"Are you talking about the other kid here, the little brat with weird eyes?" Roxy said with a raise of her metallic eyebrow. The fingers that brushed through the girl's hair stopped in place. Roxy seemed to think about the girl's warning, but then the animatronic wolf began to laugh. "What's that little brat going to do? Kill me with a yo-yo?"

The girl shook her head desperately as she turned to stare at Roxy pleadingly.

"You don't understand," the girl said urgently. "He's not a little boy, he's... he's a..."

"A machine?" Roxy finished the girl's sentence as she put a clawed hand on her hip. Her neon eyes glinted with amusement. "Yeah, I'm aware of his little situation."

"Wait, you know about it?" The girl asked with wide eyes. She thought it took everyone a while to figure it out. And when they did learn that he was something more than he let on, it was always too late. "You know that he's not like me? You know that he's dangerous?"

"Pfft, dangerous? What's so dangerous about him?" Roxy scoffed with a dismissive wave of her hand. The girl felt her hope drop to the bottom of her stomach. She pointed at her neon yellow eyes, "I see everything, sweetheart, just because he's a scrap of metal does not make him any sort of threat."

The girl stood up from her seat, her hands outstretched like she was going to shake the wolf's shoulders in a desperate fit of anger, she wanted to so badly. "You must have noticed how the others are gone, right?"

The wolf's ear flicked as the animatronic thought on when was the last time she saw any of her bandmates. When she last saw any of them was early in the night when they met up for their protocol. There were two kids stuck in the Pizzaplex, they were assigned to capture them. The wolf shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, I've noticed. But their business is theirs, I don't really care where they go."

"They're all dead, Roxy!" The girl said abruptly with an exasperated tone as she gestured wildly outside of the Photo Booth. "They're all dead and he killed them! And- and you're next! I don't know what he's planning but you need to hide!"

"I don't need to hide over some metallic brat," Roxy said with a hint of stubborn pride in her tone. The girl's jaw dropped in surprise and anger as she realized that the animatronic would not listen to her, no matter what she said. "If he wants to try me, then he can try, alright. But I'm not playing games with some little robot kid."

Roxy reached out and ruffled the girl's hair affectionately. The wolf smiled at her with her sharp teeth. "Besides, I'm sure the others are alive and kicking. You probably saw something weird and let your imagination run, kid."

The girl slowly shook her head in pure horror as he slowly backed out of the Photo Booth. Her imagination? Nothing about this was a delusion, the fear she felt was not a delusion! The girl instantly became a mix of terrified and offended. Roxy saw her start to leave, the wolf raised an eyebrow at the girl's expression.

"Hey, kid, I get it, it's dark and scary here, but you shouldn't go running off on your own," Roxanne said as she took a step towards the girl. "It's my task to retrieve you and-"

The girl ran off, her little legs carrying her as far as she could go. She was scrambling towards a vent. She couldn't deal with this anymore, no matter what she said, no one would ever listen.

"Hey, stop!" Roxy called out urgently from behind her as the wolf made chase after her. Roxy was surprised at her sudden shift in behavior. "You- Come back!"

The girl slipped in the vent and crawled through it quickly, the wolf called out again but she continued her vigorous escape. Roxy realized where that vent was going and she quickly took a detour. The girl ended up on the other side and ran forward but then she tripped over a prop and fell, scraping across the floor. The girl clenched her burning knee with gritted teeth, she heard heavy, metal footsteps and looked up. Roxy stood over her with her hand on her hip, the wolf was frowning down at her with a sympathetic expression.

"I'm here to help," Roxy said as she held out her clawed hand for the girl to grab. She hesitantly grabbed it. The wolf pulled her up to her feet, the girl stared down at her skinned knee with an ashamed and angry expression. Roxanne gently patted her head. "Hey, it's gonna be ok, I'm gonna let you out of here as soon as it hits six. For now, I can take you to my room to stay for a bit."

The girl looked up to Roxy with a hopeful expression. "Really? You're- you're gonna help me? You're gonna get me out of here?-"

The girl was cut off as Roxy suddenly pushed her backwards, she hit the floor with a flinch before she looked up at Roxy with a confused expression. But something suddenly zipped past her. She watched in what felt like slow motion as Roxy was suddenly hit by a speeding go-kart. It was just a shadow of red and white, and it instantly crashed against the wolf.

The tall animatronic was swept off of her feet by the sheer force and went flying, bits and pieces broke off of her as she screeched through the air. The wolf was smashed against a wall in a flash of sparks and severed mechanical limbs. An awful crackling sound met the girl's ears. The wolf twitched sporadically, and then Roxy was motionless. The child felt her entire body go paralyzed with shock from the neck down.

Footsteps languidly walked past her, a shadow passed her like some wicked ghost. She watched him with wide and pale eyes as he stepped towards Roxy, a seething aura followed him. Gregory shot her a glance from over his shoulder, and she could tell he was beyond outraged. She felt a rock drop into her intestines. He then turned back and glared at Roxy who started twitching beneath the kart, the animatronic's hazy eyes were on the girl who could only sit there, trembling uselessly on the ground. He grabbed the wolf by the snout and made her flickering gaze look into his golden optics, instead.

"I'm starting to think my message wasn't clear enough," Gregory said calmly with an emotionless face. Roxy twitched sporadically beneath his touch. But he wasn't talking to the wolf, no, he was talking to the girl. "Whoever approaches you with the intention to 'help' you, I will destroy. It's a simple concept to understand, because they do not want to help you, they want to hurt you."

