Expect the Unexpected

by Arctic Vulpix

The animatronics are going to have to learn quickly with the new night guard. Ruby is unpredictable and prides herself on it. How are the 'bots going to react to the girl who refuses to die at their hands but also refuses to hate them?

211. Chapter 199

Author's Notes: Thank you to Ghost for helping with this chapter! Hope you all enjoy!

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Chapter 199

Them's Fighting Words

Ruby wasn't sure how long she was there before she pushed herself to her feet, hauling Timmy up with her. Her vision swam and her ears rang but she managed to make it out of the room without falling. The others were talking again but she couldn't tell what they were saying. She was just too tired. She had the vague sense that Michael had still been there but she automatically skirted around him, keeping herself between the boy in her arms and the asshole that kept hurting everyone who ever cared about him.

Timmy had been telling the truth. He loved Michael, and all the ghosts could feel it in their bones. Timmy wasn't so sure of it right now but for so long, he did,compounding it with the guilt and pain of knowing what he did.

She was letting the building guide her at this point. Her walls at the 'not existing' stage meant she felt it much more clearly than usual. She didn't like it and she wanted her barriers up immediately because it felt too vulnerable. She wasn't feeling the others and she was pretty sure the building had muffled Timmy and her since they were immediately destructive to every ghost's mental wellbeing.

She absently hoped that someone helped Alex but the thought was gone as quickly as it came as all her attention was sucked away by putting one foot in front of the other. It was harder than it should be. Eventually though, there was a door opened in front of her and she stepped inside. It closed behind her as she tiredly looked around the room. Staff break room. That worked. One door that was locked and a vent that the building could keep inaccessible. As much privacy as she could hope to get for the moment.

She grabbed one of the blankets they kept behind the couch for impromptu staff naps and dropped onto the cushions. She was about to crash so hard and while the blanket wouldn't do much in terms of warmth for either of them, it was more grounding and for comfort in this sense. Before she could fall sideways and pass out though, several new ghostly energies got closer.

They were hesitant, knowing that now was not a good time to bother her but they couldn't stand being held out of the loop any longer. They felt everything that happened but with no details to be sure of, they were too anxious. They knew Hedy was hurt and was in serious pain, but that she was alive, getting help, and would be okay. They also knew Timmy had "shattered" and that she was "open," obviously…

How did Hedy do this all the time? How did she handle sensing everyone as well as the building? Ruby could barely handle dealing with her own emotions most days.

She looked up tiredly as the ghost kids appeared, getting the sense that the building was very reluctantly letting them into the room. They must have asked nicely. And meant it.

"Timmy?" Benji asked anxiously, vaguely surprising Ruby that he didn't address her first despite a worried glance her way.

Timmy didn't answer, hiding his face in Ruby's side as he held on to her tightly and softly sobbed.

"It hasn't been a great night," she murmured softly, exhaustion showing in her voice, posture and what they could sense from her. Damn ghosty senses. This is why she had her walls up constantly. Privacy.

"Hedy got hurt," Ginny stated, her voice uncharacteristically cracking. She looked away quickly. "Is… is she going to be okay?"

Ruby wanted to sleep so badly that she almost cried at the new interruption, but she couldn't really blame them. "She's at the hospital. Her fingers are broken and they're doing surgery. She'll be fine, but we won't know about her hand until Jeremy or Mike let us know."

She felt a tiny flash of anger from Fredrick but he shoved it down when she looked his way. "Who hurt her?" he asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.

"It doesn't matter," Benji said immediately without looking at the other boy. He looked at Ruby. "It was an accident, right?"

Ruby could sense Fredrick's surprise at Benji but he let it go. He wouldn't have done that a year ago. He would have guilted Benji into listening to him, and they all knew it.

A headache was starting to form. She was already past her limits and her feelings felt like a raw nerve that every little emotion that wasn't her own was irritating. The kids had a million questions but they knew Ruby was already putting a lot of effort into speaking with them.

"We'll leave," Felix grumbled, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "But what the heck are we supposed to do with…" He wasn't sure what to call Alex and Andre, although Ruby irritatingly knew that's who he was talking about.

"The grown-up ghosts?" Cheryl suggested quietly.

All the kids flinched a little bit.

The teenager rubbed her face with a sigh. "Andre's in denial. He doesn't… I don't even know how to explain it. He'll explain you away with some rationale so there's not much you can do. Don't be a pain to Alex though. She's already been through hell. You can talk to her when she's calmed down, I think. She's been overwhelmed by all the ghost shit."

She shifted her hold on Timmy to be a bit more secure. He wasn't reacting to the conversation at all and was still giving off miserable feelings.

"Just…" she trailed off as she tried to think. "I know you can be 'not assholes'. So be that with Alex. She's Hedy's friend and Hedy already blamed herself enough for you guys dying. The last thing she needs is you making Alex's time here more difficult. She'll blame herself for that too."

"But it wasn't Hedy's fault!" Cheryl tried to argue.

Benji wilted a little and stared at the floor. "Hedy doesn't believe that, Cherry…"

Ruby let herself flop sideways on the couch, not up for any form of deeper conversation than this. "Don't be bitchy to the new bots either. And Ennard…" she trailed off again. "I don't know. Talk to Lizzie or don't. I guess be bitchy if she's bitchy first. But she's in the middle of a breakdown so you might want to give it time. And leave Will alone in general."

She pulled the blanket over her and Timmy, scooting as far back into the cushions as possible.

"I know you're worried about Hedy, but if I hear anything, I'll let you know. When I'm conscious again. I feel like I could sleep through a nuke." She squinted at them for a moment. "How the hell do you all put up with this ghost feelings sharing thing? I hate it."

"We're used to each other," Ginny muttered. "And Goldy… Timmy blocked himself off from us all the time." She glanced at the older-looking boy who still hadn't really acknowledged them. But he wasn't closed off. He was hard to look at, the misery a deep pit that made them want to stay away for fear they'd fall in it. It was unfortunately a familiar feeling. They were like that before. Ginny wasn't even sure when that had changed. They hadn't noticed.

"At least you don't have to feel Michael all the time…" Felix said, his face twisting in disgust. "I hate it."

"He's gross…" Cheryl whined. "He's always looking…" She shuddered in distress.

Ruby frowned sharply. "I told him what happens if he tries to mess with you."

"...he's not even trying…" Frederick said. "There's nothing you can do about it. It's 'cause he's so bad at being a ghost. It just sucks sensing knowing what he's feeling all the time."

None of them brought up what they felt from Michael a few minutes ago. He was scared. Hurt. Grieving. It felt so wrong. And a large part of them still enjoyed it.

"Point," she conceded to them. She cuddled Timmy a bit closer and felt a bit of his misery spill into her again. She yawned as she let it slide out like mist as it dissipated. Geez, these ghosts carried enough emotions that they could run a power plant with them. She was still somewhat funnelling Timmy's overflow of emotions. Misery was easier than anger at least. She couldn't take it away, but she could take some of it. Were all of them carrying this much?

"Is that thing really Timmy's sister?" Felix asked.

Ginny glared at him and the others looked a little exasperated, probably because they were just about to leave like Felix had said.

He glared back. "What? She feels weird. Something's… wrong." He didn't know how else to explain it. "Not even like–"

"Us when we possess someone?" Benji mumbled.

Ruby hummed, eyes at half mask now. "Yeah. Somehow. I can't explain shit since all of this feels weird so I wouldn't know a difference. You'll have to talk to Goldy or Hedy about it."

"Goldy's too hurt," Ginny said with a little huff. "She's not gonna want to talk to me."

"Which reminds me," Ruby roused a little as a thought occurred to her. "Leave Puppet alone. Even if it's just questions. He's closer than anyone else to a meltdown and you can't say he never cared about you guys. So let him process on his own. If you've got more questions…" she trailed off. "Ask… Freddy. Yeah, best choice I guess."

"Fine," Felix said. "But what about—"

"Ugh, we're going now!" Ginny interrupted him, grabbing Felix by the back of his shirt and dragging him back. They faded away, Felix's complaints echoing.

Frederick rolled his eyes before following.

"Bye bye kiddos," Ruby mumbled, halfway asleep at this point.

Benji lingered a moment longer as the others disappeared, Cheryl glancing at him meaningfully as she left. "Hedy hasn't talked to us in months. She… she's still mad at us. Can you… when you go to see her. Can you tell her we're glad she's safe?" The hesitation reared its head. "Just i-if mentioning us doesn't upset her…"

"Sure kiddo," she yawned, forcing her eyes open a crack. "I'll tell her about you guys regardless of what she wants. She can't ignore you're here, as much as she might want to right now."

"I don't want to upset her," Benji tried to weakly argue. He shifted on his feet.

"What she's doing isn't healthy," Ruby tried to put as much sternness into her tone as possible. "And she's stubborn. More than me sometimes. She's gonna have to face this problem sooner or later, whether she likes it or not. That kind of angry grudge is the bad kind."

Benji looked down again and hesitantly nodded. He didn't seem to fully believe her though. "See you later, I guess…" He glanced up. "Bye Timmy. Sorry about… everything." He faded away, probably teleporting to wherever the others went.

Ruby tucked Timmy as close as she could before letting herself pass out. What a fucking disaster of a family reunion.

---

Alex was lost. In more ways than one, she supposed, but at the moment she was just physically lost. Well, that could mean multiple things too. Especially since she wasn't even physical anymore. She didn't know her way around the building. No one told her what to do or where to go. It made her nervous. Since earlier, when she had gathered herself enough to get up and stumble away from the mess she had been exposed to, she had just been wandering aimlessly. Why was a kid's pizzeria so big? She must have looped around because she heard unfamiliar voices. She peeked around the corner to see a few adults working in the Main Room and ducked out before they saw her. Would they be able to see her?

She didn't want to risk it. She didn't want to risk anything. But she also didn't know if she could ask any questions. She didn't want to. Asking the animatronics for any help at the moment felt like overstepping.

The older bots - the Originals, Hedy and Ruby called them - seemed like maybe the most approachable group out of the lot. But they were clearly stressed and probably wouldn't want to talk to her. Spring and Goldy seemed nice too. She wouldn't mind talking to Spring if she bumped into him, but she certainly wouldn't seek him out. Goldy wasn't having a good night. And Alex couldn't tell with the Puppet. The Toy animatronics seemed more liable to angry outbursts, and the Funtimes… well. She didn't think she wanted to be alone in a room with them any time soon, if she could help it.

Had Mr. Afton left? No, she definitely didn't want to bother him either. The way he broke down had been very hard to watch.

Timmy and Ruby? Ha. Nope. Not a fucking chance. She doubted she could if she tried. She got a strange 'blocked off' feeling when she thought of them.

And she was absolutely, definitely, not trying to talk to Michael. She had figured out who he was. It was painfully obvious. How could Hedy stand to work in the same building as that monster, night after night…?

"What do we do?"

She startled at the sound of a kid's voice and almost ran in the other direction. She did not want to terrify a bunch of primary schoolers. She didn't get a chance to because a kid suddenly ducked around the corner she had been about to turn and looked right up at her. He didn't scream, as if he expected her there.

She froze at the look in his eyes. Something wasn't right about the boy.

He stared for a second and Alex recoiled at his feelings of confusion, pity, and maybe a bit of irritation and anger under it all.

He shouted over his shoulder. "Found her."

Alex stared down at the boy. "Um… hi?"

"Hi… You're Wiggy's—" he paused. "You're Hedy's friend." He stated. It wasn't a question. He already knew.

A moment later and Alex noticed she could see through him. She hadn't noticed at first in the low light.

"Yeah…" Alex trailed off, eyeing the boy a little nervously. He must be one of the five kids that Michael had murdered. The poor kid. "I'm Alexandria. But everyone calls me Alex."

He just stared for a moment, warily. "Do you blame Hedy for you dying?"

She was a little caught off guard by the blunt question. He wasn't even going to ease into it?

He obviously didn't like her hesitation. "You shouldn't. My name is Felix."

"Be nicer," another kid said and Alex jumped as she looked up to notice four more kids. She winced, embarrassed. Had they been standing there the whole time? She had been so focused on the first kid and everything odd about him.

"I'm being nice!" Felix retorted.

She stared at them all. "A-are there any more ghosts in this building I need to know about?"

"You met Timmy?"

"And Michael?" one of the girls muttered. The anger and pain in her voice was hard to hear.

"Yeah…" Alex said.

"Then that should be everyone."

"Okay… um, no, I don't blame her. It was my own stupid fault." She scowled a little but tried to reign it in. "What are your names?" she asked, looking again beyond Felix to the other kids.

They introduced themselves, Cheryl the shyest while the others were fairly guarded and suspicious. Ginny seemed to not like her, scowling the entire time without blinking. It was creepy.

"You… you've really been here the whole time?" Alex asked, partly to herself as she thought back to that conversation at the mall not too long ago. It really put how upset Hedy was that day into perspective.

"Duh. And you're gonna be stuck here just as long if you don't figure out how to move on," Ginny said.

Alex took a step back, not prepared to think about that right now. Or ever.

"Oh you're going to get on my case about not being nice?" Felix said sarcastically.

"Shut up. You're both mean," one of the other boys snapped, although his voice was soft and anxious. Still the other two quieted.

Benji looked up at her. "Do you feel okay?"

"I uh… don't understand what you're asking?"

"Are you hurting? Like, do you feel any pain?"

The concern seemed to have an ulterior motive.

Benji decided to explain when she didn't answer. "We still felt the pain that we were feeling when we died. Or I guess we're still feeling it. But we can't notice it anymore. We got really good at ignoring it. It never really goes away."

"O-oh." The poor babies. "No, Not really. Everything feels a little sore. My face hurts a bit."

Benji looked both interested and worried. "Do… do you remember dying? Like what actually happened?"

"Not really."

"Oh. Maybe don't go looking."

Alex frowned. "Is… that something I could remember if I tried hard enough? Not that I really want to. I don't think I do, anyway. All I remember is, um… Vixen. The new fox. I think… I'm pretty sure it was her."

The kids were staring at her. Benji shifted. "If you remember, you might remember the pain. And you might get stuck with it forever. It doesn't just go away or heal like if you were alive. It sucks. So don't go looking."

Alex didn't know how to respond to that terrifying idea. She read once that people sometimes forgot traumatic stuff as their brain's way of protecting them. Did the same principle really apply when she didn't actually have a brain anymore?

"Come on," Ginny said, purposely dragging the woman out of those thoughts. "We'll show you around the place."

Alex startled as the girl suddenly lifted off the ground and floated around her head. "How do you do that?!"

"Uh, practice? Walking around is actually harder for us." Ginny bobbed in the air a little as she flipped over to look at Alex upside down.

"Really? I've just been walking around like normal."

"You still think of yourself as alive, so you expect to interact with the world like you're alive.

"I… what? I do?" Alex stared at the girl who was now floating in circles around her, making her dizzy.

"Don't worry about it," Benji insisted, eyeing Ginny.

She wasn't sure if that was possible but she nodded anyway. "Well…it's nice to meet you." She shifted. "So, what is it that you guys do during the day? Don't you get bored?"

"We mostly watch people—" Frederick said hesitantly.

"Yeah, we're a little creepy," Felix joked despite Fredrick speaking louder to drown him out.

"-But today we're babysitting you!" He didn't even say "babysitting" in a condescending way.

"O-kay? Uh, lead the way, I guess."

---

About an hour later, they were mostly done with the tour. The kids didn't seem to care about running into anyone as Alex heard the sounds of other people wandering the building. She didn't hear other kids though. Living kids.

"That's basically it." Felix waved vaguely at the door to Fright. They "walked" her through.

She found the attraction ghoulish but they didn't seem to mind it too much. They said hello to Spring who was checking that the camera and spooky sound system worked. He didn't seem awkward around the children like she admittedly expected. They didn't stay long, the kids informing her that Michael had a little broom closet in Fright that he sat in through most of the day while zoning out and they didn't like being near him for long.

She couldn't blame them.

"Unless you really want to see the kitchen but the cooks are probably busy," Benji said as the group ducked into a nearby party room.

"Heh. No thanks, I'm good. Thank you though." These kids were so nice. Well, most of them were a bit surly and/or melancholy, but they were kind to her. It was nice to have people to talk to that didn't look miserable and guilty the whole time.

She startled at a voice behind her.

"Kids? You… here…?"

Alex turned with wide eyes as a man stood in the doorway staring at them.

The group stared awkwardly at the man for a full thirty seconds before Benji finally spoke up. "Uh… Morning Mr. Harrison…"

Harrison continued to stare at Alex as confusion overgrew the panic. The man's expression flashed between many different emotions at once and she was sure she saw horror in there at least twice. He finally tore his eyes away from her. "Kids. Any of you want to explain to me why the Toy's room is wrecked, the staff room is locked with Foxy on guard growling at everyone, and…" He looked back at Alex. She gave him an awkward, tight-lipped smile.

He knew about the ghosts? Did all the staff? That didn't seem realistic but at this point she'd believe anything.

"Some stuff happened. It wasn't us, by the way," Ginny spoke up. She gestured at Alex. "We didn't kill her…"

"... I wasn't assuming you did," Harrison assured. "But… that's good?... That you didn't…"

Alex looked at Ginny with wide eyes but chose not to comment. The fact that they thought that reassurance was necessary wasn't comforting.

"The new bots did," Felix added, a tiny smirk cropping up in amusement. Cheryl kicked him and he glanced at Alex guiltily. He couldn't help it if Harrison's face was hilarious!

Alex grimaced and glanced at the wall, not quite sure what to make of their comfortable chat about her death. It had been barely more than 24 hours now.

"What new bots?!" Harrison coughed. "What the hell? Where the hell are Hedy and Ruby?" He sounded distressed as he pulled off a rubber glove to rub at his eyes. "Why the hell don't you tell us anything?!" He didn't seem to be addressing Alex or the kids. "God damn it… Does Izzy know there are more bots yet?"

Well, he seemed to accept all of that fairly quickly.

"Don't think so," Ginny said. "Ruby's in the staff room. It's probably a bad idea to wake her up. Hedy's at the hospital."

"She's what?!"

A woman poked her head into the room, also wearing a cleaner's uniform. "Hedy's in the hospital again? Did Shit Ghost stab her again?" It was a genuine question, not sarcasm.

"One of the new bots broke her hand," Felix said.

Alex was getting the distinct impression some of the kids were very amused and half-messing with the cleaners. She stayed awkwardly quiet, maybe a little miffed they hadn't asked who she was yet…

"It was an accident," Benji added quickly.

Harrison glanced at Alex.

"Oh yeah. This is Alex. One of Hedy's friends. She wasn't an accident."

"Hello…" Harrison said to Alex with a hesitant nod. "My… condolences…?" He seemed just as clueless about how to address her as she was.

