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The room where Vanessa is residing in right now—inside the house she bought using half of her earnings to live permanently, together with Gregory and Freddy—was a tad quiet. Although the only source of sound was the ticking of the heavy Roxy-themed clock on the wall.
As for Vanessa herself, she was turning back and forth on her bed, struggling to sleep in peace as she had her nightmares.
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W̸̨͊h̴̻̅ê̴̘ǹ̴̺ ̷̮̉Į̷͠ ̴̧͗f̴̳̏i̸̙̿r̷̼̊s̵̟̈t̵͉̊ ̷͔͐f̷̧͊ŏ̸͍u̶̢͐n̴̞͐d̵̈́͜ ̶͉̏y̶̼͑o̴̠͂u̸͈̔,̴͖̕ ̶̺̕y̷̫͐o̵̰̚u̶̧͒ ̷̪̊w̸̞͑è̷̬ŕ̶̟e̷̱̚ ̵͙̉n̷͈͐o̴̜͊t̴̟̃ḥ̴̏i̶̪͂n̶̮͋g̵̙̀.̶͚̀ ̵͉͌Y̷̚ͅò̴̪u̷͉͊ ̷͇͒w̴͓̓ë̷͕́r̶̝̀è̷̤ ̷̛ͅś̸͎m̴̻̊á̴̟l̴͕͂l̶̙̉,̶̻̅ ̴̦̎p̷̲̀a̵̪͝ţ̶̿ẖ̸̿e̷̲͘t̷̖̆ĭ̴̬c̸͚̏.̸͖̔ ̷̣̓B̵̨́u̷͎͘t̸̳͒ ̵̛ͅn̵̢̒o̴̢͋w̷̟̓,̴̜͒ ̸̰͛y̷̮͠ö̶͕ṳ̶̈ ̴͉͋a̵̟͑r̸͔̾é̶̥ ̷̢̉m̴̨͠o̷̱̊r̶̼̅ë̷̘.̵̛̺ ̵̪̿A̷̭͋r̸͜͝ẽ̶̜ ̸̱̒y̴͉̕ő̴ͅu̶̟͝ ̷̞͂ṛ̶̉ê̷̠ạ̶̿d̵̯̅y̸̟͝?̸̝͆
Don't worry, I'll be ready, and I won't let you down.
It will be fun.
...A̷r̸e̷ ̴y̵o̵u̷ ̵h̶a̴v̶i̷n̵g̷ ̵f̵u̸n̵ ̷y̴e̴t̸?̵̵
Vanessa suddenly wakes up in panic, profoundly sweating as her sinister counterpart popped out of nowhere in the middle of her dream sequence, cheeks covered in what appears to be blood. Blood of her—No—Vanny's previous victims. She felt herself breathe in and out rapidly due to panicking.
Her wide-awake green eyes instantly trailed to the clock mounted on her room's wall and saw that the time is currently around 3AM in the morning.
'Great' She muttered underneath her breath.
Then there, Vanessa snatched the face towel on the nightstand beside her and wiped off her sweat.
Finished in a flash, she placed it back and stared briefly at the ceiling. She lets out a sigh and then got up of her bed to get herself some glass of water.
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Gregory had almost slept peacefully for hours, not until he began having nightmares once again. He hadn't had them since then, but when he had once more, all he could do is to panic even in his dream.
"Having a bad dream, Superstar?"
He rubbed his eyes and turned to Freddy, who's still only a head, lying atop of his little desk, asking him.
"Uh... yeah..." Was all he could say to him right now and rubbed his own arm.
"Do you wish to talk about it?"
Gregory looks down and sighed softly. "Not now, I guess..."
At his response, Freddy went even more sympathetic. "I may not be a fan of this idea, but do you want to s–sneak to the kitchen and t–take few snacks in the refrigerator just to cheer you up?"
He suddenly glanced at Freddy, with a surprised look on his face. "Yeah, an apple slice and crackers would do just fine anyway."
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Meanwhile, Vanessa opened the refrigerator and took out a pitcher filled with a moderately cold water with her. She also took the glass bottle on the dish rack and poured water into her glass until it fills up. She slightly leaned on the kitchen counter behind her and slowly, she took a drink off of it afterwards.
"Offi– Erm... I mean, Vanessa?" A familiar robotic voice called.
Vanessa paused to place her near-empty glass on the counter and turned a glance, it was no other than Freddy—with Gregory holding his head like a motorcycle helmet.
"What are you two doing here?" She asked, with one eyebrow raised and then gazed at Gregory. "And why are you still up so late?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, Ness." Gregory replied, to which Vanessa sighs.
"To answer your question, little man—before you could answer mine—I'm here to clear my mind from... everything."
Gregory thinks, and finally used his chance. "Lemme guess, you also have nightmares?"
