Chapter Text
"Any big plans this weekend?"
"Drink."
"Reconsider my career path."
"Skiing!"
"Also drink."
"Watch a ballet recital," You say into your desk, having laid your head there after your code returned an error for the sixth time.
Pete speaks up again, "Hell yeah, lame, sick, hell yeah again, coward."
"Excuse me?" You lift your head up.
The man takes a sip of his FizzyFaz, "You heard me. Everyone's doing something fun, minus Jesse but I can fix that-" He pauses to return the sentiment his coworker sends from across the room with his middle finger, "And we all know you're not because you can't allow yourself to have live a little."
You sit up in your seat again, rolling out a kink in your neck, "I wouldn't consider the phrase 'Drink' emphasized by the sound of pure and utter despair fun, personally."
"I'm sorry, it's just, been a rough week," Liv drags a hand down her face, "These midterms are kicking my ass and I still have another week before spring break."
"Any fun plans for break? Clara's heading to the coast," Savannah asks.
The two of them start to chat as you turn to the man in the cubicle next to you, "I have fun all the time. I am the king of fun."
He makes an 'X' with his hands, "Wrong. You're the fun police, you kill the vibe on purpose."
"Since when?" You scoff.
"Since you went missing for two hours and ended up with a literal concussion," Jesse responds, not looking up from his computer.
You sputter, "I, what, what does that have to do with anything?"
"It's been like four months, boss. You haven't hung out with us outside of work since then," Pete shakes his head sadly.
"That doesn't make me the fun police. I've been busy!" You protest.
You bicker back and forth with your teammate, the hour before lunch passing quickly because of it. You eventually come to an agreement, once Mazercise is finished, you'll join for a night out. Just not another Plex party. While your team had a disturbing lack of concern regarding the number of deaths that have happened over the past six months or so that didn't mean you were willing to take any chances.
You spend lunch itself attempting to entice Moon to speak to you. What you get are brief, cordial responses. They lacked the teasing you had been used to as of late. He was pissed, and you could only speculate as to why.
Your best guess related to almost getting caught by the basem*nt dweller. Your second-best guess, absolutely no idea. A lot had happened that night, and you spent the majority of it with Sun, so where things would have gone wrong with Moon are narrow timeframes you hardly remember.
Jealousy was out of the question, a passing thought in your racing mind. Those two didn't seem to care much for each other and even less what they spent their free time doing. Not that you were judging, of course. But you had your own problems to deal with as opposed to shoving yourself into someone else's.
So, you settle on your first theory, but the decision doesn't help you any. You knew the risks you had to take if you wanted answers, and albeit breaking and entering on company property wasn't your smartest plan, it had worked. You'd gotten file load after file load of information and now it was simply a matter of putting it all together and seeing what stuck.
Besides, given you spent time 'after hours' in the Plex for work purposes, eventually you were bound to have a run-in with the person? thing? that had been prowling the lower levels. You just hadn't expected it to come so soon.
Or so high up.
And that's if you were wrong about your suspicions of meeting them before, in one form or another. Someone had shoved George into that trash compactor, someone had been following you that night to the office, and someone or some thing had definitely been after Sun and you in the Records Office. Or even just Sun, considering his hyper awareness of their approach prior to the incident.
You haven't talked much about that night, if at all. Merely what information you gained from it. Considering how it ended, you'd argue that was for the best. Things were still incredibly, weird though. You still bickered as per usual, just, not as often, not for nearly as long. Instead, focusing on interpreting your newfound info or planning your next move.
You were, focused, and it seemed so was he. Which given that Moon hadn't been much of a conversationalist lately you were fine with. Last thing you needed was two robots mad at you. Though if you're being honest you'd argue Sun's just, like that. And you thought you were passive aggressive.
"Have you finished cataloging and reviewing the files I sent you?"
Speaking of the passive aggressive devil.
You glance up, giving your best death glare to the sun-themed animatronic. You think with the deep bags under your eyes it helps get the point across, "I’ve been busy, Sunny."
You hear a click; it makes you smirk slightly.
"I’ll get to it once I confirm next week’s maintenance schedule, how’s that?"
