"You're actually Sun?!" Gregory squawked, backing away from the Daycare Attendant as it turned to him and crept forward. Lights were off in the Daycare, and the once glowing clouds were dark, allowing the stars behind them to glow. The sun had fallen below the castle at the front and the crescent moon rose.
"Naughty boy, naughty boy. It's past your bedtime, long, long since. You have been messing with time."
Gregory backed into the double doors. His headache had passed. Cowardly rabbit. She was probably scared of him, too. For good reason.
He darted behind the security desk.
Moon hissed and chased him but did not follow him into the off-limits area. "Kids are not allowed behind the security desk!"
Gregory called, "Make me!"
The Daycare Attendant growled and stalked back and forth in front of the desk.
Gregory looked at the desk and found the Freddy head contraption with a security cap. He pressed its nose. It opened enough for him to snatch the security card. A flashlight–a real, powerful flashlight–was stuck on a charger on the wall. He immediately swiped it. On the wall was the light switch–a colorful switch with a sun painted on top and a moon on the bottom rather than an "ON/OFF" label. Duct tape across the middle of the "sun" switch, partially covering the image, had torn off the wall having once been presumably firmly plastered to it. Yikes.
He tried pressing the sun switch.
Click.
Nothing, not even a spark or fizzle of a lightbulb, came in answer.
Beep! [Gregory? The lights are off in the Daycare? If you need to turn them on, there are generators in the room off the Naptime room.]
Generators in the naptime room, got it.
Beep! [Hey, New Friend? Do you hear me?]
Gregory's eyes went wide. "You're not Chica."
Beep! [There's a generator in a cabinet by the fridge. Turn it on!]
Gregory scowled at Moon as the blue Daycare Attendant stalked back and forth, glowing red eyes not once leaving him like a hungry cat. "I'm not trusting you."
Beep! [That is fair. But please, you need to turn the lights on! He doesn't want to hurt you. But his security mode is… out of sorts.]
Gregory growled and spat. This is stupid! I can't trust him!
"What else can you do? Look, you remember what happened with Roxy in the security room. If Moon gets you, it might be the same thing. You'll just come right back. So, trust him this once. I'll think of something else in the meantime."
Fine. Gregory waited for Moon to get to the very right side of the desk before darting out the left side and around the closest play structure.
He looked back. Moon was strangely much slower than Sun, moving at a creep rather than using long strides that utilized his long legs. He vanished completely when Gregory got between the play structure and the wall. Still, the boy wouldn't question it. Instead, he ran to the cabinet beside the fridge and tried to open it.
Click.
He swiped his security card over it. It opened for him, revealing an inactive generator. He pulled the switch up and shut the door. One of the lights in the play place blazed, a single spotlight in the dark.
Beep! [Good job! That's the first one down! Four more to go!]
Gregory looked both ways. Where was Moon? He couldn't afford to run into–
Creak, click, click, crrrreak!
He looked up upon hearing the clicking and grinding of gears and creaking joints. Moon clung to the bars directly above him, barely visible in the dark. Even the stars on his pants were crossed by shadows as the UV lights above that made them glow were blocked by the play structure.
Beep!
Gregory let out a squeak, ducked, and bolted. Heart thundering and breaths coming in wheezes, he ran straight to the door at the right side of the room, its label lost to the dark. That handle stayed firm, yielding a few inches but no further. He ran his security badge over it a few times and then turned his flashlight up at the door, where a "10" was printed at the top right corner. He looked back and darted away upon seeing Moon creep over the ground between the play structures and the security desk.
Gregory climbed into the closest play structure and hid. Sun hadn't followed him in. That must mean–
Moon crawled into the play tunnel with ease.
"Bad children must be found."
When he looked back, Moon crawled through the smaller walkways on all fours like some sort of demented, four-legged spider.
Gregory tapped his glasses to see what Sun had said. [The next four are in the Naptime Room. You can't open it; Moon or Chica can.]
Gregory spat, "Well, then, what am I supposed to do? You still haven't let Chica in!"
Beep! [The only thing that overrides his security protocols are his caregiver protocols. Maybe if you find a way to activate those, he'll let you in!]
"Let me in? Why would he let me in? Are you crazy-y?!" Gregory yelped as, when he tried turning a corner into another tunnel, his hand slipped on the steep slope, revealing that the passage was not a tunnel but a slide.
