A Guard's life

A family of steel and rust

A/N: Say hello to the song that made me create Ethan. Why did it have that effect? No idea, but it did.
Enjoy the chapter!

-

There was no light, not at this point in time.
Too early.
Ethan Cross sat on the bench, outside of the light of the street lanterns, the only thing alerting to his presence was the burning end of the cigarette in his hand.
A bad habit, he knew.
His children never liked the smell of cigarettes that much.
Part of him wondered if he picked the habit up after Evelyn's death to in a way deter the haunting memories of her.
He should quit.
He was trying to.
But in the haunting cold, it was pretty much the only thing helping him endure it. Sure, it may was because it widened his veins- or made them smaller? He couldn't really remember, nor did he really care.
Quietly he looked at his hands in the dark, the distant light made them look almost blue.
Just because you can't feel the cold anymore doesn't mean it isn't eating you any less.
Rubbing his head along each other, he glanced at the dog to his feet, who almost had melted with the darkness surrounding him. The creature still confused him, especially since he wasn't sure where he came from and why he chose to stay by his side or leave respectively.
It was a stray, so he might knew how to get out of places, not to mention he refused to be locked in. So that part made sense- somewhat. But why he sometimes laid at his feet like a loyal friend and at other times disappeared completely was still a mystery. What do you want from him, you weird dog?
Shaking his head Ethan pried his thoughts away from the creature. He had bigger fish to fry.
How do you kill the immortal?
Probably by destroying whatever kept it alive.
It was still so alien to him- all these- things.
Immortal murderers, machines feeding of the dead to fulfill whatever dark intend they have been programmed into them and apparently a cult surrounding said murderer and machine.
How could it have went unnoticed until now?
"How could he NOT have noticed?
Six AM.
Late enough.
Standing up he walked towards the apartment block, the dirty grey block in shadows of the approaching day.
As he looked up the building, he saw two small lights in a window.
Or maybe it had been eyes.
Wait, did the two colorful men managed to-
He hasted towards the door and paused for a moment, before calming himself down.
There was no way either of them could have gotten here, except if they were here all night since before he arrived at Jeremy's home and that could not be. It were probably some sort of normal lights or reflection of something in a distance.
Marion, up at the window looked over to the sleepy looking Jeremy, who had made himself a hot chocolate. "He is coming in."
Jerry yawned, mildly confused. "Wh- whoooo?"
"The detective."
"O-Oh... already?" The kid looked out, but the man was already at the door, ringing. As he stumbled towards it, Jerry just muttered "... I hope he got enough sleep...", then he shortly paused. "Hey- Marion... do you HAVE to hide?"
"Why do you ask?" Confused Marion looked at him.
"Well- you may be able to explain parts better than I do..." Uncertain the kid shrugged.
It made some sense to the animatronic, but he shook his head. "... I am not certain he can hear me."
"What?"
"You heard correctly. Not everybody can understand..." The Marionette shook his head. "That would make things a lot easier, you know? Getting the complaints straight from the source... but it seems as if only people either on the payroll, or in long contact with the restaurant and robots themselves can actually be reached."
"Why?" Still completely clueless Jerry looked up at the machine.
"... I will be honest, I have no idea. All I know is that once associated, their... resistances seem to erode? Walls... grow thinner... it is simply... easier to connect." Struggling to express himself, the puppet managed to give out some sort of verbal frown. "I am not quite technically speaking, even now."
"So- what are you doing now-? Nevermind, we have a bigger issue- we need to ask him to-" But at that point it knocked on the door and interrupted Jerry, who seemed mildly distressed, still opted to open the door, with the animatronic disappearing in a dark corner. "Hello, sir!"
"Good morning, Jeremy. I hope I didn't wake you up." The detective sounded a lot more collected than in the night, though his eyes wandered around suspiciously and his shoulders seemed tense.
Feeling a wave of pity, the boy smiled widely at him and signed at the couch. Not everyone was cut out to interact with Freddy's so much. "No, I usually stand up around this time! Please, sit down, may I offer you something to drink?"
"No... no, I am fine." The man didn't look fine in the slightest, but people had to decide to some degree themselves what they wanted and needed. Even if Jeremy didn't like it at all, he had to accept this. "I wanted to continue the talk from yesterday..."
