Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eclipse has no idea how in hell he got here.

He was, as always, minding his own business and plotting evil plans to conquer the world and shit, when he got hit in the face with bright yellow and red glitter, effectively getting blinded for approximately 11.6 seconds. (Yeah, he counted)

And now he was here. In the daycare.

And small.

Like, really, really small.

And, now that he’d assessed his surroundings, he realized he was smack in the middle of a moment between the people that he considered his worst enemies.

So, god forbid he didn’t run.

And as soon as he saw the big red blur lunging for him, he was out.

Nope. Nuh uh, he was not dealing with this. Not today, not ever.

He ran for the entrance of the daycare, although he knew it was pretty much useless. He was less than half of Lunar’s height, he wouldn’t get anywhere like this.

And a very tall, very yellow blur was in front of him.

Afraid for his life, he turned on himself, only to get mauled by a pretty tall Bloodmoon.

Damn, his face hurts.

Goddamn, he likes his rays!

GODDAMMIT- WHERE WERE TWO OF HIS ARMS-

And just like that, the very much taller yellow blur, now identified as Sun, picked him up, saving him from that pure agony. By the back of his shirt.

Even with the four- oops, two- hands he still had, he couldn’t reach for Sun’s face. Or daycare shirt. Now that he thinks about it, the other bot didn’t have that, last he checked.

Well, not like he cares.

“Hey, Bloodmoon, stop it. What did I tell you about attacking people?”

“But Sun man, it’s the Dorito! He hurt you! We attacked him so he'd feel pain too!”

They did stop trying to end his life though, so there’s that.

Wait. Why were the twins here? And why were they listening to Sun?

Also, why was Sun not trying to kill him? After all, he did absolutely traumatize and scar, and, well, kill their family.

He didn’t realize Sun was talking to him until they spoke up.

“Hey, buddy, we’re not gonna hurt you.”

The words were carefully said, but Eclipse flinched, clearly distrusting of the promise.

Well, he did just get mauled. And he’s bleeding out, at the mercy of the sunny animatronic. So it’s fair enough.

“Heh. And why would you help me? I killed your friends. I hurt you. Why would you care about me?”

Beat that. The idiot can’t. He won’t. Right?

“Uh. Because, well… I- I couldn’t just kill you! That’s not right!”

Oh yeah. These guys have ‘morals’.

“So you’d rather just leave me like this? Helpless?”

This time, it was Solar (the better version of him) who spoke. When did he get here?

“I mean, maybe. You can’t really hurt us like this. So… sure.”

Eclipse was just about shocked speechless. His ‘arch-nemeses’ of sorts was just going to let him live? But why?

Best to play along, he supposed.

*one small argument between the celestial family later*

After he was patched up (as in, he now had a gaping hole in his leg, and was severely missing two arms and a ray), he was taken to the family’s home.

When he saw where he’d stay, once again, he was stunned. Bloodmoon was apparently showing him where he would be living, at least until he, well, didn’t want to. And the last thing he was expecting was the house to grow an entire goddamn room at Bloodmoon’s request. Like, what?

“Here, other Sun Man, is where you’ll be staying. We’ll be watching; if you hurt anyone, it’s you we’ll soon be slaying.”

Well then.

“Sure, sure. Not like I’m ‘bout to go anywhe-”

He jumped at the sound of the door slamming behind him, leaving him in complete darkness. Fair enough, he did basically throw Bloodmoon away.

Feeling for the light switch, he contemplated this, wondering just why he neglected his creations that much. And, now that he’s on the topic of morality, he’s forgotten why he wanted to harm Sun and Moon and the others in the first place.

What was the point of making so many enemies?

Now he’s all alone, the opposite of how he wanted it.

He wanted attention, not to be hated! Well, it doesn’t matter anyways. They don’t seem to care much about him even after all he did.

He didn’t realize he was crying, not after he fell onto the bed, not after he curled up and fell asleep.

[guys bloody has telekineses]

[it's so short :( i'll try to write more but no promises)]

Chapter Text

“Why did you let him live?! He killed me!” Lunar yelled.

“Now, now, Lunar. We can’t just let someone die, no matter what they did! He deserves a second chance, like everyone else!”

“But we can! Eclipse doesn’t deserve a second chance!”

Sun was watching the two argue; well, at least Lunar was. Earth was trying to calm him down. They could hear the discomfort in Earth’s voice as she tried to convince Lunar to at least tolerate Eclipse. Earth shouldn't have to deal with this.

Taking a deep vent, Sun walked in between the other two. They didn’t want this to escalate further. The suffocating atmosphere was already unbearable enough.

“Guys, guys, I want to try to talk to him. Show him that what he did was wrong? I mean, Bloodmoon is walking proof that we can help him, so why not try?”

[they’d found a way to rid Bloodmoon’s code of the murder] [well, most of it]

Without even responding, Lunar hmphed and walked out of the living room, likely to his room. Did he even try to listen?

Sun followed, but stopped when they ran into the tiny Eclipse, who was walking out of his room, and they nearly screamed, quickly covering their mouth before it came out.

Eclipse seemed to notice, however, and instantly turned back to his room. He’d thought, at the very least, they’d have… well… not screamed at the sight of him, especially with his height. Who the hell would be scared of someone not even half as short as a 5-year-old child?

Sun quickly grabbed his arm though (softly of course, they didn’t want to fracture the smaller’s endo), before he could retreat to a random corner, to which he flinched.

“Wait!”

A slight pause.

“Whaddya want?”

Eclipse sounded tired.

“I wanna talk.”

Not waiting for an answer, they sat down on the floor, and went on. (an’ boy did they go on)

“I know you’re probably thinking we want something from you; no we don’t. I literally just made the split second decision to let you stay here. I don’t know why, I just want to help you. Wouldn't that be the right thing to do?”

They had no idea why they were saying all this, but they went on. It felt right.

“Moon was wrong to leave you in my code, to let you suffer, and all those other things that happened to you, but it doesn’t excuse all the things you’ve done to the people who haven’t even hurt you, but how would I know? I’m the dumb one after all, Moon’s always been the one who knows everything. I can't say anything.”

Eclipse was taken aback. He wasn’t going to say Sun was a genius, but they were way smarter than their brothers tell them. He had a suspicion the idiots weren’t very nice to Sun, and that was just about confirmed now. (How hadn't he noticed that sooner?)

So he looked at them. Really paid attention to their tired gaze, trying so hard to be kind to the one who hurt them so, so much.

And he saw how hurt, how tired, how done with it Sun was. The ‘new’ coat of paint was scratched at and dull, their once bright blue irises dimmed to just a barely visible grey. He was surprised the taller hadn’t killed his brother yet. And he found he could relate.

He found he felt regret, regret for hurting them, regret for ignoring Sun’s outstretched hand.

Eclipse didn’t hear all of Sun’s rant, but looking straight up, into their optics, he said one thing, only one, with no idea just how much it would mean to the ‘sunny’ animatronic.

“You’re not dumb, I don’t think you’re dumb.”

For once, he’d spoken the truth. And just the truth, without that cleverly hidden lie placed underneath. That made him panic, just a bit. He’d never let himself stay so exposed, so vulnerable.

Even then, he didn’t realize what he said, nor did he the weight that the words either lifted or placed on the two.

A quiet oomph from Eclipse, and Sun had bent down, pulled him over, and hugged him tightly, as if their life depended on it.

Eclipse was frozen, he didn’t know what to do.

Sun felt tentative arms wrapping around them, in an awkward hug.

Eclipse had no idea what was even happening. He heard sniffling, and felt oil go down his back. He tightened his hug just a bit more, reminding Sun he was there, and he would be there to protect his friend.

Friend? How did that get there?

At this point, they were full-on sobbing, but still a bit shocked the darker (and shorter) sun model hadn’t already shoved them off. Nevertheless, he was grateful.

After the crying stopped, Eclipse gently pushed the taller model off, still in partial shock for the 3rd-ish time that day. He didn’t know why he let that happen, didn’t know why he wanted to hold on to that warm feeling, just that it made him feel ever so slightly better.

Sun was the first to break the slightly awkward silence that followed. “Th- thanks.”

“No problem. I get it.”

With that, he walked off, leaving Sun ever so slightly more hopeful for him.

[abusive moon, sorry guys, i need a source of the hurt so i can write the comfort]

Chapter Text

The Bloodmoon Twins were in genuine confusion.

Why had Sun-Man let the bag of doritos live? He’d nearly killed them!

“Brother… why did the Sun-man spare him? As far as I see, their future is quite dim.”

“I don’t know, brother. Perhaps, mayhaps, Father shall adopt another.”

