Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“ECLIPSE PLEA-!”

Ruin watched all the way to the end of this... tragedy. There really wasn't another way to call it. They watched as Eclipse, their poor, lovely Eclipse, lost himself to a spiral of sorrow and madness at the futile attempts of reset after reset after reset, until eventually, finally, their doppelganger was granted mercy. In the form of a bashed in head and shattered motherboard.

A sad, horrible little tragedy that ended in poor Solstice's death.

It wasn't their own death. They refused to even entertain the notion of calling it that, but semantics aside, they had seen enough – more than enough.

Also, that name was now definitely off their list.

“I think you can turn it off now”

With a simple tap on the keyboard, Solar did just that, freezing the screen on Earth's horrified expression – lovely – before shutting off the simulated scenario they had been watching together.

“I told you you wouldn't like it.”, the taller eclipse huffed. “What was the point of that, anyway?”

Ruin crossed their arms with a shrug that was meant to cover up the nauseating feeling that had taken root in their stomach. It had just been a simulation, a what-if, but the mere notion that things could have turned out that way left an uneasy feeling deep in their systems.

“Sheer curiosity, really. Not an unfamiliar feeling, I suppose?”, they replied, which earned them a shrug from Solar in return. They were hardly the first one to check out one of those alternative scenarios, and they both knew it.

“Want me to delete that footage?”

“Oh heavens yes, please.”, they quickly nodded. They didn't want to take any chances, however unlikely, for anyone else to stumble upon this... ending. Plus, out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes.

Hopefully, their mind would get that memo too, and soon. Ugh, what nightmare fuel...

A simple beep indicated that Solar had fulfilled their request, causing their shoulders to unwind just the slightest of bits.

Still, curiosity gnawed at their circuits, and knowing very well that they would hate themselves for this later, they turned to Solar with a question.

“I believe this machine can also be used to calculate the probabilities of these scenarios, right? How likely is this one to occur?”

Solar rubbed his temples before typing at the keyboard again. “Hmm... Pretty low. You and Eclipse becoming an “item” isn't exactly a common thing across the multiverse, so about 5% in the grand scheme of things”

Hm. That was indeed a vanishingly small percentage. But still, five percent were five percent.

A five percent chance of tragedies. Of them not coming back, of Eclipse losing his mind, of everything they had together simply... crumbling to ashes.

A five percent chance of Solstices.

“You okay?”

They almost startled, but Solar's voice, as monotone as it sometimes could be, was far too soft to be able to actually startle anybody – and not at this gentle volume, anyway.

“Oh yes, yes I am quite alright. The consequences of my own curiosity are nothing new to me, I'm afraid.”, they chuckled a bit with their usual flourish. “Still... thank you for indulging me”

“Eh, don't mention it. Moon and I have each had our fair share of checking out these scenarios, so I'd say you're fine. So, how about tonight? Plan still standing?”

Ruin visibly perked up at this, oh, and how they did! They had been looking forward to tonight all week, after all.

“Oh but yes, my dear Solar~! I mean, I've spent all this time beg- convincing Eclipse to finally agree to a movie night, so there's no way I'm going to pass that opportunity up! Thanks again for letting us borrow the Theatre for this”

Solar shrugged once more, an endearing little trait that he shared with Eclipse, and something that rarely failed to make Ruin smile. “No one's there after hours anyway, so sure. Just promise me not to stick any bubblegum under the seats”

“Do people really - ?”

“You'd be surprised.”

Ruin chuckled again as they both made their way back to the teleporter. “Well, I trust your word on this~! But I promise we'll behave”

Eclipse tapped his foot, checking his internal clock once again. It wasn't like Ruin to be late – okay, they weren't late yet, but usually they were the one waiting for him to show up to one of their... outings.

He wouldn't call it a date. He refused. Which didn't deter Earth in the slightest, who seemed to be even more eager and excited for tonight than he felt himself.

“So, what movie are you going to watch tonight? Or is it going to be a surprise? And are you going to do anything after?”

Her enthusiasm really was... commendable. Maybe even infectuous, if he weren't such a grumpy bastard, as Moon rarely failed to remind him, but he wore that title proudly.

Never let it be known that Eclipse had actually been looking forward to this evening like an idiot.

“There's this restaurant that they've been talking about non-stop, but it's always booked. Popular or whatever.”

“And tonight?”

“Completely booked, too.”

“Aww, bummer”

“Yeah, for those unlucky bastards that didn't get a table.”

Earth let out a happy squeal and grabbed his hand a bit tighter as she got the message.

“Aww Eclipse, that's so sweet of you! Oh, I'm sure that will make them very happy!”, she giggled, releasing his hand to continue fiddling with the little string of beads that she was trying to fit around his wrist.

His own fingers had become less responsive after the whole “star” debacle, but he wasn't too bothered by that – three hands were still an advantage in most cases. And Earth could tie neater bows anyway.

After a few more moments, she exclaimed “Aaand done! How does it fit?”

Eclipse eyed the little colourful beads, arranged in such a way that they wouldn't jarringly clash with his own colour scheme, but Earth had a keen eye for these sorts of things, so that came as no surprise. He turned his wrist this way and that, pleased that the little bracelet didn't go sliding around everywhere. “Nicely. Thanks, Earth”

“No problem!”, she beamed at him, and – okay, maybe Eclipse did crack a tiny smile in return, but nobody but her would ever see it and he'd deny it till the day he died.

There weren't many others around to see it, anyway. The Daycare was already closed for today, Sun having run off to somewhere like half an hour ago, and Moon was busy doing whatever, wherever – Eclipse knew that he was up in the balcony room, but that was as far as he was interested in the matter.

They weren't exactly buddy-buddy with each other, but civil enough, and that was as close as Eclipse needed the two of them to be.

“So, the movie?”, Earth asked again.

Oh, right. “I have no idea. They picked something”, he answered with a shrug. “My only demand was that it's not an anime”

“Fair enough, although there are some really good anime movies”

Eclipse shrugged again, and that was the end of that conversation. But not in an uncomfortable way, as it was rarely the case with Earth – they had matching friendship bracelets now, for heaven's sake, they were far past the point of uncomfortable silences.

Said silence didn't last long anyway, as if on cue, the Daycare's double doors opened to reveal Ruin and Solar, the former instantly zipping over to Eclipse to take hold of one of his hands.

They had discussed the boundaries for public displays of affection before, and while Ruin seemed to have little to none, Eclipse had a few, so they had settled on hand-holding as a comfortable compromise for both of them.

And this was only for public instances, anyway. The things that happened in private... stayed private.

“Hey”, Eclipse greeted as he linked their fingers together.

“Heyyy”, Ruin replied with that peculiar grin of theirs that made him raise one of his eyebrows.

“No anime”

“I promise”

“So, the Theatre's all set up”, Solar chimed in from the sidelines. “Just say the word and you're good to go.”

“Thank you so much So-”

The rest of Ruin's words were droned out by a sudden alarm that started blaring from the security desk, causing Earth to take a startled step back. In an instant, Solar was at the keyboard, frantically checking the computers.

“What the- Moon?!”, he called out.

“Uh-UH-UH!”, the lunar animatronic came sprinting to the edge of the balcony platform, staring down at the ballpit below. “It shouldn't be doing that on its own! Computer?!”

WARNING. PORTAL OPENING.

“Yeah no shit! Everyone stay back!!”

Eclipse shoved Ruin behind him – unnecessary, given their distance they had to the portal, but he didn't give two shits about necessities.

There wasn't a loud bang, a flash of light or any other spectacle that came after. The alarm simply ceased to blare, and some balls shifted around a little before things fell silent again.

Moon inched closer to the edge, squinting down before – against his better judgement, he jumped down onto the small island to look around for the double set of orange rays that he swore he'd caught a glimpse of just a second ago.

The ballpit was eerily quiet, even quieter than a bunch of colourful plastic balls had any right to be, but he knew that he had seen something, and the millisecond he spotted the telltale grey shine of an endoskeleton, he reached down and wrapped his hands around the thing, giving it a hearty pull.

It was a bit more than just an endo – a whole lot more, actually, and Moon had to adjust his grip and posture to not screw up his back as he dragged the frame up unto the island with him.

...Yep, that was a DCA model, alright. Pretty sun-ish, but the smaller extra rays nestled in between the typical bigger ones gave it an uncannily similar look to –

Huh.

“Yo, you might wanna come looking at this!”, he called out over his shoulder.

Earth was the first to approach, curiosity winning her over but taken aback as the new face she was looking at didn't actually look all that unfamiliar. “Moon, what is-?”

“I have absolutely no idea. Computer?”

SCANNING.

“What's going on?”, Solar had come over, quickly seeing what all the ruckus was about. “Uh, Moon?”

“Give me a second”

SCAN COMPLETE. VITAL SIGNS DETECTED. DAMAGES APPEAR TO BE MOSTLY SUPERFICIAL. ARM CASING REQUIRING REPLACEMENT.

“Block whatever dimension they just came from”, Moon quickly commanded, pinching the bridge of his nose with an exasperated groan.

BLOCKING DIMENSION BETA560

By this point, Eclipse had approached as well, Ruin hanging a few steps back – curiosity aside, they still felt a bit uneasy being around the ballpit after not-so-recent events, even though their memory files still couldn't provide them with a first hand experience.

Still, it was hard to forget the location where you had died.

Eclipse's expression turned sour the second he laid eyes on the unresponsive frame. Earth could tell by the way his eye narrowed and how his grip tightened the slightest bit on his crossed arms that the sight invoked anything but pleasant memories in her friend. Wordlessly, she stepped a little closer to him without touching, just trying to offer a little bit of comfort by just being there. It was hard to say if it worked or not.

“I could fix them up down in Parts and Service”, Solar offered into the somewhat awkward silence. “We have more than enough spare parts down there”

“Give them a quick scan while you're at it”, Moon added with a nod, tapping his blue tipped fingers against his upper arms before he threw his hands up with another groan. “Okay, I'll be the one to shoot the elephant in the fucking room then! Ruin, get over here”

The mismatched animatronic perked up, not having expected to be addressed so directly. “Of course Moon, what seems to be the-?”

They stopped as soon as they could see the other animatronic and its far, far too familiar face. A creamy yellow and night blue face split in the middle, a head adorned with crown of golden and orange rays and a blue neckerchief covered in little golden stars.

“...Well”, they finally said after no one seemed to want to speak up before them. “That is a bit concerning, isn't it?”

Dimension Beta560

“NO! Computer, where the fuck did they go?!”

SCANNING FOR DIMENSIONAL SIGNATURE

“Scan. Faster.”

SIGNATURE DETECTED. SIGNATURE CURRENTLY LOCATED WITHIN A BLOCKED DIMENSION.

“Unblock.”

FAILED TO UNBLOCK. HOME DIMENSION HAS APPARENTLY BEEN BLACKLISTED.

Dull, gunmetal grey fingers dug into the desk. Well, weren't they a bunch of quick little motherfuckers.

“Fine, then we'll play the long game.”, he hissed. “All efforts on breaking through. Highest priority.”

UNDERSTOOD.

With a quiet huff, he turned his attention away from the computer screen and down to the broken, charred animatronic frame that lay at his feet. He dragged them up by their collar, staring into a barely flickering optic.

“Alright then. Let's see if you can actually be useful for something.”

Chapter Text

“Alright then”, Moon huffed out a sigh, rubbing the side of his faceplate where a solid headache had begun to set in. Just what he needed to round off the day.

It was a good thing that they were already closed for the day, or this would have been a hell of a thing to explain to the kids – or worse yet, to their parents. Nope. He could definitely go without having to explain the concept of interdimensional travel to those damn Karens.

But before things could be explained, they had to be understood, and Moon already didn't like his first set of guesses as to what was going on here.

Obvious things first; They had another eclipse on their hands.

Unless this was just a slightly differently modelled sun variant, but considering their general luck in these matters, Moon doubted it. Plus, the similarities to Ruin were simply too uncanny to reasonably allow room for any other explanation, even when the both of them didn't look exactly the same – just similar enough, like Eclipse and Solar did, remaining extra limbs excluded.

He really wished he could have Solar here right now, but the other animatronic – ever the dutiful guy that he was – had already left to take their visitor down to Parts and Service to give them a check-up. Earth was having some one on one conversation with Ruin on the side, Sun still wasn't here at all, and that only left him with...

Eclipse had permanent resting bitch face. No news there, but now he looked so incredibly pissed that Moon was wondering if he was going to blow his other eye out with how much he was frowning. Sheesh.

“What crawled up your backside and died?”

“Throw them back into the portal”

Straight to the point. Yup, typical Eclipse. “Noted. Any other actual advice?”

“Moon, I am serious”

“Oh are you? I thought this was your unserious face”, Moon replied nonchalantly, honestly impressed - and maybe even a little amused by the fact that Eclipse managed to look even more pissed.

“Chill out. If they turn out to be a threat, I'll gladly kick them back to wherever they came from. But if they don't, then...”, he trailed off with a shrug.

Eclipse's eye twitched. “What do you mean if? Since when has another eclipse ever meant anything good?”

“That percentage has actually risen quite a bit recently”

“Moon.”, Eclipse hissed. “I. Am. Serious”

“I'm too, and you know I'll actually kick them out if they are dangerous. But we could at least give them the courtesy and fix them up first, can't we?”

The taller animatronic looked like he was ready to have a conniption. To avoid an escalation, Moon let out a sigh and raised his hands in placation. “Look, I promise Solar and I will keep an eye on this, alright? At least trust that we'll keep the family safe, if nothing else”

The fact that this included Eclipse and Ruin as well remained unspoken.

Moon expected a snarky remark, or maybe even an insult from Eclipse in return - he expected both equally - but instead, the other animatronic simply turned around and walked off without another word.

Yup, typical.

“I will keep that in mind. Thank you, Earth”, Ruin nodded, glancing over when they saw Eclipse approach, and the look on his face immediately gave them the answer to their question they hadn't even asked yet.

Ever since their death and subsequent resurrection, Eclipse had become a tad more clingy. Not in a possessive or overbearing kind of way, but it was noticeable how he seemed to be more reluctant to part ways with Ruin or how he tended to always stand just a bit more closer to them whenever they were together.

Talking to Earth had already helped him deal with this to a significant extent – but Ruin could see that their boyfriend probably needed a bit of extra reassurance right now, and they were more than happy to provide.

Earth, bless her heart, picked up on it quickly as well, and after wishing them fun for their movie night, excused herself to go and join Moon.

Barely two steps out of the Daycare and Eclipse slipped his hand into Ruin's, locking their fingers together in a way that had the smaller animatronic know that they most likely wouldn't get their hand back for the rest of the evening.

“Are you okay?”, they asked as they started to run their thumb over the back of Eclipse's hand soothingly.

“Hmhm”, came the short reply.

“Would you like to go back to our room?”

“No.", came the even shorter reply, but this one didn't have to fend for itself. "Movie night”

Ruin chuckled a little. Eclipse was even less of a talker like this, which honestly, they found a little endearing. “Are you sure you'd still like to do that? We could just go and relax instead”

“No”, Eclipse replied with an almost pout, earning yet another chuckle from Ruin as he leaned down to nuzzle their heads together briefly. “Theatre”

“Okay okay, I got. I'm texting Solar”, Ruin nodded as they both went up the stairs to the upper level. “Cuddle later then?”

“Definitely”

-Hello again, Solar. If you'd be so kind, we're ready for the movie.-

Solar didn't even get the chance to reply to that when a second message immediately popped up on his HUD.

-And could we have a little chat about our visitor later? Please, don't let anything slip until then-

Ah, so he had been right in his anticipation that Ruin would want to talk about that. But then again, that wasn't really that surprising.

He quickly replied with a simple thumbs-up emoji – which earned him a colourful array of flower and star emojis in return (Ruin really texted like a boomer sometimes), before his attention switched back over to the other Ruin.

Hm. He should probably call them something else, but until they were able to give him their name, he would just go with... Not-Ruin. As creative as that was. Look, he was terrible with naming things on the fly, let alone other people, okay?

For now, they were safely propped up on the padded chair while P&S already worked on replacing their missing arm casing with one of the spares they had, fixing up any other damages along the way, of which there were many. Solar watched as the computer ran diagnostics and then displayed the results on the small – and admittedly still rather shabby – console screen in front of him.

“Daycare Attendant model... their parts were all rather recently ordered, so their state can't be from wear and tear.”, he read out in a mumble. “At least there are no traces of star power or any other crap. The software's pretty up to date too, except...”

He stopped, staring at the words on the screen like they had just insulted his metaphorical mother.

A reboot, so recent that it had Solar cursing when he checked the date and saw that it was from today.

There was his explanation for why there were little to no entry logs in their files, then.

It also meant that there was no chance to tell if they actually were a combined AI like Ruin was, since now all their code labelled them as was “Daycare Attendant”.

Greeeaaat. Wouldn't that make for an interesting conversation for when they woke up? With a sigh, Solar rolled the chair back to stretch his legs a little before standing up.

No use worrying about it now while they were still out like a light, he guessed, but he also figured that he should at least see if he could get them some new clothing in the meantime. The outfit they were in now was nice and all, but it was also covered in oil, rips and tears. Surely not the most pleasant thing to wake up in, whether there was actually some sun-coding in them or not.

With a quick glance to the still “sleeping” animatronic, Solar headed out to the nearest storage closet.

Let's see... they were a smaller model, but a shirt and a sweater would surely fit them, so Solar grabbed one of each.

As for the pants, while he himself usually wore his Sunny's old hand me downs, that didn't mean that that was his only pair, and since he wasn't about to just rummage through Sun and Moon's spare clothes without asking, a pair of his own spare pants it was then.

Satisfied with what he had picked out, he quickly made his way back through the red double doors of P&S, but apparently not quickly enough, as he immediately locked eyes with a pretty wide pair of red and blue optics that stared at him from inside the cylinder.

Whelp, so much for timing. “Hey”, he greeted, putting the pile of clothes to the side for the moment.

“Sorry for the unpleasant environment, I'll let you out in a second. How are you doing in there, buddy? Everything feel alright?”

Not-Ruin tilted their head, big eyes blinking once, twice, three times before they broke out in a series of enthusiastic nods. Okay, not the worst way to start off a conversation.

“My name is Solar”, he continued, tapping a few keys on the console to disconnect the other from the diagnostic cables. The door of the cylinder opened with a whoosh, giving them the chance to step out if they felt like it. “What's yours?”

They blinked again before slipping down from the chair, approaching him a little too quickly for Solar's taste, and he got ready to defend himself if necessary, but then they just... stood there and stared at him.

“Uhh... are you okay? Are we using the same language module? Dammit, I should have checked for that first! Sprichst du deutsch? Francais? Espanol? Come on buddy, give me something to work with here”

They blinked again before they spoke, slowly, like they weren't used to doing it. “Daycare Attendant?”

Aaand there was the accent, alright. Not-Ruin wasn't making much of a case for themselves being not Ruin.

“I... guess I technically am? I work in the Theatre though, so you could call me a... Theatre Attendant?” God, that sounded stupid.

“Solar, Theatre Attendant”, they repeated, blinking again and tilting their head the other way before suddenly, like someone had flipped a switch, they started beaming a bright smile up at him. “Hello!”

“...Hi, buddy. So, your name?”, he tried once more.

Their look turned contemplative, like they were trying to figure out the solution to a difficult mathematical equation instead of something as simple as a name. Solar decided to just wait it out.

“S0L/ST1/C3”, they finally answered with a proud expression.

Solar just stared at them, his mind drawing a blank as to how to respond to that.

“Uhh...”

True eloquence.

Not-Ruin's expression switched from curiously positive to carefully confused as they tilted their head the other way again. Wait, had he actually managed to upset them with that?

“Hey, it's okay”, he tried to placate, “I'm just a bit... confused, I guess. That's your serial number, isn't it?”

Aaand back to the other side their head went before they gave another nod, as if Solar was questioning some completely basic knowledge right now.

Yeah okay, that wouldn't do, he was definitely not going to say S-zero-L-S-T-whatever whenever he talked to them.

“Would you be okay with me calling you by a nickname?”

They nodded quite enthusiastically at that, and Solar could have slapped himself. Now he had to actually come up with a name! What the hell kind of name should he give them?! Again: Naming things out of the blue was very much not his forté!

But his tongue seemed to not have gotten that memo, and before his mind could even get the idea to catch up, he blurted out. “Solstice”

He could have punched himself as soon as that had left his mouth, but the wide smile that suddenly spread over their face told him that it was way too late to take it back now.

“Solstice. Sooolstiiice”, they repeated a couple of times, letting the name roll of their tongue with an elated giggle. “Okay!”

Solar covered his face with his hand. “Ah shit. How am I gonna explain this to Ruin?”

Chapter Text

Now see, they had planned to talk to Solar later that same evening – they really had! But then Eclipse had surprised them with a reservation for this restaurant they had been dying to visit, and there was simply no possible way they could have refused that.

Then one thing had let to another, and now here they were.

With a content sigh, Ruin snuggled closer to the warm frame pressed against their back. He could deny it all he wanted, but Eclipse gave some amazingly good hugs.

They felt the other animatronic stir slightly, red arms tightening a little around them, the telltale whirring of Eclipse's systems coming online filling the air, but they knew that it would still take a little longer for him to fully wake up. The soft rumbling sound that came out of his chest and reverberated through both of their frames was quite telling of that.

Heavens, Ruin would never regret installing that feature in him.

A couple more minutes passed in that comfortable quietness, and they had to use all of their willpower to not just roll over and stay in bed for the rest of the day – which was hard when Eclipse started nuzzling them like that, but they actually had things to get done today, and most and foremost needed to have that conversation with Solar.

“Your thoughts are too loud...”, mumbled Eclipse, drawing an amused chuckle out of Ruin as they glanced over their shoulder to watch an orange optic slowly blink online, the other freed from its eyepatch, metal around it soldered back together, but the scratches were still there and would forever be. Eclipse wanted it that way, and Ruin would not try to convince him otherwise.

“My apologies, I didn't know I had that much of an aura~”

The comeuppance for that line followed suit as Eclipse seized them around their midsection and flipped them both around, leaning over them with that certain kind of grin on his face.

Gods, Ruin, control yourself

“You were saying?”, drawled that deep, rumbling voice that had the other animatronic seriously considering just saying fuck it and staying in this room forever.

Weren't it for their twin presumably still in Solar's care.

“I was thinking”, they started, fingertips trailing along Eclipse's sides and sending delicious shivers down the larger animatronic's spine. “About what we could do after hours tonight~ After you spoiled me so much yesterday, I'd really love to return the favour. What do you think, hm?”

They didn't really need to ask – they knew exactly what was going through Eclipse's head by the way his singular optic seemed to burn, and they also knew that they would get to face the consequences of their teasing in full tonight.

But honestly? They were counting on that.

For now though, tragic as it was, a simple kiss would have to suffice.

“I just have to get a few things done first. I'll be quick”

“Promise?”

Now it was their turn to nuzzle him. “Promise”

“Good. Me too”

Ruin got no chance to ask what he meant by that as Eclipse had already slid down their body and... oh, oh okay, that was a more than compelling argument to stay in bed for just a little while longer.

They expected to find Solar where they always expected to find him at this time of day – behind the Theatre counter, or at least somewhere around the area.

For the umpteenth time, Ruin checked that their clothes were flawless (damn you Eclipse) before they approached said counter with the usual pep in their step.

“Good morning Solar~! Apologies for my lateness, I'm afraid I have slept in a little after yesterday'sss...”, they trailed off as they came face to face with a different face than the one they had expected to see, even when it wasn't a very different face at all.

Well, time to face this issue then, huh.

“Hello!”, their mirror image greeted them with an honestly impressive amount of enthusiasm that was met with a very deer-in-the-headlights kind of stare from Ruin in return. Solar was granted the same courtesy as he came rushing around the corner.

“Hey! Sorry, I was checking something in the back. Sooo”, he drew out the word while awkwardly shoving his hands into his pockets. “I see you two have met each other”

“That is certainly a way to put it”, Ruin replied, clearing their throat and doing their damnedest to regain their composure after that little scare. “And I see that you have wasted no time in fixing up our... friend”

“Yyyep”, Solar said, popping the last consonant while shooting a quick glance at Solstice, who was just happily sitting cross legged on an office chair, gently swaying left and right in a repetitive manner.

“So, this is-”

“Solstice!”, the other announced with a grin.

“...Yeah”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me”, Ruin muttered, seriously regretting every decision that had let them to leave their bed this morning, but problems tended to only get worse if you ignored them, and they really, really didn't want to ruin the streak of good things they had going so far.

So with a deep, steadying breath, they turned towards the other animatronic. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Solstice, quite a pleasure. My name is Ruin”, they introduced themselves politely and offered their hand – which immediately got seized and shaken quite thoroughly.

“Ruin! Daycare Attendant?”

“More of an Arcade Attendant”, Ruin replied without missing a beat.

Solstice's only grinned wider. “Okay! Hello!”

“Yes, hello. Solar? Would you mind stepping over here with me for but a moment?”

Solar wordlessly did, staying just close enough that he could still keep an eye on Solstice, who had resumed his gentle swaying motion. Deciding that he was probably not going to fling himself off the furniture, Solar's attention switched over to Ruin.

“Solar, dear. Friend. I would say we are friends at this point, aren't we?”

“We are”, Solar agreed without hesitation.

“Good, good. So then, please be honest with me, as friends. What. The fuck?”

“Okay Ru, it's not what it looks like.”, Solar began quickly. “I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with the... thing we both saw yesterday”

“Hmm”, the amalgamation hummed. “Explain it to me then, please. Who is this... Solstice fellow? And why are they dressed like that?”

“Their clothes were dirty. And to be honest, I don't know if their name is actually Solstice or not. That one is kinda on me...”

“Soolaaaar~~~”

“Look, I was put on the spot, okay?? They only had a serial number to go with, and I just blurted out the first thing I could think of! They are... not really fine up there”

Ruin hummed once more which trailed off into a sigh as they glanced over their shoulder to the still blissfully unaware bot behind the counter. “They do indeed seem to be a bit out of it. Did you scan them?”

“I did. Their software was generally fine, just put back to factory settings.”

“Put back?”

Suddenly, Solar couldn't meet the other's gaze, rubbing his neck awkwardly and oh boy, did that do things for Ruin's growing anxiety. “Yeah... it looks like they got reset”

Ruin's silence was telling. Without hesitation, Solar took hold of their hand before they could actually put some dents in their palm casing which how forcefully they were digging their fingers into it.

“Hey, that's not a problem. It doesn't mean that anything like in that footage has actually happened to them. Hell, they probably wouldn't even mind if we asked them to change their name again”

“Let's not do that”, Ruin shook their head, fingertips rubbing against the leather of Solar's gloves in an attempt to ground themselves.

“They seem to be quite happy with that name, so they should get to keep it. Names can be a difficult topic, after all”

Solar gave a small, sympathetic smile at that. “Still haven't found anything you like?”

“No, but I know what's definitely not up for debate anymore”, they replied with a lopsided smile. With another small squeeze of the gloved hand, they freed their own and put it on their hips.

“Continue, please. Where are they staying?”

Unprepared for that kind of question, Solar didn't have an answer right off the bat. “Uh, maybe in one of the Theatre's backrooms? Most of them are unoccupied, and there would be a charging station nearby”

“The backrooms??”, Ruin gasped dramatically, touching their chest like a lady clutching her pearl necklace. “Solar! We have to be more hospitable than that! No no no, the backrooms won't do, they need a proper – and preferably furnished – room!”, they kept going, walking over to where Solstice had now stopped his swaying to watch their conversation. His expression indicated that he hadn't exactly caught any of it, but Ruin didn't need him to to get their own point across.

“That would only leave my room, then”, Solar pointed out, watching their theatrics with a raised eyebrow. “What's so bad about the backrooms anyway?”

“There are spiders”

“...And???”

“And??”, they gasped once more, stepping behind their mirror's image to take a hold of the backrest of the chair before shooting Solar the most award worthy pair of puppy eyes they could muster.

“Come on Solar, does this face look like they could handle themselves around even one of those multi-legged little demons? Just look at them! They would probably cry!”

“I'm sure they wouldn't”, he said, rolling his eyes at the theatrics. But damn, the similarities between the two were undeniable now, Solar noticed. Put them in the same clothing, and you would be unable to tell any difference. Not to mention that Solstice managed to shoot him the exact same look Ruin was giving him down to the letter. He let out a sigh, raising his hands in surrender. “But fine, I guess they can stay in my room for now.”

“Thank you~!”, both Ruin and Solstice replied in unison, almost creepily in sync, which didn't creep Solar out, no, not at all.

“Splendid!”, Ruin continued on their own, patting Solstice on his shoulders before sauntering back over towards the exit of the Theatre. “I'll see to procure a few more items to make our new guest's stay even more pleasant~! Feel free to call me if need be. Todeloo~!”

“Uh, bye?”, Solar called after them which Ruin answered with a wave over their shoulder, slipping past the shutters before they had even fully opened.

They would apologise for any perceived or actual rudeness later, when their motor had stopped racing.

As of now, it seemed to want to do anything but stop, and they were pretty sure that if robots could actually start hyperventilating, they would be wheezing on the ground right now.

Their fans were already halfway there, working on overdrive to try and keep up with the steadily increasing temperature of their frame, which honestly only served to put them in a perpetual loop of panic-don't panic-panic some more.

They wouldn't make it back to their room in the Arcade in time like this.

They quickly slipped into one of the unoccupied party rooms on the top floor on the Daycare area instead – no one booked those anyway – and after making triple sure that the door behind them was locked, gave the place a test as to how soundproof it truly was.

Pretty impressively so, they concluded after no one came barging in, not even after a pretty colourful slew of insults they had thrown in there for good measure, so they wagered that they were good to continue.

Ruin took a couple more steadying breaths in an out, in and out, remembering the pattern Earth had once shown them, and slowly but surely, both their motor and temperature returned to more manageable levels of function.

“Well, wasn't that productive? Alright then, where were we? Oh yes – not freaking out about the potential of a homicidal version of Eclipse both existing AND being on his way here. Lovely.”

A soft tap-tap-tapping reached their audio receptors, and from the corner of their eye they caught the way their blue tipped fingers softly rapped against the cheap plastic of one of the party tables – without their conscious input, drawing another sigh out of them.

“Yes, Moon? Would you like to add your two cents to this situation?”

U good?

Ah, short as always. Ruin rubbed their forehead. “Oh yes, I am quite alright. I just need to think about a few things. You can go back to sleep”

Nah.

Another sigh, but Ruin knew this game very well by now. It had started to happen more frequently after their return, so without trying to ignore their way out of this conversation, they turned their look towards the plastic chair that their lunar companion was lounging in.

“And why not, if I may ask?”

Moondrop stretched backwards over the chair like they were a cat, voice close to a whine. Sun's asleep. I'm boooored. So what's going on?

Ugh. “You haven't been watching then? Wait... how long have you been watching??”

Chill out. Not long. Not interested in watching your canoodling with Mr.-big-red-and-edgy.

“Moondrop...”

Eclipse. Great to see we're still on a first name basis. So come on now, spill the tea. What's going on out there?

Shutting their eyes for a second, Ruin wondered once more why they hadn't simply stayed in bed today before they began pacing around the room.

“What's going on, Moondrop, is that someone came through the portal. Someone who looks exactly like us, sounds like us and even has that accent – that neither one of you has yet told me about why we have that in the first place, by the way! – and that may have sent me into a tiiiny little identity crisis”

Again?

“Yes, again, but that is not the point. The point is that this version of us probably has an insane Eclipse hot on their heels who will eventually come here and kill us all!”

...Why the hell would that happen?

Ruin bristled. “What do you mean why? It's statistics! If this Solstice came from one of the dimensions I expect them to have come from, there has to be an Eclipse that has already tried to kill them once and will most likely try to finish the job now!”

They hadn't ceased their pacing, but could practically feel Moondrop's stare digging into their back.

That's stupid.

With a snap, their head whipped around to the other animatronic that now sat backwards on the chair. “Excuse you?”

That's stupid. I mean, come on, that's a lot of ifs and maybes there. What happened to you always calculating and scheming shit? Dude, this all sounds unlikely as hell.

“Oh, so now you're the expert in interdimensional probabilities, yes? Oh please, Moondrop, enlighten us! Share your wisdom with us plebeians!”

Pff. You're no fun. You're thinking too much

“No, I am the only one thinking here right now and trying to see this from a rational perspective!”

No. Youuuu – They felt a poke to their forehead. Are panicking.

The sudden physical contact threw them off track quite a bit – they had never been able to physically interact before. With an exasperated groan, they ran a hand over their faceplate. “Am I actually really talking to you, or are you just a figment of my imagination?”

Oh, I'm definitely just in your imagination, buddy.

“Great”, they sighed, but couldn't muster up the frantic energy they had felt just moments prior. Hallucination or not, Moondrop still had a way of snapping someone out of their own head.

“Be that as it may. I should get back out there, before my Eclipse starts looking for me”

Your Eclipse, eh~?

“Stop it”, they shot back in annoyance, but stopped at the door to throw a final glance over their shoulder to the empty plastic chair. “...Thank you, Moony”

There was no response.

Chapter Text

Later that day, and with Ruin barely halfway through their personal to-do list (because apparently their mind wanted to do anything but focus today), a message in the group chat invited them all to a meeting in the Daycare to both introduce and discuss what to do with their newest arrival.

Honestly? Ruin wanted them gone. In the most polite kind of ways, they wouldn't just have them kicked out or anything, just... kindly send them back to their own home and right into the arms of –

...a potentially murderous Eclipse.

God dammit, what was wrong with them?! Were they really so callous and heartless to send the poor guy to his debatable-how-certain demise? No, they weren't, and annoyances aside, Moondrop did have a point when he had said that a lot of their paranoia stemmed from speculations and uncertain probabilities.

But that's the thing with anxiety, right? It doesn't care about rationality.

Not even in a robot.

Nope, not adding yet another existential crisis onto their plate, that was more than full, thank you very-

SNAP

“Piece of-!”, Ruin cursed as they yanked their hand back out of the arcade machine. Of course, the one time they were actually trying to fix one of these things, and they got their damn fingers crunched up in it!

Further muttering curses under their breath, they examined the damage and found two of their fingers almost completely unresponsive when they tried to move them.

Great. Wasn't that just great.

Ugh. They hated having to go to Parts and Service, but Eclipse would drag them down there if he had to, even for a small scratch like this. Perhaps they could ask Solar for a quick patch-up? Yes, that's what they would do, and until then they would just pretend that this little accident had never even happened at all~

With a quick glance at the message still blinking away on their HUD, they closed the toolbox they had borrowed from Solar and shoved it in the space between the arcade machine and the wall. They would get back to this later – or perhaps just scrap the whole thing entirely, that sounded extremely tempting right now too.

The way back to the Daycare was a short one. They had apparently missed the introductory round of the meeting - and sincerely hoped that Eclipse hadn't outright scared poor Solstice out of their casing, but the easy smile that Earth shot them was a pretty reassuring sign that no socially awkward catastrophes had so far occurred.

And maybe, just maybe, Lunar's absence from the meeting also helped to ease some of the tension in the room. Ruin would have been quite surprised if the lunar animatronic had decided to show up for this.

They quickly slipped up to Eclipse's left side, so IN CASE there was going to be any hand-holding, he wouldn't immediately notice their broken fingers. Plus, it wasn't that unusual a stance for them to keep their hands behind their back, anyway.

“And that's pretty much where we stand now”, Solar finished his explanation. Ruin's gaze switched over to where Sun had taken Solstice for some one-on-one arts and crafts away from the discussion, which was surely for the better. It was questionable how much of this their visitor would have actually understood in the first place, and judging by the others' faces, they all thought something along the same lines.

“So, we all agree that we can't just send them on their way, right? That would be cruel”, Earth spoke up first. “How about we let them stay here?”

“I say we kick him out.”, Eclipse said without hesitation. Moon let out a huff.

“Okay, heard, but honestly Eclipse, you say that about everything. Look, I'm generally not against the idea of letting him stay, but we need to investigate if there is anything from his dimension that could pose a threat to us because he's here. Once that cost's all clear, I'd be fine with him staying, and if it's not, then we can kick him out”

“Sounds reasonable to me”, Solar agreed on the spot, causing Eclipse to roll his eyes and Ruin to lightly bump him with their elbow for it. “Who should go investigate?”

Ruin's hand shot up immediately. “I volunteer and I'd like to have Solar as my back-up!”

The silence was deafening, even Sun had turned his head towards them, but Ruin was very good at enduring even the longest of awkward moments - they all came to an end eventually, and this one would be no different. 

“..Oookay? Why?”, Moon finally asked, and Ruin got ready to pull up everything from their repertoire to sell their argument like a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman.

“Well, firstly, sending two people to investigate makes the whole ordeal both faster and safer for all parties involved! Secondly, while I think all of us are qualified to undergo such endeavours, some of us are objectively more experienced with exploring different dimensions, and I think that includes both Solar and me to some extent. Now you, Moon, are undoubtedly just as qualified, but I think having you here to monitor the portal and pull us out if need be would be most advantageous in this situation, no?”

There. That was convincing, wasn't it? They certainly thought so. And really, what's a bit of flattery amongst friends, right? ...Acquaintances. Contemporaries? Fellow animatronics, if nothing else.

They thought it a very convincing reasoning, thank you very much – until Eclipse huffed a breath out of his vents.

“I'm going too”

Eclipse. Dear. Honey. Please. Stop talking.

“Yeah, I actually have to stop you there”, Moon unknowingly swept in to Ruin's rescue, earning a very much go-and-drop-dead stare from Eclipse, but he carried on regardless. “You're still giving off way too much of that weird star-parasite-energy to even think about interdimensional travel. You'd probably get ripped apart or stuck somewhere, if you're lucky”

Well, that was indeed a fair point, and one that Ruin took full accountability for. The events from months past had left their mark, and while Eclipse had simply refused to have his eye and arm fixed for personal reasons (though he did look rather dashing with that eyepatch, they had to admit), the energy that had rushed through his system had yet to fully dissipate, barring him from any interdimensional travel, as Moon had just explained.

“I don't care”

Ah yes, a very Eclipse-like response to this predicament.

“We'll be fine”, Ruin quickly rejoined the conversation, and they would usually shoot Eclipse an encouraging grin, but they knew about the actual worry their boyfriend was hiding behind this snarling facade of his, so they instead gave his hand a light squeeze.

-I'll be fine. Promise-

Eclipse's expression remained as unreadable as ever (admittedly a bit more readable to them), and Ruin actually started to doubt that they had managed to convince him, when that squeeze was eventually returned and they gave an inwardly sigh of relief.

-Come back to me-

-Always, dear-

“I'll do the monitoring”

“Fine by me”, Moon said, throwing his hands up in a mixture of feigned defeat and acceptance. Mostly acceptance. It was better than having to figure out a way to get Eclipse unstuck from whatever dimension the fool ended up trapping himself in if he decided to jump into the portal after Ruin after all. If he didn't actually just end up torn to shreds.

The lunar animatronic then turned towards the other two eclipses. “Okay. Check in after thirty minutes, and I'll pull you back out after an hour tops. If anything seems weird or off, call us immediately”

“You got it”, Solar nodded.

“We'll be back in no time!”, Ruin gave a grinning salute, a quick glance towards Earth the unspoken request to have an eye on Eclipse, which she confirmed with a subtle nod.

Then, without any further ado, Ruin and Solar entered the portal.

Dimension Beta560

When they came out of the other side, they were greeted by the colourful lights of the Daycare and its unmistakable music.

Ruin dusted off their clothes after they had clambered out of the ballpit to join Solar on the blue padded floor. So far, so unremarkable. Nothing looked too much out of the ordinary – quite the opposite actually, but most other dimension's Daycares looked similar, if not downright indistinguishable.

“Are we sure this is the right place?”, Ruin whispered to the taller animatronic, who gave a simple shrug. “It should be. What, did you expect we step into the middle of a bloodbath?”

Yes, Ruin thought. “No”, they answered, drawing in a deep breath through their vents. The place even smelled exactly the same, plastic and the faint odour of cleaning supplies. Familiar and comforting.

“Let's try and see if we can actually find someone here. One hour isn't exactly an eternity, after all”

Solar agreed with a nod, but their search was cut short before it had even begun as they spotted a familiar, if not rather confused looking solar animatronic sitting behind the security desk.

“Uh, hi? Who are you two?”

The two shared a quick look amongst each other before Ruin stepped forward, a pleasant smile on their face.

“Good morrow, friend! My name is Ruin, and this charming fellow right here is called Solar. We don't mean to intrude into your home – terribly sorry if we come at an inconvenient time. We are merely two interdimensional travellers – I suppose you are familiar with the concept?”

The stranger raised an eyebrow. “Uh, yes, I'm familiar. Well, my name is Sun! But that's probably obvious”, the other animatronic replied, stepping out from behind the desk to meet them halfway.

They looked and sounded like your typical sun, safe for the fact that their casing was a gunmetal grey instead of the usual yellows and creamy off whites it would usually be painted in. Even their rays were grey! But well, some differences here and there were to be expected. At least their clothes were as colourful as ever. Maybe they were just due for a new paint job soon?

“So, travellers huh? Well, as much as I like it here, I can't say this place is anything worth going sightseeing for! Same old places and faces, probably!”

“Same old is exactly what we are looking for, friend! You see, we didn't come here by chance – though I guess, we didn't choose to come here specifically either, but we were looking for a place quite similar to ours! We've run into some technical difficulties over in our own dimension, and we were hoping to maybe find some assistance here! If you wouldn't mind, of course”

Sun hummed and shifted his weight to his other leg as he regarded both of them. “What kind of difficulties?”

“Broken machinery. Our P&S is down, blown a fuse, and we need a replacement.",  Solar chimed in, and Ruin was oh so proud about his talent for improvisation on display here. "Easy fix actually, but FazBear..."

“Let me guess. FazBear's too stingy to fix it?”

“Yup”

“Yeah, I figured as much”, Sun sighed before clapping his hands together. “Yeah sure, we have spares down there! Come with me”

“Thank you”

“Thanks!”

Well, that went... fine? Ruin let Solar lead the small talk with this new Sun, the former apparently a natural at striking up some intriguing conversational topics – or maybe this Sun was just being polite, while they themselves hung back a little to let their gaze wander.

Same floors. Same walls. Same furniture even, for the most part. The time must be somewhat similar as well, as the Plex was obviously closed with neither children nor adults walking around. They wondered if this place had a Cassie?

No, focus. You were both here for a reason, and that wasn't to get some spare fuse for their non-broken P&S, but to find out what the hell had happened here, and why this Sun seemed so... nonchalant about everything. Where they actually in the wrong place? Did Solstice come from somewhere else? Was there no murderer lurking in the shadows here?

Maybe this place never had an eclipse to begin with?

Hearing the two still caught up in pleasant conversation, Ruin made a split second decision and slipped away through a different door.

They knew the way to the Arcade by heart. The bright lights and too loud music greeted and accompanied them up the stairs, past a very familiar karaoke room, and finally around a corner to a much quieter, more personal area. They hoped they wouldn't find anything here except for a unoccupied storage closet, or whatever their room had been before it had become theirs and Eclipse's.

Would they find anything? The room itself, nestled in a comfortable silence and quiet dimness that they had come to appreciate and love so much (even when sometimes, it was anything but silent in their little nest), decorated just the same way they knew it?

The pillows arranged just so that most of them were on Ruin's side of the bed, while on Eclipse's was just the single one he had claimed for himself; the pretty star shaped fairy lights that flooded the room with their gentle shine; or maybe even the faint smell of the scented candle they had once convinced Eclipse to let them light still hanging in the air?

A FazWrench that laid discarded and forgotten on the floor?

Ruin rolled their eyes. Ugh, this was stupid. They were being stupid. They were getting into their own head again. What happened to “adapt the theory to accommodate the facts”, not the other way around? So what if they found that room? Didn't that just mean that they and Eclipse had managed to find each other in yet another different dimension, and wasn't that actually kind of romantic? And who knew how Solstice might fit into that equation, if at all. Maybe they were completely detached from the whole issue. Maybe they weren't even them from this dimension.

They had found the door by now, their hand clenching the handle so hard that their knuckles would have turned white if that were possible. They took a deep breath in. “Calm down. You are just being paranoid and dramatic.”, they said to themselves. “Try to take things as they come, and don't fret about what ifs. How did that thing from Earth go again? Name five things you can see”

They pushed down the handle and opened the door.

They could see the pillows. The fairy lights. A still and unresponsive animatronic frame on the bed. The bed itself, obviously. Oil on the floor.

Now, four things you can feel.

The ground beneath their feet. The door handle crushed in their grip. The tingling from their unresponsive fingers. Their breakfast that was on its way back up their throat.

Three things you can hear?

The stuttering of their own vents. Their motor going into overdrive inside their chest. Their processor screaming at them, if that counted.

Almost there. Two things you can smell.

Oil and a scented candle.

A thing you can taste?

Panic

Ruin bolted out of the room. They ran down to Parts and Service in a haze, stumbling and almost falling several times and not caring about any of them. They burst through the red double doors in tears as they called out for “SO-!”

Solar was on the floor, unmoving, optics blank. The Sun was crouching over him, head adorned with too many rays, wrong, twisted in a way that could fool one to think they were looking at the sunrise before realizing that it was an atomic bomb.

Hauntingly, beautifully terrifying like the death of a star.

They wanted to come to Solar's aid, push that wrong Sun over and drag their friend back to the portal, but got to do none of those things as a rayed head snapped towards them with a speed that sounded painful, and they felt themselves simply frozen in place.

Twisted. Wrong. A solar eclipse.

Eclipse...?

Don't leave Solar run you can't just abandon him here run away you have to help him you have to get away you have to call for help you have to stay

What?

Stay.

No, they didn't want to -

Stay.

They didn't...

But they would.

Dull, gunmetal grey hands grabbed them, and then a flashing light was shoved in their face that overwhelmed all of their visual sensors, processor flashbanged into oblivion, and Ruin knew no more.

