A/N:
Merry "birth of the guy that got nailed so hard he died" everyone! Man, another hecking year done. This is my third christmas chapter? Three of them, holy shit.
Except this isn't focused on christmas, for the timeline's sake. I wish I could have, but you can't win them all, am I right? :v
EITHER WAY, ENJOY!

Oh, also, GOOD NEWS, THIS ONE WAS ACTUALLY BETA READ! HUGE SHOUTOUT TO AsiawasiaLP FOR THAT ONE!

-

If a day starts bad, you always have two options. Three actually.
Either you decide to approach the rest of the day with a defensive mindset, dealing with the shitty reality and pushing back before anything more could happen... or you could go into the day with a positive mindset, try to assume the worst has passed and the rest of the day could now go smoothly, influencing it for the positive.
Yeah, right or go back to bed, but that wasn't that easy, was it?
And as the ENLIGHTENED, MODERN MAN that Mike was, you can probably guess what he was doing!
Having his whole day ruined about basically nothing and growling at everyone!
What a smart man he is.
Currently he was trying to, uh- "help" a customer.
"For the last fucking time." He took a deep breath. "The cheese on our pizza is made from fucking MILK. Normal fucking MILK. We don't have GOAT CHEESE, ESPECIALLY NOT GOAT CHEESE THAT WAS HANDMADE BY MOUNTAIN-FUCKING-MAIDEN! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN. I DON'T KNOW WHAT GLUTEN IS, I DON'T KNOW WHAT EFFECT VEGAN FLOWERS HAVE ON THE QUALITY OF THE-"
The guy was nodding, then shaking his head. "But do you have ANY respect for the ENVIRONMENT-"
This was the point where Mike lost it, feeling an EERIE sense of deja-vu that he couldn't explain. "NO. I DON'T. I PERSONALLY WOULD STICK MY DICK UP MOTHER NATURE'S-"
A few step away, at the entrance of the door to the office, Juliette and Phone Guy stood, watching him, Simon with sorrow, while the woman simply seemed interested.
"... Scott, is he often screaming at thin air?" She asked, casually.
"Uh. Define... often." It hesitantly came back. "... usually, I uh... let him do his thing, he tends to calm down after that for the rest of the day."
"Huh." Not much of a reaction. "... I suppose it is good that we take away the head in our procedure. It would be bad if these... unhappy habits... carried over to our staff."
Uncomfortably Simon stepped away a little.
Juliette only smiled though. "What seems to be the problem, Scott? You know as well as me that he will not be around for long. He doesn't have... the certain something. And with certain something I mean common sense."
"Nobody with common sense would even, uh- work here. And I- it's not-" It was scary to try and speak up against her. She could lose her temper and deem him faulty. "... not everyone is cut out to be a Phone Guy." Instead he mumbled.
"You're right." Her eyes wandered over to the two younger members of the staff, her expression becoming a little more sorrowful. "... but in the end, it is neither of our choices, is it? We can only work with the fate we are given."
Slowly and defeated Phoney nodded.
"Well, that's a load of fucking bullshit."
As Mike made an appearance, suddenly right next to them, both of them jumped, Juliette almost hiding behind Simon.
Distressed Juliette stared at him, while talking to Simon. "... Scott, does he OFTEN appear out of nowhere-?"
"Stop fucking calling him Scott you NUMBNUT." Really, he had NO energy left for bullshit.
"What an interesting inquiry!" Juliette stepped back aside, to give him a glare that fell short due to the shades she was wearing. It was a good attempt nonetheless. "Too bad it is phrased in the dumbest way and thus not worth my time. Imagine being clever enough to use kind phrasing and politeness to ensure the success of your plans."
"Yeah, imagine. Also, fucking imagine not being a passive aggressive cunt and to just be fucking honest about being pissed off, like a FUCKING NORMAL PERSON."
"Actually, while we have this chat, may I ask if you have Tourette?"
"I HAVE A RIGHT TO SAY FUCK IN EVERY OTHER SENTENCE."
"No you don't!" She smiled. "Not if we make it against policy."
Phone Guy was mildly stressed out in the background.
