Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cassie couldn't remember the last time she slept without nightmares. She couldn't sleep properly for days. The place was torn apart, but at least she was able to find some part of the broken mascot to give it less of an emotionless look.

Gregory had betrayed her... at least that's what she remembered.

There she was, laying under what little shelter was left of the Pizzaplex, next to a literal robot.

... At least she wasn't alone. The sky was grey and rain was hitting the ground with the reoccurring splashes of white noise. It was too cold, too dark; but at least she wasn't alone.

Roxy had barely curled herself up around the small girl, protecting her. The robot's face was barely distinguishable, but she did manage to find one eye and a shattered faceplate to give the wolf just a little bit more of her original recognizable look."Are you cold, Cassie?" The withered robot whirled into action with a wobbly broken voice. Cassie shivered, holding her knees and nodded slowly. "A little..." she said quietly. "Here" Roxy motioned for Cassie to lean into her torso. The girl started to feel her body warming up from laying close to Roxy's endoskeleton torso. The torso itself was radiating slightly like a heater.

She didn't even know the Glamrocks had heating mechanisms like that! She instantly felt warmer, despite the steel hard and jagged surface of the her robot friend. "Thanks Roxy" She smiled at the machine whose ears twitched back almost bashfully.

The uncomfortable shivering down her spine was already going away from how quickly Roxy could heat her body up. Cassie's head started to drop, her eyelids getting heavier by the minute. She let her head fall into whatever matted faux fur was left of Roxy's hair.

Roxy's one working eye peered over to the girl, eyelid lowering softly as she reached her skeletal claw gently around the girl, holding her still. "Rest well, Cassie" she said quietly, very briefly stroking the bridge of Cassie's nose with her cold metal claws. Despite it being hard and cold, Cassie couldn't help but smile being comforted either way.

The question of what could happen now; still lingering behind, but all they could do at that moment was sit there in silence, resting while Roxy waited for her energy to deplete. She lay back, keeping the girl close to her as she slowly started to run out of energy, somehow at peace.

Chapter Text

Montgomery always felt like an outcast in the Fazbear band. Sure, Roxy wasn't one of the original redesigns, but she was still closer to Foxy than he was closer to Bonnie terms of replacements.

Hell, a lot of folk preferred Roxy over Foxy, claiming the latter was too aggressive in his former glory days. Roxy was more of less just competitive, but she meant well enough.

Stripped of his dignity, his style, his ability, Monty was burning with rage as he crawled around the bottom of the electric water in the ruins. He had been temporarily shocked for some time, one would presume he'd been gone on from then on, but his build was made to cater for water-like structures so was widely more waterproof. However, that didn't stop him from feeling the electric effects of the mixed elements.

He felt like he wasn't even himself anymore... He could hear and see just like the others but he was filled with such primal rage and fear that it collapsed into... well, this.

He barely managed to crawl out of the water and onto one of the crates sitting inside it. Hey lay there, motionless, feeling helpless, lost and alone. The door was closed, the area was blocked off. He was trapped.

For a moment he lamented about everything. The strange urge to hunt down that child, and then the realization that he was bested by said child, bruised his ego more than he wanted to admit. Upon reflecting on the error of his ways and crippling physical damage that managed to burn down any of his freedom.

The anger, the rage, the boiling aggravation.. now the shock had overwhelmed his circuits, it fired into exhaustion and sadness.

The sentience, a feeling he wished he never felt. He just wanted to be mindless, emotionless, not feel... but he did feel.

The betrayal knowing that he was just an obstacle in his "friends" way. ...friends? what friends? None of them ever really cared about him. He knew this; they just tolerated him, he was a brute after all.

Maybe that was all he was meant to be?

Monty peered up with his one working red eye, watching the sparks of loose wires create a temporary light around him.

The light was dying down. All he could do was wait for his motivation to die and for his body to finally rest. His final thoughts being that of regret and loneliness. He had no one. He was no one.

No one would remember him. That was how it was, and he was going to accept it.

He was going to accept it...

He was all alone.

Chapter Text

Being sentient and aware was one thing. Being hypersensitive of your own thoughts and feelings and how others felt about you was another. The Glamrocks had the burden of being so aware that they often questioned their place in the world.

Though she put on a strong front, Roxanne Wolf was terrified of being judged. She would often lash out if picked on but afterwards, the servos would sting, her voice box would malfunction and she'd be spending the rest of the day in her room, sulking away the self-doubt.

it hurt. It hurt too much to hide but she knew it was the only way to get rid of these awful emotions, get out of sight and cry it out in her own time.

It was until one small slip up on stage that beat her down completely despite nothing really coming of her mistake. During a concert, Roxy had accidentally dropped her Keytar and promptly picked it up again, only gaining the attention of a few kids and adults, but otherwise was completely ignored afterwards. Roxy didn't see it this way. The thud of the instrument slipping from her claws was like the world came crashing down on top of her. Her computer brain had visualized the reactions of those around her, though they weren't even real.

In truth, the concert went on as normal as ever but to the flashing signs of deep insecurity, the annoyed 'boos' and laughter echoed the atrium. Even as far as seeing her coworkers staring back at her for more than just the few seconds they did in reality just to check if she was okay.

No, what she saw was their unblinking eyes staring right at her, disappointed.

As the band played, they could see Roxanne had froze up, claws twitching over her keytar as if she were desperate to play it but was physically unable to. They kept playing regardless, but Roxy just stared into the crowd; dead open eyes, paralyzed and her jaw closed tight with subtle trembles.

The show must go on and there was nothing she could do but wait till the song was over. Then everyone but herself in the band cheered out to the crowd, distracting the children from the malfunctioning wolf who was still dread frozen, hidden behind the rest of the band.

Her jaw then hung slightly open and her eyes could see not only the crowd cheering, but the movement through the walls. All the noises, all the movement, all the light, she was beginning to overheat.

The after-show was surprising for all the band. No one saw Roxy around with the last remaining kids, despite asking for her. Vanessa had to constantly make the bold lie about Roxy "Not feeling well and is getting a robot doctor" to the kids when in reality, she had no clue where the wolf had gone. Normally the rest of the band would see her proudly bragging about her performance being "The best" and showing off her Keytar for all the kids and adults alike... so this was unusual to say the least.

When the plex finally closed, Vanessa was able to drop her friendly facade and grumble around, tiredly getting into the rest of her miserable night. But one thing bugged her. Roxy was nowhere to be seen. She'd checked her green room, asked Freddy and Monty to check Roxy Raceway and Chica even checked the constructed areas of the raceway, running to other staff bots to ask them about her.

There were no crying sounds coming from her voice box just yet, just the ever slight tweaking blips from the movement of her joints. She was curled up in a ball under a spare desk, somewhere in what was a waiting lobby under construction, but barely even finished and right under the raceway... somewhere they wouldn't look for her; and if she stayed quiet enough, she'd not be heard either. She could tell they were looking for her, her eyes glancing at the frantic shapes through the walls. They didn't go down to the bottom of the raceway. That was a good thing. She was glad. She was a loser.

Nobody likes a loser.

Like a stray dog left out in the cold, she lay on her side, curled up into a fetal position, closing her eyelids, waiting for her battery to die so she wouldn't have to feel the shame anymore. She wouldn't have to feel anything anymore.

How they would laugh at her for reaction like this over such a smile slip up... it hurt even more. Thinking about this caused her voice box to let out a whine of sorrow. It was fairly quiet but the area's acoustics were open enough for it to echo.

Her screen displayed a warning: BATTERY LOW-ENTERING POWER SAVING MODE

She didn't care. Being dead was better than being ashamed to her. Being told off for running off, not doing her job right, not interacting with guests, not even turning herself in for the night.

She was a disgrace.

The fetal position wasn't enough to express how small she really felt. She curled as far in as as her joints could possibly take it and hid her face behind her arms and legs, going full egg-shaped, with her tail wrapped around her body like a warm hug.

But everything was cold.

The feeling that never ends.

Before she even fell back down, finally being able to shut off completely; yet for a moment all the memories flashed upon what was left functioning of her motherboard.

The shaky dying voice box echoed one last sigh before powering down.

"You'll never be good enough" She croaked out before finally going limp.

Chapter Text

Glamrock Chica wasn't the most hygienic of the band, she knew this all too well.

The dread that piled into her circuits when the disgruntled technicians came to the plex to perform their monthly parts and service... the shame and hopelessness of being looked down on for the things she did all with her own free will.

Her own... she did this on her own. That's what made it more painful because it felt almost like it was something she had to do, not just want to do.

Monthly parts and service maintenance was always a chore for the bots to try and not make a fuss. Monty had once tore apart one of the former technicians' wrenches, keyword being former as the poor man was scared to death and quit the next day.

Monty was almost boastful about this, until he got no applause for action out like this; shielding his embarrassment with anger.

Chica was different than that, she didn't really have much of a wall to put up to hide her vulnerabilities and turned to pizza and garbage as coping mechanisms... which was the issue in the first place.

The more nervous she became, the more antsy and glutinous she became, even though she didn't have the urge to eat; it was as if the idea of it was enough to sooth her nerves, or... whatever that feeling was.

She did everything in her power to avoid being checked up like the others.

When it was her turn, that wave of dread washed against her again. Even worse was that the others were finished with their maintenance and were waiting for her... they would be there as she was getting gunk cleaned out of her system- Nope! not on her watch!

She had sped walked off somewhere in the garbage and was moaning with satisfaction as she gobbled down old wrappers and paper cups, as if they were meals at a five star restaurant. She was even messier than before and her compacted "Stomach hatch" as Freddy had called it was crammed with garbage, some of it falling out of her limbs and even sticking out of her stomach hatch at the same time. Though it wasn't a very big container, it was there for things like her workout equipment, which she had always neglected due to mazercise not ever being very popular enough to open to the public for long hours.That was always rather disappointing for her, but she was also kind of glad she could use her stomach hatch as an actual stomach instead of a storage area.

One man's trash was a chicken's treasure. She collected old trinkets from closed areas, old establishments and good memories of her time in the Pizzaplex.

Those were special, but they ached. Especially the Bonnie Bowl stickers... Those always hurt her just as they did with everyone else.

No maintenance for her! Nope! She would rather die curled up in garbage than go through the misery and guilt again.

Or so she thought. Vanessa was... one could say furious, but that wasn't enough to describe the state of the rage the overworked woman was in. It was utterly terrifying. Chica gave in when she was yelled at for the second time by the angry night watch. She dread going down to parts and service even more.

The cylindrical room in the very center of the parts and service area stood before her as she hastily took a step towards the room with a sad sigh. Even worse was that the others were there waiting for their maintenance, but Vanessa had said Chica's was more urgent which was definitely embarrassing for the hen. She brought this onto herself and how she was gonna pay for it.

Vanessa glared at her, crossing her arms, certain the stress and anger she felt would cause an aneurysm.

Chica stared up at the dangling claws of the machine as she entered the room. She let out a distressed whine and cupped her hands together like a kid going to the dentists' office for the first time in years.

Slowly, she lay on the maintenance chair, doing as she was told, despite the fear turning her gears in small but abrupt clicks. Vanessa sighed and accessed the computer, the others absentmindedly talking amongst each other, before their attention was caught by the protective cylinder activating the robotic voice out onto the speakers. Chica was inside, eyelids squinted, avoiding everyone's gaze.

The sound of the machine whirled into action and immediately Chica felt the middle of her endo freeze up with an alerting presence. The sound of rattling metal and plastic echoed in the closed seal. Her limbs were shaking involuntarily.

She couldn't even control the robot whimpers coming from her voice box as her bottom beak trembled.

Vanessa looked at the screen and then at Chica, then back at the screen again until she had to do a double take at Chica again. The woman looked more... surprised if not a little softer than before.

If she were to be honest, Vanessa could scarily relate to a lot to the robot chicken. This looked way too human... it gave her a heavy feeling in her chest, almost like she was looking into a mirror in some way.

"Just get it over and done with already, I can't stand to see you mad at me!" Chica spoke aloud in the partial silence, her head turned to face Vanessa, still trembling.

"Hang on..." The guard replied and pressed a button on the computer which made the voice out loud speak up again with a "Please stand by while the machine is in waiting mode"

Chica stopped and looked up, confused. "What are you doing? Don't I need maintenance?" Vanessa sighed and her eyes tiredly, looking at Chica with a soft gaze."If it's too stressful right now, we can do it later and maybe when you calm down, alright?" She proposed. Chica paused for a moment, looking surprised. "Oh... okay"

Phew... at least maybe she wouldn't have to worry about the others watching next time. Maybe she'd get a chance to get herself prepared for it.

Chapter Text

After everything she went through, Vanessa thought that everything would be better for everyone. That for the most part was true, but she still found it hard to be vulnerable around the Glamrock Band and Gregory, especially when something happened that otherwise was perfectly normal most people.

Those premenstrual cramps started to build like a glaring warning of the hell that was going to be the next five days. She need not tell Gregory or the others, this wasn't relevant and frankly, trying to explain this to musical robots would be like trying to explain rocket science to a toddler. Not to mention how embarrassing it was to talk about those who didn't really understand it well enough.

The cherry on top of the dreaded cake was that she was one of the unlucky ones. As far back as she can remember, she always had the worst menstrual experience, so much so she once had to go to the emergency room at fourteen years old.

The memory made her shudder, but now she assumed that she was strong enough to withstand the pain that was to come. In someway she kind of hoped it came faster so her emotions didn't feel so up and down before all hell broke loose. The hormones prior were some of the worst and she'd often been snapping out of the blue over small things.

Even the others could tell something was up, but she did her absolute best to hide it as much as she could. The crippling trauma and anxiety from everything that happened didn't help ease the hormonal fluctuations and cramping at all, at one point she felt like curling up into a ball and crying.

She had to keep it from getting out of hand.

As night fell, the start of her shift begun and things seemed fine for a while, just a few aches her and there but nothing she couldn't handle. She walked around, humming with boredom as she traversed the large arcade and was surprised to spot Freddy and Gregory over at one of the machines, Freddy cheering for the boy as he concentrated on driving the virtual Roxy-themed race car down the track. "Go, go, go, Superstar!" Gregory groaned as the pixelated car fell off the virtual track. Freddy let out a sad "Aw" A screen displayed the words 'Game Over' with a series of high scores and the first place winner belonging to a user named "NESSIE97"

Vanessa smirked when Gregory looked away from the machine only noticing her standing there and then back at her with wide eyes. "What? You're the world record holder of Faz-racers 3?" He gasped with amazement. "Yep, still trying to beat my last record" She replied with a nonchalant sigh. "Holy crap, I didn't know I was in the presence of a legend!" Gregory spoke with such whimsical surprise as if he were speaking to some kind of goddess.

Vanessa snorted with laughter over his dramatic reaction. "Come on, little man, it's just a dumb game, it's not like I cured cancer" "Yeah but... you're still a pro!" The boy retorted back. Vanessa rolled her eyes with amusement. "Okay I'll take that as a compliment then". Freddy "smiled" or at least turned his bottom jaw diagonally to imitate as smile. "Good evening, Vanessa, how is everything?" He greeted her kindly. "Pretty ordinary as usual." She shrugged.
But before she could continue, a pain shot through her pelvis like a hot iron rod mixing her insides and she let out a strained grunt, flinching.

Freddy noticed this and his jaw closed; Eyes dropping with worry. "Are you alright?" He asked. The blonde's eyes went wide for a minute as she realized how obvious it was. "Oh, uh yeah I just.. just got a muscle cramp, that's all." She waved him off, forcing a calm expression.

Freddy nodded, making her quietly sigh with relief that she didn't need to worry about anyone finding out.

The wave of pain left but not before giving her a rhythmic aching that was akin to someone squeezing her uterus like a stress ball. She could feel her blood boiling from rising irritation. "I'm gonna let you two carry on and go check up on the others." She excused herself, trying to keep the strain out of her voice.

"Mkay, see ya" Gregory waved her off, paying more attention to the game. Freddy waved goodbye and turned back to Gregory.

When she was sure all eyes were off her, she hunched over, holding her hands on her waist, trying to massage the pulsating cramps.

Every step helped the pain subside for a moment before it came back with wave after wave. A searing squeeze that like she swallowed a grenade, erupted from her insides as she doubled over with clenched teeth and a subtle yet seething "Fuck!" escaping her lips.

Now she could feel the rage and anxiety getting worse and wrapping around her brain like a hurricane. Why did it have to be like this? Why couldn't she just have one of the less painful ones?

The anger only seemed to get worse, especially when she almost walked into a bin and had to fight herself not to kick it over for being in her way.

She stiffly made her way to Gator Golf, checking up on Monty which she was going to regret in a moment.

Another wave shot through as soon as she reached the entrance. "Dammit!" She seethed. Too pent up with angry hormones, she hadn't noticed the stray golf club laying on the floor, and before she could think about it; the eruption of fury rose to her chest as she angrily picked up the golf club and threw it as hard as she could, stomping her feet on the ground with loud swears. "Fucking stupid piece of shit!" She yelled. Hands flew to her mouth as she helplessly watched the object crash into the wall, causing an echoed thud. "Shit."

Another wave hit, even worse than before. Her eyes started to feel watery like she was on the verge of breaking into sobs at any moment. She inhaled a shaky breath, clenching her throat to fight any of the sobs trying to escape.

"Relax, you've been through worse" She told herself out loud, making some of the nearby security bots look for a moment before she saw their watchful eyes, feeling self conscious. "What?!" She snapped at them and soon they turned away with a flash of movement. "That's what I thought" she scoffed and continued to walk across the staff-only pathway through Monty Golf.

She let out a tired sigh as she saw the gruff gator playing golf and exclaiming loudly how good he was at it every two seconds, making a lot of ruckus with the gold ball's impact on other objects. He was certainly a violent golf player when there were no kids around. 

"Evenin' Officer" he gave her a lazy wave, as he turned back to the course and continued. "Montgomery" Vanessa began, hands on her hips.

"What?" He asked impatiently. "You better not be wrecking any of the property again with violent swings." She warned, tapping her foot. Monty scoffed with a wave of his wrist. "Yeah, yeah I gotcha"

"I mean it." She said in a more stern tone. "Okay, geesh, don't get yer pants in a twist" he brushed her off yet again. Normally she could tolerate his apathetic and immature attitude, but tonight she as just fighting to keep herself from chewing off the gator.

"Listen, if we have to call in repairs for the gold course again, I won't be happy, and neither will management." She warned him, voice becoming a little more aggressive. 

"Okay I get it, I ain't gonna mess a thing up, just chill out already, yikes" he scoffed again, turning to her this time, arms crossed as he barely reacted to her warning.

'I'm not in the mood for your shit tonight, Montgomery' Is what she wanted to say. She could feel her eye twitch, teeth gritted with the anticipation for a raging storm. "Are you taking this seriously at all? Don't lie to me!" Monty looked down at her expression, lifting his glasses off his red glowing eyes, though he looked almost bored. "We just clarified that already, geez you're in a crappy mood huh?" he joked, not quite gathering the grip of how serious she was about his attitude. "EXCUSE ME?!"  Now she was fuming, veins poking out of her forehead, her voice so loud and scathing, the volume could be heard even outside the attraction.

Monty still did not read the room. Even the staff bots nearby looked timid for a moment before slowly rolling away from the area, anticipating a full out scrap.

"Whoa calm down, I'm just having a joke... come on!" He said in defense. That was the final straw. She didn't care anymore.

"YOU CALL THAT A FUCKING JOKE? HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOU OF ALL THE BAND SHOULD BE GRATEFUL THAT I LET YOUR ASS EVEN GO OUT HERE AFTER YOUR STUPID FRAGILE VIOLENT OUTBURSTS!"

She was screaming now, face red with rage, teeth bared like a wild animal and poked her finger right against his chest.

Monty was taken back, fists clenched with anger, but he knew couldn't fight her. It would only mean he'd be in even more trouble. After all the progress he had made to curb his violent reactions and now she was bringing it all back again.

"You of all people wanna talk about violent outbursts?" Monty scoffed with a sarcastic laugh, hiding his claws in his wrists. "What is your problem, woman?-" Vanessa's vision flashed red before striking the gator square in his chest with all the strength she could muster, surprisingly, Monty yelled out losing balance and toppling into a gold course, causing an open mouth statue of a gator to shatter under his weight. Luckily his body was fine, the statue however, was not.

"You're my fucking problem!" She screamed. Huffing like an enraged animal, the guard managed to calm down before she regained her senses noticing what she just did. Monty barely looked at her with a grunt of hurt, glasses covering his eyes which were wide with shock.

"I am tryin' really hard, I really am..." He said in a quieter voice than before, speech wobbled slightly as he grunted, shaking away the sorrow.

She squeezed her eyes shut with regret. "I'm sorry, Monty, I know, I didn't mean to- I was just-" She stammered. Monty looked at her for a second as she blabbered an anxious apology, not being able to find her words. "It doesn't matter anyway" He sighed. The gator brushed a few bits of wooden slivers off his body and turned to walk away without another word.

She could only stand there helplessly, hearing nothing but the background music and swamp ambience. "God... I thought things were getting better.. but they're..." She could feel her throat closing in, a few tears freely rolled down her cheeks and she leaned on a nearby wall, trying to get rid of any lingering emotional outbursts and pull herself together.

She knew that inevitably she would need to confront Monty again.

As if things couldn't get any worse, another sharp wave hit her, this time causing her to almost fall over, suddenly lightheaded. She realized perhaps it was time to go to one of the first aid stations, get some painkillers and then suck up the rest of the night.

Then there was a physical unpleasant feeling that made her skin crawl and her heart pause for a moment. Something definitely soaked through her- "Oh shit- seriously?" She rushed out of the golf attraction and to the nearest restroom.

Pain and embarrassment flooded her face as she grimaced at the flood of red soaking through her uniform. "Shit.. shit! shit!" She could only hold her hands on her face, grieving over the stained jeans that had looked as if Vanny had using them to clean up after her... "hobbies". There was no way in hell she'd be able to go out with the same pants on... they were ruined for good. All hope seemed lost for a moment until she remembered with relief she had a spare uniform locked up in her security locker "Thank god..." She thought with relief.

But then another obstacle lay in the way. She was alone and the only human physically mature enough to understand this particular predicament. Chica and Roxy would have no experience with this particular problem, they didn't have organic aspect to deal with this particular problem and Gregory was just a boy who most likely didn't have the guardians to teach him about the anything outside of his own survival instincts and basic English. Hell, she didn't even know if he had ever gone to school. 

What could she do? She still had a Fazwatch on her, attached to her wrist (Insisted by Freddy no doubt). But then... how would calling for someone's assistance in the middle of the toilet stalls not look suspicious? Maybe a staff bot would be able to help? No... there was no way to contact them outside of direct communication.

She groaned, her voice echoing the bathroom stalls as she contemplated baring the embarrassment and just using the watch to contact Freddy for assistance. 

The robot family were hanging out with DJ music man, who had put on a rave. It wasn't too loud not to hear any of the others talking but Gregory was getting if not a little overwhelmed. He was also starting to nod off. It was getting late for the boy and Freddy could tell, when he looked down at the kid rubbing his eyes.

"We should get you to bed soon" Gregory looked up with squinted eyes. "Wha...? No I'm fine..." he yawned. Just then Freddy's Fazwatch bleeped. "Oh it is Vanessa!" He said with realization. "Nessa? Where is she anyway?" Gregory asked tiredly.

"Uh... hey Freddy..." She sat there still in the bathroom stalls, trying to remain as if she weren't in a very awkward situation at the moment. "Uh... listen I need a favor ASAP.."

"Yes of course, what can I do for you?" Freddy responded. She bit her lip trying to think of the right words. "Can you go to my staff locker and bring out a spare uniform for me? And while you're there... could you possibly get me a trash bag or something to carry garbage in?" She asked more timid than usual. "I can do that, but I must ask-" Vanessa held her breath with regret "Here we go..." "What exactly do you need the trash bag for?"

"That doesn't matter!" She said a little more aggressive than she meant to. Freddy was taken back for a moment, blinking at the fazwatch before nodding politely as she could even see him.

"My apologies, I will be there right away" He replied before taking off from the area to locate her fazwatch's proximity. Gregory got up and followed him. "Hey Freddy, what's going on? Why did Ness contact you through the fazwatch?"Freddy turned around, looking down at the boy. "I do not think she wants me to tell you. It is probably a confidential matter." He tried to explain to the child, but that only seemed to make him more curious. "Well, now I wanna know even more!" Gregory huffed, trying his best to keep up with the bear.

Boredom was not a strong enough word to describe Vanessa's feelings right now. She sat there, half naked, tapping her foot, waiting for a sound of robotic footsteps to come by. "Officer Vanessa, are you in the same location?" The fazwatch pinged about thirty minutes in. "Yes. hurry up!" she demanded, temper rising.

"We are on our way!" 'We...?' Froze. "Wait... who else is coming?" Her voice was quiet. "Hey Ness, where are you? You've been away for hours!" Gregory's raspy yet playful voice spoke curiously into the watch. She had to resist the urge to groan. "Hey Greg..." she didn't mean to come off irritable, but this was not something she wanted to have to deal with right now. "Wait... are you in the bathroom?" The boy snickered. Vanessa went red. "Gregory! This is no laughing matter!" Freddy scolded the boy which could be heard through the watch making the poor woman bury her red face into her hands. 

Finally, Freddy's arms slid plastic covered well folded spare uniform under the door, along with the airy trash bag. "Thanks" she said quickly, barely audible. "You guys just wait outside, I'll be there in a moment." "Mkay, but don't take too long" Gregory sighed, bored.

Purchasing stupidly expensive pads in the bathroom was the least of her worries. The place was a massive capitalist playground so it was a no-brainier the bathroom was in the same profiting scheme.

She had eventually managed to clean up the mess and place the stained uniform in the trash bag. She walked out of the stall now wearing the fresh clean one, sighing with relief as she adjusted her hat again and took in a deep breath to prepare for the load of questions coming her way. This time she had to put on several extra layers just in case. Had she not underestimated how heavy it was going to be, she would've prepared better 'Stupid, stupid stupid' she scolded herself.

"Thanks. You guys can go back if you want... I gotta get some more errands done for tonight." She turned away dismissively from the duo that she could tell from the corner of her vision were eyeing her. "Why were you in there for so long, did you get stuck in a stall?" Gregory asked with a partial smile. She refused to turn to the boy, cheeks already radiating pink. She grimaced, sucking in a breath calm her temper. "Sorry kid, I don't have time to answer all your queries, I got a job to do"

"What's in the bag?" Gregory pointed to the trash bag. She merely ignored him, walking away with a tired sigh. "None of your business" she answered, still walking away. "Wait a moment" Freddy began. 'Oh great, now what?' Vanessa held in a furious huff and turned to face Freddy who looked gently worried at her. "I am sensing that you may need to rest" He said lightly. "I'm fine."

Freddy shook his head dismissively. "No. I feel that you are unwell." 'Oh great, just great... don't say anything stupid' Her mouth didn't comply. "Oh yeah? Well I feel you're being a nosy bastard, now leave me alone!"She turned away, avoiding the shocked gazes towards her. How she wanted to curl up into a blanket and cry. Freddy was too persistent it seemed and walked up to her who stopped mid walk to hold back tears. "Your hormones are fluctuating aggressively and it appears your body is experiencing a multitude of changes" Freddy explains both thoroughly and loudly.

Vanessa can do nothing but stare at the ceiling, sighing in disbelief. "Yes that's what happens when you have a human body!" She tried to excuse, getting more and more emotional. "Incorrect" Freddy stops her, Gregory walking up to him with confusion. "There is something unusual about the current emoti-" 'Please for the love of god spare me the awkwardness to explain this..." She thought, tapping her foot impatiently. "Don't... finish that." She cut him off sharply, seething through another horrid pain, this time not soaking. 'Damn cheap ass tampons, never buying that brand again' She thought bitterly. As the aching began so did the dizziness in her head and the need to throw up from the fluctuations.

"Ugh, I'm gonna be sick" She uttered weakly, slowly kneeling down to catch her balance. "Oh no, do we need to call for medical assistance?" She froze realizing she said this out loud. "No- it's fine I just- JESUS CHRIST!" An agony of a wave caused her to screech and curl up to the floor, like her hormones were having a full out war.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Gregory rushed over to her, worry now covering his features. "I just want it to go away..." She sighed helplessly with a soft whine. "Hate this stupid... thing"

"What stupid thing?... the monster?" Gregory asked hesitantly. With that she scoffed loudly. "No you idiot!" She says this more harshly than intended, wincing with regret when Gregory flinches, hurt. Freddy looks down at him, worried. "I'm sorry- I wasn't thinking it's just a..." she babbles trying to keep her temper at bay. "Personal thing..." Gregory raises an eyebrow, curious. Freddy looks back at her "Is there anything I can help with?" He asks.

She can't help but chuckle at his comment. "Well, you could get me some chocolate and maybe a hot water bottle."

"Why those particular items?" Freddy asks, curious. Vanessa finally gives in, sighing while lowering her head with regret. "Okay... this is really hard to explain but I'm just gonna try and explain it the best I can." She takes a deep breath and prepares to bite the bullet.

"So... when people hit puberty-" upon saying this, Gregory's eyes widen and he turns as red as a tomato. "Oh no ew, I already know about the birds and bees!" He gasps. Vanessa almost chokes on air as she clears her throat, awkwardly, face almost as red as the boy's. "What? no no no it's not that- I- oh god no no.. i-it's more to do with...girl... stuff..." She wished she could crawl into a hole and die. Gregory looked around, shifting uncomfortably.

"Basically when a girl becomes a woman she um.." She swallows, fighting the urge to flee from shame. She gesticulates awkwardly, looking almost sun burnt. "Her um.. well it's complicated but what happens is the body is trying to tell her that she's... ready to have a baby..." Her vague and awkward explanation leaves Gregory still thinking about the other topic in disgust and he covers his ears, humming loudly. "Not like that! Not the bird and bees I swear!" She tries to explain. Reluctantly, Gregory uncovers his ears, grimacing while he listens. 

"But the thing is, the body is getting itself ready by..." as she regrettably explains the anatomy on details and soon after finishing, practically out of breath, she's startled by Freddy's shocked reaction.

"You bleed profusely from your private regions? Oh you poor thing! I am truly sorry!" He expresses deep remorse. Gregory is shutting his eyes in disgust, humming loudly again, holding his ears again. "Ew ew ew!"

Vanessa can only hide her face in her hands, utterly mortified, wanting to bury herself under the raceway sinkhole."Yeah.. but with a lot more pain and emotions..." she says in defeat, looking away from the two, especially the horrified Gregory who just looks like he saw someone sick on the sidewalk. "I knew this was gonna be the absolute worse... it always it... I just so happen to be one of the worst cases too" She laments, about ready to collapse. "Wait..." Gregory pauses, listening again. "This happens... every month?"

Vanessa turns to him, stunned that he was even listening anymore. "Yes. randomly too, but there is usually some warning... usually..."

"Wow, glad I'm not a girl!" He said. "Gee Greg, that makes me feel so much better..." She deadpans at him. The boy simply shrugs. "Is there anything we can do to make your natural monthly predicament more pleasant?" Freddy leans down, asking this, his voice soothingly soft, almost parental. 'No wonder Gregory sees him as a sort of guardian/father figure' She thought, slightly comforted. "Just keep away from me more often when this happens, it often makes me very... not nice to be around.. I mean even more than I usually am" She said this more jokingly.

"You said you get like cravings as well and then sometimes throw up?" Gregory asked with a suspicious squint. Catching on, Vanessa flailed panicky, face deep red again. "Oh good god, Gregory, I'm not pregnant!"

"Oh gross, I wasn't gonna say that!" He stiffened, making fake gagging noises. She groaned rubbing her temples for maybe the third time that night. "Can we just.. drop the topic now?" Vanessa said quickly, trying to recompose her stoic demeanor. "Yeah" Gregory grimaced with agreement. 

Absolutely flustered and exhausted she cleared her throat, forcing a smile. "A-anyway, I'm just gonna... take care of this now so... you two um" Gregory nodded vigorously, making gross-out noises with his mouth. "So uh... goodnight you two-" She tried to make a quick get away before she died of embarrassment but was suddenly stopped by Freddy.

"When you return, I will organize to arrange a special delivery for your needs" he said kindly, bottom eyelids raised. "Thanks, big guy" She replied with a grateful yet weak smile before leaving.

Chapter Text

Months after her recovery, Vanessa Shelly (former Afton) had put herself back to work at the police station, even though her boss had insisted she'd be better off recovering for a few extra days; he even suggested a week at one point.

But she was too stubborn for her own good. That was the one trait she couldn't break from William.

As she sat silently in her office, typing on the keyboard to look at early police records, she came across something that made her skin crawl.

Her father's disappearance.

She shut her eyes tightly, feeling the phantom wound on her stomach, flinching as if it were still there and hadn't been stitched up. She had to rush to the work restrooms before she was able to burst into tears by the sink.

She thought that this would be all over once he was dead... but there was a part of her that almost missed him. He was her father after all... even though he treated her horribly.

"He really messed you up, didn't he?"

Mike's words echoed inside her brain as she shakily fixed her pony tail, trying to rid the thoughts of everything that happened, especially with Mike.

Mike. She vaguely remembered him talking to her at her bedside table as she was recovering, his voice soft and warm like an old friend. She never really had friends. The other officers always thought she was "nice but a little strange" could never quite make conversation with them, except maybe to get their afternoon coffee.

She gathered herself, wiped her eyes clean of tears, applying whatever makeup she could to conceal her emotional scars and walked out of the restrooms, confident and friendly as usual. 

When she returned to her desk, another thought crossed her mind... or rather, a dream. It was a really odd dream too, almost... alive?

She could feel her eyes starting to drop at her desk, wondering if she even had enough sleep last night. Maybe her boss was right, maybe she did need some more time off.

Sighing in defeat, Vanessa packed up her things and left the station, waving bye to her coworkers as they seemed almost thankful she was getting some time off.

As she drove back to her house, she could only think about the dream and the strange vividness of it. Perhaps it was just the aftereffects of being in a coma after almost being brutally murdered, but it felt too real to just be a dream.

Maybe is was like Mike's dreams, something the animatronics had something to do with? It wouldn't be a good idea to risk it with them though.

The road seemed to be a bit emptier than usual... as if it suddenly became a ghost town. As she pulled up to the traffic lights, something caught her eye.

It was a silhouette of a person standing a few meters away, shaded by the grocery store roof but they looked almost animal-like and had faint bright red light eyes peering from the darkness. They looked like... a rabbit?

Suddenly a beep blast through her ears, shocking her awake to the person behind raging at her to hurry through the green lights. "Sorry!" She shouted from the window to the angry driver and then forced her eyes open to concentrate on the road.

Pulling up into the house driveway felt eerie and cold. The serene sounds of the woodlands in the background and the quiet absence of company. Something about him not being around anymore made it feel more unsettling, but she had no other choice, except maybe sell the house.

She got inside and sat straight of the couch, staring at the clock on the wall and listening to the consistent eerie rhythms of time.

She looked over at the rotary phone on the coffee table, fighting the urge to use it. Her hand hovered over it for a moment and then back at her lap.

'Tick-tock, tick-tock'

Time slowly passed and Vanessa sat there, feeling her heart beat and twiddling her thumbs as her head swam with thought after thought. After another ten minutes she started to lay down on the sofa, the heaviness of her head finally weighing her down. Though she was still in her uniform, it was too hard to get up and change right now. Her eyes began to feel like concrete and she fell into a more relaxed position, finally giving into sleep.

She was suddenly in a dark room with a mirror. Vanessa stared confused at the figure that looked almost exactly like herself, though she looked strangely different. The mirrored version of her had emerald eyes, was wearing a security guard uniform, a black cap and looked like she was ready to pass out.

"Who are you?" The twin in the mirror asked, gruffly. "I'm Vanessa" she answered, smiling politely, yet confused.

"You're me?" The security guard asked, confused. Vanessa's eyebrows furrowed. "Uh.. yes?" she shrugged.

The green eyed twin squinted her eyes at the police officer, suspicious and yet very puzzled.

"What is this?" she asked "Who are you?"

"Officer Vanessa Shelly, and you?" Vanessa answered. The guard blinked with confusion and scoffed. "Is this a joke? I'm Vanessa and not Shelly, where'd you even get that name from?"

The officer turned her head to the doppelganger, hands on her hips, offended. "Can you explain to me what the purpose of this is and why you're imitating me?"

The other Vanessa scoffed with a sarcastic stare. "Why should I do that? You're not affiliated with the Pizzaplex or Freddy Fazbear's. Go pretend to be someone else."

Now the policewoman was really confused. She felt like she was going insane for a minute. "The hell's a Pizzaplex?" she laughed.

"Some other weird thing Afton made up to torment me?" She said with disgust. Security Guard Vanessa went silent for moment before looking at the cop as if she had seen a ghost. "Afton...?"

"Yes, William Afton, Child Murderer, yellow rabbit, spring Bonnie suit?" She explained like it was obvious.

"Yellow rabbit..." the guard froze, her eyes widened with fear. The policewoman looked at her, frowning with a nod. The small spec of absurdity gone for a moment, replaced with fear.

"He's gone now, they look him away" She tried to explain to reassure the anxious guard.

"They...?"

"Yeah the animatronics, Mike told me everything"

"Mike... I don't know a Mike. wait.." The guard gasped, looking to her side both ways before coming into a whisper. "You can't be talking about... Afton's son"

Vanessa Shelly stepped back a few paces, stomach twisting with confusion, "W-what?" she let out a bewildered chuckle.

"Afton didn't have a son... I should know" she replied. "What?" Both of them were horribly confused and afraid, each other both not making any sense to one another.

Either one of them thought they were insane at this point.

The officer felt a shiver run down her spine as a horrible memory resurfaces, kids screaming, blood everywhere. "He was there with me..." she murmured almost possessed. "What? no no no no that's wrong, he died years ago, he's been gone forever, Micheal Afton was his son who also died.. what the hell are you talking about? are you deranged?" The guard started to get angry at her.

"Me? deranged?!" The officer replied, starting to lose her own temper. "That's pretty freaking rich" she scoffed. "Coming from the delusional version of me." She laughed, finally giving into the convoluted madness of the dream.

As if she was in some sort of agreement with the cop version of herself, the guard nodded in defeat. "Vanny was deranged." she said quietly.

"Vanny?" Officer Shelly questioned. Why did this make her feel lightheaded? who the hell was 'Vanny'?

The guard slowly raised her blank expression and stepped forward to reveal a very strange picture of a yellow rabbit though it was more stylized than the original Spring Bonnie. Even in this "friendlier" looking form, it make shiver run down Shelly's spine. "What-what is this...?"

"Mimic, mimicking Afton, mimicking everything." The guard's voice sounded like she was in some kind of trance.
"Who are we?"

Both of them stared at each other, waiting for something. They didn't know what.

"Where did you come from? Who are you?" The guard asked, her voice wobbling. The policewoman stood still and felt the air around her chill. "I'm Vanessa, I was Afton's daughter" She said.

The other Vanessa paled with fright and swallowed. "That's... that's a joke, right?" the guard laughed nervously, her limbs barely being able to hold her up anymore. The officer shook her head silently. "I'm Vanessa..." the guard began, holding in a breath. "I was... basically Afton's slave... remember? Vanny? the white rabbit?" She was trying and struggling to hold back tears.

"We killed for him."

The officer felt like she was about to fall over any moment, memories of desperately trying to keep people away from him circling in her head... but even in this dream, she was still being taunted by him in some way. They both were. "How many did y- did we kill?" She asked the guard who was trying not to throw up.

"It started at nine..." Officer's Shelly knelt down in tears. "Oh god..." Everything came flooding back to both of them, both their alternate times, both their situations just bad as each other. All they could do was stare. Stare and cry.

"We are fated to be broken like this forever huh?" The cop broke out in teary laughter. The green eyed girl sighed with a helpless chuckle. Both completely distraught.

"You're not just in my head are you?" They both said in unison.

And then in unison, shook their heads silently.

"We're the only ones who would ever understand us, huh?" The guard smiled helplessly. The cop nodded with an equally defeated smile.

"Maybe if we meet like this again, we can... figure something out" Shelly replied with a weak shrug.

Vanessa Shelly woke up so suddenly she was shaking in a cold sweat. Now she had no impulse control and reached for the phone. "Hey... Mike? This is your number right?" Her voice came off a little wobbly, but she tried to recompose herself the best she could.

"Hey, Vanessa, nice to hear your voice!" Mike's voice came in a friendly relieved tone. 'Mike is William's son to the other me-'

She almost lost her words before shakily continuing with the phone call. "Is it... okay if I come over to yours? It's pretty lonely here" She laughed nervously, feeling like a fool for asking.

"Of course it's okay, you're always welcome here!" He said, hiding what could be described as giddy joy.

"Thank you. I'll see you soon then" She smiled before hanging up, feeling just a little bit of hope for happiness.

Vanessa's body launched back into her chair from her desk. She had fallen asleep at the office desk again it seemed. She could hear her heart pounding, the blood rushing to her ears. It was only a nightmare... none of it was real... but the other 'her' looked so real, almost too vivid to be fake.

She could almost hear the other Vanessa's voice barking at her. Vanessa scoffed and rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her coffee mug. She grimaced at the cheap taste and sighed, getting up from the desk, ready to start the patrol again. Though she couldn't stop thinking about the doppelganger... The way she spoke.. her issues seemed to familiar and yet, almost comforting. She said that this dream her was the only person that would ever understand the limits. Maybe she'd have that dream again.

Until then, she needed to see the band and Gregory, just being with them might help ease that eerie feeling and make her night just even a bit better.

Chapter Text

This was too perfect! Too flawless! She'd taken out Freddy and how she was finally about to take out that child too. In a flash, Gregory slammed his hand into the control panel she had previously used to- "No, stop!" "Disassemble Vanny!" The boy cried with pained spite, tearfully and angrily staring right at the rabbit in his view. The staff bots that had been previously ordered to take apart Freddy were now staring red-eyed at her.

"No! No! No! No!" Vanny pleaded, terrified as the robots closed in on her.

Her heart plummeted into her stomach, her mind ethereal and blank. A surge of panic washed over her nerves and her spine tensed with the freezing shiver of dread.

"No NO NO!" Her survival instincts kicked in and she tried so desperately to get away from the rapidly approaching robots, but one by one they crowded around and grabbed at her body, and in a split second-

A harrowing scream echoed the walls, her failing body in primal panic. Her arms were locked around the claws of the staff bots.

A blood curdling wail that burned her lungs accompanied by fiery pain pulling at her arms and legs, and the sound of of splintering bone and squelching flesh.

Every inch of her burned like a heat directly from the sun.

All she could do was scream, scream at the top her lungs, the most animal-like screech she could muster completely without intention. She writhed in agony, screaming for help.

Gregory's eyes had seen the bunny's body beginning to be torn apart before he fled the scene before he could be painted with her insides.

As the bots tore into her body, the cold and sharp numbness overcame her body. "PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!"

Her lungs had exploded in a beg met with no mercy.

The bones on her arms finally tore out of their sockets as she wailed, a gush of blood spurting out from the reddened stumps.

