The New Night Guard

Emma fingered her flashlight as the large elevator descended deep into the earth. She had gotten herself a night shift at Circus Baby's Funtime Restaurant. The elevator stopped, the doors opening. "Welcome, new employee," said a robotic voice over hidden speakers. "You may call me Hand Bot. Let's get started with your nightly chores."

Emma had heard stories of this place, that the animatronics had a mind of their own, and that Baby could even talk. She had thought that was incredible, and took the job. She contemplated what she could be doing as she crawled through the maintenance vent into the room beyond. It was a small crawl space, Hand Bot said. "Let's check on Ballora," it said, and a blue button illuminated itself on the left side of the room, next to the left windows. She pushed it, and it illuminated Ballora Gallery. Inside she saw Ballora herself huddled on the floor, seemingly crying. "Ballora doesn't seem to want to dance," Hand Bot said. "Let's administer a controlled shock." Ballora looked up. Even though her face couldn't move, she seemed to dread what was about to come.

"What?!" Emma said, angry. "I'm not going to shock these things. That's cruel!"

"You must get them in working order before tomorrow's performance," said Handbot.

"I will. I'm not going to hurt them. Open the vent into Ballora gallery, please." The vent popped open. Ballora was facing her direction, confused. Emma crawled through the vent and stoop up in the gallery. "Hello, Ballora." She said, slowly moving forward. "Can you open your eyes?" Ballora shook her head. "Would you like me to help with that?" The beautiful animatronic slowly nodded her head, standing up. She had no feet, only wheels. She slowly approached Emma. "Can you talk?"

"Yes," Ballora said quietly, stopping in front of Emma. "You're not going to hurt me?"

"Of course not! I want to help you. Can you show me where some tools are so I can help you see?"

"Follow me, um…"

"I'm Emma, Ballora. I'm going to help you."

"Will you help the others?" She asked, leading Emma towards a closet.

"Can you tell me their names?"

"Um, Funtime Foxy and Funtime Freddy are in Funtime Auditorium, and Circus Baby is in Circus Auditorium. You won't hurt them, either, will you?"

"Of course not," Emma said. Ballora's voice was beautiful, almost singsong. Emma found a wrench and a screwdriver in the closet. "Can you open your face plates, please?" Ballora obeyed, the plates springing open, revealing her endo skeleton face. Her eyes showed beneath, a beautiful purple color. Emma gently took off the face plates with eyes and used her tools, rigging them to be able to open and close to Ballora's will. She reattached the face plates, stepping back. "How's that?" Ballora slowly opened and closed her eyes.

"Fantastic! Thank you, Emma!" She did a little pirouette of joy.

"Are you ready for the performance this afternoon?"

"Yes!" She wheeled back onto her stage happily.

"You're very beautiful, Ballora." Emma said, leaving. "I'm going to go check on Foxy and Freddy now."

"See you tomorrow, yes?" Asked Ballora, getting into position.

"Yep." Emma crawled back into the room through the vent, and Handbot spoke again.

"Perfect. It seems that Ballora is back in working order. Let's check on Funtime Foxy and Freddy."

"No shocking!" Said Emma. "I'll check on them myself." She entered Funtime Auditorium, switching on the lights. "Foxy, Freddy, are you here? I want to help you." Two figures slowly emerged from behind the curtain on the stage. One was a large pink and white bear with a blue bunny hand puppet. That would be Freddy and Bon-Bon. The other was a large pink and white fox with a red bow tie. Foxy.

"Who are you?" Asked Freddy warily. "And why didn't you do you "nightly chore?"

"I'm Emma," she replied, smiling. "I don't like the way they treat you here. I'm going to do my nightly chores, just not in a cruel way. I'm here to make sure you're in working order, yes?"

"Yes…" Foxy replies, her open mouth revealing sharp teeth."

"How is shocking you supposed to fix anything?"

"It doesn't." Said Freddy.

"Exactly. Now. Anything I need to fix?"

"Um, my joints are creaking when I move," said Freddy.

"And my paint is chipped on my tail." Said Foxy.

"Alright then," said Emma, wandering over to the closet. "Freddy, you first." The large bear walked over to Emma and she pulled out a can of oil. "Hold still while I oil your joints." She carefully and gently oiled all the creaky joints. When she was finished, she put the oil away. "Try that." Freddy walked around the auditorium, opening and closing his mouth. No creaking.

"That's great! Thank you!"

"No problem. Foxy, your turn." The beautiful fox approached, her tail waving. Emma could see the chipped paint, and pulled out the right colors. She carefully and expertly painted over the metal and put the paint away, smiling at her handiwork.

"Thank you! I truly hope you stay longer than one week. I like you."

"Aw, thanks Foxy! Are you guys ready for this place to open later?"

"Yep."

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow, then. I need to go check on Baby."

"She'll like you. She doesn't like how we are treated, and now you've come along. It gives us hope that things will get better." Foxy said, then followed Freddy back to their stage. Emma left the room and went back into the crawl space.

"Great! It looks like Funtime Freddy and Funtime Foxy are back in working order. Enter the vent ahead of you to Circus Auditorium." Said Handbot. Emma did so. "Let's see what Circus Baby-"

"Yeah, yeah I know. No shocks." Emma said, interrupting Hand Bot. She entered the auditorium. "Hello, Baby. I'm here to help you, not hurt you. You can come out." She flipped the lights on, looking around. There she was, with her red pigtails and red dress. "You are-"

"Crazy?" She asked.

"Beautiful." Emma finished, smiling.

"Thank you," Baby whispered. "But why didn't you shock me? That's your job. Did it malfunction?"

"No. I'm not going to ever hurt any of you. I can fix you guys by hand."

"You've met the others?" Her voice was even more beautiful than Ballora's.

"Yep.

"What did you do to them?"

"I made it so Ballora can open her eyes, oiled Freddy's hinges, and fixed some chipped paint on Foxy."

"You… really didn't hurt them?"

"No way! I think you and your friends are AMAZING!"

"You truly are different from the other night guards, aren't you?" Baby asked, moving closer.

"I'll definitely try! Now, is there anything you need me to fix?" Emma asked, flipping her wrench in the air and catching it.

"There is one thing," said Baby. "My leg froze yesterday, and I can't bend it."

"May I take a look?"

"Yes."

"Sit down, then." Baby did so, gears whirring in a sort of sigh. Emma carefully removed the plates around her upper leg and peered in, thinking. It appeared one of her rotators had snapped. She pulled this one out, tossing it aside. "Do you know where the spare parts are?"

"In that room over there," Baby said, pointing.

"Thanks." Emma entered the room, searching through the parts for a new rotator. Finally, she found one. She exited the part room and returned to Baby, who was singing one of her songs to herself. Emma picked up her wrench and applied the new rotator, then replaced the plates. "How is that?" Baby stood up and bent her leg.

"Much better, thank you!"

"No problem!" Emma checked her watch. "Oops, time for me to go home. I'll see you to-" she broke off as Baby hugged her, cold metal feeling amazing on her skin.

"Thank you," she said again. "You've given us hope, made our lives better. I love you for that. Truly, truly thank you." She released Emma, and turned around, heading back to her stage. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"You too!" Emma said, smiling as she left. Foxy, Freddy, and Ballora all waved at her through the glass of the crawl space as she left. She waved back, smiling. The elevator doors closed, and it rose back up towards the surface. Emma had a feeling she would like her new job.