As chaos always attracted more chaos, suddenly Orange Guy's voice sounded. "Ooooooooooh, the girls are FIGHTINNNNNNNG!"
Sliding right in on his heelies, he interrupted their intense staring duel.
Now they BOTH stared him down, but he T-posed in defense, acting like nothing was wrong. "What are you guys doing?"
Phone Guy tried to save the situation. "We, uh- y'know. We're talking about... things."
Now all three people stared at Phone Guy for different reasons, prompting him to shrink away.
There was a weird sort of smile on Old Sport's face. As if he was getting ready for a hilarious prank.
Well- not exactly. Simon knew what the Orange Guy looked like when he was up to no good. That wasn't really the face he had right now.
It had a bit of a manic glow, not the more innocent chaotic stupidity it tended to have. He leaned back and slipped his hands into his pockets, prompting the Phone Guy's fight or flight instincts to trigger.
"Things? I like things. I actually GATHER things. Do go on!"
Kindly Juliette smiled. "No, Old Sport. We are talking about business things."
"Ah. Bummer. Maybe you find better things to talk about, later. I have plenty of great things to show though!"
"We, uh- we don't want to see them." Panicked Phoney stepped closer, regretting it the same second.
Old Sport snickered. "Okay then, your loss."
For a moment the other man waited, anxious, thinking his employee would turn on him within a split second, taking out whatever weapon he was carrying around and bringing him to his very sudden and very pointless end.
Yet... no. Nothing happened.
Nothing at all.
The Orange Guy just shrugged, smiled and passed them.
Slowly he breathed out, relieved-
Then a sudden feeling of deep seated terror grabbed him right in his core.
A feeling of fear, so strong that he for a moment thought he would have to throw up.
Every muscle in his body turned to stone and he was glad he didn't have a tongue anymore, because he would have bitten right through it in that moment if it was only a LITTLE misplaced.
He could swear it smelled like blood and rot.
Next to him Juliette did have a similar reaction, suddenly turning away and almost going to her knees, hugging herself, nails vanishing in her pale flesh.
Her voice shivered, but she stayed strong, her tone filled with authority. "What do you have in your pocket, employee?"
And suddenly the feeling was gone, it was as though a boulder was taken from their minds. They almost automatically stood up straight again, blinking in confusion and worry.
Old Sport smiled widely. "So now you two WANT to see it?"
His smile was warm on the outside, but not for the obvious reasons. His warmth came from pity, not from excitement.
Look at those monkeys. That is all it takes to turn them into terrified animals. Jesus Christ, how pathetic. And they think they stood above him.
Proudly and casually he took out Henry's masterpiece, deactivated now, the dread it was oozing being far less notable in that state, even if still there.
They looked at the long, thin machine, out of glass and thick wire, a unholy cross between a needle and a... generator? Motor? Usually things like that weren't visible behind glass, the other two couldn't quite put their finger on it.
"What.... what is that?" Juliette asked, uneasy, but now feeling silly, maybe she overreacted.
"I dunno! Just a neat thing I found!"
Quietly she took a breath. "You should not bring strange objects to work, employee."
"I shouldn't?" Peacefully he asked. "Odd. Then why do the customers get to bring whatever? Or do we need to search them in the future?"
For a moment Old Sport waited for an answer, then shrugged. "Sorry miss! It won't happen again."
And with that he wandered off, leaving the other two behind, slipping the machine back into his pocket until he was out of sight of most people.
Then he pulled it out again to take another long stare.
It shined in the artificial light in a very odd way.
It had taken a while, but slowly and surely Old Sport had grown to appreciate it more. Sure, it was still a terrifying object that made him feel sick if he focused too much, but bit by bit he came to appreciate what it was. Just because it was scary didn't mean it needed to scare HIM.
Fear came from stupidity.
He could handle this. He was smart enough to handle an object like this.
And BECAUSE he was smart enough to handle this, he got to see everyone else be pathetically afraid of a simple tool.
Uneasy he shifted it in his hand.
Okay... Dave was afraid of it too. But Dave was often irrational. Scared of things that weren't even there.
Putting it away, he suddenly was washed over with the desperate need to see him.
Quickly he rushed out and looked around.
Where was the purple nutcase?!
