Author's Notes: Hope you're all enjoying the rapid chapters.
Trigger Warnings: Gore and body horror.
Chapter 192
The Scooper
When Hedy was stressed with ghost stuff, she found that she sometimes forgot to breathe. It was a terrible habit because she could still get lightheaded.
"Goldy..." she whispered.
Goldy winced and reached out to squeeze Hedy's shoulder. "I'd better keep an eye on them. Elizabeth had a habit of cheating when she could get away with it. And Ruby won't be kind if she does. Call if you need me." She shot a quick glance at Afton and gave Vixen a tight smile before disappearing with a pop.
Hedy opened her mouth to stop her for a minute, but the bear was already gone. She understood why, but she also felt very alone suddenly. She looked up at the fox who was staring at her. She was still covered in blood but Hedy didn't believe that she was in danger. Vixen had the same look that the Originals did during the time Ruby was in a coma.
Vixen sharply looked away from Hedy's eyes. She didn't move, staring at the floor. Hedy thought that she might be shaking.
The fox jerked back violently and swiped at Hedy with her claws at the sensation of something touching her.
"Be still," Hedy said sternly. Her voice cracked a little, but it was soft, barely above a whisper. She easily ducked the reactionary swipe, taking advantage of Vixen's confusion to firmly grab the arm. She'd been dodging Foxy's skittish reactions for months and Vixen wasn't as fast. She didn't look at the animatronic's face for a minute as she concentrated on wiping the blood off the plastic arm with a rag.
Vixen didn't know what to do. She knew she should either attack the engineer or retreat away, but she couldn't decide which. She didn't know what was going on anymore.
Hedy shifted to reach lower so she could clean Vixen's face and snout.
Vixen snapped out of it to jerk away. What was this person doing? Why was she doing it?
"I just killed your friends..." she spat at Hedy, ripping her arm away and scrambling to her feet.
She began at pace, and Hedy calmly looked up at her. That was a trait the foxes shared then. They all paced when agitated. Vixen glanced at Afton a few times but she didn't understand what Will was thinking either. But at least she could see the horror and shock in his eyes. That was normal. That's what she was expecting.
The younger mechanic's eyes were different now and Vixen didn't know how.
"I just killed your friends!" Vixen suddenly screamed in Hedy's face, her voicebox glitching at the volume at the peak of the scream. She held her arm, horrified. The human had touched her without a flinch. Her hands weren't even shaking. She was insane.
"I know," Hedy said, her voice still deathly soft, as she held the rag stained with darkening blood.
Vixen stared at her with wide eyes, not able to understand why the mechanic wasn't screaming at her, and wasn't trying to run away.
Her processors were still caught on the fact that Goldy was here. Floating and strange. Nothing felt normal anymore and she didn't know what to do. Normal wasn't good but it was at least familiar. She knew how to deal with it, she knew what to do.
She didn't know what to do now and she hated it.
Hedy glanced at the space where Goldy was before and Vixen panicked, worried that the mechanic could hear her thoughts or that she had said that outloud. Nothing was out of the realm of possibility now.
"I know," Hedy said again, still quietly. "We...we have to get the blood off you. Come here, please..."
Vixen stared at her. "You...you don't even know me?! I just...I just killed your friends! You should be staying away! How do you know Goldy? What do you want with me? Why aren't you...afraid?!"
She was snarling as she continued to pace, not sure what to do. Part of her was also stuck on the fact that they'd let that teenager go off with Ennard too. Did they not care? Did they not understand what Ennard would do to her?
Afton was standing behind Hedy, also not sure what to do. He was still reeling from...from everything that had happened.
Hedy took a deep breath.
"Vixen..."
"That's not my name!"
"I know. I just know two other Foxys technically and it's too confusing. I call one Foxy just that and Toy Foxy 'Mangle'," she explained. "We came up with Vixen for you. It's just… easier. You can pick something else if you want."
"...Mangle?" Vixen didn't give an answer about her name.
"It's a long story," Hedy said. "It used to be a mean nickname, but she decided to own it. It's her name now, but I call her Mags a lot."
"You..." Will tried, but he couldn't really speak just yet.
Vixen stared at her. "How many of the others do you know?" her voice cracked. "Weren't they all broken down?"
Hedy tried not to look alarmed. "No," she said calmly. "I don't know where you heard that, but no. I know Goldy, obviously. I know all the Originals. The Toys. And Spring and Puppet."
She could practically feel Afton completely frozen from all the overwhelming information as he pierced together all the little bits from her words.
Vixen's voice went staticky for a moment, reminding Hedy of Mangle or any of the bots when they "cried." "That's not possible. They were...they were scrapped. ALL of them!"
"No. Maybe at some point, and some were lost, like you, but they're all safe. They're home. We came to find you," Hedy said, still shockingly calm.
She shook her head. "No, she said they were gone."
"She lied."
Vixen just stared at her, clearly unable to process this.
"Please...I have to clean the blood off..." Hedy said quietly. She glanced at Afton and immediately regretted it.
He was staring at her, confused at her behavior in his own way under the shock.
"Why?" Vixen's voice cracked.
"Because...we..." Hedy swallowed to force a breath. "We need to get you out of here. But... I'm not leaving my friend's body here. We're going to call the police-do you know what the police is? We're going to call authorities when this is all over. But you have to be blameless. We can't let them know you killed them. You can't be..." Hedy paused to close her eyes for a moment before speaking. "Responsible in their eyes. And you can't be evidence either."
They wouldn't see the bots as people. They'd see it as a malfunction and the Funtimes would be destroyed. Part of her felt like this was wrong, that she was hiding a murder. But it was clear Vixen had been forced to do this.
She just never seen the results of those forced murders before, she'd only heard about them. She'd never known them. Was what she was doing wrong? And then she remembered the minireena and how scared she was. And the Bonnie hand puppet. And just how terrified Vixen looked. She couldn't just let them be dragged into a justice system that didn't understand them. And Ennard's body being destroyed wouldn't solve the ghost problem. Elizabeth would just keep doing what she was doing somewhere else.
"Why?" she asked again. "Why are you trying to help me? Why do you care?!"
Hedy wasn't sure of any answer she could give that the fox would believe. The only communication they had between them was fear and heartbreak.
