LIMBO | (FNAF SB x OC)

"arts and crafts"

By the time 12:30am rolled around, I had made my way successfully to the Daycare. I passed Chica roaming the main area, and she kindly waved to me before continuing to stalk around. She seemed much more interested in the garbage cans over me or the task at hand, though. Not like that was my business, though.

I stare up at a gaudy, golden statue of two jolly, twisty looking animatronics. That must be Sun and.. another version of him? A paired animatronic? Mike didn't mention two, but I can ask him about that momentarily.

I continue to walk around the loft area before nearing a slide urging me to go down it, as well as a netted scenery of the real daycare below me. Nothing looks out of the ordinary until I see a sun faced animatronic emerge from the ballpit with a kid in his grasp.

I tense, mouth dropping wide in shock as I remain in my place for longer than I'd think. How the hell am I the one that finds him? There was only one thing to do— Go down the slide and catch the fucker while he was occupied with the sunny animatronic. I could handle a ten year old menace, I was one! Making sure I fit before committing, I slid down the slide and successfully wound up in the ballpit. I quickly made my way through to the clearing where Sun had set up camp with the kid. I hoist myself out of the pit and call out straggedly, "Helloooo..." I roll out onto the padded floor, taking a deep breath before sitting upright and glancing to my right, meeting the eyes of a wide, terrified child.

"...Oh, shit."

"No, no, no! Are you kidding me?!" The child begins to back away from me, to which I jump up and hold my hands in the air. He must be scared, so me showing up out of nowhere in a uniform might be what's startling him so much.

"Hey, hey! You're okay, kid. My name's Grace, and I'm not gonna do anything to you." He stays on his guard, making me frown deeply. Granted I didn't expect for him to be immediately open with me, I was still unsure what to do. Sun seems to sense the tension, and twirls between us before bouncing from foot to foot.

"Hoo hoooo! New friend, we have.. ANOTHER NEW FRIEND!" He studies my face closely, making me flinch back. Unbothered though, Sun giggles and bounces back to look at the child, "Remember our rule, friends!! We keep the lights ON. Lights on." The grim tone the robot suddenly took made me and the kid both grimace, indicating we at least have one thing in common: a clear distaste for how sternly Sun delivered that sentence.

Michael also warned me of that. I wonder if it had something to do with the daycare specifically, or.. something else? I didn't have much time to think about it though, as Sun's unmoving gaze made me slightly uncomfortable.

"Lights on it is, then." I repeat, nodding my head softly, "Sun, do you know who I am?"

"Why, yyyyeeeesss! It's so pleasant to see more pals join us here!! It gets lonely, sometimes.." How depressing. Did animatronics these days seriously get built in morality and feelings?

"Aw, well, you'll probably see more of me then. I wouldn't want that. However, I would like a word with the kid in private. Can't you set up.. uh, like.. an arts and crafts corner?"

It took Sun a moment to respond, a still faced, calculating look making me and the brown haired boy (who, surprisingly, stuck around for our conversation) cower until Sun's torso and face twirled energetically with a cry of joy. He then scoops me up into a cold, almost uncomfortably tight hug and jumps from foot to foot. I yelled for a different reason than him.

"I would love, love, looove to, Grace! Oh, stars! You just absolutely made my night!! I'll get us googly eyes, glitter glue! Oh, oh!! Even my finest popsicle sticks!" He sets me down gently and lets his cold hands pat my shoulders twice before he skips away and off to God knows where.

Alone. That's when I look at the boy, smiling gently, "See? I got rid of him for a minute, even though he's totally harmless."

"But you're a threat. A big one!! You.. You know the blonde lady!" He shifts away from me, dark eyes pinned on my face. I took care not to move so much, remaining still.

"...Oh, Vanessa? I mean.. between you and me, I just started my first shift today, so I don't reeeally know her. I think my priority lies with you right now, not her. That said.. Can I get a name? I'll help get you out of here. No funny shit."

He's hesitant, it's clear as daylight that he doesn't trust me yet, but when he reaches his hand towards me, I can't help but feel proud of myself, "I'm... uh, Gregory."

"Gregory! Awesome, I'll remember that. Now, why are you here? This has to be pretty spooky alone, doesn't it?"

"...I guess." He shrugs, briefly glancing towards a desk and pointing at it, "I needed the security badges from the desks to get into places.. I thought I could raise it high enough to.. to, y'know, open the doors or something."

My eyes widened. I didn't really bother hiding my surprise— The kid was smart, and he didn't look older than maybe twelve, if I were pushing it, "Damn. That's.. some plan, honestly. But that's really impressive! Maybe I could help you out instead, okay?"

He stares at me, calculated and distant. I see him glance at Sun, who had been distracted with the thought of arts and crafts still, before nodding. "Fine. If you do one thing I don't like, though, I'm gonna run away."

"Super! I promise you'll be okay with me."

"I mean it! I'll run and hide in the scary walkways! I'll never get caught, never!"

"Well, I believe you. Vanessa, the girl you met, was very sad when she had to try and enlist the help of the other guards." I pause momentarily before squinting at him with a furrowed brow, "Say, now that I know your name, maybe we can find your file and contact someone on the outside! That way you can get out of here a little safer and a little quicker."

He frowned deeply, but just nodded his head. The idea to get out of here sooner was tempting, but he was clearly losing hope already. Eventually, he turns back to the desk and points at it, "Can we still check out that desk? I still wanna, uh... be able to get into safer parts. I.. I guess."

Weird, but okay. "Yeah, c'mon. Then we can get out of here." We both make our way to the desk as Sun still seems to excitedly put together.. whatever he wanted, and part of me imagines that it would be easiest to just have some arts and crafts fun with Sun, but I had to remind myself my job came first, unfortunately.

I'll make it up to him, surely. As we get behind the desk, Gregory is quick to look through drawers and even get a flashlight of his own from one of our many battery station.. things that my friend informed me of when I was getting the job. He seemed proud of himself, stuffing it in his khaki pocket awkwardly before glancing around more.

Eventually, as I just watched him, Sun rushed towards us holding a colorful box full of delightful crafts, but his tone seemed worried as he noticed where exactly we were.

"Oh, uhh.. uuuuhhh! Friends, frieeends! I brought my glitter glue! My— My googly eyes too! I can't reach you back there, so.. so please, come with me and we can have immeasurable DIY fun!" Guilt churned in my stomach. This guy would probably cry if you told him Santa Claus wasn't real, so I decided to walk around the desk and talk to him. Crafts were fun, anyways.

"Aw, Sun, we could probably spare a few minutes! The others are just.. worried about Gregory, that's all. I'm sure a few minutes wouldn't hurt though!"

"Oohh, delightful! I'm—" Sun didn't exactly get to finish, as a loud end of an electrical whir echoed in the air, the lights promptly shutting off. I don't know what possibly prompted this, but when I looked at Gregory, a shining security pass was tightly in his hands, "No, no! I don't understand!! I— I told him, the lights—!" Sun let out an utterly uncomfortable shriek, grabbing at his metal face before collapsing in front of me. Gregory occupied himself with his watch and backing away with wide eyes, and I quickly kneeled beside the animatronic. Sun twitches uncontrollably on the padded floor, and while I thought this could be signs of a malfunction, the bright, warm colored plating ticked and folded into a deeper blue palette. His eyes glowed red, and sure enough, he was standing himself up as an entirely new being.

"Naughty, naughty.. Didn't he warn you about the lights?"