Chapter Text
Hanging out on the ceiling, or any high place really, was something that the Daycare Attendant loved to do, whether or not it was Sunrise or Moondrop fronting, which is what the latter was currently doing. It drove the staff crazy, especially maintenance, which caused Moondrop no end of enjoyment. No matter how much they tried to order them not to do so, they couldn’t actually do so, as it went against many of their emergency safety protocols. How were they supposed to look for intruders at night or carry children to safety in events like fires or armed intruders during the day? Not to mention that maintenance still hasn’t figured out how to interfere with their coding and they weren’t allowed to scrap them either, as they were made by someone else than the ones who created the other animatronics.
Which is why Moondrop was able to be out when it wasn’t the end of the hour during lights out, despite Vanessa always “orders” the Daycare Attendant to do at night when it is only her there at night. When it wasn’t only Vanessa working at night, Moondrop was allowed to roam at any time during the night, though Sunrise was always locked up in the Daycare except if it was an emergency or during the few times he was allowed out with supervision. Moondrop missed the early days when Sunrise was able to go out at night as well, before the “incident”. He has been trying to find a way around it discretely, but it was tricky to do so without getting caught in the process. Sighing to himself to avoid Roxy from hearing him, who was on the third level of the West Arcade, he let his mind wander as he watched the animatronics move below him.
Normally Moondrop listened to Vanessa when her orders weren’t that stupid, well… okay her orders were basically always stupid, but he didn’t feel like dealing with getting a scolding that he wasn’t even going to listen to. Sunrise could do the listening for them and tell him later in a way that wasn’t as boring, though half the time Sunrise would end up scolding him as well for getting caught (he should be better at hide and seek than that, it was in their programming!). He could still get his job done at night during those times, which was to search for intruders and to constantly update his knowledge on safe spaces that he and Sunrise, as well as other staff, would be able to take children and other guests to in the event of an emergency.
Something that Fazbear Entertainment, Inc. has been prioritizing is safety in the past several years in order to separate themselves from the corporation’s bloody history. Sure, they made a horror game based off of the company’s into to try and push off their history as “rumors”, which they guess is working considering how popular the company has gotten since then. Still, while many of the staff might not be aware of the dangers lurking within this building, certain people still do. Which is why the Daycare Attendant were created, to protect and to act as the warden for all of the animatronics within its walls.
The main reason why Vanessa’s rule annoys him so much is that it doesn’t give him as much time to do any actual snooping around the mall. Yes, while they quickly learned after they were created and put into operation that their ability to use the surveillance system didn’t only work within the Daycare like it wasn’t intended to, instead it extended to all the cameras within the pizzaplex and to the cameras outside as well. Whoever wasn’t fronting normally watched the cameras instead while in rest mode to recharge their half of their battery, which meant that at night Sunrise was often the one either watching the cameras or watching through Moondrop’s eyes.
“The White Rabbit is in the Arcade now!” Moondrop startled, having gotten lost in his thoughts again, almost falling off the beam he was stretched across, not that the fall would do anything to them. He was used to having to be quiet, due to being around sleeping children during naptime in the Daycare, as he needed to not make too much noise as to not awake them, but as an effect, it left him to wonder and think about whatever came across his circuits.
“A little warning before you start screaming would have been nice,” He hissed back without any real irritation at his counterpart. Still, he straightened a bit and back scanning the room beneath him, seeing that his fellow animatronics were still in the same areas they were at when he had last checked. Roxy was still on the third level, growling under breath; Monty was on the second level, shoving staff bots out of his way who happened to run into him; Chica was on the ground floor, except now she was eating out of a trash can. He rolled his eyes; it was no wonder that they haven’t found the kid yet. Now that they were off his list, he quickly looked for DJ Spider-Man, Moondrop snickered quietly at the nickname Sunrise had overheard a child call DJ Music Man the one time their parents had let them come with them to the West Arcade, finding him to still be climbing the walls. Chica had activated him when they came in, stating that DJ’s bouncer mode would be able to help them search for Gregory, though they all knew it was because Chica wanted to boost all of their moods, which had been gradually growing more and more frustrated as the night went on without a single one of them catching the kid. And what better way to do that then by waking up DJ? He was able to boost almost everybody’s moods. Moondrop really wished Sunrise could meet him in person, the two of them would get along so well.