"I care...because there's nothing else I can do," Hedy said, tears coming to her eyes against her will. She glanced at the stage and their curtains before forcing her face away, squeezing her eyes shut at the ache and the desire to just scream for hours that had settled in her heart. "Because anything else will kill me."
It was silent for a moment and Hedy couldn't look up. She heard Vixen stop pacing for a moment, hearing the pain but not knowing what to do with it. Hedy's head felt heavy. Her neck was stiff. Her eyes pulled her down with heavy tears.
"I can't break. Not here," she whispered, some part of it to herself. "Not when I have a family I need to get us all back to. Our family. Yours. Afton's. Ruby's. Goldy's. Mine. Even whatever is left of Elizabeth in th-that thing."
She could feel Timmy clutching tighter to her arm, stressed out about the reveal. He'd locked down on his emotions like Ruby did, but she could still feel pain and grief slipping through.
"I don't understand you," Vixen's voice broke again.
"I know...just...please. You don't have to understand, but we need you to...trust us," Hedy said, unable to raise her voice over a whisper for a moment. She held Timmy's hand over her arm. "And I know that's hard. I know that sounds impossible. But please...I'll prove to you that I want to help. That I don't...that I don't blame you. That Ruby and I came here, with Will, to get you out of here and somewhere safe and loved. Just..." she lifted the rag a little. "Give me a chance."
Vixen looked away. "You should blame me," she whispered but she stopped trying to back away every time Hedy moved forward.
"I can't," Hedy whispered gently as she continued to wipe blood off the fox. "Unless you give me reason to believe you wanted this, I can't. I know she made you."
Vixen fell silent after that. Clearly she didn't know how to process this situation.
Then an explosion went off in the building and both the bot and Afton startled.
Looked like Ruby was getting properly started… That was probably a caramel bomb and it seemed like she'd skipped the glitter for once. Hedy had unfortunately learned to tell the difference between her bombs through sheer experience.
Afton violently jerked out of a stupor when Hedy touched his arm.
She stared at him silently, offering a clean rag with an unreadable expression.
He automatically accepted it, not noticing that his hand was shaking hard.
Vixen stared at him with a different terror than she had looked at Hedy or Ruby. She flinched but didn't try to scramble away. She was shaking and wanted to cry at blank horror in his eyes. She looked like a child terrified of a beating.
Hedy didn't force him to do anything as Afton stood with a rag for a minute.
"Sit down," Hedy requested gently.
Vixen complied.
The bot and younger mechanic tried not to startle as Afton knelt and shakily reached for the fox's hands to start cleaning off her blood slicked claws.
Hedy didn't comment as she focused on Vixen's mouth and the visible teeth.
The room was silent save for the occasional explosions. Hedy spotted a couple of minireenas peering around a chair at them.
"Open your mouth," Hedy whispered when she was done with Vixen's face and part of her chest and upper arm closest to Hedy. She glanced at a Minireena as it scuttled closer to watch. She wondered if it was the same one that she and Ruby had made friends with. They all looked the same and Hedy hadn't seen enough of them to determine differences in personality.
Vixen glanced at it and Hedy saw a flash of a different pain as the fox's eyes flicked in a specific direction before focusing back on them.
Vixen's hands were almost clean as Afton continued to work, his hands shaking as he gently held onto one of his bots for the first time in years. What a painful reunion this had turned into.
When they were almost done the Minireena was practically right by them, watching.
Hedy tried not to jump when it crawled into her lap with absolutely no hesitation, startling Vixen a little.
"Broke?" she asked the fox quietly, leaning until they were looking eye to eye.
Vixen's eyes flicked away and she didn't say anything.
The Minireena looked toward the stage where the bodies were still sitting.
She looked back. "Broken. You break?"
Vixen twitched her fingers out of Afton's grasp as the man stiffened.
The fox nodded slightly, seeing the humans' pain flick across their faces.
"Ballora broke?"
Vixen nodded again, barely noticeable.
The Minireena made a small pained noise. She sharply looked at Will and scrambled off Hedy's lap to grab his clothes and pull as she looked up frantically.
"Fix now?"
Afton was confused and growing more and more concerned.
"What happened to Ballora?"
They hadn't seen her in her room earlier...
"Broke," the minireena insisted while Vixen violently flinched and ripped her herself away from the humans, holding herself in a hug as she jumped to her feet and stepped back.
"Scoop," another minireena's voice whispered from a pair of glowing eyes out of the dark.
Afton was feeling very worried now. "Scoop? What...what does that mean?"
"No..." Vixen spat out. "You don't...It..." she hugged herself tighter, covering her front as she trembled and shook her head.
"Vixen..." Hedy said gently.
Vixen shifted, still unfamiliar with the name. She scowled but didn't say anything
Hedy didn't seem fazed. "I'll call you Foxy if you really want. Tell us what the minireena means. What's scaring you? Let us help."
"N-No! You ca-" the fox's eyes flicked to where the bodies were.
"We can help you all," Hedy said firmly. "We don't want you to hurt anymore."
Hedy didn't expect Vixen–Funtime Foxy to immediately believe her. This was going to be a process.
"We're here to take you home," Afton said gently.
The three of them didn't know what he meant by "home".
Vixen shot him a panicked look hidden behind a sneer.
"You don't even know what's going on!" she burst out. "Y-you're just as clueless as I am! You..." she pointed at Hedy while glaring at the man. "Y-you don't know who she is. You don't know how she's acting like she knows what's going on. Why are you...you can't promise anything. You couldn't even promise that you'd be there for us!" Afton flinched away from the words.
Hedy wasn't going to get through to Vixen this way. She needed a different approach. Vixen knew Goldy but the bear was probably too focused on making sure Ruby kept a hold on her control. She was Ruby's safety net in making sure she didn't go too far.
And Ennard probably thought Goldy was protecting Ruby.
"Your family got ripped apart. I understand that Vixen. But the others want you to come home," Hedy told her, thinking about the way Puppet had gone so so quiet when they heard about the Funtimes.
Vixen wordlessly growled at the mechanic, angrier when she once again didn't look frightened.
Afton wasn't either. He just looked sad.
No, don't be sad. Hate me! She wanted to scream at him.
"What others?!" she spat.
