Chapter Text
Moon is awake, and the first thing he notices is that it’s bright. He’s not accustomed to the light, and for a moment he forgets why that is , and then when it clicks he’s immediately on the verge of tears.
Sun is supposed to be out when it’s bright.
His fans kick up to cool his excessively overheating processors as he takes in his surroundings in his newly panic-stricken state. He’s strapped down in an obscenely bright Parts and Services room and there are wires hanging from the back of his head.
He scrambles in his head to find Sun, to ask what’s happening but he’s not getting any answers and seeing as he’s no longer stuck in security mode he’s terrified as to why he’s not receiving a response.
‘No.’ If he could hyperventilate he’s sure he would be as his anxieties pile into one, numbing, terrifying conclusion. ‘No, he can’t be gone.’
He’s so caught up in the chaos of his own situation he almost doesn’t notice the unfamiliar technician fiddling with a computer outside of the safety cylinder. Almost.
He lets out a long, low growl, fresh oil slipping down his face and struggles against the straps binding him to the parts table.
The buckles on one of the straps makes a popping noise and a piece of it goes flying across the cylinder and clinks against the glass.
The technician barely has time to react to the small sound as Moon escapes the last strap through sheer force and slams himself against the glass with a loud roar of rage.
“WHERE IS HE?!”
The technician is pressed as far away from the cylinder as possible, almost willing themself into the wall behind them, and if Moon weren’t ready to tear their throat out by their tongue he’d find it funny.
The glass makes and audible little clink as it cracks under the pressure of Moon’s faceplate pressing into it persistently.
The technician holds up their hands, terror in their eyes and their voice shakes as they speak, “H-He’s okay! He’s still in your shell with you-”
“LIAR.” A long, low, mechanical growl pours out of Moon. Another little clink.
“He is! W-We had to put him into a forced sleep mode while we repaired your code!”
Clink. Clinkclinkclink. The bullet resistant glass now has a visible spider web crack forming and Moon isn’t letting up.
“I-I can show you!”
A pause. The clinking stops.
“Now.”
They nod frantically, dragging the cart with their computer over to show Moon the screen.
“T-That’s your code compiling,” they point to a continuously updating coding window, and then point to another. “A-And this is Sun’s.” The compiling window moves much more slowly on this one, running only vital processes, but Moon recognizes the key phrases as ones in Sun’s coding and visibly relaxes.
His head gently clinks against the cracked glass and he brings a hand up to touch it over where he can see the laptop and the oil that’s been pouring from his eyes slows to a trickle.
The technician relaxes slightly, and nods at him. “H-He’s okay. H-He said you might get uh- a little a-aggressive?” they let out a nervous laugh, looking over the nearly shattered glass.
“Wake him up.” Moon glances from the laptop sharply, the red LEDs flashing brightly for a moment.
“W-We can’t yet-”
“Wake. Him. Up.” Moon hisses, fingers thrumming against the glass.
The technician has the gall to stop looking terrified and instead looks… Hesitantly angry.
“If I wake him up while I’m doing your diagnostics before we know whether you’re running at appropriate temperatures, it could damage both of your new processors. I will wake him up, after I am done.”
Moon squints, fingers continuing to thrum for a moment before he huffs and backs away from the glass. “Then finish.”
The technician takes in a shaky breath. “First, I need to explain some of the changes we’ve made to your hardware since the fire. I need to come into the cylinder, so if you could refrain from ending my life that would be preferable, thank you.”
Moon snorts but gives a curt nod. “I’m not going to risk decommission now idiot.” he reaches up to touch the cheek of his faceplate
The tech gives him an unsure look but nods, disabling the electrical lock on the cylinder before stepping in.
“It’s Chex, by the way. Not Idiot. And I’d think you’d be a little more grateful for being fixed after-”
Moon growls loudly, looming over them. “I will not be grateful when it was one of you who broke me.”
Chex blinks, frowning up at him. “Okay first of all, I didn’t know, I’m new. Second of all, so is everyone else in the building. The entire staff was replaced due to employee incompetence regarding the animatronics, so whoever did break you? They aren’t here. Pull that stick out of your ass now and let me do my job. ”
Moon gives them a look of surprise before he nods begrudgingly.
“Sit on the table.”
“I will not be strapped down agai-”
Chex groans. “Listen, disregarding the fact you just tried to kill me, I’m trying to give each of you the benefit of the doubt since it has become very clear to me that the previous staff did not appreciate how advanced your AI is and put you through some shit on top of having gone through a very traumatic event. I’m not going to strap you down while you are awake, there’s no reason to. Unless you plan to attack me again?” They ask, crossing their arms.