The boy nodded, it had been expected. "I said it yesterday and I will say it again... none of my coworkers are murderers."
It was obvious the detective didn't believe him, but to be fair, for good reason. "Yesterday night, before I arrived at your home, I had a rather enlightening chat with four of them, all admitting to some degree that they have knowledge of the inhuman happenings of Freddy's, but you stay firm on to your statement that you have no knowledge whatsoever of any shady happenings?"
Uncertainty was visible in Jeremy's face, as instead of one question mark, there appeared two. "... yes? Who told you that? If it was Mike, you need to forgive him- he has no idea what kind of jokes are good and bad at any given time..."
"Three more have agreed to the truth of his statements." Slowly growing impatient under his calm facade, Ethan sat back and sighed. "I applaud your efforts, I really do, but your fellow workers haven't cooperated with you on this. Give up."
"I don't work with murderers, sir-" Shortly the kid paused, clear nervousness suddenly popping into his face.
It irritated the officer. Either this kid was a horrible liar, or the best liar there was. "... not even you seem to actually believe that."
"I... well..." He moved around uncomfortably in the chair. "... can you count the animatronics as murderers...?"
What a fucking joke.
Ethan was certain the kid was messing with him. "Maybe their creator. Too bad both shortly after each other disappeared."
"Oh, I don't think it's the maker's fault here..." Shaking his head, Jerry tried to gather himself. "Please, sir, would you kindly tell me what exactly happened yesterday and what you have been told?"
Now, that was just amateur. Trying to determine how much he knew, so they could decide on how much they HAD to admit to...
Crossing his arms, he leaned back, knowing he had a guilty man in front of him. So young and already so rotten. A shame. "I have been told all that is necessary."
There was a deep frown on Jeremy's face, as he unconsciously shook his head. "No... I don't think you were. But, uh- that can wait! More important is right now- you said there are still animatronics in the forest? How did they act?"
"... they threatened me and the others." Shortly he tried to remember if they maybe seemed to show preference or more aggression towards one of them, but no, not that he would have picked up on it...
"They threatened you?!" Earnestly shocked the kid stood up. "That is not okay- so they- and they're still roaming around? We need to get them out of there!"
His voice sounded so honest. It was scary.
Ethan kept quiet, with the clear expectation of the boy to continue... which he did.
"They are probably scared and confused- They don't deserve that!"
It was after that it finally clicked.
Maybe Jeremy wasn't a cunning, manipulative mastermind.
Maybe Jeremy was straight up insane.
After considering the signs pointing at that, the man across from him became a bit more hesitant. How are you supposed to deal with such a potential wrench in the system?
Okay, IF Jeremy was insane, then he would mean well, even if being completely ignorant to the happenings around him.
But that was only if Jeremy wasn't pulling a masterful lie.
Uncomfortable Ethan considered his options. There weren't many, he was running out of time, or at least he knew he would have to expect to sooner rather than later not be able to finish what he had started.
If he could get Jeremy to do him a favor...
Suddenly the telephone rang, both of them turned to look and out of the corner of his eye he could see Jerry slightly cowering. What was he scared of?
At least this meant that he could be scared.
Shortly the thought of him or someone he loved maybe being threatened by the purple guy- it would be out of his usual line of acting, but for sure not impossible.
A second nobody moved, but as soon as the leg of the detective only twitched slightly as if to move, the boy was jumping up and rushing towards the telephone, saying louder than necessary "This is probably for me!"
Duh.
When he accepted the call, his voice first opened with a hesitant "H-hello...?", but almost instantly he calmed down. "Oh! Dave! Yes? Yes, I'm pretty much ready to go. What? No... I mean... I can't really..."
With a hint of guilt he looked at the officer, before freezing up and sounding astonished. "WHAT? No! NO WAY! Really? That is- that is GREAT! But- uh, what about the animatronics in the fo- ah. No, okay, I understand...? I think I know what to do anyways- yes. Yes, you're right. Uh... o-okay, I will be there as soon as I can!"
With that he cut the line and smiled at his visitor. "Good news and bad news- what would you like to hear first?"