"You heard me before," Hedy said. "I know you did. You know who I'm talking about. They all miss you. All of you."
Vixen turned away. She whispered something to herself that Hedy only barely picked up.
"This is another trick isn't it? Another game. Somehow..."
"I'm not lying to you," Hedy said.
Vixen startled, not realizing she was heard.
"I can call them," Hedy offered. "Do you want to talk to Puppet? Or any of the others?"
Vixen stiffened at Puppet's name. Goldy had once told her that Puppet had been a big brother to all of them before Michael screwed it up. She and Spring would still mess around but Puppet was always there for them to rely on. For all of the bots.
The fox was shaking her head. "They're gone, they're all gone. Stop lying."
"I'm not lying," Hedy said again gently, pulling out her phone and resting it in her lap.
"You have to be!" Vixen snapped. "They're all gone!"
"She isn't lying, sweetheart," Afton spoke up.
Hedy glanced at him in surprise.
He stared at her for a moment before looking back at Vixen.
He didn't actually know if Hedy was telling the truth, but he didn't dare believe the others were gone. They couldn't be. He...might not have kept an eye on them like he should but...they couldn't be gone.
Vixen ground her teeth so hard that her jaw creaked. Hedy absently noted that that was a habit she'd seen in Foxy when he was upset but had never seen Mangle do.
After a moment of weighing up the pros and cons, Hedy called Mike.
They would be a little worried or caught off guard by her calling in the middle of the night. She took a breath. She couldn't cry. She couldn't talk about what just happened and hoped they wouldn't ask.
"Hedy?" Mike already sounded concerned. Hedy could hear some yelling in the background. "What's going on? What happened?" He sounded more upset than she expected. When she didn't answer immediately he asked a different question. "You're still working aren't you?"
"I am." Hedy immediately winced and covered her mouth, knowing he'd hear her pain in those two little words. "We are..." she forced the words out. "We're still here but I'm with Vixen, Funtime Foxy, right now. And I'm okay. She's safe for the moment."
There was silence for the moment. "What do you need?" He knew she wouldn't call him for the hell of it.
"Puppet," she said. She glanced at Vixen's expression. "Maybe the others too. But mostly Puppet."
The fox looked torn between anger and despair. There wasn't a flicker of hope.
Mike was silent for another moment. "Okay." He handed the phone off to Puppet, whispering about what Hedy had said.
"Hedy." The worry was well hidden in his voice. "The building was very upset a few minutes ago. The ghosts are…worried. Why did Goldy disappear?"
Hedy took a breath. She forgot to consider how the building would have reacted to her back home. "I'll explain more… later. Just...I-I need you to talk to Vixen. I don't know what I want you to say. Just… something. She doesn't believe me when I say the rest of you are okay. She thinks you were all killed. I'm putting you on speaker okay?"
Puppet had to have heard her cracking tone.
He was quiet for a moment. "Alright," he eventually answered. Thankfully he understood that they didn't have time for questions.
Hedy caught Vixen's distrustful gaze and the fox stopped pacing for a moment. Hedy turned the phone toward her, but didn't want to hand it over.
"Mari...Vixen can hear you now," she said as Vixen's eyes narrowed.
There was nothing for a moment as Puppet gathered his thoughts. He had to know there was a chance that Afton was listening too so that probably didn't help.
"Hedy's already nicknamed you then?" he asked.
Vixen let out a sharp burst of static in shock while Hedy watched Afton stiffen.
He hadn't thought she was lying but the reality of actually hearing Puppet's voice seemed to be a little too much for him. Pain and regret flashed across his face but he didn't speak.
Hedy watched the man warily. He had been so quiet about all these bombshells dropped on him. She expected some kind of explosion soon.
"This is a trick..." Vixen hissed at the phone.
Puppet scoffed, a painfully familiar sound to all of them and Hedy could imagine him rolling his eyes.
"Hardly. Hedy doesn't do emotional torment. That's more the night guard's forte."
There was an annoyed grumble in the background that Hedy guessed was probably Foxy. Everyone expected Puppet's routine snide comments about Ruby and it was just amusing for the teen. It didn't mean Foxy liked it though.
Vixen froze a little, not sure what to believe.
That was Puppet's voice, but she didn't trust voices. Not anymore. But that sounded like something Puppet would say. And she heard that noise in the background.
"Foxy? Was that Foxy? But..." she shook her head and pulled away. "This can't be you Puppet. You were all scrapped. You had to be."
Puppet suddenly let out an annoyed squawk as someone made a grab for the phone. Apparently the other bots had less patience than Hedy had thought.
"They certainly tried, lass," Foxy's voice came through the phone next. "It didn't stick."
"You have worse manners than the night guard." they heard Puppet mutter. "I don't know if you're the bad influence or if she is."
"Shut up Puppet," Chica hissed. "I'm trying to listen."
Vixen's ears folded back sharply and she glanced at Afton. "Foxy...?"
Hedy hadn't expected Foxy's voice to be what trickled in that bit of hope. She wasn't sure who was close before they were all split up somehow.
"Bitch," Foxy replied with complete sincerity.
"Language!" Freddy yelled, clearly reaching his breaking point. Foxy had probably been swearing tonight already then.
"I forgot about this..." Bonnie groaned. "You're still going to do this?"
"Still not fair!" Mangle screeched in righteous fury.
Vixen's eyes widened in shock.
Hedy did too but she didn't speak. They sounded like any ordinary family bickering during a phone call. No one could fake that.
A weak laugh bubbled out of Afton at a memory Hedy couldn't share with him and the bots before he could stop it.
Hedy was sure the others heard it.
And yet the man's voice seemed to snap the pink fox out of it. "Seabreath..." she muttered softly, with a mild bite in her tone. She blinked before a tiny smile broke, her sharp teeth poking out. "Bastard Seabreath." There was a weak gleam in her eye as she stared at the phone.
Afton raised an eyebrow.
There was a moment of silence during which Hedy could practically feel Mangle's seething anger at the unfairness of the universe.
"Foxy, no," Freddy muttered. "You're older, set a good example-"
"Bitch finally learned how to swear huh," Foxy drawled. Hedy had never heard him so comfortable with his swearing. Ruby was going to be pissed she missed this. "Not that you didn't get creative to skirt around that code. I bet I know more."
There was a chorus of groans over the phone.
"Pissy little shortstack," Foxy snorted.
"I hate you so much Foxy," Mangle whined
"You're barely an inch taller than me, dog boy," Vixen retorted though her voice was still strained. "Unless you finally got your feet replaced with pegs." She paused. "Was that...Toy Foxy?"
"Yeah. We're here. All of the first band. Hedy and Ruby call us the Originals. And the Toys. Spring and Puppet too. I'm guessing Goldy already made an appearance there," Foxy's voice softened slightly. He was probably worried out of his mind about Ruby but was keeping calm for Vixen's sake.
"I'm here too!" BB yelled.
"Nobody can get rid of you, BB," Puppet said dryly. "We tried several times."
"It never stuck," Chi muttered.
"Aw, you'd miss me." BB sounded very smug.
Vixen's eyes flicked to Hedy. "This is real? That's...really you somewhere. Out there. But...who is...this technician who knows you? And the younger human. And why..." Vixen paused to stare right at Afton. "Why does Will look like he's going to pass out? He's got the same face as when Puppet stole the car..."
Puppet made a strangled noise and Hedy blinked, unsure if she heard that right. She couldn't decide if Puppet was angry at the mention of Will or alarmed at the thought that an embarrassing story was about to be shared.
Timmy barely managed to stifle a snort. Thankfully, his dad still didn't hear it.
"He..." there was a bite in Foxy's voice now, although he did try to keep his cool. "He...probably wasn't expecting to hear our voices for another twenty years, if ever."
Afton flinched, but couldn't tear his eyes from the phone.
Vixen's voice was quiet as she finally addressed the man in confusion. "But..."
"I.." Afton stammered. "I don't want to…I can't…I can't do this right now…" He was frantic. He needed to sit down somewhere. Anywhere.
Hedy wasn't sure what it was he couldn't do. Talk to the bots back home? Apologise? Explain? Function?
The snarl that ripped through the phone told them just how angry Foxy was and it made Vixen stiffen in shock. Hedy wondered how much different the original fox was to before. He'd been through hell so he couldn't be the same as Vixen remembered.
"I don't fucking care about what you want!" he snapped. "Hedwig, where's Ruby?" He demanded, the worry finally breaking through even though he masked it with anger.
Hedy was a little offended that he'd used her full first name. He usually only did that when he was trying to annoy her into giving up on maintenance. Puppet was the only one who regularly used her full name.
Afton recoiled at the venom in Foxy's voice and went quiet. He was panicking. He was really trying to tell himself what to do, nailing down where his mind needed to be before he broke down. But his animatronics would have just heard him not wanting to speak to them. That was not the case. He just physically couldn't yet. His head was spinning…
"She's… busy 'playing' with another ghost..." Hedy hesitated despite how quiet the phone line suddenly got.
There was a long moment of silence as they all tried to process another ghost being involved.
"...who?" Puppet asked, unable to keep all the dread from his tone.
Hedy swallowed, not wanting to answer that question. "Elizabeth."
There was a sharp intake of fake breath through a voice box and some hushed whispering. The phone was clearly passed off again and Puppet was on the line. He'd probably pulled rank. The others tended to listen to him still when things got serious unless it had to do with Ruby. Mangle was the only one who went out of her way to be defiant. Which was fair.
"What do you mean Elizabeth?" he demanded.
"I mean you… I-I mean your h-human sister is here." Hedy wasn't sure why she specified the relationship. Perhaps she was irritated at Puppet's demand. What other Elizabeth could she fucking mean?! Hedy took a breath to calm herself. "And she's...she's snapped, Puppet."
There was silence over the phone again. They all knew what that meant. There was only one ghost who hadn't lost his sanity and that was Timmy. He was the exception, not the rule. The very, very rare exception.
"She's snapped," Hedy said again, softer as Afton eased himself to the floor and buried his head into his hands as he tried to breathe. She couldn't give him attention just yet. "It's worse than the kids. Much worse. There's something wrong and different. S-she's got a body. Sort of. It… it doesn't seem like a bot. I-I'm not sure if she's actually possessing someone..." She glanced at Vixen, hoping for an answer to that.
But Vixen was staring at her in confusion.
Hedy swallowed at the brief but suffocating silence. Her voice cracked again. "I-I'm so sorry—"
"Hedwig. No. Don't do that to yourself. We'll deal with that later," Puppet's voice was flat. "For now I assume the night guard is… distracting her?"
"Yes," Hedy said quietly, her eyes trailing to the bloodstained cloth she put on the floor.
"And you called to have us help you convince Funtime Foxy of the fact that we are indeed still alive?"
"...yes… She's not in a great headspace either," Hedy said, looking up at Vixen. "Apparently, Elizabeth..."
"Ennard..." Vixen whispered.
"She told them that you were all dead. That they, the Funtimes, were alone."
She could practically hear Puppet putting together the picture and figuring out that she was hiding something else. He didn't say anything though. That would only panic the others.
"Well, that seems to have been achieved. Did you need something else?" he asked calmly.
To be home. To cry. To scream. To hug the rest of you and just give up on life for a day or two.
Alex and Andre alive.
"N-no," Hedy said quietly. "Thank you Puppet. We… we're good for now. Goldy should be home soon. She's… sh-she okay."
"I assume she's holding the night guard back?" he asked calmly. That was a loaded question. If Goldy needed to hold Ruby back then that meant she was upset enough to possibly slip.
Hedy took a long moment to answer. "Yes..." she said, still quietly. Any louder and she wasn't sure she could hold back the tears.
Foxy let out a frustrated snarl that made Vixen jump. Hedy knew it was out of worry and not anger this time though.
"Very well," Puppet's voice was tight. "You will phone again after the shift."
She knew it wasn't a question or request. Hedy felt like a child being talked down to by an older brother. She was reminded of Jeremy in the moments when he was calm but stern for her sake.
"I will..." she promised. "Is Jeremy there?"
"He is." There was another pause as Mike's phone changed hands.
"Hedy?"
Hedy fought her tears at her big brother's voice. She didn't want to say something that made her burst into tears. Not yet. They didn't have the time for that. She didn't have time for that.