The room had been painted red as she watched in helpless horror one of the staff bots coiling out something long and rope-like from her pelvis like threads of fleshy yarn. Horrified whimpers escaped her lips as she realized the bots had her intestines in their claws, they had gotten right to her innards.

"PLEASE- KILL ME!"

She bawled, begging for her body to let go, but it was still trying to keep her alive.

She wailed again, esophagus gagged on blood, sputtering as it seeped through the mask of the costume, the brown and red stains leaving behind the acrid smell of metal and death.

Vanessa just wanted it to end, for the agony to subside, for the pain to go away, for someone, anyone to hurry up and end it!

"MAMA!"

Her voice howled with gurgles, any last inch of panic starting to fade into fatigue as her life flashed before her eyes. She didn't even feel real anymore, her mind drifting away from her body. Only the numbness remained.

The bots had grabbed what looked like gelatinous red and fleshy objects, throwing them to the walls as if they were nothing. She whimpered, her croaky voice shuddering and she struggled to crawl away.

Like a fire finally burning out what it had already consumed, the bots had finished their task and what was left was a half human-half rabbit torn from limb to limb by the patches of the costume now mixed with blood and tears.

the burns stung, but she was too tired to move, so she lay there, her eyes spotting black and then total darkness.

Chapter Text

The pizzaplex was all about birthdays and she was sick of it.

For her birthday, she wanted to pretend it didn't even exist. The less everyone knew about it, the better.

Unfortunately, Freddy had kept track of everyone's ages at the Pizzaplex, it was in his programming to record birthdays for guests. This also sadly included Vanessa's which was today.

She sighed tiredly, reminiscing about the hour she would numerically be older and nothing would change... She'd still be just as messed up and depressed as before, only one year older. 'Twenty three... yipee' she thought with sarcasm.

Freddy had planned a surprise party, as he did with other guests, even though Gregory had felt like he should tell Vanessa about it in case things went wrong. He knew a certain extent of her anxiety and her reaction to random surprises was a little less than appreciative in his experience.

But maybe Freddy had something special planned that wouldn't be too overwhelming.

Usually during the night she would find herself walking around, conversing with the Glamrocks and Gregory (if he was still awake) and then she'd go on to her usual camera check, patrol, more camera check, midnight break, make sure nothing was broken, check for any signs of lost children, rinse and repeat.

But tonight... felt different. Of course it had to be on her birthday of all days for things to start looking grim.

There was little to no noise in the Pizzaplex, everything was dark and there were strange and cryptic notes saying about reading out the words 'Follow me' to a line of lights that trailed to a dark hallway.

She definitely felt like something was off, a shiver trickled down her spine like a crawling insect.

It felt even more abandoned when she failed to find all the staff bots, like they were hiding somewhere.

With a sharp breath, she followed the trail towards the next room which lead into a downstairs party room... only the lack of lights reminded her of a basement. A dark, lonely basement with damp walls and chilling dusty air.

She swallowed and her heart began to increase volume through her ears like a heavy bass.

'It's too dark in here...' She thought, grabbing her cap tightly like it was a toy to cling on to. 'Something's not right...'

Her mouth went dry and she couldn't speak out loud for a second. Her stomach had felt like a whirlpool dropping her heart inside with it. 'No, no it's way too dark!'

'Why is it so dark? Is something following me?!' Her breathing got audibly louder and quicker and she started walking backwards away from the dark doorway, too afraid to go near it any further, yet her eyes were peeled towards it, almost hypnotized. Try if she might, she could not look away!

'Stop looking at it!'

She swallowed thickly and forced her eyes shut, but the image of a dark doorway was scratched into mind like a cursed nightmare.

She could've sworn she heard him... no... that wasn't possible, was it? She felt a coldness all around her now trembling body.

'LET ME OUT'

She could only hear what sounded like white noise and a high pitched frequency along with the every increasing heart, pounding against her chest like someone was using it as a stress ball.

It didn't even feel like she was in the same body, like her mind had floated away elsewhere, too afraid to feel what her body felt.

Now she could feel her lungs screaming for air as the uncontrollable quick breaths overwhelmed her.

With a grip so fierce on her cap, her knuckles were going white; She gasped out a large gulp of breath, bloodshot eyes still glued to the doorway when she finally decided to open them again. She stumbled back into the floor, ignoring the sudden pain from hitting the ground so hard and instead spiraling into continuous anxiety.

'The dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark-'

'LETMEOUTLETMEOUTLETMEOUT-

LETMEOUTLETMEOUTLETMEOUT!'

Her shallow breathing got louder and louder, suffocating on air. She curled herself up against the nearest wall, trying to look anywhere but the doorway.

She hated her brain for doing this to her, she wanted it to stop! Anything to make it stop!

She dug her nails into her hair, hoping that the irriation would distract her from the dark... the dark... the dark.. the dark

'Please let me out... I don't want to go...NO! Don't make me!'

'It will be fun... I will take care of it... it will be fun.'

Can't go back into the dark, Not again!

'Get up, run away, scream, DO SOMETHING!' She begged for something else, anything else but curling up and suffocating!

Two bright white dot-like eyes gleamed from the darkness. Vanessa was shaking like a leaf and it looked as if her face had been completely drained of life, her body going a sickly grey, eyes wide and shot open. Her jaw was clenched so tightly, she swore her teeth were going to crack. Her skin was so heavily sweating bullets, she almost looked amphibious.

'Are you ready?'

Her brain wracked with horror when she saw those two light dots getting bigger and accompanied by thud after thud like the ground was quaking.

'He's here... he's here... he's still here, he always comes back! you're going to die, you're going to die, you're going to die, you're going to-'

'When I first found you, you were nothing... you were small, pathetic, weak... but now, you are more.'

'YOU ARE MORE'

'Are you ready?'

"No!" Freddy's eyes widened, his jaw closed and his eyebrows arched with worry. His ears flickered back soon after. "Officer Vanessa?" He said with a soft yet confused voice.

She looked up at him like she had seen a ghost. "Afton...?" Her voice came in very quietly, as if about to burst into tears of dread. When Freddy bent down to examine her, she screamed out, curling up away like a frightened animal. "NO!"

"Vanessa, it is me, Freddy"

As if reality had begun to seep back in, she met his eyes with pools of tears gathering in her own. "Freddy?..." She questioned.

"Look at me, Vanessa" ordered calmly. "I-I can't-" She immediately slammed her hands on her forehead, looking at the floor as her breathing quickened again.

"Breathe, Vanessa..." The bear instructed calmly. "On my count. Take a deep breath in, okay?"

Even though her panic seemed unstoppable, she attempted to do just that as Freddy gestured to his chest, simulating breaths.

'In, one, two, three..." He said while she took a long shaky breath, feeling the beating of her heart against her chest.

"And out, one, two, three..." He said mimicking an exhale. She copied him again, doing it several times now. Closing her eyes as her tense muscles relaxed a little more. Her lungs finally received the air they were longing for.

"You're doing great, Superstar!" Freddy encouraged gently, smiling at her. "Keep on taking those deep breaths in and out."

"O-okay..." She replied shakily. "That's it! Nice and easy now" She could feel her heart starting to slow to its' regular pace, no longer making her chest burn. But her head was wobbly and she felt utterly exhausted.

Freddy stayed there after fifteen minutes, making sure she was alright. He continued to kneel down, letting her grab onto his large paws for extra support.

It was like someone had put a heavy weight inside her head and she felt like she could just fall asleep in Freddy's massive hands.

"...Thanks" She spoke timidly, looking away from him. "Do not feel ashamed of this, you have been through a lot" Freddy begins, practically feeling her embarrassment like an aura. She begins to wipe tears from her eyes and nods in silence.

She slowly and shakily stood up, absentmindedly keeping her hand linked with Freddy's. "I know this is stupid but..." She sighed, trying to find the courage to look at the robot that was towering over her. "Is it okay if you can... can accompany me tonight?"

She asked timidly looking up at him with tears in her eyes. God, she hated feeling like a child again, so vulnerable and so scared. It felt like such a loss of dignity but at the same time so empty.

"Of course! I would be delighted to accompany you any time!" Freddy spoke up with excitement and gripped her hand tightly. She chuckled dryly.

"Is this where you were headed to?" Freddy pointed at the dark hallway, making her shift away slightly, afraid that she might spiral again.

"It's just... I don't like dark places..." she admit, shivering. Freddy's ears lowered softly. "I understand. I can ask the others to avoid the surprise then" He sighed.

"The what...?" She asked confused.

"I apologize for not telling you, but we had planned a very special surprise birthday for you, though maybe it seems it was not such a great idea..." Freddy reminisced. 

"That explains all the dark hallways and everyone being absent." She said mainly to herself and then sighed in disappointment. "You all did something for my stupid birthday and I didn't even have the guts to show up because of a stupid phobia..." She scolded herself angrily.

Freddy stopped, halting both their walking as he turned to her with worried yet serious eyes. "Vanessa, a phobia is not something to be taken lightly, nor is a panic attack. You were in a very bad state of mind and could have hurt yourself!" He explained seriously.

She didn't say anything and instead looked away as they stopped right at the dark hallway before Freddy slowly let get go of her hand. The panic started to slowly sink in again. "W-wait, where are you going?' She yelled out after him.

"Do not worry, I will be back momentarily!-" Before he could disappear into the darkness, she grabbed tight hold of his arm. "Wait!"

"I-I mean I just.. I just need a minute" She tried to do her breathing exercises again, shuddering with each breath and remained standing stiffly while Freddy stood there worried.

"I was just going to tell everyone to turn the lights on down there, as you do not like the dark." Freddy replied, gently trying to slowly lift her arm off his. "It's just... dark basements... and especially here at the Pizzaplex..." She admit almost so quiet it was hard to hear.

"Would you like me to tell them on my Fazwatch instead and walk in with you safely instead?" He asked. Still feeling sheepish, she nodding, hugging herself.

"I will ping them on my Fazwatch, no worries!" Freddy gave a wink and a thumbs up before he stood close to her again, while she happened to be gripping tighter than before, looking around the room everywhere apart from the darkness.

That paranoia was short lived as the hallways suddenly lit up with neon light decor all around in a rainbow pathway with an art-deco sign, displaying the words: 'Happy Fazbear Birthday!' On the walls. The hallway ended up at a blank door with the words: 'For Nessa' on it, badly written in crayon.

Vanessa, speechless, walked forwards and opened the door slowly to be greeted by-

"SURPRISE!" A blast of happy voices, ranging from robotic to human all around the room as everyone waved and cheered at the night guard. This time her heart was beating rapidly for a different reason.

The restaurant-sized room was composed on all the glamrocks, including the partially broken Glamrock Bonnie and even the ever enthused Daycare attendant. Finally, there was Gregory playfully wearing a crooked party hat.

Seeing them so happy to see her... it made her heart fuzzy and her head reel with emotions. "Happy birthday Ness!" Gregory bellowed happily, the others gathering along to sing her a big happy birthday. The animatronic robotic vocals echoed the room and Freddy bounced around, dancing. She couldn't help but chuckle, blushing bashfully and with embarrassment at the same time. The spotlight was on her after all, something she wasn't used to unless it was particularly negative. 

"Um, thanks guys..." She rubbed the back of her neck, looking around awkwardly, and hiding any reaction of awe in fear that she might burst into tears again... Definitely didn't want that to happen, not in front of everyone, even if they were happy tears. "We knew you'd love it!" Chica squealed out as enthusiastic as ever. "I did most of th' decoratin' " A smug Monty said proudly while Roxanne nudged him with an irritable grunt. "Okay fine, I did some of the decoratin'..." Roxy smiled triumphantly. "I did most of the decoration!" Roxy said proudly and loudly.

Gregory rolled his eyes as they bickered and rushed over to Freddy. The boy turned to Vanessa with hopeful eyes. "So... whatcha think? was it okay? not too much of a surprise?" Vanessa smiled, ruffling his hair, hiding any anxiety she felt deep inside.

"It was just right."

Chapter Text

Gregory felt uneasy, sick and scared. The unsettling dim purple walled room by the Fazerblaster walks stood before him. Something very unnatural about a room like this in the middle of a children's fast food complex. "Hmm, it looks like a hideout for someone." Freddy spoke through the Fazwatch. Gregory peered at the walls seeing the words "VANNY" in purple graffiti. "I think her name is... Vanny?" Gregory guessed. "Vanny? That sounds like a combination of Vanessa and Bunny... that cannot be a coincidence." Freddy commented.

The thought of that guard and the creepy rabbit lady being the same person sent shivers down his spine. "Wait!" Freddy said suddenly and in panic. "What is it?" The boy asked. "I am detecting one of my friends searching for you in the Fazerblaster maze" The bear warned quietly. Gregory gasped. "Do not panic, make sure you-" As if things couldn't get any worse for him, Freddy's voice had cut off with grainy static, the signal dying down almost immediately on Gregory as he realized he was all alone. "Freddy? no no no no NO! Come back! Crap!" Gregory couldn't just go back down into the maze of Fazerblast, he had no authority to get out and had no idea how to get out! He didn't even have his Fazerblaster anymore... He was completely screwed!

Luckily, he could spot a vent inside the creepy hideout room and he knew he didn't have any other option. He gingerly stepped inside the dimly lit room and closed the door as quietly as he could, hearing nothing but his heartbeat for a moment. Gregory stepped lightly on the carpet, the room smelling of sweat and old pizza and it was really dusty too. Felt like someone had just wasted away in here like an angry teenager never wanting to leave their room.

Then there was a noise. Gregory's blood went cold and his face paled in horror; he realized he wasn't alone in the room.

His hands flew to his mouth to hold in a scream of fright as he turned to see the very horror that had been chasing him in the background all night, staring right at him.

Gregory began trembling, the feeling of impending doom weighing down on him. But to his surprise, the figure didn't seem to react. The white rabbit was laying down on a makeshift bed, her disturbing smiling mask facing him directly. Her red eyes were peering right into him, only they were not lit up in the dark as they had been before. One paw was under her head like a pillow, her other over her torso and her legs were covered by a grey wrinkled sleeping bag, her actual pillow seemed to be squished against the wall away from her.

Gregory stared at her for a moment, frozen with fear and then he noticed something else when his heart was no longer the loudest thing in the room. Her chest was lifting up and down slowly and he could hear what sounded like muffled grunts and snorts coming from inside the mask. She was snoring... she was asleep. A wave of relief washed down Gregory's spine and yet he still felt tense, she could wake up at any moment...

Wasting no time, he peered up at the vent in the wall, looking around the room to find someway to get to it without making too much noise. He felt his skin crawl, another surge of terror enveloping his body when he heard a groan close to him, only for it to be a false alarm and she was merely making sounds in her sleep, or at least he hoped to god it was just that.

The way she was kicking and twitching didn't help to calm his nerves... the more restless she was getting, the higher chance of waking up and spotting him! He had no time to lose, he HAD to get to the vent before it was too late!

Looking around the room, he spotted a cluster of boxes with their labels torn off. At first he thought about using those to reach the vent but the cardboard would definitely make a huge racket and not be able to support his weight, especially since they were all empty anyway. That's when he saw another object: A computer chair. It was tall enough to reach the vent if he stood up on it, but it was a swivel chair so it would go off balance and possibly make him fall over, not to mention it was the closest object to the psycho's bed. it was going to be nearly impossible for him to get out alive, but he had to try.

He carefully rolled the swivel chair from the desk, making as little noise as possible with very low rumbling of its' wheels on carpeted floor. Vanny had now turned around in her bed, her creepy mask facing the other way and she sighed deeply, making Gregory freeze... before he would hear her snoring again. He pushed the chair over to the bottom of the vent and then shakily climbed on the unstable furniture, trying to remain as still and calm as he could while his legs shook from the imbalance. All he needed was to reach the vent... just reach the vent and then he'd be home free.

Gregory had almost fallen off the chair when a noise startled him, his body drenched in sweat, terrified of waking the rabbit woman. Vanny had turned back around to face him yet again and Gregory had to quickly look away before he started panicking.

A realization had just come to Gregory's mind. He had underestimated the height of the the vent and realized if he wanted to get to it without any fumbling, he would need to stand on the highest point of the chair... He felt like crying at this point. This would end up being the catalyst for his death... he would screw it up and she would kill him.

As his hands weakly gripped the back of the chair, he started trembling, tears building in his eyes. He was going to die... there was no hope anymore. Even if he was able to defend himself from her somehow, she would cripple him enough to stop him from running away, especially being stuck in such a confined space. He was completely disadvantaged.

He otherwise would've found this situation funny, especially with how loud and obnoxious this scary lady was snoring, making her a little less menacing, but she wasn't a normal person... she was out here to kill him without a second thought. -

It was only lucky for him that she was actually sleeping off a massive migraine inflicted by an impatient virus. Her eyes were burning and her head felt like a brick on fire was surgically put into her skull. The humidity and dustiness of the room didn't help to ease her temperature, nor did the scratchy felt suit. This was her punishment from him.

Disappoint me again and you'll be drowning in your own blood next time.

The words stung, physically stung, making her head hurt even more. Her mind was battling with lust for killing and bloody memories with a wave of guilt and misery.

Everything was wrong. The desire to find and kill Gregory was getting stronger but so was her headache. Her blood was boiling with a rage so powerful it felt like she was almost rabid.

Gregory froze as he watched her sit up, only to whimper out a pained cry, holding her head and forcing herself back down onto the bed. Her hands were covering around where her ears were, as if a deafening noise was going off all around the room. And then she sighed and started snoring again.

That was way too close for comfort... he could've sworn she had just woken up, but judging by her immediate response to fall back to sleep again, maybe she hadn't actually woken up at all. "...Is that sword for me?" Gregory had almost had a heart attack for the millionth time that night, a realization of the muffled tired voice that Vanny was now talking in her sleep... the vague mention of a sharp object like a sword irked him. He felt sick for a moment, but he had to keep going.

It was a good thing she seemed to be a heavy sleeper, despite being restless, because the boy found himself swiveling around the chair, causing it to creak and wheel away slightly. He had just caught himself before he could fall into any of the cardboard boxes.

Shaking and sweating, Gregory tried to calm his breathing as he reached for the vent, one hand gripping firmly on the open gridding of it and the other slowly but carefully trying to open the vent and crawl inside. His feet barely able to balance on the head of the chair, but he was determined to get out.

He took in a deep shuddering breath and bent his trembling knees and on the count of three, he launched himself right at the vent, holding on for dear life, panic filling his stomach as the swiveled chair fell over with a loud racket.

Gregory gasped and opened the vent doors as quickly as he could before noticing the rabbit now sitting up with a start.

Her head pulsated with horrible pain as her chair fell to the floor, followed by the vent door slamming right into the wall and the sound of panicked breathing and loud hurried movement. Her blood was as hot as boiling cooking oil when realized she had missed the opportunity to catch Gregory... he was literally in the room with her and he had gotten away! 

As she got up, her headache fueled her brain with rage and blood lust, she huffed like a wild animal, opening the vent door only for nothing to be inside. The kid had gotten away...

Gregory would've soiled himself had he not gone to the bathroom earlier that night because of the enraged roar of the killer in the rabbit suit, echoing in the vents. He only crawled faster.

Vanny's scream of rage and added realization of failure had resulted in an even worse migraine that she wouldn't be able to sleep through. She started becoming delirious and began laughing, laughing with insanity.

She wanted to rip the kids apart, tear him limb from limb, rip off his head, break his bones. Vanny was practically frothing at the mouth with these thoughts.

The more agony, the stronger he would become and the less pain she would be inflicted with.

The migraines would be no more, her anger would be satisfied and nothing would stand in her way... NOTHING!

She was going to find him... and it was going to be...

SO MUCH FUN.

Chapter Text

Gregory and Vanessa play some generic first person shooter when they both encounter a really tough opponent.

Gregory growled, sniped for the fourth time in a row by the same user ‘ThebigLou’

“Oh my god! Every time with this guy!” He grumbled.

Vanessa chuckled, focused on her controller. “Lou again?” She snickered.

“Ugh, yes!” Gregory whined, laying back on the couch, dramatically.

“I should one V one that dude, see how he likes it” she grinned evilly at the screen.

As she says this, she gets sniped by the user in question. “Oh wow” she scoffs with a laugh.

“See? I told you!” Gregory sits up almost immediately.

“Hey I got him like five times now” she replied with a shrug.

“Yeah but he got you like twenty and me like one hundred!” The boy said melodramatically.

Vanessa couldn’t help but let out a louder laugh at Gregory’s overacted reactions. “Okay, calm down there drama queen” she ruffled his hair causing him to grumble playfully, trying to fix it.

She got shot again, despite shooting the player for what she thought was the longest time. Now she could feel the gaming rage building up in her chest. “God damn… this guy”

“Sooooo annoying” Gregory whined again, jumping on the couch to express annoyance.

And she got shot yet again. “Oh come on!” She barked at the screen, her voice coming through the mic.

The voice of the player laughed on the other end, but it sounded like a playful chuckle and not one out of true nastiness unlike a lot of players of that game.

“Do you need me to stand still?” TheBigLou’s grainy deep voice echoed through his mic. He also had a Central American accent.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. ‘Typical try hard attitude’ she thought to herself.

And she got shot again, almost ending the game entirely.

“Fuuu-freaking…” she repressed a swear in front of Gregory.

“How about you one V one me, ya try hard?” She seethed with a smile.

TheBigLou laughed. “Okay then NessQuickScope97!” He teased, playfully saying her username out loud.

“Come on then!” She said with a toothy grin, determined to beat him in a one v one match.

Luis was having a blast, assuming the girl on the other end was too, he liked the witty banter, even if it left some players rather salty and irritable.

Though even with the awful mic quality, something was very familiar about this girl’s voice… and even more surprising with her username sparking some memories.

“Ness” A sorrowful thought passed by the dark skinned man as he ran his hand through his curly black hair, sighing at the memory of the friend he once knew. The one he hopelessly had a huge crush on and was very certain he looked like an utter creep to her.

Vanessa was ready to beat this guy’s ass in the game as she added him to a private game, waiting in the lobby menu.

“You ready to get your ass handed to you then Lou?” She taunted him confidently.

“Bring it on NessQuick” He retorted with a smile.

His mic sounded a lot less grainy than before and very oddly familiar to her but she didn’t know why.

She kept those feelings of familiarity hidden, focusing on the game.

“Oh yeah, how many rounds by the way?” He asked.

“You decide” she replied slyly, still grinning with determination.

He laughed on the other end. “How about… three then?”

“Oh, you wanna go for an easy win then huh?” She retorted, the sass practically oozing out of her voice, crossing her arms as if he was there.

He couldn’t help but let out a high pitched laugh. One that sounded way too familiar to an old friend.

‘God this guy reminds me so much of Luis’ she thought.

“And just to make sure, I’m turning sniper rifles off” She added. “Oh, not a good sniper eh?” He joked.

A flicker of annoyance washed in her chest and she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah right, hurry up and get your starter weapons already”

Gregory walked over and sat back on the couch, a drink in hand. He watched her gameplay and looked at the vibrant pistol her avatar was currently holding.

The current skin her pistol was reminiscent of a tangerine.

“Why is your pistol so weird looking?” He commented.

“It’s a rare skin” she shrugged.

She gasped as her character got shot down again, the beginning of the current match off to a slow start. “Ouch, from the bushes too” Gregory said, taking a sip of his drink.

Vanessa sighed and waited for the respawn timer.

“Sorry about camping, nice skin by the way. Tangerine pistol? I mean orange is the best colour so can’t blame you for using that one” The other player spoke through his mic again.

Something jumped in her chest again, so familiar yet too good to be true.

‘Orange was his favourite too… that’s really weird.’

There were too many coincidences, something she just had to find out… maybe…

The one v one didn’t go as planned for her, but she did better than she though and if she was honest, she had fun. Gregory had pointed how oddly comfortable she seemed to be rambling at this user and he could hear the guy through her headphones, laughing.

“Probably the most fun I’ve had with a video game for a while” she laughed into her mic again. “But I got to get going soon; life, you know how it is” she joked.

“Ch- yeah sure send me a friend request then” she cackled with laughter at how ridiculous it sounded, but she did sincerely enjoy the game.

“I betcha he’s just thirsty” Gregory spoke up with a smug grin. Vanessa rolled her eyes and sighed. “Wouldn’t be the first time, but he seemed somewhat decent.” She shrugged feeling some form of hope.

As she finished the game and said goodbye, both her and Gregory got to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

She stopped to grab a bowl out of the cupboard and lay it down on the bench with a sigh.

“It’s hard for someone like me to make friends, I have to admit.” She said in the middle of the grabbing a bag of potatoes in one hand and a cutting board in her other.

Gregory peered up at her, curious. He frowned with a hum, feeling part of his heart ache with the familiarity of how he felt in someways.

While she gingerly grabbed the knife from the kitchen drawer, ignoring the sudden nausea of seeing a knife in her hands again; she saw out of the corner of her eyes, Gregory eyeing her with a pout. “Aren’t we friends?” He asked a little more curious and playful than upset.

“Oh yeah of course we are!” She spoke up, voice louder than intended, trying to make sure she wasn’t upsetting the boy.

“I just mean, like people my age, you know?” She explained to him as she grabbed some potatoes to place on the cutting board, the round vegetables making small thuds as they bounced ever so slightly.

Gregory turned away, lost in thought. He thought about his friends… he only really had one friend his age. But then again, she was probably just feeling pitiful for him.

“Is it really hard for grownups to make friends?” He turned back around to ask.

Vanessa paused for a moment, gently caressing her thumb over a potato in concentration of avoiding cutting her fingers.

She couldn’t help but slightly nod with a shrug at the same time.

“Well, for people like me who are…” she paused, thinking of the best way to put it “not entirely stable.”

She laughed dryly under her breath at that.

Then she got a message.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she gently put down the knife to check, getting distracted.

‘TheBigLou’: Hey NessQuick, I just wanna say that was really fun playing that game with you today, even if I seemed a bit too OP lol, sorry about that. Anyway I just hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable or anything, I’m not super great at making friends. Hopefully we can play more often.”

Vanessa let out a light laugh, shaking her head.

“Guess who I just got a message from?” She eyed Gregory with a smile.

The boy gasped with a loud “Ha!” “No way? Thirsty, I told ya!”

She rolled her eyes at him again and turned back to her phone when it vibrated again.

‘TheBigLou: Oh but the way, if the BigLou is too annoying to say, you can just call me my real name, Luis. I mean if that’s easier for you NessQuick!’

Anyone in their right mind would be concerned how quickly a random stranger would open up private information like that to someone but for Vanessa, this was like a punch to her gut with a wave of nostalgia.

All the evidence was there… but it couldn’t be, could it?

Gregory frowned, concerned when he watched her face shift from relaxed to shocked. Her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes were wide and almost teary for a moment.

He got up from the chair to check in on her. “You okay?” He asked.

She couldn’t speak and instead had to think of what to make of this. Her heart was pounding in her chest, the past catching up to her slowly… the familiarity of everything right before everything went south.

“Gregory… do you remember when I told you about how m-“ she swallowed. “How he ended up controlling me?” She asked, voice going quiet.

Gregory nodded silently.

“Hang on-“ suddenly she rushed out of the kitchen and towards her bedroom, shutting the door, leaving Gregory alone in the kitchen, confused and worried.

“Uh… Nessa?” He carefully looked in the small hallway of the apartment, curious but not curious enough to barge in on her.

Instead, he went on the couch and waited, watching tv, trying to ignore the nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. Even though she had been long gone, Gregory couldn’t help but fear that maybe at some point Vanny would come back and- He swallowed his fear down, shaking his head. ‘No, she’s gone, everything’s okay now’ he said to himself. Instead he chose to focus on the game show that was blaring from the tv screen.

All she could do was sit in silence, staring at the phone screen, icy fingers hovering over the text bar.

The ‘Reply’ button was all she could focus on, but she couldn’t find anything in the database of her brain to reply with.

It’s like her mind went blank and was tangled with chaotic noise at the same time. There was no in between.

She took a deep breath in and decided what she would say back.

NessQuickScope97: Hey, thanks, I had fun too! I just wanted to ask you something. This might sound weird but did you ever know someone by the name of Vanessa?”

She slapped herself for even sending the reply, knowing how dangerously personal it was for her, but at least she didn’t say it was her… right?

Luis had finally sent that dreaded email to his boss, asking for the weekend off, maybe he’d have some time to relax and enjoy games again like old times without having to worry about talking to cranky customers again. He still didn’t like being moved to marketing.

His phone buzzed as he took his attention away from the computer and checked it.

He felt a warmth in his chest, from either panic or excitement, because it was from the same girl he played games with earlier.

Part of him was preparing to  sigh, feeling like he probably scared her off; but when he read the message, he almost dropped his phone to the hard wooden floor.

He could feel his throat close in and his heart rate shooting up as the name popped into his mind again.

“Vanessa…”

The anxiety boiled inside her gut as she paced her room, brain completely focused on the ‘TheBigLou is typing…’ notification

It was really hot in the room and she felt dizzy already.

The buzz of her device immediately told her everything, she dropped her phone, tears starting to run down her cheeks.

TheBigLou: Yes. I had a friend named Vanessa. The funny thing is, I used to use the nickname Ness for her!  Haha!

Her empty gut was twisting, like she was on a roller coaster all of a sudden, she held her hand in her head, typing back as soon as she got the reply.

NessQuickScope97: ‘This might sound really weird but, this Vanessa… was she a blonde with rainbow extensions?-

“Maybe that’s too specific but… it-it has to be there’s no way-“ as she was rambling to herself, she got yet another message from him.

‘TheBigLou: I’m gonna be honest, she actually disappeared a while ago, don’t know why, but she never came back and honestly, you really remind me of her a lot, is that weird?’

The world stood still.

Disappeared

Disappeared

Never came back.

‘I always come back’

‘I always come back’

‘I always-‘

Vanessa almost jumped two feet into the air when a knock interrupted her from her thoughts.

“Hey… you okay in there? Did he say something gross?” Gregory asked timidly from the other side, that last question making her snort with laughter for a moment.

“No it’s okay, I just got distracted.” She replied.

“Oh okay…” Gregory wasn’t fully convinced and the thought of Vanny still itched in the back of his mind.

She took in a deep breath and stared to type.

‘NessQuickScope97: Would you be okay with a video chat or something? I understand if it feels too personal, we only just met today but I feel like I know you.

She immediately slapped her forehead in regret after sending the message, knowing it was far too late to unsend. He had already began replying.

Luis was crouched up against his computer desk, religiously typing on his phone, anxiety running through him. Part of him felt so delirious, there was no way this was real… there was no way it was really her. If he had to guess, he probably thought he was being catfished, but his mind would not let his go! He had to think this over.

Most dinners in the apartment were quiet, but this kind of quiet was unsettling to Gregory. Normally he and Vanessa would converse every now and then through meals, but she was deathly quiet, struggling to eat the mashed potatoes without feeling like she couldn’t swallow them.

Gregory found it just as hard to eat when all he could think about was her.

To think that the tired overworked woman sitting across from him silently chewing on mashed veggies was once his worst nightmare in a cursed rabbit suit.

The thought almost made it laughable, but the whole experience was too horrible to brush off in the long run.

The only sounds coming from the apartment were that of electric appliances, a muffled tv and the subtle noises of chewing and clinking utensils.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the past. The reminder of her past, her hopes and dreams stripped away from her… all because of a malfunctioning toaster borrowing the traits of a dead serial killer.

That was almost laughable to her, if it weren’t so agonizing. All she could envision was the awful yellow rabbit, waving to her on the VR screen and the things it made her do… the poor children she-

This painful reminder almost made her regurgitate everything she just ate so she shook her head trying instead to think of the present day and the unlikely group of friends she had made at the Pizzaplex along with Gregory.

Gregory… such an amazing kid. Despite the hardships, he persevered and saved her from the grips of agony. Though she still lingered on the thought that she didn’t deserve to be saved.

She could already feel the lump in her throat and the tears in the back of her eyes, threatening to escape.

‘Think about something else, anything else!’

Swallowing harshly, ignoring the the strain in her throat, she turned to Gregory to open her mouth.

“So…”

Gregory flinched, having not heard a single noise out of her for at least half an hour.

“Are you gonna tell me what happened?” Gregory interrupted before she could continue. Vanessa paused, mouth closing shut.

The boy’s lips were trembling for a moment, visible glossiness in his big brown eyes visible from the kitchen light.

“Nessa… it’s… not” Gregory shuddered, trying to be brave. “It’s not… about”

The sickly taste of that name left his mouth finally, even after hesitating. “Vanny… is it?”

Her dinner was threatening to make a reappearance, but she gulped and shook her head, heart feeling like a piece of it had shattered for a moment.

“No Gregory, I swear, It’s okay” she said softly.

Gregory hummed for a moment, still unsure but at least a little more reassured this time.

She felt guilty that this was causing the poor boy to think about Vanny again.

“Gregory, I’m not entirely sure how to explain it to you but…” she took in a deep breath, looking him right in the eye.

“I’m almost certain that guy is someone I know…” she told him. Gregory’s eyes widened with curiosity, he had not been expecting that… not in the slightest.

“Wait, what?” He gave her a look. “Are you sure you’re not being like, catfished or something?” He asked her.

Vanessa shook her head. “No… I just a have a feeling, you know?” She tried to explain.

Gregory hummed, not entirely sure about this, but he did want to support her and protect her from a potential pervert.

“Why don’t you ask him to send a picture of himself?” He suggested. Vanessa snorted at that, giving Gregory a raised eyebrow.

“Greg, you know people fake their pictures all the time, it wouldn’t really help. The only way would be to meet up in person… but somewhere public where I won’t be murdered on the spot” she explained.

“Meet somewhere super crowded or something, and I’ll make sure to be your backup!” Gregory perked up, flexing his tiny muscles with a grin.

She laughed again, resisting the urge to ruffle his hair. “Well, I guess I can’t be hurt if I got a gremlin protecting me, right?” She teased.

“I’m not a gremlin!” Gregory huffed, folding his arms with a pout.

“You absolutely are.” She smiled back, a cheeky glimmer in her eyes. “Fine then. You should be afraid of my gremlin power then!” He laughed evilly, wiggling his fingers.

She burst out laughing, running around as Gregory chased after her. Acting like two very close siblings, but it felt so natural.

Gregory pinned her to the couch, giggling. “Haha gotcha!” He said as she dramatically flopped on her stomach, snickering. “Oh no,  gremlin attack!” She joked, making Gregory huff again with a smile. “Hey!”

Vanessa gave him a from the side of her vision and he squealed out immediately as she got up and began tickling him. “Now you’re a helpless gremlin” she grinned, getting her fingers under his armpits, causing him to squeal with laughter, squirming. “N-no stop! Nessa!”

She did eventually stop, as Gregory began to calm down, breathing rapidly, mildly annoyed from being tickled like that, still giving Vanessa a smiling glare.

“I never imagined I’d be like a big sibling to the random hyperactive child stuck inside the pizzaplex” she joked. Gregory put his hands on his hips, smiling slyly. “I never thought I’d be living with the weirdo bunny lady that has a coffee addiction”

Vanessa’s cheeks red a little pinker as she ruffled the boys hair with a “Hey… I’m not that addicted!”

That ended up sitting on the couch, calming down for a moment before Vanessa visibly frowned, a memory resurfacing. Gregory looked at her, noticing her mood change.

“You feeling okay? I mean… any better I guess?”

He asked. “I need to know if I’m right about him…” she said with determination.

She was going to find the truth… was it really him?

Only one way to know for sure.

Chapter Text

Fazbear entertainment was never very caring for their employees in the first place, and were especially apathetic towards troubled employees. When one technician had a mental breakdown in the middle of her work, she was given a warning of suspension instead of sympathy or mental health leave.

With this, Vanessa had to put on a front. Despite her chest screaming with anxiety every time she went into the meeting room and had eyes on her with a question of what they could do better by her not-so-nice manager.

Not like the night terrors, anxiety induced nausea, IBS and headaches helped, nor did her quick temper. Sometimes she just wanted to scream at him.

But no matter how hard things got, she always came back to the plex and back home with a much better mood.

But some nights, especially this night; where everything came crashing down.

She checked into the pizzaplex, giving a quick wave of hello to the band and then moving towards the security office without a word. Not even having the energy to say hello to Gregory.

“Hey, Nessa!” Gregory began running after her, grabbing a piece of paper.

Gregory paused his pursuit when he heard what sounded like muffled sobs coming from inside the security office.

Quietly, the boy entered the room, eyes widened and locked onto his guardian at her desk.

The woman was crouched over on her office chair, muffling her strained sobs in her hands, hair and face obscured by her cap.

Gregory debated whether he should say something or not. He’s comforted someone crying before, granted that person was a kid like him, but still he hoped maybe there was something he could do.

Gregory knew adults didn’t ever like to cry in front of eachother… he never really knew why but he figured it was something to do with the expectations of grownups being fully in control.

Though in Vanessa’s case, it was very different. She had been there for him before. When he had his moments, even if they were embarrassing to him, he still felt her warm embrace despite how upset he may have gotten.

Knowing all the struggles they had gone through brought them closer like siblings that had been born from the same parents almost.

She must’ve finally looked up because the sobbing stopped with a sharp gasp.

Gregory looked over, flinching when he saw Vanessa’s tear stained cheeks, her emerald eyes glossy, eye whites raw and red from crying and her tied back hair, dishelved.

“Uh… hey Greg, did you need something?” she asked, putting on a smile, trying to wipe away any evidence of crying.

“Nessa… what’s wrong?” He asked turning his head towards her.

She laughed dryly and wiped her eyes again. “Oh it’s nothing… you don’t have to worry about it, little man” she looked away brushing him off.

Gregory raised an eyebrow, not convinced. “Nessa… you’re obviously upset about something, so why won’t you tell me?”

Vanessa sighed deeply, tense, rubbing her temples tiredly. Tears already started to flow down her cheeks again, not even bothering to hide it from the boy anymore.

“I’m… just having a bad day” she quivered, rubbing her arm.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Gregory asked her, eyes big like a puppy dog.

She chuckled shakily, and ruffled the boys hair fairly weaker than she usually did.

Gregory grumbled and fixed his hair again, though his eyes still fixed on her.

She got up from her chair and sat right at the back of the room, back against the wall, knees raised and arms by her side.

Curious, Gregory followed and sat right next to her, mimicking the position.

She slowly turned to him, slight smirk on her lips. “You’re too nosey for your own good, you know that?” She joked.

Gregory shrugged with a smile. “Hey, it’s called being worried and having sympathy”

He said.

Vanessa nodded with a small snicker and turned forward, looking at nothing.

Everything that was on her mind was muddled into one big cacophony of screams and fears, she couldn’t quite explain it coherently and she didn’t really want to either.

They sat there in silence for what seemed like hours.

Vanessa’s shaky breathing starting to slow down to a peaceful level. Gregory had his eyes closed as he lay back on the wall, his tiny breaths loud enough to hear in the silence of the small office.

It had seemed like it turned to snores at some point, with the young woman smiling calmly, closing her eyes as she listened to him mumbling in his sleep.

Then she felt something push up against her shoulder as she slowly opened her eyes to see the boy had fallen asleep on her, mouth agape as he snored softly, grabbing a hold of her arm, using her shoulder like a pillow.

Her head felt suddenly heavy, all those tears and trying to keep it together and away from prying eyes only to start to collapse into the wall behind her, hat sliding down her face slowly.

Freddy was starting to worry where Gregory had gotten too, especially when he hadn’t heard anything from Vanessa for a while.

The other Glamrocks and daycare Attendant alike following him to the security office as they wondered where the two humans were.

“Grego-“ Freddy paused when he opened the security office door to have his innards melt in awe.

Chica gasped behind her beak, trying to hold in a squeal, barely letting the sound of a high pitched whine escape her and Roxy smiled, her tail thumping up against the wall behind along with Monty who chuckled deep yet quietly, maintaining his inside voice. Sun had to keep himself from screaming at how precious it was, almost jogging on the spot with all the pent up energy.

The view of both Vanessa and Gregory snuggled up together at the back of the wall, while Gregory slowly opened his eyes, wincing in embarrassment as he felt drool dribble from his lips and hurriedly wiped his mouth, trying to stand up without feeling disoriented.

“Shh it’s alright, Superstar.” Freddy whispered to him, as he slowly rubbed his eyes, yawning softly.

“Freddy?…” he croaked quietly.

He turned around to see Vanessa still fast asleep, against the wall, her face contorted with a look of worry almost, as if she were in a troubled sleep.

Gregory looked back, worried and he felt Freddy’s paw on his shoulder.

Freddy turned to her, eyes lowering with concern.

“She seems rather stressed, doesn’t she?” Freddy said quietly. Gregory held his mouth shut, not knowing whether it would be a good idea to tell Freddy everything he saw prior to their little nap.

Her in tears, completely drained of energy, like she had been holding back crying for months, but maybe instead keeping it to himself so he wouldn’t humiliate the poor woman.

“Perhaps I should get her to my green room where she can rest without any posture consequences.” Freddy suggested.

Gregory pondered this and thought about what the better option would be.

“Well… I guess if it means she’s not gonna wake up with a crooked spine.” He shrugged, a little hesitant.

Freddy beamed at him, moving towards the sleeping woman as he gently scooped her body into his arms, carrying her bridal style, Gregory behind following while everyone kept a close watch, making sure she wasn’t waking up in fright from suddenly being carried by a giant robot bear.

She stirred a small bit as Freddy bent over to place her on his couch, draping a Freddy-themed blanket around her of which she must have subconsciously felt because she hummed with satisfaction, pulling the corner of the rug around her shoulders.

“G’night Nessa” Gregory whispered, hugging mainly the air around her attempting at not waking her up.

“Sweet dreams, superstar” Freddy said back, with a tiny wave and left with Gregory, turning off the light in the green room, leaving only the ambient lighting of the door in an otherwise dimly lit room.

Dizzy and groggy, Vanessa opened her eyes, feeling the discomfort of her uniform wrinkling in on her and she slowly came to, eyes opening to a completely different room. She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes and noticed something that had the texture of felt rubbing against her shoulder. She picked it off, huffing with confusion when she realized it was a blanket with Freddy’s face, themed with bright colours and contrasts of neon blues.

There was also a couch pillow under her neck, though not the most comfortable, it still was better than nothing. She realized that she was laying on Freddy’s couch in his green room.

A thought of panic waved over her for a moment but then before she rushed to get up, she felt a sort of sense of ease; able to slow her manic breathing again as she realized what this meant.

She had fallen asleep in the office with Gregory and they must’ve brought her in Freddy’s green room instead. She couldn’t help but smile, it seemed that they really did care about her, as her mind had tried to tell her otherwise, but the blanket draped over her was proof enough.

And perhaps one more nap wouldn’t hurt.

Chapter Text

It was hopeless, as much as she had begged Vanny to leave the boy alone, Vanny would not comply. Sure, Gregory was getting on her nerves a lot that night, but Vanny was getting angrier with blood lust. Vanessa didn’t want to kill him, she never wanted to kill anyone… but When he created that side of her, nothing stopped her.

