Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The silhouette of this place is really imposing in the low lighting, casting a dark shadow over everything in front of it with the setting sun. The old concrete is cracking slightly, vines and vegetation crawling up the sides not helping that in the slightest. The sign at the top, advertising that this is "Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex" is dull and looking to be just about ready to fall off. You can spot a few empty and abandoned bird's nests in it too. 

You know behind you is the empty, cracked parking lot and a few other buildings left to rot just the same as this one, the sparser concrete jungle that used to be this side of town being overtaken and reclaimed by mother nature once more. Everyone abandoned this place a long time ago, partly because of the building you're standing right in front of. Though, you suppose it isn't the only reason. But the main part is that no one's going to see you climbing into the building in front of you, since this place has well and truly been deserted. 

Not that you think anyone would care that you're doing so. They have bigger things to worry about than some girl breaking into an old building no one cares about anymore, if anything they'd yell at you to bring out a souvenir for them. If they didn't immediately leave and get on with their own business that is. No, you're pretty safe to be doing this. As even if someone did call the police, it's not like they're actually going to show up. Too many false calls in the past and they don't even care anymore, everything is just ignored. 

You've already grabbed what was left behind in a few other stores around here, now you're just hyping yourself up to enter the supposedly "haunted" building. You can't say you're not excited and a bit nervous, this building has a big reputation and you're curious to see if it lives up to the hype. 

You're trying to manage your excitement, ready to be disappointed. 

"Alright... Lets do this." You let out a breath, pulling at some of the rotting wooden boards sealing the entrance shut. They break eventually, you making just a big enough hole to be able to climb through. Though you also had to pry one of the sliding doors open first. But you make it in, flexing your fingers. "... Woah." 

You look around the entrance area, eyes widening. It's pretty dark inside, all the lights out and no natural light able to seep through the wall. But after your eyes adjust a bit, you're able to catch a few details, like just how big and open it seems.

You pull your backpack off and dig around for your flashlight, pulling it out while turning it on. You immediately aim the beam around the room, pulling your backpack back on. 

It's rather dirty, unsurprisingly considering how long it's been since someone cleaned it. Dust, dirt, and who knows what else covers the floor. There's also old, dead plants and decorations tipped over or possibly still in the places they were supposed to be. You can see a few old, plain robots either knock over or still upright and slumped. The floors and walls are likely a few shades darker than they're meant to be, some of the wallpaper torn or scratches clawed into it. There's some old kiosks, tables, popcorn machines, and old screens that are built right onto support beams. Turning to the door you just entered through, you can see some type of shutter that's likely supposed to be down, which could be useful, and some old turned off neon lights in the shape of animals. 

There's also garbage tossed around, just out and in bags. Even with a few garbage cans laying around, though some are tipped over. Which is gross.

You take a few seconds to look at the cute art of some animals placed around as you wonder further into the entrance of the building. They look like they were styled like old... rock band types? You're not sure from what decade it's supposed to be.. But there's a wolf, a bear, an alligator, and a chicken. All with shoulder pads and legwarmers, some holding instruments. 

You glance over a few more of those neon lights, some looking built right into the foundation too, wondering if they could be turned on. If this place is still in the power grid, you should be able to if the lights aren't burnt out. It's not like the non-existent power companies will care. You do have to wonder how much of a power guzzlier this place is though. If you could get your hands on some solar panels, you could make it so you don't have to use the power grid... But even though they're dirt cheap anymore, you don't know how you'd get them here. Hmmm.... 

You shake your head, deciding that's a thought for another day, and head a bit deeper into the place. Stopping at the closed turnstiles, you aim your flashlight up at the giant bronze statue of the bear. Your eyebrows raise in surprise, looking over the dirty and rusted thing.

Shaking your head, you jump over the turnstile and head deeper into the building. You sweep your flashlight around, finding turned over prams and a lot of stairs. There's an entrance to "Glamrock Gifts" and something called "Faz Pad." There's some derelict ATMs as well and more dead plants, also some little glimpses of more attractions. You gaze at the art on the walls too, smiling a bit. 

This place was really customized to the theme. 

When you reach the top of the two flights of stairs, you find another blank screen over what you assume to be elevators? You also find some more bots, some kiddy rides, and photo booths. There's a few doors up here leading to the attractions. One being the gift shop you saw before apparently. But another is to the "Superstar Daycare Pickup," making you hum. There's one other door that leads somewhere, but you don't see the name of what it's supposed to be. 

You head over to the elevators, which obviously are not working, but you still glance around the circular entrances with a hum. Ultimately deciding to just move on already, you head over to the doors that are unmarked. 

It turns out to be a.... bar? Restaurant? You gaze over the drinks and food left behind, but you have to assume it's all rotted by now considering it's been left to sit for a long while. But you can look over it more later, you suppose. Aiming your flashlight up, you find out this place is the "Faz Pad," whatever that means. Coffee Shop maybe? But you head out the door on the other side, looking around the kitchen for a second before heading out the door and down some stairs. 

Lost and found is down here? You'd think they'd have it out in front so people could find their missing items. You take a peak inside, but don't find anything that really catches your interest at the moment. So you head over to the other door. Oh! Maybe this is where you go to ask about your missing items, since this is apparently the customer service desk. Over a bit is a bunch of lockers you're not too interested in looking through right now. 

So you head out the door, finding you've just made a big loop. With a sigh, you head up the stairs again and head over to the daycare. You gaze over the... Fizzyfaz vending machines and raise an eyebrow at the currently non-functioning fountain, but continue on. You eyes rove over a red container of some kind, but move on quickly. 

Your eyebrows raise at the sight of another rusted bronze statue, or statues since there's two. Similar in appearance.... a sun and moon? Likely just judging by the art and some of the plushes around the place. They're.... kind of strange looking. Like jesters of some sort, thin and gangly with puffy pants and bells. Those smiles... kind of creepy. But they're also pretty cool, you think. 

You only gaze over the tables chairs, couches, and lockers, then head over to look into the daycare. 

It's huge! Giant play structures and a massive ballpit. There's also a castle like entrance that goes somewhere above the the daycare, but where you have no idea. You look down to see a slide to enter the daycare, but look at the turnstile that'll likely go down to a floor entrance. You head that way, jumping over the gate again, just figuring you're less likely to get stuck somewhere that way than going down the slide. As fun as it sounds. 

There's a bunch of rooms lining the way and more of those bots, the rooms looking like they were used for parties. But you do find stairs, heading down to look. There's a pair of giant wooden doors, you pushing them open and entering the playarea. 

It's really a marvel, every child's dream. There's a security booth too, likely where one of the workers would stay to watch the kids having a heyday in here. It's.... actually surprisingly not as dirty as the rest of the place for some reason upon first glance. It is still dirty and dusty, but compared to the rest of the place it's actually neater and cleaner. There's not a whole lot of junk laying around and everything seems rather neat and tidy. 

You wonder a bit farther in, nearly tripping over something laying in the middle of the floor. You aim your flashlight down, nearly jumping out of your skin when the beam of light reveals that moon guy. ... Just laying there. You poke it with the toe of your boot, but it doesn't react in anyway. 

...... Oh, duh. It's a robot. Like the others, it's broken down or out of power. Probably both honestly. But.... you suppose it is kind of strange it was just left here, though you could say that about the other bots too now that you think about it. You would've expected the company to sell them or someone to have come in and used them for scrap. 

Well, now that you think about it... it doesn't seem like anyone's been in here since it was closed. .... Weird. 

.... You wonder if there's animatronics of the animal characters you keep seeing everywhere. You'd have to guess there is... but where would they be, you wonder? Suppose you'll just have to keep exploring to find out. 

You glance over the moon man again, tilting your head. ...Not the friendliest looking thing is he? The grin is rather unsettling, blank circular eyes. The outfit is pretty cute though, and the half face is interesting, a classic you'd suppose. You like the star theme, and the shade of blue. Though you suppose if he was cleaned, it'd be a nicer shade. You're still not sure why this character is for the daycare, but you suppose the logic could line up? Might have wanted to design them to be a bit more friendly looking though. 

You head out of the daycare again after one last look over of the moon guy, deciding to go find those other animatronics. Going back to the entrance, you find a service tunnel and follow that. But... geeze the tunnels and rooms down here are even more disgusting. You're glad to find the stairs and red doors leading out. 

It is good to know where the tunnels are though, you could probably find a way to turn on the lights down there. Probably find some more interesting or important things down there too. 

But for now, you just look around where you've come out. It's.... green rooms? For the animatronics? You have to assume that's what they are, though you have to question why they have them. But you know their names now! Freddy Fazbear, Roxanne Wolf, Montgomery Gator, and Chica Chicken. Interesting. 

You pause at the bear's room, perking up a bit when you think you see him laying motionless in his room. You head over to the door, assuming it's able to close but frozen open like most of the other doors. So you don't have any problem walking in. You immediately walk over to the animatronic, kneeling down to look over him. 

.... Why are his eyes yellow? Isn't he supposed to have blue eyes? And why are his hands green and purple? You think that's supposed to be the gator's. ....Weird. Maybe some parts got mixed up? 

The bear does look surprisingly good, though definitely needs some TLC. He's rather dirty and his casing is really cracked. But you can still see the details, like the blue lightning bolt and "makeup." Along with is black bowtie, top hat, and spiked bracelets. 

You look up, wondering if the other animatronics are also in their rooms. But when you check, it doesn't seem like they are. You are impressed by the level of care taken into the design of the rooms, though Montgomery's is pretty trashed. But the others are pretty neat and themed, colors matching what you assume the animatronics are supposed to favor or something. The rooms are pretty nice with more art, posters, vanities, couches, arcades, and other various things. You spend a few moments looking at the things in the cases decorating the hall with more statues, but head back to the bear. 

You stare down at him, flashlight roaming over the animatronic's whole body. Taking in little details and every crack, curiosity taking root in your mind.

You wonder if you could fix these things up?

Chapter Text

You took your time looking around more of the building, checking nooks and crannies for the other animatronics. But finding them was no easy task considering this place is fucking massive. Ridiculously so in your opinion. Multiple restaurants, kitchens, arcades, attractions, and about a million things to do between those things. You also found a huge fucking spider-like.... thing in the arcade, in what you're guessing is a dance studio. It was shut down though, just like everything else. 

This place must've been popular in its prime, likely a sight to see if all this stuff is to be believed. Maybe it'll be again once you're finished with it, but that has yet to be seen. 

You were eventually able to find all of the animatronics though, after hours and a full day of searching, hidden away in different places of the giant mall. You found Chica in one of the nasty kitchens, Montgomery in two different sections Gator Golf, and Roxanne in the mess that is Roxy's Raceway. All of them.... look pretty worse for wear, but you were able to drag them out of their hiding places with the help of a cart you found and into what you're guessing is the main show room. Just judging by the big stage and open area. You laid them out the middle of the floor in front of the stage, where you're guessing a crowd would stand to watch the show. 

You look over them again, pursing your lips in thought. But then glance up and over your shoulder with another thought.

You should probably get the bear and moon guy and bring them here too, then go find the lights since it'll be easier to fix them with more than a flashlight to aid you. Along with a parts and service room, just to see what supplies they have, maybe some blueprints if you're lucky. 

.... If you even can fix them anyway. These guys have old tech you're not sure you'll know how to use, plus just their general state currently. They... look much worse than Freddy does, to say the least. 

Montgomery Gator definitely got it the worst, literally broken in half. You have to assume the bear does have his hands, since they're missing. Roxanne lost her eyes and looks like she was crushed under something, her tail even missing most of its fur. But other than that, she's.. Well, she doesn't seem to be missing anything else. Chica looks like she was crushed by something too, she's missing her beak and her eyes don't look right. They're all cracked and dirty too, which is not surprising with their other breaks. 

It'll be much harder than you thought to fix them, just judging by what you're seeing here. Probably even going to take a while for you to get through all of them, maybe even a month or so if you can't find any blueprints or something to help you figure out how to do it...... 

Well... You've got your work cut out for you. Hopefully you'll be able to get them working again. 

_____ 

You found the parts and service first, hidden down some stairs right by the show stage. Then find replacement parts squirreled away in separate rooms, none of them looking in too bad of shape. Usable at least. The... whole thing kind of confused you to be honest though. There were more endoskeletons and... viewing rooms? Like for watching experiments? You're not sure, but it was very... strange to say the least. You were able to find some replacement casing and blueprints to follow too, luckily. You won't be going in blind at least. 

You also took what usable parts you could from those broken down endoskeletons, whatever looked like it could help fixing up those up top. You doubt those endos cared, looking as completely trashed as they were. 

You collected everything you could and put it all into a pile to haul back up, then go in search of finding some breakers for the lights or something. A ludicrously hard task, compared to finding everything else. Took you even longer than finding the animatronics or searching for those parts, since they have the most stupid set up imaginable. But eventually you were able to finish the stupid treasure hunt and get everything up and running again, or the lights on at least. 

You're nearly blinding by the damn things though, the show floor stupidly bright. Florescent lights of all things, ludicrously bright compared to the service tunnels. You let yourself adjust before dragging all the parts you found into the show area and to the animatronics. 

Maybe you should just plan tonight and fix them up tomorrow? It's getting pretty late and you doubt you'll get much done before needing to go to sleep, and you don't want to be working on these things half asleep. You learned your lesson about that a long time ago. 

So, you just lay every blueprint you found out on the ground and look over them curiously. You put the ones that don't help with these five away, leaving those for another day. 

Those hands Freddy has definitely belong to Montgomery, apparently made to make it easier for him to play bass? Neat. Freddy definitely has Roxanne's eyes too... You wonder if he has Chica's voicebox then?

Why would he have these? Who switched them? And what the hell happened to Roxanne, Montgomery, and Chica anyway? 

Mysteries to be solved later, you suppose. 

You move on to the blueprints of the animatronics as a whole, looking over them curiously. Not.. as completely detailed as you'd like, but you'll be able to work with these. It'll.... just take a while for you to learn how to work with this old tech, but you have nothing but time. So that's alright. Maybe you could find some tutorials online, would definitely speed things up. 

Besides, this old place is abandoned and pretty well fortified all things considered. You don't think you'll have any problems holding up in here for a while, just like you thought. So you don't have any real time limit, besides maybe your food supply. But this'll make a nice project to fill up your time here, and maybe once they're done you can find out some things about this place. Maybe even see what they were like back in their prime, their shows had to be as grand as this place is. 

Yeah, this'll be fun. But for now, you should probably just head to bed. Maybe find a dark room you can turn the lights off in or a dark hole you could tuck yourself into. 

You grab your backpack you set beside yourself, digging out some of the food squirreled away inside. You have a light dinner, then glance around for somewhere to hide in for a nap. Monty's Golf would probably be the best option, since it's darker than most areas. Besides those disgusting service tunnels anyway. 

Grabbing your backpack again, you head that way. Ignoring the big golf ball amusement park ride, you head right into the now working elevator and head into the course. 

You have to admit you do like the set up they have for this place. The, fake, hissing alligator gives you a mini-heart attack, but you like it. You didn't think it'd still be working, and it's... not really. Irregular, broken hisses coming out of it and it's not moving, not that you're even sure if it's supposed to be, but the fact that it's still even able to hiss is cool. The environment is really pretty too, the "lush" green plants and the cool way the thing was set up. 

Maybe you could get it up and running eventually, play a few rounds. Could be fun, as soon as you learned how to play. 

For now, you just head over to one of the "campers" and make yourself a bed there. You curl up on the "bed," which is actually pretty plush and still in slightly okay shape. You sigh, using your backpack as a pillow and one of the blankets you found in the place. It's like... a quilt or just four squares, but it's still in pretty good shape. You found some shirts too, some still good others not so much. But you took what you could use, make it a bit warmer in this giant, not very well heated building. 

Tomorrow you can start working on those animatronics, for now you're just going to sleep. 

_____ 

You decided to start with Freddy, since he didn't seem in the worst shape and you needed to take the pieces that didn't belong to him in the first place back. Plus, it'll give you some idea on how these things are supposed to look intact. From the blueprints, it doesn't seem like too much is wrong with him. Though you had to deal with the rusty parts and things, which you just salvaged what you could and replaced the rest. Taking your time examining everything from the wiring to the endoskeleton structure.

It was the same with the moon/sun guy, since you found out they're one and the same. But now, he just needs a charge. Which you found out those red tubes are charging stations and each bot has one in the back of their green rooms. So once you're done fixing them, you can just haul them back there and shove them into the charging stations. 

But now you come to the decision on which of the more broken animatronics to deal with first, or tomorrow since it's getting pretty late again. Montgomery definitely will take the most time and likely need the most parts replaced, he'll be the bigger problem. So do you start with him first or one of the girls? He'll be harder one, so you can learn more with the girls before tackling him. It'll probably be easier on you to do the slightly easier ones than jumping right in with the biggest project. Regardless, fixing them all up will take a few days at least. If not a few weeks. 

You nod to yourself, moving over to start working on Chica. You finish her repairs over the next few days, just taking a look the day before. Turns out, Freddy did have her voice box for some reason. But you got them switched so Freddy has his proper voice and Chica gets hers back. You luckily found some replacement casing and a beak, but you have another solution for the casings you can't replace. Just fill the cracks in and paint over it, it'll look good as new. But that'll be for another time when everything's finished.

You work on Roxanne once you're pretty confident Chica's good to go, having to replace most of her casing. Luckily, you had the pieces you needed. You may end up having to make more yourself if they get damaged again, since you didn't see anymore in the storage. But that'll be a problem for future you, and you're mostly doing this to see if you can. So their appearances don't really matter, just if they work. Which you believe you got Roxanne in working order too. But you'll have to see once she's charged. 

"Okay, let's do this." You breath, turning to tackle Montgomery. Luckily you found a lot more replacement casing parts for him, even some extra, so he wont be walking around with his endoskeleton showing. Reconnecting his torso to his legs wasn't very fun though and took a long time, but you think you got it done correctly. Would help if the blueprints were actually thorough, but you work with what you've got. You had to run down to parts and service again to see if you could find some more helpful tools, but you eventually get Montgomery back in possible working order. 

You step back from the fully, or possibly fully, repaired robots. It took a few days, but you think they're ready to be booted up again. Nodding to yourself, you drag a cart over and heave Freddy onto it, then Chica as well since it looks like she'll fit on there. You pull them back towards "Rockstar Row" as you found out it's called, walking into Freddy's green room and to the back. You shove him into the charging station with a little difficulty, then do the same with Chica. Then you repeat the process for the others, only running back to Freddy's room once the moon man is charging in the daycare. 

You pause to take a breath in Freddy's room, sitting on the couch to rest your sore muscles. You think partially about if this doesn't work, but dismiss it. You're not expecting to have done a perfect job immediately, you can work out whatever you missed later. Plus, if they actually do boot up, they could possibly tell you what's wrong themselves! Then you can fix whatever they point out and make it easier on yourself, that'd certainly help more than what you were doing. 

Your eyes dart up when you hear movement from the back, you standing up to head towards the door. A bubble of excitement fills your chest, spotting the bear moving around the corner. He stops when his eyes land on you, his ears wiggling a bit. 

Freddy Fazbear is back!

Chapter Text

"You're working," you grin in amazement, looking over the bear. His ears move again, looking back up at your face as you take a step closer. You eyes rove over his body, a bit in shock. But your grin widens as his head tilts, pumping a fist into the air in your excitement. "Yes! I did it! At least got one!" 

Freddy blinks. 

"Who are you? I do not recognize you," he speaks up, making you pause and look back at him. You're surprised by the quality of his voice, still smooth, deep, and not a glitch to be found. You.. weren't expecting that. 

"Oh, right," you blink, then give your name to the bear. He repeats it slowly, eyes having not left you this entire time. 

"It is nice to meet you!" The bear replies, taking a few steps closer to you. You watch his movements, noting how they're a little jerky, but overall good for how old he is. Could probably do with some minor adjustments. "But your guest profile is unknown to me." 

"Uh huh," you mutter, gazing over his joints again in thought. "Because I'm not a guest, Buddy." 

"Not a guest? Are you a new worker?" Freddy asks, tilting his head again in confusion. You huff out a laugh, looking up towards the bear's face again. 

"You could say that," you reply, taking a step back again. "Any bugs or anything not working as it should?" 

Freddy's quiet for a moment, but then lists off a few things. You run and grab your notebook and pencil to write it all down under his name, Freddy following you into his room and watching. But you stand up again, figuring Chica's probably done charging by now if Freddy is. 

"Your worker profile is unknown to me... I cannot reach the main office either," Freddy notes, following you to Chica's room. 

"The computers are all probably long dead, Freddy. Or at least shut down if nothing else," you hum, tapping the tip of the pencil to your chin. Freddy tilts his head, though as he scans the area, his ears wiggle again. He... appears aghast, much to your surprise. But you're also intrigued by his ability to express emotions like that.

"This area is filthy! It's not up to code for guests to visit!" He adds, looking back at you for an explanation. You shrug, looking over your shoulder as you step up to Chica's door on the other side of the room. 

You weren't aware he was programed to care about that.... you guess it makes sense though? Maybe? 

"Well... that's what happens when no one's been here to clean in a while," you shrug, turning to look into the room. You pause as the chicken animatronic turns at the sound of your voices, looking away from the dirty mirror on her vanity. You eye her movements, which are slightly more twitchy than Freddy's but overall okay. 

"The janitorial S.T.A.F.F. bots should have taken care of the mess," Freddy comments, the confusion in his voice surprising you once again. 

"They're all dead," you reply, still more occupied looking over Chica though. 

"Dead?" She repeats, finally speaking. Her voice isn't half bad either. Could probably use some tweaking, but good. Soft and more musical than Freddy's, sweet. 

She appears slightly surprised by her own voice though, blinking and raising her hand up to her throat. Though she then tilts her head like she's confused and drops her hand once more. 

She takes a few steps closer, looking over you the same as Freddy did. 

"Yeah. Most of the bots here are dead, er, not working as they should," you reply to her, waving your pencil to the side. Are.. they going to understand what you meant? How high is their intelligence? You think their AI was pretty high for the time period, but you're not completely sure. So far it seems like it is, just based on the reactions and questions you've been getting from them so far. 

You glance over another page in your notebook where you noted everything you could find, chewing on the end of your pencil while you read through your notes again. 

You had plugged them into your computer once finished repairing them, just to poke around their processors and programming. You found out quite a bit and jotted down notes for later, you didn't want to mess around a whole lot with them though. You didn't want to break them completely before you even saw them in motion, though you saw a few things you thought were odd. But you don't know enough about them to actually know if it's really odd or not. 

"Have you and the other mechanics not worked on them?" Freddy asks, making you look over at him for a second again. 

"It's just me here, Buddy," you reply, shrugging a shoulder as you flip back to the other page and write Chica's name down. You ask her for any bugs or anything she finds, jotting down everything she tells you. There's... certainly a lot more to fix with her than Freddy, but that's not surprising. Montgomery's probably going to have the longest list out of all of them though. 

"Are you the new mechanic?" Chica asks, tilting her head. "Why are you the only one here?" 

"Uh, something like that, Sweetie," you reply, smiling a bit. "And no one else wants to come here anymore. That's why it's just me." 

"No one wants to come here?" Freddy repeats, voice sounding surprised and confused, if slightly disbelieving, as he and Chica follow you over to Montgomery's room. Then Roxanne's when you see he hasn't come out of his charging station yet. You peak into the back room, finding Roxanne just existing her charging station. She stares at you for a long minute, hands dropping from her face. 

"Who are you?" You raise an eyebrow at her tone, like she's distrustful of your appearance and... slightly disgusted? Maybe not that second one, but something in that realm. But you're more surprised by the distrust, though you suppose it makes sense with how high their intelligence is appearing to turn out. 

"She's the new mechanic!" Chica chirps from behind you, making Roxanne look up at her. 

"You are?" Roxanne asks, looking back at you. She eyes you, arms crossed and sounding like she doesn't believe that even a little. 

"Uh, yep," you shrug. Essentially, you decide. You've made up your mind to fix them up and stay here anyway, so yup. This is your job now. 

You glance over Roxanne, writing down everything she notes after your questioning. Chica looks over your shoulder as you write, not that you mind her. Freddy just stands there, watching. Roxanne follows you back to Montgomery's room to wait for him to come out, the three still a bit twitchy. 

"My hair is ruined," Roxanne mutters, looking at her reflection in Montgomery's broken and dirty mirror. 

"Oh, we can fix that up," you reply, making her look at you as your write that down under her name as well. "I was planning to get you all cleaned up after making sure ya... ya know, work. Probably gonna need to grab some paint.... glue or something to fill up those cracks and sealant too..." 

You hum in thought, writing down needed supplies in the top margins as you think of them. They'll all probably take some time to get... You doubt the stuff here is still in date or usable....

The three animatronics just watch you, blinking for a moment before glancing down at themselves and their general state of being. Then look at each other. Though all of you look up at the sound of stomping, and a roar. Seems like Montgomery has booted back up. 

After a few seconds, Montgomery Gator comes stomping out from the back. He only pauses when he sees all of you standing around in his room, which he doesn't seem too happy about. 

"What are you all doing in 'ere?!" He yells, looking at the other animatronics specifically. 

"We were following the new mechanic," Chica replies, pointing over at you. The alligator turns to you with that, raising an eyebrow. 

"You're the new mechanic?" He growls, you just nodding as you flip to a clean page. "Well you suck at yer job, then!" 

"Monty! That's no way to speak to a worker here!" Freddy scolds, Montgomery just rolling his eyes. 

"Hey, not my fault you're all old as hell," you point out, making the four animatronics blink at you. "Most of the tech here is old and obsolete, including most of your parts. Not to mention the state of decay pretty much everything in this building is in. It's a miracle you're all even awake and functioning as well as you are. I was just going off what I had available to me." 

"..... Old?" Roxanne asks, blinking. You nod, then look up at Montgomery again. 

"So, what needs fixing?" You ask, Montgomery growling before giving you the list. Just like you thought, he does have the longest list you'll have to work through. But that was to be expected, considering the state he was in. It's a bigger miracle you were even able to fix him in the first place. 

You look through the lists, happy to note none of them have debilitating or emergent repairs to be done. Some major things you should handle soon, but nothing that'll majorly undo any of the work you've already put into them. You did pretty good in fixing them up, all things considered. 

But you do still have one animatronic to check on. 

"Where are you goin' now?" Montgomery growls, watching as you head for the door. You spin around on your heels, smiling a bit. 

"I have one more of you to check on right now, then we can get to work on those other repairs. Okay?" You reply, waving your notebook a bit. 

"Who?" Freddy asks, confused. He immediately starts to follow you again, flanked by Chica and Roxanne. 

"The sun and moon guy," you reply, spinning around again to head towards the Daycare. 

"You.. had to fix him too?" Chica asks, tilting her head. You nod with a hum, tapping your pencil against your legs. These animatronics are heavy, considering they shake the damn ground with every step. You're not surprised by this, however. You had to drag them around earlier after all. 

"Why is it so.. dirty out here?" Roxanne demands, looking all around the place in disgust. 

"No one's been here to clean up the place," you repeat with a shrug, glancing back to see who all followed again. They all are, doesn't seem like they're having any problems keeping up either. Though they're all taller than you, so that's no surprise. 

"Why not?!" Montgomery snaps, making you blink at him in surprise for a moment. "Aren't those stupid S.T.A.F.F. dummies supposed ta clean the place up anyway?" 

"I.. don't know if you noticed, hon, but none of the other bots are active and I doubt they have been in a long time," you reply, pausing to motion over to the bot on the ground. They look over at the dead thing beside your little group, then look back at you as you cross your arms and tap a finger against your upper arm. "And I'm the only human in this building, I certainly haven't had time to even try to fix them or clean the place up." 

"Why?" Chica asks, tilting her head. 

"I was more focused on all of you," you shrug, then glance over at the bot on the ground yourself. But then you shake your head and continue on to the Daycare. "And I'll be honest, like I said earlier, it's a miracle I even got all of you in working order again. If I had to guess, it's likely only because you all were higher quality. I don't know if I'll even be able to do anything about them." 

"I thought you were a mechanic," Montgomery scuffs, crossing his arms and making you raise an eyebrow at him. "But ya can't even fix a simple cleaning bot?" 

"Monty," Freddy frowns. Montgomery just glares at him again, you basically able to see the exasperation and annoyance radiating off the gator. "That is no way to speak to staff!" 

"Montgomery, it's not a simple fix," you frown, looking back at him with furrowed brows. "Especially considering that it's not just that they've been powered down. It's that this whole place has been left to rot for who knows how long, there's likely a multitude of things wrong with them. If they hadn't just become absolutely unusable with age." 

"Left.. to rot?" Chica asks, blinking at you in confusion. "What.. do you mean?" 

"The place has been closed down," you reply, making the four stop. You pause again, looking back at them. 

"What.... do you mean?" Freddy asks slowly, blinking at you. You tilt you head, looking over the four. You... suppose they wouldn't have known, why would they? They've probably been shut down for a majority of the time, they probably just "remember" the day before or something. You doubt they were powered on when the place was closed up. 

"The plex shut down," you shrug, glancing over them again. "Years and years ago. No one's come by because of it... I don't know the reason why though." 

There's speculation, rumors. But you have no way of knowing what the true reason was, if any of those rumors were actually true or not. Nothing concrete that would give an answer to these machines in front of you. 

"How.. long has it been?" Freddy asks, the other three remaining quiet and just staring at you. 

"Er.... probably over...... 90ish years at this point?" you say slowly, eyes moving up towards the ceiling as you think about it. That's... probably accurate, but maybe not. You've only heard about the place in rumors, so it could've been shut down for a shorter amount of time or longer. Probably shorter though. "I'm.. not entirely sure though, but that's my best guess." 

"We were left here for 90 years?!" Roxanne yells, hands curling into fists. 

"Hey, hey," you speak up, raising your hands up in surrender. You take a step back, sweating a bit at the palpable anger actually rolling off at least two of the animatronics in front of you. Shock, maybe horror, on the other two, frozen and wide eyed. A... surprisingly human reaction to finding out you've just been left alone for so long. "I'm not the one who left you here, I'm just the one that found you." 

"What're you doin' here if the place has been shut down fer so long?!" Montgomery snarls, eyes glaring down at you. You eye him, then glance over the others. Freddy's just frozen, Chica horrified, and Roxanne and Montgomery both angry. Out of all the reactions you've gotten from them, these are the ones that surprise you the most. They are... proving to be a lot more advanced than you anticipated. 

"I'm.... just here," you shrug, glancing over them warily again. "It's not like anyone cares or it matters to the outside world that I am." 

"You..... You could get in trouble if you're not supposed to be here," Freddy replies, looking back up at you. He still appears... troubled though, but apparently is pulling himself out of his shock to scold you or something. "Are you not supposed to be?" 

"Uhh... I am," you decide, figuring it's probably easier to just say that than go into detail about the state of the world currently and why it doesn't matter. "But everyone who owned or had control over this place is long dead now, they're really not going to care. And no one outside of these walls care either, this side of town is completely deserted. No one visits anymore, they haven't in years." 

"So... we're really alone?" Chica asks, drooping a bit. 

"........Pretty much, I guess," you shrug, glancing over them again. Surprisingly..... They all look pretty upset with that answer. Or maybe it's not so surprising anymore. 

Chapter Text

The four are quiet for the rest of the walk over to the Daycare, you only glancing back at them from time to time. They all seem lost in thought, if their eyes roaming around the place and up towards the ceiling is any indication. They do stay on track though, following behind you in the exactly way that you're going. They only come back to the present when you finally enter the Daycare. 

"Uh," you mutter, glancing over the charging station. Well, the sun and moon guy must've finished charging. Because he's definitely not in the station. Or anywhere in sight honestly. "Well... guess I'll head into the Daycare then." 

"Since the lights are on, the Daycare Attendant likely has gone back into the Playarea. Sunny prefers not to leave the play place," Freddy tells you, making you hum as you head for the play area again. "But judging by the state of things out here, he... may not be doing very well." 

"What do you mean?" You ask, pausing to look at him again. 

"He is very.... clean," Freddy replies. 

"Ah," you reply, turning back around to head towards where you're guessing sun man went. You believe Freddy meant that he's serious about cleanliness, which would be one thing that they did right in his design. ....Depending on how much of a neat freak they made him. 

You're already able to hear the mess going on in the Daycare. 

"Clean up! Clean up!" 

"Oh boy," Chica sighs, placing a hand on her hip at the sound. You head over to look into the play structure, eyebrow raised. Only to see the daycare attendant absolutely loosing his shit and flying everywhere trying to clean up the dirt and dust everywhere in the room. You can barely keep your eyes on him from how fast he's moving. 

Well... at least he seems to be in working order..... 

"Should... I try to stop him or..." you mutter, eyebrows nearly flying up into your hairline. 

"It would be best to just... let him finish cleaning," Freddy replies, setting a hand on your shoulder. 

".... Okay," you reply, trying to manage your absolute shock at how fast the sun guy is currently moving. ... You're kind of worried he's going to break himself with the tizzy he's in. ....You would've cleaned the Daycare at least if you knew this was how he reacted. 

Shaking your head, you move over to the couches to wait for the Daycare Attendant to tire himself out. Probably going to be a while though. 

The four animatronics follow you, either sitting down as well or standing around. You flip to a new page and look over them again, noting the cracks and where they are. Thinking about the best possible ways to seal them without inhibiting movement in certain places, considering what would be the best materials to use. Trying to remember if you saw any paint in the supplies....

You're going to have to fill the cracks before adding a fresh layer of paint over them, but you should probably clean them up first. You don't want to have to repaint them entirely if you don't have to. Plus everything will likely stick better without the layer of grime over their casing. 

"What're you starin' at?!" Montgomery snaps, making you blink in surprise. 

"Just coming up with a plan of how to fix those cracks," you reply, pointing the said cracks out. The four glance down at themselves, then up at you again. 

"I do not understand, why not just get replacements?" Freddy asks, tilting his head. 

"There aren't replacements here," you shrug, leaning back in the couch. "All the replacement parts I found and could use have already been switched. Like Chica and Roxanne's face plates and most of Montgomery's... well, just entire torso and limbs basically." 

The three mentioned bots touch the respective parts of themselves, then look back at you. You tap your pencil against the notebook on your lap, tilting your head in thought. 

"It'll be easier to get the stuff to fill in the cracks and paint over it," you add, tilting your head up at the thought. "I don't even know if I could be able to get replacement casing for all of you anymore..." 

"so how're you gonna fix these cracks then?" Montgomery demands, eyeing you once more. 

"Glue.. Or clay," you reply, waving a hand. Your eyes move over the cracks again, head tilting as you think about it. "Glue would be cheaper and lighter, but depending on the quality may not hold up all that well in the long run. Clay would take longer to dry and add more weight, but the right clay would ultimately be a bit more durable with the right sealant..."

"Why are you even fixing us up?" Montgomery glares, sounding more than a bit suspicious. "Doesn't sound like there's anything in it fer you." 

That's the million dollar question, isn't it? 

"Well... Mostly because I wanted to know what this place used to be like... Curiosity I guess you could say," you admit with a shrug, glancing around. Though your eyes roam back to the four animatronics with your brows furrowed, suspicion and a bit more curiosity in your eyes. "But... you four seem a lot more.... advanced? ...Sentient? .... than I figured you'd be." 

They seem a lot more sentient than you thought possible in the first place, especially with the time period they're from. If they were created more recently... you wouldn't be as surprised as you are, but with how old they are...

"..... Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Chica asks, eyes trained on you. You shrug, glancing over them again. 

"I.. have no idea." 

Probably both to be honest. If.. If one of the rumors are actually true, you've opened a whole can of worms you're not ready or equipped to deal with. If they're really just surprisingly sentient robots... a little easier to deal with but still a whole thing you're not quite sure what to do about. 

"So, you just going to start this place up and leave again?" Montgomery asks, eyes narrowing on you even more. 

"That.. wasn't the plan," you shrug, looking over at him. "I was planning to stay for a while... Is that going to be a problem?" 

"Of course not!" Freddy replies instantly, appearing to grin a bit more. 

"Yeah, there's a lot to do here!" Chica offers quickly, leaning towards you a bit more. Roxanne and Montgomery just huff, the former turning away with her arms crossed. 

"I'm not letting you leave until my hair is fixed, at least," she grumbles, making you huff and raise your hands in surrender. 

"Fair enough, but I will have to go out to get the stuff to fix those cracks," you note, glancing down at your notebook. "And get some food..... Some other things too." 

"We have food here," Freddy comments, blinking at you. You look up at him with a raised eyebrow. 

"Not food that I can eat," you point out, making him tilt his head. "All the food here is old enough that I would get sick if I even tried to eat it. It's... all rotted and gross now." 

"Couldn't you order more to come here?" Chica asks. 

"Unlikely," you sigh, leaning onto your knees. "Any outgoing calls from this place are ignored. There's been too many false calls in the past that no one even bats an eye at them now." 

"So... no one would answer any calls from this place?" Roxanne repeats, looking back at you again. "Not even to the... police?" 

"Nope," you reply, tilting your head a bit. "Part of the reason I came here in the first place. Pretty isolated out here." 

Not that the "police force" is likely anything like they remember it in the first place..

"Huh," Roxanne replies, her arms dropping to her sides. 

"How long would it take you to go get these supplies?" Freddy asks. You think about it for a moment, tapping a hand on your knee. 

"A few days at least... maybe.. three to go get the food and other supplies I'll need to restock on foot," you answer, tapping a heel against the floor. "And since the closest settlement doesn't typically sell clay or the higher quality glue needed, it'll have to be ordered and I'll have to go back to pick the order up once it gets here. So I either stay there, which would probably be a week or two at least or take another three day trip to pick it up once it's there." 

You should probably get some cleaning supplies too. You don't know how long their shelf life is, but you don't know if you want to risk it either. You really doubt their shelf life is plus 90 years.

"That's.. a long time," Freddy replies, though tilts his head. "Do you not have a car?" 

"No," you shrug, looking over at him. "It'd be easier if I did, since I could stock up on everything, but I've just never been able to get one. It'd just be a day trip if I did though." 

"We have a car here!" Chica pipes up, making you blink at her. "A few actually!" 

"You.. do?" 

"Well, the company does!" She replies, shrugging a little. 

"Uh... If it's been sitting here all this time, it's probably not going to work," you point out, making the chicken deflate. "But we can check it out later." 

You glance back at the Daycare at the sudden silence, the four following your gaze. You stand up, going over to gaze into the play area, noting that sun guy is now laying on the floor. 

You hope he hasn't broken himself again, but there's only one way to find out. 

"I'm going to head down there," you tell the other four, who just watch as you jump over the gate. 

"Why didn't you just open the turnstile?" Freddy asks, making you pause. You point back at him in exasperation. 

"Just getting the damn lights on was a monumentous task through disgusting trash heaps masquerading as service tunnels, the doors can wait," you reply, the four just blinking at you again. 

"Language! This is a children's establishment!" Freddy scolds, making you roll your eyes and turn to walk down the hall. 

"Yeah, yeah! Sorry!" 

You look up as you step into the play area, spotting the four other animatronics watching from up above. You ignore them, heading over to the sun guy laying on the floor. Glancing around, you note he did a surprisingly good job cleaning the place since you can barely spot a lick of grime in it. 

..... Maybe you should set him loose in the rest of the building.....

You lean over on your knees, eyeing the jester. 

"Hey," you speak up, poking his head. "You still working?" 

You jerk back as the sun suddenly sits right up, taking a couple steps back. 

"Ah!" He jumps right back up onto his feet, spinning around to face you. "New friend! I apologize for not noticing you sooner! Have you been standing there for long?" 

"No, no. You're good," you reply, looking over the animatronic. 

"Are you here for pickup? I didn't see anyone in the playpens, but I can check again!" Sun rambles, making you wave your hands in response. Which luckily gets him to stop before he rushes over to the giant play structures. 

"No, I'm not here for pickup. There shouldn't be anyone else here, Buddy," you tell him, then hold up your notebook. "I'm just here to check up on you is all." 

"A maintenance check?" Sun replies, drooping a bit. "Are you a new mechanic?" 

"Yeah," you shrug, looking over him. "I just want to know if... everything's working as it should." 

Sun pauses for a moment, then gives you a rundown of everything. You write down everything that'll need fixing, then set your notebook down for the moment. 

"Okay, thanks," you nod, glancing over the animatronic again. 

... His shape is similar to the moon man, which makes sense considering they're the same robot, but there's a few surprising differences. The general colors and his pants having stripes instead of stars, the nightcap completely disappearing in favor of the sun spikes. His faceplate stayed the same though, wide smile and blank eyes just as they were on moon. If just in warmer colors. 

You can also see he's getting antsy, if his bouncing and looking anywhere but at you is any indication. 

"Okay, thank you, Sun. I'll come back and take care of these later, okay?" You say, just to let the animatronic go...... Do whatever he does. And stop looking so uncomfortable. "Unless you think any of this is important to take care of now?" 

"Nope! I'm all good!" Sun says quickly, even taking a small step back. "Nothing to worry about here!" 

"O.. okay," you reply, looking over the list again just to make sure yourself. It... does look like he should be good to sit for a bit. Nothing too emergent that you can tell. "Well, I'll be off then. Come and find me if anything does pop up." 

"Will do! See you later!" Sun replies, waving you off as you head towards the exist of the play area. You pause for just a few seconds before slipping out of the place, then heading back up to the top. 

Well, that's one animatronic that wont be following you around, you suppose. 

The other four meet you at the top, you just hopping over the gate again and stretching your arms. It's about bedtime you think, glancing towards the time on your watch. 

"Okay," you draw out, looking up at the four again. "I'm going to need to turn in for the night soon. We can work on some things before if you'd like, otherwise it can be taken care of when I wake up tomorrow." 

"I would like to fix my hair," Roxanne demands, all but grabbing your hand and dragging you out of the Daycare. 

"Alright, alright!" You reply, the other three quickly following. Freddy attempting to scold Roxanne, Chica just humming, and Montgomery just stomping along like he has been. 