Her idea had actually worked, but something seemed…off now. Frowning, he observed his co-workers more closely than what he had before. This time he noticed that Roxy was leaving dents in the security bots, as well as grabbing fistfuls of her hair in frustration, muttering to herself that she was the best and that she was going to find him first, kicking a staff bot into an arcade machine. Monty was now destroying a staff bot that had made the mistake of rolling in front of him, “move you freaking piece of shit! You’re all so fucking annoying, why can’t you just stay the hell out of the way?!”
“Wow, you sure are watching where you’re going again, Monty. It’s no wonder that you haven’t found the brat yet, when you can’t even watch where you’re going,” Roxy taunted the alligator below her, despite having just the done the same thing a moment ago, still standing next to the bot that she had just destroyed, looking through the floor below her to where she saw Monty prowling at.
“SHUT THE HELL UP!!!! I don’t see that you him yet! You’re constantly saying that you’re the one that’s the best, why the fuck haven’t you found him yet!!!!” Monty shouted back up at her, throwing a bot over the railing to the floor below, barely missing Chica by an inch.
The chicken squawked, startled by the bot that had just landed in front of her, “watch where you’re throwing things! What are you guys even doing up there? We’re suppose to be looking for the kid, not try and destroy each other!” The two ignored her as they began yelling at each other instead of patrolling their designated floors.
Turing his gaze away from them, he searched the rest of the Arcade. While fighting was normal between them, their moods never changed that quickly. The only time this happens was when a certain White Rabbit was in the vicinity. Whenever she was around, everyone becomes more aggressive, even Moondrop himself, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as the others, it was why he kept his distance. He doesn’t like the way he becomes, it terrified him to be frank, especially how it sneaks up on him and he doesn’t always notice the change if he doesn’t realize she is nearby. He never felt to relived that he had Sunrise, he always warned him when he started to act differently and whether or not the Rabbit was nearby or not, like now.
Jumping up onto the balls of his feet, it’s only with practiced ease that the bells on him don’t jingle with any of his movements. Stalking across the beams, jumping from one to another much like an acrobat, he changes his position to get another vantage point to search for Vanny like he is used to doing whenever the Daycare Attendant know she is roaming about at night. Moondrop stops, resting on the balls of his feet on a pipe running over the dance floor. Searching, he finally catches a glimpse of the White Rabbit, a nickname that they had given her when they first didn’t know her name, standing with her back up against the wall near the elevator, clenching a knife to her chest. Moondrop made a face, confused as to what she was doing, “Hey, Sunny, do you know what the Rabbit is doi-“
“GREGORY IS COMING DOWN IN THE ELEVATOR!!!”
“Shit.” It said a lot when Sunrise didn’t correct Moondrop in his use of bad words.
Sunrise really didn’t think that this was how his night was going to go. Sure, normally most nights were pretty boring, but Moondrop at least tried to make the most of it as he was going about his jobs and investigations at night. Even Moony's scavenging for different things at night to occupy Sunrise during all of those nights, when he wasn’t cleaning or coming up with new games and stories for the kids the next day was really fun too! Sure, he wasn’t an expert when it came to fixing the broken lights Moondrop brings back, but he has been getting better at with all his practicing he’s been doing.
Though he always tries to remember that he shouldn’t be doing this in the main Daycare area, instead he should be doing it in their hideout underneath the two back rooms behind the balcony (both of which being two of the few rooms without cameras for security reasons). Well, technically their hideout didn't belong to them to begin with, but still it was more exciting to call it a hideout! The room was the same width and length of the two not secret rooms, but it went all the way down to the floor below them next to the Daycare as well. Its main purpose is to serve as a protection against many emergencies, from dangerous people, any malfunctioning animatronics, tornadoes, and so on, it also doubled as storage for the Daycare. There was also a more advanced first aid station in it as well. But he and Moondrop have taken the time to make it an awesome hideout! It has all the different drawings given to them from the kids for them (they really loved the ones that the children drew of them and they loved them even more when they also included others in it with them, whether it be the children or the other animatronics. It was almost like they were friends with the others, though they were already friends with Monty, which Sunrise still finds hard to believe sometimes) and any other gifts that they had given them, as well as all the different decorations and lights that they had made.