Gregory was squirming, whining and wailing for help as Vanny dug into the collar of his shirt, lifting him off the ground.

The boy’s blood went cold as Vanny revealed her knife. The gleaming light reflecting off the blade as she lifted it towards Gregory’s chest.

Try as he might, he could not get out of her grip and he screamed at the top of his lungs as the weapon struck straight into his chest.

His shirt, now gaped with a hole but strangely no blood. Gregory was also still moving, shaking and trembling in fear but still breathing and blinking.

“That didn’t even hurt…” he spoke out suddenly, confused by how there was no blood pooling from his chest.

Vanny growled, thinking that she missed actually stabbing his flesh and instead just got a bit of shirt or something.

The knife left another gaping hole, and still no blood.

“What?” She said, puzzled.

Gregory, confused, pulled up his shirt to reveal his cream skin with a gaping hole in it, only… it didn’t look like flesh, instead it looked like covering of some sort.

The boy gasped, shaking with horror.

“No…”

Seeing this, Vanny dropped him to the floor, shaking her head.

A growl built up inside her as she contemplated just violently stabbing the boy again.

Both sides of Vanessa had gone silent, Vanny’s sadistic nature being blocked by pure surprise.

Terrified, Gregory shakily opened up the gash in his flesh wide. Vanny fell to the floor in shock, frozen.

The boy whimpered and stared in horror as his gaping flesh revealed a set of mechanical ribs and computer parts instead of blood and organs.

How he even felt sick right now was insane… surely this was just his mind playing tricks on him, even though the Rabbit lady could definitely see it too; judging by her horrified body language.

“You little brat!” Vanny seethed, stomping over to Gregory while inside, her heart was pounding against her chest and her stomach churning with dread.

Gregory gasped and put out his arm to shield himself from Vanny only to find that she was struggling to fight his newfound strength. He managed to lock her arm into place with his, confirming his mechanic body on the inside.

He glared threateningly at Vanny as she growled, trying to get her arm out of his grip.

“Let go, you freak!”

Now Gregory could feel his robotic strength working and he pulled her right into him where his other arm was able to grab her other arm, leaving her rendered almost helpless on two legs.

“How the hell-“ she scoffed, straining.

He grit his teeth, squeezing tightly on Vanny’s left arm, causing her to attempt pulling away, but it was no use.

‘Crack!’ Vanny screamed and Gregory let go as she furiously and painfully held her crooked arm which was now dangling from the bone breaking, leaving a growing red stain through the felt.

Gregory was able to make a quick get away as the white rabbit yelled in agony over her injury, drops of red falling on the hard tile floor.

“I’m gonna killl you!” She cried, voice strained with pure rage.

Despite her broken arm, Vanny huffed, livid and now sprinting after him.

Gregory stood his ground, now knowing how easy it was to break her bones with the real body he had… and didn’t even realize.

Surprising the possessed woman, he had managed to swiftly grab onto her non-broken arm and throw her back into a wall.

She groaned, trying not to whine from the throbbing ache that ripped through her spine as her back collided with the wall.

She growled, gritting her teeth together, air seeping through like a snake hiss.

Vanny pulled out some kind of red buttoned device from a pocket in the costume. “Disassemble Gregory” She hissed into the device.

Immediately a group of staff bots wheeled into the room, aiming their claws at the boy in question.

Gregory would usually be terrified, but he had a face of anger and determination as he stood his ground waiting for the bots to attack.

Vanny could only sit there in disbelief, eyes twitching as Gregory threw each staff bot as it came to grab at him, ripping off a few of their arms.

“How the f-“ she resisted the urge to scream with rage.

Now Gregory was staring directly at her, eyes glowing red like he was some kind of terminator.

“It’s not working!” She hissed barely audible to no one in particular. “He’s not human…”

“Come and face me yourself, you coward, or are you too weak, rabbit?” Gregory taunted her, teeth bared.

Vanny glared and curled her fists, livid; but she knew she would just end up having another broken arm, or worse.

Instead she fled, only Gregory began to chase after her instead or running away, as if fueled by rage and bloodlust… much like herself.

Vanny could hear his now obvious metal footsteps gaining on her. She gasped, not having expected him to even chase her.

Suddenly she yelled out when she found herself pinned to the floor by the robot child who seemed even more machine-like than before, as if his human skin started to peel off.

“GET OFF OF ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!” She screamed, flailing.

Gregory did not comply and grabbed her by the throat. She visibly struggled, trying to claw him off of her, but it was no use.

She couldn’t even form words at the moment, just trapped choking breaths as her legs desperately attempted to kick him off of her but to no avail.

He was like a deadweight on her chest and she could not move him, no matter how hard she tried.

Gregory started to let go when arms were now visibly beginning to grow tired and her breathing hitching to little to no sounds. Then he let go completely while she gasped for air.

“What… the… hell… are…. you?” She croaked weakly.

“I was gonna ask you the same thing.” Gregory replied with a glare.

Vanny growled something under her strained breath and continued to glare as her lungs tried to recover, the buzz saw-like burning still stinging her throat.

“You want to know the truth huh?” She asked, almost curious, her croaked voice gaining more of a child-like tone.

“I can tell you that I have got nothing to do with your fucked up little vessel.” She hissed. Though this caused him to lean harder onto her stomach and chest, causing a gasp of pain to escape.

“I do know someone who could… tell us both…” she replied mysteriously, with an audible smile.

Gregory glared at her again, red eyes peering into the costumes red eyes, almost having a stand off with one another.

Reluctantly, Gregory slowly let go, letting her slowly get back up, and surprising him when she didn’t attack again.

“Curious, aren’t you? I am too” She said with a giggle, her strained demeanor almost completely changing even though she stood with a visible limp and broken arm.

“How about I show you then? Since you’re much… stronger than I initially thought. You are very different than I thought” she pondered this as they both walked away from the scene. Gregory cautiously following her as she limped with every step.

“Master is going to be so fascinated” she spoke with a squeal of excitement.

“Though I do wonder…” she paused, turning to face the child-appearing machine. “Why you decided to spare me…” she hummed in thought.

Gregory scoffed. “Can’t keep on having you suffer when you’re dead now can I?” He threatened with a small smirk, challenging her.

Vanny paused, almost lost for words. “I see…” she replied, though her tone of voice was unclear, almost emotionless.

“You were strong. Able to disintegrate my bots and break my arm…” she seethed with a limp, laughing a little under her breath. Though this laugh came across tired and unsure.

Vanny held herself on a nearby wall, giggling in pain, her breathing coming through the costume rather muffled. “You did a real number on me, Gregory. If that even is your name.”

Gregory raised an eyebrow over his glowing red eye.

“He is going to say a lot about you.” She rambled again.

“Your stupid master?” Gregory asked, his voice growing more metallic and annoyed.

“You will be a fine addition to his project, I’m sure.” She replied, ignoring his question.

She grunted again, leaning on another wall, laughing weakly. “I think you cracked a rib, impressive” she commented.

“I’ll crack more than just your ribs” he threatened her. With this, she didn’t reply and instead kept limping towards their destination.

Despite her weakened condition, the white rabbit manages to get to the basement with Gregory behind, watching her closely as he continued glaring.

“Master, are you there? I brought him” she called out to what looked like a charging station.

An old skeletal figure emerged, it’s rotting teeth smiling wickedly and the partially broken animatronic body veering out of the decaying husk of what was once human, or thought to be.

“My…” it croaked with a gravelly dried voice.

“You are something special, aren’t you?” The corpse said curiously towards Gregory. “What are you going to do about it, you old dried carcass?” He sneered.

The decaying figure laughed dryly. “Ah, such wit and fire, for such a non-human vessel, but please you can call Afton” he began poking at Gregory’s covered cheeks with his dangly sharp skeletal hands.

“You are perfect.” He stared into the red eyes, pleased.

“You’re her stupid master… William Afton? The dry husk of dead old man?” Gregory scoffed.

“Oh Gregory.” He began, clashing his rotting teeth together.

“Do you even know how you came to be?”

He looked directly in his eyes, grinning so manically, his face was almost stretched.

“Who you do think made you? You think you were born this way?” He taunted, laughing.

Gregory’s fists clenched and he attempted to tear into Afton with his robotic fist but as soon as he tried, he was frozen still.

“You were built here. Built for one purpose.” Afton sneered, his purple eyes glowing with a shimmering aura which pooled around Gregory himself.

“To be my new vessel” Afton grinned wickedly and Gregory screamed out as he fell back, losing all consciousness.

Afton stood up inside the smaller yet stronger vessel, its’ eyes no longer red and instead shining with a vibrant purple.

“Our work is done” Afton turned to Vanny with a smile. The rabbit nodded without a word.

“Now… I can dispose of you without question.” He said, moving towards her. She flinched.

“Master… wait… what do you mean?” She asked in a way that sounded hurt.

“Are you brain dead or just slow? I only needed you to collect the remnant for me, then I would come back and finish the job. You are nothing to me; and never will be” he told her as he closed in.

“I can still be of use!” She said suddenly panicking.

“Sorry my dear” he replied calmly.

“It’s just not necessary anymore. But we had fun, didn’t we?”

Vanny backed up, her limbs feeling weak and heavy, her voice cracking with devastation. “Master please… I beg you!” She pleaded, falling to her knees.

“Shhh… it will be over soon enough” he shushed her as she fell into a fetal position, whimpering pathetically.

“I can still be of use!” She cried again, but it only made him mad. “Enough! I don’t want to hear your whiny little nonsense. You’re nothing but a stupid whiny pathetic brat! Now shut up!” He barked at her, causing her to lower her head with soft cries.

“Master…” she tried one last time but then was hit with a wave of agony as Afton slashed his arm right into her back, taking a chunk out of it almost instantly.

She was writhing on the floor, blood pouring out of the costume around her, her voice trapped in sickly gurgles.

“I-I’m s-sorry…” she sobbed, coughing weakly, barely being able to move anymore as her body fell limp.

“Now that the pest is out of the way… I can begin again. I always come back” he laughed with a smirk.

Chapter Text

The young woman had been walking back and forth for a while, hand on her chin as she spiraled into thought after thought. She had planned to meet up with Luis for the first time in a long time, even after weeks of talking about the phone and over face messaging, she hadn’t caught up with him physically for ages.

She had decided on inviting him over to her work as he had the night off and unfortunately for her, her apartment was getting renovated at that time due to an… incident with the oven… her cooking skills needed work, she had to admit.

So here she was, inside her hellscape once more, pacing around and keeping close by to her adopted sibling and his ten foot tall friends by Rockstar Row.

Though the entrance wasn’t too loud, the quietness was getting to her a little. Especially when the door to Rockstar Row opened revealing a hyper Gregory running out, his shoes echoing the hard tile floor.

“Hey little man, aren’t you hanging out with them tonight?” She asked him curiously. Gregory peered up with a wide grin. “Freddy told me you have a date!” He teased childishly.

Vanessa rolled her eyes with a scoff, though the colour of her cheeks blared pinker than before.

“Oh would you knock it off already? Luis and I are just friends, besides, we haven’t seen eachother for months.” She shrugged, turning away from Gregory’s smug smirk.

“Whatever you say Nessa, not like you two spent hours on your phones making googly eyes” he teased, making kissy faces at her.

She stiffened, face flushing with embarrassment “You’re so immature!” she scoffed back.

“Luis and Nessa sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” He sang, intentionally trying to annoy her now. “Really?” She deadpanned, unamused.

“Don’t you have a wolf to annoy?” She groaned, rubbing her temples. “I mean yeah, but you’re way funner to annoy!” He snickered.

“Yeah, ‘funner’ is not a word, Greg”

“Whatever” He shrugged standing right next to her. “So… what do you even plan on like, saying to the guy anyway?” He asked curiously.

Vanessa sighed tiredly and pondered this for moment. ‘Actually… what do I even begin with… a tour? A greeting? Meeting the other- no! That would be a disaster!’ As her thoughts spiraled, she heard her phone buzz.

“Ooooh lover boy’s texting you!” Gregory teased again. She grumbled something under her breath and checked her phone.

“Oh.” She said with surprise. “He’s two minutes away apparently!”

“Ooooo someone’s getting nervous!” Gregory teased again, causing her to finally get fed up. “Oh my god Gregory, shut up, go and play with Freddy or something!” She shooed him, stomping her feet impatiently.

Gregory simply laughed as he ran away back to Rockstar row, not before giving her a teasing smooch noise.

“Damn kids…” she groaned.

Luis had never felt so unsure in his life. Was this really where she worked now? And if so… something felt super off about it, like it contained some dark history or something. Still, he took in a deep breath and walked towards the door enterance to be greeted with a familiar face that made his heart melt. So many mixed feelings at once. Curiosity, fear, longing, happiness… sadness. Everything about her was the same but also different at the same time.

Luis walked in as the lights of the establishment nearly overwhelmed his senses. He could barely adjust his vision to the incredibly beautiful

To her . She stood  there in silence, hands cupped together almost shy. She put oher signature public smile as if he were merely a customer and not a friend.

Her heart was pounding so hard against her chest, she could swear it would be heard a mile away.

Whether these were feelings of anxiety, adoration or fear, she could barely form any words, standing there smiling at the tall dark skinned man and his familiar curly black hair. A sight so unreal that it almost felt like a dream he was even here… that she hadn’t actually gone through with-

She swallowed, blinking back the subtle tears at the back of her eyes over how much she missed him, seeing him in person was a whole different feeling of anxiety and excitement at the same time.

Luis almost had to hold back from crying, himself. The woman he had such a close bond to seemed so different, so fragile and yet still the same person he knew for a while; he never felt so warm seeing her again.

“Nessa!” He couldn’t hold back anymore. Immediately, he ran towards her and gave her a tight squeeze. She squeaked in surprise, her eyes wide as she stiffened from the sudden contact… but the warmth of his arms around her felt right. She let out a chuckle of surprise and slowly returned the hug.

She had not reazlied how much she needed this. But then of course her self consciousness got the better of her when the hug seemed to linger longer than she thought and her brain began buzzing with all kinds of worries. She stiffened with an awkward side glance; Luis realizing her discomfort, let go, smiling awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck.

Vanessa cleared her throat, keeping her neutral position.

“Hope the place wasn’t too hard to find” she began, her artificial smile returning.

Luis blinked for a moment before registering her voice. “Oh yeah yeah it took the GPS a few minutes but otherwise pretty simple” he said.

Vanessa let out a polite laugh and gestured towards the doorway to Rockstar Row. “Shall we?”

“Oh yeah, lead the way!” He said.

The sounds of footsteps on tile floor echoed the main hallway, both adults struggling to find their words. ‘ Are my pants on backwards? Do I have something on my face? Am I being suspicious?… am I being cold? I didn’t forget to put on deodorant right? No no I did this morning… wait how is he gonna react to everything? God… what am I doing?’ So many thoughts swam through her brain as she continued to lead the way.

Luis observed her rather professional demeanor as he thought that maybe she was just tolerating him?…

‘ Do I smell bad? Is my fly undone? Is my hair too messy? Am I coming off as creepy? I hope I’m not making her uncomfortable I mean we haven’t seen eachother for months…’

Luis’s own thoughts were buzzing around and he took a quick glance at her face when he could.

That’s when he noticed a few things that differed from the Ness he once knew.

He felt like he needed to hug her again. Seeing the dark rings around her eyes, her saggy tired expression, red eyes and her hair seemed halfway brushed under her cap.

“Hey Ness” he began, voice gentle enough to break away some of that hard shell left on her. She stopped, nervously awaiting his questions.

“Are you doing okay? You look exhausted” he asked with a caring voice.

She had to resist the urge to burst into tears and grab onto him, clearing her throat as her voice wavered slightly upon speaking up again. “Why- why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s just-“ before he could continue, a loud yell came from nearby, the voice of a boy yelling out triumphantly.

Gregory ran out of Freddy’s green room, panting, almost out of breath. Both adults wide eyed as they watched him laugh, coming to a stop to catch his breath.

“Ha…ha… Hey Nessa… ha!” He waved at her and then suddenly gasped noticing the gentleman standing next to her.

Vanessa could feel the warmth around the room growing, almost knowing exactly what was going to happen next.

“Oh, so this is your boyfr-“ Gregory began smugly,  only to get cut off and lightly shoved by a flustered Vanessa, glaring at him for a moment before staring up at Luis. “Gregory, this is Luis, Luis, Gregory”

Luis blinked before smiling at the boy, kneeling down to meet his height. “Hola Gregory, nice to meet you!”

Gregory smirked a little too hard at him, giving occasional playful side eyes at Nessa who was glaring side eyed daggers back at him.

“Lovely to meet your acquaintance good sir!” The boy replied in the most posh voice he could manage, doing a sort of exaggerated bow.

Vanessa held in a groan, getting her teeth.

“I didn’t know you had a kid, Ness” Luis began, a curious smile on his lips.

Immediately Gregory let out a long “Eewwww!” fake gagging as Vanessa shook her head frantically, trying to shake away her flushed cheeks at the same time. “Oh no no no no Gregory’s more like a sibling if anything”

“Ah I see, I didn’t know you had a sibling either” Luis winked playfully understanding.

“Yeah, well we’re not really siblings like blood related or anything” Gregory said with a shrug. Vanessa bit her tongue, cursing the fact that kids just said whatever was on their minds.

“Oh?” Luis looked at Vanessa curiously. She could feel a ball of panic starting to build up in her chest. “Oh uh yeah I kind of… adopted him” she turned away, rubbing the back of her neck nervously, awaiting the confused reaction. The more suspicious he’d get the more chances of losing him-

“Oh wow, Ness that’s amazing!” Luis beamed with astonishment.

Butterflies fluttered around her stomach as she stared wide eyed at him again. ‘Come again?…’

“You took him in all by yourself? You’re amazing!”

The praise was making her butterflies more frantic and she began to feel a little lightheaded. The way he smiled at her with that sunshine-like aura, the warmth he brought to the room, his calm and gentle voice, his gorgeous smile.

She felt like she could melt.

The worst part was that Gregory was here to witness her dumb awestruck smile, especially when she saw from the corner of her eyes that shit-eating grin across his face as he said something to Luis that came out muffled to her foggy brain.

‘He would make a great dad’ The blonde could feel her heart dropping into stomach over those thoughts ‘oh good god Ness, why are you thinking about this now, what is wrong with you?’

“Right Ness?” Gregory turned to Vanessa, his grin baring into her soul like

irritating consistent poking.

“Oh yeah she talks about you a lot!” Gregory emphasized the “A lot” part, flustering the poor woman even further. “HA HA HA! Kids huh?” She grinned a painful toothy grin, giving Gregory a threatening eye glance.

Luis chuckled, his face slightly darker. “I’m glad I wasn’t forgotten” he said sadly turning to Vanessa as she stared at him, sadness gleaming in her eyes.

They shared just a moment of staring into eachother’s eyes before the sound of metallic thumping erupted from behind.

“Gregory, I heard you speaking with Vanessa again-“ Freddy walked out and stared with round eyes at the stranger in the hallway. Luis froze, his brain short circuiting. Vanessa pressed a hand against her lips, both Gregory and Vanessa shared a look of worry.

“Freddy Fazbear…? The real Freddy Fazbear!” Luis gawked at the robot bear. Freddy waved politely. “Hello there, nice to meet you! You must be a friend of Officer Vanessa!” his voice raised up in an upbeat tone upon greeting the newcomer.

“Uh yeah” he rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to make of the situation.

“Wow… you’re very tall in person” he commented, Freddy’s lower eyelids raised to express happiness. “Hehe yes, but I assure you, I do not bite!”

Luis chuckled nervously, feeling the ground shake as Freddy walked over to all three humans.

“Hey Freddy!” Gregory waved casually at the bear. “Good evening Gregory” Freddy waved back and his stomach hatch made a sound of clicking and gears whirling into action as it opened, revealing the pushed back mechanics inside.

Luis instinctively gripped onto Vanessa’s hand, flinching at the sight of the boy squishing into the Bear’s open cavity.

“It’s okay, he’s- he’s done this thousands of times” Vanessa waves him off calmly, though her voice squeaks, from being touched so suddenly.

“Really?” Luis looks at her with concern. Vanessa simply smiles and nods.

“I apologize for the sudden introduction” Freddy said politely to Luis, a hand gently on his chest, as to not put too much weight on the chest cavity.

“Oh nah it’s fine” Luis replied a little more hesitant but also amused by how strangely polite and calm the advanced animatronic was.

“Well, I suppose it is time for a recharge” Freddy said, Gregory peeking through his chest again, eyes looking back at Nessa with curiosity.

“Oh uh good luck with that then!” Luis honestly didn’t know how to converse with the literal robot in front of him, but waved goodbye anyway, turning to the woman beside him with surprise.

“Are they all sentient like that or is this just like a programmed thing?” He whispered to her, making sure not to make anything awkward or uncomfortable.

“Uh kinda, I suppose they are in some way.” She replied with a shrug.

“Hey, little guy!” That gruff deep voice that made both taller humans flinch, Luis tightening his grip on Vanessa’s hand, holding back the instinct to shield her from the possible danger.

A tall green and intimidating alligator robot stomped out of his green room, walking towards them, his voice addressing Gregory only until he spotted the unfamiliar human standing hand to hand with Vanessa.

Monty’s jaw opened slowly like a grin stretching across his snout and he let out a curious growl.

Freddy waved his usual friendly wave. “Good evening Montgomery, it is nice to see you out of your room!” He commented. Luis’s eyes were fixed on the gruff terrifyingly toothy robotic reptile standing before them all. The gator huffed with a grin and adjusted his star-shaped glasses, tapping his foot casually.

“Don’t push yer luck there Fazbutt” he quipped, making Freddy’s stomach giggle.

Monty leaned down to grin wider at the stomach hatch. “There’s that little guy!”

“And here’s a big guy” Monty then pointed to Luis, who had honestly thought the gator didn’t even see him at first.

“Umm Montgomery Gator… right?”

Monty huffed with pride. “Th’ one an’ only!” He snarked.

“Oh boy…” Luis sighed to himself, feeling on edge.

“Okay can we get some privacy around here?” Vanessa groaned, her patience wearing thin especially with seeing Luis getting more uncomfortable.

Monty giggled lowly as Gregory opened Freddy to climb out, giving the gator a look.

“This ya catch of the week eh?” Monty teased, making Luis confused from the thickness of his accent. Vanessa glared and rolled her eyes again.

Just when she thought things wouldn’t get any more chaotic.

“OH MY GOSH!” The enthusiastic hen sprinted out of her Green Room at full speed, scaring the life out of Luis who was now shielding himself and Vanessa from Chica who was squealing with delight.

Luis found himself frozen with wide eyes when Chica had given him a tight squeeze, that he was not even expecting.

“God I am so so sorry about that.” Vanessa looked at him so guiltily, but even still recovering from the shock of suddenly being almost squeezed to death by a robot chicken but he just laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Uhh I definitely wasn’t expecting that”

“Chica! Don’t scare people like that!” Vanessa scolded the white hen causing her to pout sheepishly. “I’m sorry Vanessa, I’m just super-duper stoked to see a new friend come join us!”

her sickingly sweet voice beamed with the saccharine blend of over enthusiam and childlike patronizing.

Roxanne was not that far behind either. Childishly curious and trying to pretend to be cool about it. “Well, well well…”

Was he going insane? He could only stare slightly agape at yet another sentient robot, a wolf this time with long unruly hair and bright yellow eyes.

“Welcome to the Pizzaplex, you must be Luis huh?” Roxanne introduced cooly.

“Umm you’re Roxanne Wolf and uhh thanks…” he replied, not knowing whether to shake her… claws? Or not.

“I am so sorry about all of this…” Vanessa said again, hoping he wouldn’t be scared off at this point.

“Honestly I’m just more surprised if anything… a little freaked out at first but umm… you guys seem cool so…”

Luis had began blabbering on, trying to make peace with the situation.

He didn’t even know what was happening at all, but he wanted to stay strong for her.

“How about I take you somewhere else maybe show you some of the attractions?” Vanessa suggested, hurriedly steering him away from the commotion of excitable robots.

“Oh um sure” he replied just as awkward as she was.

“Okay now have we all met? Great! excuse us for a moment!” Vanessa had rushed herself and Luis off to a nearby staff room, away from all the chaos.

As the robots waved goodbye, Vanessa not looked back and instead made her way to a staff room in Rockstar row.

When they got into the room and she was sure they were out of earshot from the others she let out a frustrated groan, rubbing her face with regret.

“Luis I… I’m really sorry about-“ the shame trickled out of her voice, she couldn’t even look at him without feeling like the world was about to swallow her whole.

“Ness what are you talking about? That’s probably the oddest and coolest experience I’ve ever had!” Luis grinned widely at her like an excited child, getting to see actual sentiment robots like a once in a life time opportunity.

Vanessa’s face flushed again, her eyes wide with surprise… she hadn’t scared him away. “You… you’re not freaked out?”

She asked in disbelief.

“I mean a little but I guess because it’s not something you see everyday, but hey I’m just really glad to see you again to be completely honest.” Luis turned to her, his glass like ocean-blue eyes putting her in a trance for a moment. The butterflies in both their stomachs were swarming.

“Yeah… me too” Vanessa replied quietly. She hadn’t been this shy for long time.

There was a moment of silence between them before Luis had gently grabbed her hands which she was already instinctively thinking of doing with his.

All her worries, all her fears, everything melted away for a brief moment. Her eyes becoming wide and glossy, her heart beating so fast she could hear it, and more butterflies swarming around circles in her stomach.

Luis’s eyes were stinging with tears, a deep look of longing in them.

“Ness.” He began. She swallowed, her body warmer than usual. “Yeah?”

“Can I tell you something?”

He asked quietly.

“Go ahead.”

“I’ve never been able to tell you, especially from the start of our friendship and when you left for that long period of time.” Luis began, his heart hurting at the memory of her leaving so suddenly, not wanting to talk to him anymore.

His face went darker, and his breathing heavy.

“… You’re the only person I’ve always really ever felt connected with on a deep level.”

Vanessa couldn’t stop a tear rolling down her cheek. Her self hating inner voice becoming quiet for once.

She couldn’t find words to reply with, her brain was pent up with so much emotion it was almost impossible to find the right words.

“And I’ve always found myself thinking about you and how amazing you are, how beautiful you are, how much I want to make you smile… I couldn’t even believe that we came back in contact again, I thought I was too creepy and weird and that you were just trying to be polite.” He laughed. “But you never cease to amaze me” Luis poured his heart out like the hopeless romantic he was. “What I’m trying to say is… I’m really glad we reconnected again, I’m really glad that we’re still friends.” His eyes reflected tears just sitting there, waiting to fall.

Vanessa was frozen, her mind blurring in a state of surprise. She did smile, a teary smile but still a smile nonetheless.

That fuzzy warmth inside her chest that gave her a boost of dopamine, her heart burning with warmth of this realization.

The deep engrossed feeling that she couldn’t quite understand.

The past… the past that she had been avoiding talking about to anyone, pretending that everything was okay now, the virus was gone; she was free, but the truth was it was never that simple…

Vanessa let out a shaky sigh, fearful memories of death and the voice in the back of her mind resurfacing in blurry pictures, barely comprehensible anymore but still lingering in her head like a parasite.

“Ness… I know something must’ve happened to you, all your emails and search history pop ups within the company search logs. I was really worried about you, and I never brought this up to the company. I never got any replies from you and so I assumed it was something I did to scare you. For that, I’m sorry…”

She let out a shaky sigh.

“Luis, I’m sorry I never told you why I ghosted you and left so quickly and all the weird shit I said before with the emails… but I was terrified…” she looked down.

“I’m still terrified. I wasn’t myself back then and I…I…”

He squeezed her hands tighter.

Her green eyes flashed towards him, her pale complexion shining in the light near them.

“I-I’m not okay…”

Her lips quivered.

Luis’s face fell with worry and he slowly began to wrap his arms around her.

“It’s okay not to be okay Nessa.”

Her body was trembling and her breath shuddering.

Tears rolling down her cheeks like waterfalls.

Luis held onto her tightly while she cried into his shirt, body wracking with pent up grief and anxiety. She held on for dear life, her heart hurting.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I… I never wanted to leave th-the I… I.. I’m sorry I had no choice and I… sometimes I just want to die, and just leave it all behind, but I just can’t be alone, I-I don’t want to be alone anymore, please don’t go- I-!” She stammered incoherently, her voice blathering with sobs as he gently rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.

“Shhh shhh, I’m here. I promise. I’m not going anywhere.”

She looked up at him with glossy eyes, feeling completely vulnerable. “No matter what, even if it takes a lifetime or even if you never feel better, I’m going to be there for you. I want to be there for you Ness…” he said confidently, his lips curled into a gentle smile.

She recovered from her breakdown for a moment and stared up at him, caught in another trance.

‘You don’t deserve him…’

Luis brushed a strand of her hair as she swallowed with trembling lips. He looked deep into her eyes. This poor girl… I don’t know what she’s been through but I want to help her… I have to help her…

“I’m so glad you didn’t give up.” He sniffled, trying to hide his tears, he had to be the strong one right now.

She swallowed, lips trembling and grabbed his hands in hers. The warmth of his body heat making the cold barrier around her heart melt away.

She found herself stuck in a trance, unable to focus on anything else.

Is this… what it actually feels like?

She felt like she was drowning beneath her own heart beats.

“Nessa?”

“Yes, Luis?”

“Are you okay with this?” He asked, though vague and quiet, she knew exactly what he was asking.

Her cheeks burned a little redder, but she ended up nodding with a gentle smile, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

In a midst of silence both of them found themselves slowly getting closer face to face, lips parted and both their eyes closed, their hearts were raging through their chests and the their minds starting to fade into a dreamlike state when-

“Hey Vanessa? Do you have the keys for the stash of pizza I’m not allowed to-“ Chica had walked right into the room and shut up almost immediately upon seeing the two with their lips in close proximity. Chica’s eyes widened and both Vanessa and Luis turned right at her like deer caught in headlights.

Chica gasped and held onto her beak while a very squeaky whine of awe escaped her like an excited school girl.

Vanessa’s face was the colour of Monty’s hair and Luis’s dark brown skin became half the tone of a tomato. He coughed into his sleeve and smiled awkwardly, waving at her.

“Chica!” Vanessa snapped.

“Do you mind!?”

“Oopsies! Sorry, sorry!” Chica rushed out of the room, suppressing giggles and more squeals of awe.

Immediately both adults separated away from eachother, Vanessa clearing her throat awkwardly while trying to recover her professional demeanor.

Luis straighten himself up, fixing his wrinkled shirt and smiled, biting his lips.

Vanessa sucked in a deep breath and turned back to him gathering what little confidence she had and left a small peck on his cheek with a rather shy stance.

“Thank you” she said to him.

“W-what for?” He stammered, surprised.

“For coming into my life.” She looked at him sincerely, her soft tearful gaze lighting up his world.

“Gracias to you too Nessa…” he said breathlessly, his face completely enveloped with a goofy grin.

Chapter Text

Montgomery Gator sighed, rubbing his hard shell of a head and ruffling his claw through his red Mohawk as he turned to the mirrror. His mouth was shut and he didn’t even attempt to use his voice box.

He didn’t even feel like smashing anything either.

Though everyone else would see this as an improvement since he hadn’t trashed his room for a long time.

Monty saw this as a huge drop in himself… but then almost something like a shock to his system, not good nor bad.

What had happened was something that really stuck out to the hotheaded reptillian machine.

That day, a little girl had approached him after a while of patrons leaving the golf course. They barely even wanted to be near Monty at all. Not that he would blame him; so seeing a small child looking up at his monstrous mouth with a huge grin was very different.

This little girl was smaller than the average kids that visited Monty Golf, she looked to be maybe six or seven, was wearing a Monty-themed T-shirt and a pair of dark blue jean-shorts. She had small light freckles on her brown skin and her curly black hair was tied up in ball-shaped ponytails. She wore the biggest toothiest grin on her face, looking up at Monty like a monument.

That gator had stood still, observing the young girl and couldn’t even process what happened next. The young girl had run up right next to him and wasn’t even afraid like he suspected. Instead she beamed her shiny hazel eyes right to his snout like he was the most amazing thing she had ever seen and then asked politely to be picked up onto his lap.

Hesitatantly, he did so, when no one else was watching. He had playfully threatened the girl that if she stayed any longer in his lap he’d “eat her whole” but she simply giggled, kicking her legs. This was surprising for him to say the least. How wasn’t she scared of him?

“I like allgigators” She chirped, mispronouncing his modeled species.

“They’re ma favourite aminals” she continued, mixing up the word “Animals” next. Monty could see her playfully bumping up and down in his lap, excited.

Curious, he leaned a little closer to the child.

“Is that so eh? what do ya like most about gators?” He asked.

“I like to swim like them and eat fish and other meat, but so also have big teeths like them too!” She explained showing her teeth to him.

A small deep chuckle escaped the Gator’s voice box. “We had gummy gators in my house once!” The little girl continued, rambling on and on. “One time I went to the Bayou and saw a big gator like you! Everyone was scared except me!” She grinned proudly.

“I bet they were” Monty chortled back.

“But you’re my favourite gator! So cool! and you dress like a rockstar!” She had stars in her eyes over him.

“Huh… well I…” Monty was at a loss for words. He’s never been someone’s favourite, everyone was either too scared to go near him or they despised him for replacing Bonnie. “Of course I dress like that because I am a rockstar!” He said, puffing up his chest.

The little girl laughed such a soft and happy giggle. This sent a wave of warmth through him.

She paused for a moment, making herself more comfortable on Monty’s lap. Her round eyes looked right up at him with an expression of sadness.

“People are scared of you, huh?” She asked.

Monty sighed with a slow nod. “There’s a lotta… dislike about me, kiddo, not just fear.”

“Why? Doesn’t everyone know that you would never hurt Bonnie! Why would they think you hurt him?” She asked, resting her small hand on one of his claws.

Monty shifted uncomfortably in his chair, feeling the coolants in his interior malfunction for a moment. The warmth of someone who actually wanted to be in his presence was breaking down his walls.

“Hey…” he began steering the conversation in a different direction, hoping to stop thinking about his fuzzy memories of Bonnie.

“Hows about a game o’ golf eh?” He suggests, ruffling her hair playfully.

The girl giggles and jumps off Monty’s lap, continuing to look at the gator with a big smile.

Monty pauses when he notices two adults running up to the little girl with fear in their eyes.

“Mama, daddy!” She immediately rushed towards the two adults as they stared up at Monty with horrified expressions.

“Lyla! What in the world do you think you’re doing, young lady?!” The man cried, shielding his daughter from the towering robot reptile.

“Lyla! Stay away from that thing!” The mother exclaimed in panic, holding back Lyla who was grumpily struggling to escape her mother’s grip.

“I swear if this monster put a claw on my babygirl, I’m suing this place for all it’s worth!” Lyla’s father pointed accusingly at Monty who simply stood there with a vacant expression. Lyla quickly stood up in front of her parents before they could react and shielded Monty as if her parents were capable of destroying him where he stood.

“No, daddy, he didn’t do nothing to me! He’s my friend!” Lyla smiled at Monty who lowered his glasses to give a small wink and muttered the words “You betcha, lil Rocker!” Playfully.

Lyla giggled and her parents just looked at eachother dumbfounded.

“Lyla… “ the dad crouched down to his daughter, getting close to her ear. “we don’t want you sneakin’ off so you can play with some creepy machine!” He pointed at Monty again, this he hear perfectly well but didn’t so much as flinch towards the comment.

“That thing is dangerous!” Her mother added, pulling her back to her arms.

“Mama stop it! You’re hurtin’ his feelings!” Lyla struggled to pull away from her parents, her voice cracking with distress. Her father sighed, gently stroking his daughter’s hair “Robots don’t have feelings, sweetheart” he told her.

Lyla flinched, heartbroken by her father’s words.

“He didn’t do anything to me, Mama, we were just-“ Lyla got pulled away again this time by both parents who kept a close glare on Monty who contemplated what to do next.

“Let me at least say goodbye!” Lyla pulled out her mothers grip and turned to Monty one last time with a saddened expression. “I’m sorry, Monty!” She sniffled, being steered in the other direction as the Gator simply waved with a sad smile. “So long lil Lyla, keep on rockin’ out there!” He said with a tongue click noise. Lyla gasped with delight and before she could even get another full glance, she was pulled back. Both parents rushed their daughter out of the area while her mother muttered something in disgust under her breath and the father looked back to keep a eye on Monty.

The Gator crossed his arms staring back at the father. The man stopped, staring back, eyes wide. Monty, lowered his glasses to reveal his bright red glowing eyes and then let out a sharp hiss which caused the man to turn around and walk faster with a light whimper of fright.

As he smirked, satisfied in scaring the two adults, waited till no other faces were around and then sighed, frowning.

“So close, yet so far”

shaking his head, Monty started to walk away from the current area and towards the stairs to the catwalks, avoiding any posibility of running into displeased guests and haters alike.

Big green arms rested on bars, looking over the golf course in all its’ glory. He simply stayed there like a statue, listening to the fake ambience and constant gator hisses coming from below.

It was always pretty empty at Gator Golf.

As he thought about the past, he continued thinking about Lyla and had some strange thoughts towards Gregory at the same time. Was this how Freddy felt with Gregory? The need to protect and be there for a child that found so much adoration in him?

Was he really this lonely?

Was he really this guilty?

He couldn’t remember a damn thing that happened with Bonnie, all he knew is that he still found it difficult to enjoy Freddy’s company from time to time for some reason.

“Lyla…” Monty stared down at his scratched desk and around his wrecked room.

How she would have felt about his destruction… his temper… his vile attitude.

Such a sweet and brave child, didn’t even hesitate… it didn’t make sense to him.

Why him?

Maybe one day… one day he would get answers.

Chapter Text

Two men dressed in all black hushed one another in the dead of night; their dark presence illuminated by a small pen light.

As they fiddled with a sack, giving hand signals to one another, they pointed the small light to the hinges of the closed apartment door.

The pale man in his black ski mask nodded back and took out what looked like a crowbar from the sack.

The other man pointed to the rim of the door of the apartment.

“Hurry up already” the first man grumbled under his breath, as the other glared back, sticking the crowbar into the hinges of the door.

The door hinges creaked and slowly revealed the door from its’ lock, opening into the dark apartment.

The two men couldn’t see either one’s faces very well, but they both smirked, satisfied.

They slowly and quietly shut the apartment door as to not close it completely but to make sure they weren’t out in the open anymore.

The room barely lit up with dark blue from the moonlight seeping into the windows but it was lighter than the hallway.

“Okay, Russ, find any valuables you can.” The darker skinned gentleman whispered to his paler companion. The pale man nodded in response and slowly crouched over with his pen light to what looked like a tv and the shelf it sat on.

The other man grabbed his own pen light and shone it nearby the barely visible kitchen. He gingerly reached his hand in the sack they used to carry the crowbar and pulled out a black pistol, making sure to hold the gun on the handle and gently enough to not drop it to the tile floor.

He flinched when he heard his partner, Russ lightly make a slight tinker of a glass object. He shushed him in irritation and Russ put his hands up in defense. “Sorry boss.”

Russ’ boss turned back to the kitchen and saw what looked like a perfectly good and clean chopping knife just sitting on the bench, the small sliver of light reflecting off its’ shiny blade.

He picked up the knife curiously, thinking it was a little odd to keep a knife laying out like this, and perhaps he could use it for extra defense but he scoffed, looking down at his gun, and left the knife on the bench.

“Harv” Russ whispered out, suddenly frozen.

The man turned around to face his partner, rolling his eyes at his nervousness.

“What is it?” He said with little less than a mumble.

Russ pointed to the hallway leading to the tv room, right where they were and put his lips on his mouth, looking directly at Harv. “You hear that?” Russ whispered, slowly creeping towards Harv.

Harv paused and listened in the dead silence, hearing what now sounded like creaking footsteps on carpet.

“Shit.”

Harv hissed. “Get the gun.” He turned to Russ, not hesitating.  Russ stopped and nodded, rustling with the sack and retrieving another pistol.

Harv and Russ paused, staring at the hallway, now confused as they held their pistols respectively.

“You said no one was home!” Harv whisper shouted at Russ who flinched, offended. “Just shoot them” he shrugged.

Harv growled at his partner and saw a shadow approaching from the hallway…. only it didn’t look entirely human.

The shadowy figure stood in the hallway like a statue, the head showing two long ear-like shapes on top.

Suddenly the apartment burst to life as the lights beamed into the room, partially blinding the two men.

The shadow was now more visible, despite the hallway light still being off, yet the kitchen and tv room lights were lit up like the Fourth of July.

Harv squinted his eyes, still recovering from the sudden brightness. He saw two strange glowing lemon-shaped red eyes coming from the dark silhouette and what looked like Bunny ears now, like someone wearing a bunny suit.

It was almost absurd.

“Okay, you furry freak, come out so we can shoot you!” Harv pointed his gun at the rabbit shape.

The figure stood still and then the lights died again.

A giggle echoed the apartment as both men looked around, frantically trying to recover from the sudden darkness.

Just as they turned off, the lights flashed back on again and both men found themselves covering their eyes again. “God fucking dammit!” Russ seethed in pain.

Harv turned to the kitchen when he heard a noise of footsteps sneaking behind him and noticed something off.

The knife was gone.

“Did you pick up the-“ Harv began and was suddenly interrupted by a sound coming from his partner. Russ had his mouth open like a fish and he let out what sounded like a croaked scream, loud enough to echo the room.

Harv jumped up, keeping tight grip on his pistol.

Russ let out a gasp of breath as a figure emerged from behind him, crouched. The white rabbit was now in full view, a knife in her hand, tearing out of Russ’s back, already stained in his blood.

Harv wasted no time and held the trigger, firing a bullet right at her. The rabbit gasped and then the lights died again.

“What the fuck?” He span around, aiming his gun around the room blindly. “You fucking coward!”

“Did you have fun yet?”

A distorted voice said in the darkness.

“What the fuck is going on?” Harv shouted, his heart pumping against his ribs, his grip on the pistol beginning slipping from his now sweaty palms.

He could still faintly hear his partner, writhing on the floor, groaning.

A sharp hot pain shot through Harv’s back as he yelled out, only now his screams were muffled by the taste of dirty cloth, as he tried to push away the fabric from his mouth but could feel a tight grip on his head, making him feel faint as the warmth of something liquid starting trickling down his back, bringing with it the searing throbbing of cut flesh.

He saw them. Two bright red angled eyes on a big smiling bucktoothed figure.

“Game over, boys”

She giggled, as Harv held the gun to her face, trying as hard as he could to push the trigger, but his hands seemed to be made of spaghetti when he found it too hard to move them to even hold the pistol anymore. Harv slowly started to drop as the pain spread throughout his entire body.

The lights turned back on again as the rabbit held up Harv’s chin, ripping off his mask as his tired amber eyes stared up weakly, eyelids flickering with any last strength.

When he looked down he realized she had cut him in multiple places, leaving dark open gashes all around. “You… crazy… bitch…” he uttered, trying to blindly search for the gun with dying sight.

Russ watched in horror as his partner fell to the floor next to his face, his eyes lifelessly staring right at him.

