Chapter Text
‘So, Lake’s Funland might be haunted… and I have no idea if I’m right or not...’
Ashley thought as she stared out of the window of her mother’s car as they drove back home after her shift. As she pondered on what to do next in light of the massive shitshow she’d recently gotten into, she went over the facts. Most of the interviews she got around town a few weeks ago had all said the same thing, each of the three children disappeared during the night and had all gone to Lake’s Funland. Something was definitely fishy despite all the evidence not pointing to the establishment. On top of that the animatronics were behaving erratically during the night shift and if what her mother told her was to be believed, they were extremely aggressive. She didn’t buy into the excuse of intruders as no mere malfunction caused the behaviour she had seen from the animatronics during her shift. A long forgotten memory tickled her brain as she thought hard on a solution and her eyes widened. That’s it! An unconventional solution, one that she was unsure of as she knew it would incur severe consequences, but there was no other option she could think of but to bring him in. Unless you counted doing nothing and Ashley wasn’t sure if she was brave enough to even think about going about it alone. Still, she needed to check if she had it when she got home but other than that, it was decided. Consequences be damned, she was giving him a call, if he indeed confirmed the worst then there would be sufficient backup from a trusted individual.
Entering her home after getting out of the car, she bid a quick hello to her father before quickly vaulting upstairs. Ignoring her father’s calling in the process to tell her that breakfast was almost ready. Quietly closing her room door she set down her bag and started looking everywhere, in and under her desk, shelves and bed. Ashley quickly found what she was looking for, a box she hadn’t touched in a months, ever since she started her school year. Opening the box, designed to look as unassuming as possible, she found what she was looking for. It looked, to the untrained eye, like a polished pane of black glass but to her it was a way of calling in the one person she trusted to help her with a case like this. If it were one of those cases that is, it wouldn’t hurt to check, if it were then she was in a huge amount of trouble.
Despite knowing one another for the better part of two years, Ashley could not claim she knew him fully. He had first started out as a babysitter and tutor who helped her with her homework while her mother worked shifts at Lake’s Funland. Now though, he one of the only adults she trusted with the odd occurrences in her life, as his own were even odder. Yizhen Tamerlan came across as a normal twenty five year old man that often portrayed himself as quiet and unassuming, with a mild lack of understanding for abstract concepts and social cues but a high level aptitude for creative expression (except for music and poetry). In reality he was a three hundred year old spirit king, one that, in his own words, hopped dimensions and got dragged into the weird and wonderful so often he decided to solve mysteries while he was at it. One that was often extremely uncomfortable when interacting with anyone due to his longevity, grey morality and the often lethal danger he faced when hopping from reality to reality. Regardless she’d persisted throughout the entire year she’d been tutored by him and they’d eventually become friends.
Yizhen had given her the very thing that now sat in her hands, a way to contact him if she ran into anything strange, a communication mirror. Magical in nature despite her initial disbelief, though Yizhen had pointed out that she’d already seen him cross realities, so magic wasn’t that farfetched. She had conceded the point with a sour look at the time, but it had fuelled her imagination for the proceeding months, passing it off as stories she created if anyone asked. Now was the best time to use the mirror, if what she suspected was happening at Lake’s Funland was indeed what she thought it was. It was best to bring in an expert, despite her initial disinclination to involve the powerful entity in something so mundane.
“The third night approaches… Joy.” Ashley grumbled incredulously as she locked the door to her room and retrieved the mirror from the box, “If I didn’t want to stay a third night what did I agree to stay any more than six?! Why did I even agree to take this job in the first place? I could’ve gotten more money washing dishes somewhere.” Her eyes went flinty as she gave the pile of notes and pictures that was her project the stink eye, “Oh wait, because I did it for mom, needed the paycheck and the excuse to do some investigating.” Sitting at her desk she angled the mirror and tapped the black glass three times in quick session like she was knocking. The surface of the glass rippled immediately, the image reflected in it changed from her and her room’s reflection to what felt like a window, viewing a sunlit study made of stained wood, bamboo and shady oak.
