After only a short time later, Sun can't help but squirm in his seat as you continue to yawn non-stop while insisting you're not tired. He finally puts his foot down and starts cleaning up, much to your protest, but you don't fight him on it for too long.

As Sun leaves to put the game away, the wooden doors open. You turn to see the blonde security guard, Vanessa. You could have sworn her eyes expanded to dinner plate size when she saw you, but it went by so fast and you're so tired, you figured you imagined it.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, sounding bored. 'You're supposed to be dead...' is what she wants to say. You quirk an eyebrow at the weird question. She should know your schedule, but maybe she just doesn't bother to look.

"I work here...?" you tell her. "You know? Getting paid to get rid of that virus in Moon that you oh-so conveniently called a bug?"

Vanessa rolls eyes at your attitude. "That's what I was told it was." Before either of you could say anything else, Sun comes back, eerily cheerful though it sounds way too forced to be authentic.

"Officer Vanessa! How can I help you?"

The blonde glares at the jester, causing you to furrow your eyebrows as you look at them back and forth. Do they have beef or something?

"Nothing, I was just leaving." The security guard curtly turns around and leaves without another word.

As soon as her footsteps got quieter, you say, "That was so weird..." You turn to Sun who pouts with his hands on his hips, huffing. "Why the animosity? I didn't think you'd be capable of such passive aggressiveness, Sunny." You tease, sticking your tongue out in between your teeth.

At your comment, Sun is immediately back to being nervous, the previous anger dissipated. "O-oh well, it's not that strange! I can feel all sorts of emotions, you know!"

"I know, I'm teasing." You scoot your chair towards him, looking silly in such a small seat. "Now, tell me why you hate Vanessa so much!" You're eager to learn how the lady has earned this animatronic's ire.

The jester tugs on a ray, his faceplate spinning. "Hate is such a strong word..." He then goes quiet, lost in thought, before remembering you asked him a question. "Er- what I mean is...Officer Vanessa had always been very cold to Moon and me. It only ever gets worse before it gets better."

Wow, you didn't expect Sun to feel that strongly about her. All the more reason he's his own person and not a simple, programmed machine, though. You didn't think she was all sunshine and rainbows, mind you, but she seemed okay enough, like Sun said, very cold and curt.

You hum to yourself before involuntarily yawning once again. Kicked back into gear from before Vanessa came, Sun suddenly lifts you up from under your arms. "You are very very tired, my best friend! It's time to sleep!"

You dangle like a cat. "Whaaat? No, no, I just need another energy drink and then we can watch that movie. Remember? We were gonna watch a fiiillm!" you draw out the word, hoping to get him to agree with you.

Sun whines, knowing what you're trying to do, but without Moon here, he needs to step up and make sure you get your sleep. "As much as I'd love to continue to play, you need sleep if you're going to get started with your work! We can watch a movie some other time."

You pout but sigh, "Fiiiine." You push your glasses up. "When did you become the responsible one?" Maybe you're just procrastinating getting to work, but you're suddenly very nervous over getting started. The negative thoughts that have been swirling around your mind only cleared when you were having fun.

Sun giggles, taking you over to the abandoned napping nook. All of the blankets and pillows were still where they left them. Sun mentally frowns at the sight. "Alrighty, Sunshine, pick a cot, any cot!"

You roll your eyes, hiding a smile, and choose the one that has the fluffiest blanket. You yawn again, covering your widened mouth as you do so and say, "I'm too tired to change or anything, so...goodnight Sunny."

Sun wrings his hands, not entirely sure how to properly tuck you in or have the knowledge of any other nighttime protocols. You roll over to look away from the brighter light of the daycare. Suddenly, the lights of the nook go off. With a gasp, you sit up and look around.

Sun stands right outside, his hand still hovering over the light switch and only shaking just a bit. He silently points up, so you look up towards the low ceiling. A bunch of glow in the dark stars shine above you.