Moon is taken aback for a moment. He almost says something but instead curtly nods, regarding the technician with cautious yet hopeful respect.
“Good. Now sit on the table.”
He nods, planting himself cross legged on the surface.
Chex smiles condescendingly before the frown sets back on their face. “Back to business. Okay so, while these are technically mostly downgrades, Sun seemed pretty excited about most of them- ah, except one, but we’ll get to that later.”
They prod what seems to be a tongue depressor up to Moon’s faceplate. “Bite.”
Moon stares for a moment. “What?”
Chex hums, holding the little wooden stick there. “You have a new faceplate which allows for more facial movement. Your old one was… ruined in the fire. I need to test the pressure in your jaw and your expressive capabilities so bite. ”
Moon blinked, reaching up to touch at his face. There was a layer of silicone where there used to be metal, and prodding at it revealed joints and bolts hidden underneath. He shrugged, leaned forward and bit down on the tongue depressor until it snapped, regarding the noise with a small amount of glee. Biting, he decided, was fun.
Chex hummed. “Alright, uh, that’s great, can you do that a little less hard? Try not to snap it this time.” They held up a second depressor.
Moon rolled his eyes, gently biting down onto it, careful not to snap it this time.
“Good! Your faceplate is hooked up to both your internals correctly. You also have a newly added tongue which, like Chica's, is equipped with top of the line chemical sensors made to emulate taste. It’ll come in handy for checking allergies and you know. Birthday cake with the daycare kids.”
Moon smiled, sticking his tongue out and poking at it. ‘Metal… Tastes funny.’ He half expects Sun to regard the thought with teasing and laughter, and his mood sours a little bit when there's nothing.
“Moving on to the downgrades.” they tap his chest and point at his eyes. “A lot of your sensory inputs were damaged in the fire, but we pulled together what we could salvage and a few spares so you can still, ya know, feel everything and see and hear, but you share them with Sun now, though you still have separate voice boxes.”
Moon blinks, looking at his hands. “He…” he touches a finger to his palm. “Can feel that?...”
Chex nods. “Like I told him, yes, but only when he’s actually awake. Right now? No.” They hum, pulling a cart from the other end of the cylinder. “Sun seemed pretty happy about this but wouldn’t tell me why, uh, whatever these parts are that were in you were unsalvageable so you don’t have them anymore.”
It takes one glance for Moon to identify them. “They’re shockers.”
Chex stares for a moment. “... Excuse me what?”
“You know, like they put on collars for dogs? We had them built into us. You’re saying we don’t have them anymore?”
Chex face starts to sink into rage and Moon isn’t expecting the outburst that comes from them. “Why the FUCK do you have SHOCKERS built into you?!”
Moon’s face scrunches in confusion. “You know for like… Keeping us from leaving the daycare, acting out during repair-”
Chex looks horrified, waving their hands. “Stop, oh my god stop, I’m gonna be sick…”
Moon squints at them. “Why are you… Surprised?”
“First of all, the fact you have to ask is incredibly telling, secondly, because that’s fucking sadistic. You weren’t even allowed to leave the daycare?”
“Not outside of my security mode, no.”
“You’re… You’re allowed to do that now. You will absolutely not be physically punished for that.” Chex looks worried. “Jesus christ, no wonder you were trying to kill me… I’m tempted to ask what your usual experience with technicians is but I… Don’t think I want to know just yet.” They clear their throat, holding onto their head almost like they’re dizzy.
“Okay, uh… Last thing, and you’re not going to like this one, but Sun and I already discussed this and have a temporary solution figured out until the replacement comes in-”
“Replacement?...”
Chex hesitates, pulling at their collar. “Your shared memory drive was… Damaged in the fire. None of the other drives we have fit the slot for it so right now-”
Moon’s fingers make a loud scraping sound as they drag across the metal table when his hands clench in frustration. “We can’t talk to each other?...”
Chex swallows nervously, but shakes their head. “Uh- n-not like you usually do no. However we uh. We have this.” He holds out a small smartphone. “It’s uh! It’s designed after the new lead band member for the place!” The shell for it is themed after Monty and Moon would almost chuckle if he weren’t so upset.
Chex sighs, gently putting it into his hands. “It’s so you can send messages to each other using the notes app, or… Well Sun used it to make a video for you but I wasn’t allowed in the room so-”
Moon rushes to turn it on. “Where is it?”