The mirror was propped up overlooking a fancy desk of wood coloured in seafoam and seaweed shades, a man calmly sat there doing some paperwork although he quickly looked up at the mirror once the image settled. His face broke into a smile, “Ashley!” he greeted brightly, looking extremely pleased to see her. Ashley grinned back, Yizhen looked like a young man of twenty-five with auburn hair and grey eyes, though his appearance was deceiving as he was both dead, by all accounts that mattered, and was also three hundred years old from all the dimension hopping he did. “It’s been a while, how are you doing?” He asked as put aside his pen and paperwork to focus his entire attention on her. Ashley took a deep breath with a resigned air, this conversation was going to take a while.
-
“So, let me get this straight.” Yizhen said, steepling his fingers and wishing he had something to relieve his headache. “You accepted a job at this place called Lake’s Funland to earn money and secretly investigate a string of murders that have been happening close by for a school project. I applaud you for taking initiative but I am worried about how it’ll affect your sleep cycle. All evidence that was previously acquired doesn’t seem to point towards the establishment however, you have a hunch that something’s hiding there and you want my help to be sure. What’s more the animatronics are supposedly malfunctioning, tried to get into your office and you’re convinced that this isn’t normal? Have I got this right?” Ashley nodded rapidly and explained why she decided to call him, “You’re the only one I can call in for help as you’re an expert at telling the difference, we’re going to have to edit out your involvement though. Not everyone will believe that a dimension hopping spirit aided in my investigation.” Yizhen nodded in acceptance, that was one of the downsides of his job and his abilities, no one really believed the self-proclaimed detective even if the cases were solved. Usually with a few people scarred for life in the process due to exposure to the supernatural, the therapy bills were a nightmare.
Yizhen pinched the bridge of his nose and dramatically sighed in exhaustion, “Certainty of death, high chance of lawsuits, possibility of a large amount of therapy bills? I’m in.” He conceded with a feral grin, “Work has been slow so I’m looking for a break to be honest, get a bit of action, crack a few skulls and horrify at least one antagonist. Plus I can’t say no to catching up with an old friend after a couple of months.” Ashley almost whooped in glee at his agreement but controlled herself in time, “Give me a time when I can come over before your shift, I need to pack some supplies and get myself updated on your time period to attract less suspicion.” Ashley gave him the thumbs up, “My shift starts at midnight so if you come over at ten o’clock we can go over the inventory you brought.” Yizhen nodded eagerly, then saluted his goodbyes and Ashley watched as the mirror faded back into black reflective glass as the call disconnected. Great, she now had a game plan for her third night, two heads were better the one after all. She had a feeling it was only going to get more difficult from there but given that she already had three more animatronics on her ass than her first night, she wasn’t sure how it could get any worse. She then had a feeling she’d regret that in short order but shook the feeling off and collapsed into bed to get some shut eye before school.
Ten o’clock has just rolled around when Ashley felt more than heard the signs of Yizhen’s arrival, the spirit king had the uncanny ability to ‘move through layers of perception’ which essentially made him invisible to all forms of sight. Supernatural or otherwise. Even to the point that if you wanted to catch him you needed to use several perceptive abilities and even then it would be difficult. Ashley was of the opinion that it was Yizhen’s strongest and most versatile ability, completely busted/broken to use his more modern slang. He agreed with her wholeheartedly as none of the other four spirit kings he worked with possessed this ability and it had taken him a lot of trial and error to figure out its limitations. It made him the ultimate stealth expert in the process. He’d woven a small enchantment long ago to allow Ashley to see him no matter what plane of perception he was in, so she could always sense when he was close. They had mostly used it for pranks in the time they’d known one another and keeping a straight face was crucial.