Huh, what a clever boy this litte man is.
"How'd you know that, Greg?" She asked again, only for her to earn a shrug from him.
"Lucky guess, maybe?" He answered. "But you're not alone, I also have them."
"Oh, really?"
Suddenly, Freddy interjects before Gregory could answer her back. "Yes, he does, Vanessa."
Vanessa briefly looks at Gregory to Freddy before she could say anything. But instead, Freddy came first.
"Now would you two wish to talk about it? I'll be here to listen. I also want to list down your nightmares so I could at least help but unfortunately, I am just a head." He said, frowning.
Instead of laughing while feeling bad, Gregory places Freddy's head on the counter, and he and Vanessa just briefly gazed at each other with a serious, but strained expression through their faces.
No more than a second, Gregory went first without hesitation. "It's about my awful times as an orphan living in the alleys, and being chased; wanted to be killed by... e–everyone back in the Pizzaplex..."
And with that, Vanessa cringed at the little man's word, feeling guilty at the mere mention of him being chased—and wanted to be killed—by almost everyone back at their times in the Plex.
And at the same time, she feels sorry for her little brother's suffering from homelessness, trying to survive everyday while living in the streets; alleys and fend for himself while dealing with the adults'—he referred to as "mean people"—cruelty back then.
"How about you, Vanessa?" Both Freddy and Gregory—with sadness still plastered on his face—now looks at her, making her snap out of her thoughts.
Her eyes quickly turned from Freddy to Gregory before gradually looking down and slightly turns her head away from them, so they won't see her vulnerable side.
"It's... about me trying the stupid VR game Fazbear Entertainment handed me a long time ago as their beta tester again, met Afton along the way, and since I was a naive and somewhat foolish girl back then, it only made me prone to that weasel's manipulation, which led me to strike a "deal" with him in the end while unaware of the consequences in the situation I got myself into—because I was slowly not being myself anymore, then entrapped my consciousness—after I set him free and take control of me—inside a fucking vault in which could be a result of the creation of Princess Quest, I think?" She paused briefly to mask her vulnerability with a straight face and glanced back at the two, who were quietly listening to her.
And there, she sighs. "And then... V–Vanny was born. As her, I was a bit r–reluctant at first, but as the mind control still went on, I just had to follow him a–and do his bidding against my true self's will...
But suddenly, she appeared in front of me while I was still dreaming, taunting me while she was covered in blood of her victims and awoken me in my sleep after..."
After Vanessa's "long speech", she went silent, and silently dealt with the tears that were about to fall through her face. She quickly wiped them off with her palm and didn't say a word or two. No more than a second, she felt Gregory slowly enfold his arms around her waist and leaned his head. Vanessa looks down and offered him a sad smile and gently patted his head before the little man moves away.
Meanwhile, Freddy briefly studies the two of them before he speaks. "I'm not that good at comforting people because I am only programmed to be a good role-model for all the children, but all I could say is that your nightmares aren't real and can't hurt you no longer, even if it were relating to real-life events. The things you dreamt about were likely triggered by trauma.
And to deal with trauma, is to have a positive coping strategy, learn something from the situation to help yourselves recover, and support one another if things went rough.
And to be honest and fair, I am also traumatized as well..."
Gregory and Vanessa glanced at each other and laughed, not at what Freddy had said, but at the fact that all of them are traumatized.
"Excuse me? What's so funny about what I said?"
They suddenly stopped laughing.
"We're not laughing at what you said, Freddy. But the fact that we are a traumatized trio." Vanessa responded with a smirk. "But in all seriousness, big guy, you're right with the nightmares likely being triggered by trauma and the dealing with trauma thing.
Though I never thought you'd unintentionally turned into our therapist—which is big help honestly."
Freddy blinks and slightly looks down before looking back at Vanessa and Gregory. "Maybe... I am also programmed to guide others and teach them lessons about emotions, thoughts, coping skills, facing fears, and more?"
"I think you're a versatile robot, Freddy." Gregory finally says, as his face suddenly lit up. "Because since I snuck my way inside the Plex many times—to steal stuff to survive obviously—I've seen you do a lot of things. I can't name them all but I'm telling the you the truth."
"Oh, I suppose you're right, Superstar!" Freddy said cheerfully.
And just like that, they all went silent. No one dared to speak afterwards, until Gregory suddenly breaks the awkward tension between himself, his big sister, and their father figure.
"So are we just gonna awkwardly state at each other or..."
"I think... we should all just sleep at my room because the bed is huge and more comfy there. Also, tomorrow we're gonna do some activities and shit–" Vanessa now looks at Gregory and Freddy. "–And bond as a united family, do you understand?"
"Yes, Officer Vanessa." Gregory teasingly replied, but does agree, while Freddy happily nodded.