"Sufficient." He peers down at you, "For now."
"Good," You smile sweetly, then drop it with a deep sigh as you turn back to your work.
Debugging and reprogramming Freddy's digits has been a bit more of a task than you'd have liked. Coding was all trial and error, and since you're not too hot with it, it was more error than anything. You wouldn't be pressed about it save for the fact that the repair needed to be done ASAP, before another major malfunction happened. Lizzy had done a quick patch, but if another kid witnessed his fingers bending backwards without restrain again, Sarah would probably kill you.
It's times like these you miss George. His apathetic nature was far more alluring than the PR head's relentless hyperfocus on you and your division as a whole.
Then again, Sarah hasn't actually tried to kill you. So comparatively she was the better option.
Comparatively.
Beyond fixing Fred, there was some general overhaul maintenance all the animatronics needed. Without George, it was up to you to get it scheduled and taken care of. Another thing Sarah was going to have your head for. Typically, maintenance was scheduled after hours so to not disrupt the Plex as much as possible. Minus emergencies and minor fixes, of course.
But, with absolutely no one willing to take the night shift, there was no choice left but to schedule it sometime during the day. The map bots wouldn't be an issue, no one would notice them missing nor care if they did. The DJ would get a checkup when his upgrades got installed, so no need to worry about him either. It was the other six-technically seven-that were going to be an issue.
Your best bet was to shoot for early in the morning, doing it in batches. Lizzy told you the could probably do three at a time, but just to avoid anybody's wrath, you were going to schedule two at a time, three days next week. To make sure things ran smoothly, you'd be supervising it all. Great, fine. It was just going to a bitch though, because Parts n Service's shift started a bit earlier than your own.
Three hours earlier, to be specific.
While getting to work at 6 am isn't a dream come true, you'd tough it out for the sake of getting things done. Check-ups were once every six months, per company policy. Once you had it in the books and sent to corporate for proof you could check it off the growing list of things you were doing now because George sure as hell isn't.
"Who do you like the least out of your compatriots?" You ask Sun sometime later.
You'd wanted to question Moon, but he'd disappeared before you could use the ice breaker on him.
The playtime attendant seems to think on it for a moment, then slightly shakes his head, "I enjoy the company of them all just the same."
"Sure," You say.
"What does it matter?"
You stretch in your seat, "Have to do checkups differently this time around. Pairing you up in two's to hopefully save some time."
"Oh. Well in that case," He takes a few quick strides over to you, bending down drastically to be at your level, "I am begging you Bright Eyes, do not pair me with Bonnie. Please."
You blink a few times, a bit surprised at his actions, "Any, particular reason why?"
Sun seems to realize your close proximity, he adjusts back to his normal height, "We've had our fair share of... disagreements. Let's leave it at that."
"Heard," You salute and write a note in your doc, "Bonnie it is."
The Attendant's eyes narrow and you can't hide your snickering.
"You find yourself very amusing don't you?"
You beam, "Pride myself on it. That leaves you with four options. Who's Moon's choice?"
"The bunny of course," Sun grits, hissing something in binary before answering you, "He's willing to compromise with Monty, however."
"Works with me," You add that to your list, finishing it out thereafter. On the off chance someone got to the Plex early and checkups weren't complete, you determined having pairs which could balance out those that were missing would work well. Freddy and Chica were your first choice, and with the Daycare Attendant's input your remaining groups were the Attendant and Monty, and lastly Bonnie and Roxy.
With that, you're finally able to review the files Sun had collected, but right as you were getting started the clock struck eleven. And as much as you wanted to dig into everything, you were A. tired and B. not going to stay in that building any longer then you had to. So, you pack up and go home for the evening. Leaving the files for another night.
Pete finishes programming Mazercise the next day. You almost suspect that he was just lacking motivation to finish rather than a semicolon, but you'll never know for sure. With that, you are now being forced asked to join for a night out on Saturday.
You spend Thursday evening hold up in your room into the wee hours of the night deciphering files. You do the same on Friday after Lisa's weekly outing. You're, surprised at the quality. While the animatronics are some of the most advanced robots on the market, you didn't expect the quality of their optics to be that good. It was like looking at a high-quality pdf. Though if Sun could see an image on your phone prior to having actual 'eyes' it did make sense.