Admittedly, Sunrise was a bit scared of the dark. It’s not he hated transforming into Moondrop (and vice-versa), it’s just because when the lights suddenly go out and he doesn’t have a chance to prepare for it (he tries to pay attention to the time, but he gets so caught up in what he’s doing that he forgets to be ready to change), the change hurts terribly (why did they make them feel pain? From what he had learned on the internet most robots don’t even feel any pain at all, so did they?). They can change from one another all the time if they want or need to do so. But from what Sunrise remembers from when he was still allowed to go out at night, the transition was so much easier to hold and maintain when they were outside of the Daycare. Normally Moondrop would tell him a minute or two before the transition was about to happen, but sometimes he got distracted as well.
Sunrise really missed going out, but he would never regret what he did that lead to him being practically locked up in the Daycare like one of those princesses locked up in a tower, and he would gladly do it again. Moondrop agrees with him too. When he had first been locked up (though he knew that he could technically ignore it, he just liked following the rules when he was able to do so, it made him feel… safer?), it hadn’t been that bad at first. He was probably the most upset by the fact that he wouldn’t able to spend time with their best friend Foxy anymore. But Foxy had come over to them instead, telling them that he didn’t like staying in Pirate Cove all by himself, and used to have slumber parties all the time together, almost every single day! It had been so much fun! The Daycare Attendant had found that as much as they missed Sunrise being allowed to go out, they missed Foxy so much more after he had been taken to Parts & Services for a repair one day and just… never came back. How many years has it been? They knew it was a few years before Bonnie had been decommissioned, it sends shivers through their coding every time they think about what happened to the rabbit animatronic and what it means. They didn’t like to think about it, even as logic whispers from the back of their AI. But still, Moondrop kept looking for their lost friend.
They kept looking for him even after Roxy made her debut appearance in their group of animatronics. Even after hearing all the whispers about how Roxy fits into the theme of the Pizzaplex much better than Foxy ever did. They kept looking even as the children’s questions gradually changed from asking where Foxy was to who Foxy was (it hurt so much for their friend to become nothing more than a background decoration to only be occasionally used as a character in a movie (they watched every one whenever they had the chance on the TV Moondrop had borrowed for their hideout, even though they had all of them recorded in their memory card, never allowing any of the staff members to delete any memory files containing the recordings (Moondrop found that the staff listened well enough if you just bit them hard enough)), if they bawled his eyes out, clenching one of the Foxy the Pirate plushies that was given to them by said fox, when no one was around (which happened quite often), none of the security officers said a thing, but they did give the animatronic a tight hug and asked if they could draw with them for a bit). They kept looking even as they tried to make friends with Roxy (hoping that maybe if they did, maybe they would be able to see at least some of their missing friend in her, then the pain would hurt less, which was selfish they knew, but they couldn’t help it, they just wanted their friend back so much), but Moondrop was never the greatest when it came to trying to make friends, so in the end she never came to visit the Daycare (which was probably for the best, they saw how much she hated to be compared to Foxy, and how much it pained her every day).
They still kept trying to find him, every night while Moondrop was going about his tasks, he would also search for Foxy. They still haven’t found him after all this time, but still, they look.