"Hi," Alex waved awkwardly at both of the cleaners. "I'm Alex. I'm an engineering and AI student, I have a lot of the same classes as Hedy. Nice to uh… meet you."

She didn't realise that she'd used the present tense, and nobody called her on it.

Harrison blinked. "Is… she why Jeremy called me the other night asking for all our… cleaning supplies?"

"Do you really wanna know?" Frederick asked blandly.

"Kid, I'm already going to hell for getting rid of your bodies. Just give it to me straight," Harrison said dryly.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Leave him alone. Yeah. They had to cover it up a bit. That's what Mikey said, at least."

Harrison looked suddenly depressed. "Hedy and Ruby should haven't gone through that. We could have handled it." He looked at Alex as if remembering they were talking about her. He suddenly looked very uncomfortable, even more than Alex if that was possible.

Jess swallowed a bit and gripped the mop she was holding a little tighter.

"It wasn't here. It was too far away for you to help," Benji said quietly.

Alex was starting to feel a little sick with all the casual discussion of her death. She still didn't really know exactly what had happened. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

Jess frowned with a look at her, probably noticing. She harshly elbowed Harrison.

"What?"

"We got an hour to finish cleaning the building. We don't have time to discuss this." She not-so-subtly gestured at Alex before looking back at her. "Sorry, kid. We're a little desensitized to this."

"That's okay," Alex mumbled, glancing at the floor. She felt like the odd one out and really wasn't sure how good of a thing that was. These people were all so accustomed to death. Was she overreacting? Surely not. She was dead. That was something to be upset about, she was pretty sure.

"Someone… else sticking around is definitely new though," Jess mentioned, sharing a concerned look with Harrison. She looked back and gestured at the kids. "It's just been them for years, apparently."

Harrison opened his mouth with a confused look but Jess was quick to elbow him again.

"There's another guy too," Frederick said. He frowned and resisted the urge to shudder. Andre's entire situation was disturbing. "He's wandering around somewhere. He doesn't know what's going on. He's kinda rude."

"Like, 'want to murder us by sticking us in suits' rude?" Jess asked idly.

The kids looked a little offended and slightly ashamed. They shook their heads.

"Gonna need a little more clarification," Harrison said.

"He doesn't know he's dead…" Alex spoke up softly.

Harrison looked back at her for a moment. "...Is that… normal?" Harrison asked.

"How should we know?!" Ginny demanded a little snappishly.

Harrison huffed. "Alright alright. We'll let Liam know. But someone's got to warn Izzy."

"Not it," Felix muttered.

"Mike probably will…" Ginny said with a shrug, not really caring either way.

"Andre is really grumpy," Alex spoke up before they left, feeling like she should warn them. Feeling almost responsible for the man. "Like, if you see him, he might get annoyed with you over something or call you inept or something like that. Just… humour him, I guess? He still thinks he's working. He thinks he's in charge."

"Uh… sure," Jess said. She frowned. "So who's the guy we ran into this morning in the kitchen? I thought he was a dead guy but he was drinking my tea so…" Jess shrugged. "He asked us a bunch of questions. We figured he's not a problem since he was there before six but–"

Harrison cut her off and tugged at her sleeve as he turned to leave. "I'll explain." His tone had dropped. He looked back. "Warn us if there's something we need to hide from customers."

"Stay out of the third party room," Ginny huffed. "The new bots are in there. They're supposed to be locked in there and not let out."

Alex noted the new information.

"Why?"

"No clue. That's just what Freddy said. He told us we're not allowed in there either. We'll get to meet them tonight."

"Fine," Harrison said, shoving down his curiosity. Curiosity was too dangerous here when things were bad, and he had a feeling things were very Bad. "We'll put 'Closed for Construction' tape over the door." He turned to properly leave, muttering under his breath about not being told anything while Jess started peppering him with questions about Mr. Afton.

Alex watched them go, and wondered if they would find it off-putting if she followed them just for the company. Probably.

"So…" she turned back to the kids. "The staff are chill?"

"Yeah. But not all of them know." Frederick said. "We'll point them out when they show. The manager and the accountant–"

"I think she's the assistant," Ginny cut in.

"Izzy. They know too. Izzy is nice."

Felix smiled. "The Manager is scared of us though. We prank him sometimes. It's fun."

"...You planning anything for today?" She should probably check on Andre. She and the kids had run into him walking in a hallway talking to himself about voltage and power sources. They exchanged a few words but the kids were clearly uncomfortable, just nodding as he warned them not to get underfoot as the adults worked. She didn't really want to watch the man all day, but she would if the kids wanted space from her.

Instead, the kids beamed at her.

"Do you want to help?!" Cheryl asked in excitement.

Alex blinked in surprise. "I mean… sure? Depends on what it is though."

"Oh we were just going to float everything in his office on the ceiling," Benji said proudly. "Ruby says we can mess with him as much as we want. She calls it 'healthy revenge' on the management."

Alex blinked. "That… actually sounds like fun."

"And drop it on him when he comes in," Ginny said casually.

"... less fun… "

"She's joking."

"Right… "

Either way, it would be better than aimlessly wandering around alone with her thoughts. Anything would be better.

---

Hedy was slow to wake up.

"We've got to stop meeting like this," she mumbled, even though she wasn't completely awake. But she was pretty sure she knew where she was. The light and sterile smell was too distinctive and she hated it.

"Hedy! You're awake!" someone said.

"Shhh… not completely," Hedy said with a groan, still not opening her eyes.

"Sorry. Who are you talking to?"

"The hospital."

"... the hospital isn't alive too right?"

Hedy groggily shrugged. "These days, I figured I can't be too careful. Am I… making any sense?"

The familiar voice chuckled and came to her side. "Mostly. Do you want me to get the doctor? Are you feeling okay?"

"I feel awful…"

"I figured." The owner of the voice leaned closer and gave her a little kiss. She didn't exactly mind, even if her brain was a little too foggy to recognize who was speaking. Still, she felt the need to protest. "I have a boyfriend." She felt both guilty and confused.

There was a pause. Then he laughed. "Wow, you're still really out of it." There was shuffling and she tried to crack an eye open, but the lights were still too bright. "Wish I was recording a second ago."

"Hmm."

The voice squeezed her hand. "I'm going to go get Jeremy, okay? Then I'll come right back and ask you out on a date. I'm sure your boyfriend won't mind too much. How does a trip to the bookstore sound? Or maybe the aquarium. You usually like the aquarium."

"Not going out with you. He's gonna kick your ass…" Hedy mumbled in irritation.

"He better," the voice said over his snickering.

Hedy barely remembered the conversation when she "woke up" again. The medication had worn off a little more by then. She vaguely was aware she was trying to have a conversation with the three people in the room. One was moving around her, checking the wires and other stuff. A nurse, she realized.

One of the other figures, the taller one, was asking the nurse questions, while the shorter one was sitting beside her.

"What were we just talking about…" she mumbled.

"We were discussing why a road trip this summer was a great idea," Mike said, clearly amused.

"I don't want to be stuck in a car for hours," Hedy muttered. "Road trip?"

"There she is," Mike said. "I was thinking of a trip up the West Coast. Maybe next summer."

Hedy groaned a little. "I don't want to be thinking about next summer yet. Not with everything going on. Do I still have my hand? I don't want to look."

"You do," Jeremy assured her, gently squeezing her shoulder.

"I can't feel anything…"

"You're on a lot of pain medication, sweetie," the nurse said as she checked the IV. "That car door really had it out for you huh?"

Hedy was confused. "Car door?"

"I wasn't looking and slammed your hand in a door very hard," Jeremy said, guiltily. "I'm so sorry Hedy. It was bad. I should have been looking."

"You're very lucky," the nurse said with a sharp look at Jeremy. "Your carelessness almost cost your sister her hand, you know."

"But he didn't…" Hedy trailed off. "Ohhh! Uh… yeah… I'm totally holding this over you for the rest of our lives." That was convincing right?

Anything was probably convincing with how half out of it she was still. At least the nurse looked like she would take anything that came out of Hedy's mouth in stride. Hedy could probably talk about the animatronics and the nurse would just nod along.

"Is this gonna beat out you holding her getting that job behind your back over her head?" Mike teased.

Jeremy shot Mike a sharp look while the nurse really pretended like she wasn't a busybody. She and the doctors had been giving Jeremy a bit of a hard time given the state of Hedy's hand. He would have had to be very angry to cause that much damage so a few of them had private thoughts of possible abuse. But she didn't live with him and both his and her boyfriend's behavior didn't match up to those assumptions. Those that recognized her suspected the car door story was just that. A story. But the three never gave up what actually happened. Although Hedy had mumbled something about faces while the anesthesia was taking effect.

"Oh for goodness sakes…" That voice was familiar. Hedy squinted at the door to find Dr Cecil staring at them with an unimpressed expression. "Hello Officer Fitzgerald, Mr Schmidt. Am I going to see Ruby today or was this a solo outing, Ms Fitzgerald? You're rapidly approaching the point where I'm going to get you your own dedicated bed."

Hedy pouted and tried to say something to the effect of "I'm not that bad" but her brain was still a bit foggy so it came out like "I'm… my bad?"

Mike tried to stifle a snort while Jeremy didn't even try.

"Hmm," Cecil gave her a suspicious look before turning to the guys. "Would the two of you like a cup of coffee? From the staff room, not the muck that's in the hallway."

Sometimes having a connection through Ruby was a positive since the doctors only offered staffroom coffee for a very small number of people. The teenager was one of them and apparently Cecil liked them enough that they got the offer too.

"Please," Jeremy said.

Mike nodded, "Sure, thank you…" He shifted. "Uh… Yeah, Ruby's probably coming in sometime today. She cut herself pretty badly and ripped the stitches. I fixed them but I'm not a doctor."

Hedy looked mildly alarmed. She wondered just what the heck had happened after Spring took her away. She knew she passed out at some point.

Jeremy glanced at Mike with a frown, trying to think back to when Ruby might have ripped her stitches like that. Did it happen when Hedy's fingers were broken? Ruby had gone feral for a moment there and Foxy had to carry her out.

Cecil grimaced but accepted that with a sigh, although she did look a bit surprised that Ruby had allowed his help. She pointed at Hedy sternly with her pen. "No coffee for you, sleep as much as you can and leave the hospital equipment alone."

"I wasn't going to… " Hedy trailed off as she remembered the latter was a genuine concern on her part. She didn't damage anything last time!

"You and Ruby are far too much alike," Cecil muttered to herself as she left and Mike had to bite back a snicker at the exasperated words.

Jeremy made a mental note to find out what had happened in more detail when they didn't have any nurses or doctors around and just smiled to himself at the sheer offense in his sister's expression.

---

Alex was still sitting in Parts and Services and thinking about what the ghost kids had said when she suddenly felt an emotional change in Goldy. It was a horribly weird feeling, almost like a little alert had popped up and invaded the corner of her mind. It didn't feel like a bad emotion - nothing like the anger and fear and grief that had been swallowing them all earlier in the day. Not quite happiness either, but maybe curiosity? She was having a hard time working this ghost stuff out.

The bear must have somehow sensed her confusion, because she suddenly appeared next to her and said a quick "Sorry!" when the woman jumped.

"It's fine," Alex said, hand over her chest from the fright, out of habit more than anything else. She quickly pulled it away when she realised there was no heartbeat underneath her fingertips, and shoved the thought to the back of her mind. It was just one more reminder that she didn't want or need.

If Goldy had heard those thoughts, she politely chose not to say anything. "Mike's here," the bear explained.

"With Hedy?" Alex asked hopefully.

Goldy shook her head and Alex sighed sadly. She had really hoped Hedy would be back. Because she wanted her friend to be okay, obviously. But she was also feeling really quite lonely. Even though she had Goldy, and Timmy, and now the ghost kids, she wasn't a part of this family. They all shared a story and a past. She was just some stupid girl who didn't listen to her friend and now she was dead because of it…

She winced as she realized those thoughts were a little more formed than she wanted them to be at the moment.

Goldy frowned. "Alex…"

"I'm fine," she said quickly, but Goldy clearly wasn't convinced.

"None of this is your fault," the bear promised her. "None of it."

"I'm fine," Alex repeated, forcing a smile that was in no way believable, but Goldy just sighed and looked a little deflated. And now Alex felt guilty for adding another depressing thought to Goldy's mind.

Goldy perked up, but Alex was half convinced it was an act in response to the guilt. "Are you gonna come and see what Mike is saying?" the bear asked, changing the subject and gesturing through the wall to the main room.

"Uh," Alex hesitated, looking down at herself. Slightly see-through, but definitely still visible. "Are the day staff gonna have an issue if I just walk through the main room? I don't know how to do the vanishing act thing. I don't really… want them to stare. It was bad enough earlier with Harrison and the other cleaner."

Goldy glanced up at the ceiling, and after a moment a circle of tiles flipped up around Alex and then back down into their usual places. Goldy smiled.

"The Building will help hide you," she said. "Don't worry. Just try not to walk through anyone if you can help it. The staff won't have an issue, but you're right that they might stare and ask questions."

Alex grimaced at the thought, but followed Goldy out of the room and down the corridor to the main room, where the door had thankfully been left slightly ajar. Alex really wasn't ready to try and start walking through solid doors and walls yet, even though the ghost kids had reassured her it was easy. She took a deep breath, and murmured "Please work," before slipping through the gap and into the chaotic room. Goldy disappeared but Alex could still tell where she was.

She stood frozen against the door for a moment, waiting for someone to see her and notice how they could also see the door behind her. But the eyes of anyone who glanced in her direction seemed to just slide right over, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The bots could see her though, she noted. Freddy's eyes lingered on her as she started to cross the room and she waved at him awkwardly.

She saw Mike being ushered into an empty party room by Teddy, Toby, and Chi, and followed quickly. The day staff were all gathered in the main room, most of them helping to clean but some standing around looking confused. One caught sight of Mike and started to storm over in that direction, quickly being caught by another man in the same uniform. Alex noticed their nametags - Henry, and the one who caught him was Jerry.

"We can ask after," she heard Jerry mutter as she passed by. He didn't seem to see her. She ducked inside with Goldy before Mangle appeared and shut the door behind her.

"Why are the day staff here?" Mangle asked accusingly. "Didn't you call them?!"

"Mangle. I was busy," Mike sighed.

"But–"

Teddy jumped in before another argument could start. Mangle was usually much kinder to Mike and it wasn't fair for him to get the brunt of her stress. "I think we just forgot to call anyone. We were busy. And anyway, they'll be worried about Hedy when they hear what happened."

"There isn't much to tell," Mike spoke up, and Alex felt a pang of sympathy as she noticed how exhausted he looked. He rubbed his hand over his face and the shadow of stubble that was starting to show. The building shifted slightly around them and the man scowled at the obvious nudge that the Building was listening in.

"Her fingers will take a while to heal, they're broken pretty badly. But the surgery was successful. She won't be able to do any maintenance work for a while, which she's annoyed about. But she wanted me to pass on that she doesn't blame Baby and hopes that everyone behaved themselves."

Alex grimaced at the memories of the very emotional night before, and realised too late that her human-invisibility must not apply to Mike because he saw and immediately asked, "What happened?"

The bots all turned to look at Alex and she backed up a little. "Hey, please don't ask me. I know the least out of everyone here."

"It was a difficult night for everyone," Teddy cut in, not particularly wanting to say anything but wanting to cut Mangle off before she started talking. He looked at the floor. "You should probably ask Ruby."

"Ask her later," Goldy added quickly. "How is Hedy apart from the broken fingers?"

Mike cracked a tired little grin. "Grumpy. They won't let her out so she's irritable and bored and most likely not sleeping like we told her to. I'm surprised she hasn't called here already."

"You guys left her phone here," BB said, startling Mike who hadn't even noticed him. BB cracked an impish grin as the man glared at him but sobered quickly. "I hid it in Ruby's office."

Mike grimaced. "Probably for the best. I should grab it though…" He didn't look keen on digging through the definitely booby-trapped drawers while the building played hide and seek with Hedy's phone. "They have her on a lot of pain meds right now. She probably hasn't even noticed. Still. She's aware enough to be bored. Dr. Cecil slapped a bunch of documents in front of Hedy detailing how expensive all the equipment is and how much she's going to have to pay if she breaks it, just in case Hedy gets any bright ideas about taking any of it apart."

Chi groaned out a weak laugh at that.

"That bad?" Mangle asked, a little bit of anxiety slipping through.

"Wait… " Mike paused. "Did she actually do that?"

"Uh… yeah?" Mangle said. "When she was in the hospital after Michael juiceboxed her."

"Mangle!" Chi snapped while glancing at Alex in worry.

Alex wasn't sure what they were talking about but she knew Hedy had been attacked earlier that year. Hedy had been very vague about what happened, but her friends put together that she had been attacked by an intruder at work. Sarah and Rena spent countless hours trying to convince her to quit, or at least switch to the day shift, to no avail.

"What? It's funny and both Spring and Hedy call it that!"

Mike looked a little disturbed. "And she didn't get in trouble?" he muttered to himself.

The building shifted again.

Alex frowned at Mike's description. It certainly sounded like Hedy alright. She was amazed that Mike hadn't left with instructions to bring her up some kind of manual or textbook. It was the kind of thing she would have asked Alex to bring. Fuck, she wished she could be there with her friend.

The thought had barely crossed her mind when there was a weird tugging on her body - did it even count as her body anymore? - and it was getting stronger very quickly.

"Goldy?" she said quickly in fright, reaching out for the other ghost. She just had time to register some kind of weird happy feeling from the Building before she vanished from the view of the others.

Goldy stared at the spot where the young woman had vanished, and cast her mind out across the building. Alex wasn't in the pizzeria anymore.

"What did you do?" she asked the Building worriedly, but it just sent her back happy feelings and a mental image of its mechanic. Goldy groaned and dropped her head in her hands amidst panicked questions from the others in the room.

"I think the Building has just sent Alex to Hedy's hospital bed so she won't be bored."

Mike looked alarmed and looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know whether to trust you or call you an idiot."

The building took offense to his distrust and creaked in a way that would have been a little too noticeable if there were customers present.

---

If Hedy had been bored before, she certainly wasn't now.

Thankfully the room had been void of nurses or other staff when Alex had fallen out of the ceiling and crashed onto the ground next to her hospital bed, cursing like a sailor. Even if Alex missed all the bedside monitors and the chair, it sounded like it hurt.

"Hello?" Hedy said, slightly bemused, leaning out of the bed to look down at the floor.

Alex stared back up at her from the floor. "What the fuck just happened?" she asked, bewildered.

Hedy almost forgot for a moment that Alex was a ghost. For just a brief moment in time, it was just Alex being clumsy and tripping on her way in to visit Hedy in hospital. Her wonderful friend coming to visit and cheer her up with a story about their professors or to sneak her chocolate when the hospital staff had forbidden it.

