A/N: Long story short: I was sick
Long story long: It began when my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather back in the day, where he received a magical leaf... *Ten seasons and three movies later* ... and that's why you never put purple ducks into the bathtubs of a person that had never seen the Mount Fuji in their time.
I hope that clears things up.

--------------------------

Phone Guy had put his hands in his hips, staring at the two followers of the god of chaos. "No. Over my dead body."
"Aw, Phoney! Phonester! My one and phonly!" Old Sport was moving his hands in a begging movement. "They're going to LOVE her!"
"I fear exactly that! Look at her! She's probably-" Nervously he glanced at her, before whispering. "What if she snaps and cuts off their heads?"
Somewhat irritated she tilted her head. "You are aware I can hear you?"
"U-Uh..." Coughing a bit, Phoney stepped aside, further away from her. "You... uh... but you're aware you're kind of... dangerous, right?"
"Dangerous...?" She smiled a bit, doing nothing else but STARING. It made the Head-Guard sweat.
"Y-yeah- G-gosh, b-but uh... MANY things a-are dangerous! E-even slides are! S-So, this... I- n-nothing personal!" A long awkward pause ensued. "P-please don't be mad."
Baby began giggling at the amount of insecurity and fear, which made it all even worse.
Old Sport though didn't have the time to let them banter like that. "Phoney-soney! PLEAAAASE! I'll be there! We're just quickly going to the saferoom and show her off! She'll be bored on her own, right Baby?"
"Correct."
"NO! NO, NO, NO!" Continuing to step back the man seemed displeased with the whole situation. "SAFEROOMS ARE BAD! DON'T BRING CUSTOMERS THERE! IT'S LITERALLY NOT ALLOWED!"
"I MAKE THE RULES IN THIS RESTAURANT! AND I SAY IT IS!"
"YOU CAN'T JUST LET CUSTOMERS WANDER OFF INTO THE MURDER ROOM!"
"It's not a murder room! Zero murder happening in there until now!"
"UNTIL NOW?!" A series of beeps came out of his head. "IS THERE SOMETHING YOU HAVEN'T TOLD ME?!"
"No? What are you talking about?"
"YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY EXPECTING SOMETHING BAD TO HAPPEN!"
"We're at Freddy's, it wouldn't surprise me if one of the animatronics would be willing to kill themselves in there." He wished he was kidding, but fuck. This place just had a neck for fucking itself over at this point. "Please, please, PLEASE!
"I said no ONCE, I said no TWICE, but you still won't listen to me, will you?! Why are you even ASKING me in the first place, you will do what you want anyway!"
"Just so you won't later rat me out to the police for acting behind your back. Now you're in on it, they're gonna do you dirty as well."
"I'M NOT IN-"
Baby sat down somewhere, putting her head in her hand to more comfortably watch the whole scene, her plastic smile growing wider each time the conversation went back and forth. For someone who seemed so scared of her, Phone Guy sure was adamant in opposing what she wanted. How ballsy.
Frustrated the manager turned to look at Dave. "Usually YOU are the idiot! Why are you so quiet, hm?! What are YOU planning!?"
"Ay, Phone don't drag me into this mess! Ain't my fault you can't talk back to the boss!" Dave jumped a bit, his bunny ears moving a bit, apparently he felt uncomfortable about something.
"Wasn't it you h-hecking idea in the first place?!" He wouldn't let the guy get away so easily.
"Hm...? No- I mean, lemme tell ya, I was the one saying it was a great idea, but never gave any hints."
Old Sport nodded. "I and Baby worked in the same room for WEEKS, without anything happening! She isn't more dangerous than anything else in the place."
"OH, I AM SO GLAD SHE ISN'T MORE DANGEROUS THAN A LITERAL CHILD MURDERER!" Hysteria had taken ahold of the poor guy.
Dave scoffed. "Well, I am SO glad she isn't more dangerous than a figurative rat! That sold us out! Many times!"
"It- you- for god's sake!" Distressed he turned towards a wall, as if expecting help coming from there... or considering to run up against it to end it all. "I can't win, can I? Just- I have enough. I can't do this. We're going to get sued and there is nothing I can do about it."
"If they wanna sue us, they first have to prove we did something wrong!" The personified fruit loops high-fived and the animatronic girl laughed.
