I know... It's almost Christmas. Life has been crazy busy! On that note, I'm sorry for the hiatus and because life is the way it is currently... I won't be doing anymore holiday chapter specials for this story. Because at this point that is all I would be doing and planning for.... so yeah. Enjoy some Halloween in December! :D
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"Okay... I will admit it. This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Mettaton stated as he wondered around the spooky attraction behind you while you stared straight ahead at an immobile Freddy suit that had a light set up in the head. The thing looked just like the one from your childhood that you had encountered during your test of courage... only it wasn't the same thing. This one looked like it had been cleaned up before they had decided to position it on the wall with lights to freak out anyone walking by and the hand was still there. The one that had attacked you had one of its arms ripped off by the Mettabae when it wouldn't let you go. Then again, there was probably lots of spare parts. The new owners of these relics could have just had it replaced.
Somehow that was more unsettling than the fact that someone was trying to make money off of the horrible tragedies that had occurred. Probably because you knew that the kids killed hadn't passed on. Their SOULs had taken to possessing the animatronic characters and you didn't know why. If someone had taken the machines just to prop them up on display...
Okay, if you continued that line of thought you were going to be sick.
"See? I told ya! You didn't have anything to worry about." Undyne bellowed out from behind and you somehow managed to not jump out of your skin at the sudden outburst. You were really impressing yourself on your reflexes today. Normally, you would have launched yourself into Mettaton's arms already.
Giving the fish monster an annoyed sidelong look, you turned back to the Freddy suit as the clicking of Mettaton's heels grew closer behind you. "What have you found, sweetheart?"
"Looks like a bear... GAH... what was that one's name..." Undyne's voice trailed off in thought but Mettaton was quick to reply.
"Freddy." You watched as his one visible eye trailed down the propped up animatronic to where the missing hand should be. "The one that the franchise is named after."
"I still can't believe that people went to this place. SERIOUSLY! That thing is creepy!" Undyne came up on your side that Mettaton wasn't on and gestured to the Freddy suit. "How did kids even like them?"
You caught her extended arm and tapped it with your fingers indigently to get her attention before signing. "Hey, hey. Do not diss the Fazbear crew. They were loved in the hearts of children around the world for a small bit. To us, this was state of the art technology. There has yet been ANYONE to make a proper animatronic." Before you even dropped your hands, you realized just who you were standing with in the middle of a fake haunted pizzeria attraction. The girlfriend of a scientific monster genius who specialized in robotics and your monster boyfriend whose android-like body was made by said monster girlfriend. Well, now you felt kind of stupid. Their gazes confirmed your own thoughts as you huffed out air and clarified. "Human. There has yet been any HUMAN to make a proper animatronic since."
Taking this opportunity, you turned back to look at the Freddy suit. Standing on your tip toes to try and see inside the mouth. Maybe it was just an empty suit with no endoskeleton? There had been a few pieces in the spare parts room from the brief recollection you had during your panic filled visit. If it was just the costume, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad? You placed your hands on the suit's shoulders and heaved yourself up while placing your feet on the back wall. Your head now level with the immobile animatronic's mouth. Now if only you could have Undyne or Mettaton do something about the light-
"Hello."
You silently shrieked at the childlike voice that filled the entire room and launched yourself away from the propped up Freddy suit. Only for gravity to kick in and you started to fall due to the fact you had been holding yourself up against the wall. Thankfully, you didn't have to worry to much about your current predicament. Long arms wrapped around your descending form seconds before you managed to make contact with the floor. You were then lifted until you felt a familiar chest plate being pressed against your back, looking as though you were being cuddled like a teddy bear.
"What was that? I thought we were supposed to be the only ones here?" Mettaton's eyes were narrowed at the third person in your small group as Undyne's single eye narrowed. Her ponytail swished around as the fish monster tried to pinpoint where the voice had originally come from.
"We are... I haven't noticed movement from anyone other than us. So that could be a timed reaction thing, someone is hiding scarily well, or some teenagers snuck in and triggered something?" Undyne's voice was steady as she eyed something high up on the far wall. The boon that almost all monsters gained from being trapped underground for thousands of years was the fact that most could see almost perfectly in the dark. So whereas you had to squint to see what she was looking at, Undyne was able to see the hidden security camera hanging from the ceiling perfectly. "Maybe someone hadn't left yet and is just playing around in the security room?"