Then she noticed that she could see the white hospital floor underneath Alex, could see through her friend, and the illusion came crashing down around her.

"If you weren't trying to come here on purpose, the Building probably has something to do with it," Hedy said tiredly, laying back in the hospital bed and trying to shield Alex from the pang of grief that had risen up inside of her.

"It did seem a little smug before I was whisked away and dropped from the ceiling," Alex grumbled, standing and brushing herself off. "Wait, shit, will I be seen if someone comes in?"

"You should be fine," Hedy reassured her, glancing towards the door anyway. She looked back with a little frown. "You… might be invisible right now. I can't actually tell. I can see ghosts all the time now…" She trailed off with a slightly more frantic second glance at the door before a grimace took over her features. "It's the building that makes ghosts visible to everyone by default. Outside, it's the other way around."

"Oh, okay," Alex said, eyeing the visitor's chair and debating if the embarrassment of falling through it was worth trying to sit in it at all. She decided to just stand.

"Um… how are you?" she asked awkwardly after a moment. "Apart from being in a hospital bed. Mike said your fingers were broken pretty bad."

Hedy frowned. "Mike went to the pizzeria? I told him to go home and get some sleep. He's coming back with Jeremy to get me out of here."

Alex couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. "He would have known the bots were worried. And still are worried."

Hedy sighed and rubbed her crusty eyes with her non-broken hand. "I wish they would just let me out. There's no reason for me to still be here."

Alex glanced over her friend. "No offense Heds, but if I was a doctor and had a patient that looked as shit as you, I wouldn't let you go home either."

"Gee, thanks," Hedy replied sarcastically, looking out the window. Alex tried not to be hurt that her friend seemed to struggle to look at her.

"Maybe you should sleep," she suggested. "I mean… I'm not sure how to get back, but I can just sit on the ground and be quiet if you want to sleep. You probably should, if you're planning on being at the night shift tonight."

Hedy made a quiet hm and Alex knew that she had no intention of sleeping until sleep forced itself upon her.

"So what happened last night after we left?"

Alex winced. She should have known this question was coming. "Um…"

Hedy frowned. "Bad?" she asked warily.

"... Shitshow."

"I see."

"The others can probably tell you better just how bad it was in relation to…" Alex gestured with her hands. "Everything else. But it was pretty horrendous from where I was sitting. That guy, uh, Michael, showed up." She lowered her voice, watching Hedy's reaction carefully.

Hedy tensed then cursed. She gripped the thin hospital bed sheet and twisted it in her grip without looking Alex in the eye. "I'm sorry," she said, lowering her voice to avoid the waver, "I never wanted you to meet him."

"The hell are you apologizing for? I didn't have to do a lot of work connecting the dots to what you told me about what happened…when you were a kid. All this time you've had to be in the same building as him every night." Alex shuddered and rubbed her arm.

"I don't see him every night," Hedy said quietly. "He usually knows well enough to stay away."

"Sure. That makes it better."

Hedy just shrugged at the sarcasm.

Alex huffed. "Well, more stuff happened…"

"I figured."

"Ruby apparently made a deal with Ennard? Whatever that means? And also let her out of the box in the main room."

Hedy cursed again.

"And Mr Afton had a bit of a breakdown. There was a lot of shouting, and that little boy Timmy got really upset. It was… a lot." She felt like she was grossly understating the event. Alex left out just how scared she'd been, how she'd felt like she was drowning in all the emotions that weren't hers. She wasn't important.

Hedy was silent, head in her hand as she processed everything Alex had told her, so the ghost tried to lighten the mood.

"Hey, at least Mike won't be out of a job any time soon. Just about every lightbulb in the building will need to be replaced after last night."

Hedy brought her hand away and at least had a wry smile on her face. "He'll be delighted when he hears that," she said dryly, shaking her head. "What a mess."

"You really should get some sleep," Alex said softly. "I'm not just nagging. I think you'll need it for tonight."

"I've been sleeping for over twelve hours."

"I don't think being knocked out for surgery counts," Alex retorted.

Hedy glanced down at the cast on her right hand, as if to check it was still there. "I should have been expecting something like this to happen… " She sounded angry with herself and guilty all at once.

"I don't think anyone was expecting her to slam her face shut on your fingers," Alex pointed out. "But it doesn't seem like Baby is angry with you or anything like that. She actually seems kinda reasonable. Which I can't believe I'm saying. I don't know her, but I think she feels bad about hurting you. Balloon Boy tried to get her to agree to apologize but she… uh… kinda skirted around the question. I don't know. There was a lot going on. I do like Balloon Boy though."

"What is she like?" Hedy asked, tilting her head slightly.

Alex blinked. She had forgotten that Hedy never even got to hear Baby speak. They were a little too busy for introductions at the time. "Uh…" She had to think very hard for a moment, not sure the best way to describe her. "Sassy?"

"Sassy?"

Alex nodded. "Maybe a little — now take this with a grain of salt because I don't know anyone that well — but she kinda reminds me of Ruby. Like a more sarcastic but less mean version of Ruby."

The way Hedy's face twisted in concern was too funny to watch and Alex coughed out a laugh.

"Stop it," Hedy admonished as Alex giggled. "That's not funny."

"You look terrified!" Alex laughed.

"I'm taking what you just said with a whole horse lick salt block because I really hope Baby is not that much like Ruby. I love her but I'm also the first to admit she's not for everyone."

"Ruby doesn't blame her for this," Alex said, gesturing at the hospital room and Hedy's hand, realising that Hedy wouldn't know how she reacted. "I mean, the first words they said to each other was something about insulting each other's looks but neither of them seemed to mind."

Hedy looked a little confused but figured she would see what Alex was talking about soon enough. She looked back at her lump of a hand wrapped in a cast and huffed. "I'm not going to be able to work on anyone for weeks. We're going to have to stop Puppet biting Will's head off since they're the only ones that can do it."

"Well…" Alex smiled a little. A real smile, not a strained or fake one. Finally, some good news she could tell Hedy amongst it all. "Not just them. I can help too. Actually help."

Hedy squinted at Alex and her smile only got wider. "Ruby showed me last night. If she holds onto me, I'm solid again. And I can work on the bots. The Puppet and I spent ages last night doing wiring together. As long as Ruby holds onto my shirt then I can be your hands. I know I was always more the programmer than the engineer, but I still know what I'm doing. We'll work it out. Don't worry."

Hedy didn't seem to share in Alex's excitement, which immediately made the ghost feel self conscious.

"Sorry," Alex said immediately. "I just… fuck, Hedy, I just need something to do. Something to distract me. When I was working on Funtime Freddy's wiring last night it was just like old times. I didn't have to think about anything else except for making sure I didn't cut anything I shouldn't or screw something into the wrong place. I could forget…"

"Hey," Hedy interrupted gently and Alex realized a moment later that Hedy had sensed her mood drop suddenly, more than just regular human stuff about reading body language or her tone. It was like Hedy knew what she was thinking. It was freaky. "I'm happy for you. I'm not upset. I just didn't think you'd want to work on them. Also… sorry about the feelings stuff. I can't really turn it off like Ruby. I can't actually read your thoughts. The verbal stuff. I've just gotten very good at being able to tell."

"Yeah, the feelings stuff is weird," Alex admitted. "I guess I'm just gonna have to get used to feeling like someone is rummaging around my brain. But the bots…"

Alex stared at the ground for a moment. "I didn't think I would want to work on them," she said softly. "But…" She bit her lip and crossed her arms. "I should have listened to you, Hedy. This is my fault. If I hadn't listened to Andre, if I had just trusted you… This isn't their fault. Even if I want to be angry, and scared. I think I still am somewhere underneath. Ruby mentioned something about me having a trauma response last night. Maybe when I get too much time to think, I'll feel different. But I couldn't just sit there when they needed help."

Hedy looked away and Alex felt her stomach drop in guilt. Hedy's guilt. She opened her mouth to shut it down but Hedy interrupted her. "I should have made you leave. I should have tried harder," Hedy whispered. "I didn't… Alex I'm so sorry… " A sob rose its way to the back of her throat. "This is my fault. I got you killed. Because I didn't… I didn't want to tell you what was going on. I didn't want you involved." She might have tried to say something else but her tears choked her.

Alex was sniffling too, arms wrapped around herself. "I wish I could give you a hug," she said quietly.

Hedy shied away. She wanted a hug too, but part of her felt so very sure that she didn't deserve it. She almost did tell Alex it was possible, but she didn't want to get her friend's hopes up. It was unlikely she could manage the focus for it right now.

Their sad silence was broken by a nurse sticking her head around the door. Alex froze like a deer in headlights, hoping that if she was seen, she would just be passed off as a regular visitor from a distance.

The nurse's gaze slid right over her. "How are you feeling, Ms. Fitzgerald?" she asked with a smile.

"Fine," Hedy said unconvincingly. "Can I go home yet?"

The nurse rolled her eyes. "After a few more tests to make sure the braces are positioned right. Did you get to see your x-rays yet?"

"No," Hedy said, "Dr. Cecil said she was waiting on the new ones to develop." She frowned. "I asked for the ones from before you knocked me out."

The nurse chuckled. "Yes, and I recall the good doctor telling you that was a bad idea."

Hedy must still be high on drugs because the pout she gave the nurse would have fit better on a toddler.

Hedy watched out of the corner of her eye as Alex wandered towards the corridor, sticking her head out and looking up and down. Another nurse walked almost right through her and the ghost jumped back, but then wandered a little further out into the hall. Curiosity was clearly getting the better of her. Alex vaguely felt an eerie little tug behind her, although it couldn't stop her. She shuddered. Was that Hedy?

Curiosity was a greater force than that tug and she went out further, wandering out of Hedy's line of sight and down the corridor a little. She peeked into another room, where a woman was sleeping, and was about to wander into the nurse's station when she felt another, more forceful tug pulling her backwards.

She stumbled a little and looked back down the corridor towards Hedy's room. There was a panicked feeling coming from her friend, and Alex felt a little bad for wandering away from her. She quickly went back and arrived just as the nurse was leaving.

"Sorry!" Alex said as she slipped back inside. Hedy's panicked feeling faded away a little from her awareness. "I was just being nosy," Alex filled the silence. "They really can't see me. It's weird."

Hedy hummed a little, and Alex got the feeling that she didn't want to talk about the panic that she'd just felt.

"O-oh, sorry," Hedy said. "I didn't mean to… pull that hard." She wasn't sure how else to describe it. "Just don't wander too far? I can't exactly go looking for you if you get lost…" She wouldn't look Alex in the eye. It was hard to tell what she was thinking, even if Alex annoyingly could tell what she was feeling.

Alex shrugged. The tugging was weird, but the connection to Hedy was comforting in a way. Like she was a little bit safer with Hedy as her anchor. "It's okay. I mean, I don't really wanna get lost either. Although, it would be funny if I could go and find your x-rays for you. Then you wouldn't have to wait for the doctor."

Hedy smiled a little dryly at the idea of Alex going hunting for her scans, but really hoped that she wouldn't. She didn't want Alex going anywhere that she couldn't see her. The last time Alex had gone somewhere without her…

"So, are you gonna take a leave of absence?" Alex brought up suddenly. Hedy looked at her with a funny look. "You know, for the rest of the school year."

Hedy shrugged. "I mean, I probably have to. Not much engineering I can do with this," she gestured with her cast.

"Well, you might wanna send Django a text or something," Alex suggested tentatively. When Hedy looked at her with more confusion, she gestured awkwardly. "You know, since we all had that group project together. It was just the three of us…"

Hedy frowned. "Shit. You're right." Then she looked up at Alex. "Do you think they'll give you a leave of absence?"

She regretted the words as soon as they had left her mouth, but Alex just stared for a moment before starting to giggle. "I hope so," she said sarcastically. "I don't think they'll have me back any time soon."

Hedy looked a little ashamed of the joke in poor taste, but Alex tried to roll over the awkward moment. "Hey, do you think that because of what happened, you'll all just automatically get good grades? Isn't that a thing?"

Hedy thought about it, then scowled. "I hope not. Some of those idiots wouldn't deserve it."

Alex hummed in agreement. "Hey, if Ruby holds onto me, I could totally do the work on your laptop. We could just say I did it before everything happened and sent it to you."

"Are you saying that after everything, you still want to do work for a group project?"

Alex cracked a grin. "Come on, Heds. Django is fucked without us."

The conversation slowly turned to classmate gossip, and although neither of them mentioned it, they were both grateful for the distraction until something else could be done to get Hedy out of the hospital.

---

Goldy at least remembered to tell Baby and Vixen what was going on with the mechanic, and it was comforting to be included, but if both of them were honest, they didn't really believe Goldy was telling them the whole truth.

Her news mostly amounted to, "Mike said Hedy is going to be fine! She's probably coming home today. I'm sure she's excited to meet you properly, under better circumstances." She'd seemed so nervous.

Then she had to go away in that strange way that she did, blinking out of existence in a way that Baby and Vixen still didn't fully understand.

Goldy's… state… scared them. Or something. They weren't really sure how to feel about it. It was just so strange and there was just so much going on…

They could hear people moving around outside their door. Not children. Goldy said they were staying closed for the day. But there were multiple adult voices coming through the door. A few times the voices asked who was "in there" or why the door was locked or even occasionally some voices introduced themselves awkwardly, shuffling away when no one answered.

What were Baby and Vixen even supposed to say?

The vents were not closed off. The little bots explored a little but the strange humans walking around (thankfully) made them too nervous to go far. Baby was better at hiding it, but she was anxious about the Bidybabs going out of sight, even if that was something they did all the time. This was a new place though…

The others were busy in the building, they knew that. Goldy couldn't stay and Puppet wasn't… they didn't think he was ready to actually talk to them normally yet. Not after how shaken he'd been by Ennard. Spring didn't know them which hurt in a way they hadn't expected.

Freddy stopped by at some point to check on them during the day, letting them know that the day staff and cleaners were in the building. He assured them that they wouldn't come into the room yet since they'd asked the humans to give them their privacy for now.

Before he left, Vixen wanted to ask about the technician, but she chickened out and asked about Foxy instead. She was a bit surprised that he wasn't the one checking on them.

"He's keeping an eye on Ruby at the moment," Freddy explained. "Foxy doesn't like to leave her alone when she's this exhausted. He thinks she's vulnerable or something. You know how much he worries when he gets overprotective." He said it fondly and like it was just normal for the fox to be with the teenager. "He'll come by later probably. We're going to try and get him to sit down and charge a bit when Ruby leaves for the hospital."

"Is he… mad at me?" Vixen asked, regretting the question instantly.

Baby glanced at her in concern.

Freddy seemed surprised and puzzled by the question. "Mad? Why would Foxy be mad at you?"

Vixen thought that was a pretty stupid question. "I hurt her. There." Her gaze darted down to her claws and away. She didn't look back at Freddy. All the Originals were very fond of the teenager, it was obvious in how they acted around her and talked to her.

"Most of us did at some point," Freddy said quietly. "You're not the first. And knowing her, you won't be the last. No one's mad at you over that Vixen. Foxy's not upset and Ruby's going to be going on about how cool the scar will be in a week or so. She still won't shut up about the ones Foxy gave her." He gave her a small smile. "He's happy to see you. We all are. It's good to have you both back."

"I don't think the younger set are that happy," Baby pointed out and Freddy grimaced.

"The Toys are stubborn and they can be brats. Don't take what they say to heart, since they'll probably say something hurtful or stupid at some point. But they grow on you. They'll get over themselves sooner or later."

He gave them another smile before leaving again. They missed him immediately. The bear had always been comforting to be around, but he was busy. He couldn't stay with them or babysit them the whole day Even though they wished he could...

Some time later, the Toys decided to check on them. Well, a few of them. One of them…

Vixen and Baby were both surprised it was the chicken who visited, opening the door with some hesitancy and quickly closing it behind her. She knocked on the door and it locked again by itself. Because… living building… That was going to take a while to get used to.

"Hi," the chicken said.

"Hey," Baby greeted, her tone not giving away her awkwardness.

It made Vixen wince. She could see how the Toy was staring at Baby and she couldn't be sure if Baby was ignoring it or oblivious. Even after knowing her for years, Baby could be… emotionally sneaky? Was that a term?

"Toy Chica, right?" Baby asked.

"Chi," she corrected, missing how Baby used her old name on purpose to gauge her mood. Her tone was a little hard. "How are you doing? Freddy said we have to check on you every couple of hours."

Ah so she wasn't here by choice.

"We're doing fine," Baby said. "We've gotten a little further with the others if you want to see." Baby gestured at the bodies and parts she and Vixen were going over, sitting across from each other on the floor as the little bots ran around doing little bits of the project.

"No thanks," Chi said. "I don't understand any of that stuff." She frowned and glanced away from them. "Hedy's been showing us stuff but I just… don't get it. Toby does. He's smarter than everyone gives him credit." She paused. "Okay he's really stupid. But like… people stupid. Not Hedy's stuff stupid."

She huffed after a moment, like she was annoyed with herself for talking that much.

"Anyway, you're fine. So I'm going to go now."

"Well, thanks for checking on us," Baby said diplomatically.

Chi scowled, not that great at hiding it, although she really did try. She wished Baby was more unlikeable. Then she wouldn't feel so bad being rude. She turned to leave.

"Wait," Vixen said quickly, running to the door before the chicken could close it. Her fast movement made the other Funtime and the little bots tense. She usually only moved that fast when something was wrong.

The sound of others outside was louder but Vixen stubbornly didn't back away just yet.

Chi paused and looked back expectantly.

"How is she? Th-the technician… " Vixen asked. "Uh, Hedy?"

Chi stared for a moment. "Well she's alive." The chicken said before leaving and locking the door behind her.

"Oh o-okay. Thank you!" Vixen called through the door. There was no other response. "I don't think they like us very much."

"Oh you think?" Baby snorted. "I ate their mom's fingers."

Vixen glared at her. "Stop saying it like that!"

Baby smirked. "What? Does it bother you?"

The Minireenas giggled.

Vixen rolled her eyes. "Stop it."

"Nah."

---

Hedy wondered if Cecil was fussing as much over her because she was associated with Ruby. It had taken slightly longer than they'd expected to get free from the hospital.

The teenager had shown up in the late afternoon looking like death warmed over and Hedy found out some of the details about the ripped stitches she'd hidden and got Mike to fix for her. She didn't really remember the story Ruby spun for the doctor, but it was realistic enough that she seemed to reluctantly accept it.

They left for the doctor to look Ruby over in private before the two of them returned later. Cecil then deposited Ruby in Hedy's room, sternly making them both promise to stay put until the nurse showed up with the discharge papers. Absolutely no sneaking out until that paperwork was done!

"I hear the drugs really got you while you were coming out of surgery," Ruby said after a couple of minutes.