Chapter Text

Solar came back to a processor splitting headache, the mother of all migraines, the fuck my life why did I drink so much yesterday kind of hammering behind his eyes that made him groan and want to duck his head back under the covers to never, ever set foot out of his bed again for the rest of his life.

Except he wasn't in his bed, he wasn't even in the office chair behind the Theatre counter in which he had fallen asleep in before. Instead, he was flat on his back on a rather hard surface with a flickering, fluorescent light staring down at him from the dark tiled ceiling.

Huh. He thought he'd fixed that light already. Its incessant flickering had annoyed him to no end. Weird.

No, wait, he had fixed that, he knew he had - because he had actually fallen off the damn stepladder in the process, snapped off a ray and still wore the mark from when Moon had soldered it back together for him.

The fact that this light wasn't fixed meant that he wasn't home.

Awareness snapped back to him in a split second and he sat up with a jolt, but immediately regretted it as hot flashes of pain shot through his head and down his spine at the motion. Gods, he felt like throwing up.

“Don't move that fast.”, came a familiar voice that Solar would be quite happy to hear, if it were coming from his Sun.

But instead, it was coming from this piece of shit that had knocked him out. And locked him in this damn holding cell. Great.

“Where's Ruin?”, Solar immediately asked with a hiss that was equally fuelled by pain as it was by anger. They weren't in here with him and he couldn't see into the other cells from here, so maybe, hopefully, they hadn't been caught yet.

But the Sun pointed nonchalantly towards the cylinder, shattering that fragile hope, and Solar cursed under his breath when he spotted the mismatched animatronic lying limp and unresponsive on the chair in there.

Fuck.

“Why are you doing this? If you didn't want us here, you could have just said so and we would have left!”

“Man, quit it with the bullshit. I know you two aren't here for some spare parts. Just honestly didn't expect you to be stupid enough to actually come here”, Sun shrugged, grey fingers typing some commands into the keyboard that Solar couldn't decipher from this angle, but he doubted that it was anything good.

“God dammit, Ruin was actually right about this place...”, he mumbled as he opened a message to send to Moon, but all he as met with was static and an error message.

“I disabled your communications, idiot. Seriously, do you think I'm that stupid?”, the Sun turned to him, face a mixture of amusement and disbelief. It was almost enough to make Solar feel like an idiot. “But hey, I'll give you kudos for your attempt to fool me! A broken fuse wasn't the worst tale I've ever heard, but it's a strong contender for that title”, he added with a chuckle.

“What are you doing?”, Solar demanded to know, ignoring the condescending shit-talk while checking to see if maybe – ugh, of course the asshole had disabled his weapons too, god dammit! “Get away from them!”

“Oooohh, not so ferocious there, tiger~! You're scaring me”, came another chuckle, the Sun not even deigning him with another glance up from his work he had turned back to. Solar wanted to wipe that smug expression off his face so bad. “I'm almost done, anyway. Then you can both do me a favour and kindly fuck out of here.”

Now it was Solar's turn to stare in disbelief. The fear of jinxing their luck threatened to close up his throat, but he had to ask. “You're letting us go?”

“Do I look like I need two more eclipses running around here? I'm glad to be rid of the ones I already had”, Sun scoffed as he leaned back and watched P&S do its thing, Ruin's body giving the barest of twitches now and then. The knot in Solar's stomach tightened.

“Look, just let us go, okay? We won't come back here, and no one from our place will ever hunt you down for any of this”

“God, are all you “nice eclipses” like this? I will let you go when I'll let you go. Ask again, and I won't.”, Sun hissed now, and Solar knew when to shut up.

There was no reasoning with this guy, he realized. He had no way to break free or contact the others either, so as much as he hated it, all he could do was watch, and hope that whatever this bastard did to Ruin would either leave no marks, or could be reversed later back home.

The gnawing doubt of that threatened to eat away his insides.

Minutes felt like an eternity, one that Solar both longed and dreaded to reach the end of, until finally, the cables disconnected from Ruin and the other Sun stood up from his chair, giving no indication of whether or not he was pleased with the result of whatever he had done.

“Alright. Your friends have been trying to reach you for a while now, so portal's open for five minutes. You better get your asses out of there until then. I could actually use some spare parts”

Without another word, the Sun vanished, and Solar heard the click and swish of both his cell's door and the cylinder opening. He rushed out, found with a passing glance at the console that whatever process had been running there had already been wiped, and cursed as he slung Ruin over his shoulders without much ceremony.

Four minutes – came a mechanical rendition of Sun's voice through the intercom, and Solar ran. It was a good thing that Ruin was neither tall nor heavy to begin with, but they were also practically dead weight at the moment, and Solar's own legs were still feeling a weak after whatever this asshole had done to him.

Down the corridor, up the stairs. Three minutes – returned the taunting announcement, but they were almost there. Ruin gave a unintelligible, barely there mumble over his shoulder, but Solar had no time to pay attention to that as he burst through the Daycare doors.

Oh wait, I miscounted. Ten seconds. Say hello to that little misfit from me – Solar cursed, sprinting the rest of the way, almost stumbling as he felt his mind growing hazy, and he begged that the portal would actually take them back home, but he had neither time nor choice to doubt or check that as he took a literal leap of faith...

Solar shot out of the ballpit like a man drowning, gasping for air that he didn't need before dragging himself and Ruin up on the small island. There were hands on them both immediately, three black clawed ones pulling Ruin up while Solar himself got hoisted up by blue and yellow hands respectively, and his own knees finally buckled as soon as they didn't need to support his weight any longer.

“Hey, hey! Easy, Solar”, Sun said, and Solar hated how the flinched the tiniest bit at the voice of his friend, but hoped that he could blame it on the jelly-like feeling of his limbs, if it ever came up later. He sighed in relief as he was sat down on the padded floor of the Daycare – their Daycare.

“What happened?”, asked Moon. “We tried to reach you guys but nothing came through! Were you in a bunker or something?”

“We... we...”, Solar groaned, rubbing his head as his headache started to come back with a fiery vengeance now that the artificial adrenaline rush was over. “I don't know, I – I think we met someone and... and –“

And then what?

He knew that the snarl that interrupted him belonged to Eclipse without having to look to confirm – and the fact that he was roughly grabbed by the shirt and yanked up towards a very pissed off face was also quite telling.

“You were supposed to keep an eye on them!!”

“Whoa!”, Moon pushed between them, forcing some distance. “Calm down man! We don't know what even happened yet!"

“You should have never let them go in there in the first place!”

“Huh?! That was their own decision! Or what, can't they make those anymore?!”

“You little piece of –!”

“Boys!”, Earth shushed all of them, turning heads towards her and Ruin, whom she had taken off Eclipse before his outburst. “They're waking up”

Eclipse knelt down instantly, forcing himself to keep some distance and give them some breathing room, even when it felt like an impossible task with the oil-boiling anger still seething inside of him right now. He could, and would, tear Solar and Moon a new one for this later.

Ruin groaned, their rays retracting and emerging at random before finally settling, but Eclipse couldn't feel anything but unsettled as, instead of their usual heterochromia, a pair of carmine optics stared up at him in wide-eyed confusion that quickly morphed into terror. “Oh. Oh wow. Oh SHIT. Agh!”

They doubled over, covering their face with their hands as they hissed in pain. Eclipse cursed under his breath as he took hold of their shoulders, forcing his voice box to keep a calm pitch. “What's wrong?”

“T-too bright...”, they hissed through their teeth, barely able to get the words out. “The lights –“

“Computer!”, Moon called out without hesitation, and the lights in the Daycare switched over to their naptime setting at once.

He knew the symptoms of his own former light sensitivity when he saw them.

Ruin's shoulders relaxed instantly, a relieved sigh escaping from their voice box as they opened their eyes again.

Shoving down the discomfort he felt, Eclipse offered them the most softness he could muster up right now. “Hey, it's okay. How are you feeling?” – Aside from the obvious optical glitch, but that would be an easy fix.

They continued to stare at him, mouth slightly agape in an untypical display of speechlessness that was decidedly un-Ruin-like and only served as fuel to the fire of Eclipse's nervousness.

But, as was very Ruin-like, the silence didn't last forever.

“...well, I haven't had that happen in a while. Quite unusual”, they said with a couple of blinks. Eclipse took a moment to clear his throat.

“Are you okay?”, he asked again.

“Well, yes I am. Aside from that terrible headache”, they hiss-mumbled, taking Eclipse's hand once he offered it to rise back to their feet, groaning a little. “Damn, I feel woozy...”

“So, I'm taking a wild guess that you also have no idea what happened”, Moon spoke up with a frown, one arm wrapped around Solar to keep him from stumbling. Ruin's gaze flicked between them both.

“I'm afraid I don't...”

“Great”, Moon groaned with an audible roll of his eyes. “Guess we'll have to take you both down to Parts and Service for a check-up, then.”

“Right behind you, dear Moon”

“How did this happen?”

“I truly, honestly don't know”

“Hm”, came Eclipse's short hum while he continued working away on Ruin's broken fingers.

How had they managed to snap not one, but two wires in their hand? They weren't usually that clumsy, but since the cylinder was currently occupied with Solar having his head checked out by Moon, Eclipse would have to make do with some manual repair. His own hands were still good enough for that.

“I'm sorry for worrying you, Eclipse”

“I know you are.”, came another short reply, and Ruin resigned themselves to their fate that they would just have to take what they got for now. Fair enough. They had promised to be careful, after all.

“Whelp, that's some by-the-book memory wipe if I've ever seen one”, Moon's conclusion interrupted the uncomfortable situation with some even more uncomfortable information.

“The good news is that it only seems to affect the last two hours, conveniently. The bad news is that those files are, like, gone gone, so unless someone maybe has another encrypted memory storage hidden inside their head –?”

“I'm quite flattered Moon, but I'm afraid I cannot be of service in that regard”

“Worth a shot. Hop in there anyway just to make sure nothing else is wrong. Want me to fix your eyes while I'm at it?”

“That would be quite lovely”, the mismatched animatronic obliged without refusal, giving Eclipse's hand a quick squeeze before heading over towards the cylinder that Solar had just left.

And they wanted to be cooperative, they really did – but the second they plugged themselves into the machine, there was a surge, followed by a shattering of all the lightbulbs inside the cylinder, and then... nothing, which was not a good sound for a piece of such intricate machinery as this one was.

“...Ominous”

“The hell was that?”, the lunar animatronic hissed, hands and eyes flying over keys and screens, but the results were all the same.

“...You just complete fried P&S”

“I'm pretty sure I did no such thing”

“Well, something did! Man, fuck this day...”, Moon cursed, only somewhat soothed by Solar putting a gloved hand on his shoulder.

“An all-nighter fixing this thing, then?”

“No, you go and rest. Your schedule tomorrow's full enough as it is. Stupid Monday's movie specials...”, Moon rubbed his face with a groan.

“Are you -”

“I am sure. I can handle this”

“Alright then”, Solar relented with a small sigh. “I'll come down here on my break”

Moon also knew when to relent, so he did. “Sounds good”

“Come on”, Eclipse nudged Ruin's arm after he was done checking them for any fallen glass shards, ignoring the ones he had stepped on himself. “Let's go”

“Uh, shouldn't we wait to see what caused this...?”

“Nah, you two go. I gotta fix this thing first anyway. As long as you feel fine, things are good”, Moon waved them both off. “Let me know once you stop feeling fine, though”

“I will do just so!”, Ruin assured as they were being escorted - more like lovingly dragged - through the red double doors by Eclipse.

A quick little white lie that they wanted to take a look at their weirdly coloured eyes for themselves had bought Ruin some time and privacy in one of the guest bathrooms on the floor of the Arcade, and Eclipse had even humored their request and had stayed outside.

And really, it wasn't even much of a lie, they did want to see this “glitch”, partly because they hadn't even been aware that they possessed different colour settings for their optics. Mostly for another reason, though.

A look in the mirror revealed that it didn't look that bad – unfamiliar, sure, but at least it was the same red that they had possessed before.

It was Moondrop's colour, and he thought them pretty nice, actually, and, well, pretty. Honestly, he probably could get used to it over time, but herein laid the issue.

He was not supposed to be out and see his eyes in Eclipses face! Or Ruin, or whatever.

Something had gone wrong – duh! – and Moondrop felt a horrible, churning feeling in his gut that made him turn on the water faucet just in time before he threw up into the sink, watching as the residue of his stomach nanite's work was flushed down the drain.

“God dammit, get a hold of yourself and think for five seconds!”, he hissed to himself, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You know what this is. We've talked about it before. Calm. Down. It's fine. This is exactly why we made this contingency plan. Sunny will be fine. He knows what he's doing”

If only that actually did anything to help. He had an idea about what must have happened, but he absolutely hated not being able to actually recall anything! And yes, he technically couldn't be sure that nothing had gone catastrophically wrong and Sunny was gone for good, but he would not entertain that train of thought any further.

He had to keep it together, both for himself and Sunny, but also for the bundled up lines of code that currently lay dormant within their shared mindscape.

Follow the contingency plan. Keep Eclipse safe at all costs.

Gods, and what the hell was he doing? Sunny was off shouldering the bear's share of this predicament right now, while he was having a panic attack in a women's bathroom!

No. The least he could do was do his part to ensure that nothing further happened to Eclipse – but ugh, he would have to get used to the name Ruin for now, wouldn't he? At least for the time being. They would always be Eclipse.

And if that meant that he would have to keep them believing that they were just having the occasional hallucinations instead of actually talking to himself and Sunny from time to time, then he would do that, too. A dick move maybe, but certainly the better alternative to having them spiral into yet another identity issue.

Drawing a deep breath in to fill their non-existent lungs, they focused on the swirling sea of clouds that seemed to make up every Daycare Attendant's mindscape, and knelt down next to the other animatronic.

Ruin looked like they were sleeping, which maybe they were, and Moondrop sincerely hoped that they could stay blissfully unaware of everything until this harrowing ordeal was over. He carefully ran a hand over the familiar face, partly his own and partly his other half's, and couldn't help but sigh.

“You'll be alright. I promise things will be okay. We're all in this together, right? We always were, and we always will be. ...I'm sorry for lying to you, there's actually so much me and Sun want to talk to you about, tell you about, but... well, I guess we won't do it now. Not right now, I mean, but later. Oh man, will we have some conversations later buddy! Like, I mean, that other Eclipse? I do NOT know what you see in him, but man, you have some... interesting tastes. I don't think I'll be able to keep up with that, but I'll do my best to keep up appearances. Promise you that”

He ceased his rambling when Ruin didn't react, giving another sigh at that, but this one mixed with a little bit of relief. Moondrop moved his hand to gently stroke over their shoulder.

“Yeah, that's right buddy. You just stay in here and sleep it off, and Sunny and I will handle the rest. Your big brothers will take care of this”

He stared out into the neverending clouds for a moment longer before faintly growing aware of a knocking sound and Ruin's name being called in the outside world. Guess it was showtime.

“Don't worry. We'll just put on the act again”

Please look at this wonderful fanart mama-ships (tumblr) made for the end scene! <3<3<3

Chapter Text

Solar rubbed his eyes. His head still felt like a fuzzy mess. Why were the last couple of hours such a blur? He knew they had gone to that different place, he knew they had met someone there, and then... then what? Why had they fallen out of the portal like that? What the hell had happened?!

Part of the answer was obvious, as memories usually didn't wipe themselves on their own; but why?

Wracking his brain for answers only rewarded him with even more headaches though, so he eventually aborted that mission before he ended up frying his processor.

With a grunt, he laid his head to rest on the ticket counter, hoping that the cool surface would do something to alleviate the pounding behind his eyes, but to no avail. The distant feeling of wrongness still lingered – as did a certain red and blue gaze that had been on him for the last few... how long had it been? Thirty minutes, an hour maybe? Gods, his internal clock was all messed up.

“You don't have to just keep sitting here, you know”, he finally addressed Solstice, who perked up at being spoken to. “You can go and head off to rest if you want to. Try to catch some sleep before the Plex opens for guests tomorrow”

A confused tilt of the head had Solar raise his own back up and frown a little. “You now, rest? As in sleep? As in charge?”

Solstice tilted his head in the other direction, and Solar let out a sigh. Starting at the basics, then.

“Okay, so you actually need to charge every now and then, preferably regularly (oh Solar, you hypocrite). I have a spare charger you can use. Do you know where your ports are?”

Solstice shook his head. The basics, then.

“I'll show you”, Solar said, stepping up to Solstice to ask for one of his hands. Once given, he guided it along the back of Solstice's faceplate. “So, if you feel around the back of your head, you should find a small indent somewhere around... here”, he explained, waiting until the other nodded that he could feel the spot.

“Good. Now, you can open it either manually by applying a little bit of pressure, or you can give a command to open it once you get more familiar with it”, he continued and carefully used Solstice's finger to apply said pressure, and with a faint click, the port opened.

“There. Now you can plug in and charge during the night. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out should anything happen”

He... wasn't exactly sure why he had said that last part. What should happen? Moon had blocked that other dimension off again, so it wasn't like anything – or anyone, could just follow and ambush them again.

Wait, again? Why again? Had they gotten ambushed?

They had, hadn't they? They had.

Yes, follow that thought. If you and Ruin have gotten ambushed, then by whom? You know that you've met someone in that other dimension, so focus on that. Who was it? A human? An animatronic? More likely an animatronic, but who? A Daycare Attendant model would make the most sense, so maybe a Moon, a Sun, or possibly even an Ecl–

The sudden onslaught of pain in his head nearly made him stumble – but it was also exactly the confirmation he needed.

They had met an Eclipse in that other dimension, and most likely, that one had done something to both of them and then tried to cover their tracks with memory wipes and implanted pain triggers.

Clever, but they had also given themselves away with it. One step closer to figuring your shit out, asshole.

Celebrating this small victory while also trying to wrangle the slowly subsiding pain down even further, Solar blinked in surprise when he noticed that Solstice had apparently been trying to get his attention.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

“Are you okay...?”

Raising his eyebrows at the first proper sentence he had heard the other speak yet, he gave him a smile that he hoped looked at least a little bit reassuring.

“Yeah, I'm okay. Just a headache”

“Oh... maybe sleep too?”

“I'll go to sleep a bit later.”, he (rep)lied – even when he had promised Moon otherwise, but there was just no way he could go to sleep right now, not with his thoughts racing a thousand miles per minute. “But don't worry, it won't be long, and I'll make sure to charge too”, he added.

Solstice still didn't look all that convinced, but he eventually nodded, and Solar wanted to take his hand back that was somehow still being held, but was met with some gentle, but still-there resistance. “...Yes? Is there something else?”

“I can keep company?”

Oh. Uhh. “Thank you, but you really don't need to. I wouldn't be the most interesting company anyway”

“I am a very good listener”

Yeah... somehow, Solar doubted that with this level of conversational prowess. But then again, a good listener didn't exactly need to be a good talker too, did they? And Solar probably wouldn't have to worry about Solstice going around spilling the tea about anything he told him, right? Not that Earth would do that either, but since she wasn't here right now, well...

Ah, screw it. He might as well give it a try.

“Alright, alright”, he eventually relented. “But don't complain when I accidentally bore you to death”

With a grin, Solstice darted off – still holding Solar's hand, so he had no choice but to basically get dragged back to his own room, where he was promptly sat down on his own mattress after finally having his hand released. A bit straightforward maybe, but he would cut the other some slack for that.

Conversational skills came right after social awareness, after all.

But, what to talk about? Solstice looked ready and happy to listen to anything, giving his bright expression, which gave Solar an idea.

“How about we make this a game? Each of us gets to ask the other a question, and we take turns answering them. How does that sound?”

Solstice's already big eyes seemed to grow even bigger, and Solar would not be surprised if they actually started to sparkle – hm, that could make for an interesting feature to try and test out in the future – but their enthusiastic nod conveyed the message well enough.

Solar sat up in a cross-legged position after he'd kicked his work boots off – unconsciously copying Solstice's own sitting position at the other end of his bed, but hey, it was admittedly quite comfortable.

“I'll go first, if you don't mind. What's your... favourite colour?”

Really, Solar? That's the best you could think of? This was a pretty solid chance to figure out if Solstice actually did, somehow, retain any of his memories, and you ask about his favourite colour?

“Oh, I like green! Green's the best! It's so... green!”

...Then again, he should probably start slow with him anyway.

“Green, huh?”, he reached over to the nightstand next to his bed to grab a can of oil for each of them. Coffee was nice and all, and he would certainly like one right now, but he actually wanted to get Solstice to sleep sometime soon and not high on caffeine. He cracked open both lids before taking a sip from his own. “Green's a nice colour, I suppose. Okay, now it's your turn”

Solstice gave a thoughtful hum, tilting his head this way and that at the can in his hands before giving it an experimental sip himself, and oh boy, non-existent sparkle feature again, which made Solar chuckle a little bit.

And then finally, the most substantial of questions came out of his mouth. “What's your favourite colour?”

“I actually like yellow”, the eclipse-model answered with a shrug. “And orange too, I guess. And those little in-between tones, those are nice too. And red.”

Wow, he hadn't known that he was that indecisive when it came to colours, but Solstice appeared satisfied with his given answer regardless.

And also, those had been his Sun's favourites.

Nope, not going there tonight. Time to raise the difficulty level instead. “Okay, I'm gonna bend the rules a bit for my next turn. You do remember where you woke up yesterday, right?”

After thinking for a moment, Solstice gave a couple of quick nods. “In the big glass thing”

“The cylinder in Parts and Service, yes. And that's the first memory you have, right?”

Solstice thought a bit longer about this one, which Solar patiently gave him all the time he needed for. Eventually, another set of nods came.

“Okay. Now, I want you to try something. Think back to that moment, and any details that may come to your mind. Maybe close your eyes if that helps.”, Solar offered – Earth certainly would have been way better at this, but again, she wasn't here right now, and it's not like Solar never listened when the topic of her therapeutic methods came up in conversation – or from first hand experiences.

He had no idea what the name for this method was, or if he was even doing it correctly, but there was no harm in giving it a try, right?

Solstice seemed a willing participant either way, closing their bi-coloured eyes and giving Solar some more privacy with it, as well. As pleasant as his company was, the eclipse-model was reaching the end of his social battery a little.

“Take your time with it, and once you feel ready, tell me what you can think of”

It took a surprisingly short time for the other to answer, much to Solar's, well, surprise, but then again, barely forty-eight hours of memory couldn't take that long to sort through and reach the end of, right?

“You brought me new clothes”

“Right, I did”, Solar nodded. “And if you think a little further back, do you know what had happened before?”

“Hmmm...", the other hummed, optics still shut tight in concentration. "I was in the glass thing, the... the cylinder.”, Solstice quickly corrected, frowning a little at the unfamiliar message that appeared on his HUD. What was a “entering-standby-mode”?

“That's right, you were in there because I had to check your system for damages. Good job, Solstice. And now, if you can, I want you to think even further back than that. Maybe when you were waking up, or perhaps even a few minutes before that? Like some kind of dream, possibly. Anything?”

Solstice felt a whoozy feeling wash over him, like a sudden, irresistible wave of drowsiness that he had no hope of fighting against, so he just didn't, and when he opened his eyes back up again, he was already asleep.

Ah damn, Solar could practically see the buffering symbol in Solstice's gaze. Okay granted, the jump from one's favourite colour to asking an amnesiac if they remembered anything was pretty... severe. Man, Solar had really left all his subtlety in his bed this morning, huh?

“Ah sorry, that was probably a bit too much. You don't have to answer that one, let's go with something else inst-”

Solar cut himself off when Solstice took hold of his hand again, and he found himself looking into a pair of suddenly very serious looking optics. “Uhm, yes?”

“Is it my turn?”

“Oh! Yeah, yeah sure it is, buddy. Sorry”, Solar made a sound of clearing his throat, sipping from his oil can again. He had went a little overboard there, hadn't he? “What do you want to know?”

“I want to show you something”

Oh? Well, sure, that would do too, probably something that he had made with Sun in arts and crafts or something. “Yeah sure, I'd love to see it”, he said with a bit more excitement than even he had expected.

“It's nothing to see. It's something to hear!”, Solstice explained, wearing that same bright smile on his face that Solar had come to associate with – and honestly even kinda like about – him, so he probably hadn't offended him too much, after all.

“Close your eyes?”

Yeah, fair enough, so Solar did without hesitation. It didn't take long before a soft melody started playing. It sounded like a lullaby, and while Solar did wonder where Solstice had gotten a music box from, he found the melody far too relaxing to open his eyes again and ask him about it.

Instead, he decided to take the chance to let his mind wander a bit.

What if he actually was like Ruin? Perhaps he had gone by Eclipse? Or maybe something completely different, like, pfff, Equinox? Or was his name actually Solstice? He would really love to know that, not just to satisfy his own curiosity, but for Sols' own sake, too. Solar already hated the little memory issues that he was experiencing right now, he didn't even want to imagine what it must feel like for the other animatronic. Did he feel like Moon had when he had first awoken anew? Then again, the lunar animatronic hadn't even been close to the state that Solstice currently was in, and Solar wasn't sure which he found worse.

Would he even want to remember? What if something actually horrible had happened to him, and not being able to remember was a blessing in disguise? But that kind of moral question was way too complex for him to think about now, not when his mind felt so pleasantly sluggish and heavy.

Had his battery actually dropped too low? It must have, he couldn't explain the sudden tiredness in his body and mind anyway else. Maybe he had overexerted his systems? Hopefully he hadn't actually fried anything with his earlier memory digging, but that was also too hard to worry about when he felt so absolutely cozy.

He startled only the slightest bit when he felt the can slip from his fingers, squinting his eyes open to see Solstice had caught it, and man, his eyes were really pretty, weren't they? Looking at him like that.

“Shhh”, he said, and Solar saw no reason to disagree with that as he let his eyes slip closed again, embracing the soft, warm feeling and the melody to take his mind away.

Why were they lying to him?

He knew that they still kept their occasional secrets. Lying by omission. He did it too. Fine by him.

But downright lying to his face?

Something was wrong.

The optical glitch and memory issues were the obvious part, the latter the more concerning of the two, for reasons. Eclipse would not further dwell on that for now. There would be time for that later – after he had dealt with the problem.

He wasn't surprised by the fact that neither Solar, nor the oh-so-brilliant Moon had picked up on the less obvious aspects of the situation. Ruin had been, and for all intents and purposes still was, a hell of a convincing actor.

More than once had they gone on some long ass speech about all these little intricacies of acting to him – most of which had bored rather than interested Eclipse, honestly, but he had always made sure to listen regardless. A useful trait that he had taken on since the day his first version had come online, and it certainly came in handy once more now.

One of these little lessons in acting had been about how, when an actor was so completely absorbed into their role that they were practically living it, they could become unable to act out a spontaneous reaction. Or something like that, Eclipse did not care for any proper jargon regarding the matter. But he knew what they had meant.

And when the lights in the cylinder had exploded, they had barely reacted. No flinching, no startled shout – they had barely even moved to shield themselves from the falling shards of glass.

They had known that it was going to happen.

Now the question was, which part of it all was the act? He knew that they were able to very convincingly fake a memory loss, and the machine failing right at the moment they were supposed to get scanned was pretty convenient, wasn't it?

They were lying.

But why were they lying to him?

He wouldn't deny that it hurt. It fucking stung, and it was damn hard not to take it personally.

Confronting them about it right now wouldn't do him any good, though. They had not been okay on that bathroom floor, even when they had claimed otherwise, and he would let them have their rest.

Screw whatever they had to do tomorrow, the Arcade would be fine on its own, and if it helped to make them feel better, they could take the whole week off for all he cared.

And it gave him more time to think.

What to do with that knock-off? There was no doubt in his mind that the reason for all this trouble was because of this other animatronic – this Solstice.

He would get rid of them, but the method was still up for debate. Killing them would be the easiest, but arguably also messiest option. Not because he planned to make a mess, but because the others would never let him hear the end of it, and while he couldn't care less about that, he didn't want to ruin his rather amicable relationship with Earth – and she would never approve of downright murder.

He would throw them into the portal then, like he had said before. Like they should have done in the first place.

If he could be bothered to, he would even look for a nice, quiet dimension for them. He wasn't quite sure if he could be bothered yet though – maybe he would just throw them back into their own dimension and let whatever lurked there have them back. Whichever option would prove the least troublesome for him.

It would have to look convincing, but that was easy. That knock-off was pretty much braindead, so getting them to trust him should take no time at all. He would just have to play nice a bit.

Ruin moved a little on top of him, but didn't stir from their sleep. Eclipse ran his hand over their back until he was convinced they weren't going to wake up, making sure to keep the purring in his chest going as he knew it helped soothe them.

He would stay like this for as long as they needed him to, and he would make sure to be right there for when they woke up.

Dimension 560Beta

The Sun watched the last of the diagnostics run over the screen. Everything seemed to be in order. Good. He wasn't sure if he could bring up the patience to track down yet another amalgamation AI. Not when this one had come right up to his doorstep after the other had escaped through the backdoor. Yeah, no chance he was wasting that opportunity.

If only that other one hadn't run, then he wouldn't even be stuck with this problem at all. His brother wouldn't be stuck. But thinking about what-could-have-beens was not going to do him any good, so he didn't. He couldn't risk losing his focus now that he was so close.

The spare frame should come in soon enough. Screw his own unpreparedness, but he had been counting on simply using the amalgamation for this, before it had slipped through his fingers. And using that other one, that Ruin, as it had introduced itself, was off the table – he didn't need to give that other dimension any more reason to come after him as they already had.

If they decided to come here anyway, it was on sight. He couldn't have any more interference, the window of opportunity was closing rapidly, and he had no back-up plan if that one's systems gave out.

“You would have been so much better prepared for this, wouldn't you, Moon?”, he spoke to no-one, and received no response. A fact he would no longer lament over, as salvation was just on the horizon.

All that stood in the way now was a fucking shipping date.

It was silent. He was alone with his thoughts. He had never been alone with his thoughts before. It was scary. It felt wrong.

It was a relief.

Being alone right now was good. It meant that everything had worked the way it should have, and his family was save. That's all that mattered at the moment, and once his own head felt a little better, he could start thinking about how to get out of this mess.

It was already feeling a bit better, actually, his mind being able to cobble together longer and more coherent thoughts by the minute. Good, if his mind was intact, then Moondrop's was most likely too. And Eclipse's... well, he would just have to trust that Moony would take good care of them and keep them save. They had both done what they could for their little brother for now – the rest depended on how things would continue to play out from this point forward.

Ah, he could slowly start to feel his body a bit more. Not physically, not really, he was most likely just code at the moment, stuck in whatever kind of machine this twisted mockery of a Sun had put him into – but at least he had the mental image of himself to keep him company. That would have to be enough for now... and for however much longer.

He couldn't bear the thought of his other half being stuck here too, even if it was just in his imagination. Taking in a deep breath, Sunny sat down on the ground, deciding to use the time to get accustomed to his new enclosure. He was sure that this other Sun would contact him sooner or later.

But for now, he was alone, but that was okay, because being alone in here meant that his family was save out there, and that was worth every price to pay.

Oh, and how he would make this Grey Sun pay.

After all, he didn't have that killcode for nothing, did he?

Another amazing fanart by mama-ships! <3

Sunny waiting for his chance to kick Grey Sun's butt

Chapter Text

The next morning came slowly, tranquil almost, and Solar decided to turn around on his mattress for a couple more minutes.

It was rare for him to ease into waking up like this – he simply never got the chance. He also didn't jolt awake like someone dramatically shooting up from a nightmare (well, not anymore), but usually, he would just be asleep one moment and awake the next. That was just how he worked.

But it was probably fine if he slept in for once – it's not like today would be extra busy or anything. Monday's usually weren't.

…Wait. Mondays? As in movie-specials-Mondays? As in the-Theatre-will-be-flooded-with-guests-all-day-long kind of Mondays?

In an instant, Solar was awake, all systems and processes running at full blast. He almost ripped out his charging cord while he bolted from his room, sprinting through the breakroom towards the counter.

Shit shit shit shit fuck fuck FUCK!

Oh gods, he could already hear all the pissed off customers causing a fuss, threatening complaints and whatnot. He could hear the whining kids, the pissed off parents, he could hear –

“One Chica Chugee, one Chowder with Guac and two bags of Meat Bites, here you go~! Enjoy your movie!”

Solar almost skidded past the doorway as Solstice waved the last costumer off for their movie. A quick glance at the computer log revealed that this had been the fifteenth order so far, and Solar didn't even want to imagine what ridiculous food combinations those had included. Who the hell put ketchup on their popcorn?!

For a moment, all he could do was watch in stunned silence. Had he handled all of this on his own? The whole morning rush??

“Hello Solar!”

“Uh, hi”, he replied dumbfounded, staring at the other animatronic a few seconds longer than what would be considered polite.

“How... are things? No wait, screw that. How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“That!”, Solar said with some gestures towards the counter. “The whole costumer service. Who taught you to do that?”

Solstice answered with a shrug, and honestly, Solar didn't find it hard to believe him. That, and he doubted that he would get an actual answer out of the other if he kept asking about it.

“Well, thank you for handling this. But why didn't you wake me?”

“Because you looked tired! I wanted to let you sleep”

Something flashed in Solar's mind, the beginning of a memory, of a question about last night and –

Stop thinking about it.

...Well, Solar couldn't exactly argue with Solstice's assessment, could he? He must have been really tired if his mind was still acting up like that, and honestly, he hadn't had such a relaxing night in a long while, and that was saying something.

“Thank you, Sols. But you can go take a break now, I'll take over the next shift”

“...Break?”

And there were the head tilts again, and honestly, they were starting to look a little endearing, Solar thought.

“Yeah, you definitely deserve some free time now – just maybe don't go wandering off too far. How about you go visit Sun down in the Daycare? I'm sure he'd appreciate the company”

“Okay!”, Solstice agreed with a grin, apparently switching back over to simpler sentence structures again, but that was alright. His enthusiasm made up for it – and maybe, it also made Solar smile a little, but since no one else was around to bear witness to that, he didn't mind it.

Solstice patiently waited for the shutters to open – he had already made the experience of bumping into something with his rays once, and that was not something worth repeating, thank you very much! So, once they were open enough, he slipped through and found himself face to face with a tall, black and red animatronic.

“Oh! Hello Eclipse!”, he gave a greeting that was not reciprocated, but that was okay – some people just weren't big talkers! Good thing he had enough in him for the both of them!

“How are you?”

“...Fine.”

Solstice gasped internally. He got a response! An actual response! Okay Sols, you cannot blow this, so think carefully about what to say next!

“We match!”

“...What?”

With an excited grin, Solstice proudly showed off his neckerchief, faint yellow stars on blue fabric, before pointing at the exact same thing Eclipse was wearing.

“Matching scarves!”

Unbeknownst to the smaller animatronic, something about that statement struck a cord within Eclipse, and oh boy was it not a good one.

“Oh yeah, we do. Isn't that nice?”, he replied plainly, already planning to very much not look for a nice dimension to drop this guy into. He could disappear into the void for all he cared.

“Where did you get yours from? Oh wait, you don't remember, do you? Oh, I'm sorry, that was so inconsiderate of me. Just forget what I said”

Solstice didn't stutter like a Sun maybe would. He also didn't have a snarky comeback ready on his lips, like a Moon would have. There also wasn't an outburst of rage and anger, like an Eclipse would be inclined to.

He simply blinked one, two, three times before smiling up at Eclipse once more.

“I don't know!”

Yeah, that's along the lines of what Eclipse had expected for an answer. The more important information it provided was that the knock-off was either too polite or too stupid to react to his provocation, and Eclipse's bet was on the latter.

What a productive conversation this had been.

“Guess it doesn't matter anyway. You know what, don't go wandering off too far. I need to talk to you later”, Eclipse said with an easy smile that he had to force onto his face, but Solstice waved him off with a wide grin anyway. “Okay! See ya!”

“Yeah”

And off he was, leaving a happy, but also very worried Solstice behind.

On the one hand, Eclipse had talked to him! Their first conversation, and it had been such a great one! He had even smiled!!

But on the other hand, Eclipse had looked tired. Maybe he hadn't slept well? In that case, he should make sure to get him something to cheer him up! Yes, that's what he would do, and he would go and ask Sun for help.

With a mission in mind, Solstice made his way down the stairs to the Daycare, humming along to its upbeat tune as he walked through the fake wooden double doors.

Right off the bat, he could spot about eight kids, but his sensors picked up that there were about thirteen in the Daycare in total, so the others were probably playing in one of the playpens. The scent of cleaning supplies was a bit stronger than it had been yesterday, most likely from a spill earlier today that had required cleaning.

And sure enough, he quickly spotted Sun, who was talking to someone he hadn't seen before. An animatronic that was even smaller than he himself was, dressed in blues, purples and whites. And here he thought he had already met everyone! How exciting!

With a smile on his face, he made his way across the Daycare, waving to and greeting all the little ones along the way.

“And now Moon has blocked that dimension off – again – and we have to figure out what to do about... oh, hey Solstice! What brings you here?”, Sun greeted him while the smaller animatronic turned their head to him.

“Hello!”, he beamed back at them both and, of course, went to introduce himself to the new face first. “Nice to meet you! I'm Solstice!”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too. I'm Lunar”, the other introduced himself right back and, after a small nudge from Sun, quickly added, “Uh, Daycare Assistant, before you ask. Damn, you really look like Ruin”

“Can we do something for you, Solstice?”, Sun took over the conversation again before things could get weird...er. Not that Solstice even noticed. “The Daycare's still open, so I can't really do another round of arts and crafts with you right now”

“That's okay! I have a question anyway. What does Eclipse like?”

The Daycare seemed to fall silent, even though it was anything but that, but at least between the three of them, you could hear a pin drop.

“Uhm, I'm not really sure what he likes, actually...”

“Why do you want to know what this selfish prick likes? He probably only likes himself and, well, Ruin, obviously.”

“Lunar.”

“It's true though! Eclipse isn't someone who likes things. Why do you want to know that?”

Solstice blinked, tilting his head. “I want to get him something he likes”

“Yes, but why?”, Lunar asked again.

“People like getting nice things?”, Solstice said.

“Yeah, nice people like to get nice things”, Lunar retorted.

“Eclipse is nice”, Solstice insisted.

“Oh please, he really isn't. Has he ever been nice to you? Has he even talked to you yet?”

“Yes, just now! But he looked a bit tired. I want to get him something to cheer him up”

“Pfft!”, Lunar huffed out a laugh. “The only thing that can cheer that grumpy bastard–“

“Language!”

“– up looks exactly like you, but I'm sure we can't exactly wrap Ruin up like a present”

“Mister Lunar said a bad word!”, came a shocked gasp from the side.

“Tabea, we do not repeat that word in the Daycare!”, Sun quickly said. “Look Sols, I really need to get back to the kids, so how about you –“

“Oh, I can help!”

The yellow animatronic stopped, rays ticking left and right in consideration. “I mean...”

“Mr. Sun?”, came a small voice, a tug on striped pants and a pair of enormous puppy eyes from the little girl whose name was Tabea, as Solstice now knew. “Can we play with the new robot?”

“I don't know...”

“Oh come on Sun, let him try. He is a Daycare Attendant after all, right?”, Lunar pointed out with a smirk. “I'm sure he can handle playing with a few kids. I'll even supervise”

“Yeah, that's making me even more concerned” “Hey!” “Okay fine, you can go and draw with our new friend here, okay? Solstice, if you need anything, come get one of us. And when Earth comes in around noon for her shift, you can ask her about what to get for Eclipse, alright?”

“Alright!”, Solstice agreed, darting off towards the cubbies where he knew Sun kept all the art supplies with a handful of kids.

Lunar shot Sun a look. “He isn't exactly the sharpest crayon, is he?”

“Okay, now you're being just mean. He is a very nice person”

“There's a thin line between being nice and being annoying”

“Oh would you look at that, Albert just threw up all over the floor”

“Oh god da-!”, Lunar cut himself off, rushing over to the crime scene, while Sun felt generous enough to go and get him a mop, shooting Earth a quick message at the same time to maybe bring a certain something with her to the Daycare today.

When noon came around, so did Earth, in her a grasp a paper bag which she had brought at Sun's request. She quickly noticed that something was different today, although not in a bad way. The Daycare ran as usual with rather few kids today, but there was still one more animatronic posted on today's schedule, and it wasn't Moon or even Ruin, who would sometimes, although rarely, drop by.

But given what Sun had asked her to bring, she had a pretty solid guess as to who it was.

“Hey Sun!”, she greeted her big brother with a wave. “I see we have a new coworker today! How come?”

“Oh, Solstice decided to come and help us out today! Technically, but I had to log it in somehow so FazBear won't get on our nerves about this.”

“Aww, that's really nice of him! And how is he doing with that?”

“Pretty good, actually! I didn't give him too difficult tasks, but he's handling the arts and crafts with the kids really well, and they seem to like him too”

“Wonderful!”, Earth beamed in honest excitement, holding up the paper bag. “Should we wait before we give this to him then? I don't want to interrupt him if he's busy”

“Nah, I'll gather the kids for lunchtime now anyway, so you can go ahead and give it to him”

“Alright, thank you Sun!”, Earth left with another wave, heading over to the small plastic tables where she had already spotted the other animatronic, surrounded by a flock of kids with all kinds of different drawing utensils spread among them.

“Hello kids, hello Solstice”

“Oh, hello Earth!”, the animatronic perked up, the kids greeting her as well which never failed to warm her heart.

“I see you guys are having fun?”

“Yes!”, they all replied in unison, and now Earth found herself in an inescapable circle of excited kids showing off their artworks too her, which she indulged in without a moment's hesitation, giving out compliments and praises all around.

When she was eventually done and all the kids had been called over to lunch by Sun, Solstice had already brought all the tables back to immaculate cleanliness, art supplies and papers neatly sorted back into the cubbies.

“You really seem to have a knack for working with the kids. Some of them usually take some time to warm up to new faces”, Earth smiled at him.

“Oh, they are all so nice!”, Solstice gushed, grinning from cheek to cheek. “I really really like them!”

“And they seem to like you”, she replied warmly, curiously glancing at the stack of papers the other was holding in his hands. “Are those their drawings?”

“Oh!”, Solstice said, looking at the papers himself like he had just remembered that they were there. “No, I made those!”

“Oohhh, can I see?”

“Yes!”, the other exclaimed excitedly, handing Earth the drawings while practically bouncing with anticipation.

Putting the paper bag to the side for the moment, Earth carefully flicked through the drawings which were mostly done in crayons, some with markers, and while there were a lot of basic things like sunshines, rainbows or the occasional animal here and there, the ones that really caught her eye were portraits.

A few of Solar, one of Sun and Moon, of her, and she even spotted one of Lunar. There were a couple ones of Ruin too, but most of them were of Eclipse.

That is, there were actually two different version of Eclipse drawings. In some he was wearing his eyepatch and scarf, but two were different. It was still unmistakeably Eclipse, but something was different about them, and it wasn't just because of his undamaged look. But try as she might, she couldn't put her finger on it.

“Solstice, these are really good. You have talent!”

“Thank youuu~”, Solstice said with a giggle, rays spinning from the praise. “Do you want to keep yours?”

“Oh, I would love to!”, Earth gasped elatedly. “And I'm sure the others would like to have theirs too, if you want to”

“Yes!”, he agreed enthusiastically. “Oh, oh, that's what I wanted to ask you! Do you think Eclipse would like it too?”

Hmm, that was an interesting question, and one that Earth would like to know the reason behind. “He might, yes. Is there a reason you are asking about him specifically?”

Solstice nodded. “I want to cheer him up. He looked tired earlier”

Tired? Well, that didn't have to mean anything, but it could, and she would see if Eclipse wanted to talk about it later.

“You know what, I think both Ruin and Eclipse would really like a picture of the both of them together.”, she offered an idea. That way, it was the least likely that Eclipse would say anything mean about the gift. “Do you think you can do that?”

“Oh yes, yes I can!”, Solstice nodded instantly.

“Awesome~ And then later we could – oh wait, I almost forgot! I have something for you too”, Earth remembered, finally grabbing the paper bag and pulling Solstice's washed and fixed clothes out of it.

“Here, I patched them up for you! I had to get a bit creative in some parts because the fabric was so damaged, but I hope you like them still.”

With big, sparkling eyes, Solstice looked at the clothes, running an almost reverent hand over the fabric that instantly managed to soothe nerves he hadn't even realized were drawn taut.

Familiar, comforting.

It felt like home.

Without another word, Solstice flung his arms around Earth's shoulders as well as he could reach, giving her the biggest hug he could muster.

The situation didn't require more words, in Earth's mind, and she returned the hug with a warm smile on her face, completely forgetting that she had wanted to ask some more questions about those drawings of Eclipse.

Chapter Text

“Gotta stay out of the light, why the hell is this so bright – okay that rhyme was accidental but who the hell put all those lights here? Is FazBear that filthy rich to afford an electricity bill like this AND multiple lawsuits at the same time?!”, Moondrop half hummed, half cursed his way to the Theatre while avoiding any and all spots of bright light like the plague.

The lack of a mood changer in Eclipse's – ugh, Ruin's body meant that the command to switch just kept triggering without any way of release, and oh boy, was that not a pleasant feeling. Nuh-uh. Zero out of ten; would not recommend.

He was sure that he looked like the world's worst ninja as he tried to manoeuvre along the few spots of dimmer lighting in the area before finally, blessedly, the shutters to the Theatre lifted and he could slip inside. It was bright in there too, but more manageable, and he didn't plan to stay for long anyway.

He found the counter empty, which was both a blessing and a little disappointing. He really needed to talk to this Solar rather sooner than later, but figured that doing it later wouldn't do any harm. There were some more pressing matters to attend to first.

A show was currently on, some animated movie that he'd forgotten the name of, so his descent down the stairs went undisturbed and unnoticed. He remembered the STAFF bots coming down here to gather their props and make-ups for various shows, and if things hadn't been put out of commission or downright disassembled in this dimension, all that stuff should still be down here.

