The Mangle lay in a corner, curled up into a ball, or, the closest thing to a ball their disfigured body could curl into. Their disgusting, horrible, wrong body, that nobody cared to repair.
They cried. They couldn't shed any actual tears, being a robot and all, but they could cry, and they did so often.
The nights were always so long, but at the same time not long enough.
Every day was the same, Mangle would be torn apart, put back together, disfigured, and mangled, by a bunch of kids that didn't understand that the robots could feel, could be hurt.
Or maybe they did, maybe it was all just a cruel game for them, that they were fully aware of.
Mangle couldn't know, they couldn't do anything, they couldn't tell the children, their voice box had been too broken for that.
And, through all this, nobody came to comfort them. Nobody seemed to care enough too. Mangle's only companion through all this was their extra, lifeless endo head.
At least, it had been like that for the past few nights.
"Hey... Mangle..." a low, almost silky voice says, and Mangle feels a light tap on their back.
Mangle turns their head around, their metal parts making a creaking sound as they do.
They see Toy Chica there, knelt down, looking at them with a gentle smile.
"Hey... How's it going?" Toy Chica asks, with the same smooth voice.
Mangle tries to say something, but only garbled static escapes their mouth. Their ears droop down, and they are pretty clearly embarrassed.
"It's okay... I, uh..." Toy Chica pulls out a small stack of paper, as well as a few crayons from behind her back, "I brought some things, in case you wanted to talk." she hands Mangle the items.
Mangle writes on a piece of paper and holds it up.
"Why r u here?" it says.
"Well... I've seen you in here a lot, and you were always crying, and..." Toy Chica sits down on the floor, "I wanted to help, a little, maybe... Thought that we could maybe talk."
Mangle blushes slightly, before writing another message on the back of the paper, and then holding that up.
"thank u"
Toy Chica smiles warmly, and Mangle feels a little strange inside. Probably just some messed up wires.
"I... I wish that I could help with, y'know..." Toy Chica gestures at Mangle's disfigured body, "But, I kinda can't, and I apologize about that... If I could, I would."
"It fine" Mangle writes on another piece of paper and draws a little smiley next to it.
Toy Chica sighs, but smiles still.
"I wish I could help stop those kids... I... I just want everyone here to be happy, y'know?"
Mangle nods, sitting more upright.
"I... It's almost morning, but..." Toy Chica pauses for a moment, looking at Mangle, "There should be some voiceboxes in Parts-&-Service, I could get you one tomorrow."
Mangle's face lights up, a big smile spreading across their face.
Toy Chica giggles.
"I'm sorry that none of the staff want to fix you, real jerks... But I promise that I-"
Toy Chica's voice cuts out, and a small crack is heard as her head twitches.
It's 6 AM. All animatronics are going back to their stages and whatnot, they're programmed to do so. But, as she leaves the room, she gives another gentle smile to Mangle, before disappearing into the hallway.
Mangle feels all warm inside. Hopefully their circuits don't overheat.
Someone was just kind to them. Toy Chica... They had seen Toy Chica a couple of times. She was always kind. She's confident, a little cocky sometimes, but from everything Mangle has seen, she's kind. From what they JUST experienced, she's kind.
But, as Mangle set into their programmed morning position (or rather, whatever position the programming COULD put them in nowadays), the dread crept back in. It was another day. The kids would be back.
Mangle doesn't want the children to be back.
Mangle wants... Toy Chica, to be back.