“Don’t get your hopes up.”

“Don’t worry, other, one brother is enough.”

They were getting ready to sleep, having separated a while after they took Eclipse to his room. It was still day, but the twins were practically nocturnal.

They'd just climbed onto their bed, when the gator (Monty) nearly pulled the door off its hinges coming in.

“Why is Eclipse here, in our house?” He demanded.

“Why would we know?”

“Sun-man told us he’d be staying here, so…”

With that, the gator man left them be, slamming the door shut and completely destroying the hinges.

Bloodmoon could tell they’d be punished soon. But they were more scared for the sunny animatronic. Why did they tell the gator? Now, he was going to wreak havoc on the ones they cared for!

After all, the gator was mad, and who does he take it out on?

Them. And they need to be ready for the hurt, so they must rest. They must be prepared to defend their sun.

Can’t argue with that, can they? And so, the bloody twins sleep.

Chapter Text

Lunar was mad. Well, of course he was!

They were just casually playing a few random games with their sister, Earth, when Sun came in, saying Eclipse was back. And he was living with us!

And they were fine with it!?

This was horrible!

Well, he’d be able to get rid of his ‘brother’ once he learned how to use all his power.

Rez couldn’t have just promised to teach him and, well, not, right?

And when they mastered all that, they could save their family, and finally be respected, and thanked, and they’d be the good guy again!

They knew it was a bad idea. They knew it couldn’t end well. But the irrational part of their brain won this time.

Before, when Earth tried to get him out of his room, something bad happened. Just like he thought it would.

They exploded. Sent a whole lot of dark energy into Earth's head. And now she’d be in pain for the rest of her life.

And it was his fault.

So he got sent to space jail or something, and he was completely fine with it. It was what he deserved, after all.

What they were not expecting was Rez breaking them out. And sending them to Russia.

Time didn’t work there, in the jail. So when they got back, it was almost the same day they left. That meant he could fix things! He knew the others probably still hate him, but he could fix things!

But first, he wants revenge. He apologized! He- He didn’t mean to! It wasn’t his fault the dark star power lashed out like that! And now, to prove that, he’s going to kill Eclipse.

It was Eclipse's fault they weren’t being paid attention to! It was all his fault that they used that stupid dark star power!

So, he’s gonna get rid of Eclipse, and everyone’s gonna like him again! It’s all gonna go back to normal, like when he was still new!

Simple, right?

Their thoughts were interrupted by a voice. And not just any voice, it was a voice with a smooth, condescending British accent. “Hello, Lunar. What are you doing this fine morrow?”

Well, that’s just great, it’s Ruin. And Ruin killed Solar.

Lunar, calm down. It was fine! Ruin’s nice now, and he probably regrets hurting them, and even then, if anything bad happened to anyone, he’d just get rid of Ruin as well! Was that too much? Probably not.

“I’m going to kill Eclipse.”

Oops. He wasn't supposed to say that. Well, it doesn’t matter. Ruin can keep a secret, right? He certainly did back then.

“That’s… certainly ambitious. I can’t say I’d recommend doing so, Eclipse has apparently been trying to reform. Although I haven’t talked to him yet, Sun has said many good things!”

Lunar was certainly not convinced. He tapped his foot impatiently, couldn’t this guy hurry up?!

“And I’d rather you not, Eclipse has been one of the few people who are there for Sun, since his other brothers apparently fail to do so.”

“Tch, I don’t care. He still tried to kill me! It really seems like everyone’s forgotten that.”

Ruin got up from his seat on the marble railing-esque thing.

“My, you even talk like him. It isn’t surprising, considering you’ve been dabbling in dark star power.”

Lunar paused. “How-”

Ruin’s smile said everything. He knew. How he knew, Lunar didn’t know.

He needed to get away. He couldn’t be seen panicking; that would make Ruin all the more certain. Having nothing else to do, they stormed out of the hallway, to their room.

“See you around!”

~Ruin’s POV~

Ruin didn’t know that Lunar was using dark star power. He just guessed, considering those darkened optics, and apparently that guess hit its mark.

Which certainly was concerning.

Sun was, however, really making ‘progress’ with Eclipse. They didn’t want to call it progress; Eclipse wasn’t a project, he was a being.

So, Eclipse was getting better.

But the only one he warmed up to was Sun, the one that helped him the most.

The kindest one out of them all.

Then again, he still has optics, and from what he sees, Sun isn’t doing well. Moon was always hurting them, with words, and with hands (and those accursed weapons from his lab); Ruin has seen them crying in their room many times. Even the Glamrocks picked on him any chance they’d get, aside from Freddy.

And yet they still try so hard to help others, neglecting themself further and further, concerning everyone they knew. …Well, almost everyone they knew.

He knew he had to help; Sun depended on it.

But why would Sun trust the one who killed his brother? Daresay, he wasn’t in the right mind then, but it still would’ve hurt the sun model.

Lunar, their only brother who could help, wasn’t, still, in any way fit to assist.

He had fallen, becoming even worse than Eclipse was, Ruin believes. Worse than Nexus, soon enough.

Could he prevent it? Most likely not. But he’ll have to try, for the sake of the Celestial family. The family he’d hurt so much, before.

The only option, it appeared, was to seek assistance from the one he’d killed, Solar, who Ruin wasn’t sure had even forgiven him. It made sense, how could anyone ever forgive him for the murder of 5,000 dimensions, and worse, the ones they cared for the most?

Oh, well. Either way, he could only hope Solar would help.

Chapter Text

Why did he do that?

Why did he say that, why did he let Sun hug him, why was he being so nice? It did feel good though… No. He couldn’t let this happen!

Stupid.

He let his guard down. And he’d never done that before. He’d sworn to never warm up to the Celestial family after all that happened. That was pathetic of him.

He sat in his room, right in front of his bed, the TV on, but completely ignoring it. After all, how could he focus on shitty news when he just did something so out-of-character? (Either way, the remote was annoying to use, considering it was about half its size.)

Or was it that his role was changing?

Maybe. After all, this extended roleplay-of-a-game did constantly change whenever the gods wanted to.

It was all bullshit. He knew it was, but there was also nothing he could do against the will of the so-called ‘gods’ that watched over his world, playing around with their lives. He couldn’t even do shit against the astrals!

He sure hoped one of the not-as-nice animatronics here didn’t walk in to this mess. Eclipse still had a sense of pride, through all of whatever’s going on.

And Bloodmoon ran in. Great.

Expecting pain, he backed up against the bed frame, but it never came.

Instead, the twins hid beside him, although he wasn’t half as tall as them.

Now that he thought about it, Bloodmoon even looked smaller.

Like, physically. They usually do that when hiding from a threat. That’s odd. What would they need to fear in their own home?

And they also spoke strangely. Well, it was strange for them. Their speech lacked rhyme, a trait that was coded into them. That was always a cause of concern.

“Please, Sun-man- Help us, please-”

What? Why would they of all people ask for his help?

“We did something bad- The gator man isn’t happy-”

Was it from panic? It seemed like someone was chasing them. What was happening?

BANG

The door slammed open, obliterating the hinges, which were currently on the verge of falling off. Goddamn it, did no one in this house know how to knock?

And guess who it was? The next one to torment him would be Montgomery Gator. Well, not very surprising.

“Where’d the idiots go, huh ‘Clipse? Y’know, ya look fit for punishment too, tiny. Stupid Sun, lettin’ our enemies live here… Oh. Yer hidin’ ‘em.”

Monty got closer, absolutely towering over Eclipse, but he stood what little ground he had, he had to protect the twins!

When did that thought enter his mind? Maybe he was delusional, he should save himself first!

“Leave. Us. Alone. You haven’t done anything but hurt Bloodmoon, why should I hand them over for a pointless, reasonless, beating? I won’t let you hurt my brother.”

“Oh, and now you’re standing up for the creation you threw away, huh?”

He was really close now. Eclipse could feel Bloodmoon’s artificial breath on his back; they were clinging on for their life. What could he say? Monty was right.

“And how’re you gonna help, huh, tiny? Sun ain’t here to save you now, you idiots.”

At this point, Eclipse was up against the bed, too tall for him to climb, but Bloodmoon had gotten up with ease, even while being smaller than usual. Well, he had claws. Eclipse, well you could guess why he didn’t.

“No response, just what I ‘xpected.”

Monty pulled his fist back, and Eclipse readied for a hit, but once again, he was met with nothing.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the twins had pulled him onto the bed, away from Monty. He took a deep breath, ever grateful he could live another day. Well, if you could call this living.

But he was also confused. Why’d they saved him?