And sure enough, the basement with its black and white tiled floor greeted him with rows upon rows of shelves and boxes stacked and filled will all kinds of different props and accessories in a colourful variety. Jackpot.

Having to start somewhere, he pulled open the box closest to him and started rummaging through. He was looking for something specific, but some browsing never hurt anybody, and by the third box he had found a rather neat looking bow that he would see if he could somehow incorporate into his outfit.

The fourth box finally contained the coveted prize.

“There you are!”, he grinned as he pulled out a hat, undoubtedly a Moon prop, covered in light blue stars of various different sizes. It didn't exactly look like his old one – which he knew Eclipse was currently wearing the last scraps of, and that was a whole other story for another day – but the fabric felt nearly identical, and that was honestly way more than he could have asked for.

Retracting his topmost rays, he put the piece of clothing on his head and let out a sigh of relief. He instantly felt a sense of normalcy, of himself returning to him – a small comfort in this weird situation that he accepted more than gratefully. But his search was not quite done yet.

Shoving the bow into his pocket, he pushed the box back into the shelf and stood to inspect the rows of different glasses on display; some star shaped like Monty's, hearts with pink tinted glasses, some hexagonal ones... now, he could very much go overboard with these, and in any other situation, he probably would have, just for the fun of it, but he was actually looking for something that...

“Aha!”, he exclaimed his second victory as he pulled out a pair of sleek shades with round, red-tinted glasses. They even came with some little magnets so he could actually wear them! Monty definitely had it easier on that front, having a snout and whatnot.

The design was certainly not completely inconspicuous – but he was a Theatre/Daycare Attendant for crying out loud, he could wear a bit of the fancy stuff.

Popping the glasses on, the magnets easily connected to the metallic edges of his faceplate, and he felt a whole lot better already. So what if this was just a band-aid for his light sensitivity issue? The neat thing about placebos was that you just needed to believe in them in order for them to work, and Moondrop was ready to put quite a lot of faith in them.

Leaving the room behind, he could hear the movie still playing – it was some sort of musical apparently, but screw him if he could actually recall its damn title – and as he rounded the corner to go back up the stairs, he spotted a shadow from the corner of his eye.

His first, and honestly most reasonable guess was that it was a STAFF bot, but the distinct shape of a long nightcap gave him pause. Had Moon come down here? It would certainly not be out of character for him to do so, Moondrop mused as he shook off the discomfort from his shoulders. Or tried to.

“Hello there, Moon! Fancy seeing you here. Any progress on the repairs down in the basement?”

The figure turned its head around, and he didn't miss the unusual silence of the movement courtesy of a non-existent bell, and the feeling of wrongness only increased as two red eyes interspersed with white spirals stared back at him from the darkness.

“There's the Sun”
“And the Moon”
“Two in one”
“But not like us”
“The one that made us”
“Just so, other”

“Oh, you've got to be kidding me”

The figure rose to stand, head tilted in an unnatural angle to the side. 

“But he looks different somehow, doesn't he?”
“Yes, uglier”
“I think we could fix that”
“By eating his face?”
“There's an idea”

“I'll have you two know that I taste absolutely horrible”, Moondrop interjected, taking a few steps back, but where the hell should he go? The only way out of this area was up the stairs, and those were a little blocked by a certain someone right now.

So, straight ahead? Yeah, sure, how about he offer himself up on a silver platter while he was at it?

But the time for contemplation was over when Bloodmoon pounced.

Moondrop barely managed to dodge in time as sharp claws came for his neck, the dual AI animatronic slamming into the ground behind him. He rolled on his side and jumped back to his feet in an instant, making a mad dash towards the stairs but stopped right at their foot.

He couldn't run up there. There were humans, children, and if he let Bloodmoon loose on those –

No. He had to think of something else, and quick, because the red animatronic was already back on its feet.

“Look, there must be something you want that I can help you get. We can make a deal”, Moondrop offered.

“We want your head”
“On a spike”
“After we've torn off your face”
“And eaten your eyes”

“...Charming”

They charged again, and it's not like Moondrop was ready for it, how the fuck could he be, but this time he didn't dodge, but braced for impact. The smaller, but definitely more sturdier frame of Bloodmoon slammed into him, sharp claws hooking into his sides and an even sharper set of teeth coming for his throat, but Moondrop managed to wrench his arm in between just in time, and that's when he made his move.

His other hand shot out, around Bloodmoon's head and went straight for the back of his neck where a tiny, almost invisible button resided.

The effect was instant. Bloodmoon made a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a confused snort as they were forced to open their jaw, the rest of their body locking up as they stared at the other animatronic in wide eyed bewilderment.

“What are you doing?”
“Release us!”

“Yeah, fat chance”, Moondrop wheezed, letting his head fall back for a second to catch his breath. There was no way this had just worked. What in the world would have given Ruin the idea to implement that kind of trigger into this bloodthirsty maniac to stop them?! He had no idea, but god dammit was he glad that they had done it.

“I'm not letting you go”

Red eyes bore into him, and he winced when the claws dug a little deeper into his chassis. “We're gonna tear you apart if you don't let us go”

“I think you'll do that anyway”

“You'll bleed out”

“Probably”, Moondrop huffed, making sure that his grip wouldn't slip. “But all it takes is one message to Eclipse, and he'll come down here and tear out your motherboard. Does that sound that tempting?”

Bloodmoon grumbled, clearly debating their chances while showing off their black smeared teeth in a snarl. “We would be faster”

“I have already dialed his number”

“What do you want from us?!”

“I'd like to propose a truce”

“A what?”

“A truce is when two sides agree to cease their attacks on one another in order to-”

“We know what a truce is!!”
“We want to know why?!”

Moondrop gasped for air as the claws hooked even deeper. That little trigger apparently wasn't an almighty tool against the cannibal. “Well, if you could stop trying to skewer me for two minutes, I could explain it to you”, he ground out.

Bloodmoon seemed to consider, making a face before loosening their grip the slightest bit – at least enough to not dig any deeper.

“We're listening”
“So talk”
“Before we grow bored and eat you anyway”

What a true natural at negotiations these two were. God dammit Ruin, couldn't you have made them a little bit more tame? Or maybe not even at all.

“I'm assuming that you two would like your freedom, yes?”

There was a pause, and pauses were a dangerous thing when it came to the red animatronic.

“What are you talking about, freak?”
“We are free”

“Are you sure? Because I am pretty certain that this isn't the only trigger I have programmed into you. In fact, I am quite convinced that I have something that could actually kill the both of you”

“If you did, you would have used it against us right now”
“So why didn't you?!”

“Because it's quite literally a bomb, and I am not too interested in blowing myself up with the two of you, to be quite frank”

“We have nanites”
“We can regenerate”

“Not when your entire processor gets blown up at once”

“Remove it then”
“This instant!”

Ugh, they were going in circles with this, weren't they? More worrisome than that was the fact that the room was starting to go in circles too, and Moondrop was not planning to pass out and actually get eaten anytime soon.

“I will remove it and the any other triggers if you agree to work with me”, he made his demands, making sure to give Bloodmoon the most emotionless, most calculated look he could muster. “You know I have back-ups, so even if you kill me now, it won't be for long, and once I'm back, I will simply blow you up. If Eclipse doesn't beat me to it”

Cue more contemplation on Bloodmoon's part, and Moondrop really wished they would hurry up a little.

“Mhhh... fine”
“What are your demands?”

A sigh of relief threatened to slip out of Moondrop's mouth, but he swallowed it back down harshly. He wasn't out of harm's way yet. “You won't attack me, or anyone else in this PizzaPlex, and I will get to call in a favour from you at any time I please. Whether it is to kill someone, to save someone or anything else will be entirely up to me, and you cannot back out of it. Once that is done, I will remove all the triggers”

“So you're just stringing us along?!”
“You could stall forever!!”

A keen observation, and one that Moondrop had hoped Bloodmoon would have been to stupid to make. “There will be a one month time limit, at the most. If I fail to call in my favour until then, I will set you free regardless. It's a win-win situation for you, really. What do you two say?”

Another pause, more contemplation, and he swore he could feel the claws in his sides tensing to dig even deeper and rip, but they didn't.

“Hmmmm.... fiiiiiiiine”, they finally agreed, and Moondrop again had to force himself to not drop his guard just yet.

“Splendid. I shall release you now then, but remember: It only takes me snapping my fingers to end you”

“Yeees, fiiiine”, they groaned again before, and Moondrop should have expected as much, they yanked their claws out of his sides, making him see stars, but he grit his teeth and stayed still through it. Only then did he remove his own hand from their neck, and whatever spell had been cast over Bloodmoon was broken.

They immediately jumped back, crouching like a very pissed off cat, but made no further move to strike again.

Moondrop could feel his oil flowing out, the phantom feeling of his fingers and hands growing colder, and he knew that he needed to get to a repair bay, like, yesterday. But the prospect of having to walk up those stairs was horrifying.

“We will stay close.”
“And watch if you try to trick us”
“You better not be”
“Or we'll kill you”

“Yes yes, you have made that very clear by now”, he said with a dismissive handwave, still lying flat on his back – getting up felt like too much of a chore, and he wasn't looking forward to having a witness – or two – to watch his struggle. “I'll be in contact”

“Fuck you”

And gone they were, leaving behind a very exhausted and out of breath Daycare Attendant with a million thoughts running through his head.

God dammit Ruin, you'll have a lot of explaining to do when this shitshow is finally over.

Good thing that he couldn't really bleed out, though he was not surprised Bloodmoon had worded it that way, because it certainly felt like it. They were apparently experts in hitting the vital spots even in a robot, as they had turned him into a goddamn oil spill.

Well. That could have gotten infinitely better. He didn't even wait to reconsider before he gave the command to turn off his pain receptors, relaxing a little as any and every sensation fled from his body. Not a state that should be prolonged, as it could lead to further injuries, but by god did it feel heavenly right now.

Okay, now for the unflattering part. He already felt that the wouldn't be able to get up from his back, so swallowing his dignity, he slowly turned over onto his stomach and forced his arms to support his weight as he pushed himself up, frowning at the damage to his arm casing.

Dammit Ruin, you should have rebuild them without any teeth at all.

But at least he didn't have to wrestle with any of Sunny's cleaning protocols screaming at him about all the oil, so he had that going for him.

About a quarter of the way up the stairs was when he decided to say Fuck it and give Solar a call. Why Solar? Well, he couldn't exactly call Eclipse now, could he? Okay yes, he could, but that would escalate this situation so much more, and the benefit did not outweigh the cost of that. Plus, maybe, Solar would have his handy toolbox with him, and what beats an impromptu soldering job in the middle of a staircase, right? Thank god that hellish machine down in the basement was still broken – please let it still be broken.

“Ruin?”, Solar's voice came over the intercom, sounding a bit agitated, and Moondrop realized that he must have missed being addressed the first time.

“Hello Solar”, he said in his best impression, which wasn't hard, because it was actually Ruin's voice box he was using, but keeping up the accent was starting to become a little difficult. “I was wondering if you could maybe come down to the Theatre? The stairs to the basement, more specifically. I'm afraid I had... a little accident.”

There was silence on the other end for a moment before Solar replied slowly. “I hope that's not the code-word for this type of accident from the Daycare”

“Wha- No! Solar please, I may be old, but I'm not that geriatric yet”, Moondrop replied with an amused huff, settling with his back against the wall. “And could you maybe bring your soldering gun?”

“Why?”

“I have leaked a little bit. Oil, Solar. I have already pinged a STAFF bot to come clean it up”

He could hear rummaging on the other end of the line, which hopefully was Solar grabbing his toolbox. “Alright, I'll be there in a minute. Don't move”

“Yep. Not going anywhere. See you soon”

Ending the call, Moondrop leaned further back, trying to find some comfort in his sitting position, but that wasn't exactly easy when it felt like your insides could fall out at any moment. Not that he really had insides like that to just fall out, but the sentiment was still there.

And again, he couldn't exactly bleed out like something organic could, either. Sure, he could lose a lot of oil, but that wouldn't result in his death – just in a very unpleasant, if only temporary shutdown and a migraine later.

There was an unpleasant tingling spreading in his limbs, his body redirecting the oil flow towards his battery to keep it running. Quite unpleasant indeed, but also not too worrisome. Perhaps he could afford to close his eyes for a moment? It would surely help to calm the spinning of his processor if he just laid down for a minute or two...

He jolted back awake when he felt a hand grab his shoulder, gentle but firm enough to catch him before he could tumble down the stairs. His eyes trailed up the orange and dark red arm, over a slightly stained Superstar Daycare shirt before finally coming to a stop at a very concerned looking face.

“Oh, hello Solar”

“What the hell happened?”, the mechanic questioned right away, moving the other animatronic back to a more upright position, which earned him a wince.

“Fell down the stairs...”

“And straight into an industrial shredder? Come on, let me see”, Solar replied, carefully moving Ruin's arms to the side, being mindful of the injured one, to get a better look at his torso. “Yeah, this would actually need replacing, but since P&S is still down, we'll have to make do with some DIY for now... come one, up you go”

Moondrop didn't argue – couldn't really, because he didn't want to risk bringing his breakfast back up – wait, had he had breakfast today? He wasn't really sure, now that he thought about it, but it probably wasn't too important right now and oh, would you look at that, he was already back on his feet. Well, that was fast, didn't it? But at least he could lean onto Solar a bit – quite a bit.

“I'll get you to my workbench”, he heard him say, and yeah, that sounded like a solid plan. Anything that didn't involve more of those darn stairs, which seemed to go on foreveeeeeerrr.

Oh wait, they didn't go on forever, he was already being sat down on a metal surface. Wow Solar, you are quick. He was sure that the workbench would have felt cold to the touch too, but with his sensors being disabled, he couldn't tell for sure. Lying down on it felt nice though, so he did that without resistance when guided to.

“I'll weld these shut as good as I can with some temporary covers, but you'll need your chassis replaced at some point. I'll turn you off for a bit now, okay?”

Oh yeah, that was – wait, no, that was absolutely not a good idea, what if something happened while he was under? Would Ruin's AI try to emerge instead? And how would that turn out, having an AI that barely had half of its code at the moment trying to front. Hell no, he could not risk anything like that happening, so he forced his sluggish mess of a mind to fucking focus right now.

“Please don't”

Solar stopped the hand that already hovered over his laptop, giving Ruin an expectant look. “Why?”, he simply asked.

Well, there was Moondrop's chance to have a conversation with the eclipse model, would you look at that.

“How about a deal? You fix me up without turning me off – and I promise I'll be the best little patient you've ever had during the process – and afterwards, I'll treat you to some coffee and we talk, alright?”

Solar did not look convinced, like, at all, but bless his mechanical heart, he eventually nodded. “Alright then. But your pain receptors remain off”

“Oh heavens yes, please. I'm not that much of a masochist”

Chapter Text

Seventy-eight, seventy-nine aaaand eighty.

Eighty steps in every direction. Now, they were big steps, yes, but that was the scale of his enclosure, meticulously counted from a central point where he had left one of his shoes to serve as a, well, central point to start his counting from.

He could see that the room stretched further than that – okay, first off, it couldn't really be called a room, because a room had walls and this place didn't even have a floor, but point being that he, for whatever reason, couldn't move past those eighty steps, even though he could see much, much further. He just physically couldn't. Like bam. Alpha wall.

Great. Not only was this place utterly boring, it apparently was also at the same level of refinement as a badly programmed video game.

Was he bored? Certainly. Losing his mind? Maybe a little, but really, who could blame him when, after all, he was a Sun, and suns usually responded well to enrichment and having something to occupy their hands and minds with – of both of which he had neither. Something to occupy himself with, he meant. He very much had hands and a mind.

Said mind had been paramount in his efforts to kill some time – and even provide some fun – imagining all the different ways he would deal with this grey Sun once he got the chance; intricate daydreams of scenarios that he had even used his internal hologram system for to actually watch them play out like a movie, making changes here and there like a real-time editor until he was satisfied with the outcome.

It had been fun. For a while. And now he was bored again.

All the more reason to kick that guy where the sun doesn't shine. He had quite a few ideas for that by now, courtesy of this unending BOREDOM, but the problem remained that he had to get out of here first – wherever here was.

He was pretty sure that this wasn't his own mindscape. If it were, it would be more malleable to his own imagination, but as it stood, he couldn't really conjure up anything, which meant that his AI was probably currently residing in some kind of machine instead. Other machine.

There weren't any noises from the outside world coming through here, no voices, no input as to what might be happening out there, leaving him all alone with his thoughts. And buried beneath his fantasies about revenge lay some other things that were way less fun to think about.

He was worried. Worried for his little brother, his twin – and anyone else stuck in between. Were they alright? Were they safe? Were they also trapped somewhere?

Were they dead?

No, they weren't dead, he knew that, but being alone was starting to get to him. He had never been alone before, there hadn't been a single day of his existence where he didn't have at least his twin right under his metaphorical skin, giving him guidance, company and comfort, even during the times when they hadn't gotten along.

Moondrop had always been there. Then it had been them and Eclipse. Then, things had fallen kind of silent, but it had been a comfortable silence, interspersed with flashes of brief awareness that, admittedly, hadn't always been nice.

And then, those had increased, both in duration and frequency, and for whatever reason, two had become one had become three, and now had become two and one again, and oh god, he was referencing video games again, somebody finally get him out of here!!

Something changed. Without warning or preamble, or maybe it had announced itself beforehand, he honestly hadn't been paying attention to that, but suddenly, Sunny found himself somewhere different.

At least, he thought this was someplace different. It was still a mindscape of some sort, but this one felt almost oppressive, a stark contrast to the vast nothingness he had been stuck in for who knows how long before, and he was not sure if he preferred this one over the other.

It felt smothering, but... warm, at the same time, like a nice blanket or a hug that was maybe a bit too tight. But it all felt like balm to his touch-starved, stir-crazed frame and mind, making it all the easier to relax into the feeling eventually.

That is, until that feeling was yanked away from him like someone actually yanking away a cover, and Sunny fell on his metaphorical butt.

“What the-?!”, he called out, trying to mask how much he had been startled by getting ready to throw hands with whatever had just done that. Whatever that had been in the first place...

But he could see... nothing? Well okay, there was something, but describing it as a shadow would still be way too generous. Sunny could barely make out its shape, much less if it was a person or not, but it did possess a pair of very unsettling, stark white eyes. And it, obviously, could also speak.

Get the hell out.

“Okay, first off, rude.”, Sunny huffed, honestly not too mad about this encounter not outright starting with a fight, but miffed all the same. “And secondly, I don't even know where I am, so how about you chill out a bit and – hey, wait!”

But wait, the stranger didn't, and while Sunny wasn't even sure if there was such a thing as leaving this weird space, the shadowy figure managed to come pretty close to it by putting so much distance between itself and Sunny that it was almost insulting.

With another huff, the yellow animatronic dusted himself off and pointedly turned in the other direction to begin his step count anew, now with a set of defiantly crossed arms over his chest.

He stood corrected on his prior assessment. Being stuck in here alone hadn't been that bad of a situation, when the alternative was being stuck with an asshole instead.

“One, two, three, four...”

The repairs had actually taken the better part of the day. Not because they had been especially difficult or anything, but because Solar had to step away periodically to handle the costumers coming in and out of the Theatre. Right. Movie-special-Mondays.

But Moondrop hadn't minded it too much. With his pain receptors still offline, it hadn't been a time spent waiting in excruciating pain at least, though he had started to grow a bit restless after a while.

Oh, how much he would have loved to have someone to talk to while Solar was out, but a quick check into his mental space had revealed his Eclipse still sleeping as blissfully unaware as he had left them. Good. No need to have them bothered by what was happening out here, too.

But now, finally, the job was done, and he found himself with Solar in the same little café that Ruin and their Eclipse frequented, which was a parallel he wasn't sure what to think about.

But the itchy feeling of his sides served as a well-working distraction to those thoughts, and as freshly patched up and oil refilled as he was, none of that made him feel any more comfortable with his sensors now being turned back up to their usual setting. At least his mind was clear again. Both a blessing and a curse.

He wondered if Ruin had felt this uncomfortable back then too, with their body all mangled and broken? He hadn't been aware back then, both out of design and necessity, but man, if it had felt anything like this, it must have sucked. How had Ruin managed to deal with that for more than fifty years? Dammit...

Distraction, right now.

“Okay, so it was a vanilla milkshake with cream, strawberry sauce and chocolate chips, right?”, Solar asked from behind the café's counter while putting a blender in place. Moondrop blinked a few times before fully registering the meaning of that question.

Solar really was a dear, wasn't he? Checking in on him during his breaks, closing the Theatre the second the last guest had left – patching him up in the first place – and now he was trying to recreate that hideous drink Ruin liked so much that would have probably killed them by now if they had been human. Good thing they didn't have a pancreas.

“Oh, yeah, that's it. But I think I'll just take a coffee”

The other animatronic raised an eyebrow at him before shrugging and readying the coffee maker instead. “But make sure to chase it with some oil later, so you don't upset your stomach nanites”

“I will, mother”, Moondrop replied with a chuckle, pulling his legs up on the chair as Solar came and set down a mug of freshly brewed coffee for both of them. It was dark and bitter as all hell, but god dammit, had he needed that.

Solar simply watched him, letting him have his moment while sipping from his own mug, face an unreadable expression, but that's what he usually looked like, anyway.

“Well then, kiddo.”, he finally said. “Care to explain what really happened back in the Theatre?”

Moondrop made a humming sound, setting down his mug on the fake wooden table. “Will you promise me not to freak out?”

“That is a pretty bad start to someone not freaking out about what you're about to say”

“Please, Solar?”

“Okay, okay, I promise”

Well, that was surely the best he was going to get now, and Moondrop didn't want to overtax Solar's seemingly sheer endless amount patience. He knew it wasn't actually all that endless.

“I ran into Bloodmoon down there”

Solar's systems made an audible click, face frozen but eyes widening the slightest bit before he let out a sigh. “Fell down the stairs, uh huh”

“Hey, cut me some slack, will you? I was a bit unwell at that time”

“I know, that's not what's throwing me off here. How did you manage to fight them off?”

Indeed a valid question, but at least Moondrop didn't have to lie to answer this one. Not completely. “Well, I actually managed to trap them in a truce of sorts. It's no news that I rebuild them, but unlike Eclipse, I've actually installed quite a few features into them to keep them at bay should the need arise.”

“Meaning?”

“They have a bomb inside their head which I can blow up at any time”

“You-”, Solar started, but before he could continue, a chat message from Ruin popped up on his HUD.

--It was a bluff, but they might be listening in on this conversation. Please play along--

Solar raised his mug, taking another, looong sip out of it. “Well, that's certainly bound to keep them at their best behaviour for a bit. Must have really screwed up their day, huh”, he said with a few taps of his finger against the piece of ceramic. “So, they won't be a problem for now?”

“They shouldn't be. But could you actually do me another favour, maybe? Can we keep this conversation between the two of us?”

“...Okay, I do actually need a more valid reason for that one than before. If Bloodmoon is around here again, the others should know about it”

“They absolutely should, and they will. I'm not planning to keep this from them, just... the part where I ran into them. Especially from Eclipse.”

“Okay, I kind of get that, but how are you going to do that? He will see those marks on you, you know”

“I'll just slip into a different outfit for the time being!”, Moondrop answered confidently. “Bloodmoon ruined my other shirt anyway. Don't worry, I'll make it work”

“If you say so”, Solar relented, not seeing sense in arguing this further. Experience had shown how difficult, if not downright futile it was to try and dissuade Ruin from something once they had set their mind to it. Back to a lighter topic. “But speaking of clothes, what's with the new style?”

Moondrop perked up, eyes instantly a bit brighter than the dull red they had been the last few hours. “It doesn't look too stupid, does it? The hat is pretty much just for appearances, rather self explanatory really, but the glasses are actually an attempt to combat this gosh darn light sensitivity issue. It doesn't look stupid, does it?”

“It doesn't”, Solar reassured him with an easy smile. “If anything, I think it quite suits you. Alright, I'll keep my mouth shut, but I think you should come clean with all of this at some point. Especially to Eclipse.”

“Trust me, I will... I don't want to overexert his good will, honestly. I will come clean, I promise. And thank you”

“You're –“ welcome, is what Solar had wanted to say, but before he could, there was a ripple, a subtle tug at the edges of both of their consciousnesses, and suddenly, the mug he had been holding was gone and the warm, dark liquid dripped down Solar's unsuspecting hand.

“...What”

“The heck!”, Cassie cursed as Eclipse pulled the dastardly combo of Skip, Reverse, Reverse AGAIN and then called UNO and finished off with a Plus 2. Utterly annihilated. And his chuckling also didn't help.

“Language”

“Cheater”

“Sue me”

“I will!”, the little girl exclaimed, throwing up her arms and drawing another amused chuckle out of the animatronic with it.

>>”You better lawyer up then.<<”, he switched over to a mixture of sign language and spoken words, >>”FazBear are pros at lawsuits”<<

>>I'll find a way<<, Cassie replied, putting as much of a scowl into her signs as she wore on her face. >>Revenge<<

>>”Don't you mean revanche?”<<

>>No. I mean revenge<<

>>”Alright then, kid~”<<, Eclipse took the cards to shuffle them anew when a strange sensation washed over him, a ripple of some sort, making him drop the cards onto the table they were sitting at.

“What the...”

“Oooooh, show me that!”, Cassie exclaimed excitedly, making Eclipse frown at her. “Show you what?”

“The magic trick!”, she said, adding to his confusion until she picked up and showed him the cards, which had turned into a set of rummy cards.

“That was no trick”, Eclipse simply said, rising to his feet without ceremony and scooping the little girl up into his arms.

“Hey??”

“I'm taking you back to your sister”, he simply said.

“What? Why?”

“I need to check something”, he explained shortly, ruffling her hair with his free hand as a sort of apology for cutting their game short, which she seemed to accept as she made herself a bit more comfortable in his hold.

Magic trick. Portal malfunction. What was the difference, really?

What the fucking difference was? The difference was that he would go into that god damn portal and execute the fucking magician on the other side that was causing interdimensional ripples.

Chapter Text

The Daycare was closed for the day, all kids picked up by their parents conveniently early, so the chances of anyone coming in here were small enough to not really have to consider them, even when the Plex itself would still remain open for another hour or so.

Some more time to try and figure out what the hell was going on here. It hadn't just been some game cards and a coffee mug - the children's books in the bookshelves had also changed. Sun had said so, and Moon didn't doubt it, because who would instantly notice something like this if not Sun?

Okay, so disappearing mugs, no, a disappearing mug, changing cards AND changing kid's books.

Any similarities? Well yeah, the changing for one, but if that was a pattern, then the mug should have changed into something different too, right? But it hadn't, unless both Ruin and Solar had somehow missed it, so did that make it a pattern or a coincidence? Neither? Both? An exception that proves the rule and all that?

No matter how hard Moon wracked his processor, he couldn't figure it out. Was there a connection? Or was it all just mere coincidence, and he was just grasping at straws trying to connect some non-existent dots like a god damn conspiracy theorist?

Would the Old Moon have been able to figure this out?

Oookay, huge fuck off, we're not going there!

“God fucking dammit...”

“No luck?”, Solar asked, and Moon knew that there wasn't even a hint of judgment in his voice, but he couldn't help but hear it anyway. He shook it off. He did.

“None”, he answered with an exasperated sigh, drumming his fingers against security desk he was sitting at. “The computer picked up a few odd readings from the portal, but the source isn't our dimension. Trying to trace it back doesn't work, so we effectively have nothing, but of that we've got a shit-ton of!”

Solar didn't interrupt his outburst, but offered him a pat on the shoulder. “Hey, we'll figure this one out. We always do, don't we?”

Old Moon always did. Can you, new Moon?

“Yeah”, Moon replied with a huff, rubbing his face. “We will.”

His eyes moved across the Daycare, where Sun was stubbornly cleaning the ballpit – out of nervousness, Moon presumed, because there hadn't been any cleaning-frenzy worthy spills in there today – and Ruin and Earth had managed to keep Eclipse and Lunar from killing each other, would you look at that. “Are you two done with that now?”

“I didn't do anything! He started it!”, said Lunar while pointing an accusatory finger towards Eclipse, who, although he had all the possibilities to triple his efforts, kept it classy and gave Lunar a single middle finger in return.

“See?!”

“Guys, please don't start again”, Earth interjected with a sigh. Moondrop took that as his sign to offer some assistance.

“Right, how about we instead try troubleshooting this weird occurrence?”

“And how?”, Lunar asked with a frown. “And didn't we also kinda already do that? That's the whole reason Moon's sulking behind the security desk right now, isn't it? Because this whole thing doesn't let itself get troubleshooted?”

“Troubleshot.”

“Fuck you you three armed piece of-”

“Okay!”, Earth interrupted a bit more strongly now. “I think we should all take a moment to calm down and de-escalate this situation. Lunar, step over here with me for a bit, yes?”

“Fine...”

And off they were, and although they were basically just a few more feet away, Moondrop hoped that it was enough to stop the two ex-brothers from getting into another fight.

“You know, maybe you shouldn't try to rile him up even more than he already is.”, he said to Eclipse.

“I'm not.”, Eclipse simply replied, and Moondrop already dropped the topic. “I'm just saying. So, those cards just changed all of a sudden?”

“Hmhm”, came the short reply. “The mug?”

“Poof”, Moondrop emphasized with his hands. “Just gone. And now the books too... it doesn't really make sense, does it?”

“Portal nonsense usually doesn't”, came a grumbling reply as Eclipse's one eye scanned “Ruin” up and down.

Nervousness instantly flooded Moondrop's processor. Did he go too overboard with his clothes? Would Eclipse question the sudden change in attire, especially the long sweater Moondrop had quickly thrown on to hide his scars? Were his mannerisms incorrect? Had he already blown his cover?? Why wasn't he saying anything???

His thoughts came to a halt when a clawed hand – that had no business feeling so gentle when it looked so dangerous – took his, sharp fingers intertwining with his own blunt ones, and Moondrop wasn't too sure what that fluttering feeling in his chest was, but it was probably just a stutter in his battery. Yup.

“We'll figure this out”

“O-oh! Yes yes, of course we will, no questions there. It's just...”

“Excuse me?”

Both turned their heads, and had Moondrop not known that it hadn't been him that had just spoken, he could have mistaken the voice for his own. Or well, for Ruin's.

He had to sort through his memory banks for a split second, but yeah, this was the little guy that Ruin had been so anxious about. Okay, calling him little was pretentious at best, with them being the same height and all, but his mannerisms were way more child-like than his own, so the comparison still worked somewhat.

Eclipse didn't say anything, so Moondrop took over that part. “Yes, Solstice? How could we be of service to you?”

The other animatronic tiptoed a little in place, a piece of paper in their hand that Moondrop wondered what it was for, before the answer was practically pushed into his face.

It was a somewhat childish, but still very pretty rendition of the both of them – Eclipse and Ruin, that is. And childish was probably only the way it was colored, but then again, the crayons in the Daycare were rather basic, weren't they? The rest of the drawing was really quite well executed, and Moondrop wondered when the other had had the time to memorize all these details about them. But then again, robots, right? They pretty much had photographic memory when it came to things like these.

“Did you make this?”, he asked a bit pointlessly, but he wanted to engage the other in a bit of conversation. He hadn't had the chance to talk to them yet, after all.

“Hmhm!”, was the other's answer, and it wasn't hard to tell by the way he seemed to almost vibrate in place that he was filled rays to toes with excitement and anticipation.

Moondrop made a humming sound, fixing his glasses to study the picture like an art teacher (was it too mean to let the other stew like this?) before flashing Solstice a wide grin.

“Well, I must say that this looks absolutely lovely~! And not just because you made me look so dashing here, though I must say that I am quite flattered~ It looks lovely, doesn't it, Eclipse?”

He was nice enough to give him an easy way out of this. He knew that if he asked for Eclipse's honest opinion, it probably would be something unflattering at best, and he really didn't want to see poor Solstice's spirit crushed like this. Young artists had to be encouraged, after all! So, all Eclipse had to do was nod.

He didn't nod. Not for a good few moments, and Moondrop was very very close to discreetly ellbowing him to finally get him to react when he did.

“Yeah. Looks nice.”

The eighth world wonder. Call the news. Alert the people. Eclipse had given a compliment, and there hadn't even been a hint of condescension in it. Not a noticeable one anyway, but Moondrop could feel the pride that Ruin must have felt in that moment as if it were his own.

Solstice exploded. Not really, of course not, and also not in rage, as that phrase would usually imply, but out of pure, sheer excitement and joy, as he flung his arms around the taller animatronic in an overjoyed hug.

Moondrop's stomach dropped as he saw Eclipse become stiff as a board, claws flexing and oh no, oh shit, wait wait wait –

With stiff, robot-like movements, Eclipse moved to pat the smaller on the back. The other two hands remained tense, fists balled, but they didn't go for the strike.

Solstice didn't notice that at all, so maybe it was just a moment of self awareness that made him end the hug on his own accord while still grinning from cheek to cheek. “You can keep it! It's for you!”

“Thanks”, Eclipse replied, using all of his willpower to not hiss the words out through his teeth.

The Daycare had fallen completely silent. Moon and Solar had stopped their chatting, no more shuffling from Sun messing around in the ballpit, and as Moondrop's gaze moved over to Earth and Lunar, his stomach dropped once more.

Small, but still there flickers of electricity danced around the smaller animatronic's hand while Earth's own rested on his shoulders, as if holding him back, and Moondrop was all of a sudden very aware that this situation could have taken a very, very different turn very, very easily.

Solstice, oblivious as ever, quickly made his way back over to Earth, excitedly chatting her up about something Moondrop couldn't hear, but by the looks of it, it must be something good. The tension slowly drained from the room like molasses, but never fully dissipated.

In the end, they all agreed to call it a day after that. Moondrop wouldn't argue with that decision, as he had started to feel the effects of the day wear on him a while ago, and now they were taken their toll in full. He wasn't even as nervous as he had been the first night he had spent with Eclipse, but that was surely because of how tired he was.

And if he cuddled a bit closer to the other animatronic that night, then what of it? Surprisingly, that turned out to be one of the easier parts of this whole charade.

Sixty steps.

It had been eighty this morning. Or what Sunny supposed counted as morning in this place. And now it was sixty.

The goddamn room was getting smaller by the hour, and even worse than feeling claustrophobic because of it was that he was inevitably getting closer and closer to the idiot.

He still couldn't really see what they looked like. By now he had made out that they were a good head taller than himself, were most likely a Sun-model or something similar because of their rays, and those stark white eyes remained as unsettling as ever.

Other features he had no hope of figuring out. Not that he even really wanted to, but it was like there was some sort of fog that disturbed his visual feed and prevented him from seeing them clearly.

Not that it was important. He wanted out, and no forced closeness to someone that obviously didn't want him here any more than he wanted to be here would change that.

That's what he told himself. That's what he still felt like, even when now, all he could feel was cold.

It had begun minutes, or maybe hours ago? Pinprick needles under his casing, ice water in his processor that made his thoughts sluggish and sore. He had tried to curl up, face tucked against his knees, but there was no escaping this feeling. It only got colder, and colder, and colder.

Cold, numb yet in pain, desolate like a man drowning without any lungs to take in water. The frigid sensation crept into every crevice of his body, taking every thought and feeling with it except for cold and alone.

He was going to die here. In this mindscape, this hellhole he was going to die in, with no one to witness his passing but the company he didn't want to have. If they were even watching. Sunny didn't care. He didn't want to interact with them anyway, and by the way things felt, he wouldn't have to worry about that for much longer anyway.

He was going to die here, cold, alone, and his brothers would never know.

But then, the cold began to recede, slowly at first, but noticeable all the same. The warm feeling from before returned, bordering on smothering, but so, so comfortable that Sunny simply had no other choice but to relax into it.

Like a nice blanket. A hug that was maybe a bit too tight. It felt less like dying.

Gradually, the cold was forced to make room for the warmth, and after basking in it for a while, Sunny finally relented to the screaming of his processor that demanded he open his eyes again and look, only to come face to face with the not-face of the shadowy stranger.

He was back on his feet in an instant, all comfort forgotten as he jumped a good few feet back or so to get away from the shadow that was kneeling just next to where he himself had been lying on the ground, one hand outstretched like – what the fuck, had they been touching him?!

“I see you are doing better”

“What the hell? I was doing perfectly fine, thank you very much!”

The stranger lowered his hand again before continuing, “You were on the ground. Shivering. Wincing”

“I was doing none of that”

The stranger looked at him, actually looked at him, and Sunny chose to make the best out of this unwanted proximity by trying to make out more of their features.

He had been right about the rays, but between the bigger ones nestled a set of smaller, slimmer rays. An Eclipse-model then. How wonderful.

“What is your name?”, they asked him with that deep, almost raspy voice of theirs.

Sunny crossed his arms over his chest. “Pfft, why would I tell you? You don't even let me see your face, so why would I tell you anything?”

“You don't need to see my face.”

“What, is it that bad?”

“I can figure out your name anyway”, the stranger said after a moment of silence, and Sunny didn't know what exactly they meant by that until a screen popped up, floating in the air and displaying all kinds of information about himself that the stranger nonchalantly scrolled through, ignoring his indignant “Hey!” about it.

“Ah, here we have it. Daycare Attendant Sunset, home dimension S-17-25-M. Secondary AI called Mo-...”, they stopped, white eyes moving to Sunny again with an unreadable expression. Not that Sunny cared to read it, because he was absolutely livid.

“My. Name. Is. Sunny.”, he practically hissed. “And you can go fuck yourself”

Without waiting for a reply and also not wanting to hear one, he turned back around and walked all the lovely sixty-... fifty steps away from the other without turning around once more.

What an idiot.

Moon was a liar.

He knew that, but that didn't mean he liked it. But this lie wasn't that bad. He had dragged an extension cord from the storage room into the Daycare to plug himself in to charge behind the security desk, so he was technically getting rest. Sleeping wasn't explicitly required for that.

Parts and Service could also wait another night. Right now, he wanted to know what the deal with the portal was.

The computer still hadn't spat out anything useful, but at least there hadn't been any more ripples. The weapons were ready anyway, just in case.

Reaching into a drawer under the desk, Moon pulled out a USB cable and plugged himself into the computer. If the machine couldn't find anything on its own, maybe he would have more luck.

Ripples were one thing. They happened from time to time, but usually he would only know about them from when he checked the computer's recordings. They'd never caused anything to change though. But now multiple things had changed in a single day, and not just inside the Daycare, but in several different places throughout the PizzaPlex.

So, those hadn't just been ripples. They were interferences, something happening in some other dimension that was causing a backlash into their own.

So far for the what. Now for the how, and the why.

There wasn't such a thing as distance between dimensions, not in the typical sense of the word at least. It was more about similarities, so the interferences most likely came from a place that wasn't too different from this one – not “too far away”. Which didn't really shrink down the possibilities at all. Most places weren't vastly different to begin with.

But if his theory was correct, then it must be a dimension they had already been in contact with, and that made the list considerably smaller, especially after what Ruin did to those 5000 dimensions. It obviously couldn't be one of them.

That left 35 dimensions, and if he excluded the ones that were close to dying, then he was left with...

12.

That was a decent number. He could check out twelve dimensions in a single night, or maybe, if he wanted to be really thorough (and a little extra sneaky), he could do six now and six tomorrow night. Yeah, that sounded solid idea.

Closing his eyes, he settled into the chair a bit more comfortably to start his scanning. Half an hour per dimension should be enough to do a rather thorough search, and it was going pretty well. He had gone through two already when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Moon? What are you doing?”

“Checking dimensions”, he answered Sun's question without opening his eyes, preferring to keep them shut as to not disturb the data displayed on his internal HUD. “I want to know what caused these ripples. No need to scold me though! See, I have plugged in and everything. I'm even sitting in a chair”

“Hmm yes, I see”, hummed Sun, patting Moon on the shoulder. He could hear some shuffling as Sun moved behind him to look over his shoulder. “What exactly are you scanning for?”

Did Sun really want to know more? That didn't happen too often, so Moon was all too eager to explain a bit.

“Points of contact. I think another dimension is causing these ripples, and I want to see if I can untangle it from ours before things get worse”

“Oh yes, that's clever”, Sun commented, and Moon couldn't help but feel a bit of pride swell in his chest at the praise. Old Moon probably would have been sarcastic about it, or condescending. But he wasn't like that. He would never be like that.

“How far are you?”

“Not too far yet. Two our of twelve”

“I see”, Sun said again as he started rubbing Moon's shoulders, and after a whole day of trying to fix P&S, it felt really really nice. Not like that of course, Sun was his brother for crying out loud, but he felt himself relax into the contact.

“You are doing really well, Moon”, said Sun, and the relaxing feeling began to spread all throughout the Naptime Attendant's body, as well as a fuzzy feeling beginning to bloom in the back of his head. It felt disorienting for a moment, and if he weren't sitting down already, he probably would have had to do that now, but like this, he just leaned his head a bit further back, closer to Sun's voice.

“I'm so proud of you, Moony. You are doing so, so well. We are all proud of you”

Were they really? But if Sun was saying it, then it must be true. Sun wouldn't lie to him.

The warm, fuzzy and relaxing feeling spread more and more, wrapping his body and mind in a warm, snug embrace. What had he been doing here, again? For some reason, he couldn't remember, and the worry that that realization should have brought with it was absent, so there was no real reason to care about it. He just felt so nice and relaxed right now, he couldn't even have cared if he'd wanted to.

“Yes, that's right. You deserve a break, so take it. Rest. There is nothing to be worried about. Everything is fine”

That's right, everything was fine. Sun said so. Sun always knew what was best for him. What a wonderful big brother he had.

The cables were disconnected from the computer and Moon respectively, rolled up and neatly placed back into the drawer. Moon wasn't aware of that anymore - sleep had already taken him, and the gunmetal grey of Sun's hands barely reflected the dim lights of the Daycare as he began to type on the keyboard.

Chapter Text

Sleep didn't come to him that night.

He wasn't really sure why; the day had been stressful enough with the return of Bloodmoon, Ruin's injuries and whatever weird thing was going on with the portal. Even one of these things should have been more than enough to tire anyone out, but maybe that was exactly the problem.

His thoughts were still racing about everything that had happened, so it wasn't really that surprising that he was losing sleep over it. But honestly, Solar didn't mind, as it gave him time to finally continue working on that side project of his that he had been neglecting for a bit now.

He already had a basic frame for it, a moon model that had been collecting dust in the basement, but the programming was the important part, and also the most time consuming. He had his laptop and the program open, ready to sink at least a few hours into this, when he got the jumpscare of his life.

“What are you doing?”

“Geezus!”, Solar nearly jumped out of his own casing and just barely didn't knock his whole desk over as he spun around to see Solstice standing right behind him, blinking at him in a way that made it obvious that he would not know how to deal with the heart attack that he had just given the poor mechanic.

Holy crap.

“How are you this quiet??”

“Did I startle you?”

“Kinda??”

“Oh... I'm sorry...”, the other animatronic visibly deflated, and Solar immediately felt like a dick.

“It's fine”, he sighed, rubbing between his eyes as his core slowly caught its bearings again. “Just announce yourself next time, please. What are you doing up though? I thought you powered down for the day already”

“I did, but then I woke up, and I couldn't find you so I came looking!”, Solstice explained, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Why are you up?”

Yeah Solar, why are you up? You had promised betterment regarding your sleeping schedule, had you not?

“My charge is still pretty full, and you know, it's actually really bad for you if you overcharge your battery too much”, Solar supplied an “explanation” to make this bullshit excuse of his a bit more believable – their batteries were sturdy enough to not directly keel over from a bit of overcharge. You know, like telling kids their noses would grow if they lied.

Except Solstice wasn't really a kid – childish yes, but definitely not a child. Just... naïve, innocent in a way that made Solar feel... hm.

“And so I thought I'd use the time to do some work”, he concluded.

“Oooooh, what are you working on?”

“The programming for a new animatronic”

“Ooooooohhhh can I see???”

“I mean, yes”, Solar reluctantly said, trying to come up with something to dissuade the other. “But it's pretty boring. You probably wouldn't like it”, he tried, but he knew just by looking at the way red and blue eyes were sparkling again (he would just call that sparkling from now on) that he had already lost that battle.

So, he just relented with a sigh. “But I guess, if you really want to, I can show you some of it”

After an excited, “Yes please!”, he pulled up a second chair for Solstice to plop into while he took his seat from before and pulled up the unfinished code once more.

“So, this is for a security robot I'm building.”, he started explaining, accompanied by a set of attentive nods from his intrigued audience. “With some of the recent... developments here, I think we could use some more ways to defend ourselves. They are going to have a set of weapons and defensive protocols, and basically one list of people to protect and the other of people to protect from.”

“And what's going to be their name?”

Solar frowned a little, looking at the other. “Their... name?”

“Yes, and what are they gonna look like? Are you going to make them like a sun, or like a moon, oh, or maybe something else?? Tell me, tell me!”

Solar glanced over to the basic model sprawled out on his workbench. It didn't even have colored casings, and he hadn't really been planning to give them any. “I... honestly haven't thought about that yet”, he had to admit. “I've been kind of focusing on their programming”

“I could help with their design!”

“You know... you could, actually. Why not?”, Solar found himself agreeing surprisingly quickly to that suggestion, but really, what harm could it do? He reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a tablet and a pen and handed both to Solstice. “Here, you can use that and just... doodle away, if you want. There's a drawing program on here you can use, just keep in mind that they are based on a moon model, so they won't have any rays”

“Okay!”

And with that, both robots set to their respective tasks, and a silence fell over them that was only filled with the rhythmic sounds of Solar's typing and strokes of Solstice's pen.

Solar had to admit that it felt... kinda nice. He knew this feeling from when he was working side by side with Moon, this kind of comfortable silence where no one had to say anything to the other, it was just the mutual understanding of two equals.

Maybe he and Solstice weren't exactly equal – Solar certainly could learn a thing or two from the other's cheer and chipper attitude, but that wasn't the only thing. There was something... light and carefree about the other animatronic that seemed to go above just him having his memory wiped clean. Morbid thing to say maybe, but Solar almost envied him in that regard.

