Chapter Text
*69.
Who knew that it would work on some toy phone inside of a factory stuck ten years in the past. It did though, and the phone rung. Within seconds there was an answer.
“…Who is this?”
Ollie sounded tentative. Angel didn’t blame him. After all, all their calls before now had been started on his side. He probably never expected that Angel would be the one calling him.
“It’s just me. Poppy’s angel. Or, uh, Angel. That’s what everyone’s been calling me now.”
“Oh! Hi! How did- How did you get this number? I didn’t even know this phone took calls!”
“Star sixty-nine.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s a callback number. It calls back the last person who called,” Angel explained.
“Oh. Well, what’s up? Did you and Poppy get settled into Safe Haven alright?”
“We’re here right now.”
Angel was currently sitting inside one of the makeshift tents at the back of the large main room. Entirely alone, since nobody wanted to sit beside him. The little ones were too scared for that, Doey was busy, and Poppy was with Kissy who Angel didn’t want to disturb. She had been ambushed and injured by… something.
Considering that he popped up right as they reunited down here, that something was likely the Prototype. Poppy had warned that he was running around outside, but all Angel had seen was a shadow. A shadow that resembled enormous crab legs. Something that instantly changed his mental image of whatever this thing was.
Currently he was imagining a skeleton with crab legs.
But that wasn’t important. What was important was that as they settled to rest, he felt restless and with Doey insisting that he take a breather, he looked for someone else to talk to. Ollie became the go-to since the two had chatted a bit up in Playcare. Seemed like a nice kid.
“We got chased in here by the Prototype and now we’re just sort of settling in for the night,” he said. He second-thought and checked his watch. “Or… Really, REALLY early morning.”
“He got there already? Wow, he’s fast! I bet Doey wasn’t expecting him to show up. Or Poppy…” Ollie hesitated before quietly asking. “Did you see him?”
“I saw… Something? I think I saw some legs.” Ollie hummed. “What’s he look like anyways?”
“It’s… complicated. You’ll know him when you see him. He’s incredible.”
“I’m expecting a skeleton sitting on top of a crab,” Angel half-joked. Ollie made something like a scoff or a laugh, he couldn’t tell which. “But really, what are we talking about here?”
“I mean… you can ask Poppy, but… I don’t want to talk about it. Please?”
Angel immediately noticed how soft Ollie’s voice became. He sounded worried, or frightened. Maybe afraid that Angel would be mad? It must’ve been bad if it made him more timid than even talking about the horrors in the Shelf.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll see him eventually. Sorry to scare you, kid. With the call, I mean.”
“What, kid? I’m not a kid!” Ollie said with aghast. “I haven’t been a kid in a long time.”
That was a weirdly cryptic way of saying that, but it wasn’t different than anybody else’s randomly cryptic moments.
“Oh, sorry. The voice threw me off.”
“Once you become this, a toy, you’re stuck with whatever voice is put in your new voice box unless you figure out a way to change it. This is just a voice that I was stuck with.”
“Oh.”
“What about you? You don’t sound old enough to have worked here as one of the doctors.”
Angel’s heartrate quickened just a small bit but he kept his voice controlled. He didn’t know, it was an innocent question. It was just Ollie.
“It’s, uh… It’s a long story. I spent most of my time upstairs. Like, around the offices and stuff…”
That technically wasn’t a lie but had he said what he was doing up there it would’ve immediately given away the truth. Which was exactly why he didn’t give him a numbered age either. He would’ve started working backwards and then-
What was he saying? This was Ollie! Ollie the not-kid who was scared of a giant crab and got grumpy when anyone mistook his childish voice for him being younger than he was. The toy who helped him through all of that stuff in Playcare and in the prison.
Huh. Come to think of it, he never asked what kind of toy Ollie was. How did you ask a question like that subtly?
…
“Sooo, we’re here in safe haven. It’s nice. They’ve got tents set up and the kids are playing. Err, the- not kids, the Smiling Critters. You know,” he sort of fumbled. “Are you going to come join us or am I going to have to go find you?”
“What? No. No, you can’t do that and… I can’t do that either.”
Angel furrowed his brows worriedly. “Why not…?”
He assumed this was another Dogday situation. He wasn’t sure why it went straight to that, but ‘can’t’ immediately invoked the thought that he physically could not do it. It didn’t help what Ollie said next.
“I just… can’t. I’m not like Poppy. I can’t go wherever I want…”
“Oh…” That seemed to confirm it. “Then… maybe I could come see you?” he offered.