"Sweep it under the rug, it's probably fine." With that resigned murmur, Phone Guy turned to his superior again, pleading this time. "You won't let anything happen, right? You wouldn't let anyone get hurt, RIGHT? You are responsible to SOME degree, RIGHT!?"
Rolling his eyes, Dave patted his back, making him jump. "Fucking hell, Phoney, he's the one who got me imprisoned in endless pain, 'course he's responsible! A g00d b0y of the highest class."
"Stop the drama Dave, you really provoked me to do it."
"Ow, boo hoo, killing off a few kiddens is SOOO bad, especially since you have as much connection to 'em as you got to all the people dying in Antarctica all the time!"
Confused the more sane guards looked at him. "What are you talking about- wait, SEE! That attitude is what got you killed! Because you're such a heartless bastard!"
"As if you weren't! You never get attached to anything, Old Sport! You never had any trouble moving on from things and that's pretty fucking soulless if ya ask me! Never even came back to check for me! I spent thirty fucking years in that filthy backroom, thinking about you to get the pain to go away and you just went ahead and opened a new fucking restaurant as if you haven't learned shit from everything I told you before! Even now you keep me in this fucking rabbit-suit, ignoring ALL my complaints and problems, because you don't care, because you feel like something better, don't cha, Old Sport?"
"What are you even TALKING about?! AGAIN! You aren't in pain anymore and your suit is perfectly fine! I took care of you and that is more than I probably should have, seeing as in your diary you mentioned-" Quickly the guy broke off, a bit embarrassed that he still remembered the entries, after all this time. "- You seemed definitely up to end me."
"I wouldn't have touched a hair on you! Well- I mean, okay, maybe a BIT, but c'mon, it ain't as if you're actually getting ANY damage from whatever I'd do to you!"
"SAME. DAVE, SAME."
"I wouldn't have springlocked ya! I wouldn't do such a cruel thing! Do you even KNOW how bad- you do, I know, but do you know how it is when your flesh starts to heal AROUND the metal? When you feel bit breaking into you and you can't get rid of them, so you have to just not move and pray that the wound doesn't fester?!" There was actual pain in his voice.
Biting his lip, Old Sport tried not to feel guilty. "I know how it is to sit somewhere rotting, so yes. Don't pretend you got it so horrible, okay?! You did horrible shit and you paid for it."
"Bleh, bleh, killing kids is SOOOO horrible! Would it have been fine if it were adults?"
"Not really, no."
"Then why aren't ya going after the fucking factory? Why was it only me who you hate so much?"
"I never HATED you Dave, you just... made problems." Uncomfortable Old Sport shifted around. It wasn't as if he ever felt the need to hurt Dave. Really, the most he felt was when he looked at Dave's past work and laughed. It took some damn dedication to wrap a whole endoskeleton into balloon rubber, so the constant squeaking would drive Phone Guy insane. Or to build a replica of yourself made out of macaroni that had been colored purple, just to not arise suspicion.
It was the most he usually felt... except on the happiest day, of course.
He felt his energy slowly leaving his body, his shoulder sunk down. There was no happiest day anymore and he hated himself for missing it so much. He hated himself for this itch to relive the wonderful bubbly feeling, the prickling excitement, the floaty happiness...
"Sportsy... you alright?" Since the only reaction he had gotten was his friend's expression slowly going becoming... worrying, Dave felt like it was better to check on him.
"I- Uh-" Snapping out of his downward spiral, he gave him a smile, out of habit. "Yeah, I-"
What were they talking about again? Right. "Dave... I... I don't hate you. Never did. Never could..." Breaking off again, he didn't know how to put it into words. It felt more honest than he liked it to be and it reminded him that all he ever did was what the puppet wanted. They... yes, they wanted the same, so it was normal. Just because he had an alignment and wanted to do the best he could for his group, didn't mean he wasn't part of it. He brought a bit into it as well, right? A bit of himself rubbed off onto them?
Shortly he glanced at the black bear, watching them from a distance.
Could he hear them?
"If ya didn't hate me, what was the springlocking for? How about you would have just helped me close Freddy's! You could have come up with ANY other way, I would have done it! We could have..." Dave looked aside.
Phone Guy was sweating nervously, not ready to deal with the emotional trauma of a corpse and a furry. Nope, that had NOT been in his job description. Or maybe it was, he wouldn't hecking know. "Uh... hey... so... about showing the killer animatronic to the toddlers...?"