He found himself looking at the other more often than at his screen; metallic tip of the tongue sticking out in concentration as he worked on his drawing. He only really realized he had been doing it when Solstice's gaze finally met his again and he exclaimed, “I'm done!”

“That fast?”, Solar said, checking the time to realize in slight horror that he had just been watching the other for the better part of an hour without typing a single line of code himself. Clearing his throat from how much he had been startled out of his thoughtless staring, he tried to play it off. Damn, what was wrong with him though? “Show me?”

Solstice's spun around the tablet, and Solar found himself looking at a rather intricately designed animatronic. Not blueprint intricate, but there were little notes about the design scribbled here and there, and the whole thing looked pretty well thought out. There was even a sketch of the faceplate and a full body turnaround.

“That looks pretty good, Sols”, he complimented honestly, taking the tablet to get a better look. “What's with the Halloween aesthetic though?”

“It's the best holiday ever”

“Ah”, Solar said with a chuckle, letting his gaze continue to take in the design. Some tweaks here and there for practicability, but in general, this was pretty solid. “I think that would be a very good look for them.”

“And what should their name be?”, Solstice asked again.

Oh god, Solar and naming things. Though, looking closer at the drawing, and the Jack O'Lantern style of the head...

“Jack”

Wow, Solar. Wow.

But at least his audience seemed to love it. “Jack sounds nice!”

“It does, doesn't it? Alright, Jack it'll be then. I'll see to ordering all the parts we need”

“Yay!”, Solstice exclaimed as he threw his arms around Solar's shoulders in a giggling hug. “Thank you!”

“Uh... you're welcome?”, he mumbled through some awkward back pats. “For?”

“Letting me help! I know I'm not the smartest”

“Hey, don't say that, you are plenty smart.”, Solar said. “You figured that drawing program out in no time. Not everyone has to be good at programming to be smart, and both Earth and Sun said that you are very good with the kids, and that's not something everyone can do either. I certainly can't, and you also handled that rush at the Theatre like a champ”

“Stoooop~ that's just in my programming”, he giggled again, and Solar couldn't help but spot an opportunity in that sentence.

“It's true though. But you know, I've been meaning to ask. You seem to be getting better, so would you mind if I took another look at your head?”

“Oh yes, of course you can!”

“Thank you”

He grabbed some cables and his personal laptop, which should be more than enough to run a quick diagnostic. Not like he really had any other choice, with Moon still working in the basement, as he presumed. At least he hadn't gotten an update from him stating otherwise so far.

However, he didn't get as far as reaching for Solstice's ports when there was a crackling in the air, like sudden static across his casing that would have made the hairs on his arms stand up if he'd had any, and then there it was, a portal just a few feet away from them, and from it came a very, very pissed looking Eclipse.

“You. I need your help.”

A few months earlier

An eclipse was an inherently selfish creature. That was true for Ruin and Eclipse, it certainly had been true for V1 and V2 back then, and even Solar wasn't completely exempt from the occasional bouts of selfishness. And all of them were or had been somewhat obsessed with the thought of self preservation, to varying degrees of healthy.

So when Eclipse asked that question, Ruin had to do a double take.

“Come again?”

“Do you still have my blueprints?”, Eclipse repeated his question without a change of intonation in his voice, while Ruin's mouth opened for a moment before it closed again, like the book they had been reading.

“I do. Why?”

“Lose them”

Ruin kept their calm at that expected, but terrible sentence. Like, really, really calm, because they actually locked their emotes in place as to not have their face betray the chaos that was going on inside their chest. “As in actually delete them, or just lock them away somewhere?”

“I'll leave that up to you. I just don't want them to be usable in case I die again.”

Ruin almost dropped their book, but the way Eclipse just... said it like that, nonchalantly like they were talking about the weather, was both commendable and frightening, so Eclipse that Ruin had almost forgotten that the other could even be like that in the first place. Not like they hadn't had their fair share of first hand experiences of that in the past, but it had been a good while since then.

“Okay”, they said, but it wasn't an Okay out of agreement, but one out of necessity, out of need to learn more about this. “Could you tell me why?”

Eclipse's claws caught on the fabric of his neckerchief which he so rarely took off that it bordered on never. You could catch him without his eyepatch every now and then, and even that was rare and mostly just happened in private. But aside from the occasional shower, Ruin had never seen him without the starry fabric.

It was romantic, and maybe a little bit concerning too, but they all had the right to have some concerning mannerisms, they presumed. They certainly had a few, and had even picked up a couple new ones after recent, somewhat lethal events. They could, on occasion, still feel the oil oozing out of their hollow eye socket...

Maybe they already had an inkling as to which direction this was going to go in.

Eclipse rose from his position where he had been lounging on the sofa they had added to their shared room, leveling Ruin with a look that would seem annoyed or, at best, emotionless to others, but the amalgamated animatronic knew better.

This face was serious, but it was the gentle kind of seriousness that a parent would use to scold, but at the same time educate their child.

Alright, that was probably a very bad comparison, but Ruin was still reeling from the initial question itself, and the anticipation of the explanation didn't make it any better.

Plus, why did they have to think about parents and children now of all times? That surely did nothing to help in this situation.

“I have been brought back from death three times now. Two of those were from you alone. And before you start worrying, no, I am not mad at you about that.”

Not anymore, Ruin's useless inner voice supplied.

“My first resurrection came from myself after all, I can't be mad at you for you continuing the trend I started myself”, Eclipse continued, and although Ruin usually felt comforted when he used this soft, low voice of his, the words settled uncomfortably in their stomach like a bunch of cold, slimy rocks.

Like pieces of oil coated parts of their own endoskeleton that were hitting the ground with a sickening, wet squelch.

“I'm glad that you are not angry with me because of that”, they replied – they had talked about this more than once before, on days and nights when Ruin had felt particularly... bad. Days and nights spent in comforting embraces and soothing words, or sometimes in completely silence, until their spiral was either broken by sleep or by the comfort taking over and clearing their processor again.

He had been mad about the first time they had brought him back, and he had been open about that with them, which they appreciated. They knew that he wasn't lying when he said that he was not mad anymore, but that just made their nerves worse for what he was about to say now.

They simply couldn't help themselves and blurted it out before he could. “You don't want me to bring you back again, right?”

Eclipse's one good eye blinked at them, face not moving but for the slightest raise of his eyebrows.

“Right”

“Why?”

The other didn't answer for a bit, orange optic simply looking at them and almost frying Ruin's nerves completely with anxiety.

“I could give you an emotional answer now, like me wanting to cherish and spend this final life of mine with out, or something. But I'm simply tired. Tired of worrying that, the next time around, I might not be so lucky to still be this version of myself. So when I die again, I want you to not bring me back”

Yeah, that's what they had been afraid he would say. No, actually it wasn't, because they never would have believed he would say it. They had hoped he wouldn't...

Not if I die. When. The inevitability at the end of a life that they, as animatronics, would technically never have to experience even a single time; parts could be replaced, whole frames could be exchanged for newer, better models. But yet, the end had come to Eclipse thrice already and hadn't stayed once, and Ruin supposed, deep in their mind, that something like this might make one change their view of death.

Maybe Eclipse wasn't scared of it anymore, if he ever had been.

But Ruin was terrified.

“That is... a rather big thing you are asking me to do. Or not to do”, they replied with a put-on calmness that physically hurt to keep up. “Might I ask what brought on this decision now?”

“I want this last life of mine to be yours”

Oh, that smooth motherfucker.

“I think that's the most romantic and horrible thing I have ever heard, simultaneously.”, they snorted, rolling their eyes as they discarded their book entirely to close the distance between them and settle into Eclipse's lap.

Keep up the act. Play calm. You are good at that, aren't you? A born liar.

“And you trust that I can keep this promise?”

“I trust you”

“Silver-tongued devil you”, they said, leaning in for a quick kiss, which Eclipse had no intentions of keeping quick and short as he held Ruin closer to himself to deepen their embrace.

Eventually, they parted, only for Ruin to snuggle up to the other, and arguably warmer animatronic, pulling in some of their rays so their head could fit more comfortably over the other's shoulder.

“You have my word that I won't bring you back again”

Warm arms closed around them a bit more, one hand rubbing soothing circles into their back which didn't help at all.

Liar.

But who were they lying too? Eclipse or themselves? Did it even matter?

No, it didn't. If push ever came to inevitable, terrible shove, nothing would matter anymore.

They could never ask that question now. They couldn't dissuade Eclipse from his decision. They couldn't. They wouldn't, they didn't want to (they wanted to so badly, oh gods, please, anything but this) but they couldn't betray his trust like this. They'd promised.

They cut of their voice box off before any treacherous noises could escape it.

“Thank you”

They managed to make a humming sound before they shut off their tear ducts too, just to make sure.

This is exactly why they hated promises...

A few minutes ago

Mhh, what an exceptionally unpleasant dream... or was it a memory? Moondrop wasn't too sure, second hand memories were a bit hard to classify, but whatever it was, it hadn't been nice. But it already started to fade into obscurity, like dreams tended to do, so he decided he just wouldn't dwell on it any longer.

There was something else bothering him anyway, something that started getting really, really hard to ignore with how incessantly it was trying to, what, get his attention? Annoy the shit out of him? Give him a concussion which how much he was being shaken??

“God dammit, I'm up, I'm up! What is-”

But he wasn't “up”, as he quickly noticed. The cloudy, wide void of his mindscape greeted him, but no one was shaking him here – who should even? Ruin was - 

Standing, shaking, spasming like they were caught in a seizure, and he was at their side in an instant.

“Clipse! Hey, Eclipse!”, he frantically called out, not sure where to put his hands – should he even touch them? Should he try to stop their seizing, or would that just injure them? Could they get injured in here?!

Their eyes were open, red and blue staring unseeingly at nothing, and Moondrop quickly concluded that that was not a good sign. The lack of recognition in them didn't make it any better, and he finally just decided to pull them into his arms.

“Shh, shh hey, it's okay, I got you, I got you”, he kept saying while he cradled them against his chest, eventually managing to slide them both to their knees before he started a slow, rhythmic rocking motion like he'd done with the kids, way back when. It hadn't always worked, nothing always worked, and while the strange shaking feeling of his own body still persisted, Ruin's slowly started to calm down more and more, bit by bit.

Eventually, mismatched eyes found carmine ones, still wide and without recognition, but Moondrop flashed them a smile anyway.

“Hey there buddy. Did you get scared? It's okay, there's nothing bad happening. Nothing can hurt you here”, he pulled from his repertoire of calm and soothing words, himself not feeling soothed or calmed at all by what was happening here, but that didn't matter right now.

The violent shaking of their body had turned into little shivers now, and Moondrop began rubbing soothing circles into their back for added comfort. “Shhh, it's okay. There will be no more nightmares, I promise. You can go back to sleep”

He hoped that was the right thing to do, but the alternative, them being awake and however aware in this place, in this situation, was a thought he couldn't bear even if he tried. So he just kept rocking, and soothing, and humming to them until finally, he felt their artificial breathing ease and fall back into a deep, steady rhythm.

Carefully, he placed them back down on the ground, wishing now more than ever before that he could do something to make them more comfortable here, but the mindscape wouldn't comply. Of course it wouldn't, he was but a guest in here, and what kind of shitty guest just moves around the furniture in their host's home?

It was when he finally looked up from their body that he noticed that weird cube thing that he knew was the way out of here, or it usually was, floating in the air a few inches away from where Ruin had just stood, and dread almost froze his battery.

Had they fronted?

Frantically, he jumped to his feet and rushed for the cube, grabbing onto it for dear life and being shoved with such force back to awareness and control of their shared body that he felt like he had to throw up.

Luckily he didn't, orhe would have hit Eclipse right in the face with it, and oh boy... oh.

“Ruin!”, Eclipse hissed once more as finally, their gaze seemed more clear, more there, but his hands remained on their shoulders regardless, pressing them down into the mattress of their bed a bit more than what was comfortable, but at least they had finally stopped shaking.

Moondrop drew in a couple of deep breaths into his artificial lungs. There was a faint scent of heated metal in the air, not quite burning, but smoldering at the very least. Was that why his casings felt so hot?

Eclipse's optic seemed to be burning too, a hot, scorching gaze that Moondrop wasn't too sure how to interpret, but it made his battery flutter again.

The worry that marked the red and black face was obvious though.

“What happened...?”, Moondrop finally asked, wincing at the static his voice box produced with the words. “Wh...?”

“You malfunctioned”, Eclipse said matter of factly, eye still scanning the other before he finally released his grip a bit to give them more room. “Your frame nearly overheated”

That explained the weird smell then, he guessed, but the way the cold air now hit said frame felt odd, and with a shock, Moondrop realized that the sweater he had gone to sleep in had been cut right off him with almost surgical precision, allowing his vents to draw in more air to cool down, while also exposing...

Now he knew why Eclipse had been staring. For all to see now lay bare the wounds Bloodmoon had inflicted on their body, and the patch-up Solar had given him for it.

There was no reason to hope Eclipse had somehow missed them. But the fact that he didn't comment on them didn't make him feel any less nervous. Shit.

“I-I can explain...”

“Later. We need to get you to Parts and Services”

No. “Must we really? I'm feeling a lot better already, actually.”

“No.”, Eclipse replied sternly. “You could have fried something. I'm not arguing on this with you”

Oh, but Moondrop was definitely going to argue on this further. “But isn't the machine still broken? Moon hasn't said anything about having it fixed yet, and he always shares his progress”

“Then we'll get you to a different Parts and Service.”, Eclipse retorted, and there was almost a hiss in his voice that, while Moondrop knew it wasn't directed towards him like that (or at least he really hoped it wasn't), still made it plainly obvious that the other's patience was running thin, even for him. Them. Whatever.

The silence was tense, both of them knowing that they were at an impasse, one not wanting to be forced ad the other more than unwilling to force, but that wasn't a state in which things could stay in.

But Ruin was a master at manipulation. Always had been, and Moondrop possessed that knowledge now too, as much as he was unwilling to level it against Eclipse. Could he even still do that? Surely, the other was way too used to any and all of their tricks by now, making any manipulation attempt nigh impossible, but maybe he wouldn't even have to go all in? He had, after all, a very direct and straight way right into Eclipse's heart, so to speak.

“You can't dimension hop”, he began with a reasonable argument as he slowly moved to take one of Eclipse's hands. “And I would much rather not go alone... Can't we wait until morning? Maybe ask the others for help then?”

That was not an idea he liked, not at all, but Eclipse had to relent to the fact that he indeed could not go through the portal without taking a significant risk, and sending Ruin alone somewhere was out of the question.

The others, then. There was barely anyone out of that bunch he would trust with something as delicate as this; maybe Earth, but sending her and Ruin alone also didn't sit right with him. Sun wouldn't be of much help either, fuck Lunar, and Moon... maybe, but the trust he had in him was still brittle at best.

And that only left... ugh.

The relationship he had with Solar was even more complicated than the one with Moon, and Moon only got off so lightly because he wasn't the same bastard from before. But Solar was still an eclipse, no matter what name he'd chosen to use. Trusting an eclipse was never a good idea, a terrible one at best, and this one was no exception, nice or not.

But he had helped with reconstructing Ruin's body back then, and had done a good job with it. That was all the praise and compliment the other was ever going to get from Eclipse – not like he'd ever told him any of that to his face.

Working together had been an experience. Lots of arguing, some bickering, and eventually, understanding. After all, leave it to an eclipse to even attempt to understand another.

Plus, he was clever, Eclipse had to give him that. Navigating through a different dimension and using its P&S would probably not be too difficult for the other, if he even had the slightest ounce of the same intellect as Eclipse himself did. Which he did, Eclipse just hated admitting it.

“Alright”, he eventually agreed. “First thing in the morning. Just let me take a look at – Ruin?”

He had apparently taken a bit too long with his inner monologue, had barely wrapped up his thoughts even. They had fallen back asleep. He was sure it was sleep and not a forced shutdown or crash because they looked different in them, as he knew all too well.

Still, he made sure to check the back of their head, but aside from the still a bit too warm metal, everything was fine. The urge to wake them remained there, but he professionally ignored it, leaving them to their rest but not joining them.

Because as for himself, he had a nice eclipse to visit.

Chapter Text

Having three eclipses in one room was usually a guaranteed recipe for disaster. In this case, there were technically  only two eclipses and one maybe-eclipse, but that wasn't important right now.

It bordered on miraculous that Eclipse was even okay with Solstice staying for this conversation, instead of having it with Solar in private.

But that was also not really important, not when things were really as urgent as Eclipse made them out to be.

Knowing him, they were probably even worse.

“So, they had a seizure?”, Solar asked.

“Yes.”

“And you said they were overheating and weren't conscious?”

“They weren't conscious at first, when they woke. They were just... staring, at nothing.”, Eclipse grumbled, as if saying the words was a painful act that he had to force himself to endure.

Knowing him, it probably was, but if that was because he was worried about Ruin's wellbeing, OR because he had to talk to Solar about this, of all people, was up for debate.

But – you guessed it – that was not important right now. Later perhaps, but not now.

“And you haven't been able to take them to Parts and Service because it is still broken”

“Yes, are you going to repeat everything I've just said?!”

“No, I'm just making sure I've understood everything correctly”

He heard the barely audible mumble of “as if it's that hard” from Eclipse, but chose to ignore it.

Dealing with him was like dealing with a feral cat – if you move too fast or push too hard, you'll just scare it away, and heaven knows what stupid shit Eclipse might do then. Nope, better accommodate him about his worries, and after all, if there really was something wrong with Ruin's systems, Solar had a personal interest in taking a look at that. He had just patched them up, after all.

Poor guy just couldn't catch a break, could they?

“I could give them a look over and try to fix up whatever's broken manually”, he offered, “Think that would be enough?”

“Might be.”, Eclipse replied curtly, his dark talons tapping against the casings on his upper arms. “How long is it gonna take before Moon finally fixes that damn machine? I thought he was supposed to be smart”, he sneered.

“He said he would pull another all-nighter down in the basement, but from what I could tell, whatever fried the machine there in the first place did a damn good job. The whole software's all scrambled”

“Great.”, Eclipse grumbled again, orange optic flicking over to the third in the room, the intruder that sat on a chair and was just... watching them. At least he had the decency to look concerned, the little shit. Acting as if none of this was even his fault to begin with.

Eclipse knew better than that, and he would make sure to act accordingly once the opportunity presented itself.

He'd also make sure that it would present itself rather sooner than later.

“But I want this issue fixed now. ...If you could.”

“Sure, I'll give them the check-up”, Solar agreed, grabbing his laptop and any cables he would need for this.

The moment Solstice rose from his chair too, the tension in the room shifted from heavy to leaden.

“You're not coming.”

Mismatched eyes blinked up at Eclipse, who hadn't said it with as much venom as he would have liked, but his tone still didn't leave any room for arguments.

“Oh... okay...”

“How about we watch a movie once I'm back?”, Solar offered immediately – seeing their rays drop in disappointment – figuratively – just didn't sit right with him.

Even when he wasn't trying to be, Eclipse was still an ass.

The smaller animatronic simply nodded, and Solar would make sure to also grab them some snacks for later.

Should Solar question the sudden use of magic? Maybe, but he felt that he had quite enough on his plate already, and it wasn't like Eclipse had never used magic before, so it was probably whatever.

Not like he was the specialist in anything magic, anyway.

The portal had taken them straight to the Arcade, and Solar dutifully followed Eclipse's quick steps towards his and Ruin's room.

He couldn't deny that he was curious to visit there again. He had been in there only twice; the first time when he had fixed up Eclipse's body after the Star Incident (and had subsequently been kicked back out again right after), and the second time had been when he had helped Ruin haul in that couch. The décor had been neat then, but now it was downright cozy-core.

Too much for his personal taste to be quite honest, but he could see the appeal a little. Maybe Solstice would like something like this too?

Upon entering, he spotted Ruin sitting on said couch, awake and alert and with Eclipse at their side in an instant.

“...I thought we said in the morning?”, they asked a little surprised.

“We did”, Eclipse replied with an apologetic squeeze of their hand while Solar stood a bit awkwardly in the doorframe, letting the two figure it out before he was waved inside by Ruin.

“Hey Ru. I won't get on your nerves for too long, but Eclipse did kind of worry me when he said you weren't feeling well”, the mechanic said, setting his laptop down on the floor before kneeling down to shoot Ruin an encouraging smile.

To think that it hadn't even been a full twenty-four hours since he had fixed up the poor guy the last time. But he made sure not to let a single word about that slip; he wasn't sure who would win if he were to throw hands with Eclipse right now.

“You okay with me running a quick scan?”, he asked, holding up the USB cables he had planned to use for the exact same thing with the not-exact-same-Ruin just minutes earlier.

Good thing that he wasn't the superstitious type.

Ruin fiddled a bit with their fingers, “I mean, since I know at least one of you won't just let me drop this, yes”, they finally said with a wobbly smile.

Solar didn't make a move. “That an actual yes?”

To his credit, Eclipse didn't comment on Ruin taking a moment to actually think this over before they nodded, “Yes”

“Okay, this shouldn't hurt one bit”, Solar assured as he began to plug the cables into the back of Ruin's head, booting up the program on his computer.

Now see, this is where Moondrop found himself stuck in quite the dilemma. He really didn't want to have to fry Solar's laptop and ruin any of his personal projects. Doing that in Parts and Service was one thing, even though he would have to apologize to Moon later for causing him all this trouble – if he ever came clean about the whole thing in the first place.

But he really didn't want to do that to Solar. He was so nice.

How fortunate it was then that Moondrop had come prepared for this.

Solar made a humming sound as he stared at the data displayed on the screen, clicking here, there, but he eventually always ran into the same problem. “Hey Ruin? Do you still have that encrypted storage of yours?”

Moondrop made sure to give it a few seconds – a believable thinking pause - before answering. “Not that I would know of. Why are you asking?”

“Because there is a whole lot of encrypted files in here. Like, a lot a lot. Have you really not noticed anything... extra weird lately?”

“I haven't”, came the answer, and red eyes tried to make it clear that this was not to be discussed further with the audience they were currently having.

“I have”, said Eclipse, and Moondrop's stomach dropped.

“...You have?”

“You have acted strange ever since you two came back from that other dimension. Memory problems. Seizures, and now suddenly an encryption?”, Eclipse listed with a frown. “Something is wrong.”

He hadn't noted any of the physical changes. What did that mean? Did that mean anything? The thoughts from before were back, the fear that Moondrop's whole cover had already been blown and Eclipse was just... what, waiting to strike? But why would he? He loved Ruin, didn't he? He did, right?

But Moondrop was lying straight to his face, wearing his partner's smile and using their voice to make things even worse, and that surely would be more than enough reason for anyone to lash out and do something to him, right?

He barely managed to make sense of his own thoughts anymore, the anxiety gnawing through every single circuit of his being, sanding him down right to the endo and leaving everything raw.

He wouldn't be able to do this for much longer.

“I agree, something is wrong.”, Solar said, and Moondrop felt that spike of betrayal in his chest burrowing straight down to his core.

Please don't, please not yet, he wasn't ready yet, please please please

“That's why I'm going to go back to that place and figure out what happened there.”

…

What?

“What??”, Moondrop blurted out, barely holding back from slapping his hand over his mouth right after. “I mean... that place was most likely dangerous, wasn't it? W-why would you want to go back there?”

“Well, we're not going to find any answers if we don't start looking for them”, Solar said matter of factly. “And we are not going to find them here.”

“Why all of a sudden?”, asked Eclipse next, his tone missing the concern Moondrop's had been overflowing with. “You didn't seem that eager before.”

“Because I think I might have remembered something. I've tried wracking my processor for any snippets or impressions from back there, but the only thing I came up with is that we must have run into another eclipse who screwed with our heads in some way.”, he explained while tapping the side of his head. “Implanted pain trigger gave it away”

“But you're not going alone, are you? I-I'll come with you!”

“You absolutely won't”, Eclipse shut that idea down immediately. “I'll go.”

“Except you still can't, remember?”, Solar interjected. “I'll ask Moon to go with me instead, I'm sure he'll do that”

“Then I'll work on P&S if he's still not finished.”, Eclipse added. The “I can do that quicker and better than him” remained unspoken.

“And what should I do...?”, Moondrop tentatively asked.

“How about not getting yourself into any more trouble?”, came the somewhat sharp reply, accompanied by a very pointed, single-eyed look towards Ruin's still uncovered wounds. Yep. Message received.

“That's fair, I'd presume...”

“Alright.”, Solar interjected once more. “Now, I couldn't find any viruses in your systems, so that's good I'd like to set you to safe mode just in case, alright? So if your firewalls shut down or anything, nothing can get in. That does mean no communication network though. You alright with that?”

“I suppose so”, Moondrop nodded once more – what else could he honestly do or say in this situation? There was no issue with his firewall or viruses, but he couldn't exactly tell them that, now could he? No communications for a while was a small price to pay to keep his act up, really.

As was the little reboot that was in order to get him into safe mode, but that shouldn't take too lo–

Now he really felt like an asshole. But Eclipse had been right, Ruin could use the extra rest, and the defragmentation program he had snuck into them would ensure that they would at least get said rest well into the morning. Plus, it might help with the whole malfunctioning business, so two birds with one stone really.

...Ugh, try as he might, nothing really helped him feel any less guilty about essentially tricking Ruin like this.

He glanced at the messages he and Eclipse had sent each other in private, discussing the whole thing while he had checked Ruin's system, but that didn't make him feel any better about it, either.

He was surprised that the other had even been okay with it in the first place, but the idea had actually come from Eclipse, so whatever was going on, Eclipse was worried enough to both resort to such measures and entrust them Solar.

But he was the only one he could have gone to for this, wasn't he? Eclipse surely wouldn't have gone to Moon, and Monty? Pfft, fat chance.

Solar wasn't sure how to feel about that.

What he did know was that he wouldn't be able to catch any more sleep that night. It was close to 3 in the morning anyway, so not exactly a lot of night left to begin with. Maybe he really could watch that movie with Solstice if they were still up for it? And if they were still up in the first place.

Remembering his plan from before, he quickly grabbed some snacks from the Theatre counter and peeked his head around the corner down into the showroom.

The screen was off, as it should be, and the lights were set to a dim reddish hue that was probably meant to be energy efficient, but Solar also just found it cozy like that. And apparently, he wasn't the only one.

Descending the stairs, he approached the little fortress that had been build out of the colourful foam blocks that kids could sit on during a movie, covered with a big blanket that was probably from the Daycare's storage. Certainly big enough to fit an animatronic in there.

Hmm, just who could it be?

“Delivery”, he said which a few light knocks against the pillow fort. “For a certain Mr./Mrs. Solstice?”

Some shuffling was heard before he got an answer from inside the fortress. “Who's this?”

“Your DoorDash driver”

“Ah yes, just a second!” More shuffling ensued, then, “Ah, I'm afraid I've lost my human wallet with my human money. But! Could I perhaps entice you to partake in some shared snacks with me as compensation instead? Would that suffice, good Sir?”

Solar snorted, not having anticipated the change in script, but deciding to roll with it anyway. “Sounds good to me. Coming in”

Ducking his head, Solar made his way inside the fort, which was spacious enough to even fit two animatronics without them having to squish themselves against the other.

Inside, as expected, was Solstice, who had brought the little drawing tablet with him in here as well.

“Reveal the snacks. Please”

“On it”, said Solar and dumped his loot between them. “I wasn't sure what you liked, so I just grabbed one of everything. How about some...”, he lifted a bag to his face, squinting his eyes a little in the low light. “...Disappointment chips? God, that's terrible”

Solstice burst out giggling. “Well”, he said, holding his hand out for the purple bag. “At least we know not to have our expectations set too high.”

He ripped open the bag, popped one of the chips into his mouth chewed slowly. “My god”

“What do they taste like?”

“Like the look on parents' faces when their thirty year old son brings home his fifth anime body pillow.”

Solar nearly spit out the drink he had popped open for himself as he burst out in laughter. “Where did that come from??”

“I have seen things”

“Where?”

“Soooomewhere? I don't know”, Solstice said with a shrug, still munching away on his very disappointing mouthful.

Should Solar ask? Yes, he absolutely should, but did he want to? He had screwed around with one of his friends that night already and was still anxious about how that might turn out. He wasn't really looking forward to repeating that.

So, against his better judgment, he decided to not ask and just enjoy the moment. “Are you still up for that movie?”

“Hmhm!”, Solstice nodded, pulling in his knees. “What should we watch?”

“Whatever you want”

“Oh, can we watch Sleeping Beauty then???”

“Sure. The animated one or the remake?”

“Do not speak blasphemy in this tent”

“The original then”, Solar chuckled as he started the projector remotely.

Not long after, the movie began playing, and not long after that did Solstice begin to scoot a little closer to Solar, much to the other bot's confusion and embarrassment. The smaller seemed oblivious to his predicament however, and Solar wouldn't voice it, because it didn't feel bad. Very awkward, but not... bad. Could he call it nice? He surely could, but something inside him simply didn't allow it.

Yet.

However, after a while, he put his arm around them anyway.

Twenty steps, this was getting ridiculous.

Sunny was seething, still, but so far, that hadn't done him anything good. So far, nothing had done anything in here, and he was tired of waiting.

He marched over to the other animatronic, and he wouldn't leave them alone until he finally got some answers. He knew they must have some.

“Hey”, he called out, coming to a stop a few feet away from where the other was sitting and taking a moment to look them over again. Over time, their features had become clearer and clearer for him to make out; the only thing that could even remotely be called a positive in this crap of a situation.

They were definitely an eclipse, tall, with  a casing of rusted red and ebony and multiple rays of sunset orange.

They looked decidedly familiar, but he couldn't remember the other Eclipse being such an asshole, at least not recently and not towards Ruin, but this one here was a certified dickhead, because they still hadn't even turned around to look at him!

“Hey”, he said again after not getting an answer, his annoyance already through the roof again, but the stranger still wouldn't even acknowledge that he was here! Pompous prick probably thought he was too good, huh? Well, tough luck there buddy, because if Sunny could be one thing, it was being incredibly persistent and annoying.

“We're playing this game now, huh? Look man, I know you can hear me, so you can drop it.”, he said, nudging the other with the tip of his foot lightly – harder kicks were on the menu for later if needed, but he was still ignoring him! The heck? Was he sleeping or something?

“Dude”, Sunny crouched down, “I'm really not up for these games right now, AND you are not getting rid of me like that, so how about you cut the crap and give me some answ-!”

He reeled back as if struck the second his hand touched the other's shoulder – except he wasn't being struck. He was being shocked, burned alive right where he stood.

But it wasn't him that was burning up, if was them.

“Hey!”, he called out, grabbing the stranger again through grit teeth as it felt like his casing was getting melted right off his endo from the touch alone – he didn't want to imagine how much worse it must feel for them.

He spun them around, staring them right in the face and into a pair of wide, whited out optics that didn't even look like a shutdown, but like nobody was even home to begin with.

“Oh god dammit, what the hell is happening here?! Hey! Hey!!” But all the Heys probably wouldn't do anything, so he just did the first other thing that came to his mind.

As much as it hurt, as much as it struck, shocked, burned him, he shoved his arms around the other and pulled them against his chest, pressing them against his own casing until it creaked, and then some more.

“Okay, you are going to snap out of this right now, because I'm not letting you go. So if you don't want to cook the both of us, pull yourself together!”

He had no idea what he was doing. They didn't have that kind of relationship – or any relationship for that matter – in order for this to have any kind of emotional impact to snap the other out of whatever this was, but what else could he do? If the other burned up, that would do fuckall for him either, wouldn't it? He'd lose the one piece of company he had in here, and as unwanted as it may be –

The thought of being alone again terrified him.

God dammit. He had never been alone before yes, but why couldn't he just suck it up and deal with it? Why didn't he want the other to just leave??

Why couldn't he just ignore this?

“Come on... come on...”, he kept repeating, not sure how many times he did, but just as he was about to say it again, a clawed hand came up to touch his cheek. Ugh. How corny.

Blue eyes stared at white ones for a bit before the stranger rasped, “What are you doing?”

“I should be asking you that!”, Sunny retorted, breaking their contact and getting a bit of distance between them back. “What the hell was that?!”

“It was nothing”, replied the other.

“Oh screw you, you don't get to “it's nothing” me now! You were dying there!”

“I was not dying –“

“What the hell was it then?!”, Sunny yelled, and the silence that followed it seemed to echo his heavy breathing.

It lingered, for a while.

“He's trying to synchronize our wavelengths”, the stranger finally said.

Sunny stared at him. “Who? That grey Sun?”

“That's not his name”

“What is it – No, you know what, I don't care what his name is, what the hell is he trying to do here?!”, Sunny demanded to know.

The stranger spoke calmly, and that only infuriated the sun model more. “As I've said, he's most likely trying to synchronize our wavelengths. Our brainwaves, so to speak”

“And why?”, Sunny asked, fists trembling at his side.

“Because that's what he's been trying to do for ages now. Time and time again has he sent programs, viruses and other A.I.s in here to try and break through my firewalls. You are apparently his newest attempt”

“And why?!”

“He needs me to lose my focus to use the Star for himself.”

Lingering silence once more, but decidedly shorter this time.

“...What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Do I need to start at the beginning, or are you familiar with magic and –“

“I know what the Star is. I know about magic, I know about dimensions, I know all that crap! But that still doesn't. Explain. Shit. So just... start somewhere that makes sense. Where are we?”

“Inside my head. I've been stuck here for a while, before you came along”

That weird moment a couple of days (had it been days?) ago, when he had suddenly felt dizzy and then had been stuck with... them, instead of the place he had been in before, alone. What had that other place been then? Some technical limbo? Some random hard drive, collecting dust somewhere, before he had been deemed ready to be shoved into the other's head like some kind of tumor?!

“And why”, Sunny continued, forcing the trembling thoughts back down, “does he need to distract you to use the Star? That makes like, absolutely zero sense”

The stranger turned his head away, staring off somewhere into the distance. “It makes sense to him, and that's all the reasoning he needs. He locked me in here and has been trying to break me since then”

“And how long has it been...?”

“I don't know. Time doesn't work in here”

“Yeah okay, I've noticed that much already”, Sunny sighed. “So, how do we get out then?”

White eyes came back to him, with a look filled with... pity?

“We don't get out of here. You don't have a body to return to, and mine's probably non functional by now.”

“What?! I can't just stay in here! I DO have somewhere to return to! I have to get back to my brothers!”

“You won't. Even if you could get out of here, he wouldn't let you leave this dimension”

“Then I'll kill him! I was planning to do that anyway for ripping me out!”

“You can't. It will kill you”

“I don't care!”

“But I do”

Sunny burst out laughing. “Why the hell should you?! You don't know me, I'm probably just some fricking tumor inside your head, you don't make friends with tumors, I don't even know your fricking name and –!”

“My name's Solar.”

Sunny stopped, staring at the other at a loss for words like they had been ripped right out of his voice box. “...You don't look like a Solar”, he finally said.

“What do I look like, then?”, the other asked with a hint of amusement in his voice that Sunny was sure he was just imagining because he was stressed, or losing it.

“You look like an Eclipse”

“Same difference”

“No, I mean, actually Eclipse. Like that's your name, like the Eclipse that I know”

“I've changed my name”

“So you are Eclipse”

“I am an eclipse”

“Ugh, this is confusing...”, Sunny rubbed his head, would ruffle his hair if he had any before he took a few deep breaths to get his emotions back in order – or try to, at least. “So, why am I here? Why me?”

The other turned his gaze back into the distance. “At first, I thought you were just another program, or possibly a virus. I set my firewall to eliminate you, but when you didn't just disappear like all the others had before, but... froze, suffered, I had to stop and check.”

“So, you were the one that gave me that horrible feezing feeling. Thanks, jackass. But shouldn't a firewall, like, burn me?”

“You know it's not actually a fire wall, right?”

“Of course I do! I might be a sun, but I'm not that stupid. So, if you don't eliminate me, what happens instead?”

“Well, judging by how this place seems to be getting smaller and smaller, he's probably trying to literally force us closer together so that my defences will eventually give in and break.”

“Which would be bad for you.", Sunny said slowly. "Kill you"

“Yes.”

“Then we really need to get out of here, both of us.”

“...”

“What? Don't even think about giving the the silent treatment now!”

The stranger, no, Solar cocked his head to the side a little. “You are strange”

“Yeah, I've been told that a lot, can we move on to –“

“No, I mean. Strange for a sun, but in a good way. He might not be expecting your fierceness”

Sunny's mouth snapped shut, staring at the other while wrangling down that weird feeling in his chest that had come out of nowhere, unwanted and uninvited. “How do you mean? Are you saying we should trick him?”

“Exactly. We'll pretend to play along with his little game for a bit longer, make him think that he's actually succeeded in breaking me”

“But won't he do something worse if he think he's succeeded? He'll try to use the Star then, right?”

“He surely will, and that's what will do him in. As long as I control the Star, he can't do anything with it. And once he tries, I'll destroy him”

“...Well, that's certainly a dramatic way to phrase it, but hell yes, I'm in! But uh... how do we do that? Do we just...”, he trailed off, awkwardly avoiding eye contact. “Get to know each other more? You know, because of the whole brainwave synchronizing thing. I only know your name now”

“That's what we'll do”, Solar agreed with a nod and some sort of smile that made Sunny feel even more awkward.

“Good, great, awesome. And then we'll kick grey Sun's ass”

A raspy chuckle followed. “Sure", Solar agreed, "We'll kick his ass”

"Cool, cool", said Sunny, and after another moment of just awkwardly standing there and fiddling with his hands, he sat down on the ground next to the other. "So, like I said before, I have two brothers and we -"

Solar listened, zoning out just a little for his own thoughts while the other talked about his family.

What a strange, unusual sun indeed. Fierce, strong-willed and hard-headed.

But gullible like all the others.

Chapter Text

With a hum, a pep in his step and in a particularly good mood, Sun made his way to the Daycare.

He was here at 5:30 am sharp, like every morning, to set up and prepare for the day. He'd had an exceptionally good sleep and charge last night, surprisingly so to be honest, but you wouldn't catch him complaining about that.

He appreciated a dreamless night every now and then, could happen more frequently if you asked him, but barely anyone ever did ask him about such things, and NOPE, he wasn't going to let any intrusive self-deprecating thoughts ruin his good mood, thank you very much.

Plus, he finally had an update for Ruin on their little secret project, and that raised his spirits even more. But since he doubted that they would already be up at this hour, he would just have to hold onto his anticipation for when he saw them later in the day.

The Daycare's doors opened automatically as if inviting him in, and he gladly followed that invitation today. Somehow, this seemed to be one of those days, when simply nothing could go –

...okay why was Moon sleeping at the security desk? He had a blanket at least, but that was actually even more concerning than reassuring. Moon never used blankets, except for when he tucked the little ones in for naptime, and not to mention that Sun could count bot that and the times that Moon had slept in the Daycare at all on one of his hands.

Uuuuuugh. One of those days, then.

Tip-toeing over, he gently tapped his brother on the shoulder. “Moon? Mo-hoon”, he tried a couple of times before the other's eyes sleepy blinked open. “Good morning sleepyhead. Rough night?”

Rousing his brother was never exactly easy; even with Old Moon back then, Sun had to try multiple times to get him out of bed, as the other would usually just have turned around for “five more minutes” after every attempt, which usually ended up being closer to thirty.

But this time, rousing his now younger brother seemed like an impossible task as he just mumbled something into the crook of his crossed arms his head was resting on. “Mmmmmnnnoooo? I dunno... wanna sleep”

Okay, that would be kind of wholesome, if this weren't Moon. Okay, that sounded mean, he didn't mean it like that, it was just like... well, very unlike Moon, given the time and place.

“Why did you sleep in the Daycare anyway? That can't have been comfortable”

“The Daycare...?”, Moon mumbled, sleepy eyes blinking open once more as his gaze rested on his brother's face. “I didn't fall asleep in the Daycare”

“Well, it sure looks like that to me. You're even plugged in and everything!”

Even at a low volume, Sun's voice was shrill enough to rouse the dead, and enough for Moon to raise his head and rub at his eyes. “I know, I did that myself, but... I didn't go to sleep here. Computer?”

YES, MOON

“Pull up the footage from last night, 12 am till now”

SEARCHING... THE FOOTAGE FROM THAT TIMEFRAME APPEARS TO BE CORRUPTED

“The heck?”, Moon cursed under his breath, shrugging off the blanket and the rest of his drowsiness as he pulled up last night's data manually. The Computer wasn't lying though – that was definitely some corrupted footage right there. The rest of the recordings from the day prior seemed to be fine though – he made sure to record everything that happened in here because of the portal alone. Speaking of which...

“Check for portal's activation in the last eight hours”

CHECKING. … PORTAL HAS NOT BEEN ACTIVATED IN THE LAST EIGHT HOURS

“And the last people that have been here last night were...”, Moon mumbled, typing away on his keyboard before he abruptly stopped and stared at the screen.

“....Yeeeees, Moon?”, Sun said after a while, peeking over his brother's shoulder with his gunmetal grey fingers resting on said shoulders. “...Yeeeees?”

Moon abruptly spun his head around towards him. “Where's Solstice right now?”

“Uuuh, probably somewhere with Solar? He has been staying with him, after all. Why, what's wrong?”

“He was here”

“Uh yeah, we all were”

“Sun, I have a scanner in here that picks up everybody's signatures, even without visual footage. He was here last night. When I was here, alone as far as I know, but apparently not.”

“Okay, so what if he was here? Couldn't he just have popped in here, saw you sleeping and tucked you in or something? That does sound rather nice actually, if you ask me”

“Except I didn't ask–“, Moon started but stopped himself immediately when he noticed where that sentence was headed.

No, that is something that Old Moon would have said, not you.

Moon took a deep breath in, shaking the thought off. “I just wanna go and ask him about it, that's all. If things went like you think they did, then all's cool”

Except it wasn't, was it? He couldn't remember falling asleep here. He had been checking other dimensions for the cause of these ripples, and then things had suddenly gone... fuzzy. No way he had been low on power though, he was plugged in, had been until just now for crying out loud, so what else was it? An error in his software? A crash? But then something would show up in his system log, and that was suspiciously void of any unusual entries.

“Well, you go and do that. I'll be here to get the Daycare ready if you need me”

“Yeah”, Moon rose from his chair. “I'll hurry and then I'll come help you, okay?”

“No no, you go and check on Sols.”, Sun waved him off with a smile. “Just don't go and frighten the poor guy, 'cause I think that'll get you in trouble with Solar~”

“...Why?”

“'Cause he's head over heels for him!”

“...HUH?!”, Moon blurted out, certain that NOW, he'd just had a system crash and must have been hallucinating that part of the conversation. But Sun carried on.

“I know, it's kinda hard to tell because Solar is pretty... secretive about these things, but it's pretty obvious actually if you know the signs”

“...And you know them, huh?”

“I do~”, Sun replied with a giggle and basically started pushing Moon out of the doors. “Now go, I need to get into the zone for preparation!”

“...The zone for preparation?”

“Eeexactly~! I have a whole day full of arts and crafts planned for the little ones! So see you later~!”

And bam, doors closed.

...Well, alright. Theatre it was then. Hopefully he wouldn't run into the two of them in the middle of... anything. God, was he really so obtuse? Solar was supposed to be his friend, so why hadn't he noticed anything? And why hadn't he said anything?

Then again, Moon wasn't really the one you'd go to for a topic like that, right? Man, some kind of friend he was...

Well, then he would just have to make up for that by being the best wingman ever!

Up the stairs and through the shutters, and he could see that the Theatre was still closed and Solar wasn't here. Figures, it was like fuck-you-o'clock in the morning anyway, but he made a quick detour into the showroom anyway, for good measure.

Some old school credits lazily scrolled up on the big screen with some soft sounding music, and that was strange enough, but not what caught his attention. No, it was the absolute mess of a pillow fort down there, one that was sure to give Sun an aneurysm should he spot it.

No way that had been left there overnight. Still, Moon contemplated just leaving it there and go looking for Solar again – but he had said that he wanted to help Sun get ready for the day, hadn't he? This was a perfectly fine opportunity to do so, and shut off that movie that had been playing for whatever reason while he was at it.

Switching off the projector and flicking on the lights in the place, he went down the stairs and approached the fort – which, upon closer inspection, might have been a fort at some point, but was now just some pillows, cushions and... Solar and Solstice in a very cuddly position and covered with a blanket.

Moon's mind blanked for a moment. Sun saying that Solar had a crush on Sols was one thing. Seeing it was... too much for his processor.

“Uh. Solar?”, he said decidedly too loud because the other outright startled awake.

“Wha-?!...Moon?”

“Heeeeey. So, uh”, Moon started, his gaze flipping over to Solstice for just a second. “...Busy night?”

“Mh. Sleepover, I guess”, Solar gave a mumbling reply, rubbing his eyes and actually letting out a yawn which Moon had never seen him do before. He had honestly doubted Solar could even do that at all.

“I see. Hey Solstice”

“Good Morning Moon!!”

Solar made a sound as if clearing his throat, shrugging the blanket off his shoulders before rising to his feet, the smaller animatronic quickly following suit and proceeding to pick up the blanket to fold it neatly together, humming something about “clean-up” under his breath, but without the stressed note Sun occasionally had when his cleaning protocols ran wild.

“Soooo”, Moon eloquently continued the conversation, hands in his pockets and rocking on his heels before he flashed Solar a grin. “Sleepover, huh~?”

“Yeah, we had a pretty busy night. We were both due for some relaxation”

“Both, huh~~?”

“Is there something I can do for you, Moon?”, Solar replied with a grumbling pout, clearly embarrassed.

Oh, but if Moon was good at one thing, it was teasing~

“Aww, that's awfully considerate of you, Solar~”

“Moon, I swear I am going to punch you”

“What, you would hit a guy with glasses??”

“You're not even wearing –! Ugh!”, Solar rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. “Can I. Help you. With something?”

“Okay okay, don't get your goggles in a twist. I was actually looking for Solstice here”, Moon switched the topic before he actually ended up getting smacked.