"Bad news." There was only apathy in his voice at that question.
"I sadly have to make you leave already- I'm really sorry! Two times in a row... but! On the good side of things, we may have an easier time to get the animatronics somewhere safe... I- yes, we will talk later about that one, okay?" With a reassuring smile Jerry gave him a thumbs up, before putting on his shoes. "We can walk a bit together-"
"Dave Miller called?" That was fishy. "Have you maybe considered that it might be a bad idea to associate with him in the nearest future, after he has confessed a murder?"
"... I told you he was only joking..." But Jeremy didn't sound all that comfortable.
"He could hurt you, Mr. Fitzgerald. Have you thought about that?"
This resulted in something akin to a scoff, even if only a small one. "Don't start like that too..."
"Too?" Seemed like he would maybe find another person he could try to convince. "Who else is talking like that to you?"
"Oh... a- a friend..." And there he was right back to being nervous. Not the fearful kind of nervous, but the worried kind of nervous. Worried that maybe something uncomfortable would happen.
"Sounds like someone I would enjoy to meet." Ethan tried to sound as neutral as possible, showing his intense interest would only scare the kid away.
"Maybe... but later." Bingo. "For now, I need to go."
"To Dave?"
"Well-" There was more hesitation and both of them jumped a bit as something inside of the apartment seemingly fell down.
Yet, despite the unusually loud falling sound, Jerry kept putting on his shoes and got ready to leave, ignoring Ethan's irritated expression.
"Don't you want to check that out?"
"Oh, that was... something just fell over." Uncomfortable the kid itched his arms.
"That sounded more like a normal falling over..."
"Go and check it out if you want to, I guarantee you, there is nothing there."
Why was the kid so adamant of it?
Slowly Ethan began creeping towards the door he heard the noise out of, ready for an attack-
As he opened it, nothing was there. Only a stack of comic books had fallen out. For another moment he checked every closet and all other things that someone could hide in, before putting them back onto the shelf and returning to the patiently waiting Jeremy.
"Nothing, like I said, right?" For some reason the boy seemed resigned.
Then again, it was probably somewhat uncomfortable to have a stranger searching through your home.
"... your comics fell from the shelf."
"Manga." There was a hint of annoyance in his voice, but not directed at the former policeman. "... I probably should put them into a safer spot."
"Probably." Together they left the apartment, for the time needed to climb down the stairs it was quiet, only when they finally arrived at the bottom, Ethan spoke again. "... maybe I should come with you."
"I don't think that would be good." The boy shrugged at the offer. "You two don't get along well, do you...?"
If he thought about it, maybe in a weird sense of the way, Jeremy would be safer not openly associating with him. They would not try to hurt one of their own, correct?
-
Dave put the receiver down and expectantly looked at Old Sport, who was playing around with the mobile phone they had taken from the detective. "Told him what you wanted!"
"Good job, David." His voice seemed to have a mildly sarcastic undertone and deep down the Purple Guy was mad at himself for dragging Old Sport into the forest- and at the animatronics that he blamed as the main cause for why his partner acted so weird again.
He was FINE when they burnt them, but now they showed back up, he was all... mean... again! There had to be some sort of connection. Fuck, maybe he should burn the whole forest down to cheer Old Sport back up.
There was nothing but silence afterwards, silence that Dave wanted to desperately break. "So, uh... Sportsy..." He froze up as Old Sport's eyes were set on him. They seemed unusually bright and hurt to look at. "... why now? For a while I didn't even think you wanted to go through with the Jerry-animatronic..."
"He is the weakest link." The answer was cold and short, as if he expected Dave to already understand. Thankfully, after the guy stayed quiet for a minute longer, he continued. "It was somewhat useful in the beginning, but with the detective now running around, I don't want him to become a liability."
"But... a bit of liability can be fun, right?" Uncertain Dave answered, not liking the way Old Sport was speaking in the slightest.
"To who?" The sharpness in his voice made the other man jump a bit.
"To... us...? Because we can, uh... be spontaneous and clever...?" It sounded pathetic, even in his own ears.
But, surprisingly Old Sport suddenly sounded soft and warm. "Please, why are you so uncomfortable with this? It is not like he will disappear... we just make him proper part of the family. There is nothing wrong with this."