His hand squeaked over the plastic as he struggled to stop himself, but with one hand clutching Bonnie and thus a quarter of his weight on his shoulder where his clothes did not stick to the slide, he ended up going down. He tumbled out onto the soft floor, his star glasses sliding off his nose and clattering to the ground in the confusion.
Gregory blinked and looked around. Huh. The world became less purple and somewhat lighter, though still dark.
A soft cackle trickled through the still semi-silence of the dark playplace.
The boy bristled and whipped his head up to face the noise. Moon crept up to him, back to the doors and security desk, and under the glare of the spotlight that shone with the power of a thousand suns. Gregory yelped and covered his eyes. "Shit! That hurt!" he spat and fumbled to grab his sunglasses.
"Gregory!"
Moon hissed, "Language!"
Gregory put on his sunglasses and scrambled to his feet. He grabbed his flashlight and turned it to Moon, who spat at him and ducked out of the way. It, however, did not swear. The boy bolted. He tapped his glasses upon finding he was in the CAMS tab and saw he had a new message.
[Gregory, watch your language!]
"Jeez, not you, too. Fine, okay. Whatever. That Moon guy's trying to kill me and that spotlight is brighter than the fricking sun and probably made me partially blind, and you get onto me because of swearing?"
Beep! [Yes. Swearing will not change your situation.]
"Shit, fuck, hell."
Beep! [Young man!]
"Gregory, as funny as that is, you have other things to worry about."
No matter where Gregory went, Moon followed. Not only did Moon follow, but Gregory couldn't find another generator or another pass. How was he going to get into the Naptime Room?!
"It's past your bedtime."
Gregory, having slid down the other slide back out into the play place, shut his eyes. He was getting nowhere running from Moon. Please, please, please let this work!
He ran into the other play structure from the bottom where the roof was tall enough for Moon to walk.
Gregory, heaving, picked a spot around a corner and lay down with his now-deactivated flashlight in his pocket. He shut his eyes and relaxed. Well, even if this turned out to be a stupid idea, he doubted he could run any further. So, he had that going for him.
Gears clicked and whirred.
He could feel his presence beside him.
Moon stooped down to inspect him. When Gregory showed no signs of moving despite his racing heart and uneven, heavy breathing, Moon gently picked him up, taking great care to keep Bonnie from falling. Moon's plastic chest was warm.
The door to the naptime room opened.
The door to the naptime room closed.
Moon set Gregory down on a bed, took off his shoes and glasses, and pulled the blanket over him and Bonnie. Gregory forced himself to stay still as Moon set a finger to his neck and his forehead.
…
The bot walked away.
Gregory, as his breathing evened out, listened. While he couldn't hear Moon's clinking gears, he heard the creak of Moon's joints some distance away.
The boy opened one eye. Moon, no longer watching Gregory, crouched, and pulled up a blanket to look under a bed.
Okay, so, beds were a no-go hiding place. Got it.
Moon stood up.
Gregory shut his eye.
Quiet footsteps became even fainter.
A door opened and then closed.
Gregory blinked open his eyes and looked back at the door. The boy slipped out of bed, shoved on his shoes and glasses from under the bed, and ran to the door labeled "EMPLOYEES ONLY".
Gregory slipped into the room. He jolted and looked around. Technology covered the place. Lights of varying sizes, some blinking and some constant, bedecked the technology. Further in, through gaps in the shelving units, Gregory spotted dim red lights.
The boy, flashlight in hand, ran through the maze of shelving units.
He found a generator.
Clunk. Brrrrrr!
The faint red light turned green and bold.
Gregory just finished the third generator of the night when the door opened.
The boy shut off his flashlight and stuck it in his pocket.
Two small red lights accompanied by quiet footsteps slunk through the room. It walked faster than he remembered.
"Bad children must be found."
Gregory bristled and searched for the next generators. These ones faced the wrong direction so he couldn't see their red glow. He could barely see right in front of himself!
Clunk. Brrrrrr!
Gregory neared the end of the room with the last generator.
"Bad children must be punished."
The red lights glimmered and shot up and stopped just above one of the shelving units.
The boy nearly laughed aloud upon finding another red light. He grabbed the lever and threw it down. His glasses beeped.
Then Gregory was in the air, Moon having dropped from the ceiling behind him and snatched him like an owl. Moon growled, "That is enough from you."
"Gregory! Don't freeze, do something!"
"Children are not allowed here. It is past your bedtime, and you have been messing with time." Moon walked back toward the naptime room.
Gregory laughed, inwardly cringing at how cracked and high-pitched it was. "What are you going to do, put me in Time Out?"