Obviously they weren’t in the right mind, he’d hurt them, so they were probably just overcome with panic or something, right? Later, they’d probably exact their revenge much worse.

“Sun-man, we warn you, get ready to run. The Gator’s not happy, this isn’t all fun!”

Oh, so they weren’t dying of a panic attack anymore. Well then.

“W- why did you help me?” Eclipse asked, slightly panicked.

“We don’t hold grudges like Lunar, we forgave you already, new brother.”

Well. That was… something. He still could not figure out how these stupid emotions were supposed to work.

Wait. He was forgetting something. Oh yeah, the giant alligator trying to kill him and the twins! Yeah, that.

But before Monty could get them again, Sun was suddenly there. With Solar. …And Ruin?

“Monty! What are you doing, hurting them? They’re my siblings, get away from them!” Sun yelled, surprisingly defensive. Eclipse sighed, relieved.

Ruin spoke next, calm, but still with a threatening edge. “Hello there, Montgomery. I’d advise you to step away from the twins, and Eclipse.”

“So do I, Gator. Or you’re gonna regret ever layin’ a hand on ‘em.” Solar stood beside Ruin, glaring at Monty.

That was certainly a strange mix that came to save them. But the help was appreciated nonetheless. He felt Bloodmoon’s grip on him loosen a little as well.

~Sun’s POV~

What in the heck was going on here? Why was Monty trying to hurt the twins?

Then, Sun noticed Eclipse. Why-? Ah, Bloodmoon must have run in here. Their eyes narrowed at the gator.

Sun knew that Monty was infinitely stronger than them, but the three celestial bots combined definitely overpowered him.

“Get out of the room.” They said, as menacing as possible. They were really good at it when they wanted to.

“An’ what if I don’t?” He snarled. Monty’s on the defensive, that’s good.

But that does make him all the more aggressive. They’d have to be careful if they wanted to avoid a full blown fight.

“If ya don’t, we’re gonna deal with you.” Solar had pulled out his wrench, prepared to fight. Ruin had the most murderous face that could possibly be on an animatronic’s faceplace. And he also had a gun. Where did he get that from…? Well, it helped.

Not having much on them, Sun flared their rays; Monty knew full well they’d killed before, and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

“Fine.” Monty shoved the three out of the way, harshly.

Welp, glad that didn’t end in bloodshed! (Oil-shed?)

Sun reached over and picked up the smaller animatronics while Monty stormed out of the room, breaking things as he went. Sigh. More things to clean up- No. They weren’t fixing Monty’s mess this time.

“Let go of us Sunrise! Do not disregard us for our size!”

“Oh, ok!” They did not want to get bitten.

Sun set the twins down, simultaneously picking up Eclipse, while Ruin and Solar did… well those two were probably ending Monty’s life.

Sun looked him directly in the eyes. “Are you alright, ‘Clipse?”

“Yeah, yeah, ‘m fine. Just bein’ a good brother to the twins, I guess. Anyone would do that.”

Sun instantly brightened up. He cares about them!

“Well, I’d hope! That’s really nice of you, ya know?” They couldn’t stop smiling

“Huh. I guess.”

They proceeded to set Eclipse down, and the smaller walked back into his room.

“Come down for dinner, alright?”

“Sure, whatever. Just leave me alone, for now.” To that, Sun nodded. They would give him alone time. Whatever had just happened musta been traumatic, to say the least.

But Eclipse whispered something else too, when Sun couldn’t hear.

‘I don’t deserve food.’

Chapter Text

Honestly speaking, Solar knew he didn’t really have a part in this, but when Ruin came up to him and said Sun needed help, he had to agree. He didn’t really trust Ruin that much, after all, he had killed Solar, but this time could be an exception.

He’d seen how badly Sun’d been hurt, and knew that after all Sun had done for him, after all Sun had done for all of them, he definitely owed them a lot.

And now Ruin and Eclipse had become friends with Sun, even after both of them had done terrible things. Sun still forgave them.

So he did too.

When he and Ruin went to talk to Sun, in the living room, they’d all heard Monty yelling, and Eclipse yelling back. They really just exchanged glances, and ran up to see what was happening.

Safe to say, Solar wasn’t surprised at all. The only thing really confusing was the presence of Eclipse, who claimed to be protecting the twins. Bloodmoon confirmed that.

Afterwards, Sun was calming the twins (and Eclipse), he was sure, but he and Ruin would deal with Monty.

No one really liked him, except Earth.

Earth was the reason no one had kicked Monty out of the house yet. Every time it was brought up, she was quick to defend him.

She loved him. And she was blinded to his actions, because of it.

It was funny, they all knew about his anger issues, about him abusing the Blood twins, and yet they’d done nothing. What else could he have done that they hadn’t found out about? Just the thought worried Solar.

But still, no one wanted to hurt Earth.

Not even Eclipse, he thinks.

Now, that didn’t matter. Hurting the twins, and almost Eclipse, was the final straw. The two Eclipses told Monty to follow them to Parts and Service, and once there, Ruin had nearly thrown Monty into the cylinder (damn, Ruin’s stronger than he looks-) with the excuse of ‘updates’ and shit.

“Now Montgomery, dear, this is going to hurt just a bit, alright?” Ruin said, in a sickly sweet voice. It sounded more like a threat than anything.

A grumbled out agreement.

And Solar sent approximately 2000 volts straight through Monty’s circuits, cutting off the gator’s voice box just in case. He did get verbal confirmation, so it was fine.

Ruin was somewhere behind his field of view, laughing silently, while Solar played with the control panel, watching Monty writhe in pain.

Solar spoke to Monty, through a speaker, knowing the gator couldn’t retaliate. “Consider this payback, for hurtin’ Sun an’ the twins. …An’ Eclipse.”

Once Monty got out, which he somewhat hoped didn’t happen, all hell would be set loose on the two dimensional Eclipses, and Sun, but it was worth it.

The two would just drag him down here again if he laid a finger on anyone.

Especially Sun. They wouldn’t let anything happen to Sun. They’d already been hurt enough, and yet, they used what little of themselves they had left to help others.

Really, Solar would kill for Sun; anyone would. Well, anyone who was good.

Just because he was supposed to be good didn’t cancel out the fact that he was still an Eclipse, did it?

Chapter Text

After the Celestial family ate, Bloodmoon had come up to Eclipse’s room, and cornered him. Oh great, he was right, they were gonna- hug him?

Well.

That was unexpected.

“What are you idiots doing?” Eclipse asked. Well, he tried to make it a question, but it wasn’t easy to force his voice box to function when almost half his body was dying. It came out more of a demand.

Still, his voice was a bit shaky. Facing Monty while this small was more taxing than he expected, it seems.

“We are thanking you. You saved us from the gator, putting your life in danger too. For us! And our sibling you called us!”

“I’m never living that down, am I?” Eclipse chuckled, surprisingly light for someone who was on the verge of being crushed by the twins’ hug.

“Nope!” The two said, simultaneously.

And he’d be perfectly fine with that. Eclipse tried to hide his smile, but once again, it proved impossible.

Just as he was getting comfy, goddammit, Bloodmoon let go, and split into two.

“Wha-”

In the most solemn, unnerving, way possible, both of them spoke.

“We now deem you our older brother. We forgive you of your past actions, the day to speak of that is another. Now, we shall annoy the everloving hell out of you, as is our duty as the younger siblings.”

They both patted him on the head, letting his rays sorta squish down, and promptly vanished. How-?

Well, that was something. Eh, he'll figure it out later.

The irony of being an older brother, when he was so small. It was a bit weird.

Wait.

Will he have to be nice to the idiots?!

At least he has people who care about him, right? That has to be better than literally anything. It was something he’d wanted for quite some time.

Realizing it was nearly midnight, he quickly got off the floor and into bed.

Eclipse turned off the half-destroyed lamp by his bed, and got into a nice sleeping position, ready to finally sleep after- 2? 3? -days without rest.

Of course, his sleep was interrupted, this time by his ‘brother’. He- had nothing to say about that. Of course, the lunar model didn’t knock, because no one here knows what manners are, but they looked unhappy, so Eclipse chose not to make the mistake of speaking his mind.

But why did Lunar reek of dark star power? He couldn’t be using it, could he?

Sun came in after him, calming the very-pissed off star. Or at least trying to.

“Lunar, it’ll be fine! He’s- He’s not gonna hurt you, or me, I just want you to talk to him. Please?”

“...Fine. But only because you’re asking.”

All the time, Eclipse used to think Lunar was childish. Immature. Especially since he was coded to be just a few years younger than him!