Please, it was a better topic than emotional crippling, even for Phoney.
"Right!" Snapping out of his bad mood and smiling extra brightly, creeping out both Phoney as well as Dave he returned to the previous conversation. "Baby is a sweetheart, right Baby?"
"I sure am!" She said in her usually creepy, quiet voice. "Nothing BAD will happen..."
"Wew, bby, you sure know how to invalidate my point." Still weirdly smiling Old Sport turned to her, not really down for her to creep out the guy he had spent the last ten minutes to convince.
It was answered with a laugh that sounded... almost sweet. Well, close enough. "But I said nothing bad would happen... what more could you ask for?"
"Uh... your definition of bad, I think would be good to know." The manager tilted his head, but was only greeted with more giggles. GREAT.
"Dummy. Bad is bad." Her cocky smile triggered something violent in everybody around her, excluding Dave who only joined the laughter.
"Alright, I reconsidered." Old Sport crossed his arms.
"N-No!" Finally the girl sounded SLIGHTLY worried. "I was only trying to tease you, please, I would really like to meet those children!"
At least she was able to feel worry then, a hint that there was potentially a little mindfulness in her? And she really grew on Old Sport for some reason. Maybe because she was possessed. Speaking of which...
Again he glanced at Lefty's staring eyes.
It was weird that he didn't know about her.
Another glance was distributed, but this time towards Dave. Since she was only here since yesterday, he hadn't really gotten a chance to ask Dave about it. Or rather, he didn't really want to.
What was he supposed to say? HEYO, did ya kill another bitch buddy boi seemed a bit... insensitive and while he usually didn't care much about being sensitive, he still believe that tactic wouldn't really lead to the right outcome. This time he had no option but to care.
... What if Dave didn't know anything?
What if there was a whole new world out there, someone else doing the same shit Dave and Henry did?
What if it was just a giant cycle?
What if-
No. Dave knew SOMETHING, surely, he HAD to. If Henry build it after all... Dave had always been by his side so he would still know about it, right?
Right?
Shaking himself again, he sighed and forced another smile. More machines needed his attention! He now had to take care of a whole restaurant, he wouldn't be able to run off and check on it anyways.
Honestly, he didn't even feel too invested in all that. Why couldn't he have a semi-haunted pizza place?
The puppet would probably hassle him about freeing her, despite the fact that she didn't even seem unhappy... which led to the question WHY she didn't seem unhappy. Shouldn't being a ghost be an uncomfortable state?
Then again, the puppet stuck around for some ungodly reason as well. Self-sacrifice, sure, but after THIRTY years without anything really happening, he surely could have seen his job as done.
He himself was only here because there was nowhere else to go for him.
A mechanic claw nudged him. "Da- I mean, Old Sport? Did you hear what he just said?"
Did he space out AGAIN? Confused and somewhat helpless he stared at Baby, unsure of what to say. Softly she smiled in response, seemingly understanding.
"He said it would be okay as long as they don't touch me and if you stay between us at all times."
"Uh- great!" Even more irritated the Orange Guy looked at his employee, who was shaking his head, his empty face filled with worry and disappointment, he really didn't seem on board but didn't spoke up again, so she said the truth.
Not that he expected her to lie...
"Y-yeah! Great! They'll probably come by sooner rather than later... and we have to open anyway, so... back to your place...?" It felt somewhat rude to banish her like that, but she didn't seem to mind.
"We will see us later." Humming she skated off, seemingly in high spirits.
Phone Guy stepped closer. "I tell you, something is WRONG with her-"
"She's an undead kid that escaped some facility and lost all her friends to seemingly an overly forceful soul, it's pretty legit if she has something wrong with her."
"Yeah sure, legit it may be, but that won't excuse if a kid get hurt!"
Finally Dave stepped in with a surprising firmness. "I wouldn't let that happen, Phone-face."
This resulted in aggressive beeping. "Sure. I believe YOU. YOU of all people!"
But Old Sport was smiling. He trusted Dave, or at least his words. Until now he actually never was faced with a reason not to, whatever Dave did or thought, he was direct about it. "It will be fine, Phoney. Relax! Let's open the place."