"Yes." Moon's head twitched and it growled. "No."
Come on, why wasn't time resetting? Shouldn't I be back at the security desk?
"Maybe he has to kill you to do that? Or maybe it has to be during an alarm? Maybe it has to be a glamrock?"
Your theories are horrible!
"I'm trying!"
Gregory, who had stayed tense and still so far, asked, "Can I time travel by myself or do I have to use stuff around the Pizzaplex?"
"You are not a time traveler," Moon stated, his voice firm. "The Mega Pizzaplex is the time anomaly. You will not mess with it further."
"If I promise not to, will you let me go?"
"No."
"What if I ask–" Gregory interrupted himself to kick back with both feet. Moon, holding Gregory under the arms with his fingers wrapped around his chest, jolted as the boy kicked him in the chest hard enough to shove himself forward. When Moon didn't give, Gregory kicked again. Moon simply held him further away.
"Stop," Moon stated. "You cannot hurt me, and it is rude to try." Gregory hooked one leg over his arm and twisted himself around. He pulled his flashlight out and pointed it straight at Moon's face.
Moon released him with a shriek as he was flashed point-blank and clapped his blue-and-white hands over his face.
Gregory hit the ground hard. For a moment, he lay stunned, a little wheeze escaping his lungs from the impact. Bonnie bounced over the floor and the flashlight's beam waved wildly as it tumbled away.
"Gregory! Get up, get up, get up!"
He gasped and scrambled to his feet. He snatched Bonnie and his flashlight, then bolted. Bells rattled behind him. He slammed into the door to the Naptime Room and whipped around to point his flashlight back. Moon shied from its glare, side-stepping from its once very direct path straight to Gregory. He slammed through the door, kicked it shut behind himself, and rushed between the beds. For one horrifying moment, he considered the possibility of being trapped–after all, Moon was the only one who could open that door. As if Gregory could trick Moon into opening that door for him. If he wanted Moon to kill him instead of tossing him into baby jail, well, he'd gotten his wish. Looking back over his shoulder, Gregory found the jester animatronic had abandoned his hopping and creeping and now bounded from headboard to headboard, flinging itself yards at a time and landing on its hands or feet, whichever didn't matter. Both continued the blue Daycare Attendant's propulsion. At no point did its searing red gaze leave Gregory's.
Gregory crashed into the door to the play place. Relief flooded through him as the door yielded and he stumbled outside. He pushed the door shut behind himself, hearing a hard click as it locked. Except, now he had a quarter of open play place space between himself and the security desk, and Moon's shoes thumped on the ground behind the door.
"Th-the cans! Gregory, I-I remember, something about the cans. He doesn't like those!"
Gregory zeroed in on a stack of two blue cans with yellow squiggles and dots. He raced to the short stack beside the nearest play structure. Moon threw open the door behind him. "Naughty boy!" it snarled. "I'm putting you in Time Out!"
Bonnie, help?
"Do it!"
Gregory turned and threw Bonnie as hard as he could. The bunny plush thumped against the blue Daycare Attendant's face. For a moment, the infuriated bot hesitated and looked down at the harmless projectile. Then it seemed to remember what it was doing and hissed, "Do not throw toys at others, child!"
Gregory skidded to a stop by the cans and kicked them as hard as he could. The one he kicked let out a sad honk as Gregory's foot came in contact with it.
"Urg, clean up, clean up!" Moon spat.
Gregory dashed toward the security desk. He glanced over his shoulder at Moon, who ignored Gregory in favor of picking up the cans and setting them back in their respective places. Gregory stopped behind the desk and slammed his whole hand into the switch, pressing the torn duct tape back down on the wall as he did so. Lights blazed on and squeaky, bouncy music slowly came back to life.
Gregory looked back. Moon was nowhere near the blue cans. He turned off his flashlight and pocketed the item as he ran back to Bonnie. He picked up his best friend and looked over him but couldn't find any additional wear on his once-shiny pelt. "You good?"
"I'm good. Are you okay?"
"I'm okay." He turned around and, hugging Bonnie, crept out further into the light, eyes darting around his surroundings. But the yellow jester animatronic… wasn't there. Skeptical, he called, "Sun? You here?"
Bells jingled and Sun skipped out behind the play structure, just out of his immediate sight from the door. He stopped a good distance from Gregory. "Hello~! Yes, I'm here!" He clapped his hands together. "You said your friend Chica was looking for you here?"