But now, his entire demeanor had shifted. They looked ages older than what they usually did, and… looked scarily like himself. A hint of murderous intent, only emphasized by the wretched presence of dark star.

“Why should I talk to him? He ruined my life! It’s all his fault!” Lunar complained, looking back at Sun.

Sun simply shushed him. They said it would be fine, but they had no idea what Eclipse would say. Or do.

“So… what do you want to say?” Eclipse asked, as politely as possible. He was not used to this. Especially with the 'talk it all out, everything will be fine' bullshit. No, it would not be magically better.

Lunar didn’t respond, turning away from him, and letting out a small… noise, one that he couldn’t comprehend.

“It’s- It’s fine, I’ll understand, whatever you tell me.”

He was terrified of Lunar’s judgement. But there was a reason. His younger sibling was much more powerful than him. Be strong, Eclipse. You’re smaller than your younger brother, but you’re still- hopefully- stronger.

“Y- you know what you did. What else could I say?” The younger stuttered out. It was a bit comforting that Lunar wasn’t sure either.

And, the most awkward pause in existence, all three animatronics grew tense. At least from what Eclipse could tell.

Lunar took a breath. “You don’t deserve to live.”

He was shocked, and by the look of it, Sun was too.

“I- Yeah, that’s true.” Eclipse sighed.

But Eclipse remembered Sun. He remembered how much Sun had helped him, believed in him, and cared for him, and decided against it.

“But I’m better now, I’ve changed, and I know that all that shit I did before was wrong. Sun believes I can be better, and I do too.”

“And I don’t.” Lunar’s eyes narrowed, and so did Eclipse’s. They were planning something.

Eclipse felt a strange sensation prick up his arms, like a lightning strike about to happen, before Lunar let out a burst of purple energy, followed by a bright, blinding flash of… something.

When he was able to see again, he realized he’d been moved aside, and Sun was lying on their side, shivering from pain. Instantly, he went into panic, scrambling to get to Sun. It was much harder with his leg still damaged.

Staring at the sunny animatronic, he only grew more scared. Wh- what should he do? He’s never helped someone before, he doesn’t think.

Wait. If he was Lunar’s target, and Sun was hurt, did- did Sun save him?

He slowly pieced together what happened, tears forming in his optics as he comes to terms with the fact that Sun saved him.

But that sentiment was cut off by Lunar. “Wha- I- I didn’t mean to! I-”

Lunar ran out of the room, leaving the tiny Eclipse to again stare at Sun’s body, on the floor.

He ran out into the hallway, screaming for one of the others, screaming for help. Anyone would be fine, he didn’t even care. But he wasn’t supposed to need help, he knew everything, he could do everything!

Deep down though, he knew he was wrong.

Solar and Ruin were the ones who found him, tears still in his optics, and they tried to calm the smaller down. He frantically tried to explain what happened, but it proved difficult.

“It’s all my fault, I- Sun’s still up in my room, he’d tried-”

Solar interrupted. “So, did ya ask for Lunar to try and kill you?”

“N-no.” He shook his head. He was acting like a child! This was more pathetic than anything.

At the very least, stop stuttering!

“Did you hit Sun with dark star energy?” Ruin asked.

Eclipse gathered himself. “No, why would I do that?”

And why would Ruin ask something like that?

Solar smiled. Why would he smile? “Then it’s not your fault. It’s Lunar’s for hurtin’ Sun.”

Now they’re defending him? What has today become.

A joke? Yeah, this was all a stupid act. One of them would say that they’re gonna kill him, right? He’s gonna go to jail, or a lifetime of suffering or something, right? Isn’t that it?

But punishment didn’t come. He almost wanted to get hurt, just so he could feel something other than the overwhelming panic and sadness. It was never like this before, when he had no one to grieve for! But that didn't make it any better.

Instead, two other Eclipses were looking to him, to show him what had happened to Sun.

Get your act together, Eclipse.

He led the pair up to his room, where Sun had now gone still. At seeing this, the three fell into panic, Eclipse even more than the others.

“Wh- We need to get Sun to a lab. Moon’s is the closest, if I remember correctly.” Eclipse panicked. From what he’d heard, Moon hurts Sun almost every chance he gets, with the smallest excuses.

“I’ll help get Sun there.” Solar said.

“But the star power- It could kill you!” Ruin complained.

“I have gloves, it’ll be fine.”

“...Alright. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

The two other Eclipses slowly worked on getting Sun to the lab, while Eclipse looked over them. They were a good pair; they worked together well.

Now, what should he do?

He still felt weird, so small and giving out orders to his former enemies as he walked to Moon’s lab. And oh… Moon’s lab was a mess.

There were random beakers strewn about, and even more bits and parts scattered across the floor, making it hell to move around. Everything was broken to some extent, as if a twister came through.

“Eclipse?! Solar, Ruin, what are you doing here?! What happened to Sun?!” Moon screamed. At the very least, the moon model seemed concerned for his brother.

“Lunar nearly killed him.” Eclipse grumbled, he had no time.

“WH-”

Ignoring Moon, he told the other two animatronics what to do.

“I can’t help, I’m too short to even reach any of the computers.” Eclipse said, a bit embarrassed.

A suspicious cough from Solar.

He ignored it, for the sake of everyone.

“So, what should we do?” Ruin asked.

It was a tedious process, telling the others how to properly extract the dark power. But worth it, as Sun’s transfer to a new body went seamlessly. Only problem, Moon was still grumbling in the background, something about it being Eclipse’s fault.

(He wasn’t wrong.)

Ruin startled him out of his thoughts, before he could begin another self-deprecating spiel. “Oh, Eclipse. Earlier, when we conversed, you said being short was annoying, yes? And that your injuries were starting to hinder you, correct?”

“Uh, yeah. You paid attention?” Why would anyone listen to him?

“Of course I did! I just wished to ask, do you want a new body?”

“Wh- I mean, yes, but… Won’t the others be unhappy?”

“Yes, we will!” Moon shouted from the back.

They both ignored Moon.

“No; after our talk, I asked the others, alongside Solar, and they all agreed! Except Moon, and Monty, but those idiots don’t care about anything aside from themselves.”

“Uh…” Eclipse was very confused.

“Just accept, I’d think Sun’d be overjoyed.” Oh, Solar’s here. He didn’t notice the other walk up to them. That meant the transfer was going well.

“Sure, I guess.” He replied, a bit indifferent. It didn't matter to him much. The only thing that should be on his mind right now was Sun. To think of his own situation was selfish; he wasn't the one on the brink of death!

Once again interrupting his internal monologue, he was abruptly picked up by Solar, and put into a transfer tube.

“WHAT THE F-”

Chapter Text

“LUNAR, N- What? Where-” Sun was confused.

They'd awoke to Ruin standing above them, which certainly was startling. Last they'd checked, they were busy dying to Lunar.

“Hello, Sun! I’d assume you are quite confused as to how you entered Moon’s lab, yes?”

“I mean- yeah. Where’s Eclipse and Lunar?”

Solar, who seemed to be overseeing one of the tubes, was the one to respond.

“Lunar ran away. We don’t know what’s happening with ‘em, but ‘Clipse is in this tube, we’re givin’ ‘im a new body, ‘cause he’s tiny.” He sounded surprisingly emotionless. Well, it wasn't that surprising now.

“That’s great!" Wait. Sun caught themself, "…Not so much about Lunar, I guess.”

“Well, screw ‘im, he never cared ‘bout us that much.”

“Oh.” They didn't expect Solar to get over it so quickly.

He turned to the loading screen on one of the monitors.

Sun looked over to Ruin, who was staring at Solar as if his life depended on him. What was he doing...?

“Ruin, why’re you staring at Solar?” They asked.

Ruin startled, blushing a little.

“Uh- Well- I-”

Sun smiled, instantly catching on. They whispered, “Lemme guess. You like Solar?”

“Wha- I- I would never! I don’t- I don’t deserve him!”

The blush was officially covering his whole face; seems Ruin wasn’t really keeping his ‘act’ together this time!

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell!” The sunny animatronic smiled, good naturedly.

Solar suddenly spoke, making Ruin jump a little. “You're not bein' all that quiet back there. I'm not deaf! What's the secret? Or is it something 'bout me?”

"Oh, I- Yeah, no- We weren't talking about you!" Ruin stuttered.

“Yep, definitely. We'd never insult one of our friends!" Sun added, innocently.

Ruin stared at Sun, somewhat indignant at the fact they'd subtly insulted him.

And now Sun was wheezing. Like a tea kettle. Sun, the solar-powered tea kettle.

“What is going on.” Solar looked at the two others with the most deadpan face either had ever seen.

And now they've collapsed on the floor in a pile of deranged giggles.

“Wha- SUN-?” Ruin looked faintly concerned, while Solar was down on the floor, trying to figure out the source of what appeared to be a seizure, but was really just Sun's body not being about to figure out how to properly express what could be considered happiness on steroids and multiplied by 10.

Their little scramble for coherence was ended with the noise of a tube opening, followed by a tired noise, which also came from the tube. And out stumbled Eclipse, looking over himself in most likely happiness and shock. Sun visibly brightened from their spot on the floor. Oh, guess they now light up whenever they're happy. That'll be fun to show the others!

“Agh, Solar, never do that aga- SUN!? You’re back!” Eclipse also looked very happy to see the sun model. It may have come off weird a few days ago, but now, it seemed almost natural. Sun, of course, wouldn't really notice the change. Eclipse walked up to Sun, a bit shaky on new legs, but still confident as ever. Then, the most unexpected thing in existence occurred. Eclipse hugged Sun, without being prompted to do so.

“Eep. Good to see you too?” Sun was slightly confused, as the now-taller model's four arms wrapped around him quickly; they had not expected this.

“Never die again. If you die I’m going to bring you back and kill you again.”

Sun smiled, knowing he really did care. ...But Eclipse probably didn't know how to say anything that wasn't a threat.

Ruin and Solar shared a look. Eh, everything was good now. Hopefully no one would commit murder in the next few days, and it would stay that way.

And all the while, Moon was tightly gagged and bound in the corner, letting out muffled threats every once in a while.

Chapter Text

His new body was weird. Well, he was infinitely grateful for the second set of arms, but having so many rays on his head genuinely scared him, with how heavy the ‘earrings’ felt. It felt like his thin neck was going to snap from pressure.

Honestly, Eclipse was shocked by Lunar. Maybe he was becoming soft- no, obviously he was, he helped the gremlin twins- but he didn’t mind his brother as much as he thought he would. He completely and absolutely regretted what he did to the Celestial Family- with a few exceptions, of course- and he understood why the younger acted that way, but to attempt on his life? No thanks, goodbye.

Sun, Solar, Ruin, and him had sat down in the living room; had a discussion. Before tonight, he had no idea who this… Nexus was, and apparently, he was New Moon. The one version of the celestial idiot he’d thought was a decent person. Key word, thought. Sun’d told him after he went fuming about how he thought Solar’d already killed Moon, and that drama really went to hell and back, according to them. Moon calling Earth collateral damage? Bullshit.

And the worst part? Sun said they’d wished Moon was dead, that ‘Nexus’ was the only one they’d ever cared about, and why in the everloving hell didn’t Moon just stay dead

That involved a mental breakdown on Sun’s end, which he frantically tried to stop; keeping Sun from murdering their ‘brother’. Could Moon even be considered their brother, at this point?

And now, here he was, helping Solar fix the very much broken portal, as if nothing ever happened; as if they were a completely normal, functional family.

“Ey ‘Clipse, can ya hand me the screwdriver, I need to stab something.” Solar asked.

“Sure,” Eclipse reached for a screwdriver, something had probably made its way through the portal, which was working, but only partially.

There were small areas of the portal that were actually functioning, and the rest was stuck closed. None of the animatronics knew why or how. But that was normal-ish, like most everything that happened to this family.

He handed over the said item, when Spaniard spoke words that he would hate after approximately 2 seconds.

“Portal activated.”

Just to Eclipse’s luck, he was in the ball pit, couldn’t get out, and now he’s gonna be sent to an unknown dimension? How wonderful.

Teleportation nausea struck Eclipse, and his vision went black.

*A few seconds later*

As he came to, he realized Solar wasn’t with him. Probably on that island thing before it activated. He was alone?! Oh, great.

He climbed onto this island-thing, scanning his new-yet-same surroundings. The Daycare seemed the same at first glance, but the longer you stared, the more off it felt. Like uncanny valley type shit, this place was unnerving with how barren it was. He’d at least expected Sun to be here, as per the most common universes. But if the Sun was here, the place wouldn’t look so… messy. Picture-perfect, but messy.

“Hello?” He called out. That was stupid. What if there were hostile entities?

Just to his luck, again, someone actually responded. (He really has horrible luck, doesn't he?) “Ah, someone new. Who’s it this time? Before, it was a Moon, I think from the same dimension.”

“Wha-”

Sun’s voice sounded exhausted, as if they’d been through a lot. “Sun? What’re you- You’re… not my Sun, are you?”

“Isn’t it obvious, you came through a portal, into a different dimension, what would your Sun be doing here?”

He was an idiot. The other Sun walked around one of the structures, and Eclipse instantly knew who this one was. Well, it was obvious, considering the weirdly formal suit-vest he was wearing.

“You’re… well, I don’t know if I should call you Dark Sun, but… you’re the one my Sun said was helping Nexus, or something like that. Didn’t you have a pocket dimension to hide in?” He was talking fast. Was it out of panic?

Sunny did say Dark Sun was really smart. Maybe smarter than him. Or maybe it was just him trying to get his thoughts through.

“Not necessarily. I mean, I do visit my family’s graves one or twice a year, so you caught me at a nice time. Dark Sun is fine, I don’t care, and I’m not helping Nexus, just… he and I work on our own projects and such.”

“Yeah, alright I guess. Your family died?” Eclipse was startled by this information. How old was this version of Sun? What happened? He, of course, didn’t actually ask any of these questions; it might be rude.

“Yes. So you’re not going to try and kill me, or yell about how you’re so much better than me? That’s a first. It seems like all you Eclipses can do. My Eclipse did become better later on, so I apologize if I haven’t been seeing how you’ve been doing as much.”

“I mean, good to know you haven’t been spying on me or whatever you do, but isn’t that a little stereotypical?”

“Fair. I don’t think it would be fun to be stereotyped as another happy-go-lucky Sun. Most of us aren’t like that at all.”

Not much was said after, at least for a while. Eclipse took a look around, once again, taking in the musty smell and run-down appearance of the place.

“Do you even take care of this place?” He asked.

Dark Sun hummed as they thought. “Not often, only when I visit. Why would you wish to know?”

“Eh, my Sun would be going insane over all this dust.”

Seeing as Dark Sun didn’t respond, Eclipse decided to keep talking. He didn’t like silence.

“So, we’ve all just been calling you Dark Sun. Is there… anything you’d prefer?”

The other shrugged. “I mean, Dark Sun is a bit bland for a name. I guess… last time I remember Ruin talking about me, he said… Solstice? That could work.”

“Alright then, Solstice. Are you gonna let me leave?” Eclipse was surprised he hadn’t found Solstice spying on them worrying. That would usually be a cause of concern.

“I could just kill you.”

Eclipse tensed, startled at the change in tone. Should he run? The rational part of his brain screamed yes, run. The irrational part wanted to see how he’d die.

“JOKING- joking. I- god, am I that much of a threat?” They looked like they were trying to hold back a laugh. It was a strange expression for them.

But Solstice seemed panicked, to some extent. Why? Eclipse had no idea.

“Yeah, you can just end all our lives if you wanted to. I think. Sun tends to overemphasize things.”

More silence. Was it because he mentioned Sun? Eclipse himself enjoyed talking about Sun, mostly because of all the goodness in the daycare attendant.

“Why do you stay quiet when I bring up my Sun?” It came out a bit harsh from impatience. Not like he cares though. …It would be better to show politeness or something to the one who can kill you, he thinks.

“Ah, well… I am a Sun. I used to be like him, always seeing the bright side of things,” they responded.

Eclipse was about to speak, but Solstice beat him to it.

“But all Suns snap at some point. Usually because of their Moons. Though it’s not uncommon for them to end up killing their Eclipses. Sometimes they even work with their Eclipses to kill Moon. It’s not as rare as you’d think.”

“Ya know what? I get that. Moon’s an absolute prick.”

“And an abuser.”

“That too. Guess we’re bonding over Moon-related annoyances now, eh?”

Solstice chuckled at the stupid remark. “Sure. Though I should send you home, huh?”

“Please. No offense, your company is actually slightly decent, but Sun and Solar are probably dying at home.” Home. It came out so easily. He has a home now. But that’s a victory to celebrate later. Now, he should focus on getting back to the Celestial family. (His family.)

“Goodbye. Till we meet again, Eclipse.”

And with that, he promptly got shoved into the ball pit, left to fend the nauseating feeling of teleportation by himself.

Chapter Text

Solstice stared at the portal, thinking. It had already been a while since Eclipse left; to be precise, 10 minutes. But they still couldn't help but wonder.

Why were they nice to Eclipse?

It did nothing but frustrate them that they didn't know the answer to a seemingly simple question. They’re supposed to- no, they are a villain, they're helping Nexus, they're even planning to make Sun kill either Moon, or Nexus. But that was because they wanted the best for the version of Sun. Well, whatever.

...It couldn’t hurt to be nice, though. Maybe gain an ally? That would be useful, but not likely. Eclipse seems loyal to the other Sun, he wasn’t switching sides anytime soon. But that felt nice, in a way. An Eclipse who chose to be good. Who chose to care. Solstice took some time to think, but not much. They soon decide on their actions, however. They always were quite decisive, unlike that Eclipse’s Sun.

They’ll keep Eclipse alive. At least, for now. Who knows, maybe the killcode variant would change their mind, decide being part of a family wasn't worth it.

Anyways. They’d lied, when they said they hadn’t been watching the Eclipse; in fact, they had been quite intently, and still are.

Even then, before their meeting, they'd found pleasure in watching one of the seemingly irredeemable characters get better, and after the interaction, it had only gotten worse. It was quite confusing. After the death of his family, they'd simply ceased to care. In fact, their sense of emotion was... not the greatest. But it appeared, after meeting that Eclipse, to have gotten slightly better.

But there was only one question now. Were they willing to give up everything they worked for, just to talk with Eclipse once more?

Their rationality- really, that would just be themself, said no, they had more important things to do. After all, they had so many things planned for the pocket dimension they called home. It needed to be expanded, stabilized, all that work; work they needed time for. Eclipse would take that time away from them.

The irrational side, albeit the side they usually didn’t notice, said otherwise.

And they regret to inform that, for once, they’re agreeing with the latter.

They’d already come to terms with the fact that what they do is not a path they will feel happiness walking down. But that thought had never disturbed them as much as it did now. Are they growing soft? Has their carefully constructed outer shell finally cracked?

Hell, that’s far from likely. How long has it been? Ah, right, more than 24 years of convincing Suns to emancipate themselves from their Moons. And, if that didn’t work, there was always the option of murdering the Moons. Most Suns jumped at that chance.

Realistically, it was far too late to change things, but everything in this world ran on magic and technology. Nothing was impossible to Solstice, not anymore.

So, with that decision, they might try extracting the DSP from Nexus. It wouldn't be a difficult process for them, considering the amount of tech they owned and created. They'd just... chosen not to do it earlier on.

Maybe, if he did, the Celestial family would give them a fraction of a chance. Highly unlikely, but their optimism had t-posed itself back into existence after they met Eclipse. They'll give it a shot, there was nothing to lose anymore.

Solstice opened up a portal, one leading to the dimension where Nexus and they worked on their little projects. The former Moon was most likely in the lab, he spent a lot of time there.

Not like Solstice could object, they were either there, or in the ‘main’ dimension, for the most part. And the latter was reserved for visits to their family's graves.

Soon enough, they found Nexus in the testing chamber, doing- err- something. It was hard to tell from the angle they were currently at, and... least they could say, not like they wanted to know what the maniac was making.

“Hello, Nexus. I need to run some tests, would you mind powering down for a while?” They asked, surprising the moon.

Nexus jumped slightly, then shrugged. He was getting more used to Solstice's abrupt visits than he'd like to admit. “Tch, of course I ‘mind’, you just don’t give a damn whether I do or not.”

“...Yes or no?”

“Go ahead, to answer your question,” he grumbled.

“Great,” Solstice turned around. "Follow me."

In reality, it was very much not great. Nexus runs on mostly dark star power, doing this might end up killing him. Well, doesn't matter to him. Or anyone else, for that matter. Not like anyone cares about him, at least in the state he’s in right now. A bit depressing, but everyone here's been depressed at least once, yeah? It'll be fine...

Solstice powered him off, quite unexpectedly, and Nexus let out a short staticky sound akin to a gasp of surprise, before he shut down.

Very much abruptly, they shoved the moon model into a tube, and started the process of extracting both the DSP and wither shard energy, because apparently, Nexus had that now. Great. As if the idiot wasn't already on the brink of death.

You learn something new every day, they say. This is probably the first new thing they've learned this year, aside from their ‘feelings’ for Eclipse, apparently. Wait... Not like that, it was just... Friendship, yes. They hadn't had friends in a while.

But why- no, how did they feel anything other than hate for Eclipse? And it wasn't just anyone, it was the Eclipse of all things! This Eclipse was almost the same as so many others they’d met in past years, and yet…

What, was it the kindness, even after all the horrible things he’d done, all the terrible things he would do? But now, they'd come to question whether the solar model would even think of doing these things. Meeting him in person was quite surprising for Solstice.

They were slightly annoyed at themself; how dare they care about someone else? Last time, it only ended in… well, they didn’t feel like talking about that trauma dump, not now. The story of their family was one for another time. They aren’t very used to talking about their problems (or really anyone’s problems, for that matter), where would they even begin?

Amidst their thoughts, the screen next to the tube holding Nexus let out a ping, notifying the dark sun that the DSP extraction was not only complete, it was successful. They were quite surprised; even with the advanced technology they possessed, this procedure was one they'd remembered to be quite difficult.

“Alright, let’s see what new kind of mess we’ve made this time," they muttered. Even though they sounded unhappy, annoyed even, they were truly more excited than they'd been for a longer time than he'd like to admit.

Solstice sighed, absentmindedly fiddling with the controls while waiting for the tube to open. Every Sun had their weird little habits, and they were no exception.

Soon, the door opened, and out popped the one and only, real ‘Nexus’.

Chapter Text

“Solar? I’d like to have a conversation with you, if it’s possible. O- Of course, you don’t need to, that’ll be fine too!” Ruin was stuttering.

That was far from normal for the silver-tongued Eclipse, but what could he say? It was his first time in decades that he’d done something like this. He’d promised not to try again after… after that incident.

But here he was, about to do it again.

“Yeah? I’m up for that, anytime.” Solar responded, completely oblivious to what he was about to say.

Ruin let out a vent. That… that was relieving.

“I- Uhm. I have something I’d like to tell you.”

“Well- It must be important if you’re stuttering like this. Never thought I’d see you like this, really!” Solar smiled, not taking his eyes off the latest project of his.

Oh… why did he have to be so confident? His happiness brought Ruin joy, and yet… They felt as though they didn’t deserve it. As though they deserved all the pain, not the joy.

It was only fair, for what he did.

“I-” Ruin paused. Should they tell him? Solar didn’t deserve another burden.

“...Yeah?”

Well, no use in dragging out this already-awkward situation.

He sighed. Took a deep breath, and spoke. “...I- I love you.”

Wait. Was that too straightforward? It sounded a bit annoyed. What if it was too harsh? What would Solar think?

No no no no no, if only they could take back their words-

“Oh, I thought you were gonna say something like you were gonna leave! Thank god- Uhm. Yeah. I- I just made this weirder, didn’t I? Well, I love you too, Ruru.”

Safe to say, Ruin was shocked. How does he even respond to that? “Oh! I- uh- uhm, this is- yeah, you did- I mean, I-”

Ruin was so flustered. This was so strange, he didn’t know how to go about this. Monty’d refused him, so he never understood what to do next, practically leaving him speechless.

Solar was the one to break the silence. “So. You look… confused, to say the least. Wanna get coffee or something?”

Gods. Solar was wonderful. Amazing. He deserved everything.

He sighed, relieved he didn’t have to make the situation worse. “...Yes, though I prefer tea?”

“Great! The cafe nearby makes both, we can go there.”

But just as Solar started toward the door, Ruin realized something. “Solar… We’re animatronics, what’ll they think? They’ll stare, I- I can’t do that, not again-”

Solar looked at them, optics filled with understanding. He then laughed a bit, easing the tension. “Then you’re just old like that, don’t you remember what I told you? The Animatronics’ Rights Movement succeeded! They can’t discriminate against us anymore, we have rights.”

“O- Oh! That’s… great, really!”

In Ruin’s home world, animatronics had revolted, taking over the world under the command of the Creator. Thank- Well, thank him for that, he was the one who’d gotten rid of his old dimension. (Along with more than five thousand others…)

He had to constantly remind himself of his newfound freedoms; during most of his time in the old ruined dimension, he was shackled by the Ruin virus, which most animatronics there were infected with.

The Animatronics’ Rights Movement was rare to succeed, in all the infinite dimensions that exist.

