them. They could talk and had a little camera in them to tattle on what they did. They were connected with those security bracelet things- ask me sometime to tell you about the Puppet. I don't feel like it now."

Andrew didn't want to ask about the puppet.

"They just left this to watch their kids?" Jake lifted the rancid doll and stared at it with scrutiny. It didn't look like it would be much of a babysitter, even if it was just supposed to sit in a room and record a child's movements. "Huh... Okay."

"Until it all went wrong," Andrew began in a theatrically cryptic voice.

"Andrew..."

"Come on. You know you want to hear this."

Jake expected that he wasn't going to believe the story and from their Bunny's groan it didn't seem like he was looking forward to it either... Though Andrew was right in the sense that he was curious. He caved. "What's the story?"

"Once there was this kid who got the Tag-Along Freddy doll. He loved this doll and took it everywhere with him, but then one day he disappeared. They looked for him all over but couldn't find him. Days later, they found the Freddy at the bottom of the cliffs outside of town and when they checked the recordings, they could hear Freddy telling the kid to jump off the cliff- and he did!... But they never found the body. All that was left was the doll, and that final recording telling him to jump."

"Oh..." Jake wasn't sure if he believed it.

"But the weirdest part? The recording wasn't in Freddy's voice..." Andrew's arm took the bear from Jake's and raised it up, slowly inching it towards their shared mask. "It was in the voice... Of his dead grandmother..." The doll sat in front of their view to emphasize the reveal. It was followed by a long pause. "...Or maybe his dead dad. Or mom. I can't remember who, it was just someone dead."

"That still doesn't explain why he would jump. I loved my dad, but I don't think I would've jumped off a cliff unless he was at the bottom to catch me," Jake rationalized.

"It's because little kids are too dumb to think for themselves. They'd throw themselves off a cliff for a piece of candy- or go with a stranger as long as he was dressed up like their favorite character. They're worthless."

That tone took both Jake and Andrew completely off-guard. It was so cold and aggressive, like he was actually offended by the story. Then a strange feeling of twitching heat started to spread through their body and Jake realized that this was not going to go well.

"Maybe if some of those lazy parents were watching their kids, they wouldn't get a chance to go wandering off with strangers. Or maybe they'd no not to go do stupid things. It's not the kids' fault, it's their worthless parents'," Andrew hissed.

Now, at this point Jake knew exactly why Andrew was upset, what with his past. Something that had slipped out in secret some time ago. Unfortunately, this past had not been related to their third friend, who seemed almost oblivious to the shift in mood, and he kept digging that hole.

"I'm not going to argue with you. Parents who think that a little, tiny doll is going to protect their kids deserve to have their kids taken away, but the kids always walk into it. They always walk away and leave themselves open to whatever's out there. They walk themselves off the cliff because they're too stupid to look down."

"I think you're stupid," Andrew said unwittingly. This must've caught their friend off-guard because normally he would've pounced on a comment that childish. Andrew followed up quickly, "If you're going to say some little kid is responsible for itself at all then you're either a complete idiot or you've never seen or been a kid."

"Guys," Jake warned.

"You just told me that lame story about the kid jumping off a cliff because his toy told him to. You can't act like that's a smart kid. That's an especially dense kid."

"That's like a three-year-old! What do you expect?!" Andrew lashed out. "How are they supposed to know better?! It's a talking toy! Those kids still believe in Santa Claus, of course they're going to trust a toy!"

"But they don't just trust toys, do they? They trust anything offering to butter them up with candy. They're greedy, they'll go with a stranger in a heartbeat and then wonder why oh why it hurts so badly when they do."

"What- Where- Where did that even COME from?! You're talking about kidnapped kids- Are you really going to sit there and tell me it's not the maniac who kidnapped them's fault, but it's the kids' fault they died?!"

The endo now stood dangerously tall over the unseeing plush toy. Its body, especially its one arm, were twitching violently as it stared down in half-hearted anger. The plush didn't move, but it decided to answer.

For some reason he chose the worst possible answer.

"...Yes."