You smile. It's beautiful. The ambient light makes the entire area feel safe, not entirely in the dark, but not bright enough to not be able to sleep. "Sweet dreams, Sunshine," Sunny whispers, taking his leave before his nerves make him turn the light on again.

She'll be fine, he tells himself. Besides, sleeping in bright lights can't be good for humans, so turning off the lights was okay. 

With those final thoughts to make himself feel better, Sun heads up to his room to charge for the night.

~~~

You're unable to sleep for very long, the unending anxiety causing you to toss and turn until you fall out of your cot. You gasp awake and kick off the blanket currently entwined around your legs.

You look around at your surroundings, disorientated from the fall. Right. You slept in the nap nook. You stand up with a yawn and rub your eyes before squinting them to look for your glasses. Where did you put them?

Did Sun take them and put them somewhere? You squint harder until a blurry mess of black catches your eye. The glasses were set nicely on an unused cot. You sigh in relief and place them back where they belong.

Now being able to see, you head out from the nook. The lights are still bright and shining like they have been since this whole thing started. You don't spot the sunny Daycare Attendant, though. He must be charging still, you suppose. You check your watch for the time; 6:33.

Maybe you can go get breakfast and then come back to start? Maybe then Sun will be up and about.

Plan set, you head out to the main atrium, deciding to head towards El Chip's for a breakfast burrito. It's eerily silent in the place. No music is playing overhead and the lights are dimmed, seemingly on power saving mode.

You could go and turn them up more, what with your fancy watch, but you wouldn't want Vanessa to get suspicious on how you did so. You're lost in thought as you approach the restaurant, stepping up to the counter.

The STAFF bot drones in a monotonous, programmed line, asking for your order. You blink back to reality. Something feels off. You look around but find nothing but the empty seats and quiet atmosphere.

The bot stares blankly at you. You shake your head and quietly place your order, scanning your employee card to pay for it. You wonder why management would keep these places up and running while the mall is closed.

Maybe it's for what little workers are actively working. Whatever the case, you're thankful for it.

A sudden noise causes you to jump and swivel your neck, wincing at the pain it caused. You're not sure what it was but...something is near. Maybe a mop bot dropped its mop? Unlikely, the floors in the atrium are mostly carpeted, no need for mops.

One of the Glamrocks? You're not sure. You were told they stayed in their greenrooms for the most part. Plus, you feel as if you'd be able to hear their heavy steps, if anything.

"Your order. Your order." You turn back to the bot at the counter impatiently trying to hand you your tray of food. Just as you barely get a grip on it, the bot lets go, telling you a curt, "Have a nice day."

You stumble to an empty seat and set your tray down. Maybe you're just extra tired. The stress of the upcoming late nights of programming getting to you. Which is weird, because you love staying up late to code. It's something about this whole virus. It's not normal...and that scares you. The unknown is frightening, especially in terms of technology.

That virus wanted to hurt you. It wanted to hurt Sun. But why? What is its end goal?

"Hey." You shriek in fright at the sudden intrusion. Vanessa stands over you, hand on her hip with a scowl on her lips. You blink rapidly as your heart thumps against your chest. The blonde rolls her eyes before continuing without apologizing, "Management says you need to get a move on. If you can't get Moon up and running within the week, they're scrapping the project all together."

You're left in shock at the reveal. A week? You barely know about the virus! You've got a plan, sure, but... "What?" you can't help but breathe out. "A week? I-I can't possibly be sure he'd be ready in a week!"

Vanessa quirks an eyebrow as she looks completely uninterested in the matter regardless the outcome. "That's what they said."

"I need to make the anti-virus from scratch! This virus is so much more advanced than anything I've ever seen-!" You startle as she interrupts you by slamming both hands down on the table you're sitting at.

"I don't care what you have to do for the stupid clown. Either get it done by the end of the week or the daycare will be shut down permanently. They want results. They're not paying you to just babysit Sun."