Hedy frowned. "I don't even remember what I said but Mike was smug all morning." Her eyes flicked to the corner of the room. "Alex is here. Can you see her? No one else can. The building threw her over here after Mike checked in with the others at the pizzeria."

Ruby nodded, covering a yawn. "I was fifty-fifty on whether she's a hallucination from stress or exhaustion. I kept quiet just in case, cause you would have locked me in the staff room at work if she wasn't actually there."

"Hi," Alex said. "Um… I guess I'll head back then, since you're about to leave." She looked at Hedy dubiously. "Are you sure I just need to… ask to go back?"

"Just try it," Hedy said. "If it doesn't work, I'll bring you back with me in my car."

Alex frowned and immediately looked to Ruby. "Do not fucking let that woman drive like this."

Hedy looked offended. "Jeremy's coming in my truck!" she insisted. "I'm not stupid!"

"Like I'd get in a car with her in this condition," Ruby scoffed. "And Hedy wouldn't let me walk in my condition, so it's a moot point." She looked back at Hedy. "Jeremy is driving us back right? Not Mike?"

The way Hedy immediately rolled her eyes told Alex that this was a well worn topic. "No, he's not driving."

"Good. I can't believe I've got to get in another death contraption," she slouched in her seat petulantly.

She immediately regretted that when it pulled at her shoulder and hurriedly sat up again.

"I guess I'll see you guys later then," Alex said apprehensively. "Please, both of you be careful. Um… Building?" She glanced at the wall, then the ceiling, feeling a bit stupid. "Can I please go back to the pizzeria now?"

And a couple of seconds later, she was gone.

"She's taking the building pretty well… all things considered," Hedy said, a little subdued now that her friend's ghost was gone.

"Yeah…" Ruby sighed. "I think it's a good thing the building did this though. She probably needed to get away. It was… it was a complete mess in the end."

Hedy already heard some from Alex, but she'd noticed one thing in particular when Ruby arrived. Her walls were still down. It wasn't as strong outside the pizzeria but Hedy didn't usually sense anything from Ruby away from the building. Now she was getting echoes once they were in the same room.

"Timmy," Hedy said experimentally, noting how Ruby's feelings twisted at the boy's name. "He worried you? Alex said Michael showed up but she… she doesn't know him. How bad was it? Really?"

The teenager looked down at her hands, avoiding eye contact which was alarming on its own. "He broke, Hedy," she said quietly. "Timmy broke. All those angry feelings he'd worked his way through already just erupted out. He said a lot of things he's been keeping inside for a long time. It was… it was bad," she didn't know how else to put it. Bad wasn't nearly enough but nothing else was either.

"Like… the kids?" Hedy shoved down her feelings that cropped up at mentioning them. "Like he wants to kill someone?"

"He mentioned regretting that he couldn't and didn't kill Michael at the start," Ruby admitted. "It was the same anger, but he wasn't holding onto it. I could…" she trailed off as she tried to explain it. "Funnel it away? It's hard to describe. He wasn't hanging onto it like the other kids so I took it and then let it go. They've got nowhere to put it, it turns out. They can't let things like that go without help I think. My walls were completely gone by then though. I've still got a headache from it and I've been getting all the echoes off every ghost in the building. It sucks. I left Timmy with Spring so he wasn't alone." She paused for a moment. "The ghost kids came to check on him. And ask about you," she told her. "They said they hope you feel better soon and they're glad you're safe. Benji specifically."

Hedy looked away sharply.

Ruby didn't comment but didn't apologise either. She was one of the few who still brought up the kids around Hedy. Mike was the only other one who did it regularly.

"Timmy might want some hugs from you when we get there. He… he outdid any ghost breakdown ever in that building Hedy. He really wasn't okay."

Hedy let go of her irritation to nod. She was concerned for the boy too. It made her feel a little better that he wanted some affection from her as well. Some days she wasn't sure how he felt about her, given how she was a pretty constant reminder of his brother's evil. Maybe that was her anxiety talking. Timmy never said anything like that to her.

"I don't know what happened after that," Ruby admitted. "I got Timmy and myself to the staff room and passed out. The building woke me up before my deal with Mike could run out. Foxy was camping out by the door but the place was still closed. There were some of the day staff around but I didn't say anything to them. They were keeping the bots company last I saw instead of just going home and collecting the paycheck. Even Henry. Who'd have thought?"

"We didn't really pay attention to the day shift very much," Hedy admitted. "I think they get along with the bots pretty well when we're not there." She checked back to the main subject. "But Mr. Afton… knows now? About… Timmy. And Michael?"

"...yeah. Michael was really brutal," her tone was more bitter than Hedy expected.

"...Should we have warned him?" Hedy asked guiltily. "Mr. Afton… or even Michael?" Hedy's face twisted at that idea but she didn't like the feelings she was getting from Ruby. Besides the entire sensation of Ruby's "aura" being unfamiliar, she didn't need stupid ghost bullshit to see how affected Ruby clearly was. It worried her. She couldn't tell what exactly Michael had said, but she could tell that he bothered Ruby. That was alarming in itself. Michael was not allowed to bother Ruby. The very concept felt wrong.

The teenager rubbed her face. "I don't think Afton would have believed us. Elizabeth was at least… well, physical. And he was still processing that. I think he would have been angry if we tried to tell him. As for Michael," a wave of anger rolled out of her. "Bastard would have just had more time to think of more ways to hurt his family… "

Hedy paid attention to Ruby's anger for a moment. There was something deeper there. She looked sad as she considered something. "Did someone at least check on Mr. Afton after that?" She glanced over at the corner of the room where Alex had been. No one checked on her friend, except the kids but she wanted to avoid thinking about that. Alex tried to hide it, but she had been almost crushed by whatever she was exposed to.

"I don't know," Ruby sounded a little irritated but she didn't think it was directed at her. "I didn't have enough left to check on anyone. Or even ask. The building muffled me and Timmy so Alex didn't get bothered by us I think. And I know it was blocking me from sensing Michael at all." Which only showed that the building was much smarter than people thought. If Ruby had got even a hint of anything but sheer regret from the bastard, she would have probably done some weird ghost emotion shit instinctually. She'd bet it would have hurt him, and anyone else who could sense it too. Ruby still didn't exactly know how she did most of what she did during it all. She felt raw now that it was over.

"... so in summary…" Hedy said, leaning back into her pillow. "I got my hand broken. Everyone freaked out. Then Mr. Afton was very harshly informed all his human kids are ghosts. Michael scared you…" She met Ruby's eyes defiantly, daring Ruby to argue with her.

Ruby scowled at her but genuinely didn't have the energy to argue even that.

Hedy continued. "And pissed you off. And Timmy went insane for a little bit but you helped him…"

"Is Baby at least…" she wasn't sure how to say it. "Chill? Alex said she seemed okay when things calmed down. Actually what the heck should I expect from all the bots tonight?"

The teenager grudgingly accepted the change in topic. "Baby seems like a mom," she said honestly.

"A mom?" Hedy asked, confused.

"She was parenting her Bidybabs pretty damn well. Everyone is mad at the little brats. BB is livid with them. You can probably expect a lot of fussing and attention and hugs. As well as angry Toys. They're pissed with the Funtimes and they're being bitches about it. The Originals are okay, just shaken by Ennard and also what happened between Afton Sr and Jr."

"Please tell me that's not what we're calling them." Hedy cracked out a weak laugh.

Ruby quirked a small smile. "Nah. Afton's the only one getting called Afton. Michael is still Shit Ghost. But overall, most of the gang is… fine. Goldy, less so. Puppet… really really really less so."

Hedy looked worried again. "...oh." She wasn't sure how else to react to that. Timmy she oddly wasn't surprised about. Part of her must have always expected Timmy to have a limit at some point. But Puppet?

"Spring seems to be handling everything pretty well. I think he backtalked Michael a bit at some point. Ennard is somewhere between shell-shocked and devastated. I'm not entirely sure on the reasons for that but she was… crying, through most of it."

"She… was crying?" Hedy also didn't know how to feel about that and Ruby could tell there was a spike of anger in that confusion. She could guess why, no need to interpret all of Hedy's little feelings that flowed around her like water.

Hedy was still processing the fact Ennard had murdered her friend and despite knowing that she was insane, that was not enough with how fresh the wound was.

Ruby shifted uncomfortably, missing her ironclad mental walls. She hadn't been able to pull anything up yet and she hated it.

"I think," she started carefully. "It's a persona. To a point. Ennard is cold and cruel and enjoys watching others suffer. She likes to hurt people. Elizabeth, on the other hand, misses her family. She didn't know her brothers were dead. Timmy laid down the law with her and she seems willing to agree to anything to stay with him. He threatened to cut her loose, lock her out of the pizzeria entirely. He's controlling the deal mostly. I don't think she would have actually killed Afton if it came down to it, but she is more willing to screw with him apparently. Not with Timmy. And Michael… I don't think she was acting when she started crying. But I also don't get her. She's very quick to hurt everyone. A bit less so with Puppet who isn't handling her existence well at all. I tried to keep her focus on me honestly. Michael's timing sucked."

"Great." Hedy glanced at the door as they faintly heard Jeremy's voice approaching as he spoke to someone. She looked back at Ruby then her hand. "Did… Afton get the other Funtimes awake yet?" She didn't expect so, but she was wondering how much work she could get away with without hurting herself (or anyone noticing).

"No. A lot of work was done on them but," she looked a bit guilty. "I was falling asleep while trying to keep Alex solid enough to work. Foxy put his foot down. I let Afton and the minireenas use my tools so they did get pretty far I think. No one else was woken up though."

Hedy nodded and Ruby watched the mechanics' thoughts process behind her eyes, metaphorically. She was probably trying to work out a system or a schedule in her head for how to most effectively work on everyone. Hedy really could not take a break from work, could she? They were going to have to watch her like a hawk to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. Hedy suddenly paused. "You let Afton use your dad's tools?" she blurted out, fairly stunned.

The sudden exclamation throwing her, Ruby squinted at her. "...yeah?" she said, trying to ignore that uncomfortable twist in her stomach. She hadn't exactly liked doing it. The tools in the others' hands had bothered her while she'd tried to keep busy with the building's tile game. Afton had seemed to take her words seriously though so she'd been able to relax a bit. "The building wasn't going to let them touch yours and they needed to make some progress. The minireenas were sweet when they asked so I let them use them too. The bidybabs, on the other hand, need to get used to being told no. The building wouldn't have let anything happen to them." The last sentence sounded more defensive than she'd like.

She couldn't really blame Hedy's shock honestly. It had taken a long time before Ruby had let Hedy use any of them and she was still the only one who could.

"I'm getting them back tonight," she muttered. "Afton said he was going to get the little bots their own stuff too. It's a one time thing."

Hedy would like it if things went back to making sense again now.

Ruby scowled at her, arms crossed defensively. It wasn't that weird. She could be practical when necessary, and being stuck as the mediator last night had definitely meant that was necessary. So why was Hedy still just staring at her like that?

There was a long moment of silence between them before Hedy spoke again. "How'd you rip your stitches?"

The sudden topic change caught Ruby so off guard that she stared at Hedy like a deer-in-the-headlights look.

"When everything happened with Baby?" Hedy prompted.

Ruby looked away and the mechanic narrowed her eyes. "Before that. In the trailer? Or throwing yourself out of it?"

Ruby didn't look up at her, fiddling with her fingers now. She really should have shoved a quick ie in there somewhere but it was too late now. Dammit, she was really off her game.

"During your game with Ennard?" Hedy was angry now, too tired to really watch her tone anymore. "Which was… " she looked at the clock in the room and squinted. "More than a day ago."

Ruby grimaced and finally looked up at her, expression guilty. "When I went for Vixen," she finally admitted. "When I jumped off the stage at her. I didn't notice until after the game with Ennard."

"You could have bled out… " Hedy's voice was suddenly very soft and she looked away, a sharp contrast to the anger a moment ago. She twisted her left hand into the bed sheets.

"I knew it wasn't that bad," Ruby snapped irritably. "I'm not suicidal anymore Hedy. I really wish you all would stop assuming I would let it get that bad. I've got too much to stick around for now. It hurt but it wasn't that dangerous. Yes, it was dumb, but not that dumb."

"Ruby," Hedy said, her voice still quiet and she wouldn't look directly at the teen. "I wasn't assuming you… " She swallowed. "I just got Alex killed. I don't want you to get hurt because you're hiding injuries or something else stupid."

Ruby softened a bit and let out a sigh, trying to pull all those prickly feelings in and away from Hedy again.

"I know… It just feels like what everyone jumps to. Even the bots. Foxy and Spring are the only ones who don't immediately think I'm punishing myself now." Her shoulders sagged. "Hedy, you didn't get her killed. It wasn't on you. You can't blame yourself for that."

Hedy shrugged. "She wouldn't have gone off like that if I had told her the truth. All of it. And my reasons were selfish. I didn't want someone from the outside to know that much about me. She was already involved, and I ignored that."

"I was there too and I knew the risks," Ruby said sharply. "So if you're going to blame yourself, then you're going to have to blame me too. Or are we revisiting the whole 'it's not my fault Michael almost killed you because of a loophole in my deal' thing? Cause from what I can see, the situations are pretty similar. I just wasn't as polite about it."

"It's not the same," Hedy said firmly. "You made a mistake. No one knew the building didn't see me as human. I made a choice."

"I miscalculated and I was cocky," Ruby argued. "It was also a choice. Maybe it wasn't all the same but it's similar enough. It's not your fault Hedy. It's also not mine, or Afton's, or Alex's. I put a lot of the blame on Andre personally, but that's also not completely fair. It was Ennard's fault."

Hedy didn't respond, still staring at the bedsheets. She just nodded. She wasn't crying though.

Ruby scowled at her. "I know you don't believe me, and as much as it pisses me off, I also understand. But this is something everyone already agreed on. Alex too. And she's probably already picked up on your guilt. Just…" she trailed off. "Just agree to listen to us, okay? Just don't shut us down yet."

"...Nothing I can agree with is going to bring her back," Hedy whispered. "She's still dead. And she wouldn't be if she didn't know me. Nothing is going to change that."

Pain flashed across Ruby's face at the words and she hunched in on herself a little, flashing back to too much blood and unnatural angles of a cold corpse.

Hedy shifted a little and glanced at the door. Jeremy was still talking to something outside. "I'm sorry, Ruby," she said, "I just… need time I guess."

"She won't move on," Ruby said softly. "If that's how you feel. I don't know her well, but I can already figure that out. If she thinks you're blaming yourself, she won't leave." She looked tired and sad when she said it. "And you're not as good at hiding this stuff as I am when in the building."

Hedy scoffed out a weak laugh despite the guilt in her voice. "I guess that's true." She rubbed her face. "I feel awful. Physically. Even with the pain meds." The attempt at a subject chance was obvious and low effort but Hedy went with it anyway.

Ruby reached out to take her good hand in an uncharacteristic move of comfort as she allowed the topic change. "Yeah, you're going to be feeling that for a while. Want me to get a nurse for another dose?"

"They already have me on the limit I think. I need to wait a few hours," Hedy said quietly.

Ruby grimaced. Despite her dislike of pain medication, she did understand how necessary they were.

"I bet my hand will have a cool scar though," Hedy said with a lighter tone. "One of the nurses accidentally mentioned bones poking out. She looked mortified when Cecil gave her a look. I guess they were trying to hide how bad it was from me. Cecil wouldn't let me look at the x-rays from before the surgery."

Ruby huffed out a soft laughter even though she felt queasy at the description. "Don't look at the x-rays. I got a glimpse and it was enough. Just leave it as one of those few things you let go."

She squeezed Hedy's hand lightly. "Once I've caught up on my sleep, I'll make that fudge cake you like."

"Ugh, you and everyone else are going to spoil me," Hedy complained, glaring at her cast.

"So you don't want the cake?" Ruby asked, a cheeky smirk curving her lips.

"No! Give me the fucking cake!" Hedy said quickly.

Ruby just laughed at her and the tension in the room seemed to dissipate somewhat. The curls of soft fondness that Hedy could sense from the teen for once made her smile. She never caught the gentler feelings from Ruby when she had her walls up. It was nice to experience it for once.

Jeremy walked into Ruby doodling on Hedy's cast.

"You better not draw any dicks," Hedy warned. "I'm going to have to go out in public." Hedy flipped through the few TV channels her hospital room had.

Ruby gasped in outrage. "We are going to be around children!" she scolded. "What's wrong with you?"

"You still surprise me," Hedy defended.

Jeremy leaned down to squint at what she was doing before smirking in amusement. "Is that Toby or Bonnie?" he asked as he studied the untidy doodle.

Hedy strained to see.

"I'm offended you can't tell that it's Spring," Ruby huffed.

"It's blue," Jeremy deadpanned.

"I don't have a yellow marker! He's got holes, can't you see the holes?"

When he leaned in closer to look for these apparent details, he noticed something else. "What are you writing on there?" He wasn't sure how she'd managed to get letters on the underside of the cast without bothering Hedy enough to make her pull back.

"Eh, I tried to write something, but the angle was too awkward. It's unreadable," she shrugged as she started on another doodle. "And Hedy won't turn her arm."

"Gee, I wonder why," Hedy said dryly. She resolved to later find a mirror so she could see what Ruby attempted to write.

Ruby stuck out her tongue at her and Jeremy rolled his eyes at their antics. It was good to see Hedy looking better though.

---

It was another hour before they were finally outside the hospital, Mike fetching the truck and pulling it around to the entrance despite the wary look Ruby always shot him when he was anywhere near a steering wheel. He dramatically handed the keys off to Jeremy with an eye roll.

"You've been putting up with cars a lot recently," Mike mentioned cautiously. "Is your phobia… getting more manageable?" He didn't want to ask if it was getting "better."

Ruby scoffed. "I'm only putting up with this one more time because Jeremy's driving. And Hedy's going to get upset if I try walking all the way home." She still looked pretty twitchy despite her words.

Jeremy ignored the conversation as he helped Hedy up.

"Okay. So Hedy and Jeremy can get you in a car. Anyone else? What about Alice or Clint?"

"Don't know. Haven't tried and they don't plan to either," Ruby said dryly. She eyed him for a moment. "Definitely not you."

Mike frowned. "I wasn't asking about me."

"Good."

"Mike, get in the back with Hedy," Jeremy ordered.

Mike complied while still talking with Ruby. "Why not me? It's up to you. Not trying to guilt you or anything. I promise. But I'm just as safe as Jeremy."

Jeremy snorted and Hedy mumbled something but neither of them fully commented.

"Hedy is practical on the roads as long as she doesn't get into an argument," Ruby kept talking. "Or when she doesn't answer her phone while driving." She shot Hedy a withering glare as she spoke. "Jeremy is just completely calm. Nothing bothers him on the roads and his ability to keep a constant speed is perfect. You're like a squirrel. All 'attention on the road but that's a good bakery over there' and 'hello here's a stop street' and 'did you see those pretty flowers?'"

