No More Clowning Around- Sister Location (DISCONTINUED)

The Return of a Friend

-but the loss of a bond.

It seemed like forever had passed since Bailey had been put out of order. Taylor sat with his head laid low as Scott was still tampering with the bear. The fox let out a small whine, "Scotty, when is he going to come back?" The man gave Taylor a scoff- puzzled, "I don't know, Foxy." he murmured, "I still have no idea what's wrong. I've looked at it from every single angle..." Scott let out a long sigh, and Taylor's ears flattened, "Didn't Baby tell you what happened?" Scott froze, slowly turning to the pink fox, "about what?" Taylor blinked, "she obviously didn't tell you." He murmured with uneasiness. The fox paused, his tail nervously twitching, "So, I'm guessing you heard about the whole loss back at our restaurant."

Scott gave a slow nod- finding a good seating place to focus on what the fox was about to preach. "Well while all that happened," the pink fox trailed a finger along the stage, "Baby stayed with her while she was..." Taylor cleared his throat, "dying," Scott's eyes widened a bit.

"a-and she ordered me and Bail- I mean Freddy," the fox was fumbling on his words, almost spilling the bear's actual name rather than his stage name, "s-she ordered us to go after the guy that did it, and well," Taylor gave his broken friend a quick glance, lowering his tone as to not allow Bailey to hear. "While we were attacking, he pulled out some sort of weapon," the fox whispered, "as I was thrashing around with him, I saw him pull out something from his pocket, and before I could do anything, he aimed and fired at Freddy."

The sound suddenly rang through his mind- the horrid sound of splitting wires and the snapping of the taser hissed back to his memory. Taylor clenched his head, forcing the thought to die down, "I... I couldn't do anything." Taylor muttered, "I tried to help him up but he was gone..." the bear's frozen face of terror flashed in his mind again, the fox clenching his teeth, "Please," Taylor begged, "please tell me you can fix him." They locked eyes for a moment, the man staring into the glassy gaze of the fox. Scott gave him a gentle sigh, placing his hand on Taylor's shoulder, "Foxy, I promise that I'll fix him."

"So how have you been feeling, recently?"

Baby was glancing away from Ballora as the taller female was gently running her fingers through the redhead's bangs. "Okay, I guess." Baby muttered. Ballora didn't paused in her motions, "You know you can tell me anything, right?" the ballerina murmured, mustering up a smile. Baby didn't respond for a while before she suddenly grabbed onto Ballora's wrist, and pulled it down, pushing her face closer to the ballerina's, "I feel like it's my fault." Baby whispered. Ballora slowly blinked, and stared into the redhead's gaze, "What do you mean?"

Baby let out a long sigh, trying to gather her senses before she spoke, "I mean," she breathed, "I would have been able to keep her safe if I had just kept a closer eye on her." Baby reasoned. Ballora didn't speak for a little while, the redhead frantically staring into the ballerina's eyes to find some kind of reply. "Baby," the taller female murmured, "I don't know if there was anyway to prevent what happened." Baby opened her mouth to protest, but stopped herself as Ballora began to speak again, "But," Ballora felt a tiny smile tug at her lips, "I do know for a fact that you did everything you could to protect her." Ballora went on, "you really cared about her, and I know she cared about you." Baby's eyes widened and she felt a tear stream down her face, the ballerina was quick to caress her companion's face in comfort, "Baby, she loved you." Baby bit her lip, trying to hold back the cries but she couldn't. The clown broke, letting out choked sobs, and Ballora held a sorrowful expression, wiping away the redhead's tears with her thumbs, and waited for a few moments- allowing Baby's soft cries to fill the silence.

"Hey, hey," Ballora whispered, "look at me," the redhead paused in her sobs- still sniffling- and locked eyes with the ballerina as told, "stop beating yourself up about it, okay?" Ballora murmured in her usual low tone, "it wasn't your fault." Baby glanced away for a moment, only for the ballerina to quickly catch it and she tickled the clown as a sweet punishment, Baby giggling as a response, "What did I just say about eye-contact, young lady?" Ballora teased, chuckling as the clown tried to escape from the soft pinching. Baby stopped in her giggling after a few moments, the silence coming back, "Ballora?" the redhead questioned.