She quickly answered the door and saw Yizhen standing on the porch with a black backpack slung over his shoulder, he waved slightly in greeting with a smile on his face. Her mother Rachel turned the corner and exclaimed in surprise at his appearance. “Apologies for turning up unannounced and after so long Mrs. Waters, work had piled up back at the resort and Ashley needed to focus on her schoolwork.” Yizhen placated with an awkward smile and a wave, “I happened to be in town for a few days due to finally getting a break and thought I’d come over to say Hi.” Rachel nodded cheerfully and accepted the explanation even if it was only half truthful. She lead Yizhen and Ashley into the living room and didn’t even question the bag he’d brought with him, not that Yizhen needed to pack much except when going on long term jobs. Once she was out of earshot Yizhen handed Ashley a list.
“I packed the essentials as well as a few extras,” He explained quickly and quietly, “Carbonated drinks, snacks, a flashlight with extra batteries, a spotlight, walkie talkies, a taser, a survival knife, a notebook and a camera.” Ashley nodded along before pausing, “A spotlight?” she questioned, slightly confused, Yizhen only shrugged. “I can’t explain it but from what you told me reminds me of something I once encountered that hated any form of light, so better safe than sorry in case the flashlight is broken. Plus it’s a more powerful beam, might help light the place up better so we can see anything hiding in the shadows, stereotypical horror trope, hiding in the shadows and all that.” He informed her flippantly, he wasn’t telling Ashley of his suspicions but he wasn’t completely sure until he had some proof. Also, by the feel of things around the establishment, when he’d gotten too close, things were going to pick up tonight and it had given him an ominous feeling.
Rachel came back in with coffee, tea for Yizhen and biscuits. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” She commented, looking at Yizhen as he helped himself to the tea. “Work’s been hectic,” Yizhen deadpanned and even Ashley had to wince at the now visible bags under his eyes. “A few cleaning staff quit when someone threw up in one of the hot springs and it’s been a nightmare to get everything sanitised.” Also the truth. If a bit vague and slightly disgusting to converse about over food but Yizhen often went into way too much detail when it wasn’t really required. Ashley often marvelled how Yizhen managed to avoid people asking too many questions as well as feel disgusted at the mentioned situation. “After getting that mess sorted out I then had to fix an error in the catering and room services. The amount of paperwork and soft drinks consumed to get all of it done was a nightmare.” Ashley patted Yizhen’s arm to convey her deepest sympathies for her friends plight, even if he no longer needed to sleep he still did so to feel more human. Rachel cringed slightly, “I’d love to hear more details but I have to take Ashley to her new job in an hour or so.” She trailed off, Yizhen only nodded. “We can catch up over a meal tomorrow once Ashley’s not suffering from a lack of sleep, I’m just over to say hello for now.” He reassured her, finishing his tea afterwards.
After assuring Rachel that he was staying at a hotel nearby Yizhen left, snuck around the back and as planned, moved into a layer of perception that made him invisible to the naked eye. Following Ashley and Rachel from above after unfurling his wings, ones he usually kept retracted into his back unless he needed them. Ashley still wasn’t sure what type of bird the wings were styled after, but she was mainly betting barn owl due to the various shades of cream and brown the wings colour palate expressed.
-
Yizhen landed silently behind Ashley as she made her way into the establishment, the entire place gave him the creeps and he caught himself eyeing darker spots warily. “Is she gone?” he whispered, projecting his voice into the normal plane so Ashley could hear. She nodded and Yizhen sighed in relief, slipping into the visible plane of perception, retracting his wings and trotting along behind Ashley as she lead him to the office. “Lovely spot.” He commented dryly as he took in the open vents and lack of doors. Ashley only rolled her eyes before booting up the cameras, the clock hit twelve and Yizhen felt his foreboding feeling triple. “Alright Wednesday, surprise me.” She groaned in utter done and Yizhen snorted, “Sheesh… it’s getting cold in here.” She murmured, shivering slightly then jumping when something warm was placed over her shoulders. Looking around she discovered that Yizhen had brought her coat with them and draped it over her shoulders. She gave him a thankful look before turning to see the phone ring, another message from her mother. Yizhen giving it a dirty look as if it offended him personally and she kicked him lightly in reprimand.
