Fraying ties

by TrashWriter2001

Summary:

Solar has a special date planned for Him and Sun, but what happens when those plans are ruined?

The road to recovery is long and can cause many strains, but it takes a village as they say, and with the size of this family they certainly have one. It just might take some work to get certain members to help.

Chapter 1: A special date

Sun hummed happily as he cleaned, taking the bottle of disinfectant that his sister handed him with a cheerful “Thank you!” before he continued to wipe down the plush wall surrounding the colored square play area. It was a rough day at work where so many messes had been made, but that didn’t matter! Solar had asked to take him out to dinner once they were both done with the day! With everything that had been going on in their lives it had been ages since they had been on a date! 

 

Earth giggled next to him as she helped wipe the playmats. “You’re in a good mood. You must be really excited for your date.” 

 

“I am!” He exclaimed, rays wiggling in excitement. “He hasn’t told me where he’s taking me yet, but he said he got the reservations a while ago. Asked me to wear my red dress with the off the shoulder sleeves.” 

 

“The sparkly one or the one where it does the layered frills around the top and sleeves?” 

 

“Sparkly with the thigh slit.”

 

“Oooo, that means it’s extra fancy~ I wonder if he’s going to also dress up? I know he went shopping with Monty recently.” 

 

He couldn’t help but blush at the thought of Solar dressing up for him. As far as he was aware, the mechanic didn’t have any fancy clothing since he preferred to be comfortable and ready to work if needed. If he ever did dress up, then it would have to be an extremely important occasion with a guarantee that no one would be needing him for the rest of the night. 

 

It couldn’t have been the anniversary of him moving to their dimension since that had still been a month away at that point, and he already had something nice planned for that evening. Was it just because things were going so well lately? No, there wouldn’t have been time to get reservations then. Monty apparently knew so it was likely somewhere hard to get into. And he had been asked to wear his fanciest dress. 

 

“You know, if you want to go home to get ready early, I could finish up here.” 

 

He looked to his sister in surprise. “Are you sure? The kids made such a big mess today.” 

 

Earth smiled at him and nodded. “I’m sure. I’ll call Lunar to help if I really need it, and you need to go take a shower. Don’t want to smell like the daycare on your fancy date. Also don’t worry about Dazzle or Jack tonight. They’re coming home with me and we’re having a movie night with Nebula.” 

 

Sun smiled brightly and threw his arms around his sister to hug her. “You’re the best, Earth! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, ok?” 

 

She laughed and hugged him back before letting go. “You better! Now Go! You don’t want to be late!” 

 

He nodded before he went out to his car and drove home. He had a lot of work to do! First things first was of course to hop in the shower to get clean! 

 

As he washed away all of the mess and ick of the long day, getting the bits of glue and glitter out from between his finger joints, he formed a to-do list in his head. He would, of course, have to gather the laundry from the different rooms to get a load started so he could have his pants clean for the next day. From what he knew, Dazzle’s favorite dress had gotten a juice spill on it the other day so it was the perfect time to get that worked on. He would also have to make sure that the kids had everything ready for a night at Earth’s place. 

 

Oh! Would it be a good idea if he wore makeup? Sun didn’t wear it often, especially since the only brands made that worked for animatronics were made by Fazbear and were far too expensive for the quality, and the palettes tended to not be suited for his color scheme. But, Earth did manage to get a special ordered one for him through Monty, which he had been incredibly thankful for. It came in handy if they ever wanted to have a dress-up night. But then, that begged the question: what shade of lipstick should he pick? He had one that was sunset orange and another that was more of a rose red. The red one would match the dress, but he worried if it would be too much? 

 

He would have to call Earth for advice. 

 

The sound of drawers opening in his room made Sun confused for a moment, so he looked towards the bathroom door. Had Solar gotten home early as well? He would have to hurry with his shower then so his partner could have a turn. 

 

“I’ll be out in a moment! I’ll save you some hot water!” He called towards their shared room before he turned off the water and grabbed his towel. Since he hadn’t expected anyone to be home yet, he hadn’t brought his change of clothes in with him, meaning he had to wrap a fluffy towel around himself as he got out and made his way to the door. 

 

When he opened it, he didn’t see anyone. Their shared room was empty, and the only thing out of place was his last clean work uniform. He didn’t remember leaving it out, and he doubted Solar would have gotten it out since he had asked for a dress. Where was his boyfriend? 

 

Sun felt uneasy as he looked around, now nervous about what he heard. If it wasn’t Solar, who would have been in his room? Why would they go through the trouble of getting out his uniform? Even the bells and ruffles had been placed neatly next to the jester pants. Did someone want him to wear it? 

 

He needed to call someone. Anyone. His anxiety grew stronger as he called his partner, needing to at least know if it actually was him or not. He paced, clutching his towel closer to himself as he waited and whispered to himself. “Pick up, pick up, pick up, please pick up.”

 

When Solar picked up, he could hear the sounds of the theater overhead music playing in the background, causing a cold feeling to form in his chest. “Sun? What’s up? Earth told me you went home early to get ready.” 

 

“w-Were you just in our room?” He asked in a shaky voice. 

 

“No? Sun, are you okay? What’s wrong?” 

 

He whimpered as he looked around. It sounded like there was movement behind the door that led to the upstairs hall. “s-Someone’s in the house.” 

 

“What? Are you sure?” 