"I want to come home," she said, choking back a sob. Then she covered her eyes in shame and sucked in a shudder. No! It wasn't time to cry. Stop it. She could hear Vixen shifting away from her.
"Are you hurt?" Jeremy asked gently. He must have still been on speaker because Hedy heard Mike whisper 'something else is very wrong.'
"No. Nothing… nothing happened to me," Hedy said. "I have to tell you later. I can't…not right now."
"Okay. We're here when you need us. I love you, Hedy."
"I… love you too," Hedy choked out, hanging up before she lost it.
The phone went dead and Vixen just stared at her. Hedy could imagine the chaos happening at the pizzeria right now. They knew something was wrong but she didn't have the energy to try and fix that.
"There you go," she said to Vixen when she had control again. "I wasn't lying." She glanced at Will.
Vixen made a weird whimper/crackle noise.
"They're alive?"
"They're alive. And waiting for you to come home," Hedy said.
Vixen's eyes shifted to Afton, taking in him sitting on the floor. He was right there in front of her. Now that she could get a closer look at him, she thought he looked so old and tired. And sad.
"You… you didn't know either..."
Afton shook his head mutely. "I… didn't think they were dead, darling. I didn't know they..." He took a breath and resisted the urge to look at Hedy. "Let's discuss this later, shall we?" he pleaded.
There was another, louder, explosion from somewhere in the building and an enraged shriek. Well then, Ennard was learning why Hedy had been so calm about Ruby getting involved in a game with her. That was one of her glitter bombs.
A few more explosions followed. Several glitter bombs then.
Hedy nodded.
Will took a deep breath. If Hedy didn't look concerned, then he wouldn't either.
"Mr. Afton?" Hedy whispered.
He just shook his head. "I can't take any more, Ms. Fitzgerald." He was practically pleading. "Just… just tell me what you would have me do. Right now. Right this minute. I can… I will face this shock when we have a moment to breathe. I can't..." He covered his eyes with one hand and his mouth with the other. He forgot Hedy and Vixen were there for a moment.
He didn't even realise his voice was just faintly loud enough for the two to distinguish his words from his breaths. He should have waited until he was in privacy to be sure they couldn't hear, but it hurt too much.
"Please… please God tell me I didn't leave Lizzy too..." he whispered through a cracking voice. "Please let that thing not be my darling girl. Let my children be at peace, please. I've failed them all enough. Please let them not be paying for my failures."
No one spoke as he physically wrested in an anguished sob, his body wracking as it desperately tried to make him cry. He sat there, though Hedy could swear she heard him mutter through his hand, but she couldn't make out the rest of his words.
She felt her throat tighten, knowing how hard that terrible terrible irony would tear at his weak prayer. She couldn't help him. She was not the praying type. "Vixen," she said quietly, "Are you in a lot of pain right now?"
The fox stared at her for a long moment before slowly shaking her head. She was still slicked with oil and her casing was cracked and broken in some places, but Hedy didn't really expect her to be honest at first. The fox seemed very subdued suddenly. There was another crash somewhere and she flinched, ears flicking back anxiously. Ruby shouted in the distance, but Hedy recognised the annoyed tone.
Goldy suddenly popped into sight holding, of all things, a dagger that was wrapped in wire and sparking with electricity. She looked annoyed.
"We need to update the 'banned weapons' list to include… whatever this is Hedy," she sighed as she held it out warily to the mechanic. "Ruby is..." she trailed off. "Ruby is somewhere between... Springtrap mad and kids' lecture mad."
Hedy's head tipped in a weak nod as she wrapped her jacket around her hand and took the weird device without shocking herself. She deconstructed it, numbly filing away how Ruby built it. The girl was getting more creative with her inventions and their quality was going up.
Vixen flinched at the sparks while Will seemed like he was still shutting down again.
"Okay," she said to Goldy, glancing at Will. She paused before asking the next question. "Are you okay, Goldy? No. Of course you're not. Are you… can you hold on for a little longer? I can't... I'm not stable enough to really…think much… just yet… This isn't fair but… thank you for this."
Goldy darted in for a quick hug. "You help us a lot Hedy. We don't mind helping you out too. I'm okay," she assured her as she pulled back, giving the mechanic a warm smile. "A bit shocked, but I'm dealing. I better get back before Ruby blows up something important though."
Like the haunted amalgamation of parts she was hunting.
Hedy shoved down the tears threatening to prick her eyes again and nodded.
Goldy hesitated and, against her better judgment, glanced at Will.
Will glanced away and cleared his throat as he slowly worked on picking himself up, dusting off his pants, although that only succeeded in smearing blood on his suit. His hands were shaking.
Vixen had essentially refused to move, settling for watching them all warily.
"I called Puppet," Hedy told her quietly. "To talk to her."
Goldy looked uncertain, but a moment later she disappeared again to make sure that Ruby didn't go too far. Knowing that Puppet had been called helped. He'd always been good with the Funtimes.
"Right..." Hedy breathed, tucking Ruby's latest invention in her bag without questioning where the dagger came from. "Mr. Afton? We should try to find the rest of your bots."
He took a few deep breaths. "Yes. You're right. We... we should look for Ballora first."
Vixen shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Vixen?" Hedy asked.
"N-no. You… you can't..." she stammered. "It's too late. Ennard will just..." she trailed off, looking pained as she glanced at the eyes of the minireenas that were still watching them from the shadows.
"Elizabeth will what?" Afton asked gently, having gotten a hold of his emotions for the moment.
Vixen didn't seem sure how much to tell Will. She didn't want to hurt him anymore than he always was. She drummed her fingers on her leg for a moment.
"Ennard doesn't… like us helping each other after..." she choked on her words for a moment. "Ennard will… will let the little ones put the others back together if I… if I behave..." She flinched, looking down at her hands.
"Back together?" Will asked, trying not to sound alarmed.
The fox nodded. "They're damaged. They're… in pieces. But..." the fox did something like take a sharp breath. "They'll be okay if we don't make her any more angry. She leaves their-" She tapped her head. "Hard drives alone."
"Where are they?" Hedy asked.
Vixen glared at her. "Weren't you listening? I don't want to piss Ennard off any more. If I tell you..."
"Then we can help fix them while Ruby keeps Ennard occupied," Hedy interrupted. Ennard wasn't going to be doing anything to anyone else for a long time but Vixen wouldn't believe that.