“Well hello there Ashy! How’s everything going?” Her mothers voice floated out of the device, she faintly heard Yizhen snickering in the background and shot him a look of judgement. “I assume everything’s running like clockwork, it’s your third night, phew!” Yizhen rolled his eyes and judged the open doorway heavily. “Um, well, everything’s pretty…” Rachel trailed off for a moment, “Boring during the day, like I said, we don’t have anything special scheduled for this week. There’s no birthdays, no holidays and uh.. there’s barely any clients. As of today the only clients we had were a family and a couple.” Ashley side eyed Yizhen when the Spirit King made a noise of amusement, “What?” He asked, “This place gives me the creeps, I mean who’d want to schedule any sort of kids party in this shithole?” Ashley simply glared at him before Yizhen huffed and shut his mouth, fiddling with the flashlight he had in hand. Rachel continued on, “Yeah, you can’t imagine how bored I am here. But hey! Lucky you, you have the whole location just for you all night! Kids must envy you, Hehe.”
Ashley and Yizhen glanced at one another with twin grimaces. A whole location to themselves, with murderous animatronics roaming around for seven hours? No thanks. Envy? Not here, especially when Ashley was at risk of certain death. “I-I mean, you know, maybe you…” Rachel stammered, drawing the duos attention back to the phone as Ashley remembered the cameras and picked up the tablet. “Not today Satan.” She hissed as Yizhen watched her jab one of the audio buttons, luring one of the animatronics to the Janitor room and then flipping to another one to wind up and play a tape for a second. Haiden and Alice if he remembered correctly. There was definitely something off about the Alice animatronic though, her behaviour reminded him of something, of presents and music, but he was only here to observe and provide aid. Nothing more. Only he had the feeling that after tonight he would be able to help himself, he couldn’t resist meddling even when he tried not to.
“Uh, maybe you can just, leave your office for a while and uh, play in the arcade zone for a few minutes.” Both of them stared in disbelief at the phone. “Fuck no!” They both exclaimed, momentarily pausing in surprise at their synchronised exclamation, both of them once again horrified at the mere idea of leaving the office. “Hehe, you really are lucky being the managers daughter.” Rachel continued on, the recording oblivious to their horror. “Not very lucky if the location said manager runs has malfunctioning animatronics…” Ashley muttered sourly and Yizhen nodded his head repeatedly in complete agreement.
“Well, whatever.” Rachel continued dismissively, “This morning I checked some of the old footage from the cameras, Michael showed me so I could tell you a few things.” Yizhen smirked at Ashley and she blushed faintly, he’d been teasing her about her crush before he had to leave a few months back. “Hey, I’m really glad that boy is trying to help you. I didn’t want to believe things were that bad for him, but, if he was really that worried about you, then I must say I was wrong.” Ashley smacked Yizhen’s arm as the spirit king’s grin widened. “But it’s just… unexplainable, you know?” The duo zeroed in on the phone in amplified apprehension, “I saw Lake moving from one room to another in the recordings. What Michael did to push him back was kind of… curious. I could see him hiding in a dark spot, and then at one point he just stood up in the centre of the room and when Michael turned on the flashlight, Lake just... ran away! I think he hates light, so if he tries to bother YOU, you can bother HIM with your mighty flashlight weapon! But be very wary, because he’s, he’s… fast! You know?” Ashley gaped at the phone in horrified silence as Yizhen cringed. “Alright Ashy, that’s all I had to say, take care! Bye!” Twin horrified looks burned the phone as the recording switched itself off.