Upon hearing his name, Solstice perked up, still in the middle of tidying up the foam sitting blocks. “Me?”

“Yeah, if you don't mind. I just wanna ask you something. Have you been in the Daycare last night?”

Solstice's expression turned pensive, the clicking of the gears in his head practically visible in his face. “Uuuhh... I have been there yesterday and had lot of fun with you guys! I made drawings and gave one to Eclipse and he even gave me a hug! It was really nice~!”

Okay, that added up so far. “And you're sure you didn't come back again later? Maybe you forgot one of your drawings or something?”

“Hmmm... no, pretty sure! I was with Solar right after!”

“Right after? Not like, maybe a five minute detour or something?”

“Moon, what are you doing? They don't have memory issues like that”, Solar interjected, the accusation of Moon calling the other a liar remaining unspoken, but the lunar animatronic could read it in the other's face. Moon had to come clean now, or a smack would be the least of his worries.

“Okay, something weird happened last night in the Daycare. I was there after hours to check out these ripples, then something happened and next thing I knew, Sun woke me up like, fifteen minutes ago. I don't know what that something is, obviously, but the Computer's data showed that you, Solstice, must have come to the Daycare some time after it closed. Now, I don't remember you being there either, but the Computer said you were there, sooo...”

Solar looked like he wanted to disagree heavily, before something flashed over his face that Moon couldn't describe. The mechanic's gaze wandered over to Solstice.

“You did say you'd gotten up again because you couldn't sleep, right?”

“Yes? But I came straight to you”, Solstice answered with a blink. “I didn't go to the Daycare”

“Look buddy, it's not that I don't believe you, but you have to agree that it is a bit strange”

“Isn't there any footage from last night?”, Solar inquired.

“There is, but it's been corrupted. Currently working on restoring that”, Moon said, rubbing his temples as he began to feel a headache set in. He had definitely slept too long. “But eh, maybe it's just nothing. Maybe the Computer just had a glitch. I'll make sure to check once I'm done in that stupid basement”

“I can handle that instead”, Solar offered – knowing full well that Eclipse had been down there all night, and knowing the other's work ethic, hadn't taken a single break the whole time. “The basement, I mean. I'll just put on some movies up here and the STAFF bot can handle the counter.”

“Oh oh, I can handle the counter!”

“You know Solstice, I would actually like you to spend the day with Sun and me. In the Daycare, I mean. Tuesday is... special arts and crafts day! I'm sure Sun would appreciate your help”

Wow, lied like a true Moon. The original would be so proud of you.

“Oohh yes yes yes! Of course!”, the other excitedly agreed with a bright smile. “Oh, but I need to get ready first! ByeSolarseeyoulater~!”, he departed with another smile, a biiig hug for the mechanic and then darted off before Solar even had the chance to get embarrassed by it.

“...”

“...”

Like something out of a horror movie, Solar's head turned towards Moon.

“...What?”

“Special arts and crafts day?”

“Hey, Sun does like doing these with the kids on Tuesdays, it's just not official”, Moon defended himself, crossing his arms. “I just want to keep an eye on him for a bit. You do have to agree that things have been getting a bit weird since he got here”

Solar wanted to argue with that, but he couldn't. Everything strange that had happened these past few days seemed to have started with Solstice's sudden appearance, yes, but he refused to believe that they were to blame for it.

“It is strange”, he agreed. “But try not to interrogate them like that. He still doesn't really understand things the way we do, even when he has gotten better”

“He really has”, Moon had to agree himself, cracking a small smile. “Pretty much thanks to you, I'd say. You two spend a lot of time together”

“Well, I did say that I would take care of them – kind of. Ruin kinda bullied me into it, but... I don't really mind all that much, actually”, Solar admitted. “He makes for good company”

“Yeah, I bet. So...”, Moon trailed off, unsure if he should ask, but he really really wanted to. Damn curiosity. “You like him, huh?”

“As I said, he makes for good company, and he's even helped me with a project of mine”

“No, I mean... like that. Like. Like like”

“Like like...?”

“Oh come on, like! You like him! At least that's what Sun said, and I mean, don't ask me, I'm a complete idiot on that topic, but I mean... you guys just had a sleepover. And watched a movie together. And he's wearing your clothes”

Solar blinked a couple of times, unsure of what to say. What the heck was Moon even talking about? Of course he liked him, but he didn't like like anybody.

And nobody like liked him. Not even someone as kind and good-hearted as Solstice could, of that he was sure. Solar didn't deserve that in the first place.

Why not though? Even Eclipse, that motherfucker, has managed to find someone. So why couldn't he?

Easy, because Solar had nothing to bring to the table that somebody like Solstice would deserve.

“No, I don't like him like that.”, he finally said, ignoring how the words burned like acid on his tongue. “I'll be down in the basement now if you need me”

“Uh...! ...Sure, Solar. Thank you”, Moon said meekly, waiting until the other was gone before he gave himself a good, hard and very deserved smack upside the head.

Some wingman he was...

Humming, the tune of “Once upon a dream” still on his lips, Solstice stepped out of the showers of the bathroom that Solar had shown him how to use. Kinda embarrassing that he had to be shown how to do that in the first place, but Solar was always so nice and patient with him! It made him very happy, honestly. Spending time with the mechanic always did.

Quickly drying himself off, he went to the neatly folded pile of clothes he had prepared to slip into, his used sweater and pants pushed down a laundry chute – also like Solar had shown him to do – to be washed and cleaned somewhere down in the basement. He would have to make sure to go down there at some point and thank the STAFF bot that was responsible for handling the laundry. It always smelled so nice and fresh whenever it came back.

His neckerchief though, he had kept. He always made double, triple, absolutely sure that it never got dirty enough to have to be professionally cleaned – and he wasn't sure he could hand it over for that anyway. He would just probably do it himself.

Letting go of it just felt... wrong. He wasn't sure why, couldn't name the feeling that the thought alone brought with it – but it wasn't a nice one.

As always, the starry fabric waited for him just where he had left it, on top of the pile of clothes, and he would have put it on first, like always, but this time that wouldn't work.

He had finally picked out his old clothes that Earth had so kindly fixed up for him – the ones that felt like home – and that's what he was going to wear today. He had to look like a proper Daycare Attendant after all, especially today! Daycare Attendant Eklipse, ready to –!

…Whoa.

What was that? That sudden dizziness... had his charge dropped too low? No, that was sitting comfortably at 72%, so it couldn't have been that. Maybe the shower just had been a bit too hot, yeah, that was surely it.

Shaking his head a bit to get rid of the leaden feeling that still clung to him like... lead (could lead cling?), he picked up his clothes, put the neckerchief carefully to the side and went over to the mirror over the sink to make sure he put everything on neatly and correctly.

The puffy, blue striped and red-star adorned pants; the skirt with the belt and the big bow attached to it on the back; his blue vest with the yellow buttons and the suspenders he liked so much; the long gloves with the ribbons and finally his... shoulder-neck-piece-thingy with the little bell on it.

Turning back towards the mirror, he took a long look at himself.

Yes, this looked correct. There, blinking back at him from mismatched red and blue eyes was the Daycare Attendant that he knew he was. Although he admittedly looked a bit more like a performer, if you asked him.

But yes, this was correct. This was Solstice. This was who he should be.

So who had been the other Solstice, then? The one with the old, worn down pants, hand me downs from a person he didn't know because Solar never spoke about them except the one time he had said their name and had looked so incredibly, indescribably sad while doing so – the one with the too big sweater with the Superstar Daycare logo on it that had felt so nice on his casings and had smelled so freshly of laundry detergent and lemon. The one who liked to draw, loved doing arts and crafts with the kids and liked music.

Was that Solstice, too?

Of course it was, he was Solstice, so of course both of these people were Solstice. What a silly question, of course he could be both at the same time.

He was Solstice. That was the name Solar had given him when he had first woken up, so of course that's who he was. He knew that's who he was.

So, why did the person in the mirror look so different then?

They raised their right arm when he lifted his left, tilted their head to the left when he tilted his to the right, copying his exact movements – but mirrored.

Both couldn't be real at the same time. A left arm couldn't be a right arm at the same time, a blue eye not be the same color as a red one.

Who was the original then, and who the mirror?

Daycare Attendant Solstice, or Daycare Attendant E...

Eklipse?

The dizziness was back, a vertigo that threatened to send both him and the Solstice in the mirror tumbling to the ground, uncaring of which one was which, but he managed to hold onto the sink before he could hit the ground.

It hurt so bad... like something was banging against the insides of his skull, scratching behind his optics, burning something in his mouth so that he could taste ash on his tongue.

Who... who was...?

Who was that behind him?

That was definitely not him. A figure of reds and whites and dressed in purplish-blues, staring both him and the reflection down from piercing red eyes.

Holding a piece of blue and starry fabric in their claws that was NOT theirs to have.

“Hmm, what's this, brother?”
“The freak has picked out yet another new costume”
“He's still ugly though”
“Oh yes, very”

Without reply, Solstice slowly righted himself and turned around. He knew he should keep his attention on the stranger, but all his eyes could focus on was the neckerchief in white claws.

“That is not yours. Give it back”

Bloodmoon halted, head tilting this way and that while they tittered to themselves.

“He sounds different now too, doesn't he, other?”
“Even more different than he did in the Theatre”
“And do you see the look in his ugly eyes? Like he doesn't know who we are”
“Maybe he has finally lost his mind, brother? Let it flush down the drain like he had pretended for so long”

What were they talking about? WHO were they talking about? Definitely not him, he had never seen this other animatronic before, but that didn't stop his stomach from tightening into a knot regardless.

The smell of iron clung to them like a sticky fingerprint. The red smudges on his clothes didn't look like paint though.

Something told him he should run.

But they still had his neckerchief.

“I don't know who you are”, he told them, which was true, he didn't, but he had a feeling he also didn't want to get to know them anyway.

They smelled like blood.

Eklipse

That wasn't his name, but they still had his scarf, and he wanted it back.

Solstice.

Not. Now.

“Give it back”

“What, that?”, one of them asked, holding up the piece of fabric as if they had just remembered that they even had it. They seemed to think for a moment before a wicked smile stretched over their faceplate.

“Ohh, is this important to you?”
“Look at him, brother. It is”
“Then I think we should keep it”
“We could eat it!”
“...Ugh, brother”
“After we have soaked it in his oil, other! We're not animals, after all. We dine with class”
“That we do”

They seemed to have come to an agreement. Good for them, but Solstice was livid as he made a step towards them. “Give. It. Back!”

“Or what, freak?”
“Are you going to attack us?”

Solstice!

He took another step forward, at that was when they struck.

Solstice slammed against the sink, vision glitching, a ringing in his audials that bordered on head-splitting. Shakily, he stared at his reflection in the mirror.

His faceplate had been cracked, a split lip, as humans would probably call it, oil dripping thickly down his chin and down the drain. Behind his reflection and behind himself, he could see them prepare for another strike.

He almost couldn't make out the words that kept swirling in his mind.

Run.

Solstice bolted out of the bathroom through the other door, somehow faster than them, but he knew he wasn't really, they were giving him a headstart for their hunt, because it wouldn't be fun any other way, would it?

He couldn't tell where those thoughts were coming from, but he knew he was correct when he heard their cackling laugh echo through the halls behind him.

You won't be able to outrun them.

“What??”, Solstice called out, thankful that he didn't need to draw actual breath while running. “What am I going to do then??”

You need to lose them. Turn left on the next corner.

Solstice did so without question, skidding a bit on the ground but managing to keep his balance to continue running down the hallway. Who are they?! He frantically asked in his own head, figuring that calling out loud wouldn't do him any good if he wanted to lose that murderous maniac. And who are you??

They call themselves Bloodmoon. They're a cannibalistic animatronic, so I'd suggest you keep running. Take another left.

Again, Solstice did, but he would not let his second question go unanswered. Who ARE you? Why are you helping me?

Would you prefer if I didn't?

“NO!!”, he cried out loud, slapping a hand over his mouth and barely managing to not fumble his steps. Just tell me how to lose them!

I am. Take the next right, but be careful, there are stairs right after, so don't trip.

He certainly wasn't planning to, not when he was already tripping over his own thoughts like that.

Why was there a cannibal after them? Where had they even come from, what was someone like that doing in a PizzaPlex full of children, who would even build an animatronic like that, was the voice in his head actually trying to help him or was it maybe just a trick because Bloodmoon was already talking to himself so what if there was a third voice that had somehow gotten into his head and was now luring him towards –

…

He wasn't sure if the voice had tried to warn him again, or if he just couldn't hear it over the sounds of metal crashing down a flight of stairs. He also wasn't certain how many steps he had actually missed, could have been anything from one to ten, or maybe twenty. His body screamed like it had been a hundred.

Proper awareness came back to him at the bottom of the stairs, on a cold, hard floor that could have been either tiles or linoleum, but it was honestly all the same because it all just felt like pain.

His shoulder felt the worst, warnings flashing across his HUD that he couldn't make sense of. Something about damage and oil leakage.

In his chest, his core was hammering, his habit of breathing forgotten in favour of feeling the cold floor underneath his casing, his fingers spread out to feel more of it to make certain that it was actually the floor he was lying on, but he was staring at some lights, and usually there weren't any lights on the floor, so he was most likely staring up at the ceiling and lying on the floor. Yes, that made the most sense.

Why was he on the floor again?

Ah, right, the stairs, the warning not to trip, and the subsequent tripping. Right, that's what happened.

...Ow.

Solstice?

“Yes?”

They are coming.

A chocked sob escaped the animatronic, or maybe a laugh? No, it was definitely a sob, no sane person would be laughing in a situation like this, and he was only talking to a weird voice in his head, that didn't mean he was losing it.

You won't be able to lose them now, so we need to think of something else. Can you move?

He gave it a try, and although it hurt like hell, he could indeed move his body, even when his shoulder joint screamed bloody murder at him. “Yes”, he grit through his teeth.

Good. You need to get up and get ready to face them.

Now he was definitely laughing. “Face them?? I can't! They'll kill me!”

They'll kill you if you don't fight too. I can help you, you just need to trust me.

Could he though? He didn't even know who or what that voice even was, but the thought of just lying here and.. accepting whatever was going to happen also didn't sit right with him. Biting down hard on his tongue, he first pushed himself up on his hands, then his knees, and when he spotted a sharp looking piece of metal from the corner of his eye, he grabbed it for good measure before shakily rising back to his feet.

Good, you have something to defend yourself with. You're doing very good, Solstice, the voice praised, and Solstice took in a deep breath to stop his hands from trembling so much. No use trying to stab anybody if he couldn't even hit them.

Correct, but I would strongly advise against actually trying to stab them. That would most likely yield an... unfavourable result.

“What should I do then?”

Pretend.

“Pretend?”, Solstice repeated, mechanical heartbeat quickening as he heard the telltale cackle from up the stairs, tightening the grip on the metal shard. “What if I'm too slow?”

You won't be. I will help you, but I need you to trust me.

They said that again, trust them, some weird voice in their head, but... getting ripped in half and then possibly eaten was definitely the worse alternative. His stomach dropped anyway when Bloodmoon appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Little bird has fallen, hm?”
“And broken a wing, he has”
“We should clip his other one too”
“Yes, I think he's done enough running”

Running was all Solstice wanted to do, but his legs seemed glued to the floor. All the more reason to grip his makeshift weapon even tighter, cause he knew if he let it fall, he wouldn't be quick enough to pick it up again.

Bloodmoon came down the stairs – not that many steps after all – with all the confidence of someone who knew they had already won and were just basking in their victory and drawing it out.

He wanted to take a step back when he saw that wide, tooth-filled grin, but his legs just wouldn't move!

You have to take a step forward.

“I-I don't think I can...”

You can. I'll count you down from three. When I say one, you take the step. I will handle the rest.

Solstice could barely hear the taunting from the red animatronic, didn't care for it honestly as he was solely focused on the ringing in his audials.

Are you ready?

“No”

Three

The trembling came back, unable to be contained any longer. It took all his willpower not to pass out.

Two

His throat was closing up. They were almost at the bottom of the stairs. There was was crackling in the air, like sudden static dancing across his casing.

One

He took the step.

Chapter Text

His throat was closing up. They were almost at the bottom of the stairs. There was was crackling in the air, like sudden static dancing across his casing.

One

He took the step.

Later, he had learned what had happened after everything had gone dark – how that one single step had caused another dimensional ripple, the biggest one yet, that had also knocked him right out. How Eclipse had fought off Bloodmoon when he and Solar had been alerted by all the commotion, and that a huge fight had broken out between the latter and Moon because apparently, the ripple had caused the portal to activate.

And now Sun was missing.

The Daycare had to be shut down after that – thank god it hadn't even opened yet, the mere notion that children could have been involved in that... no, just no.

It was even later than later now, but Solstice hadn't kept track of how long he had been in this holding cell for.

His damages had been repaired, the broken ray that he had mistaken for that sharp piece of metal soldered back on, and the crack in his faceplate had been patched back together as well. Of course he was grateful for that, but he would have understood if he had just been left as he was. Moon had been so mad... and he had all the right to be. Sun could be anywhere.

And he was here. Something about “containment” and “quarantine”, but whatever the reason, it was for the better. Whatever he had done was dangerous, and there was no one else to blame for what had happened but him.

Perhaps some of the blame could be shifted to that voice that had told him to take that step – but that didn't change the fact that he had made the decision to listen and take it. That was on him. Moon had every right to be mad.

It was quiet in here. He could see into the rest of Parts and Service through the glass, but nobody else was here. At least no murderous cannibal animatronic either.

But they had taken his neckerchief...

Burying his face further into his knees at the thought, he missed the sound of the doors opening and startled back when Earth suddenly appeared on the other side of the glass.

“Oh, I'm sorry Solstice, I didn't meant to startle you!”, she apologized immediately, her bright blue eyes a stark contrast against the sterile lighting of the room.

Solstice stared back up at her for a moment before he jumped back to his feet. “Did they find Sun??”

The look on her face already answered his question, his shoulders dropping along with his heart.

“They are getting ready to go look for him. Moon could apparently track his signature down, but something is preventing him from pulling Sun out remotely, so he and Solar are going to get him back on their own.”, Earth explained, expression as gentle as could be, but something in her eyes was... off.

She was probably just as mad at him as Moon was. Or perhaps she was here instead of anyone else because she was the one that was the least mad at him. The thought did make Solstice feel a little bit better. He liked Earth.

But that also meant that Solar was too mad at him to come see him, and the pain of that realization burrowed itself inside his chest like a harpoon.

“That's good”, he said, forcefully swallowing down all these thoughts that were making a mess in his mind. Curious that the voice had nothing to add. He was sure that it would be laughing at him, at how stupid he was.

“It is”, Earth agreed with a smile that he didn't buy, but was grateful for regardless. He didn't think that he would be able to handle her yelling at him...

He was about to sit back down, expecting her to leave again after having relayed that message to him, but Solstice found himself more than surprised to see her unlocking the door instead, staring at her and what she was doing in disbelief.

“Uh... Earth? What are you doing?”

“Hm, what do you mean what I'm doing?”, she asked, honest confusion written onto her features that, in turn, confused him even more. “I'm taking you to the Daycare with me. Or would you prefer to stay here?”

...She wasn't asking him that to mock him, was she? Angry or not, that's not something Earth would do, right?

“I thought I was supposed to stay here?”, he quietly asked.

Earth tilted her head. “And why would that be? If you're worried, I can reassure you that Moon has declared you good to go. There's nothing in your system that could pose a threat to any of us.”

There... wasn't? But how? How could there not be anything threatening about him?His processor spun, trying to come up with an answer, but all that got him was the beginning of a headache.

“But what if this... magic thing happens again?”, he asked meekly. That's what he had heard Moon call it. Magic. He didn't know if it was the same kind of magic that he knew from the children's books in the Daycare, but even if it wasn't, he was pretty sure that the basic rules still applied.

Magic could be good and bad, and if you don't know how to use it properly, you could end up hurting people. And oh boy, had he not known how to use it.

Earth gave him another one of her soft smiles. “I do understand your worries about that, and yes, you are right, it could be dangerous if it happens again. That is why both Lunar and Eclipse will stay in the Daycare with us. Eclipse will handle the portal and all the technical stuff, and Lunar is very experienced when it comes to magic, so he'll watch over you and keep an eye out should anything happen”

That... all made sense, he supposed. It sounded relatively well thought out, but who was he to be the judge of that. He had to be shown how to use a darn shower.

But there was one more question burning on his tongue that he just had to ask.

“And if that red one comes back? Bloodmoon?”

Something in Earth's expression shifted, just for a moment and barely noticeable, a blink-and-you-miss-it thing, but Solstice had noticed.

“That's also why we're all going to stay in the Daycare. The place will be heavily reinforced and defended, so nothing will be able to get in.”, she explained with all the patience in the world before she held out her hand for him.

“So, are you ready to go?”

Was he? No, not really. He took her hand anyway.

A small part of him hoped that when they got to the Daycare, Moon and Solar would have already left for their mission to save Sun. The significantly bigger part of him could barely contain himself when he spotted the mechanic.

But he didn't approach. He wanted to, in fact, every single circuit of his being was screaming at him to close the distance between himself and the other and apologize until his voice box gave out –

But he didn't, even when it felt like he was tearing himself apart.

Eclipse was here as Earth had said, along with Lunar and another animatronic that he hadn't seen before. About as tall as Eclipse, but built with more bulk and a sturdier frame in the shape and colours of an alligator.

And finally, sitting behind the security desk and with Eclipse hovering at their side like a murderous shadow, was [DESIGNATION: MOONDROP]

...Huh?

“Good, now that everyone's here, we can go”, Moon announced, shaking Solstice out of his confusion.

“Portal's open”, announced Eclipse from behind the computer, sparing Solstice no glance, which also hurt. That was also a friendship he had apparently now ruined.

But what stung the most, cold and sharp like a knife to the heart, was that Solar also just turned around without even so much as looking at him.

In that moment he wanted to cry, but he had no right to do that. Later he would, definitely, when he was alone. He briefly wondered where he should sleep from now on.

There you go with your selfish thoughts again, Solstice. You'll sleep wherever they tell you to. You've forfeited your right to voice your thoughts and feelings to them and expect consideration.

Oh, how badly he wanted to blame these words on that strange voice in his head.

But they were his alone.

The portal activated with a hum, invisible but noticeable by how the air around them seemed to be buzzing. Moon and Solar stepped in, and just like that were gone from one moment to the other.

Solstice knew he had no right to, but he wanted to cry.

Dimension Beta560

Stepping out of the portal and into this place felt exactly like last time – is what Solar would have thought if he could remember his last time here.

But he couldn't, so the first thing he noticed instead was how quiet the place was.

It should be around 10 am like it was back at home, since the Computer hadn't marked this dimension as one with a time discrepancy. But if it was 10 am, then where was everybody? In his whole time being alive, Solar hadn't experienced a single day where the Daycare had been completely void of children – unless there was some kind of special event going on in the Plex, which yeah, could be, but he couldn't shake the notion that this place simply felt off.

“I don't like this place”, Moon gave voice to the thoughts swirling in Solar's head. “And since Sun isn't here waiting for us, I think I have every damn reason not to.”

The eclipse found that sentiment hard to disagree with.

“Do me a favour and hop on the computer for me?”, Moon asked. Sure.

“And look for what?”, Solar asked in return, already plopping himself into the chair behind the desk. The setup looked relatively similar to their own back home. It shouldn't be too hard to navigate.

“I'm gonna go and see if I can track down Sun's location more precisely.”, Moon answered plainly. “I need you to watch my back”

That idea was... solid enough. It wasn't exactly a plan, but better than nothing.

“I can do that”

“Knew I could count on you. Thanks buddy”

Solar waved him off and got right to work after the Daycare's doors had closed. He pulled out some cables, connected himself to the computer and was more than glad that he'd just recently had that firewall upgrade, because god dammit, that was an onslaught of something.

Gritting his teeth, Solar forced his way through the mess of data that bombarded him. Quality wise, this security system was shit, but damn did it make up for its lack of finesse with the sheer amount of noise that assaulted his system.

Like some explorer with a machete in a rainforest, he fought his way through the tangled mess of data, looking for that one spot of light that promised a clearing from all this chaos, until suddenly –

Something jostled Sunny out of his slumber.

It didn't wake him up completely. Waking up was hard when everything around him was so nice and warm and comfy, and he was so, so tired that even dreaming felt like a chore. He didn't want to wake up, but the animatronic next to him stirred so much that the decision was taken from him.

“Someone's here.”

“Mhh.. wha..?”

“Someone's here.”, Solar repeated, having the courtesy to lower Sunny down properly instead of letting him splat on the ground like a dead fish, before he rose to his feet. The Daycare Attendant would have been grateful if he'd had the mind for it.

Solar found himself inside a mindscape, which definitely wasn't his own. He knew what that looked and felt like – and the fact that he was pretty certain that he didn't share his head with anybody else was also a dead giveaway. Not to mention that there wasn't just one, but two other animatronics here beside himself, and that was definitely not a common thing.

“He–“ Hey, is what he had wanted to say, but he only got the two letters out before he was bodily slammed into the ground.

“What the-?!”, he began to struggle, but whoever this motherfucker was, he had some strength to him, even though he didn't look the part. He looked like...

“...me?”, Solar finished his thought out loud, staring up at the face that had all of his features, but none of his colors. “Who are–?”

White eyes stared him down, seemed to stare right through him, and Solar was mentally sifting through his very unimpressive knowledge about physical combat before the other could beat him to it.

He was fully expecting a fist to the face, but got something else handed to him instead. A scoff.

“Eclipses are support to be smart. Guess you didn't get that memo”, hissed the other Solar with a roll of his eyes that rivaled Eclipse's. In one fluid motion that again spoke of the other's strength, he pulled Solar back to his feet. “What are you doing here?”

Solar chose to ignore the insult for now. “I don't know! Where is here even?”

“Headspace...”, came a slurred answer from further back, and Solar wasn't sure what he should be more confused about, his off-coloured look-alike or the near catatonic sun model lying on the ground.

This shit just got weirder and weirder with every passing second.

“S-Solar...”

“I'm coming”, said the Solar that was not him (fucking hell, he already had a headache from this) and made his was back over to the other, beckoning for Solar – him – to follow.

The mechanic obliged, because what else could he do, really? Standing here wouldn't answer any of his questions, like how the hell an eclipse and a sun had ended up in a mindscape together. Okay wait, that wasn't actually all that unusual, but whose mind was this then? As far as he knew, he had plucked himself into an actual computer, not someone else's head.

He watched with curiosity, but also an uncomfortable hesitation as the other-Solar sat back down on the ground next to the sun before oh so carefully lifting their upper body to rest more comfortably in his lap.

Fuck, he hated how familiar this felt, back when he and his Sunny had –

No, stop thinking about that, stop it

“Are you just going to stand there?”

Spiral abruptly broken before it could have even begun, Solar chose to still keep some distance as he sat on the ground close to the other two before clearing his throat.

“So, who are you two?”

“I am you”, other-Solar answered, and it seemingly took him all his willpower not to scoff again. “But to avoid confusion, you can just call me Umbra.”

Umbra, huh. The darkest part of a shadow – or the spirit of a dead person from a mythology Solar hadn't bothered to remember the name of. Which one was more fitting?

“And this is –“

“Wait... let me”, said the sun, who Solar had thought to have fallen asleep actually, but now that they opened their eyes and a familiar blue looked back at him, he felt his confusion go through the roof.

“Hey, Solar...”

“...Do we know each other?”, he asked dumbfounded, wracking his brain for an answer to who this was, but he had never seen a sun model like this.

“Mhhh... not like this, I guess”, the other said and finally shattered Solar's fragile understanding of what might be going on here completely with their next words. “But I suppose if I change my accent a little and speak a bit more... well, like this, then I figure it sounds a bit more familiar, no? I would start quoting Hamilton too if you'd like, but I'm honestly feeling a bit... under the weather right now”

Solar could just stare open-mouthed at the other, his mind drawing a complete blank as to what to say or do, but one word managed to tumble out of his voice box on its own.

“Ruin?”

“Heeeey~...”

“I won't waste time trying to explain this with words”, Umbra spoke up, drawing Solar's still wide gaze to him. “That would both take too long and leave room for misunderstandings and even more confusion.”

“...So instead?”, Solar managed to ask.

“I'll show you. You'll sit this one out, Sunny. Don't want your systems to fall apart any more...”

He got a shaky thumbs up in return.

White eyes focused back on Solar, who had to hold back from swallowing too thickly as he realized that the other was waiting for permission. With a curt nod, he gave it.

And then his mind got launched.

Chapter Text

Dimension Beta560, weeks prior

Solar took a deep breath in. Moments like this one had become sparse, few and far in between all the mess and chaos that had become their lives, a calm between storms. Sometimes, coming to terms with their new reality was still difficult. Not that said reality gave a shit about that.

This could have been a beautiful place. It had been, for a while.

A refuge for eclipses – or at least that had been the plan. There hadn't been a lot of them, barely a handful really, united in all their differences by their desire to find a place they could call home.

Good eclipses, bad eclipses, and those who had simply been lost.

It could have been beautiful, it had been for so, so long – but then their dimension had started to die.

But eclipses were notoriously bad at accepting defeats, so, being ever the pragmatists (or know-it-all little shits) they were, they had decided to find a new place to stay in. A new dimension, one that appeared untouched by the Cataclysm that had erased this place's Creator from existence and had subsequently doomed their home to the same fate.

It had been slow – a diagnosis that had spelled out a creeping, drawn out process of wasting away rather than dropping dead without preamble.

He had often wondered if an instant death would have been the preferable alternative, but these thoughts had no use anymore. The past couldn't be changed, and the future didn't like to be kept waiting.

All the more reason to appreciate that he wasn't in this alone.

“Solstice”

Solar peeked open a golden eye, regarding the other animatronic - that was beaming down at him with a bright smile and fluttering rays - with an expression that had often been called callous by the people of his original dimension.

“Gesundheit”

“Pffft, no! That is going to be my new name!”

Curiosity indeed piqued, but still wanting to mess with the other a bit more, Solar opened his other eye too. “Oh? What happened to -I'm just going to wing it when I get there-? I remember someone describing themselves as a “professional improviser” in their introduction”

They put their hands on their hips, as they often did, and he again found it hard to keep his facial emotes at a minimum around them.

“I'll have you know, again, that I am a very, very good improviser. But! Improv will only ever get you so far. There's nothing wrong with coming at least a little prepared, is there? Besides, what name have you chosen?”

Solar just shrugged. “I'll keep this one.”

“And if that new place already has a Solar?”

“Then I'll get a new name”

“Like?”

“...”

“Aha!”

“Okay, what's your suggestion then?”

At that, their expression turned pensive, a small crease forming between their eyebrows like they were trying to figure out the solution to a difficult mathematical equation instead of something as simple as a name.

Solar had always found the name he currently wore unfitting. Nothing about him screamed anything sun-ish, safe for his rays, but the rest of his casings were varying shades of grey or downright black. He looked more like a shadow than anything else, really.

Which didn't seem to register for the other animatronic in the slightest. “You could call yourself Helios!”

Solar just stared at them. Undeterred, they continued. “Or Sol, or Sirius or even Sunny or something, although I'm sure they're already going to have someone named Sun in their place, but still – ”

“Eklipse.”, he finally interrupted them. “Those are all sun-themed.”

“Yeah, so? I think they sound nice”

They did, but they also fit even worse than Solar did. But they seemed to be having fun with these suggestions, and who was he to bring them down?

“I'll... consider it”

“No you won't”, they replied with a grin, and there it was again. That fluttering in his chest. For the longest time, he hadn't know what it was. Then, he had been in absolute denial about what it was.

Now, he lacked the courage to call it what it was.

Watching them rise up to their full, tiny height was a welcome distraction from these thoughts, and it also gave him the chance to get another good look at their new outfit.

Well, not everything was new. They still wore that neckerchief he had gifted them, blue fabric dotted with small golden stars. A remnant from his Moon, and the only thing Solar had brought with him from his original dimension. The only thing that had been worth keeping. He'd liked his Moon. But the rest of their outfit was new.

Colourful as they themselves were, and prim and proper (something about making a good first impression) like they had just jumped down from the production line, even though he knew that that was far from the truth. He knew their exact production date, as well as their favourite colour (it was green, for some reason), what music they liked and what food they loved to munch on – something that Solar himself could never relate to, because he didn't have the ability to eat.

Mind you, he had never asked them about any of these topics, simply because he had never wanted to pry about anyone else's business – is what he always told himself, but honestly he simply hadn't cared – but he knew these answers anyway, because they had always worn their heart on their tongue.

A nice way to describe it. The truth was that they had veni vidi vici'd the fuck out of him from the moment they had met for the first time.

Solar hadn't wanted to make friends when he had come here. Truth be told, he hadn't even wanted to come here in the first place, but things had happened, decisions had been made, and he had ended up in the Refuge.

Eklipse had then immediately bombarded him with... everything them. He had found it annoying then, god had he found it annoying –

Until he hadn't.

Eklipse had tried so hard to make this place work, to welcome everyone with open arms, even those who didn't want to be here. They let those go that chose to leave, and tried to make those that stayed feel like they belonged.

Solar had never felt like he belonged in his home dimension. Calling it a home at all even was too far a stretch. But here, with them, it had felt different. Somehow, they had always known the best course of action, when to press and when to back off. Maybe that was a sun thing? In that case, Solar would never know. But it had caused more people to stay than to leave, and surprisingly, Solar had found himself amongst those who'd stayed.

Now, he and Eklipse were the only ones left. None of the others were alive anymore, the Cataclysm having claimed them one after the other. There was neither reason nor way to sugarcoat this – they were as dead as the rest of this dimension would soon be.

Except for the two of them.

“Do you think we should ask Nox again to come with us...?”

...The three of them.

Solar sighed. He had anticipated that question to come up again, but his answer would remain the same as before.

“They've made their decision, Eklipse. It's not our place to try and change their mind”

“I-I know, but... Leaving them here just feels wrong.”, they started, fiddling with the ribbons around their wrists. “Maybe if they come with us and check out the new place, they'll change their mind? Maybe they'll like it”

When would they stop hoping for that? Probably never, as far as he knew them, but they would have to come to terms with it eventually.

“I doubt it.”, he stated plainly. “I don't think they would even want to check it out. Leave them be, Eklipse. Respecting their decision is all we can do for them now”

The other visibly deflated, something Solar hated to see, but some band-aids just needed to be ripped off. Equinox had made up their mind a long time ago, and honestly, he wasn't even sure if they hadn't offlined on their own volition by now.

“Besides, it is time now”

“Oh, already?”, they perked back up and came up to the security desk he was sitting at. He turned the screen around to show them the timer that counted down from five more minutes remaining.

Deflated before, they were now practically vibrating in place. “Oh my god I'm so excited, do I look alright??”

“You look perfect, starlight. Strop fretting”

They blinked at him before they tilted their head with a smile. “Starlight? Where did that come from?”

Shit.

“Nothing. Forget it”

They wouldn't, not if that shit eating grin of theirs was any indication.

Somebody shoot him.

Thankfully, they seemed to choose to drop it for now as they made their way over to the ballpit instead. Or well, what was left of that, anyway. He had seen what the rest of the Plex looked like when he had dragged that generator up here from the basement. They had to charge and power up the portal with something, after all.

The whole building lay in ruins, the Daycare being the place that was still the most intact, and even that was far from a pretty sight. Eklipse had been so devastated by its state, and he supposed that they still were.

“Don't go diving into that headfirst”, he warned, which earned him a grinning salute in return.

Their smile seemed genuine, which made him feel a little bit better. There hadn't been much reason for them the smile during the last year. He hoped they would have reason to smile more often soon.

Maybe he could be one of those reasons?

“You know, Eklipse, I've wanted to ask you something... I –“

A knock on the door interrupted everything.

The scene got fuzzy at that moment. Solar – the mechanic – felt himself almost get ejected from the memory, or vision or hallucination or whatever this was, but before he could, he felt a tug on his stomach that pulled him right under again.

But it felt different now, like he was watching the scene unfold from a spectator's point of view instead of the first hand experience he had been treated to so far. But he could still feel it.

He – Umbra – was on the ground, and the only thing there was was hot white agony. He could barely recall what had happened, a sting that had entered through his chest and emerged from his back like a hollow point bullet, tearing everything with it on its way out.

Someone had come through the doors, the dull impression of gunmetal grey before everything had dissolved into incoherent noise, and now he could feel his thoughts slipping through his fingers like the pieces of metal that fell from his broken chest like a shattered star.

“...lar! S...lar!”

Eklipse sounded panicked. Both Solars decided that they didn't like that sound at all. He wanted to get up. He wanted to comfort them. His body did none of that. He tried to speak. There wasn't even static coming out. Their voice was getting quieter with every broken syllable that he could make out through the leaden quietness that began to settle over his mind.

Perhaps they were going to sleep? That sounded nice. He loved the way they tended to doze off, and the few times they had done so on his shoulder? Yeah, he wouldn't mind that right now.

But they weren't falling asleep, were they? Their voice didn't fade out into that sleepy, rambling mumble, but instead broke off like the breath they didn't have was being choked out of them.

Oh, now he knew what those sounds were. They were dying. Ah okay, that's what was happening.

...

nononononononononononono

Get up get up get up you useless piece of scrap metal GET UP!!!

He couldn't let them die, they were the only thing he had left they couldn't take that from him

Something shifted, but before Solar could figure out what or why, everything got fuzzy again, more purposeful this time. He forced his focus back on the scene, tried to see more, to break out of this stagnant perspective he was locked in.

It wasn't much, barely anything, but he managed to get the barest glimpse of Solstice as they fell backwards into the portal.

And when the dust had settled, they were gone, and Solar felt his focus waning...

“NO! Computer, where the fuck did they go?!”

Solar shot up like a man drowning, coughing up a such a fit that it wouldn't surprise him if he actually started hacking up black goo like in those stupid horror movies. But none came, and instead of in a broken Daycare, he found himself back in the mindscape with a set of blue eyes staring at him with worry.

“Solar? Are you al –“

Now look, he wasn't usually so rude to cut others off like that, it honestly came as a surprise even to himself, but the mechanic couldn't help himself as he pulled the other animatronic into a tight hug.

Frozen in place, Sunny had to process that for a moment. “Oh... oh dear”, he finally stuttered, himself not unused to hugs, but doing it with Solar was definitely a first. But that didn't mean he was out of practice, quite the opposite actually, and so he gently put a hand on the other animatronic's back and started rubbing little circles on it. “It's alright, it's quite alright. Those weren't your memories, you're fine”

“But Solstice isn't”, Solar replied, and it was honestly so close to coming out as a whine that Sunny actually started to feel bad for the other.

The very short interaction he, or well, them as Ruin had had with the other animatronic had been, well, short as all hell and definitely not enough to get a decent impression of the other – but Solar's reaction made it obvious even to the blind that there had been some... developments between the two of them.

“And I-I've been such a dick to him, I...”

“Then make sure to apologize to him once you get back, you moron”, Sunny scolded gently. “Come to think of it though, why are you here? Surely not just for me, right? Because if you are, then I'll have to have a stern talking to with my dear brother over all this. He was supposed to make sure none of you came to this place”

The way Solar turned to look at him immediately answered a lot of his questions. “Ah. I suppose something went wrong, then?”

“Is that what's been happening? Ruin back home is actually... your Moon? I mean, that would explain a lot actually, but... how? Why?”

Sunny sensed that the other wanted to pull away from the hug, and of course he let him. It had been a nice hug though.

“Oh boy. I'll give you the short version, yes? I honestly don't know how much longer I can remain this coherent... So, that grey Sun caught you and us both, ripped me out of our shared body, and Moondrop has been in control of our body since then and Eclipse – or Ruin, has most likely been in rest mode since then. Makes sense?”

Solar could only blink a few times before he found his words again. “I... guess? But how can you remember any of this and I can't?”

The sun model shrugged. “My best guess is that this fucker messed with your head somehow. Umbra said that he's very good at that shit. Visual hacking? Something like that, it honestly sounded like some –“

“Cyberpunk bullshit?”

“Exactly! God, I need to play that game some more, but Clipse and Moony aren't the greatest fans of it and … ugh...”

Solar managed to catch him before he could hit the ground, and now he was the one doing the worried staring. “Ruin?! I mean... shit I didn't even – w-what's wrong?”

The words took a bit to reach Sunny's processor, but oh, wasn't he a dear? Worrying about the little half-a-stranger that he was. Oh Clipse, you wouldn't have made a mistake if you'd taken your chances with Solar instead – but he did very much see the appeal of Eclipse, very much so, and... what had been the question again?

“Sssystem corruption...”, he slurred his answer, doing his best to keep his focus on the pretty face above him. “Comes in waves... sucks ass. Need to get... back together...”

“How do we do that? Hey, hey”, Solar urged, holding them a little more securely. Man, did it feel nice. “Please, tell me how to help you...”

“Chip... Arcade...”, was all he managed to string together, thoughts dissolving like cotton candy in water. There was something else he wanted to say, he knew there was and that it was actually kind of pretty important, but he couldn't grasp it anymore before his eyes slipped shut.

Solar didn't try to shake him back awake, honestly terrified that that would make the whole corruption spread even faster.

All of this was making his head hurt like hell – but at least he now had a game plan. Get to the Arcade, get their chip, get Moon and Sun and then get the fuck out of this place. Easy right? Yeah...

“Don't worry buddy, we'll get you back home”, he said to the other, carefully lowering them down to the ground before he got up and turned towards the floating cube that basically spelled EXIT. Umbra was nowhere to be found, but Solar had an idea of where he might be. He just hoped that he wouldn't cause a fuss when he tried to –

No fuss indeed, but Solar was still hit with a wave of nausea as he was shoved back to the front of his own consciousness upon touching the cube. He quickly realized that his guess had been correct – he wasn't in the Daycare anymore, the faint music clearly indicated that he was in the Arcade – and the rest told him that he was in Ruin and Eclipse's room.

That's not the way he would have liked to see the place again, if it even was their room in this dimension, but it did look astoundingly similar. Had this been Solstice's room then? Or well, Eklipse's. If so, then him and Ruin had really shared a very similar taste in decor. Who might he have shared it with?

His bet was on Umbra, honestly. The whole memory sequence was a pretty solid set of evidence for that, but the most compelling argument was the broken frame that lay on the bed.

All of his features, but none of his colours, and a gaping hole in his chest that made Solar nauseous again just looking at it. A bunch of cables that connected him to a computer next to the bed where probably the only thing that was keeping him still alive – somewhat.

Solar's own hand was already resting on one of the cables, and yeah, he got the message. He had to get Sunny's chip out of there anyway, but he had to get through that mess of wires first...

At the same time

Sun's location had pinged somewhere down towards Parts and Service, so that's where Moon had gone. It did nothing for his worry that it had pinged down here, of all places, but whatever. The quicker he got his brother out of here, the better – plus, if something shady would happen, then he had Solar to watch his back. That eased his nerves a little. He forced it to.

And also, the random crowbar he had grabbed on his way down here from an abandoned maintenance cart made him feel a little bit better too.

“Sun?”, he called out into the fluorescent lit room, tasting more dust on his tongue than in the same place at home, which could mean anything and he honestly didn't give a shit.

His audio sensors caught something on his right, drawing his attention immediately and thank god that Sun was just in a holding cell instead of inside the cylinder.

“Hey, Sun!”, he called out again as he rushed over, relief washing over him to see his brother, grey eyes wide, but otherwise both physically fine and awake, even though he couldn't hear anything coming from inside, the cell's noise cancellation most likely being active.

Moon tried the door, but of course that was locked – couldn't be too easy, eh? Well, some manual override would have to do the trick then.

“Step back from the door Sun, I'll bust it in”, he announced as he came back over to the window, hoping that his brother could somehow hear him, but he brandished the crowbar for good measure to get his point across anyway. It was met with some frantic flailing, but he would make sure not to accidental hit his brother.

“Don't worry, I'll get you out there in...”

The flailing intensified, and Moon caught the barest glimpse of something behind him that allowed him to react just in time before he was the one getting hit over the head. He dodged out of the way of the grey sun-model that was lunging at him, and it was obvious that he was a few sandwiches short of a picnic if those piercing red eyes were any indication, but something about them was... making him feel... kind of...

-Shut off your optics!!, came a sharp ping ringing through his head, and he scrunched his eyes closed from the surprise alone, and then kept them that way.

-Sun, what the hell is going on here?!

-I don't know, but that guy can knock you out just by looking at you! Left!!

Moon dodged again, to the left as Sun had said, only to receive a slash against his shoulder for his troubles. -Suuuuun!!

-Uh, I meant he was coming from the left! Crap uhm, I-I'll say which way to dodge now, promise! Right!

Moon dove to the right, and this time, he heard an angry snarl coming from his left, but no pain came – the fucker had actually missed.

Bumpy start aside, they had a system going now, but that wouldn't work out forever. They fumbled every now and then, and Moon knew that he would give out sooner or later if he took any more of those slashes. That fucker had some claws to him.

-Sun, how good is your magic by now?, he asked as he dove to the left again.

-Uh, why? I mean, I-I have been practicing, but I haven't learned anything to fight with yet!

-Can you defend though? Do you have a spell to make a shield around you and me?

-L-like a forcefield? Yes, I know a spell like that, b-but how could that possibly help us??

-Just trust me! Focus on creating that spell for both of us, I'll do the dodging myself.

-O-Okay...!

With another hit dodged, Moon onlined his optics again, staring intently downwards so he could see up to the fucker's chest, but no further than that. That would have to do for a bit, but he really hoped that Sun could cast that spell quickly.

“The fuck is your problem?”, he asked the animatronic that was honestly acting pretty weird for a sun. If there was even a standard for that.

“Get out.”

“Okay asshole, first of, you were the one who kidnapped my brother, so how about you get off your high ass horse. Second, you are actively preventing us from getting out, so are you stupid or something?”

“Get. Out.”