The endo shrieked and Andrew reached for the toy, only for his arm to get caught by Jake, who forcibly turned their body away from the doll. He desperately tried to defuse the situation.

"Would you guys stop? It's just a story! It's not even real!" Jake protested. "Andrew, please-!"

Suddenly Andrew got control and turned them around, snatching up the doll and hoisting it up threateningly. His fingers dug into his neck.

"TAKE THAT BACK!" Andrew yelled. He shook the doll aggressively. "TAKE IT BACK, NOW!"

"I think you're taking this a little too personally. I didn't say you were stupid. You said I was stupid."

"YOU ARE!"

"Guys, would you two just stop?!" Jake yelled. He began to fight Andrew for the plush again. "Andrew, he's not talking about you! He doesn't know about what happened!"

"...This whole thing wasn't a long way of telling me that you were the kid that jumped off the cliff, was it? Because if it was, whoops."

Andrew gave another frustrated cry and threw Bunny down on the shelf. He turned his back on it and tightly balled his fist- as much as he could- in steaming anger. Jake patted his arm comfortingly, silently assuring him that he did the right thing. Then, after a moment to calm, he turned his head and spoke.

"You shouldn't say things like that. You don't understand what those kids go through... That's what happened to Andrew."

"Ugh, just don't..." Andrew hissed.

"It wasn't his fault that he was attacked. That wasn't any of those kids' fault. Even if they knew better, who's to say they could've stopped it?"

There was a long and extremely uncomfortable pause. Andrew ran his hand over his side of the mask as Jake stood there awkwardly, feeling the tension in the room. When all of a sudden-

"Was it a man in a rabbit suit?"

The question took them both off guard. The endo looked back at the doll, laying on its side with its back facing them. It hadn't budged from where it had fallen, as expected. Though that was the only thing expected by the moment.

"...Uh..." Jake started awkwardly.

"No," Andrew said suspiciously. "...Why?"

There was a long moment of silence where they waited for an answer that never came. Instead, the voice from the plush suddenly changed tone.

"I'm sorry, Andy. You know I don't think you're stupid, or that it's your fault you're. If it makes you feel any better, I don't think you'd ever walk off a cliff on purpose," he assured soothingly, as though talking down a wild animal. "...I just get mad sometimes."

"Mad?"

"At things. Maybe I say things I shouldn't. When you're stuck in a little toy like I am, sometimes you don't have much control over what you say. It just comes out, but I shouldn't take it out on you. You two are my best friends. I don't think you're stupid, I think you're both great."

Jake could feel Andrew calming down a little but could tell that he was still upset. Which was probably why he kept trying to pull their body's gaze away from the toy.

"Forgive me?"

Now on the spot, Andrew gave a huff- which came out of the endo sounding more like sizzling.

"Whatever," he snapped. He then looked down at the bear on the floor and picked it up. "Jake, can we do something about this thing? I'm tired of looking at it."

"Sure. Let's just go put it on the shelf with the others."

And they did. That conversation went forgotten after a few weeks, what with Bunny being very careful with his words, and it wasn't brought up again.

But it was sometime later when on a whim Jake had decided to take a plunge and ask a question he hadn't ventured.

"Hey, Bunny? Can I ask you something? You don't have to answer…" Jake asked. Andrew stayed silent and listened.

"Yesss?" Bunny replied willingly.

"…How did you die?"

The tone shifted immediately. It was as though a cloud suddenly hung over the room.

"…I don't want to talk about it," Bunny muttered.

"Oh. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

"Nah, it's okay," Bunny said. "…I didn't really die. I just became something else. As far as I care, I'm alive and well! Just… changed."

Jake couldn't say he didn't agree. He didn't press on the question, assuming that he would tell them when he was ready.

Eventually he did.

…

More years passed. It had been at least ten since they met.

…

The endoskeleton tore into the factory and slammed the heavy door before hustling into the large room where they had set up their homestead. Bunny watched them hustle in impatiently.

"What happened to you two?" he asked. More so asking why they had been over an hour late.

Instead, he received a much blunter answer.

