Chapter Text
Atlas jolted awake, heart hammering in his chest, pounding in his ears. Molten had his hand on his shoulder. He panicked away from him as he scrambled away from the wired mess of a Freddy model. He was trapped though. His back against the wall. Atlas growled, shaking Molten away, and hitting him with both hands. He growled and snapped curses at him. The problem was that he wasn't seeing Molten, even though Molten scared him. He was seeing the shadowy hands of another person who used him like no child should have been used that impacted how Atlas saw everyone else.
"No one...will...hurt you here." Despite the angry aggressive Altas, Molten's voice remained calm and low...maybe he couldn't change his voice levels or anything. It didn't matter.
He pulled away from Molten, curling up tightly. "Don't touch me."
"Sorry." Molten took a few steps backwards. "You were...whimpering...in your sleep..."
"I know."
"Does that happen...often?" Molten looked off to the arcade area as if there was someone there, probably those other animatronics he saw.
Atlas noticed that the plushie he was given had been tossed away from him. The boy quickly snatches it up and hugs it to his chest. He could feel his heart. His pulse rapid against his neck. Atlas was shivering because of fear and not coldness, panic settling in every fiber of his being. He wanted to run and scream and just be away from here with those eyes staring down at him Instead he pulled himself further into his knees. His arms wrapped tightly until they were squeezing to white. Atlas buried his face into the Nova plushie to shield the tears threatening to come out from Molten. He doesn't cry in front of others anymore. He refuses to.
Atlas takes a shaky breath in.
Molten's voice confirms the unanswered question. "I...understand."
There was a pause as Molten just scans Atlas, he could feel it underneath his skin.
"Your body...temperature...has risen...you are...sick. Quarantine should be put into effect."
Atlas wipes his eyes from the tears, "What are you talking about?"
"You are...sick...your body temperature... has risen to 101.4 degrees... Fahrenheit... indicating that something... is wrong. A virus has... probably gotten into your system... and will be... spread across the... world. We must... separate you... from the others."
He tilted his head, "I don't...what are you...saying?"
"I'll contact...Sun and Moon...":
"NO!" He stood up, dropping the plushie. "Don't tell them."
Molten looked down at him. "Why?"
Atlas didn't know what to say. He had just reacted on instinct. "I...don't want them to know. Not like they can do anything."
"They know a lot of ways to help."
Atlas shakes his head, trying to convey that he didn't like the idea. "Please?"
"Fine." Molten sighed. "But...if you...get worse...I'll contact them...anyways."
"Deal."
Atlas settles back to leaning on the wall, sitting crisscross. His arm throbbed deeply now as he placed it gently on his lap. Fresh blood had seeped through the bandages that Sun had put on earlier. He eyed the plushie trying to figure out if he wanted to pick it back up and get it dirty from his blood or leave it there to keep it clean. Atlas could keep it clean and just slid down the wall until he was laying on his side, stretching out his hurt arm to rest against the cool carpet. He let his other hand pillow under his head and his legs pull up a little to shield him from his own emotions.
The boy tried to sleep the rest of the night. His mind still swirling around from his nightmare and the situation he had found himself in at this pizzeria. Atlas isn't normally this bad at stealing things. He blames it on getting hurt. If he didn't try to act tough when that man had come around and started following him, then he wouldn't be here. He would still be out there trying to steal from whatever store he wanted and be out of there before anyone could find him there. Atlas was good at living on the streets.
Atlas finally got some sleep in the early morning when the light started coming in. His heavy eyelids fell shut despite the throbbing in his arm and he got some rest. He was awoken to a soothing voice, hand rubbing gently on his shoulder. He sat up to look at the person doing it. Sun. It was Sun who was kneeling down next to Atlas with his hands steadying the boy as he sat up. Sun seemed tense and worried as he adjusted himself and Atlas. Last night, he couldn't really feel it, but now, he could feel the fever in his systems blocking his brain from fully waking up. He noticed that his skin was a little sweaty too.
Sun sighed, "Molten said your wound reopened last night, can I take a look?"
"...sure..." He nodded, already offering up the painful pulsing arm.
Sun, again, took it gently to examine it. He shook his head before standing up and getting the first aid kit again. The animatronic then sat down to start unwrapping and rewrapping his hurt arm. It barely took two minutes for him to be done this time with only cleaning and ointment slapped on. Atlas didn't feel any better than before his wrapping got changed. His eyes still seeing with a hazy look, felt too hot in his own clothes but so cold too, and his arm still hurt. Actually, it hurt more now than it did before. Sun brushed back some hair out of his eyes, hair was really long, in a sweet caring gesture.