He suddenly shoved his hands in Roxy's eye sockets with a spiteful aggression. With a hard tug, he pulled both of her eyes out with the horrible snapping sound of circuits snapping, Roxy fell back down and hit her snout on the smashed go-kart. Her hollow eyes blankly watched the ceiling. Gregory stared the neon optics in his hand for a moment before he tossed them in the girl's direction. They rolled across the floor till they landed to her feet, still slick with black oil. The girl felt a sickening pit grow deep in her stomach, she felt the need to throw up. Bile rised up in her throat.

"You're... you're a monster," the girl said with a horrified and angry glint in her eyes. She bent down and carefully picked the eyes up and held them close, they were still warm. She struggled to even get the words out of her mouth, her anger bubbling between each word. "You- you destroy everything and everyone I know! What do you even want?!"

"After a lot of contemplation on my own," Gregory stated, completely ignoring her biting words. His eyes were dark and blistering, like dimmed streetlights. "I've realized something crucial."

He stepped towards her, she took a step back. Gregory tilted his head at her slightly, reading her every movement. He then smiled at her ominously.

"All that's been on my mind was you from the start, and now I want to be a part of your life forever, but then I thought about us long after all of this is over," Gregory said, his gentle smile turning into a deep frown. "You are not forever, while I am. I will live on and on, while you grow old and eventually die. I realized that I couldn't settle for that, I realized that I can't let you go even in death."

The girl felt her skin prickle with goosebumps. The implications were everywhere with that statement, but one thing was clear, he wanted to stay with her even at the end of her days. She imagined having a monster next to her for her entire life. A monster in the closet, a monster under her bed, a monster in the shadows, forever and ever. But the monster was real, not a figment in her mind, the monster was real and it wore a human mask.

She could imagine leaving this place with Gregory, her parents would meet him and think that they were the bestest of friends who survived the scary and awful night together in the Pizzaplex, looking out for each other and caring for each other. He was just another kid lost in the maze of corporate madness, just like her.

They would realize he had no one, no parents, no connections, nothing, and they would take him in. Together, forever, they would be. But she hated that idea, she detested it with all her being. She loathed him with all her being. And she never hated something so viciously before, he made her like this. He made her the hateful person she was, just like he was a hateful creature himself.

"There is a little something I learned from a long dig in the files of this place. Pieces came together, and I saw a bigger picture. I learned more about myself, and of my purpose," Gregory said as he slowly pulled the glass breaking axe from of his belt. The girl cautiously observed him. "When little humans like you die, your body leaves something powerful and invisible behind. It's called remnant. Some might even call it your soul, and it's a strange and little known substance."

Gregory looked up from his reflection in the gleam of the ax. "Remnant can get caught and trapped in places, and it stays there forever until it gets released."

"W-What do you mean?" The girl asked, but she felt like already knew the answer. She already knew what he wanted. "What does this mean?"

"I want your soul, (y/n,)" Gregory responded with a manic glint in his eyes. "I become more powerful with remnant, I am complete with remnant. And who better to give themselves to me other than you? It's what's best for both of us."

The girl shook her head, a mortified expression on her face. "You... you want to kill me?"

Gregory sighed with a patient expression on his face, he then smiled at her with a gentle expression. It was probably one of the most genuine expressions of kindness he had ever given her. "I don't want to scare you, but this is how it is supposed to be. You will die, but you will remain forever, forever with me."

"No," the girl said quietly as he slowly shook her head in horror. "No, I don't want that."

Gregory chuckled. "I figured your answer would be so. But I apologize in advance, you do not have a choice in this."

He stepped closer to her, the ax still in his grip. She took steps away from him, watching him cautiously. Every little hair on her body was raised up.

"I'll make it as painless as possible, you will be dead before you even realize it," Gregory said in a gentle tone, his voice 'reassuring.' "The more you try to fight me, the harder this will be. I don't want to make this hard for you."

"You're crazy, you're absolutely crazy," the girl said with her hands over her mouth in horror at what he was saying. She knew he was dangerous to others around her, but she never would have expected him to get so insane that he would kill her for the sick pleasure of trapping her with him forever. Gregory grinned at her, revealing the whites of his teeth.

"Why not just give in and submit to me? I'm giving you a chance to do this willingly," Gregory tried to convince her, he waited patiently in place with his hands folded along the handle of the ax. It was like he was expecting her to run up to him and get on her hands and knees before him, and then obediently plead to be killed by him. "You'll die later on as an old and decrepit woman, anyways. So, why not just cut the process short? You'll practically live on forever, a part of me, that is. Why try to escape your fate? You were always meant to be the one for me."

"No, I don't want this," She said with her eyes paling with fear. "I don't want to die."

Gregory tilted his head at her, as if her response was completely unusual. His grip on the ax tightened. His expression darkened and his voice lowered. "Don't make me do this the bad way, (y/n). Because either way, this is happening. There's nothing you could do to change it."

She shook her head before backing up. He followed after her with slow footsteps. He slightly chuckled in frustration, his smile sharp. "You can run all you want, but I control this entire building. Every door, every camera, every light, and every shadow. Everything. You won't get very far, but I invite you to try."

She bolted away from him, but he didn't start the chase. He simply watched her, his smile melted into a frown. His gold eyes narrowed, glowing like two dead, golden stars in the dark.

Bots with similar yellow eyes began to flank him like a pack of dogs. With a nonchalant flick of his hand he would recite his command.

"Chase her."