“Okay, definitely stupid. Guess I can stop talking then.” -You ready Sun?

-Y-yeah, I think so. Moon, what are you planning?

-You'll see. Keep it up for three minutes, okay?

-O-okay...

Moon could feel the moment the spell activated, the faint feeling of electricity dancing over his casing, and so he set his own timer to three minutes.

“Okay buddy, you know what, I'm getting tired of this. Either you'll let us go, OR I'll smash in your face and then we'll go. Up to you, realLY!”, he startled as suddenly, the distance between himself and the other was closed, and the second he stared into the other's eyes out of reflex, his mind was gone.

-Moon? Moon???

Sun stared in panic as his brother stood frozen, shoulders slumped with a thousand yard stare on his face. Banging against the glass sounded tempting, if not futile, but he had to keep his focus on the spell, so all he could do was do that and hope that Moon actually had some kind of plan...

That hope began to dwindle rapidly as he watched the grey Sun grab the crowbar from his brother's lax fingers, speak some words that he couldn't make out through the soundproof glass before raising the piece of metal, aiming it and –

Freezing in place with a barrage of sparks raining down from all the lights in the room bursting, the whole place suddenly drenched in complete darkness that Sun had little chance seeing anything in with his optics, until the emergency lighting kicked in and drenched everything in a red hue.

His brother and the other Sun were still standing there, crowbar still raised, before the stranger dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

His spell fizzled out, focus kept up as long as he could have, and when he heard the mechanism of the door click open, he darted out and straight to his brother.

“Moon?? Moon come on, snap out of it!”, he frantically called, shaking his brother's shoulders until finally, black and red optics began to focus again.

“Are you okay???”

“Mhh... yeah. Man, that hurts”, the lunar animatronic grumbled, not complaining when Sun slipped his arms around him to give him some stability. That other Sun had fucked him up quite a bit.

“W-what did you...?”, Sun asked with a gulp as he glanced down at the unresponsive frame on the ground.

“Small range EMP. Packs a punch on a short distance, but man, your shields are good. Definitely don't stop that training”

Sun gave a nervous chuckle in response. “Yeah, I definitely won't. But how did you know where to find me...?”

“I was able to track your signal. Now come on, we can discuss that at home. This thing's a one time use, and I don't want mister creepy-eyes here waking up for round two. I'll call Solar so we can – ah, speak of the devil”

Moon picked up the call from the mechanic as the two brothers slowly made their way towards the stairs.

-M..n?

“Oh man, the reception down here is ass. Yeah Solar, I've found Sun. We're on our way to be Daycare now”

-...e......un?

“Yeah, I have found Sun”, Moon repeated a bit slower. “We'll be right back”

-...ipse!

“What about him? He'll be grumpy as ever, so nothing new there”

-..o! H....th...clipse!

“Dude, I can't understand what you're saying! What's with Eclipse?”

Moon stumbled a little as Sun abruptly stopped walking. He followed his brother's blank stare up ahead, and the frantic tone of Solar's voice that finally made it through the call was lost in the white noise that filled the lunar animatronic's head.

-He's the Eclipse, he's-!

The connection cut off.

Chapter Text

“Moon? Sun?! Shit!”

He gave it another try, but all further calls simply went directly to voicemail, and Solar had to physically restrain himself from flinging his screwdriver across the room. But he was almost done, he couldn't risk messing up now because of an emotional outburst. Sunny's chip was almost out.

He would also postpone his questions about what the hell had happened to later – all he knew was that, all of a sudden, his head had felt like he had been hit by a truck and was, in fact, still ringing from it; but as if a veil had been lifted, he suddenly could remember everything.

How he and Ruin had come here, how they had met this slightly weird, but honestly not really weirder than usual sun and how that motherfucker had ambushed him down in Parts and Service.

It all made so much more sense now, but at the same time, it didn't. Why do any of this? To what end?

The body in front of him gave a twitch, drawing his focus back to the task at hand. The questions would have to wait.

“I'm almost done”, he said, unsure if Umbra could actually hear him, but he couldn't pretend that the other was dead already. The hole in his chest insisted otherwise, but Solar shoved that thought away like he had wanted to do with the screwdriver.

With a final screw removed, he finally managed to remove the chip. Singular, which was probably why Sunny's systems were struggling so much. Usually, their models had one chip for personality and one for memory each. Having both crammed into one already sounded uncomfortable on paper.

It did, however, make things easier for Solar, as it allowed him to slide the single chip into his spare port next to his own, and for the first time in years, he felt his own mindscape shift to accommodate another. Even when this time, it was him that was the host.

It felt a little weird, and worse yet, familiar. Solar pushed that notion far, far off to the side as he focused inwards. “Sunny? Are you there?”

There was silence for a bit, a few moments that stretched like minutes for Solar, but he got his answer eventually.

“Mhh... yeah. Still tired though”

Solar sighed in relief. “Keep resting. We'll get you back on a proper chip soon enough”, he promised, unable to help but smile at the little “K” he felt in response, but that smile quickly faded as his gaze fell back down.

He would have granted Umbra the same courtesy, but his head was too damaged to even attempt removing his chips safely, and not with the tools Solar currently had at his disposal, anyway.

His eyes scanned over the body and the face that were so uncannily similar to his own. He'd made sure to avoid unplugging any more cables than necessary, but it had still been a few, and he hoped that those left were enough to keep the other functioning for just that little while longer.

“I'll come back for you. Promise. I'm not gonna let Sols lose you again”, he said and meant it, expression twitching the tiniest bit on his way out of the room when a message pinged on his HUD.

– Tell him what I didn't have the courage to –

He needed backup. Monty or Lunar, maybe even Eclipse if he could somehow figure out a way to safely get him through the portal, but he definitely wouldn't make the mistake of trying to handle this situation alone. He already had a bad feeling where this was headed anyway...

Holding onto his favourite wrench a little tighter, just in case, he made his way to the Daycare as quickly as he could. In both his old and current home, this was a path that he had taken numerous, if not countless times. He knew it by heart, every corner, hell, he could probably do a damn accurate step count for this route, so he immediately noticed that something was wrong.

The would-be count was off. Not off in the sense of oh, he might have skipped a few steps or simply walked a little faster than usual, but off in a way that makes you question whether or not you blacked out during a portion of your walk. Off in a way that makes you realize that something must be wrong, but you don't know what exactly, but there has to be something wrong, because otherwise you wouldn't have noticed it. Like the place was shifting and changing in a way that was just noticeable.

Was the dimension collapsing?

He walked faster, no screw that, he had been running this whole time and was now ready to fling himself behind the security desk and get that damn portal open, which he all did in record worthy time mind you, but apparently, that still wasn't quick enough.

The faint smell of something burning hitting his olfactory sensors was the only warning he received before a ball of hot, white agony hit his shoulder. Flames singed his shirt and licked at his casing, and he really wished that he'd brought his gloves because then he wouldn't have singed his palm too while trying to hit out the fire. Artificial adrenaline allowed him to dodge the next blast and let the desk take the brunt of it instead.

He couldn't decide which one was scarier – Sun readying another fireball to throw at him, or the general imagine of Moon with a crowbar, but the last one was certainly up there.

“Guys?! It's – oh shit”

He managed to dodge another magic attack, vaulting over the desk much to the protest of his scorched shoulder joint. Yeah, now he definitely wouldn't be able to handle this alone. Thank god he had managed to get that message out to the others. Now, all he needed was time.

The puppetmaster of this whole shitshow wasn't far behind – bastard had the manners to show up to the fight at least, but that really wasn't that good of a sign, since all that meant was that he was probably not expecting to lose this one.

“Three against one is a bit unfair, isn't it Nox?”, Solar grunted, staring the grey sun down that, now that he was looking at it, didn't look that much of a sun at all. The smaller, golden rays nestled between the bigger ones betrayed exactly what this guy truly was.

“Also, that pain trigger was pretty useless, wasn't it? It was supposed to fool me to think that we actually ran into an eclipse instead of a sun, when really, that's exactly what happened, isn't it? Kind of stupid, don't you think?”, he continued, taking a few steps back. A quick glance into the other's faces told him that they were not a part of this conversation.

“Wasn't it enough to trick us and mess with our heads? And now you're literally holding my brothers hostage”, he snarled, stumbling over the term he had used for a second, but honestly fuck it, they were his brothers, both of them. It only made his anger boil more. “And you even hurt Solstice! After everything he's done for you, you go and shoot his partner and then go on and mess with his –!”

Another fireball came, but this time accompanied by a swing of the crowbar that Solar couldn't move out of the way in time, so he tried to block the swing from connecting to his face with his arm. The force of the hit caused him to stumble, the casing of his arm cracking where the metal had connected, and damn, he would never let Moon even look at a crowbar ever again in his life.

But he finally got a reaction from the other eclipse, albeit a short one. “Shut up.”

“What, hit a nerve there?!”, Solar practically growled, again getting some distance between himself and the others, bit by bit edging closer to the portal. “Why did you do it then? From what I saw, you guys were friends! How could you hurt them like that?!”

Another swing, but this time Solar was more prepared and not only managed to avoid it, but also give a pretty decent counter in the form of a solid right hook. He would make sure to apologize to Moon for that one later.

Equinox still wasn't reacting much at all, but Solar could see that something inside of him was seething. By the way he carried himself, how tense his frame and tight his facial expression were – but there was something else too. A stiffness to his movements, subtle twitches in his fingers like his joints were locking up sporadically. He could analyse this further, if he'd cared to, which he, in fact, did not.

But he could use that to his advantage. If keeping both Sun and Moon under his control at the same time was taking such a toll on the guy, then maybe Solar could actually gain the upper hand in this if he managed to get past them both and –

His head was painfully ripped to the side as a punch collided with his jaw, the heat sizzling uncomfortably on his casing as he slammed into the padded floor.

Damn, he'd need to remember to never piss off Sun again when this was all over.

His attempt at getting back up, dizzy as he was, was quickly nipped in the bud when the tip of the crowbar pressed against his chest firmly, effectively conveying the unmistakeable message to stay the fuck down.

Not like he really disagreed with that notion. Sun maybe wasn't built like a truck, but he sure as hell hit like one.

He wondered what the final blow would look like. Would he get incinerated until nothing but ashes were left, or would they stick to the classics and bash his head in until his motherboard lay shattered all over the Daycare's floors?

Wouldn't the last one be kind of ironic? Heh, maybe Ruin had been right after all. He shouldn't have dismissed their worries like that.

Between Sun and Moon, Equinox' face came into view, and the overhead lights hitting him from behind really gave him the look of an eclipse now. Or maybe like, a supernova or something. He didn't know, he wasn't an astrologist. Astronomer? Star-person.

He leaned down towards him, almost kneeling at his side, but Solar didn't even entertain the idea of punching him in the face – crowbar, you know.

“You easily believe things that people tell you, don't you?”, he asked with a coldness that barely betrayed the anger that was burning in those optics. Red, huh? He could have sworn they had been blue the first time.

Solar scoffed. “Like what, your name being Sun? Pfft, I should have figured out something was wrong with you from the start. But I guess you've made me more gullible with your hypnosis shit, eh?”

“I've made it so you would stay away from this place. Apparently, I should have just deleted your whole OS and thrown you back into the portal. Whelp, better late than never, right?”

Shit. Normally, Solar would be more than willing to call this guy's bluff, or even suffer the consequences if he wasn't bluffing (which he honestly doubted this guy would do in the first place), but he kind of wasn't in this alone and couldn't risk Sunny getting hurt too.

“What do you want?”, he asked instead, forcing the anger out of his voice even though it was bubbling at the back of his throat like battery acid. “Is there a reason you are doing all of this, or are you just acting like some badly written villain?!”

The grey face remained unmoving – Solar couldn't even tell if he'd ever seen him blink at all. “Well, I don't know what it is to you, but if you must know, I'm doing this for my brother. I never planned to involve anyone of you in this, but I couldn't let the chance of your little amalgamation friend slip through my fingers. But you can thank your little Solstice for that. He caused all of this”

“How the fuck would he? Why would he?!”, Solar snarled. “He's one of the nicest people I know, and I doubt he was any less nice when he still had his fucking memories before you erased them!”

Red optics narrowed. “You stupid motherfucker. He stole my brother from me! He locked Moon away with the Star, and my only chance to get him back is to get fucking Umbra to relinquish it so I can use it myself to fix all of this!”

“Bullshit! You attacked them, and news flash dumbass, your moon is most likely in your head with you because you are a FUCKING ECLIPSE!”

Solar was yelling at this point. He had tried not to, really, but screw it. This guy just couldn't be serious.

Silence fell over them. Solar felt the press of the crowbar against his chest as if it weighed a thousand tons. His mouth felt full of acid now.

Equinox stared at him, maybe even through him, still unblinking. Solar couldn't read that expression, and couldn't find it in him to care about it.

What he did find interesting though was the way one of Nox' optics started to flicker, on and off, red and blue. The rays around his head were twitching.

“What are you saying? An eclipse? No, no we are... I am not, we... my brother is... we... what are you saying..?”

The anger subsided a little. The dude sounded... genuinely distressed. More so than what Solar could believe anyone would be able to pull off as a trick, and he had spent ages with Ruin for that matter, he knew what he was talking about.

“Look”, he tried a more calm approach. “I know people that can help you... sort this out. I have a sister, Earth, who's really good with helping people. I'm sure she'd love to help you, too.”

“Help...?”

“Yes. But you have to let my brothers go first. And me. Then we can help you. I'm sure your brother isn't as far away as you think he is”

“...No, no he isn't far away at all. You're right, he's stuck inside my head. He gave up his body to save me because of what Solstice did, and I'm going to get him back!!!” Back to red it was, and Solar knew that he had lost that round.

Equinox leaned further down, really invading Solar's personal space now, and spoke calmly again. “So I'll need that chip in your head. And if you're not giving it up willingly, then...”

Sun was on him, throwing him on his stomach, knee between his shoulder blades, arms held tightly behind his back, all before Solar could even react. He struggled anyway, because hell no.

He couldn't let this happen. He had to get Ruin back together, he had to get his brothers back, he had to fucking apologize to Solstice for acting so stupid!!

He could feel the cold metal against the back of his head. “Moon! Snap out of this! MOON!!”

The only thing that snapped was the thing piece of metal that separated him from the rest of the world.

Nononononononono

A buzzing in the air, a low hum that he knew by heart.

The portal was –

Something slammed into one of the bodies over him, the weight on his back ripped away with a force that nearly knocked the breath out of him too, and even though he couldn't see anything, the noised were... worrying.

Then he got hoisted back up to his feet, and –

“Solar!”, Solstice cried, not with tears but with relief as he flung his arms around the other's neck. Solar could only stare, mouth slightly open and with his hands not knowing where to go. They had probably pried open his head by now.

“...Sols? What are you... how are you –?”

“He came through the portal. Well, jumped into it, more precisely, so we had no choice but to follow.”

He followed the voice to look at Ruin – yep, he was pretty sure he was hallucinating now. But if he was, then he might as well ask some questions.

“...Moondrop?”

The smaller animatronic flinched a little. “Oh, you know? Well shit. Hello then Solar, lovely meeting you, would love to explain more about this, but I think we have more important matters at hand right now, don't we?”

“...You mean you guys are actually here.”, Solar deadpanned, earning a nod from Moondrop and a very worried glance from Solstice, who still seemed more than unwilling to let him go. Not that he was complaining.

“I can assure you that we are truly here. I suppose you could try to pinch yourself to make sure, but then again, I'm not quite certain how well that would work for an animatronic“

“Okay okay, I get it. You're both really here. And I have someone in my head who is currently very loudly yelling at you, Moondrop.”

“Noted”

“Great. So, who else is here? You guys didn't just come alone, did you? Did you bring Monty?”

Moondrop made a weird face. “Well... not exactly...”

Solar heard a very unique, very uncomfortable laugh from behind him, and he dreaded to turn around but did it anyway.

Bloodmoon was apparently having the time of their lives, cackling like madmen as they dodged fireball after fireball with more than obvious glee in their eyes, and Moon was knocked out cold on the ground.

Solar's head slowly spun back towards Moondrop, who had the audacity to just shrug.

“Explanations later? I swear they are good ones”

“They better be”

“Cross my heart. Bloodmoon! Remember the agreement, do not hurt them more than necessary!”

“Yeah yeah!”, they called back, and Solar was sure that he was going to have an aneurysm from all of this, but he remembered what Moondrop had said about the “truce” with the fucked up twins. He would definitely keep his mouth shut about that non-existent bomb.

“We've wanted to fight the sun-man again for so long!”
“Yes, and his fighting has become even better since then!”
“Yes yes yes! Like a fiery star! Breathtaking!”

“...We'll leave you to it then. Come on guys, let's grab Moon and get the bloody hell out of here”

“Wait”, Solar said, removing himself just the slightest bit from Solstice's embrace as his gut churned, “Where is –“

There was the audio shattering crash of metal on metal, and that was the last Solar knew of the situation.

Solstice didn't manage to catch him, the force of the hit knocking them both down, but at least he was able to not let his head slam into the ground.

He was pretty sure that he was actually crying now, at least crying his name, and that Moondrop was there too, but his focus was only on Solar.

Equinox weighed the crowbar in his hand, regarding the scene with an almost bored expression which didn't really change when Moondrop rose to stand between them.

“You're the other one”, he noted.

“Yes”, the one-half amalgamation replied.

“I see.”, he said. “I'm sorry to have dragged you into this. I wanted to merely copy a part of your OS, but you seem to have a very... dogged firewall.”

“And where does that leave us now?”, Moondrop asked. “I assume you are not planning to let us go, correct?”

“Partly. I will let you go. But I will reset all your OS's and drop you all into different dimensions. You can all start fresh somewhere new”

“That's not half as tempting as you make it sound”

“Too bad”, Equinox said and raised the crowbar again. “I'll make sure not to damage you”

“Wait!!”, Solstice cried out as he launched himself at the grey animatronic, wrapping his arms around his midsection and chest as tightly as he could like he had just done with Solar. Ignoring how utterly wrong it felt. “Please don't do this! I'm sure we can talk this out! Don't hurt anybody!!”

The crowbar remained raised, but it didn't come smashing down at Solstice's head, as Moondrop feared. Instead, Equinox slowly lowered his arms before he almost gently patted the smaller animatronic's head. “You must be this Solstice then, correct?”

“Y-yes, that's my name. Please, don't hurt my friends! I'm sorry we came here! I promise we'll never come back! Please let us go back home!”

“Come on. You aren't stupid, are you? Of course you'll come back with the rest of your little group and get in my way again. I can't have that. Besides”, he continued ina gentle tone, smoothing a hand over the exposed cables in the back of Solstice's head. “I liked Eklipse better”

There was a tug at the back of his head. It felt kind of funny. It didn't hurt, it just felt like a pop, and then his head was... kind of swimming. It felt kind of funny. Kind of... floaty. Maybe even a bit nice.

He barely felt when something warm splashed in his face, or when he was pulled away by someone. He barely heard the scream Equinox let out when Bloodmoon tore through his arm.

Meanwhile, Moondrop was holding his breath as he clutched the other animatronic to his chest.

Equinox let out a furious snarl of pain and desperation, eyes wide and boring into Bloodmoon's, and when the cannibal froze in his tracks, Moondrop felt his battery do the same.

This was it. They had already struggled against Sun and Moon. There was no chance of surviving this.

Bloodmoon stared at the other for a moment, silently, before a hand shot forward and tore Equinox's lower jaw right off. “Motherfucker”

Moondrop shut off his optics and made sure that Solstice was turned away from the carnage, shielding the other, as unaware as he may be, from it all.

Awareness still shied away from him to him, everything felt kind of weird and distant. The noises from outside barely made it through the fog that filled his head, coating everything he saw, heard and felt in a layer of warm cotton.

It did feel a little nice. It certainly felt better than whatever was going on out there. The noises were so uncomfortable... no, it was much better in here. Warm and cozy. Safe.

One voice from the outside managed to cut through though with how shrill and panicked it was, frantically asking what had happened while a deeper, harder to understand but angry sounding voice demanded to know why Bloodmoon was here. Good question, honestly. It was still all so weird, and kind of funny really. He didn't have enough focus to laugh about it though.

He was lowered to the ground, but he didn't care as long as the warm and fuzzy feeling didn't go away, which it didn't.

His gaze dropped to the side, and there was a lot of oil. More than he thought their models even carried, but even a normal amount of liters could look like a horrible lot when they were outside of the body they should be in, right? He had heard that one somewhere sometime, at least.

Bloodmoon had eaten most of him, it looked like. Head, half a torso and an arm were all that was left – oh wait no, there was a leg a few feet away. Okay, eating a whole animatronic at once was probably asking for a bit much, even from something like the cannibal.

Even his face was half gone, and something about that made him feel... sad. It was a sad sight. But why did it hurt so much?

The last optic flickered, red, blue, and then some colour somewhere in between, before it focused on him. The others were probably still too busy talking to notice – at least no one was shouting anymore.

The last hand rose, and even though the voice box had apparently been torn out, he didn't need it to communicate what his simple hand gestures tried to convey.

Three fingers first. The thumb had been ripped off though, so maybe it had been meant to be four.

Solstice

Oh, oh the voice was back! Hey there voice. Heeeeey.

Hey. Are you in pain right now?

Mhhh no, no he wasn't. It all just felt warm and floaty. He wasn't in pain.

That's good. But I bet you must be tired, right?

Was he? Not really, but with how comfortable he was, he doubted he would have a hard time going for a little nap. Actually, the idea sounded really nice right now.

Oh by the way, two fingers.

It's okay, you can take a nap. I promise nothing will happen to you.

What should happen? Equinox was as good as dead, and Bloodmoon was on their side, for now at least. There was nothing dangerous lurking around here anymore.

You promise?

Yes, said the voice, and wrapped its arms around him in a nice, warm hug. God, it felt so nice. He already felt his eyelids growing heavy.

I guess a little nap won't hurt...

I promise it won't. I promise you'll feel better.

He could barely keep his eyes open anymore. One finger.

Hey, Eklipse?

The voice faltered for a second. Yes, Solstice?

Am I going to die?

The embrace got warmer, and more heartfelt. No. It will just be like a long, peaceful sleep. Like in that fairytale, remember?

He chuckled a bit. Do you think our prince will come after one hundred years?

I doubt it will take him that long.

He smiled again, and his eyes closed for good.

Goodnight, Solstice

Chapter Text

Home dimension

Awareness trickled back to him lazily. He usually woke up faster, but something kept his mind sluggish and his limbs heavy, so he figured that he would just take it slow. There was no reason to hurry anyway, right? He'd probably just let his battery drain too low again, wouldn't be the first time that had happened.

But he was oddly comfortable for having fallen asleep at his workstation again, and that did make a thought worm into his head that wasn't all that unpleasant. Maybe he had instead fallen asleep with Solstice again? Would explain his comfortableness.

He wouldn't mind staying like this a bit more, but he had always had trouble going back to sleep once he had begun the process of waking up, so slowly but surely, though at a deliberately leisurely pace, he let his processes turn on one by one, and once he felt adequately awake, he onlined his optics.

The first thing he saw was the ceiling of the Daycare, set to naptime settings, which he was grateful for. He could feel a headache coming on, further cementing his low battery theory. But that was fine, nothing a good charge and some oil couldn't fix.

The next thing he saw was a familiar face with hair like clouds and soft sparkles courtesy of Earth's... what was it called even, night-time mode? No, she just called it a glowing feature, as far as he remembered, but it really wasn't that important.

“Solar? Can you hear me?”

Sure he could, but why was she asking like that? Other than that he had apparently taken a nap in the Daycare, for whatever reason, he felt pretty fine. What did she look so worried for?

“Yeah?”, man his voice was coarse, prompting him to quickly reset his voice box before he continued. “'Course I can, 'm just... a little tired”

“Are you in any pain?”

“Just my head, a little”

“That's okay, we will fix that. Do you remember what happened?”

As if that question had opened the floodgates of his mind, the past events crashed over him like a tidal wave, threatening to drown him, and if it wasn't for Earth holding onto him tightly, he probably would have. The words from outside sounded like they had to force their way through molasses.

“ – need to get him to Parts and Service – “

“ – he okay? – “

“Will be once we get that chip out”

“Wait”, Solar wheezed, resisting the urge to dry heave as Earth helped him into a sitting position. “It's not just a chip, it's part of Ruin's code, we have to be careful with it –“

Moon scooted in front of him (sporting the pretty impressive robot equivalent of a bruise on his jar, oops), and helped hold him upright. “Dude, we know. Moondrop's told us everything about that. But that still doesn't change the fact that we have to get it out of your head as soon as possible, or your systems are at a serious risk of corruption”

“It's quite alright, Solar”, came – technically – another moon into view, but man, he hadn't had time to pay attention to it before, but hearing “Ruin” speak without that British accent was incredibly off-putting. “We'll take the utmost care of both of you, promise”

Solar had no doubt about that. What did send his mind reeling a little was the revelation that Moondrop had apparently come clear about everything, or something at least, after so desperately having kept it a secret for the last few days. But circumstances could change, he guessed.

But the pit in his stomach got dreadfully deeper when he noticed that he couldn't spot a particular face among the others.

“Where's Solstice?”

“Look Solar, we really need to get you down there, we can talk about everything else later when –“

“No”, he cut Moon off, “Is he alright? Did Equinox hurt him, or Bloodmoon or –“

“Fuck you, we didn't do shit to the little twerp”

Solar ignored that reply completely, not in the mental space to ask why the hell that maniac was still even here, when someone gently took hold of one of his hands. His head immediately snapped around, coming face to face with a set of mismatched red and blue eyes.

“Hey”, Solstice said, worry written all over his features, but Solar didn't care because he was okay. A little banged up, a little shaken and with oil on his clothes that hopefully wasn't his, but he was here, and he was okay. But he had to be sure.

“You're fine... aren't you?”

“Yes? Yes I'm fine, why wouldn't I be –“

Solar gave the hand a tug and pulled the other into his arms. He didn't care who else saw, about their reactions or opinions on the matter, none of that was even of any importance to him right now.

“S-Solar...?”

“I'm sorry.”, he mumbled into their shoulder. “I'm so sorry, I was such an idiot, I shouldn't have ignored you like that, I should have been there and listened to you and instead, I just acted like the biggest asshole possible. I'm just... sorry”

Had he ever rambled like that before? Certainly not to someone else, but the words refused to be stopped until they were all out, and with no way to take them back.

Eventually, he felt Solstice hug him back, and the tension fell from his own shoulders.

“You really don't need to be sorry for anything, Solar. It's okay, I get it, I really do. I'm just glad you're okay”

Solar gave a short nod, “I guess I am. But are you? Really?”

“I am”, came a nod in return. “Promise, I am. But there's something I need to talk to you about, once you –“

But that chance would never come.

It announced itself by the faintest of rumbles.

They had made a mistake.

Before the portal erupted into light.

They had killed the wrong one.

A magical barrier was barely created in time. No one was hurt, for now.

Because what is a Sun, really?

Something was in the ballpit.

Just another star.

Threads of light. A body the colour of darkest shadow.

And what does a star become once it dies?

Or the spirit of a dead person from a mythology Solar hadn't bothered to remember the name of.

You killed the wrong one.

Chapter 17:

Hier kommt die Sonne

The Daycare lay in ruins.

The ceiling lights had shattered their glass all over the floor. Were it not for the general lighting of the place, it would be completely pitch black.

The play structures closest to the ballpit had collapsed into themselves, warped beyond recognition, convex as if reality itself had been shifted around them.

Solar didn't utter a single sound, all noises of his body muted or turned off completely to avoid drawing any attention to himself. The back of his head was burning, screaming agony threatening to make him do the same, but he had cut the power to his voice box a while ago.

He wasn't sure where the others were. He had heard the doors at one point, and hoped that meant that someone had managed to get out.

Solar moved forward as quietly as he could in the semi-intact play structure he had crammed himself in. At least he couldn't hear anyone screaming in pain, suppressing the creeping thought that that could mean something entirely worse deep into his subconscious.

He was so focused on not making a sound that he missed the quiet noise right next to him before it was too late, and if it weren't for the somewhat cramped space that he was currently in, he would have definitely started throwing hands with whoever it was.

Solstice pointed to the sides of his own head, and with relieved surprise, Solar realized that their communication network was still online.

–Are you okay?–

–Yes– Solar replied, looking the other over and hating every single scrap and dent he could spot. –Have you seen the others?–

–Earth and Monty escaped. I don't know about the rest... but Solar, I really need to tell you something, it's–

–Let's get out of here first.– Solar cut him off. They were about halfway between the ballpit and the exit. They could probably make it if they made a run for it, if...

Sneaking a bit closer to peek around the warped metal bars, he tried to get a better look at what they were dealing with.

That thing was still there. For simplicity's sake, he would keep calling it Umbra, even though he had a feeling that names would no longer matter tonight.

The main body was clearly the dark eclipse's, and that in itself would have looked fairly normal were it not for the gaping hole in its chest where a battery and internals should be, but where a white, prism-shaped object now glowed instead.

He was certainly far from an expert, but he knew a Star when he saw one. Except that shouldn't be possible, everything they knew about this stuff explicitly stated that Stars don't work outside of their home dimension, so what the hell was this?!

Solstice shuffled closer, poking his side to get his attention.

–Solar, you need to listen to me, please. I know what we are dealing with here.–

–How would you know?–, he asked in return, and it came out harsher than he had meant it to. If Solstice took offense to that, he didn't show it.

–I just do. Just trust me on this, okay? Please, I promise I know what I'm doing, I know I haven't been the most reliable since we've known each other and you don't really have any reason to trust me on handling something so important when I even had to be shown how to operate a shower, but I swear I'm–

He lost his train of thought quickly the moment Solar brought their faceplates together. For but a moment, just a peck really, but Solstice could have sworn he soft rebooted from it anyway.

If Solar was equally as affected, his expression didn't betray any of it.

–What do you need me to do?–

–...Huh? Oh, right! Okay, so I need you to... –

Sun: Anything, Moon...?

The group chat remained silent before Moon's reply came through.

Moon: Nope, tech's fried. Can't rely on any of that.

The lunar animatronic cursed under his breath without uttering a word. Sun had to fight for is life not to begin fiddling with his ribbons and risking the bells betraying their hiding spot.

They were all scattered throughout the Daycare's ruins like ants – no wait, ants didn't scatter like that did they, they usually were all cluttered together in one big anthill and that wasn't even the point right now! Point was that him and Moon were up in the balcony loft, Sun having used the last of his magic to teleport them both there, while the others were hiding out somewhere in the play structures, everybody accounted for except for Solar and Solstice, which he adamantly tried to tell himself that that was fine, they had probably managed to get out like Earth and Monty had.

Spiralling panic aside, they still had to find a way out themselves, preferably all of them.

Sun: W-What do we do then...? We can't fight this, can we?

Eclipse: No. Not without magic.

Lunar: Are you volunteering?

Eclipse: To punt you? Anytime.

Bloodmoon: HA!

Lunar: Why is HE in this chat, anyway?!

Moondrop: Practical reasons. So, if we can't fight, then we run?

Moon: Give me a sec.

Moon gestured for Sun's hand. Without preamble, he gripped one of the bells tightly and pulled it off (much to his brother's non-vocal dismay), before flinging it as hard as he could out into the Daycare, where it landed on soft padded floors.

It took approximately 2.9 seconds before something that could best be described as a white, energy-like tendril came smacking down on the poor little bell, completely obliterating it, before it slowly and almost lazily retracted back into the ballpit.

The group chat remained silent for another good minute.

Bloodmoon: Damn.

Moondrop: I believe Eclipse and I are closest to the exit.

Moon: Then you two go first.

Lunar: I can use my magic, I can distract that thing while you guys make a run for it. Give you enough time to escape.

Moon: That's a terrible idea.

Lunar: Yeah, but it's also our only idea, unless you have a better one? Hm? Hm? Thought so.

Bloodmoon: We can double that time! // Yeah!

Moon: ...Okay, but why the hell would you?

Moon couldn't see it, but he knew that they were grinning.

Bloodmoon: Are you kidding? This could be the most fun we've had in ages! // Well, except for that fight we've just had with the Sun-man. // Oh yes, that was amazing~ // It really was~

Sun: I am not going to react to that.

Moon: Yeah, and we are also not doing that. Lunar, I want you to stay put, both of you.

Lunar: Ugh, fiiiine.

The small animatronic crossed his arms, unseen of course, since he was stuck in this stupid slide with Bloodmoon a bit further down, but close enough that he could still see the wide, shit-eating grin spread the cannibal's faceplate in half, as if to say: Bet?

And without apending another moment's thought about any of this, Lunar gave a nod in return to his ex-brothers. “Bet.”

Chapter Text

“Alright”, Moon said quietly, cradling his brother's bells (which Sun had removed with far more care than Moon had previously) almost reverently in his hands. So far, his theory that the thing in the ballpit didn't attack until provoked had held true, and that meant that a decent distraction should be more than enough to give everyone a chance to escape. They would figure out how to deal with this afterwards, maybe drop a damn nuke on the place just for good measure, but one thing at a time. The family had to be safe first.

Lunar's idea hadn't been too bad. His own was far from a masterplan either, but it was better than sending his little brother to the frontlines.

“So, we're clear on the plan?”

“I still think it's a terrible idea, Moon...”, Sun was close to whining, rubbing the smooth fabric around his wrists. “W-what if I mess up and can't find the gun o-or drop it on the way here and –“

“Sun, I know you won't. You know where my lab is, you know what the gun I'm looking for looks like, and you know how to handle it.”, the lunar animatronic assured. “It will be fine brother, trust me.”

Sun threw his arms around him, cutting off whatever else Moon had wanted to say with a short burst of static. It wasn't like they hadn't hugged before, they did that pretty regularly, but something about the way pale yellow arms were shaking around his shoulders made his throat close up.

“Hey, it's going to be alright”, he hushed, rubbing one hand over Sun's back, which only made the embrace tighten even more.

“I-I just, I-I can't lose you, not again, n-not...”

“You are never going to lose me, Sun.”, Moon declared, “And not to something as stupid as this, anyway. We've dealt with worse and weirder shit before, and we've always come out on top. We'll come out of this one too. Now go out there, grab that gun, and then we'll blow this motherfucker into next Tuesday, alright?”

“O-okay...”, Sun eventually agreed, breaking the hug to wipe his eyes with the back of his hand. “I'll bite you if you get yourself hurt”

“And I'd let you. Now off you go”

And off he went, and the second Sun had vanished through the backdoor of the balcony loft, Moon locked the door behind him.

So, he may have lied a little about that gun. He had been working on a prototype that could theoretically dispel magic and star power by essentially blasting it with a bunch of antimatter – but the extent of that prototype was a simple blueprint on his personal computer which wasn't even finished yet. But getting Sun out of here had been paramount, so he surely would find it in himself to forgive him for that white lie eventually.

He may or may not have also exaggerated the damage to the Daycare's tech a little. It would have been god damn handy if the lasers still worked and they could simply blast the ballpit with them, but they didn't, and he'd just have to make do with what he had. But he had already failed to protect his family from an arguably less dangerous opponent, he wouldn't take any chances with this one.

And also, his plan wasn't even that bad, thank you very much. It relied heavily on Eclipse, which fucking sucked, but he wouldn't pass up the advantage that a bit of magic could give him in this case. Moon just hoped that the shields that pompous prick could conjure up were at least half as decent as Sun's.

He stepped out on the platform, summoned down the wire and connected it to his skyhook before giving Eclipse the signal. He didn't get any kind of verbal or written response in return, but felt the telltale tingle of magic across his casing, albeit with a bit more of a sting to it than his brother's did. Prick.

With the bells securely in his grip, he rose from the platform, moved a bit further into the Daycare and chucked the first one square at the intruder's head.

“Hey asshole!”, he called out as loud and boisterous as he could, stirring up as much as a ruckus as he could with the bells and his movements in mid-air to make sure the thing's attention was right on him. He chucked another bell for good measure, and yep, that sure did the trick and promoted the thing to attack. Now, he just had to make sure not to get hit right away – or preferably at all.

But that first hit never connected, it never actually came, because before it could, a bolt of lightning that would have made Moon's hairs stand up if he'd had any cracked through the air, shattering both a part of the intruder's chest casing and Moon's patience with it.

Lunar stood on top of the play structure with all the confidence of a person that knew what they were doing – no, worse, of a person that thought they knew what they were doing, arms crossed and a smug grin on his face. Moon wanted to strangle him.

“Hey asshole!”, the smaller animatronic called out, throwing a ball of magic up and down in his hand like it was a baseball, “Catch!”

The magic zinged through the air with as much cockiness as precision, only being blocked by a tendril slipping in the way before the attack could hit its mark, the element of surprise gone along with whatever chance of success Moon's plan would have had.

The animatronic in the ballpit didn't so much as flinch, or even blink, thought it was debatable if it could even do that with its hollowed out eyes, but two pinprick white pupils still made contact with Lunar's starry blue ones. Attention gotten, then.

“Think you can keep up?”, Lunar kept taunting as he crouched down low, like a runner in the “Set” position, just a moment before the retaliation barrage began.

He pulled from all his skills, alls his training with the Astrals paying off as he avoided attack after attack while ditching out hits on his own in between. His teleportations were swift, his precision on point and his confidence high.

Whenever he did fumble, Bloodmoon stepped in and caught the attacker's attention, giving Lunar time to regain his rhythm and restart his attack pattern. And honestly, their impromptu teamwork was pretty damn impressive if he might say so himself – plus, his ex-brothers seemed to be having the time of their lives fighting against that thing, which yeah, good for them.

It went so well in fact, that in a moment that could, in hindsight, only be described by a sudden burst of megalomania, Lunar decided to switch tactics and go for an actual attack intent to damage that thing in the ballpit even further. So far, they both had only stalled for time, but what if he could actually disarm the thing, or decommission it all-together? That would literally solve all of their problems at once – or all problems that pertained to this specific situation at least, and dammit, didn't that sound tempting.

His next teleportation left him airborne, floating just in range for his next, powered up lightning crack through those tendrils.

They were made of energy, right? So, applying a little bit of logic from various magic-including video games, hitting them with an even stronger energy should basically eradicate them. Yeah, he was essentially trying to counterspell this shit, sue him, but apparently, he'd rolled a natural 1.

His opponent's magic did not care in the slightest about what he had been trying to do, with what intention and following what logic, as it knocked him clean out of the air and sent him slamming straight into one of the slides, his own magic sizzling away into nothing.

Things slowed down from there. He could feel the pain blooming in his back, spreading through his whole body like corrosive sludge and rendering him both sore and numb at the same time. Someone was shouting something, maybe it was Moon and maybe it was his name, but his audials were ringing too much to decipher either.

He was vaguely aware of the creaking of metal, of dust on his tongue from a play structure being ripped out of the ground that hadn't been moved once since this place had been built.

The shouting was getting more frantic, but Lunar could only stare as the pile of metal was raised into the ait by the glowing tendrils before it came for him, ready to crush him beneath its weight.

He was unceremoniously grabbed and flung to the side by a vague flash of reds, whites and blues, and with the barest chance to glance into white-swirled red optics, Lunar watched as the play structure came crashing down on Bloodmoon instead of him.

A crunching sound pierced its way through his muffled audio input that he gaslit himself into believing that it was just the metal of the play structure giving in instead of limbs, guts and metallic bones getting crushed, but if he didn't get his ass moving right now, there would be no convincing strong enough to avoid the same fate.

But his legs simply wouldn't obey.

He watched as another attacked got readied, back to the classic tendril slamming tactic apparently, and when Moon tried to interfere, his only reward was to be swatted away like an annoying fly, crashing into the opposite play structure with another one of those sickening crunches. A handful of bells rained down and hit the ground with sad little jingling.

Lunar felt his stomach drop even more, the faint taste of bile hitting the back of his throat as he tried to force his legs to cooperate again, move move MOVE!!!

The next thing was a hallucination. The attacking tendrils disappeared into thin air (or more like got atomized right in front of his eyes) by a different burst of magic, and suddenly, he was staring at Eclipse's back who was doing exactly what he had just tried and failed so spectacularly to do – warding off the other's magic, however the hell he was doing that.

Lunar could only stare with his mouth agape. This didn't make any sense, it honestly looked like Eclipse had come to his aid, but why the hell would he do something like that? The smaller animatronic must have really hit his head hard if that was something his scrambled mind came up with.

But hallucination or not, it made him fucking angry.

“What are you doing??”

“Move.”, was the short answer he received, spoken with all the annoyance of someone that couldn't be bothered to be here, but was anyway. Someone who thought he was better than being here.

How dare he?

“I don't need your help!”, Lunar exploded – verbally – as he jumped back to his feet. “Why didn't you just leave?! I didn't ask for your help! I don't need your help!!”

The attacks were still coming, with Eclipse still deflecting them, and Lunar just couldn't understand.

What was the end goal here? To make himself look better in front of the rest of the family? But they already accepted him, some of them even liked him for whatever goddamn reason, oh, but that was very Eclipse, wasn't it? Trying to get into the good graces of the family and insert himself like he belonged there! He didn't! HE DIDN'T!

“Get out of here.”

“No! I'm not letting you play the hero here you asshole! You don't care about this family, you don't care about me, so stop acting like this! You don't mean it! You don't mean it!!!”, he was crying out at this point, tears of frustration forming at his eyes that he couldn't bite back, and he hated it, he hated everything about this, why was this idiot doing this, what the hell did he gain from this, why wasn't he moving out of the way, why was he letting himself just get hurt like that (it was obvious why, he only had half of his former field of vision, of course he would get hit eventually by attacks coming from his blind side). “Goddammit Eclipse, get out of the damn w-!”

Oil splattered across his faceplate, warm and thick, as a tendril burrowed itself into Eclipse's side where his lower left arm used to be, ripping open silicone casing, metal and wires before getting stuck inside.

Nothing happened for seconds that felt like forever before sharp, black claws dug into the tendril, holding onto the immaterial object however that was possible, and the tone Eclipse's voice had sent a shiver down Lunar's spine.

He was grinning.

“Got you.”

“Lunar, move!”

Lunar swore that he was hearing double, but when he got yanked by the arm towards the security desk by Solar, he quickly realised his mistake.

“Solar?! I thought you left already!”

“Nah”, the mechanic replied, slamming himself behind the computer screen which stuttered back to life after a hearty kick to its tower. It was running on its last legs, but the portal controls were still working, and that was all he needed. “Eclipse, can you hold him a little longer?”

“Fuck off”

“Good”, Solar nodded to himself, fingers flying over the keyboard as he frantically typed in the code to brute force the portal. It would probably screw up the residual programming, but that they could fix later, after this whole shitshow was done and over with.

D-D-DIMENSIONAL INTE-TE-TEGRITY AT... 75%

“What does that mean, Solar...?”

“Umbra's dimension is dying and is taking ours with it unless we untangle it”

“Who the heck is Umbra??”

“The thing in the ballpit is Solstice's... you know what, I'll explain this later, okay?! Come on come on come on... god dammit, this magic is interfering with the program, it's not strong enough to pull him into the portal!”

68%

“Fucking hell”, Solar cursed as he pushed himself back from the screen and almost knocked a chair over with the motion. “Lunar, I need you to take over”

“What?! But I don't know what to do!”

“Just make sure that the program doesn't crash. I know you can do it, I'm counting on you here bud, okay?”

“Okay...”, Lunar reluctantly agreed, a little voice in the back of his head yelling at him to pull himself together and not fuck this up after his first idea had backfired so spectacularly. “But what are you going to do?”

“Doing a little manual override with this one. Eclipse, you still good?”

He wasn't, not with that amount of oil outside instead of inside his body, but as long as he wasn't admitting it, Solar knew they still had time.

60%

“Just get the hell on with it!”

Solar gave but a quick nod before he took off towards the ballpit. Umbra's attacks began to focus on him now, but Eclipse deflected every single strike, giving Solar a clear shot. Would have been handy if he actually had something to take a shot with, but as it stood, his modus operandi was a bit less refined. But if the portal didn't have enough strength to pull Umbra through, he had no choice but to give it a little push.

Solar, what are you doing? This isn't what you and Solstice agreed on.

“I know, but the portal can't handle this on its own”, he replied to the voice in his head, honestly relieved to hear it again. He'd already feared the worst. “I won't do anything stupid, I'll just help out a little”

That is incredibly stupid.

“Yeah”, Solar couldn't argue with that as he found himself right at the edge of the ballpit far quicker than he'd wanted to. He had not really thought this idea through to the end, but there also wasn't exactly a need for that. He was literally just about to tackle Umbra and force him back through the portal.

Quite miraculously, even though he was standing right in front of him, the other animatronic didn't make any more attempts at attacking him. Solar didn't want to get his hopes up, seeing as he couldn't spot a single flicker of recognition in the other's face, but not giving it a try would be a regret he would carry with him forever.

“Hey Umbra”, he started with the possibly blandest beginning of all, his lack of social skills catching up to him fast now. “I don't know if you know who I am right now. I also don't know what you are looking for, but I guarantee you that it's not here. So I need you to go back home”

Recognition still wasn't coming, but a reaction was. With janky, stuttering movements like the base of his neck joint was rusted, Umbra's head turned towards Solar, pinprick pupils in pitch black tar pits staring right at him, telling the mechanic that there was indeed somebody home, he just wasn't sure if he wanted to find out what it was.

“Home”, it repeated with a voice like a box of nails, grating on Solar's audio receptors with an intensity just barely short of agonizing, but he didn't dare turn his volume down in case he missed anything important. If anything, he cranked it up even more.

“Yes”, Solar nodded and made sure to carry the gesture in his tone too in case Umbra couldn't process it visually. “The longer you stay here, the longer you damage both of our homes, and I can't have you doing that. I know you don't want to do that, so that's why I'm going to come with you, and we'll figure out a solution for this together.”

