The Miss and The Music: A Marionette X story

Bully

•Mars's P.O.V.•

I was walking beside Janus, feeling the tension build the farther away I got from the pizzeria. I hadn't been outside the building before now, so this was a huge leap for me. But for some reason, with Janus beside me, I feel a little more at ease than if I had been by myself. I felt a poke in my shoulder, and looked at her. She was about a foot shorter than me which I thoroughly enjoyed.

"Here."

She was holding out one of the things she always had in her ears. I saw how the other one sat in hers and placed it in mine, smiling as I heard more of her music pouring through. I loved the sound of it.

"Thanks." I smiled. "So do you think you're coming back for another night?"

"I sort of have to." She laughed. "See, Katie and I stayed after hours Saturday night and we played security guard. Of course we had no clue what was going on, but instead of pressing charges for breaking into his establishment, Mr. Fazbear offered Katie and I a job."

"Sounds like a fair trade." I laughed. The sound of voices reached my ears, and I looked up to see a group of boys walking down the steps of a large building. This looked to be where Janus was headed, so I guess this was the school, and those guys were classmates.

"Shit." She sighed, looking panicked.

"What's wrong?"

"Those guys and I don't exactly have a good history with each other." She took a deep breath, and I watched as the boys walked closer.

"Well well, if it ain't little Janus." The first one said. I felt like he was the only one who talked. I still stood a good six inches taller than him. "And who's this guy? Another piece of emo trash?"

"Just go away Jordan." She said, trying to stand her ground.

"Oh? And why should I sweet cheeks?" He grinned, moving closer to her.

"Because no one wants to deal with your bullshit today." She snapped suddenly. "Why don't you just fuck off for once?"

"What did you just say to me?!" A look of anger crossed his face, and he pulled his hand back, like he was going to slap her. Janus was cowering beside me, and upon seeing her like that I felt just as angry as he looked. I grabbed his wrist, squeezing with all my force.

"You don't hit girls." I growled.

"What the fuck are you doing to me?!" He screamed, just as I snapped down on his hand, pulling his arm down as his body followed. His face hit the pavement hard, and I let him go finally.

"You lay a hand on her ever again and you'll have to answer to me, got it?" I crouched by his body, saying it loud enough for everyone to hear.

They all nodded, helping their friend to his feet before running off. I felt arms around me suddenly, and looked down to see Janus hugging me, her face buried in my chest. She was crying, I could tell that much.

"Thank you..." She sobbed. "No one ever stands up for me."

I wrapped my arms around her, slowly at first, but I held her tight against me. I could smell something sweet on her, some type of perfume that complimented her looks. There was nothing I could do but smile.

"I have to go, will you be at the pizzeria again tonight?"

"I can if you want me to be there."

"Thank you." She hugged me tightly before running off, leaving me to return to the building on my own.

I walked in the sidewalk, gazing at the street and the trees. Everything smelled like fresh grass and pine needles, a great departure from the constant smell of pizza and rust at the pizzeria. I'd be walking Janus to school a lot more often now, if she'd let me.

The doors were open when I got there, and upon looking at the clock, if was only six forty five. There would have been a good fifteen minutes to screw around, if there hadn't been someone waiting for me. Three someones to be exact.

"What am I in trouble for this time?" I rolled my eyes, taking a seat on the empty blue box that I called my home.

"Why were you in the office with that guard?" A boy asked. He was wearing ratty blue jeans and a red tank top, his blue hair stuck up at odd angles. His green eyes glittered with resentment.

"That girl is off limits from now on." I stated simply. "Touch her and I'll send you to the scrap heap Bonnie."

"Take it easy puppet." Freddy said, looking between us. He had on slacks and a button up shirt, a black bow tie sitting in the collar. He even had a top hat over dark chocolate hair, which I loved to steal and hide on occasion. "We're just wondering what was going on."

"Yeah, we can't have you switching sides on us." Chica piped up, crossing her arms in front of her 'lets party!!!' tank top. A pink circle skirt sat on her waist, and she had on orange sneakers that looked just like the ever so popular vans brand. Her hair was cut asymmetrically, one side sitting at her jawline, then curled around behind her neck to reach her shoulders on the other side.

I just sighed, looking up at them. "Those two security guards? The girls? They aren't even adults yet. We don't kill kids. And we don't let The Withered kill kids."

"He's right." I turned to see BB sitting on the prize counter, with Mangle beside him. He was wearing the same clothes he would be as an animatronic, blue jeans, blue and red polo, and that shitty pinwheel hat over his ginger hair. Mangle was a girl, even though everyone called her an it. She had a red scarf tied around her neck, and was wearing a white blouse that was unbuttoned a button too far. She was wearing pink pants made of some shiny material, and was wearing boots similar to mine. There was a black eyepatch over her right eye, the other was shining gold. Her hair was short and spiky, a black bandanna tied around her forehead that made it even worse.

"We can't kill them. Besides, they're being punished enough already." Mangle sighed. "They're the two that were in the office last Saturday night. I overheard you and her talking in the office, she's working here instead of being sent to court, right?"

"That's right." I nodded. "If it's alright with you guys, tonight I'd like to introduce them to all of us. The real us. The withered don't usually come in here or the party rooms, so we'd pretty much have free reign if we were careful."

"I mean, if you think it's a good idea." Chica said warily. "How do we know they won't just go and start spreading more rumors about this place, calling us possessed, that kind of stuff?"

"I don't think Janus wants any more attention called to her than she already has." I whispered, noticing that is was almost opening time. "Alright, places everyone! Wednesday rush day, we all know what's coming once schools out."

"God, I think if another toddler touches me I'm going to go haywire." Mangle complained as she walked to her place in kids cove.

"Now now, don't want to end up like the old Foxy now do we?" I snickered.

"That isn't funny, Marionette."

"Mars." I corrected her.

"What?"

"Call me Mars. It's easier than the Marionette or the puppet."

"Whatever you say, baby doll."

I scowled as she snickered away, lifting up the lid and grabbing something off of the bottom. It was my mask, looking just as crisply painted as ever. I slid it on before hopping inside, my body back to that of a stick figures. Got another fifteen hours to go before Janus's next shift.

***
Yay! The powers back! Praise the electricity gods! Thor? I don't know.
Anyways, here's an extra chapter here for you to celebrate. I'm also putting up the second one in yet another new book. I know, it's bad. Sweet dreams guys~