"Why didn't you say you were Moon?!" Gregory spat. "That guy tried to kill me!"
Sun's spokes twitched at the accusation. "I'm not Moon, I'm Sun," Sun countered with the confidence of a kid trapped in a lie. "But we… we do share a body. He comes out when it's dark. A-and he would never–it's against our programming to hurt a child. He's just a little… extra strict nowadays."
Gregory looked out at the netting. Everything beyond the Daycare was nearly pitch black. The entire pizzeria was dark, save for neon lights and the glowing eyes and lights of bots. He looked back at Sun. "I guess I get the whole Sun-Moon thing, but why is he here? Shouldn't they–"
"Nope!" Sun interrupted, so quickly and loudly Gregory started. "He's just under the weather is all, that's it. They'll fix him. Until then, we keep the lights on. But they'll fix him, and everything will be all better soon enough."
"So, he's like the others." Gregory huffed. "Like Roxy, Monty, and Freddy. They're really nice during the day, but then when it gets to be nighttime, they try to kill me. Whatever. Can you let Chica in, now?" And for the love of God let me out?
"Oh, yes! Definitely!" Sun bounced on his feet, rattling the bells on his shoes and wrists as he did so. He skipped to the door and waited for a few moments. Then, after some silent knock or code or something, he opened the door. "Hello, Chica~!"
Gregory perked up and ran up to the door.
Chica looked up at Sun far more than she did everyone else. Freddy and Monty would look up to Sun. "Hello, Sun! It's very nice to meet you. Gregory! Hello! Oh, you're okay!"
Gregory ran out the door so he could stand beside her and looked back the way the white rabbit might have gone. Stupid rabbit, this was her fault.
"Ab-so-lutely! He's very clever and brave." Sun's spokes retracted just a little when Gregory looked up at him. "I'm sorry again. That was very not nice of him."
"I would've still liked someone to have told me," Gregory mumbled. He bit back a sigh upon feeling Chica's gaze on him. "But it's not your fault. It was that stupid rabbit."
"Rabbit?" Chica prompted. "Did she come back for you?"
Gregory nodded. "The same way she did last time. She appeared when I was in a bad situation and then she made it worse."
This tidbit of information caused more confusion. Gregory said before anything could be asked, "Last time–I mean… Chica, you believe me, right? I wouldn't lie to you?"
Chica nodded. "Of course! I know you wouldn't lie to me, Gregory."
Gregory took out his Monty golf score sheet, signed by Monty, and held it out to her. She looked it over, puzzled. "This was made yesterday and signed… this morning…? This is his writing…"
Gregory explained, "Yeah, because I went to Monty Golf and I was doing really bad at mini-golf, Then Monty helped me and got a new score sheet for me. At the show, the white rabbit tricked me and brought me to the utility tunnels. I escaped and found Monty in his green room. He gave me these glasses." Gregory adjusted his star glasses. "He promised to help me find a way out. So, we spent all night–or morning–looking for a way out, starting with going through the utility tunnels off Rockstar Row. Just like you helped me." Gregory explained, very briefly, how they explored the Mega Pizzaplex, getting security badges and finding ways to help. Then, he went to the part about how they stumbled into the garbage compactor and the rabbit lady turned it on.
"I don't think she wanted me in it," Gregory admitted. "She tried pulling me out and freaked out when you wouldn't let me go. I tried fixing you, though! And this time, I know how to avoid getting Monty thrown off the third-story balcony, and we can just avoid the garbage smasher!"
Sun put in lightly, "And you can avoid time travel."
"In this freaky place?" Gregory scoffed. "I mean, I can try."
Chica looked at Sun. "Time travel? Gregory, you really went from six am tonight back to six pm yesterday evening?"
Gregory nodded.
Sun put in, "You won't remember until someone reminds you, Chica. Moon and I are the only ones who remember. Someone else might, but we don't know who."
"I remember," Gregory put in.
"You, too," Sun agreed, less enthusiastically were that possible. "You… you, too."
Gregory eyed him. "What does that mean?"
Chica put a hand to her beak. "Ooooh, you poor thing! I'm so sorry, Sun! What can we do to make it better?"
Sun jolted and laughed. "Aw, that's so kind of you, Chica! But that's okay…"
Chica shook her head and lowered her hand. "Nuh-uh. I sense someone is feeling some bad feelings. Freddy likes to say hugs make things better." She held her arms open. "Do you want a hug?"