"OPEN!?" This time the hysteric screaming didn't come from Phoney though. Rockstar Freddy was frantically rubbing around his neck. "WE CAN'T! NO! NOT NOW! I'M NOT READY!"
"What's wrong?" Surprised and slightly nervous Old Sport dashed over, noticing a black fluid dripping from his neck.
"I- I THINK I'M LEAKING! MEDIC! MEDIC!" The constant screeching wasn't helping the orange guy calm down, the fluid really looked like what the animatronics used to secrete when they were stuffed, so could it-
Dave was quicker than him somehow and checked, BY PUTTING HIS FINGER INTO IT AND LICKING IT, HOLY SHIT DAVE, WHAT THE FUCK, YOU'RE DISGUSTING. Whatever, he smiled and nodded. "Oil!"
For a moment Sportsy was torn between believing him and assuming he was trying to cover up something, but... Dave couldn't have done anything, right? There was no option, no, he paid so much attention.
Paranoia, all paranoia.
He also softly touched the material, the smell confirmed it.
But Freddy was still in panic mode. "SO WHAT? I'M STILL LEAKING!"
Candy Cadette rolled up, it's expressionless face focused on Freddy's. "I am Candy Cadette. I will now tell you a story. The story is about a bear that couldn't show up to a party. Nobody cared. The end."
"YOU LITTLE ****, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"Disagreed. You challenged me."
"Wait, wait, wait-" Old Sport looked between them back and forth, while Dave was busy working on the machine. "What did you do?"
"THE TRICKSTER TAUNTED ME!"
"I can do this." Candy Cadette spun his head around. "He however can't."
"HOW COULD I HAVE KNOWN?!"
"Correct. I should have concluded that you have a common sense of zero percent, I apologize."
"I WILL COME AND GET YOU, YOU LITTLE- YOU THINK YOU CAN GO UP AGAINST ME?! I AM THE FREDDY! NOT ANY FREDDY, T H E FREDDY! I WILL HAVE YOU KICKED OUT ONTO THE STREETS AND YOU WILL NEVER FIND WORK IN THIS TOWN EVER AGAIN!"
"I am Candy Cadette and my sensors tell me that children await. Leaving the bear behind may be necessary."
"What do you mean leaving him behind?" All this hysteria was getting to the owner. "It's not like he'll die-"
"He's already back up! Chill y'all!" The Eggplant stepped back and looked at Old Sport. "There ya go, how about you wipe the oil away and then he'll be back functioning again. Or... at least for a while." The last part was barely more than a murmur and went unnoticed.
"What a disappointment." Candy Cadette, that unloving bastard rolled away, apparently losing his interest once the bear had been fixed.
Rockstar Freddy only straightened out his bowtie and hissed. "This thing is mad! Insane! Evil! Doing more harm than he is worth! We need to get rid of him."
"Freddy... it's still your fault, you know? You can't really-"
"YES I CAN. NOW SHUSH, THE CHILDREN ARE CALLING FOR ME!" He turned as three kids were running towards them. Well, two running, one more or less strolling. Freddy opened his arms, friendly. "Here I am, one at a time though, after all I am not-"
"BUNNY!" Mary jumped at Dave who didn't really expect it and while his springlocks were sturdy enough, they were cracking.
"My name still is Big D-" But before he could finish that sentence, loud beeping came from Phone Guy.
"NOT IN FRONT OF THE KIDS!"
"THEY WOULDN'T EVEN KNOW IT WAS WRONG IF YOU WOULDN'T OVERREACT!"
Mary ignored them, already perfected that skill and instead went to hug Orange Guy. Oliver simply gave a short wave, he seemingly only ran to keep up. Last but not least Isaac seemed to step closer as if to get a hug himself, but hesitated at the last second before backing away again.
"What's planned for today?" Mary was extremely excited, after all she missed coming here, but they had been busy it seems.
Suddenly a sense of dread filled Old Sport for no apparent reason. It was an overwhelming feeling without any solution. "How about we..."
Maybe it was that he wasn't willing to say it, not... now, not ever. How about we go into the saferoom?
Follow me.
No, he hated that line with all his being. "... one round of hide and seek? If you win, I'll show you something interesting."
"You can't really win at hide and seek." Oliver was skeptical. "And interesting really doesn't sound like something good. It's what mom uses when she wants to show us something annoying."