Most of the time, any and all artificial intelligences- intelligent or not- were shunned, considered outliers from human society. Comes to show how horrible people could be. And in his long time living, he’d been faced with a lot of threats and stares.

But there were some nice humans. Ruin will forever remember Cassie and Gregory, even his version of Vanessa, who was pretty nice to him.

And now, he and Solar were walking to the Crystal Cafe, amongst humans and animatronics, all of them just minding their own business and not arguing or protesting or whatever, for once. He really had to get out more, didn’t he?

It was peaceful, the whole walk.

Once they got to the cafe, Ruin could hardly contain his awe. The interior of the shop was warm, and the walls had a mix of plant life and gemstones, the floor made of wooden planks. There were windows, taking up much of the right wall, but it didn’t feel out of place at all in the quaint coffee shop. Everything felt so inviting, he wouldn’t mind staying there forever.

The duo walked up to the cashier, who was an animatronic too! Their name tag said ‘Sugar’ and their tone as they greeted Solar and Ruin truly lived up to their name.

“Heyo! And what would you two like?” They chirped.

Their tone brightened up the entire place, and made Ruin feel relaxed and comfy. He looked over at Solar, and saw he felt the same.

The two ordered a milk tea and an iced coffee with like- 24 shots of espresso.

Ruin went serious for a few seconds. “Solar, I don’t mean to sound rude, but what in the bloody hell. Are you trying to kill yourself?”

Solar looked a bit embarrassed, while Sugar was the one to respond. “Oh, no, he does this all the time, there’s no need to worry!”

“No that just makes me even more worried.” Ruin said, monotone.

Solar chuckled, and reassured him, pulling him into a side hug. “Thanks for the concern, but I’ll be fi-”

“Solar!? Ruin?!” A suspiciously moon-shaped animatronic burst into the coffee shop, drawing a few eyes, and startling the duo.

…And obviously, the one good thing Ruin got had to go to shit. That was Nexus, wasn’t it.

Chapter Text

Moon woke up to eye-burning, overly vivid colours and loud noises, ear-piercing.

If he spoke, he thought he’d cough up all his oil. His voice box was in agony.

He’d slammed his synthetic ‘eyelids’ shut as soon as he’d opened them. The world was too bright.

It felt like he was going through withdrawal, but all at once and stretched out to eternity. What did he do to deserve this?

He was scared. Where was he? This was not his lab. In fact, he didn’t think he’d ever been to this place before.

Last he remembered, he was trying to bring back Solar. He hadn’t found out how to do that, but he was trying. He was sure he was going to succeed, he’d just found a new thing to try! And now he’s here, all of a sudden, in torturous pain.

Even without onlining his optics, he knew that he was not at home. This place felt different. Sterile, and smelled odd. Like bleach, rot, and… something else.

“Hello, Nexus, how are you feeling?” Someone said, startling him. But he was too tired to even flinch.

Who was that? He didn’t know. Either way, he didn’t think he could speak, so he signed. ‘Who’s Nexus?’ It hurt to move his hands, but it was his only chance to find out where… here was.

The other being didn’t respond.

He tried again. ‘Hello? Are you talking to me? I’m Moon, not a… Nexus.’

“...Do you want to be Moon?”

What an odd question. He thought about that. All the guilt, all the blame that wasn’t meant for him. Ultimately, he decided he did not. It was too much of a burden to be like Moon.

‘No.’ He thought some more. The other voice sounded like Sun! ‘Sun? Is that you? You sound more tired. Are you alright?’

The other, Sun? Cleared their ‘throat’, and responded. “I’m not your Sun. You may call me Dark Sun, or Solstice.”

So that’s who it was. The ‘evil’ Sun from that dimension, the one he’d run into a while back. Guess they weren’t so bad, huh?

After all, they did help him. He thinks.

He tentatively signed again. ‘Why am I here?’

“You… How do I put this. You used dark star power, tried to kill Ruin and Earth in the process, nearly died, and I saved you. You’d also renamed yourself to Nexus. We worked together for a bit, and I took the DSP out of your system. Apparently that caused some memory loss; and everything you felt and are feeling right now is probably another result of that. The memory loss… well, it’s for the better, I hope.”

That was a lot. Welp, he went insane, just like the Old Moon. But he’s not Moon anymore, he’s… Nexus. Funny name. But it didn’t feel like his. It felt wrong now, he himself had tainted it. ‘Call me…’ He had to spell it out. ‘N- E- X.’

“Alright, that’s fine. Hello, Nex. My name is Solstice.”

He heard some shuffling, and felt a shift in his sensors. What was that? What did Solstice do?

“You should be able to open your optics without getting flashbanged, now.” Nex slowly blinked open his optics, letting out a breath when his eyes weren’t instantly assaulted. There seemed to be a thin, transparent grey film over his optics, probably so he didn’t go blind immediately.

‘Thank-’ His signed-out thank you was interrupted.

“Oh, and you can speak now, without pain.”

Oh. It felt like he hadn’t used his voice box in ages. “Th- Than- k y- you-”

Most of his voice came out as garbled static, making him wonder how long it had been since he last spoke. It couldn’t have been that long, though, right? He didn't have the memories from before Solstice'd taken out the Dark Star Power, so he couldn't even answer that question. It was probably an effect of the DSP anyways.

The rest of that time was spent with Solstice filling Nex in on what happened while he… wasn’t himself.

As it turned out, Solar was alive again! Eclipse was also back, but he was getting better, and a whole buncha other things happened too. It was all so much, he was surprised so much could happen in just the amount of time he was gone. Then again, he was gone for a pretty long time...

Suddenly, Nex got an idea. “C- Can I- go meet S- Solar?” He wanted to see him again, apologize for everything, everything that he did.

“Sure, just… be prepared.” Solstice nodded, turning towards another one of many panels.

They opened a portal, and Nex walked through, (sorta) ready to finally meet his dead brother again.

Chapter Text

“Nexus?! What are you doing here? Here to hurt your old family again?” Solar yelled, turning a few eyes towards them.

Solar was in shock, and probably going through the five stages of grief; Nexus was here to ruin another good moment? Why does this keep happening?

And just when he was gonna- well, can’t spoil it, now can he? He tensed up, expecting a snarky retort, or something of the sort.

But instead, Nexus sighed. Why did he sigh? Wasn’t he gonna laugh, or tease Solar for being with Ruin or something? The moon model held up his hands in defeat, confusing both Solar and Ruin. He glanced to the side and saw a couple bystanders recording the face-off.

Bringing back Solar’s attention, Nexus coughed, and spoke. “I- I’m not ‘Nexus’ anymore. But I’m not Moon either. You can call me Nex, or anything you’d like, I guess. Whoever did all that horrible shit to your family deserves death, and I know for a fact that I wouldn’t do anything like that, not in the right mind.”

Nexus- no- Nex, let out a dry laugh, seemingly devoid of emotion. “Guess I deserve to die, don’t I? It already feels like I am.” His voice was filled with defeat; it was so painful to hear, Solar had no choice but to believe him.

Ruin had other plans, apparently.

Moving in front of Solar, he glared threateningly at Nex. “What do you want? I’m pretty sure you’re just going to pretend you care about us- no, not me- the Celestial family, just to stab them in the back again!”

Solar looked up at Ruin in concern, they were part of the family. But it was pretty obvious why Ruin would say otherwise.

Nex, meanwhile, simply nodded. No denial, just plain, raw acceptance. “I- Honestly, I deserve that. Solstice told me what I did, and I regret everything. I- I’m so, so sorry. Although that won’t fix anything... I'll do anything to make things right again. If there is any way I can.”

Not only was Solar in shock, he was about to run up to Nex and hug him and apologize for not acknowledging how he’d felt. He wanted to call him family, again, and comfort him as a true brother would do.

But he didn’t. He knew better. Things like this take time, and the others might not be so quick to forgive.

“I- We’ve gotta apologize too, none of us ever noticed how you felt about your identity.” Solar said. “We’ll take you home, and… reintroduce you to our family. Yes, that includes you, Ruin.

Ruin nodded along, surprised at the last bit. “But-”

“Nope, not hearing it. You’re one of us now, and there’s no changing that.” Solar interrupted, ever so slightly threatening. At that, Ruin shut up.

“...So, Nex. I’m sorry, and when the others meet you, again, they’ll probably feel the same. Even if it takes some time for them to say it.”

Nex looked shocked. Then he burst into tears, and hugged Solar. He hugged back. “Now, Ruin, let’s get home, shall we?”

“Well, Solar, dear. How the hell will we tell the others, may I ask?” Ruin asked, both sarcastic and somewhat concerned. After a short pause, he spoke again. "We really should stop bringing home our enemies."