Sun chuckled. "Ah, well, I mean, thanks, but, I-I–well, I mean…" After half a heartbeat passed, Sun rocked on his heels, reached forward, and wrapped his arms around Chica.
Chica cooed and hugged him back.
Gregory looked down at Bonnie and petted his ear. Memories he knew as his own pecked at the edge of his thoughts and he concentrated hard on Bonnie's ear.
"You still have me, Gregory."
It's not that.
"…I know."
Gregory jumped upon feeling a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Chica. She asked, "Gregory? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Gregory said, keeping his voice surprisingly smooth. "I was just talking to Bonnie is all. We need to get more security badges, but also get to Parts and Service and take you off the main network. And the others. Monty first, since we can show him this signed golf sheet, then Roxy and Freddy."
Chica nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Oh, you are a clever little boy, Gregory! We should get going before the end of the night, then!"
Gregory chuckled dryly, "Something tells me we don't need to worry about that. At least until we meet Freddy."
Chica walked out the door with a cheerful wave to Sun. "Bye, Sun! I'll talk to you later! Oh, maybe you can come over to Mazercise! There's a bunch of fun stuff to do over there!" As Gregory's stride was much shorter than hers, he needed to quicken his pace to catch up.
Sun shook his head. "Oh, no. I can't leave the Daycare. Moon and I are programmed to stay here, except for Moon's end-of-hour patrols."
"Oh." Chica deflated a little and then perked up again. "Well… then I'll come over here! Oh, then you can meet Freddy, Roxy, and Monty! We can have so much fun together!"
Sun cocked his head. "That sounds super fun! Thank you, Chica!"
Gregory said, "Bye." See you later, Moon.
"Sun."
Sun waved to him, too. "Goodbye, New Friend~! Good luck getting back home!" He shut the Daycare door behind them.
Chica led Gregory around the shops lining the walls. "It's good to be kind to people, even those you don't like. It was very big of you to say goodbye nicely like that. I know you might not like Sun, but he seems really nice! I'm sure if you get to know him more, you'll start to like him, too!"
Gregory shook his head and started up the stairs. "I don't see what you mean. He's still Moon and Moon tried to kill me!"
Chica hummed. "You know, Gregory, sometimes it's hard to understand people and what they're going through. Robots can be very different from people. There are some things that humans do or are that confuse me! But Sun and Moon are not the same person. They share the same body, but they are two different AIs."
Gregory glanced at Bonnie.
"No, she's absolutely right. You've seen twins before. Like Lyre and Bella? Imagine them, but every time the lights turn on or off, Lyre switches out with Bella and vice versa. …that's a terrible way of putting it, actually."
"So, like twins?" Gregory edged. "Lyre and Bella are two girls that go to my school that were born at the same time and people mistake them for each other a lot, even though they act and dress differently. Lyre's pretty"–wimpy–"shy, and Bella's a"–bitch bully–"mean girl. I don't know how people keep getting them mixed up. Lyre is just so obviously… Lyre and Bella can try to pretend to be Lyre to sneak up on people or evade teachers or whatever, but she's still Bella."
Chica giggled. "Lyre and Bella sound interesting! I hope I get to meet them myself! But I guess so. Maybe–"
The lights went out.
The time was twelve-fifty-five am.
Gregory bristled. Chica held out her hand for Gregory to take. "You can hold my hand so you don't get lost." He took it. Again, he could very well walk on his own. However, her eye lights and steady navigation were a blessing in the sudden blinding dark. He'd gotten used to the light spilling out of the Daycare. Now it was time to go back to the darkness of an empty, nighttime pizzeria.
Moon's chilling cackle broke through the silence of the void behind them. Gregory refused to look back.
They pushed through the tiny gate and out the shutters to the recharge station. Chica opened the door and ushered Gregory in. "You wait here. I can't hold you."
It looked up at Gregory, gave him a little wave, and then set Monty's arm on his back and dragged him by his ankles through the double red doors.
Gregory shook his head and held onto the door. "No! You can't wait out there. I-I was okay with Monty."
"You would be safe inside Freddy or Monty's insolated stomach hatches, but if I held you, the recharge station would turn on and give you a nasty shock." Chica gently pried his hands off the door. "I'll be okay, Gregory. Trust me. I have an extended battery life, remember?"
"But Moon–"
Chica shut the door to the recharge station.
Gregory peered out the window. Dread settled in his stomach as he saw Moon creep in from under the shutters. Chica's back stayed to Gregory.