Mary huffed. "You can win at hide and seek! If you set a goal."
"That's a lie you tell people you want to get rid of."
"Christ, Oliver! You never did that, did you?!" His sister actually seemed worried.
"W-well, not really..."
Dave was beyond irritated, but decided to play along. "Go on you all! I'll find you! How much time are we gonna waste until we show the surprise, hmm?"
"Ten minutes. After we have three minutes to hide!" Orange Guy smiled at the children. "Come up with a good spot and you'll get to see the thing!"
It bought him a bit of time.
Searching for a comfy spot in the vents, he began planning out.
How do you explain a robot like that? Most children don't need explanation, but... really, he would prefer not to scare them downright. Not to say he didn't love the damn clowngirl, but she may would take some getting used to.
No, he wouldn't chicken out. But there was supposed to be some... way to introduce them carefully, right?
Surely, there was an incredibly smooth technique he could use to make them see how interesting she actually was.
Surely, there was-
"Sportsy! Found ya!" Dave had grabbed his leg and was pulling him out, surprising the man and almost triggering him to kick his friend into the face.
"How?! Did you peek?!"
"Maybe a little- but c'mon, one of the kiddens gotta win! It wouldn't be fair to let them lose now, right?"
"I never meant- that still doesn't- I was just about-"
"Old Sport..." A hint of seriousness crept into William's voice. "... are you feeling alright? You ain't doing so hot if you wanna hear my opinion."
"Uh- I just..." Breaking off, Old Sport refused to make eye contact. "I think I might need a break. Maybe this constant... barrage of Freddy-ness is really getting to my head."
"This place makes people insane, I'll tell ya! We should take a nice vacation to Vegas at some point! How 'bout that?"
The excitement in Dave's voice almost made him smile. "And this time no kids need to be strangled?"
"Well... we sure gotta come up with a hot-ass prank so we deserve it, but kiddens ain't gonna be involved, I promise!"
"Prank?" Raising an eyebrow he finally fully got out of the vent. "That's what you called your constant sabotage?"
"Only parts of it! Can't say I wasn't creative about fuckin' Phoney over!"
Really, he couldn't. "Get moving, we want to at least find some of the kids before the ten minutes run out."
"Gotcha chief! Anything for ya~" With a smile and a wink Dave turned away again, leaving Old Sport to suppress any hint of being flustered.
"No way to talk to your boss!" He called after him, just to instantly wish he wouldn't have. That had been a stupid idea.
Instead of further reflecting on it he rather tried helping out finding the other three. Mary had hidden behind the arcade, an impressive feat seeing as there was really not too much space there and Oliver had sneaked into the employees-only section and hid under the office desk, confident they wouldn't catch him there.
Last but not least Isaac was...
Somewhere?
They searched really frantically after the time had passed, unable to find him at all. They searched inside of every room, Old Sport went through the vents and peeked into the saferoom, Dave checked the kitchen oven, no stone was left unturned.
Eventually they resulted to calling his name, something quickly drowned out inside of the large, crowded area.
"Fine, I'm stumped." It wasn't directly that he was panicked, but... for the first time he felt as if he could actually associate with those parents running around, trying to reconnect with their children... uh... not a good thing.
"Let's ask the puppet thingy. It's kinda like cheating, but he won anyway, so..." Dave casually walked up to the security puppet, who was sitting on top of his box, smiling while watching the crowds running around. "Ey, puppy, we're lookin' for a kid. Seen one?"
The Puppet only giggled, unable to react to so little information. "I saw quite a lot today."
"Yeah, but... this boy- kinda looking like somebody scrubbed color away from him-"
"Okay, okay, he's here." He stood up and the box opened a bit, showing a seemingly slightly dizzy Isaac.
"I-It's really hot in there." Now fully climbing out, he looked expectantly from one Guard to the other. "Did I win?"
"Uh... yeah. Were you in there the whole time? Puppet, how could you even allow that? Isn't that dangerous?"
"No. I kept an eye on him after all. The box is a very safe place, maybe the only truly safe place around." His voice sounded pleasant, smooth and relaxed. "There is nothing that could have happened to him. And he asked pretty politely, so..."
Isaac smiled a bit. "Sorry. But I really wanted to see what you are hiding."
"Hiding...? We..." It wasn't really hiding. Right?
"The surprise?"