"You...!" Vixen growled in frustration. "No! You... you can't fix them all in one night! You don't understand. They're… hurt. It's-UGH!" She threw a hand toward a curtain. "It's like that. They're a-a mess."
"I get that," Hedy said evenly, her voice wavering. "But things are never that bad for animatronics. Let us see and decide what we can do."
"I don't want to risk that," Vizen snarled.
I don't want to risk them.
Hedy watched her carefully.
"What did the Minireena mean by 'scoop'?" she asked, gesturing at said little bot.
Vixen flinched and looked away, entire body tense again.
"I… we can't help unless you let us," Afton said softly.
"You don't just get to just come in here and—!" Vixen started to snap at him. "Ugh! You've been gone, Will! You… you don't understand what she..." she shut her mouth and looked away stubbornly.
"I know," Afton said. "I know. I should have been here. Please help me understand."
"We can help," Hedy said, "But there's not much we can do if you don't give us something to work with. Please, Vixen. What exactly is wrong with Ballora? You said she's damaged? How bad is it?"
The scathing laugh that cracked out of Vixen's mouth was a disheartening answer.
The harsh laugh echoed around the room for a moment.
"How bad is it?" her voice was tight and a little manic. It reminded Hedy of Ruby when she got worked up and upset. "You can't handle the answer."
Hedy had to disagree with that. She pulled a dead, decomposed body out of Spring and then pieced him back together. Nothing could really top that...
"Try me," she said softly, looking the fox in the eye. "I have seen... a lot in my life. Spring—you remember Spring?— he was in terrible shape when I got to him. I can handle it." She couldn't speak for Afton who stared at her in concern, clearly wanting to ask what happened to Spring.
The fox growled but Hedy recognised the desperate edge to it. It was the same sound that edged Mangle's static when she was afraid of hurting Hedy. It was the same sound Foxy's voice got when he was stressed over Ruby.
The foxes were quick to get defensive.
"You don't know what you're asking for."
Hedy huffed.
This fox was stubborn. She really shouldn't be surprised.
"Fine. But I'm going to do my job one way or another," she warned softly. "You're going to see for yourself whether I know what I'm asking. I'm still going to look for Ballora and fix whatever is wrong with her whether you help or not." She didn't rope Will in with her.
Vixen clenched her jaw, still looking away.
"You're just going to get killed."
There was another distant explosion. In all honesty, Ennard was more likely to get killed than any of them now… If that was possible. If that pieced together body did get destroyed though, Ruby would just be able to grab the ghost inside. It still threw the kids off when Ruby snatched them out of the air if they were misbehaving.
Hedy kept that at the front of her mind, unwilling to risk chasing that thought down a rabbit hole to why and whens.
Why was Ennard in danger? She knew why and that horrible curtain was a reminder.
No.
No, don't think about it.
Vixen had to hear her shallow breath as she looked at Afton then down at the Minireena that had taken a shine to her. She gently tapped minireena on her little head.
"I want to help Ballora, sweetie," Hedy said softly, her voice strongly contrasting the rattles and rocking explosions in the distance. The time between each explosion was getting shorter every time. She hoped Ennard was having a terrible time. "Where is she?"
The little bot perked up and pointed towards a dark corner of the room.
"Fix?" She asked.
"Yes. Fix," Hedy said firmly. "We fix." She gestured between her and Will.
The little bot pointed insistently at the other side of the room while Vixen glared.
Hedy couldn't see anything obvious there but the Minireena seemed certain.
Vixen didn't stop her, or a still shellshocked Will as he numbly followed Hedy across the room. The fox's gaze never left them and even when the dim light weakened and Hedy had to pull out her flashlight again, she could look over her shoulder and see two distrustful burning yellow eyes.
Vixen didn't give a clue to where they were going, but the Minireena insistently patted Hedy's knee when they were in front of a section of the oddly curved wall.
With her light it was hard to miss the disguised door with the blood pooling out from underneath or the trail streaking toward the stage they just came from.
Will couldn't help thinking, even through the fog in his mind, that it made the blood that was present on the stage look like very little.
"Scooper," the little bot whispered fearfully, pointing at the door.
Hedy nodded, moving forward and uselessly trying to avoid the blood. She put a hand on the handle.
"Ms. Fitzgerald," Will said quickly. He weakly grabbed her shoulder. "Perhaps I should go first."
"There might be something behind the door," Hedy said. "Like a trap..."
"Yes," the man agreed. "And, forgive me, but I believe I may be able to move faster than you."
The minireena shifted impatiently in her lap, looking both like it wanted them to hurry up and like it wanted to run away from the door.
Hedy eyed the older man distrustfully for a moment but only glared when he moved around her to open the door.
He ignored her angry noise as he pushed her and the Minireena back a little. He wasn't about to immediately risk another life.
The blood under the door smeared with the arc of it opening.
They both paused. Waiting for something to happen from the darkness.
"Stay… near the walls," Vixen softly said from behind them. "If you want to live…" Even in her resistance and unwillingness to help she wasn't about to let her creator wander into that deathtrap with no warning.
Hedy and Afton shared a glance at that ominous statement before they nodded.
The little bot was cowering away from the room, pressed close against Hedy.
"Scooper," she whispered.
"Shhh shhh. It's okay," Hedy whispered to her as they cautiously went inside.
The little bot trembled as the darkness enveloped them.
"We need to find a light, Afton."
"I'm looking," he promised, a few blind feet ahead of her in the darkness, hugging the wall.
Hedy's wheel kept grinding up against the wall and pinched her hand a few times as she had an intense feeling to stay as far from the middle of the room as possible. She did her best not to think of the stickiness that was coating her hand. Why...
Why was there so much blood in here?
She almost didn't want the lights on, but they needed to find the other Funtimes. She didn't see any glowing eyes in the dark or the telltale clicking of gears settling.
The dim light from the Funtime Auditorium was abruptly lessened and Hedy glanced back to see Vixen standing in the doorway, staring intensely but refusing to take a step inside. She was watching them with distrust and fear and anger in her eyes.
The minireena was silent now while Afton tried to find a light. He eventually did.
