Unraveling

Guilt, Remorse, Regret

Moon felt a thrill of excitement as he chased after you, the sound of your panicked footsteps echoing through the halls. He loved the feeling of power and control, knowing that you were at his mercy.

As he pursued you, he couldn't help but feel a sense of giddiness, reveling in your game of tag.

He had planned this chase carefully, making sure to scare you just enough to make you run but not enough to make you stop altogether.

he got close to catching you a few times, let his claws catch on your shirt. He could have easily caught you if he wanted to.

he watched you stummble out the doors in the loading dock and out into the world. You continued to run and Moon did not. He watched gleefully from the door. You were already leaving anyway, but now he was confident you'd never even think about coming back.

He's sure this is the right choice, and although Sun will hate him for it, it will keep them safe. Moon has just gotten rid of their biggest liability.

as you ran towards your car he saw you turn and look back, he gleefully waved goodbye forever.
But as you got in your car and sped away his eyes drifted to the string hanging out of the door, the feeling of it's gentle tug at his fingertip, begging him to follow and his head began to churn. He kind of hopes you won't be too shaken up by this, the look you had in your eyes when you looked back. why did you look back? what where you looking for?

Moon solemnly turned back to the pizzaplex and shut the door, his head spun and his gut felt heavy. if he had a stomach he might just throw up as the overbearing feeling of regret crashed down on him.

it's for the greater good
he repeated to himself

it's for the greater good
He and Sun will be safe from decommision, and you'll be safe from him and the virus.

it's for the best.

The clacking of your keyboard drowned out the noise of the patients chatter amongst the waiting room. to make up for lost time your boss had basically been having you on full time, nine to five everyday.

You weren't complaining however, you got to help people and all you had to do was sit behind a desk and know how to navigate a computer. plus you got to hear about all these crazy cases from your collegues working in the clinic.

It also distracted you. you had driven home with no breaks and slept heavily for a day straight before getting back to work, you had decided you didn't want to think about it yet, that you weren't ready to decide whether you'd go back or not.

besides, there's many stories about soulmates meeting too early, leaving eachother alone and them coming across eachother again naturally. in fact it was so common that it was actually kind of a romance trope in media at this point.
(I imagine in a world with soulmates, these stringless individuals or anything really that goes against the typical idea of having a soulmate would be seen as incredibyly romantic in entertainment and media within their world)

You felt bad for Sun, he seemed so excited to meet you and so desperate for you to stay. But Moon was terrifying! he almost killed you. But then again, Sun did say he was acting out of fear, out of self-preservation.

"Hey!" You flinched and looked over to your co-worker
"I've been trying to get your attention for hot minute now, why are you so spaced out?"

Crap. You were thinking about it.

You waved it off
"Oh my coffe machine broke today so I haven't been able to fully wake up yet." You lied.

"Right, well would you mind covering the Children's wing for a moment? I need to go on my lunch break and Sarah is no-where to be found as usual."

tsk tsk, classic Sarah.
"Yeah sure thing! I'm assuming I just need to call for Dr Wayworle if anything happens?" You asked.

"Yeah or just scream help into the hallway, that should do it." Your coworker joked.

You upended your spot, packing up your laptop and backpack before you started heading over the the Children's wing.

you weren't technically qualified but it was better than nothing and typically nothing too exciting ever happened, most kids were bedbound anyway and if they weren't, their parent were there supervising them.

One particular kid loved to play dolls with you while you were there. His parents weren't in the picture and he was constantly moving between government housing and hospitals. No one wanted to adopt a terminal case.

you hadn't seen him in a few weeks since your impromptu roadtrip and you were slightly giddy at the thought of surprising him.

you set up your stuff at your desk then noticed something familiar in the garbage bin beneath the desk. It was his doll, which you only now realised to be extremely familiar, one side yellow with a big wide smile, sunrays poking out of it's soft plush head and the other side blue with a soft calm smile and baby blue eyes with a nightcap drooping over it's head. The character never meant anything to you before, he had never mentioned where he had gotten it.

But now, here it sat discarded, unloved and alone in the trash. Your eyes welled up as you leant over the counter to peer at the bed you'd spent many afternoons re-enacting great battles, dramas and romances with the boy and his dolls only to see a little girl with an arm cast sitting up in the bed chatting with her mother and father sitting to the side.

it was a long twently minutes as you waited for your coworker to come back and man her post. you were lucky none of the parent came to ask you questions. the regulars know you're just the receptionist and the others must've not wanted to bother you while your face was clearly spotty red and your eyes were wet and puffy. 

When your co-worker came back she instantly seemed to know what was wrong, her eyes glancing to the doll you clutched in your hands and the bed with the new occupant. She hurredly helped you pack up, assuring you she'd let the boss know she'd let you go home early and why.

Before you knew it you'd found yourself on  the bus home, still clutching the doll and eyes feeling hot and irritated with the contant stream of silent tears.

you got a few odd looks however the goth chick with the crow on her lap and the man with a saxophone case and a stack of pizzas across from you definitely averted most eyes away from your misery.

glacing down at the doll you felt a new wave of guilt well up to your throat at the sight of it. at some point in your journey it had gotten tangled up in the string around your finger. Red thread weaved around it's stubby arms and legs tangling it up helplessly.

Slowly but surely your day got worse and worse. A loose thread in the doll's stitching got caught on your zipper and tore away, leaving a seam-like gash along it's side.

As you stepped of the bus it started raining.

A motorcyclist sped through a puddle right next to you, getting you drenched from head to toe in muddy city water.

You tried to use paywave on your phone to buy some cheap and self indulgent dinner becauuse you know you won't have the energy to cook, but your battery died and you were sadly declined from recieving your meal.

You got home and sighed as you stepped in the door.
you got to work, putting the doll and your clothes through the washing machine before going and having a shower. getting changed, putting the doll in the dryer, microwaving some mac and cheese then sitting down with the doll and a sewing kit, gently stiching up it's tear with the tv babbling in the background.

You started to calm down, you felt clean after your shower and you fell into methodic the rhythm of stiching. You were going to have a good night of binging tv shows under a blanket with this doll safely tucked between your arms.

"And for our next segment, new reports indicate that the nutorious franchise, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza may be in dire straights once again after their recent comeback within the past few years went up in flames last Sunday night. After last week's report on the incident, new information has come to light indicating that nothing in the building was salvagable for the company and many fire hazards such as locked fire escape doors were found after the fact by authorities."

Your Jaw dropped as you looked at the scene. you had only been there a night prior to when the reported fire occured. how did you not find out till now. You look down at the doll. First the kid now this. you really need to keep up with the news more.

You let yourself cry again, Your body shaking with regret. you should have atleast said goodbye. you should have atleast given them closure. How could you have been so selfish?

(Your brain didn't even register the fact that if they were dead the string would have disappeared. You're still new to the whole having one in the first place.)

and though your body was racked with sobs and sniffles, your eyes were dry. as you had already cried all the tears you had on the bus ride home. It didn't feel like enough, you felt they deverved your tears, that you need to cry for them. You got up a filled a glass of water for yourself and began sipping on it, pacing the room back and forth, the doll sitting on the couch and the tv still showing pictures of flames and wreckage.

A sudden knock on your door startled you out of your pacing.

great now what? someone coming to tell you your mum died? a stray dog that's going to look at you cutely and then immediately die on your doorstep? what universe? what?

You clenched your teeth and seethed, griping the door handle and swinging it open, your hair a mess, fresh new tears streaking down your face, dressed in fuffy grey pajamas and staring directly at a tall nervous yellow jester covered in soot.