The sweet smell of vanilla cake filled her nostrils from a nearby birthday party. There was the sound of children's laughter as they jerked the handles of arcade games and ran around on the checkered tiles around her. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a place she didn't recognize. A restaurant of sorts, one that she has never seen or heard of before. Party tables lined the floor and bright, rainbow lights hung and spun on the ceiling. Maybe it would've been exciting to be in a place like this to her, but for some reason, she felt hollow and empty.

But at the same time, she felt more open to herself. She couldn't quite entirely grasp the incredibly complex situation she was in, especially at such a young age, but she doesn't need to understand it to not come to terms with how she felt about all of it. She understood that it was inherently wrong on all levels, especially if the 'game' that's being played is won, but she couldn't quite grasp on who was the villain and who was not, perhaps only time would tell. She resonated with the fact that many unfortunate souls would suffer the same fate if she didn't try to stop it from happening.

She saw the many children play games around her. They ran past her to the multiple attractions in the area, she simply stared at her feet in somber acceptance. The curtains were closed on a big stage near the front. She felt like an outsider. A ghost compared to these smiling faces. She stood, with a solemn look in her dull eyes, in a crowd of joyous laughter and families. It felt like everything she was before was lost... Everything she took for granted was taken away from her. Now, she didn't know what she was anymore. A child? She dreamed of feeling like it. Has it only been a few hours? That can't be right, why does time stretch so long into infinity?

The children nor parents did not notice the lone girl who stood still and silently in the middle of the building. They were all constantly on repeat while she was in stasis. Did she deserve this? She thought numbly to herself. She doesn't know what she's done wrong to deserve this. But in some other thoughts, she knew it had nothing to do with whether she deserved it or not. She knew it was always going to be some twisted form of fate that tied her to this again and again. Tonight, she knew somehow, it had been planned for years. She was planned to be put here, as the victim who was unprotected and defenseless, to be murdered. She was meant to be another missing child on the paper, never heard, and never seen from again. But she knew she somehow drifted to become the outlier of it all, the one who would be cursed in the end if the game was won. When was she put in such an awful position? Since golden eyes laid on her, she was already placed far on top of the marble pedestal. But the major problem was, there was no way down but to fall.

Her blank eyes flicked upwards as she heard children screaming in excitement. Music began to play through rustic speakers. Cheery and happy music it was. But it simply echoed through her head like distant bells. Large red curtains opened up, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the bright light that shone on everyone from behind, but then she saw them. It was two figures, a bear and a rabbit animatronic. They sang and danced on the stage with simple music boxes playing in their chest. She stared at them with a strange sense of weariness. Something wasn't right.

They both looked identical. They had soft green eyes and lush, golden fur. The bear strangely looked like Freddy, and the rabbit looked like the depictions of the purple rabbit she's seen before, Bonnie, whom she never met. They sang innocently, they swayed and moved stiffly, so unlike the Glamrock animatronics. She never met robots such as these ones, but it felt like she had seen this a million times before. The scene suddenly faded out, and next thing she knew, she was faced in another direction of the building, the back of it. A birthday party was being celebrated, kids sang happy birthday and cheered. But it all faded out into the background when she felt a cold stab of terror as she watched some children break away from the group and run, laughing and squealing, to a tall figure who stiffly stood beneath the lights.

There was already a group of children surrounding it, she narrowed her eyes to observe it more. Then, she realized in slight horror, that it was the golden bunny, he was off of the stage somehow. Knowing the danger to be around such animatronics, she was weary that he would strike the children somehow. But he was stiff as a board. They cheered around him and circled him like rabid vultures, desperate for an ounce of his attention. But she felt chills up her spine when she realized he was not just looking ahead blankly, he was staring at her. The laughter started to sound more like screams.

The animatronics' eye sockets were empty, they were faced exactly in her direction, she felt his heavy stare on her that would make any person cower in place. It's permanent smile was pulled up into a massive grin that made sweat roll down the side of her head. The shadows seemed to surround him, but kids still laughed and squealed, pulling on his fur and arms. Begging for the yellow bunny to play with them. She was stuck watching in a dream-like trance, beneath those gaping sockets, she swore she saw the glittering of eyes in the hollow darkness. His irises were a glacial blue, almost as cold as his heart of steel and ice. So malevolent and hostile they were. So different, yet not entirely, from the golden ones that haunted her every step. The golden eyes that she knew watched her at all times from many places...

(Do you recognize who the villain is now?)

A voice asked from behind her. The girl turned around in mute surprise to hear another child speaking to her. But instead of facing another direction of the building, instead she was in that mysterious room in the back of the daycare. The one where Moon put her to sleep. The room was dark and dreary, the drawings of the Daycare attendant hung up on the walls looked eerie and morbid. There was a cold presence in the room, one that made goosebumps rise on her skin like little water droplets. She squinted into the thick darkness to discern any shape or figure, and suddenly, an arcade machine lit up brightly in the middle of the room. On its front were the words Princess Quest, a golden figure with a shiny sword was plastered onto its grimy side. The little girl took a step back in surprise at the sudden arrival of the machine.

(In time, you will learn who to trust. Even if it seems to be the most impossible of people.)

