Vanessa knew Fazbear was desperate to get the daycare up and running again. After all, every second it was closed was a second that almost as desperate parents weren't paying for their services. Even so, she had expected them to take at least a few days to start hiring people. But there were the confirmation emails, right in her hand, that said otherwise.
"YES! We did it! We're going home!" Sun hugged Moon, who had stood up to read the emails. "Isn't this great, Moon?"
"Yeah, Sun, it's pretty great," said Moon, trying not to smile too wide.
"Why do you have to be there at six?" asked Gregory. "I thought the daycare didn't open until eight."
"I'm sure it's mostly that orientation they mentioned. After all, there are a lot of things you need to know before working with children. Even though most of the basics were programmed into us, we still had to go through weeks of training and testing. Wait, I just thought of something. How will we get there? Vanessa won't be able to drive us, and we don't know how to walk there."
"Believe me, you wouldn't want to walk," Vanessa assured them. She had tried that once when she wanted to save money on gas. Let's just say it was better to buy gas. "There's an employees-only bus that you can take. Actually, I think one of them picks up near Gregory's bus stop."
"Really?" asked Sun, finally letting go of Moon. "So we can all be Bus Buddies?!"
"Not exactly," said Gregory. "Different bus, two hours later."
"Oh. Honorary Bus Buddies?"
"Sure."
"Now that we have that figured out, it's time for all good bus buddies to get ready for bed."
Gregory must've been tired, because he didn't protest at all. Once he had left, Vanessa turned to Sun and Moon.
"Since you two are going to be waking up earlier next week, you should probably start going to sleep earlier, too."
"Right now? Why?"
"So that your bodies will be used to sleeping at a certain time. If you suddenly change your sleep schedule, it can make you feel tired even if you get enough sleep."
"Why?"
"…Because your brain isn't used to functioning at that time."
"Why does that matter?"
Vanessa sighed. Sometimes she couldn't tell the difference between Sun and the kids he was supposed to be watching.
"I don't know, it just… does, ok?"
"Ok. So, just as a general question, are there any other ways we could be sleeping wrong?"
"I'm not sure there is a wrong way to sleep. You kinda just, y'know, do it." Obviously, there were 'wrong' ways to sleep, and sitting upright on the couch was probably one of them, but she wasn't invested enough to buy them an air mattress yet. At least the couch was better than the floor.
"Oh. Good to know."
With that settled, she wanted to get some chores done before work, but just like yesterday, Sun and Moon hadn't left much work to be done. She was kind of surprised neither of them seemed to care that they were being replaced only two days after they had gone missing. It was a good thing they applied, though. Fazbear definitely hadn't had time to do background checks on them, and they likely wouldn't have checked anyone else, either. If they hadn't gotten those jobs, who knows what kind of psychopaths could've been hired in their place? She had dreaded it at first, but maybe bringing them back to the Pizzaplex was a blessing in disguise.
As she was rearranging her bookshelf, she accidentally knocked her journal off the edge. She crouched down and picked up the glittery pink book with puppies on the front cover. She flipped through the pages, past dozens of snapshots from her life, some accompanied by crude drawings that definitely weren't as good as Gregory's. She had always been more of a painter, but you couldn't exactly use watercolors on flimsy journal paper. Despite her lack of talent, writing and doodling were just as fun as painting, and much more cost-effective. She grabbed the nearest pencil, sat down on her bed, and started on a familiar face.
…
The hallway again. Why did it always have to be the hallway? Sun would have preferred a dream about anything else, even no dreams at all, over going back to the hallway. But alas, there he was, listening to the whispers. The door was there, but it was locked, so he decided to try and get to the end of the hallway again. To his surprise, it actually worked! As he approached what he hoped was the exit, the whispers grew into talking.
He stepped out into a large room. It was filled with long tables like ones in the party rooms at the Pizzaplex, and the red walls were lined with various arcade games. To his right were two stages, a smaller one and a larger one, both with their curtains closed. A couple dozen children, some with animal masks, were running around, talking, playing games. A handful of adults, possibly some of their parents, were talking in the corner. It was a scene that should've been happy, but something was… off.
The lights were still oddly dim in the party room. The children didn't seem to mind, though. They also didn't seem to mind that the vents were clanging again. It wasn't as loud as before, but it still made Sun nervous. He jumped when he felt a tug on his arm. He looked down to see that it was a little girl with a yellow bird-like mask.