“That’s bullshit.” Yizhen commented in the silence, eyes narrowing, this was definitely reminding him of something… something he’d seen a long time ago when visiting someplace with Ashley once she turned seventeen. Before he had to leave. What was it? But he put the thought out of his mind, focusing on the here and now. Ashley meanwhile, was having a bit of a breakdown about this new information and Yizhen quickly took charge. “Breathe Ashley, focus on my voice, I’ll get the cameras.” He made reassuring noises as he flipped through the cameras, luring Haiden back to the Janitors closet and rewinding the tape for Alice. Ashely took deep breaths as she fought the instinctive urge to grab the anxiety medication in her pocket. “Oh well, there it is…” She said, shaken. “She says I can play a little then… breaks my peace telling me another of those freaks moves too. Great way to lighten the mood Mom.” Yizhen eyed her shrewdly, “That, Ashley, is what we can an understatement.” He remarked flatly, idly taking his phone out his pocket and tapping on the screen. Ashley eyed the phone with thinly disguised fascination and jealousy. The future sounded awesome and frightening in equal measures, Ashley could definitely appreciate the advanced technology. Touch screens, phones that had multiple uses and even portable computers. The wars, corruption and the recent pandemic Yizhen told her about, not so much. Yizhen looked up at her as if remembering something, “You did use the bathroom before all this right? I don’t see one nearby and the only available ones are right in the paths of various killer animatronics.” Ashley thought for a minute, it was quite odd that she never needed the bathroom on her shift but she never thought about it before. “Luckily, I went before we left.” She told him, “But given the circumstances either one of us might have to make a run for it, the animatronics don’t go into the bathrooms themselves.” Yizhen nodded once in acceptance and let the matter drop.
Three hours passed in a tense silence, Yizhen idling the time away by either doodling in his sketchbook, taking notes on his phone, playing with his magic that often took on the form of gold metallic ink or switching shifts with Ashley. Mainly so she could get a break watching the animatronics as they moved around the building, being that high strung was not good for her anxiety. Ashley had given Yizhen a quick rundown of what to expect from the animatronics in the first hour and what their patterns and mechanics were. Lake hadn’t moved yet so, for now, they were good. Didn’t mean they didn’t keep an eye on the main stage though and eventually, around the third hour, things started getting interesting. They’d just repelled Alex and Jon Kun via turning the lights off before Yizhen spotted something or, more accurately, someone that was not where they should be.
“He moved.” Yizhen commented blandly before he realised what had happened and mumbled rapid fire profanities. He hurriedly flicked through the cameras while a yelp and a thud alerted him to Ashley falling off her chair in alarm. Yizhen found the active animatronic now vibing near the restrooms, sure enough Lake was indeed standing in the shadows. “Lurking like a gremlin… that little shit.” Yizhen whispered indignantly, a low hiss from Ashley interrupted his musings and had him quickly checking on Haiden’s progress, luring him back into the Janitor’s closet. The audio button was only a third empty so he wasn’t worried yet. Flicking back to the restroom cameras he saw that Lake was not standing in the middle of the room, looking directly at the camera. Thumbing the light button, Ashley watching closely over his shoulder, they both watched the animatronic twitch in the bright light before he retreated quickly. His form a blur across the camera lens as he slunk back into the dark corner he had come from. “Scary…” Ashley murmured uneasily, “Definitely not normal behaviour.” Yizhen decided and Ashley nodded in complete agreement, the former deciding not to voice a particular thought out loud in case the gremlin heard. “So, now we have five bitches to worry about.” He summed up their current predicament, “One who’s head is in the clouds, two who can’t see shit, one who’s pacified by a chillstep mixtape and the final one who can’t deal with bright lights. Have I got that right?” Ashley did what she could to contain her laughter but failed miserably and snorted into her closed fist, though Yizhen was spot on in her honest opinion.