A bit reassured the Purple Guy calmed down, but looked still unsure. "It's just... it's really rather sudden... didn't even finished the animatronic..."
"It will be fine, again. We can perfect it once we have the spirit."
Yeah. Old Sport was right.
There was no problem here.
They did it a bunch of times before-
Well, not THEY, but he and Henry.
And... they were fine, besides being disgruntled about never seeing their parents again.
Meanwhile, Jeremy had nobody to miss, right?
They would all still be with him...
Both of them headed towards the door, waiting for the boy to arrive.
What made him so uncomfortable?
It wasn't even that Old Sport sometimes changed his mind. He himself did it all the time.
It also wasn't the violent streak he developed from time to time... it wasn't really uncommon, not for anyone at Freddy's.
Dave sighed, defeated. Apparently he was just weird. Fall and winter stressed everyone anyways.
They didn't have to wait long until it rang and the kid stood in front of them, out of breath.
Putting on his best smile, Dave put an arm around him. "Jerry! Ay! Took ya long enough! Gettin' rid of the puppet ain't easy, is it?"
"S-sorry, I still had a visitor..." Seemingly somewhat embarrassed the kid bowed his head in a semi-apologizing manner.
"At 6 AM?" Old Sport raised an eyebrow, then met Dave's gaze. 'See, told you he would get pressured', it said.
"Well, it's a good time as any, right? He was also very nervous about the animatronics in the forest- and I mean, you were the one who told him you were murderers!" Straight to the point apparently, his voice had a lightly accusing tone to it.
What was questionable was if the tone came from them fooling around with Ethan and scaring him like that, or if it came from him accusing them of being actual killers. But, if it would be that, he wouldn't come in all that casual, right?
Probably.
Still, with a bitter taste in his mouth, the Purple Guy had to admit his friend being right. This wasn't a good position for either of them to have Jerry running around like that.
Especially when he continued. "S-so... what actually happened? Why did you tell him that? Are the animatronics actually in the forest?!"
Raising his arm, Orange Guy managed to make him quiet down. "All to his time. Yes, we told him what he wanted to hear... mainly because he seemed about ready to accuse Mike of the crimes... and if Mike would have attacked him as his temper dictates, he would have gotten convicted without a second thought. It was better to distract the detective, would you not agree?"
Both of the guys he was talking to appeared surprised, with Dave's surprise carrying worry and Jerry's surprise carrying relieve. "Makes sense! But, uh... it isn't really nice to do that to him... he lost his daughter to these tragedies!"
"I know, I know." Slowly Old Sport nodded, as Dave frowned even harder. Since when did Old Sport know that? "But we did not have much of a choice, did we?"
Uncertain Jeremy agreed, then opened his mouth to continue asking bothersome questions, yet before he could, the older man put an arm around him. "Now, Jeremy, the rest has to wait for now. We need to show you your animatronic!"
Excitement and the need to first fully finish and understand the subject both struggled with each other in Jeremy's face, but when the Orange Guard slightly increased the pressure, he seemed willing to drop it for now. "So- but we do know what to do about them, right?"
"Correct. All we need to do is to lure the five back here and down where we safely can store them."
"Five?"
Shortly he shook his head. "Excuse me. Four. I was distracted." With that he lead Jeremy towards a small room filled with tools and blueprints, took a wooden board from the ground which revealed a staircase and led the man towards and elevator hiding under it.
Instantly the kid was utterly distracted and amazed.
A secret elevator!
How magical!
Enchanted he skipped into the metal cage, looking interested at the blueprints and sketches hanging on the walls, as Dave and Old Sport joined him in the small space, the metal maws closing behind them for good.
Slightly the kid yelped as the machine started descending, faster and especially louder than he had expected.
Nothing unbearable.
Just unexpected.
It had something downright ceremonial to travel with in there, none of them speaking a word. Shortly Jerry wondered if this was how the preacher felt when on his way to speak to the people in church...
But then the doors opened again already and opened into pretty much pure blackness.
Curious he stepped forward, before pausing and waiting for some sort of explanation.
Dave opened his arms.