The time was twelve-fifty-six am.
Moon stopped. He shifted and bounced from foot to foot, his hands closer to his chest than Sun's but still up. He cocked his head. "Chica. The boy is up past his bedtime. He is a naughty rulebreaker."
Chica returned, bubbly and sweet, "I know it's late, but Gregory's really trying his best! We're trying to get him out of the Pizzaplex and back home. Now, I know you and he got off on the wrong foot. So, why don't we talk this out? Sometimes our problems stem from not knowing things and talking it out can make things clearer and easier to get through!"
Moon rotated his head further at an unnatural degree. "There's nothing to talk about Chica Chicken. He is a naughty boy and should be punished." His raspy voice ended with a hissing note.
Chica set her hands on her hips. "Now you listen here, Moon!" she snapped. Gregory and Moon jolted, the jester animatronic setting both feet on the ground and righting his head. "Gregory's trying his best and you are scaring him! He's just a little boy! You're supposed to be taking care of children. I know you can do better than this."
Moon stood up a bit straighter–not as much as Sun, but enough that he could stand over Chica. "I am doing my job, Chica. He is a rulebreaker."
Chica stalked up to him and shoved a finger to his chest, her beak so close to his face that deep blue light from her much larger eye lights gave the white side of his face a bluish glow and faded his red, pinprick eye lights to a sickly purple. He flinched and withered at her touch.
The time was twelve-fifty-seven am.
Chica snapped, "You are not doing a good job of it if you're scaring him silly like that! Children like him should be handled gently and respectfully. They're maturing, but they're still young, impressionable, and scared by big mean animatronics who chase them around all night!"
Moon, who'd shrunken into himself and now had to look up at Chica, played with the bells on its wrists. He rasped, "He needs to be put to bed. It is past his bedtime…"
Chica scoffed. "And you're doing a good job of that by chasing him around, are you? You don't treat the other children like this. I know you don't. The other children used to love you. At the bakery, I had all sorts of little kids who'd wear Daycare aprons and use Sun and Moon sprinkles on their cupcakes because they really loved you both. So, you must have been doing something right!"
Moon flinched again.
"Why is Gregory any different?" She cocked her head. "Why doesn't he deserve to be treated like the other children? Why is he different?"
"He is not different," Moon defended. "He is like the other rulebreakers and naughty children. He should go to bed." Moon hissed to himself. "But he will go to security."
Gregory's eyes narrowed in thought. So… Moon would've taken him straight to Vanessa? Well then, why did Vanessa run off when Moon appeared? Did she trust Moon to fetch Gregory that much more than she trusted her own ability? Did she like her kids traumatized and probably dead first? She seemed perfectly capable of grabbing him when she ambushed him at the Prize Counter.
The time was twelve-fifty-eight am.
Chica pointed out, "Well, Gregory says he doesn't trust the security guard. I trust him and I know he wouldn't lie to me like that. He was terrified when I found him–or when he found me. You don't need to make things worse for him. Understand?"
"It is best for the child to be taken to security."
"It's best for Gregory to get out of the Mega Pizzaplex. I will keep him safe. Even if I have to tell off bullies like you."
Moon swatted her hand, as her finger still touched its chest. She pulled her hand back but didn't give in her stance. By now, she leaned forward as she chased Moon so that her beak stayed close to its faceplate, and she kept intense eye contact. "I am not a bully, Chica Chicken."
"A bully picks on those who can't defend themselves. Gregory can't defend himself from you and you both know it. A bully hurts and scares those who can't do anything about it. You're being a bully, Moon, whether you know it or not."
Then, Chica let out a noise like a sigh and she shut her eyes. She pulled herself back so that she stood up straight, relaxed her arms by her sides, and opened her eyes again. "Sometimes, Moon, we can act in ways or say things without meaning to. Sometimes we have feelings we don't like or don't understand and end up hurting people by accident. I understand, Moon, what it's like to feel strange and different and not know why. If you're not feeling well, I need you to talk to whoever you're close to about it and work it out. But I can't have you around Gregory in the meantime. You could hurt him accidentally. I promised him that I would protect him. As much as I want to help you, I can't right now. Maybe tomorrow, when Gregory is safe at home, in his own bed where he belongs."
The time was twelve-fifty-nine am.
Moon shuffled his feet. With his newfound freedom, he looked between her and the recharge station with Gregory. He let out a quiet growl and darted back to the shutters to the Daycare. He slipped under them before they opened too far.
The time was one am.