Ah there he was.
Gambling against children apparently.
And losing.
What a man.
Smoothly he joined his buddy, looking over his shoulder, almost getting a deathly backhand to the face.
Shocked Dave realized it was him as he looked over his shoulder. "Sportsy! You've given me a heart attack!"
"And you almost hit me in the face." Dryly Old Sport responded, then grinned a bit. "Heart attack? What can I say? You BROKE my heart by being so incapable!"
Something about his words didn't feel quite right.
He felt like his mind was on the wrong lane, as though his thoughts were drifting out of control.
But he kept going, hoping that it was an illusion.
"Losing against a bunch of kids? You bring shame upon this h o u s e !" A little he nudged him, still smiling, prompting Dave to snicker.
"Guess you're right, buddy. If only there was a suspiciously handsome guy with an alluring orange hue around to help me out!"
"If only!" Already he felt better. "Too bad there's only an average-looking guy with a tangerine color to boot. But at least that one is available to help!"
"Hm, not sure if I want any help from that one." Dave smiled up at him, his eyes full of adoration and playfulness. "... he sounds like he's selling himself short and I just can't have that."
Relaxing Old Sport sat down next to him, having Dave suddenly shove himself onto him, like some sort of oversized puppy.
And like said oversized puppy, he was rewarded with plenty of pets.
The kid in front of them, holding the cards, was giving them a death stare. With an endlessly echoing voice the child called out to them.
"I demand you to make your move."
Old Sport looked mildly shocked. "Oh damn, it's a demonic toddler. You could have warned me."
"I demand souls."
"Kinda out of those."
"You WILL pay your debts to the lord of the pit." Threateningly the child responded, its eyes glowing up red and talking with the voice of hundreds of other lost evil beings.
"We can pay in licorice." He offered.
"Substitute accepted. Make your move."
"Okay, okay, I have a pair of pretzels and I can and will summon the white eyes blue dragon, sacrificing both my pikachus-"
"Am I a JOKE to YOU-"
Fun gambling ensued, I am sure.

The night approached and darkness seeped in.
Two souls were waiting.
Patience, patience, patience.
Ethan still held the opinion that they should leave while it was somewhat busy. Even if they could disturb the camera feed during the night, it would still be more obvious if they disappeared like that.
Baby argued back that people just assumed they were somewhere else and by never showing up, they made themselves too suspicious. If they NEVER were there when it was dark, it would create a pattern to be recognized.
It went back and forth quietly, until Nemo joined them and told them to just stick around and that he would pick them up once everyone had left.
So that was that.
It continued to get darker, the people left as they wandered around the establishment, the employees left one by one too.
And by one by one, I mean they left in the weirdest rhythm possible. Dave and Old Sport together, Juliette left with Simon, Mike retreated into the back and Jeremy just stuck around for ages-
An obnoxiously loud, breaking voice snapped them from their shared impatience.
"H-HeLLo theree-e!" Freddy shuffled up, eerily smiling as he approached.
Baby shifted a little, but smiled back, trying to keep her cool. "Hey Freddy."
"So, m-me and BONBON have d-done some TH-thinKING!"
"Rare enough."
"You're ACting WWEEEiRD! Right, BOnBon?" The bear ignored her and looked at his handpuppet instead.
The little bunny slowly crossed his arms and looked at her. "You really do. And at this point we've had enough. We need to know what is wrong. Ballora might be too polite to bother you, but we NEED to be informed. I thought we were a team. YOU said we were a team."
For a moment Baby wanted to respond that she actually did believe in that once, but it then turned out that every single one of them disliked each other enough to secretly want to go for each other's throat, but wouldn't because they know they're stuck together now.
... it probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to say.
So instead she shook her head a little.
"Listen, it's none of your concerns. It's not really anything you would WANT to be involved in anyways."
Freddy leaned forwards, his faceplates opening the slightest bit.
Something in the dark behind it seemed to shift.
"B-BAby... that is- isn't NICE. We a-are a FAMILY, r-right?!" Really, he seemed untypically serious, his mania colder than expected. "Y-you can't just... abandon us. W-we won't LET YOU."
Discomfort spread through Baby, accompanied by something that seemed like guilt of some sort.
