Tar, Flowers. Agony, Hope. What's the difference?

Chap 15 -Repaired voice-boxes and calming down- |MILLIE

That night Millie couldn't sleep, not because Matt having spied on them worried her, mainly because the man seemed more likely to outright kill someone -most likely to protect the little rabbit kit that resembled an animatronic that he had apparently been tasked with caring for- then to spy on someone just to murder them later.

No, she was worried about how hard the repair on Funtime Foxy's voice-box, and all the what if's circling around her mind, it also didn't help that Funtime Foxy was going to be offline during the repair, not only because the sparks from the voice-box when the fox was online could harm Millie but also because the fox seemed fully insane, out of her mind, feral.

She had had a faint hope that the fox could be okay at first but the more she thought about just how they were going to manage to pull the fox out of the metaphorical river of her insanity the more that hope dimmed, until it was about ready to die out.

Footsteps sounded and she recognized who is was from the sound of it -Funtime Freddy, the careful, light steps that somewhat resembled a animals due to the paw pads on the bottom of his feet gave him away- but she didn't look up, content to sit on the small hill, her head resting against her knees.

"Silly Millie?" Funtime Freddy asked softly, crouching down beside her, for a minute the only sign he was there being the sound of wind whispering through the bears thick, fluffy coat of faux fur.

She simply turned away from him, not giving any sign that she'd heard him, although if she was a proper were and had animal ear attributes her ear would've flicked when he spoke, a sign she did in fact hear him.

"Are you okay cupcake?" Funtime Freddy asked, voice managing to drop in volume even more and sound almost, gentle, and worried, if the animatronic bear could even feel worried that was.

"......'m worried" Millie mumbled, turning her head slightly so it was tilted in the direction of Funtime Freddy.

"Me to..... Mostly worried that whatever drove Funtime Foxy to madness as changed her, that she won't be the fox I knew and instead a stranger, or worse, what if her memories are gone?" Funtime Freddy whispered, looking up at the sky, ears pinned back as his eyes watered, most likely from worry about his friend, who was currently chained up and was dangling from said chains a couple inches off the workshop floor for easier repair access.

"I'm sure she'll be fine" Millie mumbled, lifted her head so she could see the bear better. "What if she isn't...... What if I've lost her to?" Funtime Freddy whispered back, a near animalistic whimpering tone to the words.

"Then you've lost her, but can be at peace knowing she isn't suffering anymore. But even then, resigning yourself to the worst possibility kills the hope for the best possibility. Just gotta hope for the best and see the bright side in the worst" Millie whispered, looking up at the sky, wondering if heaven was  truly up there, in reach of only the angels and the strongest Avians.

Millie stiffened slightly when she felt arms wrap around her but relaxed slightly when she realized it was Funtime Freddy, for once trusting the bear to not harm her, even if he was stressed and worried about Funtime Foxy, whom he obviously cared about.

Millie ended up drifting off, easily falling sleep in the arms of Funtime Freddy, who her instincts trusted to keep her safe while she slept.

~

The next morning Millie didn't really care that she woke up to Funtime Freddy carrying her toward her house, nor that she had even fallen asleep while being hugged by the bear, which made her realize that most of the fear she'd felt toward him had died away, leaving only slight fear about what he could do in general, not even about what he could do directed toward her but about what damage he could cause to people seeking to harm him.

In only roughly an hour and half Dylan and Brooke showed up and they faked going down the street before sneaking back to Millie's Grandfather's workshop.

Millie didn't tell them about last night, simply kept it to herself, much like the other two times she'd actually fallen asleep in the bears presence.

"Are you going to be able to fix Funtime Foxy?" Brooke asked softly, glancing between Funtime Foxy and Millie for a couple seconds.

"I don't know, but hopefully" Millie said, walking over to where the tools were kept and grabbing the ones she thought ahe would need.

"What exactly am I supposed to do?" Matt asked, stepping into the workshop, a makeshift sling tied around him, the little rabbit kit -who's name was apparently Plush Spring Bonnie- calmly sleeping in the sling.

"Your backup if something goes wrong and target practice for wrench throwing" Millie said, grabbing the parts she'd bought for the repair, nothing screamed at her that it was missing so she assumed she had all she needed, hopefully.

"Great..... Just what I wanted to do today" Matt remarked, leaning against the wall, glaring at Funtime Foxy.

Millie snorted and then carefully started properly opening up Funtime Foxy's chest cavity, and was relieved when -aside from a couple torn wires and rust- the inside of where the ragged tear in the foxes casing was okay, meaning the voice-box and the outside caring were the most major things needing repair.

The repair took nearly all day, but Millie managed to mostly fix Funtime Foxy's voice-box, the fox might have trouble mimicking voices but at least the problem wasn't with the foxes main ability to speak, and at least the fox wouldn't have whole entire words murdered by static and sparking.

"We ready to try turning her on and trying to fix the problem?" Matt called, Millie nodded, still standing right in front of the fox, hopefully just out of range of the claws but still able to touch Funtime Foxy if need be.

With only a push of a button Funtime Foxy woke right back up, lips twisting into a feral snarl when she noticed Millie standing in front of her. The fox started shrieking and tugging on the chains in a crazed effort to get to Millie, but Millie did not move, a thought having occurred to her that maybe Funtime Foxy needed to calm down, like the fox was simply having a temper tantrum, not acting insane and like a bloodthirsty animal.

Millie gently placed one hand on the foxes chest and started humming, trying to ignore the whooshes of air from Funtime Foxy's claws, which missed her by inches.

"Your okay..... The damage is fixed, there's no reason to fight, your in control, I won't hurt you, WE won't hurt you" Millie started whispering softly, most of the words she said not really mattering, mostly just to try to get Funtime Foxy to focus on the gentle, soft tone of Millie's words.

Slowly Funtime Foxy began to calm down, the frantic slashes at the air slowing, ears perking, head tilting slightly and the snarl fading from her lips as the bloodthirsty light left her eyes.

"I-i..... The theater..... I was there..... Where am i?" Funtime Foxy whispered, looking away from Millie and looming around before freezing when she spotted Funtime Freddy.

"Fred?!" The fox yelped, tail wagging like a dogs would as she struggled to get the chains off of her and dart over to Funtime Freddy.

Funtime Freddy quickly walked over and unhooked the chains, taking a slight step back when the fox slammed into him and hugged him as tightly as she could, whispering things about how much she missed him and how happy she was that he was okay.

The rest of the day was spent properly introducing Funtime Foxy to everyone -although she did make a couple threatening jabs at Dylan- and in general getting to know the fox now that she wasn't trying to rip their throats out.