"Welcome to the workshop, young one! Here's where we do the good shit! Made most of the animatronics down there! Or at least designed 'em!"
Appropriately impressed Jerry gasped, before giving the darkness another good look, hoping to now be easier able to spot whatever stuff could be standing in the dark. Helpful as always, Dave had gotten out his flashlight to illuminate all that Jerry seemed to have interest looking at.
Continuing with his introduction to the place, since nobody else would, Dave began leading them. "Your animatronic is a big deeper in! Ya know, we need to protect us from burglars and shit, so you first gotta get through vents before getting to the good machines."
"The how do the animatronics get out?" The voice echoed a lot through the small space, but that didn't take away from the deep interest audible in it.
Surprisingly enough, Old Sport shortly took over explaining. "We have a second elevator- more or less a business entrance. But getting through there is even harder than getting down this way."
Dave smiled a bit.
The guy still didn't know about the third elevator, did he?
Thank god.
The silence coming from Jeremy implied that the boy was satisfied with the explanation he got.
When they finally emerged on the other side, they left another break to give the kid in their midst a chance to take the place in. Naturally curious he went along, touching most of the mask and other little thing he saw, giggling when some of them would make a noise.
Slowly Dave's glance wandered over to Old Sport, who looked awful- no offense. He had taken to lean against a wall, his chest shivering with each breath.
Partially Dave felt the need to call out in order to check if everything was alright, but another part knew that wouldn't be welcome... it would draw Jerry's attention and ruin their plans-
Oh to hell with their plans. "Old Sport? Are you okay?"
In the dim lighting of the room, the barely glowing eyes of his friend flickered, before becoming a bit brighter again. "I... I think..."
As expected Jerry was now worried too. "D-Do you have problems, Old Sport? Should we go out ag-"
"NO." It was said with a lot more anger than necessary and instantly the Orange Guy calmed down again, his voice barely more than a mutter now. "I said I- I am fine... after all- we can't let Jeremy... wait... any longer."
His breath was still a little shaky, but the smile on his face was firm again.
Both of the other guys seemed about ready to argue, yet Old Sport lead them further in. "Get going!"
They hesitated for a moment, but followed loyally.
And finally it stood there.
Still not fully finished, the shining metal of the suit alternated with the darker, heavier metal of the endoskeleton, the faceplates slightly opened and reflecting the light from the torch, creating almost the illusion of movement in the not functioning machine.
But... it was dead.
For now.
Instantly the kid ran up to it, screaming in utter delight. "OH HOLY HECK! IT LOOKS AMAZING! IT IS SO COOL! DID YOU REALLY MAKE THAT OVER THE YEAR?!"
Not really, mainly because Dave was too distracted with Old Sport and his robotic family. "Yeah...?"
"IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL! SO DETAILED! IT EVEN HAS THOSE CUTE LITTLE TAIL FEATHERS- THEY MUST HAVE TAKEN AN ETERNITY-!"
Bit by bit Dave moved backwards, to ensure he wouldn't get hit by the blood splatter, as he took out his remote control to time the attack. They hadn't had the time yet to program an attack trigger for the machine on its own, mainly because they only started last night with actually building on it with the intend to finish it.
They more or less had just worked on it from time to time when they felt like it- adding all sort of weird feature for no reason but because they could.
Wall climbing, the capability to stuff 50 burgers at once down the throat, a button that when pressed said "please don't press te button" and the ability to store three whole swans inside of it for up to three weeks.
Not really on... any attacking mechanics- besides the swans. Nothing really capable of killing a person quickly and efficiently.
So they simply installed a big claw that would snap out and crush whatever stood in front of it at the press of a button and called it a day. It would have to be enough.
With a deep breath he got ready to press the button when Jeremy was back in position-
"Stop." The voice was almost toneless and weak.
Surprised Dave looked over at his friend, but did as asked, glad over this out. "Jerry! Come over, I'm thinkin' Sportsy ain't doin' so swell!"
With that he grabbed his friend, picking up- relieved when there wasn't any sort of complaining from the other guy. Jeremy was there too almost immediately, a panicked expression on him. "I-Is he alright?"
