Toby was a twitching, jittering wreck as the hour went on. The stress of the night shift, with Slenderman piloting over his shoulder, was getting to him. His stutter worsened to the point where it was impossible to understand what he was saying. Smirky firmly recommended he take a break. Doctor's orders.

Toby stood from the chair shaking, his knees knocking together. Smirky led him to the most comfortable spot of floor and consoled him in a quiet, professional voice, almost mistakable for someone else's if not for that familiar rasp. It was surprisingly effective, and unexpected of the sharp-toothed crazy thing, who had undergone training as a therapist before switching his career to dentistry.

When Smiley commented on it, Smirky shot him a filthy, accusatory look.

Slenderman took Toby's place on the chair and assumed the role as night guard in the nightmare. He glanced at Dark Link and Jeff, an unspoken question of whether they, too, needed a break for the sake of their nonexistent sanity. Neither of them moved from their posts. Their faces were grim and determined.

Slenderman nodded his head, and started checking the cameras. Freddy had backtracked to the kitchen sometime before the clock hit four, his jingle playing in the absolute darkness. Chica and Bonnie had returned to the dining area. Foxy was peeking out of pirate cove.

"Aw," said L.J, mournfully looking at a purple taffy wrapper. "That was my last candy." His tongue clicked against his teeth, where the sticky taffy was, most unsurprisingly, sticking.

"Perhaps now you can contribute your attention towards productive endeavours and listen for footsteps," Slenderman said, a vein faintly popping on his smooth forehead. "As you were supposed to."

L.J picked at his teeth with a sharp black claw. "Meh."

"Laughing Jack, I will not hesitate to send you out there to deal with these animatronics alone if you do not intent to contribute to our survival."

"Meh."

"They will crush your swirly cone nose."

L.J eyes went wide as quarters. He dived towards the speakers, pressing his ear right against the holes. "Footsteps from the dining area to the restroom!" he reported loudly. "Laughter from the kitchen!"

Slenderman gave an affirmative nod and switched the camera from pirate cove. It was Chica making the noise, once again at the far side of the camera's sight.

In the corner of the room, Toby was resting with his head firmly against the wall, eyes closed, doing the breathing exercises as instructed by Smirky. Some of the colour had returned to his face. His skin shone under the light with a fine sheen of sweat, his shoulders heaving up and down, subtly trembling. He had taken the hatchet off his back, holding onto its heavy weight for comfort while Sally snuggled him from the side. He was in good hands.

"Footsteps in the west hall!" L.J announced.

"Closing door!" Jeff responded.

"Checking light!" said Dark Link, and Bonnie's shadow crawled across the wall once more.

"We've got this in the bag!" BEN declared from under the desk, where he was camping out with his Switch, thoroughly absorbed in a racing game while munching on a bag of Doritos that he had produced from God-knows-where.

"What's the time?" Slenderman asked.

"It's quarter past four," Smiley reported, checking his phone. "Just two and a half more hours of this torture to go."

There was a rhythm. Checking Foxy, checking Freddy, then flashing lights for Bonnie and Chica. Closing doors, if need be. Rinse. Repeat. They were working relatively smoothly, if not for the ever-looming threat of the dwindling power. They couldn't afford to let anything else go wrong.

So, of course, everything went wrong.