 

“Yes I’m sure!” He hiss whispered into the receiver, keeping his eyes on the door as he backed away from it. “Please come home, or send Moon home.” 

 

“I’m already letting Moon know and I’m setting a portal down.” Solar promised. “Just stay on the line, okay? I’m on my way.” 

 

“Please hurry.” The attendant whimpered again, looking at the clothes on the bed. Would it be better to just get into the pants at least so he had something to cover himself?

 

Before he could do anything Sun felt shocking pain shoot across his body from the back of his faceplate, causing a scream of agony to rip through his voice box. He could vaguely hear Solar calling his name from downstairs, but he couldn’t call back as the pain soon became too much and he fell unconscious.

Chapter 2: Taken

“SUN!” Solar rushed into the house as he heard Sun scream, whatever had attacked him had cut the call so he didn’t know who had done it. He didn’t even bother closing the door as he ran up the stairs and threw open the door to their shared room. 

 

Only there was nothing. 

 

There was nothing other than a wet towel on the floor, and no Sun. 

 

Panicked, Solar ran down the stairs that led to the kitchen to see if he could find anyone leaving that way. He must have missed them by coming up the other way. No one could teleport into or out of the house with the defenses up. Not even Nexus was supposed to be able to do that. Yet when he looked around, there was no one. None of the back doors had been unlocked. He couldn’t see anyone outside. 

 

The dread of the situation gripped his core like ice laced claws as he stumbled to lean on the back of the couch. Someone had managed to break into their home and kidnaped Sun. They did it while he had been right outside and on the phone with him. He had been so close. 

 

Solar jolted as a pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, causing the loud ringing in his ears to fade and allow the worried voice of Moon finally reach him.

 

“Solar! Come on, snap out of it! What happened?! Where is my brother?!” There was desperation in his best friend’s eyes as he spoke, likely having already looked around for his missing twin. 

 

He couldn’t say anything though. When he tried, all that came out were broken sounds and choked static as tears welled in his eyes. With no answers from him, the scientist pulled away, stumbling slightly before growing determined as he ran towards the office. Likely to check any camera feed from the incident. 

 

All Solar could do was fall to his knees, his body trembling as the ringing returned. He had been so close, how could he have failed? He had made a promise to himself, and to his old Sun, that he wouldn’t let anything happen. That he would keep his partner safe. How could something have happened while he was right there? He couldn’t lose another Sun. 

 

The next time he felt hands on him, he didn’t fight them. He just tried to focus on the muffled voice as he was led to sit on the couch instead. Based on the sizes of the bodies that pressed against his sides, one was Lunar and the other was Earth. He was vaguely aware as a bottle was pressed into his hand, so he lifted it to his mouth to drink. The cold water gave him something to focus on as he remembered advice he had been given to help Sun through panic attacks. 

 

Five things he can identify. The water in his hand. Lunar and Earth hugging him. The couch he was on. The coffee table. Monty pacing. 

 

As he focused on the different things he felt more of himself again. He drew in a large breath, having felt like he hadn’t for a while. He continued to focus. 

 

Earth was in her work dress still. There were his favorite chips on the coffee table. It sounded like Monty was on a call with someone. Earth was trying to talk with him. 

 

Oh. He needed to focus on her. 

 

“-ou do that for me?” 

 

“w-What?” He asked weakly, his voice hardly coming out. It felt like something was stuck in his voice box. 

 

“Can you tell me things you can see? Or feel? Or if that’s too much, colors are fine.” 

 

He gave a small nod and continued to look around. “The Tv… Two lamps… Throw pillows…” 

 

“That’s it, you got it. Anything else?” 

 

He looked down at the light weight on his lap and found one of the cat plushies from Lunars room. He wrapped his arms around it. “This… h-How’s Moon?” 

 

The smaller daycare attendant looked up. “Not good. He said he saw Ruin on the cameras, so he’s trying to figure out a way to track them. The only thing we really have as a lead is a note saying they did it and some small rocks that were left where they disappeared outside.” 

 

A small lead was better than nothing. Solar started to get up despite the protests of the other two. “Did Moon already take the rocks to the lab?” 

 

Earth held onto his arm, trying to gently urge him to sit back down. “Yes, which means he’s already working on it. Please, you clearly need to rest.” 

 

Monty looked over, his glasses off. “Listen to her, man. You just spent the last half hour not even breathing. I was getting worried your processor failed or sumthin.” 

 

He shook his head, balling up his fists. “Like you wouldn’t do the exact same thing if it were Earth. I need something to focus on, and the best thing I can do is work on finding wherever they took Sun. I feel like I’ll lose my mind if I don’t keep busy. Earth, Monty, can you please take the kids longer than just tonight?” 

 

The gator’s eyes softened a bit as he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, yeah we can do that.” 

 

“I’ll also need help with Sun’s cats…” 

 

“I can take care of them.” Lunar offered. 

 

Earth took his hand again, rubbing the back of it with her thumbs. “Can you at least eat before you go? And bring some for Moon as well? We already ordered in, so it should be here soon.” 

 

He didn’t want to waste any more time than he already had, but they were right. They didn’t know when their next moment for rest would come, so he and Moon would have to be in good shape to rescue Sun as quickly as possible as soon as any information was found. The least he could do to make sure of it would be to eat and drink as they worked. If anything, it would help delay the need for charging. 