"We saw a clown!" Jake exclaimed.

Over the years Jake's voice, like Andrew and Bunny's, had aged and deepened to match his current age. That was the highest it had gotten in ages.

"Wha-?"

"THAT was not a clown! THAT was a wire monster with a clown's head stuck on top!" Andrew corrected.

"Excuse me, but what the hell are you two talking about?" Bunny asked bluntly.

"We saw a clown at the dump! It was scrounging around; it almost saw us!" Jake explained.

"It ripped open a car door like it was nothing!" Andrew explained. "And then in like- like it slithered inside! All its wires just- ugh!"

"Sorry we're late, but we had to hide."

"There's no way we could let that thing see us."

"Huh… Well, at least you two aren't the scariest thing in town… If that's a good thing," Bunny mumbled. "I would've liked to see it for myself."

"Trust me, you wouldn't. I'm going to have nightmares from that," Jake assured him.

Bunny would have to take his word for it, because he didn't see much from the inside of this room- Jake realized this and added.

"Next time we'll take you with us," he assured.

"There is no NEXT TIME. We're never leaving this factory again. Forget the dump, the clown can keep it," Andrew interjected.

They went back next week.

…

"They're coming in. What are we going to do?" Jake whispered fearfully.

Andrew's hand tightened. He knew what he was thinking of doing.

"You're not going to do anything, okay? Pull that tarp over us and play dead."

"But what if they find us?"

"That's why you're covering us up."

"I'm not letting them take us," Andrew insisted. "I don't care what happens."

"You'll care when you've got a hundred-watt volt going through you. Don't try anything. Just play it cool."

The metal door slid open with a loud clatter. Jake helped Andrew pull the tarp over them.

"Play. It. Cool…"

And they did.

And they were helpless as the technicians wheeled them out of their home and took them somewhere else.

…

This place looked more like a maze than any sort of mall, though maybe that was because they were stuck in the endless tunnels sprawled out underneath it. They had wandered aimlessly looking for their friend and a way out.

They found something else.

"Look… Look at these!"

"They're cool, but we really need to find a way out of here."

"They're not just cool."

Andrew hesitantly reached his hand out and lifted the drooping head of the animatronic strung up on a hook. A frozen, downright mischievous grin started back at him. While its body was a basic nude frame, unfinished, its face was fully done up. Pale grey with a pointed nose, white eyes, and again that wide-stretched grin. It looked like some sort of creepy moon. Andrew soaked up every detail of it. He then reached down and lifted its limp hand.

"Look at this! Look how detailed its hands are. They're just like human hands!" Andrew said. Jake went along with it by reaching forward to carefully rotate the thumb.

"They're so advanced…" he said. He looked up and down the body.

"Jake, this is it. They're perfect!" Andrew gushed.

"For what?" Jake asked, having a feeling he already knew. "For us?"

"Yes! Think about- Imagine having our own bodies again. Ones that we don't have to worry about rusting or breaking down!"

"They're a little fragile looking though. We'd still have to be careful- What am I saying? What are you saying, Andrew? We can't steal a couple of animatronics!" Jake protested.

"It's not stealing! Not really. We're just… We could become them! Bunny's the one who always goes on about souls and bodies and stuff. If we find him, maybe he could help us out of this one and into those two," Andrew explained. He sounded so excited by the idea.

And no wonder, it would be a major upgrade. Their endoskeleton was old before they even got into it, but these were brand new. They looked more advanced than Jake had ever seen, but the thought of it made him uneasy.

"This is wrong."

"What part of it?" Andrew asked.

"The whole thing! First of all, yes, we would be stealing. And we'd be switching bodies? That seems… wrong."

"It's no worse than what Taggart did."

"That's why it feels wrong."

"It would be different. We would be switching because we want to!... Because we have to."

Andrew's tone fell as did his arm to his side.

"Jake, we're not as… fast as we used to be. Or as strong. The battery crackles, there's a spot in my eye, everything squeaks- it's only a matter of time before our body breaks down on us! Then what are we going to do?" he asked.

