Question of Freedom {Freedom AU} [Book One]

Chapter Ten

A.N. Unsure if a small panic attack needs a trigger warning or no? Regardless, here's the heads up.

A good couple of months had passed since the opening of the new location, and the opening of various other locations just like it. Business had been going swimmingly, and everyone was happy.

It was past closing, and there were only two employees left to finish up before the night shift guard arrived. Putting away the rest of the napkin dispensers, Jim checked his watch. "A'right, my shift's over." He began, gaining his co-workers attention. "You're closing up, Rob."

"Sure thing." Jim continued, suddenly remembering something. "Oh, Rob, can you make sure the robots are all in their places?" Rob gave him a curious look. "The night shift's been saying that Toy Chica is being forgotten in the front dining area. Take care of that, will ya?"

"You got it." Heading towards the front door, Jim took his car keys from his pocket. "Right, that's everything. See ya tomorrow!" He called. "Yep, see you!" With that, Jim left the building. Smirking a little, Rob quietly said to himself, "I'll take care of her, alright."

From the show stage, Fredrick and Bonbell were eyeing the lone employee. Both felt something off putting about him, as he had an odd expression on his face. They watched as the guy went to the front dining room, and waited for him to escort Toy back to the stage. "I don't like that guy." Bon whispered, leaning closer to his 'brother'. Fred simply nodded in agreement, though neither could do anything for the moment.

A minute passed. And another. After the third minute, Fred began getting suspicious. "Where is she?" Bon whispered in question. The bear made no comment, as a fourth minute passed without the employee escorting Toy back. "I'm going to check." Bon looked at Fred. "But, you can't-"

"I don't care." Fredrick told, handing off his microphone to Bonbell. The bunny watched, somewhat nervously, as the bear stepped off the stage and made his way to the front dining area.

Entering the room, Fred looked around. He quickly noticed the employee over in the farthest corner, Toy pressed against the wall. To say the least, he was invading her personal space, whispering heaven knows what to her, making her look visibly distressed. Toy glanced over the man's shoulder, and saw Fred. Her expression changed to pleading in an instant.

Without tipping his presence off, the bear quietly approached the employee. Once he was close enough, he grabbed the guy by his shirt collar and threw him off to the side–unintentionally causing him to hit the edge of a booth's table. "ARG!"

The minute the guy was off of her, Toy hurried to stand behind her 'brother'—who held a protective arm in front of her. While the guy recovered, Fred looked over to her. "Go to the stage." Nodding, Toy turned and hurried off to the main room, just as the employee stood up. Holding his now bleeding nose, the guy gave a frustrated look to a now neutral faced 'Toy Freddy'. "Stupid robot! Thing's gotta be defective!"

Standing a little straighter, the employee used one hand to forcefully 'escort' the bear back to the main area. After shoving Fredrick towards the stage, the employee left the room again as the bear went back to his place. A minute later, the guy returned with a post-it note in hand. He then slapped it on the bear's bow tie, grumbled, and finally left.

Once the coast was clear, Fredrick took the note, which read, "Someone get Josh to look at this thing, it nearly killed me! -Rob" He crumpled the note and tossed it aside. The bear then looked to Toy, who had begun shuddering. "Are you alri-" Fred was interrupted by his 'sister' all-but-falling against him in a desperate attempt for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her shaking shoulders, while Toy's cupcake companion, Claire, hopped onto Fred's shoulder where it was a bit more safe.

"What happened?" Bonbell asked, just as their sister quietly began crying into Fredrick's shoulder. Looking to the bunny, Fred answered with, "That employee. He did something to her, I'm just not sure what, exactly."

"The guy closing up?" Puppet suddenly asked, having noticed the whole thing from the start. The bear nodded. With a knowing look, the Marionette merely nodded. "Excuse me." With that, he went to another room.

For the rest of the night, Toy stayed with Fred as the two sat against the stage's far wall. She was stuck to his side the whole time, as he simply comforted her in hopes of making her feel better.

Some of the others would occasionally glance her way, but as a form of respect, no one went up to ask what was wrong. Either they could just tell it wasn't any of their business, or Bonbell would quietly advise them to just give Toy some space.

By the time opening rolled around, and everyone was in their places, Toy was doing her best to just shut her emotions away to make it through the day. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" Fredrick questioned, still a bit unsure. "Yep." Toy shortly answered, immediately earning a skeptical look from Claire. "Cupcake..." She said in her 'cupcake language'. The chicken looked to her companion. "I promise, I'll be fine."

"... If you say." Fredrick said, still sounding skeptical. The restaurant opened, and the band began performing as usual. At first, it was going well. No hiccups, or anything, and Toy was performing perfectly fine–if not a little less than usual, but it was no problem.

About halfway through another song was when Toy's attention was grabbed. A female employee was hanging around near the back, watching the crowd for any spills, or accidents of that nature, from where she was leaning against the wall. Then, the employee approached her, his demeanor off setting.

Toy watched their exchange closely, her attention fully captivated as she watched the guy subtly taking closer side steps to his co-worker. Toy's breathing began to pick up a bit, as the girl's face began to contort somewhat in confused, or even uncomfortable expressions, as she began stepping away from the guy.

As the female employee promptly took her leave to do anything else to get away from the creep, Toy hadn't realize she'd suddenly stopped singing. Her breathing was getting quicker, and shorter, leading to her slowly begin hyperventilating. Following, she began shaking. Claire was quick to react in hopping up onto Toy's shoulder, just as she dropped the plate she'd be sitting on. The sound of the faux ceramic hiding the stage floor sounded louder than normal to Toy, as she began to curl in on herself in panic.

Arms were suddenly grabbing at her, pulling her off of, and away from the stage. Next thing she knew, she was being thrown into the 'Parts and Service' room. The original band all looked towards her, each sharing a puzzled look. In a haze, Toy quickly shuffled to the nearest corner, and curled into a ball–slowly beginning to cry again.

"Toy?" Freddy quietly asked, just as confused as the next person as to why she'd been thrown in the back with them. He tried going over to her to see if she was alright, reaching a hand out towards her. "Are you okay-?"

"Don't touch me!" Toy snapped, burying her beak deeper into her knees. Freddy instantly backed off, not wanting to overwhelm her in any way. He then glanced to Chica, giving her space to try and get closer–assuming Toy would be more comfortable with her instead.

Sitting a couple feet from Toy, Chica asked, "Are you alright?" Toy looked up just long enough to say, "I d-don't wanna t-talk about it." Before burying her beak again. Settling back against the wall, Chica simply answered, "That's okay."