 

He sighed and sat back down, leaning on her for comfort. “Fine. Once we get the food I’ll bring it with me and I’ll make sure Moon eats. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we find out where they are…” 

 

“I mean, these things tend to be fixed within a week so it really shouldn’t take that long.” Lunar said almost nonchalantly, causing the eclipsed model to tense up. 

 

Earth wrapped an arm around Solar’s shoulder tightly as he gripped his knees hard enough he swore he nearly dented his casing. She quickly helped him back up and took him to the guest room. It wasn’t the best place since it was still next to the commotion, but it was better than staying there. Better than punching the little runt.

 

“Dude!” They could hear Monty yell through the wall. “Not the time! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” 

 

“Solar.” The taller attendant said softly, making him look at her. “If there’s anything I can do to help, can you let me know? I’m really worried about Sun as well, and I want to do anything I can to help and make this easier on you and Moon.” 

 

He shook his head and sighed, looking out the window. “Just… I just need you to keep an eye on the kids. As long as they’re safe we can focus on finding him. Maybe occasionally send Jack to us with food. I’m sure Moon would really appreciate your cooking during this if it isn’t too much.”

 

“Of course it’s not too much. Please, don’t work yourself too hard.” 

 

“I’ll try…” Solar promised as he sat on the bed to wait. All he could do was anxiously tap his finger against his leg while Earth sat close, keeping a stabilizing arm around him. It took all of his power to not leave for the lab. To just sit and focus on his friend as she tried to help comfort him. 

 

When she noticed how restless he was, she helped distract him by talking about her day with the kids. Apparently there were two who would always pull on Lunar’s arms as if the small lavender bot was a toy they didn’t want to share. If they ever came in on the same day it was inevitable as soon as they caught him. That did explain why his arms sometimes needed to be put back into place some days, but it wasn’t often. 

 

The stories did at least help keep him somewhat distracted from everything enough for his processors to slowly work itself out of fight or flight mode. It left him tired, as if he really did come out of having adrenaline pumped through his wires. By the time the food finally came, his body was trembling from exhaustion. Solar did his best to hide his shaking as he took the food and left for the lab. He didn’t need anything else holding him back. 

 

They could worry about him later. Sun was more important. 

 

When the mechanic got to the lab he could see Moon looking over data from the rock samples, too focused to acknowledge him when he set the food down nearby. 

 

“What have you found out so far?” He asked, making his way over. 

 

Moon didn’t look up as he handed over a set of papers, which he took to look over. “They’re raw steel ore. Nothing else on them yet.” 

 

Solar frowned. “Raw steel ore? That’s impossible, steel is a component metal. Man made. It doesn’t occur naturally.” 

 

“Well, that’s what it is.” 

 

“Have you started a scan on dimensional signatures? If it’s naturally occurring then it has to be from a different dimension. Could be the one where Dark Sun is hiding.” 

 

“I already have the computer working on it. I’m just looking over the data as it passes through to see if there’s anything it might've missed.” 

 

“Take a break then and let me do it. Earth sent me with Olive Garden.” 

 

The scientist hesitated before sighing as he set the papers down. When he finally looked in his direction, his red eyes narrowed. “You’re still shaking. Did you eat yet?” 

 

Solar shook his head and took his place over at his own monitor. “I’m not feeling very hungry. I’ll eat when I feel less… nauseous about the situation. Do you have the camera feed from when it happened?” 

 

“Solar.” 

 

“Moon. Please.” He looked at his best friend sadly. He needed to know what happened. He needed to know how he messed up.

 

The nighttime animatronic sighed and relented, pulling up the camera feed before stepping back. “Fine, but afterwards you’re going to sit and charge while you read. You look exhausted.” 

 

He nodded in agreement before he looked to the screen. It showed the main living areas with the entrance area, living room, kitchen, and garage. For a while, everything looked normal. Sun had come home from the garage door and seemed to forget to lock the door behind him. It wasn’t unusual since typically with their defenses people didn’t come directly to their home. They would ambush the family at the daycare. It wasn’t long after they watched the sunny animatronic head upstairs to their shared room that the garage door opened again and Ruin made their way inside and up the same bedroom stairs. 

 

From there, they were blind. They typically didn’t have security cameras in any of the bedrooms or bathrooms for obvious reasons, so they couldn’t see what the bastard did. After a moment, Ruin left the room again and took the long way around up the main set of stairs to the doors between Sun’s room and the cat room. The amalgam placed some sort of paper under one of the cushions before needlessly moving things around as if they were just trying to make noise. Then they made their way back down and up the kitchen stairs to the bedroom. 

 

He could hear the blood curdling scream again as he watched himself rush inside from the front door and up the stairs, just as Ruin came down the other set carrying a naked Sun with his work clothes draped over his lap. As he went into the room, they left once again through the garage door, leaving without being seen. He had literally just missed them by seconds. If only he had been faster, or even slower. If only he had gone up the other stairs. He would have seen them. He would have been able to save him. 

 

Solar shut off the video and grabbed the papers he needed to look over, then went to the charging station they had off to the side. He would keep his promise and charge while he worked. He would do whatever he had to to find Sun. 

 

No one would get in his way.

