Chapter Text
A few moments later, Moon returned. “I was looking through my clothes and I have these trousers if you want them, they have a ton of pockets.” Moon returned, carrying a small bundle of fabric. I also found this shirt that used to belong to one of the old employees here - it wont fit perfectly but it’s the best i can find right now…” he studied Eclipse, noticing the fear and confusion in his eyes had mostly dissipated. “You look less stressed now, have you had the chance to gather your thoughts?”
“Where did I come from?” Eclipse responded, his voice cracking slightly. Short and simple, the only question he needed answering right now.
Seeing the tall animatronic hunched in the corner, Moon saw him for what he was. Scared, confused, lost, dumped in a new world with no answers or guidance: reminding Moon a little of himself. Filled with a new sort of empathy, he comforted Eclipse and promised that he would do his best to find out the answers that Eclipse seeked. Treading over to the pod in the middle of the room, he switched on a nearby computer and started typing in lines of code that Eclipse didn't understand.
“What are you doing?” Eclipse asked, intrigued and nervous at the new confidence that the lunar animatronic seemed to possess.
His fingers still tapping at a dusty old keyboard, Moon responded, still focusing on the instructions he was typing. “If I can set it up correctly, I should be able to scan your systems in there (he gestured roughly in the direction of the pod) and find out as much as I can about your origin, if I can just recalibrate it to scan an unregistered animatronic….” he continued, mumbling some mechanical jargon that Eclipse could not get his head around. Moon’s tail seemed to twitch more now as he typed - Eclipse took this as a sign of excitement and decided to trust in Moon and his ability to unlock the secrets of where he truly came from.
After a couple moments of somewhat awkward silence, Moon spoke again, hunching over less with a spark of excitement in his eyes. “It's ready!” he exclaimed tapping his fingers in anticipation, before composing himself and attempting to seem less excited at the prospect of showing off his passion about computers by reverting back to shuffling awkwardly with his hands in his pockets: the small pile of clothes he was holding now discarded on a nearby chair. “Uhm, just step in there please” he requested, opening the door to the pod so Eclipse could enter.
Hesitantly, Eclipse stepped inside the pod. A musty smell lingered in the air and his mechanical feet on the metal floor made a horrid echoing sound. Biting his lip, he stepped over to a seat resembling a dentist's chair in the middle of the room and he sat tentatively on the end of it, unsure fully of what was to come. Through the tinted glass, he could see Moon excitedly tapping at the computer again for a few moments, before opening the door of the pod again and gesturing for Eclipse to step out. Moon had an unusual expression on his face -a mix between intrigue and confusion- that Eclipse could not read.
An exciting jumble of complex words and explanations ran through Moon’s mind like a freight train. A new discovery?! Something he had never seen before, the possibilities! This could open up a whole new branch of animatronic science and biology that he did not understand! These were the thoughts running through Moon’s mind as he ran over the data in his head again, his tail twitching in frantic enthusiasm. Through his unexplained eagerness, he saw Eclipse’s confused expression and began to collect his thoughts calmly, going over the best way to explain what was going on to someone with no mechanical scientific knowledge whatsoever. Without waiting for a response, Moon hurriedly explained the results.
“Every animatronic has a soul. Their soul emits a dimensional signature that’s unique to each person in a dimension: but yours… It's been reduced! Like your soul wasn’t fully formed… could this mean that you are inseparable from your form? Or… ” Moon continued to mutter to himself, listing hypotheses and counting them off on his metallic fingers.
The senseless words that echoed around Eclipse’s mind as he listened to this explanation screamed painfully with oncoming fear. He wasn’t fully formed? What did that mean? Was he only part of a person? What? Oil pumping through his veins faster now, the fear that filled his chest began to pulsate, the intoxicatingly bright colours getting dimmer as his mind raced uncontrollably. Lifting up his hand to the air tentatively, he watched the artificial rays of light shine through his fingers, the shape of his hand blurring at the edges as the shadows blended with the glow and the sharp bright painful reality of before was replaced with a dizzying disconnection to the form he held. He dimly saw his chest rising and falling too quickly in the haze of his mind. Was he real? What is real? Unanswerable questions ran through his head as the meaning dripped out of them, leaving his mind a mess of beating fear without knowledge of why.
After a minute of deliberating on the matter of Eclipse’s origin, Moon was suddenly aware of how panicked Eclipse seemed. Carefully, Moon pulled a rock from his pocket and gently placed it in the palm of Eclipse’s hand, pulling his shaking fingers over its smooth surface. After a moment, Eclipse’s vision began to refocus and once he was aware enough, he carefully controlled his breathing as he clutched the rock in his hand.
“Sorry, i just-”
“No! Don't apologise, I shouldn't have dumped all of that on you so quickly,” Moon interrupted, tapping his fingers against his own knee.
Eclipse opened his mouth to speak, but before he could reply with another attempt at an apology -
CRASH! Sun slipped and slammed into the wall, disorientating him further as he hopelessly attempted to catch his bearings. “What the hell-” he coughed, his raspy voice from earlier regaining its usual gruff irritated tone. Through the dizziness he saw… Parts and Service? Why was he here? Strewn about the floor, the lost and found box lay spilt across the metal flooring. He saw that the light was on in the pod as well, what was that for? As he pieced together what was going on in his mind, he caught Moon out of the corner of his eye, attempting to quietly leave the room.
“Would you care to explain to me what the FUCK JUST HAPPENED?” Sun’s roaring voice echoed through the room, reverberating off the pipes and ringing in Moon’s ears.
“I don’t know,” Moon held up his hands in defence as he stepped backwards, “I’m still trying to figure out-”
“SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT I'M WAKING UP HERE WITH NO CLUE ABOUT WHAT JUST HAPPENED AND YOU’RE JUST SAT HERE MAKING A MESS?” he angrily gestured toward the lost and found box strewn across the floor and the general disrepair of the room, ”TOO STUPID TO ACTUALLY USE THAT BRAIN OF YOURS AND FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO?”
“I’m sorry! I-”
SLAM! - Charging at Moon with a sudden speed, Sun slammed him against the opposite wall by his neck, digging his fingernails into the metal. “YOUR’E LUCKY I HAVEN'T SCRAPPED YOU FOR PARTS! I’M SICK OF HAVING TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF- GO GET YOUR SORRY ASS OVER TO THE COMPUTER AND FIGURE OUT WHAT’S GOING ON!” Gripping him by the wire box at the back of his head, Sun shoved Moon over to the old computer by the pod, slamming his head on the desk with a deafening crack.
“You watch your step little brother,” he growled into Moon’s ear, his words dripping with threat and anger, “or I’ll have to deal with you myself…”
Breathing shakily, Moon pulled his knees to his chest, fidgeting with the frayed ends of his trousers as he pressed his aching skull to his knees. He brought a hand to his neck, rubbing where Sun had left claw marks as a tear escaped from the corner of his eye. Footsteps could be heard in the distance as Sun walked away, the oppressive sound echoing across the opposite corridor.