WELCOME TO TALLY HALL!

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙀𝙇𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉: 𝙵𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 - 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚛 𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎?

Lake was pacing around in front of the stage, still nervous from the dream she had earlier that morning. Until the gate creaked open. She jumped and got into a fighting pose, only to see Bora walking in with a questioning expression. "DANG IT, BORA! You SERIOUSLY  have to remind me whenever you're coming around!" Lake yelled with a slight disappointment. Bora put his hands up apologetically. "My bad." Bora apologized as he walked up to the animatronics to make sure that they were okay, then he whispered to them. "What's going on with Lake?" Ross shrugged. Rob did a questioning pose. Zubin looked at Andrew. There was a slightly awkward silence until Andrew spoke for them. "Don't ask us, ask Joe." Bora then looked at Joe and repeated the question. "She's had a weird dream." Joe then explained what happened in the dream to Bora. He looked back at Lake. "Oh, I see." Joe then gave a really sad stare at Lake. "That dream really affected her. I mean she just met us again and she really doesn't wanna lose us." Joe said. "I get it. I feel the exact same way right now, that's why I volunteered to do night shifts again." Bora crossed his arms. "But we also suspect that the murderer may be coming back to 'kill' you again." Bora slightly raised his left eyebrow while looking at Joe. "But how? We're robots now." Ross was confused. "Lake did say something about the man in the dream holding an ax in his hand. An ax can cut through anything if you use enough force..." Joe claimed his opinion. Lake was now sitting down with them, taking a few deep breaths. "Hey, Lake!" They all said at the same time. Rob walked up to her and put a hand on her back. "Are you okay?" Lake smiled. "Yeah, I'm doing better now." Lake looked into the dark, starry sky. "I'm still kinda worried about it... I mean we keep thinking River's the killer, but what if it was a false alarm?.." She asked with a bit of fear as everyone else walked up behind her and tried to give her comfort. 

Meanwhile, In his kitchen. "River" was drinking yet another cup of black coffee, and he was wearing all-black clothing. He then put down the cup. "Ah, y'know what?" His mid-deep Boston accent spoke. "I'm getting tired of hiding behind this stupid Aussie weakling. It's time to get serious." He smiled evilly as he put on a black full-face mask with a bit of white on the right corner. He walked out of the kitchen, grabbing an ax on the way out of the front door.

Back at the carnival, Lake was in the arcade area watching Bora play a Dance Dance Revolution match with Joe. She was isolated from them, however, still remembering the voice that was talking to her in that dream. "...They have a life...and by they you mean the men you're trying so desperately hard to save.... How pathetic..." and the note that she found in the sand. She cringed so hard at those thoughts. "Hey.." Andrew said softly. Lake looked at him with a calm, yet slightly solemn expression. "Are you okay?" He asked her. Lake sighed. "I mean I'm less fearful about it, but I'm not really okay." She uncrossed her arms. Andrew opened his arms, causing a long, awkward silence between them. "Come on." Andrew smiled as Lake walked into him and let him hug her. "Don't cry or anything. I'm still a robot, y'know." He laughed. Lake laughed along. Once they stopped laughing, Andrew asked. "You want me to sing a song?" "Um, sure. I guess. I mean you're at least trying to help me feel better, right?" Lake smiled. "Yeah, um..." Andrew thought about what to sing and then he sang the song that came into his head.

(a/n: song starts at 0:15, but this song is my most fave edu song. Also for the Tally Hall newbies, edu is Andrew Horowitz.)