You were anxious to get back into the Daycare and have a discussion about it all, but the opportunity for that was days away. For now, you have to simper on it.
Not something you were particularly good at.
"You know, for a baby, Gabe, you're pleasantly well-behaved," Abby says as she lifts him up in front of her.
In response, your brother blinks slowly at her, looking about ready to fall asleep in the dark of the theater.
Lisa's recital is at the midway point, the intermission about to end as people file back into their seats. You'd taken the time to scarf down a cookie and a lemonade, having forgotten to eat breakfast this morning due to staying about so late the night before. You weren't quite on autopilot, but you also weren't entirely focused either.
It made you grateful for the fact that Abby had decided to join you this afternoon.
You lean over, waving your hand, "Well you know, he's very mature for his age."
"Of course, how could I forget," Abby adopts a similarly snooty tone, "You must be so proud."
The two of you enter a snickering fit before the curtains to the stage open back up again. And try as you might, your mind starts to wander again. You do your best to pay attention to your sister when she does come across the stage but you can't help but think about what could have happened back in the Records Office.
The door being broken down, whoever was on the other side dragging you out by your hair, silencing your screams with a few quick slashes with an axe, or maybe a knife, whatever would have caused damage much like what was done to the other victims of the night shift.
Or even worse, they take you downstairs after incapacitating you, finishing the job George started. Body succumbing to stresses put on it far greater than it can handle, killing you slowly and painfully as you're compressed into the equivalent of a human puddle.
Maybe you never even make it to the closet at all, Sun choosing to save himself and sacrifice you-No. You can't think like that. As much as you dislike him, it wasn't fair to assume actions he didn't take. He had chosen to save you that night, and you had to give credit where credit was due.
"I've gotta hand it to your sister, she's taken to this pretty well," Abby whispers beside you.
You spare her a quick glance, then nod, turning back to watch the eight-year-old complete a pirouette.
"Hard to imagine her as the same stomping dinosaur from about this time last year."
You snort quietly at that, knowing full well how right she was.
You'd started Lisa in ballet specifically at the suggestion of the grief counselor. She said it would offer her routine and structure during a time she had little to none available. It went, pretty terribly, if you're being blunt.
Lisa is not the type of kid to do something just because you asked it, needing a bit of an incentive to do just about anything. Unless it was her own idea, in which case there was no problem. With ballet, she proceeded to make a scene at almost every class, and her first recital was a bit of a disaster.
You were about to call it quits for the sake of your sanity and her emotional state, when the counselor suggesting giving it one last shot.
"Change is hard for everyone, whether we want to admit it or not. Children like Lisa especially struggle when they feel they have no one reassuring them that things will be alright," The woman looked over to where your sister sat coloring at the table, the calmest she'd been in ages, "You might be doing your best behind the scenes, but sometimes outright saying it or taking visible action is better."
So, you did as suggested one more time, and with luck and a bit more encouragement, your sister did get better. You started practicing with her at home in the living room, having your own mini shows together that ended in fits of giggles. She received invites to the other girls' houses for parties or sleepovers. The instructor began pulling you aside after class to praise her on her improvements and the strides she'd taken.
In the end, it had been one of the best things for her, the thought crossing your mind as the event ends. You stand up with the rest of the crowd to shower the dancers with cheers, with Lisa being the focus of your own celebration.
She runs up to your afterwards outside in the lobby, almost knocking the small bouquet you were holding out of your fumbling hands. She hugs you tight, eyes bright when she pulls away.
"Did you see how cool I was?" She asks excitedly, "Ms. Tilda said I was 'extraordinary~'."
You laugh at the lit in her words, "Well of course she did, you were absolutely the coolest, most extraordinary, fantastic dancer I've ever seen." As you emphasize you spin around with her in your arms, setting her down again as she whines about getting dizzy.
"They're right. You were great, Lis," Abby adds, adjusting her hold on Gabe who's now wide awake after his nap.
Your sister giggles, swinging side to side, "Thanks."
"Here, these are for you," You hand her the flowers, taking one and tucking it behind her ear, "Great job today, kid."
