Author's Note: This story is already fully written, so I planned on releasing one chapter a day until all 26 chapters have been uploaded. Since I missed yesterday, I'm posting two today!


Sun found himself in a dimly lit hallway. The walls were gray with black and white checkered trim, and the floor was a similar checkerboard pattern. There were posters that looked sort of like the original version Freddy and his friends but… different. He could hear whispers coming from the other end of the hallway. He tried getting closer to hear what they were saying, but with every step the hall seemed to stretch longer and longer. Finally, he got close enough to understand one of the voices.

"…wake up…wake up…"

"Sun, Moon, you need to wake up!"

Sun opened his eyes. Gregory was standing over him and Moon and shaking them violently. That creepy hallway must've been a dream.

"Goood morning, Gre-"

"No time! Vanessa just called. She says some supervisor is coming in early because of the storm or something, and we need to leave right now!"

"Wait, we need to leave?" Moon asked.

"Yes! Right now, come on!" He grabbed their hands and tried to pull them up.

"But we can't just leave. This is our home!" Sun cried.

"But they don't know that. If that supervisor finds you here, you'll have to leave anyway, but instead of our apartment you'll be going to jail."

Sun and Moon hesitated for a moment, then stood up and followed Gregory to the lobby. Freddy was there holding the elevator.

"Vanessa has informed everyone of the situation. We will help you escape as quickly as possible."

"Thanks, Freddy!" said Gregory.

As they stepped onto the elevator, Sun realized something.

"WAIT! We forgot the ball! We have to go back!"

"No time, Vanessa can grab it on her way out."

When they reached the Prize Counter, Monty and Roxy were there holding back some S.T.A.F.F. bots.

"Go!" Roxy yelled.

They ran through the VIP Lounge. Chica was waiting for them by the emergency exit. She opened the door as soon as they were in view.

"You made it!" she exclaimed. "Bye boys, hope you have a nice drive!"

They hurried out the door onto the roof. Sun stopped and looked up at the sky. Apparently, the rain had stopped while they were sleeping, and the moon and stars were now on full display. At least, he thought they were. He had never actually been outside, but Gregory had shown him a photo of stars once. He had been surprised to learn that real stars weren't actually star-shaped, but they were so beautiful he figured they were probably hard to draw. He turned to Moon, who was also looking up.

"Look, it's you!" he said, pointing at the crescent moon.

Moon half smiled. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"Get down!" Gregory whispered. He pulled on their shirts, forcing them to crouch.

Just then, a car drove past them and parked right in front of the door. A man in a suit stepped out, yawned, then entered the Pizzaplex.

"That must be the supervisor Vanessa was talking about. I'll let her know we're safe." He sent a text message on his Fazwatch, then started climbing down the fire escape, followed by Moon, then Sun.

They walked over to the only other car in the parking lot. Gregory opened the passenger door and got in. After a few seconds, he opened the door again.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Wait," Sun said, "you mean we actually get to go in the car?"

"Yeah? Did you think we were going to walk there?"

"Pshh! Of COURSE not, that would be silly!"

Sun had thought they were going to walk there. He opened the rear passenger side door and hopped in. Moon sat down in the other seat. They had also never been in a car before. So many new experiences today! Even though the moonlight wasn't very bright, he could see that there were a lot of buttons and dials in the front of the car, a lot more than a go-kart. He also noticed that the car was covered in junk, but since it wasn't his car, he was very polite and did not say anything about it. Suddenly, he heard a click.

"What was that?"

"That's just the doors locking. Vanessa always makes me lock them when I'm in the car without her. Anyway, her shift doesn't end for, like, half an hour, so I'm gonna try to sleep a little more. Wake me when she comes out."

Gregory took off his shoes and curled up into a ball. Sun didn't want to risk having another bad dream, so he decided to stay awake. It was just a dream, wasn't it? Before he woke up, it had felt so real. Now he understood why so many kids didn't like naptime. He looked over at Moon. He wasn't sleeping either. Did he have a nightmare too? Even if he did, he probably wouldn't want to talk about it. Besides, Gregory was sleeping, so they had to be quiet.