Russ weakly tried to get up, but was pushed down by the rabbit, right into the wound on his back which caused him to shriek with pain.

She ripped off his mask and stared him right in the face, cocking her head to the side.

“Naughty boys!”

She giggled again before swiftly slashing at Russ’s throat leaving a spray of red all over her mask and another lifeless body to bleed out on the kitchen floor.

“Oopsies! Look at this mess!” She huffed, shaking her head as if what she was staring at was merely just a spill of water.

Vanessa came to and her eyes barely adjusted to the horrific scene in front of her eyes. She ripped off the mask and immediately dropped the knife in her blood soaked gloves.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck…” she muttered, teeth clenched and eyes the size of saucers.

“Oh god what the fuck, what the fuck!” She muttered, shaking her head in disbelief.

‘ Oh relax, would you?’ That dreaded awful grading in her ears… that horrible childlike sadistic whispery voice…

“No… you- you’re supposed to be-“ Vanessa felt her legs go numb and her blood ran cold beneath her skin.

‘Not even a thank you?’

“W-what-“

‘You absolute dumbass, I got rid of invaders for us, you’re welcome.’ Vanny said proudly with an audible grin.

“You- What huh…” Vanessa was completely dumbfounded.

She stared down at the bodies, feeling her throat fill with acid. She took in a deep breath and began to speak to Vanny. “Why do you expect me to thank you after all the shit you put me through?”

She argued.

Vanny simply scoffed, offended. ‘A little gratitude might be nice’

Vanessa stumbled back, her face contorted with all kinds of mixed emotions.

“But… but I thought I defeated him… Gregory, he… we stopped him!” She rambled, her hands beginning to shake with regret.

‘You think I still work for that pathetic entity?’ Vanny’s voice was basically spitting in her ears, leaving behind venom.

“What?”

‘Gregory didn’t just free you from his control.’

The world seemed to stand still with Vanessa watching it collapse under her very skin. Her body went cold as if submerged in icy cold water and she could feel tears building up in her eyes.

‘Don’t be so rash, I’m bored of the whole ‘murdering kids for remnant’ schtick’ Vanny explained like it was a simple pastime hobby. Vanessa felt sick to her stomach being reminded of that.

‘I’m thinking more of a vigilante of sorts… protecting my… vessel from death and crime. We can’t lose with us working together now, can we?’

Vanny giggled with delight explaining this new plan of hers.

“What? Are you fucking kidding me?!” Vanessa seethed at her parasite.

‘Oh don’t be so dramatic, you and I both know how useful we could be, now that we have our own free will, right?’ 

Vanny explains this calm as ever.

Vanessa held her head in her hands, fighting back an incoming panic attack.

‘Tell you what-‘ Vanny began with an impatient huff. ‘ I’ll only hunt down criminals, no kids and no innocents. How about that?’

But Vanessa could still not speak, unable to hear her own mind reeling as it turned into a high pitched noise canceling whine, like a bomb had just gone off nearby.

‘Well? Do we have a deal?’

Vanessa snapped back to reality and nearly tore her hair out, gripping her white knuckles on the rabbit’s head, trying to dig her nails into it.

“Fine.” She said finally, she had enough already.

Chapter Text

Gregory hadn’t told his new family about the truth of his home life. Or lack there of. Not even Vanessa or his robotic father-figure so to speak knew this.

One night, Freddy had been playing cards with the boy when he noted that he hadn’t gone home for a while, deciding to come into the plex every night to be with them… it was odd to Freddy, surely by now he would have a family to go back to, right?

“Gregory… it is getting late. Perhaps you should go home and get some much needed rest.” Freddy suggested quietly. The boy flinched, shaking his head. “Nah, I don’t need rest right now, too bored…” he replied with a shrug.

Freddy hummed in thought, continuing to play with the boy.

“Gregory… you are getting tired, I can tell” Freddy looked down as the boy began to rub his eyes and stifled a yawn.

“I’m just bored” he grumbled back, avoiding eye contact.

“Perhaps your parents can-“ he was immediately cut off.

“Oh hey look! I got three pairs, look!” He said suddenly, showing his matching cards to Freddy.

The bear smiled. “Then perhaps it is time we declare the winner of tonight’s ’Go Fish’ session” He said with a bounce in his step. Gregory smiled, satisfied.

“Welp, ’m gonna go see sun and moon” the boy said almost immediately as he got off the floor. “Gregory, please be careful not to tire yourself out” Freddy called after him after seeing him sprint out of the room.

Freddy couldn’t even get a word in before he saw Gregory wave to him and run off to his next destination.

As the boy sped-walked to get to the daycare, he pondered about everything he had gone through and how things still felt slightly on edge… yet he could slow down a lot more now that he wasn’t being chased by killer robots and possessed grownups alike.

The daycare attendant had his circuits overheat and could’ve sworn he would go into override over the amount of picky little brats trying to make his hard job even harder. He could almost hear Moon’s laughter in the back of his mind, the nocturnal AI grateful to not have to deal with the energy of the daycare and instead found joy in having them quiet during nap time. (And sometimes even scaring them)

Sun did love kids, but he couldn’t handle them ALL the time… the stress would almost cause him to scream at them, that of which he tried desperately to avoid.

And although that “Rule breaker” was now part of the “family” in someway, Gregory grew on him after a while, especially since the kid was definitely old enough to not worry about getting too messy or tuck that big of tantrums… he mainly just stuck around Freddy and the others anyway, which was fine by Sun, but it did get lonely in the daycare at times too, even with Moon whispering to him.

He couldn’t help that jolt of energy boosting his battery power when Gregory had hesitatantly entered the daycare alone.

“Hello Gregory friend!” Sun greeted with an enthusiastic cheer, causing the boy to flinch slightly. “Hey Sun…” he sighed with a limp expression.

Sun’s head rotated and he slumped towards the boy. “Is everything okay, friend?” He asked with a quiet tone.

Gregory groaned and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m so bored…” he whined. Sun sat upright again with an “Oh!”

“Well, have I got some fun things for us to do!”

Sun clapped, suddenly gathering enthusiasm.

Finally! Just what the doctor ordered, something to quench his loneliness!

“No google eyes and craft stuff, something else”

Gregory interrupted already expecting Sun’s suggestion.

“Aw that’s no fun! But okay. How about soooome glitter glue-“

“Ugh, no! That stuff gets everywhere!” Gregory grumbled again, rolling his eyes rudely.

Sun huffed, hands on his hips. “Well fine! What do you wanna do then?” He asked impatiently.

Gregory thought for a moment and then a smirk grew on his face. “Let’s go to the arcade!” He suggested.

“What? No! Terrible idea, terrible!” Sun replied harshly. “Too far and too many violent games for your age!”

Gregory raised an eyebrow at Sun, arms crossed. “Seriously?”

“Yes! An eight year old boy like yourself should not be playing shooting games like Fazerblast anyway!” Sun explained strictly.

Gregory gawked at him, offended.  “I’m not eight years old!”

“Well then, nine year olds-“ Sun replied correcting himself.

“Ugh I’m twelve!” Gregory barked back.

Sun’s gears stopped for a moment as if the words were processing into his circuits.

“WHAT?!” He shrieked, dramatically  jumping back in surprise.

“No no that’s wrong! That can’t be right, you’re far too small to be twelve!”

Gregory looked away ignoring the hurt in his chest and huffed, trying to regain confidence.

“Well tough, I’m twelve okay? Big surprise!” Gregory started to get irritable from the overreaction.

“But- you’re so small and-and your stature is not right for a boy your age!” Sun’s voice stammered, a worried tone enveloped.

“Do your folks not feed you? Oh no this is bad, very bad!” Sun said more to himself than to the boy. “Whatever.” Gregory replied crossly.

“I gotta go anyway, I promised Roxy I’d try some go-kart races, later.”

Sun gasped, bewildered.

“B-but…” Sun tried to protest, but Gregory had already left.

Sun slumped forward. “Was it something I said?”

He asked aloud. Moon hummed in thought at this. ‘Something is very suspicious about the boy, isn’t it?’ He sighed.

“Ah, right on time there, kid” Roxy smiled with satisfaction, her arms on her hips.

“You ready to lose?” Gregory smiled evilly, pointing at her. Roxanne laughed, her snout pointed to the ceiling. “Don’t wanna burst your bubble kid, but I never lose!” She said, squinted her eyes down to his level. “Ha! We’ll see about that!” Gregory challenged, folding his arms confidently.

Roxanne’s tail wagged as she laughed. “Well then, may the best racer win!”

She and Gregory shared a light fist bump before they both made their way to their respective karts.

Gregory had definitely taken the wolf by surprise, maybe her circuits were a little rusty, maybe her battery was depleted, but whatever happened, Gregory had chosen the element of surprise and overpassed her by going backwards into the finish line when he got turned around.

Roxy had to admire the kid for his tricks and determination, she didn’t even get pressed that she was beaten fair and square, instead she was actually sort of proud.

“Well kid, you definitely got me that time” she said cooly as Gregory celebrated to himself. “Your parents would be proud” she commented. Immediately Gregory’s face soured. “No they wouldn’t” he muttered quietly out of earshot. “See ya” he replied out loud instead.

Roxy blinked in confusion for a moment, especially with how Gregory reacted, with such an abrupt departure.

“Hey wait, where are-“ Roxy huffed, confused.

“Hey kid, where are you going? Gregory?” She was ignored and instead of chasing after him, the wolf stood there, ignoring the hurt of being rejected and instead feeling suspicious about his reaction.

“Somethin’ going on with that kid…” she said with a shake of her head.

Gregory was grumbling to himself as he walked past a few curious staffbots. The security bots he had once been trying to avoid now not caring about them as they looked at him with slight head tilts. “What are you looking at, weirdos?” He scoffed at them who looked at eachother and then quietly rolled away, not wanting to start any confrontation.

“Stupid Roxy, stupid Sun, Stupid Freddy…” he grumbled again, kicking around an empty can of fizzyfazz. “Your folks would be so proud” he mocked in an exaggerated voice.

“Psh’ yeah right…” he muttered under his breath, a pain in his chest causing lines of tears to appear in his eyes but quickly wiped them away.

Gregory paused in fright when he heard what sounded like some very strange and creepy moaning and gurgling coming from nearby.

The robotic feminine giggles and sounds of objects hitting the floor with the rustling of a plastic bag.

Gregory winced with realization and peered around the corner for his theory to be confirmed.

There Chica was, indulging in one of her worst and filthiest habits, eating from the trash again or at least, putting trash in her non-organic body somehow.

The fact that she was always seemingly obsessively happy about it made Gregory think about the trash compactor incident… he shook his head from the wave of guilt and instead tried to ignore what was happening, only for his foot to kick yet another empty fizzyfazz can.

Chica gasped, startled and her head turned right around on her body; unintentionally freaking the boy out.

“Gregory!” Chica gasped, turning her head back around and standing up immediately, hands behind her back as something of an empty can dropped against the floor very obviously loud.

“Heya sweet pea, did you need something?” Chica asked with her bottom eyelids raised, her voice beckoning as sweetly as usual.

Gregory looked over at the pile of trash behind her and then back at her awkwardly not knowing what to say. “Uhh… no I was just walking by…”

Chica must’ve picked up on his reaction because she immediately forced a giggle. “Oh this? Oh , I was just cleaning up the trash hehe!” She said in a voice too quickly and too high pitched to seem honest. Gregory raised an eyebrow not believing her lies, especially with all the gunk on her beak and her chest like a dirty bib.

In a moment of silence, she suddenly leaned down to face Gregory who almost fell back how sudden it was, and she began wringing her hands together anxiously.

“Okay, okay so I went rummaging again, please PLEASE don’t tell Vanessa or any of the others! Please! they’ll all think badly of me!”

She rambled looking around her to make sure no one had seen or heard them.

“I won’t tell” Gregory told her plainly if not bored.

Chica sighed in relief and pet the boy’s shoulder thankfully. “Aw thanks Greg, you’re a real friend!” She said sweetly.

“Okay sure…” Gregory turned away, brushing the dirt from her hands off his shoulder.

“Wait a moment- aren’t you supposed to be asleep?” Chica asked in realization.

Gregory paused with a sigh.

“Ugh why is everyone obsessed with me getting sleep?” He groaned.

“Well, you’re only a young boy, sleep is healthy for growing kids like you!” Chica explained in a joyful tone.

“I’m not a baby!” He growled harshly. Chica was taken aback for a moment. “Hey it’s okay sweety, we’re just looking after you, that’s all!” She replied.

“I can look after myself… I’ve being doing it since-“ Gregory’s eyes widened as he realized he was about to spill some very personal information. He quickly stopped himself hoping Chica would be too short circuiting from all the trash rummaging to notice.

Chica did not.

“Looking after yourself? All by yourself? What about your parents-“ The bird said worriedly only for Gregory turn around with anger. “Would you shut up? Just leave me alone!”

He stormed off, hiding the tears in his eyes from Chica as the Bird let out a sad “bawk?” And called out to Gregory. “Gregory!” She tried to catch up to him, but he quickened his pace, leaving her to stand a few feet away, sadly contemplating what just happened.

He could now feel his nose starting to run from holding back the tears, and his throat was killing him. He sniffled, his head hanging low while trying to avoid the gazes of anymore staff bots around, hoping that maybe if he snuck around to get to Freddy’s green room without anyone noticing, he’d be Scott free. He could just sleep it off and feel better in the morning and never have to think about it again… never again…

That’s when he bumped right into a green wall that grunted in surprise upon impact. His heart stopped momentarily as the star-shaped glasses attached to a thick green snout peered down at him.

“Hey, little guy!” Monty greeted loudly with his gruff deep voice.

“Oh god, Monty you scared me!” Gregory held a hand on his chest, backing up from the gator who chuckled lightly. “Shouldn’t ya be sleepin’ now kid?” He asked, crossing his arms, tail swishing behind him.

“That’s where I’m going now… so” Gregory tried to speed walk away, right to the staff door. “Whoa whoa whoa, little guy, where you goin’? The green rooms are that way” Monty gestured to the other direction.

Gregory stopped and thought in dread that he wouldn’t be able to outrun the gator, not with all this emotional baggage pent up inside him.

“I was… just taking a shortcut.” He said before Monty laughed and grabbed a gentle hold of his arm. “Come on kid, let’s get ya to bed huh?” Monty unintentionally roughly turned Gregory towards the direction of the green rooms, Gregory feeling his heart beat against his chest as he realized he would have to run into Freddy again and then eventually the others who already saw him run away when that stupid topic was brought up again.

“Do ya want a piggy back ride? Or ‘n this case a gator-back ride?” Monty suggested, pointing his back low down at Gregory’s level.

“No… it’s fine I can-“ A yawn betrayed him. “I- I can walk.”

Monty however wasn’t convinced. “Gator-back ride it is” Gregory yelped lightly as Monty lifted him up onto his back. Gregory feeling the cold plastic shell on his hands and feeling his body go higher than normal.

It was actually kind of cool. He couldn’t lie.

“Gee Kid, you’re pretty light for an adolescent” Monty commented. “Uh yeah…” Gregory said quietly.

“How old are ya again?” Monty asked curiously. “Twelve…” Gregory replied barely audibly.

“Twelve? Geesh you’re thin as a twig, you eat nothin’ but veggies or somethin’ at ya folks place?”

Monty gasped with sudden surprise as Gregory jumped right off his back and ran the opposite direction, catching the gator off guard. “Hey wait a sec, Greg, come back!” But Gregory had entered the staff-only door and rushed to see the only person who wouldn’t make a huge deal of his age and the other thing, she would be far too preoccupied for that and frankly, she had her own demons to deal with anyway.

Vanessa started to nod off at her desk, checking the clock every now and then for how long it was till her shift would be over, even though she knew Gregory was safe enough with Freddy and the others now… it still lingered in the back of her mind about the kids’s traumatic experiences.

It was rather quiet in the security room apart from the air conditioner blasting the room in the corner and or course the obnoxious pan of the security cameras cutting through the computer speakers.

Leaning on her hand in absolute boredom checking the cameras again and again; Vanessa flinched by the sudden knock at the security door.

She got up with a sigh and leaned against the door “who is it?” She asked.

“It’s just me Nessa” Gregory answered in a low tone. Vanessa softened and smiled, opening the door for him. “Come on in.”

“So what brings you to my office, little man?” Vanessa asked him, sitting on the computer chair, legs crossed and facing him as he sat on the opposite chair, spinning around ever so slightly.

“Nothing I just wanted to see how you were” Gregory lied, shrugging and looking elsewhere. Vanessa’s eyebrows raised and she smiled with a light hum.

“Is that so?” She turned to the computer with a tired sigh. “Well, it’s some pretty boring stuff here, I don’t know how interested you’d be in all this.” She explained.

“I dunno… I’m just…” another yawn betrayed Gregory as he rubbed his eyes.

“You better get back to the green room before you fall asleep on the floor here” Vanessa smiled. “Trust me, you don’t want to fall asleep on the floor again.”

Gregory mumbled something under his breath. She turned to him. “Say that again?”

“It’s just… I don’t wanna see the Glamrocks yet…” he sighed, admitting it with a guilty voice.

Vanessa’s smile disappeared and she looked at Gregory with a glint of worry in her emerald eyes. “Greg? You okay? Did something happen?” Her voice turned serious as she asked the boy.

Gregory’s throat started to close up, and it was the last warning to end with him bursting into tears, he wouldn’t be able to keep bottling it up any longer.

Vanessa could definitely tell. She knew exactly what this kid was feeling, the shifty body language, the wobble in his timid voice.

“Hey…” she gently held out her hands for a hug.

Gregory shook his head. “Why does everyone think they can just… make me feel better?” He snapped, his eyes now glossier than before.

Vanessa leaned back, surprised. “Gregory… what happened?”

“Ugh! nothing! Okay fucking nothing! Everyone keeps mentioning it and I don’t want to think about it! I don’t want to fucking think about it!” Gregory was now in angry tears, holding his hands in his face.

Vanessa got up from her seat and kneeled down towards the boy. “Hey, hey hey… it’s okay, I’m not gonna make you talk about anything you don’t want to okay?” She said seriously.

The boy sniffled, wiping away more tears as he looked up at her with glossy eyes, nodding in silence.

She really wanted to know what was going on. Seeing him so upset like this was hurting her heart, the guilt of trying to hunt him down as Vanny months ago still haunting her. She had to make it up to him for as long as she was alive.

“Do you want to stay here for a little bit longer?” She asked him quietly.

To her surprise, Gregory shook his head.

“I-I might as well just… just tell you… since- since I’m never gonna stop crying about it anyway…” he sniffed again, clearing his throat.

Vanessa sat upright, listening very carefully.

“Take as much time as you need, buddy.” She reminded him with a soothing voice.

Gregory took in a deep breath and started to talk.

“Do you wanna know the reason I snuck into the Pizzaplex?” He asked her.

Vanessa’s eyes widened as she felt her heart drop into her stomach like she had swallowed a brick; being reminded of that very night was triggering her anxiety but she kept them hidden, she had to be strong for him.

She nodded with a swallow.

“Well I never told you guys the real reason…” he continued.

“I was so hungry and-and I didn’t have any money and I had only got to eat a few pieces of birthday cake, but then the show began to start and I was stuck behind Freddy in the back room so I knew the only way to escape was to hide inside him and-and so I did…”

A void filled the blonde’s mind, like a black hole sucking out all feelings of joy thinking and a grave realization had hit her like a truck.

“Gregory…” Vanessa spoke with hesitation, her voice soft and packed with guilt.

“I don’t have a home okay?… I don’t have parents… I don’t even remember them… all I remember was the stupid orphanage and how horrible it was… and-and all I think about is that I’m too different from other kids who have parents…”

He wailed quietly, unable to contain the hiccups, as his eyes laid fixed to the floor.

“I am so sorry little man…” She could feel her throat closing in, tears threatening to fall down her cheeks next, not just from the horror of the past but the guilt of his past too.

He didn’t want to hold back anymore and ran straight into her arms, sobbing into her shirt. She rubbed his back softly, letting him cry it all out.

“I don’t wanna lie and I didn’t wanna tell them… b-because they would… they would hate me again!” His voice wobbled, and he got louder, his face flushing red in emotion.

“Why would they hate you again? Because you don’t have parents? Gregory that would be the least biggest reason why they would ever hate you. They’ve been fixed and they’ve all gotten to know you better especially after saving us all from that horrific virus.”

Vanessa explained trying to calm the boy, kneeling gently towards him.

Even after all the things he had done to save himself and Vanessa, she had to remind herself he was still a child, he still needed help and protection. He looked up, sniffling at her with hopeful eyes. “Really?”

Vanessa smiled down at him. “Yes, really. If you just tell them the truth, I’m sure they’d be understanding and they’d still love you all the same!” She explained.

Gregory nodded, finally calming down and standing up looking at the stained shirt with guilt. “Sorry about your shirt, Ness”

Vanessa smiled warmly. “Hey, it’s fine, you’re way more important than some wrinkly shirt” she reassured him.

Gregory smiled weakly and rubbed his eyes yet again, finally feeling like he could tell the others the truth.

“Let’s get you to bed huh? We don’t have to explain anything tonight, just say you’re too tired okay” Vanessa stood up and gently walked him out of the security office as Gregory nodded, sniffling still.

“Hey Vanessa?” He looked up at her, eyes red and tired. “I… thanks… for-for being nice and stuff…” he turned away for a moment, a little embarrassed that he had broke down as hard as he did in front of her so randomly. Vanessa’s chest warmed with pride and she looked down at Gregory with a calm smile. “What are friends for?”

She ruffled his hair, his annoyed reaction never ceasing to amuse her.

“You’re more like my annoying sister if anything” he looked away, trying to hide the smile growing on his face.

A ball of sunshine lit up in her heart hearing him referring to her as his sister. “Is that so?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah you’re annoying as hell but still  cool anyway” Gregory chuckled to himself. Vanessa chuckled back and looked away, thinking about something for a moment as they continued their walk to Rockstar Row. “You know, I don’t really have a family either, at least not anymore.” Her voice turned quiet in sadness for a moment.

Gregory looked over at her with wide eyes. “Really?” Maybe he wasn’t actually alone, maybe this was meant to be?

Vanessa nodded. “Long story short, mom died, Dad was terrible and I never had any siblings.” Even with saying this, she couldn’t help but smile down at Gregory with the ‘sibling’ remark. He turned away with a playful pout, cheeks red.

“Well, guess we just have to be like friend-siblings then” he turned back, head held high in the air as if confirming it as a fact.

Vanessa laughed. “That means I get to annoy you on purpose” she grinned with with a fake evil laugh.

“Goes both ways!” He retorted back, now walking backwards, watching her from in front with his own evil grin and then he turned back around and started walking with confidence.

“We shall see about that.” Vanessa laughed.

The Glamrocks had been gathered around the next day after Gregory had gotten some decent sleep.

He was a lot more stable to talk about it this time, though fearing that they’d all be mad with him for running away on them.

Vanessa was there for emotional support too, even if she was fighting her own exhaustion as usual.

Gregory had told them all, let out a deep sigh, finally getting it off his chest to them and then timidly stood up trying to act confident around them right afterwards.

Each machine’s eyes had widened and Freddy was the first to speak up. “Oh Gregory, I am truly sorry” he said solemnly.

“Oh sweet pea!” Chica was next, her bottom jaw trembling as she hiccuped, hands on her beak.

Monty let out a sad moan and even Roxy gasped, her ears folding back.

“I’m sorry I just didn’t want you to be mad at me…” Gregory looked away, sniffling away any growing sadness.

Freddy’s eyes were completely round. “Gregory, we would never be mad at you for that! It is not your fault and it is a very hard thing for anyone to get through alone!” He explained, putting his large paws on the boy’s shoulders.

“Don’t ever blame yourself for this!” Roxy spoke up next, her voice firm and loud.

Monty sat up next, clenching his fists. “Yeah kid, ain’t no body gonna be judgin’ you for that!”

Gregory wiped a tear from his eye and smiled weakly. “Really? You guys don’t think I’m a loser for having no parents?”

Roxy shook her head, interrupting Freddy almost immediately before the bear could even get a word out. “You’re not a loser!” She said with confirmation.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys before…” Gregory looked down in shame and had his body embraced immediately by Chica who was combing his hair with her hand, softly.

“Oh sweety pie, you don’t need to be sorry. We’re here for you, always!”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Little Guy.” Monty stood up, taking off his glasses as his red eyes looked down calmly.

Vanessa watched as they embraced him, her mind swimming with thoughts.

What could she do for Gregory this time?

He’d been hiding the parent thing for a while so she hadn’t really prepared for this obstacle to come her way.

Plus she was still stuck in the place where her worst nightmares came true… only, the possibility of other jobs was virtually impossible and she and Gregory had already found themselves attached to the damn robots… so what could she do?

Adoption? Was that even an option and the right thing to do?

She never saw herself as a mother figure for anyone, just a broken woman with no future… but maybe, just maybe she could be like his elder sister/guardian person for real like they had been joking about…

Maybe she would actually give him a family and give herself a new one.

That’s what she would do! She would talk to him about possible adoption, see how that goes down… and have to prepare for all the hardships that come with it.

Chapter Text

Vanessa paced around her apartment, her stomach doing backflips as she imagined everything that could go wrong tonight. Someone would find out who she was, a kid would cause her to spiral, her fatigue would cause awkward conversations, she’d have a breakdown around so many people, she’d order the wrong thing, she’d forget her wallet, she’d eat so much or so little, she’d get too drunk and say something completely inappropriate, she’d cause a scene in front of him over another mental breakdown… anything and everything!

It was making her sweat through her purple checkered shirt, stains already appearing under her arms. She knew she’d have to dress up nicely, make sure to put extra deodorant on, perfume, anti anxiety meds, anything to help make her seem normal enough to be approachable.

And for the love of god, not get too emotional! Just act natural…

She didn’t want to lose Luis, not after just getting in contact with him again, despite what he had told her about “never leaving her” it felt too good to be true.

She sometimes wondered how Gregory put up with her for as long as he did… and now she had another person in her life that would matter just as much.

To say Luis was nervous was an understatement. He had already made sure to put on extra cologne, go to the bathroom as much as humanly possible, make sure he took his wallet, keys and phone and have his clothes ironed out even the smallest creases.

He wanted this night to be perfect. He wanted her to feel comfortable enough, free enough, good enough especially with how much she struggles.

He just wanted to make her happy again, make her feel loved as she had not felt for so long.

But here he was, legs shaking under the table as he eagerly awaited his date, arms already gaining sweat much to his dismay, and the room felt too warm for his leather jacket.

He made sure to slick back his hair just right.

Now she felt like the world was going to swallow her whole. Maybe she was going to pass out, run away, or just be too stammered to adjust to the busy environment of the restaurant.

The lights were obnoxiously bright, the people were obnoxiously loud and she couldn’t see Luis anywhere amongst the crowd of businessmen and women laughing like hyenas.

Then she spotted the dark skinned man, with his black slicked back hair over in a corner booth, away from the noise, away from the beaming lights and her heart was pounding.

She could’ve sworn she had a fever by how warm her face had felt right now but she almost couldn’t hold back the tears building up in her eyes. He looked absolutely perfect with his dark blue suit and pants and his blue eyes beaming at her, she waved back with a smile, catching his attention

Luis finally set eyes on her and he gawked in shock. His heart began to pound furiously and he could feel his brain fog up. She was absolutely stunning!

The pristine pale skinned woman wore a yellow-gold dress that went down to her feet, she had minimal makeup on and her hair was done up in a fancy ponytail as aposed to her usual stricter one.

She finally took a seat next to him as she continued to gawk, completely overwhelmed with amazement. “Ness… you look beautiful!” He finally spoke up. Vanessa smiled bashfully, slicking back a strand of hair. “Thanks! You’re not so bad yourself, Lou” She replied with a playful smirk.

The two were speechless for god knows how long. Luis couldn’t take his eyes off of her and Vanessa was looking around, occasionally glancing at him, hoping it would difuse her anxiety.

“I-I hope the place wasn’t too hard to find” He began, cupping his hands together. She began glancing at the menu trying to ignore her racing heart and smiled shaking her head. “Oh no, it was pretty easy, and it looks quite stunning”

She said, glancing around the red wallpaper and paper lantern decor.

“I know it seems a little fancy…” Luis began, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “But I wanted to do something special for such an incredible person” He added.

Vanessa could’ve sworn she had lit up like a candle with how red her face was getting. Her heart was still pounding in her chest but she felt it was almost natural this time. She had no idea how to take the compliment and just let out a nervous laugh.

She didn’t think she was at all incredible, and the thought that she actually had people in her life that thought otherwise had started to break her.

“W-well how could I say no to an equally incredible person?” She commented back. This time Luis was the one to start blushing furiously, and he looked away.

“Oh nah come on Ness, I’m just y’know trying to be a good person, y’know? You don’t really get many of them around” He began awkwardly.

Vanessa exhaled in amusement, nodding. “You’re not wrong there”

The night had gone much better than they initially thought. They had been talking for hours, eating nice food, telling eachother jokes. Vanessa would often spill some stories about Gregory and the animatronics. Luis went on about his coworkers and management.

The laughter wasn’t just small shy giggles every now and then, it was full blown belly laughter. Luis going completely high pitched and Vanessa cackling in snorts and wheezes.

They had spent so much time sitting and talking that they almost lost track of time. When it was time to pay, Luis had playfully bickered his way into paying even though she was stubborn about it.

He promised she could pay him back on another date.

They decided that the date didn’t need to end then and there, instead they decided to go to a park and chat.

Even with the freezing cold winter air, both of them were  very warm from both the alcohol and eachother’s body’s.

She was absolutely exhausted but it didn’t feel like the same kind of exhausted as her brain would put her through. It was a normal exhaustion and it felt right.

She could barely keep her eyes open, even if she knew that she’d probably wake up with a stiff neck from laying so awkwardly on his shoulder.

Luis held his arm around her shoulder making her moan in content.

Her blonde locks flickered in the wind as he stared down at her, admiring all the freckles on her face, her eyelashes and her little grin.

She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on and here she was, with him. It had to be a dream come true for Luis, there was no way he got the woman of his dreams to rest her head right on his shoulder after one date.

Sure, they had almost kissed at the Pizzaplex, before being intruded by a gluttonous robot chicken, he still felt… at ease.

Though part of him was worried. He frowned in thought over her breakdown. What she had mumbled when in hysterical tears. “I never wanted to- I’m sorry I should never have- I wish I could just”

This made him so sad for her. He only looked down at her sleeping figure, brushing a strand of hair past her eyes.

He knew he had to be there for her and he wasn’t going to let anyone or anything hurt her again.

The realization of that promise he made had washed over him in a wave of shock. He had to tell her… he couldn’t just keep it to himself anymore, even if they had only come in contact again months after she was his coworker.

As if fate had been listening in, Vanessa’s eyes flickered awake, her emerald green irises shining in the moon light, glancing up at him with a tired smile.

“Nessa…” Luis began, sitting up a bit more, holding her close to him. Maybe it was the alcohol speaking but he just couldn’t hold back anymore.

“I love you, Ness”

He confessed with a deep sigh.

She moaned tiredly, leaning her head into his shoulder again, hands gripping at his shoulder at the same time.

“Hmmm, I love you too, Luis” she mumbled with a sleepy smile.

His eyes widened in shock. Did she really mean that or was it just sleep Ness talking? Whatever the case, he couldn’t hold back from grinning like an idiot.

Was this really love? Did she really love him? Whatever the case, he was going to do whatever he could to make her happy.

He walked them back to her apartment, both trying to be as quiet as possible, especially at 1 AM on the weekend, she knew Gregory would be asleep by now (she hoped). At the door they shared one last kiss before bidding eachother goodbyes and Vanessa had entered the door, yawning as she lazily untied her hair and started the long slow routine to get ready for bed.

As soon as she got her makeup and dress off and got into her pajamas, she passed out right on top of her bed, unbothered to get under the covers.

The morning came around and she woke up to the sound of her own loud snoring, she yawned, slowly stretching and getting off the bed, nearly falling over as she did, but she felt well rested despite most nights going through nightmare after nightmare.

Gregory’s eyebrows were raised as he watched his usually sarcastic and exhausted guardian humming while making breakfast. But he couldn’t complain, he was pretty hungry and the eggs looked really good this morning.

“Mornin’ Ness. How’d it go?” Gregory asked with a curious smirk.

Vanessa turned to face him with a face that lit up like sunshine. “It went amazingly!” She beamed at him. Gregory could sometimes never believe that she had been harboring a sadistic serial killer.

“Nice” Gregory said back, though he didn’t really care that much, he was glad she was feeling a lot happier.

Chapter Text

Gregory had been in and out of therapy, he was actually doing well considering everything that had happened, but he still had moments of anxiety that manifested into frustration and distress, much like Vanessa whose therapy sessions were not going as well.

Unlike Gregory, Vanessa had several therapy sessions that felt like nothing had changed. She would cry her heart out, feel better after a while and then cry more or fall asleep for two hours and then cry again. It was exhausting but it was better than the past and better than doing nothing about it and continuing to go through sickness inducing panic attacks and temper outbursts.

Gregory had been given a colourful stress ball to squeeze whenever he felt scared or anxious.

Vanessa had felt almost envious of him being given stress relievers but she didn’t because ‘she’s an adult’ so therefore her concerns should be more “professional”. This was irritating and almost invalidating at times.

Though Gregory did let her borrow the stress ball at times too, at one point even giving it to her to have for the day after a particularly crappy staff meeting.

All the Glamrocks were in their green rooms.

Freddy was quietly cleaning his room, putting away boxes and throwing away trash. Gregory didn’t really want to see him in case of being asked if he could help clean since he also kind of made the mess there in the first place, but he REALLY didn’t want to help clean the room.

Chica plucking her guitar in a more experimental way, probably low on battery.

Monty was strangely sitting on his couch, doing nothing.

Roxy was giving herself a pep talk as usual, though she seemed a lot more agitated.

Gregory passed by each of the rooms, squeezing his stress ball in boredom. He wasn’t stressed or anxious but it was more like a habit for his hands to play with if anything.

He was humming to himself when he heard Roxy loudly muttering.

“You screwed it up again!” She said to the wolf in the mirror. “I know, I’m sorry…” she replied back.

“You’re supposed to be perfect you know?”

“I know, I’m sorry…”

Gregory remembered her being very pep-talky but this was like scolding herself. He remembered that too. The whole egotistical act was what that was. An act. She was very obviously insecure and it showed.

“You’re screwing up all the time!” Roxy sneered at herself again, banging her claw on the desk.

“You’re supposed to be the best!”

“Y-you’re supposed to be FINE!” She yelled at herself in the mirror only then her eyelids clicking together to give way to wide open eyes and her head swiveled right around on the body to face the boy starting back at her from the reflection in the mirror.

She stood up quickly, turning herself around and forcing herself to stand in a pose that was more nonchalant.

“Hey kid, come to see me , huh?” She said cooly, emphasizing on the “Me” with a whip of her mane.

Gregory didn’t say a word, instead looking around at his side, feeling awkward about catching her having a breakdown.

Instead he walked right by the door and waited until she opened it wide, revealing her posed figure, acting vain as usual.

Roxy calmly sat back down at her desk, keeping her eyes slightly off her reflection, but to a point where the boy wouldn’t (hopefully) notice.

“So.” She began running her claws through her hair, playing with the one green tuft that stuck out of her forehead.

“Want an autograph?” She asked.

Gregory knew what she was doing, he had directly watched her crying through Freddy’s view from the control of his stomach hatch.

She was trying to hide it.

“Uh Roxy?” The boy asked hesitantly.

“Yeah?” She replied just as cooly as before.

“Is everything okay?”

She had actually twitched from the question. Her facade was starting to break.

“Of course, why wouldn’t it be? I’ve got the perfect looks, voice and personality. I’m better than okay!”

She had practically pushed her snout right into Gregory’s face as she said this. Or… more accurately, yelled this like she was trying to convince herself.

“That’s not very convincing” Gregory deadpanned impatiently.

A cooling fan stuttered inside her mechanisms for a moment and she let out a stuttered noise before shaking her head.

“Psh, what does that mean?” She scoffed turning to the mirror again.

“I can tell you’re really upset about something.”

He shrugged, kicking his feet. He knew when someone was hiding their true feelings all too well. Though it was a little more subtle with the Glamrocks at times than it was with Vanessa or Cassie really anyone who wasn’t a machine, he could still pick up the hints.

He also knew the feeling all too well because of himself.

Roxy went silent for a moment, her jaw clamped shut and she turned around very swiftly to glare into the boy’s eyes.

“Cut it out already! I’m fine, okay?”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Gregory scoffed back, crossing his arms. “Do you think I don’t know what it’s like to feel like you gotta hide your emotions from everyone you love because you’re afraid of being judged?”

Roxy growled.

“Because I do!” Gregory continued. “I know we don’t get along and I get you find it hard to get along with people too, so does Nessa, and Monty and sometimes so do I, but you can’t keep pretending that everything is fine.”

His voice entered into more of a calm and empathic tone than before.

She wanted to snap back. To say “You don’t understand!” Or “How dare you!” Or “You’re just a kid!”

But she had kept her snout shut completely, clenching her fists.

They had been staring at eachother for a while, both of them too stubborn to break contact. Then Gregory got too bored of this quarrel and reached into his pocket to pull out the stress ball to play with it.

Roxy’s eyes barely moved but they start to glance towards the object.

“What is that?” She pointed to the object.

“Just my stress ball. It helps me calm down when I get mad or upset or scared.” He explained with a shrug.

Gregory could see her eyes following the ball with curiosity. “Here.” He handed her the ball with a small smile.

Hesitation flooded Roxy’s face as she gingerly grabbed the ball, still suspicious about Gregory’s intentions.

Though as soon as she looked down at the ball, it was as if the whole world had froze and it was just her and this ball, looking back at one another.

She gently pressed her claws down on it as it let out a gentle whooshing sound of the foam deflating and rising again.

The feeling of pressing down on the object was sparking something inside Roxy.

Her tail involuntarily pointed straight up, ears doing the same. She fiddled around with the stress ball a bit more, her nails digging into the flesh, but causing no damage to the exterior.

“Huh” she said while still examining it.

“I have this other one that squeaks, it’s just for giggles though” Gregory pulled out a another red ball this time pressing down on it to release a squeaky sound that sounded close to a small animal noise.

“Huh!” Roxy was even more intrigued and grabbed onto the ball, squeezing it a few times, emitting the loud squeak.

“Haha!” She chuckled at the pathetic noise it made, giving her some sort of superiority feeling over the power of making this thing squeak.

Gregory heard something whirring behind Roxy, an object swinging back almost hitting him in the face when he realized it was her tail. Her tail was whirring back and forth in a wagging motion. She was literally wagging her tail like a real canine.

He couldn’t help but laugh a little, it was so ridiculous and yet kind of adorable.

The more she squeaked the ball, the more her tail would wag and produce a gust of wind like a propeller. It was actually getting a little dangerous to be close to her right now.

“You can keep that one if you want” Gregory pointed to the ball, backing up from her. Roxy turned to him slowly, grinning.

“Thanks kid.” She replied back as cool as usual, but he could definitely tell she was just holding back her excitement of being able to keep it and her appreciation of his concern. She really had to hold herself back from squeezing the life out of him like Freddy and Chica often did.

Gregory couldn’t believe that this had actually happened. They really added code in the Glamrocks relating to their animal counterparts?

He had to wonder what Freddy’s was like… was he like an actual bear inside too? If he got him some honey, would Freddy be tempted to eat it?

It sounded too ridiculous, but he had to know more.

“Hey, did you know Roxy could wag?”

“Sorry, what?” Vanessa asked Gregory again, believing she misheard him.

“Nah for real! I gave her the squeaky toy and she loved it so much her tail was like swishing back and forth like a real dog!” He explained with a giggle.

Vanessa stopped with surprise and amusement at the same time, looking from side to side. “Are you serious?” She snorted.

“Like you mean her tail was wagging?” She asked to clarify.

“Uhuh” Gregory nodded in confirmation. “It was like a propeller too, almost whacked me in the face.” He laughed again, glossing over the dangerous part.

“That’s…” Vanessa stopped for a moment, as if in thought.  “Okay that’s really cute.” she huffed, annoyed at herself for admitting it.

“You gotta show me. I need to see that.” The woman suddenly said excited.

“Okay, but I dunno if she’s gonna like it” Gregory shrugged.

“Psh, it’s not like I’m forcing her to perform, I just wanna see if her tail actually does wag.” The guard smiled.

It was indeed a very weird thing to do, but Vanessa didn’t care if it looked weird from the outside looking in. Both her and Gregory were sneaking to get a peak at Roxy playing with her stress ball.

“Oh my god.” Vanessa’s hands flew to her mouth as she watched Roxy laying on her couch, throwing the ball around with a smile and her tail indeed propelling back and forth.

Gregory laughed behind his hands, especially because his guardian was squealing behind her hands.

“Ugh I really need to pet some dogs or something” She sighed longingly.

Gregory’s eyes widened and he fell silent, gripping onto Vanessa’s arm. “Are we getting a dog?!” He asked with excitement building up in his voice.

Vanessa gave him a half chuckle and sad smile. “You know we don’t have the luxury for that, and I’m pretty much always working too.”

Gregory pouted in disappointment. “Aw lame…”

Roxy turned around with eyes wide open, her jaw clamped shut. “HEY!” She yelled.

Both humans booked it right then and there. Not before Vanessa gave out a distant. “Sorry!”

Roxy froze in rage and embarrassment. They were watching her that whole time without HER knowledge or permission?!

Her ears lowered after they left and she whimpered for a moment, feeling her insecurities boiling up inside.

“T-they were laughing a-at you…” She stammered to herself in the mirror. “

“See? They-they think you’re a joke!” She barked out loud with fury.

“No… no just squeeze that pathetic object.” She tried to say slowly to calm herself down from going into a breakdown.

Roxy did just that, making it squeeze again, her tail wagging back and forth again. She giggled in a quiet low tone and sandwiched the ball between her claws, rubbing it up and down like a hand massage.

Roxy then looked in every direction, making sure no one was watching.

She put the ball in her jaws and bit down slowly, emitting pressure on the squeaking to emit a long squeaky wheeze.

“Take that, you pathetic object!” She taunted, gnawing it up and down, shaking her head as she did so. She yelled in triumph.

Chapter Text

Gregory held his breath, listening carefully for the quake-like stomps coming closer to his vicinity. The gruff threatening growls were muffled, but the tone was vicious.

“I will find you.”

Montgomery Gator’s taunting sing song voice whispered nearby, his heavy figure approaching the kitchen.

Gregory gasped, holding his mouth when he heard very clearly Monty had walked into the room he was hiding in, searching for him.

“There you are!”

His voice yelled out in triumph as he stomped over to the bin where Gregory was in, lifting the lid up to see him.

Gregory screamed, being lifted out by Monty’s huge claws.

“ GOTCHA!”

Massive jaws opened and closed with his voice and beaming red eyes focused on the boy in his arms.