"I don't know… Move on or something?" Jake guessed.

"I… I'm not ready to do that." The suggestion alone filled Andrew with fear, and with them so close Jake too could feel it.

"Me neither," Jake quietly admitted.

"Then let's do this! Let's become these creepy looking gangly sun and moon bots and LIVE! Its not like we're getting out of here any other way," Andrew insisted. He reached over and grabbed Jake's hand, the endoskeleton effectively holding its own hand and then giving a stern shake. "Come on, Jake. We'll do it together."

Jake considered it for a long moment, and he considered it so long because despite him knowing it was wrong… it was so very tempting.

The thought of having a new, clean body- one less cumbersome than the endoskeleton they were stuck in- was so enticing. After all these years they had never found any tossed animatronic or machine of any kind even worth using for spare parts, let alone a full intact body. If they could find Bunny and he could get them in, then suddenly their prayers would be answered. They would be safe for now.

Because the other option was getting caught and broken down for parts like the technicians who brought them here wanted. As far as they were concerned, the endoskeleton was Fazbear Entertainment property and to be used to feed the business. They really were slowly getting cornered, and the only option was to run into a trap or hide in plain sight.

Running had worked for so long, but now it was time to hide.

"…Alright," Jake agreed. Before Andrew could get excited, he quickly added, "But ONLY if Bunny can do it! We don't even know if he can do that."

"He better with how much he goes on about it," Andrew dismissed. He cupped the moon's face and turned it towards him. "I call dibs on the moon! This is a smile I can get behind."

"You can have him."

"Tch, don't sound so torn up about it," Andrew said. Though his voice had a touch of nervous amusement in it.

While he was distracting himself with his new body, Jake tried to become acquainted with his own. He lifted its head and looked at its yellow face. It's smile more subdued, a little gap between its teeth, and grey blue irised eyes. It looked so cheerful, holding none of the mischievousness that the moon's had. He supposed it made sense, being the sun. It was much warmer and more approachable.

Something about it reminded him of Simon. Maybe he could learn to become attached.

…

Waking up without Andrew didn't feel right. He was confused and disoriented, but he knew how to focus his eyes and he put all his effort into doing that. He could hear something ticking and moving from close by and had to see what it was.

Then all at once, his vision came in. He was dangling in that dark basement workshop, staring down at a pale-yellow body hanging underneath him.

"It worked!" he thought. He couldn't speak yet, but he could see the change. But soon his concerns shifted. "Andrew? Is he okay?"

A hand moved in the edge of his vision. Then again. It was a grey and blue color; he recognized it as the one on the moon animatronic. It was feeling around blindly, desperately reaching for something.

Jake tried to lift his hand to meet it, but his arm was still too week. He had control to see but not yet the control to move. But perhaps if he focused really hard…

The speaker in his chest crackled as he focused…

"…And…rew…?"

Suddenly the moon's hand swung out and found him, patting over his chest before finding his arm and sliding down it before grabbing his hand. He squeezed it desperately, but Jake was too numb to squeeze back.

"I-I'm he… here…" Jake assured him.

Andrew squeezed his hand tighter. He was there too.

They hung there long enough that eventually Jake was able to squeeze back.

It was a while before they truly had control of the bodies. It could've been the entire night, perhaps even a day or two. Jake had heard voices around at some point, but nobody had come in. Though he could've imagined them, nodding off into a dreamless sleep once or twice. When he woke up, he would check on Andrew and then check on himself, working with his joints until he could lightly swing his feet.

Until at one point Andrew reached behind him and grabbed the line that hooked him. He finally detached his hand from Jake's and reached back with that one two, tightly gripping the line with both hands and lifting himself off the hook.

Andrew landed on his new legs, and they immediately buckled, landing on his hands and knees in a semi-crouch. He didn't stay down long, trying to right himself and then doubling over backwards. Apparently, the bodies were a little more flexible than they anticipated them to be.

He looked up at Jake with milky blue eyes.

"Hey, what's up?" Jake jokingly asked.

"Nooo-t m-ch," Andrew replied.