Well, this is certainly turning out more interesting than you first thought it'd be.

Chapter Text

Freddy didn't feel much of anything as he came back online. His processors were slow booting up again, leaving his mind mostly blank even as the recharging cycle is completed. And continues even as he stepped out of the recharging station he's not sure how he even got in. Usually he's left in his room by the mechanics to charge, not the station, that way people can see him as they leave. 

He's confused as his optics scan the back of his room, idly noting the dust and grime caking over everything. In much worse disarray than it's usually left in, than he remembers it being in. But he doesn't get to long to think on it before he hears footsteps from inside his room, making him turn the corner. He stops when he sees a young looking woman taking up the doorway between the back and his room.

He doesn't know who you are, but you sure seem excited. Not that that's any real surprise to him, most people are usually excited to see him. Even adults half the time. But you seem excited that he's working, which is a bit more confusing. Was he not working before? Why would you be here if he wasn't? Guests don't usually get to see them when they're not, and they're usually in Parts and Service to be fixed. Not their rooms. He's.. confused. 

He gets your name soon enough. A worker.. you said, or maybe agreed, anyway. You're not wearing the usual mechanic's uniform, or any uniform stating that you'd be a worker at the PizzaPlex. No badges, no uniform, no nothing. He's not able to reach the main office or employee profiles either, unable to check those for confirmation. So he's not entirely sure you're being truthful about that. Maybe you're supposed to be here, maybe not. Unclear. But he follows you and reunites with his friends anyway, all of whom look a bit worse for wear. But all working just like he is. Even Sunny, and presumably Moon, is as well. 

You did have some... upsetting news for them as they followed you around the PizzaPlex, watching what you're doing and trying to read that notebook you were carrying from over your shoulder. The reason everything looks so filthy and dirty, the S.T.A.F.F. bots all broken down and littering the floors. The reason nothing's working as it should be, all the doors and turnstiles frozen. The reason for their general state and looks, mostly dirty and cracked. Some parts cleaner than others and.. not working at 100% like they should be. Even not able to reach some past events until you unlocked those recordings with your words.

They've been abandoned for a long, long time. 

He remembers now, the others do too. 

Freddy looks over at one of the decorations in Monty's Golf, the one you're currently curled up inside asleep. Apparently the best place to rest, according to you when Monty questioned you. Quiet and low lighting, which helps humans sleep better. He doesn't know about that, but it's where you insisted to stay. Even with Monty's slight irritation at it, though he didn't put up too much of a fuss in the long run. 

At least they'll be able to catch when you're up again, when you leave the thing. 

Freddy and his friends linger outside of where you are, either looking at the decoration or somewhere else. All currently quiet and just soaking in everything that happened in the last 24 hours, all that they learned. Their minds twisting around and processing the memories, and the information they gathered from you. 

None of it is very pleasant. 

"They really just left us," Chica speaks up, her eyes trained on where you are. Freddy pulls his optics away from it, looking back at her. 

"They left us to rot, you mean," Roxanne snarls, tapping a foot on the ground with her arms crossed. Her hair and tail are in much neater order, mostly back to what it looked like originally. He has to admit you did well in fixing it up, he'll be excited to see what he looks like after you're finished. "Didn't even have the basic curtsy of shutting us down before they left!" 

A thing made worse by the fact that they had been so damaged beforehand. Monty split in half, having to drag himself around the place slowly. Roxanne wondering around blind, jumping at the slightest of sounds. Chica having been crushed, only able to let out shrill mechanical sounds with the loss of her voice box. They were all in worse shape than he had expected, not that he could've help them. 

Then they just... ran out of power, eventually unable to recharge with the building's power shutting off. Unable to go anywhere with the doors to the outside locked tight, the pings and messages they sent out for repairs, for help, just ignored. A... slow process. Leaving all of them confused.... scared. 

Monty pauses his pacing behind the three of them, growling and fist twitching like he wants to punch something. He.. may be spiraling into one of his tempers, unfortunately. Freddy just hopes he'll step out so he doesn't wake you up in the process. Or attack one of them and send them back offline after they just woke up again. 

"I'm.... sure there's a good reason for it," Freddy replies, though even he can't remove the doubt from his voice. 

"Yeah right," Monty snaps, snarling in Freddy's direction. "They probably found it hilarious to leave us to slowly shut down like that!" 

"Well, someone was sent eventually," Freddy offers, motioning towards you. Though... he really doubts that you're an.. actual worker. Or that anyone sent you here. 

Monty and Roxy just scoff at him, Chica still not looking away from the decoration. 

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Monty sneers, looking over at the decoration himself. "Why would they send just one person for this whole place?" 

Freddy opens his mouth, then closes it. He.. doesn't have an answer to that, which Monty must have been expecting. He just huffs, turning his snout away from the camper to start pacing again. Roxy starts tapping her heel against the ground again, snarling slightly as she glares at the camper decoration. Though Freddy's unsure if she's actually glaring at it or if she's just in her head. 

He turns back to the decoration himself, fingers tapping against his leg. He... doesn't like sitting like this. He feels like he should be doing... something, but there's not a whole lot to do. He could... start cleaning? But... he's not sure what exactly to do for that, other than just what he saw the S.T.A.F.F. bots doing. The plex is likely going to need more of a scrub down than he knows how to do. He could.. at least pick things up? 

"Do you think she's going to leave too?" Chica speaks up, breaking the others out of their thoughts. 

"Tch, she already said she's going to eventually," Roxy grumbles, eyes narrowing a bit more. 

"Well, she's also said she plans to stay for a while as well," Freddy adds, looking back at the irritated wolf. "She just has to leave for supplies." 

"An' who's to say she doesn't just not come back after one of those "supply runs," huh?" Monty snarls, arms crossed and finger tapping on his upper arm. "Then we'd be left to slowly shut down again, but this time we'll know exactly what's happenin'." 

"I'm sure that's not going to happen," Freddy assures him, or at least tries to. Monty's obviously not having it though, just by the way he rolls his eyes. 

"Not even you can be that dense, Fazbear," he grumbles, glaring over towards the camper. "Why would she stay here when she's got her own life out there? I doubt she'd stay for us." 

"And it was just her curiosity that brought her here in the first place," Roxy adds, glowering. Her foot taps against the ground a bit more rapidly, tail jerking around in irritation behind her. "Once she's fulfilled that, what's to keep her from leaving?" 

"But... she seems to like us so far?" Chica says, looking back at the other three. She looks a bit desperate, maybe a bit hopeful, as she brings her hands to her chest. "Maybe.. we could convince her to stay?" 

"I wouldn't count on it," Monty grumbles, turning to continue wearing a hole into the floor. Chica deflates, dropping her hands into her lap and hunching over. "Humans never really care." 

"That's not true," Freddy counters, frowning at the alligator. "Many people loved our shows and coming here!" 

"And look what happened!" Monty counters, taking one stomp towards the bear and throwing out an arm to gesture around the golf course. "We were abandoned anyway, despite those supposed people that loved us so much!" 

Freddy just sighs and looks towards the floor, Chica wincing away from the angry gator. Roxy turns away from the group, fists clenching. Monty huffs, clenching a fist tighter to stop the trembling. He just growls, continuing to stomp through the path that he created. Roxy drops to the floor, sitting turned away from the group and hunching a bit as she stares at the floor. Chica scoots over from her spot to place a hand on Roxy's shoulder, but she just shrugs it off. 

Freddy frowns, tapping a finger against his leg. He.. understands Monty's frustrations, at least a little bit. If you do just.. leave, they'll be left alone again and surely just.. shut down all over again. They don't know how to fix anything, with themselves or the building. They know a little, but nothing substantial. Mostly just what things are and what they're supposed to do, but not how to fix whatever happened to make them break or where to even begin the process. They're.... really helpless without humans. 

"Well... we still need her," Freddy speaks up, looking back up at the camper. 

"You think I don't know that?" Monty snarls, glaring over at the bear. "We need her, but she don't need us. That's the point, Fazbear." 

"What... are we going to do then?" Chica frowns, turning to look at them again. Freddy turns to her, Monty pausing to look at the chicken himself. "I... I don't want to shut down again!" 

"Neither do we," Freddy assures, leaning over to place a hand on Chica's shoulder. He gives it a small squeeze, upset by the panic his friend is expressing. Roxy hunches over her lap more, hands coming up to tangle in her hair. Monty sighs and steps up beside her, placing his hand on her back. "It'll be okay, I promise." 

"Yeah, sure," Monty agrees, patting the plating of Roxy's back. "We just... gotta figure out somethin' to do." 

"Like what?" Chica frowns, wrapping her arms around herself and looking down. "We can't survive without a human to help us. And the human we do have could leave at any second." 

"She's said she'll be staying for a while," Freddy reminds her, Roxy sitting up a bit to attempt to wave Monty away from her. He only takes a step back, looking down at the wolf critically. Though he quickly moves that critical look to Freddy, sighing. "We have time." 

"It's not guaranteed," Monty grimace, Freddy looking up at him in exasperation. "We're gonna have to come up with somethin'." 

"To keep her here?" Chica asks, looking over at Monty herself. He just shrugs, looking over their heads at the camper you're still asleep in. "How would we even do that? Just... try and convince her to?" 

"What would we have that she'd want?" Roxy scoffs, tone almost bitter. She still doesn't turn to look at the other four, fingers curling into fists again. 

"Uhh.... F.. Food? .....Entertainment?" Chica mumbles, wilting in on herself. 

"You heard her earlier, our food would make her sick," Roxy grumbles, finally turning to look at the others again. She crosses her arms again, snarling a bit. "And we're not exactly in proper working order for a show." 

"Well, she seemed really interested in fixing us up," Freddy reminds them, looking over at Roxy specifically. "She even put us all back together and has been making more plans to fix our casings! I'm sure she's interested in us and our abilities." 

"And when that interest dries up? Then what?" Roxy grumbles, glaring over at the camper again. 

"We'll.... have to figure out what to do if that happens then. For now, I believe we're safe," Freddy assures, placing his hand on Roxy's shoulder. "Everything will be alright. We'll be okay." 

His friends don't look very convinced, but Freddy's sure of his words as he gazes over at the camper. You stumble out of it, yawning and stretching your arms above your head. Swamped in one of his jumpers that's really too big for you and a pair of shorts, but looking well rested enough. You spot them immediately, raising a brow. 

"Roxy, Chica, you both okay?" You ask, padding over to the group. 

"We're fine!" Chica immediately chirps, trying to exude her usually cheery attitude and jumping up onto her feet again. You hum, looking over her with a careful eye. You really don't seem convinced by her words as you glance between the four, but let your shoulders drop after a second and look back up at Chica. 

".......... Alright.. Whatever you say, Sweetheart," you reply after a moment, tilting your head a bit. 

Freddy lets out a sigh, standing up himself. Roxy follows, sharing a glance with Monty before they both look at you again. 

Well, Freddy hopes this'll turn out well.

Chapter Text

"Alright," you sigh, grabbing a stained cloth from inside your backpack. You drop it beside the tool box you previously dragged up from parts and services, uncaring as it catches on the handle. You look over the four animatronics in front of you, standing up and stretching your arms out again. You don't notice the four looking at the black, and some small patches of red, stains on it. "Want to get started?" 

"With what?" Freddy asks, tilting his head. He pulls his eyes back up to you. 

"The repairs?" You reply, holding up your notebook. You set it down onto the table again, looking over the four animatronics watching you. 

"Shouldn't we go down to parts and service?" Chica asks, looking over you confused. Then even more confused when your nose scrunches up. 

"Ew, no. I'd rather stay up here," you shrug, turning slightly to face the table instead of the group. You do something on your computer, tapping the keyboard a few times. Though they eye the coil of wires sitting next to the thing, then you again in confusion and suspicion. "Whoever wants to go first, come over here and sit please." 

The four glance over each other, then look at you again in confusion. You're... letting them chose? 

"I will," Freddy says after the other three don't move, walking over and sitting down on the table. You hum, looking over the list you made for him the other day. 

"Alright. There shouldn't be too much to do with you," you mumble, mostly to yourself. You quickly finish whatever you were doing on your computer, then turn to him. "Open up, please." 

Freddy opens his chest cavity, you wasting no time in diving in and tinkering. Surprisingly, you're not quiet while you do this. You tell them exactly what you're doing while you're doing it, even if sometimes you mumble something they can't quite catch to yourself. Just like you said though, there wasn't much to do with the bear so you soon step back from him while wiping your hands on that cloth. 

"How's it feel? Anything amiss?" You ask, eyeing him as you do. Freddy moves and twists for a minute, head tilting. 

"I feel much better!" He replies, looking back at you and his ears wiggling a bit. "Everything is green." 

You look at him confused for a second, then your face lights up with realization and you nod. 

"Alright, good! But still take it easy for a bit, Bud. Don't want anything to break again," You grin, going back to your computer and tapping on it again. Then grab a pencil and write something down in your notebook. "Okay, who'd like to go next?" 

Freddy walks back over to the group to get out of the way for the next animatronic, which turns out to be Chica. She keeps her chin up as she seats herself onto the table just as Freddy did, incredibly stiff and ridged, you eyeing her curiously for a moment. But you don't say anything, going back to your computer then checking over the list you made for her. 

"Alright, Sweet Cheeks," you say once you stand upright. "Lets get you fixed up." 

The process goes the same for her as it did Freddy, tinkering with her insides and wires. Sometimes looking at your notebook or computer with narrowed eyes, a concentrated look on your face. The looks making them worry a bit and Chica fidget, just scratching a finger against the bench she's sitting on. You still tell them exactly what you're doing as you go, but Chica's still able to hear grumbled grievances under your breath. 

"Oh, what the hell?" You mutter under your breath. "What idiot did this and how did I miss it earlier?" 

"What?" Chica asks nervously, you pausing and moving back a bit. 

"Oh, sorry," you reply, waving a hand. You tilt forward again, hands diving right back into the chicken's torso. "Someone crossed a few wires. Don't know how I missed that earlier. You're alright." 

"Earlier?" Roxy asks, narrowing her eyes at you. She taps a heel against the floor, watching you like a hawk as you work on the chicken. Monty's doing the same though, only Freddy seeming more relaxed. 

"When you all were shut down," you tell her, not even looking her way as you mostly concentrate on Chica. 

"Right. You were messing around with us then... What all did you do?" Roxy asks, crossing her arms. Monty stares at you as well, head tilting back. 

"Mostly just major repairs," you reply, grunting at something afterwards. "Like reconnecting your eyes or Montgomery's legs to his torso, replacing parts that were too damaged to work. Along with anything that would've kept ya from booting up again. Replacing your damaged casings too, or at least the ones I could." 

"Parts? What parts?" Monty growls, running a hand over his arm. 

"Pieces of endo that were too rusted or broken, cut wires, or anything like that," you reply, pulling back and roaming a skeptical eye over Chica's insides. You more mumble the second part to yourself, but they still hear you. "Wish I knew if it was possible to replace your current parts with more modern stuff though. Make it easier to get replacements if the need arises, and may just... improve your mobility and functions a bit more. Though that's already pretty impressive." 

"You don't know?" Freddy asks. You look over at him and shake your head, grabbing your cloth to wipe your hands again. 

"Unfortunately no," you shrug, placing a hand on your hip. "Some things just aren't compatible. And like I've said before, your tech is old. The newer stuff is pretty adaptable, but I'm not totally sure if it'd work. And I don't want to risk damaging any of you just to see if it will. Not to mention, I don't know if it'd... do anything to you. Better to just not risk it." 

You turn to your computer and type some things out, the four just watching in confused and stunned silence. You turn to your notebook again afterwards, scratching something on it with your pencil. 

"Alright Chica, just a few more things, then I'm done. Okay?" You speak up again, looking up at her. She nods, you diving right back into her repairs. 

After a lunch break, you tackle Roxanne's repairs. After which you brush out her hair again, fixing up any tangles you found and brushing out some more gunk from it that you missed the first time. You're probably going to need to wash it somehow once you give them their baths, Chica's little tufts too likely. It feels like synthetic hair, kind of like the robots you've worked on previously had or maybe a doll's, but you're not completely sure. You wonder if you could braid her hair or put it in other updos, that'd be fun to play around with. 

You should probably do that tomorrow or the next day, even if all you have is water and a rag. You can really clean them once you've gotten some actual cleaning products. 

"Okay, done," you state, stepping back from the wolf. You check the time while you're logging what you've done with Roxanne, adding notes into your notebook as well, before turning to the alligator. 

"We can get started on your repairs now, but they'll have to be finished tomorrow. I don't think we could get to everything today..." You look down at your notebook where everything's written down, definitely concluding it's not going to be finished tonight. "Or we could leave it for tonight and do it all tomorrow. Up to you, Big Guy." 

Montgomery grumbles a bit, you raising an eyebrow at his sneering annoyance. He doesn't look at you, shoulders rising as he tenses a bit more than before. 

"Rather get it done in one sitting," he eventually growls out, you nodding in response. 

"Fine by me," you shrug, turning to sit at the table yourself so you can go over your notes again. Oblivious to the surprised look all four of the animatronics give you. 

You'll have to do Sun and Moon's repairs tomorrow as well, but you don't think that should take up too much time. Their list is pretty short as well, like Freddy's. Montgomery's repairs are going to take up the most time, just because you want to check up on his endoskeleton and wiring while you're at it. Triple check everything's as it should be, just so there's less problems down the line for him. 

You really wish there was some way you could test mixing modern technology with theirs. But if all bots are like them, you probably shouldn't really risk permanently damaging them. Plus, you're not sure what exactly makes them... them. Is it just the coding? The parts they're made with? Specific commands? Just some miracle from the stars above?! You have no idea. 

"What are you doing?" Chica asks, now standing behind you and looking over your shoulder. 

"Just looking over some things," you reply, tapping your pencil against the notebook in front of you as your eyes scan through the logs on your computer. 

"Why were you taking notes before?" Roxanne demands, you glancing back at her. She stands right beside Chica, looking over your computer screen. 

"So I remember what I have and haven't done with you guys," you shrug, closing your laptop with a sigh. 

"Oh," Chica hums, leaning back again. Roxanne just huffs, turning away once more. You just grab some food out of your backpack, taking note of what you have. 

You'll probably have to head out soon to restock, should probably have enough time to check out that car before you go though. You're not really expecting much out of it, but maybe you could talk to an autobody shop. Who knows, would certainly make carrying everything a whole lot easier. Especially with everything you're going to need to get eventually. 

Egh, thoughts for another day. 

You sigh, taking a bite out of the food before glancing over at the animatronics. All of whom are just idling around the area at the moment, looking over things or just watching you. Shaking your head, you look back down at your notebook to look over the repairs for tomorrow. 

_____ 

Monty sits on the table next to your stuff, watching as you tap away on your laptop before getting to the repairs. He's not sure what you're doing, but he's guessing it's just prep or something. That... note taking thing you were talking about yesterday likely. 

The others are standing idly by like usual, Chica a little farther off than the rest of them. Monty thinks she's looking at something, but has no idea what it would be. Freddy's just watching, head tilted as he observes what's going on. Quiet surprisingly, Monty would've expected him to be talking by now. Roxy's just watching skeptically, hands occasionally brushing over a part of her casing. Like she's trying to rub the dirt off of it. 

They're all still dirty, and it's a bit maddening. Monty's annoyed you haven't cleaned their casings, or really their insides mechanics and wires, yet. He knows Roxy is as well, able to hear her grumbled complaining often enough. Though she always was the one who prides herself on her appearance, so he figures this is really irritating her. Beyond just the feeling it gives. They can just feel the dirt and grime covering them, weird twinges and gross clinging. It's really uncomfortable. 

Though apparently some of that discomfort was taken care of during the repairs yesterday, both Freddy and Chica talking about how much better they felt while you were asleep. How nice those repairs felt during it too, better than what the old mechanics did. Roxy didn't comment, just huffing when they asked her opinion. 

Monty can't say he thinks he'll ever be able to compare the feelings. 

"Alright, we've a lot to do. So, lets get started," you sigh, stretching your arms out. Monty just grunts, eyeing you skeptically. 

You step up in front on him, glancing over his casing. Monty tenses up, expecting the usual, but you just ask him to open his chest cavity. Much to his confusion, though he does it. He's even more surprised when you just.... start doing repairs. While he's still online.... Doing the same thing as you did with the others. 

"Huh," Monty grumbles, not that he really realized it. 

"Huh what?" You reply, not even poking your head out of his chest cavity. 

"What?" Monty blinks, tilting his head down. 

"You said "huh," or more grunted it," you reply, leaning back just a bit to grab a tool from the box beside you. "You want me to repeat something?" 

"No. It was nothin', lady," Monty grumbles, you just humming in reply as you look over the tool you grabbed. But then you just stick your head back into his cavity and continue on with what you were doing. Oblivious to the look the gator is sending you. He just huffs, trying to focus on what you're doing. 

He can feel you messing around with his wires, and that makes him uneasy. However, it doesn't hurt so he'll give you credit for that. But he can also feel you running a hand down the spine of his endoskeleton, focusing on a particular spot on the lower end. He has to force down a shiver. 

"What're you doin'?" He growls, making you pause. You lean back again to look at him, eyebrow raised. 

"I was checking to make sure the repair I made to your endo is still holding up," you reply, tilting your head a bit. Monty's eyes narrow. "Where I reconnected your legs to your torso... Did it hurt or..?" 

"....... No," Monty growls, turning his head away from you. You pause for a moment, staring at the gator. Then you glance over at Freddy and Roxy, who don't really give you any response. Roxy just turning away and Freddy blinking, Chica still off to the side not paying attention. 

You shrug and continue on with the repairs, Monty letting out a breath at that. He remains mostly quiet as you do so, even as you temporarily remove parts of his casing to get at everything. Repeating the same things you said when you did the same to the others, all while he's conscious and keeping a close eye on you. 

It's all really surprising. But he's most surprised by the fact that a human's touch can be so gentle.

Chapter Text

"Hello, Sun?" You call, knocking on the Daycare's tall wooden doors as you open them. You note the creak of the hinges absently as your eyes move about the playarea, not spotting the colorful jester anywhere in sight. You hum, taking a few more steps into the room to scan the area a little closer. 

The daycare is just as bright and clean as it was the last time you entered, everything still in the same places as it was before. The colorful toys look like they haven't been moved from where they laid, the play structures and ballpits not even looking disturbed. You don't hear anything either though, not even the jingling of the bells on Sun's outfit. Much to your dismay. You hope he hasn't broken down somewhere again. But you start looking around and up in the play structures, just in case. 

You got Montgomery's repairs finished pretty late in the day, but you still wanted to come take care of Sun's repairs and check on him despite that. Even if it's just been a day, he's still all alone in the daycare after all. You figured you should probably check on him at least, stick around to talk a bit if he's up for it. With how the other four barely leave your sides, you have to wonder if he'd prefer being around people too. Even if he didn't exactly seem comfortable the last time you were here.

The grumpy gator himself seemed to be okay with what you did, though you don't think he liked how thoroughly you examined his endo and wires. But it was for the best, you'd rather the gator be grumpy with you than snapping in half again or falling apart. Even if you don't think he really would, better safe than sorry. 

Montgomery said it'll do at least, you deciding to just take that as you did good. You doubt he'd stay quiet if you did fuck something up, so you're going to guess everything's as it should be. 

You noted Roxanne didn't look like she liked standing around waiting for you to finish said repairs, but she didn't move from where she was. Even if you did tell her it was alright to go wonder if she wanted to. You're not sure what she was expecting or doing, it's not like you told them they had to stay around you all the time. Chica certainly didn't stick to your side in the atrium, she walked and looked around the area. Not that you're really sure of what she was doing. She didn't go too far, but she didn't sit in one place either. Freddy just sat down and watched as you worked, though he seemed rather content to do so. 

You don't really get these animatronics, but you're just going to leave them be. 

But either way, you didn't get to cleaning them today. But you hope to do so with Mr. Sun Man since his repairs aren't very extensive. He's probably the one that needs it the most anyway. 

You glance up at the entrance to the slide into the playarea, spotting the wolf and bear watching from the netting up there. You know the other two are around as well, all four of them having followed you into the Daycare. Shaking your head, you glance around again with your hands on your hips. 

"Sun! Hello? You here?" You call again, finally catching some jingling coming from somewhere. Turning around, you spot the animatronic up on the entrance stage to the castle. He looks around for a bit before his gaze lands on you. 

"Oh!" He gives you a mini-heart attack when he jumps down and into the ball pit beneath the castle, popping out of the pit a few seconds later completely fine. "Miss Maintenance Worker! What are you doing here?" 

"I came to do those repairs," you breathe, hand over your heart as you take a few steps closer to where he is. "But are you.. okay?" 

"I'm completely fine!" Sun replies, a bit too quickly. You still glance over him, expecting some type of damage from that fall. But... you don't see any as you look over him. You turn your eyes up to the castle stage, eyebrows drawn together. 

"Is... that your room or.. something?" You ask, pointing up at the castle. 

"Yep!" Sun replies, not looking directly at you. 

Well... you suppose if it's set up like that, then he was probably made to be able to make jumps like that..... 

"... Okay," you reply, still scrutinizing the distance between the stage and ballpit for another few seconds. Then you just shake your head and turn back to the animatronic in front of you. "Well, want to get started then, Sunshine?" 

"Okay!" Sun follows you over to the security desk, twitching a bit but hopping up to sit on it when you tell him to. He fidgets the whole while as you set up your laptop, kicking his feet back and forth or twiddling his thumbs. You try to be quick about it, turning to Sun again once finished. 

"Ready?" You ask, stepping up in front of him. 

"Yep!" Sun replies, you humming. 

"Alright, then lets get started." 

_____ 

Sun tries to sit as still as possible while you work on him, knowing how much maintenance workers hate him moving around while they work. And they get so grumpy and mean about it too! But it's hard! He doesn't like sitting still, though he hates being shut down even more so he tries.

For your part, you haven't said anything about his occasional twitching. You're talking, but you're not telling him to sit still or shut up when he asks a question about what you're saying. Walking him through what you're doing, which is new! No one else ever did that for him before. All of which puts you miles above the other maintenance workers he's met. 

Though, you don't seem to really be like any of the other maintenance workers at all. Or really any of the workers he's familiar with, but most importantly the maintenance workers! Which Moon grumbles about, warning him to still not trust you despite it. The maintenance teams tended to not be very nice overall. Usually short tempered and grumbly, getting repairs done as fast as possible and sending them on their way again just as quick. Snapping when he tried to talk to any of them. They especially hated Moon though. 

The workers in the Daycare were better, but they didn't really like talking to either of them too. They left often, even when Sun thought they had become friends. 

But you seem nice so far! You don't seem to mind his questions at all, nor are you afraid to be near him. You don't even seemed bothered by it, relaxed and chatty. You're not wearing those overalls all maintenance workers wear either, surprisingly. But you are wearing one of those jumpers the plex sells, a Chica one that seems way too big for you. He barely can even see your shorts underneath them. He thinks you're not wearing one of those Faz-Watches either, which he thinks are a requirement for all staff members. Which is even more strange. 

"So, what do you do here, Sunshine?" You ask, making him tilt his head. You don't notice though, too busy checking on the joints in his arm. Twisting and bending them back and forth. 

Oh, and the nicknames. He's been called a lot of things before, but never Sunshine! He thinks it's really cute! And you've called him Buddy before too! .... Do you want to be friends? 

.... Judging from previous encounters, something says the answer is no. But he wants to think you do!

"What do you mean?" Sun asks. 

"I mean what's your... job?" You reply, pausing to look up towards the ceiling with narrowed eyes. "What are you in the daycare for?" 

"Oh! I'm the daycare attendant, silly!" Sun replies, straightening up a bit more. Shouldn't you know that already? "I look after and play with the kids who come here!" 

"That's cool," you nod, going back to what you were doing. "I'm guessing you were good with kids then?" 

"Of course! I love kids!" Sun beams, leaning to the side slightly. Though quickly rights himself again, not that you said anything or even looked bothered. "They're so energetic and fun! And creative!" 

"I bet. So what did Moon do?" You then ask, making Sun pause for a second. 

You're... asking about Moon? .. Why? No one usually asks about Moon.

"He watched over the kids during naptime," Sun answers, making you nod. 

"Okay. Can you both switch at will or....?" You ask, looking up towards his face. Sun tilts his head again, able to hear Moon's grumbling about how he doesn't like your questioning. 

"Nope! Moon only comes out when the lights are off!" Sun replies, feeling a bit nervous. He taps his fingers against the desk, looking away from you. "But! The lights need to stay on!" 

"Oh? Why's that?" You ask, making Sun even more nervous. 

If he tells you about Moon's strange behavior, then you're going to reset them. He knows you will. And if you don't, then someone else will when you report it. But he also can't let you get attacked by Moon's glitch either. It is just a glitch though! It's not Moon's fault and he doesn't want to get him in trouble! They don't even really know what's going on with him, though Sun would really like to know. Moon just hasn't been himself lately. 

It's really not his fault though! He doesn't need to be reset! He doesn't want to be. 

"Sun? You okay?" You ask, tilting your head. You look startled when Sun jumps, brought out of his thoughts by your question. 

"I'm fine! Moon's fine!" Sun quickly replies, you blinking at him in bewilderment. 

"Well, that's good. But.. why do the lights need to stay on?" You reply, eyebrows pinching together a bit. 

"Well," Sun drawls, tilting to the side again. "We just prefer that they do!" 

".... Okay. But Moon should still get to come out sometimes," you shrug, turning back to continue the repairs. Sun just hums nervously, still tapping a finger against the desk. "I get not wanting to though, I prefer not to go out when I don't have too as well."

Moon just huffs at that, Sun remaining silent. That's one thing you and Moon have in common, but Sun himself doesn't really get it. 

"Can you check if everything's alright with him? Any specific repairs that he needs done?" You request, looking up at Sun's face again. 

Just by the reaction Moon has to that question, Sun doesn't think it really matters. Moon doesn't want to face you, at least not right now, and will likely avoid any interaction when he is out. Hopefully. 

"He's good!" Sun replies quickly, you nodding. 

"Alright. I think I'm about done with these repairs," you tell him, Sun feeling just a bit relieved by that. "But once these are done, you mind if I give you a bath?" 

"What?" Sun asks, surprised. You look up at him again, a little bit of a half smile on your face. 

"Well, you did a great job cleaning up this place." You motion around the daycare, making Sun glance around for a second before turning his attention back to you. 

.... Oh, yeah. He remembers how dirty it was in here. He's not sure how he let it get that dirty! It was just as clean as it should've been the last he remembered, but when he ran back into the daycare from the charging station, which by itself was strange, it was absolutely filthy! He hurried to get everything cleaned up again before anyone would come in. 

And... you said he did a good job... No one's ever told him that before....

"But.. you're still pretty dirty yourself," you continue, glancing over his general state. Sun looks down at himself, supposing he is pretty dirty. More than usual. "It'd be nice to get cleaned up, wouldn't it?" 

Sun snaps back into focus with your expectant look, pushing aside the warm feeling invading his processor. 

"I... suppose it would!" Sun replies, his head tilting again. When was the last time he got a bath? He can't remember.

"Okay," you reply, stepping back from him. Your eyes glance over him again, hands up by your sides like you're ready to grab him or something. "How's everything feeling now?" 

Sun pauses for a second, just to check through everything he can think of. But it all comes back green!

"Everything feels great!" Sun replies, making your grin widen. 

"Good!" You clap, taking another step back. You turn to your computer for a minute, typing on it faster than he thought you could or saw from other workers. "Mind waiting for a second while I go get some water and a cloth?" 

"Sure!" Sun replies, jumping off the desk to stretch. His joints feel a lot better now, less stiff than they were before. You straighten out once you're done with whatever you were doing, turning away from your computer again. 

"Alright, I'll be back in a second," you smile, turning towards the doors.

"Okay! See you soon friend!" Sun replies cheerily, waving as he watches you. You basically skip out of the doors, leaving Sun alone for the moment. He lets out a redundant breath, slumping a bit with the air. But then he jumps right back up, glancing around his daycare. 

It's.... so empty. He really hates these maintenance weeks, though this one seems to be going on longer than any of the others have. It gets so lonely without all the kids to play with. And the music that's usually playing isn't! It makes it so quiet! He really doesn't like that. Maybe he should ask you about those when you get back, he's had some good luck with asking you questions so far..... 

Moon doesn't seem to think it's a good idea though.....

Chapter Text

Moon doesn't like you. Moon doesn't like you simply for the fact that you're a maintenance worker and maintenance workers are cruel. Though he could say that about most of the workers in this establishment. Sun perhaps has more optimism than he does, but time and time again has shown him he can't trust any of the workers here. If they're not running away and avoiding him, they're much too liberal with harsh words or those damn stun batons. 

Why should you be any different? 

He... will admit that you behave differently than any of the other workers they've interacted with. You actually told them, well you told Sun, what you're doing and when you're doing it. You asked him multiple times if he was ready, asked them if something was wrong or needed to be done. Just.. chatted with him, asking what they both do in the daycare. Even asking about Moon himself. More of a curtsy than any other workers gave them. 

You didn't even seem to mind Sun's twitchiness and inability to sit completely still, not saying a word when he moves. You didn't seem to mind his talking either, replying and expanding on what you were doing when he asked. Friendly, not even a little cautious nor a side eye. You didn't seem to find him unsettling or creepy, or at least you're not showing it if you do. 

Moon doesn't get what you're trying to do. 

Besides that something odd is going on anyway, something he's sure you know and aren't telling them. They haven't seen any other workers here in the last three days since they've woken up, and the place is a mess. Moon's only gotten to come out twice since he and Sun were brought back online, and he's taken the time to look around. 

The plex is not in working order, it's not. It's so dirty and nothing's working. All the doors are just open, the turnstiles aren't opening, and there's boards covering the entrance doors! 

Moon doesn't know what's going on, but he doesn't like it. Something's up and he's just not figuring out, unable to connect the dots. He knows something's missing from his memory, but he's just not reaching the file. Something.... bad. Something he's sure he didn't want his sunnier counterpart to know. 

Something's different too, but he just can't put his finger on it. Sun seemed surprised by something when they were talking earlier while cleaning up. Something about himself. A glitch. Something that's worrying Sun, making him fret about being reset. 

Moon's having trouble putting all the pieces together, and it's annoying him. 

He comes back to focus when Sun starts talking, noting you're coming in with a tub of water on your hip and a rag in your hand. 

"You're back!" Sun exclaims, having not really expected you to. Or at least Moon didn't really expect you to do so. 

"Sorry I took a bit," you speak up, setting the tub on the ground and dropping the rag into it. "I had trouble finding a tub, though the plumbing in this building is certainly still working as it should. Surprisingly enough.... Had to let the water run for a bit, but it was good!" 

"The plumbing?" Sun questions, head tilting to the side. 

"The water," you reply flippantly, waving one hand while the other shifts the rag around in the water. "You know, for bathrooms and sinks. That big fountain out there too I suppose." 

"Oh, okay," Sun shrugs, kneeling down himself to watch you ring the water out of the rag again. You look up at them afterwards, holding the rag up. 

"Ready?" You ask, smiling gently. 

"Yup!" Sun replies, you moving a bit closer to them. You start with their faceplate, movements gentle and careful as you dig dirt and grime out of groves. Sun remains mostly quiet while you do this, doing his best to remain as still as possible. 

Moon can't really tell how it feels at the moment, Sun's not allowing access to that though Moon's not sure that's a conscious decision on his part. But from Sun's stillness and lack of talking, even to Moon himself, he can tell however it feels wasn't what Sun was expecting. He can also still tell how close you currently are, and how concentrated you apparently are on your current task. 

It's only when you turn to dip the rag into the water again that Moon speaks up, trying to get Sun out of his stupor. Just in case you try anything. Not that they could really stop you, he supposes. 

"Ah! Sorry!" Sun replies, his jump making you jump and look over at him confused. 

"For... what?" You question, wringing the water out of the rag again. 

"Oh, I was talking to Moon!" Sun replies, making Moon sigh in exasperation. You look over him curiously, tilting your head. 

"You can talk to Moon?" You turn back to continue wiping down Sun's sun spikes, placing a steadying hand on one side of his face. 

"Yup! Why wouldn't we?" Sun asks, starting to fiddle with his fingers. 

".. I don't know. I guess... I thought he'd.. be asleep or something?" You shrug, moving lower once you're done with the spikes. 

"We don't sleep," Sun laughs, still watching as you wipe down their chest plate. 

"I suppose you wouldn't," you reply, a bit of amusement in your voice. "Well, tell him I said hello." 

"Alright!" Sun replies, Moon sighing again. He can hear you himself. 

You move onto their arms once done with their chest plate, Sun mostly just contenting himself to watch for the moment. But then he starts tapping the fingers of his free hand restlessly, tilting his head this way and that. Like he's trying to scrutinize you from different angles. 

"Everything alright?" You ask, glancing up for a second before looking down again. 

"Yes! ...... But we.. have some questions?" Sun replies, Moon getting a feeling he's not going to like where this goes already. 

"Oh yeah?" You smile, glancing up again. "Lets hear them." 

"Why was it so dirty in here? Everything's in much worse state than it was! Completely unfit for anyone to be visiting in!" Sun states, puffing up a bit in upset with those words. You seem a bit amused by it though, if that smile is anything to go on. 

"Well.. I just haven't had the time or tools to really clean it up yet. And this place is massive, it'll take a while," you shrug, dipping the rug into the water again. 

"Aren't the S.T.A.F.F. suppose to clean up?" Sun questions, crossing his arms for a moment before he remembers you need at least on of them. 

"They're... out of commission," you reply, tilting your head a bit. 

"Are they going to be fixed? Oh! And is the music going to be turned on again?" Sun questions, tilting forward a bit more. You just look at him confused, pausing from wringing the water out. 

"Music?" You ask. 

"Yeah! The music that usually plays in the Daycare! It's so quiet without it, I don't like it," Sun pouts, wilting where he sits. You smile a bit again, turning back to the rag and pushing your sleeves up once more. 

"I can take a look into that, see if we can get it up and running again," you assure him, making Sun jump right back up. 

"Great!" He claps, you turning back to him with a bigger smile. You take his arm in your hand again, gently rubbing the cloth along the surface. 

"Any other questions?" You inquire, not really looking up from what you're doing. 

"Just one! Do you know when the maintenance time will be over? I can't wait for the kids to come back!" Sun replies, shaking a bit in excitement. You pause however, which catches Moon's attention, looking up towards his faceplate again. Your brows are furrowed, confusion quickly being replaced by understanding. Which then shifts to apprehension as you twist the rag in your hands. 

"Well.... I don't know if they.. will be coming back, Sun," you slowly reply, making Sun tilt his head in confusion. 

"Huh? What do you mean?" He asks, you biting your lip. You seem to gather your thoughts, going back to cleaning him up while you do so. 

"Well, the plex has been closed for quite a long time," you explain, making Sun's head tilt in further confusion. "The world has... changed a lot since it was. And.... most people avoid this place anymore, no one even wanted to settle next to it or go near the area. I... don't know if reopening would even be a possibility anymore." 

"Is.... Is that why the doors were boarded?" Sun questions, voice quieting. 

"Yeah... That's the reason for how dirty everything is and the S.T.A.F.F. bots too," you add, glancing up at his faceplate again. Your brows are pinched still, worry covering your face. "I'm sorry, Sweetie. Are you going to be okay?" 

Sun doesn't respond right away, his mind far off from your question. Moon's mind is reeling too, attempting to parse out and make sense of your explanation. His one question is how long, though Sun doesn't really want to know himself. It doesn't really matter, does it? Moon supposes not. One thing still remains the same. 

They all left. Everyone did. 

It clicks together in Moon's mind now. The pieces he was missing that wouldn't resurface earlier. The file opens and it all comes flooding back. The child escaping and the workers coming in the next day, grumbling in shock about the state everything's in. Talking and making plans before leaving again. They come and go for the next few days, the number of them starting to dwindle day by day. But then they just stopped coming all together. No warning, no notice to them. Just.. gone. 

They had no idea what was happening. Days seemed to tick by slowly, Sun positive someone was going to come and kept reassuring Moon of that fact. 

"I'm sure they're just being held up by something! Maybe the others have them busy? Either way, I'm sure everything'll be back to normal soon. And then we can play with the kids more!" 

And then the days just kept passing, the daycare just as empty as the last. He remembers Roxy wondered in once, not knowing where she was. Confused and upset, hands stretched out in front of herself and head swinging back and forth. It wasn't a surprise with how damaged she was, even her eyes completely missing. She almost attacked Sun when he bounded over and startled her, though he was able to help direct her out again and to her room. They didn't see any of the others though, only her. 

But she clearly wasn't being repaired, despite how desperately she obviously needed it. One of the stars themselves. 

Then the lights turned off. 

Sun was panicked, though didn't have much of a choice other than to let Moon out. Not that he had much to do other than look around. He couldn't find anyone when he did. Even Roxy was missing from where they left her, the other stars still not  anywhere in sight. DJMM was just sleeping in the Arcade like normal though, but he was the only one and nothing Moon did would wake him up. There wasn't even a security guard like there normally was. 

Without much else to do, Moon returned to the Daycare to wait for the lights to turn back on. And he waited and waited and waited.... But they didn't turn back on. They never did. 

He couldn't... recharge either. The recharging stations went offline. That was when the panic really set in, quickly followed by dread. 

Without the stations, there's no way for them to recharge. And if they can't recharge, then they'll go offline. Slowly draining through their power reserves. Slowly dying. With no one but themselves. 

Moon tried to send a ping to the other animatronics, just to see if they knew what was going on. But he didn't get any responses back. Then he tried to send a message to one of the workers, but none would even go through. He tried to contact anyone he could think of, but he got no responses. 

Sun was distraught, desperately trying to reassure himself and Moon that someone would come. Eventually. They wouldn't just leave them like this. The kids love coming here! Someone must be coming, they're just.. a bit slow! But.... by the last day, Moon knew no one was coming. Though he couldn't express that to Sun, didn't want to destroy what little hope and optimism he had. He still knew though. 

