Chapter Text
A rush of relief flooded Odette when she heard the last few workers finally shut the door and leave the pizzeria. She unfroze from her stiff position on stage and tilted her head upward. There stood Sophia next to her, still and stiff.
"Sophia," Odette said quietly. "They left."
Sophia looked up at Odette. "Thanks," she nodded. She tends to zone out while frozen. They keep themselves locked into standing position until everybody's left for the night, knowing that things would go bad if anybody knew.
Their stage room really wasn't too shabby - dark blue walls with a line of checkers across them, lanyards with dangly stars and tinsel, stage lights that were currently off, and some children's drawings. Little did the workers know, Odette, Charlotte, and Sophia drew some of them and hung them up themselves during the night. They got bored, don't judge. Though, there was an empty spot on the stage now that Charlotte was out of order.
Odette hopped off the stage, feet clanking against the black and white tile floor. Someday she was seriously gonna damage herself doing that, Sophia always told her. Seems now that she's ran out of the energy to have that conversation every night.
Odette waited as Sophia gently sat down and planted her feet on the floor, standing up quickly once she had her footing. So careful, she was. Odette presumed she's always been some sort of health nut, even after death, somehow. Perhaps she had almond parents?
Sophia began walking alongside Odette, but the yellow cat quickly took lead, eager to go meet up with her sister.
"Oh, wait up!" Sophia called, speeding up in attempt to catch up with her quicker peer. The attempt was in vein, as Odette kept her spot in front of Sophia.
Odette grabbed the handle of a door labeled "Storage & Parts," opening the door swiftly. In contrast, she stepped inside slowly and gently. "Char?" Odette called, not seeing Charlotte immediately.
Charlotte peeked out from inside the storage room's closet. She had been digging around inside and was hidden from view by the door. She stepped out and signed, "Hi," with a smile.
Charlotte's never been a talker. Their mom said something about a spectrum? Whatever. Odette doesn't think she should be forced to talk, because she knows sign language. It's not like she was the lead singer - if that were the case, that would make sense. But, no - Odette's the singer, Charlotte's on drums, and Sophia plays trumpet.
"What're ya looking at?" Odette tilted her head, stepping in toward the closet.
"Something new," Charlotte signed back, stepping away to allow both Sophia and Odette view inside the closet. "I saw they put something here. Inside," she signed. She used to be significantly more coherent, but the animatronic paws put a cap on what exactly she could say.
When Odette laid eyes on this 'something,' her mechanical heart froze.
Inside the closet lay a mechanical yellow bunny, the same as Charlotte is - though, rather than having Charlotte's soft fur, big red curls, and green-red striped dress, this rabbit had smooth, shiny plastic fur, straight pink hair, and a complicated purple outfit.
The rabbit lay powered off, limp, eyes shut. It was eerie, as none of them had seen a fellow animatronic in that state before, in their 10 months of being in their metallic state.
"Oh my god," Odette finally spoke after staring in silence for a moment. Sophia stayed silent, expression petrified.
"Weird," Charlotte signed with a nod of agreement. "Very, very weird."
"Are they going to replace you?!" Odette exclaimed to Charlotte, outraged.
"Stay calm, Odette, Dear," Sophia put a paw on Odette's shoulder.
"No! No, they're going to replace my sister!" Odette continued to panic.
"Okay," Charlotte signed to Odette frantically. "Okay."
"It's not okay, Char!" Odette cried. "I can't do this without you! What's going to happen to you?!"
Charlotte's expression deepened, eyes wider, as if she hadn't thought about that. She had only thought that this new bunny would take her space on the stage while Charlotte stayed in the back, not considering the chance that her fate could be different.
Sophia's grip on Odette's shoulder tightened, "Odette! Panicking like this isn't going to change anything. Please, take a minute of silence to think and cease this yelling."
"... Ugh," Odette walked over to a wall to sit against and put her face in her hands. Charlotte followed the short distance, footpaws clicking and clanking against the floor. She sat right next to her, leaning her head on Odette's shoulder.
"... Look, girls. Everything is going to be okay, okay? Just... Please," Sophia sighed, sitting next to Charlotte. She pinched the bridge of her snout.
"Sorry," Charlotte signed.
"Honey, you don't have to apologize!- Neither of you do. It's okay," Sophia reassured the sisters.
"Okay?" Charlotte signed with a confused expression.
"Yes, it is okay," Sophia confirmed.
Charlotte shut her eyes and reached to wrap her arms around her sister, shoving her face into Odette's shoulder. Odette put an arm around Charlotte's shoulders in response, expression unchanging. She stared at the floor blankly.
It seemed like another creature (if you could even call it a creature) heard the commotion occur, and there was a scratch at the door, followed by a blueish-gray paw peeking out from the crack of the door. Sophia sighed and stood up to open the door, letting Trey inside the room.
Trey is quite the mystery to the group. Is he possessed? He's much too small for even a baby to fit inside, so if he was, what the hell was possessing him? Did a rat crawl inside him and die? Perhaps he's just programmed well, as he reacts to things with surprising intelligence for a presumed lifeless robot.
Trey had been lying on his stomach to reach his paw under the door, so as the door opened, it took him with him. His paw had been caught beneath the door as it opened. He unwedged his hand and stood up, turning to stare at Charlotte and Odette.
"... Him again," Odette groaned. "Always intruding."
Charlotte looked up at the little fellow. "Trey," she signed. She made up sign names for everybody, and Trey's translated to something like 'little doll.' Fitting, Odette agreed, but she wished she could slip 'stupid' in there somewhere.
Trey scurried over to the two, standing where Sophia had previously been sitting. He waved at them, expression unchanging, as it was physically not able to change. He was not given full dexterity like the other, bigger animatronics - his face didn't move, and his only joints were at his hips and shoulders. Hence, the sign name of 'little doll.'
"Think," Charlotte signed, shooting up and letting go of Odette. "Think!" she looked panicked.
Odette pulled away, shocked by the sudden movement. "What? What's wrong?!"
"Think, girl murder! Four!" Charlotte signed frantically. "Something!"
"What?!" Odette couldn't understand.
".... Oh my... Er... I believe she means that if the... Girl... Returns, she may kill another person since there is a new animatronic," Sophia explained with a soft voice. Meanwhile, Trey began doing cartwheels.
"WHAT?!" Odette shrieked. Charlotte hugged into Odette again. "What?! Oh my god, Char, you're right! Oh my god!"
"Don't panic so much, please, you two! We haven't seen the girl in so long, I'm sure things will be okay. Why would she come back after so long?" Sophia reasoned. "It won't happen."
"But what if it does?!" Odette continued.
"You're scaring Charlotte," Sophia pointed out softly. Indeed, Charlottte was curled up with her face in her hands.
Odette noticed this and sighed, wrapping an arm around her sister. "Okay. Yeah. Okay. It'll be okay, yeah," she said with a sigh, not confident in her words. "I... God. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, dear," Sophia reassured the two. There was a metal clank as Trey fell over mid-cartwheel. They ignored him.
Charlotte finally uncurled herself and looked up at Sophia. "Something new?" she signed. "Think something new."
"You want to think about something else?" Sophia confirmed. "Do something else?" Charlotte nodded.
"Sure thing. How about we go unwind and draw?" Sophia proposed.
Charlotte nodded and stood up, holding Odette's hand. Odette followed and stood, metal feet clanking in the floor as she did so. They began walking, and the tiny grey bunny followed them closely.