He didn't get an answer immediately, hadn't expected to, but his increased audio reception filled the stretching silence will all kinds of noise. The buzzing of magic that, at this proximity, almost left an ozone like taste on his tongue that Solar stubbornly swallowed down; the faint drip-drip-dripping of oil from behind him with the even fainter panting coming from his dimensional counterpart, whose patience must be on its last legs by now, he was pretty sure; the computer relentlessly announcing 53%, and eventually, the grinding of rusty joints as Umbra's head swivelled the slightest bit to the side before a single word emerged from the box of nails that made Solar want to curse out loud as much as the voice in his head did.

“Eklipse”

“He won't be coming with us”, Solar stated immediately, using every ounce of his remaining self restraint to not hurry and simply bodyslam the other into the portal. “We both know it's far too dangerous for him to go. We both want him to be safe, right?”

“We?”, the other cut him off, head snapping back to stare right at him, and Solar bit down on his tongue until he could taste the oil. “You. Want him. For yourself?”

“No. I want him to be safe”, the mechanic urged, the growl in his voice barely held back by the metal of his teeth. “And I will make sure that he is, by any means necessary.”

“By any means”, it agreed in a gentle tone, face an expression of calm acceptance of whatever was going to happen.

“Keep safe. Keep close. Keep alive. Keep with me”

The taste of ozone got stronger. Solar felt his stomach tighten into a cold knot as something pierced through his casing.

“Keep away from you”

Chapter Text

There was something uncomfortable digging into his back. Painful enough that he knew it must have pierced his casing, but not yet further inside than that. The arguably worse sensation was the feeling of something warm and sticky on his back, the way it made his shirt stick to his casing incredibly gross.

The same strange sensation coated the back of his head, albeit unaccompanied by any pain except for the burning he had been feeling for a while now, courtesy of his temporary roommate.

It took a little less than a full second for all that information to be fully registered into his processor, giving him the chance to snap back to the situation at hand; Umbra had just tried to skewer him alive.

Well, wasn't that a bright, neon-lit sign that the time for talking was over?

His first reflex to flinch backwards was halted by both the interference of common sense that maybe moving towards the thing that's actively stabbing you was a bad idea, and by another frame behind him literally blocking his movement.

A near inaudible whine made his shoulders tense.

“I'd appreciate it if....hnn, if you could move a little less...”

The accent was missing, which made Solar feel the slightest ping of relief immediately followed by hating himself for it, but the general tone of voice was unmistakeable, and he only stopped himself from spinning around when Moondrop gave another pained whimper.

Solar instead craned his neck around as much as he could without causing the other any more discomfort. “Moondrop, what are you- oh my god”

There were barely a few inches of separation left between the two animatronics, chest-to-back a mere matter of a slight sway from one or the other. The small pinprick of pain in his own back was sole courtesy of the smaller animatronic having blocked Umbra's attack with their own body, the offending tendril sticking out of their chest, leaving just the tip of it burrowed into Solar's casing.

What had he thought about Eclipse's state just a few minutes ago? That nobody could be fine once that amount of oil was outside their body instead of inside? Screw that notion, nobody could be alive for long with a puddle like the one forming underneath Moondrop right now, what should be pumping through their body and powering all of their systems rapidly seeping into the blue play mats below.

“Well”, they said with a trembling shrug that failed spectacularly at being nonchalant by ending in a wet cough, “I'm sorry about that little scratch, but at least that dashing head of yours is still intact”

Solar didn't need to ask. He saw the oil coating their hand. Umbra had gone straight for his motherboard too, and they had blocked that attack as well, adding to the ever growing amount of oil on the floor. If possible, he was sure that the colour would have had drained out of their face completely by now, and the way Sunny was screaming bloody murder in his head just added to that conclusion.

“Moondrop, you need to cut off the oil flow and reroute your residual energy to your processor, if you make an emergency encryption right now, we can salvage the data and can later transfer you to a new frame and –“

But they didn't have the time for that, did they? Certainly not, judging by the way the other's optics were flickering. With another frame-wrecking cough, they held onto his shoulders.

“Solar, listen to me, whatever you do, do not agree to anything. Under no circumstances, do you hear me?”, they urged, fighting against the static that threatened to drown their words in broken feedback and oil.

“I – Ruin – we know what this is, and you cannot let it in, it never holds its promises, it will twist whatever you ask of it into a horrible, wrong version and –“

Solar couldn't make much sense of their rambling, of the words falling out of their mouth like broken glass – and he didn't have the time to.

With a barely-there sensation for Solar and a wet squelch, the tendril twisted and ripped free. Moondrop's optics flickered again, red, black, perhaps even blue for but a fraction of a moment, before they shut off completely.

Like a puppet with its strings cut, they collapsed. Solar managed to catch them before they could crumble down into a heap of metal on the floor, but that's exactly what they were now.

Dead, rapidly cooling metal.

Solar raised his head without the conscious input to, expecting to spot a version of Eclipse that no variations of the word “mad” could ever do justice, but jerked it back down just as quickly with the warm, oily feeling of acrid bile rising in his throat from what he had just caught a glimpse of.

Too much oil and and broken metal and torn apart limbs and –

At least no trace of Lunar.

Let me out, he heard Sunny in his head as he clutched Ruin's body to his chest. Let me out, I'll kill him, I'll fucking rip him apart

Solar carefully lowered their body to the ground, the red-tinted glasses broken but placed back into their hands with care before the mechanic rose back to his feet.

Everything felt sort of muffled, dull, like he was experiencing things as an outsider looking down on what was happening. Umbra was suspiciously silent in the ballpit, certainly more silent than Sunny was, and more silent than the storm that was brewing inside of the eclipse.

Let me out. I will kill him. We'll kill him.

It sounded very tempting. It was compelling. It felt like the best idea ever. It wasn't even a question if he wanted to do it or not, it felt like the only thing he could do, the only thing he had to do.

His head felt like it was burning from the inside, no longer just because of a piece of tech overheating, but like every single wire in his being was cast in molten iron. It was burning, burning, burning through his logic centre and left nothing in its wake but the need to tear into the being in front of him, render them limb from limb until there was nothing left but pieces of twisted metal, a code screaming at him to kill kill kill –

He grabbed the wrench he kept on his toolbelt – it would be enough. Their heads weren't exactly sturdy.

He came deathly close to loosing his balance when someone bumped into him, and only the look of mismatched red and blue eyes managed to snap him out of his weird stupor, if just a little. “Sols...?”

“Ekliiipse”, Umbra rasped, apparently jostled back into life and action at the sight of the smaller animatronic, who was standing between the two Solars like the universe's last defence against the void. “Go home? Together? Go back home. Can we?”

“Yes, we'll go home”, Solstice nodded, and Solar felt his stomach twist, especially when they added: “Solar, please step back”

“No”, he said, soul and mind and body suddenly occupied with the sole mission to not let that happen. “I'm not letting you go with him”

“Solar, please”, Solstice came close to pleading, “this is the best way to solve this situation, I just need you to trust – “

“I trust you, but I don't trust him”, Solar declared with a stubbornness he rarely displayed. It was enough to make Umbra, who had seemed almost docile, snap back into action and anger immediately.

“YOu WanT Him foR yoURsElf”

“I'm definitely not letting him go with you!”, Solar shouted back, the wrench held tightly once more, ready to land the first and probably only hit he'd be able to land before the other's magic obliterated him, but he wouldn't go down without a fight.

That gesture had the same effect as an open declaration of war, as Umbra began to lunge at him with Solstice stepping in the way, pushing against the taller and much sturdier animatronic in a near futile attempt at holding them at bay.

“Umbra please, let's just go, I'll come with you! We'll go home together!”

Umbra seemed to have used up all of his words. The snarls that came from his throat barely sounded robotic anymore.

“Solar, please back off!”, Solstice tried again, desperate and pleading for real this time. “He'll... I don't want him to –“

“I am not leaving you. I can't”

“Yes you can! Just GO!!”

“I can't”, Solar repeated with a calmness that rested just underneath the pit in his stomach. “I've made that mistake once before. I'm not going to make it again”

That halted the situation for a moment, with Solstice staring at the other with an expression Solar couldn't quite decipher, but guessing to the best of his ability, it looked pained. His mouth opened, but the moment was already over. Umbra made a move, and so did Solar.

He wrapped his arms around Solstice, curling his body around the other as best he could before the tendrils could reach him. They wrapped around and burned his own casing instead where they touched him, but Solar would not let go. Never again.

He could feel their touch burn through his casing, melting his paint and then corroding deeper into his endoskeleton, scorching and unforgivingly crushing along their way.

It must have looked beautiful from the outside, like a flower closing its petals come nightfall, beautifully ignorant to the fact it was blooming on the edges of a battlefield, before just like that, it was over, and if anyone were still here to bear witness to it, they would find the ballpit now empty and void.

The place between dimensions. The nothing that was left after everything that gave a dimension form, life, existence itself, had been stripped away. Solar knew what the Void was, not only thanks to Ruin's “project” that had made this non-place grow exponentially – though that had certainly furthered their understanding about what it was. If something like this could even be understood, that is.

It wasn't like some lovecraftian-level incomprehensible concept that made one mad just thinking about it, but it certainly felt... off to experience it first hand. Which Solar was pretty sure was what he was doing right now.

The place was pitch black, devoid of light while simultaneously looking like there had never even been the faintest speck of light in this place to begin with. He had no problem seeing himself when he looked down, but there also wasn't much else to see here.

Was he dead? He couldn't spot any of the damages he was sure he had received, which could be a solid evidence for either option. Some ghosts did carry over their mortal wounds, didn't they? Oh, but what logic to apply to this place, if this was actually the afterlife? Or rather purgatory, given his track record. He doubted that he would land anywhere close to animatronic-heaven on his first try.

But no injuries also meant no pain, and that he was grateful for. For about two seconds, then he realized that the burning in the back of his head was also absent.

“Sunny?”, he asked out loud only to be met with silence in return. Quickly reaching for the panel behind his face, he felt the metal there smooth and cool to the touch, as it should be. His systems also couldn't detect any secondary chips or AIs. Definitely not good. Shit.

“Fuck”, he gave voice to his emotions, now having no other choice but to move and go look for Sunny. And maybe more importantly...

“Solstice?”, he called out into the void, turning up his audials all the way, but his voice didn't even echo. So, with no other options left, he just started walking.

This place had something at least akin to a floor, even though he couldn't make it out against the black backdrop. But he could only move in horizontal directions, giving his orientation something to work with, and a break at the same time. Floating would have really overtaxed his bullshit-tolerance for the day.

He didn't know how long he walked. He'd forgotten to set a timer, and doubted that it would do him any good anyway. The Void seemed to follow few rules, why should time be one of them? But eventually, he found himself in company once more – though not one he'd expected.

Just a few feet up ahead crouched a figure with their head in their hands. A Daycare Attendant model, sun model to be precise, with a secondary set of rays that gave Solar pause. He guessed he had been looking for an eclipse, but this one didn't fit the description.

Rusted red and ebony reminded him of a very specific Eclipse, but his glance down their body revealed no second set of arms.

They did, however, look obscenely young. Not a child, not deceptively small-built like Lunar, and if Solar had to estimate a guess, he'd say they couldn't be older than 13 or 15, converted to how humans counted their age. Barely more than a kid...

“Hey”, he tried, reaching out a gloved hand that didn't get to make contact before the figure in front of him gave a violent flinch and the rambling began.

“Why was I always so mean to him...? He was only ever nice to me, and I was such a jerk, why couldn't I just shut my stupid mouth, why did I have to be such an asshole to them all the time, I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry –”

Solar tried a few more times to get their attention, but eventually gave up. It was clear that whatever was going on, this guy was in it deep, and he honestly couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for them. But he wasn't a people person like Earth, he had no idea how to help someone like this. So, he did the only thing he could think of, and let them be.

It didn't took long until he made his second encounter. He wasn't quite sure if this new person had appeared out of nowhere, or if he simply hadn't noticed them until now, but not far away from the sat another animatronic that looked even less well put together.

They appeared to be a moon model, and the closer Solar approached, the more he could see the downright horrible state their frame was in. They reminded him of Ruin when he'd first shown up in their dimension, though admittedly it did look like the gravest damages had been patched up for this one, and their clothes were in fact way more clean that they had appeared at first glance. With the starry pants and the hat, no, hood, or maybe it was a cloak, he could almost mistake him for a regular moon. Perhaps that's what they were.

But where the other one had been rambling, this one was dead silent, staring off into space. Even as Solar approached further and waved a hand in front of their face did they not even so much as blink.

Nothing about all this made Solar feel any better. He had no idea who those people were, and asking them was clearly off the table too. Resigning himself to the fact that he'd just have to keep looking, he almost shook out of his casing when something touched his shoulder.

He whirled around, startled out of his usually so collected mind, and stared into a face that was finally familiar – albeit uncomfortably so.

Equinox mirrored his expression with one of genuine confusion, eyes a mismatched set of blue and red as he stared at him like he had seen a ghost. Honestly, same.

“Oh. You're actually real”

“I'd like to think I am”, Solar responded without anything better to reply with, heart still pounding all the way up in his throat. The shock was quickly replaced by annoyance however. “But if you are here, then I'm probably also dead”

“Not necessarily”, Equinox replied with a huff that bordered on amused, if Solar didn't know any better. “I mean, the odds aren't exactly in your favour here, but given your track record of being god-damn lucky, I'd say you might be good.”

“Oh, so now you're in a talking mood, huh?”, Solar deadpanned with a frown. “Would have been damn useful a few hours ago”

“Oh trust me darling, if you'd ever met me at my prime, you would have found me incredibly annoying~”

“I already do.”, was all he added before he began to walk past the other.

“What now, don't you want to ask me anything about this place? Come on, you must be dying to know where you are~”

“Where are we, then?”

“I have no idea. Hell, maybe.” Aaaand that was enough of this conversation for Solar. A lone sentiment.

“Though then, these two shouldn't be here...”

Solar stopped walking, took in a deep, drawn out breath before he turned back around.

“Who are they?”

“Pft, don't you have manners? It's rude to talk about others right in front of them. Come along”

With a twitching eye and the burning urge to test the theory if you could kill someone in purgatory, Solar eventually followed. By the time Equinox stopped to sit on the floor, his patience had barely returned.

“Sit down”

“If you don't start talking right now, I'll leave.”

“Oh nooo, whatever shall I do without your wonderful company?!”, the grey eclipse whined dramatically, and whatever patience Solar had managed to built back up evaporated in an instant. Without another word, he began to leave.

“Aww, really? Man, you are no fun. Ooohh, playing the stoic type now, are we? Well, alright then, suit yourself. But, do tell me, where do you plan on looking for Solstice next? The darkness to your right, or to your left? Oh, or maybe, if you're feeling really adventurous, you could try digging? I'm sure this place rewards creative problem solving skills”

Did he still have his wrench? No, of course not, would have been too lucky. But he could probably strangle the guy.

“Or, Mr. tall dark and fucking broody, you can finally sit your butt down here and accept my help. Wouldn't that be a novel concept?”

“If you say one. More. Word.”, Solar stomped back over to him, annoyed out of his mind by this whole bait and switch, but he had to admit one thing. He had no idea where to look for any of the others. So, if swallowing his pride (and sanity) was what it took for this grey piece of shit to help him...

Solar sat down across from the other eclipse. Compliance enough, apparently.

“They are my family”, Equinox finally answered the question Solar felt he had asked hours ago. “Or what is left of them. The kid is called Ciel, the other's Orion. They have both been here for a while, hence their state. But honestly, I'm not really in the mood to share my sob story with the guy who killed me, but I am curious. Tell me Solar, for someone apparently so clever, how could you fuck up so spectacularly?”

He would manifest his fucking wrench in here, he swore –

“Screw you, first off. And I didn't kill you. You absolutely deserved it though”, Solar flipped him off instead of downright manslaughter. “And I didn't fuck up. I saved my family and we finally put and end to you and your insane bullshit”

“Oh yes, and that has worked out quite amazingly, hasn't it? Do remind me again, what happened to most of your family members just recently, hmm?”

“...”

“That's what I thought. So, how about you quit your bitching, stop interrupting me, and let me fill in your honestly embarrassingly huge gaps in knowledge, yes?”

“Fuck you”, Solar repeated again, but refrained from any more verbal or gesturing acts of defiance. “I have a question first. The last time we met, you were acting bat shit insane. Why are you now so...”

“Aha~! You do have some brains to your name after all! See, that is already a very astute observation of you, well done.”, Equinox clapped his hands with a grin. “Oh come on now, don't give me that look. It is admittedly all a bit convoluted. So, let's try to start at some common ground. I suppose you have met that lovely dimensional counterpart of yours, yes?”

“Do you mean Umbra?”

“Umbra? Oh fiiine, you know what, sure, we'll call him that. Stupid oaf finally managed to pick out a new name after all, huh, after Eklipse and I spent so much time trying to help him pick one and–! ...Hm. Where were we? Oh, yeah. How did you meet him? What was he like?”

Solar frowned. No use pointing out the obvious, but everything about this felt off. For now though, he would humour this conversation.

“The first time I met him was when I connected to the security terminal in your dimension. Then, I found his body in a room back in the Arcade. And then the third time, back in our own dimension, he was...”

“Twisted? Corrupted? Batshit crazy?”

Solar nodded.

“Yep, that'll do it. Listen, I won't go into details. This story is long, boring, and frankly none of your business. But I will tell you enough to paint a picture. So, Eklipse has this refuge for other eclipses. We all live there. It's pretty good, all things considered. Then, there's this... cataclysmic event, destroys a bunch of dimensions. Eklipse's too, and since he's the only one tethered to it, he... dies. Just like that. I don't think he even realized what was happening until it was already over. And right after that, everything else went to shit.”

Solar stared at the other like he was trying to kill him with his look alone. “You want to tell me that I've been talking to a ghost these past few days.”

“Nooo, ghosts are boring. But, how can this be, hm? I watched him die, and yet you spoke with him, you two even cuddled”

“You could be lying to me.”, Solar replied matter of factly, pointedly ignoring the second half of what Equinox had said.

“Sure, but honestly, I don't give a crap if you believe me or not. Let me just ask you this: Isn't it quite convenient how he just showed up in your place that day? And then when you finally meet Umbra, he even more conveniently shows you what has happened leading right up to that moment poor little Sols entered your dimension? And it all fit so nicely, too. Such a pretty little narrative”

“He also showed me that you were the one that erased his memories. Isn't it just so convenient that you're now trying to tell me he lied? You, the guy who has been screwing with my family's heads like it's a fucking hobby”

“Aaaah see, you're finally starting to ask the right questions~! It's all just so awfully well fitting together, isn't it? The evil grey Sun hellbent on screwing with you guys for no logical reason at all, while poor, innocent Solstice has no idea what's going on and brave, valiant Umbra is just holding that god damn Star just out of my reach at the risk of his own life. Isn't that a truly romantic story?”

Solar continued to stare at him. Equinox took that as an invitation to continue.

“I think it is. But, my dear audience, this is the part where you have to start wondering: there has been no cast revealed yet. So tell me, who in this story is the Sleeping Beauty, who's the Prince and who's the Evil Fairy? Or the good one”

Solar remained silent. Equinox rose to his feet and gave a little bow. “And that's a wrap for me for tonight, folks! Now, please excuse me while I go and spent some quality time with the family before the world ends”

Again, the mechanic gave no reply and simply watched as the grey animatronic wandered off towards the moon-like animatronic, knelt in front of them and took their hands with a gentleness that made Solar get up himself and walk the other way. When a message popped up on his HUD, he didn't bother wondering how that was possible in this place.

–The Princess's tower is just up ahead. Be prepared to face the rose hedge–

Chapter Text

It wasn't exactly a tower.

Solar hadn't expected it to be. His way of thinking could be very literal sometimes, but he knew a metaphor when he was presented with one. What had, however, been surprisingly literal was the rose hedge.

Again, not completely literal – those were still the same tendrils as before if he'd had to wager a guess, but the way they were spread out over the ground reminded him of some out of control roots – a few thin ones at first, then growing thicker in size and quantity the closer they got to their tree. Hedge. Whatever. They made for an easy to follow trail though.

Solar went over his game plan once more: find Solstice and Sunny and get the two out of here. Simple and not overly complicated steps. Easy. He had managed more difficult tasks before. How hard could this one be?

Man, he was terrible at this whole optimism thing, wasn't he. How had Sunshine been able to do it? His sun had been optimistic until the very end, without fail seeing the best in things and people and had always believed in the best outcome. Solar had always admired him for it, all the time they'd shared a body, and even now, when he was long gone.

The cynicism he'd gotten from his moon tried to chime in how all that optimism hadn't done Sunshine any good in the end, but he strangled that thought right in its crib. Sunshine had been exactly like his namesake, and he refused to let that image of him be tainted by any of his stupid, pessimistic-hiding-behind-the-mantle-of-realistic thoughts.

In a way, Solstice was the same. Kind and trusting to a fault, sometimes too much so for his own good, and with an innocence that, while Sunshine hadn't been quite as naïve, Solar swore would protect with all he had.

He had never been one for romance. Earth had tried to show him some movies, and he had humoured her then, but the genre simply wasn't for him. It wasn't even for some melodramatic “true love is not for me” kind of reason – though that admittedly hadn't really been on his personal radar... ever. But regardless if one wanted to call it love or not, what he felt towards Solstice was motivating enough to be adamantly against leaving this place without them.

That kiss did not count. It hadn't even been a real kiss, a real kiss would involve more... more, and he had caught Solstice off guard with that anyway, he probably didn't even reciprocate any of these... feelings, and even if he did, then Solar had gone about the whole thing in the most awkward way possible, who in their right mind would just kiss someone out of the blue to – what? He had done it to snap them out of their spiral, with astonishing success mind you, but that didn't have to mean anything, who wouldn't be blind sided by such a gesture out of nowhere?

...but he hadn't appeared to be angry about it. Then again, he had never seen Solstice get angry, it was doubtful if his emotional matrix was even programmed in that way and...

Oh.

Oh.

Who was he kidding here? He had fallen hard and fast, god dammit, more so than he had ever expected from himself. It was almost embarrassing, but at the same time... it felt nice. Perhaps it could be more? Once everything was alright again, once they were back home, maybe they could be more? He hoped they could be. He wanted them to be. Together, they could go back –

to their broken home and their dead family members and a dying dimension

...he was getting off track. The tower.

The way the vines and tendrils converged reminded him of a cocoon, or, if one wanted to stay with the whole Sleeping Beauty and rose theme, of a tightly closed blossom with thorns. That's as far as his botanical knowledge went, but it really wasn't important. He quickened his steps without outright starting to sprint – though in hindsight, that would have been wiser.

His boot caught on something – one of the vines, he thought, but was quickly corrected when he glanced back and saw that the floor, which had felt like walking on glass or linoleum the whole time, had given way to a thick, black sludge that was impossible to spot until it was too late. And too late it was, as Solar was unceremoniously yanked downwards.

He had no lungs to fill, no breath that could be taken from him to be replaced with thick, liquid death, but that didn't make the sensation feel any more pleasant. Solar choked and gagged, tried to claw his way back up, but found no leverage to fight the force that kept pulling him down, down, down.

He was sure that he would drown, somehow, some way, and just when that critical moment was there, the moment when every and all impulse control lost the battle against sheer reflex, his head broke through the surface.

Solar drew in a gasping, heaving breath, hacking up some of the sludge that had managed to seep in and clog up his vents, and pulled his body forward inch by inch onto more solid ground.

Small, gentle hands were on his shoulder and back, giving careful but firm pats like one would give to a choking child, and once he could, Solar wiped furiously at his face to clear his optics from the lingering sticky ichor, and when he finally could see again, he felt like choking all over again.

Eyes the colour of the clearest morning sky, bright blue rimmed with gold, and rays that seemed to glow like the sun even in the absence of their bearer's namesake. The brightest, most beautiful being he had ever seen without ever having seen them, the little light that had greeted him in the darkness, had taken his hand and led him to his first ever moment of real consciousness, his...

“Sunshine...?”

“Hey there, Clip”, Sunshine smiled at him, bright and radiant as Solar had always imagined it would be. It was enough to make his optics burn and water.

“What's wrong? Are you in pain? Oh, I'm so sorry Clip, I promised you that it would be painless, but I should have made absolutely sure beforehand.”, Sunshine said with a pained expression, gentle hands taking hold of Solar's, making him weep even more. They were so warm...

“Tell me where it hurts. I'm sure we can fix it with some tweaks to your hardware, and then you'll be right as rain–“

Solar threw his arms around the other animatronic's neck and held on for dear life. His crying, outright bawling at this point, only increased when he felt those hands on his back once more, rubbing soothing circles into it that made him want to melt into the embrace.

“Oh, Eclipse”, Sunshine cooed as he started a gentle rocking motion, “it's okay, everything is okay. You're safe, shh, shhh”

“I-I'm s-so s-s-sorry S-Sun”, Solar barely managed to choke out between frame-wracking sobs. “W-we shouldn't ha-have... w-we should have waited, it... it should have been me”

“Nonsense, silly. It all worked out perfectly, didn't it? And now, we can finally be together for real”

It... had worked out? It had to have, there was no way they could be holding one another like this if it hadn't worked, and the realization made Solar hug the other even tighter, earning him an amused chuckle and a gentle pat on the head in return.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so at home. This was everything he had ever wanted, more than he ever had dared to hope for, and it all overwhelmed him so much that he couldn't help but blurt out: “I love you”

The gentle arms around him tensed, and Solar immediately knew that he had fucked everything up. Sunshine had always referred to them as brothers, and Solar had eventually adapted to that as to not make things weird. But to him, Sunshine had always been so, so much more... but now, he wouldn't even have him as his brother anymore because he just had to open his stupid mouth and ruin everything –

The arms around him shifted, moving over into a tension that felt different. A goodbye hug? That would still be more than he deserved right now, Solar thought, and he selfishly allowed himself to bask in the contact for a few more seconds before the sun model would inevitably push him away.

The moment stretched on suspiciously long though, but Solar swallowed the hope rising in his chest down like a stubborn cough, until he heard another soft chuckle.

“You know”, the other animatronic said in a quiet voice that seemed to vibrate with excitement, “I knew I would never have the courage to say this myself, but I'm so glad that you did”

“Wait... I thought you said...?”

“That I loved you like a brother? Yeah, I thought that's what it was at first, too. That I love you the same way that I love Moony. But when I noticed that it felt different, I thought I couldn't go back on what I'd said earlier and make everything awkward and weird. But if you feel the same way, then maybe, instead of brothers, we could be... something else. Something more, if you'd like”

Solar couldn't speak. He was rather quite sure that he had just short circuited, but even after he'd given himself a quick restart, he found himself still held in the same warm embrace, pressed against the same, lovely animatronic.

“Sooo... is that a yes?”

He couldn't answer, the attempt alone felt ridiculous to try – so, he did the next best thing. He eased their embrace the tiniest bit, just enough to be able to raise his head, move his hands over to cup the other's face, and pull him into a kiss.

It was more than he could have ever hoped for. What felt like hours was a minute at best, but it was the best goddamn minute of his whole fucking life. When they finally parted, he was met with a light and hearty giggle, and it was the most beautiful sound in the whole world.

“I will take that as a Yes”, Sunshine smiled, the freckles under his eyes rising with the motion. It was the only smile he ever wanted to see again, Solar decided in that moment. The one he would do anything for to never see falter.

“So, then... can I kiss you again?”, Solar asked, emboldened by emotion and a giddiness he had never felt before, and with another one of these beautiful, amazing smiles, Sunshine's lips met his again.

He could die happy in that very moment. Maybe he was, but if this was what dying felt like, then you wouldn't catch him complaining. A deep, all encompassing warmth began to fill him, from the tips of his rays to the soles of his feet, settling comfortably over his whole body like a weighted blanket. He didn't mind that breathing felt a bit harder to do than it should, instead distracting his mind from it with the scented cleaning detergent Sunshine used to wash his clothes with filling his olfactory sensors.

It was warm, a bit sticky sweet and... wet? It must be from the tears shed, but what was that burn? Had some wetness seeped into his joints or wires? He instantly knew that that didn't make any sense, but his head didn't seem to be capable of coming up with any rational explanation for why that would be the case. Maybe he was just tired from the separation, and the prospect of taking a little nap in his Sunshine's arms sounded heavenly. His optics were already closed anyway, and he doubted it would take much for him to just slip into a short little rest right here. Yeah, that sounded... really nice... and...

Okay, that burn was really getting hard to ignore now. Solar felt his telltale, almost signature annoyance well up inside of him. He shifted a bit to try and get more comfortable, but when that didn't help and instead caused a sharp sting, like he had just stepped on something, to shoot through his whole body, he opened his eyes again.

The split second glance he got at the thing in his arms that was anything but Sunshine wasn't long enough to have him utter a sound of terror – not that he could have, chocked up like he was – but the view of said thing getting ripped apart into black, sludgy ribbons was enough to make him gag.

Sunset – Sunny – stood over him, colourful clothes smudged in black and wetness, face drawn taut and expression grim like he'd just had a particularly awful day at the Daycare, including some murder.

“I'd really thought you more resilient than that”, he huffed before roughly pulling Solar back to his feet, who only stared at the other like a gaping fish out of water.

“Oh come on, don't tell me you have fricking brain damage now. Pull yourself together, man”

Surprisingly even for himself, Solar did. Maybe it was the absurdity of the situation that brute forced him out of his stupor, but it did so with remarkable success. He also decided not to bother with pointless questions.

“What was that?”

Sunny shrugged. “You tell me. It looked like a hunk of sludge with teeth to mee, but I guess it must have looked different to you. Unless you have some very, very weird tastes.”

“It looked like my Sun.”, Solar answered plainly. Sunny gave a simple, “Ah”, in return. When the smaller animatronic began walking, Solar quietly followed.

Desperate for a distraction, his mind latched onto the only other person that was here, leaving Solar feeling like he was perceiving everything about the other animatronic in slow moving, high definition. The sharper edges of their body, the way their left leg was dragging a little, as if some of the sludge that covered his clothes had seeped into his joints, the pointed tips of his fingers that Solar could have sworn weren't as pointy the last time they'd seen each other – all together painting a picture that made the mechanic wonder what the Daycare Attendant might have been through himself in this fucked up place.

The answer to that came before the question had even been asked out loud, in the shape of black and grey animatronic that could have been his own twin, more so than Eclipse even. But the pitiful sight Umbra made had Solar release the tension from his shoulders.

“Damn. You really did a number on him, huh?”

“Wasn't me”, Sunny said, leaving Solar behind as he made his way over to the crouching, trembling animatronic.

“Then who did?”

“Whatever made its slimy advances on you, too. As I said, big hunk of goo for me, but to him it must have been... awful”

You tell me, Solar thought, watching the scene in front of him. For someone that had openly declared his intent to kill them, Sunny was incredibly gentle with the other animatronic, who seemed to not even be fully aware of the things going on around him. Somehow, that made it hard for Solar to summon back the anger he had felt towards his counterpart earlier.

He looked like someone had sanded down his body and then given it a good polishing with something corrosive afterwards. It looked less than comfortable.

Solar watched as Sunny gently coaxed the other out of his curled up position, and although it felt like he was intruding, he couldn't waste any more time.

“We have to get out of here”

“Obviously”, Sunny replied as short as before, and Solar briefly wondered if he'd somehow managed to offend the other animatronic. But maybe it was just the stress.

“Alright”, the Daycare Attendant announced shortly after, still holding Umbra's shaking hands in his own as he turned his head back towards Solar. “You're gonna get send back up, but that's a one way ticket, so make sure to keep your focus this time”

“And what about you?”

Sunny just shook his head. “Find Solstice and get your ass out of here. With some luck, that should fix this whole mess”

Solar saw the telltale sparks of magic crackle around one of Umbra's hands, but if that was due to some lingering connection with that Star thing in this place, or if the guy had been able to wield magic this whole time didn't really matter to him.

“Will you be alright?”, he asked. The both of you? – hung unspoken in the air.

“Yes”, Sunny simply said to that, and Solar decided to take the hint and stop asking when a gurgling sound started up behind him.

A thick wad of the black sludge was moving towards them, and Solar now saw that Sunny's description of “a hunk of sludge with teeth” had been exceptionally fitting. That's all his optics could identify it as – but judging by the terrified sound Umbra made and the way Sunny's shoulders tensed, that was only him.

“No, please, no no no...”

“Umbra, send him back up”, Sunny urged, back on his feet and claws at the ready as he positioned himself between the two animatronics and the approaching monstrosities. Solar's battery skipped a beat when one of them began to shift back into Sunshine's shape.

“Umbra!”, the solar animatronic called out again, and a quick touch to his hand was all the warning Solar got before his sense of balance and orientation was completely jumbled out of place once more.

When all his senses cleared again, he found himself back “upstairs” before the sludge had taken him. How he was able to tell that, he didn't know either, given that the place looked exactly the same, and while his mind was still trying to catch up, his stomach had already made up its own mind and he hacked up a bunch of said sludge like he was in a goddamn exorcist movie.

When he was done and had wiped the worst of the grime off with the back of his hand, he rose to his feet again, and there it was again. Closer than before, the cocoon stood in front of him, taunting him as if to say: Had fun down there?

Anger bubbled inside of him like magma, threatening to bubble over at any second, and maybe he would let it, depending on how things would go from here. With two quick steps, he bridged the gap and started grabbing at the vines that made up the cocoons, thankful to have his gloves right now, giving that the thing had decided to actually start growing more thorns. Anything for the metaphor, apparently.

The vines were thick and sturdy, unwilling to move unless forced to, and even then, they put up a immobile, static fight, but this was a classic case of immovable object versus unstoppable force. But Solar was very, very keen on the unstoppable part.

Locking the servos in his shoulders, he pulled with all of his might, methodical and calculated. Joints could be fixed, parts replaced if need be, and since he had no muscles that could tear, the risk was rather minimal.

At least he wasn't met with active resistance, but that was anything but reassuring, and his mind tried to supply his overworked processor with a plausible explanation for that. Maybe Solstice was helping from the inside? A rather weak attempt at reassurance that was immediately followed by the thought of, How do you know he's even in there? If there's even anything in there? Maybe you're just making a fool of yourself, or hallucinating again. Wouldn't that make much more sense?

It would, but Solar wasn't basing his actions on reason anymore. That had done – how would Ruin say it? – fuck all for him so far, so, he simply wouldn't play by those nice and reasonable rules any longer. He would do much more than just manifest a stupid wrench – he would break this place, make it bow and bend to his will if that's what it took to get them all back home.

In the back of his head, a voice whispered that that was an absolutely wonderful idea. But oh, would he strong enough to do this? This place was so, so dangerous, and he was so, so alone. He would need all the help he could get, and he could get it. He just had to ask. Ask for help, ask for a little push, a little bit of power, and he could rule over this place. Everything could be exactly how he wished it to be, if he just wished for it. A little wish upon a Star, which maybe was the wrong fairytale, but what did that matter really, because he could have everything.

His whole family, intact and safe; Solstice by his side – even Sunshine and Moonlight could be there, and everything could be –

With a loud, painful sounding pop, Solar ripped his arm back, brute forcing through the lock he had put on his shoulder joint himself, and tore out the wiring on the back of his head.

What should have killed him felt like relief instead, and he only spared a short glance at the crumbling vines in his hand before he dropped them on the ground and stomped on them for good measure. “Your tricks are getting lousy”

“But Solar”, came Sunshine's voice, and it took everything in the mechanic not to flinch when thin, gentle arms slid over his shoulders, a warm body pressed against his back and that voice was right next to his audials. “Think of what could be. Of everything the universe has taken from you. You deserve to be so, so happy. Don't you want that? You could have everything you ever wanted, all you have to do is ask”

It was the most tempting thing he'd ever heard. And it would be so, so easy to give in to this temptation, he wouldn't even have to do much, and could be rewarded with everything. His shoulders lost a bit of their tension, before shaking in a fit of humourless chuckles.

“Your script is off. Sunshine has never called me Solar before”

Sharp tendrils dug into his mechanical flesh the same second as he ripped one of the vines from the cocoon. A gory kind of tug-of-war ensued, and Solar didn't give a flying fuck if the injuries he received were real or not – he would not lose this.

“Eclipse, please!”, cried Sunshine, voice static-laced and off in a way that just made Solar pull harder, as more and more vines came off, just like more and more chunks of his casings did.

“You're hurting me!”, it kept crying, a shriek that grated on his audio sensors and had him force them down to their lowest setting, but the voice kept echoing on regardless. “Please, I love you! We can be a family! We can be together forever! Why?! Why are you killing me again???”

Solar's vision flickered. He was ripping through guts instead of vines, spilling oil instead of sludge, killing his one love instead of freeing his other.

“I thought you loved me!”

“I do”

He pulled, and tore, at some point even using his teeth to rip through the vines when gloves had been shredded and claws had grown numb from the damage. Whatever the thing behind him was shrieking now, he no longer cared to listen, as his sole focus was getting through that last layer of vines, and when he finally caught the faintest glimpse of something metallic, he shoved his arms into the opening and pulled with all his might for the final time.

With a cracking sound that was entirely anticlimactic, the cocoon crumbled to dust, the fading shriek of not-Sunshine crumbling at the same time, and he held Solstice in his arms.

The stillness of the other bot made Solar's heart race, but the panic barely had time to build as the smaller animatronic gave a couple of harsh, painful sounding coughs which expelled a bunch of cocoon dust from his mouth, and the mechanic gave some helpless attempts to help him get it all out. His voice still sounded coarse when he finally spoke.

“Solar...?”

“Hey”, was the first thing that came to the mechanic's mind to reply with – suddenly and very effectively reminded once again that he was not good with these types of situations – but his arms instinctively moved to support Solstice a little better. “Little troublemaker”

“Troublemaker? I … hm. I guess I deserve that one”, they closed their eyes with a raspy sigh. “Are you hurt?”

“No”, Solar lied, placing a hand on Solstice's stomach that was leaking as much oil as his own back was; both animatronics coming to a quiet, mutual understanding over the fact that none of this would fix itself, and that they had nothing to fix it with.

Pale red and blue optics opened again to look up into a tired, fiery orange. “Solar, I am not–“

“You're Eklipse”, Solar simply assessed, and even though the thought to deny it crossed his mind for a second, Eklipse simply nodded. “Is it that obvious?”

“Solstice doesn't have pupils”

“Oh”, was all Eklipse could reply to that. Sometimes the answer really was that simple, huh?

Against his expectation, Solar held him tighter again, and while a small but loud part of the smaller eclipse begged that he would push him away instead, the bigger, far more grateful part made him burrow into the warmth the other frame provided, selfishly claiming for himself what should be Solstice's.

The world gradually fell quieter and colder. The oil he had shed slowly dried on Solar's casing and left an uncomfortable itch behind. But just like Eklipse did, he too basked in the warmth of the other animatronic, and that made things a little easier.

“Is there a way for us to leave this place?”, Solar eventually asked.

Eklipse shook his head.

“Okay”, said Solar, and for him, that was that.

Silence followed, the comfortable kind that made you drowsy. Though honestly, it wouldn't take much for him to fall asleep after everything that had happened. Truly, that sounded more and more like the best option. Just fall asleep, and maybe, if they ever did, they'd wake up in a better place someday. And if they didn't, then he hoped they would finally get some peace instead.

It was a strangely grounding feeling to not know what was coming and to just be... okay with it. It wasn't like he wanted to die, truly not – but if that was the only outcome? Might as well accept it, plus, the company could be far, far worse.

He must have dozed off a little, because when he heard Eklipse speak again, he felt himself startle a bit.

“Do you believe in second chances?”

Solar chuffed a little. Getting philosophical now, huh? Well, he guessed he couldn't blame him – after all, when if not shortly before death was the best time to get a little philosophical?

“I guess I do”, he answered with a nod. “I mean, given the track record of this family, you kinda have to believe in them. Between all of us, there have been a ton of second chances – I mean, Ruin is kinda a walking, talking second chance, Eclipse has surely had a few extra chances on top, and even Moon is technically... want me to go on?”

Eklipse chuckled a little, although it sounded quite humourless and dry. “No, I get it. Second chances kind of run in the family. ...I'm sorry”

“Nope. You have nothing to apologize for. You, Umbra, Equinox, you've all been dealt a really shitty hand. I probably would have done the same, honestly”

“Yeah... yeah”

Silence settled between them once more, as did the warmth of the embrace, and it didn't take long for Solar to feel sleepy again. Somehow, the idea of going to sleep felt even more enticing than before, so he drew in a last, consciously deep breath, and prepared himself for anything that might come.

I truly am sorry, though, he heard Eklipse's voice again, seemingly echoing right behind his eye sockets. But despite its strange location, it only served to soothe him more.

He didn't need to be sorry. There was nothing anyone could blame them for, and even if someone tried, Solar would have a stern talking to that person. But those words didn't make it out as he was simply so, so tired. “'S okay”, he mumbled, not sure if he was actually saying anything out loud or not. “Not mad”

Thank you, he could hear the smile in their voice, but was far too tired to register much else. I'm afraid you will be, but that's still better than being dead

He... guessed that was a way to see it, Solar's sluggish mind concluded. Not that it made any difference. He just felt warm and content, and that didn't change when smaller hands moved to the back of his neck and undid the clasp of his goggles there, sliding them off his shoulders. Yeah, fair, he probably wouldn't need those anymore anyway.

I wish we could have had more time... I wish things could have been different. I wish that you will wake up in a better place where everyone else is fine

Yes, that would be very, very nice.

...I'll miss you, he heard from far away, and this time didn't miss the way the voice wavered. Automatically, he pulled Eklipse closer to him. “I won't be far”, he promised. “I–“

His eyes snapped open. The shift was disorienting, almost coaxing his stomach into another round of emptying itself if there had been anything left in it.

He was staring right at the ballpit, standing on the castle-like barrier surrounding it, and there was absolutely nothing unusual about the view. Colourful plastic balls that smelled a bit too much like cleaning detergent and the faint, ozone like scent of the portal. No traces of smoke, debris, or whatever other damage one would associate with the aftermath of a literal supernova happening in a children's playground.

His mind was running at a million miles an hour and was still stuck in place. What had happened? Why was he here? Where was the place he had been in before? Had he been anywhere else, or had he just had the malfunction of his life, making his mind hallucinate vividly about something that hadn't actually happened and –

“Solar!”, came a harried voice, and Solar's soul nearly leaped out of his body. Moon was looking beat up, frazzled and shaken, but not like he had just been slammed full force into a metal structure. Solar's mind reasoned that the impact must not have been as hard as it had looked, but that reasoning only lasted until Moondrop and Eclipse came into view.

Moondrop with their chest torn open shoulder pierced, the injury no doubt painful, but certainly not lethal. And Eclipse was torn apart body shredded to pieces pressing a hand against his still leaking side, but also looking more annoyed than on the brink of death. He could even spot Bloodmoon when he looked a bit further, still equally as grumpy and annoyed, but also decidedly not crushed.

There was also Lunar and Earth and Monty, the first one getting scolded alongside the unusually compliant cannibal (if bared teeth and petulantly crossed arms could count as compliance) with surprising effectiveness, if the properly chastised looks on at least the light blue face was any indication.

Even the Daycare looked okay. Certainly not fine, definitely not good, but okay. With some time and care, it would be back to its old shape, and Solar just couldn't make sense of any of this.

His memories told him one thing, but his eyes told him another. He played the recordings from his inner log back to himself over and over again, but the discrepancy stayed.

With wide eyes, he turned his focus to Moon, who had begun to look him up and down like he was the one that had gotten hurt. “Are you feeling alright? You were really close to that blast, I'll have to check you down in P&S to make sure you haven't picked up, like, radiation damage or something...”

He tuned out Moon's ramblings and let his gaze wander again, looking for someone very specific that he hadn't spotted yet, and that made his chest tighten and artificial heartbeat quicken.

Where was Sun?

“Solar!”, came the familiar high pitched call, and if the mechanic had simply moved his gaze a little more to the right, he would have spotted the solar animatronic earlier, before getting tackled by him. For one treacherous, short but way too long moment, his optics were playing tricks on him again, reddish rays and mismatched eyes and the colour of the morning sky, but once he'd blinked, it was just Sun (and he hated himself immediately for even thinking that little “just”).

“Are you okay?? Are you hurt??”

“No”, Solar finally managed to answer, patting the other's head in an uncharacteristic manner for their kind of relationship, but Sun had the grace not to comment on it, and Solar would later gladly blame this on a momentary lapse of reason on his part. But one final question still demanded to be released from behind his plastic faceplate.

“Where's Solstice?”

The silence was louder than it had any right to be. The kind of silence that makes you long for screaming, crying or any kind of vocal reaction, even getting yelled at would be better than this.

But like everything, even silences couldn't last forever.

“His... his dimensional signature was too tangled up in this other dimension that we couldn't get him out on time.”, Moon explained solemnly. “When the blast happened... he was caught right in it. I'm sorry”

Solar simply stared at him. That... wasn't what had happened – again. A sharp pain shot through his head when conflicting memories collided with one another, and cliché would have demanded he get a nosebleed from it, but he didn't.

Umbra Equinox Sunny Sunshine S O L S T I C E

“I'm afraid you will be, but that's still better than being dead”

“Hey, easy there Solar, you're going to hurt yourself”, he heard Moon say, and then, “Let me see your hand”, and only that made Solar notice how he'd kept his dominant hand clutched into a tight fist, holding onto something that, once he unclenched his fingers, revealed itself as a single, slightly damaged chip covered in some residual black sludge.

Chapter Text

Parts and Service was quiet, save for the humming and occasional beeping from the machinery that made up the usual background noise of the place. It was definitely the preferable ambiance to a blaring alarm – that was really the last thing anybody would want to hear in a place like this, and especially not when you had a little project going on that could not go wrong.

The word project sounded decidedly too sterile for this specific occasion, but semantics could be argued about at a later time, if ever. And alright, fair, this had been referred to as project starlight for the longest time, so... yeah, fair.

On the screen of the finally, FINALLY upgraded computer, the progress bar ticked up another few percent, now sitting snugly at a comfortable 86. Not that much longer now.

Anxiety started nibbling at the back of their head again, but Ruin shoved that down with a fierce determination. They had fretted and worried and lost days of sleep over their little starlight for months now – today was going to be about happiness.