Chapter 3: Bound

When Sun woke up, the first thing he noticed was how badly his head hurt. It felt like he had been struck directly on the motherboard with a bolt of lightning. The next thing he noticed was how he was in a completely dark room with his hands bound behind his back. As he tried to struggle, he realized that the cuffs holding his arms together had been threaded directly through his skyhook, and seemed to be made out of a strong enough metal that he couldn’t easily break it. At least he had been dressed, but that still felt weird since he had been nude when he was attacked.

 

The people kidnapping him were getting smarter, and he was honestly getting tired of it. The last time it had happened with Mikuo the bindings had at least been weak enough that he could break them, and had been attached to the wall so he could have pulled it off from there if he needed to. This time he couldn’t break the metal, and if he wanted to get out he would have to break a part of himself to do it. Depending on who grabbed him, he just might be willing. 

 

He checked to see if he could call anyone, but it looked like whoever took him had been smart enough to disable his phone. Surprisingly enough, that didn’t take Miku off the list since her brother did manage to make it so he couldn’t call anyone in that one building. But also he doubted it would be her since most of the trouble she caused was things she couldn’t lose in court for, and kidnapping an animatronic that belonged to Fazbear was up there. 

 

Blue wouldn’t have bound him, and wouldn’t need to since he seemed to be some kind of powerful primordial being that even the devil from the bible couldn’t stand. That left very few people who would want to kidnap him that he at least knew. Though the last few were not people he would want to be taken by. If only he could see what was around him. 

 

Oh right. He could glow. 

 

Turning on his glow function gave little context for his situation. It wasn’t bright enough to really do anything but make the room the tiniest bit less dark. If anything, he could just barely make out the fact that someone sat just out of the range of his glow. 

 

“I was wondering when you would realize you could do that.” Came the bored sounding variation of his own voice. “Took you longer than I thought it would.” 

 

Sun’s rays retracted in fear as he recognized the one holding him captive as Dark Sun. It was the worst scenario he could imagine, because if Dark Sun was there, then that meant Nexus was as well. He would have rather been kidnapped by Mikuo and Blue at the same time! Instead he was probably going to be tortured and used for some sadistic purpose! 

 

“g-Get away from me!” He yelled, trying to push himself away. He couldn’t, as his legs had also been chained to the metal chair, which was apparently bolted to the floor. 

 

The evil version of himself instead stepped forward, kneeling in front of him just enough to be visible in his glow. “I wouldn’t want that if I were you, because if I leave this room, then Nexus will be allowed in. And I am the healthier option for you.”

 

“What do you want from me?! I don’t have anything you could want!” 

 

“That’s not true. You have far more use than you think, Sun. So much untapped power. It’s not something I currently need, but Nexus does. I’m mostly going to be making sure he doesn’t break you more than needed.” 

 

More than needed? That wasn’t comforting at all! What kind of power could he possibly have that either of them could want? He could barely do any magic other than goose magic and pathetically small firebolts!

 

Dark Sun clapped his hands to turn on the lights. The sudden bright light made Sun wince, but also allowed him to finally observe his surroundings. The room was sci-fi in theme with white walls and red lines to break up the monotonous room. There was no window to be able to see if anyone else was outside the room, and nothing else was around them other than one other chair and a small table filled with tools. He could only imagine what they could be for.

 

“I’ll allow Nexus to tell you what he wants with you, but for now I am going to let you up. I won’t undo your arms, but you will be able to walk.” 

 

The daycare attendant whimpered and looked around desperately, not wanting to be touched but also wanting to be able to get a look around. He needed to be able to figure out how to escape and he doubted he could do that without at least looking around. He didn’t struggle as his legs were unbound from the chair, but still chained together, making it so he could walk, but not run. 

 

Dark Sun then helped him up, his touch more gentle than he expected from an evil version of himself. As they walked to leave the room, the crueler counterpart kept a hand on his back below his arms as if to keep him from stumbling over his chains. Strangely, the calm presence helped ease his nerves. 

 

“...Where are you taking me?” He asked quietly, looking around. The halls were all the same white with red accents, and the floor was occasionally grey. Other rooms looked to have windows to peer inside but the mechanisms inside them looked intimidating. 

 

“I’m going to do a system diagnostics on you so that I know what you have. You had to be awake so I could scan your processor for active responses. Not everything can simply be looked at while you’re asleep.” 

 

It wasn’t what he expected. What could they possibly need his systems checked for? Trackers? Viruses? Why would they need his responses for that? He didn’t understand, but if it held off Nexus getting ahold of him sooner, he would have to go along with it. 

 

Dark Sun side glanced at him with an unreadable expression. What was the evil him thinking about? Was he making plans? Waiting for him to ask a question? 

 

He swallowed. “Can I ask why?” 

 

“You can ask. The system check is not only going to gauge your mental statistics, but also your different body sensors. Many of which are only active while you are operational. I am doing it to learn your current state of repair so that if you are broken you can be fixed. I will also be creating an emergency backup for you. You may find it hard to believe, but I don’t want to hurt you. Nexus and I have vastly different goals.” 

 

“If you don’t want to hurt me then why electrocute me and kidnap me?” 

 

“That was Ruin, and it was the only way they could do it without you fighting back. If Nexus had done it, he would have played with you. He would have made you afraid so you would try to fight back, and he would enjoy making it so you couldn’t. But that would have gotten him caught, and you would have escaped.” 