"There's a security room?" You signed to Undyne when she turned to face the two of you again with your interest peeked. Despite not wanting to admit it, whoever put this place together knew what they were doing. The haunted house definitely had the Fazbear's Pizzeria feel to it. Black and white checkered tile floors lined all of the halls that you have been in so far. Posters, children's drawings, and other decor of the bygone era filled the walls along with some scary things to try and spook anyone coming in. They did seem to go a bit overboard with the animatronic parts though. Someone had placed them in several of the corners with lights inside as though they were jack-o-lanterns. You still weren't sure how you really felt about that.
Undyne nodded her head. "Yeah, it was supposed to be designed to look just like the old pizzeria and that includes the security room. To be honest, you would probably know this layout more than I should if that's the case."
You rolled your eyes at her but you couldn't deny her words. The layout was scarily familiar to your old childhood stomping grounds. Still... you had to know. All of this stuff looked to authentic to be handmade props. That Freddy suit wouldn't have been able to hold your entire weight if it had been made with cleverly painted wood. Meaning whomever put this place together had either gone all out in having it made... or it was real. "So... is all of this stuff made up?... Or did they actually get this stuff from somewhere?"
Your eyes trailed up to look at Mettaton's face as best you could with the current way he was holding you. Those simple questions were loaded with hidden meaning and Mettaton eyed you with a look that confirmed he knew what you were hinting at.
Was any of this stuff taken from the pizzeria you had been trapped in until 6am? Were the children whose souls had taken to possessing the animatronics now here as a prop or even holed up somewhere? Undyne had said there wasn't anything roaming the attraction but that didn't mean that they didn't have them put up somewhere to add in later. You didn't want to think about it but at the same time you really had to know. Those kids had been through enough as it was...
"A little bit of both. A lot of it is authentic though. Someone went around to the old businesses and bought a crap ton of the stuff trying to find the real things. I do know they tried to buy the lot that you held your test of courage at awhile ago but someone had already claimed it and refused to let them take it." Undyne shrugged nonchalantly as she trailed a little ways away further into the attraction with Mettaton following after.
At those words, you visibly relaxed as you let out a breath that you hadn't realized you had been holding. That meant that the kids couldn't be locked in a room somewhere. Although, wandering a broken down pizzeria building may not be much better... at least they weren't on display for people to just look at. It did make you wonder who owned the land the old pizzeria was on though. Whoever it was, you kind of wanted to give them a medal. Even if, they didn't know why.
"Darling, how is it that you know about all of this? All of this sounds like some really sensitive information that only direct employees of management of the establishment would know about. Also where exactly are you going?" Mettaton's voice echoed as he put you down so that you could follow along at your own pace. Undyne headed into the next room and you followed along only to take the lead into the next hallway when she stopped to take a look around.
The fish monster shrugged at the monster idol's accusation and continued to scan the new room. "I may have been on board with helping this place get up and running... before the uh... test of courage incident."
"What the hell? Why would you even condone this kind of place?" Mettaton practically hissed at Undyne. It seemed that he wasn't about to let the fact you almost died on a dare go anytime soon. At this rate, you were going to have to play mediator the entire night.
Lovely.
"Because nothing even happened when Alphys and I went through it! We literally sat in the security room all night and nothing even moved!" Undyne glared at Mettaton and stepped up until she was almost chest to chest with him. "We set everything up the same way we set it up for you too! The only difference here is that we didn't have a human with us!" She then gestured to you as you pretended to ignore their spat while eyeing some creepy drawings on the wall. "Do you honestly think I would put not only someone you love very much but is also a very close friend of mine in immediate danger like that?"
"Well, no... at least not to that extent. Some of your pranks can go a bit to far. But it DID happen and-"
"I'M SORRY, OKAY?! How many times do I have to say it?" Undyne cut him off as she bellowed her apology at him. "It happened. It sucked. You all lived. I apologized. We moved on. You are the only one holding it over my head. I mean look at her. She doesn't even care anymore!" Once again, she gestures to you and you kind of wave awkwardly at the two of them before going back to being immersed in the drawings. Why were there so many pictures of crying children on here? They also look to be drawn by the same child. What happened to them? Undyne went back to her impressive rant about letting it go. One that Elsa would be rather proud of.
You rolled your eyes and then stopped.A blue glow off to the side in the next room caught your attention and you slowly crept towards it while pulling out your phone. If this place was going off of the layout of your pizzeria, then the next room would be the security room. You stopped just outside the doorway. Phone in hand. The glow to the room got brighter as you had approached. The only sound you could hear was Undyne and Mettaton's bickering back in the other room. Once again, you cursed your inability to speak to get their attention, instead opting to text your boyfriend so that you don't alert whatever it was in the next room. You sent the text and sidled up against the wall so that you weren't standing in the middle of the hallway.