They were abandoned... and they're going to die. 

Completely alone.

Chapter Text

"Sun? Honey?" You ask, looking over the jester's faceplate. He.. stopped moving completely after you explained what happened, remaining worryingly quiet as well. It's... a sharp contrast from how he acted before and it feels very.... unnatural. Uncomfortable. 

You drop the rag in your hands into the tub, leaning a little closer to Sun. Placing a hand on his shoulder, you gently shake him a bit. 

"Sun? Honey? ....Sweetie, can you hear me?" You ask, your eyebrows pinching in worry. 

Did... Did you send the poor thing into shock or something? Can you send him into shock or something like it? You think he's still online and everything, just.... frozen. 

You shake his shoulder again, trying to see if you can get his attention at all. He just moves like a ragdoll for a moment, but then jumps when you lean a bit closer. His head spins in a full circle before he seems to focus on you again with a startled yelp. You just raise your hands in front of yourself, brows still pinched in concern. 

"Are you okay?" You ask, looking all over the jester. 

"Yes! I'm fine!" Sun replies, jumping up to his feet again. You blink, watching him take a few steps away from you and bump into the desk behind himself. "Why wouldn't I be?! Nothing's wrong at all, nothing to worry about! There's still plenty I have to do here after all! L-like cleaning up! I should start cleaning up the daycare again and-" 

"Sun!" You call before the panicked sun could run off. He shrinks back at the yell, his babbling cutting off immediately. You frown, standing to slowly approach him again. "I'm sorry for yelling...... It's okay. I.. get if this is a big shock and you're not alright. I don't know if anyone would be, I certainly wouldn't." 

You take his hand, pulling it away from his face plate so he can't pull and scratch at it anymore. You hold onto it afterwards, wrapping your fingers around his hand tightly. A bit disjointedly, if even hesitantly, his fingers curl around yours. Like he isn't sure if he really wants to. His other hand twitches a bit, the animatronic staring at you quietly even as you begin to pick up on a fine shaking through his whole body. His head turns in almost a full circle again before he straightens, pausing as you squeeze his hand again with a small smile, then jumps you.

You just barely swallow your startled yelp as his arms wrap tightly around you, nearly squeezing the life out of you. His head rests on your shoulder, the sun spikes slotting into his head where there's not enough room between his head and your neck.

It takes a second for you to realize he's hugging you, immediately reciprocating once you do. 

He's still shaking, fingers fidgeting with your jumper. Twisting the fabric around themselves before untwisting it again. He's quiet, no sound other than the clicking of his parts hitting each other due to the fine tremble in his body. He's really warm too, comfortably so, which makes the hug a rather pleasant experience. Even with the obviously distraught animatronic clinging to you like a last lifeline. 

You let him hold on for as long as he wants, unsure of how much time has really passed before Sun's suddenly jerking away from you again. He holds his hands up in front of himself, taking several steps back. 

"Ah! I'm sorry! I know workers don't like it when I touch them! I didn't mean to-" 

"Sun, it's alright. I don't mind," you assure, making Sun freeze again. His head spins to the side again, the animatronic curling in on himself a bit. 

"You... don't?" He asks quietly, you shaking your head. 

"No. I like hugs," you shrug, smile turning a bit lopsided. "Haven't had one in a couple of years now." 

"..... Why not? Hugs are wonderful!" Sun asks, you chewing on your lip for a moment. You decidedly turn back to the tub at your feet, looking into the dirtied water. 

"I left home a while ago. Been on my own since then," you reply, fishing the rag out and squeezing the water out of it. 

"Oh.. Well I'll give you as many hugs as you like!" Sun replies, making you smile again. 

"Thanks, Sunshine. You're so sweet," you reply, standing once more. He seems back to his normal self, or what you have to assume is his normal self, though you're not really sure. You look over him worriedly, tilting your head a bit. "But are you feeling better?" 

Sun's face plate spins again, pausing for just a moment before nodding. 

"Yes! Yes! I feel much better!" Sun replies, making you raise an eyebrow and look over him again. "I do! I do! I promise!" 

"....... Alright," you relent, still eyeing him a bit skeptically.

Well, you'll grant that he seems to be doing better. At least a little bit, but you still have your doubts. There's... some points during the whole thing that jumped out at you. His emotional whiplash being one of them, like he didn't want you know know about how he was feeling. His sudden hug, then just jerking away like you shocked him.... That comment about employees not liking it when he touches them.... 

You'll leave it if he doesn't want to talk about it at the moment.

"Well, since the cat's out of the bag on the whole...... situation," you begin, making a circle with your finger. "I want you to know that... a lot of the rules you're used to don't have to apply anymore." 

"What do you mean?" Sun asks, his face tilting to the side. You give him a small smile. 

"Like the no touching thing," you reply, crossing your arms as you glance to the side. "I don't mind if you'd like to hug or touch me. You're free to get into my personal bubble if you'd like." 

"Really?" Sun asks, straightening up considerably. 

"Yeah," you shrug, smile widening a bit when it seems like Sun is actually really excited about that. "And... you're not confined to the Daycare, you can come out and explore or follow me around like the others if you want." 

".. But.... I'm not supposed to leave. What if a child comes in?!" Sun replies, nervously fidgeting with his bell. 

"Well, I don't imagine any kids will be coming through anytime soon," you grimace, tapping a finger against your arm. You look back at the animatronic, tilting your head a bit. "And..... Well, I'm in charge around here now... I guess... and I say you're allowed to leave if you'd like. You don't have to though, it's up to you." 

Sun considers this, tilting his head this way and that for a few minutes. 

"Well, alright! ..... I suppose it's alright then!" He decides, you smiling at him. Though you look down at the tub at your feet again, then tap it with a foot. 

"Well, want to finish that bath?" You ask, looking back up at the bot. You stretch your arms out with a yawn. "I'm going to need to head to bed soon." 

"Okay," Sun replies, you kneeling down to dip the rag into the water again. 

"Alright. Just have a bit more to do then," you mostly mumble to yourself. But you look up at him again, considering for a moment. "Would you like me to stay in here for the night?" 

"Huh?" Sun asks, tilting his head a bit. 

"Do you want to be alone tonight?" You rephrase. "I can sleep in here if you don't want to be, just need somewhere a bit darker to rest in." 

"T-the lights need to stay on!" Sun repeats nervously. "....... Moon's.. not ready to meet you yet!" 

"That's alright. He can take all the time he needs," you nod, looking back at his absurdly soft pants. Almost feeling like pillows instead. "The lights can stay on, I just need a bit dimmer place." 

"... Mmmm. There's my room!" He offers, considering something you're not privy to. "I would like it if you'd stay a bit longer! We could have a slumber party!" 

"Emphasis on the slumber part, Hon. I need to go to sleep soon," you chuckle, Sun just humming in response. ".. Are you sure it'd be alright for me to be in your room? You don't have to let me in there if you don't want to, I'm sure there's somewhere in here I could squirrel away into." 

"Yes! Yes! It's fine!" Sun assures, the bells on his wrists jingling with his movements. 

"Alright," you reply, just going on to finish cleaning him up. 

Once you're done, he looks pretty good. In your opinion anyway. Could do with some polishing and a scrub down with actual cleaning products, but not bad with what you have. 

Though looking as closely at him as you are, his design is pretty good if a little bit lacking. He could use an update to say the least. But that's something to be thought on another day! You need some sleep tonight, though you should probably tell the others you're staying in the Daycare. 

"Alright, done," you yawn, dropping the rag into the tub again. Sun jumps up and spins around. 

"I feel so clean now!" He comments, sounding just as happy as his movement imply. It draws a chuckle out of you, looking over the sun in amusement. 

"Good. I was hoping you would." You turn to glance up at the waiting area, noting that you can only see Freddy watching now. You're not sure what the others are doing. "Well, I should probably tell the others I'm staying in here tonight. Then we can go up to your room." 

"Oh, I can do that!" Sun offers, you turning to him. 

"Yeah?" You ask, Sun nodding. 

"Yup!" He replies, rocking on his feet a bit. "I can climb up the slide!" 

"Really?" You ask, looking over at the slide with a raised eyebrow. 

"Of course! It's easy peasy!" Sun exclaims, taking your hand to pull you over to the slide. "Just watch!" 

He quickly dives into the ball pit, then jumps up into the slide that'll take him up to the entrance. Your eyebrows raise a bit again, able to hear him moving up it. You see Freddy turn, assuming he's popped out the top now. Then a minute later, he's dropping into the ball pit before popping up in front of you again. 

"Huh, neat," you conclude, looking up at the slide again. 

"Isn't it? It makes it much easier to climb into the play structures!" Sun replies, spinning in a full circle. You chuckle again, placing your hands on your hips. 

"So, does everyone know the plan now?" You ask, tilting your head to the side a bit. 

"Yep! Freddy agreed!" Sun replies, you nodding. 

"Alright then. How do we get up to your room?" You ask, looking up at the stage. Sun laughs a bit, taking your hand. 

"That's easy! But you've got to hold on, Friend!" He states, pulling you closer to himself. 

"Hold on?" You ask, letting him wrap his arms tight around you. 

"Yup!" He replies, you wrapping your arms around him. 

"What are you plannnn-ing!" You yelp as Sun just jumps straight up onto the platform in a fluid motion, your heart nearly stopping in shock at the feeling. You remain frozen for a few seconds, just processing what happened before your mind catches up and you take a deep breath. "A little more of a warning next time please." 

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Sun cries, holding your shoulders. You take another breath and smile at him, straighten up again. 

"It's alright." You follow Sun into the room behind the platform, glancing around the area. 

It's... certainly a little dimmer than the rest of the Daycare... A lot more messy too. The entrance deck area is more just like a bunch of piled crates with a fence around it. But it's easy to hop down into the actual room. There's a lot of random things in there, even a few of those broken down generic bots too. Though these ones look.... very damaged, surprisingly enough. But there's also toys, piñatas, and stuffed plushies of the others. Even a Moon plushie, which is very cute. You note the little play house in the corner too. It's... a bit bigger than you thought it'd be. 

You look back at Sun, who's apparently patiently waiting for you to finish looking around. 

"It's nice up here," you tell him, Sun jumping a bit. 

"Thank you!" He replies, taking your hand again and pulling you over to a hole in the wall. "It's a bit darker back here! And there's pillows!" 

You crawl through after him, raising an eyebrow at the.. bit more dingy, smaller room. There's more plushies back here, along with scribbled drawings on the walls. There's some shirts too and a board leaning against the wall. Random boxes of junk and more play cubes. Along with a few more pieces of broken staff bots...... 

Is that an arcade cabinet? 

... Well, there's certainly a collection of pillows and blankets, which Sun hurries to gather and make into... well not a bed but a pile. 

"There! .... Will this work?" He asks, obviously not really knowing what he's doing. You still smile, taking the step closer to look down at it. 

"It's great, Sunshine. Thanks," you reply, Sun perking right back up with that. You move into the pile and get comfy, Sun diving back through the hole to go get something. 

He doesn't let you go to sleep right away, but you don't complain. Letting him show some things off and play a bit longer. You fall asleep sometime during his puppet show though, unable to keep your eyes open any longer. Sun notice this eventually, glancing over your sleeping form. 

Moon's not exactly happy that you're in their room, Sun able to feel his annoyance and apprehension. But they both know you would've found it eventually anyway, and Moon also knows Sun really didn't want to be left alone after.. finding out what they did. And he knows he really can't fault his sunnier counterpart on that. But.. he can't really say he trusts you either, despite the friendliness you appear to put on. 

Even if you are the only human they have left here.

Sun stands up and sits down closer to where you lay, leaning against the wall and looking down at you. He fiddles with his fingers, not really sure what to do with himself now. 

.......... Well... they hope everything works out for the better in the end.

Chapter Text

"Are we going to get a bath now as well?" Roxanne asks right as you hop over the turnstile separating you from the four animatronics. You yawn before looking over at her, the wolf seeming a bit more irritable today with her crossed arms and pout. Though your eyes are then drawn over to Montgomery as he snorts. 

"Yeah, or are ya gonna make us wait longer?" He comments, turning to look over his shoulder at you from where he sits. 

"Err, did you sleep well?" Freddy asks, standing to look over at you as well. Chica just jumps up and runs over to tackle you into a side hug, making you blink in surprise for a second before patting her arm. 

"Hello to you too, Chica. Yeah, I slept alright, Freddy," you respond to the bear, then turn your attention to Roxanne and Montgomery. "And yeah. Was planning on it." 

".... Finally," Roxanne scoffs, you paying her no mind as you look over at Chica. Who looks very happy to just squish you right where you both are. 

".... Having fun?" You ask, looking over her in amusement. She pulls back, shifting nervously. 

"Well! I just- You didn't seem to mind Sunny hugging you, so I thought-!" Chica stumbles, rubbing her arm nervously. 

"Hey, I don't mind," you assure, raising your hands up in surrender. You smile at her, the animatronic bird immediately deflating in relief. "Hug me all you like." 

Chica perks right up, happy with that permission granted. Freddy seems happy too, though Roxanne and Montgomery just huff again. You take a deep breath, then nod towards the Daycare's doors. 

"Alright. Let me grab something to eat, then we can get started on cleaning you all up. Sound good?" You ask, tilting your head. Freddy and Chica nod, Roxanne and Montgomery remaining silent. Though Montgomery does finally stand up, stretching his neck as he does so. "Then lets go." 

You glance back at the play area one last time before leaving, waving at the daycare attendant who's just sitting on the balcony of his room. He waves back, you a bit disappointed that he's staying right there. But, if he's never left before, you can't blame him for being nervous and hesitant. Stars know you were. Whenever he's ready, he'll come out. You'll wait. 

After a light breakfast, you quickly gather everything you'll need to clean up the animatronics. Which is still just a tub of water and a rag. Along with changing out of the clothes you were in, switching your sweater to a tank top so it'll be easier to keep yourself dry. Keeping the sleeves from falling down into the water last night was so annoying, just changing will be less of a headache. 

You'll have to do more of a scrub down once you get the proper cleaning materials, and the stuff to fix their casings up. Some of the cracks aren't that deep, at least not on Freddy. Some seem like they nearly go completely through the casing and some are more like gashes, but his isn't too bad. Looking at the paint, you may end up having to mix some colors. But that shouldn't be too terrible of a job.

You wonder if they'd let you make some minor adjustments to their designs.... That's definitely something you'll have to talk to them about. What they've got now is outdated and pretty impractical. But they were designed with an aesthetic in mind and it was nailed pretty well. Still outdated though. 

"There you go, Freddy," you nod, stepping away from the bear. 

"Thank you, Superstar!" Freddy replies, taking a step to the side. You raise an eyebrow at the name, but shrug it off so you can go change the water in the tub. Roxanne is next, you taking a closer look at her cracks to take note of as well. 

"Do you know what type of material your hair is made out of?" You ask her, the wolf looking at you confused. 

"No. Why do you want to know?" She replies, you more focused on cleaning her casing than the suspicious look she's aiming at you. 

"Well, that sucks. Just wanted to know so I could figure out what products can and cant be used in it or on it," you shrug, lifting your eyes to look over it. "You know, so it doesn't end up fried or something." 

"Don't you dare," Roxanne growls, hand lifting up to cover the locks. You notice Freddy take a step closer, eyes locked on the wolf. But you just raise your hands in surrender, leaning back on your feet. 

"I'm not looking to ruin your hair," you reply, the wolf still glaring at you suspiciously. "I wanted to know to avoid messing it up." 

Roxanne huffs, still eyeing you even as you go back to washing her down. 

"The staff had some product they used to wash my hair in the salon. Maybe that'll help," she replies, crossing her arms since you're done with those. 

"There's a salon here?" You raise an eyebrow, looking up at the animatronic in surprise. 

"Duh. In my raceway," she replies, raising an eyebrow at you. "Did you look around at all?" 

"I had to thoroughly search the place for all of you, but I never came across the salon," you huff, looking back down at what you're doing. "The raceway was kind of a mess and I was a bit afraid something was going to fall on my head. So I got you and left. Haven't had much time to do any more exploring after that." 

"The Pizzaplex has many attractions and fun things to do!" Freddy exclaims, Roxanne just grunting. 

"Yeah! There's my bakery, Monty's Gator Golf, Fazer Blast, Bonnie Bowl, many arcades, and lots of other things!" Chica pipes in, clapping her hands. You snap your fingers, pointing at her which gains you a confused look. 

"Oh yeah, I need to go check on that.... spider? ... in the arcade. Thanks for reminding me!" You say, then turn back to the task at hand. 

"Oh, the DJ! He's such a nice fellow," Freddy smiles. Though he tilts his head, ears drooping a bit. "Is he alright?" 

"I have no idea, Buddy. That's why I need to check," you shrug, frown deepening a bit. You sigh, lowering your voice to a grumble with your next few words. "I didn't see any damn blueprints for him though, so we'll see how well fixing him goes. Never seen a robot big as him." 

"You've seen more bots than us?" Montgomery asks, picking up on that last sentence. You glance over at him, then nod. 

"Yeah. For a while I was hopping from shop to shop learning everything I could about mechanics, most of that time was either spent fixing up or making different kinds of robots. Or working on cars. I could even make you all human looking bodies," you joke, making the four blink. 

"You could?" Chica asks, surprised. 

"Eh. Pretty much. They're complicated and not a one-to-one exact replica, but basically," you shrug, tilting your head side to side a bit in thought. "Technology on that has advance a bit more. But it's not perfect." 

"Huh," Chica hums, tilting her head. "How far has it gone?" 

"Uhh, I'm not sure. There's been some leaps in recent years but it stagnated for a long time," you reply, glancing over at her. You pick at a particularly stubborn spot of grime on Roxanne's calve. "It's mostly advanced in quality of life things. Like fridges, plumbing, cooking and cleaning equipment. You know, those types of things." 

"Oh! Well, that's nice! Will you get any of that kind of thing for the plex?" Chica asks curiously, you humming. 

"Maybe. In the future," you shrug, considering it. "I probably could get a few. Lot of the equipment here's probably long gone...... Have to check that." 

"How long are you planning on staying here?" Montgomery asks, gaining a glare from Chica. Not that you notice, focused on finishing Roxanne's bath. "What's the point of sinking money into this place if you're gonna leave? I know appliances like that aren't cheap." 

"I don't know," you reply absently, Chica and Freddy rubbing their hands together nervously. "Haven't really thought about it." 

You blink as you back up from Roxanne with a thought, looking over at the gator questioningly. 

"I'm done, Roxanne," you tell the wolf, who starts looking over herself. But then you turn to the gator. "What do you know about money, Montgomery?" 

"We don't know much," Freddy replies, Montgomery looking away from your curious gaze with a huff. "But we understood that big things were very expensive from what we heard from guests and workers talking." 

"And we ain't stupid," Montgomery growls. 

"I never thought you were stupid." You wave Chica over to start her bath, the chicken complying. You squeeze most of the water out of the rag before turning to her. "But... money doesn't exactly work like you guys remember it. That's changed a lot too." 

"Oh?" Freddy asks, tilting his head in curiosity. You just hum affirmatively, focusing on the bird's plating. 

"So.. when will you be leaving?" Roxanne asks, getting another glare from Chica and a disapproving look from Freddy. But you don't notice these looks again. 

"Excuse me?" You question, looking over at the wolf confused. 

"For that.. supply run you said you had to do," she replies. 

"Oh. Uh, sometime soon-ish. Preferably before I run out of food," you huff, turning back to rubbing off the dirt on Chica. You think it over for a few seconds, tilting your head a bit. "I'll probably have to head out in... two days at the earliest." 

"... And you're coming back?" Chica asks, fidgeting with her fingers nervously. 

"Yup," you reply. 

"...... Promise?" Chica requests. You look down at her with a raised eyebrow, the animatronic not looking back at you. She's fidgeting nervously, hunching in on herself. 

"Yeah. I promise," you assure her, making the chicken relax more. She brightens up, taking your hand in hers. 

"Oh! Could we go with you?" She asks, obviously hoping you'll agree. But unfortunately... 

"No. Absolutely not, for many reasons," you state, making the chicken wilt again. The other three looking a bit disappointed as well. "For one, I'd rather not give the people a heart attack walking back into their settlement with all of you. And two, from what I've saw, none of you are weather proof. I wouldn't want to risk any of you getting caught in a storm and breaking down. Thirdly, it'd put a giant target on our backs. We don't need or want to risk that. Sorry, Sweetie." 

"We.. understand," Freddy nods, straightening up. "We are not allowed outside of the plex either. We have no way to charge outside!" 

"That's another good point," you nod, tapping a finger on your arm. "And something I need to look into." 

"Look into?" Freddy asks, tilting his head. 

"Better power reserves. Yours sucks," you state simply. 

"Hey, we're "old tech," remember?" Montgomery huffs, making you snort. 

"Exactly why is sucks," you reply, pointing at him. He turns his head away but you swear he's smirking. "If I can figure something else out, we could extent your battery life. I don't know why, but I swear Freddy was running on triple A batteries before." 

"That was because I was in Safe Mode!" Freddy helpfully supplies. 

"Oooh. Well Safe Mode's batteries are awful," you reply, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Why do these guys need a safe mode anyway? Is there something you're not aware of? "What's a Safe Mode for anyway?" 

"Safe Mode is turned on whenever one of us malfunctions, for the safety of the guests visiting the pizzaplex," Freddy informs you, you nodding while continuing to clean the robot chicken in front of you. 

"Ah, I see," you reply. What kind of malfunctions could they be having that they need such security protocols? ..... The rumored ones or something else? 

You hope it's just a precaution and leave it at that. 

"Going back a bit, Bonnie is the bunny in the entrance to the bowling alley, I assume?" You ask, looking over Chica one more time before letting her step aside. 

"Yes.. He is," Freddy replies, ears drooping. 

".... And what happened to him?" You inquire, tilting your head. 

"There was an accident and he... is not here anymore," Freddy replies, wilting a bit more. 

"Oh, okay," you reply, letting out a breath. You glance over at Montgomery, who doesn't seem very happy at the moment. Eyes locked in the opposite direction of the group. "Montgomery, you want that bath now?" 

The gator tenses at the words, but then turns with a huff and marches over. 

"Yeah, whatever," he grumbles, still not looking at anyone. You just get to work, leaving that conversation where it was.

.... Perhaps something to look more into. Maybe not with the bots though. But it could be interesting, there were those two blueprints after all....

Chapter Text

"Here they are!" Chica states at you both enter what looks like a parking garage. You glance around at all of the vans, eyebrow raised a bit. 

There's certainly a number of them, all sporting what you assume the company logo to be. They'd certainly be big enough for you to carry everything you need to get in them too, which is great. If any of them will turn on, which you're doubting to be the case. 

"Well, that's certainly a lot of vans," you comment, walking over to the nearest one and opening the driver's door. You glance around the interior, stepping into it to check out the back. It's open, which would also be great for carrying a lot of things. 

You check a few things under the hood and then under the van itself before sitting in the driver's seat, glancing over at Chica momentarily as she steps up beside you. Looking up, you note the keys in the sun visor and let them drop into your hands. You take a second to glance over them, noting the Freddy keychain in amusement. You then try to start the car, but it barely even stutters. 

"Yeah, these'll need to be worked on before they can leave the garage.... Or even start," you say, Chica drooping a bit. You climb out of the van again, patting Chica's shoulder with a grin. "But good idea, Sweetheart!" 

Chica preens at that, standing up straight again. You look back at the van you just existed, twisting your wrist to look at the watch around it. You tap on it a few times, making a note to yourself. 

"When I go into town, I'll have to talk to a mechanic about getting one of these working again. Figure out all I need and what'll likely need replacing," you state, simultaneously talking to Chica and making the note. "It'll definitely help speed up supply runs and be safer traveling." 

"Safer? Is it not safe out there?" Chica asks worriedly, taking your hand in hers. You shrug, dropping your other hand to your side. 

"Egh. Not particularly, but I'll be fine. I've been traveling for years now," you assure her, the animatronic not looking calmed at all. You still smile though, moving back towards the inside of the pizzaplex. "Come on. We should meet back up with the others. We've got a DJ to fix." 

"Alright," Chica responds, following you back inside to where the others are waiting. You then head up to the arcade, though stop right outside of it. 

"Unfortunately, I cannot follow you into the arcade," Freddy states, ears drooping. You look back at him in confusion, raising an eyebrow. 

"Why?" 

"When I step onto the West Arcade dance floor I cannot stop myself! It is a programming bug," Freddy replies, making you snort. 

"You can't stop yourself from dancing?" You inquire, Freddy nodding. 

"Yes." 

"Well, alright then, Rockstar. You wait out here," you reply, still chuckling a bit. "I don't think we should be too long." 

"Alright! I will see you when you come back out," Freddy replies, waving as you and the other four animatronics head into the arcade. You start to head for the dancefloor, but have to stop and squint at the current lack of lighting. "Oh, I thought I turned those on." 

"Some of the attractions have separate lighting and power systems. Like the Daycare! It has a separate power system because it had a lights on and off cycle!" Chica informs you, making you just groan and tilt your head back. 

"This stupid company needs to make everything difficult, doesn't it?" You sigh, then look over towards where you think Chica is with narrowed eyes. "But the Daycare's lights turned on when I started the general power back up?" 

She pauses, then shrugs. You just sigh, glancing around. 

"Where's the power switches for the arcade then? ..... I can't see anything," you say, squinting at the darkness surrounding you. 

"I believe they just need to be reset!" Chica states. "The breakers should be around here somewhere!" 

"Yeah, but where? The last time I flipped everything on, there was two hundred breakers in the stupidest places imaginable that literally no one would be able to guess," you groan, not looking forward to another damn treasure hunt in the dark. 

You should've brought your flashlight. 

"Oh for crying out loud," Roxanne groans. You feel someone grab your wrist and are jerked forward, letting out a yelp and stumbling to regain footing. "This way." 

"Roxanne, careful please! I can't see anything!" You request, Roxanne just sighing. 

"You human have terrible eyesight," she grumbles, you just pouting in her direction. 

"Well, humans aren't equipped with night vision," you snark, hearing a chuckle from who you can only guess is Montgomery from the tone. 

"The first breaker is right here, next to the DJ booth," Roxanne comments, pulling your hand up to the switch. You pull it down, the lights partially coming back on with just the one. You only get a moment to glance around before Roxanne's dragging you off again to flip the other three in the main area. Two in the Arcade section and one in the bathroom. 

"Oh, hey, that's cute!" You comment, looking down at the black plush sitting in the bathroom closet for some reason. You have no idea who's it's supposed to be, not looking like any of the animatronics you've seen. But it's still cute with the big buttons and white stripes it has on it's limbs. The purple tears on the white mask is.... sad? But it's still cute. 

Still have no idea why it's in the bathroom. 

Roxanne glances down at it, then pulls you out of the closet for the last switch. 

"Do you like the plushies?" Chica asks after glancing into the closet. She hurries to catch up with you and Roxanne, looking over you curiously. 

"Yeah, they're cute!" You grin, Chica humming in response. 

"Mine certainly are," Roxanne huffs, tossing some hair over her shoulder. "They look like me after all." 

"Hmm. I bet," you simply respond, grinning at the wolf. She doesn't respond, just huffing again. But she does lead you to the last breaker and you're able to flip it, the whole arcade apparently coming to life again with the last switch flipped. You're finally able to see everything again! Hurray!

You groan, stretching your arms out as the two girls glance around for a moment. 

"Thanks for the help," you tell them, the two nodding. "Lets get back to the dance floor. Maybe we'll run into Montgomery again. Where'd he even go?" 

"He's looking around!" Chica simply responds, heading back the way you all came from. You follow her, glancing around as you do. 

There's a whole lot of arcade machines littered around, some knocked over onto their sides. It's an impressive amount and you have to wonder why they're back here instead of out in the arcade. Maybe there just wasn't enough room or maybe they're broken, who knows? 

Your eyebrows raise a bit as the three of you exist back into the actual arcade and head back down to the dance floor, letting out a breath as you take in the room in all its glory. Big and open with arcade machine upon arcade machine, and karaoke booths, all spread out on multiple levels. Shining neons lighting everything up, some arcade cabinets even still having flashing screens and playing accompanying music. Along with another giant golden statue still standing proud at the entrance. It's really amazing. 

"This place is truly impressive. Wonder how much money it cost the company," you huff, eyeing the holes in the wall. 

"Oh, we wouldn't know that!" Chica replies, shrugging her shoulder. You look back at her, head tilting a bit. 

"Hmm....... It's just confusing really," you shrug, turning your eyes to the DJ again when you enter the dance hall. He hasn't moved, in the same place you left him the last time you were here. 

"What's confusing?" Roxanne asks, watching as you hop up onto the stage and start examining the big robot. 

"Just... how everything was left here. And the fact that all of you were," you reply, glancing around for anything that may let you access the spider's inside. "The company could've gotten a pretty penny for all those arcade machines, even after... everything that happened. But they could've gotten a huge amount of money if they sold off even one of you, regardless of how damaged you were. I'm just not sure why they chose to leave everything as it was. Doesn't make much sense business wise." 

"........... We're not things to be bought and sold," Roxanne snaps, turning her back towards you. You look over at her, brows furrowed before wincing. 

"I'm sorry, Roxanne. I didn't mean it like that," you apologize, making her look at you again in surprise. 

"No, I'm sure you meant exactly what you said," Montgomery states, making you jump nearly a foot in the air from his sudden appearance. You place a hand over your heart as you glance over at him in the doorway, though he heads right over when your eyes are on him. "Not like yer wrong anyway, that's exactly what the big wigs thought of us." 

Chica rubs her arm and looks down at the ground, Roxanne huffing as she turns away again with her arms tightly crossed. Montgomery stops right by the stage, looking down his snout at you. 

"Maybe. But Roxanne's right," you state, looking over at him with furrowed brows. Said animatronic looks back at you with raised eyebrows, looking a bit shocked once again. "And that's definitely not how I see any of you." 

"Really?" Montgomery huffs, raising a eyebrow at you. 

"Yeah," you reply, turning back to the DJ. Your eyes narrow a bit at his casing, not spotting anything like a panel. It wouldn't be at the top, would it? 

"And how do you see us then?" Montgomery questions, eyes narrowed at you. 

"Well, certainly more than just machines," you huff, taking a couple steps back to get more of a view. "You've proven yourselves to be more than that. I can see you more like... humans, I suppose. For lack of a better term. Deserving as much respect as one at the very least." 

"Really?" Chica asks, leaning against the stage to look at you curiously. 

"Yeah," you reply, looking over at her. "You're all way more advanced than any other robots that I've encountered. You speak, display emotions, and react to things like a human would. I don't think you realize just how incredible that is."

"So, what are you going to do with us then?" Roxanne asks, glancing over you. You turn to her confused, tilting your head to the side a bit. 

"What do you mean?" You ask, brow raised. 

"What are you planning to do with us? Going to sell us like those company heads would've?" She replies, making your brows raise a bit. 

"Of course not," you reply, looking over the wolf. "I'm not planning anything of the sort. I wouldn't want to separate any of you and that would definitely happen with a sale." 

Not to mention what dangers that could potentially put these guys into. Or just end up with them completely taken apart to figure out how they work, and you'd really rather avoid that at all costs. 

"If you're not here to sell anything, then why are you here?" Montgomery asks, Chica glaring at both him and Roxanne. 

"We're happy to have you here, of course!" She interrupts, turning back to you. "Don't worry about those two! They're just grumpy!" 

"I'd say more suspicious than grumpy," you snort, glancing over the three. Montgomery and Roxanne glower at you, you just shrugging. "Hey, I'm not saying that's a bad thing." 

"Then answer the question," Montgomery huffs, Chica elbowing him. 

"Didn't I answer it already?" You ask, tilting your head. 

"There has to be more of a reason than curiosity," Roxanne replies, leaning over onto the stage. "What's in it for you?" 

"Shelter," you simply reply, shrugging a shoulder. The three animatronics blink in surprise. "It's not like I have a home to return to. And this place is deserted and pretty well fortified, which means I don't have to worry about my safety. That's what I get out of staying here." 

"You... don't have a home?" Chica repeats, looking back at you. Montgomery and Roxanne quiet, postures loosening slightly at that little bit of information. 

"I had to leave it behind a long time ago," you reply, decidedly turning back to the DJ in front of you. ".... It's not a decision I regret. Just the way things had to be." 

"And you... haven't found a new one yet?" Chica then asks, leaning forward a bit more. 

"Nope, I haven't," you shrug. 

"... Isn't that lonely? Don't you have friends that you could've gone to?" Chica asks, making you sigh and turn to her again with a bit of a sad smile. 

"Friends are hard to come by with the way I'm living," you reply, heading over to sit on the stage. You don't think there's any way you can work on the DJ at this moment, you'll probably need a ladder or something to see if there's anything at the top. 

You lean your chin in your hand, looking over the three animatronics beside you. All of whom are staring at you with different expressions on their faces. 

"And yeah. It can be pretty lonely, but that's just the life I chose," you shrug, turning your eyes away from them. "And there's no going back from it now."

Chapter Text

"Do you have to go?" Chica whines, hugging your arm tightly to her body. She pouts as much as her faceplate will allow her to, really not wanting you to leave. Though none of the animatronics can say they're too pleased to see you leaving so soon, even Sun having left the Daycare to cling and beg you not to. Freddy stands close by, not helping in any way, and Roxy and Monty aren't that far away either. 

None of them want you to go. They don't want you to leave. 

"Yes, Chica," you sigh, unable to move with both her and Sun clinging to you. Which is exactly what they were going for, which you seem aware of with the slightly annoyed look on your face. That look puts quite a few of them on edge, but they're still not going to stop. "I have to go get food and other supplies. I wont be gone for long, I promise." 

"But... but what if you don't come back?" Chica whispers, Sun whining into your shoulder. Freddy's ears go back, that very real threat lingering in his mind. Roxy's lip curls back, tensing just as much as Monty does. Your expression melts, looking up at the animatronic bird with what they think is sympathy. "You said it was dangerous out there!" 

Freddy becomes more worried with that bit of information, Sun hugging tighter and his faceplate digging into your shoulder more. Monty tenses, fingers digging into the plating of his biceps. Roxy just eyes the doors behind all of you, hackles rising at the thought. 

"I will come back," you assure her, and the rest of them. "The trip will only be for three days. And I know how to take care of myself. I will be back, I promise you that." 

Chica isn't really reassured, none of them really are, but Freddy still places a hand on her shoulder and gets her to back up a few steps. She very reluctantly lets go of her death grip on your arm, turning to wring her hands together nervously. You look over your shoulder at Sun, missing the looks of anxiety and worry the other animatronics send you. 

"Come on, Sunshine. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can get back," you tell the daycare attendant, patting his arms which are locked around your stomach. He just whines, squeezing tighter at the spike of fear coursing through his processor. 

"But-but-!" 

"No buts. I promise I'll be back as quickly as I can manage, okay?" You assure him, pulling gently at his arm. Freddy comes over to assist you again, having much better luck at pulling Sun away from you. Roxanne takes Freddy's place in comforting Chica, who just hugs her tightly. 

But with both the animatronics pulled off you, you turn right back around to look at all of them. The serious look on your face has them tensing up, looking over you worriedly. 

"Once I'm out, close that shutter," you tell them, pointing at the said object that's frozen just under halfway closed. The four look from it to you in confusion. Not really understanding the reasoning for the demand. "Do not open it for anyone else, no matter what you hear. Got it?" 

"I.... do not understand. Why?" Freddy asks, his grip on Sun tightening just a bit. 

"Mmmmn.... It's for your safety," you tell him, making Freddy's head tilt. That.. doesn't really explain much. Safety from what? 

"What do you think would be able to hurt us?" Monty huffs, crossing his arms. You raise an eyebrow at him, then look at the boarded up doors. 

"I... If some of the people out there knew about you guys being in here, you'd be put in danger of... who knows what honestly. There's... a lot of things out there that can be done to animatronics like you anymore. Really, keep the shutter closed until I get back, trust me on this." The look of sincere worry on your face is enough to get them even more worried. 

"... Alright. We will," Freddy assures you, making you breathe a sigh of relief. "We promise." 

"Good." You then show them a knock that'll help them make sure it's you before you're slipping out of the doors. Freddy and Monty force the shutter all the way closed when you disappear from view, the animatronics then looking at each other in worry. 

Now, they just have to wait and trust that you'll be back. 

_____

It's really amazing how much you've cemented yourself into their routines in such a short amount of time. How much they've come to rely on your presence, whether they really realized it or not. Without you here, they're just.... sitting and staring at the door. Waiting for you to come back. 

Monty's not happy with this dawning realization, cursing himself out for it as he stomps back to his golf course. He only paces in there for a few minutes before he's stomping back to the doors though, growling at himself the whole way. Unable to resist the writhing, twisting feeling tangling up in his processor like a venomous snake. Though he can take solace in the fact that Roxy doesn't seem to be faring much better either. 

And she's really not, no matter how much she loathes to admit it. Even to herself. She glares at the door, ears perking at even the slightest of noises from beyond it. Eyes darting every way at any movement for any possible glimpse of your return, even though more often than not it's just something she doesn't have a name to put to. 

She hates how much she wants to see you returning again. And she assures herself it's only because you're the only one willing to fix her if she breaks, not because she needs your presence around her. She doesn't need anyone. And even if she did, it's only her stupid coding that forces it. Just the coding. 

Chica's less reluctant to hide her nerves and worrying, pacing back and forth in front of the closed shutter. Tightly wringing her hands and looking over at the doors nearly every other second, which is really getting on the wolf and alligator's already shot nerves. 

"Do you think she got lost?" Chica asks, pausing for a moment to look over at the others. 

"Chica, it has only just been a day since she left," Freddy informs her, making the animatronic bird whine. 

"It feels like it's been forever!" She cries, beginning to pace again. Freddy sighs, worried in his own right but still not wanting to show it for his friend's sakes. They're already nervous and anxious enough, and he's usually the one to calm them down. He needs to keep calm to keep them from panicking anymore than they already are. 

"She promised she would return," Freddy reminds Chica, placing his hands on her shoulders. He gives her an encouraging squeeze, smiling lightly. "We just have to wait a bit longer." 

"When has a human's promise meant anything?" Monty grumbles under his breath, hand squeezing his bicep tightly. Roxy just huffs, tapping her heel anxiously against the floor. Luckily, it seems she was the only one to hear him. 

Freddy understands Chica's worries, he really does. He’s worrying about the same thing she is. He's just as anxiously waiting for your return, to know that you really didn't leave for good. But he can also see that Roxy and Monty are about ready to snap at her in their stress. 

And you promised them you'd return, he believes you meant it. They just... need something to get their minds off the waiting! But.. what could they all do that'll distract them? Hmmm....

"Why don't we go do something instead of sitting around here?" Freddy suggests, looking over his bandmates. They raise a skeptical eyebrow at him. "How about a few rounds in Monty Golf? To take our minds off everything, I believe it'll do all of us some good. It'll be just like old times!" 

"But what if she comes back and we're not here?" Chica brings up. 

"I can watch the door for you." 

The sudden new voice startles all four of the animatronics, their eyes darting up to see Moon hanging on the ceiling. He lowers himself down onto the floor silently, looking over the four. 

"Moon! How long have you been there?" Roxy growls, irritation spiking from her nerves and his sudden appearance. 

"..... Not long," he replies, turning his attention to the door. 

"It's surprising to see you out!" Freddy mentions, glancing over the lighting. He... didn't think it was dark enough for Moon to be out, but apparently it is. 

"Sun was fretting," Moon simply states, making the bear's ears go back. 

He knew he should've gone to check on the sunnier side of the daycare attendant. 

"Is he alright?" Freddy asks, looking over Moon like the answers would be on him. 

"Sun will be fine," Moon sighs, dropping to sit on the ground in a darker corner of the entrance. He leans his elbows onto his crossed legs, letting out a puff of air that sounds similar to a sigh. ".......... I'll send a message if I hear her." 

"Are you sure?" Freddy asks. Moon nods, not even glancing over at the bear. "Well, thank you!" 

Moon just hums in response, Freddy turning back to his friends. 

"So! How about a few rounds of golf?" Freddy asks, looking over the four. Chica looks from the stutter to Freddy a couple of times before slumping over and nodding, Roxy just huffing in disgruntled annoyance and Monty sighing. 

"Fine. But I'll still kick all of your tails," Monty says over his shoulder, already walking off. Roxy bristles a bit, following right after him. 

"I'll beat you this time, you scaly jerk!" She yells, Monty laughing. 

"I'd like to see you try!" 

Freddy lets out some air himself, shoulders slouching a bit in relief with their spirits lightening even a little. He's glad to have something to take their minds off the dread and apprehension they're all feeling, even if it will be for just a few minutes. He can worry about what may happen later. 

Freddy places a hand on Chica's shoulder, making the bird look away from the shutter again. He nods forward and she sighs, the two walking off themselves after their two still bickering friends. 

Moon watches the four disappear deeper into the Pizzaplex again, letting out a grunt once he can't see them anymore. He turns to look at the shutter, head tilting a bit. His finger starts tapping against his face plate, the animatronic trying to block out Sun's worried ranting in the back of his processor. 

In reality, Moon basically forced Sun to take a break. He wouldn't stop "cleaning" and picking at their faceplate. And hands. And bells. And his sun spikes. Literally anything he could get his hands on. It was starting to get aggravating. But even when he's not in control, Sun's still running himself ragged in worry. 

His worry is starting to infect Moon himself, rubbing off on him through their joined minds. It makes his fingers tap a bit faster and his leg bounce a little, staring at the shutter in annoyance and apprehension. 

He wishes you'd just get back already, if for nothing else than to get Sun to shut up for five minutes. But he knows there's still a while they have to go, and they don't even know when you'll be getting back on the third day. Moon just hopes it'll be sooner rather than later, for everyone's sake.

Moon raises his head at a sound from the other side of the doors, head tilting to the side. He stiffens at the sound of something hitting the shutter, then a string of curses. He stands up as a result, head tilting all the way around as he strains to hear what's going on. 