The girl blinked repeatedly in confusion when she realized the arcade was speaking to her in some disembodied voice of a little girl. She'd almost believed she was hallucinating, but another half was convinced that it was an outside force that was attempting to speak with her. Perhaps a spirit, maybe even a guardian angel. When she voiced these thoughts to the machine, bell-like laughter escaped from it as the entity giggled. It was strange because it felt like the presence was in the arcade, but the voice was in her head, reverberating with her own thoughts.

(You can consider me something like that.)

The voice sounded like it was smiling. The girl suddenly felt a strange and rare sense of comfort, like she was in some sort of safe haven with this presence. Like she was protected and cared for, but not in an overbearing way that made her feel trapped and vulnerable. The warmth of that feeling made the fear wash away slowly. The light gently returned in her eyes as a timid smile grew on the little girl's face. She felt like she hadn't smiled or laughed in forever. It felt refreshing and wonderful, like she was a kid again. 

(My name is Cassidy. I have been keeping watch on you (Y/n), ever since you first entered those doors. I knew you were the chosen one. I cannot protect you much, but I'm been here for you.)

Cassidy spoke gently. The screen of the arcade flickered and glitched, and it suddenly showed a pixelated gold figure, the same one on the side of the arcade.

(Me and you are both unfortunate children who have been chosen as lambs for the slaughter. Sadly, my fate had already been sealed a long time  ago.)

In front of the pixel princess, a shadowy, dark purple creature with rabbit ears appeared before it. The girl felt that familiar sense of dread grow in her at the sight of it. She watched as more strange shadows grew out of the dark like weeds and approached the princess who stood like a beacon in the middle of the chaos. Like a swimmer in bloody waters, shrouded by sharks.

(There are monsters everywhere. Some look human, others... less so. But just as there are monsters everywhere, there are allies.)

The girl hesitantly nodded. But a sense of shameful doubt grew in her. She knew not even the pixel princess Cassidy could protect her. Freddy was severely damaged. Gregory was not what she ever imagined him to be. Moon was insane and losing more of his sense of self by the minute. Chica lost her voice. The other two animatronics, especially Roxanne, proved to be hostile in nature. If anything, she felt alone most of all. Alone and afraid, alone in a world behind neon lights and laughing children. The dark side of the moon. The other side of the shiny coin. What was once a giant megaplex meant for fun and pizza was turned into the play board of some grand scheme, because this place was built as their final design. Gregory was made to tear it down, to be a hero, but his means of doing so were malicious and born from hatred.

(Remember my words... you are not alone. Do not give up on what you value most.)

But what does she value most?

Family? They will probably never return, they probably even want her gone. They left her here because she was a sorry child. (You're wrong about them.) Friends? All the friends she had happened to make were either torn apart or were the very attackers themselves. (There are people who care for you.) Her life? If anything, it was survival and fear that drove her on and on, that was not what's considered being alive. (You are so much more than this.) Her life was that of a normal child before it all, but after tonight, she knew she would never quite be the same. She was weak and helpless, useless and childish. (These are just the lies he wants to feed you.)

(The...lies he's feeding me?)

She opened her eyes. It was a dream, she realized in a hazy trance. She was still in the daycare backroom with the beanbags and drawings. But the arcade was still knocked on its side with spiderweb fizzers trailing its black screen. There was no pixel princess, shadowy figures, or disembodied voices. There was no yellow rabbit or children singing birthday songs. But she didn't feel any sort of relief that it was over. Moon was gone, she heard him frantic mumblings from outside the daycare. She couldn't understand what he was saying, she didn't really want to know what he was rambling about, anyways. It sounded like he was distracted with something, she heard the tinkering of metal pieces. Perhaps he was building something? She felt drowsy and heavy from the dosage he gave her, but she still got up on her two feet and sluggishly stepped out of the doorway in hopes of finding an exit.

She walked down a particular long hallway. There were dusty toys and plushies scattered on the floor as she took cautious steps to a long, metal door. She pushed it open, and was surprised to see she was in an unrecognizable place. It was a theater of sorts. There was a stage with some strange bots on it. They stood stiffly on it, their eyes were glowing golden as they stood in place. It felt as if they were staring at her as soon as she arrived from the secret passage, despite the fact that they faced blankly forward like statues, only twitching slightly. The girl shuddered slightly before taking a detour and making her way up the steps to the exit of the Daycare Theater, her footsteps echoing loudly on the tiled stairs.

Unbeknownst to her, there was a figure already on the upper floor. He was faced away from her. She stopped in surprise as soon as she saw his green and yellow shell. A pointy tail connected to him by multiple metal joints smoothly clicked to the side. His head slightly turned and she saw the soft synthetic red hair of his spiky mohawk and his long snout lined with sharp teeth. It was pulled down into a snarl that would make any child cower, it showed each of his individual teeth. He had flashy star-shaped glasses on, but she caught a glance of his gleaming, crimson orange eyes behind them. His smoldering gaze lined with hers, malicious and greedy like a dragon's they were. his previously resting sneer pulled up into a wide smirk at the sight of her. His fingers released from a tight fist and she saw long black claws shine in the light along with his spiked braces.

It was Monty Gator, the bassist.

(Y/n) took a fearful step back. He fully turned towards her, his frame completely blocked the exit like a barrier. He flexed his arms as he adjusted his neon glasses with one hand, a wide grin pulled on his face as he chuckled darkly to himself, his deep voice practically making the ground vibrant.

"Hey there, kid. I've been looking for ya!"

Sorry for not posting last week, I was super busy! But hey, Monty has been finally introduced to the squad, yayyyyy