She looks up at you while you're still bent down to her level, "You think Mommy and Daddy would have liked it?"
The question catches you off guard, but you smile to cover it up, "Yeah," You swallow, "They'd be real proud."
One of the best things for her, it had just taken some time.
You walk out to the car to drive home a few minutes later, thoughts rolling once again. You think you understand a little more as to why Moon was so upset. Or at least, why you should've been more so.
"I've never seen someone so distressed to have a good time, it's alarming. Frightening even."
You flip Pete off as he returns with your drinks, "Piss off. You wouldn't know a good time if it hit you in the face."
He fakes offense as the others laugh.
"He's right though, you're looking pretty miserable, boss," Savannah takes a sip, cringing, "Are you sure you asked for ginger beer in this?"
"I am 100% sure, maybe you just have bad taste and you're just now realizing it." Pete replies.
"Says the guy who's drink of choice is whipped cream vodka with blueberry liqueur."
Jesse speaks to you over their bickering, "We could've always scheduled for another night, no need to force yourself if you didn't want to."
"Nah. I'm just a little tired, really. My resting face just doesn't do me any favors," You sip your own drink, "But for real, I'm more than capable of saying no if I didn't want to be here. It's nice to just sit and hang out." You catch sight of Liv entering the bar and wave at her.
Your teammate turns and also waves, "Still, if you're ready to leave earlier or anything just let me know. Can always drop you off and come back for the other two."
You nod, then focus on your intern as she comes up to you, "Liv! Didn't think you were coming."
She looks the part for a 20 something enjoying the night out. With big hoop earrings and a black tube top. Much more than you and the rest of your team in your jeans and t-shirts. Though Pete did have that purple and yellow Hawaiian shirt going for him so he probably stuck out a bit less. In this crowd at least.
"Ah, my friends all wanted to stay at Johnny's and I got bored. Figured I'd see what the old folks are up to in the meantime," She joins you on the bench you're sitting on, "I miss much?"
You tip your head at Pete and Savannah, "Just some arguing over prune juice, nothing too exciting. You look nice, by the way."
Liv thanks you as the former of the two picks up on your words, "Don't act all high and mighty, you're going to be joining us soon enough Mx. Almost 24."
"Blah blah blah, put a sock in it, old man. I've still got a few more weeks," You grin as he huffs and puffs some more, ultimately sitting down again as Savannah pats his back reassuringly.
"You should celebrate by finally updating your resume. That, makes you feel old," Jeese comments with a shake of his head.
"While you're at it, put 'Surrogate Division Head' front and center on it," Pete quips, "Basically run the place at this point."
"Still no word from George?" Savannah asks.
You shake your head, "Nope. But I'm not going to worry about it anymore."
You hope your avoidance of holding her gaze isn't too obvious.
"No point in it, I say. Georgie made his bed, now he's gotta lie in it," Liv interjects.
Jesse lifts his glass, "I'll drink to that," You all follow suit, taking a swig after, "Peter, you remember to bring cards?"
He starts to pull a deck from his pocket then stops, peering around Savannah with a dead tone, "Never call me that. But yes, I did. What're we feeling like tonight ladies? And Jesse, if I have to include you."
While the game gets set up you take a glance at your phone. No messages, but you weren't expecting any either. Clara hadn't sent you anything which you assume meant the kids went down easy. You stare at the icon for the FECN. The black outline of Freddy Fazbear's head stares back at you. After debating it a few moments longer you open it.
Now what?
As you play a round of Sevens with your coworkers, you struggle to find the words you want to say. And who you want to say them to. And why, for that matter.
Your update for Sun was to come on Monday night, and he had sent a reply to your message about it with a simple 'Understood'. What else would you have said? 'Hey thanks again for saving me but can we talk about the fact I'm pretty sure I was a lot closer to death than I'd like to be and I can't wrap my head around why someone with the ability to send me to jail would help me out when really getting rid of me makes more logical sense' Stop typing. Don't send that.
You hide your sigh as Savannah relishes in her first victory, the brunet beside her peeved that he lost. Moon had left you on read during your, quite painful, conversation earlier that week about Lisa's recital. Hard to have much of chat when one of you is mostly unresponsive.