There was no knocking, so he's not lifting the shutter or sending a message to the others. 

Moon jumps back at a loud bang from the other side, about ready to pull himself up towards the ceiling in case whoever's on the other side busts in. But a few minutes pass, then an hour without another sound and Moon slowly lets himself relax again. 

Whatever that was, Moon has no desire to find out. 

He really wishes you'd just get back already.

Chapter Text

"Nice shot, Monty!" Freddy grins, the said alligator just huffing at the bear with a roll of his eyes. Roxy just growls before turning away, Chica humming pleasantly. 

Monty has hit a hole in one at every single hole, his fellow animatronics not having such luck. Though considering this is his attraction, that's not a big surprise. Chica's done pretty well herself though, Freddy not too bad either. Roxy hasn't been having that much luck though, unfortunately. 

"I hate this game," she mutters under her breath, glaring at the hole they're at. 

"Ya just need more practice, bushy tail," Monty snickers. Roxy snarls at him, puffing up. 

"Like you could beat me in a race, scale head," she replies, Monty just huffing. 

"I bet I could, if your race track was even functional," he snips, Roxy growling. 

"Hey now," Freddy interrupts, stepping between the two. "There's no need to fight. This is for fun, remember!" 

"Tch. Whatever," Roxy grumbles, stepping up to take her turn. She still misses, horribly. Monty snickers, Roxy shooting him a sharp glare over his shoulder. "Are we done?" 

"We are at the last hole," Freddy nods, Roxy letting out a sigh of relief. Monty just grins in amusement, Chica standing back with a grin herself. 

"Finally! We should go do something else!" Roxy complains, the other three glancing over her. 

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Monty asks, leaning onto his specially made golf club that he luckily found once again. 

"A performance?" Roxy suggests, like it's obvious. "We haven't tried out our instruments since we've woken up." 

"Hmm. You're right, we haven't," Freddy agrees, tilting his head to the side. 

"Ooo! That sounds like fun! We can practice!" Chica squawks, clapping. She bounces on her feet a bit as a sudden thought comes to her mind. She squeals your name in her excitement. "Then we can show one of our songs to her when she gets back! I bet she'd be so impressed!" 

"We've gotta make sure our instruments still work before we show off," Monty grumbles, swinging his club up onto his shoulder. He stretches his neck a bit, looking at his band members out of the corner of his eye. "They even still in our rooms?" 

"I believe they should be," Freddy replies, thinking back on it. Monty grunts, heading for the elevator. 

"Then let's go already!" Chica calls, running ahead of the alligator. Roxy and Freddy follow, the latter of the two grinning softly. 

It doesn't take the four long to grab their instruments and gather back in the main atrium, all sitting on the stage and fiddling with their respective tools. All of them are very out of tune and some could probably use some replacement strings, not that any of them know where those would be. 

"This sucks," Roxy growls to herself, fiddling with her keytar in an attempt to make it sound right. Monty grunts from slightly behind her, twisting knobs on his bass before strumming the strings once more. His instrument makes an unpleasant sound in response. 

"It has been quite a while since any of our instruments were used," Freddy sighs, fiddling with his mic that's stubbornly remaining frozen in its current position. He's not sure why. "I am unaware of why they would be in such a rough state at the moment though." 

"Age?" Monty offers, shrugging a shoulder with a grimace toward his bass. 

"I found some strings!" Chica shouts, bursting back into the atrium from the utility tunnels. She waves the said object in her hand excitedly, running back to the stage. She looks over the two bundles in her hands before handing one to Monty and keeping the other for herself. 

"Well done, Chica," Freddy grins, the said chicken speeding over to her electric guitar to attempt to replace the strings of the instrument. 

"Thanks!" She chirps, eyes never leaving the thing. Monty looks between the strings and his bass a few times with narrowed eyes, Chica fiddling with the strings in her hands. 

"Do either of you even know how to replace those?" Roxy asks, looking between the two with narrowed eyes. Monty just grumbles, refusing to look up at her, while Chica just grins. 

"Nope!" She replies, Roxy huffing as she turns back to what she was doing. "It can't be that hard, can it?" 

Roxy just lifts a shoulder in a shrug, glaring at the keyboard in her lap. Chica looks back down at her guitar, continuing to fiddle with the cords in an attempt to fix them. 

After a few hours of fiddling, Monty growls and shoves his bass onto the ground in front of himself. Freddy looks over at him in concern, looking from the instrument to the irritated gator. 

"Monty?" Freddy gently inquires. 

"Stupid thing wont work," Monty growls, Roxy huffing as she sets her instrument to the side as well. Chica grimaces at the tangled mess her strings have twisted into, looking over at the bear. 

"Looks like another thing we have to rely on a stupid human for," Roxy growls to herself, dropping her chin into her hand. She glares over at the wall, lip curled in frustration with her inability to do anything. 

They have to wonder, is... is this really all there is for them? To just sit and wait for humans to come by to fix things, their only purpose and use in life to entertain humans? Why can't they even do simple things like fixing their own instruments? Why were they never taught to do that? Are they really just toys for humans to gawk at and throw away when they're bored with them? Did they ever really matter to anyone? 

Why were they made this way? With this awareness and these feelings? Was it just for the humans' sick amusement? Were they just made to be tortured like this or was it just an accident? Did the humans even realize what they'd done? If they did, why did they just leave?

Freddy looks between his friends with his ears folding back, all three of them looking really upset at the moment. Roxy glaring at nothing, Monty nearly growling in his frustration, and Chica just staring dejectedly at her guitar. The bear slumps a bit, then raises himself up again. 

"Do not worry," Freddy says, getting Monty and Roxy's glares aimed at him. "We can learn how to fix our instruments ourselves. I'm sure of it." 

"Oh, yeah? How?" Monty demands, crossing his arms as he stares the bear down. 

"Well, I'm sure there must be something here that can help," Freddy grins, taking a look around the atrium. "Perhaps in one of the tunnels." 

"How're we supposed to find anything in that mess?" Roxy huffs, raising an eyebrow at him. 

"Well, Chica was able to find the strings," Freddy offers, said animatronic perking up. Freddy also mentions you. "She was able to find the parts to fix us. I am sure if we look around we can find something." 

Monty and Roxy both let out sighs, the latter hanging her head in exasperation. Freddy turns to Chica, grinning softly. 

"Where did you find the strings? We can start looking there," Freddy offers, Chica hopping right up with a happy squawk. 

"Follow me!" She cheers, Freddy standing up to follow the chicken into the tunnels. Monty and Roxy stay sitting for a moment longer, then let out twin put upon groans before rising to their own feet and following the other two. 

"This is stupid. I doubt we're going to find anything," Roxy grumbles to herself, glaring at the absolute mess of the utility tunnels they traverse through. Monty just grumbles from beside her, that grumble turning into a growl. But they continue to follow Chica and Freddy despite their doubt, Chica spinning to face them after stopping outside of a room. 

"This is where I found the strings!" She announces before bouncing into the room, the other three follow her and glance around as they enter. 

"Well, let us look around and see what we can find," Freddy grins, stepping deeper into the room and immediately heading over to some shelves to look through. Roxy growls to herself, but begrudgingly heads over to look through a stray filing cabinet in the corner. Chica and Monty just start digging through some boxes themselves, the latter tossing aside anything that isn't helpful. 

"Has anyone found anything?" Freddy asks after he finishes searching through the shelves he's at, coming up empty handed unfortunately. 

"No!" Chica responds, sighing afterwards. Monty grunts, shaking his head with a disappointed scowl. 

"Yes!" Roxy grins triumphantly, holding out a stack of yellowed papers with a smirk. The other three perk up, Freddy stepping over to look through the papers and finding that they are for their respective instruments. Some even have diagrams and handwritten notes about the objects. 

"Well done, Roxy!" Freddy praises, Roxy huffing with her arms crossed. She still has her triumphant grin on her face, Chica jumping over to look at the papers herself. Freddy looks through them again, finding that everything appears to be there for each of them. "I am sure we can fix our instruments with these. Let us head back up." 

They agree and all four walk back up to the stage, taking their respective papers with them as they sit down again. They spread the papers out so they can look over them, instruments set to their sides. 

"Hmmm. This requires something I do not currently have," Freddy frowns as he looks over the sheets. There's definitely some terms and words he's not familiar with written down, but he's pretty sure he doesn't have them. 

"I have no idea what these are saying," Chica frowns, looking up again. Roxy huffs, glancing up herself with a scowl. 

"Well, we can figure it out together!" Freddy grins, glancing over his friends again. 

"Sure," Monty grunts, eyes still raking over the papers in front of himself. Freddy looks back at his own in thought, though his eyes lift to where you've set up your little make-shift workbench. You've left some things behind there, a notebook or two and some tools. He thinks he sees some parts and other mechanical things too, even your computer you were always using. 

Maybe there's something there that can help them? Though he shouldn't go through your things without asking first, which there's currently no way to do. He wouldn't want to upset you by doing so. 

Perhaps there's more instructions in the tunnels? 

"I think I've almost..." Roxy trails off, eyes narrowed. She fits the side of her claw into something on the back of her keytar, twisting her hand. Though her hand just slides right off, the wolf grunting in annoyance. Though she wasn't even looking at what she was doing, eyes focused on the sheet of paper. 

Perhaps they could use some tools at least. 

"These wires don't want to untangle," Chica laments, pouting at the said objects. 

"Maybe your fingers are just too big," Roxy huffs, voice distracted. 

"How could I get smaller fingers," Chica huffs, pouting at the wolf. She just grunts, trying to fit her claw into the screw again. Freddy walks back over with the tool box you had, though it does have a little Freddy head on it for some reason, setting it on the stage. 

"Perhaps you can find a tool to help you in here, Roxy," Freddy says, the said animatronic snatching the box and immediately looking through it. 

"Is there something in there to untangle these wires?" Chica pouts, looking down at the mess. "My fingers aren't small enough!" 

"Moon has smaller fingers," Freddy says, glancing over the mess. Chica perks up, but then deflates. 

"But he's not here," she points out. "And he needs to stay at the door." 

"Well, we could always go to him," Freddy offers, Chica perking up once again. She nods, grabbing her guitar and the papers before booking it to the entrance. Monty huffs, Roxy sighing. They pack up everything before heading to the front doors themselves.

Chapter Text

"What is this for again?" Moon asks, eyes not moving off the guitar strings in his hands. He carefully tugs and pulls the wires free from each other, running them through his fingers to make sure they don't get tangled again. 

He's admittedly used to untangling things like this, well the things he's usually untangling are much more delicate. Children's shoelaces, sometimes a necklace or two the children had accidentally tangled together, or even hair from time to time. Usually from children who weren't afraid of him and wouldn't go to sleep until their problem was fixed. He's also had to untangle his own wire from time to time, not that it get tangled very often. Sun probably has more expertise in this area, but he's no stranger to it.  

"My guitar!" Chica replies, the said instrument set on his lap. She wilts a bit, a guilty look taking over her expression. "I was trying to fix the strings on it, but they got all tangled up." 

Moon just hums in acknowledgement, still more focused on his current task. 

He was more than a bit surprised when she ran right up to him asking if he could fix the strings, presenting the tangled mess of wires to him. The other three shortly appeared behind her, holding their own things though they mostly ignored him. He had just nodded and started pulling the wires apart from each other as the four main stars settled themselves in front of the shutters, going back to messing with their instruments. 

Roxy pulls tools from the tool box to take a panel off the back of her keytar, then immediately starts messing with the mechanical insides of the thing. Her eyes darting back and forth from what she's doing to the papers spread out in front of herself. She'll occasionally grumble to herself while she pauses to reread the papers, eyes narrowed and concentrated on her task. 

Monty's just fiddling with his bass again like he was before, eyes jumping from the instructions to the knobs on the guitar. He doesn't even want to try to fiddle with the strings. He figures that they were meant to be dealt with by hands much smaller and more delicate than his own. He'll leave that for later and just hope he can tune the bass instead. 

Freddy has to take a trip back to the utility tunnels in hopes he can find some of the things he needs to fix his mic stand, though it takes a while considering he doesn't... exactly know what he's looking for. But he thinks he finds the correct objects and returns to fiddle with his mic. He at least knows what oil is and can try that to fix the hinges. 

"You got it!" Chica cheers as Moon pulls the last of the wires apart, the thinner animatronic humming as he returns the instrument to the chicken. "Now I just have to figure out how to restring it." 

Moon just watches as Chica starts fiddling with the strings again, mostly rolling one string between her fingers and staring at the guitar in her lap. Roxy glances up from her keytar with a grimace, looking between it and Chica for a few minutes. 

"Chica... I think your fingers might be too big to restring it," she states, sitting up a bit as she looks over her fellow animatronic. Chica sighs with a pout, looking over at the wolf. 

"I know.." She wilts, looking at her guitar in defeat. Freddy looks over at his friend with a frown, thinking for a moment before looking up at Moon again with a thought. 

"Moon, do you think you could do it?" He asks cautiously, making the said animatronic look up at him. Moon's head turns completely to the side, his nightcap dangling over his shoulder. Roxy shutters at that, Monty leaning a bit further away with a grimace. 

".. Maybe," Moon replies, his head turning right again. 

"We have the instructions!" Chica supplies, shoving the papers into Moon's hands. He takes them, looking over the sheets. He hums, his head tilting again as he scans for relevant instructions. 

He's definitely not built to know how to do things like this. His knowledge doesn't extend very far out of childcare and some minor security details, mostly just restraining techniques to hold the person before the proper people get there to deal with the problem. Or just kicking them out of the building altogether, but any of the animatronics are technically able to do that. Even if some only act when the kids are in danger. 

But... he can probably at least try to do something helpful with the instructions right in front of him. 

Moon sets the papers down, then carefully looks over the guitar in his lap once again. He slowly pulls the strings into the right-looking places and does what the instructions tells him to, head tilting a bit again as he glances between the papers and the instrument critically. But eventually he thinks he has the strings in the right places and hands it back over to Chica. She giddily takes it, trying out a few of the cords. 

The instrument... doesn't sound quite right. 

"Huh," Chica mumbles, trying the cords again. When they sound the same, she takes the papers back and looks over them again. "Oh! Tuning!" 

She then fiddles with the knobs until the instrument is sounding like it should, letting out a happy squawk when she succeeds. 

"Look! It's fixed!" Chica squeals, standing and twirling while she strums the instrument. 

"Well done!" Freddy grins, looking over at the bird and naptime animatronics. Monty and Roxy just grumble their congratulations, still more focused on their respective instruments. Chica still beams though, then spins around to face Moon once more. 

"Thank you!" She chirps, Moon just nodding in response. Chica then goes on to practice more with the guitar, Moon just watching the four fiddle with their instruments instead. 

This... is probably the most interaction that both Moon and Sun have ever had with the four main stars. They mainly only ever came into the Daycare when there was a party they were scheduled to be at, and those were only ever in the Party Rooms. They never came into the Daycare proper. 

Freddy had introduced himself to the both of them once, and Moon occasionally saw them on patrols, but those were always very brief interactions. So it's... almost strange to be around and talking with them so much. Moon... doesn't know what to feel about it either. 

Especially considering they ignored his messages, though he supposes that could be because they were already shut down themselves. He doesn't know. Either way, he supposes it's happening. 

"Aha!" Roxy proclaims loudly, grin widening as she sounds a few notes out on her keytar. She plays a few more notes, all sounding good. Chica lets out a victorious squawk for the accomplishment. 

"Well done, Roxy!" Freddy cheers, the wolf proudly tossing a few strands of hair back over her shoulder. 

"I am pretty great," she boasts. 

"I believe I have gotten my mic back in working order as well," Freddy states, turning back to the object and testing a few things out. He then looks over at Monty, tilting his head. "Monty, have you gotten your instrument working again?" 

Monty grumbles incoherently for a moment, then tries out his bass once again. 

"Yup," he confirms, finally looking up at his bandmates. 

"Wonderful!" Freddy beams. 

"Finally! Now we can go practice again!" Roxy sighs, Chica beaming excitedly. 

"I can't wait! It's been so long!" She squeals, then pauses as if thinking of something. "Well, it has been a long time, but it doesn't feel like it actually has been that long." 

"Are we going to go or what?" Roxy asks impatiently, trying a few keys on her guitar again. 

"Yes!" Chica squeals excitedly, already bouncing off into the direction of the auditorium again. Roxy lets out a puff of air and follows after her, Monty just letting out a grunt as he trails over leisurely. Freddy doesn't follow right away, instead turning towards the daycare attendant again. 

"Would you like to come along, Moon?" He asks, head tilting slightly. Moon's gaze travels towards him, then where the others are, to the stutter, then back to the bear. 

".. Stay here," he grumbles, not wanting to be present for the noise they're inevitably going to be making. 

"Are you sure?" Freddy asks, just to be sure. Moon nods, resting his head in his hand. "Alright!" 

"Ey, Fazbear! Come on already!" Monty shouts, making the said bear turn back to where his bandmates are waiting. Though he looks over at Moon again, smiling. 

"Just call if you need anything," he says, then heading over to meet with the others once again. Moon watches them go, then huffs. 

_____ 

"Wow! We still sound great!" Chica cheers after they finish one of their old songs. She pumps a fist into the air in celebration, spinning around once. Monty huffs, Roxy smirking proudly. 

"I agree," Freddy smiles, looking back at his bandmates. "You all did amazing!" 

"I know," Roxy replies, brushing her hair back. 

"Would you like to try another song?" Freddy asks, looking over his bandmates again. Chica enthusiastically agrees, Roxy nodding once as she shifts into place once more. Monty just shrugs a shoulder, shifting his bass into place once again. Freddy nods, turning and fixing his stance to swing around with the microphone. 

It feels good for all four of the animatronics to be on the stage again. It feels right. Whether they sound as good as they once did is irrelevant really. They can't actually tell at this point, but they like being able to perform again. They can’t do all the fancy tricks they did back then, the platforms and lights aren't working, but they can still hop around the stage. It's a bit dull without the crowd to interact with, but it's more like..... when they were practicing! Which is just as good! 

Chica dances around the stage just as enthusiastically as she did back in their "glory days," absolutely shredding on her guitar like nothing ever happened. And maybe, in this moment, she can pretend it didn't and she's just practicing with her friends again before the big show. It's a nice thought and she can just forget her problems for a few minutes here, lost in the music. 

Monty doesn't quite feel the same. He's definitely having fun, but not as energetic as the bird is. He definitely likes being on stage once more and hopping about, almost just like he used to. But he can't shake the feelings and forget about them, he can't get rid of the phantom feelings of his endoskeleton snapped in two or being broken and thrown away. But he can throw all those feelings into the music, which is exactly what he does. 

Roxy herself can't quite put the same level of energy of her old performances into this one. It's not quite the same without the crowd cheering in front of her. It feels good to be holding her instrument again, but it's too quiet without the crowd. Just their music bouncing and echoing in the empty building, knowing it’s not going to be filled again. She..... can’t say she hates it, but she can't say she likes it either. But she's happy to be playing again, at least.  

Freddy just enjoys the sound of his friends bouncing around and the music playing like old times. Everything's changed so much and yet nothing has. He's just going to enjoy the moment, happy to be back to something a little bit more familiar. Nothing else matters except for the stage and music they're playing, if just for this singular moment. Everything else is just in the background, there but not at the same time. It's a relief, really. 

Though they're cut off by a message popping up from Moon at the entrance. 

You're back…..

You're back!

It seems like Moon opened the shutters for you, but is hanging above so you cant see him. Doesn't matter much though, seeing as you're squeezing through the opening in the doors and pulling something behind you. You've barely stood up straight again when Chica all but tackles you into a hug and steals the air right from your lungs. 

"You're back! You're back!" She cheers, twirling around with you. You try to take back the air into your lungs while patting Chica's arm. 

"Yep, I'm back," you wheeze, Freddy looking over you in concern. But Chica finally sets you back on your feet and holds you at arm's length. 

"It seems like you've been gone forever! Well, it wasn't really that long, but it felt like forever! We didn't have a whole lot to do while you were gone, but we found some things! We even fixed up our instruments and played a few songs! We sounded just as good as before I think! We-" 

You look stunned by the absolute wall of words being thrown at you from Chica, blinking at her while trying to take it all in. Just smiling and nodding along. Luckily, one of the others saves you. 

"Hey, what is all this?" Monty asks, him and Roxy looking over at the thing you brought in. Chica looks over that way in interest, you just sighing and rubbing an eye. 

"Bit of everything. Food and other supplies." You look over the boxes tiredly, letting out a breath. "Later I'll have to see if one of the freezers are working, but that should be good for now. At least until I get a bit of sleep." 

"Oh! Are you really tired?" Freddy asks, concerned. 

"Extremely." You look like it too now that the bear's taken a closer look. 

"Alright. You should get some sleep then," he states, gently guiding you towards Monty Golf. The others follow behind, Monty pulling the wagon behind himself. You look up at Freddy though, eyebrows furrowing. 

"Where's Sunny?" You ask, tilting your head. Freddy looks back at Moon, who's quietly watching from above still. He then looks back at you and smiles. 

"I'm sure he'll be on his way soon," he replies. You pause, but then nod and just continue forward.

Chapter Text

"So how'd you get all this stuff?" Roxanne asks, looking through one of the boxes as you unload some food into the now working freezer. Which looks more like a walk-in cupboard built into the wall, but that’s not surprising for a place this size. You think at least. 

"I told the settlement I went to that I was parking up here," you reply, shrugging a shoulder. "They already knew me since I stayed there for a while before coming up here. They gave me all this so I didn't have to make as frequent trips as I'd otherwise have to." 

"I thought you said they don't come up here fer some reason," Montgomery says, looking over at you with narrowed eyes. Chica, however, perks up with those words. "They really fine with you staying here?" 

"Does that mean you're staying longer?" Chica asks, excited. She leans forward with her hands clasped together, eyes wide. 

"Yeah," you say, looking over at her. "I don't need to make a supply run for at least another month." 

"Yay!" Chica cheers, throwing her hands up in the air. But you look over at Montgomery again to answer his question. 

"Well, it's different with me." You pause with the bag of fries in your hand to think for a second, then gesture to yourself with it. "I'm an outsider. They're friendly with outsiders, sure, but they're not as worried about what I'm doing as they would be with one of their own." 

"So they don't care if you die," Montgomery states, raising an eyebrow. 

"It's not... like that. Not really," you reply, face scrunching up a bit as you turn back to the racks of the freezer and put the fries with the other potatoes. "They're just more concerned with their people. I’m not their responsibility. That's just the attitude of most settlements." 

"Huh." Montgomery just watches you unload the rest of the frozens from the box they were sealed in, arms crossed as he neither helps nor hinders you. Chica hands you another box to go through when the one you were working with is empty, Freddy moving the empty one to the side. 

"What's this?" Roxanne asks, pulling out a big round disk and looking at it critically. 

"Oh! It's for cleaning the floors," you tell her, looking over at the thing yourself. Roxanne looks up at you skeptically, then looks back down at the machine in her hands. "It needs to be set up properly first, but it'll be a lot easier then doing everything by hand." 

"Interesting!" Freddy comments, looking over the thing himself. "Will it be able to clean the whole Pizzaplex?" 

"One room at a time," you grin. "Thought we could start with your rooms though, if you wanted anyway." 

"Oh! Please!" Chica agrees, Roxanne quickly nodding. 

"That would be wonderful," Freddy adds. You give a thumbs up, the bear glancing down at your wrist with the motion. 

"No problem. Once we're done here we can get to that," you tell them. "Could probably leave that cleaner in here to start the kitchen, but take the other stuff with us. It wouldn't be much help right now after-" 

"What happened to your arm?" Freddy asks quickly, noting the bandage around it. You look up at him in confusion, then look down at your arm, which does indeed have bandages wrapped around it. 

"Oh." You blink down at them, then look up at the animatronic again with a bit of an awkward smile. "Oh, that. It's nothing. Don't worry about it!" 

"But you are hurt," Freddy worries, stepping closer. His hand twitches like he wants to grab your arm, but they stay by his sides regardless. 

You don't like how all four are staring at the bandages though. 

"Not anymore," you assure him, waving a hand like you're trying to ward off his worries. "It's already been taken care of. No need to worry about it." 

"Are you sure?" Chica asks, now looking you in the eyes. Like she's looking for any lies. You give her a thumbs up and a smile. 

"Positive." 

The two drop it for now, just helping you sort and put away the food before grabbing the boxes of cleaning supplies and heading towards their rooms. 

"Oh, that one goes to the Daycare!" You tell Montgomery as he sets down one of the boxes. The gator looks up at you with a raised brow, then down at the box again. "Sunny likes cleaning, I got him some stuff to clean with." 

"That was nice of you," Freddy grins, you huffing a bit. You turn to look down Rockstar Row, tilting your head a bit. 

"Okay, so whose room first?" 

"Me!" Chica requests. You nod, glancing down the hall towards her room. 

"Fine by me," you reply, turning to dig in the boxes again. You pull out another cleaner like the one you left in the kitchen, but a bit bigger and taller in size. "For the carpets." 

"If you'd let us, we can help," Freddy states, stepping a bit closer. 

"Sure thing," you reply, setting the cleaner on your hip as you look through more of the box. Freddy grins at that, looking rather pleased. You hand him some cleaners and tell him how to use them before he sets off to do just that. Chica excitedly asks for something to do herself, rushing off once she has her job. 

"I'd like to do my own room," Roxanne demands, setting a hand on her hip. 

"No problem, Roxanne," you reply, looking over at her. You just tell her the things needed to be done, then set her off with some of the cleaning supplies she'll need. "Just ask if you need any help." 

She nods, then walks off towards her room. You just kneel down to mess with the cleaning bot, eyes narrowed as they jump between it and your watch. 

"What're ya doin'?" Montgomery asks, eyeing you. 

"Trying to hook up the cleaning bot to my watch," you reply, fiddling with it for a few minutes until the machine boots up and then buzzes off in the direction of Chica's room. You give a satisfied grin, then stand up again and look over at the gator. "So, you want to do anything?" 

Montgomery looks at you, then the cleaning supplies, before looking back at you. 

"Nah." 

"Alright. Suit yourself," you shrug, grabbing some things yourself before heading into Chica's room yourself. Freddy's working on the window between Chica's room and the hall while Chica herself is cleaning her desk and mirror. You step around the bot methodically cleaning the carpet to start picking up the garbage around the room, which is mostly empty pizza boxes. 

"Woah. That little thing is good," Chica states, looking over at the cleaned trail the bot is leaving in its wake. 

"Yeah. They're pretty powerful little things," you nod, setting the trash bag outside of the room before heading over to clean up the couch and toys scattered about. "They shampoo the carpet too after they pick up the dust and stuff." 

"Wow," Chica states, watching the little thing do its work. You snort when it bumps into her before spinning around a few times and rerouting. 

"Incredibly smart little things too." 

Chica giggles before she turns back to what she was doing, you just methodically scrubbing the dust and grime from the ridiculously comfy feeling couch. An hour or so later, the little cleaning bot makes its way back over to you and starts beeping, announcing it's done with the floors now. 

"Good job," you respond, patting the thing on the top of it. It beeps a couple more times, then whizzes off to do another room with the tap of your watch. Chica and Freddy watch it, looking up from their jobs that were now wiping down walls and cleaning the coffee table. But they quickly go back to what they were doing before. 

It's not long before Chica's room is completely done and the three of you head towards Freddy's room next. Though you pause to glance in at Roxanne, slightly surprised to see Montgomery in there as well. They don't notice you however, so you don't interrupt them seeing as they seem to be doing just fine on their own. 

The cleaning bot beeps as you enter Freddy's room, already a good portion of the way through his carpet. 

"Hello," Freddy greets it, the three of you then getting to work on the same process as you did with Chica's room. The time seems to go by faster with Chica and Freddy talking, you chipping in from time to time as the three of you work. Freddy mainly tells you about some of the drawings up on his wall, since he seems to remember every child that came through here and made him something. 

"You really remember everyone?" You ask, looking over at the bear incredulously. 

"Of course!" Freddy smiles, setting one of his plushies carefully onto the couch. Apparently it was one of the limited edition runs, though you really fail to see what makes it different from a lot of the other plushies. "We all do." 

"Really?" You ask, eyebrows raising as you look over to Chica. 

"Yup!" She chirps, smiling widely. "It was always fun when the same child came again and see their faces light up when they realized we remembered them!" 

"How though?" You ask, leaning against the desk and tilting your head. "There had to be hundreds of people coming in and out." 

"There were guest and employee profiles," Freddy responds. You blink at him, then sigh. 

"Ooooh.... Makes sense, I guess." A.. little creepy that they kept that data, but it was normal back then? You think anyway. Well either way, you don't think they could keep all that data now. The computers it was likely stored on are long gone. 

You do have to wonder how much data is stored in the animatronics themselves though. Looked like a lot from what you saw before. 

_____ 

"Hey, Sun!" You call into the Daycare, dragging the little wagon with the Daycare's cleaning supplies in it. You glance around the colorful place for any sign of the jester, focusing more on the little castle entrance. "I have something for you!" 

Sun actually hasn't come out to greet you yet and it's made you a little bit worried, so you came straight to the Daycare yourself. The other animatronics are still cleaning their rooms, Freddy and Chica assuring you they could handle it themselves while you check on Sun. 

You swear you can nearly hear a "boing" sound effect somewhere behind you, but you can't be sure if you actually did or not.

You glance over to the side, only to have the air nearly knocked out of you from behind you. 

"Friend! You're back!" 

"Hi, Sunny. Good to see you too," you wheeze, patting the jester's arm. He twirls you around to face him, though doesn't let go of you. He instead traps you in another rib crushing hug, nearly squeezing you to death. 

"It's so good to see you too! I was getting worried that something had happened to you for a while there!" Sun rambles, still twirling around with you. "Moony had told me to stop worrying, but I couldn't help it! But I'm so happy you're back!" 

"Yep, I'm back. Don't worry, nothing happened," you assure, eyebrows raised. Your feet aren't even touching the floor right now. "And I brought you something!" 

"Oh, really? What is it?" Sun asks, stopping the little dance he dragged you into. You nod over to the door where your wagon and the box of cleaning supplies was left. 

"It's not that glamorous or anything," you huff as Sun lets you down so you can grab the box and actually bring it into the Daycare. "It's actually just cleaning supplies." 

"Oh! Well, I could always use more of those!" Sun grins, bouncing slightly on his heels as he looks over the supplies you show him. "This place can get so dirty and that's just a big no-no!" 

"Yeah?" You ask, slightly amused as you look back up at him. 

"Of course! The Daycare needs to stay clean for...." Sun trails off, losing a bit of his bounce. Your smile starts to fall, looking over him worriedly. "Well, it needed to stay clean for the kids! So no one got sick!" 

"Oh, of course," you nod. "That makes sense." 

Sun hums, looking over the cleaning supplies once more. His head tilts to the side as he looks over it. 

"I don't recognize these," he notes, looking back over at you. "Where did you get all this?" 

"Oh! Right." You stand up, picking one of the bottles up to show the animatronic. "These are just the.. "brands" that are around today. They're more local specific to the settlements, I suppose. You want me to help you clean up again? I can show you how some of these work." 

"I'd love to, Friend!" Sun replies, the bells around his wrists jingling as he claps. You smile right back at him, digging around the box for some tools and get to work. Sun listens raptly while you talk, following what to do to the letter. It's kind of endearing how focused he is on it, if even cute. But soon he has a good grasp on the cleaning products and the Daycare is sparkling clean. 

"This place looks brand new!" Sun claps with that, you nodding in agreement. He seems proud as he glances around, though you can’t not see the way he slightly droops the longer he looks. 

You're really going to need to figure out a way to help him. Help.... fulfill his caretaker needs or something. But you're not sure how........ Well, it's something to think about. For all of them really.

Chapter Text

"Alright, now that the Daycare is cleaned, how about we give you another bath?" You ask, grinning over at Sun. He tilts his head, glancing down at himself. 

"Do you think I really need another bath?" He asks, looking back up at you. 

"Well, not if you don't want one. But I could get more stains and the tougher grime out that just water couldn't deal with," you explain, shrugging a shoulder. Sun hums, tilting his head back and forth a bit. 

"Alright! I suppose it wouldn't hurt," he decides, rocking on his feet a bit. You nod, going to grab a rag and some of the cleaning products you know will work for his body. 

"Okay, let's get to it then." 

Sun sits down, watching you set out the stuff by him. You shrug off your sweater, tossing it onto the security desk before head back over to him. 

"Hold on!" Sun suddenly shrieks, making you jump nearly a foot in the air. "What's this ?" 

He grabs your arm, inspecting the bandages around it. You blink at him in surprise, more than a little startled. 

"Oh, it's nothing! Don't worry about it!" You wave off, Sun staring right at you. His hand slides down a bit, tightening around your wrist. "Just a little accident, nothing to worry about! It's already been taken care of and everything." 

"..... Really?" Sun asks, the fingers of his other hand trailing over the bandages. As if inspecting them. 

"Yeah! It wasn't that big or anything serious!" You reply, shrugging a shoulder. You hope it didn't look as awkward as it felt. 

What's with these animatronics and jumping on injuries like this? 

"Hmm?" Sun just tilts his head, unnervingly still. 

"Anyway, let's get to that bath, yeah?" You offer, glancing down at the hand holding onto you. 

"Mmm, alright! But if you need help changing the bandages, just let me know!" Sun replies, finally letting go of the grip on your arm. He just seems to spring back to his regular self, or at least the regular way he acts. "We know how to wrap them! And clean wounds!" 

"Really?" You ask, spraying the cloth with the cleaner. 

Guess it makes sense. They were a Daycare Attendant and this Daycare doesn't always seem the safest. Generators in the play structures and all. 

"Of course!" Sun smiles, letting you get to cleaning him up once again. "We were given proper first aid care in case anyone got hurt. You should've told me you were injured though. I would've put off cleaning the Daycare! All that movement could've unwound the bandages, you know!" 

"It's fine, Sun. Really!" You sigh, shaking your head. Sun just hums, seeming unconvinced. You pat his hand, grinning a bit more. 

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Sun asks. 

"Don't worry about it," you reply, scrubbing at a particularly stubborn grime that you couldn't get off last time. Like sticker residue or something. 

Sun just hums again, a finger tapping against his pant leg. He doesn't ask many more questions as you scrub down his plating and get rid of anything the water couldn't get rid of itself. After that, you wash him again with just water to remove any lingering cleaning products. 

He looks a lot shinier now, even if it did seem like the cleaning products may have chipped the paint in some places. They must have used cheaper sealant or paint, since the cleaners aren't usually strong enough to do that. Even with older models like him. Weird. 

"There. How's that?" You ask, stepping back. Sun stands once more, twirling a bit. 

"Why, I look practically brand new! Thank you, Starlight!" Sun grins, spinning to face you again. 

"No problem, Sunshine," you chuckle, waving a hand a bit. You put the cleaners away, stretching your wrist out with a grimace. 

Alright, maybe you have over done it a bit. 

"Are you alright?" Sun asks, leaning a bit closer as he watches you carefully rub the bandages over your arm. 

"Oh, yeah!" You wave him off, smiling pleasantly. Though you look at your watch, letting out a sigh. "I should probably get going though! It's getting late, I need to get ready for bed." 

It looks like you need to change your bandages actually, but it is getting close to bedtime too. 

You tug your sweater back on, covering the bandages once more. 

"Alright, Friend! Come again soon!" Sun replies, walking with you to the doors. 

"I will," you promise, smiling at the jester. "See you later, Sun." 

_____ 

Sun shuts the Daycare's doors behind you, head tilting to the side again. He turns sharply and heads up for his room, pausing by the light switch. 

"Moonie," Sun speaks up, quietly. The said jester hums in question. "Do you think you could....?" 

Moon's quiet for a few minutes, then agrees hesitantly. But that's good enough for Sun, the brighter animatronic switching the lights off and letting the darker out. 

Moon stretches first, head tilting side to side. But then he heads to where he knows a vent is, crawling into it and heading in the direction of the main atrium. But considering he doesn't spot you anywhere in there or in Gator Golf, he decides to check elsewhere. 

Your backpack is missing though. 

The lights are considerably dim out here, Moon hesitantly crawling out of the vent and finding it's dark enough for him to stay out without turning into Sun again. So he calls his wire down to go a bit faster than he can on foot. 

The others are all in Roxy's room, for some reason. Cleaning it looks like. Though Roxy doesn't look too happy about it, but he doesn't see you in there. So he quickly moves on. 

This would be a lot easier if the cameras were still working, but like everything else they're not. Unfortunately. 

Moon peaks into a bathroom, perking up at the grumbled grievances and rushing water coming from inside. 

There you are. 

Moon crawls in, making sure the door shuts quietly enough for you not to notice it. He stays on the ceiling, staying in the darker corners since the lights are on. It makes it a bit harder to move around, but he is able to maneuver himself into a position where he can take a peek at what you're doing. Despite Sun yelling at him about not watching you while in the bathroom . 

He quiets quickly enough though. 

You're standing in front of the sinks, a med kit on the sink beside the one you're in front of. Your sweater and shirt have been discarded on the floor, leaving your stomach and arms on full display. He's able to see a patch on your side as well and a few nasty looking bruises, most of the injuries seem focused around your torso for some reason. Though you're currently focused on your arm. 

The bandages that were there are gone.

"Ow," you hiss, face scrunching up as you dab at the long cuts along your arm. It... looks like something really got you there, it looks painful. Kind of... like big claw marks by the shape of them. The cuts are stitched closed too, but still an angry red color. There's also some bruising decorating it too, dark purples and blacks with splotches of red. "Damn hunters and their ambush programming ..... and the fucking people .... I swear to the stars I'm gonna.." 

Your speech turns into incomprehensible grumbled gibberish. Moon twitches at the language and his first aid protocols kicking in at the sight of the wounds, but thankfully is able to cut his voice box before saying anything about it. He digs his fingers into the wall a bit too, just to keep himself rooted in place. 

Sun starts screeching again in their mind, Moon not paying any attention to it as he watches you wrap up your arm again. You're still grumbling in annoyance under your breath, glaring at your arm like that'll immediately heal it. 

Looks like you did properly take care of it. 

You then turn your attention to the patch on your side, looking to contemplate that for a bit before you peel it off and toss that into the garbage. Moon can see the red covering it though. 

"Oh, dammit," you mutter, grabbing a towel and placing it under the water. "I really must've overdone it today........ Sorry about your work, Dr. Anderson." 

You wipe blood away from the wound on your side. It's thinner and smaller than the one on your arm, but still looked like it was stitched closed. But those stitches tore a bit by the looks of it, probably from everything you were doing today. 

Idiot. 

Moon sends a message to the other bots, warning them to not let you do any heavy lifting or a whole lot of moving around. He gets a few confused messages back, but ignores them in favor of watching you redress your wound. 

Why wouldn't you tell Sun, and presumably the others, about these? They're cared for, yes, but still look fresh and rather tender. Not something you should be working with, definitely not a bunch of moving around like you've been doing today. That'll just exacerbate them even more, prolonging the healing time and maybe even making them worse. 

And what was that about Hunters and their... ambush programming? 

You sigh at your reflection, looking rather annoyed and upset. But Moon backs off as you start to undress completely, into a spot where he can no longer see you at all. 

You still grumble, much like Sun is still screeching. He's rather upset by what they saw, wondering what the hell happened and where you got those wounds. 

Sun wonders for a moment if Monty did them, though Moon reminds him about what you said earlier about "Hunters." Plus by the sounds of it, Monty is always around the others with you. Freddy and Chica wouldn't let him attack you at the very least. Along with Monty not being dumb enough to attack the one human that's willing to repair them and holds their lives in her hands. Monty may not be that bright, but he's not that stupid. 

Sun grumbles, but agrees. Still rather unhappy about being left in the dark about this. Moon just passively agrees with him. 

Moon only exits the bathroom after you do, following along as you tell the others you're going to bed. All four then follow you, Moon able to see them eyeing you. They don't stop until you're curled up in your makeshift bed in Gator Golf. Roxy, Monty, and Chica go off to do something else while Freddy stays behind. Moon stays up on the catwalks for a while too.

Maybe.. maybe they'll have to keep a bit closer eye on you. 

_____ 

You're not sure what got the others in a tizzy, but they are being rather overbearing. At least one is with you wherever you go in the plex, swooping in when you try to lift anything. Or just simply redirecting to somewhere else when you try to do much of anything. 

Whenever you speak up about it, they completely avoid the topic or, in Montgomery or Roxanne's cases, just grumble something about not getting hurt further. 

Your injury may be what's causing it, but they didn't seem all too upset about you carrying things before . And they don't even know the extent of the injuries! 

You don't like it and have no idea what's gotten into them. 

"Really, Freddy. I can carry that myself," you comment, looking pointedly from the bear to the box in his arms. 

"I am aware," he nods, then gives you a brilliant smile. "But I would like to help! And it is much easier for me than it would be for you." 

"Uh huh," you grunt, eyeing the bear suspiciously. He just hums, continuing the trek to the closet you've been storing things in. Mostly miscellaneous things that don't need to be out or are getting in the way. Old party decorations and the like. You've maybe stuffed some STAFF bots in there as well. 

"I hope you do not mind, but Chica has been very excited to show you one of our performances," Freddy mentions, setting the box next to the others. 

"Yeah?" You ask, eyes glancing over everything in the closet. 

"Yes! We were all hoping you would come watch us," Freddy requests, looking back at you hopefully. His ears wiggle a bit, hands coming to clasp together in front of himself. 

"Yeah, sure," you agree, nodding. "Sounds like fun." 

"Wonderful!" Freddy beams, gently taking your hand to lead you back towards the atrium. "I can not wait to hear what you think of our shows!" 

"Do you guys like performing?" You ask curiously, looking up at the bear. His ears wiggle a bit again, him pausing and staring at you as if he's never heard that question before. But then he hums, apparently thinking about it for a minute. 