The fourth hour proceed to roll around before Yizhen noticed something odd, Lake wasn’t appearing on the cameras in any of the shady spots or light spots anymore. An uneasy feeling stole over him as he took his eyes off of the increasingly frantic Ashley and peered into the gloom of the hallway. His keen eyes picked out a figure lurking there, as if ready to run. ‘Try to sneak up on us why don’t you?’ Yizhen thought indignantly and brought out the spotlight he’d packed on a whim, placing it on the desk in front of Ashley, who eyed it in confusion. “Head’s up Ashley!” He spoke in a loud but flat voice, “Tall, dark and creepy at twelve o’clock!” Ashley snapped her head up in shock and horror as white irises pierced the gloom of the dark corridor, glaring at them both menacingly. Thinking quickly Yizhen prompted Ashley, “Get the light on Ashley, we’ve got a few seconds before he tries to shiv us.” Eyeing the spotlight with realisation, Ashley grinned menacingly as she hurriedly aimed it at the animatronics face. “Way ahead of you.” She chirped cheekily and switched it on. Lake’s eyes widened a split second before light consumed his vision, he let out a screech of shock and pain, all but tripping over himself in an effort to escape the light.
Blinking the spots out of their eyes the duo watched Lake flee, the animatronic nearly stumbling over his own feet in the process. “And don’t come back!” Yizhen hollered after the fleeing animatronic, throwing a small stone he got from somewhere after him. A small, plastic sounding smack alerted them both of it connecting and bouncing off as Ashley switched off the spotlight. The two looked at one another before breaking into wheezing laughter after the adrenaline had worn off. “Wish I’d taken a photo! The look on his face!” Ashley wheezed, gripping her sides. “It was weird though…” Yizhen commented as he sneakily hid the photo he took and Ashley proceeded to accidentally choke on her own saliva. “He was just watching us and hid from the cameras completely rather than what your mother told us about. Kind of creepy if you ask me, I hope he doesn’t try that again.” Ashley just shrugged stifling a yawn that threatened to escape her mouth, “Everything that happens here after hours is creepy Yizhen, not a lot of difference there.” She sassed back, “Hopefully he got the message with that bright ass light though, guess it was useful after all.” She stretched and went to rewind Alice’s tape again but stopped and stared. “They’re all missing…” She said with a small swallow and Yizhen twitched for the flashlight, Ashley skimmed through the rest of the cameras until she saw the main stage. All the animatronics were gathered there, seemingly speaking in hushed tones to Lake who she noticed with satisfaction was still covering his eyes and twitching slightly.
Yizhen watched over her shoulder for a moment before Ashley had an idea, “Yizhen.” She addressed him and he made a noise to show he was listening, “You can conceal yourself in another plane of perception right?” He nodded, looking curious. Ashley smiled, “Well, maybe you can spy on them and overhear what they’re saying.” Yizhen raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure you’ll be okay if I leave you here?” He asked and Ashley nodded eagerly, presenting the taser he’d brought along. “If they try they’ve got another thing coming. Now, go hide in the shadows and tell me your observations.” Yizhen huffed and grumbled something about sass before he once again slipped from the plane of the naked eye in a burst of his gold coloured magic, trotting off into the darkness. “Cause some chaos while you’re at it!” She called after him with a grin and she knew he’d heard as evil giggles echoed in her brain without consulting her ears.
The main stage camera had a limited view so she couldn’t see most of what occurred but she could hear most of the commotion.
Meanwhile, Yizhen snuck into the room, sticking to the shadows while eying the animatronics. He noted with some amusement that their light based assault on Lake hadn’t fully faded as the animatronic still had his eyes covered while Alice seemed to try soothe his pain. He strained to hear what they were saying and snuck closer, being cautious even though he wasn’t in a plane of perception where he could be seen. Better safe than sorry.