Lake smiled at the song that he continued to sing, and she felt the weight of the dream just lift off her shoulders and fade from her mind. She was only focused on the comfortable vibe of the arcade room, and the warm voice near her that was singing his song. As soon as he was done singing and released her from his friendly and caring embrace, Lake chuckled a little bit. "Thanks, Andrew. I kind of needed that." Andrew just gave a thumbs-up and turned around, he started to walk to where Ross was playing Taiko no Tatsujin again. Lake smiled at the aura in the room, enjoying the light vibe of the room. Until an ax split the relaxed vibe in half and hit the wall, Lake looked at it in shock. "Damn it, I missed!" said a mid-deep voice in a Boston accent. Bora then walked to the ax and snatched it off the wall.
     The animatronics, especially Ross, looked even more shocked than Lake did. "Holy crap, that almost hit me!" Ross exclaimed. Bora walked out of the arcade room with the ax in his hand, only to see a blonde-haired man in all black and wearing a full-face mask. "I don't wanna assume your identity, even though I already am. So, who the hell are you?" Bora said with an acerbic tone. The man then ran up to him and quickly took the ax while running past Bora, entering the arcade, and immediately decided to take a swing at Ross with the ax, only for Lake to run in and grab the man's arm, stopping him from doing so. "You guys, run!" She yelled at the animatronics and they all followed her command. Everyone except Joe. "I dunno who you are, but why are you hurting them?" Lake yelled the question while trying to keep her grip strong. He eventually broke from her grip, causing her to fall. He then put on the Aussie accent, while taking off the mask. "Aw, c'mon Lake. You don't remember me?" Lake was shocked, well, not really shocked, but.. y'know... "River?" Lake asked as she got up. "River" laughed maniacally in his natural voice. "Yeah, no. Not really. My real name is Clay." Clay smiled. "And you, my 'friend,' should have never volunteered to take this job! Now you're just an obstacle in my path, and you know what happens to those!"
          "Actually, no, I don't." Lake says jokingly to try and calm herself down, but that didn't work.  "Well, you're about to find out, buddy!!!" Clay raised his ax, ready to kill Lake until, CRASH! Lake opened his eyes to see Joe, facing her and looking her in the eyes. "JOE!" Lake screamed as he continued looking at her. She slightly noticed the sparks and wires coming out of his back, then she looked back at his face. "La-a-ak-ke.. there is no way... that I am letting you... g-g-g-get, get ki-i-i-illed... by some0NE like hi-i-im." His voice started to glitch a little bit. His abdomen hatch opened up to reveal his claw and he quickly got up and turned to attack. Clay screamed in pain as he noticed the cut across his chest and fell. Lake watched as Joe was standing in front of her, facing Clay while staring him down with an empty-eyed look of intimidation. Every time Joe took a step towards Clay, he would move back. His claw, now bloody, raised. "A-any, any last words?.." His glitchy voice spoke. "Yeah, you're wasting your energy!" Clay said as he mustered every bit of his strength to get up and try to attack Joe, but he dodged it and grabbed his arm, and tightened his grip. Clay screamed in pain as he heard the cracking sound of his bones. Joe threw him out of the arcade room. Bora and the other animatronics were shocked when they saw Clay flying past them, violently hitting his back against the tea-cups ride, Clay had eventually gained unconsciousness as he says, "This... isn't over... yet!!!" They were even more shocked to see a slightly broken, bloody Joseph walk out of the door with that same intimidating look. He walked up to Clay. "I bel-belie-e-e-eve, believe that it, it, is ov-ov-over...." His glitchy voice said as his claw stabbed right into Clay's chest. Joe then fell out from the last of his energy being used. "JOE!" Bora and the rest of the Tally bots yelled as they ran up to him. Lake also ran out to see what was happening and noticed that Clay was dead.

Everyone looked at Lake as she ran up to Clay. "I'll deal with him, you guys try to fix Joe." She commanded. The men nodded their heads and picked Joe up to carry him to the parts and services area. Lake took Clay's left leg and dragged him out of the carnival, into the parking lot, and put his body there. Once she entered the carnival again, she decided to mop up the bloody mess on the ground, clean up the teacup ride, and also clean up the arcade area. Before that though, she took off her high-top sneakers so that the blood underneath them wouldn't leave a trail. Rob walked out of the parts and services room to check on Lake. "Wow, you really cleaned it up, huh?" He joked as he walked up to the ax that Lake forgot about that was near the teacup ride, picked it up with his metal hand, and followed Lake to the parking lot where Clay's body was lying. "Yeah, I did..." Lake replied as Rob put the ax down next to Clay. "So, I guess it's over, huh?" Rob asked as he looked at the dead body. Lake looked down at it silently as Rob continued. "Once the night's over, you can get the volunteer employee paycheck and go back to your normal life. He looked up at the night sky. Lake was still quiet, until...