"I'm not...babysitting anyone! I'm taking notes, learning about the effects of the virus, figuring out the kind of program I need to wipe it out," you splutter incredulously. When did Vanessa get so...hateful? She's never been outright hostile to you but... You notice the bags under her eyes and the purple haze they hold. 

You sigh. She must be under pressure from management and is taking it out on you. You can understand that. You scratch at your neck. "I'll get it done. Tell them that."

She scoffs as if she doesn't believe you can. "Sure. I'll get right on that." She turns and walks away, grumbling the whole while.

You look down at your uneaten and quickly cooling burrito.

You're suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore.

~~

You decide to ignore your sunny friend's absence for the time being as you hurriedly make your way up to the balcony, thankful your map showed the hidden staircase to do so. You wince at the mess it's in but huff a laugh at the complete care Sun took with your equipment as it's placed neatly in the corner away from everything else.

You pull everything you need into the middle of the room and set your laptop up on an overturned plastic crate. You plug in all of your doodads and run your current anti-virus program. You're going to need to do a complete overhaul on the latest one you've made.

You need to make it stronger to combat whatever it is that's inside Moon. You have a week to create, run, test, and complete it before then putting it into Moon's systems. You're going to need a lot of energy drinks. You stop for a moment as your brain settles down.

Where is Sun?

~~

Sun awakens in a completely different place from where he last entered sleep mode. He blinks his optics as he looks around in confusion. His memory bank is jumbled and he can't seem to recall anything after leaving you to sleep in the nap nook.

With a shaky faux breath, he lifts his hands and observes them, flipping them over back and forth. He almost cries in relief when there's no sight of blood on them because the last time he woke up somewhere strange, his casing was stained with the visco-,elastic fluid.

He tugs at a ray nervously and steps into the doorway of the room he's in. He's somewhere in the employee tunnels. The very dark, barely lit, employee tunnels.

He's trapped in the only bright area around and he has no idea if you were okay. There's no way to contact you and there's no way he's going to let Moon out to take him back to or close to the daycare.

He checks his battery, finding it fully charged. So he did go to his room to charge last night. Sun wants to scream, shout, cry, anything to get someone's attention, but he knows no one would be down in these tunnels.

He could. He could step out and let his brother take over. He would have already been doing that if it weren't for the fact that you're out there, somewhere, unaware and defenseless against his infected Lunar counterpart.

But he knows he can't do anything in this scenario. He's useless. Moon, or whatever it is that's controlling him, stuck him here for a reason and he has a horrible feeling nothing  good will come of it.

~~

You don't think about where Sun is for long since you're eager to get started on your work. It doesn't even register to you the thought of Sun not being in the Daycare, considering he wasn't supposed to leave it.

You slurp on your highly caffeinated drink, putting it down absentmindedly. It almost tips over but you right it before it can, not taking your eyes or other hand off your laptop. A few hours go by in a flash. You only know this because a sudden yawn breaks you from your trance to see what time it is.

You eye the clock and see how late it has become. "Geez," you stretch. You look around. "Sun?" you call out, curious as to why you haven't seen the Solar attendant. You place a hand on your knee as you lift yourself off the floor. Your feet feel like pins and needles as you step around.

"Sunny!?" you yell out again. Surely his advanced hearing would have heard you? You exit his room and head back down. When you finally reenter the play area, nothing is amiss. No sound of jingling bells or happy skips of a joyous animatronic.

You murmur to yourself, growing worried now. He wasn't supposed to leave, though he could if he wanted to now after your meddling with his code. Not only would he not leave by himself, you're confident in that, he hasn't even greeted you since you woke up today.

You glance down at your watch. You'll need to get in a certain proximity to his location for his icon to show up on the map you have. Like Moon down in the maze like basement.