Everything was so quiet. Sun had never realized how much he and Moon talked until they couldn't. Well, they could, but not like they usually did. At least it wasn't total isolation. Not like back then. Even though he knew it could be worse, it was still hard. He had never felt so far away from someone who was sitting right next to him. Finally, he couldn't bear it any longer.

"Hey, Moon," Sun whispered, "whatcha thinking about?"

"I'm thinking you need to be quiet or Gregory is going to wake up," Moon snapped.

"But we always talk when the kids are asleep."

"That was because they couldn't hear us. This is different."

"But can't we just whisper reeeeally quietly?" Sun scooted over until his and Moon's legs were touching and placed his mouth mere centimeters from his ear. "Like this?"

"Fine," said Moon, pushing him away slightly. "If you really want to know… I think Vanessa is hiding something."

"What!" Sun said, a bit too loud. He and Moon looked over to Gregory, who didn't seem to react. They turned back to each other. "Why would you say that?"

"You haven't noticed her acting weird?"

"…Nooo…"

"She's actively trying to keep us away from Roxy Raceway. She insisted that we clean the daycare before investigating, which seemed normal at first, but then she made us go all the way to the Lost and Found for new clothes. And when we finally came back, she told us to go to sleep and didn't wake us up early enough to take a look around before we had to leave."

"It's not Vanessa's fault that someone decided to come in early today. I'm sure she meant to wake us up in time."

"And I might believe you if that was the only thing, but it wasn't. There were just too many coincidences. If she hadn't been sabotaging us, we might be back to normal by now."

Moon stopped and looked out the window. Sun looked down at his hands, then back to Moon.

"…Ok, I'll admit that some of those things seem kind of like they might be on purpose, but we know Vanessa. She's a good person, and she would tell us if something was wrong. And this isn't all bad. I mean, we finally know what it's like outside of the Pizzaplex. And we got these cool new clothes."

Moon stayed silent for a second.

"…I do kind of like the jacket."

"See? There you go! There's always a bright side of things!"

Another car drove into the parking lot. Fortunately, they didn't park next to Vanessa's car. A very tired-looking woman stepped out and entered the building.

"That must be someone from the day shift," said Moon.

More and more cars started streaming in. Finally, Vanessa came out holding a rather vibrant duffel bag. Sun started rubbing Gregory's arm.

"Hey, Vanessa's coming! Time to wake up!"

Gregory stretched and opened his eyes.

"M'kay, thanks."

Vanessa unlocked the doors and got in the driver's seat. She rested her head on the steering wheel and sighed before starting the car.

"So, how did it go?" Gregory asked.

"Well, he didn't ask about the daycare, so that's good."

"Did you get the-"

"Yes. It's in my bag."

As she shifted the car into drive, it started beeping.

"Guys, can you please put on your seatbelts?"

Sun looked around and found the seatbelt to his right. He promptly buckled it, and Moon did the same. The beeping stopped, and Vanessa started driving out of the lot. When they got to the main road, Sun saw a sign with all of the Glamrocks on it that read "COME BACK REAL SOON!" As they drove away from the Pizzaplex, he stared until it was out of view.

"Goodbye, home."

"Can we get McDonald's?" Gregory asked.

"Sure. I definitely don't have the energy to make you breakfast today."

As they pulled into the drive-thru, Sun smelled something… good. It smelled a lot like the snack bar at Chica's Mazercize, but without the sweat. Suddenly, his mouth started to water, and his tummy started to grumble.

"Hello, welcome to McDonald's, may I take your order?"

"Yes, I'll have one egg McMuffin, one order of hotcakes, aaaand…" she turned to Sun and Moon. "What do you guys want?"

They looked at the menu. They didn't recognize anything on it.

"We'll have what you're having," said Moon.

"And two more egg McMuffins."

"Would you like to add french fries for just ninety-nine cents?"

"No, thank you."

"Ok, your total will be $14.27. Please pull forward and pay at the window."