“There is another with her.” Lake spoke, he sounded like two voices overlapping and that gave Yizhen a bad vibe. The other animatronics made noises of agreement, most not seemingly liking the fact he was here. ‘Sucks for them. Ashley called me in and who am I to say no to an old friends request?’ Yizhen thought pensively as he watched the meeting. “I don’t know him, he doesn’t belong here.” Lake continued and Yizhen felt slightly insulted, the gremlin didn’t have to remind him of his inability to exist anywhere thank you very much. “Though I can see that there is a sense of trust between him and Ashley, which will just make things more difficult. What are you able to tell me about the interloper?” Yizhen’s hackles raised slightly at Lake’s referral as he listened in on more of the conversation. This wasn’t mere aggression like how they acted towards the guard before Michael that Rachel had told Ashley about on her first night, this almost felt like an obsession, one on a personal level. Though how Lake knew his friends name, he didn’t know yet but he was already getting so many bad vibes from the conversation he was overhearing. Yizhen shivered slightly, he decided that he’d heard enough and turned to leave, thoroughly creeped out by the exchange. Before he exited the room he eyed a bottle of dish soap that had been left out by some careless janitor and smirked. Bringing the bottle with him he carefully emptied the bottle of slippery substance all over the floor out of sight of the animatronics and picked his way back to the office.
“I flee!” He chirped in a weird voice as he cleared the main stage room and took off running down the corridors, melting into the visible plane as he did so. Loud screeching and crashes behind him alerted him to the fact that the animatronics had taken notice of his departure, his makeshift trap had gotten a few of them and he heard Ashley’s howling from the security office. He vaulted down the corridor going to the security office and skidded to a halt in front of the desk. “What did you see?” Ashley asked and Yizhen shuddered slightly, any pervious amusement extinguished. “I saw, something very… very unsettling. I’ll tell you later, though I might’ve pissed a few of them off by using that dish soap to cause a bit of an accident.” Ashley gave him a judging look and Yizhen shrugged, “Have to get my amusement in somehow, by the way we probably need to hide while they cool off. Turn off the light and I’ll do the rest, hold onto the tablet.” Ashley raised an eyebrow but did so as Yizhen hastily wrote something on a piece of paper and set it on the desk before wrapping an arm around her stomach. Ashley squeaked as he hauled her, his backpack and the tablet onto his back and jumped up to a corner of the ceiling above one of the vents. Murmuring softly as he did so and sticking them both there precariously like oversized spiders. Ashley looked closely and spotted familiar lines of gold creeping from his hands and legs that were sticking him to the walls, she clung to his back like a Koala with the tablet in hand as the magic took effect. Not a minute later heavy footsteps alerted them both to the fact they now had company.
Ashley held her breath as Haiden walked into the office, watching as the animatronic looked around in bewilderment, eyes rolling back into their proper place as he did so. “Not here? Quite rude.” The posh British accent almost made Yizhen startle but he clung harder to the walls and internally screamed, several unsaid profanities on his lips. They watched the animatronic poke around the office before Haiden spotted the paper, he picked it up and scanned it. “Dear Lake’s Funland.” Haiden read out loud, looking as confused as an animatronic could. “Congratulations. You missed us by mere minutes, if you want to find us you can go jump in a woodchipper. Now for Lake, you lurking gremlin, I cordially invite you to fuck off- I’m just going to stop here.” Haiden verbally backpedalled as the two friends fought to contain their snickers, “Who even wrote this?” Grumbling in confusion and disbelief, the animatronic wandered out of the office with the note in hand. Yizhen made sure he was gone then detached himself and Ashley from the ceiling safely before they both burst into poorly suppressed laughter. “That was hilarious, did you see his face?” Ashley cackled, taking back her seat and resuming her shift on the cameras.