Hedy giggled a little but didn't come to Mike's defense as Jeremy shooed him and Ruby into the vehicle before getting in himself. He started up the vehicle while Ruby was properly distracted. He had no idea if Mike was doing it on purpose but he'd take what he could get.

The teenager's nails sank into the seat after she'd put on her seatbelt. This was at least familiar, even if it was awful. Front seat was fine. Front seat was fine.

"I do not. Hedy, do I do that?" Mike asked.

"Sometimes," Hedy said, trying to sit more comfortably with her bulky cast in the way.

Mike looked betrayed.

"See," Ruby bit out, not out of anger and definitely with a slightly more panicked note to her voice.

Jeremy didn't acknowledge the shift in her anxiety as he kept moving like everything was normal.

Hedy dozed off in the backseat while the drugs continued to wear off.

Mike kept distracting Ruby, intentionally or not, during the rest of the drive to the pizzeria as he defended his driving ability. They were going straight there thankfully. Ruby had already stopped by the orphanage to calm Alice and Clint down earlier that day. Jeremy thought it best to limit how many times they had to get Ruby into a vehicle in a day.

He honestly thought it was a miracle she'd agreed to another one. She'd been pushing her limits regarding this phobia too far and they were worried about it. Hopefully this would be the last drive for her for a long time. Exposure therapy only really worked if the person wasn't forced into it by negative situations.

---

The four of them were not sure what they were expecting when they arrived. It was dark and just a bit after closing, despite that not mattering much since the place had stayed closed that day. The day shift were long gone.

Jeremy expected an awkward silence. Hedy and Ruby expected a yelling match. Mike was the only one maintaining some optimism, even if that optimism meant hoping that everyone was quietly behaving in separate rooms.

No one expected Puppet in "time out" in the far corner of the room with blood on his hand (and a few smearing specks on his face) while Will was sitting on the far other side of the room with a pile of bloody tissues and his face tilted up as he tried to stop a gusher of a bloody nose. Goldy was trying to help but that seemed to mostly mean fetching more tissues while glaring at Puppet pouting in the corner.

"What the fuck?" Ruby asked, staring at the scene after rubbing her eyes a couple of times. "What happened?"

They hadn't noticed the four arrive so all the attention snapped to them at the sound of her bewildered question.

"Uh… " Teddy attempted when no one else was brave enough to start. "There was an… argument."

"Hedy!" Mangle was desperate and happy for the change in topic as she surged to her feet and rushed over without addressing whatever the heck had just happened. "You're back!"

"Hell of a welcome home party…" Hedy said, very confused. That might have partly been the pain medication.

"Are you okay?"

"Mangle, I'll tell everyone how I'm doing after you explain why Mr. Afton is bleeding."

Mangle sobered a bit and Chi, who had run up with her, grimaced and pouted. "It wasn't me," Mangle said sarcastically.

"Mr. Afton might have died if you punched him in the face," Hedy pointed out. Her eyes drifted to Puppet who was pointedly not looking at anyone.

Hedy mentally reached out to Alex and immediately got the sense that Alex might have seen what happened and promptly noped out of the family drama. This time.

Ruby took a deep breath, taking a long moment to pull up some kind of a mental wall so that she didn't have to deal with all the 'extra' stuff the ghost senses brought. This was going to be a long night.

"We know the who," she said, voice alarmingly calm and polite. "I would like to know the why. No sarcasm. No petty jabs or pointed comments. Someone kindly tell me why an elderly man is bleeding all over my pizzeria."

"I'm not that old," Will nasally said, raising a hand but unable to look at anyone as he kept his face upwards. "Your pizzeria?" He mumbled, finding her phrasing endearing.

"You. Zip it. Goldy, get some ice for him please."

Foxy had briefly poked his head into the room when she first spoke but was pointedly staying out of the room otherwise. He knew himself and he didn't want to get on the lass' bad side tonight by snapping at Will.

"It was my fault," Afton insisted, ignoring Ruby's warning. "Just a mistake. No need to worry about it." He laughed nervously.

"No," Ruby shot him a look. "There is blood involved. The rules here are if you cause someone to bleed, have a reason. A very good reason. That rule was instated because of me and if I've got to deal with it, then it applies to everyone flesh and blood here."

"Miss Ruby it really isn't that big of a d—"

"Mr. Afton," Hedy interrupted. "I don't think now is the time to be covering for any of your kids…"

The room flinched. Hedy probably didn't know how close that hit given Will's screaming match with Michael the previous night.

"We know the who," Ruby repeated, continuing when Hedy was done. "Can someone, politely and with unbiased phrasing, please tell me the why."

No one spoke for a beat.

BB cleared his throat/voicebox dramatically. The little snitch. "Pops tried to apologize for abandoning us. Puppet wasn't ready to hear it." He spoke bluntly. They couldn't be sure if he was more irritated at Puppet or Will or some combination of both.

Will winced but didn't deny it while Puppet scowled the best his face would allow and still wouldn't look at anyone.

Ruby nodded, some tension leaving her body. "Thank fuck it was something reasonable," she sighed, rubbing her face. "Okay, don't stand within arm's reach when giving apologies to someone you know is pissed with you. Distance is your friend. Did Puppet use the broken hand or break the other one with that move?"

"What broken hand?!" Will said with sudden worry that made Puppet bristle. The man tried to look down to see for himself but the blood flowed again and he had to grab more tissues.

Goldy sighed and handed him the icepack she had retrieved.

Ruby looked at BB expectantly, producing a battery out of her pocket.

"I'm not actually sure," BB admitted. "It kinda happened fast." He glared at Puppet.

"So someone's going to need to check. Thanks," she tossed the battery to him, much to his delight.

"No," Puppet ground out, finally speaking. "I'm fine."

"I didn't say now you grumpy ass clown. But at some point you're going to let either Goldy or Spring look at it. Tonight. I assume everyone wants to open tomorrow so you need 'not splintered' hands for that."

Puppet looked like he was either too pissed or too stubborn to respond and Goldy sighed again, obviously louder and more exasperated. Spring perked up though. He didn't help anyone else with repairs but he was curious about it. And he was smugly aware he might be one of the only ones that could guilt Puppet into letting him look.

"Well, that's somewhat sorted. From hospital to trauma room. Hi Foxy! It's safe now!"

The fox slipped back into the room, startling a few who hadn't realised he'd left in the first place. He headed straight over to her to fuss over her stitches and give her growled warnings about not ripping them again.

Vixen and Baby who had been completely quiet and still since the other humans showed up visibly relaxed at his entry back into the room. Neither of them had been really sure what to do, too shocked at Puppet's outburst.

Baby was eyeing Ruby in curiosity, mildly impressed with how the teen settled the room. A couple of minireenas next to them were in a heated whispered conversation that they couldn't hear. After a moment, they both ran off under a table, making Vixen anxious. The bidybabs were all sticking very close to Baby.

Mike looked around at the very distinct groups everyone was gathered in. "So… now what?" he asked.

Will vaguely waved at the offline bot behind him. "Ballora should be ready to switch on. I… " He hesitated. "We decided to wait until you arrived. We should be able to get Fredbear and Bon Bon up as well."

"Ballora first," Baby said firmly. She was much more whole than she had been the previous night. She had both her legs for one. There was still a missing arm but she was mostly complete. Vixen and the Minireens had continued to work throughout the day. It kept them busy while the Bidybab's snuck off to explore the building a little more without being caught.

Ruby exchanged a look with Jeremy and visibly braced herself. "Okay, rules first. The main one, the biggest of big ones, Hedy can't do any work right now. No tool in those hands, sis."

Hedy's immediate scowl was almost comical. "Not like I hold anything anyway!" she said, slightly lifting the almost ridiculous cast that turned her right hand into a lump.

"No poking, twisting, prodding, tying, unravelling or any other verb that can be assigned to maintenance in any way can be done by you," Ruby pointed at her. "I know you hate it with everything in you, but we're ganging up on you here."

"Now hold on—"

"Hedwig," Jeremy cut in sharply. "You fight me enough with your regular physical therapy. I'm putting my foot down on this. And I made Mike promise to back me up."

Hedy glared at Mike but he only looked mildly apologetic as he nodded.

Ruby turned to continue talking to the bots while Jeremy stared his sister down.

"This means that all of you do not enable her breaking those rules. This is me saying this. Me who jumps out of the second story window after a coma talking. It is very very very important that Hedy does not put her fingers at risk in any way. No matter what she might say, argue, whine or bargain."

"For how long?" Mangle asked. She asked Ruby. Not Hedy. Hedy would lie.

"A month," Hedy muttered.

"Two!" Mike cut in. "The cast can come off in one month to six weeks and she can start some exercises to build up the dexterity and muscles again, but nothing strenuous for at least two months.

"After getting the okay from the doctors, which will happen at her body's pace and not the pace she wants it to be, she can start doing work again," Ruby added. She was going to make sure they hammered this home so that none of the bots gave in when Hedy inevitably started to half lose her mind with boredom.

"You're treating me like a toddler," Hedy said sourly.

"Would you like some applesauce?" Mike asked without missing a beat.

"Fuck you."

"..." Mike glanced at Jeremy then decided the risk was worth it. "...Promise?" He waggled his eyebrows at Hedy.

The Toys groaned all together in absolute disgust.

"UGH!"

"EW!"

"Oh come on!"

Jeremy violently smacked Mike in the side of the head, Mike ducking to avoid the brunt of it. But he still yelped in pain and rubbed his ear as he danced further out of range.

Ruby snorted in laughter, covering her mouth when it caught her off guard. Foxy looked more amused than anything else as well.

"MIKE!" Chi complained.

Baby and Vixen looked very scandalized, knowing what the joke was, but clearly not expecting anyone in the room to be so blunt about something like that. Foxy snickered at their expressions when he spotted them, finding that funnier than the actual joke.

Hedy sputtered a little, looking red in the face and a mix of angry and amused. She really considered making everyone even more uncomfortable in retaliation by responding in kind but she hesitated too long.

Puppet meanwhile had a haunted expression. Ruby met his gaze and her smile immediately dropped, grimacing at their shared memory. Yeah, that was living rent free in her head for a good long while.

"Anyway!" she waved her hands in both an attempt to push the thoughts away and to drag the conversation back on track. "You guys understand right? Hedy is going to hate every minute of this. It's gonna suck, for all of us. Since none of us like to see her unhappy. But this time it is genuinely too much of a risk to take."

There was a long beat of silence but Ruby just couldn't bite it back no matter how hard she tried.

"Also, clearly, never leave Hedy and Mike alone during this time cause things might happen-"

She bolted out of Hedy's reach as the disgusted and outraged protests from the Toys exploded in volume.

"Hey! It's weird when you make the joke!" Mike shouted.

"I'm the younger sister!" Ruby gave him the middle finger from across the room. "Little shit rights!"

"It was weird no matter who was making it," Chica grumbled.

"And who said I was joking?" Ruby asked loudly. "Someone's going to need to keep tabs on them."

"We're stopping this topic. Right now," Jeremy said firmly, his voice tight and his eyes narrowed as he did his best not to look directly at Mike.

They were interrupted by the minireenas who seemed to have decided that waiting out the conversation they didn't really understand was taking too long.

"Tools!" One shouted, stomping her little foot impatiently. "Give back."

When they all looked over, they found that the little bots had pulled Ruby's toolbox into sight.

"I… uh…" Will started, clearly uncomfortable with the topic that just happened and grateful for the change. "I went to the hardware store today. I got a few things."

"Several thousand dollars worth of a few things," Mike informed. He looked at Hedy. "We borrowed your truck. That okay?"

Hedy nodded but she was scowling at him. "When did you have any time to sleep?"

"Uh…"

Ruby walked over to the little bots trying to move the fairly heavy box and gave them a smile as she took it from them.

"Thank you!" they all chorused, something that melted just about everyone's hearts.

"You're welcome," Ruby told them with a smile. "You're all very good kids. Your mama is gonna be so proud of you all."

The Bidybabs looked on with some scowls, glancing at Baby. Baby just smiled slightly at them then nodded toward Ruby, which got her some pouts.

Ruby stood up to carry the box over to her bag on the table. She didn't put it away yet since she wanted to check through it later. She'd do that when the little bots were busy though. She wanted to check on her stuff but she didn't want to make it seem like she doubted them when they'd clearly done their best.

Vixen was laughing a little at the joke. "Mama?" she chuckled to Baby.

"Just go with it," Baby sighed.

Ruby glanced over at them curiously. The minireenas had all run over to the Funtimes again, practically bouncing from pride and happiness. They were very easy to make happy and it was a joy to see it too.

"Right, this is where my expertise ends," Ruby declared. "Smartypants mechanics, take over." She hopped up on the table and the Originals just naturally drifted that way, likely planning to set up for the night in that area.

They all just felt entirely too unsettled to relax when both the girls weren't there. Now that they were back, more than a few bots were hoping for a return to routine. The Toys were already edging towards Hedy.

"Is it still bleeding?" Afton asked Goldy as he pulled away the most recent wad of tissues.

"I think it's stopped," Goldy said with a nod. "Is it broken?"

Afton waved her off. "I'll stop by a doctor in the morning. Now, little ones! Are there any final checks before I connect Ballora's power source?"

Baby thought it was very sweet of him to defer to the Minireenas and Bidybabs when it came to the rest of the Funtimes. Will had said it was because he was out of practice but she knew he was thrilled to be working with helpers so young and curious.

"Do we need to know anything before we do this?" Ruby asked. "What to do, what not to do, that sort of thing? Also, we still need to find out the dos and don'ts for you Funtimes in general."

"The what?" Baby asked, unable to help it.

"You know, every bot has it. Don't flash Foxy with a light. Don't touch Toby's guitar. Do give Chi hugs, do talk Star Wars with Bonnie. Don't kick the cat. If I sneeze, watch your feet."

"Cat?" one of the Minireenas asked. The word was unfamiliar.

"I kept Kitty in Fright and out of the vents today," Spring explained. He planned to be cautious introducing Kitty to the little bots.

"Smart," Ruby nodded. "Also, don't make Spring sad. That won't end well for you. He's our bunny baby."

Toby and Bonnie immediately snickered at that. Ruby liked to call Spring the baby rabbit despite that being entirely untrue and no amount of whining from him changed her mind. They thought it was hilarious of course and encouraged it all the time.

"So, dos and don'ts?" she asked the two Funtimes. "Obviously don't poke Baby in the face."

Baby winced and looked at Hedy a little warily, pleasantly surprised when Hedy met her eyes and didn't seem angry with her. She looked mostly annoyed at Ruby.

"Isn't that like saying don't put your hand in Vixen's mouth?" Teddy asked. "Too general?"

Ruby promptly stuck her hand into Foxy's. "Invalid argument. I can do it to this fox."

Vixen looked like was about to have a "heart" attack, relaxing when Foxy just laughed at the antics. "Please don't do that to me?" she asked. Especially not the teenager. Especially not if she might be alone with any of them.

"Heads too?" Ruby asked.

"We are not playing crocodile," Foxy immediately told her and she pouted at him. "You already did it at the zoo, you don't need to practice anymore."

"Fine. Yeah I get it. No limbs in the newbies' mouths. Mangle doesn't mind much though."

Baby snorted but actually answered Ruby's question. "Don't try to be quiet around Lora. She needs to hear you move around."

They were all a bit surprised when Ruby pulled out a notebook from her bag and started writing down. She waved her hand at Baby to continue.

Vixen stiffened and shared a look with Baby as she remembered something very important. "Fred…"

"Oh. Uh. Make sure you wake up Bon Bon first and let her wake up Fred. Don't get too close to him."

Goldy looked at them in confusion. "Is there a reason?" she asked worriedly. This seemed like more than a preference.

"We… we had to teach him bad things…" Baby said, her sarcastic tone dropping in shame a little bit. "Very bad. He's… he's very different from what you remember. I don't think he'll recognize anyone…"

Puppet turned his head, giving up the illusion of surly refusing to look at anyone to look at Baby in concern before glancing at Fredbear.

"He got the most controlled shocks…" Vixen whispered. "We almost lost him a few times. His computer got fried… A few… times." There was guilt in her voice and the older bots suspected there was more to the story.

Alarmed looks were exchanged around the room. Ruby paused long enough to pull one of her normal tasers out of her pocket to discreetly shove in her bag. That was going to take some getting used to. She was going to need to stop carrying several tasers on her person at all times.

Baby perked up a little bit. "But we always got him back!" she said with a forced grin.

Most of the bots looked shaken and horrified by this newest revelation. The severity of the shocks was suddenly much more terrifying. Those weren't the little shocks Ruby gave the bots during the games. Hers were always at the 'safe' level. They hurt a little, but the irritation came from being locked up for several minutes. Nothing close to what they would define as agonizing or permanently damaging. This was something completely different.

"Is that why Bon Bon was muted?" Ruby asked into the silence.

"Not really," Baby said, her tone a little more neutral. "She wasn't damaged too much by the shocks. Fred… protected her. But what happened after he stopped… being himself, is related to that. That was part of the game. Fred really only listens to her most of the time. He knows us but some part of him always recognizes her. She could keep him away from all the new people he wanted to… meet. But Ennard decided that was too boring. So she hooked up Bon Bon's voice to a remote. The 'player' has to let her talk. The signal or whatever it was broke every time Bon Bon and Fred got scooped and Ennard had to reconnect it every time. So she should be fine now."

BB lifted a hand to his throat while Mangle looked disturbed. Out of everyone, they understood that it wasn't over just because she could talk now. Mangle especially understood that that kind of thing lingered.

Will asked the uncomfortable question he didn't really want to ask. "How did… how did Elizabeth learn how to do that?"

Baby looked down and shrugged. "She figured it out? I don't know, Will."

"I just…" Will swallowed. "She was never interested in your system when I tried to show her and…" He trailed off.

"I don't know," Baby said, a little firmer. "You sent our manuals with us. That's what we had to use in the beginning. Maybe she figured it out from reading those."

Ruby glanced around the room. Things were going to be a nightmare working here for a while. Old wounds lurked around every corner to ratchet up the tension and remind everyone of how hurt they were.

"Okay," she spoke up. "So Bon Bon before Fred. If there's anything else we need to know, then tell us. Other than that, everyone happy with waking Ballora up now?"

"Please!" the Minireenas insisted simultaneously. They looked excited. It was very sweet.

Baby nodded. She thought for a moment before sitting down on the ground next to Ballora, whom Puppet and Will had leaned up against a table leg.

Vixen sat down on the other side.

The closeness of the Funtimes was vaguely endearing and yet sad. They were very touchy with each other. None of the other sets really had that level of closeness. They didn't "cuddle" with each other, with the occasional exception.