Once they had gotten their food, Gregory distributed it throughout the car. Sun carefully unwrapped his McMuffin. He had watched kids eating snacks in the daycare thousands of times. It couldn't be that hard, right? He cautiously took a bite. It felt weird in his mouth, but after he swallowed it, his tummy felt a little better. He checked to see if Moon liked it, but he hadn't started eating yet.

"What's wrong? Aren't you hungry?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Moon asked without looking up.

"Well, if you're not hungry now, you will be later, and this is the food you're getting," said Vanessa. "If you don't want to starve, I recommend you eat it."

"…fine," he mumbled. He took a bite.

"How is it?" asked Gregory.

"It's ok."

When they had finished their McMuffins, Sun noticed that Gregory wasn't eating his last hotcake.

"Do you not like your hotcakes, Gregory?"

"What? Oh, I do like them, I'm just full. You wanna try a bite?"

"Sure!"

Gregory handed Sun the hotcake. It certainly smelled better than the egg McMuffin, and upon further inspection, it tasted better too.

"Wow, this is really good! You gotta try it, Moony!"

Sun held out a piece of the hotcake, which Moon hesitantly ate.

"…Ok, that's pretty good," he admitted.

By the time they finished it, they had arrived at a very large building.

"Alright boys, here we are," Vanessa announced.

"So, this is where you live?" Sun asked. "It's huge!"

"I don't own this whole place. I just rent a two-bedroom apartment. Well, technically I rent half."

"Hey Moon, you might wanna take off your hat," Gregory suggested.

"Why? It's a great hat."

"It's just that we're trying not to draw attention to ourselves, and most people don't wear old-timey nightcap things."

"Well I'm no-OW!" Moon had jerked his head to the side and was now rubbing his neck.

"Oh yeah, most people also can't spin their faces around."

"You don't say."

Moon begrudgingly pulled on his hood and they all walked into the apartment complex. Inside was an older woman with curlers in her hair sitting behind a desk, watching tv. She turned around and smiled when she heard them come in.

"Good morning, Vanessa dear! And good morning to you too, Gregory. How was work?" She noticed Sun and Moon standing behind them. "And more importantly, who are these strapping young men you've dragged in here?"

"Good morning, Jean," Vanessa sighed. "These are just some friends of mine who need a place to stay for a few nights."

"A few nights? Without any luggage? OH! Did they lose everything in that awful flood? They were just talking about that on the news."

Sun looked over to the tv. It showed a house almost completely submerged in water. A banner along the bottom read "SEVERE FLOODING IN NORTHEASTERN WASHINGTON COUNTY." Jean scooped Sun and Moon into a hug.

"Oh, you poor dears, you can stay here as long as you need to! If you need anything, just holler and ol' Jean will take care of ya!"

"Thanks, Jean. Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat, but we've all had a rough night, so we're just going to head up now."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! How could I be so inconsiderate? Of course you need your rest after a night like that. Sweet dreams!"

And with that, Jean sat back down behind the counter.

"Come on guys, stairs are this way."

As they climbed the stairs, Vanessa apologized.

"Sorry about Jean. She's my landlady. She tends to get a little… passionate about things."

"Well, I thought she was wonderful!" Sun exclaimed. "She gives great hugs!"

Moon rolled his eyes, for real this time. "Of course you would say that."

When they reached the third floor, they walked down a hallway to a door with the number 307 painted on it. Vanessa took out some keys and unlocked it.

"Here it is. Home sweet home."

Gregory ran inside first. On the left there was a couch, which he jumped onto, an armchair and a coffee table facing a tv. On the right was a small kitchen and a dining table with four chairs. In the back of the room were three doors, an open one leading to the bathroom and two closed ones that probably led to the bedrooms.

"What a nice apartment! Which half is yours?"

"Both, kind of. I did have a roommate, but she left a while ago. Jean said Gregory could use her room until a new tenant moves in. Oh, she also left her Disney account on the tv if you want to watch something. Just make sure you use my profile."

"We've never been allowed to watch tv before!" Sun beamed. Technically, they had seen Freddy & Friends in the Daycare Theater, but that was it.