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Hey. Hey. Something isn't right over here.
"OKAY! I get it Undy- oh?" Mettaton cut off his rebuttal as a rather cutesy ringtone chimed out from within his chassis somewhere. You watched as he read the message and his head shot up to try and find out where you are. The glowing in the other room was growing and there was another ominous... low growl emitting from that vicinity now that the two monsters weren't bickering anymore. When Mettaton's eyes landed on you, he sighed in relief. "Sweetheart, what are you doing over there by yoursel-" His voice caught in his throat as his one visible eye widened. Undyne whirled around to see what would cause such a shocked reaction from the robot idol only to freeze mid-spin. You arched an eyebrow at them and it seemed to snap Mettaton out of his stupor. "Gorgeous, could... could you do me a favor?" His hands were raised as though he was readying to grab you but you were to far away, even for his extendable arms. Before you could even respond, you felt it.
Something snagged the back of your shirt and within seconds you were airborne with a silent scream. Whatever was behind you dragging you into the security office whether you liked it or not. The only other thing you could register was Mettaton's startled, yet slightly angered, cry and a distinct whirring noise that followed as the hallway nearby the two monsters was suddenly awash in light.
Nothing was in here? Yeah right.
"RRRAAAAAAA! COME BACK HERE WITH OUR HUMAN!" Spears sailed out from the floor at Undyne's feral yell and they followed your entire journey into the security room that did differentiate from the one in the pizzeria you had went too. There was never a giant window sectioning off the room from the hallway. Undyne's aim was close but she never managed to hit the thing holding you. Yet to her credit, you were never in any danger from her magic projectiles. Her control was over her own magic was impressive. Now if only you weren't in a life threatening situation that could allow you to think more on that.
You were whipped around the corner while bracing yourself to face whatever it was that this thing was taking you to. Your eyes snapped closed and you were brought to an abrupt halt now waiting for your imminent demise. Please let it be quick. Being shoved into that golden Freddy suit hadn't been fun in the slightest.
"hey there, bud. you look chilled to the bone there."
Your eyes snapped open to see a certain skeleton that was supposed to be de-pranking a university right now sitting in the security office chair while wearing a security guard outfit to match. His left eye was alight in an eerie blue glow with the smuggest grin you have ever seen on him plastered to his skull. You felt your body being lowered back to the ground and the thing that held your shirt floated out from behind once you were steady. The giant dragon skull immediately flying forward to boop it's snout to the top of your head.
It took you a moment to process everything but you didn't have much more than that as both Undyne and Mettaton barreled into the room armed to the teeth. Looking ready to pulverize anything that had done you harm. Sans just swiveled a little in his chair to greet them with the same grin. "oh hey, look who decided to drop in. it's really in-spear-ational that the head of the royal guard and mettaton would come to my humble office this late at night. on halloween no less."
"What... the hell..." Undyne lowered the spear she held with a dumbfounded look on her face that even you found amusing. You weren't the only one if Sans's chuckles in front of you were any indication. All of the spears disappeared not long after and the stout skeleton sent the blaster back to wherever it goes to when it wasn't in this plane of existence. Now that you had been given a moment to realize what was going on, your body relaxed. Somehow you managed to resist the urge to whap your best friend on the side of his skull for the scare. "Dude, what are you even doing here? I thought you were with Alphys at the university right now?!" Undyne's voice slowly raised as she spoke. Her anger was still there but now that you weren't in any danger it had diminished significantly.
"what? never seen a guy with a part time job before?" Sans's deep voice filled the silence of the security room as his chuckles deepened. "seriously, undyne. i manned like four or five sentry stations under your guard. besides... i disarmed all of the dangerous ones."
"So you just left her there to finish the rest by herself?" The fish woman deadpanned. She brought a hand to her temple and began to rub it as though she was getting a serious headache. "Dammit, Sans." The skeleton's chuckles formed into a full laugh at her reaction. He seemed to be enjoying this a tad to much.
"what? it's not like little friendo here was in any danger. what's the fun of a spook house with no jumpscares?" Sans's grin somehow grew even wider and you were debating on whether to slap him upside the head again.
"Sans." Mettaton said as he strutted forward with a neutral demeanor that you have never seen on his person before. The other monster's laughter died down as he eyed the robot idol with mirth. "I'm going to kill you."
And that's when all chaos broke loose.