 

He didn’t like how that was so thought out, but he couldn’t ask anything else. His evil counterpart opened the door to a room that had what he could only describe as a cat-scan machine. Dark Sun led him to the intimidating contraption and made him lay face down on the table of it. With his hands behind his back and his legs chained, the daycare attendant had no way of getting up himself. He was trapped in the uncomfortable position as the other walked away. 

 

“I am letting you know now, this will not be a pleasant experience for you. To get the proper diagnostics I will be activating all of your sensors, both physical and mental. It will include ones you likely will not want to be activated. Would you prefer I do it one by one, in batches based on the type, or all at once.” 

 

Sun did his best to lift up his head so his faceplate wasn’t pressed against the table as he spoke. “w-What do you mean all of my sensors?” 

 

Dark Sun sighed. “For physical there are pressure, temperature, light touch, vibration, pain, and pleasure sensors. They are what allow you to differentiate the different sensations you feel and are all over your body. Once activated you would feel each one over your entire body as the machine takes down the data. For your mental senses it would be your joy, depression, memories, fears, and so on. Again, would you prefer it to be done one at a time, in batches, or all at once?” 

 

“I don’t like any of those options!” He shrieked before making an attempt to get up. He couldn’t even roll himself over! 

 

The other sighed and pressed a few buttons. “Then we will do the quickest option to get it over with. Put your faceplate down so you don’t accidentally snap your rays. Also do not clench your teeth. I would rather you scream than break yourself by accident.” 

 

“Please! Don’t do this, there has to be a different way!” He cried out. 

 

“Faceplate down, Sunrise.” 

 

Sun sobbed lightly out of fear as he put his face down to the table again. He wanted to go home. He wanted Solar. He wanted Moon. He wanted Earth and Lunar. Hell, he even wanted Monty! “Please don’t do this! Please!” 

 

“I’m sorry, Sun. But this is for your benefit in the long run. You’ll understand one day. It will only hurt for a moment.” 

 

All he could hear was typing before he could feel something in his head flip, and then it all started. All he could do was scream. 

 

The daycare attendant’s HUD flashed with multiple warnings as his body was assaulted with every possible feeling he could imagine all at once while his mind cycled through his emotions and memories. Overstimulation was not even close to explaining the feeling as he struggled. It was too hot and too cold all at the same time while he felt like laughing through the tears he choked out. Part of it somehow felt amazing through the pain and he hated it. It felt violating. 

 

By the time it was over, Sun could hardly think as his systems attempted to shut him off for preservation. Something was blocking the code from going through as someone came over to him. His tortured mind tried to think of who it could be but even though there was only one answer it didn’t provide the name. As a hand touched him to lift up his faceplate he let out a sob. Even with everything being over it was still too much. It all hurt and tingled and he just wanted to reboot so it would stop! He couldn’t even understand the words that the figure was saying! 

 

The figure set his head back down before walking away, and soon enough his wish was granted as the code was released and his system shut down to reboot.

Chapter 4: The next stept

Dark Sun looked to the mess that was Sunrise Celestial as he saved the gathered information. It was regrettable that he had to do what he did, but he meant it when he told the other that it was better in the long run. 

 

He didn’t look up as he heard the door open. “Nexus, he isn’t ready for you yet.” 

 

“Why not?” The lunar animatronic growled as he headed over to the unconscious solar model. “You got the information you needed, didn’t you? I should just hook him up to my machine while he’s unconscious. Make him wake up to his new life.” 

 

They could very well do that and have it all over with. At least temporarily before the rest of the family found their way inside. It was only a matter of time before the hints Ruin left behind would lead them to locate them, and then his own plan could be set in motion. They would just need more time. 

 

“His systems could have been overloaded from the diagnostics, which would throw off the calculations for your wither shard locator. Once he wakes up, I can run the proper checks to ensure he would be operational enough to be plugged in as the final component.” Dark Sun finally looked up at his underling. “I do have an interesting idea that you might find more fitting as a punishment for all of their actions against you. One where you still have him helping you.” 

 

Nexus looked at him, skeptical but curious. “What do you have in mind?” 

 

Dark Sun threaded his fingers together and placed his chin over his knuckles as he leaned forward. “They will likely come eventually to take him back, and they will find a way. So why not hurt them by making Sun your own loyal brother?” 

 

The other scoffed and glared at the unconscious body again. “As if he’d ever want to be loyal to me. I don’t even want him as a brother anymore. I was sick of his lies. Him comparing me to his abuser.” 

 

“I’m suggesting we reset him.” 

 

That caused the darker moon to pause. “...I see. If we reset him, then he would see me as his brother and stay willingly… He would find the shards for me willingly, and the rest of my family wouldn’t be able to take him back.” 

 

“And, you could do better by him than they had for you. Give him a new name, a new life, and truly treat him like a brother.” 

 

It was a deviation from his own plan, and it would hold many risks, but he would still be able to work with it. Nexus would be sure to mess up at some point, leaving him with a higher chance of success. 

 

“Fine.” The lunar bot finally said, grinning down at Sun. “It’ll be great to crush his old personality chip right in front of them and make them realize that they’ll never be able to get him back. That’ll show them that they should have never betrayed me.” 

 

“I’ll be sure to give it to you after he’s reset then. For now, leave. Perhaps make preparations for your new brother? I will have everything ready, in perhaps…” He looked over the timeframe in his mind. “Two weeks? That should be enough time for you to craft him a room and commodities. You wish to treat him well, don’t you?” 