Given how they implied that Ennard kept them separated most of the time, Puppet got the sense they used touch to remind themselves everything happening was real and they were really together.

Ruby watched curiously as they got ready to wake the next Funtime up. She'd only briefly interacted with Ballora and wondered what she was like. Poor bot was in for a jarring shock to wake up here with everyone else instead of back in that hell.

Baby didn't wait for Will to do it. She gestured at a Minireena, who didn't hesitate to climb up on Ballora's back to reach her head with the open panel in the back. The wiring was still a bit of a mess despite Will and Puppet's efforts. Her power module wasn't damaged much, luckily.

The Minireena finished her little task in seconds, then closed the panel and climbed over Ballora's shoulder to settle in the larger bot's lap, looking a little smug as a few other Minireenas looked on in envy.

All the other bots had settled down by then, the Originals sitting or standing around Ruby while the Toys milled around Hedy. Their levels of focus were very different though. The Originals were watching closely while the Toys were more interested in checking on Hedy and their glances at the Funtimes were more wary.

They really didn't notice Ballora was awake at first, especially after how they expected it to go after Baby's dramatic awakening.

"We're someplace new… " A soft voice that was more mature than most of the bots said. She tilted her head slightly, listening to sounds that the rest probably weren't even aware of. She could hear five humans breathing and the whir of gears adjusting as bots shifted. The room was crowded and she grasped Vixen's hand tightly while her other arm curled around the Minireena in her lap.

For once Ruby kept her mouth shut. Ballora was at real risk of being completely overloaded by sound if too many people spoke at once. She shot a glare across the room when Toby opened his mouth and sharply signed to shut up for now.

The hand movements baffled Vixen who'd caught sight of them but she didn't ask for a moment. Whatever they meant, the Toys had looked grumpy about it. Foxy looked amused though and surprisingly responded to Ruby in the same way with something that made her grin. Mangle rolled her eyes at whatever it was.

Baby ignored whatever they were doing and looked at Will expectantly, then Puppet.

"Hello Ballora…" Will said, his voice shaking a little.

"Hi Will," Ballora said, sagging in relief. She bowed her head and immediately sobbed.

Will looked alarmed and had no clue what to do, surging forward to hug her before Baby waved him back.

Ballora calmed down very quickly and "looked" up to face Will's voice. "You're okay?"

"I'm okay…" Will said, which was a little amusing giving the blood still on his face.

Both Foxy and Ruby signed simultaneously at Mangle not to comment on that and she scowled petulantly at them as she closed her mouth.

The teenager took a breath before speaking. Ballora would recognise her and Hedy's voices at least so that shouldn't be too shocking for her.

"Afton's fine," she said, making Ballora startle a bit. They didn't know what the bot would be thinking happened to the rest of them.

That was a lie. She knew what the bot might suspect, and what had happened to two of them.

"Ennard didn't get him," she said carefully.

"And you're okay too?" The clear concern for Ruby caused a little whiplash. "What about your friend?"

Hedy found it mildly eerie how Ballora turned a little toward her. Hedy had to assume her hearing was much sharper than a human with the same blindness. Did she hear her breathing? "I'm alright. It's nice to properly meet you, Ballora."

"We're… fine," Ruby said. "Vixen got a swipe over my shoulder and Baby tried to eat Hedy's fingers, but otherwise we're just severely sleep-deprived and a bit more traumatized than before. Us two at least."

Will flinched and glanced at the doorway where Alex was peeking in, clearly interested in seeing another one of the Funtimes. She seemed to ignore what Ruby just said.

The teenager got more than a few annoyed looks at that but Ruby wasn't keen to lie to Ballora about things she couldn't see. That wasn't fair.

Ballora understood. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, almost about to cry again. But she didn't. She squeezed Vixen's hand and from the way the fox flinched, it seemed like Ballora had guessed part of what happened. "Puppet, I know you're there." Her voice cracked again, this time with a little more excitement in it, despite still subdued, like she was worried she was being too hopeful. "You always lost at hide and seek with me."

"I still insist you cheated," Puppet said dryly.

Ballora grinned. Just a little. She was still tense, wary of everyone else she could sense.

"We might be about to overwhelm you a bit," Ruby warned, a patient tone she didn't usually use with the bots showing itself. "We can go from oldest to youngest or by group."

She looked to Puppet and Goldy for their suggestion. The bear fiddled with her fingers before speaking. She hoped she didn't sound too different from before her little 'makeover'.

"Hi Ballora," she said quietly.

Ballora jolted a little at her voice. "Goldy. Goldy? What happened? You don't… you don't sound right." She struggled with a better description for a moment. "You sound… like a human. Somewhat. I don't know how else to explain it."

Goldy smiled sadly. "It's a really long story. I'll tell you later."

"...Promise?"

"I promise," she assured. She'd never broken her promises with them. She glanced at Spring and he shook his head for the moment. He'd be even more of a shock so he'd rather be left for last.

"It's good to see you again, Ballora," Freddy spoke up when a beat of silence passed, taking a step forward from where he was standing by the table Ruby was sitting on.

"... What did you do to your leg? You're limping, Freddy."

"Oh no," Bonnie snickered as Freddy sent Hedy a panicked look. Ruby snorted at his expression while the mechanic narrowed her eyes on him.

"Nothing," Freddy said quickly, which did not impress Ballora while Baby and Vixen both smirked.

"I'm not moving an inch after that," Foxy grumbled.

"Me either," Bonnie mumbled, ears drooping as he avoided looking at Hedy entirely.

"Foxy, you've been squeaking this whole time just standing still," Ballora said, the confidence growing a little as she recognized more of her family.

Foxy went stock still, all the little shifting movements he did while just standing around ceasing. He looked like a statue as he narrowed his eyes.

"He's glaring at me isn't he?" Ballora asked.

"Yep," Vixen snickered.

"I think I like you," Hedy said to Ballora while staring Freddy down warningly. "Do you regularly snitch on mechanical issues?"

"I can," Ballora suggested.

"Oh boy, you guys are screwed," Ruby whistled, looking at the Originals. "Can you hear that Puppet broke his hand?" She asked curiously. If she could hear when Puppet had problems then he was beyond screwed and Hedy was going to be relentless in hunting him down once healed.

"Oh, he's got a lot more than a broken hand," Ballora said immediately, her almost teasing tone she had used for the others dropping to genuine concern.

Ruby cackled, Foxy needing to reach out and stop her from falling off the table. "Oh clown, you are fucked!"

"Language!" Ballora said, letting go of Vixen to cover the Minireena's "ears" although that obviously didn't do anything and the little bot actually rolled her eyes.

"Language," Freddy sighed simultaneously with Ballora, completely resigned by now that it wouldn't work.

"Lost cause," Teddy muttered sourly. He didn't know why Freddy still routinely tried when it came to the teenager. Ruby gave him a sunny smile and the middle finger.

"They curse a lot," Baby warned Ballora who frowned a little.

"Rude."

"Very," Ruby chirped. "You'll get used to it. Wait until you hear the other bots doing it too. I'm an awful influence and encourage it all."

Foxy looked away when Freddy pointedly glared at him. He'd become a lot less alarmed whenever he swore and now did it more to irritate the others and tease Mangle.

"Fuck!" BB declared proudly like he was proving a point.

Freddy buried his face in his hands in despair.

"Who is that?" Ballora asked. She paused. "Wait. Chica? You're here, correct?"

Chica nodded before remembering that Ballora couldn't see and wince. "Yes! Yes I'm here too."

"Okay, I already heard Bonnie. Moving on, who was that?"

Bonnie looked mildly offended but still amused as he rolled his eyes, which made the younger bots and humans wonder what the relationship was like there.

"Me!" BB said, completely unhelpfully and Puppet facepalmed. Ruby was snickering so hard she was curled in on herself.

"The Toy set," Baby supplied helpfully.

"That's BB," Freddy explained. "Balloon Boy."

"Hi!"

"The other Toys are here too. Ruby just warned them not to overwhelm you by all talking. Teddy is Toy Freddy. Toby, Toy Bonnie. Chi, Toy Chica. And Mangle, Toy Foxy. Hedy nicknamed them all. Ruby nicknamed Vixen. Your Foxy," Freddy continued, sticking to being the spokesperson for the moment so she didn't get confused.

"At least you've got a unique name," Ruby muttered and Will ducked his head sheepishly when she threw a look at him. "And it sounds like you've already sorted Fred's name, and Bon Bon."

"Vixen. Hmm. It sounds interesting. Suits you. But doesn't it also describe a sexy human lady?"

"Shit…" Vixen complained while Baby looked very amused and grinned at her.

"Does it?" Ruby asked with a frown. She genuinely hadn't realized that. They always found it strangely endearing when the teenager stumbled onto moments like this when she was actually one of the more innocent in the room for once.

"Let's just insist on the more innocent meaning," Hedy said quickly. She hadn't expected Ballora to be the one to point that out.

"Good idea. As for the others… I need to hear their voices," Ballora said, a little firmly.

"Roll call!" Ruby clapped her hands gleefully and the Toys all rolled their eyes.

Hedy sighed. "Do you remember what we wrote or do you need Mike to go get the list?"

"I can't believe we agreed to that," Teddy complained.

"It was fun," Mangle insisted.

Ruby bounced to her feet with a manic grin. "Don't worry Hedy, I've got it memorised."

"Of course you do," Toby muttered under his breath.

Everyone visibly braced themselves while the Funtimes looked confused.

"Here we go!" Ruby took a deep and overdramatic breath.

"Pseudo sister?" she smirked at Hedy who rolled her eyes.

"Here. You should use names, you know. This is pointless otherwise. I'm Hedy."

Ruby ignored her.

"Hedys' brother?"

"That's me, Jeremy," at least he just gave his name to make it easier since there was no changing Ruby's mind when she decided to be a menace.

"Fake night guard?"

Mike rolled his eyes.

"Mike. I'd like to be mentioned as Hedy's boyfriend actually."

"Noted and ignored," Ruby waved a hand dismissively.

"Hello," Ballora said politely to the new humans before deciding to just let the teen get through the list.

"Clown?"

Baby momentarily thought Ruby was speaking to her.

"I hate you," Puppet deadpanned.

Baby laughed in delighted surprise at just how done he sounded over the name. He didn't even sound offended, just completely over it.

"Fully reciprocated," Ruby really was enjoying this too much. "Ghost bear?"

"It's not as bad as that sounds!" Goldy insisted in a panic. She wished Ruby had let her explain the situation to Ballora first.

Ballora looked confused but held her question for the moment.

Ruby glanced at Spring and quietly skipped him for now.

"Originals next! Smokey Bear?"

"I almost forgot you used to call me that in the first week," Freddy mused with a small smile.

"Chickadee?"

"Here!" Chica just went with it cheerfully. She thought it was kind of fun. It helped that her roll call name wasn't insulting.

"Bugs Bunny?"

"Present," Bonnie even raised his hand before realising what he did. His ears fell back in embarrassment and he quickly lowered it again.

"Did Bonnie just raise his hand?" Ballora whispered to Baby.

Baby snickered, which was enough of an answer.

"Aw, bless him," Ballora cooed.

Bonnie buried his face in his hands with a groan when the others teased him as well. He shot a glare at Ballora between his fingers which only made Baby snicker harder.

"The best pirate around?" Ruby had skipped over the teasing for once

"The one and only," Foxy said with a grin. "With my ship shape first mate, of course."

Baby and Vixen were brought up short when they realised that the teenager was wearing a pirate hat now. Where did that come from?

She gave Foxy a cheeky salute before continuing down the mental list while no one else reacted to the hat.

"Round three! Toy Time! Barbie Rabbit?"

"I'm Toby. Toy Bonnie," he sighed. "And I still hate that."

"Your complaint has been logged and summarily deleted," Ruby gave him the middle finger again just to be bitchy.

"Featherbrain?"

"Hello. Chi. Nice to meet you. Ruby, can I please get a new one?"

"No. Teddy Bear?"

"I… actually don't mind that," Teddy mused. "Hello, it's nice to meet you."

Ballora had to be able to tell they weren't being fully sincere, still upset about Hedy's injury. She didn't comment though.

"Build-a-fox?"

"Ruby!" Hedy reached out to smack her but the teen dodged her and Mangle cracked up.

"Hi. I'm Mangle. I was Toy Foxy." Yes, her response was short because she still held a grudge, but she was having too much fun.

Ballora looked confused again, which was fair. It was a strange name.

"Battery addict?"

"Heeeeeeeeere!" BB was the only one truly excited over this.

Ruby paused suddenly and stared at the Funtimes intensely for a moment before slowly smiling. "You guys need ones too."

"Ruby, finish what you were doing," Hedy tried but it was too late. Spring actually didn't mind waiting either. He was both nervous and also too amused by what was happening to care.

"Tsundere fox?"

Foxy fell over as he started laughing hard enough to make his voicebox crackle while Vixen looked perplexed.

"What does that mean?" she asked warily. Ruby didn't provide an explanation and kept going.

"Genderbent Pennywise?"

Goldy choked on her laugh and Puppet visibly had to hold his amusement back, turning his voicebox off entirely.

Will couldn't hold a single laugh back either. He had been doing so well staying quiet too.

Baby blinked but she understood the reference. She had very mixed feelings over it. Clown that killed kids. Great. But at the same time… the nickname was fucking hilarious. She was a little impressed with Ruby's willingness not to care about offending her. She smirked in the end and decided to just go with it.

"Dancing and Dreaming?"

"Oh that's such a nice one!" Chica said in delight. "It really fits you, Ballora."

"You'll have to wait to give the other two," Foxy pointed out now that his laughter was under control.

"I interacted with them for five minutes, gimme a minute. I've got this." She thought for a moment and snapped her fingers. "Carebear! And… Sweetpea."

"Blatant favouritsm!" Chi accused in outrage. "You gave them such nice nicknames!"

"Wow if that's true, that's really saying something, huh?"

Baby, Ballora, and Vixen all jumped along with everyone else.

There was a beat of silence as the group turned to look at the offline body of Fred and the rabbit attached to his arm.

Bon Bon was smiling as she picked herself up off the ground and out of an uncomfortable faceplant. "Morning!"

"...Stop doing that!" Baby suddenly yelled at her in exasperation.

"How long have you been awake?!" Vixen scolded.

"Uh… halfway through Ballora throwing everyone under the repair bus," Bon Bon said with a smile. She looked at the rest of the room. "Hello hello, I have middle child skills. Everyone forgets about me."

Puppet looked both relieved and exasperated that Bon Bon seemed essentially the same as he remembered. Why did all the rabbits have to turn out as pranksters?!

Hedy was thrown off by her using Scott's greeting.

"I can respect the playing possum skills and the self awareness," Ruby nodded in approval. "Nice to meet you properly Bon Bon. Do you like your roll call name?"

"Yeah, but you're probably going to regret it. It's too nice for me." She smirked.

Ruby shrugged. "There's still some people in town who call me sweetie so I think it'll fit you fine. Best to be underestimated when you're midway down the family hierarchy." She pointed at the little rabbit. "I like you. We're going to get along great."

Goldy grimaced, looking over at Puppet in mild worry.

Ruby suddenly sneezed and they looked over to find that Kitty had decided to wind between her legs after sneaking up on her. The cat was actually reasonably fond of her but stayed away due to the incessant sneezing.

"Demon feline," Ruby muttered. "I didn't forget you, go back to your dad. It's his turn anyway."

"Meow."

The Minireenas all gasped at the sight of the little furry thing they hadn't noticed before, Kitty jumping a little at the sharp noise from the little bots that were closer to her size.

"No, leave it alone for now," Ballora spoke up quickly, the Minireenas immediately pouting while the Bidybabs continued to stare at the animal in confusion.

"We need to figure out roll call for them," Mike pointed out toward the little ones, very amused.

"That will take a while," Ballora warned. "They're okay for now. They will like to be included eventually."

"I can figure out names for them given enough time. Although in a pinch I can call those ones mini bitch one, mini bitch two-"

Foxy covered her mouth before she really got going.

"Does that make me the regular sized bitch?" Baby asked in amusement rather than defend her Bidybabs, all of which looked offended.

"You're huge, Baby!" Bon Bon said, "Mega Bitch makes more sense."

"I'm the regular sized bitch," Ruby pointed out, pulling Foxy's hand down a bit.

Everyone looked at each other. Who was going to say it? Someone had to say it.

"Mike, don't!" Hedy hissed.

"I don't think four-nine counts as regular sized, Ruby," Mike said before bolting from the room. "Hedycatchmeuponeverythinglater!"

"Motherfucker!"

Foxy managed to catch her around the waist so Mike only got a glitter bomb to the back of his head as he ran instead of a punch and/or Betty.

"I'm going to remember that!" she yelled after him. "You're dead, Schmidt!"

Hedy ran her hand over her eyes. She faintly felt and heard the doors lock.

"FUCK!" Mike faintly screamed as he banged on the door.

"I think we're going to have another paint night…" Bonnie whispered to Chica.

"I'll bet you my turn for movie night that it's a food night," Chica said with a grimace.

Kitty sauntered her way leisurely over to Spring in the chaos while Freddy got Ruby's allergy medication out of the side pocket of her bag. There were some in the staffroom too just in case she ran out. She was still insistent on visiting Fright regularly despite the cat hair everywhere.

The teenager sneezed into her elbow as Foxy set her down and mulishly accepted them, swallowing the pills dry.

"It's going to be a paint war," she declared. "So pick a side or stay in the safe room. He's got until we're done here and then it's Armageddon time."

"Dang it!" Chica said while Bonnie looked very smug.

"Mike! You better find your paintball gun!" Hedy called, not leaving her boyfriend to the wolves entirely.

"FUCK!"

"I'm so ready!" Bonnie cheered. "It's been ages since the last one!"

"Can we pick any side?" Toby asked hesitantly. He had yet to actually play one of the games on Ruby's team.

"There's a right side and a wrong side," Bonnie told him cheerfully. "Yeah, you can play on ours."

The younger rabbit actually looked excited at that idea.

Foxy poked Ruby in the side and pointed at Spring who was muffling his laughter into his hands as he watched the chaos. She grumbled something that made the fox flick her ear lightly before shoving her brewing chaos on the backburner.

"Last but certainly not least," Ruby spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention again. "Sunshine Bunny?" She sneezed again and dug in her pockets for tissues.

Goldy gave Spring an encouraging smile.

"Hello, Ballora…" Spring said hesitantly, wincing when Ballora stiffened and Puppet and Goldy flinched slightly. He had done something wrong without even knowing what it was.

Ballora was quiet for a second. "Spring?" She "looked" at Vixen. "Is that Spring?"

Vixen nodded. "Yes… that's him."

"But he…" Ballora turned back. "You never called me that." She insisted.

Spring shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry. What did I call you?"