Yizhen checked his watch once he’d controlled himself, “Nearly seven, just one more hour in this shithole and we can go over what the fuck just happened.” Ashley nodded in agreement, still breathing heavily. “You got any of those cola cans?” She asked and Yizhen handed her one. She cracked it open and drank deeply, the carbonated beverage reinvigorating her. She heard Yizhen crack open his own and briefly wondered if the sugar and caffeine even affected him anymore. They both then jumped as a loud buzzing echoed out and looked up to see Alex the Coyote looming over them with his mouth open. Yizhen just shot the animatronic an annoyed look and proceeded to place his drink on the desk in order to slam the Coyote’s mouth closed with both hands. “SHUT!” He barked as Ashley shut off the lights, said animatronic getting thrown out of the office and down the corridor afterwards. “Wonder how pissed off they’re going to be when we come back tomorrow?” Ashley mused idly, gripping her heart slightly as she took another swig of cola to distract herself. Yizhen just smirked, “If they try, we’ll be ready. I’ll tell you later but I figured out what we’re dealing with.” Ashley eyed him and saw how pale the spirit king looked despite his confident demeanour, she decided not to ask and concentrate on her work.
Curiosity overtook her when she spotted something on the cameras that shouldn’t be there. Tapping the anomaly on the tablet she jumped as an 8-Bit game popped up, Yizhen peeked over her shoulder and frowned. “This is definitely something, I suggest you try play it quickly before anyone comes in. I’ll keep the animatronics distracted.” Ashley took the hint and began to play, the game contained one of the mascots, Jon Kun, trying to catch carrots in a basket and catching any other ended up with health being lost. Unable to exit Ashley played it three times while Yizhen ran interference, shutting off the light when Alex and Jon came in and braving the restaurant itself to lure Haiden or rewind Alice’s tape. Ashley then spotted a crying child’s face on screen in place of one of the falling vegetables and something possessed her to catch it. The game suddenly glitched and Ashley stared as she found a sprite of herself in a dark 8-Bit corridor. It took a few minutes to figure out how to move but once she did she felt like she was being drawn somewhere, clipping through walls, floors and ceilings to get to where she was being pulled to. To her confusion she found the sprite of a crying child tucked away in one of the boxes, confused she tapped on the sprite and text engraved itself across the top of the tablet. “You must not cry anymore, my child. You don’t have to be alone anymore… now take my hand and come along with me.” Thoroughly creeped out Ashley watched as the screen cut to black and returned to the usual tablet display. Risking it, she called out for Yizhen and he faded into existence beside her, he was about to step forward when his foot kicked something. Bending down he picked it up and discovered that it was an old fashioned game control stick with a note taped to it. “Joshua is safe now.” He read, “Isn’t that one of the missing children you’re investigating?” Yizhen asked as he placed the object on the desk, Ashley eyed it suspiciously. “Yeah, it’s weird… I’ve got a bad feeling about this but it proves my theory that Lake’s Funland is connected to the case.” Yizhen’s eyes grew hard, “My theories have been confirmed, this situation is definitely within my area of expertise, but it’s not safe to tell you right now.” He looked deeply unnerved so Ashley didn’t pry and continued watching the cameras, poking at the object from time to time to check if it was indeed real.
Seven rolled around with little fanfare other than Lake never coming off his stage again. Yizhen speculated that he now feared the power of the spotlight, to which he received another light kick from Ashley. She groaned once the bell sounded, “Alright, finally dawn, better rest up for a bit.” However, it seemed that Yizhen had one last prank up his sleeve, so getting rest anytime soon was unlikely. He leaned down to Ashley’s level with a grin that was all teeth, “I saw a jukebox in the main stage area, want to mess with it? I know a good prank I got from a comedy show in the late 2000’s.” He whispered the prank to Ashley who immediately was wide awake, the prank was simple if the jukebox had the right songs loaded onto it. The two gave each other matching grins, “That’s a terrible idea.” Ashley said with zero heat, “I approve, let’s go make everyone’s day a whole lot worse.” They both packed up their stuff and turned to the jukebox located in the main stage area.
Meanwhile, the animatronics felt an uncharacteristic sense of foreboding as the evilly giggling duo messed with the jukebox.