You exit into the main entrance area of the mall. Still nothing on your map. You sigh and look between the doors and the elevators. You need to get home and check on Oscar but...you're really worried about Sun.

This isn't like him. What if Moon is out there prowling around for some reason? What if the virus took control of Sun, too?

With a tilt of your neck, it pops and you let out a groan. You click the button on the elevator, mind made up. 

You'll find your friend no matter what.

~~

Sun stays huddled up against the wall with his knees bent. He refuses to leave and put you at risk. He's been here for hours now and his battery has slowly been going down. What happens when he runs out? Will he just be left here to gather dust? 

Maybe...maybe you just went home? Maybe it'd be safe to let Moon take him back into the daycare. He always brought him back before so why not now? Sun looks up into the dark abyss just beyond the opened door. 

"Moon...please...please come back. I need your help. She needs your help. I miss you... You'll feel better soon, I promise...and I don't make those lightly!" Sun sadly chuckles to himself. "I know you can't hear me... But on the off chance you do...please don't let it hurt her..."

~~

You decide to take the elevators down deeper into the plex after walking around each level of the main atrium and not finding Sun's blip on the map. At this point, you've been searching for a couple hours now (this place is huge, okay?) and you're getting fairly tired without your Red Bull drink you left back in Sun's room.

You cough, inhaling dust as soon as the elevator doors open. You lift your wrist up again to view the map. "Man...these tunnels are like a maze." You feel like you're underneath Disneyland. Well, you're not going to find Sun just standing around, better choose a direction and start.

You do exactly that, deciding to go left and just follow wherever the map takes you. "Sun!" you call out, hoping he's even active enough to respond. Oh gosh. What if he is deactivated? What if whoever or whatever turned the lights off on you and let Moon chase you did this to Sun?

Goosebumps crawl up your arms as you're suddenly very anxious. Again, you feel as if you're being watched. You nervously eye a camera up on the wall as you pass it. As you turn the corner, the image of Sun's ever-smiling face appears a little ways off, further down the hall.

You gasp in relief. You found him! You march over there, wanting to reunite with your friend as soon as possible. You feel very unsafe in these tunnels.

You approach an open door with a bright light on inside. You sidle along the wall and nervously peek in. There he is, up against the wall with his legs up to his chest. He must have been so scared. You turn and walk inside.

"Sun! I'm so glad I found you! How did you get in here? How long were you stuck here for?" His head shoots up as you fire off questions at him. His widened eyes blink as if he can't believe you're in front of him.

You smile down at him, still prattling off about how weird it was when he wasn't hovering over you and your progress on the anti-virus. "Starshine-" Sun starts but is cut off as the lights are instantly shut off.

He chokes, his voice box spitting out static. Your words are cut off as well as you stand there, frozen on the spot. "S-Sun..." your voice comes out shaky. It's happening again. Someone turned off the lights. 

This was a trap.

"No, no, NO!" Sun grabs his face, pulling at the teeth and sides. "STOP! MOON! YOU CAN'T! DON'T!" Your fight or flight instincts kick in and you dart out the way you came. Your eyes water as you run from your friend as he shrieks in pain as he's forcefully pushed back into his head.

You're glad you didn't go too far into these tunnels, you think as you round the corner and see the light of the elevator beckoning you, promising safe haven from the virus that's no doubt chasing you.

"Where oh where is my little programmer?" A sickly sweet voice echoes behind you. You slap your hand on the up button multiple times as if it would help it go faster. It doesn't open. Sweat rolls down your forehead as you look up to the elevator display. Nothing's moving.

The heavy steps of Moon's form catches your ears. You look down the dim hall. His bells jingle with every step he takes. "You look scared...poor thing..." it coos, Moon's arms outstretched as if inviting for a hug.

You look back and forth frantically between the elevator and Moon's approaching form. He saunters down, toying with you, because you know he could be on top of you in the blink of an eye.

You cut your losses and book it down the opposite tunnel. You hear the virus laugh loudly in Moon's raspy voice. "It's cute how you think you'll get away from me!" it yells, the footsteps getting quicker now.