Ballora looked a little more alarmed. "Lora. You and Mother always called me Lora. Spring what… what happened?! You don't…" she trailed off. "You're not moving right. You're not talking like yourself."

"Sorry," Spring said, uncertain how to calm the panic that was rising in Ballora's voice. "My memories are gone. There was an incident. Uh… a few incidents I guess. I can't… I can't remember anything. This is like the first time meeting you for me… I'm so sorry."

It was quiet for a second.

"O-oh…" Ballora said. After a moment she seemed to shake herself out of it. "Well… I would like the whole story at some point. But for now… It's… it's very nice to meet you, Spring." Her voice cracked a little but she was doing her very best to be calm.

Spring sagged a little bit. He wasn't expecting him to have been so close to the ballerina. It was a good thing Ruby decided to introduce him last. It went both better and worse than he expected but that was probably the best he could ask for.

The brewing chaos drew his attention away from his mixed feelings over their meeting/reunion.

"Pick a side everyone!" Ruby called aggressively. "Or choose neutrality and stay out of my way."

She was shaking a spray can and proceeded to paint a line down the room to show where the 'safe space' was. They'd need to run through this room during the game so they couldn't leave it alone entirely. So she was marking out an area for them to stay in.

"Ruby's!" Bonnie said, unsurprisingly.

"Same," Toby said, looking relieved when Ruby didn't even give him a funny look.

"Oh come on, Mike needs some backup," Goldy rolled her eyes. "I'll help him." She knew she was setting herself up to have a stained suit for a while, but she really didn't want everyone ganging up on Mike. She'd rather the sides be equal so there was an actual back and forth.

"Don't look at me," Foxy scoffed. "I'm with the lass."

There were a few sighs. "I'll help Mike," Freddy said, wincing when he got some disbelieving looks. He rarely joined in. "It'll be a good stress relief."

"Mike," BB said.

"You can't be a double agent," Hedy scolded, knowing exactly what he was planning.

"AW! Fine. Ruby's."

"Nope," Chica shook her head. "Cooking is my stress relief. I'm not playing. And Hedy needs some healthy meals for the next week because she's not allowed to come out of the hospital to just cup noodles she can't even make now."

Hedy looked a little offended. "Thanks…" she said begrudgingly.

Teddy looked thoughtful before shrugging. "Why not? Mike."

There were a few more doubletakes.

"Mike," Mangle announced. "I'll enjoy the challenge."

She and Foxy shared a wicked grin, competitiveness already sparking between them.

"Uh, pardon me," Will finally spoke up. "What's happening?"

"Yeah, explain?" Bon Bon asked, glancing at Will. She hadn't really gotten the chance to properly greet him yet. She wanted to hug him before Fred woke up.

Alex, who had still been hesitantly standing in the doorway during the chaos, looked interested too.

"Ever since Ruby started here," Foxy started while everyone else was still considering sides. "She's played games. Some more deadly than others. But they're usually massive and themed. It's gonna be a paint night, which means two sides shooting at each other with paintball guns and paint bombs. Goal is to cover the other side with as much paint as possible. Winners don't really matter in the end, it's for fun. But Ruby's got a grudge so she's going to be hunting Mike down like an animal. You don't shoot anyone on your own team and working together means that you can pull off some cool stuff."

"Jeremy should sit out," Spring mentioned. "I want to play and someone has to babysit Hedy."

"Excuse me?!" Hedy said.

"You want to play too?" Goldy asked Spring excitedly as she and everyone else ignored Hedy for the moment.

"Dibs! Dibs!" Ruby called, murderous aura evaporating as she looked at Spring with wide, hopeful puppy eyes.

Spring chuckled. "I didn't really get to participate in the last big game. Michael did." He smiled sharply. "And I want to use the new leg."

Will looked concerned but didn't ask while Ruby cheered.

"Sunshine bunny is mine for the night!" she crowed. Spring might have actually entirely derailed her vengeance mindset since she was excited for his first game night.

Mike better thank him later.

The fact Hedy wasn't arguing meant her work on him was far enough along that she wasn't worried about him getting hurt. That was uplifting all on its own for some of them.

"I'm not playing. Not tonight," Chi decided. "I'm pretty sure there are still paint flakes in my systems. I'll go cook with Chica."

She beamed when Chica smiled and nodded.

Ruby looked at Puppet. "Vent ninja?" she offered, holding up a bag of paint bombs. If you've fucked both your hands. Good way to get out all the negative and/or murderous feelings?"

"I am not murderous," Puppet said quickly.

Jeremy snorted.

"Much. Anymore."

Will immediately looked concerned but the conversation was moving too quickly for him to jump in.

"Well, do you want to play anyway?" Ruby asked, rolling her eyes.

"I will assist on Mike's team to even things out."

Ruby clapped her hands before pausing and considering something. "Brace yourself for a high pitch," she warned Ballora. With that, she stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled sharply. "Kiddos!" she shouted afterwards. "Game night!"

Timmy appeared first, close to Ruby. "I guessed. First there was murderous anger, and then excitement. And the Building locked Mike in."

Will's eyes widened but he surprisingly didn't say anything immediately.

"I'm working on my walls," she grumbled at him, taking in how he looked. He was tired but much better than before. "Wanna play?"

Timmy fidgeted in place, glancing at Will quickly and away. He nodded. "Your team."

Will looked a little disappointed. He had been hoping for the chance to actually talk to his boy. But he didn't press. Or say anything.

Timmy looked up at her after a moment. "Can I just…"

She nodded with a soft smile. "I've got to gather my supplies. Go on." She was waiting for the other kids to show up too. They were probably arguing at the moment over whether they should.

Timmy gave her a small smile before disappearing and flickering into sight again next to Will.

"Hi Daddy," he whispered. "I'm… I'm sorry. About… everything. Can I talk to you afterwards?" he asked hopefully, gaze skittering away when he looked up at him. "Ruby's games are fun…"

Will knelt down to look Timmy in the eyes, getting a good look at his son and taking in every detail he could. He didn't start crying, surprisingly. "Of course," he said softly. "I'll be right here when you're ready. Are you feeling better?"

Timmy nodded. "Yeah… Ruby helped. I'm not… not usually like that." He sounded a bit embarrassed now.

"You have every right to be angry," Will said firmly. "But we can talk about that later. Go have fun."

The boy gave Will a timid smile before vanishing and appearing by Ruby again. He was just in time since one of the ghost kids chose that moment to arrive. They were all surprised to see that it was Cheryl.

"I wanna play," she said. "Can I?" she shifted a bit. "Felix is being a butt but he wants to play too."

"No I don't!" Felix shouted from the hallway, making Alex look over her shoulder. She hadn't said a word, watching what was going on with a silent and sad gaze. She was glad there was something to distract her again now. Her mind had been drifting into depressing thoughts.

"Of course," Ruby said, not looking at Hedy. "I invited you guys. It'll be a good way to burn all that extra energy you guys carry around too. Whose side do you want to be on?"

Those playing had already drifted into two groups so it wasn't hard to see who was on which side.

"Mikey," Cheryl said. "He said I could play with him next time you did a game."

Puppet glanced at Hedy, noting how she frowned at the implication Mike regularly talked to the ghost kids without her knowledge. Everyone knew he did, checking on them just as often or even more than Ruby did, but he didn't tell Hedy about it.

Ruby nodded. "I've got paint bombs that're covered in a little salt. It stings a tiny bit but it'll let you pick them up and throw them. I've got paintball guns that I've done the same to, but be careful of how long you touch the salt." She raised her voice a bit. "Angry little ghost child? Are you playing or not?" She called out to Felix expectantly.

Baby and Vixen were rapidly explaining what they knew about the ghosts to prevent Ballora from panicking over kids being around. She had not reacted well to hearing Timmy's voice because she immediately noticed that she couldn't hear him breathe and it silently freaked her out. Her face was twisted in grief but she was maintaining her composure while Bon Bon was just staring, trusting she'd get an explanation too.

Felix sighed dramatically and came to stand next to Alex in the doorway. "Fine. I'll be on Mike's team too and help Cheryl."

"I don't need help!" Cheryl complained.

"You're the smallest," Felix deadpanned.

Ruby wasn't surprised in the least. Felix would pick any other side as long as it was opposed to hers. "Frederick? Ginny?" She called out. "Also, has anyone seen Alex? I'm shit at this ghost sense thing without my walls when it comes to finding people."

Alex panicked a little. "I'm right here!" She frantically looked to Hedy to make sure her friend could still see and hear her.

"She's messing with you," Hedy said. "Ruby, don't scare her."

Ruby grinned at her wickedly. Bitch.

Alex glared, quickly trying to hide the very real panic that had risen up inside of her. "Can we really touch stuff with salt?"

"It hurts," Felix warned dryly. "And it sticks. Like licking a metal pole when it's frozen and it stings when you rip away, except it stings the whole time."

"That's a sucky explanation," Fredrick said.

"You got a better one!?"

"Fire ants," Ruby offered, after a moment of thought. "But not that bad."

Timmy just looked at them all like they were idiots. Ruby included. "Just give her one so she can see for herself," he huffed.

Ruby stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine." She spun around to face the other side of the room that she had spraypainted as off limits too. "I need to get my supplies anyway." She smiled up at the ceiling sweetly. "Hey building? Can you please bring my paint supplies?"

She suddenly looked horrified. "Fuck! We forgot you on the roll call! Why didn't you poke me to remind me, you silly old building?"

"You forgot Will and Alex too," Jeremy pointed out.

"I assumed Alex wanted space," Ruby admitted. "I kinda blew out her ghost senses last night with everyone and I've got little brain-to-mouth filter right now and flimsy shields. I already defaulted to screwing with her now without even thinking about it. You trust me to come up with a nice nickname? And I don't have a nickname for Afton yet either."

Goldy could have sworn she heard Will mutter out a disappointed, "Aw."

"I don't trust you to come up with anything nice for either of us," Alex confessed. "But I appreciate you including me anyway. Being here is better than sitting by myself and thinking," Alex said softly, wincing at the spike of worry she immediately felt from Hedy.

"Valid," Ruby admitted. "I'll add you to my list of people to routinely annoy in the pizzeria."

She turned to the room at large again.

"Well, alrighty then. To round off our roll call. The delightful eldritch entity we call home," she flourished at the ceiling and the building rumbled happily.

"The fuck?!" Ballora yelped before gasping and covering her mouth, horrified.

Everyone stared at her in complete silence for a moment before Ruby started laughing. She did try and cover it but she couldn't help it. That was hilarious.

"It sounds scary!" Ballora tried to defend herself while Baby and Vixen both laughed as well, Baby wheezing out from her scratchy voicebox.

"The building is a sweetheart. Meet the sapient building that makes up the pizzeria, Ballora, Bon Bon."

The building clattered some tiles near her politely.

"H-hello?"

"Oh that's weird," Bon Bon said. "It's like the Hand-Unit, but… I don't know… better?" A little spare screw lightly flew up and hit her in the ear. "Ow?" She looked around trying to figure out who threw that.

"The handunit sucked and the building took offense to that comparison," Ruby explained. She eyed Alex for a moment before letting out an explosive sigh. "Okay, I said I wouldn't but I'm really trying and I'm just drawing a blank at the moment. I'll give you a roll call nickname that will be Hedy-approved when I come up with something good."

"Ghost in the Wires?" Hedy suggested idly. Then she looked a little panicked at Alex as she realized what she said. "W-wait. Sorry. Nevermind. Sorry!"

Alex snorted a little, even though it was jarring to hear her friend make a ghost joke so casually. "Really, Hedy?"

"I'm sorry!" Hedy sounded genuinely distressed.

"That could work though," Ruby protested, unconcerned with the possible offensiveness or what it even meant. "It sounds cool."

"It's a reference to something we heard in a class," Hedy explained sheepishly.

"Isn't it a book?" Puppet spoke up, and Hedy frowned.

"Should I be concerned that you've heard of a book about hacking?"

"He's read it," Goldy cut in with a grin.

"So?" Ruby asked Alex as Hedy eyed Puppet a bit suspiciously. "Official roll call nickname? It sounds cooler than what I gave half the people here."

Chi was definitely pouting over that.

"Sure," Alex said, although she was secretly hyped about actually being included in what seemed like a "family" thing. She actually really liked the nickname, glad Hedy was the one who suggested it.

"We'll add that to the folder then. Welcome to roll call Ghost in the Wires," Ruby said, scribbling down something in her notebook. She had to shove her pirate hat up a bit when it fell forwards into her face.

Alex cracked a small smile, which calmed Hedy.

"Are the kids in the roll call?" Jeremy said with a smirk.

Benji teleported in to complain. "NO! Don't include us! We just want to play the game already!"

"You're already taking too long!" Ginny said.

Ruby looked awfully fidgety at Jeremy's question though. "...maybe." She pointedly didn't look at Hedy. "But that's for later. Who else is playing? Benji? Frederick? Alex?"

Frederick shook his head. "I'll watch," he decided.

"Can I be on your team?" Benji asked Ruby, trying not to look at Hedy.

"Sure," she answered easily while Felix scowled a little at his friend but surprisingly didn't say anything. "Lemme get that bomb to show Alex so she can decide too."

The building took that as its cue to follow through on her earlier request. The room physically shook as several large crates hit the floor with loud bangs. Exactly how much stuff was Ruby hoarding at the restaurant now?!

The teenager dug around in one and pulled out a paint bomb, hissing a little at the sting. It wasn't awful, just not pleasant. She tossed it over to Alex who caught it with a yelp automatically.

"Oh. Ow," Alex frowned, tossing it between her hands, trying to avoid it touching one bit of skin for too long. "I see what you mean."

She examined it closer, holding it up to her face and squinting at the wires and little details. Ever the engineer.

"Uh…Alex…" Hedy tried to warn, backing up out of range along with whoever else was nearby.

"So, how does it -"

The paint in the bomb turned out to be a lovely shade of rose. It also had a bit of salt mixed in like all Ruby's paint now. And Alex got a faceful of it.

Alex stood there for a good thirty seconds with her eyes screwed shut as the paint dripped off her. "... This isn't too bad…like beach salt water when you already have a sunburn…"

Jeremy and Will grimaced sympathetically, better understanding the sensation now.

"That's actually the best description," Hedy said with a snort.

Ruby was biting her lip so hard it was bleeding in her attempt to not laugh, wide eyes on Alex.

It took a couple more seconds, but eventually Alex started giggling a little. She flicked her paint-covered hand at Felix, who screeched and backed up.

Foxy took over for a moment since Ruby was still trying her hardest not to laugh, having ducked into the crate although they could see her shoulders shaking with mirth.

"So which team?" he asked Alex. "And Ginny, you playing?"

Ginny hesitated and counted the people in each team. She looked at Alex. "It will be even if we pick different teams."

Alex smiled. "That's okay, I don't mind who I go with. You pick, and I'll go with the other team."

Hedy bit her tongue to avoid saying or asking something she might regret. She wasn't sure how to feel about the odd familiarity Alex seemed to be having with the kids. When had they even met? She doubted anyone had really informed Alex of the kids' past yet. She wasn't so sure her friend would be acting so friendly if she knew.

Ruby finally got a handle on her amusement and straightened up. "It doesn't really matter if the teams are equal," she admitted. "No one actually keeps score. You can stay on the same team if you're bothered about splitting, Ginny.

"I would like to partner with someone," Alex admitted. "I uh… got lost today. A lot."

Benji and Ginny both snickered at her expense.

"Whose side do you want to be on?" Freddy asked. "Someone can switch teams if you're uncomfortable with them being uneven."

"Uh. Mike?" Alex said.

"Oh you poor soul," Mangle said, unable to help it. At least the others going against Ruby knew what they were asking for.

Alex looked a little worried at her words, still trying to wipe paint out of her eyes.

"I'm switching," Puppet announced. "The kids are 'ninjas' themselves," he defended when Ruby looked at him oddly. "Evens out who can be in the vents a bit."

They weren't sure if that was true, or if he'd just remembered how much of a nightmare Ruby was to play against and had realised how much worse that would be with Spring on her team. Goldy only seemed to be realising that at that moment if her whisper of 'oh no' was any clue.

"Game?" a voice asked quietly. Scared.

"No no," Ballora quickly assured the Minireena in her lap. "This is a good game."

That seemed to confuse the little bot more. She and the other little bots still looked concerned, even the Bidybabs.

Ruby ran over to her bag to pull out her laptop when she realised what she meant. She started setting it up. "You guys can watch, if you want?" she offered. "I'll link up the cameras to my computer so you can see everyone. It's a fun game and we aren't going to try and hurt anyone. It's just paint." She pointed at Alex who still had paint on her.

The little bots didn't look entirely convinced but if the other Funtimes weren't worried, they'd give it a chance.

Bon Bon looked a little jealous in comparison as she studied the paint.

"What the heck am I supposed to do?" Hedy asked, almost whining. "I can't work. Can't play." She glared at her cast.

"You can take a nap," Mangle said with uncharacteristic patience. "You still look awful."

"Thanks Mags…" Hedy sighed.

Puppet nodded toward the Funtimes. "You should still get familiar with their systems." He glanced at Will then back. "You can do that without touching anything."

Hedy stuck her tongue out at him.

"Very mature, Hedwig."

Just the idea of being bored in the future must be bothering her.

Hedy huffed. "Do you mind, Mr. Afton?"

"Not in the slightest, Ms. Fitzgerald." Will looked pleased and equally interested in the game that was taking shape.

At least he seemed sympathetic to her situation. Hopefully she'd be able to keep busy without losing her mind.

---

The game that night was loud, explosive and almost too much for the Funtimes to handle. But there was one thing that they couldn't deny. Everyone was having fun.

The groups all had five minutes to grab their chosen ammunition and scatter into the building. After that time had gone by, there was the sound of an air horn and the game started with a bang.

Literally.

Those that stayed out of it had to calm the Funtimes and assure them that no one was being hurt or was even upset. Even Mike realised he wasn't doomed to a night of being hunted since Ruby was now entirely focused on making sure Spring had fun in his proper first game. She'd forgotten her grudge entirely and Mike could relax and have fun. He found out who was on his team by trial and error and was pleased that there had been a general agreement among everyone to give him a fair shot at surviving the night.

He also learned that he owed Spring big time for the save.

The night was loud, messy and a lot of fun. Those not involved could watch on Ruby's laptop, Hedy being the one to switch between the feeds as she watched the reactions more than the chaos.

"This is… fun?" Vixen asked dubiously as she watched Foxy and Mangle literally crash into each other when they slipped on paint. They went down hard but were both laughing, Mangle smearing paint on Foxy's face with her hands while he attempted to get up and fight her off at the same time.

"When you feel like playing, yes it is," Jeremy explained. The chickens had run off to the kitchen which was entirely off limits in the game for tonight.