"I- Yeah- right-"
"ISAAC! You've won!" Mary sprinted over. "So! What do we get to see now?"
"Probably it isn't even sooo great." Oliver was still slightly insulted about being caught first.
"You're free to stay off ya know?" Somebody wasn't having any of the boy's attitude today, but it seemed to be working, Oliver simply crossed his arms and stayed quiet.
As soon as they all turned their focus back to Old Sport, his anxiety spiked again, but at least this time he had talked himself into a corner he couldn't escape out of. Good. It would make sure he wasn't backing out again.
He met their eyes one by one, seeing the anticipation glimmer in them. "We have something in the back. A secret room and recently a secret animatronic has joined us. She's a bit run down, so she can't really be out here with all of us, she might scare people who are a bit sensitive... thankfully you're all brave, right?"
"'course!" Seems as if shutting Oliver up wasn't all that long term. The other two nodded as well.
"Alright then, I think you're ready!"
Old Sport was painfully aware of Dave's staring. Yes, yes, it was an awful lot like- but... he wouldn't do anything. It wasn't his fault that both these things were so similar at Freddy's. What was wrong with a nice little surprise? Somebody ruined that, but they can take it back, correct? No need to feel bad about this.
Leading them towards the saferoom, his steps were fairly calm and controlled. It probably seemed as if he wanted to lead them in an extra dramatic fashion, yet if they looked closer, they might figure out the constantly slowing down of his pace wasn't really by design.
But finally he made it.
And he felt actually better about it.
Finally he felt a real smile on his face again.
"May I introduce you to... CIRCUS BABY!" He opened the door slowly to give her time to react.
Light slowly dripped and the kids instantly stepped to the small opening to look in. They gasped as a pair of green glowing eyes greeted them.
"Hello. I'm happy to see you." Her cool voice echoed through the empty place as she tilted her head and smiled. "I've heard a bit about you."
"I-IT'S YOU!" Oliver leaned forward and then stumbled over himself, running in accidently. He stood now right in front of her looking up into her face. "You were in the back! You... what are you doing here?"
Mary's face dropped at that realization, even though she didn't seemed intimidated per se, but rather... uncomfortable. "You got in... I... uh... congrats."
Isaac also stepped to them, but he kept quiet.
"You've met her before?!"
For a moment the brown-haired boy looked guilty, before shrugging. "She... we met... she hung around where Bunny-man-"
"MY NAME IS DAVE!"
"But calling you Bunny-man makes you upset. Anyway, it's where we used to play, so... we met and she talked to us. She's cool!"
Old Sport started to guess a few things. "Alright then. I think so too!"
"Yeah, right?!" Now excited Oliver began looking at her, clear admiration in his eyes. "Look at that claw! Baby, I bet you could beat up whoever you want easily! You're like a cool hero or villain!"
Flattered Baby snickered, her eyes wandering off to Mary though, who still seemed uncomfortable and confused.
"How did you get in? Did Orange let you?" Mary wanted to know, letting her glance wander over Baby towards Dave.
"Somewhat? I think he took pity on me." Friendly the animatronic answered. "I'm very happy about it."
Isaac seemed highly concentrated. "Will you come out and perform?"
"OH YES, PLEASE! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!" Oliver chimed in, but Old Sport stepped in.
"We can't. It's okay that she's here, but we can't have her run around outside... she could scare customers..."
"...which means she'll be allowed to walk around in a week." The boy concluded.
"Uh, what?"
"You said the same about creepy bunny man and he got in after a week."
Burning up red, Old Sport really didn't have a good reply to that harsh call out. "It- I mean- I didn't- I had- I made-"
Isaac nodded, a hint of optimism in face. "I look forward to it... even if you get probably repaired for that, which would take a bit of your impressiveness away. But that is more than fine."
Insulted and unable to cope, Orange Guy scoffed. "We have to leave again."
"What?!"
"Why?"
"We just came in..."
Yet, the orange manager didn't let himself be convinced. "Everybody, get going. Was nice seeing you, Baby."
"Your little friends are lovely." With a final wave she vanished behind the now closed doors and two pairs of confused and one pair of accusing eyes looked up at him. Dave's expression was surprisingly neutral, which should tip Old Sport off in and of itself.