"I do like performing. It is... quite fun and exhilarating! Everyone who came to watch looked very happy to see us as well, which I greatly enjoyed too," he decides, nodding a bit. "I am unaware of how the others feel about it, but I believe they do! They always looked very happy." 

You nod with a hum, tilting your head to the side a bit. 

Chica waves enthusiastically as you both enter the atrium, Montgomery and Roxanne looking up as she does. Chica sets the guitar she was holding onto the stage, then runs over to greet the both of you. 

"Hi! I'm so, so glad you're going to watch us perform!" Chica squeals, clutching your hands in hers. "It probably won't be as cool as our old show since the stage isn't working as it should and the screens aren't either, but that's okay since we still have our instruments!" 

"The stage?" You ask, Chica pulling you over to the said platform. 

"Yes! It used to be an elevator. It would take us up to the stage to start our performance and take us back down afterwards," Freddy explains, motioning to the middle of the stage. 

"There were also platforms that would rise up from it!" Chica adds, bouncing on her heels. "Monty and Roxy were usually on those!" 

"Huh," you reply, looking over the stage curiously. "That sounds cool." 

You doubt either of those functions would work nowadays without some big replacement parts. Or just reconstructing them entirely. You'd have to go down and look to be sure though, but you don't think you want to anytime soon. You've still got the big guy in the arcade and the animatronics in front of you to take care of first. 

"It was," Freddy agrees, grinning happily. 

"We going to play or not?" Roxanne asks, tapping her claws against the neck of her instrument. 

"Oh! Yes, of course," Freddy replies, him and Chica climbing up onto the stage. Though Freddy looks back at you, grin falling just a bit. "You may want to sit a bit farther back. These shows can get a bit loud." 

You nod, moving back to your usual work station more in the middle of the atrium. You turn in the seat to face the four animatronics getting settled. They soon start playing their instrument, and in Freddy's case singing, and you find yourself nodding along. 

The song is incredibly cheesy and sounds nothing like the music you're used to, but it's not really bad. Very kid friendly, which makes sense since they were made for kids, and not something likely to get a whole lot of attention today. Likely only the novelty of robot performers would get people tuning in. You enjoy it regardless though, mainly for the beat. 

The four on the stage look like they're having a blast though. Jumping around, interacting with each other (Freddy and Montgomery seem to have some sort of playful rivalry going on), and absolutely shredding on their instruments. They really do seem to enjoy what they're doing, which it's good to see on them. They look happy. 

Maybe.... maybe they could do something with this? A way to continue to perform and entertain people as they did before, if slightly altered for safety reasons? If it's something they want, you suppose you could probably find some way to do it. If it gave them something to do, and made them happy, it'd be worth it. 

They sound good enough that a few people would probably tune in to listen, though you could probably give them more free reign over what they play. Maybe some updated and adult themed songs, if they wanted. Could potentially be a good idea. 

They could probably use a drummer though.

Chapter Text

It takes a while, but soon you get most of the Pizzaplex cleaned up. Well, a while is correct but it's more like it takes two weeks to get the place cleaned up. And that's only because the animatronics decided cleaning was what they were going to do while you slept, for some reason. You're guessing they just get really bored waiting for you to wake up or something, or were just continuing their crusade of not letting you do anything even a little strenuous. But either way, the place is pretty nice and shiny looking again. Well, all except the service tunnels anyway.

And now, the parts are coming in. 

"Finally!" You breathe a sigh of relief. 

"What are you saying that for?" Montgomery asks, raising a brow as he watches you drop back onto Freddy's couch. The four bots and you are currently lounging around in the bear's room, though you're not sure why. You just found all four of them in there and joined. 

"I got a call saying the stuff I ordered while in town is here," you reply, looking over at the gator. 

"What stuff?" Roxanne asks, looking over at you from the chair in front of the vanity. 

"Like the stuff to fix your casings and some parts to fix up one of those vans," you tell her, then groan. "Aw shit. I forgot about the big spider dude, I'll have to see if he's going to need any replacement parts." 

"Please watch your language while inside the Pizzaplex," Freddy recites like a script, then blinks and clears his throat. You snort, looking up at the bear sitting next to you in amusement. 

"Does that mean you're leaving again soon?" Chica asks, disappointed. You don't notice Montgomery or Roxanne tensing up with that question, nor the way Freddy's ears nearly go back against his casing. 

"Nope," you reply, stretching your arms out. "Got someone willing to deliver here because of the heavy machinery." 

"Really?" Chica asks, perking right back up. 

"Yeah. Was really surprised he offered it," you shrug, looking back over at her. "Guess he doesn't put much stock in the rumors or me coming back was enough to relax him or something." 

"Who is it?" Freddy asks, tilting his head curiously. 

"The old mechanic of the settlement. I stayed with him for a while and studied as his apprentice." You look back up at the ceiling, letting out a puff of air. "Grumpy old man, no nonsense type. But he's still kind." 

"He sounds... nice," Freddy nods. There's a short pause. "And he is coming here?" 

"Yep, sure is," you reply. "Once one of those vans are up and running, it'll be a lot easier to run into town and get stuff." 

"Would we be able to come with you then?" Chica asks, again very hopeful about that prospect. You pause, considering it for a few seconds. 

"Maybe. But not everyone would be able to come every time," you state, drumming your fingers against your stomach in thought. "One of you would be enough to give some of the people in town a heart attack, but all of you would just kill everyone." 

"Why would they be so scared of us?" Montgomery huffs, looking over you skeptically. You hum, thinking about it for a moment. 

"Well, we haven't really developed animatronics with your level of intelligence yet. I don't know what kind of black magic Fazbear Entertainment used to create you all, but it's incredible. That alone would scare some people," you note, looking over them again. Roxanne preens a bit with that. "But it's also that... they'd know you came from the Pizzaplex and the people in the neighboring settlements are really scared of this place." 

The four animatronics look a bit surprised and confused. 

"But why? What makes this place so scary to them?" Chica asks, tilting her head. 

"I'm not sure. There's a lot of rumors, though most of them seem passed down from older generations. There's some stories too, I remember," you hum, looking up at the ceiling. "There's the rumor that anyone who enters the place is never seen again and that people who had once settled closer would hear weird sounds coming from the building. Screeching and screaming and all kinds of spooky things. Apparently some of the kids from those settlers went missing too, were stolen in the night by some big creatures or something. Supposedly the animatronics, or you guys, but judging by the states I found you in, I’m guessing that was just an assumption made and not what actually happened. 

“There's also rumors of it being haunted. Then the story of people actually trying to make a settlement of the building only for all of them to disappear or something.... Just all kinds of things." 

You hum again, eyes narrowing slightly. Then you turn to look at the animatronics again, eyebrow raised. 

"None of this has been proven. They're just stories, but people can be pretty superstitious sometimes," you shrug, looking back up at the ceiling. 

"That is... strange," Freddy comments. You just hum in agreement. 

"Well, what could we do so we could go with you and not upset anyone?" Chica asks, tilting her head. 

"Well.... I guess just.. new casings?" Your eyebrows furrow a bit in thought. 

"That doesn't sound all that hard," Roxanne huffs, looking at you again. 

"Oh! Like human designs like you mentioned before?" Chica asks, leaning a bit more towards you. You nod, thinking about it. 

"Yeah, like human designs, I guess," you agree, looking back over at her. "But it's not really that simple." 

"Why wouldn't it be?" Roxanne asks, raising an eyebrow at you. You sit up, leaning back into the cushion. You tap a finger against your knee, thinking about it for a few seconds. 

"First, it'd be a lot of money. To order the parts and the customization and everything. Second of all... I don't know if it'd work," you frown, looking over the four. "You'd need entirely new endos that go with the outer layers. It's not.. just casings. The casings are part of the endos too. I don't know how you'd make the switch really or even if your older parts would even be able to work with the newer stuff, especially without... deleting you? Or whatever makes you.. you. Ya know?" 

"Oh," Roxanne replies. 

"Yeah," you grimace. "We can..... try it if you guys really want to, but I don't know how safe it would be for you. Or if it would even work." 

"We will have to think on that," Freddy decides, you nodding. 

"Fair enough." 

_____

"Eh, I'm outside. Come out and get your shit." 

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Hold onto your horses, Grandpa." You duck under the shutter Freddy has opened for you, snorting at the noise of offense you're given. 

"I ain't that old yet, Brat." 

You laugh, looking up at the man standing beside the van parked outside of the Pizzaplex. His eyes dart to you as you walk up to him, glaring at your smile of amusement. 

"Heya, Bart. Good to see you again," you greet, the said man grunting. 

"Yeah, yeah. Take your stuff so I can get outta here. This place gives me the creeps," Bart grumbles, making you huff with your hands on your hips. 

"It's not that bad. It's actually a great place to hold up in," you reply, moving around to the back. Bart just grunts, looking over you skeptically. 

"Right, right." 

There's a couple of boxes stacked up in the back, you pull out some and load them into the wagon. 

"The garage should be open if you want to take this stuff back there," you nod, glancing over the car parts. Bart grunts, glancing over the building skeptically. 

"And where would the garage be?" 

"Around back. The only spot that's open. You don't have to go in or anything, just park in the opening," you tell him, the old mechanic nodding. 

"Sure thing, Kid," he replies dryly, hopping into the driver's seat again. You bring the wagon inside, which Freddy takes from you as you run over to the garage parking lot. Roxanne and Chica are already inside, watching the van come to a stop. 

"Hey, girls," you greet, moving past the two. 

"Hiya!" Chica replies, Roxanne just grunting. You open up the back of the van again, Roxanne coming over to peer inside. 

"Good lord, what is that?!" Bart shrieks, stumbling back away from the wolf. Her ears go back as she looks up at him, you glancing over your shoulder. 

"Oh! This is Roxanne," you introduce, motioning to the animatronic. 

"Is that what you've been doing up here this whole time? Messing with these things?" Bart grunts, eyes jumping over to Chica as she shifts in place. 

"They're fine, Bart," you reply, patting Roxanne's arm. "Promise. No need to get so upset, you'll upset them." 

"Robots don't have feelings," Bart states, looking at you unamused. 

"These ones do," you reply, stepping back so Roxanne can take the heavy parts out of the man's van already. Chica comes over to help, looking at the mechanic warily for a second. 

"Yeah, sure they do," Bart scoffs, eyeing the two. 

"You're doubting me?" You ask, raising an eyebrow at the man. Roxanne and Chica glance between you and him, already finished hauling the parts to the side. 

"Yup," said old man replies, slamming the back of his van's doors closed. He looks over at the two animatronics skeptically, pointing at them. He then eyes the way the two step closer to you, Chica even placing a hand on your shoulder. "There's no way those freaky things can emulate emotions. Not on their own at least." 

"They're not haunted," you reply, rolling your eyes. Chica tilts her head, Roxanne looking between the two of you with a raised eyebrow. "Those rumors aren't true and you know it. AND these guys are not freaky, they're adorable . Thank you very much." 

Chica holds her cheeks like she's blushing while Roxanne makes a noise of complaint, spinning around so you can't see her face. 

"Whatever you say, Kid," Bart huffs, climbing back into his van. "Call if ya need any help with the van." 

"Sure thing. See ya, Old Man," you reply, waving as he pulls out. Though you snort when he flips you off as he's leaving. 

"I am not adorable," Roxanne comments, crossing her arms. You grin, raising your hands in surrender. 

"Sorry. You're beautiful," you correct, Roxanne making some kind of noise in her voice box in response. Your cheeky grin gets you a glare from the wolf. "Is that better?" 

She just grumbles incoherently, though you can't help but notice how she preens a bit at that. 

"What do you mean when you said we're not haunted?" Chica asks, looking over you curiously. You wave the question off, coming to look over the parts for the van. 

"It's just one of the many rumors circulating about this place," you dismiss, then send an apologetic look to them. "Sorry about Bart. That's unfortunately.. a common reaction when bringing up this place... and you guys." 

"It's fine. Not like we're not used to it," Roxanne grumbles, turning to you again. Your frown deepens, looking over the two for a moment. 

"Doesn't mean it's okay or doesn't hurt," you reply, your eyebrows furrowing. 

"You don't have to worry about us! Really!" Chica chirps, hugging you tightly. "It's so nice of you though!" 

"Chica, I have made it my job to worry about you guys," you sigh, smiling slightly. The two blink at you. "So I'm gonna worry regardless." 

You look back at the vehicle parts that were delivered, kneeling down to examine them a bit closer. Roxanne and Chica stare at you for another long moment before sharing a look with each other. 

"Well, all looks good," you mumble, mostly talking to yourself. "I'll have to get to work on one of the vans later. I should go check that the rest of the stuff I ordered is all here." 

"You mean the stuff you got for our casings, right?" Chica asks, watching as you stand and head back into the Pizzaplex. 

"Yup!" 

"Are you going to start work on that soon?" Roxanne asks, rubbing a hand over her arm. 

"As soon as you'd like," you reply, giving the wolf a thumbs up. She nods, the two just following you back to where Freddy's waiting in the atrium with Montgomery. The two look up as the three of you approach, you immediately grabbing one of the boxes and digging into it. 

The four bots watch as you pull out different things and examine them before setting them onto the table in different piles. Though from the grin on your face, they think whatever you've gotten is good. 

"Everything's here!" You announce, picking up a block of something wrapped tight in some sort of plastic or something like it at least. You hold it out to show the four, still grinning. "This'll seal those cracks up nicely. Maybe make the casings a bit more durable in the long run too!" 

"Will you paint over it, afterwards?" Freddy asks, looking back up at you. "This does not exactly match our casings." 

"Of course," you grin, setting the block down onto the table again. You shift your attention to some bottles, twisting one around to look at the label. "I've got the paint to do so, though it might take a bit of mixing to get the right colors. This stuff is industrial grade too, so it's resistant to chipping and dulling. Or it is with the sealant anyway." 

"I've never heard of paint like that," Roxanne comments, crossing her arms. 

"Advancements, Baby. Scientists figured out the right concoction and put it out there. Less resources have to be used for patch jobs without needing to sacrifice artistry. Plus, this stuff is completely safe too, which means if some kids get ahold of it they're not going to get poisoned if they eat it," you shrug, the four blinking at you in surprise. "I doubt it'd taste very good, but kids can be incredibly dumb. But there are scents that can be added to make it smell a certain way, so I guess I can't fault them too much when this can smell like cookies or cake." 

"Wait, we can smell like cookies or cake?" Chica asks, very excited about that prospect. You snort, looking over at her with a wide grin. 

"Yeah. You want to?" You ask, your eyes sparkling a bit. 

" Yes !" Chica squeals. You laugh, looking genuinely amused. 

"Alright. I can do that," you reply, then look over at the others. "Any of you have any requests?" 

"Well.. what else is there?" Freddy asks curiously, tilting his head to the side a bit. 

"Come over here and we can look through the options," you smile, turning to your computer. The four step closer, peering over your shoulder in curiosity as you load the website. 

You glance back at them, your grin softening just a bit. 

Their curious looks are so cute.

Chapter Text

You step into the Lucky Stars Gift Shop to glance around, moving to the side as your little cleaning bot beeps at you in offense. You whisper an apology for getting in its way, going around to check out the merchandise in a discarded mess on the shelves. 

You pick up a plushie of Moon, brushing some dust off it (which is immediately picked up by the cleaner bot). You turn and right the dolls on the shelves so they're sitting up like they're supposed to. 

You suppose that the others didn't come and clean in here, even if your little cleaning bot is dutifully making sure it gets every lick of grime on the floor it can. Maybe you'll be able to coax Sunny out to do it with you. 

You glance through the racks of clothing, all supporting the "Superstar Daycare" logo with cartoonish versions of Sun and Moon on it. They bring a grin to your face, picking up one of the sweaters to look over. 

Well, you have to give it to Fazbear Entertainment for making some cute merchandise. Even if the prices were outrageous. Gotta squeeze every penny out of parents they could, you suppose. 

Well, jokes on them. You get all of this stuff for free, so ha . 

You set the sweater back onto the rack for later, going to explore the store a bit more. You find some stuff that didn't make it to the front before the place closed down, one of those things being themed thigh high socks . 

It draws a laugh out of you, looking over the clothing in genuine amusement. 

Were there adults that liked the Daycare Attendants enough to warrant these? You don't know any parents that would let their toddlers or children wear thigh high socks . Plus these are definitely for adults, the kiddie socks (which are not thigh high) are in another box. 

You suppose there are adult sized sweaters and stuff, so socks aren't much of a surprise. You definitely like them anyway, you'll wear them. You wonder if the other gift shop had pairs themed for the other animatronics? 

"I'm going to be a walking advertisement for this place," you laugh, looking through the box for a pair that'll fit you. "Ah well. New clothes are always fun." 

You find the pair you were looking for, breaking them out of their confinements and slipping them on. This pair definitely fits, you grinning as you twist yourself around to get a good look at them. 

They're mismatching. One is a striped yellow and red like Sun's pants while the other is a pretty shade of blue with yellow stars, like Moon's pants are always depicted as. There's also red ribbons tied into bows on the outer sides, and little bells sewn onto the middle of the bows. They're snuggly fitting as well, and feel like nice quality too surprisingly. Though the sweaters you've been wearing have felt really soft and nice too, so you guess it's not that surprising. 

They're really cute. You like them, though you should probably alter them a bit so you can remove the bows and bells for washing.

You hum, going to look through more of the boxes. You find some for the candy advertised all over the Daycare, though they're wildly out of date unsurprisingly. Though with the packages here, you could possibly try to recreate them. The packaging has all the ingredients listed on them. Might be fun to try. 

There's more apparel like t-shirts and stuff, toys, backpacks, and collectables. Mostly child-oriented and sizes, but there's some things for adults too. You pick out some of the adult sized apparel for yourself to try on later. 

"Oooo! Sweater dresses?" You gasp, looking through one of the last boxes. You find one in your size and slip it on, grinning widely as you check it out.

It's in the typical style for most of the apparel in this shop. A sky blue with the "Superstar Daycare" logo prominently on the chest. The cartoony heads of Sun and Moon with the logo, smiling brightly at anyone looking towards them. The color fades to a darker blue towards the bottom of the dress, clouds and stars decorating it.  It's simple looking, but cute! 

"I like this," you grin, twirling a bit with a chuckle. 

You should probably go do what you came into the Daycare area for in the first place though, which is to see Sun. 

You set the clothes you've gathered for yourself onto the counter, leaving them there for now to get later. Then you head over to the Daycare's door and poke your head in. You don't see the jester anywhere in sight, like usually. So you step into the area and call out for him. 

The Daycare's doors close behind you, echoing softly throughout the empty room. You can hear faint jingling though, making your eyes jump to the castle decoration in time to see Sun jumping from it. It makes your heart leap into your throat despite knowing the animatronic jester is fully capable of handling the height. 

You don't get too much more time to think about it before the Daycare Attendant is on you and spinning you around like he often wants to do. 

"Starlight! It's so good to see you back!" He states, then sets you on your feet again. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon! But I'm glad-" 

Sun goes still, staring at you. You wait for a few seconds, then pat his back in an attempt to get him to put you down. He does, surprisingly, though still stares at you. 

"Do... I have something on my face or...?" You ask, chuckling incredulously at the end. 

What has him....? Oh! OH! 

"Like my outfit?" You ask with a chuckle, spinning to let him see the full thing. The bells on your socks jingle softly, you grinning up at the animatronic in amusement. 

He lets out a whining flustered noise, hands rising to his faceplate with your mischievous grin. You just laugh, seeming to increase his embarrassment if the way he spins his torso all the way around is any indication. You laugh a bit louder, then try to stifle your chuckles. 

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" You apologize, trying to face him again. Though he just corrects his torso to continue not facing you. You grin a bit more again, injecting a bit of a singing tone into your voice. "Sunny... Sunshine... Come on. I'm sorry for teasing you." 

"Nnngh. I didn't know they had those!" Sun finally speaks up, peaking through his fingers. You hum, looking down at the sweater and socks. 

"It seems like they never reached the shelves. They were still in the shipping boxes," you explain, shrugging a bit. Your grin widens still, showing both off with another spin. "I really like them though! Cute, don't you think?" 

Sun remains quiet for a few seconds, letting his hands drop back to his sides. He's still for those few seconds, but then quickly becomes animated again. 

"Definitely! Very cute!" He replies, bouncing on his feet a bit. Your smile becomes softer, but then you're bouncing a bit. 

"I did come here for a few reasons!" You announce, Sun looking curious at that. You motion him to travel deeper into the Daycare, the animatronic doing so. "Sit, sit! This may take a little bit." 

"Alrighty!" Sun spins into sitting on the ground, making you giggle a bit. He puffs up with that, though promptly loses that puff when you seat yourself right in his lap with your computer on yours. 

"I've got something to show you! Or something for you to pick out. Well, you and Moon," you explain, pulling up the browser on your computer. Sun's hands hover awkwardly at your sides for a full minute before he hesitantly places them on your hips. You just lean back into him a bit more, which seems to raise his confidence enough to fully wrap his arms around your stomach. 

"What do you have to ask us?" Sun asks, voice sounding just a little choked. 

"The supplies to fix everyone's casings came in, but there's been a little bit of a change in plans. The others found out you can mix in custom scents with the paint, so they wanted to do that. So, I came to ask which scents you and Moon would like in the paint for you guys, or if you'd like no smells mixed in," you explain, the page for the options coming up. 

"You're... going to give us a new paint job too?" Sun asks, actually sounding surprised by that. You look up at him with a raised eyebrow. 

"Of course!" You smile, Sun's rays spinning a bit with that revelation. "Your casing could use some TLC too, Honey. You'll be looking just as brand new and pretty as the others when I'm done." 

Sun lets out another little flustered noise with that, faceplate tilting down to hide behind your head. His arms tighten around you, though you pat them to get his attention back on the screen. 

"We'll look through these and see what you like. Just say if anything pops out, and let Moon know too please!" You request, Sun humming in response as you scroll through the options with him. 

"Gosh, I don't know what to pick! These all look so interesting!" Sun comments, you chuckling at that. "What do you think would be a good idea? We don't really know what any of these smell like!" 

"Can you smell?" You ask, looking back at him. 

"Nope!" Sun replies, happy as ever. 

"Ah. Well.... Hmm." You look through the options again in thought, tilting your head a bit. "We could... make you smell like your candies." 

"Oh! That sounds like fun!" Sun replies, swaying a bit. "Have you tried any?" 

"All the candy here is wildly out of date, Sunny," you chuckle, looking up at him again. "But.. we could try to make some later?" 

"I'd love to!" Sun grins, hugging you a bit tighter. You hum, scrolling through the options. You add a combination of lemon candy/cake scent to the yellow shades that match Sun's paint. 

"Has Moon picked anything out?" You ask, looking back up at the jester. Sun stills for a few minutes, then looks back down at you. 

"He's alright with his candy's taste too," Sun replies, tapping a finger against your stomach. You hum in acknowledgement, adding a lavender and blueberry scent to the mix as well. 

Now you just need to figure out what you're going to do for the big guy. But you could probably wait until he's up and running again for the cosmetic things. So, you set your computer to the side and shift until you're sideways on Sun's lap. You grin up at him, leaning into his arm a little more. 

"Now... I have a little favor to ask," you request, looking at him questioningly. 

"Anything, Friend!" Sun agrees, making you snort. 

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask though," you state, raising an eyebrow at him. 

"Doesn't matter!" He replies, squeezing you a bit. "I'd do anything you ask of me!" 

"You should wait to hear what's asked of you before agreeing to it," you advise, pointing at him. He just hums, tilting his head a bit. "What I wanted to ask of you is.... to please come out of the Daycare for a bit?" 

Sun goes rigid, staring down at you. 

"Not! Not right now," you assure him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I have a bit of a surprise I'm hopefully going to be doing tomorrow if all goes well and.. I'd like you to join us." 

"And... I have to leave the Daycare for it?" Sun asks, voice small. 

"Yeah.... You'll be with me and the others the whole time though," you add, rubbing his arm softly. Sun remains silent for another long minute. "And remember... you're allowed to leave the Daycare now. You're not going to get in trouble for it or anything, I promise." 

Sun makes a sort of whining noise, head tilting to the side as he stares at you. 

".... Okay," he decides, voice coming out slowly and hesitantly. "I'll come!" 

"You will?" You ask, lighting up a bit more. Sun nods, you grinning widely. You wrap your arms around his neck in a hug, Sun freezing for a second before hugging you back. 

"Great! I'm happy you agreed!" You smile at him, Sun humming nervously as his fingers dig into your sweater. You pat his back gently. "It'll be okay, I promise. Hopefully it will be fun too." 

"What are we doing?" Sun asks curiously, you pulling back just enough to give him an amused look. 

"Just telling you would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?" You reply, leaning back until his arms catch you. Sun hums, tapping a finger against your back. 

"I suppose it would!" He continues tapping your back, head tilting as he considers something. "... The lights will stay on.. wont they?" 

"Yeah. Moon doesn't have to join or come out if he doesn't want to," you assure him, his shoulders slumping a bit. "You'll be free to leave and come back to the Daycare whenever you'd like." 

"Alright!" Sun agrees, fiddling with your clothes a bit more. "... Would you... Can you stay for another sleepover?" 

"If you'd like, sure," you easily agree, making Sun perk up even more. 

You sure hope everyone likes your surprise tomorrow. 

_____ 

Sun looks down at you, still asleep in his lap. 

Gosh, he wasn't expecting you to sit in his lap! The kids would do it all the time, but an adult never has. Granted, adults never seemed to like being around him to begin with but that's besides the point! 

You never asked to leave either and had no problem when he'd pull you back onto his lap either! Even as you both did things before you fell asleep. Mostly arts and crafts, Sun taking the table in front of you both while you just used your computer. Which came apart, surprising him! You only drew on the screen part, occasionally tapping the keyboard for something. 

He ended up watching what you're doing more than working on his own project. 

Surprising him even more, is that you were drawing him . Well, kind of. It was definitely him though not as he is now. You just grinned mischievously when he asked about it, so he's guessing you're planning another surprise. Or maybe it has to do with tomorrow's surprise! He's not sure. 

Either way, you're full of surprises. So surprising! So surprising! 

It’s so… thrilling and nerve wrecking at the same time. He can never quite tell if he loves it or hates it sometimes. But… he… He definitely likes having you around. You’re so… so…

' Sunny, calm down a bit. You're overworking our fans, ' Moon hisses in their head. 

"Sorry! I just... She's so nice ," Sun whispers, hand coming up to his cheek. Moon just grumbles, releasing what sounds like a hissed sigh. 

Sun ignores him though, focusing more on your even breathing. Sun knows Moon's content with seeing you asleep like this, and that he even likes it a bit. Maybe it’s just his bedtime protocols being satiated or maybe he just likes the peaceful look on your face when you’re sleeping. He’s not telling Sun either way and Sun can never quite tell, especially when Moon doesn’t want him to know. 

But still. You’re curled up in their lap with a blanket over you, head tucked close with a pillow underneath it. Though it’s partially head up by his arm, since you are a little big to be laying in their lap. Only slightly though. It’s… very reminiscent of a long time ago when children came in and stayed for naptime……..

You're so nice. They’re so happy you’re here.

Chapter Text

"So what's this surprise?" Monty asks, bumping you in the shoulder with his snout. You huff at him, pushing him away with your hand. 

"Be patient," you snort, turning to continue putting on your boots. You look kind of upset with how much of your Sun and Moon socks they cover, but you continue on anyway. Full of energy and nearly bursting at the seams with excitement. "I have to go check out a few things first, then we'll get to it!" 

"I don't wanna wait," Monty huffs, crossing his arms. The five present animatronics tense up as they watch you tie a generic orange and blue Fazbear’s jacket around your waist, mostly obscuring the Mazercise gym shorts you slipped on. 

It looks like you're getting ready to leave . 

"It'll only take a few seconds," you reply, placing your hands on your hips as you look over at them. "Like I said, I just have to go make sure of a few things, then I'll come back and we'll get you that surprise." 

Sun whines, leaning forward to grab your arm. 

"You're not leaving are you?" He asks, grip tightening. 

"No, no.... Well, for a few seconds, but I'm coming right back," you assure, patting his hand. You smile softly, pulling his hand to hold it. "I promise. I'll be right back ." 

Then you drop Sun's hand, having to wait a few seconds before he lets go as well. But then you're darting out the doors, which slam shut behind you, leaving the five to anxiously wait. 

"Does she have to do stuff like this?" Roxy huffs, glaring at the door you ran through. 

"I'm sure there's a reason she does it," Freddy states, already wringing his hands together. Roxy just groans, dropping her face into a hand. 

The five wait for a good four minutes before you're returning with a wide smile. You motion for them to follow you, the mischievous grin on your face unnerving them a bit. 

"So, what're we doin'? What are you plannin '?" Monty asks, narrowing his eyes at you. You snort at the look, glancing back with the most innocent look on your face possible. Which the gator isn't buying. 

"You'll see," you reply, a song in your tone that doesn't reassure anyone there. 

Sun grabs your hand again, Moon grumbling about how he doesn't like what's going on currently. Roxy and Monty don't really like it either, even if they continue to follow you towards the back of the Pizzaplex and to one of the doors. 

Sun stops short of them, even as you push right through and hold one open. 

"Come on!" You grin, making the five blink. 

"Wh.. Where do you want us to go?" Freddy asks, looking back at you. 

"Come outside," you reply, motioning them to join you. 

"You... You want us to go.. out there?" Chica repeats, pointing out the door. 

"Yeah," you nod, motioning for them to come out again. They still hesitate, looking between you and the doors. Your grin softens a bit. "You're allowed to come out. Don't worry, I made sure everything is safe." 

"Are... you sure?" Freddy asks, looking back at you. 

"Yeah. Come on," you encourage. 

The five continue to stare at the door for another long few moments, but then Freddy takes the first step. He pauses at the threshold again, but then walks past it and finds himself outside. His eyes glance around, taking in the back parking lot and the grass and yellow flowers that grow in the cracks of the concrete. He looks up at the blue sky with the fluffy white clouds rolling across it and the bright yellow sun. The birds chirping their songs from somewhere beyond their home and the faint sound of the wind blowing in his ears. 

He looks back down at you, who's smiling at him softly as you watch him take it all in. 

"Welcome to the outside world," you state, Freddy grinning himself. He takes another couple steps out before turning back to his fellow animatronics. 

"It is nice out here, come out and join us," he urges, the other four still looking a bit nervous. But Chica is the next to hold her head up high and step out into the light. Afterwards, she looks around in wonder. 

"Wow," she mutters, then squeals and darts a few more steps out to take in as much as she can. You chuckle, watching her. 

"Don't go too far, Chica!" You request, the chicken humming in acknowledgement. 

Monty is the next to come out, shouldering his way through the door and past Freddy with his chest puffed up. He glances around, silent for a long two minutes. After which he huffs, crossing his arms and turning his head away from you. 

"S'okay, I guess," he grumbles, but you can still see his eyes darting every which way. You smile at him, then turn to the two still in the Pizzaplex instead of outside. 

"Come on, it's nice out," you encourage, pushing the door further open with your hip. "I promise." 

Roxy huffs, sticking her nose out to look around. She doesn't get very long before Chica's bounding back and yanking her outside though, chattering about everything she can see to the shocked wolf. You chuckle at the chicken's antics, feeling a bit bad for Roxy that she didn't get to take her time. But you turn back to the anxious Sun still in the doorway. 

"It's alright, Sun," you say, offering your hand to him. "Remember that you can always go back whenever you want." 

"Are... Are you sure it's okay to.. go outside?" He asks, looking from your hand to the others beyond the doors. "I'm pretty sure that's against the rules!" 

"Of course it's okay! I said it was," you reply, then motion to the other four with the hand you aren't holding out to him. "Everyone else is already outside. It's okay for you to come out too." 

Sun hesitates for one more minute before he's slipping his hand into yours and stepping out into the daylight. You squeeze his hand, watching him look around and take everything in.

"It's so bright," Sun whispers, looking up at the sky in wonder. 

"That it is," you agree, humming a bit.

You both join the others once he's finished basking in the sunlight, the four just looking around at everything they can take in. Monty and Roxy are staring back at the Pizzaplex, jaws open just a bit. Chica's turning every which way in nearly a blur, Freddy keeping a hand on her shoulder. 

Chica immediately descends upon you once you get close enough, grabbing your free hand and squealing. 

"There's so much to see out here!" She states, tugging on your arm in excitement. "You've gotten to watch all this your whole life? It's so amazing! What else is there? Is there more?" 

"There's a lot more," you reply, kind of amused by her excitement about the back parking lot. "But come on, this wasn't what I wanted to show you." 

"You have more to show us?" Chica asks in wonder, Sun tightening his grip on your hand. 

"We're not going very far, but yup," you grin, leading the four away from the parking lot. They pause once they reach the edge of the concrete, looking at the grass warily. You chuckle, stepping out onto it yourself. "It's just past this line of trees. You'll still be able to see the Plex." 

Sun sticks close to your back, his other hand gripping your shoulder as he follows you. The others hesitantly step onto the grass themselves, watching it like it's going to bite them or something. But they follow you past the line of trees behind the Plex and look around in wonder at where you stop. 

"Ta-da!" You announce, gesturing towards the field of wildflowers. You set your free hand onto your hip, turning your head back to look at the five. "Pretty, ain't it?" 

"Wow," Sun whispers, the others just staring in shock. 

"Can... Can I go explore?" Chica asks, quietly. 

"Sure. But don't go too far, alright? Stay where I can see you," you request, Chica nodding before running out into the field. Freddy stops beside you, Monty and Roxy wandering a bit farther into the field themselves. 

"How.. How long are we allowed to stay out here?" Freddy asks, pulling his eyes away from the flowers to look at you. You smile at him. 

"As long as you guys want." 

_____ 

"Don't you want to go explore, Sunshine?" You ask, looking back at Sun. He just tightens his grip around you, pulling you closer to his chest. "Alright. We can sit right here." 

He makes good shade from the actual sun, so you guess you can't complain about him being rather clingy at the moment. 

The tall grass and wildflowers surround you and Sun, you pulling in the flowers around you to make a crown. The one you're making currently mostly consists of dandelions, both the yellow flowers and the white puffs. 

You glance back up as the other four tromping and looking around, though never straying far from where you're sitting. Chica's the most excited it seems, nearly dancing through the grass while laughing. The other four look happy too though, and you can see Freddy collecting some flowers himself. 

The field isn't really much, but you thought it'd make them happy at least. You're surrounded by trees too, luckily. So you're hoping that'll make it harder for any wanderers to spot you. Plus, if anyone does come you can call the group back and disappear back into the Plex before they can do anything. 

Or that's what you hope anyway. 

"You know, this used to be all fields back when the Plex was up and running," you mention, making Sun hum behind you. You're still focused on the crown though, and it seems like Sun is watching you make it. "It was meant for more.. corporations to build businesses on it, I believe. Or at least that's what I've been told." 

"What happened?" Freddy asks, coming to sit by you and Sun. The other three wander a bit closer too. 

"They just never got the chance to, I guess," you shrug, looking up at them. "That was a long, long time ago though. Like.... 50 or 60 years ago people started planting more trees and those grew into this forest. It.. honestly looks better than what it did, or at least from the pictures I've seen." 

You twist around to place the crown of dandelions onto Sun's head, making the said animatronic jolt a bit. You chuckle as he picks up the edge of it nearly falling into his eyes, but then he lets it rest back where it is. 

"Oh! Thank you, Starlight!" He grins, hugging you a bit tighter again. 

"You're welcome!" You reply, turning back around. 

"Oh! Can you make me one too?" Chica requests, nearly vibrating in her place. 

"Sure. Go gather up some flowers you like," you reply, Chica darting off to do just that. The other three stay around you though, Roxy glancing around the field. 

"I.. thought you said the outside was dangerous. This.. doesn't seem that dangerous to me," Roxanne states, looking back at you with furrowed brows. You gather some of the flowers closer to you, Sun grabbing some more within his reach. 

"It is dangerous. That's why I went out to check before bringing you all out here," you reply, starting to twist the new flowers into another crown. "It's incredibly dangerous, especially since we're basically in no man's land out here. But most of the dangerous things start crawling out of the holes they dug themselves into at night. Harder to see them then and most travelers are camping, which makes them prime victims." 

"Oh," Roxanne replies, ears straight up.

"What... do you mean no man's land?" Montgomery asks, shoulders tense as he stares down at you. 

"I mean we're between settlements, so this place doesn't have guards or protection. It's more vulnerable to attacks, basically. More of an active dogfight than anywhere safe," you shrug, taking the flowers Freddy offers and incorporating them into the crown you're currently making. 

"You were somewhere safe before, right? At one of these.. settlements you've talked about?" Roxanne asks. 

"Yeah. I've been to many settlements across the country," you reply, glancing up at her for a moment. 

"If.. they're safe, why would'ja choose to be out here ?" Montgomery demands, looking at you like you're crazy. Which... honestly fair. It's something you've questioned yourself a couple of times, when things were getting rough and the few times you've barely come out of a situation alive. But... 

"Freedom," you reply, looking up at him. You grin, leaning back against Sun. "Knowledge. You name it. Settlements can and do often have their own downsides, and can be very terrible places to be in." 

Your frown is troubling, like you're recalling some very bad memories. Which the animatronics guess you may very well be doing.

"Restrictions on knowledge, who you can be, what you can do. Some are so restrictive it can be hard to breathe." You fiddle with a flower instead of tying it to the others, looking out to who knows where for a minute. But then you shake your head, looking back at your hands and securing the flower into the crown. "Out here, you can be and do whatever you want. And I want to learn all I can. The stories, the different versions of history, the cultures. It's... more than I would've got if I had stayed where I was... Or where I was born." 

You shrug, leaning forward to place the flower crown in your hands around Freddy's head. He adjusts it around his top hat, giving you a smile. 

"It's not always fun and it's not really safe, but it's the life I chose. And like I've said, I wouldn't change my choice if I had the chance," you state, looking back at the two. "Plus, I wouldn't have gotten to meet all of you if I had stayed there. I think that alone has been worth everything." 

Sun and Roxanne both make a flustered noise, Roxanne's a little more strangled than Sun's. Roxanne spins around so you can't see her face, Montgomery doing the same. Freddy just gives you a warm smile though, Chica running back over with a squeal. 

"We're happy to have met you too," Freddy replies, a hand coming up to his muzzle. 

"Definitely! You're much better than most of the staff that worked here!" Chica calls, nearly tackling you and Sun back onto the ground. The jester whines, barely keeping all three of you upright still. Luckily, he doesn't have to strain long before Chica's pulling back and dropping enough flowers onto your lap to make a crown for all three of the animatronics without one. "You're so nice!" 

"Well, I'm glad I'm nice," you chuckle, beginning work on the crowns. 

It seems you've made the five happy today, they even still have a pep in their step when you have to return to the Plex. All of you decorated in flowers.

Chapter Text

"Do... you want to help, Roxanne?" You ask, glancing over your shoulder at the wolf staring intently at what you're doing. Or trying to since she can’t really see what you’re doing with the angle she’s standing at. 

You’re just putting the new engine into the van, you’re not sure if she’s interested in that or something else. 

The said animatronic actually jumps when you speak up, then stares at you like she's taking a moment to process what you're saying. Then she shifts, crossing her arms and tilting her head down while looking off to the side. 

".... Seriously?" She mutters, not looking at you. 

"Well... if you're interested in what I'm doing, sure. I wouldn't mind showing you," you shrug, wiping your hands on a rag. You look over her curiously, tilting your head. "... Do you want to learn?" 

"Yes-! I mean, since you're offering, yeah sure," Roxanne stutters, perking up considerably. You can't help but notice that her tail is wagging slightly as she steps closer, actually looking over your shoulder now. You don't mention it though, just shuffling a little to the side so she can have a better view. 

Roxanne is a surprisingly attentive learner, and is not afraid of asking questions when she has them. She's soaking up everything she can like a sponge, like she's starved for new information and knowledge. It's something that.. you recognize actually, from your own experiences. It's... actually kind of endearing to see it on someone else. 

You have to wonder if you were like this before or if your mentors saw you like you're seeing Roxanne at the moment. 

"Do you have an interest in mechanics?" You ask curiously, looking over at the wolf after shutting the hood of the van. 

"Yeah, I suppose. My attraction was about racing and all that," Roxanne shrugs, looking over the van instead of at you. Her tail is still lightly swaying behind her. "I wanted to know how they worked, but they wouldn't let me do anything with the cars." 

"Ah," you respond, eyebrow lowering a bit. "Well, I'll be glad to show you the ropes." 

"Even... with us?" Roxanne asks, making you blink at her. 

"Like, how to work on your mechanics and things?" You ask, raising an eyebrow. Roxanne shrugs, looking at you out of the corner of her eyes. You hum, leaning on the van. "Yeah, I could if you wanted. Wouldn't be a bad idea actually. That way you'd still be able to get repairs if I'm not around." 

"Why wouldn't you be around?" Roxanne asks, now fully looking at you. You snort, shrugging a shoulder. 

"I guess if I'm out at the time or something," you reply, standing straight again. "And... Humans don't live forever you know. I'll be gone one day. It'd be good for you guys to be able to take care of yourselves eventually." 

"Yeah.. well... that's not going to happen for a while," Roxanne huffs, turning her snout away from you again. "... Right?" 

"I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, Roxanne," you chuckle, nodding back inside. "I'm still pretty young." 

"Why do you keep calling me Roxanne?" She then asks, sounding slightly annoyed. 

"It's your name?" You reply, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow. "You have another name you prefer?" 

"Yeah. Just Roxy is fine," she states, you nodding. 

"Alright, Roxy it is then," you shrug. 

Roxy's shoulders rise from their previously slumped position as she straights up a bit more. She follows you all the way back to the atrium, to where your things are set up on a table. You sit down, disconnecting the keyboard from the screen and setting up to finish what you were working on. 

Roxy still looks over your shoulder while you're doing this, eyeing the screen which is currently on a drawing of Freddy. ... Kind of anyway. That's definitely Freddy, but he doesn't look the same as he does now. And she thinks he's.. wearing clothes? 