Though... it was hard for Ethan to tell.
It didn't matter though, he gently tried to nudge the other soul to calm down and tell the other animatronic off.
Gently, of course.
They worried him greatly, but at the same time, there was only so much he could do.
Baby insisted they all were happy and seeing how careless that bear in specific was handling the customers, she might be right.
Baby coughed a little and shook her head once more. "Freddy, I am the boss here. And that means sometimes I have to do things outside of our normal responsibilities. Not to mention, like I said... you wouldn't like the things I'm up to anyways. They would bore you."
"Y-yOu think-!" This time his faceplates snapped shut, he was obviously angry behind his laugh. "You tHINk you're BETTE- BETTER than US-"
He broke off as Jeremy approached, the Puppet animatronic wrapped around his torso, towering over them all.
His voice had a bit of a hiss in it. "Are you done yet, bear? I have something important to talk about with her."
"I-IMpoooORTANT? H-HuaaaHAHAa-"
Before Freddy could continue though, Bonbon piped up. "... I think we are done here Freddy. We should go to sleep."
"But- BUt BonBON!" Shocked the marshmallow teddy looked at him, before being petted over the muzzle and mumbling something, retreating.
For a moment everyone waited, watching him leave, then the Puppet leaned over the girl. "Jeremy told me what you were up to. Why didn't you tell me!?"
The young guard reached up to give him a pat. "Marion. Be nice."
Irritated the Puppet looked down and shook his head, but then he sighed, shrinking down more, while Baby responded.
"I saw no reason to. You talk big about saving souls, but so far, you did nothing. You did more HARM than good! So I thought, might as well show you how its done, right?" Her voice was teasing, her words CERTAINLY cutting the other. "We've been doing great so far! Jeremy even managed to help one of them out the first time he was there! Your concern is appreciated, but I have to say, I'd rather NOT have you be in the way in the future."
Appalled the long puppet grabbed his little friend a bit tighter, but quickly loosened the grip once more, in order to not hurt him.
"... I have saved a lot of souls. Not that YOU would know."
'Brat' echoed in the air for a moment.
Baby didn't let that bother her. "Hm... wow... really convincing... but those four seem to be pretty old. Can't be THAT efficient at it."
"I- I used to-" He shook himself. "I know them the longest. You need me, I can tell you exactly what they need-"
Jeremy shifted, his voice innocent. "But if you know what they need, why haven't you freed them before?"
It went quiet once more.
Baby's smile was almost unbearable in that moment.
Finally Marion mumbled "... I might have wronged them. I want to make it right."
Jeremy put a hand over Marion's and smiled.
"... and that is very good of you." Turning to the others, he nodded. "I think he should come along with us. He IS one of them and you heard him- it's only fair to give him the chance to do this."
The door opened and Nemo entered, looking around rather disinterested. Spotting them all still on stage, he strolled up.
"Ah yes. The process of mitosis. It's beautiful."
"... uhm... what?" Confused Jeremy responded.
"You know? When cells part over and over? Lowkey what's happening here because we're getting more and MORE? Seriously, at the beginning this was some badass secret organization, now we're a fucking party. Very cool."
"You... uhm... you don't actually sound like you think it's actually cool." Carefully Jeremy pointed out.
"You're wrong. I am super stoked. Can't you see in my face how stoked I am? I am the definition of stoked. So stoked."
Making the moment as awkward as possible, Nemo drew it out as much as he could, before he turned away.
"So, I'm gonna talk to the guard too and tell him that we're going. Since being secretive is pointless as a fucking CAMERA has been pointed at us for like an hour now."
Before anyone could stop him, he disappeared towards the office.
A few minutes later he came back.
"Okay, so, I told him that we're going and he told me to "piss off you hallucination bastard, go suck a fucking dick, I won't fall for this twice you fucking retard." Pretty rude tbh, but you know what, no worries, I think we can go now."
And with that he led them away.
At this point, the car was getting a little crowded to be honest, but it wasn't that big of a deal once Marion realized how much space he was taking up trying to sit properly and coiled up instead around Jeremy's body.
Routine as always.
Drive.
Shaft.
