Chapter Text
Time didn’t move like it should.
Vanessa has been possessed by this stupid rabbit entity for months, and her memories only came back in spurts. This made tonight especially horrible, random parts of her night she just can’t seem to piece together. Until suddenly she felt something else, her body. She felt as if whatever had been pestering her for the past few months of her life just….dissepeared. Like she wasn’t sharing it anymore and she had free reign.
She kept thinking about this for a bit, until she felt something else. Her costume. Without hesitation, she suddenly ripped off her mask, and threw it down. Although it may have been a bit childish, Vanessa stomped on the rabbit mask. She let out a little whimper as those dead eyes looked back up at her. Then, Vanessa wondered how? How was she freed? The only other person here was that little boy she wanted to get out of here before her worse half killed him. It had to be him, how?
She finally took in her surroundings, looking around. Her hideout, her gross, dingy, desaturated hideout. She looked until she found it. Princess Quest. That boy, (Gregory, wasn’t it?) went around and played these cabinets, and freed Vanessa. The kid she berated, bruised, and tried to kill, is the one person who saved her. Once she looked out below to the laser tag field, not a single soul was to be seen. Except the dormant headless Freddy body that lay lifelessly on the ground. Once she realized the boy had obviously left, Vanessa decided to get rid of any trace of anything happening here tonight.
Both in part for her, and for the kid. While her mind had been sputtering and blacking out, she had seen what the Glamrocks had been reduced to at his hands. This kid had obviously chosen fight over flight. She made a mental checklist of what she needed to grab, or do so she could get out. She needed to grab her bag, erase the security footage, and get rid of any trace she was there that night.
After figuring it out, she booked it, all the way until she reached the bathroom she last remembered blacking out it in. Vanessa started opening all the stalls until she found the duffle bag where she had last shoved her security uniform, and her regular non-work clothes. She plopped on her regular clothes, after trying to ignore the lingering stares of the wet-floor-sign bots (she never liked them) Vanessa headed out.
She looked at her watch, it was about 6:45, the morning staff would come in at about 7:30 and this place would open at 8:00. She had time, but that didn’t stop Vanessa from going as fast as possible, she headed to the atrium and bolted to the main security office. Once she arrived, Vannesa sat at the main module. She grabbed the mouse,and found the security file. Her hand struggles to move the mouse as it’s shaking very hard right now. But Vanessa wasn’t gonna give up. Once she found all the footage from tonight, she meticulously placed it in the trash bin. After double checking it was gone for good, Vanessa sprinted faster than ever to get the hell out of this place.
She pushed her way through the mega-mall, making her way outside and onto the sidewalk separating it from the parking lot. A cool breeze hit her face, as her eyes looked towards the sky, slowly fading from its dark purples and black, to a lighter blue sky, accompanied by a huge ball of light rising out from underneath. Vanessa let the moment overtake her, she took heaved breaths, and finally caught her breath. She was about to get in her car and drive back to her real home until a voice found its way toward her ears.
“Good morning…” A boy with brown hair, and tanned skin said, sat on the ground with his beheaded bear friend in his arms.
“Gregory?!” she spoke a bit awkwardly, Vanessa honestly didn’t know why this guy was still here. He stood up and looked at Vanessa.
“You’re not feeling.. Um, homicidal anymore, right?” He asked a bit nervously. Vanessa tensed up, he was just getting right to the point wasn’t he?
“God no- Gregory, I need to apologize.” She spoke desperately, she was truly sorry for everything she forced him to go through.
“I, well, I wasn’t myself. It sounds hard to believe, but trust me. I don’t want to hurt you, everything you saw happen, it wasn’t…me.” She tried explaining her dilemma in the vaguest way possible.
“I know, that’s why I played the arcade cabinets.” What..? How does he know? It couldn’t have been that obvious.Could it have been? Vanessa was about to ask him more but the time was approaching 7:30. She had to get out of here.
“Listen, I need to get out of here, we need to get out of here. If they find us here at the scene of the crime they’re gonna take us both in.” She explained. “I know you might not be, well, the most comfortable driving with me, but I promise I’ll take you back to your home.” She was panicking, Vanessa wanted to get out here, she hoped Gregory didn’t need to be convinced anymore. What if all he wanted was to see Vanessa pay for her misdeeds. In all honesty it’s probably what she deserved.