"The party hasn't started yet."
Well that explained why there wasn't any cake or streamers or other things Sun heard people had at parties. But if the party hadn't started yet, why were all these kids here?
"He always comes back."
Sun was alarmed to hear her echo the words of the monster in the vents. "How do you know about the monster? Did he try to get you, too?"
"I was the first. He's still down there."
Another bang in the vents. It sounded like it was coming from the walls, the ceiling, anywhere but down.
"I'm sorry, I don't-"
"We can't start the party yet."
All the children had stopped what they were doing to stare at him.
"Why not? Because of the monster? Why can't you start the… party…"
Sun tried to look the strange girl in the eyes, but there didn't seem to be any behind her mask. Just… darkness.
BANG
Sun woke up to a thunderstorm. The rain was much louder than it had been last night, and lightning flashed through the shutters. It lit up the room long enough for Sun to see that Moon was also awake, as usual.
"So," Sun yawned, "why do you think that little girl didn't have eyes?"
"We had the same dream twice, so you're just assuming it happened again?" Moon asked.
"Are you saying you didn't have that dream?"
"…No, I did."
"That's what I thought. Can you see yourself in your dreams?"
"What?"
"Last night you said the dreams might be corrupted memory files. If that's true, then even though we're humans right now, we would see ourselves as an animatronic in the dreams, right? I tried to check, but I couldn't see myself at all. I could feel the little girl touch my arm, but when I looked down it just… wasn't there. I wanted to know if you could see what you look like, and which 'you' it was."
"I dunno. I never tried."
"Oh." Sun paused. There was another flash of lightning followed by booming thunder. "Can you hear yourself?"
"Wha- yeah, of course I can."
"Does it sound like your inside voice, or your outside voice? Because if you're right, and we are an animatronic in the dreams, then one of us would be using our inside voice. I tried to talk to the girl, but I'm not sure if she heard me. And I know the lights were technically on, but they were so dim maybe you were active instead of me, and the reason she didn't hear me is because I wasn't speaking out loud."
"You're thinking waaaaaay too hard about this."
"I'm just trying to figure out what's going on and how we can help. Vanessa said we weren't sleeping wrong, so that can't be it. I wish we knew what little girl was trying to tell us."
"We can't do anything, Sun, it's just a dream. I get that you want to help, but I don't think we can stop those nightmares until we fix this one."
"What do you mean 'this one?'"
"You know exactly what I mean."
More lightning. Moon took the opportunity to motion to himself, his eyes half-shut.
"Oh, that." Sun knew that they were in an unusual situation, but it didn't feel like a nightmare to him.
"Anyway, let's stop talking about nightmares and monsters and go back to sleep."
"I never mentioned the monster."
Moon tensed up.
"You sure?"
"Yes…"
"Uh, good. Thanks… for not doing that."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Goodnight, Sun."
"…Goodnight, Moon."
Sun didn't feel like going back to sleep yet. He decided to get up and look out the window, now that he knew it was there. He fumbled around in the dark until he found the string for the blinds and pulled on it. He thought he understood the concept of rain well enough, but it was still odd to see water falling from the sky. The ground was drenched, and the light of the street lamps danced across the water flowing along the edges of the road, making little whirlpools over the storm drains, kind of like the drain in Vanessa's shower. Oh wait…
"…April showers," Sun said out loud.
"It's March, Sun. Go to sleep."
Without the blinds to dim it, the next bolt of lightning was extra bright.
"Mrmph," Moon mumbled, pulling the blanket over his head, "lights out."
"Oh, sorry!" Sun closed the blinds and tiptoed into the kitchen. Earlier that day, he had made sure to memorize where all the snacks were just in case he woke up while Vanessa was at work again. He grabbed two cookies and ate one as quietly as he could.
"Hey Moon, do you want a cookie?"
Moon didn't answer. Could he have gone back to sleep already? Sun waited a few more seconds, then ate the other cookie. After all, it might be his last one. Since they were going back to the Pizzaplex on Monday, it couldn't be long until things were back to normal. Well, not normal exactly. Sun would never be quite the same after his time here. He would never forget the feeling of Jean's hugs, or sunlight on his skin.