"What are you doing now?" Roxy asks, tilting her head. 

"Designing," you reply, tapping the pencil you got out of somewhere. 

"Designing what? And why?" Roxy asks, sitting down herself. 

"Ah. Uh.." You push the pencil into your cheek, looking over at her. "Making different designs for you guys, I guess. Nothing drastic, just.. clothes. Something you can change up whenever you feel like it." 

"So.. we can change up our appearances and stuff.. like you?" Roxy asks, raising an eyebrow. You nod, looking back at the screen. 

"Yeah," you agree, shrugging a shoulder. "If you wanted to." 

"Sweet. Chica will love that. She likes playing dress up," Roxy states, looking back down at the tablet. You hum, looking back at the design for Freddy you're currently working on. "How.. would it work though? And where would you get these clothes?" 

"I can make them," you shrug, continuing to work on what you're doing. "Just need to order the fabric because I do not feel like making my own, thank you." 

"You can make clothes? And you can make fabric ?" Roxy asks, sounding very surprised. 

"Sewing is just one of those things everyone knows how to do. Especially when you're wondering between settlements. Kinda need to know so you can repair your clothes yourself," you snort, leaning back to look at her again. "Since the nearest settlement could be 100 miles away and all. Comes in handy." 

"And making fabric?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. 

"Something I learned while wondering," you shrug, leaning onto your arm. "Also something my original settlement did. Helped them out a lot when I was younger. Learned the specifics of how to grow and care for the plants later in life though. Can be a useful skill, though not exactly important." 

"Huh," Roxy states, blinking. "What else do you know that you aren't telling us?" 

"Not a whole lot, Sweetie," you laugh, shaking your head a bit. "You just learn a lot when you're exploring. Can't keep it all memorized." 

You tap the side of your head with a finger, grinning easily. Then you shake your wrist that has the watch on it, grin turning a bit mischievous. 

"Plus, I know how to catalog, so I don't need to memorize it all." 

Roxy snorts, eyeing your watch in curiosity. She leans a little closer to look at it, finding it's rather plain looking. Just a silver band with a slightly bigger black screen. It rests pretty snuggly, and nearly looking to dig into , your skin. 

"We had something like that. Yours is a lot more plain and boring looking though," she notes. You hum, looking at her curiously. "They were called Fazwatches. Customers could buy them and they had access to a whole bunch of things. They had a few different versions of them, mostly looked like Freddy though." 

"Really? What all did they have access to?" You ask, leaning against the table now. 

"Cameras, maps, could track purchases and stuff, and a few other things I can't remember. But they also had the option of being hooked up to us, so whoever had the watch could talk to us directly," Roxy replies, looking up at the ceiling in thought. Your eyebrows raise in surprise, blinking slightly. 

"Sounds.. like a lot of power to put in the hands of customers," you comment, tilting your head. "Why would they let guests have access to cameras or a direct line of communication with you guys? Sounds like trouble waiting to happen." 

Sounds like an overload of their systems more like it. 

Roxy just shrugs, looking bored. 

You hum, tapping your pencil against your tablet gently in thought. 

Honestly, cameras and a direct line of communication to the animatronics isn't a bad idea. You could keep in contact with them whenever you have to leave and cameras would give you a good view of what's going on in the building. Cameras would be especially handy in case of any intruders as well, you could give the animatronics warnings of where said intruders are as well with the communication link. 

You wonder if you could salvage the cameras already in the plex? That'd make the whole camera thing easier to handle, though they're going to be pretty old tech. May still be worth it though. 

But... thinking about the animatronics and you... not being around forever...... They're going to need ways to prot- 

"That’s a pretty serious expression on your face," Roxy notes, eyeing you curiously. You hum, tapping on your tablet more. You return your eyes to her, setting your pencil down on the table. "What are you thinking about?" 

"What you said about the Fazwatches." You lean back a bit, Roxy looking at you confused. "Cameras and a communication link could be useful. Something to look into." 

"What? You going to look for one of those watches or something?" Roxy asks, then glances around the room. "The cameras aren't working either." 

"I don't need a Fazwatch for access to either of those, though I am curious about what those look like," you snort, shaking your head. "I'll have unlimited reach with my own watch, which means I'd be able to reach you guys no matter where I go or where you are. As long as the links are connected." 

"Wait, seriously? So we could call you even when you're not here?" Roxy asks, looking down at your watch again. Her ears fold back a bit, tilting her head. "Could you track us with that?" 

"Technically yes, but you'd also be able to track me. And that can be disabled," you shrug, leaning onto the table. "It's something that usually comes with the typical robot now-a-days, though those are usually controllable bots. Not like you guys." 

"Controllable?" Roxy asks hesitantly, ears folding back further. 

"Yeah. Like our little cleaner bots," you explain, motioning over to one of the two currently working through the atrium. Roxy's eyes dart over to it for a minute before returning to you. "Mainly ones like that. They can't really operate without the connection." 

"Would... we be like.. that?" Roxy asks, claws tapping against the table. You look at her confused for a moment. 

"Of course not. It'd just be for communication," you reply, sitting up again. You tilt your head at her, eyebrows furrowing a bit. "I'm not looking to take your freewill away. I like you all the way you are now." 

Roxy relaxes a bit again with those words. Then she glances down at your tablet again. 

"Can I see what you've made for me?" She asks, curiously gazing over Freddy's outfits. 

"Sure! I'd love some feedback," you nod, flipping to those sketches to show the wolf. 

Boy does Roxy have some feedback alright. But you don't mind it. Girl knows what she likes and you can respect that, especially since she actually seems excited about the choices. She really seemed interested in the hairstyles you've jotted down on the canvas too, brushing through said hair with her fingers. 

You have the feeling Chica isn't the only one who likes dressing up. 

You glance over at the wolf again, jotting down and adjusting things to Roxy's preferences. She really does seem happy, if her wagging tail is any indication. Nearly vibrating in happiness as she talks about what kind of outfits she's seen, both good and bad, and how nice it'd be to mix things up every once in a while. 

You look back at your screen, making a note to yourself on your watch quickly. 

They're not going to lose their freewill if you have anything to say about it either. You'll make sure of it or you'll die trying at the very least. 

_____ 

The DJ is a fucking mess. There's no way around it, he's an absolute mess and you're not entirely sure where to start in fixing it. 

You're not sure who set him up or created him or whatever, but you'd like to give them a piece of your damn mind for it. This looks like it'll take weeks to fix up, if not months . It'll probably take a week just to untangle all the damn wires themselves just by the look of it. 

Better get started now, or it'll never get done. 

You grumble and curse the whole time you're working, glaring at the machine's insides and cursing whoever decided he needed to be this big . 

Because why would he need to be as big as he is? What purpose does it serve for him to be this big? His cooling system and motor functions have to be a damn nightmare. The amount of power he drains through just to move has to be awful in itself. He must have some damn good structure to be able to hold himself up with all that weight. Because the amount of strength needed just to keep him from collapsing is enormous. 

Honestly, who designed him like this and why? He can't even leave the damn arcade like this. 

And you thought the other animatronics were complicated. 

"Uh, are you doing okay in there?" 

You glance up from what you were doing, glancing out towards where the voice came from. 

You climb out of the DJ, poking your head out to see who came and joined you. Turns out it's Montgomery, Roxy, and Chica. All of whom have raised eyebrows and look slightly worried. 

"Oh, hi," you greet, looking at the three in surprise. 

"Hi," Montgomery states, unimpressed. 

"Are you alright? You sounded...... upset ," Chica jumps in, leaning onto the stage as she looks up at you. 

"Ya know, that kind of language isn't very family friendly," Montgomery adds, eyeing you himself. 

"Ah. Uh, sorry?" You shrug, hauling yourself up so you can climb out of the DJ's chest cavity properly. You miss the intent filled, worried stares they give you as they eye your form. Chica quickly jumps onto the stage to help you down, despite you not really needing it. "I don't know who made this guy, but I'd like a word with them. Absolute mess and I do not appreciate it." 

"Is it really that bad?" Roxy asks, looking between you and the DJ a few times. 

"It's going to take a week alone to untangle all the wires," you state blankly, Roxy just blinking. You groan, popping your back. The animatronics wince, but you don't notice it as you glare up at the DJ. "How long's it been?" 

"We were coming to get you for lunch!" Chica replies, reaching up to grab your arm and pull you down. "You've been working on him all morning already." 

"Shit, it's really lunch time?" You ask, looking down at your watch. 

"Language!" 

The three animatronics shake their heads, as if brushing something away. 

"Yup! Come on, you should eat," Chica says, pulling you off to the atrium. You stumble a bit, but quickly get your feet under you again. Roxy and Montgomery just follow you to where Freddy's waiting. 

Well, looks like you've got your work cut out for you. But at least you have people looking out for your health now.

Chapter Text

You hum as you unwrap the bandages around your arm, then toss them into the trash. Honestly, you could've probably stopped using the bandages earlier, but it never hurts to be cautious. You took the stitches out a few days ago too, probably a little later than you should have, but they came out. So the use of the bandages weren't completely unnecessary. 

The scratches aren't open anymore, they've healed pretty well too by the looks of it. They're a bit noticeable, but it's not too bad. Nothing you don't have already anyway. 

You move on to check the other scratch, deeming it to be healed enough to lose the need for a patch as well. It's a bit more noticeable than the ones on your arm, but that's probably because you popped one of the stitches. Well, it'll match with a few other scars then. 

Either way, the injuries are good. Practically completely healed. Which means you don't have to wear a sweater every day if you don't want to. Good. 

You grin a bit, pulling on a Roxy's Raceway t-shirt after double checking the injuries. You then skip out of the bathroom, heading into the atrium once more. 

Now you just have to decide what you're going to do today. Do you continue to work on the DJ, collect all the cameras, or do you go explore some of the maintenance tunnels you haven't really touched since getting here? Decisions, decisions. 

Exploring, even in those disgusting tunnels, would be pretty fun. You could possibly even find some more useful things down there! But you also need to get DJ and the cameras up and running again. DJ's going to take a long time too, since you need to untangle all the wires and see what's even up with him. Plus the lack of blueprints... 

You're going to need to put off exploring for another day. Dammit. 

"What are you planning to do today?" Freddy asks once you're by them again. 

"Continue to work on DJ," you sigh, looking over at him. You let out a groan, stretching your arms out. "Gotta get him up and running again at some point. He's gonna need a lot of work." 

"Please do remember to pace yourself," Freddy requests, him and Roxy following you up to the Arcade. 

"I'll make sure she does," Roxy comments, eyes narrowed at you. 

"Alright, alright. I will," you reply, hands raised in surrender. You still grin though, rather amused. Roxy just huffs, you both leaving Freddy behind at the Arcade's entrance. 

You climb into the giant robot once you reach him, Roxy seating herself onto the stage. You eye the mess of wires with a hum, then heave a weary sigh and get to work. 

This really is going to take forever. 

_____ 

The wires and circuits and all the machinery are starting to blend together and give you a headache. Which means you've been working on this for too long and need a break. A long one in fact. 

You groan as you climb out of the large arachnid-like animatronic, jumping down half way. Glancing around, you don't see any of the other animatronics in sight. Which is a little strange, but you think they wanted to practice on their instruments tonight. 

You'll go visit Sun then. It's been a bit since you've checked in on him, being as focused on the DJ as you currently are. You should go make sure he's doing alright. 

With your mind made up, you head towards the Daycare. You make a stop to grab a few things from your "workstation" and wave to the others currently more focused on their music. Freddy and Chica do take a minute to wave back at you though. After which, you're speed walking to the Daycare. 

You push open the doors, able to hear the approaching jingles before you're practically scooped off the ground. 

"Hel-lo, Friend! You're back!" Sun squeals, spinning you around in his hug. 

"Hi, Sunny," you greet back, already used to this greeting by now. Sun eventually sets you down again, after another good squeeze. 

You set the things you grabbed onto the desk, Sun looking over it curiously. His rays retract slightly at the sight of some of it, but he still looks at you curiously. 

"What's all this for?" He asks, head tilting to the side. 

"Well, mostly for drawing purposes," you shrug, glancing over your computer. "But I would like to see if I can make a connection between you and my watch, if you want to that is." 

"Why would you want to do that?" Sun asks, now looking at the said object. 

"So we can talk even when not together," you reply, Sun perking up at that. 

"You mean I could call you?" He asks, looking back at you and clasping his hands together. You nod. 

"Or text." You turn to face him again. 

"That sounds wonderful!" He states, clapping his hands together. "...We sort of have phones in our heads already!" 

"Really?" You ask, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He nods. 

"Yup! We used it to contact the others or any workers if needed," Sun replies, watching you mess with some things on your computer. "Moon and I didn't get much use out of it though." 

"Oh, really? Why not?" You look back at him, unraveling a wire you plugged into the computer without looking. 

"We didn't get to talk to the others a whole lot," Sun states, voice still pleasant and happy as ever. "And we weren't supposed to contact anyone outside of an emergency." 

"Well, you can send a message to me anytime you want," you reply, looking back at the computer. "Do you mind being hooked up to my computer for a little bit?" 

"Nope!" Sun replies, stepping a bit closer. You hook the bot up to your computer, looking through a few things until you find their communication link. 

Not as advanced as the stuff today, but it'll do. You think. 

It takes a minute, but you're able to get a link set up and unplug Sun from your laptop. 

"Alright, that should do it," you state, eyes turning down to your watch. "Let's try it out." 

You smile as a sun emoji pops onto your screen, sending one back to him. 

"It works!" Sun exclaims, spinning around on his heel with his arms in the air. You chuckle at the display, the noise making his rays spin. 

"Good!" You grin.

You pick up your tablet, Sun running to grab some arts and craft stuff to use himself. You both make yourself comfy, Sun pulling you onto his lap once again. You get to work on continuing different designs and planning things out while Sun does whatever it is that came to his mind this time. 

You have to pause when Sun gently takes your arm in his hand though, lifting it just a bit. You look up at him in confusion, raising an eyebrow a bit. His head tilts to the side, his thumb running over one of the newer long scars. 

"Sun? You okay?" You ask, looking back at your arm before looking up at him again. It takes a few seconds, but Sun does respond. 

"Yup! All's good!" Sun goes back to what he was doing, you blinking in confusion for a few seconds. But then you just shake your head and get back to what you were working on. 

That was strange, but that's not that unusual for this place. 

_____

Take forever the spider dude does. Like you thought, it did take a week to untangle all the wires alone. But that's not likely the mess's fault alone, since the animatronics were making sure you took frequent breaks and were distracting you more often than not. You can't really fault them for that, given you've been giving them access to more songs to try playing and they wanted you to listen to them. Plus you've also been making sure to spend time with Sun, crafting with the leftover supplies in the Daycare. Or whatever survived anyway. 

You're going to need to get him some more crafting stuff on your next run. 

But distractions or not, you've gotten the wires untangled and removed the ones too damaged to be useful anymore. You've also been able to look at how he was built and play around with a few things to see how they work. It's giving you somewhat of an idea on how to fix him! You're going to need to remove some parts and replace them though, since they're too old to work. 

Which means you're going to have to go on a treasure hunt for some parts, if you don't have them in the salvage pile you've already made anyway. 

"How is DJ?" Freddy asks as you're scavenging in the pile, watching what you're doing curiously. 

"It's going pretty well all things considered," you reply, then tilt your head at a piece you pick up. You set it in the take pile. "He may be able to be booted up soon...ish. Or at least try to be anyway." 

"That is wonderful!" Freddy smiles, clapping his hands together. "The DJ is such a nice fellow. I am sure you both will get along well." 

"Good to hear," you snort, looking over your shoulder momentarily. "Let's just hope we can get him back online for now though." 

"I am sure you can do it," Freddy replies, leaning over to place a paw on your shoulder. He squeezes it gently, smile pleasant and encouraging. "You have done wonderfully with us after all!" 

"... Thanks, Fred," you grin, looking back at him again. "Glad you have so much confidence in me." 

You sigh as you sit back from the scavenge pile, eyes narrowed a bit. Though you look back up at Freddy when he speaks up again. 

"You have given us no reason to doubt you," he states, ears wiggling a bit. "You have done more for us than we ever would've expected or asked for. Thank you." 

"............. Freddy, you're going to make me blush," you chuckle, shaking your head a bit. 

These guys have.... very low expectations... You already didn't have a very high opinion on Fazbear Entertainment, but they're somehow continuing to disappoint from beyond the grave. 

Just what the hell did this company do to them? 

_____

"Let me know if you find anything interesting, okay?" You call, looking over your shoulder at the animatronics behind you. 

"Okay!" Chica calls back, Montgomery and Roxy just grunting in reply. 

"We will," Freddy assures, smiling over at you. You just give a thumbs up and go scavenging a little further down. 

You're not very hopeful you'll find much, but maybe you'll uncover a few useful things. You've got the others helping you out this time too, so maybe they'll find something if nothing else. 

It takes a long while, but you do find some things in the mess that you missed on your first pass. You don't know how useful all of it'll be for the big guy, but it's potentially something to use, for the others' maintenance if nothing else. 

You really need to figure out if you can either upgrade them with modern parts or switch them over to new bodies entirely. You're eventually going to run out of Fazbear's scrap piles, which then you'll just be fucked if any of the bots need new parts. 

You sigh, glancing around the room and aiming your flashlight this way and that. You set another piece to be looked over upstairs into your pile, then stretching out. 

Your light passes over something shiny, making you aim it back that way. You pick through some rubbish while keeping the light on the shiny thing, then stop in front of it. 

Something's... in the wall. Your brows furrow, eyes narrowing as you pick at the thing. Your brows raise in shock when your finger goes right through the wall, making a little hole in it. 

What in the world? 

You remove your hand, shining your light into the hole. You can't really see anything, but you're curious. You stick two fingers through the hole, curling them to get a better grip and tug . 

It doesn't budge, making you pout a bit. You try again, throwing more of your weight onto it. There's a little give now, you think. You do it a few more times, a little giving away each time, until you hear a loud RIIIIIIIIP and whatever was blocking the thing gives out. 

You stumble a bit, shining your light around to see you found a secret, walled off room . Your jaw drops a bit, taking in everything you can see. 

It's small, that much you can say. Cluttered and messy with things strewn about everywhere. Tables, some chairs. A filing cabinet or two. But what's most interesting is some of the mess inside. It kind of looks like..... 

Oh . 

... Well, this just got more interesting . 

_____ 

"Do you think that DJ can be brought back online soon?" Chica asks, you not answering her for a minute while you finish up the repair you were working on. Then you eye everything that looks good, whether it actually is or not you don't know. But you think it's good. 

You climb out of the large animatronic, shutting the opening with a thumbs up. 

"I think we're good to try!" You announce, hopping down from the DJ and his stage all together. You bounce over to your laptop, Roxy watching what you do over your shoulder. 

You look up at the DJ as you try booting him up again, waiting for a few minutes as a bar loads on your screen. Chica, Roxy, and Montgomery watch the animatronic as well, but more expectantly than you. 

The bar fills, the three other animatronics tense up. 

... 

.. 

"Nothin's happening," Montgomery huffs, looking back at you with narrowed eyes. You let out a breath, pouting a bit. 

"Something may be wrong," you grumble, looking back at your computer screen. "I wouldn't know what though. Just going in blind with him after all." 

Chica's sudden bawk has both you and Montgomery looking up again, just to see that the DJ is moving. Little twitches of the fingers and the screen in his mouth lighting up with purple bubbles. 

"Huh," Montgomery mumbles, blinking. You four watch as DJ seemingly shakes the sleep off, slowly stretching out with his limbs groaning and whining under the weight. 

"He is working," Roxy notes, head tilting. 

"Yes!" You cheer, pumping a fist into the air. 

Thank the stars, you were getting sick of looking at DJ's insides. 

"Good morning!" Chica chirps, making the DJ look down at the four of you. He lets out a few musical notes in response to the bird, head tilting to the side at the sight of her. Though he then slowly gazes over Montgomery and Roxy before, presumably, his gaze lands on you. 

"Good to see you finally up and working," Montgomery comments, getting a questioning note in response. Montgomery sends a long look at you, brow raise. "Been a while." 

"Oi! I was doing my best," you protest, rolling your eyes. "This damn place didn't make it any easier on me." 

There's a curious sounding note that comes from the bot, you standing to move a bit closer to the stage. You smile at the DJ, raising a hand to wave and introduce yourself. 

"Nice to finally meet you, DJ."

Chapter Text

DJ is a very pleasant bot. A gentle giant really. He didn't have much of a reaction you could see about the news of the Pizzaplex's abandonment, besides one long sad note, but his design doesn't allow much expression in the first place. Or movement for that matter. 

"So you're able to go through all those holes in the wall?" You ask, sitting on the stage as you look up at the large animatronic currently showing you some of his tunes. 

You like them honestly. DJ isn't bad at his job, not at all, nor does it seem like he's slacking even a little. It's definitely music you could dance to, or see others dancing to. High energy, good rhythm, fun sounding. Good music. 

To your untrained ears anyway. You're no music expert after all. 

DJ gives you an affirmative beep in response to your question, you humming in thought.

"Well, be careful moving around alright? I'm not sure how structurally sound those tunnels will be anymore. Time might have made them more fragile." 

After getting another affirmative beep, you turn your gaze back to your computer. You mess around on it for a few seconds, then turn your attention to your watch. You bite your tongue a bit as you try to connect your watch to the DJ, having a little bit more trouble than you did with Sun or the others. But you get it! 

"There! You should be able to send messages to me now!" You tell the large animatronic. You get a message with a music note shortly after, you send one back and get a thumbs up. "Great, it's working! Feel free to message me anytime you need or want to. You should be able to message everyone else too!" 

DJ gives another affirmative beep, then you get a maintenance list like you asked of him. You look through it on your watch, humming as you write a few things down in your notebook. 

Everything looks good for now, but there's some things you'll have to work on later. Nothing too urgent that you can see though, thankfully. Looks like the DJ is good as new! 

Thank goodness. 

_____ 

"Could you guys collect all the cameras in this place for me?" You ask, on call with all the animatronics currently up and roaming in this building. 

"Sure!" Chica replies. 

"Of course," Freddy responds. You get an affirmative beep from DJ. 

"You betcha!" Is Sun's cheery response. 

"Yeah, whatever." Is all you get from Roxy and a grunt is your only response from Montgomery. 

"Thanks guys!" You get a chorus of "You're welcomes" and hums from the animatronics. You end the call shortly after as you pick your way through the maintenance tunnels again with one destination in mind. You wind your way through the maze-like paths, having to retrace your steps once or twice. 

You really hate this damn place. What the hell were they thinking when they made these stupid halls? 

You do eventually reach your destination with a huff, shoving your way into the room again. You shine your flashlight around for an actual light to the room, flicking it on once you find it. 

Alright. Time to look over these new animatronics. 

You pause though, looking down at your watch as a message pops up on it. Two actually. 

Monty: Where are you? 

Then one is just a set of emojis from... you're not sure. It's just a moon and a frowning face. You raise an eyebrow at that weird message and run a quick virus or malware scan on the tech piece. It doesn't come back with anything though, so your brows just furrow further. 

You send a quick reply to Montgomery to tell him you're looking through the tunnels again. Then look back at the mess in front of you. 

From the pieces that were seemingly just carelessly tossed aside in here, you found Bonnie. He's... really not in good shape. Literally torn apart piece by piece it seems. You can see one of his eyes is missing from his head, though find it rolled into another corner of the room. He has a hand strewn to one side, a leg strewn in another. Looks like he's even missing some vital pieces to his endoskeleton. 

... He's missing an arm too. You don't see it anywhere in the room. 

Bonnie's mangled corpse isn't the only animatronic in here though. There's a, mostly intact, fox styled animatronic too. He's.. kind of dressed like a pirate. 

Upon closer inspection, the pirate fox is missing some pieces too. Both important and not. He has quite a bit of dust collected on him too, like he was left for a lot longer than the others were. To be fair, Bonnie has quite the collection of dust too. 

You get another message on your watch, Montgomery apparently not very happy about you exploring the tunnels on your own. But you ignore it for a second, taking stock of what you have to work with here. 

You definitely don't have the pieces to fix the two in the ‘plex. The bunny is way too damaged to really repair with the limited supplies you have here too. The fox may have a bit more leeway, but the bunny definitely needs a lot of stuff you just don't have currently. 

You'll need to see what's salvageable from him, then go from there. He's definitely missing some really important things you'll need to replace. The same with the fox really though. You're not sure what you'll be able to keep from him since he seems to have been sitting for even longer than the other. 

You'll have to order some new things if you want to fix them...... 

Seems like you have some guinea pigs. 

_____ 

"Do you want to test this thing out?" You ask, looking over at Roxy as you close the hood of the van. She perks up a bit, blinking at you. Chica perks up too, skipping over from where she was sitting watching the two of you. 

"Test it out?" Roxy asks, looking from you to the van. 

"Yeah. Go for a test drive. See if it's working as it should," you grin, Chica nearly vibrating in her spot. 

"Can we?!" She asks, clapping her hands. Roxy's tail is swinging behind her. 

"Heck, yeah. Need to make sure everything's working," you nod, then send a message to the boys. 

"Yes!" Chica cheers, running to hop into the back of the van. After you hop into the driver's seat, Roxy quickly climbs into the passenger. 

"Freddy and Monty are coming," Chica announces, still nearly bouncing where she's sitting. 

"Sunny's coming too," you say, pleasantly surprised by the jester willingly coming along without any prodding. 

Sadly DJ isn't able to come for obvious reasons, but he doesn't seem too upset about that from his response. But you still think about possible smaller bodies for him. If for nothing else than to join little trips like this and be able to join in other activities that aren't confined to the Arcade. 

If all goes well with those other two, then a whole lot of possibilities have opened up in front of you. 

The two girls impatiently wait for the boys to arrive, all three of whom climb into the back once they get here. Freddy closes the back doors with your request, everyone seating themselves. 

"Alright. We ready?" You ask, glancing back in the rearview mirror. Everyone gives you the affirmative, so you turn the van on and it comes to life. Grinning, you back out of the garage and pull out of the Pizzaplex's driveway for a bit of a wonder around deserted streets. 

You look back a few times to see all five of the animatronics watching everything speed by through the windows. You have to hold back a snort as Roxy nearly sticks her head out of the window. 

The deserted side of town really does make for an interesting drive. Seeing some crumbling buildings and others still intact, all climbing with plant life and the occasional animal freezing at the unfamiliar sound of a vehicle. You even got to see a group of deer bounding away from the sound while they were grazing beside an empty grocery store. 

The five look almost mesmerized by it all. You do have to admit that the abandoned structures do have a sense of beauty to them. The allure of untold stories they probably have. That was what always drew you in. 

Eventually the drive does have to come to an end though, pulling back into the Pizzaplex's garage where everyone's climbing out. 

"Wow," Chica breathes, then jumps on her heels. "That was so amazing!" 

"You think?" You ask, slightly amused. 

"Yes!" Chica squawks. 

"Ya really weren't kidding when ya said this side of town was abandoned, huh?" Montgomery comments, looking towards the outside. You just shrug. 

"Thank you for inviting us to go with you on that drive," Freddy smiles, placing a hand on your shoulder. "It was incredible." 

"No problem, Hon," you grin, patting his hand. "Glad to take you all." 

The five all seem pretty pleased and happy, which makes you feel all warm inside. 

_____

"The new supplies are in," you note, looking at the notification on your watch. "I'll need to go pick those up." 

"How.. long will that take?" Freddy asks, his arm around you tightening a bit. You look up at him from where you're leaning on his side, then pat his arm. 

"Not long now that the van's up and running," you shrug, the movement a bit limited. "A day at the most, I'd say." 

"Could... one of us come with you?" Freddy then asks, you humming in thought. 

"I... don't know. I'm still... a bit worried about what the settlement's reaction towards you would be," you sigh, tapping a finger against the bear's arm. "You guys are made of some tough stuff, but I don't think they would even let you into the city..... Much less what they may do if you are let in." 

"Are you worried they may try to... hurt us?" Freddy asks, brows drawing down. 

"That, yes," you agree, looking up at him again. "I'm.. a bit worried about.... other things too." 

"Like what?" Freddy asks. You purse your lips, running a finger over a crack. 

"The wrong people finding out about you," you add, grimacing a bit. Especially before you can set up some precautions, for them and around the plex. "You guys aren't... really equipped to protect yourselves. And I haven't... gotten much time to think of how exactly to.. combat that." 

"What do you mean?" Freddy asks, head tilted curiously. You sigh, sitting up a bit more. Freddy shifts to let you, though his arm remains around you. You set your laptop to the side to properly look up at the bear, who's still looking over you curiously. 

"I know I've let you all explore a bit of the world outside the plex, but what you've seen is really just a.. small part of it. There's a lot more than out there. A lot more dangerous things out there," you tell him, Freddy's eyes drawn to your scarred arm you're rubbing unconsciously. "I've... traveled a lot in my time. I've seen a lot that I wish I hadn't. I'm worried about what may happen to all of you if... the worst happens." 

"..... I am... sure it will be okay," Freddy replies, smiling at you even as his grip around you becomes a bit tighter. "I.. do not know what is out there, or what you have seen, but we are together. So I'm sure we can get through whatever it is if we stay together." 

You quiet for a moment, but then chuckle. 

"Alright, Papa Bear. If you say so," you grin, looking back up at him. His ears wiggle, then he looks at you confused. "I'd still like a bit of time to think up some fail safes for you guys before we go into any towns. Just in case." 

"Of course," Freddy nods, a bit of a sigh in his tone. "I understand." 

You'll have to think up some ways they could possibly defend themselves. You think you saw some programs and such that restricted them from actually harming humans, which is something that would need to be removed. Possibly some modifications to their endos..... 

It's something you'll have to talk to them about. But they do need something to protect them if they're going out into the world with you. 

_____

"Hey, Montgomery. What's up?" You greet, barely looking up from the camera you're tinkering with. 

"Wouldja stop calling me that?" He grumbles, staring down at what you're doing with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. 

"Sure. What do you want to be called, Big Man?" You ask, eyes narrowing at the contraption in your hands. 

"Just Monty is fine," the gator snarls. 

"Alright. Monty it is," you agree, then look up at him. "So, Monty, what's up? Do you need something?" 

"What're you doin' in the tunnels?" He demands, you blinking at him. "I know you've been going down there every so often lately. So what are you doin'?" 

"Looking through things, scavenging. Cleaning up a bit," you offer, all of which is true. You have been doing those things. The last one just to make being down there and moving around a bit more manageable and pleasant. The first two just to see if you can find anything interesting or useful. "Why? You hiding something down there?" 

"No," Monty scoffs, rolling his eyes. "Just wanted to know what you were up to." 

"Aw, don't you trust me?" You ask, placing a hand over your heart and fluttering your eyelashes. "I'm hurt." 

"Whatever," Monty groans, rolling his eyes. "You're too curious fer your own good. You're gonna get yourself killed down there." 

"I appreciate the concern, but what's down there that could kill me?" You ask, leaning back against the table. "It doesn't seem like anything's living down there now." 

Monty just grunts, eyeing you for a moment. 

"Doesn't mean it ain't dangerous," he states. You let out a breath, grinning up at the animatronic gator. 

"Don't worry, Monty. I'll be careful," you assure. The alligator huffs, turning away from you. 

"I ain't worried," he declares, tail swinging back and forth in what you're guessing is agitation. You just watch him go in amusement. "Just don't want the one person willing ta fix me dying from 'er own stupidity." 

"Sure thing, Monty. I'll keep that in mind," you call back to him. You can hear Monty's growl, but he doesn't say anything else. You let out a huff of amusement, turning back to the mountain of cameras in front of you. 

You need some new parts for these. You can just add those to the list though. The bunny and fox need a whole lot of new parts after all. 

You need to pick up a few jobs, you think. Shouldn't be too hard.

Chapter Text

Roxy grimaces, looking in her vanity mirror. She runs a hand through her hair, then shakes it out again with a sigh. It's... dull, not as spiky as it should be. The green in her hair is practically gone and looks gross. The brushing you gave it did little to really help it much. 

The rest of her casing isn't much better. Cracks, a few holes, and a dull, dull, dull . 

Her casing looks awful. She looks awful. 

She hates it. 

She doesn't look like herself. She doesn't look as awesome as she should. She doesn't look beautiful. 

No wonder everyone left....

Roxy grimaces, glaring at her reflection. 

It's a wonder you stay anymore. You've said it yourself. They're old and obsolete , not up to the newer standards of technology. They can barely even do what they're supposed to anymore, not with the way the 'plex is anyway. Hell, they're not even able to entertain like they're supposed to. Everyone hates this place, they refuse to even come here anymore. 

They're worthless. 

They probably would've been better off if you'd have just let them rot. Seems like all they're good for….

…

..

Roxy supposes this is still... better than that last night. Or the days leading up to it. 

She can't help but shiver at the reminder of those days. The feeling of complete helplessness and isolation. The fear. Walking around blind without a clue as to what's out there. She knows the 'plex like the back of her hand, but the sudden lack of sight still made it hard to move around. She could only listen for what was around her. Try to tell the differences between smells. 

Not even mentioning the other damage. That stung . 

And... and the others. Only hearing shrill mechanical sounds from Chica, not her voice. Never her voice. Her stumbling around, like she couldn't walk right. Not seeming.. completely there all the time. Then Monty's grunts, groans. The screeching sounds like he was... dragging himself around. Like.. like something happened to his legs . Freddy just... being gone for a little bit. Nowhere to be found and when he did come back, he didn't.. sound right. Something happened to his voice too. 

Then the employees came back. Cursing and grumbling. Roxy didn't like them touching her, but they promised to get her back in shape. They promised to help fix her and bring her back to her original glory. They promised . 

What a bunch of liars. 

Roxy spins away from her mirror with a pout. She instead stomps over to her couch and sits down on it with a huff, face turned away from the vanity. 

You've said you'll help. She's not confident you mean it though. She's still not even sure why you're so interested in this place anyway. By the sounds of it, you're not really getting anything out of this. You've said shelter and protection, but she doesn't see how being here offers all that much protection. Nor does she know what you want protection from . 

You're... nice, she'll admit. You gave Chica her voice back and Freddy's was fixed too, whatever Monty’s problem too even. You've... let them go outside . That was.. pretty cool..... It was awesome , actually. She's never actually gotten to go outside or see it before. The 'plex doesn't have any windows, beside the one right above the entrance doors. But that only showed the sky, the doors themselves only the parking lot. And it wasn't like she got to look out those often. 

The only ties to the outside world they've ever gotten was the way the Raceway and Monty's Golf was decorated, or what the kids would tell them. They had limited access to the internet but... that didn't provide much. So they were pretty... cut off from the rest of the world. 

But you let them see it. Feel the sun on their casings, look at the surroundings. See some birds and flowers. It was a small look, Roxy knows, but it was more than she's ever gotten before. It was amazing . 

She'll... never admit it, but she was a bit scared. She didn't know what to expect. If it was some trick, to get her to break one of the most serious rules so there was a reason to decommission her. Or what was even out there that could get to them, but it.. it was fine. Great. 

She didn't miss your tenseness though. You were happy to bring them out, but you were nervous. You were looking around a lot, like you were expecting something to pop out. You made sure they were inside and the doors were securely shut before the sun went down. 

Roxy isn't sure she wants to know what's out there that makes you so nervous. She doesn't think she wants to know what you're afraid of out there. There's enough in here for her to worry about, though she thankfully hasn't seen that weird rabbit thing that freaked her out.... all those years ago. At least that's gone. 

Roxy looks over as someone knocks on the open doorway to her room. Chica stands there, grinning once the wolf's eyes are on her, and skips inside. 

"Hellooo!" She cheers. 

"Hey, Chica," Roxy huffs, glancing behind the chicken to see if anyone else is coming in with her. Luckily, there isn't. 

"I had a question for you," Chica grins, lacing her hands together behind her back. Roxy looks at her with narrowed eyes. 

"And... what is this question?" She asks, wary. Those grins aren't usually a good sign. 

"Well, our human came back from town and she brought some things with her," Chica explains, Roxy's eyes narrowing further. "Annnnnddd some of the stuff she brought was what we asked her to get!" 

Chica brings her hands out from behind her back, showing off the bag with a wider grin. Roxy takes it and looks through the contents, finding a bunch of makeup and styling products. 

"Sooo, do you want to do a girl's night?" Chica asks, excited and bouncing on her feet. Roxy hums, grinning a bit more. 

"Heck yeah," she nods. "We just need to get the little human in on it too." 

"Oh, I doubt that'll be much of a problem!" Chica giggles, clapping her hands. "Let's get everything set up! Then we can go get her!" 

Roxy stands, heading over to her vanity. Chica follows her, the two setting everything up to be easily reachable for when they need it. 

Roxy's actually pretty happy with the spread you got, even if she doesn't recognize some of the brands. She can still tell what they're meant to be with a little bit of examination. She didn't even think you knew what was what based on her never seeing you with makeup on, so this is a nice little surprise. 

It's a start to a good night, she hopes. 

A much needed distraction either way. 

_____

"Hey girls, what's up?" You ask, not look up from your computer where you're currently working. 

"What are you doing?" Roxy asks, leaning forward to look over your shoulder. 

"Some work," you reply, eyes darting across the screen. "Took a job to get some more funds for stuff." 

"Oh," Chica replies, leaning forward more to look over your shoulder too. "Well... could you take a break?" 

You don't answer for a minute to finish up what you were doing, then shut your laptop and turn to look up at the two. 

"Sure! What do you need, Sweet Cheeks?" You ask, look up at the two who both backed up when you did that. Chica still grins, taking your hands to get you to stand up. 

"We want to have a girl's night!" She chirps, pulling you off towards their rooms. You raise an eyebrow, head tilting to the side as you gaze over them. 

"A girl's night?" You ask. 

"Yeah! We haven't gotten to have a proper girl's night yet!" Chica chirps, heading directly for her room with Roxy following behind. "It'll be fun!" 

"Yeah, sure," Roxy agrees, tilting her head. "We've already gotten everything ready, so you can't say no. You've been working or hanging out with the boys more than us lately anyway." 

You're pretty sure you've been hanging out with them as a collective more than one group or the other, but okay. If they wanted to hang out with just them, they just had to ask. 

"Hmm. Alright," you shrug, looking between the two. Chica cheers, speeding up just a bit to reach Roxy’s room. 

Once inside, you're immediately sat in the chair at the vanity. Which is admittedly a little big for you, though the two don't seem to mind as Roxy immediately descends upon your hair with a brush. Chica attacks your hands, taking one to start messing with your nails. 

You understand why they asked for some things from town now. 

You just idly watch Chica work on your nails, filing down some and painting once they're to her liking. Then you look up at Roxy's focused look through the mirror as she messes with your hair, putting it up before brushing it out again and trying something else. 

"You a hairstylist too?" You ask, curiosity gleaming through your voice. She only glances up momentarily. 

"I do have a salon in the raceway," she comments dryly. 

"I remember," you reply, looking at the nails of your finished hand while Chica starts on the other. It's cute, pink colored with little yellow stars carefully painted on. "You've mentioned it." 

Roxy just hums, eyes narrowing slightly at what she's doing. 

"We like playing dress up like this!" Chica chirps, Roxy huffing but not disputing her claim. "We didn't have many humans that liked to join us though, so we mainly just had to work with each other." 

"But there were some?" You ask, looking over her curiously. 

"One or two would come through," Roxy grumbles. "They never stuck around for long. I occasionally got to work at the salon, but it was rare." 

"Hm.." You glance between them for a moment. "Well, you're both better at this than I am." 

"Have you never tried this before?" Chica asks, looking up at you curiously. 

"Never really got the chance," you shrug. "Wasn't a very high priority and I work with my hands a lot, so nails would get ruined as soon as they were done. Not to mention I was always moving around, so I never made many friends and the ones I did make weren't usually interested in this stuff." 

"That's no fun," Chica pouts, quickly looking back at what she was doing. 

"You can work in mechanics and still look good doing it," Roxy huffs, disapproving. 

"And you would know, wouldn't you?" You grin, looking up at her again. Roxy huffs, standing a bit straighter. 

"Of course I would," she responds, snout held high. You chuckle a bit, the wolf quickly returning her attention to your hair with narrowed eyes. 

"What kinds of styles are popular now-a-days?" Chica asks curiously, you humming in question. "Like hairstyles, makeup, clothes.. Those types of things!" 

"Ah.. It varies from settlement to settlement really," you hum, thinking back on it. "There's huge differences too based on where they're placed. Some styles are more subdued and some are loud. Some wear a lot of clothes and some wear barely any. It's hard to pin down just.. one style honestly." 

"Why are there so many differences?" Chica asks, turning to look at the things on her vanities. 

"Well, climates are one reason," you reply, gesturing to the side. "Where it's colder people need to wear more to stay warm. Where it's warmer, people need to wear less to keep cool. Sometimes it's just the culture. Some make people wear more and some wear little. And sometimes it's just someone's personal preference. It can change real quick too." 

"Sounds complicated," Roxy states, you humming in agreement. 

"It can be." 

“It’s interesting too!” Chica adds, bouncing a bit. You agree with that as well. 

You close your eyes as Chica turns back around and starts applying something on your face. She hums happily while doing so, Roxy seemingly finding a hairstyle she likes as she comes around to help Chica with the makeup. With both of them working on it, it only takes a few minutes to do. 

"There!" Chica cheers after placing the finishing touches. You blink your eyes open again, looking towards the mirror. 

"Huh," you mutter, tilting your head to get a better look at everything. Definitely different than what you usually see, mirroring their makeup a lot. Not as loud as some of the things you've seen, but definitely more than others. "I like it." 

"Yay!" Chica cheers, throwing her hands up. Roxy preens, tossing some of her hair over her shoulder and looking real proud of herself. You smile in amusement, grin rather soft.

They’re cute.

Chapter Text

"So, how are you going to fix our casings?" Roxy asks, looking over the supplies you've dug out. Both the clay and paint are sitting out on the tables. 