In a bit of a mood from stewing in your thoughts all day, or maybe because you were starting to get a little tipsy, you decide to reopen the discussion and see what happens.
'It went well today. She's a lot more graceful than you'd think'
You set your phone down in time to hand Liv the Queen of Spades. You feel your leg buzz when it's Jesse's turn.
'Knowing Melissa and her many hats I'm not surprised.
But good, I'm glad.'
You laugh silently, 'Me too.'
'And how is Gabriel adjusting to his new nap schedule?'
You weren't expecting him to respond, seems he wasn't either as he sends an addendum message to the first one.
'If I may ask. Apologies, protocol usually stops more personal questions from being mentioned.'
'No no all good' You toss a six onto the Hearts pile, 'He seems to be doing alright with it so far, I know I'm sleeping better because of the change'
'A well-rested mind leads to well-thought out decisions'
'So I've heard' You can't tell whether it's a jab or a general statement. Hard to say with the Naptime Attendant.
You change the subject as Liv wins this round, which causes Pete to get up in a bout of frustration as everyone laughs.
'Did you really want Bonnie as your check-up partner? Or were you just trying to get a rise out of Sun?'
'I enjoy the rabbit's company. He does not. Either way it's a win for me'
Pete returns with an unopened can, announcing that you'll be playing King's Cup now and snatching back up all the cards. Upon seeing Jesse and Savannah's hands he swears again, the other two practically howling with laughter.
'Didn't take you for the antagonistic type, Moon-Man' You type out as your own giggles die out, the next game beginning.
'Not usually.
But I am
When I have to be'
"Good to see you so bright and early, Sug!"
You yawn, clinging to your coffee and give a sleepy smile, "Good to see you too, Chica. Freddy."
"Hello Y/N! I am surprised to see you," The bear looks behind you, "It is typically Mr. Notsmith which supervises check-ups. Is he not available?"
You laugh, loud and awkward. You'd think you get better at this after covering it up for the past few months, "Yeah. It'll just be me if it's all the same to you."
"Of course!" Freddy beams and you realize that he's likely the last person that would suspect you of literally anything.
"Alright, enough chit chat," Lizzy appears and starts ushering the two into their respective places, "Up yah get, Fred."
Since Chica just needed basic tuning and Freddy had actual issues, he would be the one taking the main chair this morning. You just hoped that your code ended up working. Pete saw no issues with it when you sent it to him late last night for a final, final check, and it did run, but you still had your doubts.
Too late to do anything about it now, so to you do your best to occupy your mind while you drink your coffee, letting the EEs do their work in relative peace.
"You're sure wound up tight this morning, aren't yah hon?" Chica's whisper-yell startles you from your anxiety-induced spiral. She gives you an apologetic look, smiling softly, "Sorry!"
You shake your head, own voice quiet against the chatter in the room between the other engineers and their work, "No worries. Just, tired."
You scan the room again, seeing as Freddy happily goes back and forth with Lizzy as they do his general maintenance, saving the code upload for last.
"Seems you're always tired, carrying around those big ol' bags underneath your eyes," Chica giggles as you sent a half-hearted scowl her direction. Steven, the EE working on her, also chuckles.
"Very funny. Let's see you try and face Sarah head on sometime huh?" You jab, leaning back on the workstation behind you as you take another drink of caffeine.
The bot waves her hand, trying not to move so much as Steven opens up her chest cavity, "Oh no, I'd never. I'd much rather hit her indirectly then slither away like a snake in the grass, waiting for my next opportunity to strike."
"Or you're just afraid of getting caught. Considering you only ever sneak into the food court after hours."
Chica pouts at that, "Boo! Who told you all my secrets? It wasn't Sunny was it?"
You stifle at the mention of his name, but ignore it, "I've literally walked by you on my way out. You aren't subtle, girl. But I'd love to know what you're paying the night guards in return for not snitching."
"Signed posters and other exclusive Fazbear memorabilia, of course," She holds her head up with pride.
"There enough of that to go 'round?" Steven asks, peeking up from his work.
You cackle as Chica squawks out a response. Stopping when you hear your name being called.