And then…

“Game over, kid, I found ya!”Monty smirked in the boy’s face. Gregory let out a disappointed grunt. “Aw man…”

He crossed his arms with a pout and Monty placed him on the floor.

“Didn’t I tell ya I’d find you?” Monty snickered, crossing his arms.

“How?” Gregory whined in disbelief. “You pick that spot all the time, kid” the gator replied with a friendly scoff.

“It’s like the only good spot in the lobby!” Gregory defended.

“Come on boy, deal’s a deal. You gotta help me and Rox find the others now!” Monty said looking down at Gregory in mischief.

Gregory couldn’t help but let a smirk cross his face. He rolled his eyes. “Fiiiine, but you gotta give me hints if I can’t find anyone” he compromises, holding his hand out like a little businessman.

“Deal.” Monty shook Gregory’s hand with a few of his fingers, his claws too big not to crush the kids hands.

Cassie was in the pitch black of a storage shelf in a nearby merch store. She had found a seemingly empty cupboard to hide in and it inside the dimly lit janitor closet-sized room and was lucky that it was big enough for her figure to fit. That and being a great spot to hide, she was confident that no one would find her here.

She curled up and waited; although not long after it started to get a little too cramped and a little too quiet, but she remained, trying not to let those lingering thoughts bother her.

That silence was interrupted by the sound of a servo moving in the dark, and the sight of a large figure right next to her almost caused Cassie to yell out in fright having to do a double take when she swore she spotted two big glowing purple eyes right next to her.

The girl gasped and then swiftly relaxed, letting out a ‘phew’ of relief.

“Chica!” Cassie grumbled under her breath. “This is my hiding spot!”   Chica was curled up next to her in the dark in the same fetal position in order to fit in the small space. Cassie had no idea she was even here at first and technically this would’ve been Chica’s hiding spot first. Not that Cassie wanted to admit it.

“Can’t we hide together?” Chica reasoned, looking her way.

“You’ll give us away…” Cassie shushed her, trying to keep her tone to a whisper.

“I won’t” Chica turned her voice down into that of a whisper, or as close to that as she could, though it came off more like raspy robotic croaking.

Roxy entered the room doing her signiture sniff. “I know you’re here somewhere.” She said.

Chica gasped, putting a hand over her beak as Cassie glared lightly at her for a moment.

Roxy perked up but immediately she started to go for the other door, hearing voices on the other side instead of the small muffled ones in the cupboard. “I heard that!” She said, trotting away from the storage room.

“Casssieeeeee!” Gregory’s voice came next in an almost creepy echo.

Cassie held her hand across her mouth to silence her breathing and giggles that tried to escape while being watched every now and then by Chica who was struggling not to make a noise due to her rather talkative nature or… programming in this case. She was finding the game way too exciting and wanted to come bursting out of the cupboard to greet everyone.

“Lil Gal, come on.. yer favourite wolf’s here!” Monty called out next.

“Hey… where did Roxy even go?” He asked Gregory who shrugged in response. “Beats me. She gets random bursts of energy so like maybe she ran off somewhere?” He guessed.

Monty chuckled deeply at this, both him and Gregory walking out of the dark storage room where Chica and Cassie were hiding. “Yeah I bet she’s off running around in circles, now that she don’t got those see-through eyes no more!” Monty chuckled, pointing to his eyes in example.  Roxy wasn’t far gone from their area and her ear flipped back. She turned around with a glare at Monty. “What, I’m just kiddin’?” He defended with confusion.

Roxy grumbled something under her breath and Gregory chuckled at their antics.

“Oh come on-“

“You jerk! Your voices are so loud, you think you’re being super slick huh?” Roxy retorted back to Monty. Even when the bickering started to get overboard, Gregory chuckled, defusing any seriousness that may arise.

“What?” Both Roxy and Monty looked at Gregory with confusion. “You guys are like weird siblings!” He laughed, pointing at them with a toothy smile.

They both looked back at eachother and promptly laughed. “That kid’s right you know?” Monty chuckled, slapping Roxy on the back playfully. Roxy huffed in a non-serious tone, acting cool about it.

“Come on, let’s go find the others”

Monty, Gregory and Roxy all left that gift shop and out to the main lobby to regroup all the other seekers.

Cassie could hear their voices fading and she let out a breath, letting her legs relax just a bit more.

The room went quiet again and the two of them were in the dark once more, all she could hear was very light machinery whirs, the occasional clicks of Chica’s eyelids and her own breathing.

“I could really go for a pizza right about now…” Chica whispered aloud.

“Shush, they’re coming back!” Cassie said when she heard sudden tremors thumping nearby.

“Gregory?” Freddy’s calm and gentle voice asked as he entered the room a few minutes after Gregory and Monty had left.

“I wonder which room they went into now.” He wondered aloud to himself.

Gregory walked past the statue and fountain with Monty stomping in front, Roxy going off from their location to search in the Fazpad.

Gregory spotted two figures, a young woman and a big blue bunny; Vanessa and Bonnie were engaged in a conversation, Vanessa holding a can of soda in her hands too.

Vanessa perked up with a smile when she saw Gregory.

He ran over to them.

“Hey, little man”

“Hey rockstar” Bonnie waved to the boy. Bonnie perked up, his ears rising with joy when he spotted the gator following behind Gregory.

“Heya Mont, where’s Fredboy?” The bunny asked him. “No idea.” Monty shrugged honestly.

“We still can’t find Cassie and Chica.” Gregory pondered, stomping his foot, while he sat next to Vanessa to catch his breath, legs kicking back and forth impatiently.

Vanessa hummed in thought, looking down at him with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you were the hide and seek champion.” She joked.

“I am!” Gregory replied back in semi seriousness. “But… she can be really crafty when she wants to.”

Vanessa chuckled at this, playing with her nails absentmindedly. “You’re quite the influence huh?” She smirked at him.

Gregory smirked and stuck his tongue out in response. She laughed and did the same.

“Hey.” Monty tapped Gregory’s shoulder and pointed to the far back of the lobby entrance. “Ya think she could be hidin’ behind one of them plants maybe?” He asked.

“Or the popcorn stalls” Bonnie replied lazily.

“Hmm I dunno… but its’ worth a shot” Gregory shrugged as he and Monty went over to check each potted plant and food stall in the lobby area. “Cassie are you in there?” Gregory yelled out, running to check the lobby entrance with an equally enthused Monty.

Vanessa picked up a red can of soda on the rim of the statute. Though the can was still cold, she didn’t react like it was a nice cold drink, she took one sip and grimaced. “God, that’s disgusting.” She said, wiping her lips from the terrible flavor. Bonnie turned his head very slightly to side stare with a smirk, amused. “That’s Sodaroni for ya, Dudette” He replied.

“Who in their right mind would make a pepperoni flavored drink?” She asked rhetorically, moving the can away from her in disgust.

“One of life’s great mysteries” Bonnie sighed sarcastically earning a snort from the guard.

It was almost completely silent again and Cassie had started to get tired of waiting. She contemplated wanting to get out of the closet sooner than later. The enclosed space and darkness was starting to get to her. Even Chica had been staring at her noticing this behavior.

“You okay sweety?” Chica asked her quietly. Cassie curled up in her knees. “Y-yeah… it’s just a little too dark and quiet here.”

Chica looked at her and then looked away in thought. “Dark places are a lil spooky huh?” She said calmly.

Cassie looked back at her and then nodded slowly, feeling slightly ashamed of being scared of the dark in the first place, despite pushing herself to hide there. ‘What a terrible idea!’ She scolded herself. She was hoping she would get over that fear much earlier in life, but alas it wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Especially not when she had been pranked by her so-called friends once, being shoved into a locker for drawing “cringe” as they said.

It was just illustrations of her and Roxy yet she felt ashamed of them either way. She needed to stop lingering onto these thoughts before she began to actually get upset.

Cassie was now kind of hoping Gregory and the others would find her soon.

“And closed spaces are scary too” Chica said, digging her beak into her knees for a moment.

Cassie looked at her with surprise. Was Chica afraid too?

Maybe Cassie didn’t feel so alone after all. Maybe it was a good thing that Chica hid with her. Chica looked away for a moment, slowly pressing her hands on the storage cupboard walls and retracting with a slight yelp as if they were harmful.

“At least we aren’t alone huh?” Chica shook her head, ignoring her own discomfort and spoke up, sensing the unease in Cassie’s expression. Cassie exhaled through her nostrils, letting her lips curl into a smile.

“Sometimes I forget you guys can feel emotions.” The girl admit sheepishly. Chica’s bottom eyelids raised. “That’s okay!” Chica replied kindly. “We aren’t human after all.”

It was a little unsettling how sentient they were to adults, but most kids would find it more personal and become attached to them more often. Though sometimes this attachment did turn into fear with how strangely relatable they could be to other humans.

“Sometimes you guys feel more human than some humans.” Cassie said with a half chuckle.

Chica looked at her with curiosity. “Really?”

“I mean there’s a lot of humans that are so unloving and uncaring and they don’t like anything or anyone… or they lie to you and pretend they’re your friends when you invite them to birthdays but they never even bother to show up and then tease you at school for being a loser with no friends and a broken family…”

Cassie rambled on, curling up more in her legs.

Chica knew Roxy had lots of compassion for Cassie, and she was always very protective of her; which was sweet, but she never really knew what Cassie’s life was like. Roxy never gave anything away, keeping herself loyal to the end like a real canine.

It was admirable, but secretly Chica wanted to know more.

Now she did know something. Cassie didn’t have any friends other than Gregory, even he was a rather new friend of hers and he didn’t have a family before Vanessa adopted him, Cassie seemed to be his only kid friend too.

Those poor kids. Chica always imagined kids like them having tons of friends, big birthdays and lots of pizza too! But… the reality was a lot more grim. Even Vanessa struggled to make friends, explaining at certain points that it was even harder for adults to make friends. It was like there was a set time limit on how quickly and easily one could make a fiend group and a lasting one at that.

Yet… she and the others were quite literally made for eachother. They were created and programmed to be friends. Was that normal? and was it really that hard for humans to make friends?

Why would a human deceive another human?

Was it also normal for robots and humans to be friends too? There was no real dicussion said about this topic and Vansssa often left it pretty vague, probably not wanting to go into details about the company or her past. Not that Chica would blame her.

But she wondered about something else too…

Did any past Chicas have human friends?

She had heard of previous models of her yet nothing else ever came up about it. For one, Vanessa would get way too antsy about the question and the to avoid it all together. Especially when Freddy brought up anything about the ‘past Freddy models’

It felt a little… off to think she was a copy of something, but she tried to not let it get to her.

“S-sorry I was rambling” Cassie suddenly spoke up with a shy stammer, feeling like she got caught.

“It’s okay sweety!” Chica cooed sweetly.

Cassie smiled, turning away. She knew Chica was programmed to have a sweet kind of voice and personality, but it felt just as sincere as Roxy too.

Sudden huffs and heavy metal footsteps stomped into the room, shutting up the two hiders.

“Hey-“ A gruff yet somehow tired voice came into the room after a few whirs of servos.  “So uh… we’re gonna go watch a movie soon so if you gals are in here somewhere… well, um… you win the hide and seek game.”

Monty huffed, low on energy.

Cassie and Chica looked at one another with surprise and immediately Chica burst out of the cupboard doors with a gleeful yell.

“Yaaaaaay! We win!”

“Oh geesh!” Monty flinched, turning around to face them. “Ya’ll were in there the whole time?!” He gawked, lowering his glasses to give way to wide eyes.

“Yep!” Chica clucked proudly. Cassie smiled, rubbing her arm shyly.

“Yeah…”

Chapter Text

Roxanne’s schedule was busy. Busier than usual. But she had one last birthday appointment that day before the Pizzaplex showtime protocol would start giving her half an hour of charge after the tiresome birthday before pre-show preperation, even when the show was hours afterwards. Management didn’t seem to care about the well being of their star attractions.

I mean, why would any human care that much for a group of machines?

Even though they had thoughts and feelings and desires; The company didn’t care about that aspect and denied its’ existence.

Even Freddy had some minor complaints, despite being the star and the biggest supporter for the company in the first place. This didn’t sit well with Roxy or the others, but they would do most of this for the kids anyway.

Kids… kids were a bit of a mixed bag for her… Now it wasn’t that she didn’t like kids, but often times the birthday kid’s friends were way too hands on for her taste and depleted her patience and battery simultaneously.

Usually the ones who ordered her for their birthday could go one of two ways.

A spoiled brat with slaving rich parents that got everything they wanted, including pestering and being too hands on towards Roxy. Or the one time lucky family who happened to win a prize for their beloved child with said beloved child being either completely dumbfounded of the robots or terrified and Roxy would be left to awkwardly explain how she made the kid break down in tears to the parents. It wasn’t the ideal situation, especially when some parents got way too critical (not like it was her fault, they hired her!) and once in a blue moon had actually lashed out at one of the parents, earning her a warning from staff. The same thing happened with Monty a lot to the point where they stopped any meet and greets for him almost indefinitely. This was a hard blow to the Gator’s ego and only contributed to his ever growing loneliness and anger too.

Roxy was lucky she never let her temper go too far. Yet… she still dread another birthday. Which parents would get on her rump now?   Well, she’d have to find out sooner or later.

She had to put herself on charge for a while before the final party calling bleeped in her system.

Room 142- booked out for one birthday girl and ten extra party goers.

The father of the child worked at the Pizzaplex but still scrambled to make a decent living. Roxy didn’t understand nor really care about the world of adults and finances, but she often was curious as to why the staff always seemed super stressed and tired. Did humans need charging times too? She’d never really know for sure. Adults were kind of a mystery here.

Well, it was finally time for the last birthday of the day, at least for her appearance.

Roxy’s eyes peered into the walls, locating the exact coordinates of the party room and found it odd that there seemed to be only one figure in the room. Something felt a little off about this, but she had a job to do and not feelings to feel. She was just supposed to do what she was made for, not what she wanted to do. So be it.

__________________________________

Cassie was excited. She would finally show her classmates at school her favourite place in the world! She would finally get to show them Roxy and she would get to have Roxy perform for her birthday!

Cassie was turning eleven on the eleventh of November, she was more than hopeful that they wouldn’t cancel like last time, or the time before that. After all, this was the jewel of Hurricane and only very rarely could people even afford to come. She was basically getting them a free invite to the entire Pizzaplex! (Or at least what passes her dad had bought her)

…

Soon however, ten minutes turned into half an hour and Cassie started to feel that sorrowful heartbeat rising in her chest, a feeling that held dread and loneliness over her shoulders. Where were they?

Surely they were coming soon… they had to be! No one would turn down an invite to the pizzaplex… right?

But the minutes just dragged on and soon she started to feel her throat closing up and eyes watering. Her mind was now berating her with “I told you so” and “no one likes you!” And the thoughts only seemed to escalate her sadness. She could hear her voice crack and she started sniffling.

__________________________________

Roxy finally made it to the room, holding the tray with a Roxy-themed carrot cake in her claws. She knew that special someone was gonna love her cake! Everyone loved cake! But why wasn’t there any sign of a party? Usually kids would be screaming and laughing in one of these rooms. She would also be able to see tons of little figures running around in her vision. But it was just a single child, sitting alone in that room.

Did management assign the wrong room to her again?

Then she heard a noise. One ear flickered up with the sound of quiet sniffling. The figure that was the only child in the room. Surely, this was just very early timing.

Surely this kid wasn’t all alone.

Cassie gasped with a jump and quickly hurried to wipe her tears when she saw the robot wolf walk into the room in all her glory.

“Hey there birthday girl!” Roxy greeted cooly. Roxy looked around the room with a hum. “Where are the other party guests, not here yet?” She asked who she assumed was the birthday girl.

Cassie’s lips trembled and she started to sniffle even louder, tears running down her eyeliner. Roxy’s eyes widened seeing the girl so upset. Something in her servos stung, like a hot wire had pierced into her chest.

-unhappy child detected-

‘What did you do this time?!’
She pushed to ignore that self deprecating voice in her head.

Cassie lay her face into the table and began to sob into her arms.

Roxy had never seen a child so upset before and it felt wrong. It felt like there was something trying to rip into her mechanics. She scooted over to the girl, gently laying a claw on her back.

“What’s your name, rockstar?” She asked.

Cassie barely looked up; with puffy watery eyes, she sniffled, her mouth still muffled by her arms.

“C-Cassie…” Roxy turned her head to the girl with a smile. “Hey there Cassie, how old are you turning?” “E-eleven…” She sat up with a sad pout, not looking at Roxy, feeling embarrassed for being caught crying.

“Eleven huh?” She replied, an ear flickering back.

“So you’re eleven on the eleventh of the eleventh huh?” Roxy commented with a spring to her step. The girl couldn’t help but let out a tearful chuckle at that. “Y-yeah… pretty funny huh?” She said.

“That’s pretty cool, makes it easy to remember!” Roxy quipped, lightly pushing herself into the girl playfully. Cassie giggled, wiping her eyes. She looked up at Roxy with fondness.

“Here Cassie, I heard you liked carrot cake” Roxy showed Cassie the purple cake with the name ‘Roxy’s Number 1’ on it and chocolate frosting on the side.

Cassie gasped in awe, her face turning into a big open smile. “Carrot cake is my favourite, thanks Roxy!”
Roxy whipped her mane back with a proud chuckle. “No problem, rockstar!”

Roxy put the cake down on the table and Cassie turned to it in silence. She began to frown again in realization.

“Why do you look so sad, Cassie?” Roxy asked.

Cassie looked up at her, trying not to cry again. “They were supposed to come and have this with me… and meet you…” she sniffled. “Who was? Your friends?” Roxy asked, leaning down to Cassie’s level.

Wordlessly, she nodded, not looking at the wolf again. “I’m sorry, Cassie…” Roxy said with sympathy, gently rubbing the girl’s back with one claw. “At least you get to have the cake to yourself” Roxy winked at her.
Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to cheer her up and the wolf stood helplessly as Cassie began to cry again.

She then noticed something beaming out in her vision like a beacon; over on the table. A bright purple and green Roxy-themed backpack with what looked like bits of paper sticking out of the back pocket.

Cassie had almost completely forgotten about her drawings. The ones she drew to show all her friends at the party and the ones she was too scared to show her hero.

The girl panicked upon seeing Roxy pick up the drawings.  “What’s this?” She hummed curiously. “Wait!” The girl cried, running to grab the papers, but it was too late.

The wolf was already observing them.

The colored cartoony illustrations of her and Roxy holding hands with the words “Coolest friends ever!” In big rainbow writing. Roxy’s sensors isolated the drawings from the lined paper backgrounds on her scanner and saved them to her memory bank, almost as if on instinct.

The girl’s dark skin turned even darker and her heart ached with embarrassment.

Roxanne wolf could’ve sword her coolers had malfunctioned, because there was a sudden overbearing warmth in her chest cavity that caused a slight gasp of awe to escape. Her servos felt like they locked up for a second and her tail pointed upwards with very light sways to each side.

The robot wolf turned to the girl with wide eyes. “Cassie, did you make this?” She asked, almost breathlessly.

Shyly, Cassie nodded, looking down at the floor. Her brain was screaming with words of doubt and disappointment. Why did she bring these? What a loser!

Roxy located what looked like a pen sticking out of the bag too. “May I?” She pointed to the pen and at the paper. Cassie just shrugged. Maybe Roxy was going to cross it out for her, save her the humiliation of ever being able to see the terrible drawing again.

Roxy quietly went to work and began to write on the paper just underneath the drawing as to not wreck it.

“There” Roxy held up the paper for Cassie to see upon which she gasped, hands across her mouth in awe. Her heart fluttered in her chest and all the doubtful voices in her mind had gone quiet.

The note was written in a slightly cursive font with an edge to it and it sat at the bottom of the artwork.

Roxy’s bottom eyelids raised in a happy expression as her tail swished left and right, excited to see the girl’s reaction.

‘Happy Birthday Cassie!

-From your number one fan, Roxanne wolf <3’

Cassie stood for a second, taking in what the wolf had just written on her drawing. The drawing she regret most to show anyone and yet still had the guts to bring it with her, the drawing she knew would make her look like a freak. It had Roxanne wolf’s signature and writing underneath it as pristinely written as a machine could write, but it still felt special.

Her eyes began to water, but she quickly wiped the tears away and let a smile form on her face.

She hugged the paper to her chest, her heart warm and whole. Roxy’s tail began to swish even harder, causing it to create wind like a weak propeller.
Roxy leaned down to meet her height, holding the girl’s arms tightly.

“Don’t worry about anyone’s opinions of you, Cassie.”

She said with a serious and hushed voice.

“You’re the best just the way you are, even if they can’t see it. I can” She said jokingly pointing to her eyes.

Cassie smiled and felt a tear running down her cheek again. Roxy gently wiped away the tear with her claw and opened her arms out. Cassie immediately went for a hug, feeling Roxy’s hands slowly close around her in her own gentle hug.

Cassie was a gentle hugger, even when she was squeezing. For more than once, Roxy had wished to know what this felt like. What did a hug really feel like? She would never know, but she was glad to have helped Cassie regardless.

A red warning flashed in Roxy’s vision saying ‘Battery Level: 30%’ and she resisted the urge to groan, only letting out a robotic sigh.

“I have to go now Cassie.” She stood up and waved, keeping her eyes on her. “But I hope I could make your special day better” She winked at Cassie while the girl nodded with a smile already feeling appreciated.

“Thank you Roxy!” She said shyly back, mad at herself for being that timid again.

Cassie frowned as soon as Roxy left, feeling lonely yet again, even when she looked upon the words Roxy had written for her, it still felt lonely and cold in the room. And all she could do was stare at the uneaten whole cake, knowing no one else would come to her party.

She tried not to let the feelings get to her, even when she was alone for another four minutes.

She was beginning to wonder where her dad was and if they could home soon. It wasn’t worth it staying here if no one wanted to-

The door opened wide with a small crouched figure that was too small to be an adult and made a hushed “Psst” at her.

“Huh?”

It was a boy. He looked about her age, maybe older with brown messy spiked hair, a blue shirt and brown cargo shorts with a bandaid on his cheek.

“Are there any staffbots in here?” He looked surprised to see someone in there but then whispered to her with avoidant eyes, almost in desperation. 

Cassie shook her head quietly. 

“Phew…” the boy got up and brushed himself off, sitting right beside Cassie who just continued to stare at him, confused. She didn’t want to snitch or kick him out and she didn’t know why. 

The boy looked at her and then flinched when he realized he had just walked into some random room with some random kid in it.

“Oh um… sorry” He apologized sheepishly.

“It’s okay” she shrugged.

The boy turned to the door and then looked back at her with a “huh”

“Hey… um… are you okay?” He asked worriedly, only now just noticing the eyeliner tear stains across her cheeks.

“Oh… me? Y-yeah…” she lied, rubbing her cheeks, looking away from the boy. Embarrassment and disappointment flooded her chest. She felt like she might start crying again. 

“Umm…” He looked away shyly, rubbing his arm. “I-I’m Gregory but the way.” He greeted awkwardly. He had internally slapped himself for the abrupt introduction but to his surprise the girl who he just snuck up on (accidentally of course) didn’t seem to be bothered by his presence. 

“Cassie.” She smiled back, feeling better that she wasn’t alone again.

“I’m really sorry to come in and crash your party, Cassie.” Gregory chuckled nervously, looking away from her.

Cassie turned away, pouting grumpily. “What party?” She huffed. “None of my friends showed up to it anyway.”

Hearing this Gregory’s eyes went wide. “What?”

It made sense why she was alone and obviously had been crying. “What a bunch of jerks!” He scoffed, offended on her behalf. To his surprise and shyness, she giggled at the blunt comment. “Big jerks” She replied with a tearful chuckle.

He smiled calmly in her direction, taking out something from his pocket. “Here” he gently handed her  some clean napkins he had probably taken from another party.  

Cassie sniffled, looking at him, still frowning. “Thanks” she replied with a small voice. She started to gently wipe her tears as Gregory scooted a little closer to her.

Cassie shuddered out a breath. “Well…  at least Roxy came” she shrugged with a weak smile. “I just wish she didn’t have to leave so quickly…”

Gregory looked at her, his heart breaking for a moment. “So Roxy’s your favourite huh?” He asked.

“Yeah…” she replied shyly.

“I think she’s pretty cool too” He shrugged with a goofy grin. “But my favorite is Freddy” 

Cassie looked at him with  curious eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Cassie looked away, trying to find words. “I-I like Freddy too I guess” she felt like she might offend him if she didn’t say anything. Gregory simply giggled at that, noticing her stammer.

“You know, you don’t have to try and suck up to me like that” He smiled that same smug smile from before.

Cassie was caught in a moment of being flustered and offended. “I-I wasn’t- I just-“

“I’m just kidding!” He lightly shoved her. Cassie let out a sigh of relief and turned to Gregory with a half smile. One part of her annoyed by his jokiness, the other kind of enjoying this kind of honesty. “You’re a jerk!” She smiled.

“Hey!” Gregory retorted back with a fake angry huff. “At least I’m better than those jerks that decided to not hang out with the coolest person here!”

Cassie felt herself go red at the compliment and she turned away with a smile. She felt teary-eyed for a moment. Maybe there was a chance she would make a friend. Maybe…

“But hey it’s those dickweeds’ loss that they don’t get to be here for free too!” He commented smugly.

Cassie gasped at him with wide eyes, caught off guard by his language. She had to agree though and instead she could only laugh again, eyebrow raised. What was this kid even doing? She had to know.

“Hey Gregory?”

“Yeah?”

“Why were you hiding from the staff bots?” She asked curiously.

Gregory froze for a moment and then looked away, ashamed. “I um… yeah I was just…” he stammered, twiddling his fingers together.

Then he spotted something by the table he hadn’t noticed until now. “Wait… is that cake?” He asked hungrily.

Cassie sighed with a nod. “Yeah… it was supposed to be for my friends.” She sniffled again thinking about those traitors of friends.

Gregory looked at her and then looked back at the cake. Cassie seemed to pick on what he was thinking about because she got up from her table with a little smile of hope. “Did you want any?” She asked.

Gregory’s eyes lit up and he gasped in disbelief. “A-am I allowed to have any?” He asked.

Cassie nodded with a smile. “Sure! It’s not like anyone else is gonna eat it”

“Thank you!” He replied to her and rushed over to the cake like it was the first meal he had in months. , He messily grabbed a pre-cut slice and stuffed it into his face.

Cassie giggled at the mess he made and went for a piece herself, though a lot slower than the boy.

Gregory swallowed with satisfaction. “This is really good!” He commented.

Cassie hummed with a nod, her mouth full.

The soft smooth texture of the cake with the added bitter sweetness of the carrot cake flavor and the gorgeous melting icing was just what she needed!

“They really missed out huh?” Gregory said, grabbing his third slice already.

Cassie felt a little bit of dread wash over her, but the fact that he seemed to be enjoying himself was good enough.

The only question was if he really wanted to be her friend or not?

“Hey um… Gregory… did you wanna go play at the arcade or something after? M-my dad gave me a full two hours worth of Fazcade games pass.” She asked him nervously, taking out the folded ticket in her pocket. “It’s for anyone associated with the birthday pass.” She tried to explain this, even though her voice was a little muffled by how her head wasn’t facing him.

As Gregory swallowed his third slice, he stared at her with wide eyes.

Now she was afraid for a second that maybe she was asking too soon and being too weird about it. After all, she had literally just met this kid!

But then to her surprise, he nodded with a massive grin.

“Yes please!” She had never seen someone so happy to be in her presence before. Other kids thought she was too quiet or too weird or when she did talk, she wasn’t normal enough to talk to.

“Really?” Cassie asked, to her dismay beginning to get tearful again.

Gregory noticed her sensitive voice and he gave her a warm smile. “Yeah! I’ve never got a chance to play the two player games over there” he said, bouncing up and down where he sat.

Cassie’s heart skipped a beat. She was making a friend. A real friend. She wasn’t as hopeless and a big loser like her brain tried to tell her. She actually made a friend. “Y-You wanna hang out with me?” Her voice was about to break again, breaking Gregory’s own heart for a second too.

“Yeah! You seem pretty cool and you didn’t make fun of me” He shrugged with a laid back smile. Cassie flinched, flustered by the comment. No one said she was cool before… wow!

wait… made fun of him? This hurt to hear. Why would anyone make fun of him? For what reason?

Gregory couldn’t believe that someone actually wanted to hang out with him! She seemed like such a nice person and it wasn’t fair that no one came to her party!

He was glad to have found her and to find someone like her to be friends with. He couldn’t remember why his other friends disappeared… maybe they finally knew what a homeless loser he really was.

Maybe that’s why Tony had left… whever he had gone.

He missed his friends, but it was time to move on.

Hopefully he could keep this friend for a long time, not have her disappear on him like the others.

Maybe he wouldn’t be so alone anymore.

Chapter Text

Crackling smoke and fire filled her ears. The smell of smoke somehow not going through her nostrils despite the blatant sound of fire burning around her and the sight of pale smoke obscuring her vision.

She looked around, not fully noticing her surroundings in full detail but noticing that she was up high, surrounded by fire.

She gasped, falling back as the flames continued to circle around her. But her fear was met with confusion when she noticed she couldn’t feel the heat or the burning sensation, in fact it was like she wasn’t on fire at all. Like she was living a virtual reality experience like many years ago.

Though this felt not much like a dream than a weird hallucination. Confused, she looked at her uniform, noticing no burns there either. She was completely pristine from any burns or fire damage… so how was it that she was safe from the inferno?

Curious and confused, Vanessa looked over at what appeared to be the balcony of the Pizzaplex. She didn’t remember being up here, but here she was anyway.

She looked beyond the wall of smoke surrounding her to see something that made her go radio silent in shock.

It was Glamrock Freddy’s broken body, laying on the ground floor, completely immobile. That didn’t make sense.

Why was he outside the Pizzaplex and how? And what broke him?

Surely he didn’t just jump off for whatever reason?

The thought had occurred to her but that sounded ludicrous.

That was when she noticed something off nearby, a body laying near the broken animatronic.

A blurry white figure laying a pool of their own blood. Obviously they had been dead recently.

She peered down at the body to get a closer look and that’s when everything froze. 

The world sunk beneath her and she could barely comprehend the image that flashed in her eyes.

The body was that of a woman with blonde hair in some kind of patchy costume, looking like she had died from the impact of the fall.

The woman had such horrifyingly similar features to her. But it couldn’t be… could it?

She continued to stare at the body and slowly the realization began to sink in. She couldn’t breath, she couldn’t feel, she couldn’t even call for help.

The fire never touched her, the pain never came because she wasn’t here anymore. She was down there, laying on the pavement.

The fire continued around her and she never took her eyes off of the body. It was cold and empty and she had come to terms with the reason she was now here.

Her soul was trapped here. She was trapped here. She wasn’t free. She wasn’t alive. She was a prisoner of the Pizzaplex.

She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t cry, she couldn’t even sleep.

All she could do was continue to stare at the corpse of her own body, watching her blood pool slowly out more and more. All she could do was watch as her body was discovered and she the Pizzaplex began to crumble around her.

All she could do was spectate the disaster and reflect on everything in her life that had lead up to this moment. Even being in some kind of torturous hell would’ve been better than this.

All she could do was watch.

Chapter Text

Gregory’s lungs burned as he raced across the catwalks, fearing for his life. All he could do was run, the footsteps behind him getting closer and closer. The metal catwalks rattled as he ran, the distorted giggling behind him getting more and more manic.

Gregory halted as he came to a dead end.

With no where to run, the white Rabbit slowly approached, her knife in hand. Vanny’s red eyes peered into the boy’s terror filled soul. Gregory backed up into the railing, breathing frantically.

“Nowhere to run, Gregory!” The rabbit taunted mockingly.

She took one teasing small step towards Gregory and the catwalk made a low rumble.

The bridge began to wobble and shake as Gregory and Vanny had started to lose their balances.

Vanny quickly grabbed onto Gregory’s arm forcefully as she plunged the knife into him, only to hit the gridding of the catwalk floor, Gregory barely rolling away enough to dodge the hit.

The shaking got more and more frantic and the floor began to tilt downwards.

Before either one of them could react, the platform finally gave way and the pathway collapsed falling to the ground. Gregory had slipped on the slope part hanging downwards and luckily managed to make it to another platform before rolling onto the floor, sustaining minor injuries.

Vanny however was not as lucky. She tumbled on her stomach, fumbling with her knife and the platform came careening down to the ground. Vanny lay flat on the floor, barely registering what had happened before another piece had fallen directly on her back, causing a ghastly crack of her bones and the object to pin her underneath it.

Gregory moaned in pain, getting up shakily from the floor as he stood up with wobbly knees, staring right at Vanny. He gasped catching the glimpse of a shining silver light just an inch away before Vanny could grab it.

Gregory snatched the knife off the floor and held it tightly, shaking.

Vanny’s torso and lower half was obscured by both the dim light and the object pinning her down. The rabbit’s head moved, red eyes glancing at Gregory slowly.

A weak distorted laugh broke out of the mask. “ Well…” She croaked.

“Looks like the Predator has become the prey…” Though it was weak and sickly, she laughed at the irony of her situation.

Gregory held the knife out, slowly and shakily approaching her. His face was contorted in horror and anger, horrified by what she had put him through.

Vanny chuckled again and a cough escaped her lungs as she lay helplessly.

“So this is how it ends hmm?”

She asked curiously.

“Looks like fate has been kind to you, kid.” She retorted, wheezing.

“You take my life, leave this curse behind and never step foot inside here again”

Her voice began to weaken with each breath and Gregory’s hands became sweaty upon holding the knife so close to another human.

Was he really going to kill her? Sure, she wanted to kill him… but would he do the same?

Somehow this descision felt familiar, like he had done it before.

The rabbit’s red eyes no longer lit up, but the person underneath was still breathing and trembling in pain.

“Gregory?” Vanny spoke in a softer voice than before, still distorted but almost as if she were a different person entirely.

Vanny was soft spoken and playfully sadistic, this voice sounded broken, pained and confused.

Gregory gritted his teeth without a word and ripped the mask off.

The boy’s blood went cold and his vision turned to a blood red in fury. He felt sick to his stomach and he took a horrified step back.

The woman’s green eyes looked at Gregory weakly. Her blond ponytail greasy and stained with blood along side with her lips and pale complexion.

Vanessa barely managed to register Gregory’s face, but when she did, she frowned solemnly.

“Gregory…” she began.

“You have to end this.”

Gregory couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, he could barely keep himself together. Did she just ask him to kill her?

“Please” she spoke out again, coughing up blood and her lips began to tremble. She was desperate and this scared him more than Vanny.

“You have to kill me… it’s the only way” She spoke, though with a stammer. She never wanted to imagine putting anyone through what she did and what he had to do now, but it was the only way for there to be any peace, at least to her.

Gregory began to approach her, knife in hand. Vanessa closed her eyes, letting tears flow down her cheeks and onto the floor.

The boy was shaking, aiming the knife directly at her neck which she made no attempt to conceal.

“Do it.”

Gregory felt a pit in his stomach growing, and he stepped back, terrified. He had every chance to end it right there and then and yet… he backed away, despite her slowly dying.

“Please…” Vanessa begged again, tears non stop and she tried to crawl out from under the object to get to him, but the pain to the object crushing her innards was too great.

“P-please… y-you have to…” She begged with helpless sobs.

Despite being terrified, Gregory stood his ground, putting on a brave face.

“No.” He said.

Vanessa just cried helplessly. “I’m sorry.”

She whimpered, looking into Gregory’s eyes with her true ones, not the ones possessed by malice and turmoil.

“I’m so so sorry.”

Gregory paused, trying to read her expression. Unlike before, she didn’t seem to be trying to egg him on with false hopes and promises.

The boy just stared at her as she struggled to move.

“I wish I could take back everything.”

Vanessa sobbed.

“I wish I could bring them back and start over”

The words sent chills down Gregory’s spine. Somehow, he knew exactly what her cryptic response meant.

“But you have to take my life” She demanded again in tearful desperation.

Gregory couldn’t stand to look into her pitiful gaze any longer. Against his better judgement, the boy held the knife away from her and began to shake his head. He felt like he could collapse at any moment.

“Gregory please…” she whimpered weakly, trying to reach out towards him.

“Gregory…”

Came a barely audible gasp, so small and so breathless it almost sounded like no words at all.

The woman’s eyes slowly looked away from him, staring fowards like she had gone blind, her mouth going agape; her hand that had reached out now fallen to the floor.

Her entire body went limp as a silent final breath left her lungs and the debris had managed to succumb to gravity and keep her body fully pinned.

The vacant tearful stare haunted Gregory’s vision. He had to turn away from it, even when he was finally free from the killer, a part of him felt awful inside, grieving her. But why? Did he really feel bad for her or was it just the traumatic experience finally getting to him.

He kneeled down on all fours, sobbing uncontrollably, his body wracked with turmoil and grief.  Freddy was gone. Vanny was gone. He was alone. All alone.

He was stuck in this place, staring at a dead woman, her words of begging him to kill her still haunting his mind.

He didn’t even hear the paramedics and police showing up behind him. The voices were muffled and all he could do was watch as a group of paramedics took out the woman’s body from under the piece of debris, as carefully as they could without getting any injuries themselves.

An arm grabbed onto Gregory’s shoulder and he flinched at the touch.

“Can you stand up?” A woman asked with a soft yet stern voice.

Gregory didn’t say a word and shakily stood up, with the held of the woman next to him to keep him on his trembling legs.

A pair of amber eyes looked at him. “What’s your name?”

Gregory barely let out a soft voice from his throat, weakly muttering his name to her. “Okay Gregory, we’re gonna take you to hospital alright?” She reassured him.

Gregory didn’t care. He felt nothing at the moment. It was like a void had swallowed his mind whole and all that was left was an empty husk.

What would happen now? He didn’t know and he still didn’t feel safe… he felt like Vanny’s death wasn’t going to change the murders around the Pizzaplex, it felt like she was just a pawn in a bigger game.

He would never be able to fully stop what was to come.

He had lost.

Chapter Text

The security office was no one’s favourite place in the Pizzplex, but for Vanessa, it wasn’t her least favorite place in the entire building… so that was a plus.

She could try and sugar coat it all she wanted, but the fact was the office was possibly the most isolated and boring location of the entire complex. The beige grey walls with little to no decoration, the boring glare of the cheap monitors, the lack of lighting and the lack of air conditioning.

It sucked but it was just boring if anything. There was no real danger here. The doors were closed and could only be opened from the inside. If there was a break in, Vanessa would be completely safe in here.

So why did she feel so on edge?

The monitors whirred their boring white noise which was the only sound other than the security guard’s own breathing.

The fact that she could hear her own breaths was a little unsettling.

She could hear her heartbeat too. That was even more unsettling.

Sighing, she lay back in her chair, letting her arms flop to her sides. Nothing. There was nothing happening.

“Hey”

She looked around her for a second, swearing she heard a voice. But there was no noise and the room was completely locked down so there was no way of being able to hear a voice so clearly.

Unless someone was in the room with her?

Was someone in the room with her?

A chill ran down her spine as the thought of being watched dawned in on her. Being watched…

She felt nauseous for a second. Being watched by him.

No… no he was gone! That was impossible!

She swiveled around on her chair right at one of the doors to exit. It was still closed.

There was no way that anyone could’ve gotten in!

No way!

Taking in a deep breath, Vanessa turned back to the monitors to check in on activity around the complex.

Though it was boring and eerily quiet, it was better than straining her minimal energy on walking around the entire facility from head to toe, just to make sure no one broke in or got lost or the animatronics were behaving normally.

Got lost… broke in…

The foggy memories of kids that had been left behind at the complex and or broken in, running away from home.

The amount of kids that Vanny had-

Vanessa’s heart jumped in her throat and she could feel bile rising up. She had to stop thinking about it before she started freaking out.

She swallowed, turning to another camera, fumbling with the buttons as her hands began to shake.

It was clammy and unkempt in the room, but she was shivering like cold air had rushed past her shoulders.

She felt sweat running down her face and back and suddenly the office didn’t feel so safe anymore.

She knew she’d need to get out of the room before her lungs decided to close in on themselves.

The metal door slammed open and out she ran like there was a bomb in the room with her.

She ran until she could no longer even see where the office was and soon after berated herself for running so hectic like she did. She doubled over, taking in huffs and puffs and her muscles were already tired.

At least her heartbeat wasn’t the loudest thing anymore, though she could definitely feel it coursing through her stomach and chest.

What was she afraid of? Being alone? Boredom?

Whatever the case, her head was aching like she’d been squashed by an anvil.

She needed to go sit somewhere before she fell onto the hard shiny floor.

One of those sitting booth areas a few steps away from the Atrium stage, but a decent view of the show. Not like you could even see past the crowd at that point anyway.

The hard discomforting leather made her pull an irritable groan from her throat as she struggled to sit comfortably on the cheap furniture, but at least she wasn’t in an eerily quiet room anymore. Even if her back and neck had to suffer the consequences of a crappy commercial sofa.

Her head was beginning to feel heavier on her neck and she had to lay back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Her mind had completely ignored the blinding neon lights and just given up as she let her cap slither off her head and over her eyes, almost like a makeshift facemask for sleeping.

She lay as comfortably as she could get, folding her arms over her chest and stomach to keep some of the warmth in.

She didn’t seem to care that she was supposed to be on guard duty, she didn’t get paid much anyway and the company had practically blackmailed her to be stuck here. So why not stick it to them instead?

She began drifting off to the faint sounds of ambient background music and distant machinery, all of which echoed so far in the atrium hall.

Even hearing the staff bots whirring by didn’t seem to bother her.

She just let everything go.

That was until her headache filled brain decided it was time to start worrying like the crippling insomniac she was. Not worrying about her work as much, even though deep down she did actually like to put effort into her work, but more so the worries steered towards the past and the future.

When she got up with a curse under her breath, the headache had not gone away, the dizziness only further intensified leaving her disoriented for a moment.

When she got up she had to wait a second to gather her senses and then simultaneously ignore the dull ache in her stomach too.

Anxiety made everything hurt when it wanted to. She knew that feeling all too well and yet she could do virtually nothing about it given the severity and “uniqueness” of her situation and trauma.

Waves of anger and frustration washed over her as she felt the urge to punch something or someone to relieve that aching in her guts and forehead. It wasn’t even worth it in the end.

Vanessa sighed and decided to just try and suck it up and begin her nightly patrol again. How many times she wanted to smash a pot plant or her fists into the walls over her routine and mental issues alike was something she was getting even more frustrated that she hadn’t gotten used to.

She was frustrated of being frustrated.

With a resting-bitch-face scowl and stomp-like walking alike, Vanessa grumpily began her patrol, fiddling with the flashlight as a distraction as she left the atrium floor to the stairs.

She didn’t enjoy how breezy it was inside the hall. It was never this cold and hot at the same time. She took in a ragged breath and went to the elevator. Maybe the Atrium was too much right now.

The elevator was pretty boring as usual, the irritating little 8-bit jingle of the Glamrock’s theme repeating over and over again as she tapped her foot impatiently, hoping for the elevator to hurry up.

The lights in the elevator flickered for a second, cutting off the music with it.

Her heart almost leaped out of her chest.