Then the room lit up and all Hedy saw was red and black, blood and oil coating everything. Pieces of bots were scattered around and some strange machine hung in the middle of the room.
Hedy put the back of her hand over her mouth, very sick for what had to be the hundredth time that night. She had grown accustomed to seeing animatronic bodies like flesh and bone. The endo was like bone. The oil was like blood. Casing and plates were skin and muscles. Wires were nerves and motors were joints and muscles like the plating.
Ennard had been hard enough to look at. All those parts twisted up made her stomach twist, but at least nothing seemed recognizable as any of the other bots. She could recognize individual bots here. Strewn everywhere.
Her stomach flopped as she saw the left side of Bon-Bon's face, laying on the ground across the room, the little rabbit's eye dead and looking straight at her. Was this where she and the bear went right after Hedy, Will, and Alex took the power modules the previous night?
There was movement out of the corner of her eye and she startled as Afton frantically tried to bolt to the pile of pieces with a strangled gasp.
"Stop!" Vixen shouted as the thing in the middle of the room whirred to life and jerked back, flicking bits of blood and oil on the opposite wall.
The minireena whimpered, covering her face.
"Scooper..."
Afton had the wherewithal to freeze and pull himself back, even as the thing violently swung with a loud bang, narrowly missing the man.
Hedy was pretty sure she screamed.
Will scrambled further back and pressed against the wall beside Hedy as the device reset itself.
"Bloody hell..." he gasped, hyperventilating.
Hedy swallowed. "I-it looks motion activated."
"It has controls too..."
Both humans looked at Vixen, still at the doorway but gripping the frame as she glanced around anxiously.
On closer inspection, Hedy realised Vixen looked terrified of going further into the room. She was eying the machine with a deep fear that only deep trauma could create.
"Ok," Hedy replied. "Thank you. First thing. We need to cut power to that thing," Hedy said.
Afton's eyes were already trailing the cabling across the ceiling.
It was hard to ignore the parts of bots scattered across the floor and Hedy was grateful that Ruby wasn't there. The teen always got queasy when she had to pull a part off the bots during maintenance.
The Toys thought it was hilarious although Chi didn't pull her beak off for fun anymore.
Will began hitting the wall panels under where the cabling went into the ceiling, staying pressed against the wall with Hedy following.
"Perhaps the fuse box or controls are in here."
Hedy nodded and did the same.
They moved along the wall. The anxiety spiked as they had to move more and more in front of the "scooper". The Minireena trembled violently when they were right in front of it.
They apparently were out of range since it didn't move.
Hedy kept her eye on it with shallow breath as she let Will keep looking for the panel.
Will shakily hit a spot and a hollow bang answered.
"Let me help," Hedy said. She stuck a screwdriver in a crack and together they pried open a switch panel.
Will frowned at the buttons and the steady blinking on a red one. There were several large circuit breaker switches.
"Someone put the fuse box here," Hedy muttered, still eying the machine. "Right in front of this thing. If the lights weren't on and someone tried..." She trailed off, eyes following the cables.
Did Andre and Alex follow the cables to here?
The blood...
Vixen still hadn't entered the room, watching them both with sharp eyes.
It would have been easy to lure the two there, following the cables. If the door was left slightly ajar they'd find it with no problem. And they'd have no reason to be wary of stepping in front of the machine as they reached for the fusebox...
It wouldn't have killed them both though. Probably only hit one of them.
That would have been where Vixen came in… Hedy remembered the blood covering the fox.
Hedy swallowed. She couldn't hear Afton talking about the switches as she hyper focused on the blood streaking the scooper's bucket and the sharp edge. Her eyes roved over the mess, freezing as she saw something squishy and out of place between the hard twisted metal and mechanical bits.
She gagged, covering her mouth with the back of her hand to avoid the blood on her palm again.
Those were organs. And bones maybe. Just… sitting in their little pile among the wreckage.
Only Afton and maybe Ruby knew what Andre and Alex had looked like. The man beside her probably saw what happened to each. Who was disembowelled and who had claw marks...
She startled as a hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her away.
"Ms. Fitzgerald," Afton said sternly. "Don't look."
Hedy numbly nodded. She wasn't even sure it was possible for her to feel any more sick. But she couldn't throw up for some reason. She wasn't sure why. The nausea was real enough.
Vixen didn't move, but she looked away. She had never seen someone react to what she did. Most people… they came alone. Or if there was more than one, the others never lasted long enough for her to see or think about the reaction.
She wasn't stupid. She knew this was all horrible. She just refused to think about it. What else could she do?
Nothing. Except be angry that Will and these girls were sticking around...
At least… at least they got the lights on.
She should leave. Why was she watching? Why was she stuck there, watching in tense terror. She shouldn't care. She couldn't afford to care, even if this was Will and someone who somehow—somehow—still wanted to... care?
A loud explosion drew them all out of their thoughts before complete silence fell over the building. It was more than a little creepy. They couldn't hear Ruby's activities anymore.
After a few minutes, Goldy popped into the room. She reeled back at the sight, covering her mouth. Hedy knew she was probably having flashbacks to the murders at the pizzeria. She shook her head after a moment and focused on Hedy, looking a little shaky. She was doing her best not to look at the mess.
"Ruby locked her in a metal box. She's not getting out anytime soon. I made her call Foxy to calm down a bit. She's still... twitchy."
Hedy jerkily nodded. "Okay," she repeated herself quietly. "Okay… okay."
She mumbled the word a couple of times and jumped as Afton pulled a lever and the scooper jerked once then hung limply in the room with the power fully cut.
Goldy seemed to jump a little too and floated an inch away from the bloody contraption. "What the fuck is that?" she whispered to herself.
"It's motion activated," Hedy said. "Goldy could you...?"
The bear nodded and floated in front of the machine.
They didn't miss the strangled sound Vixen made but the bear's reaction time with her teleports was more than enough to dodge this thing.
Goldy waved her arms and even hit it twice, making it swing a little.
"I think you killed it," Goldy reported, voice still shaky. She'd managed to avoid getting blood on her hand at least. "I'd still keep an eye on it though." She eyed the thing in horror and disgust.
Hedy nodded. "Thank you," she whispered. "Watch it for me." Goldy wouldn't go back to Ruby while she was talking to Foxy. The teen wouldn't be honest with the fox if someone else was around.