Looking over you see Lizzy waving you to the main chair. You walk over, "What's up? He ready to go for the code upload?"
Lizzy is bent over the Parts n Services laptop, not looking up as you approach, "Yeah, he's good. Did great as always, right Fred?"
"Absolutely! I even have another sticker for my collection for a job well done!" He points to the star sticker that's been placed on the left side of his chest plate.
You smile at him, then turn to your coworker, "Did you just want me to watch the install or...?"
"No, no. Something's up with the laptop," They frown, slapping the side of the screen a couple times, "You have an extra copy of the code on you?"
You nod, "Yeah, of course. What's going on?"
"Not sure, keeps glitching out on me, screen turns purple and when I double check the code, it ain't right. Or at least, doesn't look right. Strangest thing," They scratch their head.
You go over to your bag and pull out your own laptop, "How old is that thing? Might just be wearing down."
"Not that old, maybe five, six years tops."
You scoff, finding the file and opening it, "That's considered ancient in this day and age. Anymore having anything for longer than three years is considered 'scandalous' in big tech's eyes."
"Yeah, well, big tech can suck it. Pretend you didn't hear that, Freddy," Lizzy takes the ethernet cable and plugs it into your laptop.
You glimpse over at the other computer, curious to what's going on. You see a partially blacked out screen, with what you can see is your code in the remaining section. There's a brief flash of purple glitching and you watch with amazement as the code starts to change on its own. It's going much too fast for you to really understand it and you're a bit too shocked to truly comprehend what's happening.
And then, it stops. The screen glitches again and you watch as the changes are slowly being reversed again. That's when you realize, someone's live editing the program.
Multiple someone's at that.
Hesitant, you reach out and hover the mouse over the person who seems to be attempting to fix the code. The username that pops up sends a jolt down your spine.
That's your username. For your work computer.
Someone's in your office.
Someone is on your computer.
"Alright, just a quick nap and then you'll be up and running like new alright, Bud?" Lizzy says, plugging the other end of the cord into Freddy's arm.
"Hey Liz, why'd you switch the code from Arduino over to Java?" You watch as another glitch happens, this time both the fake 'you' and the other, entity, person, whatever, duking it out at the same time, the program quickly becoming an indecipherable mess.
They're about to hit the run button on your laptop, "Cause that's what you told me to do in the email you sent me. Why? Is that what's causing the problem?"
You move the cursor over the close all button. With the program shut down, the screen returns to normal. Like nothing ever happened. You close the laptop.
"Maybe. Who knows. But I just restarted it to see if that doesn't fix it. If you're all good here, I'm gonna run over and grab a snack from our vending machine," You say, lowering your right hand to your side to hide its shaking.
They give you a thumbs up, "We'll be fine. And hey, grab me a Milky Way while you're at it. We're out and I've been craving one for weeks."
"Can do."
Once you make your way out of the space, you rush through the halls to your office. Along the way you fumble for your phone and manage to make the call you need. It rings twice before the line picks up.
You don't wait for an answer, "Sun listen, I think I've-"
"I am not Sun, Andromeda."
"What? But I know I," You take the phone from your ear, seeing that it was indeed Moon on the line. Guess the lights weren't on currently.
"What's wrong?"
You bite your lip; did you really want to tell Moon about this? It didn't take an idiot to guess he probably wouldn't like what you were planning to do based on last time. But, you had very little time to work with and if you were going to do it you'd rather have someone there to listen than not.
You keep walking, pace picking up, "Long story short, someone's logged on to my office computer. They sent Lizzy an email pretending to be me and were changing the code before they input it into Freddy's system. But someone else was doing it at the same time and seemed to be messing it up, while the person who is not me but is pretending to be was going through trying to fix it? It's all really confusing but I'm going over there now to see if I can't catch them in the act-"
"And then what?"
"Sorry?" You ask out of breath.
"You catch them, and then what happens, Icarus?" There's an edge to Moon's words, "Have you forgotten what happened just over a week ago?"