You breathing quickens as you rely on your little map to get you away from the pursuing animatronic. Left, right, no wait, left again since right is a dead end with a gate blocking your path. You don't have a flashlight, you don't have a clue how to get out of here without the elevator, and you're running out of breath.

Two pinpricks, one red one purple, in front of you causes you to almost fall as you stop your running and scream in shock. "Where are you going my little bunny?" it asks, coming over. Your eyes widen as Moon's tall and lanky form invades your vision. You back up slowly, eyes darting for an escape.

"There's nowhere to run, silly." You don't believe that, glancing down at your watch. "Ah, ah, ah." You flicker them up, finding the virus tsking and wagging Moon's finger. "Eyes up here! It's rude to not look at someone who's talking to you."

You try to sound strong but it ends up coming out shakily as you say, "What do you want from me?" 

It chuckles, "I want you, my dear." You shake your head in confusion. What does it mean? You don't understand!

It suddenly lunges forward, catching your ankle in a bruising grip. You cry out as you're swept off your feet, landing on your back against the cement ground. You struggle as it holds you down with one hand.

The other comes up to caress your face, dragging Moon's long claws down your cheek slowly and lovingly. Your lips curl in disgust.

"I can't wait to see what's in that beautiful mind..." it whispers to you. You shake your head in attempts to get its hand off of you. The lights of Moon's eyes flicker as if the virus is deep in thought and zoned out. "Ahhh...but not yet...I'm not ready yet."

You can't ponder on what that means as the grip on your face is slowly getting tighter and tighter, the tip of the claws beginning to draw pinpricks of blood. You begin to scrunch your face up in pain and continue your attempts on getting his hand off of your face, pulling and grabbing as hard as you can.

"Get off!" you cry, now trying to just get the claws out of your cheek. The virus only chuckles, finding amusement in your fear as it leans down closer to you. 

"Have I ever told you that he's active when one eye is red and I'm in control?" it whispers in your ear. Your eyes go wide at the insinuation. "I let him have full cognizant control while I pilot his body. I let him watch as I tear people apart with his hands. I'll make him watch as I tear you apart next. Just like the last and just like the next."

You whimper in horror. The multitude of things he revealed causing your breathing to quicken as you begin to panic even more. Your futile attempts to remove its grip makes it laugh maniacally.

It makes a scene in raising the other hand and showing the sharp claws, ready to swipe at you. Helpless, you close your eyes and wait for the pain to follow. Suddenly, the lights brighten and the virus rips itself off of you, reeling back in pain.

"Arghh!" it groans, accepting the change and switches out quickly. "You'll be mine soon, little bunny!" You struggle to catch your breath, leaning up on your elbows as its last words repeat in your head.

Sun comes back in control, rubbing a hand on his head. "S-sun..." He sees you on the ground, blood dripping down your cheek. "Sunshine!" He rushes up to you, pushing down the pain at seeing you flinch away from him so he can assess your injury. "Oh, please hold still, lemme scan you."

You let him do so, running a hand through your hair. You take your glasses off and wipe them clean of dust, shakily putting them back on after doing so. "I'm fine..." you tell him.

Sun only sighs, not believing you in the slightest. He helps you up and gives you a hug. "I'm so sorry..."

You squeeze your eyes shut as you're held, hiding your face in his chest. "S'not your fault it was a trap..." your voice comes out wobbly as you try not to cry. "I just want to go home..." you murmur after a while.

Sun grips you tighter. You should. You should be at home, not down in the depths of the Pizzaplex hurting and scared because he got himself in a situation where he was essentially forced to lure you down here.

This is his fault. He should be more aware and cautious about going into sleep mode while these things are happening. He now knows someone has been updating Moon without his knowledge, he should have known something was going on for him to not know or realize he's been getting taken down to P and S.

Yet he still opted to go into sleep mode instead of staying awake to charge and it caused you all of this pain.

You begin to lean back out of the hug. "Come on...let's get back to the daycare."

Sun only nods, unable to find the words.