"Well, I can either remove the casings I need and repair them that way. Would be easier on all of us and the process would go faster. Or you keep your casings on and we figure out how to do it that way," you offer, looking over the labels on the paint. "Your choice." 

"Are..... you sure it will be easier with the casings removed?" Freddy asks, wringing his hands. 

"You guys are going to have to remain still the entire time the clay's drying so it doesn't crack, then again so the paint doesn't smear or get messed up," you explain, looking up at them. "And it'd be easier for me to coat everything if it's laid out instead. One thing I hate about the newer stuff. Hard to update the customization." 

They shift slightly in their places, Roxy even rubbing her arm. 

"Your choice though," you assure them. "We can figure it out if you really don't want parts of your casings removed." 

"No. It is fine," Freddy sighs. "I do not mind having mine removed for a little bit." 

"Yeah.... I suppose it won't be too bad," Chica agrees, looking over her casing. 

You nod, giving the bear and chicken a thumbs up. 

"I guess I can.. deal for a little bit," Roxy sighs, looking over her own casing. "As long as these stupid cracks disappear." 

Monty just grunts, tail drooping. 

"Alright. It'll take a day at most," you tell them, leaning back in your seat. "Tomorrow morning they should be good to go." 

The four nod. You remove the casings that need the repairs, label which part they are, then lay them on a tarp on the floor. After which you open one of the blocks of clay and get to work filling in the cracks and holes in the casings. 

The clay sticks to the casings better than you were expecting, thankfully. Once sanded down a little with a new coat of paint, it'll look as good as new. 

The four animatronics still look very uncomfortable with the missing pieces though. You try to go as fast as possible. 

_____ 

"Does the paint smell good?" Chica asks, tilting her head. 

"It definitely does," you chuckle, comparing some of the mixed paint to the casing beside you. "You're going to smell exactly like a bakery, Chica." 

"Yes!" Chica cheers, clapping her bare endo hands together. You smile at her, looking back down at what you're doing. 

All the smells are giving you a bit of a headache from the overload, but that should die down soon at least. It's only so powerful thanks to the wet paint and freshly opened bottles. The differing scents probably don't help though. 

Like with Sun and Moon, you did have to help the others pick out the scents they wanted. They gave you the ideas they wanted or helped them narrow down ideas, then picked what would be the most similar to that.

Freddy just gave you the idea he wanted to have a comforting smell, which wasn't very helpful in all honesty. Since that's different for literally everyone, but he just narrowed it down to something that smells comforting to you . Which you just picked the smell of coffee and tobacco because of. It was... very nostalgic to have that smell around you again. 

Chica just wanted to smell sweet, so adding with her excitement over the cupcake idea, you went with a bakery smell. Freshly baked cakes, cupcakes, cookies, bread, and any other sweet. It made you hungry in all honesty. 

Roxy just wanted to smell like her raceway. Which.. you can say it doesn't smell as good as she thinks it does. But it gave you the idea of a mechanic workshop, and racetrack smells. So you went with oil and tires. That sort of smell. 

Monty... didn't have much of an idea on what he wanted. So you offered the idea of what his golf course is modeled after, or just an outdoorsy smell. He agreed, so you narrowed it down to a woodsy-mossy-leaves and citrus. It might be a bit of an autumn scent. 

The paints do smell really good, and you bet they'll be even better when they dry and lose that overwhelming strength. 

"Alright, that should do it," you announce, looking over the freshly painted casings. It took a while to properly coat and repaint everything, but you did it and have all the pieces drying now. Kind of a little creepy, but you're used to this kind of thing now. Even the freshly painted eyeballs staring up at you. "They just have to dry now." 

"Sweet!" Chica cheers. "I can't wait!" 

"I've got to head over to the Daycare to do Sun's paint now," you tell them, gathering up the things you'll need for that. You set the paint tray on your hip, looking over the four and point at them with slightly narrowed eyes. "Don't touch the casings. Or it'll take longer for you to get them back." 

"Of course," Freddy nods. You hum, then head off towards the Daycare. 

Sun greets you happily, then looks even more excited by the supplies in your hands. 

"Oh! What's all this?" 

"The paint for your casing," you reply, Sun's rays spinning at that. 

"Really? Oh, you're going to do that now? How exciting!" Sun grins, rocking back and forth slightly. You nod with a hum, then look over him again. 

"Sure is. But Sun, are you okay with your casing being removed? You're going to have to sit very still if you don't want it to be so the paint can dry," you warn. Sun does still for a moment, head tilted. 

"Mmmmmmm..... I suppose!" He sighs. "But Friend, are you sure? We don't.. look very friendly without our casings on!" 

"I already know what you look like without your casing, Sunshine," you chuckle, looking over at the bot. "I'll be fine." 

"Okay. If you're sure," Sun nods. You hum, getting the paint ready before removing any of Sun's plating and being smacked by the lemony candy or cake smell. He watches you do so curiously, head tilting this way and that. "I have to ask, what about Moonie's?" 

"His paint?" You ask, glancing up for a moment. Sun hums. "Ah. With you two being in the same body and light coded, I had to get yours together as a color changing paint. When it's dark, these colors will switch to Moon's." 

"Oh,okay! I was wondering how you were going to handle that," Sun responds, looking at the paint even more curiously. 

"Oh yeah. I just had to do a bit of work to make sure everything was set properly. It’s honestly a pretty cool feature to the paint you can add, I’ve seen some amazing paint jobs done with it," you chuckle, turning to him with everything set up. "Ready?" 

Sun takes a moment, but then nods. You remove the casings and get to work painting the pieces. You try to get the colors as close as to what they were, but it's not exactly one for one. The new paint is a bit brighter and more vibrant than the old paint, but Sun doesn't seem to mind the little changes. 

You did have to order a lot of paint for these two and have them labeled, just to make sure everything was right for their paint job when they switch. Which you had to have Sun's help with since you don’t really remember what Moon’s paint job was from when you were fixing the two up. But hopefully, everything's as it should be. 

"Alright," you say, head tilted as you look over the plating. "It look good?" 

"It looks wonderful!" Sun replies, you grinning at his enthusiasm. 

"Okay. Now we just need to let it dry overnight and then we can put your casings back on," you tell him. You point at the bot, brow raised. "No touching it until then, alright?" 

"Okay, got it!" Sun replies, giving you a salute. You smile, nodding. 

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning." 

_____ 

"There we go," You grin, fitting the casing back onto the bear in front of you. "That should do it. How's it looking?" 

"You did a wonderful job, Superstar!" Freddy grins, looking over the orangish, cream, and light blue paint job. "It looks amazing!" 

"Yeah! I love it!" Chica squeals, looking up from her own body. "We look as good as new!" 

"It's okay, I guess," Roxy huffs, tossing some hair over her shoulder. Her wagging tail says a different story though. 

"It'll do," Monty says, but he looks pretty pleased himself too. 

"Good. I'm glad you all like it," you grin. Looking over the paint one more time. 

It does look good, you'll admit. The fresh coat did them wonders. They all look a lot more vibrant and full of life than they did before. The cracked and dull casings before did them no justice. 

"Alright. I've got to run over to the Daycare quick to put Sun's casings back on him," you tell the four, most of whom are still admiring their new paint. 

"Of course," Freddy grins, waving. 

You do run over to the Daycare, finding Sun waiting for you there. He looks just as excited for his casing to go back on, which you check the plating and get to work putting back on. Once everything's set correctly and the jester has his clothes back as well, you take a step back and let the lanky animatronic check it out. 

"So? How's it look?" You ask, Sun looking back up at you. 

"It looks amazing!" He cheers, picking you up to spin you around in a hug. "Thank you, Starlight!" 

"Of course," you chuckle, squirming a bit until he'll put you down. You take his hand afterwards, smiling a bit. "Come on. Why don't you come show off a bit? Everyone can show you their new paint jobs too." 

Sun hums, head tilting this way and that while he looks between you and the Daycare's doors. 

"Alright!" He decides, following you back to the atrium. You smile brightly, happy to have him coming along. 

Freddy, Chica, Roxy, and Monty are all still in the atrium when you get back, though Freddy suggests heading into his room. Which the six of you do, Roxy immediately heading over to the vanity to look into the mirror. From her wagging tail, you guess she really is pleased. 

You smile at that, leaning back into Sun's lap since he grabbed onto you like he normally does. 

"We should make a pizza to celebrate!" Chica cheers, Roxy looking over her shoulder with a raised brow. 

"You always want to make pizza," she states, Chica just smiling. 

"Pizza is good," you chuckle, tilting your head a bit. You look down at your watch for the time, humming. "It is getting close to dinnertime, so it wouldn't be a bad idea." 

"Sweet! Let's go!" Chica chirps, taking your hand. Monty and Roxy reluctantly follow behind the rest of you, Sun keeping your other hand in his. 

"I've never made a pizza before," he says, head tilting. 

"I can show you!" Chica grins, giving a thumbs up. 

"Okay, sounds fun!" 

You have to twist your hand out of Chica's as you get an alert on your watch, dismissing it afterwards when you find it's just a severe weather alert. You could probably mute that since you're not living outside at the moment. 

"I have ta ask, but do you ever take that thing off?" Monty asks, looking over your shoulder at the watch. 

"Nope. I can't take it off," you shrug, looking over at him. 

"Why can you not take it off?" Freddy asks, looking at the device curiously. 

"Well, I mean I guess I could. But it'll hurt like hell to do so," you correct, looking down at the thing. You twist your wrist around a bit, showing the lack of any real visible clasp. "It's connected to my nerves and veins, and is being powered by my heart. It's basically been made a part of my body itself." 

All five of the animatronics stop dead in their tracks, looking at you with wide eyes. 

"Why would anybody do that?" Roxy sputters, looking from you to the watch. You shrug, looking over the thing again. 

"Just... that way," you state, looking up at them again. "It's the best way to monitor health, the best communication line, notification center, and ID. You have a little super computer right on your wrist." 

"But.. wouldn't that be very dangerous?" Freddy asks, looking from the watch to you. 

"Not really," you shrug. "When it's first implanted it isn't very comfortable, but once you're used to it you barely notice it. Some people have their’s implanted when they're babies." 

"Parents let those things be stuck to their babies?!" Monty yells, making you jump a bit. 

"Uh.. yeah," you blink, looking at the alligator bewildered. "Like I said, it's the best health monitor out there. You immediately know when something's wrong." 

"You're.. really just okay with that?" Chica asks, staring at the watch. "When... when was yours put in?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine with it," you shrug. "I mean, it does have its downsides at times. But overall it's more helpful than not. And I had mine since I was like.. four or five, I think." 

"Really?" Sun asks, picking up your wrist to look at it himself. 

"Yeah. My grandparents hated it, but my parents wanted it put in," you shrug, looking up at him. You then continue moving towards the kitchens. 

"What are the downsides? And why did your grandparents hate it?" Freddy asks, still looking over the watch. 

"Mmmm. I'd say the main downside is how the watches can be used against people sometimes. They can be used to track people if they don't have the right security set up. That was the reason my parents had this put on me," you frown, looking down at the thing. You then shrug a shoulder, looking back up. "I had the tracker disabled a long time ago though. And my grandparents thought it wasn't good for me at the time and I'd be traumatized by the whole thing. They were of the opinion they should've either done it when I was too young to remember or not at all." 

You chuckle a bit, shaking your head at the memory. 

"They didn't agree with my parents on a lot of things. Can't say I think they were wrong though." 

The animatronics hum, glancing up at each other. But you get to the kitchen and start making some pizzas. You watch Freddy and Chica toss the dough for a bit, then are able to put the sauce and toppings on with Sun once they're done with that. You do note that Monty and Roxy don't look like they're having too much fun. 

"This is fun!" Sun states, adding another pepperoni to finish the smiley face on the pizza. 

"It is!" Chica chirps, clapping her hands together as Freddy finishes the last pizza crust. You're making six pizzas apparently. "It's even better when they're finished cooking and you can eat them!" 

Sun hums, tilting his head as you go about layering some sauce onto another crust. Freddy goes over to help one of the others, Monty happily stepping aside to let him take over. 

"I've heard the pizza is really good," Sun says plainly. You look up, the top of your head bumping into his chest plate as you do so and only really getting a view of his chin, as he starts placing pepperonis down again. 

Right, he doesn't have a mouth. He's not built to be able to eat like the others are either. 

"I love pizza," Chica sighs dreamily, pulling one of the finished pies out of the oven. Sun finishes laying toppings onto the last pizza, then wraps his arms around you to lean back against the counter while you all wait for the pizzas to finish cooking. 

You look down at your watch, checking the weather alert again before going to check a few other things. Looks like there's a nasty storm happening, you can't even hear it in here. 

It's as Chica's pulled the last pizza out of the oven and set it on the table that the lights start flickering. Sun shrieks, the others startled and look up at the lights. Though their eyes quickly widen when the lights go out completely, turning to you. 

The robot behind you goes very still, fingers pressing into your sides deeper. The smell of lavender and blueberries surrounding you.

Chapter Text

You can feel who you can only guess is Moon shifting slightly behind you, incredibly tense and his fingers digging into your hips a bit painfully. He obviously wasn't expecting to come out right now, and you can guess probably didn't want to. So you can guess he's not exactly happy about this turn of events. 

What you're not getting, is why everyone looks downright horrified and slightly scared of seeing him. 

"Kid.. don't move ," Monty says, eyes locked on the animatronic behind you. Whose fingers dig into your hips slightly more with those words, though you have no idea what Moon may be thinking. 

"Moon," Freddy starts, taking a step forward then freezing. 

This is.... kind of ridiculous. They're acting like you're in a hostage situation instead of having an unexpected visit. 

"Guys, it's fine," you speak up, Moon shifting a bit again. You don't move away from him though, seeing as he still has you tight in his hold and isn't letting you move. You can hear the slight click of his machinery and think he may be looking down at you now from the red glow being cast over your head. 

"No, it isn't," Roxy snarls, wide eyes looking between you and the animatronic behind you wildly. 

" Guys , it's fine ," you repeat, eyes narrowed slightly. You take a breath, looking between the four other worried animatronics again. "The storm just knocked out the power. Can one of you please go check the breakers and see if the lights will turn back on?" 

Damn old buildings and their unreliable power in the face of severe storms. Always the worst. You really need to get better power systems for this building, especially since the animatronics count on it at the moment. 

None of the four move for a moment, but then Freddy nods and heads out. 

"I will be right back," he states, you nodding. You then turn to look at the remaining three animatronics in front of you, two of which look like they're ready for a fight. 

"Moon," you speak up, hearing another click from the said animatronic behind you. "If you want to leave right now, that's fine. We'd love it if you'd like to join us, but I understand if you're not up for it. It's your choice, Bud. Sorry for the unexpected visit." 

You hear a few more clicks from Moon, his fingers curling in your shirt for a moment. But then his grip loosens before his hands are removed from you entirely. You step out of his space, able to hear the jingling from his bells before they fade. Monty and Roxy only relax after you can't hear the bells anymore. 

"Oh, are you okay?" Chica asks, looking off in the direction Moon presumably went. 

"Of course," you reply, squinting a bit as you carefully maneuver over to them. You curse under your breath as you painfully bump into a counter, Roxy coming over to lead you to the others with a huff. 

It's way too dark in this building without the lights. You can't even see your hand an inch in front of your damn face. 

"I'm impressed that freak didn't do anything," she mutters, you frowning at her. 

"Don't call him a freak," you scold, shaking your head. Roxy pouts, letting go of your arm once next to Chica. "That's mean." 

"More than he deserves. He could've hurt ya," Monty grumbles, crossing his arms. "Ya don't know what he's capable of." 

"Maybe not, but he didn't hurt me and he's still a part of this group," you respond, raising an eyebrow. "Don't exclude him." 

"Okay! You got it!" Chica grins, hugging you. But Monty and Roxy just grumble. 

"Thank you, Chica." 

Chica boxes up the last pizza, stacking it with the others. Then you wait for either the lights to turn back on or Freddy to return. It turns out to be the latter, the bear's ears folded back against his casing. 

"I could not get the power to return," he states, obviously disappointed. 

"That's alright, Bud," you tell him, glancing over at where you think he is. "It'll come back on by itself." 

"Well, let's go eat!" Chica chirps, taking the stack of pizza boxes. "A little power outage shouldn't ruin our celebration!" 

"You are right, Chica! Let us go," Freddy grins. Chica cheers, Roxy and Monty just grumbling. You huff in amusement, smiling softly. 

"Uh, little help? I still can't see in the dark," you request when the four start walking. 

"Oh! Of course!" Freddy replies, coming over to take your hand. 

You all head back up to Freddy's room and Chica dishes out some of the pizzas while you set up a flashlight to give yourself some field of view. It works, letting you take and eat some pizza without smearing it all over yourself. You also get to see Chica scarfing down some pizza herself and Roxy giving the bird her slices which she just grimaced at instead of eating. 

The power does eventually come back on, which Sun quickly comes back to join you all. You smile at him, huffing slightly as he pulls you back onto his lap. 

"You're okay?" He asks. 

"Of course," you reply, Sun just humming as he smooths over where Moon's fingers dug into your hips. 

He doesn't say much more until you're walking back to the Daycare with him, which he regards you carefully. 

"You.. didn't look at Moon at all when he was there," he notes, you looking back up at him. 

"Well, as far as I know, Moon still doesn't want to meet me. I don't know why, but... it's his choice," you shrug, looking back at where you're going. "He didn't mean to come out tonight." 

"You're... really okay with him hiding from you?" Sun asks, grip on your hand tightening. 

"I wish I could talk to him a bit, but it's ultimately his choice. I'm not going to force him to talk to me, since you're... Well, since I can find out if there's anything that needs looking at through you," you reply, tilting your head a bit. "I'm sure he has his reasons for not wanting to come out." 

If you had to guess, it's probably the way he was treated in the past. From what you've heard and seen so far, the staff of this mall weren't very nice to any of the animatronics here. You doubt Moon was the exception. 

And from the others' reaction to Moon being out, what Monty said. You're guessing Moon may have been a bit more hostile than the others were, for whatever reason he may have had. You know Moon has some security protocols, though you've also seen he has the same protocols in place to keep him from harming people. So you're not sure why everyone was expecting you to be hurt by your short encounter with Moon. You definitely have some questions now. 

"I have to ask why everyone was so worried?" You question, looking up at Sun again. "You all were acting like Moon was going to hurt me." 

Sun stares at you for a minute, then tenses quite a bit. 

"Ah.... Hmmm," Sun stumbles, fidgeting with his ribbons and bells. "Oh, hey! We're at the Daycare already! Well, you should go get some sleep! It's quite late after all, how the time flies!" 

" Sun ," you state, grip tightening on the animatronic's hand as he tries to shoo you away and level a look at him. Sun stares at you, his grip loosening and tightening. 

"Moonie's fine! I promise! There's no reason to worry about him or do anything," Sun assures, making you raise an eyebrow. "It's nothing after all. Everyone was really just overreacting, I think!" 

"Uh-huh, sure," you reply, skeptical. "Even Freddy was on guard, Sun. Freddy ." 

"Well, Mr. Fredbear is a worry wart, you know!" Sun offers, clasping his hands together. 

" Sun ," you sigh, crossing your arms. 

"It was just a little bug! And everything seems to have worked out, so there's really nothing to worry about!" Sun waves his hands, then winces. 

"Wait, bug? What do you mean bug?" You ask, eyes narrowing a bit. 

"Nothing!" Sun replies, hands raising in surrender. "I didn't mean- Well, it's just-! There was a little... problem, but it's fine now! It seems fine now and Moonie's okay!" 

"Sun. Sun, Honey, calm down," you request, holding your hands up and taking his again. "Can you please explain to me what kind of bug you're talking about? If it's still a problem, it could need to be fixed-" 

"It's not!" Sun shouts, making you jump and look at him wide eyed. "Moon's fine and he doesn't need to be reset or-or fixed or anything! We're fine!" 

"What? Reset?" You ask, blinking in confusion at the nervous bot. "Who said anything about resetting either of you?" 

Sun whines again, backing up a bit. 

"Sun, I have no intentions of resetting you or Moon," you assure. "I promise . I just want to make sure you're both okay. Alright? I just want to help you both." 

Sun stares at you for a few moments, then tilts his head. 

"... Pinky promise?" Sun asks, holding out said finger. You hook your pinky with his, smiling in a bit of amusement. 

"Pinky promise," you agree. Sun relaxes again, twisting his grip to hold your hand. 

"I... don't want to scare you," he says quietly, voice unsure. "Or make you hate Moon." 

"Whatever it is, I'm not going to be scared of you or hate Moon," you assure him, rubbing your thumb against the back of his hand. Sun considers you for another long moment, head tilted. 

"Moon... got a little bug... It made him more violent," Sun confesses, making you tilt your head. "He.. hurt people because of it." 

"He.. hurt people?" You repeat, brows furrowing. "As in, physically hurt?" 

"... Yes," Sun replies, folding in on himself. You blink, head tilting slightly. 

"That's.. strange," you comment, looking down at the floor in your thoughts. You tap a finger against your chin and purse your lips. "Moon does have security protocols that let him deal with intruders, but he still had the same safety details that were supposed to stop him from actually harming anyone.... This bug must've bypassed or corrupted that code somehow......." 

"You're.. not upset?" Sun asks, head spinning to the side as if he's trying to get a better look at you. "That.. that we hurt people?" 

"Not really," you shrug, looking up at him. "And honestly, it doesn't phase me. There's robots out there whose whole purpose is to harm people. I'm more worried about the fact that you had a virus that could make you harm people and more violent when it's directly against your code." 

You press your lips together, considering the animatronic for a moment. Who just looks more confused than anything, maybe more than a little nervous. You take a breath and ease your expression, taking a step forward to cup Sun's face. He tilts down to let you, moving more like a ragdoll. 

"This doesn't change anything," you assure him, rubbing your thumb over his cheek. "It wouldn't even if you've killed someone. I still care about you and Moon and will do anything in my power to help and care for you both. Okay?" 

".... Why?" Sun asks, hands coming up to wrap around your wrists. He doesn't remove your hands from his face though, just holding. 

"Hm? Because I care about you," you repeat, tipping yourself up to bump your forehead against his. "I don't really care about what any of you did in your past. You're here now and you're mine despite it. I'm going to take care of all of you, no matter what ." 

"Really? .... Just like that?" Sun asks. 

"Mhm. Just like that," you reply, leaning back again after another affectionate bonk. "Promise I'm not going anywhere. No matter what happened or what you did." 

".... Okay," Sun replies, voice small. He leans forward and captures you in a tight hug, face tilting into your shoulder. You hug him back just as tight, rubbing his back and resting your chin on his shoulder. 

You're far too invested and attached to these animatronics to go anywhere now. Plus, you'd be a hypocrite if you did leave them for that. After all, your hands aren't exactly clean either . 

_____

You're weird. You're a very odd human. He still doesn't get what you're up to, not completely convinced you were telling the truth when you said you cared about them. He doesn't want to believe it or the warm, caring touches you've given. He doesn't want to fall for it and be disappointed again later. 

Human's don't just care for them , especially when they hear they've hurt people. When they hear the rumors that they've killed people. 

They usually don't let them touch them afterwards either, but you've happily done so. You still cuddle with Sun without complaint, willingly falling asleep in their presence without a care in the world. Cuddled into their lap while Sun holds you as tight as he dares to. Seemingly unbothered by anything that all of them throw at you. 

The others are seemingly convinced. He's not. 

Moon really doesn't get you. 

He sits up in the rafters of the Arcade, just above the dance floor where you currently are. You're dancing around with DJ, the larger animatronic playing the music for you while you jump around. It's only the two of you in there right now, the others currently testing out a new song you gave them. 

He's pretty sure you think he's in the Daycare, or at least Sun is. But they've been keeping an eye on you since they've seen your injuries, when they're able to. Always scanning your biodata when they see you again for anything new that might pop up, now that they know they need to do as such. You're not likely to tell them if you're hurt, or sick, after all. They've got to make sure. 

Those gashes in your arm healed, the scars not too noticeable against your skin. The Glamrocks did good enough making sure you let those heal, despite your protests about it. But now that they knew what to look for, they noticed a lot of those scars. You're pretty much decorated in them, your arms apparently the most prominent victims of... whatever causes them. Some are more noticeable than others, but they're still there. They can feel them easily enough, differing textures and raised slightly from the surrounding skin. 

You're a troublemaker apparently. As if breaking into the Pizzaplex and getting everything up and running again wasn't proof enough of that. All the rules you've broken and encouraged them to break, though he guesses those old rules aren't meant to be followed anymore. Or at least don't have to be. 

After all, you willingly let all of them touch you however they like and that was very much against the rules. 

You're so odd. 

Moon ignores Sun yelling at him to be nice, tapping his fingers against the support beam. His head tilts as you sit down on the stage, starting to talk to DJ instead. 

Sun's invested in you now. He's very fond of you. Moon thinks the others are too, even if they get annoyed by certain things you do. He knows why everyone's so invested in keeping you happy and willing to stay here . You're the only one that can fix them, even if you've been teaching Roxy about their mechanical innards and how to keep them running. You're still the one with all the knowledge and ability to keep everything going.

And.. you've been nice to them. All the strange and new things you're letting them do. Have access to things they didn't and let them do things they never could before. Never imagined they could do.. Treating them like equals instead of just property.... 

Moon has to wonder why you're so invested in them , beings you've made clear are old and outdated by your standards. That you seem to think needs more protection from the dangers of the outside world. He wonders what you're expecting to get out of all this. You've said before that you came here out of curiosity, but he'd think that would've been sated by now. Or you would've gotten bored of them a long time ago. 

Sun yells at him not to say that, the anxiety seeping into his voice. 

Moon ignores that too. 

You've taken them outside, many times now in fact. The bright- blinding - and colorful outside with all the pretty colors, the animals they've heard about but never seen before. Apparently confident that they'll do as you asked and always stay in your sight, not go out without you there to keep an eye on things. For good reason, he'll grant. They do listen, even Roxy and Monty. Likely because they don't want to lose that privilege when they just got it. 

Moon can't say he likes the outside very much. Too bright, too big. Too many places for things to hide and sneak up on them. It's pretty, but there's something lurking out there. Something you're afraid of, he knows. He knows because you always seem so tense out there despite how peaceful it is, on high alert and always looking around for something, even if you seem completely relaxed. Moon has to wonder what's out there to make you so nervous, what knowledge you're keeping from them. 

He sees it in the way you tense, the little comments you make, the rule of never opening the door if you're not here and not letting anyone inside. There's something bad you don't want getting to them. He wants to know what you're hiding. 

He's noticed them. The little lists and sketches you're making, different ones from the ones you've let everyone see. Blueprints of them with modifications, not very family friendly modifications. Ones that'll make them even more dangerous than they already are. You ponder over those a lot, sketching things out only to throw them away. He doesn't get what they're for, but he's guessing it's for whatever is out there. 

He wants to know. 

He wonders if it's what gave you those scars. Do you want to make it so they can fight that thing? Do you want them to protect you? Do you want to use them against something? What are you doing? 

Sun tells him to stop thinking so much. That you really do care for them and you'd prove that if he'd just talk to you already. 

Moon still ignores him. He doesn't need to talk to you, he just needs to watch..... 

...

..

It would be fun to play with you though. See how far he can push you before you eventually snap. Everyone always snaps eventually, how long will it take you? 

Sun yells at him again to not even think about it, that he shouldn't scare you or even think about hurting you. He doesn't want to hurt you though. Scare, yes, but not hurt. Not yet anyway. Not until you show your true colors and hurt one of them. He knows it'll happen eventually, it always does. 

If you don't just up and leave without warning that is. That's happened often enough too. Either way, Moon's not sure what to think of you still. 

He’ll figure it out though. Eventually.

Chapter Text

A bug that can make an animatronic violent despite their coding. A bug that can bypass coding or alter it completely. Not unheard of or impossible. Not exactly common, but not uncommon either. 

It is a bit of an issue though. 

You know you looked through their coding and poked around a bit, just to feed your curiosity and check things out. You know, see if they'll attack immediately upon booting up or not. Those safety features were a comfort then, though now you know they weren't exactly faultless. 

Nothing is though, you know that. But the bug still irritates you. If Moon had it, does that mean everyone else had it or was it just centralized to him? Was Sun actually infected? It's a bit strange if he wasn't. Did it just.. manifest differently for him maybe? Hmm.. 

You never came across something that you thought was a bug in your little look through. You certainly didn't note anything down that looked odd, but maybe you just missed it? It was a pretty quick check through, it's not impossible you didn't see it... Could it have been hidden ? 

So many questions, not enough answers. Maybe you'll have to poke around again, if they'll let you. They seem fine, so maybe it's okay for now? Unless said bug has a trigger and it just hasn't been pulled yet.. 

"Hmm. Do you two have this bug as well?" You ask the two motionless animatronics on the floor beside you, tapping your pencil against the notebook on the counter. Obviously you don't get a response from the bunny or fox, not that you were expecting one. You sigh, looking back down at your notebook. "So much to think about." 

These two have a lot of work to be done on them. Too many bad parts and not enough to replace them with. Plus, the bunny's casing was pretty fucked up too. You've been able to work on that a bit at least, filling in holes with leftover clay and metal support wires where needed. 

You found the case for his missing arm too, but the actual arm is still nowhere to be found. It's more than a bit strange, but perhaps these two were used for spare parts at some point. Wouldn't be that surprising. At least you have their blueprints you found tucked away with the others' in the beginning of this little adventure. 

You grunt, pushing yourself up from where you were sitting. 

There's not much you can do with these two at this second, not until the new parts you've ordered come in. Then you can only hope that the parts are actually compatible with this old stuff and nothing gets fucked up in the process. All the actual stuff in their heads, like chips and the such, looking relatively undamaged. But that still doesn't mean you won't have an uphill battle due to age and lack of use. 

If the others are anything to go by, it should be fine. 

......... Probably. 

Hopefully. 

You'll just have to see when you're actually putting these two back together again. 

You let out a deep sigh and gather the things you need to take with you, closing the door to the room behind you. You begin the long trek back to the surface of the gigantic mall while in thought. 

You need to give all the animatronics protection too, implement that into the designs. But you still need to figure out what protections you could possibly give them, plus if they're even going to let you do it. But with the bug, would getting rid of their safety controls even be a good idea? Does it really even matter when said bug basically ignored said safety protocols? Probably not, but giving them actual weapons wouldn't help. 

You don't even know what the bug is fully capable of, or capable of making the animatronics do. How violent do they get? Sun never directly said they've actually killed anyone, so are they capable of doing such a thing? Or is it just harming them? 

Grrrr.. More questions on top of questions. 

You still need to talk to everyone about these weapons anyway, which you imagine will lead into questions of why they're even needed. That'll be a... fun chat. You are going to have to tell them sooner or later anyway. 

You grumble under your breath, looking up towards the ceiling. You have to pause at hearing loud thumps, after a moment being able to recognize them as footsteps.... Sounds like one of the animatronics walking around, you think. 

Your eyes still narrow, moving to slip into a hiding spot as the sound gets closer. You wait a few minutes, finally starting to see a shadow bending around the corner. You tense, stifling your breathing as much as possible. 

... 

Oh, it's just Monty. 

You come out just as the gator is about to pass, raising an eyebrow at his quick steps. 

"Whatcha doin' down here, Big Man?" You ask, Monty jerking back around to face you. 

"Where'd you come from?" He growls, hands clenched. 

"I was close by." You eye the tense gator, tilting your head a bit. "You alright?" 

"I'm fine," Monty huffs, turning back around to stomp in the direction you were going. You hum, following him as he heads back towards the surface. 

"Hey, Monty. Got a question for you," you speak up, making the gator grunt. "Do you know anything about a bug in your systems?" 

"A bug?" Monty asks, looking back at you. He pauses for a moment, head tilted. ".... Diagnostics didn't find anything." 

"Hmmmm.... Alright. Thanks, Big Guy," you nod, Monty grunting as he watches you skip over to the little workstation you set up. Though you start checking something on your watch after you sit. 

"What're you doin' in the basement?" Monty asks once you look up from the object, turning to the cameras. "You're spendin' a lot of time down there fer someone who hates it." 

"Why? Got something to hide down there?" You ask, sending a teasing smile towards the gator. 

"I already told you I don't," Monty growls, crossing his arms as he levels a look at you. 

"I'm just looking over things and exploring a bit, Monty," you shrug, looking back at the camera to see if you can get it working without new parts. It's not looking like it though. "You know, looking for useful stuff and all." 

Monty grumbles something under his breath that you don't catch, though you do look up at him with a raised eyebrow. You look over the gator for a minute, considering him for a moment. 

"Something bothering you?" You carefully ask, half turning to face him. 

"It's nothin'," Monty growls, then begins to stalk off. 

"Monty," you call, making the big animatronic pause. Your eyes narrow a bit, considering the gator again with a tilt of your head. "If.. something is bothering you, you can talk to me about it. I'll listen." 

Monty remains still for a long moment, then grunts and disappears into Gator Golf. You watch the entrance for a moment, then sigh and turn towards what you were doing again. 

_____ 

"You're leaving?" Chica whines, coming to grab onto your arm. Roxy hovers behind her, hands twitching before she crosses them. 

"Just for a few hours, like I told you all before," you remind her, patting her hands. "I've got some stuff to pick up in the settlement. I'll be back." 

"What could you have to get now? You just went out to pick up food and stuff," Roxy comments, tail flicking behind her. She shifts in place, staring right at you. 

"I ordered some parts online to get the cameras up and running again," you reply, looking over at her. Your eyes then shift to the ceiling, letting out a breath. "I also ordered some other things I needed." 

"What.. kind of things?" Chica asks, still not letting go of your arm. 

"Stuff," you sigh, gently prying her fingers from around your arm. Because she reluctantly let you. You smile at the two, lifting your wrist with your watch on it and shaking it. "And hey, remember we've got that link that'll let you text and call me. You can still talk if there's a problem or you want to, and I can call if I have a problem." 

Chica whines again, Roxy's head lowering a bit. But they nod, stepping back and letting you climb into the van. You pause, leaning out the window. 

"Don't worry. I'll be back soon," you promise, smiling gently at the girls. Chica nods, still wringing her hands. Roxy remains quiet though, just watching you. "And remember to stay in the plex while I'm gone. Don't let anyone else come in, no matter what you hear. Got it?" 

The two nod, already used to the rules you set in place for when you're gone. You pull out, leaving the girls to watch you disappear. Chica whines again, but the two walk back into the Plex and shut the door to the garage. 

Luckily, you return in a few hours with quite a few boxes packed into the back of the van. Safe and sound without any injuries on you. 

"What is all this stuff?" Roxy asks, eyes narrowed a bit. 

"Supplies for things," you shrug, looking through them as you sort which ones go where. Seemingly at random to the bots watching you, since they can't seem to figure out what qualifies as what. They all just look like an assortment of mechanical parts to them. 

"Supplies fer what? You brin' more bots here?" Monty asks, eyes looking at the closed boxes you've already sorted through. 

"From out there?" You ask, pointing outside of the Plex. "Haven't planned on it. Besides maybe an oven or something like that." 

"Oh! That sounds neat!" Chica chirps, setting another box into one of the piles at your order. "The ovens here are pretty old and don't really work like they used to!" 

"I'll put that on the agenda then," you say, making a quick note on your watch. "Along with a washer and dryer...... Maybe a few other appliances." 

"So what are these fer then? Doesn't look like stuff fer cameras," Monty huffs, Roxy looking a bit skeptical too. 

"Well, some of it's for DJ," you offer, nodding at the box you're currently looking through. There is some things for DJ in here that'll hopefully help him run a bit better. Since he's been kind of slow, according to himself and the three animatronics that can go to the dance floor. 

"I thought you didn't want to mix our tech with new stuff?" Roxy asks, looking at you curiously. 

"Currently I don't," you shrug, looking back at her. "But the stuff I got for DJ is... collectors stuff, I guess? It's stuff from your time period, what other people have dug up. There's not a whole lot of it out there, but there's some. Just found this stuff that'll hopefully help DJ a bit." 

"I am sure he will appreciate the effort if nothing else," Freddy grins, setting a hand on your shoulder as you look over something with narrowed eyes. "Is this all of it?" 

"Yup," you reply, setting the box you were looking at into the second pile. The one with mostly the parts for the fox and bunny in the tunnels. You've stacked that pile into the wagon, since there's more of it and they're in bigger boxes. 

"Alright! Let us get back inside then," Freddy grins, picking up some of the other pile. Monty collects the rest, Chica taking the wagon's handle to pull behind her. The five of you head back to the atrium, the boys setting the boxes down at the table you usually work at. 

"Thanks, guys," you grin. 

"Of course!" Freddy grins pleasantly, ears wiggling a bit. 

"Happy to help!" Chica chirps, clapping her hands together. Monty and Roxy just grunt, looking over everything with crossed arms. Though Roxy does walk over to sit as you start digging through the boxes for the camera parts. The other three stand around as well as you explain how these parts work and what they do to the wolf, all four of them occasionally asking a question or two. 

"Ah-ha! Success!" You grin, pointing the camera at the bear behind you. His image shows up on your laptop, to which he waves at you. 

"Well done!" Freddy praises, you just chuckling as you set the camera down again. You look over at Roxy, offering her a camera and the parts. 

"Want to give it a try?" You ask, tilting your head. She takes them, looking over the parts. 

"Yeah, sure," she grumbles. Freddy and Chica ask if they can help and you let them, though keep an eye on all three while half working on another camera yourself. You have to correct Freddy and Chica a lot, but Roxy's doing pretty well herself. But the three are able to do it! 

"Well done!" You grin after checking all three of the cameras. Roxy tosses some hair over her shoulder while Chica practically poofs up in pride, Freddy's ears just wiggle happily. 

"Thank you," he replies. 

The three then start working on more cameras, Monty begrudgingly getting into it too with Freddy inviting him to join you. The five of you end up working on the cameras all night long, but you think they had fun doing it. They certainly looked proud, and quite a few of the cameras are now functional again. You consider this a win. 

Now let's just hope your other plans come out with a win too.

Chapter Text

You look between the blueprint of the bunny and the said animatronic in front of you. Letting out a breath as you lean back a little, you just finished hooking his new arm up. Hopefully, he won't have any problems with it though it may take a little getting used to when he boots up. 

You lean back to rummage through one of the boxes you brought down, looking for more of the parts of the bunny's torso that need replacing. You set aside the things for the fox, eyes flickering between the parts and the blueprints a few times. 

You hope this all goes well, but the threat of the bug still rings in the back of your head. Even as you fit the new pieces into both of the animatronics as they need them. The parts are at least looking to meld well with the older stuff, but you won't completely know for sure until you get them all charged up. 

You yelp and jolt back at a spark jumping from the bunny's chest, from an important piece that'll let him come back online and keep him online after being charged. Your eyes widen more as the bunny starts actually moving . 

"W-w-wha-a-a?" 

"Ack! No, you're not supposed to be on yet!" You hiss, looking over the animatronic. His eyes land on you, wide open and slightly twitching. 

"W-who-" 

" Crap ," you growl, leaning closer again and quickly find the button to shut the bunny down again. You jolt as he manages to grab your arm before you can switch him off again, eyes darting back up to the bunny's face. 

"D-D-Don't- D-" the bunny pleads, apparently trying to sit up but unable to get his new arm underneath himself to do so. 

"Alright, alright! Stop moving!" You concede, looking over what you worked on before to make sure he didn't mess anything up. The bunny thankfully does as you asked, flopping back onto the ground with a glitched grunt. You grumble to yourself, glancing warily over the animatronic. 

He doesn't seem hostile at least. 

"W-w-w-ho a-ar-r-re y-y-ou?" The bunny asks, eyes narrowing. 

"I'm the one fixing you." You give him your name too, digging back into his chest and then looking towards his voice box in question. "Stop talking until I get your voice box sorted." 

The bunny huffs, but does quiet. Not that he has much of a choice when you remove said voice box to try and fix whatever's wrong with it. The bunny does let out a few mechanical shrieks in protest of this action though. 

"Shush or I'll turn you off!" You hiss when you feel a call coming through your watch. The bunny's eyes narrow again, watching you accept the call. 

"Hello?" Freddy's voice comes through. 

"Yeah? You need something Fred?" You ask, going back to working on the voice box in front of you. 

"We were wondering where you are! It is almost time for lunch and Chica has made a pizza for you," Freddy replies, the bunny's eyes blinking at you. "We have been looking everywhere, but we have not come across you yet. Sun is worried as well!" 

"Ah," you reply, looking between the watch and the bunny. "Uh, I'll meet you in the atrium in a minute. Alright?" 

"Of course! We will see you then!" Freddy replies happily, then ends the call. You send a quick message to Sun, then look back at the rabbit on the table before you. 

"Look, Cottontail, I've got a lot more work to do on you," you sigh, leaning to hook his voice box back up. Hopefully fixed too. "You've got to stay here for the time being with Mr. Fox over there." 

The bunny apparently didn't even notice Mr. Fox if the jolt and yelp he let out is any indication. 

"I wasn't expecting you to turn on already," you groan, wiping your hands on a cloth. You look at the reply from Sun on your watch quickly, sending another at his worried rambling. "I've got to run before the others try hunting me down again." 

"And you'r-r-e just going to l-l-leave me here ?" The bunny demands, trying to sit up again. 

"No one knows you're down here," you state plainly, giving his shoulder a shove to lay back down. "Obviously you're not quite able to move around yet, what else am I supposed to do? Carry you ?" 

"W-w-hy doesn't anyone k-n-now I'm here?" the bunny asks, eyes narrowing at you again. 

"I don't have the full story, sorry bud," you shrug. "Just.. stay there and try not to mess anything up more, alright? I'll be back down soon to hopefully get you moving again." 

The bunny whines, making you grimace. 

"I'll be right back," you state again, then back out of the room. You shut the door tight, hoping the bunny will just listen to you, and rush up to the atrium where the four animatronics are waiting. 

"There you are! We were looking everywhere for you!" Chica calls once she spots you. The others turn, visibly relaxing as you approach. 