"This is different. It's not the nightshift, there's people around, I have you-"
"You do not 'have' me. I've told you before and I'll tell you again; I do not wish to be involved in the schemes you and him are so foolishly creating without either of you considering the consequences of your actions!" The exclamation makes you falter. Stopping a little before you round the corner to the hallway with the elevator.
The sting from his statement lingers, "I, Moon, that wasn't what I was trying to say."
"It does not matter what you were or not. Do not enter that room, Andromeda. Do not put yourself in harm's way for the sake of this imprudent quest you seem so intent on seeing to its paltry end."
You're stunned, but not for long.
"Who do you think you are, trying to tell me what to do? You think I don't understand the risk? Think I don't know what it means if I get caught?" You feel the anger boiling up in you, "I'm well aware what'll happen to me if I do, one way or another I'll end up dead or in jail, but I'm willing to take that chance because you wanna know why? Because your f*cking co-inhabitant didn't give me a choice to do otherwise."
You forget your original mission, instead pacing the hallway with one hand gripping your phone, the other gripping and releasing your hair, "Why do you get to act like you care, huh Moon? Did you care then? Care at all when Sun recorded me to set me up," You lower your voice then, even though you're definitely the only person around, "When he set me up to be framed for murder? Because you did absolutely nothing about that did you? Did you?"
The silence on the other end of the line speak volumes to your irritated state.
You take a deep breath, "So, if you don't want to stay on the line with me, fine. I'm going to go try and find out what the hell is going on around this place. I'm sorry for bothering you," You go to hang up, then sigh, "And I'm sorry for raising my voice, too."
"Diana-"
You end the call, breathing in heavily through your nose, then out through your mouth. You calm down for the most part after a minute or so. Regret starts to fill you almost instantly.
You shouldn't have said that. Not like that, anyway. It was immature, rash. Not the proper way to go about it at all. But you had, and now you have to live with it. After you figure out who's been impersonating you.
It occurs to you as you stomp your way down the hall that George's death isn't the only reason you're not sleeping at night. It seems, if anything, that's one of the least significant reasons of them all.
You throw open the door to your office, cringing slightly at the noise it makes when you do.
It's empty.
But your computer is on.
You stride over, cautious. It's been logged out of, so you have no idea for sure what someone may have been up to. You sigh in defeat. All of that for nothing.
You're feeling really sh*tty right about now.
There's a loud bang sounding like it's coming from the hall, followed by smaller bangs and blips of binary. Suddenly in the doorway is-
"Moon," You feel your eyes widen, then soften, "Listen, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
He takes a few steps over to you, bending slightly as he takes your hands in his own, "Never mind that. Are you hurt? I don't see any visible damage, and my sensors aren't picking up another presence in this immediate area."
"I-huh?" You feel your brows scrunch together, but can hear the distress in his tone, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine."
There's a noticeable relaxation in his joints, "Good. That is good."
"Did you think that something-"
"No. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. But no. I was just, concerned," His face plate ticks the left a smidge.
You manage a chuckle, "Well, no need. Whoever it was, they were long gone by the time I got here." You glance back to your computer, taunting you with its login screen.
"How unfortunate."
You scoff, then laugh again, "No it's not. You were right. I was being stupid. Not thinking. Putting myself at risk again. I'm lucky that it didn't pay off how I wanted."
"Could we go outside?" Moon asks.
"I sure," You answer as he takes now just one of your hands and leaves the office space.
He ducks under the doorframe again, "The brightness is, uncomfortable."
"Ah. Gotcha."
He shifts himself over to a darker part of the hall where one of the lights are burned out. He shrinks underneath the pool of darkness, perching almost like a cat.
"Better?" You ask, amused.
"Much."
You laugh gingerly. The moment passes with nothing more said.
"You were right."
"Pardon?"
"You were also right. What you said earlier," His face plate spins, "I can't deny it."
You nod. You don't know what to say.
Well, you do. Mostly.
You sigh, "Still, that wasn't how that conversation should have went. If we were going to have it at all. Which I wasn't planning to."
"Plans rarely unfold how we intend," There's a small bit of mirth woven between the letters.
You join him at his level, sliding down the wall beside the door you just came from, "Didn't realize how much it was really bugging me."
"You aren't alone in that."