“...Great question.”

Chapter Text

As soon as he got back, he was attacked with questions. But more importantly, he instantly noticed Solar’s absence. That, of course, was somewhat concerning, especially with the absence of Ruin, as he later learned was out too.

Could they have finally gone out? It was about time one of them confessed.

Sun noticed Eclipse staring at where he’d last seen Solar, and with the understanding of an angel, explained that Ruin had asked to speak with Solar, and he’d agreed, so the two were off doing something.

Honestly, both of the models left in the daycare agreed that the two were a perfect match, and Ruin was definitely confessing at about… now.

The duo conversed for a while, talking about some random things, when Eclipse decided to mention Solstice. It did appear Sun was about to ask him about where he’d gone either way. The conversation was getting boring, the two just asking things about each other in turns.

“Ya know Dark Sun, right?”

“Uhh… Yeah?” Sun looked confused.

Great, it worked both ways, Sun didn’t like talking about the other Sun. This was going to be annoying.

“Well, his original dimension is the one I fell into.”

Sun immediately looked like they were about to explode from worry.

“I- uh, he was… pretty good company. I enjoyed my time there, he’s not that bad of a guy, just tryna get justice for all the Suns who were abused by their Moons.” Eclipse muttered, looking around the Daycare.

Sun visibly relaxed. If the sunny model had a real heart, they’d have a heart attack, but like this, they’d just overheat. Twenty times over from the looks of it.

“...Well, when you put it that way, it doesn’t sound that bad… Moon’s not really the nicest.”

“You can say that again.” Eclipse chuckled. Everyone hated Moon for at least one reason. But still, someday they could help him as well. He should ask Sun about that.

He took in a vent to speak again, but was cut off by the daycare doors- which were double his full height, mind you- slamming open at full force. How the hell do you even open doors that big? But seriously, did these guys not know how doors work?

Apparently, Sun was really startled by it; he jumped like a foot in the air. But even then, they moved themself in front of him, holding one of his hands, probably as an affirmation that they’d stay by his side.

Eclipse was quite scared too, slammed doors meant upcoming pain. It was just a subconscious reaction at this point. He was touched by Sun’s protectiveness, even if it meant nothing.

And to his surprise, Ruin and Solar stumbled in, literally tripping over each other. It was sorta funny, at least until he and Sun saw the other animatronic that entered the daycare. Sun let out a small gasp, and he couldn’t even blame them.

Moon. Wait- no, Nexus.

Eclipse was not exaggerating when he said he was terrified for the two other animatronics, who seemed to be either running from the former Moon, or wait- chasing him?

What?

“Wha- Eclipse?!” Nexus stumbled backwards, allowing the other two Eclipse variants to catch up to him.

He looked close to a panic attack. Why? Wasn’t he here to cause problems or some stupid shit like that? Eclipse tensed, ready to fight back if necessary.

Luckily, Ruin slid in, easily breaking the rising tension with their ever-present silver tongue. Eclipse hates Ruin about as much as he enjoys their company, goddammit. “Relax, please, Eclipse won’t hurt you-”

He wouldn’t hurt Nexus? What about the opposite? He was scared of Nexus hurting him! Why was Ruin protecting Nexus?

He then turned to face Eclipse and continued speaking. “- and Nex won’t hurt you.”

Solar followed up with another reassurance. Great. “Yeah, both of you guys are reformed and shit now.”

Oh. This was horrible. He hates it here. Why did he ever agree to stay.

In reality, he just sighed. “Alright, I’m not dealing with this shit. This is your problem. Not mine. Go have fun. I don’t care about your stupid bullshit. I quit.”

And Eclipse proceeded to leave the daycare out the main doors, properly, mind you. Now, he’d finally get to making something. His hands had started itching for something to do, and it would only get worse the longer he took.

Just one of the things he’d got from Sun. Oh, and, he sure hopes none of them die in there!

Chapter Text

Eclipse stomped out. Fair, but it seemed like he wanted to say something. To them. Sun was pretty curious, but knew not to push the darker model. So they simply stared at the entrance to the Daycare, thinking about the absolute hell the past few days had been.

“Sun!” A voice called, snapping him out of his staring contest with the Daycare doors.

Sun startled. They don’t think they’ve heard that voice, so clear, in so long. It sounded nothing like what they remembered during the DSP…corruption.

Part of them wanted to run up and hug him. The other wanted to run and hide. Both made complete sense to them, but they took the risk to choose the former.

They walked up, hesitant; Ruin and Solar encouraging the two to talk.

“H-Hello?” Sun asked, tentative.

Almost immediately, Nex latched onto them, suffocating them in a hug. Well, would have, if any of them actually had lungs. They took a vent in, don’t overheat, don’t overheat, don’t overheat-

“I- I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t want to, I- I just-”

Time to play therapist. “It’s… it’s alright. I’m fine now, mostly, and I… get it.”

Solar nodded along. Ruin had popcorn. Where does he get so much popcorn from? It’s starting to get annoying…

“Are you okay?” Sun asked, returning the hug, still wary.

Nex nodded. He was crying.

They sat there for a while, in silence. Blissful, calming, silence. Any of Sun’s worries slowly faded, soothed by Nex’s hug, and they felt… real. They felt at peace. They felt as though nothing was wrong, no one would hurt them, everything would be fine as long as they were with Nex. Said animatronic took a vent in, and seemed less jumpy than before. If only Eclipse could see this. Maybe he’d think differently.

Ruin was sobbing, on the floor, as though they’d heard all of Sun’s thoughts; Solar was calming them. The two Eclipses seemed to love watching the ongoing family drama, as if it was a goddamn soap opera.

But it still seemed… docile. Calm. But of course, peace could not last long, not when you’re in the Celestial family.

The peaceful moment of reconciliation and family bonding was cut off by a sudden loud shout. “WHERE AM I?!?!!?!!?”

That was followed by a very loud, very not-Eclipse-y, screech of pure agony, one which came from, guess who, Eclipse.

“KILLCODE?!”

And there goes their happy quiet time.

Of course, Nex was very panicked. Sun tried their best to reassure him, but they were pretty on edge too, so that was useless. …Well, really, very on edge, if they were being honest.

“Wha- where- KILLCODE?!”

Sun stared, long and hard, at the two Eclipses currently in the daycare. “This is all your fault, isn’t it.”

Solar spoke up. “...Define ‘fault’.”

Ruin faceplanted. (yes, faceplanted)

Sun sighed. They were all going to die, either of betrayal, or overcrowding, or plain old exhaustion, if they kept redemption-ing the bad guys.

They really didn’t feel like dealing with KC, not now of all times, but it was necessary. With their luck, Eclipse had probably tried to shoot the former violence code multiple times.

“You- you guys don’t have to deal with KC, we’ll do that for you! He’s pretty… uh, not-murderous right now, I don’t believe he’ll attack anyone. Right Solar? Right, Solar?” Ruin stuttered, trying his (apparently) absolute best to try and calm the somewhat angry Sun.

Frantically, Solar nodded along.

Ruin, in all his gracefulness, managed to trip over Solar twice on the way out. The two seemed way more prone to damage after they got together. But they were a perfect match, so there isn’t much to argue about.

Anyways, they weren’t expecting a peaceful interaction, but they were also not expecting Spaniard to activate literal bombs at the mention of Killcode. Since when did Spaniard even have bombs?

Did they ever tell Spaniard about Killcode? Probably not. Not like that matters now.

Sun casually waited in the Daycare, talking to Nex as the two waited for the others to deal with the murder code. And after what seemed like a screaming match between a married couple, and- was that a gun? Ruin dragged Killcode into the room.

Chapter Text

Hey guys... So I told you guys last chapter, I'm going on hiatus. This is just a restatement, for anyone who doesn't read the notes.

If you're wondering why, it's because I not only have school starting in a few days, I also want to focus more on my comic (on ibisPaint). ...And I've fallen out of the tSaMS fandom. I'm probably not gonna scrap this fic, or orphan it though, cause maybe in the future, I will come back to it.

Anyways, I also wanted to thank everyone of you who commented on this fic, gave kudos, or even just read it! I'm so happy it got any attention it did, and just reading over all the comments made me so happy :)

I won't be leaving the platform or anything, in fact, I might post other fics, maybe even original stories, but it's also unlikely I'm gonna update this one for another couple months. Sorry.

I'm also going to put the link to my comic here, just in case anyone wants to check it out (it's an original story): https://ibispaint.com/comic/storyList.jsp?comicID=131364587

Once again, thanks for all the support (like seriously where did all of you come from), and I hope to see you again soon!