And tonight, when he had seen Gregory in the Daycare, he thought that he was going to able to actually have company for the whole entire night! Monty would come and visit occasionally, but it was rare for the alligator animatronic to stay the whole night, not that Sunrise would force him to, of course! Monty was one of the stars of the Pizzaplex, it isn’t like he just has the time to spend a whole night with them (he does have the time his processers whispered). He was so excited, but his new friend had broken the only rule that had and turned the lights off so suddenly, it had hurt so much. It had hurt for Moondrop as well, being forced out unprepared to the front. Moondrop being the more serious and stricter one out of the two, had just wanted to put Gregory into the corner to think about what he had done, though thinking about Moondrop probably did unintentionally seem pretty scary from the kid’s point of view, but they hadn’t known how the other animatronics were malfunctioning and hunting the poor kid down. Not until Moondrop had finally gotten the chance to finally take in everything that was going on, Vanessa had never sent them a message that a child was inside the mall after hours! The security camera could only tell so much and before that point Moondrop hadn’t realized that the others were actually trying to attack the poor boy, but that they were only trying to help him, but for whatever reason Freddy was helping him. It was strange and it almost looked like a really big game of hide and seek! But by that point, Gregory had already tried to go back to the Daycare, to which Sunrise had prevented him from going back, telling him again that he was banned. If he could, he would find him himself and take him to his hideout to hide for the rest of the night, especially with the White Rabbit going around tonight and with a knife no less!
So, when Moondrop had told him that he was planning on going out when it wasn’t lights out yet, Sunrise was more than ready to agree with him, aiding him by manipulating the cameras to appear as if Sunrise was still within the Daycare, while changing the cameras that Moondrop had to go past looked as if he wasn’t there, using a program that he had created not long after he was confined to the Daycare, with Moondrop avoiding them as much as was able to with practiced ease, both of them having done this routine for years now.
Though before his friend left again, Sunrise made sure to get juice, snacks, a cot to sleep on, as well as blankets and a pillow for it. Adding a first case nearby as an afterthought, before allowing the switch to occur. He wasn’t sure if he could make it up with the child, but he wanted to try, at the very least he wanted to give some comfort to the boy who has been going through so much tonight, maybe for a while now judging by the boy’s appearance and how he behaved. He would need to call the police in the morning, along with CPS, before anyone lets this boy go free as if nothing had happened tonight.
Eventually, Vanny had finally caught on to the cameras and had done a better decent job of hiding herself on the cameras, she had never been able to get rid of the slight glitch that would appear on the security camera that she was trying to manipulate, though every now and then Sunrise noticed that she would slip up and would be caught on the screen as well, even if it would only be for a split second.
Sitting in the back while Moondrop was fronting was a place Sunrise was used to being, which he was really grateful for, as it did let him “see” the Pizzaplex, even if was only through Moondrop’s eyes.. However, he couldn’t help but cringe at all the dangerous things that this child was doing tonight. He was going to need to have a serious talk with Freddy after this! I mean, first he would have to figure out how to meet him since they barely interacted with each other (just enough for Sunrise to inform him that they would really love it if he could call them anything other than Sun and Moon), but he could talk with Monty whenever the gator came to hang out with him every now and then at night. He was sure that Monty could get Freddy to come over so that he could have a conversation over what a child should and shouldn’t be allowed to do, as well as ask why he didn’t think about explaining the whole situation to him so that he could have known that Gregory needed to stay with him! Communication is an important part of any relationship, whether it be among friends or co-workers.
Currently, Moondrop was within the West Arcade, having judged that this was going to be where Gregory was going to be, having done this by hearing all the locations Sunrise had told him about where the child had been at so far and what he has been doing at said places. Sunrise felt his heart drop when he saw that all the animatronics where in the West Arcade as well, hoping that Moondrop wasn’t correct for once. Observing the cameras he saw the telltale glitch on the computer screens within the Arcade as well, warning his best friend about this. It was out of the corner of his vision that he saw, as well as heard the muted arguments growing between the three glamrock animatronics, which had previously been a light atmosphere, albeit a bit tense, only moments ago, confirming to him as well that the White Rabbit was really there.
Sunrise really wished that he was fronting, if only so that he could wring his hands out of worry or so that he simply just pace around.
Then he saw something that filled his circuits with terror as he saw through Moondrop’s eyes that the White Rabbit was getting ready for an ambush near the elevator, the same one the Gregory was currently traveling down to the Fazcade in, “GREGORY IS COMING DOWN IN THE ELEVATOR!!!”