Elevator-
"Marion?" Jeremy asked, looking up at the animatronic that was still standing outside of the hole. "Are you coming?"
The Puppet didn't seem very eager. "... this... I-"
Nemo leaned against the edge, giving him a raised eyebrow. "I know you're not scared of this thing malfunctioning. You're LITERALLY the only one who can fly here. What's the matter noodle-boy?"
"Nothing." Slowly it let itself float down there, gabbing Jeremy's arm as soon as he was next to him.
Quietly Jerry called out to him. "... Marion... please don't lie."
"... these places were built very... deliberately. If we get stuck down there, I won't be able to leave that easily."
"And you KNOW that, huh?" Nemo asked, then grinned. "Hey, I get it. Anxiety hits hard and ruthless. It gets better after a while."
Despite his words, he activated the button swiftly, not even giving him a chance to get used to his surroundings before a jolt went through the elevator and it started moving downwards at a rather fast pace.
Light after light flashed past them.
Distrustful Marion looked around. "... if we have energy down here, shouldn't that... tip certain people off that something is going on?"
"Certain people? Like who?" Nemo scoffed. "Nobody CARES and you know that. Nothing ever gets checked really- aside from the phones I guess. And those can really be dangerous if actually left unchecked. So what if some people have some lights on in a storage?"
Excuses were like sand on the beach. People would make the excuses for you, just to ensure that they don't have to bother worrying for another moment.
Not to mention didn't the Phone officially sign up to use the storage? He couldn't remember, he tended to stop listening after five minutes anyways.
Whatever, right?
The elevator played a little jingle, before stopping.
Big red button, opening doors, and into the darkness they moved.
Clicking.
Crushing.
Noises of metal grinding on metal and eyes lighting up.
They didn't approach though.
The new presence was quickly noted.
And not very welcome.
Marion looked around at the spirits. Hardly recognizable from the humans they once were, aside from Bonnie, shining clearly.
'Timmy.'
The response came calmly. Wordlessly.
He clearly didn't expect him to even remember.
Which was fair, seeing as Marion had told them right away that keeping ahold of their names was a waste of time that only would bring sadness. It wouldn't really surprise anyone if he couldn't remember.
Hell, did he even know the names in the first place?
Who knows.
Slowly Marion nodded to show he understood.
The atmosphere seemed to be filled with static for a few seconds.
This was harder than Marion expected. The apology he knew was needed of him was stuck in his throat, swelling up in there.
The longer he waited, the harder it got.
He felt stares from all sides.
Don't say anything. Please don't say anything.
Gently Jeremy touched his claws again, wrapping his hand around it.
Everything was fine.
"... I'm... sorry. I was... wrong about things." Quietly he said, as much as he hated to do it.
Still, he had to, as that was the only way he would be allowed down here with Jeremy.
... nonsense.
No, he wanted to help them.
Genuinely.
What he wanted to do hadn't worked out.
And it wasn't fair.
It hurt him too.
"We'll get you out of here."
Ethan listened to it, a bitter distaste in his heart for those words. The man was sick of hearing from this creature. He couldn't trust him any further.
One time mistake or not.
They couldn't AFFORD that many mistakes.
Much less the hesitation.
The children seemed to think similar- they approached, but didn't get too close to the Marionette. Instead they quickly wandered past him and towards Baby and Nemo, much to the Marionette's dismay.
It quickly became clear to him why though, as he saw a spirit rise from Baby's shell.
Almost he said something, but it simply put a finger in front of its mouth.
Stay quiet.
For Jeremy's peace.
Unsure Marion looked at the boy below him, finally separating himself from the human.
Jeremy wouldn't like it if he kept things from him, he made it very clear recently-
Nemo interrupted his chaotic thoughts by looking at the files and comment.
"So, we have three more candidates on the list. Who do we try to take care of next?"
The machines looked around then Freddy pointed at Foxy, the other two joining in quickly. Foxy meanwhile looked at the ground, the ears pressed as flat as possible against his head.
A small whine came from him.
"Fantastic." Nemo looked through the notes, while the others were slowly beginning to wander again, except Chica, who was leaning against Ethan's hand as he quietly whispered reassurance to her.
The Puppet could only watch that scene, lost in thought.