 

Nexus laughed as he walked out. “Sure. That’ll make it harder for them to convince him to leave or betray me.” 

 

Once the pest was gone, Dark Sun sighed. Two weeks. It would keep Nexus busy and somewhat out of trouble, meaning he would have time to work on his own plans. It would only be a matter of time before everything was in place. 

 

With that in mind, and the machines letting him know that the other solar model was waking up, he made his way to the table to start running diagnostics. Sun didn’t wake up sounding to be in pain, but still groaned slightly which indicated possible soreness. Good. He didn’t want to have to deal with fixing the nervous system or receptors throughout his body. 

 

“Sunrise, how do you feel?” He asked, checking a nearby screen to see if there were any complications. 

 

“Horrible.” The daycare attendant whimpered. 

 

“Does anything feel broken?” He asked, finally helping his kinder counterpart sit up. 

 

Sun shook his head. “No… Nothing feels broken…” 

 

“Good. I will be taking you back to the previous room and you will be able to rest. I’ll have Ruin bring you some food if you’re hungry.” 

 

The other huffed as he stood, once again accepting the leading hand on his back as Dark Sun began leading him out. “I’m not going to accept any food from you guys. I’m not an idiot.” 

 

He hummed in acknowledgement to the answer but didn’t say anything else. If that was what Sun thought then he wouldn’t try to change his mind. If anything it would make their job easier if he ran his own metabolism nano machines ragged without replenishing the needed materials for repairs.  

 

Once they got back to the room he made sure to chain the daycare attendant back to the chair to ensure he wouldn’t escape before it was necessary. The other stayed quiet, tears falling silently. He knew it was likely from past experiences of others finding satisfaction in hearing his cries. Moon, Eclipse, Ruin, and more. It was a common survival tactic between all Suns. 

 

It was only natural that Sunrise would think that he would be no different. Even if it was wrong. 

 

Dark Sun left when he was finished and glanced to the side where Ruin stood. He had known that the amalgamation had been following and listening in since he had originally taken the sunny animatronic out of the room. Now, the traitor acted as if they had just walked over. 

 

“h-Hello Dark Sun! I was wondering if our guest needed anything? I saw you walking him back to the room so I’m t-thinking he might be hungry? It’s likely been a while since he’s had anything! We both know it can be difficult to find a time to eat or do anything for ourselves while working in a daycare after all.” 

 

“No, he has stated he doesn’t trust anything we might give him. However, I will need you to keep an eye on him. If he changes his mind, then he can eat.” 

 

“o-Of course! Of course sir! Is there anything specific you want me to feed him or can I get him something from somewhere else?” 

 

“You can go off dimension as long as you do not go to his home dimension for it. He is a special guest.” 

 

“Yes, of course! I think I could probably try to convince him to try my favorite tea.” 

 

He rolled his eyes, not caring about the false pleasantry as he walked away. “If you must. Go attend to him for now. I have work to do.” 

 

There was much to do.

Chapter 5: Restless searches

Solar yawned as he looked over the dimensional signatures to try to find anything that could be connected. If they could maybe at least find a similar enough signature they could use it to triangulate a possible location. They were close. He could feel it. 

 

He looked up as the door opened to see his best friend enter the room, holding a cup and a bag of food. “Hey, Jack dropped off food and I got you coffee. Come take a break.” 

 

The eclipsed model sighed as he pushed away from the desk to go over and take the offered food and drink. “Thanks… I could use a small break.” 

 

Moon rolled his eyes. “You could use a long break. You’ve been up all night, which is supposed to be my thing.” 

 

“Then you probably shouldn’t have brought me coffee.” He said as he went to the table to eat. “I think I’m getting close to the dimension.” 

 

“Are you sure? When I came in you looked ready to pass out. Charge while you eat.” Moon said before taking his place at the desk to look over the progress. 

 

Solar sighed and grabbed the charging cable to plug in before he actually started eating. It looked like Earth had made a full eggs, sausage, and pancake breakfast and included a few slices of fresh bread and pie, along with a drawing from the two kids showing him as a hero rescuing Sun from a tower. There were two bags so he set one aside for his friend before he started eating. 

 

Even with the coffee, food, and fresh charge, he felt exhausted. The nearly two weeks of non stop searching was draining him more than he could replenish, and he really did feel like he would pass out while sitting there. It was all too much for him, but he couldn’t stop. He had to find Sun. 

 

“If you don’t sleep I will make you.” Moon said, looking over. “I can hardly see the color in your eyes. If you don’t sleep then I can’t take you with me when we do finally find them.” 

 

“You’ll need backup.” 

 

“Yeah, and I’d rather take Jack than you. Remember, Nexus also wanted you. I can’t risk losing you too, Solar. None of us could handle that.” 

 

The ‘not again’ was silent, but loud. Sun missing was one thing, but to lose them both, and so soon after he had been brought back, would ruin the family more. He already felt guilty enough being away from Jack and Dazzle for so long. He couldn’t imagine how it probably felt for them to have one parental figure missing while the other worked constantly and didn’t come home… He would have to make it up to them. 

 

He sighed and laid his head down. “Just let me charge a bit, then I’ll go sleep in the other room. Just promise you’ll wake me if you find anything?” 

 

“I promise. Just get some rest.” 