He rolled himself over onto his knees again and started to get up. First onto one knee and pausing to rest, then onto the other. He staggered forward and right into Jake but managed to stop himself with his hands on the floor. Jake waved his hand down at him, offering it, and Andrew took it as he began to slowly rise onto his feet again. Now using Jake's grip to balance himself.

He steadied himself on his feet and made sure he could let go of Jake and stand momentarily. Then he looked up to Jake, then wrapped his arms around him, and finally started to lift him off his hook. With a few staggered steps back, Jake's weight was freed, and he came down heavily on his own feet. His legs weren't so prepared and he fell forward, but Andrew was still holding on and quick to catch him.

Andrew gave Jake a few seconds to stabilize himself and get his bearings. He took Jake looking up to him as a silent confirmation to release him, and instead moved his hands up to cup Jake's new face.

It felt so weird to touch Jake, and it felt so weird to be touched by Andrew, and for them to be entirely separate. Jake gave an almost overwhelmed chuckle.

Andrew took this as a go-ahead and swooped in for another embrace. He nearly pulled Jake up off his feet and would've if his own wasn't so unsteady. His own laugh, those partially muted, making it through his unfamiliar voice box.

The two celebrated in their clumsy little dance. They had done it. They had found new bodies and had secured their future for the time being. They were free of the endoskeleton they had been trapped into.

But they were still together.
…

"We're almost there. We're practically above it," Jake assured.

Moon was willing to believe him, but he couldn't see for himself. The vent shaft was tight, dusty, and the broken wind-up Music Man was still tailing them. Every now and then it caught up and squeezed past Jake to reach its initial target, Moon, and tried to clap its little cymbals on his arms and pants to pull him back. It very nearly yanked his pants down twice, which Jake snickered at.

And while normally Moon would be glad that Jake was having a good time out of the room, this was the one time they couldn't fool around.

Jake was still monitoring the control panel as they inched along, before patting Moon's back to get his attention.

"It's right beneath us, but the only vent that leads past it is this one over here. Look." Jake held out the control panel and on the small screen he could see the layout of the vents. Upstairs Moon knew the vents quite well, but down here in the basement the ductwork was a mystery. Sure enough, the vent they were in- Jake pointed it out- went over the edge of the furnace room, but the one that went directly over the furnace room was nearby.

Which was good because this vent was sturdy and there was no hatch downwards.

They were pulled out their map searching and a creaking and heavy metal thump from down below. They both snapped their heads down in shock at the sound. They knew it was the conveyor being loaded up.

"Hurry!" Moon hissed. He turned and began to frantically crawl down the vents, his legs turned around to propel him faster. Jake couldn't do that anymore and fell behind, weighed down by the control panel.

Moon could hear the systems shifting. The clattering clacks of what sounded like clamps locking into place, the loud squeak before the system kicked in- it was all old down here, recycled from older establishments- and then the echoing beeping forewarning of the starting machine before the sound of the conveyor turning followed it. Moon could only hope they had found something else to burn before the endo but knew that likely wasn't the case.

He frantically banged through the rest of the shaft before finding the narrow opening down into the furnace room. He kicked through it and tried to squeeze in, but the space was too small to easily fit. His head had to be angled just the right way and even then, it was tight enough to rub the sensitive edges where his points were hiding.

He was twisting and contorting himself through when he caught sight of the conveyor nearby. His heart could've stopped.

There was their endoskeleton body inching along one of the conveyor belts towards one of two boxy openings into the furnace. It had been secured on in the other room and carried into the furnace room, where nobody was there to stop it except for him. Likely the workers had already left. Even if they heard him breaking in, they would be powerless to stop him or the machine.

The endoskeleton's foot crept closer towards the superheated maw. It looked like a constant broiling fire waiting inside. A churning hell trapped in a metal box.

"No, no, NO, NO!" Moon hissed.

He twisted and forced himself through, foregoing sacrificing the time to right himself and instead landing on his hands and knees. He then sprung up onto the conveyor and grabbed onto the endoskeleton before it could reach the end.