Gregory took off his shoes and pulled his legs into his shirt.

"There's not much else you can do here," he said.

"Oh, I'm sure that's not true! There must be something else you do for fun. You like to draw, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm not very good at it."

"Not very good? You're one of the most incredible artists I've ever seen!"

Gregory had brought his sketchbook to the Pizzaplex a few times. Sun and Moon were always impressed by his artistic abilities.

"You're a lot better than you think, Greg," Vanessa added. "I'm going to take my shower and go to sleep. Whatever you do, try to keep the volume down out here."

"I always do," replied Gregory.

"I know, I wasn't talking to you." Vanessa looked over to Sun, who had his head inside the oven. "Hey! Get out of there."

Sun hit his head on the top of the oven, then stood up and turned to face Vanessa.

"Sorry, I-I was just looking! I've never seen a re-"

"We get it, you've never seen or done anything before," Moon interrupted.

Sun pouted and crossed his arms.

"Well, neither have you, Mr. Grumpypants. But now we are, and I'm just a little excited. How could anyone not be?"

"No matter who's excited about what, I'm getting ready for bed now," said Vanessa. She pointed at Gregory. "Keep them alive." Finally, she left the room.

"So, what do you wanna do now?" Sun asked.

"I dunno. I guess just chill," Gregory replied.

Moon chuckled. "Sun can't 'just chill.'"

"I can too! I can be so chill, you won't even believe it!"

"You're right, I don't believe it," said Moon, sitting down on the couch.

Sun huffed a bit and sat down next to him.

"Let's watch a movie, then." Gregory grabbed the remote and navigated to the movies section of Disney. "What looks good to you guys?"

Sun's eyes widened. "I didn't even know there were this many movies!" He saw a picture of some people jumping in front of a red curtain. The letters next to them read "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL."

"Ooo, a musical! Can we do that one? Pretty please?"

"Umm… ok, but only because you're a guest."

The movie was amazing! Sun couldn't believe how good everyone was at singing and dancing. If this was what school was like, he had no idea why some kids didn't like it. Well, except maybe to avoid Sharpay. She needed a time out.

About halfway through, there was a knock at the door. Sun stood up.

"I'll get it!"

"No!" Gregory tried to grab him, but it was too late.

Standing in front of the door was a man about Vanessa's age with light-brown skin and dark, wavy hair. He looked surprised to see Sun.

"Oh! I'm sorry. Is there a Vanessa here?"

"Why, yes there is! But she's sleeping right now."

"O-oh yeah, that makes sense, she's probably tired from working all night. There was something I wanted to talk to her about, but I can just come back later, or call or… something."

"I can take a message!" Sun offered.

"Oh no, it's fine, it was just a… work thing. Not really urgent at all."

Gregory pushed past Sun. "Hey, Luis."

"Oh, hi Gregory. Could you please tell Vanessa to call me later?"

"Sure."

"Ok, great, um… that's all I need right now, so I'm just… gonna go. It was great meeting you… what was your name again?"

"I'm Su-Sam! My name's Sam!" Sun stammered. That was a close one! Sam was a normal-sounding human name, right?

"Heh, sus," muttered Gregory.

"Uh, cool. Catch ya later, Sam." Luis awkwardly pointed finger guns at Sun, then left.

Sun closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Moon had paused the movie, so they didn't have to rewind it.

"Wow. Real smooth, 'Sam,'" he teased.

"I think that went quite well," Sun replied. "And Sam is a great name."

"So, who was that?"

"That's Luis," said Gregory. "He and Vanessa really like each other, but don't ask her about it or she'll ground me until college."

"Why would she be mad about us knowing they were friends?" Sun asked.

"I think he means they like-like each other," said Moon.

"Yeah, like Troy and Gabriella, except they would never admit it. At least Vanessa wouldn't."

"Oh. That is… different, I suppose. But if they care that much about each other, why wouldn't they want the world to know?"

"I dunno. Grownups are just weird sometimes. Moon, can you press play?"