You glance over to him then, "Still, I really am sorry. For bringing that up like I did and for rushing over here without thinking."
"You're alright, Diana. Anger is understandable. I should not have spoken to you as I did either," The bell on his hat jingles as he adjusts his position.
"Call it even then?" You offer, "For now anyway."
"I think that would be for the best," The bot stands up, hand reaching up to grip the open vent you didn't notice before.
You watch as he swiftly pulls himself up and inside, red eyes being the only visible thing left as you stare up at him now, "Thanks for coming and checking. It's appreciated."
"Do not thank me yet, you still need to return to your original location safely. I will stay with you until then."
He disappears, vent shutting with a small clink.
You glance at the time, "It's already 7:30, do you really think..." You trail off, feeling silly talking to an empty hall and assuming he's already too far into the vents to hear you.
You get a text as you walk back to Parts n Services, 'Once again, it is unlikely for anything to happen.
But it's better to be safe than sorry.'
'Yeah
it is'
By the time you get back Freddy's install has been completed with no other problems. You sheepishly give Lizzy the excuse of forgetting spare change when you reveal you're empty-handed. They're annoyed for a moment, only to be interrupted by one of the crew setting a workstation on fire with an abandoned soldering iron.
Besides that, both checkups finish up smoothly, and you hope it'll continue that way for the rest of the week.
For now, though, you have to switch your focus once again. Finally addressing what your search of the Records Office yielded.
You stand with Sun, the notes you've taken over the past several days strewn over one the arts and crafts tables. They're smudged, coffee-stained, and a bit nonsensical, but still legible enough for both of you to read. You made sure to use simple words for his sake. Mainly as an excuse to make that very joke. Mainly.
"Having said all that, I broke everything down into three major categories," You point to the first semi-pile, "Incident reports," You tap the next group, "Press releases," And then the last, "And complaints."
You gulp down some of your drink, "What we found were some of the most recent ones, past decade or so. I'm guessing there's more boxes with older stuff, but that's not what they're working on right this second it seems."
"And what of the actual contents," Sun lifts a page, squinting at the drawing in the corner which Lisa made when you weren't looking, "What did any of it actually discuss?"
"Incident reports were mainly technical files, which took me by surprised. Written up mostly by a guy I've never even heard of but I guess he was one of the previous Senior Engineers. Seems like he quit before I got here. Nothing super interesting, mainly small malfunctions with the Glamrocks, couple of full-fledged reports about how the map bots function. Even saw one or two pages about you. Or well, past you. Did you know they were running your processor on nothing but a Raspberry Pi at one point?" You laugh, "Kind of insane really."
Sun doesn't seem to find it as funny, "I did not. But I'm not surprised."
You sober up, turning back to the table, "Right. Anyway, seems there was a lot of hype about the map bots back in the day. Company saw it as a great chance to cut back on salaries and introduce some more tech to the public," You grab a couple papers about it, "There was also some stuff about Roxy's introduction to the band, and the opening of the Raceway after they shut down Pirate's Cove."
You remember the old attraction which used to occupy where Roxy's Raceway now stands. A giant, water-based play area with fake pirate ships and hide outs. Kids could battle it out with water guns for the grand prize of a sack of chocolate coins to split between each other. You think it was the inspiration behind the later designed Fazer Blast.
One of the few times you came here as a kid you got to enjoy the original set up, one of the last fond memories likely had in the area before they shut it down for good. You couldn't find anything as to why but if you had to take a guess it was probably because water and animatronics don't mix too well.
Sun reviews the pages you hand him, "Mm. And the complaints?"
"Some write ups of conversations with disgruntled parents. Their kids getting scared by stupid stuff like how personal the map bots were or stuff like 'Chica talks too much about Pizza' 'someone stole my kid's snap bracelet' 'Freddy held eye contact with my son way too long and it freaked me out' or something like that." You gather up another page or two, trading Sun for the ones in his hands.
He skims these as well, setting them back down himself a couple seconds later. His rays twirl a few times before voicing his thoughts.
"So what's your conclusion?"
You sigh, then clap your hands together once, "Gonna be honest; I have no idea what any of this means."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
...
"Neither do I."
It's going to be a long night.