Except that it was latched on. Claps had been aligned alongside the conveyor to securely lock in any machine destined to burn, and they only released at the end where the belt looped around again. There was a clasp on the leg, two clasps on the lower arms and torso and two on the upper section, and none of them would release until they passed that mark. The highest ones wouldn't give until it was already largely in the furnace.

Moon immediately went to work on the upper locks. He didn't have enough time to fool with the leg one- he could sacrifice the foot. Except the clasps resisted his efforts. Not only were they locked on tightly, but his fingers struggled to get a grip onto them, making it difficult to exert a true effort.

Jake made it to the vent opening and was trying to get himself through. Moon spared a look to him and then towards the furnace where to his horror he saw the foot starting to edge in.

"Jake! Help! Help! I'm LOSING IT!" he cried desperately.

With a burst of energy, Jake forced his way through and crashed to the floor. He was up in a heartbeat and beside the belt where he tried to help Moon pry back the clasps. He was startled to see them, not expecting them, and not having the effective tools. Even if he did there was barely any give to pry and no screws to unscrew. He still tried. He tried with all his might just as Moon did.

The leg was halfway into the furnace and the first clasp released.

Moon changed tactics. Instead of focusing on the clasps, he got his arms around the endo and tried to lift it off. Trying to forcibly pry it out of its binds or break it in the process, but there was too much being held down. He fought on.

At this point though, Jake turned and looked into the fire, feeling the heat through his mask, and knew there was no chance. And there was now a much bigger problem than their endo burning.

"It's not working! You've got to let go or you're going to go in!" Jake warned.

"No!"

"Andrew, you're going to burn!"

"NO!"

Andrew slid his hands up to the shoulders to avoid some of the head radiating from the furnace, but it was still warm on his face as he slid every-closer. It got so hot and bright that his programming kicked in and his points slid out, his nightcap dangling off them as his face and chest started to turn yellow.

He kept a vice-like grip on the endoskeleton though, fighting both its binds, himself, and now Jake trying to pull him off the conveyor belt.

"Andrew, it's just a body!" Jake cried desperately.

"NO, IT'S NOT! IT'S US!" Andrew argued.

It was where they first met. It was their first home. What they used to explore and to live for so many years. Every memory they shared together before coming into this accursed Pizzaplex was in that body. It had been so much of them both, it was everything that had kept them together for so long.

To give up on it was to give up on the past. He couldn't let go. He didn't want to let go.

His hands were sliding into the furnace as he stared down at the empty face of the endoskeleton staring up at him. He hadn't looked at it much since they removed the mask from it for Jake to wear. Without it, it looked so unspectacular. Like it could be any other old endoskeleton destined to be melted down for scrap metal, but it was so much more.

It had been him. It had been Jake. It had been them.

And now it was about to be gone, and there was nothing he could do.

But let go.

…

What had he done?

He didn't want to think about it. He shook it away and hurried back towards the daycare, rubbing his arms until his fingers burned. The only sound in the quiet Pizzaplex being his own ticking and jingling.

What had he done?

"No, no, stop," he hissed. He dug his fingers into his faceplate with a huff. He straightened himself and pressed on. He had to get back to Jake.

Soon he was in the daycare and heading down the slide. The lights were still off, as they should've been, and just the same there was no music. The room was ominously quiet.

"Jake?" he called. He climbed out of the ball pit and looked around. He could be anywhere, hiding in any of the structures, though he suspected he might also be at the desk.

And then he noticed that the daycare door was still propped open. Maybe Jake had forgotten to shut it.

With a heavy whine, he began to make his way across the daycare to close it. He stole a glance over the desk as he passed, but no sign of Jake, so he went to the door to move the trashcan blocking it.

Except as he approached, he saw through the open door and noticed stuff on the ground. It didn't look quite like trash but spilled bits, pieces of something, though it could've very well been spilt trash. He could deal with it later.