"Sorry! Was working on something!" You chirp, shrugging a shoulder. You quickly move on before they ask. "So what pizza did you make, Chica?" 

You still get a suspicious look from Monty and a confused look from Freddy and Chica, Roxy just raising an eyebrow in question. But Chica takes your hand to show you the pie anyway. 

You don't miss the look Monty sends towards the tunnels, or the way that Roxy notices and looks over herself. 

_____ 

"Y-You're finally b-b-back?" The bunny sighs as you shut the door to the room behind yourself. 

"I said I would be," you reply, heading over to sit between the bunny and fox. The former of which is eyeing you again. You don't mind him though, instead getting back to work. First of which is finding the glitch still in his voice box, much to the bunny's displeasure. "I'll give it back in a second, calm down!" 

The bunny just glares at you, letting out another string of garbled noises. You huff, putting the box back once you think you've gotten it figured out. 

"Stop that!" The bunny whines. You huff, then turn to his open chest. 

"You wouldn't have to deal with it if you let me turn you off again," you mutter, hands diving into the chest again to tinker with him some more. Hopefully get everything back in working order. 

"I don't like being off," the bunny replies, staring at the ceiling. You just hum, glancing up at the bunny's face for a moment. "..... Are you a new mechanic? You're not dressed like one." 

"Sort of. But... hmmm. What's the last thing you remember, Cottontail?" You ask, looking up at him again. You turn to look at the fox again for a moment, the bunny considering your question. 

"Uhh... The end of the day. Going back to my room after the last show of the day and a few meet and greets before the place closes down," he replies, you just humming. Not all that helpful since you don't know when the bunny went out of commission. But you guess that does reveal that the bunny doesn't know he was scrapped. "Something happened after that, but I.... can't remember it." 

"Huh," you mumble, looking over him again. You're going to guess that's whatever tore him apart like he was. "Well.... I don't know any easy way to put this, but.... It looked like you were decommissioned." 

"What?!" The bunny shrieks, making you wince. "What do you mean?!" 

"I found you in this room," You say, gesturing around. "Just kind of.. tossed in here with the fox. You were... very damaged and needed.. extensive repairs." 

The bunny's quiet for a few minutes, leaving you to quietly work and answer a few messages you get from the others. Most of them wondering where you are and you just telling them in the plex, and not to worry about it. They're not very amused with those answers. 

"What about the others?" The bunny eventually asks, making you look at him again and hum in question. "Freddy and Chica? Roxy? Monty?" 

"They're alright now," you assure him. "They were... Well, I fixed them all up. But a lot has happened since you... left Bunnyman." 

"Like what?" He asks cautiously, sounding tired. 

"I'm not sure on all of it," you admit, tilting your head to the side. "But something happened, both here and in the wider world, and the Plex closed down afterwards. It's.... been a long time since this place has been active." 

"What.. what are you doing here then? And why are you getting everything up and running again?" The bunny asks, voice wavering slightly. 

"Well... at first it was just curiosity and something to do," you reply, turning back to work on the rabbit again. "But I really like this place now, and all the bots currently up and moving around. As for you... well, everyone seemed real upset when I asked about you. I thought I'd give it a shot at repairing and bringing you back." 

"Why didn’t you.. tell them about me then?" He asks, eyes narrowed at you. 

"You... were really messed up, Bunny," you sigh, looking over him wearily. "I wasn't sure I was going to be able to repair you at all . I'm... kind of surprised you're up and talking currently." 

You grunt as you tighten a bolt in his hip, eyeing his endo in suspicion. 

"I've had to replace a lot of your parts with the newer technology I have access to, and I'm not completely sure how well it'll work with your old tech," you continue, glancing over everything once more. “It seems to be melding rather well and working, I mean you’re currently working right now. Mostly. So I think this’ll go well.” 

You turn to work on the fox some more as well, looking between both animatronics and their blueprints. The bunny doesn’t respond to that comment, just looking over what he can of himself. 

"I've had to do the same thing with Captain over here, though he was less damaged than you." 

"So... you didn't want to say anything until you were sure it'd.. work," the bunny states, looking over you. 

"That and... they probably didn't need to see you the way you looked when I first found you," you sigh, leaning back a bit. Your eyes narrow at the blueprint in front of you. 

"..... That bad?" 

"Yeah.. That bad." 

The bunny remains quiet for a bit after that, just letting you work in peace and watching as you do so. His gaze eventually finds his missing casing too, and the blotches of white covering parts of them. 

"... When do you think I could go back up and see everyone?" He eventually asks, not looking away from the shapes of the white. 

"Shouldn't be too long," you reply, looking at your watch as another message appears on your screen. You scowl a bit at it, rolling your eyes. "Once we can get you back on your feet and moving around without falling on your face, you can rejoin the others." 

The bunny hums, eyes turning to you as you stand and stretch out. 

"My presence is being demanded upstairs so I can get a good night's rest," you sigh, rolling your shoulders. "Apparently Moon is actually willing to go hunt me down to make it happen too, according to Sun anyway. I'll be back later to work on you more, alright?" 

The bunny whines, but doesn't put up any other protest to you leaving. You do leave the lights on for him, frowning a bit as you shut the door tight. 

You're going to have to sneak away bright and early in the morning. 

_____

"So, you're the only human in the building?" The bunny asks, raising a brow at you. 

"Sure am," you sigh, more focused on Mr. Fox currently. He's a stubborn bastard it seems. The bunny chuckles though. 

"I'm surprised you've been able to sneak away so often," he says, looking towards the ceiling. His fingers tap against the ground, the movement that's the easiest for him at the moment. You have him plugged into the wall to see if some more juice is all he needs to get moving. "I would think the others would be all over you." 

"They are ," you whine, exasperation leaking into your voice and making the bunny laugh again. You glare at him with a pout. "They're keeping me from working on you , Cottontail. Don't get too amused now. The more they stop me, the less time I have to work on you after all." 

"Hey, I'm right as rain," he replies, huffing a bit. "I could go upstairs right now if I wanted to, I just choose not to." 

"Oh, yeah? Prove it then," you laugh, crossing your arms. The bunny puffs, then tries to sit up again. But he still doesn't quite have control over his newer arm, so he drops back down. He got farther than yesterday though, so you find it an improvement. 

"Nah, I don't want to," he sighs. You roll your eyes, shaking your head a bit. 

"Yeah, okay." You turn back to the fox you're working on. 

You may actually have to get Freddy or someone down here to help these two back to their feet. You're definitely not going to be able to support them if they're going to need it, which it may look like they will need. 

Your eyes dart to the door, narrowing a bit. 

You thought you heard something. 

After a few minutes of nothing happening, you turn back to what you were doing. You get a few more things corrected with Mr. Fox before he's jolting himself and making you fall back over the rabbit. 

"What is with you two and starting up unexpectedly ?" You yelp, the rabbit himself stuttering and trying to correct you. 

The fox blinks as you're finally able to correct yourself and sit up again. You gaze over him wearily, though it seems he's trying, and failing, to sit up. Though his eye finally meets you as you shift a little. 

"A-a-ah! L-L-Lassi-e-e. A b-b-bit of help, ple-e-ease?" He asks. 

"No, you just, stay laying please. You're not.. fixed yet," you mutter, glancing over him again. The fox sighs, giving up his attempts with that. 

"A-a-aye." 

You look over the fox one more time, deem him safe enough, and then get back to work. You eye his internals to see if anything was messed up, relieved to see none of your work has been undone. You’re probably going to have to plug him into the power socket like the bunny too. 

"Is there-" 

You yelp as the door is slammed open, looking up to see Moon turning to Sun in the lit doorway.

Chapter Text

"Ah, Sun!" You sputter, stumbling to your feet and walking over to the animatronic. Who you think is currently focused on the two bots staring at him from the floor. 

Well, you're caught. 

You do manage to pull him into the room though and shut the door, Sun now looking between the other two animatronics and yourself. You can't really tell what he may be thinking, but the shrinking size of his sun rays says enough.

"What... What's going on?" Sun asks, still looking between you and the two. "Is... Is that Foxy and Bonnie?!" 

"A-Aye.. G-G-Good t-t-ta see ye a-a-again, LLLLad," the foxy says, lifting a glitching hand to wave. 

"Hiya," Bonnie greets with a nod. 

"Foxy, please stop straining your voice box," you ask, jumping back into your spot. You look back up at Sun though, who's still staring at you. "Yes, this is Foxy and Bonnie. I've been working on getting them up and running again. I didn't say anything because... I wasn't sure I was going to be able to originally." 

Sun sits down after a moment, looking between the two. 

"Well, it seems you've done it!" Sun replies, the fox looking back at you curiously. 

"We're not quite over that hill yet, Sunshine. But since they’re up and talking, it’s looking very good," you smile, though it's more of a grimace. You look back down at the fox again, looking over his voice box. "I'm gonna disable your voice box for a minute so I can try and fix it." 

The fox grunts, but lets you take it. 

"Well, they look better already to me!" Sun shrugs, though he hasn't looked back at them again. ".... It is good to see them active again. It's... been a while." 

"How long?" Bonnie asks, Foxy looking at him curiously. Sun doesn't respond for a long moment. 

"Too long," he simply replies, humming a bit. 

"What were you doing down here, by the way?" You ask, glancing up at Sun for a moment before looking down again. 

"We were looking for you! You've been sneaking off a whole lot lately and we were getting worried you were getting into trouble!" Sun replies, gesturing out towards you. You snort, shaking your head a bit. 

"When have I ever gotten into trouble?" 

"Breaking into an abandoned building and tampering with the robots inside, whatever happened outside of the building to give you those scars, apparently sneaking away to work on two more animatronics we didn't even know were still in the building by yourself, and probably more that we don't know about!" Sun huffs, crossing his arms. You sputter a bit, then look up at the animatronic in amusement. 

"Hey! Nothing I'm doing here is illegal! No one cares about this old place or anything in it, so it was free for the taking!" You defend, sticking your tongue out. Sun makes an overexaggerated eye roll on account of his lack of pupils. 

"You.. didn't know we were still here?" Bonnie speaks up, Foxy staring at him too. Sun slumps a bit, finger tapping on his arm. 

"No.. None of us did," he mumbles, finally looking at the two again. "You both just disappeared one day and no one told us anything. We thought you had been decommissioned." 

"I think they were, Sunshine," you speak up, fitting Foxy's voice box back into place. Sun slumps a bit more. 

"Well.. at least you found them," he states plainly. 

".. What happened, Lad?" Foxy asks once his voice box is in place. Sun hunches, still not quite looking at the other animatronic. 

"A lot has happened," he mutters, then looks up at you. "Did you tell them how long it's been?" 

"No. I'm not sure how long it's been for them ," you reply, glancing up at him from what you were doing. 

".... I'm guessing it's been longer than I was thinking," Bonnie says, sounding tired somehow. You just nod, looking up at him. You then look over at Sun, who doesn't react for a moment. Then he just nods. 

"From the 'plex being closed...... it's been about 90 years give or take," you tell them finally, hesitantly. "I don't know when you two were... retired, so it's probably been longer for you." 

Foxy makes a choked noise, Bonnie's eyes widening. 

"Yer serious?" Foxy asks, you nodding as you turn back to him. Bonnie mutters something under his breath. They both silent for a long moment, then Foxy lets out a humorless chuckle. 

"Well, it's been a while," he says. You nod, the four of you silent for another long moment. But then you take a deep breath and look up at Sun with a small smile. 

"Want to help Bonnie sit up?" You ask, making Sun tilt his head. 

"I don't need help," Bonnie grunts, making you look at him with a raised eyebrow. 

"Is that why you haven't been able to get up?" You ask, making the bunny huff. You look back over at Sun, then nod towards the wall. "Just up against the wall." 

".. Sure thing!" Sun replies, jumping up. He helps Bonnie lean up against the wall, you shuffling forward to check over him one more time. "What have you been doing?" 

"Repairs. These two have needed extensive ones," you reply, looking over Bonnie's new arm and its connection. "I tried to mix their old parts with newer stuff, it seems to be working. Though there may be some adjustment time by the looks of it or I just need to work on the connection points more." 

"Interesting," Sun comments, looking over your shoulder. 

"Yeah. It luckily means that if something breaks, I can get new parts for you guys," you grin, looking at him for a second. "I don't need to go searching online for parts that aren't even made anymore." 

"Our parts aren't made anymore?" Foxy asks. 

"Yeah. Tech has advanced a lot," you nod, focusing on Bonnie again. The bunny remains helpfully still for you. "Your type of tech has advanced significantly, though just in body. Not so much AI, so you're still a bit of a novelty yourselves." 

"Huh," Foxy replies. You hum in agreement, eyes narrowing at what you're doing. But eventually you sit back again and nod to yourself. You look back up at Sun, grinning slightly. 

"Want to stick around and help me get these two back on their feet again?" You ask. Sun pauses for a moment, then nods. "Sweet. Thanks, Hun." 

"Of course!" Sun replies, hands clapping together. 

______ 

Sun ends up being a huge help through the entire process, and not just with repairing Bonnie and Foxy. He's helped you sneak away to be able to work on the two as well, either distracting the other animatronics or just keeping a look out while you both sneak away. 

Though, you suppose there may not be much of a reason for hiding what you're doing now. The two seem to be going strong, everything appears to be going well and will likely continue to go well. 

"So we can have our own special smells?" Bonnie asks, head tilted at your computer. 

"Yup!" You grin, going through the options. You need to get some paint for DJ and figured you could get some for Bonnie and Foxy while you're at it. For some reason, DJ wants to smell like sour apples and flowers. Generic flowers, no actual specific type of flower. Just flower. 

"That's so cool," Bonnie states, making you chuckle. 

"I want to smell like the sea," Foxy says, nodding along with that idea. 

"Sure thing," you reply, giving him a thumbs up. "Any requests from you, Bunny?" 

Bonnie hums, thinking about it as you continue to scroll through the options. He taps his fingers along the floor, head tilted to the side. 

"How about berries? Ice cream?" Bonnie offers. You nod, scanning through everything. 

"Okay." 

"Is there something that would let us smell these too?" Bonnie asks, looking up at you. You think about it for a moment, tapping a finger against the case of your laptop. 

"Yeah, there is. There's also stuff that can allow you to taste, and sensors for touch. But you guys already have pretty robust sensors for that," you explain, looking over at the animatronic. Bonnie's eyes widen a lot. 

"Can we get those?" He asks, leaning a bit more forward. 

"Aye, sounds amazin'," Foxy agrees. You chuckle, looking between the two in amusement. 

"Sure. In the future," you nod. "When we get you both back upstairs." 

The two nod, obviously still pretty excited. 

You're painting their casings before you know it, hiding the long gashes and repaired parts in Bonnie's casing with a fresh coating of pastel purples. Foxy's also looks great with the new coat, with how dingy it was from age. 

"We're almost there," you grin at the three animatronics, very happy with the progress you've made. "A bit more adjusting and I think we can get your casings back on and head upstairs." 

"Yes! About time!" Bonnie cheers, adjusting where he was sitting on a slightly creaking chair. 

"Aye, it'll be good to see everyone again," Foxy grins. You nod, feeling rather giddy yourself. 

Now that you know you can trade their old parts for new, you have so much more freedom with these bots. You can upgrade them, add features and give them stronger parts. You can build DJ a new body so he's not confined to the Arcade, something smaller he can switch to whenever he likes. It'll be so nice. 

Now if only those blueprints would work out as nicely for you. 

"It'll be great to have everyone back together again. And not be sneaking around as much," Sun adds, making you look at him in amusement. 

"Yeah, it will," you agree, tucking your computer under your arm. You look down at your watch, grimacing a bit. "Now let's go. Chica and the others have been blowing up my messages for the past hour. Apparently we're late for lunch." 

"It's that time already?!" Sun jumps up, taking your hand. "We should've kept a better track of the time! You need to eat!" 

"Sun," you groan, your head rolling back in exasperation. "I used to only eat like.. once a day before. It's not that big of a deal." 

"It is too, lassie," Foxy speaks up, turning to watch Sun drag you out of the room. 

"Yeah. Humans need like... three meals a day to function properly," Bonnie nods, not sounding impressed. 

"I functioned perfectly fine with my little one meal a day before. I snacked too," you argue, eyes rolling up to the ceiling. 

"Well, you're not doing that anymore!" Sun tuts, shaking his head. "You have so many bad habits! Even ones that I never knew could be bad habits!" 

"And you all worry far too much," you snort, looking back at the animatronic. Sun hardly sounds amused with that statement. 

"Get used to it," Bonnie speaks up, making you send him a mock annoyed face. 

"I already am," you sigh dramatically, still being dragged by Sun. You'd already be out the door if he really wanted you to be, he's playing with you. "It's unfortunately a burden I shall have to bear." 

Foxy and Bonnie both snort, Sun just sounding unamused and impatient. 

"Right now the burden you'll have to bear is getting upstairs and eating," Sun states, shaking his head. He tugs your hand a little more forcefully this time, making you trip over your own feet. "Come on, Sunshine. Let's go!" 

"Alright, alright. I'm coming," you laugh, then wave to the other two. "We'll be back later." 

They wave as you both head out of the room, then you're upstairs and dragged into the worried and frustrated mother henning of the others. 

_____ 

You scowl down at the blueprints in front of you, tapping your pencil against the paper. You rest your head in your hand as your eyes never leave the thing, fingers tangling up in your hair. 

You're not having any luck figuring out how to implement the designs, though you haven't even talked to any of the animatronics about them yet either. There's also other details you're going to need to figure out as well. Like would you add code that allows them to instantly learn how to use the upgrades? But would that mess with other code or possibly trigger whatever bug they have? Do you just have them learn to use them like a human would? That'd take a while if they don't even have basics, and who would teach them? 

You still need to explain to them why these upgrades would even be needed too. 

Then there's the question of if you should just build new bodies for them instead of replacing things when needed. It'd be a lot of work, money, and time, but the new bodies would be faster, lighter, and work a hell of a lot better. You could possibly use their current bodies as a base, but that comes with its own problems. It would be cheaper though. 

It also begs the question of where their sentience lies though. You don't want to get rid of that after all. You wouldn't want to tempt fate with it. If you really wanted to build them new bodies, you'll have to figure out if it's the endo or a chip or something that makes them.... them. Which wouldn't be easy. 

That's something you'll have to figure out for DJ, especially if you want to build him a new body so he can join all of you. 

You glance at your watch when you hear a ping from him. 

Well, speak of the devil. 

DJ: That's a serious expression on your face. 

"Things aren't working out like I hoped they would," you sigh, looking up at the giant spider on the stage next to you. 

DJ: What are you doing? 

"Plotting," you snort, setting your pencil down. DJ tilts his head curiously, making you grin. "Blueprints for things I want to try. But there's some questions and things that need to be dealt with before I can do anything." 

DJ: What questions? 

"Oh, a few. Like if I'd be able to build a new body for you. Something smaller so you can join everyone out there," you tell him, then point outside of the arcade. DJ gives a little thrill of music, straightening up a bit. Though he then tilts his head in confusion again. "I just don't know what makes any of you... you. I wouldn't want to accidentally get rid of anything that would... erase what makes you yourself, ya know?" 

DJ pauses, but nods. 

DJ: You'll figure it out. You've gotten all of us up and running again. 

"Thanks, DJ," you grin, head tilting to the side a bit. You get a little happy beat from the giant, making you let out an amused breath. 

You'll have to figure it out eventually. Especially if you ever want to take the animatronics anywhere further away from the 'plex. Otherwise, you'll be stuck to this place forever and that ... hardly sounds fun.

Chapter Text

You have the fabric to make the animatronics clothes now, much to your excitement. It'll take a while to sew everything together and get it fitted right, but you cant wait to start.

Though maybe you should wait until you have a solid answer to the new bodies question. If you do build them new bodies, they may change shape a bit to better fit some design choices. Hmmmm...

You shake your head, combing through all the cloths with careful handling.

You got a lot of different things, in all kinds of textures and styles. It all cost a pretty penny, but was more than worth it in your opinion. The textile maker you know more than happy to take care of your order, they were also incredibly happy with the amount they got in return for payment and told you to call them again should you ever need to.

"I bet you'd be happy to fill out whatever order I'd have, Riley," you huff, smiling a little. "Little bitch that you are."

You'd better take these over to a room you're going to designate as the sewing room. But which one should it be?

...... You'll find somewhere in the Daycare, probably. One of those rooms up top would work perfectly.

You'll have to look at all the designs you plotted out for the animatronics again. You think you say the color shifting fabric for Sun and Moon in there.

Thinking of Sun and Moon, you'll have to ask them if they'd ever like to be separated or if they want to stay as one. Do they even consider themselves separate entities or do they think they're the same AI? Are they even considered two AIs in the code? Could you separate them or are they too intrinsically linked to one another? If Moon was acting out, Fazbear's probably would've gotten rid of him if they could've. So maybe they are too woven together to be separated? You'll have to look into that.

Oh, hey. There's the color shifting fabric! Oh, and the fabric you got for one of Chica's dresses! You knew the one for Freddy was going to turn out amazing, he'll look great in it.

"Riley, you absolute genius," you chuckle, looking through everything again as you lay out the bolts. "Hmmm. Oh, this would be perfect for Bonnie too. I should probably commission some fabric for those two as well..... I need to come up with some designs for them first though."

You're already plotting things out in your mind. You'll need to grab your computer so you can draw them out before you lose them.

Maybe you could do some fur trim for Bonnie, you bet it'd suit him. Maybe some chunky ribbons. Some darker colors to contrast the lighter colors he's painted in. Jackets, maybe? Long or short trim though, maybe some of both? Hmmm.

Oh, Foxy’s definitely going to need that long pirate jacket you’ve seen in some art. Maybe a nice billowy shirt too. There’s probably still some pirate media around you can take some inspiration from. Would he like a hat? Can you make a hat?

Oh, what about accessories for all of them? You’re sure the girls would love them.

You’ll have to ask about prefrences eventually. And clothing prefrences, mainly Bonnie and Foxys. You’re pretty clear on everyone else’s by now.

"Speaking of those two, I'm going to need to head down soon," you mutter to yourself, running a hand over another bolt of fabric. It’s rather soft, you think Roxy will like it.

"You will need to head down where?"

"Holy fuck!" You curse, spinning around with a hand over your heart. Freddy blinks, eyebrows raising. "Freddy, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Language, and I apologize," Freddy replies, ears tilting down slightly. He still tilts his head. "Where do you need to go?"

"Somewhere," you reply, making the bear blink. "It's for a surprise!"

"Oh, I see!" Freddy replies, ears flicking up again. "Then I will not bring it up again. I would hate to spoil the surprise."

"Good," you grin, looking back at the fabric you're laying out.

"What is all this? Or is it part of the surprise?" Freddy then asks, glancing over the organized mess you've made.

"This isn't a surprise or anything. This is all the fabric for the clothes I'm going to make you," you grin, glancing back at him again. "Or you and everyone else, that is."

"Oh, wonderful!" Freddy replies, sounding rather excited. His ears wiggle as he takes a few steps forward and looks over the fabric again. "It all looks amazing! I can not wait to see how the clothes turn out."

"I can't wait either, Bud," you grin, bouncing on your feet a bit. "Clothes are the best part to make."

"What do you mean?" He asks, tilting his head.

"Oh. Usually when I make a robot, clothes are part of the process. A late stage process, but they're usually the finishing touches. And the most fun. I have a friend I usually get the fabrics from, they are the best I’ve met in the industry," you explain, looking through the fabrics again. "Like, you see this fabric?"

You hold up a bolt of fabric you're going to use for Sun and Moon.

"I do," Freddy nods, looking at the cloth.

"It's color changing fabric, of course. Since it's for Sun and Moon, but this particular one is also glow in the dark!" You explain, Freddy's ears wiggling. "The glow in the dark parts will charge in the sun, then be able to glow all night. Isn't that so cool?"

"It is!" Freddy agrees, nodding along.

"And this one-" you pick up another bolt from the pile. "-is completely waterproof. It's for Monty. I'm not sure if he really needs waterproof stuff, but I got it anyway."

It'll be useful if you can give him that upgrade you're thinking about.

"Interesting! I am sure he'll appreciate it either way," Freddy nods. You smile up at him, nodding a bit.

"I'll have to work on everything eventually. I can order more fabric down the line that does some cool stuff too," you say, leaning onto the table. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it though."

Freddy nods.

"Wonderful idea, Superstar."

"Was there something you needed though, Freddy? Or did you come over just to come over?" You ask, tilting your head.

"I did not need anything. I just wanted to see what you were up to," he replies, straightening up again.

"Okay," you nod, straightening up yourself. You stretch out your arms with a bit of a groan, then twist to stretch out your back. "I'm going to go work on that surprise then. It's almost done and I'm real excited to finish up."

"Alright. But be sure to be up here in time for lunch. You need to eat!" Freddy lightly scolds, making you let out a breath.

"Okay, okay, Papa Bear. I got it! I'll set a timer for myself," you sigh, putting your hands up in surrender. You really don't want to hear another lecture from the bear, you got enough of that from last time.

"Good," Freddy nods.

_____

You watch as Bonnie goes through the route check, eyeing each movement for anything out of place. Sun watches from behind him just in case something gives out, Foxy standing to the side having already gone through the process. But, it all goes off without a hitch, much to your joy.

"It looks like you're good," you cheer, clapping.

"I was always good," Bonnie huffs, crossing his arms. You huff in amusement, turning to grab his casing.

"Sure, sure. Come here so I can get your casing back on," you snort, the bunny complying with a huff. You get him and Foxy all dressed up again quickly enough, then step back to look at the two in all their glory. "You both look great!"

"Thank you," Bonnie grins, hand on his hip proudly. You knew he was a smaller and a bit more lithe than the other animatronics, but it really shows with his casing in its proper place. He's also very cute looking, and maybe a bit more effeminate than you were really expecting. A lot of light purples, pinks, and teals. Then some darker purples and blues for the mix. It looks incredibly good on him.

"I feel good as new," Foxy grins, shaking out his messy orange hair with a grin. You're pretty sure he's missing a few things for his costume, but he still looks great. You think he does stand out a bit compared to the others, a bit more... rustic and realistic in his coloring at least. Not as fancy or fit to the theme. He does have a lighting bolt over one eye, those spiked bracelets, and leopard print "pants" though, so it's not all lost. You think he was just designed with the pirate theme more in mind.

You nod, clapping your hands together.

"Well, do you both think you're ready to head up?" You ask, nearly bouncing in excitement. The two blink, then nod.

"Yes! I'm ready to get out of this room!" Bonnie cheers, making you laugh.

"Aye. It's been too long," Foxy agrees.

"Let's go then!" You clap, bouncing for the door. The three animatronics follow you, Sun chattering to the two about all that's different about the place.

It's obvious that Bonnie and Foxy are excited though, with the antsy way they're shifting and moving. You figure it probably was too long for them to be cooped up in that one little room, but they're out now and you don't think it'll ever be needed again.

You can't wait to see everyone's reactions.

"Okay, wait here just a second," you tell them at the top of the stairs. "The other still don't know about you two yet, so it'll be a big surprise for them!"

"Aye, Lass," Foxy nods, shifting in his spot. You take Sun's hand and pull him out the door with you. You send a message to the others to meet in the atrium, then wait impatiently for them to show up.

"What's going on?" Monty asks, lumbering over to where you're standing. The last one to arrive.

"I've got a surprise for all of you!" You reply, grinning widely. The four tilt their heads, looking at you curiously.

"Oh, I assume you finished what you had to do then?" Freddy asks, curiously. He glances around, then returns his eyes when he doesn’t see anything new in the area.

"Yup!"

"You knew she had a surprise for us?" Chica asks, looking at the bear aghast. "And you didn't tell us?"

"I did not know what she was doing," Freddy replies, looking back at the chicken. Chica still squawks in outrage, apparently not liking being out of the loop. "I only just learned about it earlier today as well."

"The surprise is waiting, are you guys ready to see it?" You ask, cutting off the argument.

"Yes!" Freddy and Chica reply, Chica more than a bit giddy if her bouncing is any indication. Roxy and Monty just nod, apparently a bit apprehensive. You grin though, clapping.

"Alright, you can come out guys!" You call, turning towards the service door. The four animatronics let out confused noises, but then go silent and incredibly still when Bonnie and Foxy walk through the door.

"Hey, guys," Bonnie greets, speed walking over to the group with a giddy pep in his step.

"Ahoy, lads and lassies!" Foxy waves, grinning widely.

Freddy, Chica, Roxy, and Monty don't move for a solid minute, enough time for Bonnie and Foxy to reach you all. But then Chica's hands come up to her beak, a gasp coming from her voice box.

"Bonnie? Foxy?" Freddy whispers, disbelief clear in his voice.

"Hey, Freddy," Bonnie grins, his ears twitching. Freddy lurches forward to hug the bunny, apparently surprising him. But the bunny just hugs him back, chuckling lightly.

"It... It is good to see you again," Freddy whispers.

"Good to see you too," Bonnie replies, patting his back.

"It's good to see you too!" Chica squawks, nearly tackling Foxy to the ground. The pirate laughs, hugging the chicken back.

"Same to ye, lassie!" Foxy replies. He turns his eyes to a still immobile Monty and a hunched Roxy. "To ye both as well! I've heard it's been quite a long while."

"It has," Chica sighs, drooping more than a little. "A very, very long time."

"Y.. Yeah," Roxy agrees, looking up at him again. "We... We thought you both were.. gone."

"We.. It sounds like we would've been if she hadn't found us," Bonnie states, motioning over to you after Freddy puts him down again. Freddy, Chica, and Roxy look over at you with wide eyes and you just smile.

"Thank you," Freddy says, sincerely and with a smile in his voice.

"Of course," you nod, rocking on your feet a bit.

"You've really done more for us than you know!" Chica cheers, nearly crushing you in a hug. You wheeze, patting what you can reach of her back.

"Yeah. Seems you've found a pretty cool human, guys," Bonnie grins, Roxy pulling at Chica's arms so she'll put you down and let you get some air into your lungs again. Bonnie almost puts his hand on your shoulder while you're regaining your breath, though you're pulled away before that can happen. You look up at Monty, who has a tight grip on your bicep and is staring the bunny down. His eyes are wide, an almost.... frightened look on his face.

"Monty... you okay there, Bud?" You ask, raising an eyebrow. Bonnie looks pretty confused as well, hand froze mid-air.

"Uh... yeah," Monty replies, blinking and looking down at you. He looks momentarily confused to see he's holding onto you, and quickly lets go like you've somehow burned him. "Good to have you both back."

"Nice ta see ya again too, Lad," Foxy grins, stepping beside the gator. He pats the gator's shoulder a couple of times. "Now ye've got ta tell me how's...."

Foxy walks off towards Gator Golf with Monty, continuing their chat about.... something. You guess those two might have been close before Foxy got decommissioned?

"Hmm," you hum, hands on your hips and head tilted.

"Well, why don't we catch up?" Bonnie grins, looking back at the remaining animatronics after staring at Monty for a long moment. The three take a moment, but nod.

Sun takes your arm as the others move to sit on the stage, looking over where Monty grabbed you. You barely pay it any attention, but do look over at the attendant.

"I wonder what all that was about," you hum.

"Don't know! Are you alright?" Sun asks, looking up from the skin. You nod with a hum, patting his hand. You both join the others on the stage after a moment, but you glance towards Gator Golf for a long moment.

Well.... maybe Monty and Bonnie just have some history you don't know about.....

Curious.

Chapter Text

Bonnie isn't so sure what's happened really. One moment everything was normal, then he's waking up in some dirty room with a human he's never seen before hovering over him.

To say it was all a shock would be an understatement, to say he was a bit panicked would be a massive understatement.

The 'plex has change a lot since he last remembered, but also hasn't changed at all somehow. Monty's taken what was his room in Rockstar row, and his things were move to behind his bowling alley. You, Freddy, and Chica have helped him set up the room to his liking to make up for that though, to make it more his own and make it feel a bit more like home. His bowling alley hasn't changed thankfully. With your help, he's even gotten it back up to its former glory! You've stocked the ice cream parlor again at his request too.

His friends have changed a lot too. It's obvious he's missed a lot and that his disappearance had really hurt them, he can see it even if they're happy to see him back. Freddy especially, but he can see it on all of them. Even Sun and Moon to a certain degree, even if he wasn't really all that close to the two. But they were always closer to Foxy, even if he was only around for a very short amount of time in the grand scheme of things.

And Monty.... Monty's.. been avoiding him. But Bonnie hasn't really been seeking him out either, to be fair. Something about the gator... unsettles him now. Like something happened that he can't remember. But by the way Monty acts, Bonnie's pretty sure he remembers what happened and the gator doesn't seem keen to share. If anything, Monty seems like he's more afraid of him. Like he's waiting for him to do something, or waiting for him to snap.

It's.... a little upsetting, to be honest. Bonnie thinks they used to have a good relationship. He thinks Monty's gotten pretty good at the bass, as it seems that's another thing the gator replaced him in. Bonnie... isn't too upset about that though, it suits the gator pretty well at least and he seems to be genuinely enjoying himself.

Even if Monty looks a little distracted at the moment. Constantly glancing over his way. Bonnie has to think it has something to do with who he's currently sitting next to.

"You look like you're thinking pretty hard there, Cottontail," you speak up, not looking up from your tablet.

"Just reminiscing a bit," Bonnie sighs, leaning more onto the table.

"Oh yeah? About what?" You ask.

"I used to play the bass in the band," he tells you, making you look up at him and then towards the stage. "Monty's done good though. He made a great replacement."

"Huh... Do you want to retake your place?" You ask, shifting to face the bunny more. Bonnie shakes his head.

"No. He looks like he's having fun. I wouldn't mind getting back up there though," he sighs, head tilting to the side.

"Hmmm. You probably can," you offer, making the bunny blink. "They could use a drummer after all."

"Sounds fun," Bonnie grins, sitting up again. "Could we actually get a drum set?"

"Yeah. I could make it happen," you nod, tapping your chin. You glance over him for a moment, then grin a bit. "It'd have to be specialty made though. I'm pretty sure you'd wreck a normal set."

Bonnie chuckles, you looking back at the stage for a moment.

"Was there ever a drummer in the band before?" You ask. Bonnie takes a moment to think back on it.

"I don't think so," he replies, tapping his chin.

"What did Foxy do then?" You ask.

"I think he play the accordion once," Bonnie snorts, making you chuckle. "But he mostly was a storyteller. And he helped disabled kids."

"Really?" You ask, raising an eyebrow. Bonnie nods.

"Oh yeah. He was mostly in charge of them in his cove. Had a whole thing with helping them get used to their aids," Bonnie explains. "And the problem isn't getting him started, it's getting him to shut up."

You laugh at that, giving Bonnie a swell of pride.

"That's interesting," you grin, leaning back against the table and relaxing your tablet down in your lap. Bonnie doesn't purposely look, but he can see the blueprints on the screen. It looks like Sun and Moon, and there's a focus on their arms. Adding something to them, or something like that.

He doesn't get much more of a look before you're shifting to get more comfortable and turning your attention back to the tablet, tilting it out of his sight again.

There's a momentary pause in the conversation, Bonnie eyeing you with narrowed eyes throughout it.

"What are you planning?" He asks, making you blink a few times.

"What?" You ask, sounding confused and amused. Bonnie narrows his eyes further.

"You've got that look on your face. You always have that look when you're planning something," he replies, pointing at you. You just laugh.

"What look? I don't have a look," you protest. Bonnie just gives you a look himself, making you raise your hands in surrender. "I was just thinking about setting something up for you guys to perform. Like an online channel or something. They all seem to like performing, and it wouldn't be the same as performing for a live crowd, but it'd be something."

"Oh," Bonnie replies, blinking. That wasn't quite what he was talking about but... He thinks about it for a second. "So, like recording our shows and putting them up on the internet? I don't think it'd be a bad idea."

You nod, pressing your pen into your cheek.

"Foxy could put some of his stories up too and Sun could probably do something as well. And Moon if he wanted to," you hum, tilting your head. "Could be a whole group thing for you guys."

"Chica would probably like to do a few cooking things, and Roxy probably wouldn't mind doing something with hair and makeup too," Bonnie adds, nodding to himself. "They'd probably really like it."

"Well, if everyone wants too, I can set something up. You guys would be in charge of that, do whatever you like with it," you shrug, looking back down at your tablet.

"Wait, really? You'd give us free reign of it?" Bonnie asks, blinking a few times.

"Yeah," you nod, much to Bonnie's surprise. You're quiet for a moment, then look up again as if you'd come to a sudden realization. "Oh, it'd just be something fun for you guys, to make you happy. So whatever you'd want to put up on it would be cool. I don't really care about your.... public image? ... Brand? .......... Either way, it doesn't matter as much as it did back then."

".... Ah," Bonnie hums, tilting his head. "Sounds like it'd be fun!"

You nod, turning back to your tablet to do... whatever it is you're doing. Bonnie looks back up at the stage, tapping a finger against the table. His gaze lands on the other animatronic, their eyes meeting.

Monty quickly looks away from him again.

_____

"Part of the band? Nah, doesn' sound very appealing," Foxy says, scratching his chin with his hook hand.

To be honest, Foxy never really thought of being in the band. He was always busy and had other things to do, and being part of the main band was a lot of time taken up in the day. But he's not too enthused about joining them up there now, he always was more of a storyteller than a band member after all.

"Alright. Just wanted to check," you shrug, leaning back into the giant Freddy plush in the daycare. You look completely at ease, even with Sun running around to gather things up. Though you've always seemed pretty acclimated to the daytime bot, even pretty fond of him and his domain. It's nice to see, especially considering the reception he used to get. Certainly good to see Sun so happy.

But a lot has changed since Foxy's been up and moving, he's apparently been gone longer than even Bonnie though. As Foxy remembers it, it was closer to the beginning of the 'plex's run when he was still a part of it. Bonnie disappeared closer to the end of it, from what they were able to piece together.

It's still a shock, a big change to get used to. The biggest change though is the lack of people, Foxy can't say he likes it too much. You're nice, wonderful, and he's definitely glad you're here, but he's just used to a whole lot more humans running around the place. Kids especially. Always someone to interact with wherever you are, whether that be guests or human employees. The 'plex is so.... empty and lonely without all the people. He knows the others think so too, he can see it. Especially with Sun and Moon, though Moon's apparently been having a rather rough time for a while.

He guesses he can't complain too much though. He wouldn't be here or online if it wasn't for the lack of people. And by the sounds of it, the people that are around aren't the ones he'd want here anyway. Apparently everyone else is scared of this place, he wouldn't want to terrify the youngsters.

"Here we are!" Sun cheers, carrying everything over to where you and the fox are sitting. He sets one of the kiddie tables down and hands out some paper and crayons.

"Thanks, Sunshine," you grin.

"Yeah, thank ye, Lad," Foxy nods.

"Of course!" The said bot's rays spin, delighted.

Foxy more watches you and Sun as you both draw, pitching in ideas and things like that. Sun agreed to help you come up with some clothing designs after all, or something like that. It sounds like that to Foxy anyway. Either way, it seems like Sun's having fun with it.

Foxy also just... finds it interesting. Other adult humans were always so put-off by the celestial bots, but you're not. And by the way Sun made it seem, you never were. By the way everyone made it seem, you were never put off by any of them. But you are also a mechanic, so you must've seen all kinds of animatronics by now.....

Though, that excuse doesn't really hold when the mechanics that used to work here where unnerved by the two.

Your reasoning for being here always seemed off though. Apparently you only got everyone up and running again out of curiosity, and then stayed because..... you had nowhere else to go? The 'plex is really well guarded? You wanted to? Foxy's not sure, but the others don't seem to be either. It's sad to hear you don't have a family though, no one to return to at the end of the day. He doesn't know where he'd be without his crew.

The others aren't keen on the idea of you leaving though. But Foxy can't say he's too surprised about that. They were built with the purpose of entertaining and interacting with humans, and you're the only human they can do that with at the moment. Plus you're the only one that can repair them, even if you've been teaching Roxy how to do it as well. They need you more than you need them.

Sun's convinced you wouldn't leave them though. He... hasn't really said why, but he's very sure of this fact. Foxy can see a little doubt, but Sun won't ever admit it. He's very attached to you now, so Foxy assumes that's where that assurance comes from. You seem fond of everyone though, even to the point of going to great lengths to get him and Bonnie back online for the others. Something that apparently took a great amount of time and effort.

Moon is another story though. He's a lot more suspicious and cautious, but he always was. He doesn't seem convinced for a second that you're genuine, but doesn't really have a reason as to why. Other than secrets that you keep, which the lunar bot is very wary of. But Foxy's under the impression that everyone has their secrets and you don't have to spill everything to them anyway. He's sure Moon will come around eventually.

He personally thinks you're a joy to have around. He's starting to see why everyone loves you. You let them have so much more freedom than they used to have after all. You even seem a bit more willing to tell them about the outside world than past employees ever were, even if you still keep a lot of it to yourself. It's interesting really.

"Nothing coming to mind?" You ask, making Foxy blink. You gesture to his blank page.

"Ah. Lost in me thoughts," Foxy replies, looking down at the paper again. You nod with a hum, Sun very focused on what he's currently drawing.

"I get that." You go right back to what you were working on. Something for Bonnie it seems, something with a very fluffy neckline by the looks of it. It's quiet for a few minutes, you then glancing up as Foxy still hasn't drawn anything. "Would you want to tell a story?"

"Oh! Yes, yes, yes! Foxy's an amazing storyteller!" Sun pipes up, sitting up again to look at Foxy. Foxy blinks, then chuckles.

"Aye, Lass. I could spin ye a story, if ye want," he agrees. You smile and nod. Foxy takes a minute to think up a good one. He briefly wonders if his child oriented stories would really be enough to hold an adult's interest, but pushes that thought away. He supposes you just asked for a story, and he's more than able to give you that much.

And so he does, you going back to work on your drawing while he spins it. You're obviously still paying attention, he can tell. Sun's more paying attention to him than the paper.

It's good to be able to tell a story again though, even if it's not to his original audience.

My, how times have changed.