"It looks like fun," Bon Bon said, eyes wide as the camera switched to show Ruby and Spring pulling off an impressive trap that rained several paint bombs down on Goldy who got soaked in rainbow colours.

The teenager high fived Spring and for a moment, Baby and Vixen saw the rabbit they remembered in the footage. It was painful to see now that they knew this was his first time doing anything like this as far as he remembered.

Hedy flipped the cameras again to find Puppet and Timmy doing something in the vents and she wasn't sure she wanted to know exactly what they were plotting. She moved on before she could worry too much.

She also didn't know where Ennard was but didn't want to bring it up. She trusted Ruby to be careful with her deals now.

They all looked up when BB went screaming past their room, yelling in delight at the top of his lungs. He was painted bright pink from head to toe.

"What exactly was the inspiration for him?" Baby had to ask.

"….children like balloons?" Will tried. Honestly he usually didn't have a good answer for a good number of them besides 'why not?'

Toby and Bonnie came scrambling through a few moments later, having been caught off guard in a well executed ambush by Freddy and Teddy who were laughing out in the hallway.

"Why'd it have to be green?" Toby complained, trying to wipe paint out of his face.

"I know!" Bonnie agreed petulantly, shooting a glare at the doorway they'd run in. "It could have been blue paint at least."

"You don't know what paint's in the bombs until they blow up," Jeremy pointed out since they'd decided to pause in the room to clear their vision.

"That's not the point!" Both of them yelled at him.

Hedy couldn't help but laugh, despite her bad mood. The Toys and Originals had all come so far from their hostility in the beginning. Looking at the cameras proved that Teddy and Freddy were still in the hall and laughing their asses off over sending the rabbits running.

Alex and Ginny were now helping Goldy try and get some revenge on Spring and Ruby, but an unexpected interference from the vents had interrupted that. Timmy must have convinced Puppet to help him gang up on the other ghosts since they'd already got Felix who got a blue paint bomb to the back of the head earlier. Cheryl was currently more interested in watching BB who was clearly encouraging her to target him. It would explain why he was so covered in paint if he was trying to help her gain some confidence in the game.

Benji was strangely missing on the camera for a while. Hedy switched back to where she last saw Mike, who was currently sneaking up on Puppet.

They watched as he was interrupted by an obscene amount of paint spilling out of the vent above him, the weight enough to send Mike sprawling.

Benji jumped down to the ground and took off on foot, somehow staying solid enough to leave actually footprints as he cackled.

It surprised Hedy a little. He was always the quiet one. Then again, she hadn't really cared to notice the kids' behavior lately…

She chased the thoughts away and focused on trying to man the cameras so the Funtimes got the most entertainment. Hopefully they'd get some kind of vaguely positive impression of everyone after this.

---

Some time near the end of the night, when the pizzeria was entirely coated in various colours of paint, Ruby came careening into the 'neutral' room with Foxy, laughing so hard she almost fell over. It was good to see her like this after the last week.

"I'm going I'm going!" she snickered. "Mama fox. I don't even really need water in the building, remember?"

She rolled her eyes fondly as Foxy shooed her over to her bag to rehydrate. They were both covered in healthy splatters of paint of multiple colours (except purple) and Foxy moved to restock his ammunition.

Ruby, strangely, never seemed to run out. The building always played favourites with her restocking.

"Then you're gonna to be a raisin when you leave," Hedy pointed out, recognizing the argument. Both of them regularly had to be reminded to do basic human things. Hedy once passed out (ONCE) after leaving the building during midterms, forgetting she hadn't really slept in three days. She lost her balance in her chair and it freaked a lot of the bots out. Never again.

Ruby gave her the middle finger since she was in the middle of gulping down half a bottle of water and couldn't talk yet.

"You're the bad influence," Foxy reminded Hedy with a smirk.

Jeremy snorted. Hedy was never getting rid of that joke and he loved it.

Hedy just scowled and gave him the middle finger with her left hand. "I just imagine I'm flipping you off with both hands, Foxy."

Ruby finished her drink and moved over to stand near them, still on the 'messy' side of the safe line.

"Ruby," Hedy said before the teen left. "Bon Bon said she wants to wake up Fred in privacy with just her."

"Will can be there," Bon Bon added, adjusting Fred's arm so she could address the teen properly.

Jeremy tried not to shudder. Bon Bon could move Fred's entire arm on her own like it was her body and it creeped him out a little bit. What on earth was Mr. Afton thinking?

"Well, you know him best," Ruby shrugged. "Sucks that I'll miss meeting him for another day but you've got it handled." She was trying (and failing) to comb her fingers through some of her hair that was caked in paint.

"I just uh… don't want there to be an incident." Bon Bon stared at Baby.

Baby glared at her. "You don't have to make it awkward." She looked at Hedy. "You mad at me about your hand?"

"No," Hedy said simply.

Ruby laughed. "I get that you want to be careful guys, but you don't have to go overboard. You'd be surprised what we can handle. And what this place can handle."

Ruby lifted her hand and flicked her fingers, spraying paint in their direction. It splattered harmlessly against an invisible barrier protecting the 'safe zone'.

Vixen stared blankly at the sight like she was struggling to process it and Foxy cracked up laughing at her expression.

"I know but Fred… Well, we lied to him a lot. We told him Technicians were friends and he greets friends with a big…" Bon Bon trailed off for a moment. "Hug…" She looked a little ill.

Jeremy tried not to look alarmed. He failed miserably but the Funtimes didn't really blame him. His reaction was a little comforting in a way. It felt normal compared to how casual Ruby and Hedy were and how Will shut down to have no reaction.

"We'll figure it out," Ruby promised. "But for now, we'll be careful. Which is to say that I'll rein in my reckless tendencies a smidge. On that note though, I've got a war to return to. Who's winning?"

Jeremy squinted at the notebook he was writing in. "Currently your side. You, Puppet, Foxy and the rabbits are a lethal team. They're fighting back pretty well though."

"You're keeping score?!" Vixen asked in shock. She'd barely been able to keep up with what was happening on each camera feed.

Jeremy shrugged.

Foxy strolled over to throw his arm over Ruby's shoulders. He was still careful of her injured shoulder, but she'd been smarter about how she moved it after a vicious lecture from Cecil.

"You get used to it," the fox said. "And Jeremy's a dad, an older brother, a cop and a night guard survivor. He's more observant than you think."

Will blinked, looking at Jeremy, "You have children?"

"Twins," Jeremy said.

Foxy started dragging the teenager away again. "We've got forty five minutes, lass. Thought you wanted to end the night with a bang."

Hedy groaned at the word as Ruby practically beamed at him. "You are such an enabler, Foxy."

"Best big brother bot!" Ruby agreed, charging off back into the chaos with Foxy right behind her.

Will looked surprised at her choice of words and glanced at Hedy to see if that was a normal thing.

Hedy didn't react so he didn't comment. He doubted anything he would say, even positive, would be taken well.

The 'bang' that ended the night was certainly memorable. Through a combination of an alarming amount of paint and meddling by the building, every participant was faced with something of a tsunami of paint bursting out of the vents. It turned into an 'every bot/ghost for yourself' as everyone ran.

"Again!?" Jeremy shouted at the camera, not that Ruby would really hear him. "You already did a paint flood!"

"Well, there's only so much you can do as a finale with paint," Hedy pointed out.

"I don't think it's over," Frederick said, squinting at the laptop while the others were watching the paint leak out the vent on the other side of the room. "She's still doing something with Spring in Fright. And she's wearing a weird looking gas mask."

Ruby waved at the camera and raised a remote.

Fredrick perked up. "Where's Michael?" He was partly asking himself as he made the very rare decision to reach out and look for himself. He shied away from Hedy but outwardly neither of them reacted.

Still, Hedy cycled through the cameras in Fright.

Michael seemed to have been locked in the guard office in Fright via a healthy circle of salt and Ruby had definitely been plotting around that. She looked over at Spring who looked more excited than they'd seen in a while.

Michael looked mostly resignedbut they all knew he couldn't really hold back the anger in his gaze as he glared directly at the camera.

Ruby gave the ceiling a thumbs up on the camera and suddenly a very alarming amount of glitter bombs filled the office, startling Michael. Ruby checked the time, waiting until it turned five fifty nine, and then she pressed the button on her remote.

The building rocked from the force as too many glitter bombs detonated simultaneously and glitter flooded the space. Everyone had thought that the paint flood had been the end so the sudden explosion of glitter through the vents and hallways was unexpected enough to literally throw them to the ground.

Michael himself was violently jettisoned from the office by the force and flew out of the first vent opening that provided an exit. Covered in salted paint, he hit the opposite wall pretty hard and slid down to the floor upside down and ended as an undignified heap. Ghost physics. And the building probably.

Those in the Main Room were surprised to see Ennard fall out of another vent with a shout just down the hall from Michael. She shook herself, looked up, shared one look with Michael, then scrambled back into the nearest vent. She was also covered in a ridiculous amount of paint and glitter.

"…The cleaners are going to quit…" Hedy deadpanned. There was a coating of glitter over the coating of paint and there was also a haze of sparkles wherever she looked. That explained the gas mask. Ruby was in the middle of that in Fright so inhaling too much would have been dangerous. The vents and cooling systems on the bots were going to be caked. It was going to be hell to clean.

She and Spring were rolling around laughing in Fright and she could imagine that Michael hadn't been quiet when he was ejected from the office. Whatever he'd said had them in stitches though.

They looked up when a pile of glitter slid into the room. How much had Ruby used to have created what was basically another tidal wave? BB was on top of it and looked dazed for once.

"Wasn't expecting that," he said, sounding dizzy as he lifted his arm shakily. Goopy, sparkly paint was dripping out of the vent as well now.

"Where does she even get all of this?" Jeremy asked, in horror. "She's an environmental hazard at this point."

"It's biodegradable," Hedy said tiredly. All she could think about was what a pain it was going to be to clean everyone up. And she couldn't help?! How were they going to get ready for work?!

"I want to do that so bad," Bon Bon whispered, staring at the sight in complete awe. "So bad."

Vixen, on the other hand, looked horrified by the sight. Baby didn't seem sure about how she felt yet. Ballora was resting her face in her hands and giving off the air of 'exasperated mother' so well that it made them do a double take.

"I never thought I would know what a wave of glitter sounded like," she whispered.

Foxy stumbled into the room with Mike slung over his shoulder. "Okay, I expected a bang. Didn't expect that," he chuckled as he carried the man over to deposit next to the safe zone. "He's going to be trailing glitter everywhere for a month."

He'd found Mike buried in a pile of glitter under a vent. Unlucky timing on his part.

Mike looked dazed and was spitting out bits of glitter.

Foxy straightened up, just as covered in paint and glitter as the rest of them, and looked over as Puppet and a few of the others wandered in.

"I'm not sure if we should let Ruby and Spring prank together," he admitted. "That escalated quickly."

"Told you," Goldy said grumpily, teleporting in only to drop down next to the wall and pout. She was absolutely soaked in paint.

"That was awesome," Bonnie corrected as he and Toby arrived. "They should plot together more."

Toby looked more torn on the matter, staring down at himself in mild horror.

"I had fun," Timmy agreed, popping into existence above them.

"That's because you got a warning from her!" Goldy complained.

"Her walls aren't up properly!" Timmy defended. "I just reacted automatically. Not all the ghosts did."

"I'm fine," Cheryl said, also having missed the worst of the final wave since she'd picked up on what Timmy meant.

Benji hadn't been paying attention and Felix and Ginny were too used to ignoring Ruby to have noticed.

"Alex avoided it too. Good ghost instincts," Timmy complimented. "Wait, where is she?"

Ginny looked a little panicked. "We got separated. I'll go get her."

Hedy worriedly flicked through the camera looking for her friend. The other ghosts sensed her heart rate pick up as she noticed Alex turn a corner trying to wander back to the main room and come across Michael still lying awkwardly against a wall contemplating his life (and death) decisions.

Timmy looked over Hedy's shoulder just in time to see Alex think for a second before nailing Michael in the face with her paintball gun a dozen times. She must have decided to empty her cartridge. Then she turned around and ran right into Ginny who she hadn't noticed appear behind her while Michael started cursing

Ginny stared at Michael wide-eyed, then looked up at Alex with stars in them. "You're so cool…"

Hedy twitched a little bit as she watched from the camera. Timmy glanced at her.

On camera, Alex stammered a bit. "Uh…"

Ginny grabbed Alex's arm. "SUCK IT MICHAEL!" she flipped the bird at the man (a little shocking from someone who appeared six years old) and she and Alex disappeared from the camera.

Alex looked dizzy as she and Ginny appeared in the Main Room. She blinked, wondering why some of them were laughing at her. "What?"

Timmy just snickered as Hedy showed her the camera screen.

"Oh…" She smiled sheepishly.

Gradually, everyone drifted back to the main room, looking various stages of shell-shocked. Spring ended up carrying Ruby and looking entirely too amused about everything. She was still giggling too hard to even stand.

"This is yours," Spring said cheerfully, handing the teen over to Foxy who huffed out a laugh. It was good to see Spring so much more relaxed and comfortable about everything.

"Thanks," he looked down at Ruby. "You need to actually breathe at some point, lass," he said.

"That was so much fun," the teenager wheezed. "Again!"

"Not for a good long while," Freddy said with a shake of his head. A faint cloud of glitter poofed up from his head. "We're all going to be shedding glitter with every step for weeks." He looked up at Hedy with a grimace. "Sorry."

She was going to have to watch that without being able to actually do anything herself.

Hedy just muttered something under her breath and rolled her eyes.

---

It took a while before everyone was semi-recovered from the event and Ruby had calmed down to the occasional giggle again.

"Well that was fun!" Spring said, plopping down in a chair next to Puppet as the older bot futility attempted to clean up as much paint that was soaked into his suit as he could, muttering in fake irritation.

Honestly, Spring didn't know why Puppet made such a big deal about cleaning up. He was really the easiest to clean, just needing to remove his suit and ask someone to take it home to wash or to a laundromat. Not that Spring was really sure if Puppet had ever actually done that. There was a possibility he'd allow Hedy to do that while he locked himself in a room until she returned.

Goldy dropped gracelessly to the floor next to them. "I hate that you're as good of a shot with those paintball guns as you are," she complained to the rabbit. "You didn't even need to practice!"

"At least I'm good at something," Spring snickered, flicking paint off his fingers into her face.

She batted at his hand in irritation. He'd taken to the game like a duck to water. She both loved and hated it. He'd actually kept up with Ruby. Beginner's luck maybe…

"You're very skilled at a number of things," Puppet said idly, "You just can't remember."

Spring rolled his eyes. "Are you saying I've always been good at kicking your butt?"

"I didn't say that."

"Yes you did. You implied it."

"I did not."

"Did to."

"Did not."

Goldy rolled her eyes as Spring grinned and some of the other bots snickered.

"So… " Hedy spoke up, her tone setting a lot of them on edge. She looked at Ruby. "How exactly do you expect everyone to get cleaned up after that? Because I'm usually the one cleaning up your mess in their internals."

Ruby grinned at her, still breaking out into fits of giggles when she looked at the bots too long. "The Originals can give the others notes. They were dealing with it before you showed up."

"Ruby, I was cleaning out three-month-old paint gunk when I showed up. They can't get it all."

"Which just means we'll be perfectly fine for another three months until you're completely healed," Freddy said calmly, wiping his face with a cloth. "We'll help the Toys get restaurant-ready. And you will not worry about this. At all."

Mike couldn't help the tiny snicker at Hedy's irritated expression before she forcibly took a breath and tried to relax.

"Fine…" she said, her voice softer. If they didn't know better, they might have thought she sounded a little depressed. Or just very tired. She had very dark circles under her eyes so that was a reasonable possibility.

"I can't help but feel that we've forgotten about something…" Puppet admitted dryly, squinted as he tried his hardest to remember.

Their attention was caught when there was shouting from one of the party rooms, rapidly getting closer. Everyone looked towards the direction of the sound just in time to see a paint-drenched Andre stomp into the room, neon pink dripping from his hair.

"Ah… that's it… " Puppet said.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"

"Oh dear," Alex murmured to Goldy as Ruby collapsed into another fit of laughter.

Thankfully, Will stepped up to talk to Andre who seemed to be very much in denial still. He was ranting about pipes bursting above him and how safety standards were not being adhered to.

The building took offense to that since the vents rattled a bit and puffed out some more glitter on top of him. Will got a light coating as well but he didn't seem bothered as he talked Andre down and convinced him that he already had people on the way to fix it. Andre wasn't even questioning why it was glitter raining down and not water or something more "realistic."

"None of this made sense," Vixen whispered to Ballora, Baby and Bon Bon as the room broke out into loud conversation as they calmed down from the excitement.

"No," Baby agreed. "But it was interesting to watch."

"I want to play next time," Bon Bon pleaded.

"You'd just freak everyone out running around on your hands," Vixen deadpanned.

Hedy listened, looking a little bothered but curious as she tried to imagine it. She hadn't really seen how Bon Bon moved around on her own before. She also wasn't sure if the Funtimes realised she was still close enough to hear them.

"Maybe Will can make me a mini wheelchair like Ms. Hedy."

Hedy choked on a laugh at that and the Funtimes glanced at her apologetically. She actually wouldn't be opposed to helping with that if she could get away with it.

Bon Bon tilted her head at the mechanic. "Wheel buddies?" she asked a little sheepishly.

Hedy snorted, already thinking of possible designs. "Sure. Wheel buddies." She was not expecting Bon Bon to be so funny or outspoken.

"Not for a while though," Bon Bon said quickly. "I… uh… shouldn't leave Fred alone for a while…"

"It's okay. Not like I can help Mr. Afton build something right now anyway."

"I really am sorry," Baby said quietly, without looking directly at Hedy.

Hedy shook her head. "It was an accident."

Baby didn't say anything else, but she nodded and went back to watching the others and whispering what everyone was doing to Ballora.

Hedy's gaze followed as she tried to distract herself. How the hell was she going to survive a month of doing nothing?

---

Well that was fun.

Mangle huffed as she momentarily leaned on a wall to take her weight off her leg. It hurt but she definitely wasn't going to Hedy right now. Puppet and Will weren't options either so she would just have to put up with it for a while. Maybe she could get Ruby to look? No, the teen was stressed enough as it was. Tonight was a massive release of that stress and she didn't want to ruin Ruby's genuinely good mood. They hadn't seen her laugh like that in a while.

Mangle could deal with the pain for a month or two. She knew what was wrong, she just didn't have the flexibility to handle it herself. She'd pinched some wires in the joints for her knee and it got bent out of place when she ran into Foxy. It hadn't hurt at first. But… now…

She sighed a little. She sometimes forgot how much heavier Foxy was than her, and she didn't want him to feel guilty over this either.

She winced before steeling herself and walking normally. She had practice shoving down pain. She'd be fine.

She'd be fine.

No one had to worry about her.