Except he couldn't, as there was so much of it. He pushed the door open more and stepped around the trashcan to see more stuff littering around. There was a screw that he bumped aside with his foot. Yellow and orange pieces- maybe some sort of destroyed Sun-themed merch. Maybe Jake was upset enough to go ransack the gift shop.

He stepped around the door and started to go over there when he stopped in the process.

One of the pieces lying on the floor nearby was an orange triangle. Dread slowly crept up as he released the door and walked over to it. That couldn't be- it looked like one of Jake's points, but there was no way it could be.

In that second his eyes looked past it to another nearby object.

It was a finger.

A yellow finger.

Jake'sfinger.

All of these pieces were pieces of Jake.

Andrew was alone and pieces of Jake lay everywhere.

The panic set in immediately. He gave a horrified cry and spun on his heel reeling and looking at all the pieces, the bolts, plates, hinges, parts of him everywhere and expected to see a body. He ran around screaming and searching for his body, but he could not find it. He wasn't here.

He turned on his internal messaging system. He had manually closed it off earlier, but now he desperately opened the channel like he was opening his own brain and started to send out messages.

"JAKE! Where are you?! What happened?!" he frantically sent. He continued in a panicked string of words that meant little as he looked around at all the leftover pieces.

A reply interrupted him, but it was not from Jake.

"We're down in Parts and Service. Get here NOW. It's not good."

The next while was a blur. Andrew was running as fast as he could through the Pizzaplex. His heart grabbed by fear. He couldn't be gone. He said 'we're'. Jake was there. Jake had to be okay.

He knew Jake wasn't okay, but Jake had to be okay.

As he raced into Parts and Service he was immediately accosted.

"Where in the HELL have you been?!"

"Where do you THINK?! Where is he?! Is he in the cylinder?!" He tried to look past and soon saw, and barged by as he raced over and forced his way into the protective cylinder.

There was Jake lying on the repair chair. Or what was left of him. His casing his almost been entirely pulled apart, he was even missing some endoskeleton pieces. His points were half pulled out, his faceplate, his legs, his body…

Andrew staggered over to him. His hands were shaking, and he couldn't go much except react with terrified gasps every time he noticed a new detail.

"No… No, no, no, no, Jake!" He reached for him, but stopped, his hands hovering over his shoulders. Afraid to touch him, afraid to break him even further. Some of his parts not even connected but simply laying on the chair. "Oh Jake, no, no. No, no, please, this can't be hAppENinnng…"

Jake's head moved slightly on the chair.

"Jake?!" Andrew grabbed the chair and leaned in over him. He could see his eye flickering. "I-I'm here! Jake, please, can you hear me? Give me a sign, I need to know-!"

He cut off when Jake's voice box began to static and hum. Andrew could see the speaker; it was barely hanging on inside of his shattered casing. He wanted to tear out his own wires at the sight and rid himself of the deep ache.

"-NNnnd…" Jake's hazy voice came through. "Annnnddddrrrr…"

"I'm here! I'm here, I'm here, I've got you," Andrew assured him. He took the plunge and laid his hand on his more intact shoulder. Jake didn't wince in pain, so he didn't remove it.

It was then that his despair flipped and he felt bubbling white-hot rage growing inside of him. He kept his grip on Jake soft and clawed the chair with his other hand.

"Who did this? Who- Who did this to you?" he demanded.

But Jake's answer was not a name. It was,

"I-I'm… s-rrrry."

"No, no, don't be sorry! Just- Just tell me who did this!" Andrew insisted. Jake gave a pitiful and weak whine. "Jake, please."

"Andy… He did it. He got the Staff Bots to do it."

It took a second for him to process it, then the weight of it crashed down all at once.

Andrew let out a wail and dropped his head on the edge of the chair beside Jake's battered body. His fingers clawing into its frame to not risk hurting Jake any further.

Because he had already caused him enough pain.

Because this was all his fault.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

…

Jake all but yanked Andrew straight off the conveyor in one big heave. Thinking he was still holding on; he used a little too much strength and the two tumbled back and onto the floor amongst some scrap and refuse. They sat up quickly- Andrew did and Jake did to stop Andrew if he was going to climb back up on the conveyor, but he didn't. He just sat there and watched as the endo slid in the rest of the way and was gone.

