Rock and Roll like Nobody Knows

Arising Enigma

Don had started to grow both concerned and curious with the Glamrock's behavior by the end of the week. Noting how tense they were when in the public, Monty not coming out of his room unless to perform, and even Gregory seemed to be on edge when staying the night in her room. Not to mention she never got the chance to talk with Freddy about what he needed to tell her.

She glanced over at the boy who currently held a flashlight as if his life depended on it. His eyes were heavy with sleep.

"Gregory." Her voice startled the boy.

He looked toward her, his tired eyes hallucinating to make the rabbit distorted. He blinked rapidly to fix his vision, eventually relaxing when seeing the friendly bunny he knew. Don walked over, sitting down next to him.

"Are you ok? You haven't been sleeping all too well lately." Her ears tilted.

"Yeah, yeah...Just not...sleepy..yet," Gregory passed out at the last word, the flashlight dropping from his hands.

Don laid a blanket over the boy, sighing in concern. She picked up the flashlight, however, her ears perked up at a noise from her Skating rink. Cautiously she exited her room, using the flashlight to light her path. The place was deserted, the odd delightful esthetic being replaced with a looming fog of dreadfulness.

She looked around, nothing seemed out of place. Another noise echoed in the distance. Being drawn over toward a door that led to the tunnels below she headed down the stairway. 

"Hello?" her voice echoed through the tunnels.

A shuffle made her jump, turning on her heels.

It was Ace.

"Ace?! what are you doing down here?" she whispered.

He only gave a half-lidded glare, seeming to be more focused on something else.

Don followed behind him, the two moving down the tunnels.

"So you gonna tell me why you're down here?" Don pressed, more so determined to rid the silence.

Ace glanced at her before focusing back on the path ahead. Don assumed he was going to remain silent.

"Don't know if you heard, but Rico's been put on hour shifts now. He snapped at a customer and cursed out a few in Spanish." Ace explained in a monotone voice, not answering her previous question.

"When did this happen?" Don looked at him shocked, why wasn't she told this.

"Three days ago."

"Then why are you down here?" she asked yet again.

"I have a feeling that lady you informed me of has something to do with it."

"How? She left the mall."

"No, she didn't."

Don stopped in her tracks for a second, "What do you mean by that." her tone changed.

"I lost sight of her when I turned a corner, I was following her to make sure she left...but she must've entered a restricted area."

"And how do you know that?" she questioned, not really believing him.

Ace turned to face the rabbit, looking down at her, "I don't, but something is going on," his ears twitched as he turned to resume walking, "You'll just have to trust me."

Don huffed but continued following. Her inner monologue arguing at her to just go back. The walk seemed to go on forever, the same metal walls and floor covered in wires began to kill off the eerie mood. 

Ace turned, eventually coming up to a different stairway. To Don's disliking they headed up, she started to worry about Gregory back in her room. 

They exited, coming out of an employee's only door. 

"I was right." Ace mumbled to himself.

Don glanced at him, debating if she should even ask at this point.

"This is the door she must've entered, that's the corner I lost her at." Ace pointed out.

Don walked over to check the plausibility of this idea. It checked out, she walked up to Ace.

"So what's the plan of action big guy?" Don wondered.

"Find the lady."

She stared at him, "that's it?"

He just stood against a wall, not changing his expression.

"Ok, well, where do we find this lady?" she pressed.

"She's probably somewhere in the basement, no one really goes down there," he looked around as  if someone was missing, "but we'll need help from the others if we want to find her soon"

Don hummed in agreeance reluctantly, she was starting to miss her isolated days when stuff like this didn't happen. It could've been the fact that it was late into the night or that there was now a possible intruder inside the mall threatening her and her friends, but at the moment she felt agitated.

That was...odd.

She never has been agitated with anyone. She stood for a moment, why was she annoyed with Ace. There's a major threat possibly on the loose and all she could think about was being annoyed.

Come to think of it she's been feeling ticked off with anyone, even the kids, but was always able to catch herself before she would snap. The last time she remembered not being ticked off so much was before her last maintenance check. The only thing that seemed off during the check itself was the new technician, she looked a lot like...

"Ace...I think we should talk to Freddy about this," 

"We'll talk with him in the morn-," he stopped mid-sentence when he saw the fear on his friend's face, "let's go give him a visit." he changed his initial thought and headed toward Rockstar Row with Don close behind.