It was at 87% when their phone rang, and as much as Ruin wanted to just keep staring at the screen, they knew that wouldn't make the bar fill any faster, so they picked up.

– Hey. How's it going down there? –

“Oh, it's going absolutely splendid. If things going as smoothly as this is any indication, this will be the most uncomplicated child in the whole world”

– Glad to hear that. Things up here are ready, so whenever you're good to go, you can bring them over –

“Let' give this another fifteen minutes, and then we'll be right at your doorstep”

– See ya then –

The line closed with its usual beep, and Ruin leaned back in their chair with a sigh. All things considered, Solar had sounded like his usual self, which was, also all things considered, the best they all could ask for.

Personally, they didn't quite buy it. Emotions weren't exactly the mechanic's forte, especially not when it came to his own, but after a certain sunny voice in their head had yelled at them to finally drop it and let the other eclipse be, they had listened eventually.

It was clear that things last year hadn't quite happened like they thought, but so far, the only two people that seemed privy to the other script of events had remained relatively private about it. Not fully, and not in all aspects. Generally speaking, the family was more or less on the same page now – that it hadn't just been a blast of star energy from the portal, but something far more tangible, and that poor, innocent Solstice had essentially saved them all from a horrible fate.

For Ruin, they'd had different problems to deal with before they had been able to even start wrapping their head around all of that. Last they knew, they were attacked by a strange, grey Sun – and then next thing after that, they had been down in Parts and Service, buzzed out of their mind, and it had taken them weeks and months to work through that identity crisis and be able to even begin to return to some semblance of identity that they'd had before.

They still weren't all there, and they doubted they'd ever be again, at least not like they had been before. Their identity had never been singular, but after being literally put back together from pieces that barely even fit anymore, they had a feeling that they had done quite well given those circumstances.

Sunny and Moondrop had had a lot to discuss, things that Ruin wasn't privy too, but then again kind of was, because they still shared the same memory chip. That certainly had been an experience, one that neither of them ever wanted to relive.

Eclipse didn't want to talk about it much, and Ruin didn't push. But they had been able to piece together a general image of what the first few months of their rebuilt existence had looked like.

First, Sunny's AI had to be restored. There had been some slight corruption, paired with the inevitable loss of some data that couldn't be recovered, but the loss had thankfully been minimal. Then, personality and memory files had to bee carefully untangled from each other to be reintegrated into Moondrop's chips.

The fact that those had only housed said Moon's AI for longer than intended had also proven to be somewhat of a problem. The best metaphor Ruin could think about to compare it to was that of a pulled tooth, and how the surrounding teeth pushed in crooked to fill the gap. So, Moondrop's AI had to be cut too to make room for Sunny again.

Ruin still felt horrible about the thought that two learning AI's had to be stunted back to a more manageable shape just to make room for personality number three. More than once had they wished their brothers simply hadn't done that, and more than once had both Sunny and Moondrop kicked their metaphorical butt for it.

After the merge, Ruin had been present in theory. That period made up the majority of the time Eclipse didn't want to talk about, but he had been forthcoming with a few details to help Ruin paint a picture. Memory issues, problems with recognizing faces and names and recalling events: at one point, Eclipse had apparently found them working on some arcade machines again, back on the whole “Who, me? I wasn't the one who brought you back” – spiel, which had been an especially upsetting situation for the three armed animatronic. Ruin couldn't give much input about the whole thing themselves, only that it had felt like there had been a thick layer of cotton and fog draped over every single one of their thoughts and processes.

But eventually, that fog had lifted, and Ruin had been, well, Ruin again (and they would just stick with that name, they were tired of all this naming drama by now). And once they had learned about what had happened to Solstice and Solar, they had been so, so sorry. They still were. It had been horribly reminiscent of what had happened to themselves and Eclipse not too long before, and Ruin couldn't help but feel responsible for so much of it.

If they hadn't watched that what-if video, if they hadn't been so secretive and avoidant about everything, if they had just asked for help –

Sunny had yelled at them for all of that too, and so, they had officially dropped that notion. Privately, not so much.

Long story short, Solar was not okay, and that was okay. They would all be there for him, trying their hardest not to smother, and if he ever broke again, like he had done once or twice before during the last year, there would always be someone there to catch him.

So, to stop themselves from being smothering, they had switched their focus over to something else. Something they hadn't been brave enough to talk to Eclipse about before (for rather obvious reasons, given the talk they had had about the whole no-more-reviving-thing), but if last year had taught them anything, it was that time didn't wait, and they would forever regret not having asked.

So, they had. During a quiet night, after a nice evening, they had finally popped the question.

Would you like to have a baby with me?

Of course, the wording of that could have been much, much better, and they could absolutely not blame Eclipse for the kind of expression he'd made. But, bless his heart, he had actually started to come up with ideas on how to make that work before Ruin had scrambled to explain their idea further: They would take parts of both of their codes, and from this, create the baseline for their daughter.

Sun had been thrilled to help with ordering the outfits. Ruin had asked the Daycare Attendant about this way before they had talked to Eclipse, and the solar animatronic had been very good at keeping it to himself, surprisingly. Now, their little starlight had a beautiful assortment of clothing available, in all colours imaginable.

They had not expected Eclipse to agree to it. Really, they had been prepared to archive this plan for all eternity – and they would have been fine with it – but they couldn't deny that when Eclipse had actually agreed, they had thrown themselves at him and maaaybe gotten a little emotional about it too. So what. Sue them.

The screen blinked a pleasant 93 percent. The little body inside the chamber looked like it was sleeping peacefully while its systems fully updated. The baseline code would be enough for the start, and being a learning AI would take care of the rest, and with time, their body would be upgraded depending on age and, eventually, personal preferences.

That was something that Solar had actually volunteered to help with, surprising both and delighting at least one of the parents-to-be, and while Eclipse had been very adamant that he could handle building a body on his own, even he had pretty easily agreed to the suggestion. If that stemmed from the mutual respect the two eclipses had developed when they had rebuilt Ruin the first time, or from an actual sentimental moment from Eclipse wasn't really that important. Ruin privately betted on the latter.

A skittering sound pulled them out of their thoughts, but Ruin wasn't alarmed. Solar's own little project had been around for a few months now, so the Theatre Attendant had had plenty of time and opportunity to get used to the little guy.

The skittering approached further, and they watched a pair of curious orange eyes peek over the side of the table, followed by the rest of a dual coloured yellow and brown face that made for a frightening combination in the darkness, as Ruin had come to learn from personal experience.

“Hello, Jack”

The young, Halloween-themed animatronic lifted himself to his full height, which wasn't a lot, and after blinking at Ruin one, two, three times, his attention switched over to the little one resting in the cylinder.

“Are they ready yet?”, he asked in a slightly raspier version of the usual moon-model voice box, head tilted curiously to the side in observation.

“Not quite yet. We need to wait for this bar to fill before we can get them”, Ruin explained, motioning to the screen. Jack barely spared it a glance before returning to his observations. Ruin pushed up from their chair, stretching a little. The last three percent could surely manage on their own.

“Are you excited to meet her?”, they asked again, which earned them quite an enthusiastic nod. “Me too. But we'll have to be very careful while they are still so small. So, no claws while handling them”

“Knife fingers”, Jack corrected.

“Knife fingers”, Ruin conceded. “Are they securely tucked away?”

Jack gave a glance at his hands, making sure that they were, and then nodded again.

“Splendid. Because I think we can get her right... now”, they timed their words perfectly with the little beep the computer made, signalling a successful system update. They pushed a button on the keyboard and entered the cylinder once it had fully opened.

Now, the anxiousness was back, but Ruin swallowed that down with practised ease, and with equally as practised hands, they disconnected the cables and lifted the little frame into their arms.

In the mindscape, their little one's uncles were already smitten, flooding Ruin with more feelings of adoration than a single person would ever be able to experience, and they quickly made the decision to preemptively shut off their tear ducts.

They ran a blue finger carefully over the little one's cheek as they exited the cylinder, an obviously very excited Jack waiting for them. They knelt down a little, even though the height difference wasn't that severe, to give the boy a better look.

“She is tiny”, came the eventual verdict. “Will she stay that small?”

“No, she will eventually grow. Here, you can touch her if you'd like to”

To his credit, the boy gave another glance at his fingers – claws still retracted, check – before carefully, even more careful than Ruin themselves had been, he mimicked their previous motions and gave the little cheek a stroke. The little face scrunched a bit, but made no further attempt at waking.

“She is sleepy”, Jack commented with a little grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, “Will she sleep forever?”

“I sure hope not”, Ruin gave an amused huff. “She should be awake by the time we've reached the Arcade. Say, how about you run ahead and announce that we're on our way? I'm sure Solar and Eclipse would appreciate that”

“Okay!”, the young bot exclaimed before basically vanishing in the blink of an eye. Ruin wondered on their way out why Solar hadn't installed teleportation into him in the first place, giving his speed was barely short of that. But then again, having a pre-teen capable of teleporting didn't sound very tempting.

Ruin held their little one closely to their chest all the way to and up the lift and pushed the button to stop at the Daycare level. It wouldn't take too long to reach the Arcade on foot, and they wanted to make a little detour.

The Daycare had been back to its usual performance level for months now. Now, after hours, the lights were dimmed and the music muted to make for a comfortable, not too overwhelming atmosphere. Apparently, someone must have expected them.

They could hear several voices from inside even before the doors had opened, and once they did, they revealed both Earth and Sun, the latter with a bag of food in his hands that was definitely not for the two felines that he had definitely not acquired. The two lunar brothers would meet the little one at a later time, then.

“Oh my gosh”, Earth instantly gasped, covering her mouth with her hand while fanning herself with the other. “That is the most adorable little thing I have ever seen. Ruin, how could you do this to my poor heart?”

“I swear I'll make it up to you, dear Earth”, they chuckled, giving a bow that wasn't even half as deep as their usual ones, but they didn't want to disturb their precious cargo's slumber. Sun seemed to be equally smitten.

“Aww, they are really cute. Is that– ?”

“Indeed it is”, the amalgamation nodded, lifting the little one a bit to show off the light blue onesie with the pink star pattern that Earth had made herself. “I think it fits them wonderfully”

“It absolutely does”, Sun agreed with a smile while Earth kept gushing. “So, is telling Moon and Lunar fair game then?”

“If you see them before me, then yes, you can tell them”, Ruin agreed. “Same goes for Montgomery, of course. And, if you don't mind, we can come back here later and make a proper introduction once she's more awake and alert?”

“Oh my god yes that would be so amazing”

“Yes please”

“Then we shall do just so~! Until later, then”, Ruin took their leave with a little wave, the Daycare's door shutting as quietly behind them as they had opened.

The rest of the Plex was just as silent, a timing they had deliberately chosen as to neither have too big an audience or ruckus about the little one. Getting this past Fazbear had been annoying enough, but Moon had managed through exploitation of some legal loopholes. Honestly, they would have found a way to make it work regardless.

Ruin didn't rush on their way up to the Arcade. They took the direct path, yes, but there was no need to run, was there? A few more precious minutes alone with their starlight surely couldn't hurt, and it wasn't like he was letting Eclipse wait for hours. They just wanted to have a few more minutes to indulge in their sentimentality. And when they felt a small tug at the recesses of their mind, they embraced the contact.

small sweet adorable support head more

“I am, I am”, the amalgamation chuckled, adjusting their hold a little to appease the sun animatronic. “Are you two going to be there when she wakes?”

yes yes yes please

They chuckled more as they made their way up the stairs to the Arcade. It was alright that they couldn't really talk to each other anymore. The emotions flowing through their shared body spoke a clear language. “She will be so excited to meet her uncles. I'll make sure to tell her all about you”

love adore little star always protect

Attention.

Silence fell after Sunny's announcement, and Ruin gave a sigh. Attention was such a generic word and could mean so many things, but in their context, it had come to be associated with one very specific thing – or person. Not Watch out or Run for your life. Just attention. Ruin covered their little starlight a bit more with her blanket before raising their gaze to the rafters up above.

Red optics interspersed with white spirals bore down on the metaphorical quartet, but Bloodmoon made no further attempt at moving from their lounged position on the steel beam. If anything, they looked rather uninterested.

“The freak talk to themselves again”
“Copycat”

Mismatched optics rolled. Interactions like these, while bothersome, had become almost normal by now. Incredibly annoying yes, but most importantly, harmless.

“I suppose, if one were to squint every possible optic systems they had, they could see it that way. However, I don't have time for such philosophical topics right now, if you two don't mind”

“And if we do?”

“Then you can find me later and we can have a thorough discussion about anything you'd like. But as it stands for now, I – we – are a little pressed for time”

Red optics moved down to the bundle in Ruin's arms that they automatically turned away from the piercing gaze a bit, as if afraid it could actually harm the little body. Now, they seemed interested after all. “...Is that the little twerp?”

“Yes”, Ruin answered simply, seeing no point in arguing about that unpleasant moniker with the cannibal. “We just got out of Parts and Service. Would you two like an introduction later?”

The red animatronic scoffed. “We do not care for little ones”
“They are weak”
“Defenseless”
“You should give them claws”
“And teeth”
“So that they may fight”
“And tear down their enemies”
“And get out of trouble”

“...How considerate of you”, Ruin commented plainly (the “oddly” kept only to themselves), earning them a low growl from the other. “Well, should you change your mind, feel free to drop by announced. We wouldn't want to give her a scare that young”

“Yeah yeah”
“Keep moving already”
“Before the twerp starts crying”
“Or reeking”

“Let me reassure you two that she can't do the latter”, Ruin said while starting on their path once more. Children were a delight – but some unsavoury aspects they could all do without. They only received a grumble in return, the end to this conversation – or so they'd thought.

“Ruin”

The unexpected use of their name caught them as much off guard as the little something did that almost smacked them in the face. Dangling right in front of them, held in the weird semi-living coat-tail that Bloodmoon possessed (honestly, considering that they had rebuilt the animatronic, they understood preciously little about how that worked), was a sheathed hunting knife.

“...I must say, this is probably your most unusual assassination attempt so far. Not interested in doing the dirty work yourself?”

“It's for the twerp, idiot”
“For self-defense”
“Until they get their claws and teeth”
“Exactly”

...Okay, they should probably have someone come and check the twin's systems soon. However, the gesture itself was truly oddly caring, and in an attempt to keep the streak of at least being civil with the other animatronic going, Ruin accepted the offered gift.

“Thank you, I will make sure to give it to them once they are old enough”

That had apparently maxed out their quota for conversation for today, and Bloodmoon only gave another grunt in reply before slinking back more on the metal beam there were lying on. Ruin took the cue to really make their exit now, knife shoved a bit awkwardly in their pockets.

The rest of the way to the Arcade went by a little faster, across tacky carpets and past flashing arcade machines, with the usual too loud music being tuned down for the occasion, and finally, they had reached their room.

Although, it was quite a bit more than just a room by now. They had expanded their living quarters, now sporting a separated living- and bedroom, a small nursery and a private shower. It was honestly a very neat upgrade, and one that would come in handy with their newest addition.

They announced their arrival with a knock out of courtesy and stepped through the doors.

Dim, gentle lights greeted them both, except for a corner of the living room that was more generously lit. Said corner housed their multi-seated couch, which was currently occupied by Solar, laptop sat up on a coffee table in front of him. The mechanic looked up as Ruin entered, a smile cracking at the corners of his mouth.

“Already looks like a success to me”

“Oh, most definitely”, Ruin chimed back happily. “Where's Eclipse?”

Like a demon summoned, the three armed animatronic appeared in the doorway of the bedroom, face barely showing any emotion – like always – but the way he held himself just that little bit differently betrayed that he most likely had been pacing in the other room like a stressed cat.

“Did it work?”

“I most certainly think it did. Though, we do have our trusted wet nurse here to tell us for sure, haven't we?”

“Don't ever call me a wet nurse again”, Solar said as he beckoned them over. A set of ridiculously tiny looking cables was procured from the bag he had brought with him, and Ruin opted to keep the little one in their arms while skilled hands plugged them in for her first system check.

Could this have been done down in Parts and Service? Certainly. Was it solely for sentimentality's sake that they wanted their little one to truly come to light in the safety of their home? Definitely.

Eclipse chose to remain standing, looming vigilantly like a guard dog over the scene, one clawed hand resting on Ruin's shoulder who gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Solar switched over into work-mode seamlessly, scanning the lines of code that scrolled over the screen with a keen eye. His face didn't betray any of his thoughts, but that was quite alright. That was the mechanic's “nothing's wrong” face.

“Everything seems to be as it should be.”, he finally announced. “Systems are all running fine, memory and CPU are looking good, and I can't detect any hardware malfunctions. If you two are ready, I'll initiate the wake-up procedure now?”

“Yes”, Eclipse answered first, catching everyone, including himself, off guard, but they all had the good grace not to comment on it. Ruin gave an affirmative nod as well.

Solar typed in the command, setting a timer for another five minutes so he'd have enough time to pack up and take his leave, wanting to give the new parents the chance to meet their daughter in private. 

Ruin made sure to politely reply to the goodbye the mechanic gave, but was honestly way too entranced by their little one to truly pay it any mind. They did manage to grab Eclipse and finally make him sit his butt down on the couch too, and just in time for the little face to scrunch up and loudly announce that they were here, and here to stay.

“Their voice box is definitely working”, Ruin commented, the shrill cry grating on their audials in the most perfect of ways. After pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, they moved to put her into Eclipse's arms. “Here, hold her”

The red and black animatronic tensed instantly, hackles rising and singular optic blown wide. “I don't think I should– I don't know how“

“Nobody does at first. Grab that pillow there and put it... yes, and then move your arms like... there you go”, Ruin smiled with pride welling in their chest at seeing their partner and daughter together at last.

Eclipse felt like he had just been handed a carton of eggs, hands fumbling for a moment before old, rusty and almost forgotten Daycare Attendant programming kicked in, making at least his body know what to do, even if his mind was still lagging.

The shrieking had quieted down to sobs now, still loud and utterly unhappy with the world, and Eclipse couldn't help but smile. Freeing a hand, he brought a claw gently into their reach, which was immediately seized by a fucking tiny hand like their owner was personally offended by it, still loudly voicing their complaints to anyone that would listen.

“Yeah, yeah you tell them, starlight. Tell the world what a bitch it is”

“Eclipse, maybe don't start swearing in front of her right away”

With a shit eating grin, Eclipse brought the little one closer to his face, turning so that they were both facing Ruin now, one still grinning, one hiccuping. “Shit. Fuck. Damn. Cunt”

“Lovely, darling”

“Bollocks”

“Okay!”, Ruin interrupted and rose from the couch. “I think the little princess might actually be quite hungry”

They made their way over to the small fridge they had installed in their living room, which held barely more than a few cans of oil and some cooling packs should one of them run the occasional mechanical fever – which had happened before, so the statistics were on their side – and the newest addition: a bowl of cooled, jellied oil.

The small cubes had been Lunar's idea, stemming from these yoghurt drops that were technically meant for guinea pigs and the like, but arguably, those little fluffy fellows never got to see any of them because they were just way too delicious, according to Lunar. Ruin hadn't bothered to argue with the Nutella-obsessed animatronic's assessment.

They had skipped the toothless stage for their little starlight, because there was no point to it, really. It wasn't like any of them was going to breastfeed, and they had plenty of chew toys to choose from. So, jellied oil cubes it was.

“Ohh, I know honey. Here you go”, the amalgamation cooed soothingly as they slipped one of the tiny cubes into the little mouth. They dissolved as smoothly as expected (and vigorously tested), and big, mismatched eyes widened and sparkled at the taste while Ruin cleaned some drool off their chin with a handkerchief. Mission successful.

Eclipse watched all of this, lap and hands now achingly empty without the little one in them, but the sight of Ruin feeding, cooing and generally doting on their daughter made his chest feel fuller in turn, and in a fit of unrestrained emotion, he blurted out: “I love you”

Ruin didn't appear taken off guard, simply tilting their head in Eclipse's direction and flashing a lopsided smile at the other's flustered expression. Privacy or not, they knew Eclipse never liked to be too vulnerable, so they quickly changed the topic.

“Should we decide on a name then? I know that isn't really our strong suite, but we can't go around calling her “starlight” or “little one” forever.”

“Right”, Eclipse agreed and pulled out a note. He looked incredibly eager, but faltered a little when he noticed the surprise on Ruin's face. “I...”

“Honestly, same”, Ruin cut in, pulling out a similar, if not more neatly folded note from their jacket. “Nothing beats being prepared, am I right? Would you like to go first?”

“... sure”, the rusted animatronic agreed, clearing his throat and fiddling with the piece of paper between his claws. His single optic darted across it a few times before he put it back down with a grumble. “Honestly, I couldn't think of much. All I came up with was either corny or downright shitty”, he grumbled.

“That's fair, names are a tricky topic. Is there one that came out on top though?”

Eclipse was silent for a bit, tense gaze softening immediately as it fell onto his daughter's face. “Nova”

“Nova”, Ruin repeated, letting the name roll of their tongue as they slipped her another cube. One simple glance down at her little face with that name in mind, and yeah, it was settled. “I really like that”

“What about your list?”

They shrugged. “Honestly, I didn't manage to come up with much either, and Nova beats absolutely everything. So, should we stick with that?”

“If you want to”, Eclipse said, tone a little too eager for him to claim that the topic didn't interest him too much – Ruin knew better, oh boy did they know better.

“How about we let the lady of the hour decide?”, they mused, tapping a finger against their daughter's stylized nose. “What do you say, princess? Would you like the name Nova?”

A wet, enthusiastic babbling was their answer, causing Ruin to giggle. “Yes, I think your dad picked a wonderful name there~ Yeees, you tell him~”, they kept chuckling as they handed over the happily squealing baby to said father. The way Eclipse picked her up with way less hesitation and nervousness this time made a warm feeling settle in Ruin's stomach, which only grew as their little starlight let out her first, biiiig yawn.

“Couldn't agree more”, Eclipse said as he rose to his feet, cradling his... his daughter to his chest.

Ruin followed suit, putting the hunting knife that they still carried down onto the coffee table. Like hell were they going to bring that thing into the bedroom. When Eclipse shot them a look, they just shrugged. “Bloodmoon's baby gift”

“Fucking weirdos”

“They meant well”, Ruin said, shuffling into the bedroom first. They did have a baby bed set up, but in an unspoken agreement, they all settled into the bigger bed together, Nova in the middle, contently sucking on a pacifier her dad had picked up for her.

Eclipse placed her into Ruin's arms, excusing himself that he would be right there after putting the forgotten cubes back in the fridge.

He went back out and put everything back, briefly debating to throw that stupid knife down the trash chute, but shoved it into a drawer instead. Then, he made a detour to the bathroom.

He turned the tap on, removed his eyepatch and then popped out his damaged eye. It was nothing more than a prop anyway, optic nerve unconnected for more than two years at this point. All the circuitry behind it was still there, so he could replace it anytime he wished to really, but so far, that time hadn't come yet.

He didn't have to fish around in there for long, and when his claws came back out, he spared only a short glance at the opaque white crystal he had pulled out before he dropped it into the sink and unceremoniously flushed it down the drain.

He came back to the bedroom – eye back in place and eyepatch discarded on the bedside table – to the sight of Ruin humming a lullaby to their little one who was already losing the fight against her own eyelids. The taller animatronic shuffled back into the bed and pulled the cover over the three of them.

Ruin settled into the embrace, Nova snuggled securely in her parents' arms, and sighed happily, especially when Eclipse began purring. Gods, they would never grow tired of that sound.

“I love you”, he said again, and okay, two times in a row had never happened before. Ruin tilted their head, smiling at Eclipse through half-lidded eyes. They could comment on this sudden burst of sentimentality, or tease him a little about how he'd gotten so flustered earlier.

Instead, they shuffled to press a kiss to the side of Eclipse's face before snuggling back into the embrace.

“We love you too”

Chapter Text

With the door closed behind him, Solar let out the sigh he had been holding in until now.

Convincing Jack to not stand guard in front of the door the whole night had taken a good chunk out of his already dwindling energy resources, and added to the other quarter that he had used to make sure that he missed nothing while checking the little girl's systems, he could now feel the last... almost seventy-two hours starting to catch up to him. Every circuit and servo in his body screamed at him to rest, but he pushed the alerts out of his HUD. He'd had half a charge earlier today, it was fine.

Shouldering his bag, he made his way down to the Daycare. There were more than enough projects waiting for him in his workshop that demanded to be worked on, but something else had taken priority on his to-do list today – aside from the little one.

He entered the now empty Daycare and plopped down behind the security desk, his bag dumped next to him on the ground. Earlier today, the computer had picked up a signal from the portal that they hadn't had the time to trace back yet, and since Moon was busy tonight, Solar would take the honour. With a stretch of his fingers that made his joints crack, he got to work.

Like clockwork, another issue began swirling around in his processor, namely of that one night Moon had been ambushed while checking for the source of the ripples their dimension had experienced. That mystery in itself had since been solved and the connection cut when Beta560 had disappeared, but what still remained unclear was who had snuck in and up on the lunar animatronic, but the camera footage that could have answered that particular question had been unrecoverable.

So, for the past year, besides helping Ruin find back to themselves and then recently helping to build their little one, Solar had tried to recover the unrecoverable. All the scarce evidence had pointed to Solstice as the culprit then, and without any more proof since, it still did.

Not that it truly mattered anymore in the grand scheme of things, but for Solar, it came second only to the family's safety and wellbeing. Whenever he'd had a moment to spare, he'd spent it trying to prove a dead missing person's innocence, and whenever that hadn't been an option – be it because something else had come up or the computer hadn't been available – he had gone looking for Solstice.

Dimensions had been checked, signatures compared and sometimes traced. A few times, he had thought that he had come close, but in the end, even the closest had never been Solstice. But that didn't mean that he would give up his search. He knew that the other eclipse was out there somewhere – he just needed to try harder to find him.

But tonight would not be one of those nights, even though every single atom of his being was itching to just check out one more signature, just clear one more dimension off his list – but not tonight.

He pulled up the interference report from the portal and let his optics scan over it. All things considered, nothing seemed unusual about it, reports like these came in every now and then, got logged and archived and, in most cases, forgotten about because nothing ever really came of them. But something about this one just urged Solar on to take a closer look...

Only, there was nothing suspicious to look at. No ripples, no dimensional instability and no obvious intruders. Last thing didn't have to mean shit.

Solar began rolling his chair back and forth with his foot in thought. Nothing about this was unusual, so why did it feel so off to him? What did? Interferences like these were a dime a dozen, sometimes happening daily with frequent portal use. So was it just the fact that they hadn't been using the portal quite as often recently that was making him suspicious? Well, that was just paranoia in too many words, wasn't it. Or, which could be the more logical assumption in this situation: fucking sleep deprivation.

Letting out a groan, Solar rubbed his forehead. This was ridiculous. Of course his nerves would be frying themselves to a crisp after pulling three all-nighters in a row, everyone's would. But the mere thought of going to sleep churned in his stomach like he had downed a can of acid. No, not yet; he could still get something done tonight, be productive, do something useful.

But first, he needed a god damn coffee.

Rolling his chair back further to get up, he froze in place when he heard a loud crunch. Oh great, had he actually managed to run over a mouse or a cockroach or something? The idea of even one of those critters managing to exist for even a minute in Sun's clinically clean domain was borderline ludicrous, but Solar's processor was also way too overworked to catch on to how ridiculous that sounded.

But he was met with neither gore nor grossness as he looked down, as all he had run over was a bag of chips.

…

What.

How had that gotten here? Again, Sun had handled the night cleaning, the was zero chance he would have missed something so obvious. Had it been stuck underneath his chair somehow? Yeah okay, who the fuck would hide a bag of chips under a chair? Lunar, maybe. But then again, why. Maybe it was a prank.

Solar bent down to pick up the bag before it made a mess on the floor, flinching at the colour first, and then the name. It was a bag of Disappointment chips. Now, if this was a prank, it had just entered downright cruel and mean territory. Why this one? Any of those horrible snacks, but why this one?

Mouth pressed into an near invisibly thin line, he got up to throw the ruined bag in the trash (not that he would have eaten those anyway, crushed or not), when he was sent close to reeling from the sudden call he received, the specific caller set to automatically connect.

“Hey dad”

Blinking dumbfounded into the air, Solar had to refresh his processor for a second to catch up to things happening way too quickly for his tired head.

“Hey Jack”, he answered as he dumped the bag into the bin with a sad little crinkling sound. “What's up? It's past your bedtime already”

He heard some shuffling on the other end of the line, then: “I was waiting for you”

Solar pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a soundless vent. “Sorry bud, but it's gonna be late tonight. You'll have to tuck yourself in this time, alright?”

The line was silent for a second, the shuffling having ceased. “Okay. Night dad”

“Night bud”

He ended the call maybe a bit quicker than necessary, but he was sure that Jack didn't pick up on it. Granted, his emotional matrix was way more advanced than Solar had first intended for it to be, but he was still pretty young. Even if he'd caught onto it, he would forget about it just as quickly too.

Craving that coffee now more than ever, he made his way up the stairs towards the Theatre. He didn't have the patience to seek out a proper coffee machine somewhere, so the cheap stuff would have to suffice – it packed more of a punch anyway, and thatwas just what he needed.

The coffee maker was old and loud as all hell, and that nobody had gotten rust poisoning from it so far bordered on a miracle. But Solar was meticulous and kept the thing clean, if not rustic looking, so he mostly had it for himself. Most of the Theatre guests got sodas anyway, or one of those hideous Chugees.

Waiting for his life essence to brew, Solar checked his calendar. Just the usual madness (but if he had to read the words movie-special-Mondays one more time in his life, he would scream), and a family game night scheduled for next weekend. Possibly the first with their family's new addition?He'd see if he could make time for it; he'd try, at least.

Nothing out of the ordinary then, but what caught him off guard was the calendar's entry for today: another movie night. With whom? The others were all busy or doing their own things tonight, there was barely anybody else in the Plex but him and the Glamrocks, and he surely hadn't scheduled anything with them.

Even more strange was the fact that that wasn't the only entry of that kind. Scattered throughout the last weeks were similar entries, all of them marked as cancelled, prompting Solar to take a closer look and instantly drop his coffee mug.

Gaming session with Jack – cancelled
Movie marathon with Jack – cancelled
Hangout with Jack – cancelled

Fuck.

-Jack, stay where you are, I'll be right there-

Dimension Beta560-1

The computer beeped its steady three tone signal, two notes up, one tone down, and then rinse and repeat. The signal that the program had picked up another suitable eclipse and was now waiting for the manual input to pull whoever it was out of whichever shitty situation that person had found themselves in – or to ignore it.

It could be a family dispute that was about to go from violent to deadly, a separation attempt about to be botched or any other kind of life-threatening situation that was bound to end up in disaster without intervention. Hell knew that eclipses had a monopoly on that stuff.

Whatever it was, he was fucking sick of it.

The alert kept droning on, and the only way to make it stop was to a), hit YES to pull whoever out of their whatever, or b), hit NO and let fate run its course.

He really wanted to go with b. All he'd ever asked for was some fucking piece and quiet, he hadn't signed up for any of this crap (especially not again), and so, his gunmetal fingers already hovered over the button that would spare him from another migraine. But, as it had been the case his whole life so far, luck wasn't a lady tonight, but a raging cunt.

“Are you sure about that?”

He looked up from the screen to meet fierce, stubborn orange optics that belonged to a face that was entirely too young to carry such fucking attitude. Honestly, he was pretty proud about it, teach 'em young and all that, but the dents and scrapes that covered the rays of the younger animatronic spoke of events witnessed that they were, too, entirely too young for. That mellowed out his excitement a bit.

“I'm still debating”, he commented back, the alert still sounding between them as the two eclipses continued to stare at one another.

“Oh great, so you haven't gone deaf yet. I was already wondering why you're letting that annoying alarm blare the whole time. Or what, can't your fingers get the job done anymore, you geriatric old fuck?”

“Careful there, Ciel. You are not too old for an ass whooping yet”

“Why won't you let them in?”

The older eclipse leaned back in his chair, one leg thrown over the other. “I was going to check up on our resources first. We can't help people if we have nothing to help them with”

“Bullshit. We already did that this morning”, Ciel crossed his arms. “Why don't you want to let them in?”

“Because we have no room”

“We literally have an entire pocket dimension”

“Which is not fully self-sustaining yet, so we need to be careful with our resources”

“You just gave the same excuse twice”

“And I see that you have practised your numbers”

“So you are going to just let that guy die”

“Nobody says that they are going to die. He could be that one in a million that manages to get their shit together on their own”

“Like we all did?”

“Okay you little brat, this is a grown-up decision, so how about you go back to your little play corner and stop getting on my –“

Another face came into view, darkness on grey, and his mouth snapped shut mid-sentence. Ciel left the scene with a sound somewhere between a snort and a huff.

The sigh he let out was beyond exhausted as he ran a hand down his face. “Listen, Orion, you know that it's not like I don't want to help. We just need to be careful”

The other animatronic didn't say anything – not that surprising, considering their lack of a voice box, and he made another mental note to not get sidetracked with ordering them a new frame this time around – but that damn owlish gaze made his insides squirm.

“Hey”, he began again, frowning at the half broken moon model. “I'm trying my best here, okay? I didn't ask for any of this, all I wanted was a place for us two to finally get away from all the crap that's been happening to us. If we aren't careful, we'll just end up in the same shit we've been in before, and... stop looking at me like that”

Orion did, in fact, not stop looking at him like that, and that pretty much sealed his fate. It wasn't even puppy eyes or anything, that shit rolled off his shoulders like rain from a duck's feather coming from anyone else, but literally any look coming from the other animatronic? Yeah, he was easy like that.

“You're horrible”, he commented his defeat and gave the portal the command to open. He pushed up from his chair, let his fingers brush against Orion's for a moment and made his way towards the portal.

They had ditched the whole ballpit aesthetic for a more practical approach (and because he was sick of climbing out of pits by now). Besides, a simple rectangular doorframe did the trick just as well as some fancy ass, hard to clean children's amusement cesspit did. Plus, you know, they weren't inside of a PizzaPlex or had a Daycare in this place anymore, anyway, so why hold onto any of that obsolete crap. Certainly not for any lingering sense of sentimentality, that ship had so fucking sailed.

But he was getting off-track. The portal hummed and buzzed, and just like clockwork (because it was), the newest eclipse-in-distress stumbled out of their distress and right onto the metallic floor in front of his feet.

Stumbling was a hyperbole. The black and grey animatronic stepped out of the interdimensional travel like he'd simply walked into another room, unfazed and with an expression as unreadable as ever.

The half-second it took for recognition to set in, he knew that he had definitely made a... decision here.

“'Sup”, he greeted a little lamely, having a hard time to summon much enthusiasm right now. Wasn't his strong suit anyway.

His greeting went unanswered – rude, but not exactly unexpected. Fucker had never been one for words, except for when he'd talked to Eklipse. But well, tough luck, 'cause he would certainly not fill out that role any more than he had to.

“Alright man, do we really need to play this whole scene out? I know that we both know the script, so let's just skip the boring parts and start setting some rules, mainly that if you pull any of the same shit you did last time, I'm sending your ass back to where you came from, same-day-delivery. Got it?”

No answer. A bit less typical, but he hadn't gotten much of a rise out of Solar back then either. Must come with the name, he supposed. Lame as a sheet of paper.

He granted the other a few more seconds of courtesy before he couldn't keep a lid on his annoyance any longer, dual-coloured optics rolling in their sockets. “You know, it would be a blessing if this iteration of you couldn't talk, but I highly doubt it, so don't get my hopes up. Say something”

“Who... are you?”

...Well, memory issues had certainly not been on his list of expectations, but it sure did open up a lot of opportunities to fuck with the other. This could be payback, justice for all the shit the other being had caused, for basically killing them all. Nobody would argue against it, because it was the truth. So much to choose from, so many possibilities, he couldn't even begin to decide which to go with.

In the end, he chose the most boring of them all.

“I'm Equinox. You?”

The other frowned. “I'm... not really sure. I don't think I have a name”

“Of course you do. Everyone does”, Equinox replied, and, hit by a sudden wave of sympathy, added, “But if you don't know, you can always choose one for yourself. Anything you might like?”

The dark eclipse's gaze roamed, posture the slightest bit more tense than before, impossible to notice for anyone that hadn't spent as much time with the other as Equinox had (lucky fuckers), looking around as if searching for something, or someone. “I... I don't know...”

"That's fine too”, Equinox cut off the nervous looking around. He wouldn't find who he was looking for here, anyway, but the least he himself could do to honour Eklipse's memory was to help this dude out this time around, or something. Damn, that soft hearted idiot had really rubbed off on him, hadn't he?

“Tell you what. Why don't you stay here for a bit, and we can try to help you figure things out. Sound good?”

“I suppose so... thank you”

“Sure. But in the meantime, we've got to call you something. How does Umbra sound for now?”

The dark animatronic halted for a moment, and Equinox could have sworn he saw something flash in those golden eyes, but before either of them could grasp it, it was gone again.

“Umbra?”, he repeated as his shoulders lost some of their tension like something had finally clicked into place. “Yes, I think I'd like that”

Home dimension

It was a few hours later when Solar carried Jack off to bed. They had gotten halfway through the second movie before the young bot had dozed off on Solar's shoulder and was completely gone by the time he tucked him into bed.

Solar had upgraded his living arrangements a little to accommodate for his son, while he himself – if he did – slept on the couch. He couldn't really recall the last time that had happened though.

The work night, however, was done. His mind had unwound too much from work mode, and forcing it back would just result in a day filled with migraines, and he could definitely do without those. So, for the first time in too long, Solar found himself in the shower. He had even thrown his clothes down the laundry chute, lest he get a scolding from Earth if she'd spot him in the same shirt another day – it wouldn't be the first time.

The water was turned on as hot as could be to make sure every piece of grime got flushed away, but frankly, he barely felt it. He was far too occupied with repeatedly slamming his fist against the tiled wall to care about some too hot water hitting his casings.

Three times this month alone, and he hadn't even dared to check further back than that. He had ditched Jack so many times, worst of all, he couldn't even remember what for on most of these occasions, whatever it had been hadn't even been important enough to enter into his long-term memory! But he had given it priority over his son anyway. What kind of father was he?

He wasn't a father at all. The only reason he had finished building Jack in the first place was because of Solstice, and Solar wasn't sure what he hated more – the fact that he could so easily admit that, or the fact that Jack hadn't even tried to persuade him to movie night tonight. He had just... accepted the rejection, and that made Solar hit the wall hard enough to leave a crack.

What kind of asshole did he have to be to be doing things this way. It would have been better to not have made the young animatronic at all instead of as some sort of emotional support child. He wasn't a replacement for Solstice, of course not, he could never be, but that also wasn't his fault. He hadn't asked to have a father who couldn't even be bothered to actually want to spend some time with his child, but happily drowned himself in senseless busywork and chasing a ghost instead.

“I can't do this anymore”, he said to no one in particular, pressing his forehead against the tiled wall. Would have been more pleasant if it were cold. “I don't even know what I'm doing. Solstice is gone. That Sunshine wasn't real, so who the hell am I chasing? Fuck...”

And it wasn't even just the chasing. He had nobody to talk to about what had happened. He'd had Sunny for a while, just to make sure that he wasn't losing his mind and had hallucinated everything that had happened. But after Ruin had gotten better, and hell, of course he was happy about that, even that option had disappeared, and since then, he had been alone with his memories and dealing with the experience. Of course he had talked to Earth, but even professional therapy wasn't a remedy for memory, and he definitely hadn't had enough sessions to even come close to that in the first place.

But it wasn't bad enough to do anything drastic about it, and although the thought to tamper with his memories had arisen once, it had been swiftly thrown out the window. He wasn't that kind of person, even though his work ethic was definitely teetering close to the edge of self-destructive behaviour, but he knew that himself. For now though, it was a system that still worked.

He spent a few more minutes under the shower until the water had turned cold before he shut it off, quickly dried himself with a towel and slipped back into a clean set of clothes before reaching for –

...this day just wanted to say fuck you in particular to him, didn't it? He hadn't had goggles since the day Solstice vanished and took them with him and hadn't replaced them either, but muscle memory was a bitch sometimes. Sure, whatever. Not like this could actually make him feel any worse than he already did.

Except, maybe, that said pair of goggles sat on the table when he returned to his room. It was immediately clear to him that it was his old pair, he knew all of these little nicks and dents by heart, even though one of the glasses hadn't been cracked before like it was now.

Alright, first the damn bag of chips, then the fiasco with Jack and now this. Whoever was playing this prank on him was clearly taking it a shit ton of steps too far, and he swore that if this was again the ungodly Lunar and Bloodmoon duo behind it all, there would be more than a stern talking to this time. He was pretty certain that his theory was correct when he heard some shuffling in front of his door, probably the two troublemakers trying to see if their prank had worked, and oh boy, would Solar let them know.

He ripped the door open, goggles grabbed tightly in his hand, and felt the strained click of his voice-box as he yelled: “Okay you two shitheads, today is not the day to –!”

Solstice stared up at him, wide-eyed and with one hand raised as if he'd been about to knock. Solar could do nothing else but stare back and feel his processor freeze as he took in the sight in front of him, every little detail burning itself into his databanks. That his casings were a bit paler, his face a little more tired, his eyes a little darker and with the faintest traces of pupils that he shouldn't have. That they still held that same sparkle.

“...It is ridiculously late, isn't it?”, Solstice broke out in a stammer. “To be honest, I-I've been around for most of the day, but I was just so... so damn nervous and I couldn't make my mind up until now and – oh, you've already found the goggles, yes, I wanted to give them back to you personally, but then I realized how weird it was to just be in your room, so I left again but left them here, and oh my god, I should have gone about this absolutely differently o-or waited until tomorrow at least but I was just so nervous and I wasn't sure if I'd just end up leaving again instead of actually coming to see you and... S-Solar? Are you okay? You look a little pale...”

Oh, he absolutely wasn't. And also, he couldn't go pale, that was a physical impossibility, but he was literally looking at something that should be even more impossible, so who knows, maybe the laws of physics had changed recently and he'd just not gotten the memo.

Solstice shrank into himself a little at the lack of a response. “I-I'll take that as a maybe...? Look, I-I'm not going to stay long, I promise! It just... it just felt wrong to leave again without saying anything, you know? But you don't have to say anything, of course! I won't either, promise, I just... yeah, I-I'll stop now”

No, he didn't want him to stop, he wanted him to keep talking so Solar could convince himself that none of this was some especially cruel dream. He even looked like the real Solstice, down to Sunshine's hand-me-down pants and the blue Superstar Daycare sweater that Solar had picked out for him ages ago.

But he still didn't have the cognitive wherewithal so say anything, and Solstice began to fidget with his fingers. “I noticed that you've finished Jack? That's great! I'm sure you are doing great with him”

No, he wasn't. He was doing a horrible job, he had no idea what he was doing, and he couldn't keep doing this all on his own. He had a hard time forcing his fingers to release their death-grip on the doorframe lest he dent it even more and accidentally fuck up the closing mechanism.

He still, however, couldn't get his voice box to function, and Solstice seemed about ready to crumble from the prolonged silence from his side. That sparkle in his optics grew dimmer by the second. “I guess I... just didn't want to leave without saying hello. Or, goodbye, I mean. And, well, give you your goggles back”, he nodded slightly towards the item still clutched in Solar's other hand. “I... really enjoyed seeing you again, Solar”, he gave it one last try, and Solar could feel the bile rising in the back of his throat, but no words, come on!

But he couldn't, and all he could do was watch that sparkle fade and get replaced by a dampness that Solstice fought valiantly not to let fall from his optics. Solar wanted to scream at the defeated smile on the other's face. “Thank you for everything you did for me. I... really liked my time with you all and... and with you. If you'd ever want to reach out again, my number hasn't changed! ...if you still have it, I mean. A-again, thank you Solar, for... everything”

Solar felt the metal of the door shred beneath his fingers. What the hell are you doing? Move, MOVE, reach out, stop him, he's leaving, you just got him back and now he's leaving because he thinks you aren't so, so happy to see him again because you've lost your voice you stupid moron! Tell him everything you've wanted to tell him, tell him to stay, tell him he has nothing to be sorry for, tell him that you are sorry for being such a colossal, fundamental idiot that should have said it all so much sooner!

Tell him what I didn't have the courage to

Umbra's words swirled in his head, frankly absolutely unnecessary because they might as well be his own, a cruel reminder from fate (or more like a punch in the face) that he was about to make the same mistake again if he didn't stop him now, if he didn't grab him, hold him close and give him everything until he had nothing left to give, and then some.

Please don't leave me. I can't do this again, I can't lose you again, I just got you back, I'm sorry, I should have done more, I'm so sorry, I don't want you to go, I need you, I l–

He reached out, grabbed Solstice's hand before he could leave, and finally pulled him into what he should have done so, so much earlier. A proper kiss this time, not one born from desperate circumstances (okay, that was a lie, he was fucking desperate), into which Solar channelled everything his words failed him to convey. Stay with me. I need you.

I love you

Even if they had breath to run out of, Solar would have kept the kiss going forever, but his core was hammering in his chest, anxious for an answer, a reaction. Even a rejection would be better than what he had been left with a year ago.

Rejection was the furthest thing from Solstice's mind though. The smaller eclipse looked into those far too tired fiery optics, tilting his head in that specific way that had Solar melting. “I'll stay, then?”, he asked.

“Forever?”, Solar's voice finally returned.

“If you can bear with me for that long”, Solstice chuckled as he rested his head on the mechanic's shoulder. “Then forever sounds just about perfect”

Between dimensions

>>LOG ENTRY NR. #####<<

Dimension Beta560-1 has proven itself to be clean. Remove from termination list. Lowering monitoring priority.
Continue scanning pre-registered dimensions. Adjust priority accordingly.

New interference detected. Possible parasitic. Temporary dimension designation “Home”. 

Add to termination list.
Highest priority.

>>END OF LOG ENTRY<<