Chex blinks in surprise. “Uh, I don’t think. He wanted me to see it? And I still have diagnostics to run. If you let me grab my laptop and check your internal temperatures really quick I can wake up Sun and you can head to the new daycare and watch it there? The lights are out in the facility right now so-”
Moon groans, biting onto his tongue. “Just- Get the fucking laptop.”
Chex frowns. “Okay, you aren’t supposed to be able to say that, but okay. We can deal with that some other time don’t- please don’t say that to any of the kids ever.” They hum, going to grab their cart and open up the diagnostics panel.
Moon is frustrated and impatient finishing up the last of them, but gets through them. After shutting off the lights to keep Moon out while Sun is awake (“to run temperature diagnostics on both of them, now that they know separately they’re functional.”) and they finally finish, Moon is practically sprinting to the new daycare with a map in hand.
He takes only a few seconds to gape at the sheer size of their new home, before locating their room in the place. It’s tucked away in a tower like their old one, though it’s much larger and… surprisingly well decorated. Moon is surprised to find a real bed, something they didn’t have before. There are glow in the dark decals on the walls and the bedding is a mix of yellows and blues… It’s nice. Much nicer than they are used to.
He sits down on the bed, getting comfortable, and takes their new phone out of their pocket. Navigating to the camera storage, he pulls up the single file there and lets out a tiny gasp of delight when he sees Sun for the first time in his life. It’s just the thumbnail, and he looks differently than what was described to him probably due to their upgrades but he looks…
“Lovely…”
He hears Sun’s processor fans kick up like his do when he’s flustered and grins. “You can hear me when you’re awake… I almost forgot.” He lets out a laugh, pulling up the video.
“Moonflower?”
His fans whir and he lets out a little hum at the sound of the other’s voice. It’s soothing, high pitched but sweet. He equates it to the sound of violin.
He pauses the video and reaches up to touch his cheek. “You have a very nice voice… Did it… Always sound like this? Mine has always sounded like this…”
He feels Sun’s fans kick up again and he smiles softly before playing the video.
“Chex says… That you’re finally getting fixed.” he watches little oil droplets pool in the corners of Sun’s eyes. The newly fixed blue LEDs brighten visibly and he watches a real, genuine smile form on their face for once instead of the constant fake one they’d had before.
“I can’t talk to you right now, not like we usually do, but… I just. I’m so happy to be able to just do this. To talk to you again in any capacity.”
Moon’s fans stutter and he leans his face more into his hand, eyelids slipping down. “I… I’m happy too…”
“I have to go into sleep mode for a little while, so they can get you all… all fixed up. I know you’re going to panic when you wake up and I’m not there… I told Chex to activate you outside the Cylinder because uhm… Well you can be a little aggressive when you’re scared. Make sure you apologize to them okay? I can’t say I didn’t react similarly when I couldn’t feel you at all but- but it’s still not nice! And they have been very nice. They… Seem better than the technicians we’ve had before.”
Moon grumbles, biting at his tongue again. “Fffffine… I suppose they seem… Less ignorant. At least. I’ll… apologize tomorrow night.”
“I’m not really… I don’t know how to wrap this up? I… I hope you have a good night tonight, before the lights come on in the morning. I hope maybe you’ll… leave something for me too, when I go into sleep mode again later tonight. Talk to me when I’m awake but… but leave something for me too, when I’m not. I can’t talk back but I just… want to hear you. I haven’t heard you yet.” Sun giggles on the video, the little spiral pink blush marks on his cheeks illuminating more. “This is really cheesy. I’ve heard you’re… really good at singing. Uhm… If it’s close to 2AM, I’ll be going into sleep mode again… Do you… Could you sing for me?”
Moon glances at the time on their new phone. It’s ten minutes til two. “Of course, Firefly…” he feels his fans kick up in embarrassment. “But you have to sing for me at some point too. This is… It is cheesy.” He huffs, clearing his throat, and starts to gently sing a lullaby to the other. It feels odd, almost like he’s singing for himself since he isn’t used to Sun being able to hear him, but the soft whirring from the other’s fans kicking up until they slow back down to a smooth white noise assures him Sun is listening and enjoying it.
He keeps singing until the other’s fans are silent, signaling to him that he’s in sleep mode.
He smiles softly, grateful to be alive still, grateful to still have the other. He opens the camera app, and presses record.