“Yeah sure, let’s go.” He walked to the only parked car in the parking lot, and was waiting for it to be unlocked. This kid is…acting weird. To say the least. His whole demeanor was just so…relaxed. Which was the last thing she expected due to his…experiences with her. She shooed the thought away for now as they both hopped in, and Vanessa started driving.
“So, where am I taking you?” She asked the boy, he sighed.
“Uhh, I don’t know. Just drop me off wherever, I’ll find somewhere.” Vanessa paused.
“...What?”
“Just let me off wherever, I’ll find some shelter.” He reiterated. What was this kid even talking about?
“What about your parents? They must be worried sick about you.”
“Oh they’re…uhm, well gone.” He said, his voice was a bit more troubled. The air was still fueled by the unrelenting awkwardness hanging in the air.
“Well, I’m still not letting you go off on your own to sleep in an alleyway, or something.” Vanessa was stern in what she said, even though some may label her as “rough around the edges” she wasn’t completely heartless, plus, this boy had been through enough. Plus, hadn’t she owed it to the kid who literally saved her from the closest thing to hell on Earth?
“Listen, I know you probably don’t want to get dropped off in front of social services right?” She looked at Gregory, he gave a small nod. She averted her eyes back to the road.
“Well, I don’t mind having you stay in my guest bedroom, you can stay there as long as you need until we can find you a more.. Uhm, ideal living situation.” She offered. “Only if you want to.”
“As long as you don’t kill me in my sleep.” Vanessa had no idea whether he was joking or if he was serious. Either way, she had still tensed up at the implications of that thought.
The rest of the drive home was as quiet as one would expect. Now she was leading the boy into her apartment, as she fumbled for the keys, the door swooshed open. This place looked desolate. Vanessa hadn’t been back home in a while, the murderer living inside her head thought it might be more “efficient” to live in the Pizzaplex and cut out having to drive back and forth each day. Vanessa hated it, but obviously Vanny couldn’t care less what Vanessa thought. Being home was such a foreign feeling, it felt night finally stepping foot in here.
This room had been an anchor for Vanessa, a first step in getting her life back, and to him, it was probably quite pathetic. All the walls were white, a singular black couch laid in the middle, with a basket next to it dedicated to blankets. Her coffee table had a bunch of loose papers on it that seeped on to the ground. Behind the small living area was a small kitchenette, with a mini-island, making the space more compact. Just past the living room was an entryway leading to four lone doors. Altogether it was a generous space, but the contents were kind of cheap, shown by the multiple chips in the paint, and all the thrifted furniture. Vanessa didn’t care, she was just happy everything seemed unchanged.
“You live here..?” Oh yeah, the child she decided to take in.
“It doesn’t look that good now, but this place used to be a lot more cozier, and a lot less dustier.” she offered.
“What happened?” Gregory said, head perked up, showing the smallest sense of curiosity. Vanessa just gave a sigh, as she came in and threw her bag down on to the ground.
“Vanny happened.” she said plopping down on her couch.
“Oh yeah, weird rabbit dancing lady.” He said sitting down next to Vanessa, keeping the bear close. What was going on through this kid’s head? How has he been able to stay seemingly uncaring this entire time? Had she not been chasing him around all night with the intent to kill him? How was he so… comfortable with her?
“So uh.. I wanted to ask, how did you know those Princess Quest games would do the trick.” Gregory took multiple moments before he answered.
“Well, there were these messages talking about super secret arcade cabinets. I just wanted to play them, I had no idea that you were like, trapped in there or something.” Seriously?
“Okay, I wasn't trapped in there, it’s…difficult to talk about.” She was going to leave it at that, Vanessa really didn’t really feel like trauma dumping on this…9(?) year old.
“Okaayy, well, I wanna lay down,do you mind showing me to my room?” He said standing off the couch. Breaking the awkward silence that kept infecting the air.
“Oh, yeah come on.” She got up and led him towards the room where he’d be sleeping for the day. She went to the curtains and closed them to block out the sunlight.
“Okay, so this is where you’ll be sleeping, the bathroom is just next door in case you need it, and the door locks if…ya know you’re more comfortable with that.” He just took off his shoes and placed them neatly next to his bed. He laid down, and almost immediately dozed off. Vanessa just locked the door on the inside, then stepped out and closed it. She decided to follow suit, and for the first time in weeks slept in her own bed. It was a very trivial thing to be happy about, but that didn’t stop her from savoring every moment she laid down until she finally closed her eyes and dozed off to sleep.