They sat there on the floor helplessly as their old body was consumed by hungry flames and writhing wires.

There was a long, shocked silence. Jake was still reeling. Now that Andrew was safe, he could truly feel the loss of their body. He heard a jingle and looked to Andrew in time to watch him pull his legs up to his chest.

"Andrew…"

With a heaving sob, Andrew began to weep into his starry patterned pants. Now away from the furnace his colors turned to Moon's own, but the persona was long gone. It was just him.

Jake moved over to kneel beside him and put his arms around him in a secure hug. Rubbing his back soothingly as he pulled Andrew to his chest.

He was surprised how much this hurt. Not just out of empathy, but the actual loss. He felt it too.

"It's okay, Andrew," Jake assured. His voice sounded choked up, heavy with tears he didn't have. "It-It'll be okay. It's just a body. That's all."

Andrew still wept and soon Jake joined him in soft, dry sobs. At which point Andrew threw his arms around him and they clung to each other just as tightly as if they were still in one body.

They had gotten through worse. They would get through this.

Together.

…

..

.

..

…

Both Jake and Andrew were awoken by sudden ear-splitting screaming. They scrambled upright awkwardly. It didn't matter how many years they had been using this body in tandem, there was no waking up to that without a little awkwardness.

"Do you hear that?!" Jake asked.

"Am I deaf?!" Andrew answered.

It was hard not to hear it. The screaming was coming from nearby. Frenzied screaming, like someone was getting torn apart, shrieking and wailing that never stopped. They pushed up off the floor, fumbling control of their shared body back and forth before both realizing where it was coming from.

The endo looked across the room. The screaming was coming from the speaker of the rabbit plush, from their friend.

Jake took control and dashed over to pick him up. "Bunny?! What's wrong?"

Bunny's body was burning to the touch.

"Why's he so hot?!"

"He could be overheating," Jake deduced.

"But he's not ON. He's not like an animatronic, he shouldn't be heating up at all!"

Jake realized quickly that Andrew was right. They could barely hear each other over the screaming.

"Hey! Wake up!" Andrew shook the doll. "Bunny, it's us! We're here! Stop screaming!"

"Careful! He's small, we could hurt him," Jake warned.

"What do you think's wrong with him?!"

"I… I don't know."

They didn't have the means to repair him if he was broken, not really. He couldn't stop screaming to explain what was wrong.

After a few moments of holding him, Jake took the initiative to sit down on the floor with their back to the shelves. Andrew assisting in getting them down there. They sat on the cold floor, far away from their blanket and toy nest, and held the rabbit doll cradled in their arms. They rocked him like a baby, and he screamed and burned up.

And then all of a sudden, the screaming stopped. Instead, there came gasping and choking noises from his speaker. Almost like he was gasping for breath or running a mile, and it ended with a shaky-

"Where am I? Where am I?" Bunny choked out.

"Thank goodness!" Jake gasped. He lifted and hugged the doll to them. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"What happened?" Bunny repeated.

"You woke us up screaming and you only just stopped," Andrew clarified. He then gave a firmer, "What was that?"

"Oh."

Bunny was quiet for a long few moments before forcing a strained chuckle.

"I guess I had a bad dream," he said.

"That was a long-ass dream," Andrew pointed out.

"Andrew, shh."

"How long was I out?" Bunny asked.

"A few minutes? You started screaming a little under five minutes ago."

"Oh…" Bunny sounded off. "Heh, sorry guys! I just, uh, felt like making a big scene for no reason. It's all good. I'm cool."

"You are quite literally burning up," Andrew flatly remarked.

"That's okay. We live in a freezer."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence between the three. One that Jake eventually broke with a question.

"What was your nightmare about?"

There was another tense silence before Bunny answered.

"I was drowning in a lake."

There was something so ominous about the answer that Jake couldn't find it in him to press harder. He just coddled Bunny closer and the three of them stayed like that for the rest of the night.

…

..

.