"We are fixing to open up for the day and I got a few options for you." Sun stood back up, looking out of the prize corner. "We have a backstage area, but the others will be in and out all day. There are the office areas...but Moon is almost always back there. He did say he'll stay on the floor to give you the time you need. And lastly, is taking you to our house and let you sleep there."
All options felt like crap. Backstage sounded loud and too crowded with the other animatronics. He couldn't imagine trying to sleep with the characters singing right there on the stage that was only separated them was a thin curtain. Animatronics could also come in and out with full access to him at all points of the day. That wasn't safe at all. Going to Sun's house felt...wrong. That had to be most unsafe out of all of the options. He really didn't know who Sun was or why he was good at handling him or even why he cared so much to help one small child in a storm of helplessness. So that left the office area. He assumed Moon was the one that was the one that was blue and came in with Sun and he did not like him. He seemed like he would always be angry for no reason at all, temper and emotionless. It would be quieter, and he could rest like he so bad wants to do right now. Then again, Moon had access to him all day.
Atlas took a deep breath, "Is that my only options?"
"Yes...unless you want us to contact CPS."
"No." He growled, "Never."
Sun nodded, "Then yes. Those are the only options at the moment."
Atlas tilts his head, "The offices then. I can sleep anywhere at the moment."
Sun turned to him with a fake smile plastered on his face. "Good. I'll take you there. Do you feel well enough to walk on your own?"
"Yes. I always will." He snapped, part due to the fact that he was exhausted and in pain, another part due to the fact that Sun offered to touch him. That was a never.
The boy awkwardly stood up from his spot as he tried to get up using one hand. Once he was up, he looked up at Sun for direction on what to do and where to go. Sun ruffled his hair, then led him around the prize counter and back through the many arcades filling up the space. Then they came down the hallway. At the stage, he could see the others waiting there. The clown girl, the chicken girl, the wolf girl, the crocodile guy, the bear guy, Molten, who he assumes it Moon, and a Moon lookalike (the one with the cone hat from last night). All of them plus an orange version of Sun with a totally different vibe who was standing further away from the group were talking to each other. Suddenly, they stopped at his presence.
Atlas walked closer to Sun as he was lead past the animatronics, hand reaching out then stopping. The orange version of Sun animatronic stopped Sun by standing in front of them preventing them from going into the 'Employees Only' area. He seemed to be trying to convey information silently without words, maybe they talked internally since they are robots. Then he stepped to the side and allowed Sun to take the kid back where he isn't supposed to be. They passed two doors before arriving at the final door that opened upon them getting close. He looked up at where it disappeared to just to see how it worked.
"Choose any corner you like."
He looked around the area. It was mostly bare save for three desks. Two against one wall and one separated. There was also a couple of bookshelves and posters. That's it. Atlas chose to curl under the furthest from the door desk, pulling the chair as a block so he didn't have to worry about someone coming without his knowledge. Sun watched him get comfortable under the desk. Then he grabbed something out of the bookshelf cabinet and came back to him. His yellow and cream hands offered up a blue blanket to him. He thought about whether or not he needed a blanket. Then a shiver racked up his spine, hand already snatching it from Sun's fingers. Once he was situated, Sun placed the Nova plushie he had next to him.
He looked up at him, "Wait, how did you know-?"
"It was on the floor near you, Molten would never let that happen." He chuckled. "Anyways, relax here for a while. Rest up and I'll come back to check up on you."
Atlas nods, "Okay."
He settled with his hurt out on his stomach and his other hand at his side. The blanket wrapped around his body like a second skin just to stop some of the shaking shivers he had, nose buried under the fabric. His head rested near the plushie. Sun sighed, hand coming to brush back some of his hair from his face again, gently and adoringly. He had this soft feel to him. Atlas curled into a ball, allowing him to continue running his fingers against his scalp in a soothing manner. Sun stopped, stood up, and went to the door. Atlas watched him flick off the lights to the room as he left with a soft "Goodnight" and a gentle wave of his hand.
Atlas closed his eyes. The weight of the nightmare had faded when Sun was there but came back the second he was alone again. He reached for the Nova plushie and dragged it to his chest in a crushing hug. It was dark, warm, and silent. The fading laughter and singing of the crowd coming into the pizzeria had this background noise static to it that lulled him to a feverish sleep. He was still shivering, still felt hot to the touch, and still felt dazed. He wanted to do nothing more than crawl away from the place and back to his junkyard. Yet, the thought of having to deal with this all by himself felt...daunting. Too much and too overwhelming.