Chapter Text
It was a cool spring afternoon in San Diego. It was the 21st of April, not that the day was of any importance to the inhabitants of the Walter Manor. It was only another day, just as the last one was. Except a strange gust of wind, out of place in sunny southern California, bit at everyone's neck. It was a bit eerie and creepy for what was supposed to be a warm spring day, but no one paid any mind. The sound of wind chimes was audible in the distance, calming and quiet. It was days like this where the Spine would have liked to sit outside on one of the balconies or on the porch, but he had other issues at hand.
"Rabbit? Where's QWERTY?" The Spine yelled while walking out of the Hall of Wires. He was met with silence, a sign his sister wasn't anywhere near him. That would mean he would have to find the flat computer screen himself, to his displeasure. Why couldn't he just not find QWERTY? Everyone was better off without the dang thing, anyway.
The Spine shook his head and headed down the hallway, sticking his head through every door he passed on the way to the copper robot's room.
While examining the Chamber of Cheeseburgers, someone bumped into him, metal clanking onto metal.
"Oh, hey T'Spine!" Rabbit chirped, looking into the chamber with him and then muttering to herself.
"What was that?" The Spine asked, curious as to what she had said.
"Oh. I was only countin'. I was bored and sulkin’ around the manor so Six told me to count all the windows and doors! Except that we only have one door," She sighed, looking sort of disappointed, "but we have 35 windows so far!"
"That's great, Rabbit. Tell me if you see QWERTY at all, they aren't in the H.O.W." The Spine told her. Rabbit nodded her head, smiling at him.
"Alright! Say, I should try the W.O.W. next.." She said, trailing off her sentence as she wandered off.
"World of Warcraft?" The Spine questioned, why would his sister play an RPG at a time such as this? She turned back around for a moment.
"No, dumbins! Walk of Windows! That whole hallway made with a buncha windows on the third floor! See ya' T'Spine!" With that, his sister hurried down the hallway, the faint sound of her voice counting in the distance.
The Spine gave a weak wave goodbye to the robot, even though he didn’t think she saw, and set back out to find QWERTY. He looked through all of the bathrooms, all of the bedrooms, even the kitchen. The computer screen was nowhere to be found. By the time evening grew close, he had no luck. He did, however, bump into a Steve Negrete.
“The Spine! What are you doing wandering around aimlessly?” He asked, crossing his arms in front of him. The Spine gave an exhausted sigh and explained his dilemma. “QWERTY? Haven’t seen the darn thing. Although, I know Hatchworth was looking for you earlier. I think he’s in the downstairs living room.”
“Oh, alright.” The Spine said, giving up on his quest for QWERTY for a moment to go find his younger brother. He walked past Steve and headed towards the living room, down a staircase and around the corner. No one was in there.
“Hatchworth?” He called, looking around, “I’m pretty sure we aren’t playing Hide and Go Seek as of the moment.”
“Oh, The Spine!” The Spine jumped, turning around to see Hatchworth only just entering the room. “I was looking for you, but you seemed to have something better to do all day.. Look what I found!”
There in Hatchworth’s hand was a one-foot tall Spine rag doll, limp in his hand. The silver was a grey yarn, big black buttons sewn onto the eyes. The hat was made of felt, as was the small outfit on the doll. The Spine stared at it for a moment to take the strange doll in.
“That’s creepy, Hatchworth.” The Spine stated, after consideration. Hatchworth shrugged and looked down.
“I thought it was neat. I think a fan might have made it, don’t you? It’s sort of cute..” Hatchworth complimented, smiling down at the doll in his hands.
“Where did you find it?” The Spine asked, snatching the doll from Hatchworth to look at it.
“Rabbit found it while she was counting the windows upstairs. She seemed pretty freaked out by it when I ran into her in the hallway. She threw it at me and ran off. I just think it’s cute. Maybe I have one too!” Hatchworth smiled, excited. He ran out of the room, eager to get to wherever Rabbit found the doll.
“Go look for your own then, Hatchy.” The Spine mumbled, not that the other robot heard him before hurrying out. While walking out of the room and looking at his doll, He almost ran into Peter Walter VI if he didn't look up.
“Hello, Peter.” The Spine said, looking up.
“What have you got there, Spine?” Peter asked, taking a look at the doll. “I thought you were too old for toys.”
“Oh, no. This?” The Spine asked, holding the doll up by a few fingers, He shrugged. “Hatchworth found it. Some kind of fan-gift Rabbit threw at him, I guess.”
“It’s sort of cute, I guess. The eyes are sort of creepy.” He commented, pointing at the button eyes.
“Says the man with no face.”
“Says the silver robot that can take his head off his body.” Peter shot back, The Spine could feel the smile on Peter’s face and he smirked.
“Touche.” The Spine laughed, passing Peter and frowning when he was sure Peter couldn’t see his face. We all are a bit creepy, The Spine thought. The doll is nothing.
As The Spine walked back to the Hall of Wires, opening the lone door, QWERTY the computer screen shot out in front of him.
[TH3 5PL33N, W4T U DO1N :?]
“QWERTY, I’ve been looking for you all day. Where were you? The wi-fi’s been down on the second floor and I-”
[D3M0N D0LL D3MON D0LL 4DD1NG R4NCH DR3551NG] A large bottle of ranch dressing appeared in
QWERTY’s arm, the top of the bottle pointed at the doll, ready to shoot. The Spine glared at QWERTY and shielded the doll, throwing an arm around it.
“QWERTY, the doll’s fine. It’s from a fan. What’s gotten into you? Maybe I should check your program for bugs.” The Spine mumbled, taking a step towards the computer.
[BUG5 :? QW3RTY H4S BUG5] Several plastic spiders shot out of the side of the flat screen, dirtying the floor.
“That’s nice, QWERTY. Let me just shut you down for the night.” The Spine pressed some buttons on the side of the room, by a large jumble of wires, and QWERTY shut down. The Spine sighed and took off his hat, the mechanics around him separating his body from his head. When out of his chasis, he slithered up the walls, keeping steady with thin wires, and curled up into some higher wires, shutting his brain down for much needed stasis.
Not knowing that the doll was taken with him, a piece of it’s yarn caught in a spike on his neck. It was supported up against his face, curled in the wires with him.