"... no..." It earnestly sounded pathetic, even if at least he himself answered. "... having a bad day... caught something in the forest..."
"Ya can still get sick?" Almost shocked Dave paused, before instructing Jeremy to help him out
"... caught dumb bitch disease..." At least he kept his humor.
While helping him in and out the vents, Jerry shortly touched his forehead to check for heat, but didn't notice anything. Not that it meant a lot, but it was a tad reassuring.
"Did... did building the bot do that...?" Weirdly guilty Jeremy looked at both of them. "Did you overwork yourself? I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"Nah.. I just..." Old Sport looked exhausted. "... thought about bad things lately."
"What kind of-"
"Jerry." With a bit of a firm tone the Orange Guy changed the topic. "Did you like the machine?"
Unsure the kid hesitated, then smiled lightly. "Yes! A whole lot! It is just as cute as the funtimes! I never expected you actually MAKING it when you showed me the blueprints- this is a dream coming true!" Sweetly the kid laughed, all giddy. "My own animatronic... part of Freddy's..."
"I'm glad you liked this thingy."
When they finally made it back up, Dave took Old Sport aside, leaving Jerry with a cup of tea and Alice, who was glad that somebody paid attention to her.
"Okay, Ole Spore, what happened down there?" It wasn't meant to sound pushy, but he felt as if Old Sport was keeping things from him... and going on the offense might clear things up. "I thought you wanted to adopt him... you can't if he stays like that- he ain't gonna live even a quarter as long as we do!"
"I know... I know, I know. But we can't keep him anyways..."
"Why's that?" His voice was a bit softer, mainly because he wondered what changed in his friend's mind.
"Everybody changes... I'm not the same person I used to be..."
"But I love ya anyways!" Dave tried to cheer him up, as he sounded even more depressed than before. Not by much, but by a bit.
Old Sport paused, almost frozen, then looked away, shaking his head. "Don't use words you don't understand." Slowly he relaxed though, Dave's words had calmed him anyways, despite his harsh rebottled. "And- sure, you still like me... but... you don't know who I was before. You only know this version. You don't know what changed, you don't know what I've become... or what I could have been."
This was a heavy topic, supposed to be handled with care... and the Purple Guy knew he was horrible at this kind of stuff. Okay, he HAD to try. Slow and steady wins the race. "What got ya thinking about this, Sportsy?"
A long pause ensued, one that Dave couldn't read. Finally, Old Sport opened his mouth. "I recently dug up a few tapes..."
"What tapes?" This earnestly raised suspicion in him. Freddy's had all sort of cursed tapes lying about, tapes that could mess up your head, not only via weird voodoo magic, but by their content alone. "Where did ya even get them from?"
They wandered in another room to get out the tape recorder and the tapes, while Old Sport just shrugged. "I wanted to prank-call the factory, but after three hours and twelve minutes, the person on the other side just started crying and begging me to leave them alone, they would give me all the tapes they had laying around. Seemingly someone didn't want to hear about my biological explanation for why fingers should actually be called small tentacles."
"Fingers ARE small tentacles, I thought people knew that already!"
"Sadly no, so we gotta spread the word!" With a small snicker Old Sport put in the tapes, going quiet as soon as the tape was on.
Phone Guy's voice sounded through the room.
"H-Hello, hello? Is this thing on? Uh..."
Another voice joined, with a slight laugh. "I think the light signals that."
"I, uh... it would be annoying to have to run through this all again..."
"I know, but let's just try it. Doing it again wouldn't be, uh- the end of the world anyways." The slightly smoother voice snickered again. "You're really infectious with all those "uhs", you know that, sir?"
Sounding slightly tense the Phone Guy coughed. "... not only when it comes to that... u-uh... a-anyways, you think we can begin now, Simon?"
"Yes sir! But... we could... you know... end the tape, hear it back and then we can be sure it works...?"
"Ah- y-yeah, makes sense. Okay, how do I end this darn thing..."
A click sounded through the room and they both were left with silence.
It took another moment, but then Dave spoke up. "What about it, Sportsy?" There was a weird tone in his voice.
"Well... it's Simon." The odd intonation of Dave's words made him hesitate.
"Yeah?"
"He sounded... fairly happy."