"Ms. Fitzgerald, what are you..."
Hedy ignored him as she cautiously went up to the scooper from the side. The Minireena stayed in her lap but shook more the closer she got. She finally fled with a terrified squeak, running behind the mechanics chair when she was right next to and a little underneath it.
Her hands shook, but she still unscrewed the first panel she could find. Hedy studied the wires for a moment before pulling out her knife and cutting several of them and disconnecting several more.
Goldy stayed close to her, just in case and to provide a comforting presence.
"Don't let Ruby in," Goldy told Afton softly. "If she gets here before we're out. Don't let her see this."
Hedy listened to the words numbly and saw Afton's unsure nod out the corner of her eyes as she worked, cutting and crimping until she felt truly… safe enough with the horrible contraption.
"Who would build this..." she whispered, partly to Goldy, partly to herself, letting her fear and pain bleed over their little private connection. She wiped the blood that got on her hands as if it was oil she simply needed cleaned up. She didn't want to think about the color or who it was.
Goldy rested a hand on her shoulder for a moment, equally horrified. Hedy felt herself break a little now that there was someone she trusted around.
"How are we… Goldy how are we going to explain this? I can't just… let Alex go missing," Hedy asked, ashamed she was already trying to think of how they were going to cover this up. She looked away and closed her eyes, but that image of blood and that pile of viscera so horribly close to her burned the back of her eyelids.
"We'll figure it out," Goldy whispered. "She won't go missing. She'll get a proper funeral, Hedy."
Hedy let out a strangled sob as she nodded.
Goldy knew exactly what she meant. So many never had that right. The families needed closure, not empty coffins and endless questions.
"I'm so sorry Hedy," Goldy whispered.
Hedy just hugged Goldy's arm quietly and tightly for a moment. She let go to fish a clean handkerchief out of her bag to wipe her face with.
She startled at the sound of clattering. Both of them looked over to where Will was sorting through the wreckage.
Will wasn't looking at them and his face was turned away but his shoulders were tight and his hands were trembling as he avoided the… human parts and focused on separating Ballora from Bon-Bon and Fredbear.
He was looking for Baby now too.
It was difficult. The only identifiable parts were the colored outer plating. The internals were more similar though he'd be able to tell what belonged to who when he could slow down enough to look properly.
There seemed to be more parts than there should be and he wondered if there had somehow been new parts delivered here over the years. Somehow. Or perhaps it was his imagination and every little device in this room belonged to someone and they had several puzzles to complete.
Would he even be able to save them? Were they even still alive in this… mess? What was even the point of that monstrosity?
Goldy watched him quietly for a moment.
"They're still alive," she told him quietly.
Hedy knew what she meant. Goldy didn't agree with Puppet's theory that who they were was tied to their parts. The Originals came back after Michael dismantled them. And Goldy was still herself despite being a hard drive and an empty suit.
Will stiffened at Goldy's voice actually addressing him. He sorted his thoughts for a moment as he looked back at her.
"I almost wish they weren't, my dear," he said guiltily, his voice cracking. "Not if they can feel this. At least... I hope they aren't conscious to feel this."
He looked back down and whispered to himself. "How did this happen...?"
"No..." Vixen spoke up, stammering her answer to Afton's implied question. "We..." She growled a little. Angry at her lack of composure. "We usually aren't awake at this point. We are right… after..." she glanced at the scooper, shocked to see Hedy so close to it. "But not for long."
Goldy gave her a careful look. "This has happened to you before hasn't it?" she asked gently. She drifted a little closer to the fox.
"..." Vixen really debated answering. "Almost every time humans show up here."
The piece Afton was holding accidentally slipped from his hand. Goldy closed her eyes in pain. Only she and Mangle truly knew what it was like to be ripped apart like that. Goldy had just never really been put back together. The Originals had lost pieces of themselves but they'd still been more or less complete.
Hedy didn't want to ask how many times Vixen meant. She cut one more wire, ripping it out, then closed the panel, committing to memory what the setup looked like.
She glanced around, conflicted. She needed to go talk to Ruby, but… she had a job to do.
Ruby closed her eyes as she leaned against the wall. She'd given Foxy the basic details of what happened. He knew that the other two had died and that Vixen had been involved. He knew that she'd just beat the hell out of Ennard and that she was locked up now.
He knew that she was much too close to the edge right now.
Listening to him talk helped her calm down. He'd told her a couple of stories of kids getting up to nonsense during the day and how BB had fallen into the ball pit again. Mike had fallen in as well trying to get him out.
By the time she hung up after promising Foxy that she'd be careful and phone him if she needed to, she was feeling much calmer. Mike hadn't even answered the phone. He'd just passed it over to Foxy when he saw who was calling.
Now she was wandering back to the others slowly. While being calmer was a good thing, it also let the other emotions filter back in. All Ruby wanted at the moment was to hide on Pirate Cove's stage and build something stupid and probably dangerous. She didn't want to be able to think of everything else that had happened.
She could still smell blood and part of her was itching for a fight so that she could let anger take over again.
She'd briefly gotten lost, partially on purpose, and found a bizarre springlock suit that was just a shell with no hard drive. For once, she'd done the smart thing and not touched it. She was on her way back to tell Hedy about it but was admittedly dragging her feet since she didn't want to talk to anyone yet.
She frowned to herself when she heard voices once she was close to the Funtime Auditorium.
She'd know Hedy's voice anywhere and that was definitely not her. Who the hell would be wandering around here having a casual conversation?
Rubbing her face, Ruby moved past the door to see if it was bots being weirdly calm about things and walking through the building or if there were a couple of trespassers around.
She couldn't quite make them out but the voices grew clearer as she got closer.
"Why the fuck is it so cold…?" a female voice whispered.
"You should have brought your coat."
"C-can you get your head out of your ass for even a minute? How long have we been walking? We should have gotten to the exit by now. Fuck, it's freezing!"
"Keep your voice down," the male voice ordered, but he sounded cold too. "I'm sure it's just a little further..." He didn't sound so sure though. He sounded worried and even a little panicked.
Ruby let out a breath and watched it mist up in front of her. She knew those voices. Oh shit she knew them.
"I… I feel like we've been walking for hours..." Alex said.