 

He didn’t want to stop just yet, but he had no choice at the moment. He just needed to charge enough to be able to make it to the beds they had stored there… Just a small rest… 

 

The next thing Solar knew was that he woke up in a bed and Jack was sitting beside him. 

 

“Father! You are awake!” The pumpkin moon cheered before running to the door. “Moon! Father has woken up!” 

 

“Oh thank god!” Moon yelled before rushing over, checking over the eclipsed model’s systems. 

 

Solar looked at him, confused about the amount of worry his friend was showing. From what his clock said he couldn’t have been asleep more than an hour or two. “What’s going on? I wasn’t asleep for that long…” 

 

“Dude! You were asleep for over a day! I couldn’t wake you up!”

 

He sat up, nearly unplugging himself from the charger as he did. “What?! That can’t be right!” 

 

He checked his internal clock again and finally noticed the day change. He had been asleep for nearly 26 hours. 

 

Moon shook his head, voice now stern. “You’re off the mission, Solar. Jack is going to be taking you to Earth’s house, and I’ll be taking Lunar with me instead. We found out where they are.” 

 

Solar growled as anger rose in his chest. “Moon, you can’t do this. I need to be there.” 

 

“I’m sorry, but you lost that chance. We can’t risk it. Monty will be our portal control, and you’ll be getting emergency supplies ready with Earth. Do some knitting or whatever while you have the chance. Maybe teach Dazzle how to do it. I don’t really care about what you do as long as you’re staying with them.” 

 

“But Sun-” 

 

“Will be brought to you as soon as we get him. That’s why you’ll be getting emergency supplies ready. We don’t know what they’ve done to him so bring out whatever emergency parts you can. This isn’t up for debate.” 

 

He wanted to fight it, but he knew Moon was right. Even though the idea of staying behind and waiting made his chest feel like it was burning from the inside out. He had to be there to save Sun, but he couldn’t. 

 

He failed. 

 

His friend rubbed his back before helping him unplug. “Your systems look fine and you have full charge. Go with Jack. Please. Earth already knows to expect you.” 

 

He sighed and set up a portal to Earth’s house. There would be no use in arguing with Moon, and he really did need to spend time with Earth and the kids. It had been too long. 

 

Jack excitedly went over to help him up before they went through the portal together. The large daycare attendant was already waiting for them, looking worried as she went over to hug Solar close. He couldn’t say anything as he hugged her back and buried his face into her arm. The tears that he had been holding back for two weeks finally broke free and fell onto her butterfly sweater. She only held him closer and whispered reassurances to him. 

 

It wasn’t long before he felt two smaller sets of arms around his waist and legs. He couldn’t pull himself away to try to comfort the kids. He needed a moment before he could even try. 

 

“Dazzle, honey, could you go pick out a movie?” Earth finally asked. 

 

“Ok, Earth!” The little deer said before running off. 

 

“And Jack, can you go get the cookies out of the oven? The timer is about to go off.” 

 

“I am on it!” Jack said before also running inside. 

 

The taller animatronic pulled away from Solar just enough to look him over. “Come on, we can order in for lunch, but if you want something now I can make you something. You must be hungry.” 

 

“I’ll be fine with cereal if you have any… I don’t want to cause you too much trouble.” 

 

“Nonsense.” She said as she led him inside and to the counter. “Moon said your systems are struggling, so you need something more nutritious. What about a quiche? I still have some from the day before yesterday.” 

 

“The one with spinach and bell peppers?” He thought back to it. “Yeah, yeah that sounds good.” 

 

While she got the breakfast prepared he watched as Jack was crouched next to the counter where the cookies were cooling. He couldn’t tell if his son was holding back on eating them all or waiting for them to cool off before he could eat them all. 

 

“Whatcha doing there, Jack?” He asked, leaning against the counter. There was still some tiredness lingering in his system that he didn’t like. 

 

“I am waiting for the cookies to cool so I can take one to Dazzle.” The pumpkin moon said with his usual rises and lowers in his speech. 

 

“Yeah bud?” 

 

“Earth says we are only allowed one when they’re done. We have to wait for the rest.” 

 

The large daycare attendant smiled as she set the plate of food down in front of Solar, allowing him to eat. He didn’t realize how hungry he had become until the sudden food made his stomach hurt from hunger. 

 

“Jack has been mostly well behaved while here, and he’s been helping out in the daycare where he can. He’s also really worried about Sun…” 

 

“I can imagine that worry is mostly about Dazzle? I know he and Sun don’t really get along…” 

 

His son looked over, looking a bit upset. “No, I’m worried because second dad is gone. Dazzle is upset, and you’re upset, but I do have some care for him. My teasing is playful!” 

 

“…pepper spraying him in the eyes is playful?” 

 

“….yes?” 

 

He sighed and patted the seat next to him, watching as the gremlin child crawled across the floor before climbing up on the seat. “Why do you pester Sun so much? You know he’s not going to take me or Dazzle away from you, right?” 

 

Jack leaned against the counter, playing with one of the nearby glass water bottles as he thought. “...It’s our thing? He’s second dad now, but I don’t want things to change. I don’t know how.” 

 

Solar reached over and rubbed his son’s back. “Look, I know change can be hard, but Sun has been hurt a lot… He’s probably been hurt a lot these last two weeks… Maybe we can work on you two getting along better when he gets back? Treat him like you’d treat me.” 

 

“...Are you going to marry him?” 