"How do ya even know it's our Simon?"
"Why are you suddenly so annoyed, Dave?" Irritated Old Sport stepped away from the table and his friend, inspecting him.
"I dunno, maybe the fact that you just went off, ordering stuff behind my back, kept it secret from me and then getting all mushy over a Phone Guy again!
"I- I didn't think it was important!"
"Everything ya do is important to me!" Unhappy Dave shook his head. "I don't like that you're off doin' stuff, not lettin' me be part of it and then you suddenly start to act all weird... I worry, have no idea and then it turns out ya been off listenin' to this shit, no wonder you're in a bad mood!"
"It's a bit more than a bad mood..."
"Then what is it, Sportsy?!" Finally his voice quieted down again. "... talk to me for once."
It was quiet for a moment, neither of them new how to continue.
But then Old Sport wrapped his arms around Dave, holding him close. "... I'm sorry Dave."
It stayed quiet for another moment.
"... we should probably let Jeremy go home, shouldn't we?"
They returned to the living room, where Jerry currently tried to do a handstand with Alice doing a perfect one right next to him.
Cheery Dave approached him. "Ay, buddy! Sorry we had to cut it so short- we couldn't even activate it... promise we're gonna do it around Christmas, alright?"
"Oh- Ouch-" The kid fell over as he tried to get up, now laying on the floor, sprawled out. "I- uh- don't worry! Don't rush, especially when you're sick! You never had to make one for me in the first place- I'm really thankful you're making it for me in the first place!"
Softly Old Sport smiled, looking at the kid and wondering... but staying quiet.
Like a second nature, his friend took over. "We're gonna see, pal! But for now ya gotta go home, we gotta-"
"Get ready for work?" Jeremy perked up. "I shouldn't have been around for so long anyways! Sorry, should have thought of it! We'll be seeing each other!"
"Jerry, hol' up a minute!" Helping the boy up, Dave led him to the side. "A few things... first up-"
He handed him Ethan's cellphone. "- good ole Ethan dropped that. Give it back to him for me, will ya? Oh- and secondly, about the robots..."
He leaned over to tell him something quietly, then patted his back.
Quickly Jerry nodded and waved at the two, before hasting out, a tad guilty.
Darn, he had overstayed his welcome... he is so silly! Darnit, darnit, darnit!
And now he wouldn't even manage to get home to call Ethan to inform him he had his phone-
Oh well, work comes first... so better off to work, he could talk to him later, right?
Or maybe someone had the number of his home there...?
Who knows, he had to try.
But...
... as luck would have it, he didn't even have to!
Ethan was sitting around on a bench across of the street, making a short hand-movement when he saw the employee walk up.
"Ah! Mr. Cross!" Relieved Jerry ran towards him, quickly handing him his phone. "Here! Dave found it- I should give it back."
Surprised the detective accepted it, a tad distrustful. Almost he wished he were wearing gloves. "... thank you. Jeremy, did you-"
"I talked to Dave and Old Sport and he told me-" Uncertain Jerry looked at the guy. "... he really only cracked a joke. If Dave would be a murderer, he could have killed me many times, so-" Breaking of, he shook his head. "Mr- Ethan. There is one other thing I have to ask of you..."
For a moment the man only listened to him with one ear, as he noticed a new message on the display.
Voice recording in fact.
Jeremy just continued, not noticing. "... you need to come to the forest with me."
That was when he snapped back up. "What?"
"... please." Serious the Dayguard looked up at him. "... you have to come with me and help me try to check on the animatronics. I- you have to help me, nobody else can!"
For a moment Ethan was suspicious, but then he realized... yes. He probably actually was, seeing as everybody else had conspired against everybody with reason in this place.
The voice mail demanded his attention though, so he decided quickly for what he wanted to do- and he wanted to face the animatronics and neutralize them. "I will. When and where?"
"I-" Surprised that the man agreed so quickly, Jerry paused. "I- don't have a plan yet... b-but it is good to know you will help me. I will- call you?"
"Good idea." Standing up, he paused shortly. "I have- to attend matters. Please excuse me."
Not waiting for the response, the man hasted away, opening the file to listen to it.