But when the lights came back on, she put a hand to her chest to calm herself down. ‘Why are you getting so antsy and nervous?’ She asked herself in frustration.

‘There’s nothing here that’s gonna hurt you any-‘

Her thoughts were cut off almost instantly as the light flickered off again and the music dulled to a stop. This time however, the light did not come back on.

Dread filled her stomach as she looked around the dark elevator beginning to press the open door buttons; the pressing turned into slamming and the slamming turned into cursing.

She no longer felt safe and her heart was pounding furiously.

‘Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic!’ She tried to tell herself, but the overheated atmosphere was already getting to her head.

She could feel her lungs beginning to get heavier in her chest and her breathing was getting louder and more and more frantic, as if  she was actually going into labor.

Her frail body was pinned up against the back of the elevator. She felt hot tears beginning to build up in her eyes.

Why couldn’t she just be normal?! Why couldn’t she just suck it up?!

Even while breathing rapidly, she reached over to the emergency button to call for any assistance.

Her finger was just not working on the damn button! Her hands were shaking so much, she couldn’t properly press and hold it.

“Fuck!” She grunted through gritted teeth, her voice cracking.

Disheartening realization crossed her mind.

Vanessa’s face went pale and clenched her teeth.

Who the hell would answer her? There was no other staff members here at this hour…

She was going to die here!

No… no she had to pull herself together. Surely there was someway of forcing the elevator to open.

When she could hear whirring outside the doors she began to bang furiously, trying to get the attention of the staff bot going by.

When calling out for help didn’t seem to work, she banged as loudly as her frail fists would let her to get the attention of the robot.. yet nothing came of it.

The whirring soon became distant and Vanessa stood helplessly, trying to think of the next thing.

Her head was too heavy and all she could do was close her eyes and pretend that everything was okay. A stray tear made its’ way down her cheeks and she couldn’t calm down that rapid fire burning in her chest. She was nearly convinced she’d spontaneously combust in sheer panic.

Her brain was continually screaming at her despite there being nothing she could do.

It was just the echoed repeats of “should haves” and “could haves”

Her brain was right… she should’ve just stayed in the office… she should’ve just been braver and not freaked out like a toddler after watching a horror movie.

She shuddered out a breath, letting her quiet sobs echo the elevator.

Not even five minutes in and her body had then decided it would begin the panic banging all over again.

It was like a survival instinct that she couldn’t control and  she began to scream for help again, screaming as loud as humanly possible for her. Ignoring the hard pain going through her muscles, she forced herself to make as much noise as possible.

“SOMEONE! LET ME OUT!”

She heard a laugh. His laugh.

No… no… NO! NO! NO!

She covered her mouth in horror and backed up as far to the wall as she possibly could, practically squashing herself against it.

Let me out. I always come back.

She held her mouth shut, holding down the bile that threatened to rise up that instant. There was no way she was gonna be stuck in here with the sight and smell of her own sick. The thought of that was already making her insides cramp up even more.

All she could do right now was just hope and pray for someone to find her!

How long had it been? It felt like two hours at this point!

Maybe she could actually last the night and then get out in the morning…

But then a hollow and horrified realization crossed.

Gregory! she needed to take him home! She couldn’t just leave him here! What would happen if she just let the animatronics take care of him?! Staff would call her irresponsible, negligent, unfit to be a guardian. He would get sent away!

She would lose him! She would lose everyone!

The others would be decommissioned and replaced, she would be sent on trial and then she’d be sent to a mental hospital all by herself. Away from them, away from home!

She would lose everything!

SHE WOULD LOSE EVERYTHING! SHE COULDN’T LET THAT HAPPEN! SHE JUST COULDN’T!

Now it felt like she was literally suffocating. She was actually dying! Her heart was going for the gold medal in some hundred meter sprint, her head was made of solid steel and her lungs were shrinking more and more.

Flashes of light went by her glossy bloodshot eyes. These lights were yellow… rabbit shaped.

A big wide smile.

‘Hello again, Vanny’

Any lasting energy she may have had to scream at the top of her lungs and thrash out in her cage was completely gone and instead she let herself quiver and cry, curled up in a ball.

“Nessa?” A small voice spoke through her Fazwatch.

Oh yeah… her watch. Why didn’t she just use that in the first god damn place?!

Now she felt even worse.

“Vanessa!” The voice spoke again and this time she could hear it very clearly.

Gregory…

Her eyes shot open and she sat in silence, listening.

“Nessa are you there?” His voice shrieked with worry, he knew something was wrong. He knew this wasn’t normal for her to just isolate herself without notifying the others. Especially when they came for office visits.

They must’ve seen that she wasn’t there.

“Vanessa!” Gregory said a little louder, a slight tremble in his voice.

She opened her mouth but it was like her voice didn’t want to work properly.

“G-Gregory?” She stammered, her throat hiccuped like tiny frogs were jumping up inside it.

“Nessa!” Gregory gasped with relief. “We’re coming to get you!”

“Freddy said the elevator wasn’t working. It popped up in his system and we never heard back from you in the office, and you weren’t there when we checked.” He explained.

“Y-yeah I’m sorry I just…” Vanessa could barely finish her sentence without almost breaking down in hysterical sobs.

“I-I just… ran into some trouble…” she said shakily.

Gregory could tell from the tone of her voice that she was hiding her fear from him.

“We’re coming to the elevator now.” Gregory said.

All exchanged communication stopped and Vanessa found herself in complete silence again.

She could feel her shaky breaths getting weaker, her anxiety starting to slowly fade.

The doors to the elevator shot open and Vanessa jumped, startled, especially when one tall orange bear towered over her with concerned eyes and the boy had run into her arms.

Gregory squeezed her tight and he could feel her shaking as she held him. It was so bad it felt like she was in her own personal earthquake.

Gregory leaned his ear on her chest and frowned hearing her heart pounding.

Vansssa didn’t care about anything else right now. All she could do was let her fearful hiccups escape her lips and hold onto the boy for dear life. Not saying a single word.

Freddy watched the two’s embrace keeping his distance for their sake. Though he really wanted to bend down and pick them both up into his arms and tell them how much he loved them.

“You’re okay Nessa.” Gregory looked into her eyes, his own beginning to tear up.

“Remember what the therapist told us right?” Gregory reminded her.

It felt pathetic to be comforted by a child  like SHE was the child. She should’ve been braver!

Despite the shame and self hatred, she nodded slowly and began to use her grounding techniques as well as slowing her breathing.

Gregory held her shaky hands, looking at her with a sincere smile.

“No one’s gonna hurt you anymore, Sis. I’ll make sure of that!”

The nickname had completely melted her inside and she couldn’t hold back her tears. Her cheeks completely flooded as she let the hiccups escape, letting Gregory give her another squeeze.

He smiled, feeling warm and loved and he wanted to make sure she was warm and loved. He could feel a tear go down his cheeks too.

Finally after what seemed like half an hour, she let out a tearful chuckle and smiled at the boy. “Thank you, Gregory” She said sincerely.

Gregory looked at her with a determined and tough smile. “What are family for?”

She smiled even wider, lips trembling now from a good kind of crying.

She stood up shakily as she he helped her off the ground of the elevator.

Freddy looked down at her with a worried hum. “Are you feeling any better, Officer Vanessa?” He asked. Though he was sincere, using her title caused her to snort a second. Maybe this was his way of cheering her up.

“Yeah… a little. Thanks big guy.” She looked up with a smile. Freddy hummed proudly at this.

When she, Gregory and Freddy made their way back to Rockstar Row Vanessa had just about fell over from the slamming pink body holding her tightly.

“Oh Nessie, are you okay? Did you get stuck? Did you get hurt? Do you want some food?” Chica was blabbing on and on, her beak moving up and down almost too fast for her words.

The chicken rubbed her back. But Chica’s frantic concern was making Vanessa chuckle weakly. Moved that she cared so much.

Roxanne was next, resting a hand on her shoulder and then Monty leaning behind her, raising his glasses above his head with a worried glance. “Y’right?” He asked.

“I am now” Vanessa answered with a deep sigh.

Bonnie walked up and smiled, though he didn’t confront her, like Monty he still looked worried. “Hey… how’re you feelin’, dudette?”

Vanessa half chuckled at the nickname, even when she had a rocky start with Bonnie, she still appreciated his concern. “Better than I was.” She replied truthfully.

The blue rabbit smiled with a nod, satisfied.

“Would you like me to contact Luis?” Freddy asked her softly.

Vanessa wiped her face with a weak chuckle. “It’s fine Freddy, I can… I can talk to him when I feel up to it” she reassured him.

Freddy nodded quietly.

“I get scared too. Especially of small spaces.” Chica chirped softly, holding her hands together and glancing at Vanessa with sympathy.

Though it was a little weird, Vanessa was flattered that these robots tried to make her feel better, the same way they did when Gregory wasn’t at his best.

Roxy nodded beside Chica, the servos in her neck making sounds. “I also feel not so awesome sometimes.” The wolf turned to her side, suddenly becoming shy. “Especially when I make a mistake or don’t look perfect.”

Her voice was slightly muffled when she said this.

Monty nodded at this, his voice going into a low hum.

“I get all twitchy and glitchy sometimes and then I gotta break stuff”

Bonnie nodded at this. “Yeah I ain’t super fond of being alone in the dark, that’s when it gets a lil too icky.” He commented, his ears moving up and down with a nervous shrug.

“I too have had my fair share of fearful feelings. For instance the overheating I experienced when Gregory went with Cassie on holiday.” Freddy said.

“Yeah you really freaked out.” Roxy commented, nudging the bear lightly.

“Aww what a big softy!” Bonnie awed at him. Monty let out a bold laugh at this, holding his stomach hatch as if it were a real stomach.

If Freddy could blush he’d go bright red right now. He mimicked clearing his throat and looked away, slightly embarrassed. “I-I was just trying to look out for him.” He excused with a robotic stammer.

Vanessa raised her eyebrows at their interactions. Amused and amazed at the same time with how closely they could be way too real sometimes. Sentient robots otherwise was a terrifying thought, but she and Gregory would never replace their family for anything or anyone.

“Nessa… sometimes I get really anxious too, and so does Cassie” Gregory gave her a small smile, his big beady eyes looking at her with comfort.

She couldn’t believe she ever landed such an amazing kid in her life. A kid that was more like the little brother she never had. “But you were there for me when I freaked out.” He shrugged at her.

She ruffled his hair making him grumble and try and fix it, though he couldn’t help but crack a smile anyway. “And I’ll keep being there for you, squirt.” She smiled.

“Same goes for you, stinker!” He teased, sticking his tongue at her.

Vanessa gasped jokingly. “Oh wow. Going there are we?” Gregory chuckled, avoiding his guardian’s wiggling fingers as she attempted to try and tickle him.

“Nuh uh!” He quickly ran behind Freddy, taunting her with his tongue again behind Freddy’s waist.

“You little brat!” She smiled, running towards him. Gregory gasped and made another dash, this time behind Bonnie.

“I gotcha little dude!” Bonnie lifted him up onto his shoulders.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Vanessa smirked, crossing her arms. Bonnie looked down smugly.

“Too bad you can’t reach there, Dudette.” He laughed.

Vanessa pretend huffed and turned away before she attempted catching the rabbit off guard and launching towards Gregory only to see he was no longer on Bonnie’s shoulders.

Gregory chuckled, blatantly and not very well hiding under Monty’s tail. Monty gasped with amusement as he gave the boy a curious look.

“You call that a hidin’ spot?” He quipped.

Gregory began to laugh and so did Vanessa.

“Hide behind my tail next time!” Roxy chuckled, crossing her arms.

Chica giggled behind her hand.

“And get hair in my mouth?” Gregory smirked, raising an eyebrow at Roxy.

“Hey! It’s not real hair!” Roxy defended cooly.

“But it’s super duper soft like real hair!” Chica clucked in her usual bubbly tone.

“You know it” Roxy said proudly, whipping back her mane and tail like they were shiny fashion accessories.

The band chuckled at this and Gregory began to slow down, losing his energy already. Then he felt two arms around his arms. Vanessa hugged him from behind, her eyes beaming with a glossy pigment.

“Thank you, little bro” she said to him in a soft and yet tearful voice.

Gregory smiled ear to ear, feeling a light shining through his heart. The fact that they had gotten as close as they had was not something he ever thought would happen. He had a family and a family he would protect forever.

Chapter Text

“Vanessa, may I ask you a question?” Freddy asked curiously.

Vanessa faced the monitors, picking up her cup of coffee. “Sure” she shrugged absent mindedly.

“Well” he began. “I do enjoy listening to the banter of patrons inside the plex, especially the young ones. The ways they play and talk to one another is always a delight!” He beamed.

Vanessa hummed lazily. “Uhuh.”

“But I heard this very strange string of words that did not make sense to me regarding any context.”

Vanessa turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “That being?” She asked, pushing him along to get to the point. Freddy began again as she turned back around to continue monitoring the cameras.

“Well yesterday I heard a couple of kids saying something along the lines of  a male chicken.”

She stopped sipping for a second and turned to another monitor. “Okay?”

“Well, that is what confused me. They were using the slang word in a very odd context.”

By now the blonde hadn’t really been paying much attention, just taking quick sips every now and then and checking the cameras with the occasional “mhm” and “uhuh”

“So you have heard many slang words in your vocabulary, am I correct?”

Vanessa scrunched her face up in confusion. What on earth was this robot going on about?

“Right…” she answered simply, just not even bothering to try and understand whatever program was malfunctioning in his aged hardrive.

“I would like to understand why kids saying to suck their male chicken, but you know in the slang version?”

Vanessa paused, the mug up to her lips.

“What?” Male chicken? What the hell was he on about?

The most innocent and curious voice had said about the most unexpected thing Vanessa had ever heard a child friendly character utter in her life.

“Vanessa, why are kids saying “suck my cock?”

Immediately Vanessa had to take the cup away from her lips, nearly choking on what little coffee was left to be swallowed before she spat it out all over the monitor.

Her chest tickled from both the building giggles and from how quickly the coffee went down.

“Gah- Freddy! Could you not have waited till I put my coffee down?” She coughed, trying to recover from what she just heard.

Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh-

She had to keep telling herself, even when she could feel her lips pulling into a smile.

“Oh- I am sorry… I am not sure what I did” He answered with sincere confusion.

“F-Freddy” She cleared her throat to stop any laughter that threatened to escape.

She genuinely had no idea how to answer this question.

Oh my god don’t laugh it’s not funny… The word ‘Cock’ is not that funny… and look, he’s being sincere. But- oh holy crap that’s- that’s just gold.

Stop, you’re giggling already.

She had to hold her hand over her mouth to stifle any giggles, even though the bear could very obviously hear them.

“Freddy, you, you do know that aha-“

Stop it, stop giggling.

“That particular word can mean something else, right?” She couldn’t stop the toothy grin forming on her face.

You are such a child, Vanessa, holy hell. Stop laughing at that, what are you, ten?

She ignored that inner voice berating her for laughing at a literal word, she had to make the excuse, because it was just the perfect delivery and the pick-me-up she needed.

“No, I am afraid my vocabulary can only be upgraded from self learning work. Examples of searching the internet for answers or asking loved ones” he explained thoroughly.

Clearing her throat again, she sighed in amusement, spinning her chair over to face him again.

“Freddy, I hate to tell you this, but those kids are using that word in a very crude manner” She began to explain.

“Oh?” He asked, eyes widened.

“How do I say this without coming off as crude myself.” She thought for a moment aloud.

“Those kids are essentially using that word as way to say-“ she whispered closely to the Bear at which he immediately stood upright, stiff as a bowling pin.

“Oh no, that-that’s awful! Where are the parents of these children?! That is highly innapropriate behavior! My word!”

Vanessa shrugged nonchalantly. “That’s kids, big guy.”

“Please tell me you have not taught Gregory this word”he begged her, practically on his knees.

Vanessa snorted. “No, but I’m sure he could pick it up from anywhere.” She shrugged again.

Freddy was dumbfounded. How could anyone allow children to speak with such language so casually?!

“Oh dear, oh dear” Freddy groaned, shaking his head. It looked like the machine was going through some mental breakdown over this.

“Relax pal, there’s way worse words kids could be using” she shrugged. Freddy gawked at her with wide eyes.

“What?” He uttered in worry.

“Please do not repeat them to me” He groaned, shaking his head as if trying to shake out the memory of that word.

“I won’t” she said with her hands out in front of her, though she was still smiling a little.

“I feel so foolish for having not picked that up” Freddy sighed in disappointment to himself.

“I mean, you said so yourself that you learn by word of mouth and the internet right?” Vanessa shrugged.

“Technically I just taught you something”

She couldn’t keep the audible smirk coming through to him.

‘Please, Nessa just stop being amused by this, I beg you’

Freddy perked up with a “Ah”

“Yes I suppose you are right” he let out a nervous giggle.

“Is um… is that all you needed from me?” She asked.

“Uh… well… umm yes?” Freddy stammered, whirring his hands together like an anxious child. The servos clicked and stirred like loud muscles and he turned away from Vanessa who at this point had hidden her amusement well, even when her brain kept repeating that word over and over again to try and start the train of giggles up again.

“Well, glad I could help then.” She said in a much better mood than before.

Chapter Text

Cassie sighed, leaning over the edge of the railing towards the new and improved Roxy Raceway. 

She flinched, feeling a plastic hand laying over her shoulder and looked up in surprise at the robot wolf  standing next to her.

“Don’t be scared, Cassie. You’re gonna be the best racer in the whole Pizzaplex!” Roxy boasted loudly, pushing her fist to the air in triumph. Cassie turned away with a quiet sigh. “It’s not that I’m scared of losing… I just” she shuddered out a breath. “I‘ve never raced on my own… without my dad at least.” She admit.

Cassie whipped her head around to Roxy with a panicked expression. “Wh-what if I break a kart or roll off the track and then it has to be repaired all over again?” 

Roxy pet Cassie’s shoulder gently. “Shhh” she cooed. “Hey. Don’t worry about that so much, it’s so unlikely for that to happen” she reassured with a lazy chuckle.

“I guess…” Cassie shrugged, turning her attention back to the raceway and watching the karts roll by with the excited screaming of Gregory in the distance.

A pink kart rolled by, very pathetically. 

Chica was sitting as well as she could fit inside, giving both Cassie and Roxy a cheerful wave. 

“Think fast-“ A kart crashes straight into the back of Chica’s kart, forcing her to be launched forward into a spin until her kart was facing the opposite direction, though somehow she was still able to stay seated. “Hey!” The chicken chirped, annoyed.

Cassie and Roxy both stood and watched the commotion, since the loud thud of the kart had caught their attention. 

“Not cool, Greg!” A voice yelled out from a few feet away from the balcony. The blonde haired guard growled at Gregory’s lack of care on the racetracks, especially when the boy stuck his tongue out at her from his kart. 

“Lighten up, Ness” 

“Don’t make me come down there!” Vanessa growled, crossing her arms. 

“You wanna race me then?” Gregory yelled back up to her, driving in circles like a taunting gesture. 

“You wish, brat!” She smirked while saying this, indicating that they weren’t having a serious argument. 

“Come get meeeeee” Gregory’s voice trailed off as he took off down the track. 

Another kart rolled around, a green one. Montgomery Gator was practically standing on his kart as he grunted, trying to pick up speed to bump into Gregory.

A distant echoed voice of “Imma get ya little guy!” 

As Monty belly laughed. “Later Alligator!” Gregory’s voice trailed off, barely audible.

When the noise became distant, Cassie became aware of the metal thuds nearing her space. 

“What’s up moon moon and lil Dudette?” Glamrock Bonnie greeted cooly, leaning on the balcony. 

Roxy gave him a narrow eyed glare but only let out a growl. “Oh hey Bonnie” Cassie greeted with surprise. 

“Sup Carrot breath” Roxy clapped back with a laugh at her own remark. Bonnie chuckled goofily at this, something Roxanne was hiding her disappointment from not eliciting a similar reaction to her own. 

“Not much. Slick scales and lil dude still busslin’ up in eachother’s socks?” He asked.

“Huh?” Cassie blinked in confusion at the rabbit’s bizarre lingo but Roxanne picked up on this pretty quick. “Gregory and Monty? Being rivals as usual.” She replied, subtly explaining this to Cassie who went “Ohh” in realization.

“Of course” the rabbit chuckled, leaning even further back into the railing. 

“And what about tall, handsome and grizzly?” Bonnie quipped flirtatiously.

Roxy rolled her eyes at this. “Probably lumbering behind everyone.” She chuckled.

She yelped out a surprised “ack!” When she was shoved lightly by Bonnie. “Heya Wolfy, let’s not be too hard on the guy.” 

“Don’t call me that!” Roxy growled back, moving an inch away from Bonnie who just laughed in response. 

A feminine sigh sounded nearby and all three turned to see a tired Vanessa lumbering in her tracks. 

 Though when she saw all three’s eyes on her, she stopped and backed up with her hands out in defense, smiling awkwardly. 

“Uh sorry, I’m not intruding or anything?” She asked cautiously.

The woman let out a squeak when the unpredictable rabbit had pulled her into the group without even asking. “Hey, Blondie!” the rabbit chuckled. 

“Hey Vanessa, how are you?” Cassie asked with a smile. “Uh well you know, the same as usual. Just trying to get by” she shrugged. Cassie noticed the dark rings under her eyes. She understood the tiredness the guard expressed when saw her dad coming from the Pizzaplex after hours, completely exhausted and anxious. 

“You work pretty hard, even Gregory can’t deny that” Cassie complimented, hoping to put her in a good mood. Vanessa turned away, slightly flustered, rubbing the back of her neck with a grin. “Ahaha aww, thanks Cassie. Yeah I guess so.” 

Cassie grinned with satisfaction. 

“Geesh Roxy, you really earned a good kid to protect huh?” 

Roxy could’ve sworn she felt a gear inside her stutter like an artificial heart. “We’re the best!” She said, pulling Cassie closer, pointing her head to the ceiling in her usual boastful attitude, hiding the surprise. Cassie giggled as she pulled into the Wolf’s side. 

Vanessa had her hands cupped together as she smiled at the display of affection. 

“Hehe, you really are a softy huh Roxanne?” Bonnie teased with a smug grin. 

Roxy’s ears stood up and her jaw practically hit the floor before she went back to her narrow-eyed growling. “Shut it!” She snapped. 

A voice suddenly burst to life. 

‘Congratulations on winning first place on Roxy Racers, your prize will be waiting by the winners table’ 

The announcer voice echoed as the lights of the race lit up to a runway style across the tracks indicating that the race was now over.

“Yeah, eat it nerds!” Gregory boasted, coming off of his kart. 

“Next time, we do golf!” Monty pointed at Gregory with a competitive huff.

Gregory raised eyebrows at him with a toothy grin. “It’s on, Godzilla!” 

Monty laughed loudly at this. 

“You ready?” Roxy asked Cassie who flinched for a moment. 

“Oi Blondie, you comin’ or what?” Bonnie gestured to Vanessa. The woman hummed tiredly. “Nah, you guys go have fun. I need a coffee” 

“Suit ya self” Bonnie shrugged and then turned to Roxanne and Cassie. “You ready to eat my fluff?” He teased the wolf. Cassie laughed at this. 

“You wish, Big ears!” Roxanne laughed confidently.

Cassie could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she got to the purple and red glazed kart. She was beyond nervous and excited at the same time. She was doing this all on her own. Her dad would be so proud of her, Roxy would be so proud too! 

Cassie readied herself as she turned to the robot wolf in another nearly identical kart beside her. “You ready, Cassie?” 

She asked cooly. “Yes!” Cassie squealed excitedly. 

The girl looked over her left side to see the other racers. Gregory again in a red and orange kart, Bonnie in a light blue and red kart and Monty in the same green kart from before, huffing in anticipation. Gregory waved at Cassie with a mischievous smirk. “Ready to eat concrete Cassie?” He taunted. 

Cassie could feel a smile pulling at her face. “Hah! You wish!” This caused Gregory to chuckle back. 

“Alright ya’ll, save it for the racetrack.” Monty huffed in amusement. 

The race counted down and Cassie readied her kart. “Don’t get too competitive now, wouldn’t wanna outrace the best one here” Roxy winked at Cassie, flipping back her mane, making Cassie giggle again. “I would never!” 

‘On your marks. Get set. Go!’

A prerecorded voice of Roxy cheered as the green light blared and immediately Roxy sped up ahead, Cassie in third and Gregory in second. The kart drove across the road as Cassie felt the wind of speed go by her face in exhilaration. 

She heard a gruff chuckle behind and saw that the green kart was catching up to her. Monty laughed, passing her. Cassie frowned with a “hey!” Pouting in disappointment. 

“Come on! It’s my first time” she sighed. 

Bonnie had lazily made his way right up next to Cassie,  laying on the kart like it was more like an outdoor lounge than a racing kart. 

“Hey lil wolf” He greeted cooly. Cassie blinked in surprise only now noticing Bonnie’s presence.

“Bonnie? Aren’t you gonna go ahead?” Cassie asked, though she didn’t want to be in last place, but she didn’t particularly want Bonnie to let her beat him either. 

Bonnie shrugged. “Eh, racing ain’t really my thing, I just go with the flow” he answered. Cassie raised an eyebrow at him but continued onwards. “Uh okay. You don’t mind if I go ahead then?” She asked him. ‘Then what was all that smack talk earlier?’ She wondered. 

“Go on ahead lil wolf” He said back as Cassie passed him by, still a little confused as to how he was as nonchalant as he was. Especially in such an adrenaline pumping activity. 

Cassie soon found herself catching up to Monty again and watched in front where Roxy and Gregory were now fighting for first place. 

Roxy bumped his kart, causing it to swivel around a little, the boy letting out a “whoa!” As he struggled to rebalance his kart. Roxy laughed and pushed forward. 

As soon as he recovered however, Gregory grinned evilly and slammed right into the back of Roxy’s kart. The wolf’s head turned around to glare at the boy. “Hey!” She cried. 

“Two can play at bumper karts there Roxy!” He reminded her with a smug grin. Roxy laughed confidently and swerved out of the way, letting Gregory bump into her from the side where she used the element of surprise to her advantage. 

“Take this, brat!” She barked, moving right into him. Gregory saw this coming however, and maneuvered away only for Roxy to lose control of her kart. 

Gregory’s smile faded and he gasped pointing to the edge of the track. “Watch out!” He cried. 

Roxy took a mere glance at the corner of the track and jumped out of her Kart upon instinct, not registering the now driver-less kart mere seconds away from crashing right into her. With the panicked commotion, Gregory tried to hit the brakes but found himself going too fast and he too abandoned his kart, landing a thud on the track. 

As Gregory’s kart started barreling towards the unsuspecting wolf, Gregory yelled out to get her attention. “Roxy!” 

Something flashed against Roxy’s mind. Something familiar. The memory of a kart rolling down the track with a robot inside it. She ducked away from the kart and could barely hear it barreling past her when her warning systems began to scream alarms at her. 

Something flashed upon Roxy’s vision. A red blaring wall of text. 

OPTICAL DAMAGE IMMINENT- OPTICAL DAMAGE IMMINENT- 

Something burned.

Her eyes. 

Her eyes burned. 

Roxy began screaming, her programming had told her something or someone was pulling out her eyes again. 

Not again! 

All other karts come to an abrupt stop. Cassie gasped, hands over her mouth at the sight of the incident. 

Gregory dusted himself off and ran towards her, confused and afraid.

Bonnie had wide eyes, glancing over at the now smashed kart that had toppled over the corner of the track and Gregory’s kart that had merely bumped sideways into a wall. Despite the vehicular crime scene, there was no damage done to Roxy’s face. 

Roxy was screaming either way, clutching her claws to her fully functional eyes. 

“My eyes!” She cried. “Give me back my eyes!” 

“No! It hurts! They can’t see me like this! THEY CAN’T SEE ME LIKE THIS!” Her echoed screaming had brought even more attention as the others who had sat out of the current race peered over the balcony. 

Gregory’s face went white and he looked like he had just watched some horrible accident unfold, standing completely silent. 

“Whoa what happened?” Monty asked, jumping out of his kart upon seeing the commotion. 

Chica gasped, watching from the balcony with Freddy as they shared worried glances at one another before they both ran past an equally confused and worried Vanessa who held her cap tight on her head as she raced down to the race track to inspect the situation. 

Roxy was still frantic, hiding her eyes from everyone around her, shaking her head as if trying to fight off some sort of monstrous panic. “MY EYES!” She yelled again. 

Cassie turned to the stone cold shocked Gregory, noticing his discomforted stance. No one seemed to be doing a single thing. All of them seemed to be frozen in shock.

Well, except Vanessa who huffed and puffed as she made her way to the track, Freddy jogging towards Gregory and Chica standing beside Cassie, Monty and Bonnie. 

“Gregory what… happened?” Cassie asked him quietly. 

Gregory turned to her with frightened watery eyes. “I-I don’t know…” his voice came in like he was either trying not to cry or be sick. 

Cassie could tell something was deeply bothering him and she turned to the others in fear. 

Seeing Roxy like this broke her heart. 

“Roxy…” Freddy tried to calm her down, reaching a claw out towards her. 

“Freddy?!” She gasped in trembling hiccups, reaching her claw out like she could barely see him. 

Then her vision cleared. 

“What happened?” Vanessa asked sternly, finally being able to see the aftermath of the incident. 

“I-I was… I didn’t mean to… she didn’t… we were just-“ Gregory began, his voice babbling in fear and guilt as he began sniffling. 

Vanessa leaned down towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Gregory?” She began. “Can you tell me what happened?” She asked in a calm and soft voice, hoping to ease the boy’s stresses. 

Gregory sniffled, wiping his nose as he looked down at the floor in guilt. “I-I bumped my kart into her… we… we were both bumping our karts and I bumped her too hard and she got out before her kart went flying and I lost control of mine before… before it… broke” he explained as best as he could in such a bad state of mind. 

“So… physically she’s okay? And so are you? You didn’t get hurt right?” Vanessa asked, now checking over Gregory for any cuts or bruises. 

“No… “ he shook his head solemnly, hiding his face from view. 

“Roxy” Vanessa said with a clap to her tone to try and snap Roxy from her mental breakdown. Roxy looked wide eyed towards the woman and noticed her vision had completely cleared, her screen no longer blurred with false warnings of optical damage and the near complete silence of the offline racetrack, only accompanied by a faint background jingle. 

Chica, Monty, Bonnie, Vanessa, Gregory, Freddy…. Cassie… 

All of them were staring right at her, all looking concerned, all looking at her negatively. 

All looking at her in a bad way… a bad way. 

Like she was some kind of monster. 

Cassie gently walked towards Roxy as her jaw shut tight, ears folding back and she looked the canid equivalent of mortified. 

Her systems overheated with humiliation. 

“Oh. My eyes are fine.” She spoke out very quietly that it was barely audible. 

Now she truly wished she could be decommissioned right then and there. 

Gregory turned away at this comment, wringing his hands together anxiously. 

“Roxy?” Cassie’s soft tiny voice spoke up. The girl’s big brown eyes were full of concern and Roxy could see the tears forming in them. 

“Are you okay?” She asked. 

This felt wrong. Roxy was supposed to be the one who comforted children, not the other way around! This is all wrong! Something was wrong! Something was off! She wasn’t supposed to be like this, she wasn’t supposed to be weak! 

“Oh it’s nothing!” Roxy said nonchalantly, brushing her mane back, a little more clumsily than usual. 

“You said something about your eyes? Are they doing okay?” Cassie asked. 

A fan stuttered on the inside of Roxy’s hardware, her cooling systems overheating just a little more. 

Her eyes… Why did she think about that… why did…

“I didn’t mean to- I think I just need a recharge.” She tried to excuse though her robot voice was wobbling ever so slightly. 

Roxy looked away from the worried girl, feeling pitiful for making her worry as much as she did, but it was a mistake to turn away and look at the wreckage of Gregory’s kart and the bent corner of the track nearby.  

Her eyes widened and she stood frozen in a trance.

Her head twitches involuntarily, eyelids moving up and down unnaturally and she could sense something hitting the back of her head like a bat. She held her head tightly, groaning. 

That memory kept replaying over and over and over again.

“Stop it!” She cried. 

And turned back to see everyone’s eyes on her again. 

“Stop looking at me that way!” She snapped, hiding her face from them and taking off in the opposite direction, jumping up onto the balcony from the highest point of the track and leaving them all to murmur to themselves. 

All confused, all worried. All except for Gregory who was trembling, hugging himself. 

Monty saw his odd twitchy behavior and leaned down to check in on him. “Whoa yer shakin’ like leaf there, little guy”

Vanessa gasped looking down at the boy who she noticed looked almost ill. 

“Gregory! What’s wrong?” She asked worriedly. 

Without getting an answer, the boy ran off away from the track and up the stairs to exit the raceway. 

“Gregory!” Freddy and Vanessa yelled after him, trying to catch him before he got out of sight. 

“What’s… what’s happening?” Chica whimpered sadly. Bonnie sighed, his ears lowering. “I dunno cheeks…” he answered honestly. 

Roxy locked herself up in her green room, leaning her claws on her table staring into the mirror at her worried reflection.

“Why do you have to keep thinking about that?” She growled at herself. “It’s over now! No one’s gonna take your eyes, relax! Why can’t you just be cool?!” 

Growling in frustration, Roxy swiped her claws over the table, brushing off a bunch of stray objects onto her floor. 

“Why are you so… flawed?” 

She began to let out sobbing sounds, burying her head in her claws, hiding from her reflection. 

Gregory was curled up in lost and found, tears streaming down his face. ‘You did this, remember?’ His brain reminded him with disappointment. 

‘You’re the one who made Roxy breakdown. You’re the one who took her eyes in the first place and now she hates your guts!’ 

“Superstar?” Freddy’s gentle voice made the boy sit up alert. 

He sniffled, rubbing his eyes to try and make it look like he hadn’t been crying. 

“Uh hey Freddy.” He waved at the bear who looked at him sadly. 

“What’s wrong, superstar?” Freddy asked softly, not believing his charade. 

“Nothing!” He lied, clearing his throat. 

“Gregory?” Vanessa’s voice came next. Gregory groaned, turning away from both of them. “Hey buddy, what’s wrong?” She asked.

“Ugh nothing, mind your own business!” He scoffed at her. 

“Gregory!” Freddy gasped, offended on her behalf. 

Vanessa simply sighed. “No it’s okay Freddy, he’s just upset and he’s taking it out on me” she explained coolly. 

“I’m not upset!” Gregory barked back, annoyed. 

“Gregory, you and I both know it’s not healthy to bottle up your feelings like this, trust me.” Vanessa replied with sincerity. 

Gregory sighed in defeat and plopped down to the floor. 

“So… what’s going on?” Vanessa asked again, joining him on the floor in a crossed legged position. 

“It’s my fault.” The boy’s voice was barely audible, but just enough for them to hear in such a quiet space. 

Vanessa was surprised. “What do you mean?” 

“Do you remember that night?” Gregory turned to her with hesitation, fiddling his hands together anxiously. 

“What night?” She asked, confused. 

Then her eyes went wide as if she had suddenly now known what he meant. “Oh” she breathed. “That night.” 

Freddy looked between the both of them, concerned.

“How could I forget?” Vanessa looked away, rubbing her arm in a hushed tone. 

“Well… do you remember how I basically decommissioned all of your friends, Freddy?” Gregory turned to the bear who sighed with his ear lowering. Regretfully, he nodded. 

“But they are fixed now!” Freddy spoke up like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. 

“It was about that night… I- I think Roxy still hates me after I stole her eyes.” Gregory sniffled, guilt wracking his small frame like a tidal wave. 

“Oh Gregory” Freddy put his arms around the boy, holding him gently, letting him cry into his hard plastic casing. 

“You can’t blame yourself for trying to get out alive!” Vanessa spoke up standing in the middle of their hug, frustrated that he was taking it out on himself now. 

“If it weren’t for me… none of this would’ve happened…” 

Vanessa looked away guiltily, wiping her eyes with a frustrated groan. 

“Ugh I know I need to stop dwelling in self pity, it’s not about me!” She reminded herself. 

Freddy stood up and leaned a claw on her shoulder, making her flinch for a second. 

“Vanessa, please do not play the blame game. No one is at fault here. We all have done bad things and been through bad experiences.” Freddy told them both, holding them close to him. 

“It was no one’s fault that this virus had decided to take its anger out on everyone here.” He said firmly. 

Vanessa sighed, looking down with a tired shrug. “I guess I can’t argue with that.” 

“We’re all pretty messed up, huh?” Gregory chuckled through drying eyes. “You can say that again, little man.” Vanessa smiled in reply. 

“What is a person if not flawed? You are my superstars whether you like it or not!” Freddy threatened playfully, squeezing them even tighter. Both Gregory and Vanessa let out strained grunts, wriggling in his grip. “Freddy- can’t- breathe” Gregory wheezed, smiling awkwardly. 

“Oh I am so sorry, superstar!” Freddy let go of the two of them, guiltily hearing them both catch a breath. 

“Geez, are you trying to break my ribs or something, Fazbear?” Vanessa grinned at him, straightening her back with a grunt of pain. 

Freddy deflated sheepishly. “I apologize, I do not know my own strength sometimes…” he admitted.

 Both Gregory and Vanessa chuckled, still a little out of breath from the hug but they both found Freddy’s genuine caring for them to be too sweet to stay mad at him.

“I hope Roxy’s doing okay now…” Gregory sighed. 

Vanessa hummed worriedly but said nothing. 

Cassie, Bonnie, Monty and Chica were all at the racetrack waiting room, all anxiously anticipating Roxy’s breakdown earlier. 

“Oh gosh… I feel so bad” Chica chirped sadly. 

Monty grunted something under his breath, keeping his snout pointed to the floor. 

“I wish we could all just be happy…” Cassie sighed, resting her chin in her arms. 

Chica looked down at the girl, touching her hair gently. 

“We should probably go check on Roxy” Chica said. 

“I wouldn’t if I were you” Monty shook his head in reply. 

“Yeah… it’s probably not a good idea.” Bonnie added with a sigh. 

“Why not?” Asked Chica. 

“She’s never been all that great with emotions.” Monty commented, looking away with a low voice. “I ain’t good at that stuff neither” The gator added quietly. 

“Well.” Bonnie began with a sigh. “We shouldn’t just sit here and do nothing” 

Monty sighed and sat up. “Well, then how’s about a game of golf?” 

“Monty!” Chica snapped. “Sorry, too soon?” The gator winced with a shrug. 

Chica sighed and turned to Bonnie expectantly. “Maybe Freddy’s already had a pep talk with her?” The rabbit shrugged. 

Cassie looked down at the floor again, pondering what she could do to help. 

“Maybe she needs me?” Cassie suggested shyly. “Hmm” Bonnie scratched his chin, his gears whirring with thought. 

Chica looked back at Bonnie and Monty, hands clenched together. 

“If you think that’ll work lil wolf.” Bonnie finally shrugged. 

Chica felt a little bit more optimistic this time. 

Cassie smiled sweetly and got up off the chair. “She’d most likely be in her green room” Monty replied before Cassie could even ask the question. 

“Thank you!” Cassie took off like a lightning bolt and Bonnie lay back on the couch. “There she goes” he commented. 

“I hope she’s able to cheer up Roxy!” Chica sighed with worry. 

“You and me both, Cheeks” Bonnie replied. 

Cassie huffed and puffed, catching her breath as she neared Rockstar row. She was surprised with how far she ran before getting tired and stretched out before listening to the sound of sobbing. 

Cassie carefully neared the window of Roxy’s green room and her heart shattered into pieces when she saw Roxy sobbing at her table. “Oh Roxy…” 

“Cassie?” Roxy saw the girl in the reflection of her mirror when she looked at it. Roxy looked less like a wolf and more like a deer caught in headlights. 

Hesitantly, Roxy opened the door to her green room. 

“Uh hey, Cassie.” She greeted awkwardly, trying to pretend she wasn’t just caught sobbing like a child.

Immediately, Cassie rushed into her arms and held her tightly. Roxy’s eyes widened in surprise and she let out a “whoa” in a little chuckle. 

“Hey number one, what’s all this about?” She asked the little girl, despite the obviousness of the situation. 

Cassie looked up at her with teary eyes and pouty lips, essentially using some sort of puppy dog face against her. 

It seemed to work when Roxy just sighed and deflated, her eyelids lowering over her eyes. 

“You wanna know what happened?” Roxy asked her in a tired tone. She knew Cassie could be just as stubborn as Gregory, but this was for a good reason in her mind. 

“I guess I just… had a moment.” Cassie sat down on her couch, listening to Roxy vent. 

“It’s okay Roxy, I get sad sometimes too” Cassie tried to explain but Roxy shook her head in reply, clenching her fists. 

“No it wasn’t like that… it was like a bad memory.” Roxy had managed to keep her cool despite the fiery overheating sensation building up in her endo. 

“Like… a flashback?” Cassie asked, curious. 

“Something like that.” She replied. 

Roxy turned back around as paced her room. “Did Gregory ever tell you what happened at the Pizzaplex that night?” 

Cassie looked to her side, humming in thought, trying to recall everything Gregory had told her, even when the memories were fuzzier than TV static. 

“I remember he was being chased by you guys and Vanessa and… he broke you guys to get away more easily… right?” She tried to recall. 

Roxy turned to her side, flexing her claws in a tense pose. “Did he tell you about what happened at the race track?” She asked.

Wordlessly, Cassie nodded. 

“I lost my eyes that day.  Not that I’m still mad at him for it, I get it. I was infected” She continued. “But thinking about that gives me these strange warnings in my system that remind me of what happened, it keeps telling me it’s going to happen again…” Roxy clenched her shaking fists, forcing her eyelids shut.

Cassie looked at her with the same worry from before, a hand on her chest as she continued to feel awful for Roxy and awful for Gregory. 

Everything that had happened to them… she wished there was something she could’ve done to help. 

“And you know what the worst part of it is?” Roxy turned Cassie again, her voice wobbling. 

Cassie shook her head in silence.

“I can’t control it, it feels just like the virus, but instead of making me angry and want to hurt people, it makes me want to hurt myself.” 

Cassie was sure her heart had been melted into the same Pizza ovens the Pizzaplex used because her chest was burning with sadness and horror over Roxy’s lamentation. 

“Please don’t hurt yourself, Roxy” Cassie said sniffling, she could barely control the lump forming in her throat and the tears building in her eyes. 

Roxy just stared at Cassie sadly, wishing she could just promise the girl that everything would be okay. 

“Cassie” Roxy spoke up in silence. “Hmm?” 

“Come here” Roxy opened her arms out again. Cassie didn’t hesitate and ran straight into her arms, her voice muffled by Roxy’s hanging mane. 

“I love you, Roxy.” Cassie cried. 

I love you. I love you. 

I love you. 

Those words caused a system restart inside Roxy’s brain, her insides surely melting from being overheated so much. No child had ever said it so sincerely. Sure, her fans had said this, but she wasn’t at her most vulnerable back then; nor did they even care to listen to her problems. 

Cassie could feel Roxy’s grip getting tighter and her body warming with the sound of low humming, like a heater had been activated inside her. 