A hint of jealousy in his eyes.
Quickly he got snapped out of it again, as Jeremy brushed past him. The touch was enough to make him jump like a jack-in-the-box.
Jeremy joined the other machines, carefully and wordlessly reaching out for them, with Freddy staring him down for a moment, before moving closer and allowing the young guard to boop his nose, much to his delight.
Humming came from Nemo, before he found the note on the right file. "Foxy... Jacob."
Ethan retracted his hand from Evelyn and looked at the teenager. 'Seeing as he basically died due to his brother's neglect... that is probably our loose thread. I certainly would struggle with moving on, wondering if my sibling did it on accident or regrets it at all.'
"Hm, hmm..." It quietly came back. "... sounds reasonable enough."
Papers rustled.
"Huh. He should be around Mike's age. Named Michael too, what a weird coincidence...?"
'It's a popular name. It's not the same person, I would have known instantly, seeing as he suffered a major injury closely to the timeframe that the abductions happened... we would have assumed foul play of some sort.'
"Good, good."
Finally Jeremy piped up. "... who are you talking to?"
"My inner demons." Instantly it was shot back. "No, even worse, my inner boomer."
'What?'
"What?"
Two poor confused souls were ignored by Nemo, who simply continued. "I'm going through the text here and reflecting on it. If you have any issues, send them to 4221-I-Don't-Care."
Intimidated Jerry left him to it. Teenagers are scary.
"Anyways, I think we gotta get some guy over here. Foxy, do you wanna see your dumbfuck older brother again?"
Instantly the fox animatronic perked up.
Uncertain Ethan shifted. '... what if he endangers the guy?'
Baby responded, carelessly. 'I think he would have deserved it then.'
'We CANNOT lead an innocent person to death. Even if they were terrible, he probably didn't know what would happen...'
'There are things you just don't do. I think abandoning your sibling in a restaurant where kids went missing is one of them.'
'Did he KNOW that the children went missing there? He was barely more than a child too. He probably didn't pay attention to the news.'
Nemo interrupted them.
"Well, we will see when we visit him."
Shocked Jeremy looked at him. "We will visit who-?"
'We?' Ethan asked, unsure of this proposal. 'He lives quite far away.'
Baby was down for it though. "Absolutely! We will find your brother and we'll get him here, Foxy!"
"Jacob." Jeremy quickly corrected. "A-and are you sure? We? Uh- you think we can do it in one night...?"
"We can't know if we don't try!" Baby smiled, pretty mischievous.
The guard shook his head. "No, that's- people will realize that you're not there and then what-"
Nemo shrugged. "Better sooner than later."
"Agreed!" Baby grinned.
"NO." Jeremy repeated. "No. We will find a good excuse to get you out of there for a few days- we can just say that you're, uh- you know! Need some repairs-"
The red and white animatronic put an arm around him. "You're right Jeremy. We need to be reasonable about this."
'But you aren't, are you?' Concerned Ethan asked. Her words and her current state didn't add together.
The angsty teen didn't buy it either, but he shrugged. "Alright, for tonight we should go."
"A-already?!"
Marion put an arm on his shoulder though. "... you need some energy for tomorrow."
These two machines exchanged a glare, then slowly nodded at one another. Yes. They were in this together.
"But..."
"Jeremy. I need to rest a little too. Please."
Finally this made the boy accept the situation. "Okay... we'll... we'll be there tomorrow extra early!" Softly he promised.
The animatronics didn't show much emotions, but the spirits in the room knew they were slightly disappointed. It was lonely down here.
Lonely and dark.

Roughly twenty minutes later, Nemo and Baby sat in the car.
They had brought back Baby first, then Jeremy, to ease his suspicions- but of course it wasn't hard for Nemo to return and pick up the two-spirited animatronic once more.
Baby looked at the map, while Nemo kept an eye on the road.
'We're really going to drive all this way out there, without... telling anyone.'
"What's wrong, detective?" The red-headed animatronic shot back. "Scared of the Phone Guy?"
'Not... particularly. I just... worry. We're going to talk to an actual human being about their little brother being stuck in a Fox-endoskeleton. That's pretty unreal, you have to admit that.'