It wasn't a big surprise when what he first heard was purple-
Wait. A New Yorker accent. Not purple.
What was wrong with his brain right now?
"'Ello, Ethanol?" The man sounded rather cheery, though there was a certain coldness hiding directly under the surface of his tone. "How are ya doin'? Got through the night well? Anyways, just callin' ya about the robots. Did you call the police already?"
With a cold shock he realized he didn't.
His head started hurting. Why didn't he do that?
There were MURDERBOTS in there and they wouldn't disappear so quickly-
It was as if it someone- something just took it artificially out of his head and now he could feel the hole in there... after it had been forcefully back into place.
But Dave's recording already continued. "Don't. Ya know, you could probably get 'em out there. Just... get some big van and all the men they send you to help and catch those animatronics. You could maybe even use them as a reason to shut us down. But, if ya think about it... some policemen would fuckin' bite the dust, because you're a lunatic and they ain't believing you when you tell 'em to bring actual weapons and to be careful. You're just a delusional, burnt-out old guy to them. Also, I'll be gone again if the place shuts down. Ya won't know where to and ya won't know if I'd might be pissed enough to come back for you."
The threatening tone subsided, he almost sounded sympathetic now. "Nobody goes into the forest, especially at night, so don't bother and do the RIGHT thing. Instead of calling the police, call your family."
Ethan's blood ran cold at the mention of that. This wasn't even a thinly veiled threat.
"Ah, I remember ya tellin' me about it! Location... 30... 20...37... fuck, maybe back at location 12? One of those. We were such pals, best buds, ya gotta remember!" He laughed loudly, a sound he never expected to sound so disgusting.
"Had tough times with them, but ya still love them, don't cha? Well. Maybe not. I wouldn't know. Greet lil Johnny from me, won't cha? Tell them ya love them. We never know what might happen, right?"
The messaged ended and Ethan had to sit down somewhere, if possible someone people wouldn't stare at him.
Oh god.
What was he supposed to do.
Silently he stared at the still empty streets.
It felt like he was a puppet dragged roughly along on strings.
But... he had barely any choice, did he?
Hesitantly he tipped in the number.
Long tones followed each other, signaling him to be patient.
Part of him actually hoped for her to not pick up.
Another part feared it.
Then it clicked and the man almost wanted to hide his face.
Before she could ask who was calling, it fell out of him.
"Clara." More he didn't have to say. They hadn't talked in a while, but he could hear the sharp inhale followed by a pause.
"Ethan." Her tone was frigid.
It quieted down again.
There was not much he could say.
Or do.
"How are you doing?" It sounded lame, but he earnestly wanted to know.
"What did you do again?" Sharply she asked, expecting the worst.
Then again, he had called for less than stellar reasons before.
Still, he felt a bit attacked. "Nothing! Can I not call from time to time just because I want to know how you and our son are doing?"
"Are you drunk?"
"No." The man answered firmly, he moving from leg to leg. "Listen, Clara, I just wanted to check in. You are still- I still-"
Another pause, none of them wanted to be the first one to say anything.
Finally, he coughed. "How is he? John?"
"Alright, I suppose. School is giving him a bit trouble, but at least he has his friends." The voice on the other side had calmed down a bit and almost sounded tired.
"Is he... there right now?" Hesitantly Ethan tried to push how much he could allow himself.
"For the love of god, it's seven thirty, Ethan. He is on his way to school."
Ouch.
It had been expected of him to know that.
But he had lost sense of time.
"I'm- sorry." Again, silence. "... tell him I called and would like to hear from him sometimes."
"... I will." Clara sounded almost melancholic.
"And- tell him I love him. Both of you."
"Ethan, for the love of god, what did you do?" There was a real tone of fear in her voice.
"I..." He coughed. "... nothing, really. I just... I think I might be close to solving this. And... I wanted you two to remember that."
"... please. Please don't do anything stupid." For a moment, it was almost as if he was talking to his wife again, instead of a distant acquaintance.
"I won't." He lied. "Speak to you soon."
He cut the line and stared at his phone.
So close.
And if it would be the last thing he did.
He would end this chain of tragedies.

-

A/N:
... now how do I get a break from dramatic developments for the Christmas chapter?