“I love you too, Cassie.” 

Roxy’s voice spilled out like warm honey against the girl’s heart as she felt small droplets of tears trailing down her cheeks. 

Her dark brown skin seemed to glow a little bit lighter on her face as she nuzzled her head deeper into the wolf’s mane. 

Cassie giggled lightly as she listened to the rhythmic thumping behind Roxy and noticed her big fluffy tail had been going up and down as they hugged. 

Usually Roxy would care how she looked to others, but for now, she didn’t care that her tail was moving on its own. This kid loved her for her, flaws and all and nothing would change that. 

When she was finally calming down, Roxy left her green room, hand in hand with Cassie who kept checking in on her despite being the child in this situation. Roxy could barely handle the genuine appreciation without breaking down into low power mode from the sheer overload of emotions she felt for her girl. 

“Roxy!” Freddy’s ever excited and relieved tone snapped her out of her soft demeanor and immediately the wolf had put on her chilled facade. 

“Hey Freddy” she greeted calmly, still holding Cassie’s hand. 

Behind him, the brown haired boy emerged, shyly and sadly looked up at her.

“I’m sorry Roxy…” Gregory said quietly. 

“Hey, kid, it’s not your fault. I know it was an accident.” She reassured him.

To her surprise, Gregory shook his head. “No I mean, sorry for taking your eyes before I mean.” 

Roxy froze, blinking. “Oh…”

“Well… that’s in the past so…” She brushed him off with a stiff shrug. 

“No… it’s just that, it still really hurts you guys, doesn’t it?” Gregory continued. 

Roxy’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. “What? Kid- I mean, Gregory, we hurt you!” Roxy explains in exasperation. 

“But you weren’t yourselves.” Gregory tried to counter. 

“I did bad things too…” Gregory whimpered. 

Roxy noticed Cassie looking up at her and then over at Gregory. She could feel a small tug at her arm as Cassie tried to get the two of them closer. 

“Cassie?” Gregory looked sheepishly at her.

“ROXY!” A high pitched voice screamed in joy. Roxy could barely react to the sprinting white and pink chicken slamming herself right into Roxy, earning a loud metal thud, pushing her down onto the ground. 

“Geesh Chica, be careful!” Roxy huffed as she felt the chicken squeezing her tightly. For the smallest and frailest of the band, she sure was strong. 

“Miss me, much?” Roxy teased. “Oh Roxy roo you have no idea!” Roxy scoffed at the nickname with an eye roll but felt appreciated regardless. 

“Well geez, I was only gone for like an hour or two.” Roxy said, standing up and dusting herself off from the excitable hen. 

“That’s an hour too long!” Chica huffed back. “None of my BFFS should be alone for that long!” This made Roxy laugh. 

Other voices got louder and neared her location. 

The pre-programmed anxiety flooded her system when everyone else showed up.

Monty, Bonnie and Vanessa to be specific. 

“Heya floof tail” Bonnie waved with calm happiness and Monty grinned. 

“Carrot breath, Florida man” 

She greeted the two smug boys proudly. 

“Why does everybody call me Florida man?” Monty asked with an annoyed huff. 

Everyone nearby seemed to chuckle at this. 

Roxy then noticed the eerily  quiet young woman standing a few feet away, making herself look nearly invisible. Vanessa rubbed her arm, unsure of how to communicate her thoughts out loud. She took a second to open her mouth to say something, closed it, then opened it again. 

“How… how are you feeling, Roxy?” She finally spoke, small beads of sweat on her neck. 

“I’m better than I was” Roxy shrugged back, but she was being honest. 

Vanessa smiled and let out a breath. “Good to hear.” 

Chapter Text

Meet the Cabreras 

Gregory slumped on his back with a dramatic groan, leaning his chestnut hair into the fabric of the sofa. 

“Why do I have to come?” He whined loudly. Vanessa didn’t even look at him as she smoothed out the sleeves on her jacket. 

“I’m not leaving you alone in a tiny apartment room at night” she sighed.

“Why not? I survived the Pizzaplex alone… mostly” he clarified. 

She looked back at him with a warning glare. 

“I’m not leaving you alone!” She said again, this time with firmness in her voice.

Gregory groaned and lay back down again, looking at the cracked ceiling. 

“Look…” She began. “It’s only gonna be for dinner, okay?” 

Gregory sat up lazily and let out a huge breath. 

Though despite his annoyed reaction, he seemed to change a little when the mention of a nice homemade dinner was involved.

“I just don’t really know what I’m supposed to do at, like a proper dinner table” Gregory said this quietly, looking away from Vanessa.

She gently approached the boy with a warm smile. “Hey, remember I’m gonna be there too. You don’t have to talk if you feel uncomfortable, okay?” 

Gregory nodded, a little more relaxed than before. 

“Do you think his parents are gonna be nice?” He asked her. Vanessa paused for a second and then she let out a slight breath with a smile. “I’d hope so” 

Though she herself was still unsure of how this night would go down. It had been at least a week since she started dating Luis and already he was inviting her over to meet his family. 

The idea was both exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. 

As they got in the car ready to drive off, Gregory was occupied with his gaming device as she drove in silence, thinking about how the night would go. 

The only sound was the humming of the car engine and an abrupt voice of the GPS every now and then with the subtle blips of Gregory’s gaming device coming through a few times.

“Turn Right onto Cyclone Alley” The GPS spoke loudly as she turned the car into the next street after a ten minute straight line. 

Vanessa and Gregory laid eyes on the spectacle that was the house of Luis’ family. It was like a mansion and it overwhelmed both of them.

The car suddenly felt safer than ever. 

As soon as they left the vehicle, the sound of muffled voices and laughter began to fill both of them with anxiety. 

“Sounds pretty busy in there…” Gregory commented nervously. Vanessa sighed, trying to calm her nerves. 

The voices got louder and more stacked as they reached the front doors to the mansion. 

Though Vanessa hesitated, feeling herself shaking slightly. Gregory could notice, and to cope he fiddled with his gaming device, trying to stay occupied to it rather than the cluster of sounds coming from inside. 

She gave a light knock. 

The noise erupted into cheerful greetings of a cluster of people with the same smile Luis had. A family of dark skinned middle aged adult women, men and what she assumed to be near elders. 

One curly haired Latino woman with bright hazel eyes smiled at Vanessa and Gregory’s direction, opening her arms for an immediate embrace. 

Gregory quickly hid behind Vanessa, completely overwhelmed by the number of family members surrounding the two. 

Vanessa smiled awkwardly, though her heart was pounding and she could feel the sweat running down from her armpits. 

“Hola, you’re Miss Vanessa huh?” The woman greeted, happily. Nervously, Vanessa brushed a flicker of hair by her face. 

“Yeah, sorry, are we too early?” She asked politely. 

The woman shook her head, still smiling with enthusiasm. 

“Not at all! Dinner’s almost ready, actually!” 

“Sorry about the overwhelming greeting, I’m Edwina Cabrera, Luis’ little sister” the woman greeted with a giggle.

A man came into view, he was about Luis’ height, except he had a moustache and wore glasses. “So this is the lovely Vanessa eh?” The man smirked. 

‘The Lovely Vanessa?’ 

She held her mouth shut, flustered by the comment. Did Luis really gush over her to his family? Where was he anyway? 

Gregory peeked from behind Vanessa. 

“Oh? Who’s this Nino?” Edwina kneeled down to see the boy. 

Gregory peered from behind Vanessa, twiddling his fingers. “I-I’m Gregory.” He greeted, shyly. 

“Gregory! It’s so nice to meet you!” Edwina smiled warmly at the boy. Gregory looked away shyly but turned back with a small polite smile. “N-nice to meet you too” 

“Nice to meet you Vanessa, I’m Guilo Cabrera, Luis’ older brother; also known as a pain in his ass” The man joked, shaking Vanessa’s hand. She chuckled politely and observed the man closely, recognizing the resemblance he had to Luis, definitely had more facial hair and a broader structure but a raspier voice. 

Vanessa found herself shaking hands with a bunch of other relatives. Uncles and aunts, cousins and then waving at the spouses of those relatives. She started to feel the overwhelming pressure building in her chest. Anxiety wasn’t far behind. 

Gregory had wandered off to the living room to escape the crowd. 

That’s when he found a group of kids sitting around a table in groups of twos and threes. 

He felt like the odd one out even when there were kids his age. Should he just ignore them and play with his device or should he go over and risk his own embarrassment of messing up? 

No one seemed to bat an eye at that… but if Vanessa tried to escape, she’d be called into question. Adults couldn’t just escape social situations like kids could so easily. It was a curse. 

The small talk was some of the worst parts of socializing with strangers. Especially when they brought up work and especially when you could barely hear half of their questions over the other voices in the room. 

Was it getting hot in there or was it just her? 

She really wanted to escape. There were too many voices for her taste, so she politely asked where the bathroom was. 

Finally, she could escape the overstimulating noises and get some quiet time to herself. 

As she walked upstairs to the massive hallway, she heard a frustrated male voice talking on the phone in the next room. Now she felt on edge again. She was hoping to be completely alone but alas. 

“Really? She got lost again?” The voice sighed in slight annoyance. Vanessa recognized that voice straight away. 

The man walked out of the bedroom where he was on his phone, face contorted in exhaustion and boredom at the same time. Luis was dressed up in a pair of black jeans, a black jacket with a blue T-shirt and his hair was curled back. 

Vanessa locked eyes onto him and he suddenly noticed her, his expression shifting from that of tired and overworked to beaming with delight and adoration. 

He waved in silence towards her, still holding the phone to his ear. 

“Why doesn’t she just use a GPS?” Luis spoke with a groan on the phone to the recipient. 

“Listen, I gotta go, I gotta go help mama set the tables. Just text me when she gets here” Luis said, cutting off the conversation.

“Yep, alright, see ya” 

Luis sighed in exasperation, finally putting the phone back in his pocket. 

“Dios Mios, what a nightmare..” he said, rubbing his temples.

“Hey Luis, everything okay?” Vanessa asked him carefully. Luis smiled, waving her off. “Yeah, just my loco aunt refusing to use  a GPS, so she got lost again.” He laughed under his breath at this while Vanessa raised her eyebrow in curiosity.

“Anyway, how are you Nessa?” He smiled at her, already the mental effort of the phone call was starting to fade.

“I’m a little overwhelmed,” she shrugged, looking away from him. Though ‘a little’ was an understatement. 

“I’m sorry about me familia.” He gently grabbed onto her arm with a soft and sympathetic smile.

“They can be pretty overbearing… I should know” He looked away with a scoff. 

“I think they’re very nice and I’m looking forward to dinner” she replied. 

Luis just continued to smile at her like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on. 

She stared back, lost in the ocean blues of his irises and it was getting pretty quiet now. 

“Hope the drive wasn’t too bad” Luis interrupted, clearing his throat. 

“Nah, we followed a GPS” she winked. Luis let out a laugh at the reference to his previous predicament. 

“Haha well I hope Gregory’s having a good time. I’m sure he’s gonna get along with my nieces and nephews.” Luis said.

She had almost completely forgotten about Gregory, a flash of panic crossed her face. He seemed to take notice of this. “Hey don’t worry, they’re all really nice kids, and besides… isn’t it nice to have some alone time?” 

Luis said this half flirtatiously, flashing a very dorky smile. Vanessa snorted out loud at this, lightly slapping his shoulder.

“Wow real smooth, Lu. Real smooth” she joked with a playful scoff.

“Hey! I can be smooth!” He laughed, jokingly offended. 

“Oh yeah?” She smirked back. 

With an evil grin, Luis looked at Vanessa. She looked back with a confused smirk and a raised eyebrow. “What’s with that look?” 

Before she could react, Luis gently yet abruptly picked her up by her waist and into his arms like a bride. “Wha-HEY!” She yelled out with a yelp, though she was smiling. While it was kind of terrifying at first, she couldn’t help but feel protected at the same time and her chest tickled with laughter and excitement. 

She was cackling as he spun her around. “Is this smooth enough?” He joked back.

“Luis, you ass!” She laughed. “I’m not a damsel in distress” 

“Well it’s not like you could carry me around like that” he teased, putting her back on the floor. Vanessa grinned, hands on her hips. 

“Oh yeah? You sure?” She asked. 

Though when she said this, she jumped right into him, pushing him halfway to the floor. They both began laughing. “Oh geez, you scared me!” Luis chuckled back as he held both of them up enough to not fall onto his back and her on top. The look of that would’ve been way too awkward for the both of them.

“Well, I’m starving.” Vanessa said casually, not even acknowledging the last few minutes of flirtatious laughter. Luis laughed and caught up to her as they both made it down the stairs.

Though the man watched Vanessa’s playful sassy demeanor completely change into silent and polite as soon as they reached the downstairs. The foyer was almost completely empty, apart from a few stray relatives trapped in conversation.

Luis gripped onto her hand, and she let out a breath she didn’t realize she was even holding. 

The big rectangular table was packed with relatives all in conversation, some speaking Spanish, others a mix between English and Spanish. 

When Vanessa went to sit down at the area next to what she presumed was Luis’ seat, she could see Gregory at a smaller table with all the other nieces and nephews. He looked like he was minding his own business while they grouped up together.

She noticed all eyes on her when she sat down and her heart caught in her throat. 

An older woman stared at Vanessa with awe, her greying curly hair the most notable feature. 

“Oh Luis, you didn’t tell us how beautiful your fiancé was!” The woman sighed. 

Both Luis and Vanessa started rambling, completely flustered. “Mama!” Luis barked at the woman while Vanessa just smiled awkwardly. 

“What?” The woman shrugged. “She’s my girlfriend!” He recalled with a hushed tone.

Vanessa looked away, her lips in a thin line and her cheeks going red. 

Luis muttered something in Spanish barely audibly and looked at Vanessa with a guilty frown. “I’m sorry about that, Nessa” 

“Oh it’s fine, thanks though… M-Mrs Cabrera, it’s nice to finally meet you” Vanessa would’ve crawled under the table at how awkward she must’ve sounded. 

The woman laughed a light cackle, smiling in her direction. “Oh none of that formality crap, just call me Maria or Mari for short”

“Oh… of course, thank you M-Maria!” 

“And this is my husband Nicolas” the woman pointed to the bald man who looked like he was already deep in his dinner. “Oi, Nicolas!” Maria smacked her husband with a scoff. 

“Hm?” The man who was presumed to be ‘Nicolas’ looked up and turned towards Vanessa with a smile.

“Hola Vanessa, welcome to la Casa!” Nicolas then turned his gaze to Luis with a smug smirk. 

“Ay she’s a very good looking one huh?” 

Luis grit his teeth, face turning red. “Papa, not appropriate!” He scolded his father. 

Vanessa tried to focus her attention on the glass she was sipping from, trying to hide the red from her face. She was like a rose coloured beacon in the dimly lit dining hall. 

“Ay give me strength…” Maria shook her head with a smile and then turned to Vanessa again. “So, Vanessa, Luis tells me you’re the main security guard at that huge mall in the heart of Hurricane huh?” Maria asked, impressed. Other relatives perked up at Maria’s enthused voice. 

Everyone turned to Vanessa at this point, even the kids table.

All eyes on her. She could feel her heart racing again, but having Luis’s hand holding hers under the table was enough to reassure her. 

She cleared her throat and looked at Maria. “Yeah… I uh.. I work the night shift there… you know, make sure the animatronics are well kept and ready for their next performance” 

‘Breathe, Vanessa, breathe…’ 

Voices perked up with “oohs” and “ahhs” “You’re like the manager of all the robots huh?” Another relative spoke up, looking too old to be a sibling. Perhaps he was an uncle.

“Well I just make sure no one breaks in and you know, destroys any of the animatronics… and Uhh, Gregory sometimes comes in and helps me guard the place” She gestures to Gregory with a knowing smile in his direction like a cry for help. 

Gregory looked towards where his name was called, but didn’t hear much else from the table, especially not with the other kids speaking near him, though he couldn’t understand them. 

Maria held her hands together with a wide smile. “What a wonderful and caring woman you are, taking in that boy all by herself!” 

Vanessa smiled nervously, peering down at the floor, not knowing how to take the compliment. Or the fact that her reality was a lot more grim than they knew, she’d prefer to keep them not knowing though. 

Luis smiled at her though, his cheeks puffed and dark. 

He looked proud. How could anyone be proud of her?…

She cleared her throat, trying to rid those thoughts. 

“It must be nice though being able to steer away from annoying kids all day, the night all to yourself” Nicolas winked at her.

Vanessa was glad she could hide her anxiety so well from them… although Luis gave her reassuring looks every now and then, he could read her like a book when it came to her emotional state. 

His soft warm hand against her cold yet sweaty one. She winced at that, but he didn’t seem to care and was still squeezing her hand regardless. 

On the other table as Vanessa was painfully making small talk, Gregory had eyes on him after the mention of his name.

“Hey… you’re Gregory right?” One of the nieces spoke up, her pigtails bouncing as she turned her head.

“Yeah…?” He asked suspiciously. 

“Wait, you know Freddy Fazbear?” A nephew spoke up. The small dark skinned boy was wearing glasses that seemed too big for his face, but his bright toothy grin was almost blinding. 

The other younger kids started murmuring amongst  themselves, the occasional chirps of “Freddy Fazbear?” “Whoa!” And “The real Freddy?”

One of the older kids looked about his age and had her long straight black hair tied by a flowery headband. “So like… Does Freddy actually talk and sing?” 

Gregory was nearly overwhelmed with the wave of questions but the fact that these kids were awestruck by the idea of him knowing Freddy personally awakened a sense of pride in him.

“Oh yeah, Freddy? We’re like BFFS!” Gregory took out his Freddy Talkie from his pocket which he kept on him at all times. 

All the kids awed. 

“What are the others like?” The girl asked again, inching closer in curiosity. 

A very spontaneous bad memory flashed upon Gregory’s vision for a moment and then he relaxed, knowing he was safe now.

“Oh um-“ 

“Wh-what’s Chica like?” One niece spoke up; she was marginally smaller than the others, she had the brightest blue eyes and was wringing her fingers together anxiously. She also wore a pink outfit upon inspection, definitely indicating a fan of pink and in turn a big Chica fan. 

“She’s nice… a little too cuddly though” Gregory shrugged. 

The girl’s eyes lit up so bright and she let out a delighted squeal. “I wanna Chica hug!”

“Nah” the older one chimed in. “Roxy’s the coolest of the bunch” She said this, whipping her hair back. Gregory couldn’t help but be reminded of Cassie… though this girl seemed a lot more sassy like him.

“Roxy suuuucks” one of the Nephews chimed in. The curly haired boy lazily looked up from his own gaming device when he said this. “Now Bonnie. Bonnie is the best!” 

Gregory bit his lip, not knowing if he should tell him or not.

“You’re Loco if you think Bonnie is better than Roxy!” 

“What about the DJ?” A small boy popped up, next to the elder cousin. 

The others all collectively grimaced. “He’s too creepy!” 

“Actually… Bonnie isn’t technically in the band anymore” Gregory tried to bite his tongue and failed.

All eyes went wide in shock. 

“What? What do you mean?”

“Serious?” 

“Yeah we have um… Monty now. He’s a gator” 

Silence. 

Uh oh.

“A freakin’ alligator? mierda!” 

“Bela!” The youngest girl squarked at the eldest with shock whose name was apparently “Bela”.

“That’s so stupid!” The cousin with the gaming device laughed. 

“Uh uh, alli-al- Gators are scary” The Chica fan cousin shook her head.

“He’s not so bad when you get to know him. He does have a mini golf course so… that’s cool” Gregory shrugged, feeling kind of guilty that he couldn’t think of how to defend Monty any better. It could be that he was still secretly fearful of the crocodilian. 

“But Freddy is my friend and favourite” Gregory continued, gushing about Freddy.

“Freddy’s always been a good guy” Bela beamed. 

“Chica is still my favourite…”

“Yes we know, Julie” Bela rolled her eyes at the smaller niece. 

Julie looked down. 

“But like, they’re kinda like my family” Gregory said shyly.

“I want a robot family!” The youngest perked up. “Do they actually hang out with you?” The cousin gaming on his device asked, partially curious. 

Gregory beamed at this. “Yeah, after hours we like to hang out and play games and stuff… well before my bed time that is” He turned away saying this.

“Wait, how old are you anyway?” Bela asked. 

“Twelve…” he answered shyly. 

“For real? Kid looks siete” the gaming kid said with a light chuckle. Gregory was a little confused to say the least. 

“Wow Marco, you’re one to talk!” Bela scoffed at him with a smug glare. “What?” The boy with the gaming device that Gregory now knew as Marco answered with a shrug like he genuinely didn’t know what he did wrong. “You’re almost as short as Benny, no offense.” She said to the smallest boy who looked just as offended as the older boy. 

“Okay but still you’re pretty small for a twelve year old” Marco remarked towards Gregory again. 

“Yeah… I get that a lot.” Gregory laughed nervously, trying not to let it get to him. He didn’t want to make a scene or anything. 

“Does Chica make cupcakes like in the commercial?” Julie asked with round eyes. 

“Huh?” 

“Ay, he doesn’t know about the commercials?” Marco said to Bela. 

Gregory ignored the other boy’s judgment and continued to talk about the Pizzaplex. “If you think Monty is weird, you should meet the daycare attendant.” 

“Who?” 

“Daycare attendant? Ew! I hate daycares!” Julie exclaimed with disgust. Gregory couldn’t help but chuckle, just because he also had to agree.

Meanwhile Vanessa was over at the other table, trying to eat as politely as possible, she didn’t want to get any food on her or she’d look like a complete mess. The entire family was conversing around the table and even Luis was conversing with his relatives while she was sort of left alone to eat, or try to eat.

She couldn’t lie though, the food was remarkable. Maria seemed to have noticed this and smiled in her direction. “Liking the Tamales? Si?” 

She asked. Vanessa swallowed with a polite smile and a thumbs up. “Yeah, they’re very good, thank you, Maria. This whole dinner is delicious.”

“Well you’re always welcome in mi casa, Vanessa!” Maria expressed with fondness. 

“Anytime you need someone to talk to or just another woman’s advice” She winked at her. “Just message me whenever. I’m retired so I’m pretty much always available” 

Vanessa was awestruck for a second. “Wow that’s- thank you, that’s very kind of you, yes that sounds lovely!” The way her chest warmed over the hospitality and kindness shown to her felt like what it was like when she still had her mother around. 

“Hey, as far as I’m concerned, you’re part of la familia now!” Maria continued. This loving attitude towards her just for being herself was starting to make her emotions pool over. 

She had to hold back from crying too, even if it seemed too soon, the fact that they had taken such a quick liking to her was enough to lift her spirits and at the same time thrust in some of those self doubts… Why would anyone like her?… 

Luis looked over to her for a moment, he looked a little concerned, noticing her shaky posture and the tears building in her eyes. Her chest was moving quite deeply and he could tell she was trying not to cry in front of everyone. 

The worst thought crossed his mind that they had made her cry… If they made Vanessa feel so unwelcome that she cried, he would never forgive them. 

“Nessa, are you okay?” 

Vanessa flinched upon meeting his gaze and wiped away a tear for a moment, feeling embarrassed. “Oh um… yeah yeah it’s fine, I’m just gonna go to the bathroom.”

She had to excuse herself before her emotions would start to boil over. The last thing she wanted was for her first impression to be that she cried in front of practically a bunch of strangers. 

As soon as she got into the upstairs bathroom, furthest away from all the commotion, she let out a pent up cry, looking at herself in the mirror with anger.

“You stupid selfish emotional bitch!” She cursed. “Look at you… crying over being cared about? Pathetic! You don’t deserve anyone’s love” 

Tears were running down her cheeks. “Not Gregory’s not Luis’s not anyone’s! You’re a murderer, a monster… a loser.” 

“You don’t deserve their pity! You don’t deserve love or affection or kindness or anything!” She remarked this at her reflection through gritted teeth, annoyed by the fact that her face was now stained with tears. 

Pretty quickly though, the anger drained away and she looked down into the pristine shell-shaped sink, saying nothing. 

“How can anyone be as pathetic as this?” She laughed, wiping a tear from her eye. She was standing there just moping in silence and it hadn’t occurred to her that she was there for nearly half an hour. A surge of panic flooded her face as she realized how this was going to look. Either they assumed she had some medical issues that added to long bathroom time, which was already an embarrassing thing to think about on its own, or they thought she was too suspicious and unstable to be a part of Luis’ life. 

Even if he would fight for that, she wouldn’t want to be a burden on him. 

But those thoughts were quickly interrupted when she gasped hearing footsteps nearing by. 

“Vanessa?” Maria’s voice called out in a worried tone. 

“You alright, Querida?” 

“Umm yes, sorry I uhh lost track of time.” She excused. 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, Luis told me about your anxiety” 

Vanessa’s heart plummeted to her stomach. She felt completely helpless. How could he have done such a thing? A tear rolled down her cheek again.

“It’s okay, I understand feeling like that.” Maria leaned up against the door saying this. “You can come out whenever you feel like it, there’s no rush okay?” 

Now she blonde felt even more pathetic… was she really this pitiful? 

“Can I tell you something?” Maria asked. 

Vanessa didn’t answer but instead just listened. 

Maria took in a breath and began to speak. 

“Before we moved to Hurricane, I had a life back in Mexico and it was a hard life. Mi familiar, well papa and mama didn’t treat us very well and because of our impoverished life, we had no choice but to follow their rules. Mi papa especially was a troublesome man… he would tell me how worthless I am all the time and believed it, especially when he forced me to do things I never wanted to do just because he did not have the guts to do it himself.”

Maria looked towards the door. “You know, Luis probably never told you, but I was not a very good person back then either. Papa forced me and mi familia to do terrible things to other people, all because he took out his own issues on us. I robbed people, scammed people and ruined lives because he forced me to… all under the guise of helping him get money and food. 

But it was all for nothing.” 

As Vanessa listened about Maria’s story of her father and his treatment of her and her family. “He was a controlling man. He was the reason I got pretty bad anxiety later in life.” Maria wiped a tear from her eye.

“I still get panic attacks sometimes.” 

Maria explained to her. 

Vanessa fell silent, feeling this strange sense of comfort upon her shoulders. “If you ever need someone to talk about your problems or your feelings, I’m there for you, Querida” 

She said this in such a loving and gentle voice it was like bringing her mother back for a moment. 

Vanessa grew the courage to leave the bathroom finally, wiping her eyes but immediately starting to feel weak and shaky when she saw Maria standing outside with a warm and sympathetic smile. 

“Ven Aqui” Maria held her arms out and even though Vanessa didn’t know Spanish all that well, she knew what the gesture meant. 

Immediately, the two embraced one another. 

“You don’t have to be ashamed of being afraid or expressing your feelings” Maria said softly, rubbing her hand on the woman’s back gently. 

Maria truly felt like this was just comforting another daughter of hers. She had done this plenty of times to her own children, it felt much the same. 

“Are you alright now?” Maria asked the blonde who looked away with a nod. 

“I’m sorry…” Vanessa sighed in shame. “There’s no need to be sorry for having emotions” Maria chuckled at this. Vanessa chuckled back awkwardly, flicking a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Here.” Maria handed a small piece of paper to her with a number written down. 

“Anytime you need a friend or even a mother” Maria smiled sincerely at her to which Vanessa had to convince herself not to cry again. Instead she smiled at her and grabbed the paper. “Thank you Maria” she replied, unable to think of anything else over being cared about. 

Vanessa and Maria went back down stairs, though carefully at Vanessa’s pace and immediately she smiled upon seeing Gregory in an extremely enthused conversation with the other kids, even being able to show them his gaming device to which they all seemed to circle around and watch, even the cousin with his own gaming device seemed intrigued. 

“Nessa!” Luis called out, running in for a hug. 

She immediately embraced him and they held each other for a while as he leaned to give her a peck on the lips. 

The family all seemed so happy to see her and know she was okay. Even when they asked questions that neared too personal. 

By the end of the night, both Gregory and Vanessa were completely exhausted and ready for bed. Vanessa had to take a few moments to wake herself up enough to drive them home. 

Neither of them spoke on the way home, Gregory already fallen asleep in his seat and Vanessa listening to any music that might help her stay awake. 

When they got back to the apartment, Gregory sluggishly walked beside her and they both collapsed on their beds. Despite the exhaustion, it was a good night for both of them. 

Chapter Text

The one time Gregory had jokingly referred to Freddy as “Dad” was the worst mistake he would ever make. 

Then Vanessa would say the next worst thing to ever come out of her mouth. “He can’t be a dad unless he makes ‘Dad jokes!’ “ She would say, laughing along with the kid. 

At first, the poor bear was confused as to what this meant. He initially asked Vanessa and Gregory what this meant, but he was met with a wave off by both of them, and a partial grimace from Gregory.

So… he did some research.

The world changed for Freddy when he had just discovered the power of puns and dad jokes! What a joyous and funny way of words he could use to express the intricacies of cheesy humor with his family and make them laugh! The thought of this was already giving him a playful feeling in his circuits, it was almost as if his personality chip was jacked up to one thousand in terms of feeling giddy joy. 

At first, he began to set some punchlines up for Gregory and Vanessa. The boy had already begun to complain and cover his ears, glaring at the two. Vanessa found it way too funny at first with teasing Gregory, but then she started to notice it was getting really old, really fast. 

Soon both of them were groaning and whining about his ongoing, never ending array of quips and jokes. 

He knew he needed to share them with his friends too! No one would be left out of this fun! 

“Hello, Vanessa!” Freddy waved playfully to the woman in her uniform, lazily dusting her cap. “Evening, big guy” she gave him a small salute back, not looking in his direction. 

“Say, Vanessa, what do you call a fake noodle?” Freddy asked, his bottom eyelids lifting up and his voice box got marginally higher in pitch. 

Vanessa sighed, closing her eyes. She knew he was going to make another Dad joke.

“Oh, not this again…” 

“Come on, it is a really good one!” Freddy replied, clenching his fists together in excitement.

Vanessa sighed, turning to him patiently. “I don’t know, Freddy, what do you call a fake noodle?” She asked with a tired sigh.  

Freddy’s jaw clamped shut while he let out a small whine, eager to reveal the punchline. 

“You call it… an im-pasta!” He revealed happily. 

Vanessa groaned and turned away, rubbing a hand over her face. 

“Get it?” Freddy asked eagerly. 

“Yes, I get it.” She replied. deadpanning. 

“Oooh ooh okay, Vanessa-“ 

Vanessa looked to the ceiling as if trying to ask the world above her ‘Why me?’

“What..?” She asked irritably. 

“Which hand is better to write with?” Freddy asked next.

Vanessa turned to him with a hand on her hips. “I actually don’t know this one-“ she confessed, vaguely interested before being interrupted by the bear again. 

“Neither, it is better to write with a pen!” Freddy said proudly. 

Vanessa blinked at him with a dead-like stare. “Are you fu-for real?” She could feel her right eye twitching. 

“What kind of tree sits in your hand-“ Freddy began again; but before he could even finish, Vanessa whipped her head right around back to him, clenching her fists in frustration. 

“IT’S A PALM TREE!, I’VE HEARD IT BEFORE PLEASE JUST-” She finished for him, turning her back to try and walk away from him. 

“But Vanessa, that was not even the best one-“ 

She started speed walking away as Freddy followed, trying to read more dad jokes he could find. 

“I don’t want to hear anymore, please just stop!” She began walking faster, but it was like the bear was possessed by the ghost of a father who never shut up about his “hilarious” jokes. 

“What did the triangle say to the circle?” 

Vanessa clasped her hands to her ears, singing to herself. 

“Lalala nope, can’t hear you!”

“See you round!” 

By now she had let out a groan so loud it echoed the hallway of rockstar row. 

“Oh my god!” She was having enough and was just about ready to start screaming in frustration. 

“Hey! What’s goin’ on?” Monty charged out of his room, surprising the two. 

“Help.” Vanessa said to him with a dead stare. 

“Oh ho! Monty! What did the ocean say to the beach?” 

Vanessa sighed and walked off, glad to have Freddy distracted with someone else to endure the torture, not before waiting for Monty to react the same way. 

Monty cocked his head to the side. “Uhhh… I dunno?” He shrugged. 

“It did not say anything, it just waved!” Freddy revealed, his ears wiggling up and down. 

Monty stared at him for a whole ten seconds, before throwing his head back with a wide open jaw, letting out a bellowing laugh. 

“I get it! Like tha waves in the sea!” The Gator laughed. Freddy giggled in reply, pleased with his recipient's reaction. “Yes exactly!” 

A few steps away, Vanessa gawked with her jaw wide open, she could not believe that the hard edged, hotheaded Gator was bellowing out over a stupid pun! 

‘You have got to be kidding me…’ 

“Okay, Monty, what do you call a magic dog?” 

Monty was chuckling still, as if that one joke had really tickled whatever button in his programming was strong enough to get a full bout of laughter from him. “Hmmm… a wizard-hound?” He guessed, a claw on his bottom jaw. 

“No, you call it a… Labracadabarador!” Freddy said with a wobble in his voice, performing the pun for the gator. 

“AHahaahahaha!” Monty laughed again, almost tripping over backwards. 

“Kill meeeee!” Vanessa groaned dramatically in the background. 

“Ugh, will you shut up?” An annoyed voice called out from the nearest green room. 

Roxy peered over the two laughing male bots with a glare. 

“What are you laughing about? What is so funny?” She sneered.

Another figure appeared from her own green room. “What’s happening?” Chica peeked curiously at the commotion.

“These two idiots are laughing like hyenas and it’s driving me insane!” Roxy griped, pointing to the both of them. 

“Chica, Roxy, I have a question for you, especially you, Chica!” Freddy ran up to the two girls, Monty chuckling in the background. 

“Oh? What is it, Freddy Bear?” Chica asked curiously. 

“Oh no Chica, don’t!” Vanessa cried out to her in the background. 

“What is a chicken’s least favorite day?” 

Chica looked at him quizzically. “Huh? What do you mean?” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“A chicken’s least favorite day is a Fry-day!” Monty let out an obnoxious “Hah!” And Chica turned her head in confusion, her eyelids lowering. 

“I don’t get it.” she shrugged indifferently. 

Meanwhile, Roxy just groaned loudly. “That is so stupid!” She yelled. “THAT is what you thought was so funny? A bad joke?”

“What do you call an Alligator with a vest?” 

Monty perked up at this, his tail pointing upwards. “Aha! Tell me! I wanna know!”

“An investigator!” Freddy revealed. 

The world would be able to hear Monty’s volume for how loudly he laughed at that one in particular. 

Chica just winced at the sheer volume of his voice and Roxy grumbled, trying to beat the volume with her own irritation. 

“Ughh! That’s not funny!” Roxy barked, stamping her foot down. 

“Roxy!” Freddy pointed to her next, still somehow in the same giddy mood despite all the heckling. 

“What?” She growled irritably. 

“What do you call a wolf who works as a lumberjack?” 

Roxy narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t you dare…” 

“A Timberwolf!” Monty manages to fall over this time, landing a loud thud on his back and Freddy giggled like he was the funniest person in the room. 

“THAT’S NOT FUNNY!” 

Roxy yelled back, her tail spiking outward. 

Chica suddenly let out an ‘Oh’ of understanding. To Roxy’s dismay, the hen giggled behind her hand. “Hehe! that’s kinda funny!” 

Roxy’s jaw dropped and she felt like Vanessa had a few minutes ago. To her dismay, the guard had fled the scene and she was all alone to suffer. 

“What ‘bout a wolf that knows it’s a wolf?” Monty began to copy onto Freddy’s joke fest, leaving Roxy to gawk at the three of them. “You call that… aware-wolf!” Monty snickered.

“Shut up!” Roxy sneered back, stomping away from all three of them. 

“You’re grinding my gears!” 

Roxy stopped, frozen in horror. “No! I didn’t mean it like that just because I’m a…”

“Oh Roxy, you’ve made a pun, I am so proud!” Freddy clasped his claws together adoringly. 

Roxy groaned miserably as she walked away in defeat. 

“I hate you all…”

“Okay Chica would you like to hear another roof-joke?” 

“A what?” 

“It is over your head!” 

“Huh?” The chicken was confused again, while Monty snickered. “That one was awful!” 

Monty had done the same thing as Freddy, looking up research on ‘Dad jokes’ 

“Hey, Fazbutt!” He chuckled to the bear. “Yes, Montgomery?” Freddy asked, his ears raised in curiosity. 

“What’s brown and sticky?” 

Freddy paused in thought. “

“A… brown sticky thing… like a bug?” Chica clucked with a shrug

“A stick!” Monty revealed, causing Freddy to let out a Santa-like chuckle. “That is very silly, but I like it!” Freddy replied. 

Chica sighed. Now she was kind of understanding Roxy’s point of view. It was getting a little old at this point. 

“What did one toilet say to the other?” 

Said Freddy. 

Monty’s jaw opened and he let out a low chuckle almost too low to hear. “You look flushed” 

He answered quietly.

Chica groaned, now she was really getting tired of this. She kinda wished her programming didn’t catch on to the punchlines so quickly. 

Ignorance was bliss for the bird. 

“Freddy… Monty… can you guys stop now, please?” She asked softly. 

“Geez Chica, if you don’t like it, why not go for the Egg-sit?” Monty quipped at her, putting hard emphasis on the pun. 

Chica blinked, a “please wait for joke to register” program working its way on her HUD and then she turned away.

“That was not very eggs-trordinary of you boys!” She replied back with a playful squint. Maybe the puns were actually growing on her again. 

Freddy and Monty turned to one another and then cheered in unison. “Good one, Chica!” 

The hen giggled back, doing a small spin on her feet. “I know! You could say I’m a pretty good Comedi-hen!” 

Monty laughed and groaned at the same time, slapping a claw over his face. “Aha, that was so fowl!” Chica giggled at the gator’s pun again while Freddy was giggling like a schoolgirl. 

“So…” Gregory sat at the main ice cream bar in Bonnie Bowl, smugly dipping his spoon into his sundae. 

Vanessa sat at the booth with him, hands on her head in defeat. “Had enough of Papa Bear puns yet?” 

He joked. 

“God, Greg, he just won’t stop!” She groaned, shoving her spoon in her chocolate sundae aggressively. 

“Ha! I told you so!” Gregory pointed his spoon at her with a smug proud smile. 

Vanessa sighed, rolling her eyes. “Yeah I guess it gets pretty old after the next few million times…” 

“Ah… so you also endured the pain of his Pun-ishments?” Glamrock Bonnie snickered, lazing in a bowling booth nearby. 

Vanessa and Gregory turned to the blue Rabbit, scowling. 

“Was that… a pun?” Vanessa asked suspiciously. 

“You tell me, Blondie” Bonnie chortled back. She groaned in response to the nickname and vague nature of the rabbit alike. 

Then a gray figure lumbered into the room, looking down in defeat. Roxy said nothing as she sat at the booth with Bonnie.

“How’d it-“ Roxy quickly shoved her claw up at Bonnie’s snout. “Don’t start it!” She huffed. 

“I guess you could say Freddy can be a little… unbearable!” Bonnie quipped at Roxy with a smug look. Roxy’s head slowly turned towards the rabbit, her eye twitching. 

“Do that again, and you’re going to the back of the bowling alley where we found you…” she threatened quietly. 

Bonnie was not even fazed. 

“What’s up Rox, feeling a little… ruff?” Bonnie squinted both eyelids right into Roxy’s snout like the biggest tease he could possibly be. 

“I’m going to blow my brains out.” Vanessa replied dramatically from the table with Gregory nodding in response. 

“Hey come on Blondie, don’t lose your head” Bonnie clicked a finger at her, while Roxy had to resist the urge to pounce on him. 

Vanessa glared back slowly. “… I’m putting you on lockdown next.” Then she got up from her seat to leave Bonnie Bowl as quickly as possible. 

“Why do you guys have to be so damn corny?” Gregory sighed, slowly following her out, gesturing dramatically to the rabbit. 

Bonnie simply chuckled goofily in response. “I’m just ‘kiddin’ around!” He winked. Gregory groaned even louder and sped up his departure. 

Roxy turned back to Bonnie who had a kind of smirk stuck on his face, even with the limited expressions issue, Roxy could tell straight away. Her eyes widened in horror and she leapt off the booth sofa as quickly as possible 

“Don’t leave me alone with him!” She whined, running after the two humans.

Bonnie simply sighed in satisfaction. “I’m so proud of you, Fred. You’re just as cheesy as I remember” he said to no one in particular. 

When would the torture end? They couldn’t ‘BEAR’ it any longer!

Chapter Text

Freddy looked worriedly at the woman slouching in the doorway to the main security office. 

“Officer Vanessa, are you alright?” He asked. Vanessa looked him up and down, the bags under her eyes very visible. “Does it look like I’m alright?” She asked half jokingly. 

“No. It does not” He replied, his blue eyes laced with worry. Freddy’s ears dropped down as he looked her up and down, shining a thin transparent blue line over her, though she did little to even notice it.

“Vanessa, I must ask you something.” He said, puffing out his chest plate as if to mimic taking a deep breath in.

“Shoot” she replied lazily. 

“When was the last time you went to a doctor for a check up?” He asked. Vanessa paused, her eyes turning away from him. “I don’t know… maybe a year… Two years?” She shrugged. 

Freddy hummed in thought at this, concern flooding his motors like a hot buzzing sensation.

“I feel that it is best to go for a check up soon” He suggested.

“I feel that you may need it” To this she blew a raspberry and chuckled, confusing the poor bear. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, big guy!” Vanessa rolled her eyes in reply. “What’s a doctor gonna do about my kinda situation?” She laughed loudly, trying to imagine explaining the bizarre and unreal details of her experience with the ‘rabbit murder virus’ 

Freddy slouched, looking down. “I did not mean to imply that it was in regards to your traumatic experiences, just more like a general thing to look out for.” He told her, cupping his hands together timidly. Vanessa’s smile fell as she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“I care about you and Gregory and I only wish the best for my superstars!” He expressed. 

Vanessa smiled again, shaking her head slowly. “I know, but you really don’t need to worry about it too much” she told him, moving over to pat him on the arm, trying to be reassuring. 

“But,Vanessa, a doctor may really help with your physical conditions like fatigue and headaches and maybe other ones too!” He perked up again. 

Vanessa shuddered, shutting her eyes. Her patience was already wearing thin about the whole doctor thing, and she just wanted him to let it go. 

“I don’t NEED a doctor, okay? Just drop it already!” 

Freddy blinked in surprise and sighed deeply. “Vanessa…” he began quietly.

She turned away from him, keeping her eyes shut.

“Is there something that is bothering you that you are not telling me?” He asked. 

He could read her like a book since getting to know her more than before. She cursed the bear and his pre-programmed sympathy. 

“No…” she replied back quietly, rubbing her arms. The goosebumps from the cold air and her dishonesty was starting to make her shiver. 

“Vanessa…” Freddy repeated in a stern voice this time. The change of his tone actually made her flinch. She felt like she was being towered over by some angry force again. 

The young woman had almost curled into a ball standing up at this point. She could feel the shame pouring through her body like a poison and she couldn’t even find the courage to look him in the face again.

