𝓞𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓪 𝓓𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓻 (Freedom AU Book 9) [FNAF/UT]

✦Chapter Six✦

She sat quietly on her own. The room's interior came off as white, and glowy. Almost as if lost in a distant memory. The details were extremely fuzzy. She could feel herself running her hands along her violet, braided hair that came over her shoulder, reaching almost to her lap. She heard footsteps, followed by someone taking her hair from her hands gently.

She couldn't see much of what was happening, but she could hear the sound of scissors cutting away at her hair. In seemingly a blink, the back of her neck felt bare—as though her hair was no longer resting against it. She reached up, finding that her hair had been pulled up into a bun. She spoke up involuntarily. "Thanks, Jo."

"..."

"Where's my sister?"

Everything turned a blinding white, as her surroundings seemingly disappeared. A beeping sound could be heard, making her instantly think of a hospital. Voices were speaking to each other, though they sounded like a distant echo. For a brief moment, she felt a twinge of pain. The feeling of pain was drowned out by her new surroundings.

Glancing down, she saw her outfit had changed. She was wearing a ballet costume. It looked familiar... as though she'd seen it just recently. The white tutu with multicolored diamond patches on it was giving her extreme déja vu. But it also looked as though it had been ruined, torn up by something. The white of the fabric was half covered in dirt. It's prior beauty now ruined. Before she could even put a finger on why it seemed familiar, something got her attention. Two people stood before her, their features hidden by blinding white. "... She'll do perfectly." One said, turning to shake the other's hand. "... She's all yours."

"... You'll have my payment by the end of the day." The handshake ended. "... Pleasure doing business with-" The person was interrupted when she spoke up involuntarily again. "Where's my sister?" Both paused, and turned to look at her. One scoffed, even. "... Already on the truck. Now, if you'd just be patient, you'll be brought there in a second." The person told her, tone irritated.

The two continued to speaking with each other, but the rhythmic beeping from before had returned. It was drowning out the sound of their speech. The twinge of pain was back, however, it began to worsen. She slowly felt herself begin to double over—the two figures slowly disappearing back to whatever distant memory they'd come from.

"... How're her vitals?" One voice asked, as she slowly lowered herself to the ground. "... They're looking good, for now." Another voice replied. She felt tears beginning to form, and threatening to fall as a result of the horrible pain. "... Okay, we'll-" The first voice was interrupted by a third's voice. "... We need to adjust the dose, she's waking up." Before she could hear any more of the conversation, everything went dark—pain numbing once more.

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"Mina, I needs the green!" Rosette said, noticing her younger sister already using said crayon. "Just a... second!" Mina replied, sounding utterly focused on the part of her drawing she was working on. "But I needs it nooooow!" Rosette told her, a bit dramatically though. Glancing over to her, Puppet simply said, "You can be patient for a minute, Lovebug." The 'Minireena' let out a quiet huff. "Okay..."

"I thinks I'm done, daddy!" Lucette announced, holding up her drawing. She had a proud look on her face. "Can I see?" Lucette nodded, handing her drawing over to their father—who was laying on the floor, stomach down, to stay eye-level with his daughters. He took the drawing in his hand, looking it over. It was a drawing of their whole family, outside in the sun. Something felt off, however. He took a moment for a double-take before realizing what it was. "Sugarplum, where are you in the drawing?"

"Huh?" He handed it back to Lucette, pointing out what he meant. The rest of the 'Minireenas' also looked up curiously to see. "You're missing!" Lucette took the drawing, and looked at it closing. "Are you kiddin' me?" Puppet laughed a little at the cute, yet annoyed exclamation. "Don't worry, there's still room for you to draw yourself, Sugarplum."

As Lucette returned to her drawing—grumbling a little as she did—Puppet took a glance to a nearby wall clock. The time read as 5:04pm. It was getting late, and Ballora and Ella still weren't back. Ballora had given no indication that they'd be gone to Ebott City this long... Maybe it was time to give his wife a call, ask if everything was alright?

Before he was even able to do so, Puppet's cellphone rang. Sitting up, he took it out of his pocket. Ella was calling. With a hum, he pressed 'answer'. "Ella?" He began, hearing her give a short greeting on the other end of the line. "Are you and Bal' almost home?" A brief pause. "... No."

"What? Why?" Puppet asked her, "Bal', she u-um..." There was another brief pause. He could tell just by Ella's tone of voice that something wasn't right. "Ella, what's wrong?" Puppet asked her, tone lowering a little as the girls continued drawing away. "'Mare, she's..." Ella took a steadying breath. "... in the hospital."

"What?!" Puppet exclaimed, instantly grabbing his daughters' attention. Lucette spoke up. "Daddy?" He gave her a small, forced smile, before quietly leaving the room. Lowering his voice again, he continued speaking with Ella. "What happened?" He could hear her shaky breaths from over the phone. "A car swerved... h-hit her on the sidewalk..."

"Is she... okay?" Puppet asked, already completely riddled with worry. "She's, uh... still in surgery... I haven't been told... anything yet." Ella answered. Taking a cleansing breath of his own, Puppet then asked her, "Are you... still in Ebott City?" Ella gave a confirming answer. "What's the hospital's name? I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I-It's um... hang on," Ella paused a moment, assumedly to look for something indicating the name of the hospital. "Ebott City General Hospital." She told him. "Okay... if you see Ballora before I get there, tell her I'm on my way." Puppet instructed her. "Yeah... okay."

"And tell her..." He paused, chasing away any thoughts that were even remotely morbid and pessimistic. "Tell her, I love her." Puppet asked. "I will." Ella assured him.

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A.N. Eyooo, an early chapter~

Next is on Saturday, still. Stay tuned-

Bonus: