It had been a few hours since you had come to the Pizzaplex. Peter wound up leaving and you had gone and taken Oliver out to eat so neither of you would go hungry tonight. The weather started to get pretty nasty outside, rain pouring and wind blowing. You knew there would be a storm coming on soon. Once you were back, you decided to leave Oliver with Sun and check up on Eclipse. You really, really hoped he was back in the endo storage room.
Walking back down to maintenance, you kept an eye out for Eclipse. Occasionally, one of the vents would rattle or shudder, but you couldn't tell if that was from the storm or from something inside them. So far, you didn't see him around. You hoped that was a good sign that he'd be back in maintenance. You slowly entered the endo storage, looking around.
"Eclipse? You there, buddy?" you called.
Silence.
"Hey, Eclipse! Where are you!" you called again.
Nothing.
You walked further into the storage room, flicking the lights on and looking around. All of the endos looked like they were in place. Then again, there was so many of them that it was hard to tell.
"Oh, for fucks sake... Eclipse! Where are you?" you yelled.
A small part of you regretted turning him back on. You weren't sure what was going through his head right now, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that he had ran off somewhere in the Pizzaplex. All you could hope for was that he wouldn't get caught by another worker.
As if life wanted to screw you over today, a large roll of thunder echoed through the building and the lights began to flicker. A few seconds later, the lights went out. You groaned, stamping your foot on the ground.
"For fucks sake!" you yelled.
You began digging out your phone, but paused when you heard something.
"Eclipse?" you slowly called.
Pulling out your phone and turning on your flashlight, you jumped upon seeing one of the endo skeletons was a lot closer than you remember. You slowly backed away, keeping your flashlight pointed at the endo while you felt around for the door. Then, you heard footsteps. Large, heavy footsteps. You heard the door to the endo storage open and you looked behind you, seeing a set of glowing magenta eyes.
"There you are," Monty said.
"Uh... hey," you said.
"You're needed back at the daycare. The attendant and the kid are both losing their minds," he said.
"What happened?" you asked, leaving the endo storage and following Monty out.
"No clue. The kid was crying about something in the vents and the attendant was having a hard time calming him down," Monty said.
You nodded. Something in the vents... you got a sneaking suspicion you knew who exactly that was.
"So, how are you doing? Ya know, after everything that happened," you asked.
"I'm... fine. I'm fine," he said.
"Do you know what happened?"
"... no."
You nodded. It was quiet for the rest of the walk. The backup lights in the Pizzaplex turned on, lighting the halls in an eerie red glow. As you neared the daycare, you could hear the sound of Oliver occasionally letting out small whimpers or sobs and the sound of Moon singing. You picked up your pace, pushing the doors open. Your eyes immediately landed on Moon curled up against one of the jungle gyms, holding Oliver in his arms and rocking him back and forth. You ran over, crouching down next to them and placing your hand on Oliver.
"What happened?" you asked.
"The poor kid thought he saw something in the vents and started crying. Sun tried to comfort him, but then the lights went out and he started freaking out even more," Moon said.
You nodded, carefully taking Oliver from him and hugging him. You gently pet his hair and rocked him back and forth. He clung to your shirt, his body shaking as he took deep and shaky breaths.
"You guys gonna be okay here?" Monty asked. You didn't even realize that he had come into the daycare.
"Yeah, we'll be fine. What about you guys? Your power stations are down," Moon asked.
"Everyone else probably already went into power saving mode. I'm gonna head back to Rockstar Row and do the same," he said, shrugging.
"Don't you need to charge, Moon?" you asked.
"Our body has a longer lasting battery. It lets us take care of the kids all day," Moon said.
You nodded.
"Alright, I'm out. I'll see you around," Monty said, giving you guys a wave as he left.
"See ya!" you called.
"What now?" Moon asked.
"Well... do you feel comfortable being out?" you asked.
"I think... I was fine taking care of Oliver," he said.
"Good. Hopefully that means whatever happened earlier was just a passing thing," you said, Moon nodding in agreement.
"I can take you up to our room if you want," Moon offered.
"Sounds good to me. What do you think, Ollie?" you asked.
The (h/c) boy nodded, a small smile on his face. He seemed to have finally calmed down. Moon led the two of you over to the ball pit, taking Oliver and bringing him up to the room first. You watched as the two seemed to float up into the darkness, the cable almost invisible in the low lighting. There was a bit of shuffling and the sound of some talking followed by Moon descending a few seconds later.
"You ready, Starlight?" he asked.
"Just promise not to drop me and then I'll be good," you said.
Moon chuckled and you could see him roll his eyes. "You know I'd never drop you on purpose."
You nodded, Moon wrapping an arm around your waist and lifting you up into the air. It was quiet as he brought you over to the balcony. He carefully set you down, keeping a hand on you until you were stable. You looked out across the daycare one last time before entering the room. Today was just not your day.