“Fine. You win.” She turned back, staring at the floor off to her side. Freddy bent down at her eye level and waited. “Okay… you want the truth?” She sighed. 

“The truth is… I’m afraid.” Vanessa’s voice became timid and barely audible. Freddy’s tough stance lowered and his ears went down. 

“What are you afraid of?” He asked quietly. 

“Everything” her voice was shaking as she said this. 

“I- I don’t know what’ll happen if I get a check up” 

“What if they find out that I’m mentally unstable and unfit to care for Gregory?” As Vanessa vents, her eyes fill with tears, her legs tremble as she feels like she’s going to fall over. 

“What if… what if they find out about my crimes and-and or- or I have some kind of problem that can’t be fixed?” 

Freddy could see a couple of tears falling out of her watery eyes as she tried to regain her composure. 

The bear felt a zap go into his chest like a heartache. 

“Vanessa, everything will be alright.” Freddy told her, gently putting a hand over her shoulder. 

“How do you know?” She asked him angrily. “How do you know that everything will be alright? You can’t possibly know that! Stop being stupid!” She hissed, furrowing her brows at him, finding his optimism frustrating. 

“I do not know.” He replied truthfully. Vanessa groaned at this, rolling her eyes away from him. 

“But I do know that you are stronger than your brain wants you to believe!” He told her, clenching his fists while his ears went up. 

“Oh please!” Vanessa wiped her eyes with a scoff. She couldn’t fathom his belief in her… the support he gave her and he truly believed in her. He truly believed that part of the miserable husk she had become was still capable of doing something. 

“Why do you think I’m capable of anything?!” She cried, exasperated, her head filled with frustration at his relentless effort to build her confidence. 

“I’m not!” Vanessa yells at him, her teeth clenched together like she was attempting to intimidate him, despite her shaky hands and the tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. 

“I’m not capable of anything!”

Freddy paused, staring at her while his top eyelids lowered with guilt. 

“I can’t… do anything!” Vanessa cried, turning away from him as she faced the wall. She covered her hand over her eyes, now hiding the tears from his view, ashamed and feeling utterly helpless. 

“I… I’m just…” she held her hand over her mouth to suppress a cry. 

“I don’t even know why I’m still alive, why Gregory even wants to stay with me.” She sputtered tearfully. She turned to face Freddy again, her watery green eyes shining in the light above him. 

“Why do you forgive me?… why? How? How do any of you even tolerate me?!” She yelled, turning away to cup her hands over her face, growling in disbelief and frustration. 

Freddy stood with wide eyes, unable to get a single sound of his voice box, as if he had malfunctioned. 

Vanessa looked down, hugging herself. “That’s… what I thought.” She murmured. 

“I don’t deserve any friends… or family…” 

She couldn’t stop the gasp coming out of her throat, as she shuddered pitifully at her emotional reaction. 

Freddy’s eyelids furrowed over his eyes. He could feel his motor click like a heart pausing mid-beat. 

“Vanessa, that is simply not true!” He told her firmly. 

“I don’t deserve to be alive.” She turned to him, her eyes raw and red, her mouth in a miserable wrinkled frown and she looked like she’d been run over by a truck. 

“Freddy, I killed those children…” Her voice shuddered in horror, eyes stuck in a wide blank stare. 

“That was not you… not the real you!” Freddy protested. His voice box wavered and it looked as if he himself would’ve broken down in tears, if he had the ability to do so. 

She couldn’t even fathom trying to reply. Instead, the broken woman looked away in silence. 

“Vanessa, what happened to you was not your fault. What you did, was not you. It was a very complicated situation and no one could’ve predicted what would happen and how.” Freddy leaned down, looking over at her with a stern expression, his voice lowering. 

“I didn’t even know that I would understand this world like I do now.” Freddy commented whimsically. 

“You and Gregory helped me, helped all of us understand who we are and who we choose to be!” 

“Monty never thought he was his own person and that he could relax and not feel like he needed to outwin every war, even if he has issues still! 

“Chica realized she had a family all along and that she could really be someone she wanted to be instead of who she was programmed as, even if she has problems with her old habits” 

“Roxy gained the confidence to trust and ask for help, even if she still hides behind her insecurities, at least she is trying!” 

“And Bonnie…” Freddy trailed off with a sigh. “You helped the kids fix him up, help him get over his initial grudge against you and give him a new start!” 

Freddy felt his insides warm. “I could not thank you enough for the things you have done to help us, even if it was just to fix a broken mess.” 

Vanessa was certain her heart was about to explode from all the mixed emotions brewing an explosive cocktail inside her. 

“I do not care what your brain may try to convince you.” Freddy spoke up with confidence. “You are a part of this family whether you like it or not!” He threatened her playfully. 

Vanessa couldn’t help but giggle tearfully over this. She wiped her eyes and stared at Freddy, soon rolling her eyes at him, despite the tearful expression still present on her face. 

“God, you’re such a cornball!” She laughed at him. 

Freddy blinked with a gasp,  fake offended. 

“I am not a cornball! In fact I am more of a cheese ball, if anything!” He quipped back, his bottom eyelids raising at her. 

Vanessa snorted at this, rolling her eyes with a relaxed sigh. 

“Wow, you really are a dad, huh?” She raised her eyebrow at him. 

“I am?” Freddy asked, almost excited.

She simply laughed at him. 

“Well then, that must mean you are my daughter as Gregory is my son!” He claimed, puffing his chest out proudly. 

Vanessa’s cheeks reddened as she turned to him with wide eyes. “What?” She couldn’t even comprehend what he had implied. 

Technically… he was somewhat accurate with that, more so about Gregory. But Vanessa did see Gregory as like a surrogate sibling, and Gregory looked at Freddy as a father figure… that sort of meant she was like his surrogate daughter? 

She couldn’t remember the last time she had a real parental figure in her life, especially not a good father figure. 

“I do not know how humans do the whole parental thing, but I am going to try my best!” Freddy says this with a boastful huff. 

“Freddy, that’s… not really how these things work” Vanessa tried to tell him. 

“But you are my loving daughter, are you not? As you said I am a “dad” and a “dad” needs to protect his children!” She was sure Freddy was being dramatic in an attempt to cheer her up, but she couldn’t help but facepalm with a grimace, if not let out a small laugh. “Jesus Christ…” she muttered under her breath and straightened herself out. 

Freddy turned back to glance over at Vanessa with gentle eyes. “So… how are you feeling, Vanessa?” He asked her. 

The smartass way that she thought he had cheered her up only made her snort with laughter. She couldn’t believe this bear and his weird optimism but she had to admit, it was contagious. 

“Less like shit” She replied with a smirk. “Officer Vanessa!” Freddy gasped at her language. 

To this, she burst out laughing. “That never gets old!” 

“And yes, I will…” She swallowed thickly. “I will book a doctor’s appointment if it makes you happy.” She sighed in defeat. Truthfully she was still terrified of the reality and the possibility of anything going horribly wrong, but she knew that she had a family to look back on. 

Freddy wouldn’t let this go either way. And she wouldn’t have it any other way with the machine that had now called himself her “father”. 

Chapter Text

Chica loved her guitar. She loved to play it and to jam out on her own. The strangely euphoric feeling that enveloped her core like a warm blanket when she got into what people called “the zone” It helped her get out of the endless craving habit of the strange desire to eat. 

However on days like these, her programmed curiosity was peaking as the bird herself peaked at her window, seeing the one she personally considered her ‘Bestie’ walking by with something flat and square in her hands. 

It was rather dimly lit outside, but the shadow of the blonde security guard and her bright white uniform was obvious enough. 

Vanessa walked with the box in hand, feeling the warmth of the bottom of it with excitement. 

She could already smell the spices and cheeses and it made her stomach growl. 

“Oooooooh!” Chica chirped in excitement, hands pressed against the window 

The hen felt a surge of adrenaline causing through her wires and she rushed out of her green room to investigate. 

Vanessa was that close to dropping the box she was carrying when she heard the quick and heavy stomps behind her. She jumped and squeaked out before sighing with relief at the familiar robot chicken looking at the box with a “grabby hands” motion.

“Jesus, Chica, are you trying to make my heart stop?” Vanessa huffed with a slight grin, knowing the bird wasn’t there to attack her.

Chica ignored her comment and laid her eyes on the box. She obviously knew exactly what it was. 

“I smell Pizza!” Chica said happily. Vanessa immediately shoved the box away from her protectively. 

“Chica, you are NOT having my Pizza!” She stood her ground sternly. 

Chica squinted her eyes, almost like she was in pain. “But…” she whined, looking at Vanessa sadly. 

“But-“ “Uh uh No buts, This is my pizza, I paid for it!” Vanessa cut her off, waving a dismissive hand. 

The blonde began her journey to the security office, holding the pizza box outwards as far away from Chica as physically possible, while speeding up her walk. 

Chica pouted nearby, making desperate attempts to try and sneakily swipe it from her while bargaining. “Pleaaaaase? Just a little nibble!” She whined. 

“No. N. O.” Vanessa denied her again. 

“But, Vanessaaaaa” Chica groaned, lowering her body to seem weaker and pitiful. 

“I won’t eat all of it, I promise! Pizza’s the only thing that keeps me sane!” Chica told her with desperation, practically on her knees. 

Vanessa stopped and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with one hand, holding the box with the other. 

“Okay I’ll make you a deal…” 

She said.

Chica’s eyes lit up and she stood up slowly, shaking with anticipation. 

“If I can’t finish the rest of this Pizza by myself.” Vanessa rolled her eyes, she couldn’t even believe she was doing this. “I’ll… I’ll let you have it, mkay?” She compromised. 

Chica gasped happily and wrapped her arms around Vanessa, squeezing her tightly. 

“Thank you Nessie! You’re truly my bestie!”

Vanessa struggled against the robot hen, still keeping her Pizza out of Chica’s reach, or as best as she could. 

“Don’t call me that please-“ she strained, struggling to free herself from Chica’s grip. 

The office smelled like pepperoni and cheese, and Vanessa savored the flavor of the slices as she bit into the piece letting out a moan of satisfaction. 

Chica kept eyeing the pizza, she was certain if she had a real mouth, she would be salivating right now. 

Her urge to snatch the Pizza from Vanessa was growing every second she watched her take another slice. 

She had to distract herself with something else. She decided instead to focus on the box itself. 

She closed it lightly to stare at the top lid of the box, humming in curiosity when she saw a picture label on it that didn’t look familiar. 

“Huh” she chirped. Vanessa raised an eyebrow, swallowing another piece. “What’s up?” She asked. 

“What is ‘dough and sauce: Woodfire Pizza?’ This isn’t Fazbear branded!” Chica demanded with confusion. 

Vanessa exhaled through her nose, munching on another slice before lazily turning to the bird. “I’m sorry, but the pizza here tastes like salty cardboard and doesn’t agree with my system anyway.” She shrugged.

Chica’s eyes widened and she let out a dramatic gasp. “What?! How could you say that?” 

Vanessa deadpanned her with a raised eyebrow. “Seriously? If you could actually taste the pizza here, you would know how crappy and greasy that stuff is.” 

Chica felt a spark go straight to her chest, as if Vanessa had personally struck her at her core. She lowered her head quietly. “I know I can’t really taste anything… I don’t have the luxury of being able to do anything like that…” her voice went so timid and quiet it took a second for Vanessa to realize what she just said. She turned to Chica, feeling a zap in her heart from the hen’s genuine hurt reaction. “Chica, I didn’t mean it like that…” She tried to save face, hand on her chest as she looked up at the bird guilty. 

‘Oh I fucked up again!…’ 

Vanessa winced, looking away. Suddenly the restaurant quality pizza didn’t taste as great. 

“It’s okay, I get it” Chica told her with a forced cheery voice. That left a pit in Vanessa’s stomach, and the pizza was starting to make her feel off. 

“No… I shouldn’t be treating you like some naive idiot!” She told her. “I’m sorry.” 

Chica looked towards her with gentle eyes. “Vanessa, I understand.” She told her.

“Even my own motto makes no sense.” She chuckled. 

Vanessa turned to her, very curious as to what that even meant. 

“Work off the calories while you eat?” Chica chuckled, shrugging her shoulder plates. 

Vanessa paused, blinking for a moment. “Huh.” She wondered. “Yeah that… I never really understood that.” 

Chica shrugged with a little giggle, a non forced one this time, as if she was getting her bubbly self back. 

There was an awkward silence between the two of them as Vanessa continued to eat, but her satisfaction was becoming less and less as she kept thinking about the previous conversation. 

The fact that these machines were sentient and yet could not do exactly the same thing as humans felt all the more horrible. 

‘How could you just call them ‘machines’? They’re your friends!’ 

Vanessa swallowed, her stomach already getting its full feed and she had to gulp down a mouth full of fizzy fazz soda to wash down the discomfort. 

Chica leaned a little into the computer chair, her hand on the top of the back of it. 

‘What should I say? What should I do? Please, programming, give me something!’ Chica shuffled about, trying to get her voice box to work, say something, anything! 

Vanessa was used to stomach aches, but this one felt particularly harsh due to the still lingering hurt she inflicted on Chica previously. 

“So…” Chica spoke up suddenly, speaking in her usual curious tone. 

Vanessa didn’t mean to, but her body just reacted as she let out a small gasp and flinched. 

“Was it yummy?” Chica asked a little too cheerfully. 

Vanessa, cleared her throat with a nod despite the stomach ache. “Yeah it was pretty good I guess.” 

Chica began to play with her fingers, timidly. “That’s… good!” She tried to muster up the courage to put on her cheery voice again, but Vanessa could tell just from her voice that Chica was hiding something. 

“Hey Chica.” She began, getting her attention. “Yeah?” 

“I’m actually getting kinda full.” She told her, lightly pushing the box towards her with at least three slices left. 

Chica looked down at it, not nearly as excited as before. Her beak was pointing to the ground and her eyes looked up slowly. 

Ah, screw it! She waved off the whole “robot can’t taste real food” aspect and grabbed a single slice, dangling it over her open beak. 

Vanessa leaned back, watching with squinted eyes. The weird way Chica had put the pizza in her mouth was almost like the bird was pretending the pizza was a tiny person and she was a massive dinosaur. 

It was a little… strange. 

Chica let out her usual “Nom, Nom, Nom!” Sound as she let the slice fall down her insides and into her stomach hatch. Vanessa sighed, she knew she would have to look inside Chica’s cavity during maintenance, in case any debris fell through into her system from her stomach hatch. 

But it felt like, even just sharing this meal with the weird robot bird was kind of… nice. 

She would never admit it, not to Gregory especially since she herself had scolded the boy on multiple occasions for giving Chica food. 

‘God I am such a hypocrite’ She cringed at herself. 

Chica hummed in satisfaction, her eyes suddenly went wide and her jaw fell open. She let out a heavy gasp which made the woman flinch again. “What’s up? A-are you okay?” She asked her, secretly afraid that she was going to combust or something. 

“Vanessa…” Chica sighed in a breathless voice. 

“THIS IS THE BEST PIZZA I’VE EVER HAD!” 

Chica’s elated screaming was enough for Vanessa to cover her ears and curl up with a pained look.

“That’s great and all, but you really don’t have to shout like that.” 

Even after saying so, Vanessa couldn't help but chuckle, as she watched the hyper giddy robot squeal, her servos whirring loudly with every little jump and spin. 

‘It really doesn’t take much to make her happy…’ She thought. 

Chica could not believe that she had actually been tasting the Pizza! For once she could actually taste something! 

The melting cheese stimulating her senses, the umami tomatoey flavor, the texture of soft crust and base and the crunchy and spicy Pepperoni! 

The spicy pepperoni… wow, it was… actually really spicy. 

A weird numbing and strangely painful experience started escalating on her artificial taste buds and down her endoskeleton, like a heat slowly growing on her metal spine. 

The spicy pepperoni… it was a little too spicy. 

Oh god, it’s too spicy! 

Chica began to open and close her beak, and her voice box simulated what sounded like light huffing and puffing. 

“Hot…” she huffed. Vanessa looked up, curious. 

“What’s up?” 

Chica began jumping in her spot, waving her hands across her mouth like she could actually feel the pain of the spices dancing in her artificial mouth. “Hot!” She exclaimed louder. 

Vanessa’s eyes widened. Though she looked more curious than worried. “Wait, what do you mean? It’s definitely cooled down at this point” 

Chica shook her head vigorously at the woman, jumping up and down frantically. “No! It’s HOT! HOT HOT! HOT!” 

Vanessa gawked at her in disbelief. “Wait, what? You can actually FEEL the spicy pepperoni?” She almost had to laugh. 

“YES!” Chica shouted with a raspy voice, feeling like her insides were literally on fire! Why did they program her with this ability?!

Vanessa sighed. “I can’t believe they programmed these little quirks into you guys, like I’m guessing the whole “Spicy Pizza” thing is so you don’t eat anything that isn't as bland as tofu, or something? Probably an “only eat our brand!” Program…” Vanessa scoffed with disgust, ignoring Chica’s whines of pain over the spicy feeling getting more and more hectic. 

Vanessa looked back and could’ve sworn she saw actual smoke coming out of Chica’s beak and other internal systems covered by her chassis. 

“You’re… smoking…” she said. 

“I KNOW!” Chica snapped at her, startling Vanessa enough to hold her arm across her face, though not without getting a little chuckle out of it. 

“HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT!” Chica ran out of the security room, leaving the woman perplexed and thinking that she had actually put the bird in danger. 

“Was it really that spicy?” Vanessa asked herself, looking at the uneaten slices. 

‘Beep!’ 

Vanessa flinched again, cursing herself for her jumpy nature and rolled her eyes when the sound was coming from the Fazwatch on her desk. 

“Umm, Officer Vanessa?” Freddy’s voice came through, sounding confused and concerned. 

“Hey big guy, what’s the problem?” She asked with a sigh. 

“Why is Chica dunking her head in the lobby fountain?” Freddy asked worriedly.

“Wait, what?” Vanessa paused. 

“She’s doing what now?”

Chapter Text

Rebooting… Loading Data…

Optical data drive reboot successful! 

Loading CPU- Please wait…

WARNING: Low Battery 

Rebooting… 

Reboot complete! 

Hello, Montgomery Gator Version 2.0! 

Monty’s vision adjusted to the room around him. It was dark and fairly cramped. The only visible walls were what little light lit up barricade-like wooden structures. 

Monty could press his arms up against the wall, but there was still a little more space to look around. His HUD was dim, barely able to focus in the darkness but he was able to switch to scan mode and use it on what little battery he had left. His scan had targeted a presence in the room with him. 

His red eyes peered down at the strange shadowed figured shape laying down beside him and a battery warning blared in his HUD, right at his face, startling him for a split second. 

Monty groaned, shaking his head from the strange and sudden buzz zapping into his robotic skull and the strange disorienting vision flicking in and out as his battery fought to keep him awake. 

He scanned the area and ignored the battery warning while also ignoring several smaller notes in his HUD pointing to minor damage around his chassis. ‘Doesn’t matter’ He grumbled. 

He leaned down to inspect the shadowed figure and the new scan detected a bot in the room with him. Monty rolled his eyes. ‘ Probably another useless staffbot I wrecked’ He imagined. 

He had no sympathy for the autonomous staffbots and their lack of intelligence and interest in anything. They didn’t feel like he did, so why not just let the human staff know how powerful he could be if they got on his bad side! 

Maybe then, he wouldn’t be treated like some kind of understudy useless second class act. 

The river of rage inside him boiled again and he shook his buzzing head, trying to ignore that rage and fatigue and get on with adjusting his vision to the room. 

Annoyed by the battery depletion causing his optics to dim, he bent down closer to aim what little light he could emit from his optics to light up the figure. It took a second for the scan to register and recognize the bot.

Dim red beams lit up what looked like red chassis with claw-like damage. 

Monty blinked, trying to focus his eye lights on the figure. The light kept dimming as his battery got further and further drained. 

He groaned, feeling an ache behind his eyes like an electric buzzing. 

He scanned slowly across the rest of the figure and slowly but surely he could see shapes coming into view. An endoskeleton arm covered with dull blue chassis, and stray wires. 

Wait… that wasn’t a staffbot. 

Montgomery took a step back, his eyes widening in disbelief. 

All kinds of damage detection burst into his eyesight from all different angles of the figure. 

-Broken voice box 

-Torn casing

-Optical damage 

-Scratch Marks, two inch claw damage 

-Servo malfunction- Unknown mobility damage 

-CPU unknown inactivity 

Monty jumped up and flashed his eyes down, hoping to get the entire shape into his vision. 

A flash of red from his low energy struck the darkness like red lightning and for a millisecond, the figure was in full view. 

A quick and sudden view all pointing around the anatomy of a pale blue humanoid-rabbit robot. 

Monty looked down slowly at his claws, now seeing the rubbed off paint and chassis of blue, red and yellow, stained like multicolored entrails dangling off his claws. 

The claw marks were clearly visible in the rabbit’s torso and part of its head and throat. 

No. That ain’t real. That ain’t possible. I didn’t- Error-

Glamrock Bonnie. The main Bass player of the band was completely decommissioned. 

I was for the best, it was for the best, it was for the best- 

The gator’s thoughts spiraled from disbelief, to anger, to avoidance, to bargaining. He roared with what sounded like a mixture of rage and triumph and then he turned to the body with a huff. 

He was in my way! He was… he was… 

My friend. 

But that awful feeling deep in his servos came crashing down onto him like a tsunami and his endoskeleton was beginning to tremble. A trembling he could not control, as if his artificial body had just now come to terms with what he had done and was frightened by its own strength. 

Monty had to look away at the damage inflicted and pretend nothing was there. 

Hold it together. Keep it together. Tell no one. Trust no one. 

At least now he wouldn’t be decommissioned for not making the company enough money… he could be the next star of the show. 

That was what he wanted, right?… to be seen? 

He had to get out of there. And fast. His voice mimicked the sound of breathing panic. Visions of Bonnie’s corpse kept crawling back into his memory bank. 

Youdidthis.png- again and again and again. 

The image of the robot’s corpse was stuck in the back of his mind, refusing to leave his memory. Rage built up inside him again. 

GET OUT OF MY HEAD! 

Cotton tail, why did you have to let me win? 

COME BACK, DAMMIT! 

HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? YOU STUPID GATOR? Haha! 

That irritable little voice etched into his CPU again. 

It was yelling at him in mocking outrage, laughing at him, echoing like a never ending playback recording.

Didn’t think you had it in you, huh… 

The voice seemed to be strangely impressed. It left a pit in his stomach hatch, and 

made his coolant almost become freezing. 

No! Shut up! I don’t want to feel! Bonnie was in my way! I had to! He was- 

My friend. 

Monty groaned loudly, pulling at his head to try and forcibly tear out the little voice. 

I hurt my friend. 

I hurt my friend.

I hurt my friend.

He was a nuisance! The voice groaned, trying to convince him that it was for the better. 

He was my friend. 

He was rude, lazy, unkempt, annoying, and he HATED you too! 

Monty stiffened, growling. He had to resist going to Bonnie’s defense, despite being the reason for his demise. 

‘He was my friend. I was his.’

Monty’s vision barely adjusted to the bright light of the bowling alley. Bonnie’s attraction. 

He never looked back. He never told a soul, not even Freddy. 

But all it gave him was emptiness, rage, loneliness, regret. 

Why did that happen? 

Montgomery stared at the star-shaped shades on the green room table, his green room. His very own. 

You are the new star. 

‘No! No I’m not!’ 

Two sides of his computer brain were in an argument. He couldn’t fight himself without blowing up. He showed his claws off threateningly at virtually nothing. 

The voice was just sighing with amusement. Look at how pathetic you are.  

At least you’re not nearly as pathetic as the rabbit. 

“SHUT UP!” Monty growled around him, trying to get the voice to shut up. 

When word got out that Bonnie was missing, Monty stayed quiet, pretending he knew nothing. Even though deep inside it would build up into yet another fit of rage, wanting to overtake his actions. 

Then fear settled in as he realized the rage was not too far behind. He had to get out of there before his true colors would show. 

‘Don’t make a scene. Don’t make a scene!’

Freddy, Chica and Roxy all watched in confusion as Monty left before showtime. 

The staff show runners had begun to complain about the gator’s constant absences.

Gator golf was quiet during showtime. Barely anyone showed up, if at all. Monty got out of sight of any patrons that would spot him and he made his way up the catwalks. 

It was quiet up here, much more peaceful and tranquil than down there and especially on stage. 

Monty gripped the railing, feeling the bars bend beneath the strength of his claws. 

His tail swerved around the side of his body, almost like he was attempting to hug himself with it, but it barely reached to be able to even touch.

What was it like to be warm? 

Monty groaned, huffing out a sound of pain. The buzzing in his head would not stop, and he could feel the rage gathering up, ready to come bursting out like a bomb. 

How could he even perform like this? 

He didn’t care about what the staff thought. He already knew how he felt about everything. He didn’t care what Freddy would say. 

Would Roxy and Chica think any differently? 

Would Bonnie think differently if he could? 

Stop! He urged himself to stop thinking about that damn rabbit! He was history! Monty was here now and they had to get used to it! 

Monty had to get used to it. 

He wasn't supposed to feel anyway! Why could he feel? Why could any of them feel? 

Why? Why?! WHY?? 

A burst of anger erupted and caused the gator to swipe his claw on the bar, making a loud bell-like rattle echo across the catwalks. 

Battery depleting had gotten worse and he could slowly feel his HUD get darker with each low battery warning. 

“Run, run, run!” He told himself angrily. Heavy running footsteps echoed the catwalks as he rushed his way out of Gator Golf. 

Find a power station and then return to showtime. Nothing happened. No one will suspect a thing. Nothing is wrong! 

You are strong! You are powerful! You are- 

A coward. 

A murderer. 

A pitiful being. 

My friend. 

‘I ruined everything.’ 

You changed everything! You are way better than that outdated nobody! 

A sting shocked his insides like a stomach ache and Monty had doubled over, as if in sudden sharp pain. 

Anger. The only answer was anger. 

When the company created the propaganda in Monty’s Golf over what happened to Bonnie, it spilled over the volcano of madness inside the Gator’s brain. He started destroying his god forsaken green room. The one that used to be for the rabbit. How?! WHY?! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING! WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS? 

DIDN’T THEY FIND THE BODY? WHY ARE THEY PRETENDING THAT EVERYTHING IS OKAY?!!

The hurt he had inflicted upon not only the public but also the other bots was tearing at his insides. It only ever manifested into anger. 

SHUT UP! STOP WHINING! STUPID FAZBEAR! STUPID BONNIE! STUPID MONTY! 

I HATE IT ALL! 

A few years later- 

Another night came. Another agonizing moment in his existence when he would always despise the reality around him. 

Monty threw his fists into the walls of his green room, using his new bass playing claws to tear out the lights and scratch the walls from head to toe. He lifted up tables and other furniture around the room, throwing it into the wall, clawing out the stuffing on his couch, scratching off the posters on his wall.

He made so much noise, it could be heard from the outside. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get rid of the endless rage boiling inside! He couldn’t stop breaking everything. 

THE WORLD WOULD PAY! 

FAZBEAR WOULD PAY! 

HE WOULD PAY! 

Freddy… 

Monty clenched his fists as best as he could without breaking the ball joints off his fingers. That STUPID bear! 

Always avoiding the problem, always pretending that everything was fine even AFTER showtime! 

Play your damn bass, play for the audience, just get it over with and then leave! 

Leave! 

Run! 

Do something! 

A buzzing erupted into his head again and he couldn’t make another noise again. Monty’s posture completely changed and his HUD flashed purple for a split second. 

Activating security mode- protocol 1- Catch intruder, terminate intruder, bring to staff- 

Do not fail. 

You took out that nosy blue bunny, you can easily take out a human, can’t you? 

The voice chuckled. 

Monty chuckled, an intense surge of excitement and anger merged into one suddenly taking over his mind. 

He was your friend. He was-

Your enemy. 

My enemy! 

MY ENEMY! 

Rock and roll, little guy. 

Gator Golf 

He had the little intruder cornered. He saw the boy’s eyes widen in fear. ‘ Fear me! Run and hide!’ He let out a bellowing laugh, close to catching the kid and then the boy slammed his hand on a button and the bucket above Monty lit up. 

Monty barely noticed the change and looked up as the bucket tipped downwards and fell straight into him. Monty sensed the danger immediately and stopped the object with his claws, able to lift it even with a slight struggle. 

What he didn’t know was that the catwalks were not as durable. Monty let out a yell as the platform crumbled beneath him. Danger signs flashed in his optics and the jolt of true fear and panic surged throughout his entire body as the yell turned into a scream. 

BANG! 

A noise of hard impact surged through his core and the air around him. Damage alerts blurted out all around his senses and his battery seemed to be failing while he could see barely anything through his optics. 

His eyes spun around, disoriented from the fall and another loud crash of his body struck a dizzying pain so great it caused his systems to crash.

Emergency shutdown- 

He was completely out. 

Rebooting… 

EMERGENCY REPAIRS NEEDED! 

Damage detected- 

Error:

Leg jointR not found

Leg jointL not found 

Pelvis connection not found.

Unable to operate walking system 

Unable to operate: leap mechanic. 

For the first time in a long time, Monty felt weak and helpless. The rage was starting to peak its’ ugly head from within. 

He couldn’t use his legs, he couldn’t dim or operate his optics properly. 

He looked around at the floor, noticing he was barely lifting his head above it at all. 

He couldn’t lift himself up without using his arms. 

He was reduced to size and function. 

Monty crawled, grunting in pain and anger. He would feel the chassis or what was left of it shaking, especially around his barely functioning jaw. 

His voice box was only letting through grunts and growls. 

‘I’ll kill that little criminal!’ He seethed, digging his claws into the ground. 

Nothing left to lose but his temper, he was about to lose that too. 

KILL HIM

KILL HIM

KILL HIM 

‘I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!’ Monty roared, shaking as the fire of rage got bigger and bigger. 

Battery staggered and his rage met no ends as the half piece of the gator scampered around looking for something, anything, to take his anger out on. 

KILL. DESTROY. KILL. DESTROY!

Chapter Text

Gregory picked up his pace as Cassie huffed with a smirk, chasing after him. Both of them were giggling madly as they ran and when Gregory made a swift jump over a bin lid was when his shoe got caught on a lip of concrete.

Cassie gasped, stopping and trying to reach out before he could hit the ground but Gregory yelped out, letting the motion of his body fall to the floor. 

Only, it was his hands that met the ground first and unfortunately, his right palm had come in direct contact with what looked to be small shards of glass from smashed bottles. 

“Ouch!” Gregory cried, lifting himself off the ground, noticing the fine sting coming from his palm and barely wincing at the sliver of broken glass poking out of it with a small trickle of blood starting to pool around and down his palm. 

“Oh crap” He winced, eyes widening. Not because of the pain only, but because he knew how much trouble he would be in when they found out.

Cassie gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. “Oh no!” She cried, looking at his hand with horror. Gregory grimaced with a shrug. “It’s fine Cassie, it just stings a little… I gotta get bandages or something though…” he said, brushing himself off while keeping his injured hand out flat. 

When Gregory and Cassie came back into the Pizzaplex lobby, only then did the young woman frown in concern, seeing Gregory curling his hand rather strangely around his chest, as if he were hiding something in it.

Cassie was frantically looking at Gregory’s hand and then back at Vanessa and the others, feeling guilty for not saying anything yet. 

“Uh… I kinda had an accident…” Gregory shrugged sheepishly at the blonde who’s eyebrows furrowed, suddenly extremely serious. “What? What happened??” She asked him, looking into his eyes directly. 

Gregory felt a pang in his chest and looked to the floor for a moment, seething through his teeth as he gave her a pained glance next. “Please don’t be mad or anything… I tripped and fell on some glass and…” 

As he revealed his hand, Vanessa gasped, frightening the boy. “Shit!” She cursed, getting a good look at the lodged piece stuck in his palm, red enveloping around and starting to trickle down his wrist. 

Vanessa held her hand over her mouth in worry, thinking long and hard how to address this to Freddy especially. She was supposed to be Gregory’s legal guardian after all and when he found out she was THIS irresponsible… 

Not only that, but the sight of blood coming from the child’s body was making her a little queasy. It wasn’t because she didn’t like blood, it was more to do with the fact that seeing blood on a child was an all too familiar and horrible memory. 

“Jesus Christ…” Her grumbling anxiety wasn’t helping Gregory feel any better about the situation, if anything, it made the pain sting even more. “God dammit!” She groaned in frustration, clenching her fists. 

“Ah! Can we just get Freddy?” The boy whined in pain. 

Vanessa turned to face him, her ponytail whipping right around as she stared at him with surprise. “Wha… hang on!” She sighed, gently telling him to slow down with her hands. “Let me take a look!” She told him, the panic in her chest hidden behind a mask of irritation. 

Gregory wasn’t feeling great hearing the blonde hissing through her teeth over the piece of glass lodged into his hand. 

Vanessa herself felt her eyes dart away from the injury, her stomach churning slightly. The idea of seeing something sharp partially impaled in the kid’s body was starting to flash up some very unpleasant memories. 

Cassie, looking at him with round sad eyes, offered her hand to Gregory’s other hand for support. She was also worried but didn’t quite know what to say.

“Okay…” Vanessa turned away with a tired sigh, hand on her chin. “We’ll need to get some antiseptic from the first aid station.” She told him. Gregory looked at his injury again with a wince, it was starting to sting a little more each time he looked at it. 

Cassie piped up with determination, almost jumping on her toes. “I’ll go find some!” She said before being interrupted. “Wait, wait, Cassie!” Vanessa grabbed hold of her gently. 

“I don’t want you getting lost in the Pizzplex…” She sighed with relief when Cassie stopped and looked at her with a sad nod. “Y-yes ma’am…” 

“I’m afraid I may have to call Freddy via Fazwatch… not that I want to…” Vanessa uttered the last part quietly to herself, ashamed of even having to resort to a robot’s help for what should’ve been something a guardian would be able to do on their own. 

As soon as he heard about it, the bear rushed to them, very concerned.  

“Gregory!” Freddy’s terrified tone made both of the troubled humans flinch, while Cassie kept holding Gregory’s hand for emotional support. 

“What happened?” Freddy asked Vanessa to which the woman shuffled on her feet, feeling guilty as if she herself had lodged the glass into his hand. “He had an accident and came to me, I-I should’ve kept an eye on where they were playing!” She groaned, her voice becoming more and more filled with anxiety and frustration. 

Gregory looked down at the floor, feeling shameful and guilty. He didn’t mean to make her life harder… or anyone’s for that matter. 

Freddy could clearly sense the tension around the area and he let out a robot sigh, ears lowering gently. “It is going to be alright, Vanessa” He reassured the guard whose cheeks flushed at the attention towards her. Why was he being so… gentle to her? Why was SHE being consoled when Gregory was the one with the injury?

“We just need to get some antiseptic and a cover for the injury so that it does not continue to bleed after the foreign object is removed.” Freddy explained calmly, his lower eyelids raising with a sense of hope. He gave a small glance to Gregory and then turned to Vanessa with his jaw attempting to imitate a smile. 

“There is nothing to be worried about.” He moved his hand to gently rest it on her shoulder. “I- I think there’s something to be worried about!” She scoffed and stood up suddenly, brushing herself off from the sudden contact, trying to ignore the pitch raising in her voice. 

Freddy hummed sadly and turned to Gregory while he hovered his finger over the injured hand, too scared to touch it.

“Luckily I have a first aid emergency back in my green room.” Freddy told them. “Cassie? Would you be so kind as to check the large plush toy next to my sofa?” He asked the small girl kindly.

Cassie blinked and nodded. “Oh, uhh sure?” She said with confusion but went to check anyway. She gasped when under the large Glamrock Freddy plush was revealed to be a first aid kit. 

“Oooh!” Cassie picked up the pack, curiously wondering why it had been placed there in the first place but said nothing else. 

“Wait, you kept this in here this whole time?” Vanessa asked him with a raised eyebrow. 

“I have not kept it here until the Pizzplex was cured of the virus, just so all the sharp parts would not be used for anything malicious.” 

Vanessa squirmed and cleared her throat, already feeling the acidic heartburn envelope her chest ‘sharp parts… 

Freddy noticed her uncomfortable demeanor and his ears raised with alarm. “I-I did not mean to imply that y-you would use those parts to-“ 

“It-it’s fine Freddy, can we just tend to Greg’s wound now?” She interrupted him abruptly, not wanting to dwell on her past any longer before she might actually have a panic attack. 

Freddy nodded and let Cassie gently open up the first aid kit which was full of different medical supplies and bandages. All of them were themed. 

Gregory glanced with wide eyes at all the equipment, feeling a shiver run down his spine. He looked up at Freddy in silence. “Now Gregory, this is going to be a little painful. Cassie would be so kind as to give his other hand a squeeze while we remove the object?” Cassie nodded quietly, giving Gregory a warm smile. 

Gregory gulped, feeling suddenly afraid of the otherwise minor procedure. 

Vanessa’s breathing seemed to be louder than usual and Freddy turned to her gently. 

“Vanessa could you-“ 

Abruptly, she stood up, surprising Freddy, and not in a good way. “Yeah- yes, I’ll-I’ll get the antiseptic and the bandages-“ 

“Whoa whoa slow down superstar, your anxiety is not going to let you proceed with the task calmly… please do not strain yourself.” 

To this, she plopped back down in her seat, frowning sheepishly. The fact that her anxious brain had gotten in the way of something so simple was starting to take a toll on her. 

She felt more like a child than Gregory. 

“Bear with me, superstar” Freddy said, winking at Gregory who let out a small chuckle at the pun. Freddy was obviously more cut out for parenting than the actual human being. 

“Alright, this is going to sting a little, but it will be over soon.” Freddy said gently as he grabbed what looked like tweezers between two of his large fingers. 

Cassie felt Gregory squeeze a little tighter and he nodded, trying to ignore his heart racing. 

As Freddy very swiftly removed the glass, Gregory let out a slight hiss through his teeth and then the bear proceeded to open the bottle of antiseptic liquid and dabbed a cotton ball in it, gently rubbing the injury left behind by the glass. 

Vanessa stared intensely at the slightly red cotton ball, screams ringing through her ears. 

“There we are!” Freddy snapped her out of her thoughts as he bandaged the wound, Gregory feeling a little better already, though the wound still stung. “Huh… that was easier than I thought it would be!” He smiled up at the bear while Cassie smiled at Gregory. “See? I told you everything would be fine!” She teased. 

Gregory snorted and rolled his eyes. 

While the three seemed calm and relieved, Vanessa seemed to be stuck in her own thoughts. Sure, she was glad the boy’s injuries were tended to… but she felt useless, panicking like she did from such a small cut that was already getting better. 

Was she even fit to take care of Gregory? What if he got an even bigger injury in the future and Freddy wasn’t there to help… What if- 

“Vanessa?” She jumped slightly, getting interrupted by the bear who was the only one looking at her as Gregory and Cassie had gone off again, having thanked the fatherly robot and were talking and giggling together. 

Vanessa didn’t even notice how long she was wallowing in her own head. “S-sorry, sorry, what was that, big guy?” She asked him, brushing a strand of hair from her face and clearing her throat. 

“Are you alright?” Freddy’s calm and soft bellowing voice managed to jumpstart her paranoia again. 

That question… that damn question again. She promised to stop bottling up her feelings but she just felt so immature and stupid for even being not alright despite someone else being injured. 

So instead of lying or spilling the beans, she turned away from him, embarrassed for even being asked that question again. Would she ever be alright after everything that had happened? No. She wouldn’t. Not by a long shot. Maybe not for years, maybe not ever. 

Maybe even not after she dies. 

She would never escape this. 

“Come here.” Freddy gestured to his closed chest cavity, arms out gently. 

Letting out an amused exhale through her nose, Vanessa rolled her eyes and took her hat off, leaning in on his cold chassis. 

“You’re not exactly a teddy bear, you know that right?” She commented with a smirk. 

Freddy however did not seem to be joking with her. His ears lowered and his upper eyelids did too, forcing a worried and saddened expression. 

a rumbling deep sigh came from his chest, vibrating through Vanessa’s body as she leaned up, confused about his strange quietness. 

“What?” 

“Vanessa…” he sighed. The mishearing of disappointment in his voice made her shudder. 

That acidic feeling in her chest growing around her fear like a puddle of shame. 

She sighed and turned away, her lips lowering into a deep scowl. 

“I-I know I screwed up big time… I just…” she hurried her face in her hands, muffling her distressed tone. “I’m not good enough to help him… or anyone, not even myself. I-I’m just a lonely loser coward and I- I can’t handle my own problems, I know I can’t!” 

She looked up at him with glossy eyes, promising herself that she wouldn’t let a single tear fall. “I need to stop playing the victim! I- I need to take responsibility! I just- Ugh!”

Her hand flew to her face hard enough to give herself a decent slap to the forehead. 

“But you are a victim…” Freddy said to her calmly. 

“Not in this situation!” She fired back, her temper already rising again. 

“Vanessa!” Freddy’s voice erupted in a stern hard tone and this made her flinch. 

Freddy froze, realizing that he had frightened her. He could see the bad memories practically oozing from her eyes.

Her lips shut tightly into a thin line and she let out a shaky sigh through her nose, making sure to not get herself in any worse trouble than she thought she had gotten into. 

“I-I apologize for my sudden outburst.” Freddy said guiltily playing with his hands, turning away from her in shame. 

“No, no I should be the one apologizing.” Vanessa sighed tiredly, barely able to keep her eyelids from drooping. 

Freddy sat back down next to her and held a gentle arm around her shoulder. 

“I care very deeply about you as much as I do for Gregory and everyone else.” Freddy said warmly, his fingers tapping down in soft gentle motions one shoulder blades.

“I love you very much, Vanessa. And though I may not show it the same as human beings, I know that deep down in my very manufactured core that I do in fact love my family.” Freddy’s serious and heartfelt confession made Vanessa’s chest pound with uncertainty and desire. 

She couldn’t stop her lips from quivering. She couldn’t stop her eyes watering or her breathing to shudder like it did. 

Love. She couldn’t remember the last time her late father even gave her that feeling. Her mother certainly did, but that was in between all the anxiety and tears from her father’s horrific treatment of both of them. 

She would rather forget her real father ever existed. The thing that the virus was able to manipulate so well was her desire for love. 

She didn’t care how hard and cold his chassis was, she didn’t care that he was only an artificial intelligence. She leaned back into his chest as he slowly but gently gripped his enormous arms around her.

She felt her lips curl into a smile again. A genuine smile. “Thanks… uh… dad…” she said the last part with a small cough, cheeks heating up at the implication she had even felt that this robot was like a father to her as he was to Gregory. 

“You are welcome, shooting star.” The nickname caused Vanessa’s eyes to burst wide open and she couldn’t hold back on the chuckle that escaped her mouth. 

“That is so corny, Freddy!” She laughed while still being held in his arms. Freddy’s eyes had been closed in contentment and he said nothing, letting his warm endo envelope in the thoughts and feelings of happiness and calm.

She moaned gently and closed her own eyes, letting her mind wander off into a world of now more pleasant thoughts.