"She needs a lot of rest!" He lied through his teeth. "So instead, how about we go to the ballpit and look what is happening there! I'm sure it'll be just as much fun!"
"Bullshit..." Oliver didn't believe him, but followed anyway under quiet protesting, until he spoke up again. "Can we see her later again? Or tomorrow?"
"Why do you even want that so bad?" His sister gave him an odd look. "She's a bit..."
"Why do you want to see bunny-man so badly? He's creepy as hell!"
It almost seemed he was doing it out spite.
But that would be REALLY stupid.
"What do you mean?! He helped us out! And he's really fun and nice to be-"
"What are you TALKING about?! Look at him, he's-"
"Guys, guys..." Isaac stepped between the two, softly pushing them away from each other and even though he didn't do with a lot force, they seemed too surprise to push back against it. "We should give both a good chance. Alright? We'll go and see her again tomorrow... especially since it's not nice to be in a backroom all day on your own, right? None of us would like that."
Both Oliver as well as Mary stepped back and looked to different sides. Their silence was taking as agreement by the pale boy, who sighed in relieve and then softly smiled. "Good. Now, how about we go to the arcades? I really want to beat your record."
"Just try it, nerd..." Rolling his eyes, Oliver led the charge towards the arcades, leaving Dave and Old Sport to either follow or fall back.
Neither of them made any step to follow and slowly Dave's hand found Old Sport's back, softly rubbing it. Not that it was actually softly, seeing as it was a heavy hand out of metal and fur, but it had some weird comforting aura that gesture. "C'mon Sportsy! Ya got flustered back there?"
"I- I DIDN'T- Okay- No, it IS embarrassing that I failed to keep you out, alright?"
"Ha! As if anyone would believe THAT. You basically BEGGED me to come in."
"By putting up the Prize King."
"The ROOMY Prize King!"
"Who you bought. With my money. Without telling me."
"Details! Details! The most important thing is that I got in and you did NOTHIN' to prevent it!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, you crazy eggplant. I tell you, I had ZERO interest in getting you in on my own."
"Yeah, yeah... let's go after the kiddens, before they'll get sucked into the game or somethin'!"
And so they joined them for a while, until they all bothered Old Sport into proving his abilities. Reluctantly he agreed, after a while relaxing into it.
It was nice to see the kids root for him. In a twisted way it reminded him of back in the day, where he had to fight an animatronic that went haywire and the spirits came by, despite not being able to do anything, to simply... cheer for him.
That had been one of the best days of his existence.
And his existence had been LONG.
Melancholy settled in and he stepped back. "You should play a bit, my fingers are breaking!"
It really was a...
Wait. Where was Oliver?!
Oh. Oh no, he didn't-
Quickly he hasted towards the saferoom, worried. People shouldn't hang out there... also he didn't really lock it, he had been a bit- distracted-
He arrived at the door and stopped as he heard them talking.
"It's really annoying. Why is he okay and you aren't? I'd trust you any day over a man in a stupid furry costume."
"Don't be upset." Her voice was sweet and soothing. "Some things are... picky. That is okay. Here... how about I'll give you some ice cream to sooth your anger?"
"Sounds good."
"Step closer! The opening is right here..." Her voice sounded off, almost... metallic.
At that point Old Sport stepped in, a spike of anxiety hitting him. "Baby? Oliver, what are you doing in here, it's off limits! You aren't even doing anything interesting, if you were hiding some explosives I'd understand, but..."
"I just wanted to talk!" He looked angry, but Baby on the other side looked... tense.
"He... he is right. Go get your ice cream from him... I will be here tomorrow."
It seemed almost as if the boy wanted to say something, but instead he stomped onto the ground and left.
For a moment those two were left in silence.
"I... I don't even have anything for ice cream left in my tank." She sounded weird, as if she was having an impossibly quiet hysterical fit. "We should change that, I reckon."
"Are you... you didn't sound so good."
"I'm feeling alright. But I'm, despite my well put up façade, the rust is getting to me. That must have been one of the parts that got damaged..."
For another moment he kept staring at the machine. "But I..." ... repaired that part, didn't he? "I'll- we will see if we can fix it tomorrow. Can you wait so long?"
"It's not really a problem. Don't worry. See you then." She vanished back in the darkness and this time Old Sport locked the door twice.

----------------------------

A/N: It'll go upwards again, I promise.