The idea of Ollie being alone somewhere in this big, cold factory was incredibly sad. Nobody deserved to be alone here. Even in Safe Haven where safety wasn't assured and neither was food, the place felt so much more alive and comfortable just by there being others there. Just hearing the quiet voices whispering was a welcome change.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I live really deep, deep inside the factory. I don’t think you’d make it... Huh. Then again, I didn’t think you’d make it this far either! Or I did, but I didn’t. You know?”
“I get it. But maybe sometime if I’m in the area I could drop in?” Angel offered with a little smile.
“Weeelll…. Maybe! It would be nice to have company. I think we could have a lot of fun together.”
There was something in that tone that caught Angel off-guard. Just the edge of the last words felt pointed in a way he couldn’t describe.
“Like what…?” he stretched out.
“We could play together. I know a lot of games, and I even have a whole collection of Wrongside Outimal dolls. Even the ones they never released! Well, I guess they never released any of them.”
Oh, okay. Nope, it was just his imagination. Ollie was just talking about kid’s games. Not beating the “being a kid” assumption anytime soon though.
Kind of sad to think that all of these little guys acting like kids were just extremely repressed adults who were never allowed to grow up…
“I’ve never heard of those. What are they?”
“They’re the coolest toys ever! You turn them inside out and they become something new! Buuut Playtime Co was too afraid that nobody would buy them because a couple of parents got mad, so they scratched the whole line. It’s a shame, really. All that time and effort to make toys that were then just thrown away. Just because they didn’t turn out perfect. But that was the whole point!”
And oh God, Angel realized. Those thrown away toys were probably kids once too. What a nauseating thought.
“Angel?”
“Yes?” Angel said quickly. Snapping out of his thoughts.
“Can I tell you something that you promise you won’t tell Poppy?”
“Sure.”
“…Sometimes I feel like I’m wrongside out too.” Ollie’s voice dipped. “Like I was made broken and then thrown away because I wasn’t…”
There was a long pause.
“Wasn’t…?” Angel nudged gently.
“Wasn’t… right. You know, to be sold. Not every toy makes it to the shelf. Heck, sometimes whole characters get scrapped. Did you know that before Poppy was the mascot of Playtime Co they had a clown? I don’t think he even made it on a billboard...”
Apparently, he didn’t make it anywhere because Angel had been all up and down this factory and he hadn’t seen a single clown. Probably the best considering his thing with clowns. He didn’t have the heart to tell Ollie that Huggy had practically replaced Poppy as the main mascot years ago either.
“I can believe it. These big companies and their focus groups and stuff. They don’t always work either.”
“Yeah…”
Ollie sounded thoroughly soured now. That wasn’t what Angel wanted at all, so he wanted to cheer him up.
Maybe cracking a joke would help?
“God, imagine if the Prototype is just a giant inside-out clown with crab legs. That’d be scary as hell.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
Angel couldn’t help but snicker at how done Ollie suddenly sounded with the conversation. Well, at least he didn’t seem sad.
“Hey, but before I go. I have a question.”
And now he sounded genuinely perked up. Angel was relieved. “Shoot.”
“You said everyone’s been calling you Angel, right? Then what’s your real name?”
And all of that pep landed right in his stomach like a rock. Angel swallowed, he hoped Ollie couldn’t hear it over the line.
“The truth is, Ol, I… Don’t really like my name. I’ve just been going along with the Angel nickname since I like it more.”
“Oh, okay. Then I guess Angel it is! Nice to meet you, Angel.”
“Nice to meet you too. What about yours? Is it really Ollie?”
Up until now it was clear that most of the toys were not named the same as the toy they had become. Catnap was Theodore Grambell, Kissy was one of the little girls from Playcare, and Mommy… Angel really hoped Mommy was not Mommy’s real name.
So, Ollie’s answer was a little bit of a surprise.
“It’s Ollie. Really.”
“Oh! Okay-.”
“It’s short for Oliver.”
That strange tone returned. But this time Angel had an idea what it was. It was a lost person stuck in a toy reclaiming their identity. Of course there was that cryptic undertone. Of course there was regret and hesitation. Angel got it… as much as he could.
“It’s nice to meet you, Oliver,” he simply said.
“You too! But you should probably rest now. I bet you’ve got a long day tomorrow with Doey and the Doctor and everything.’
Angel sighed. “Yeah…”
“Don’t worry, you’ve got this! Good night, Angel!”
“Night, Ollie.”
With that he ended the call and slumped back against the soft but slightly dusty pillow that he had been resting against. Despite the cozy atmosphere he doubted he could let his guard down enough to sleep.
He fell asleep within ten minutes.