He felt his face, as he sometimes did when no one was looking. As strange as it had been at first, and still was, he liked this face. For one thing, it wasn't stuck in an eternal smile. Not that he didn't like smiling, but it was nice to have the option to look angry, or sad, or any other emotion. It was also a lot softer than his old one. At least, it had been. Now the lower half was starting to feel prickly. Maybe Vanessa would know why.
But that was a question for tomorrow. Now that his tummy had something in it, he was starting to feel sleepy again. He sat back down on the couch and pulled the blanket back over him. The lightning and thunder were dying down, and he was left with only the rain pitter-pattering on the roof. Wait, what was that new sound? It was like the tools the work crew used, but softer, and it seemed to be coming from… Moon? Ohhh, he was snoring! They had always gone to sleep at the same time, so he hadn't noticed it before. Fortunately, it was somewhat quiet snoring, and it wasn't long before Sun was asleep again.
…
"Anyway, let's stop talking about nightmares and monsters and go back to sleep."
"I never mentioned the monster."
Moon tensed up.
"You sure?"
"Yes…"
"Uh, good. Thanks… for not doing that."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Goodnight, Sun."
"…Goodnight, Moon."
"He always comes back."
The girl's words echoed in Moon's head after he woke up. He knew what the monster was. He had heard its voice before. He wished he hadn't.
"He's still down there."
If she was talking about the Pizzaplex, there was only one place "down there" could be. Sure, there were plenty of rooms that were below ground level, but it couldn't be hiding there; all of the servers had been cleared of the virus months ago. Moon had once overheard some construction workers talking about a sinkhole beneath the raceway. Back then he hadn't paid much attention. Why should he care that the work crew hadn't bothered to ask whether or not they could build an entire go-kart track on top of a giant hole? But now he had put the pieces together. On the surface, there was nothing about the raceway that screamed "killer virus hideout," but there were too many coincidences.
He didn't remember much from that time. He figured the virus had corrupted the memory files, or maybe he was subconsciously blocking them out. All he knew was that every so often he would see fuzzy flashes of little smiles turning to screams, or their bodies being carried through the halls, barely breathing. He knew he was taking them somewhere, but he couldn't remember where. At some point, he realized that Roxy Raceway had appeared more frequently than any other location. Most of the time he was outside the entrance, but there were a few memories from inside the attraction. The girl only seemed to confirm his suspicions. It had to be there.
He had to find out what was going on under the raceway. He had to know that it wouldn't get loose again, that he wouldn't be responsible for more innocent Starshines going missing. He had to go back. Try as she might, not even Vanessa could keep him away from there. If there was a way to stop that thing, for good this time, he was going to find it. But if the girl was right, and it couldn't be stopped… it would be safer for him to be trapped in a nap forever, or at least until Fazbear stopped caring enough to repair them. After all, if it wasn't for the company's tight pockets, he would've been deleted ages ago.
Why was Vanessa trying to keep them away from the raceway? Even if Sun didn't believe him, Moon knew she was hiding something. The virus couldn't affect humans, could it? Probably not. But if it could… they might have less time than he thought. Sun was right about one thing: those nightmares did mean something, and he needed to find out what it was. He couldn't tell that to Sun, of course. He would just freak out like he always did, and he might even tell Vanessa.
"…April showers," Sun said out loud.
"It's March, Sun. Go to sleep."
At least, Moon thought it was still March. He was kind of lost without their internal clock. Waking up in the middle of the night didn't help either. Sun must've opened the blinds or something, because the next bolt of lightning was extra bright.
"Mrmph," Moon mumbled, pulling the blanket over his head, "lights out."
"Oh, sorry!"
These eyes were better at adapting to different levels of light than his old ones, but they still didn't react well to sudden changes. At least he had eyelids to block some of it out.
Sun's interruptions had brought him back to reality. Whatever was going on, he wouldn't be able to solve it tonight. He needed to take his own advice and go back to sleep. He would never admit it to anyone, but these pajamas were actually pretty comfortable, and he felt like it was easier to sleep in them. He also liked how closely the pants matched his costume, wherever that was. Vanessa had put his and Sun's clothes in her duffel bag, but they weren't in there the last time he checked. Moon stopped himself.
"No, not right now, I need sleep."
Why did humans need so much sleep? Another question he couldn't answer tonight.
"Just sleep, it's not that hard. Maybe I could try counting sheep or something? One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four sheep, five… sheep…"