The third of them spoke up. "We literally have a haunted animatronic with us. He literally has to believe us. Like- what MORE convincing can be there?"
'People are awfully stubborn when they don't want to believe something...' Quietly the man sighed, concerned.
His mind wandered off.
What if he- what if he tried this too?
Going home... like this... telling them they could be a family again...
Crazy.
No, no he couldn't.
They would be terrified, wouldn't they?
Wouldn't they?
His son- how would he take seeing something like that?
He needed to help Evelyn move on. They would be able to wait for them together. Patiently and lovingly, waiting to hear about their adventures on earth.
Or at least that was how he WANTED to imagine it.
Baby smiled a bit.
Yes, she could believe in making herself a family of steel, but it obviously wasn't working- even if Ethan was too polite to point this out. Being ripped out of your body in a traumatizing manner wasn't good grounds for emotional and psychological, healthy growth.
Quietly Ethan shifted.
He would be able to help her. He was certain.
At least in a small way. Until she was ready to accept it herself and rise against her captor-
"What are you thinking about?" Baby asked, sweetly.
'... what to tell the man when we stand in front of him. Do YOU have any ideas?'
Nemo grinned. "We'll say 'Yo, yo, yo buddy, we got some DANK news for you!'- and when he is paralyzed from the cringe, we'll throw him into the back of the truck and get him home."
The girl snickered, while the detective just rolled his eyes.
Bad plan.
But they had more time to figure it out.
Hopefully nothing would go too wild while they were gone.

-

A/N:
So, another year closes and it's time for my small gratitude speech.
Because god fucking dammit, I'm really lucky.
This is my first fandom that I actively have joined and created for... firstthinking it would just be me and like... one other person who would haveinterest in it.
And now... I think I'm legit the most lucky writer there is.
You guys... are so fucking incredible. I'm not kidding. Sticking around,reading this endless fic. Leaving hearts. Leaving comments. Always showing upand taking the time out of your day to talk to me.
GIFTING ME STUFF! LIKE THOSE ON MY AO3 IN MY GIFT TAG- AND ARTIST, BOTH WHOSEND ME PRIVATELY THEIR AMAZING STUFF OR DO IT OUT IN THE OPEN LIKE  (CHECK OUT THEIR FANART BOOK, IT'S THE BOIS AS REALLY COOL LOOKINGFURRIES AND IT'S SO EXPRESSIVE, THE MARIONETTE DESIGN IS OUTRIGHT CRAZY).
*SO MANY THAT I ACTUALLY FEAR I FORGET SOMEONE OR SOMETHING THAT I HAVE BEENBLESSED WITH BECAUSE I'M SO OVERWHELMED!*
There's NOTHING that means more to me than have you guys. Hearing yourthoughts, knowing you put in the effort to tag along. I'm always so excitedwhen I hear that someone started creating too after seeing my stuff (andplease, you can always tell me about that because I'd LOVE to see it) and I'msometimes just stepping back thinking "Wow. Somehow I managed to attractsome of the best people of the fandom, huh?"
I never was shown ANYTHING but kindness, patience and the willingness to let medo my thing and HECK, even helping me with it!
Who knows what kind of magic it is, but I will always be grateful.
Every time you bother leaving anything or creating anything for me, you fill thissilly little introvert's heart with love.
And those who don't have the energy to comment or leave notes?
You're cool too! Sometimes you just wanna do that. I wish you would, becauseI'd love to just see more thoughts of great people in general, but y'know...maybe one day you feel comfortable leaving some thoughts or a sweet little noteand I will cherish that moment with all my heart!
So, for the New Year that is approaching, I will try to write more again.Because it genuinely makes me happy and you readers... you make it SOINCREDIBLY REWARDING.
I hope wherever you are right now, whatever you had to deal with until now andwill have to in the future... I hope you know you are great, you bring thosearound you joy with ease and that it's never a bad time to start creating orreaching out. People LOVE interacting and sharing, you're not the only one whowants that :3
I love you all. Stay safe!

P.S.: I promise the next two chapter will be a bit more structured. I'll try tokeep it cut down in two chapters, I struggle badly with pacing. Advice iswelcome though too!