 

He blushed, face lighting up in a glow. “What? Why would you ask that?” 

 

Jack looked up at him with a smile. “Monty said you set up a big fancy dinner. Said it was really special. In movies, that’s how someone proposes.” 

 

Solar sputtered as he looked away. “I wasn’t going to propose. When I do it will be a while from now. I can’t ask so soon when we just started dating recently.” 

 

Did over half a year count as recently when he had been dead for most of it? 

 

“What was it for? If you don’t mind me asking?” Earth asked as she finished putting a new batch of cookies in the oven. “I’ve been curious since he mentioned it, and Monty mentioned you got a suit.” 

 

Solar thought back to that day, and how wonderful it was supposed to be. Before his Sunlight had been taken right from under him. He set his fork down as a wave of sadness overtook him and tears filled his eyes again. 

 

“I wanted to give him a night that he’d be able to remember forever. He’s been through so much, and he gets so little in return. He deserves more than just a wonderful night.” 

 

She smiled sadly at that and nodded. “Well, Monty made it so you can try again once you two are ready.” 

 

He nodded, watching as Dazzle entered the room holding a DVD case. “Hey honey, what movie did you pick out?” 

 

The little deer held up the movie and his face dropped as he saw that it was the Purge. 

 

“No. Absolutely not.” He looked to the planetary attendant. “Earth, I think Monty left some of his movies out. Please tell me Jack did not watch any of those.” 

 

“I did while they were out taking Dazzle to the park.” Jack grinned, causing Solar to groan. 

 

Dazzle pouted. “Is it bad?” 

 

Earth went over to take the movie with a smile. “It’s just a little scary. Here, why don’t we go pick one out together? Solar and Jack will join us when we’re done, and then later we’ll be going on a trip to the daycare while Solar gets stuff ready. Does that sound like fun?” 

 

The little girl nodded and ran back to the movie room with Earth following close behind. 

 

Solar sighed as he finished up his food. “Jack?” 

 

“Yes father?” 

 

“What has Sun told you about rated R movies?” 

 

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh to not get ideas?” 

 

“No. If I catch you watching them again, you’ll be grounded from the TV.” 

 

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” 

 

He didn’t have the energy to continue the conversation, so he put his plate away and headed to the couches for the movie. The eclipsed model relaxed back onto the couch as he watched the girls pick out a barbie movie. Something about a pegasus or whatever. He yawned and decided it would be best to rest his eyes while he waited for the movie to start. They wouldn’t mind, and he did need the rest… That way he could be ready for when they brought his Sun home. 

 

Just a small rest…

Chapter 6: The rescue

Moon hated Dark Sun and Nexus more than anything else at that moment. Not even the original version of Eclipse held a candle to the forest fire that was his hatred towards those two at the moment. Not only did they kidnap his brother, but they somehow had a GOD DAMN WITHER STORM DRAGON! 

 

The scientist turned off all of his cooling systems as he and Lunar tried to sneak by the terrifying beast just to avoid the chance of waking it up! But oh! Of course! It had to smell the star power off of his little brother and tried to eat him as they ran away! Now they would have to find a different way out when they finally found Sun because they definitely wouldn’t be able to escape the same way with how hungry the beast looked! 

 

Even after they had closed the door and continued to run they could still hear it clawing at the strong wood to get after them! They would just have to somehow find a spot where setting a portal back home would be able to work. As they ran through the empty castlelike halls, he made sure to keep track of possible locations to do so. Except that as far as he could see it looked impossible. It was like all possible exits had been locked away as soon as they had entered the artificial dimension. 

 

Lunar stopped after they rounded their seventh corner and leaned back against a pillar. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT BULLSHIT?!” 

 

Moon hissed at him to shut up as he looked around. “Are you trying to get us found?” 

 

“Oh I’m sorry, but it TRIED TO EAT ME! And you can run so much faster than me! My legs are short!” 

 

“Oh shut up, you can fly. Now come on, we have to figure out where they’re keeping Sun. I doubt Nexus would be keeping him in a medieval fantasy setting.”

 

The smaller attendant groaned as he stood straight again and started floating. “Is Sun’s tracker still not working?” 

 

“It’s not…” He said quietly as he set his systems to scan the area as he continued to walk. If anything they could at least map out the location in case they needed to come back to finish the job. At the moment, his only care was getting his brother and getting out. They’d come back another day to kill everyone. 

 

The winding paths of stone and stairways went on and on for what felt like forever. Their bells sounded loudly in the deafening silence of the fortress. No one was around. No one was showing up to stop them. Even as the corridors fell from stone and rose to glossy metal walls that resembled space stations, there was nothing. 

 

Lunar floated closer to Moon, looking around cautiously. They both knew that they should have come across some sort of resistance other than the dragon. Drones? Automated weapons? Nexus? Something was wrong. 

 

“Moon, I don’t like this.” the smaller animatronic whispered, clinging onto his arm. 

 

He patted his little brother’s hands to reassure him, but he also didn’t like it. There should have been something around. Anything at all. But there wasn’t. Only clean walls and doors leading to strange labs. 

 

After a few more minutes of silent searching, the sound of far away panicked breathing and running feet could be heard, accompanied by the sounds of small bells. Moon would be able to recognize the sound anywhere, after all of the pain that he and his twin had been forced to go through. All the running, and pain, and panic. He knew the ins and outs of his brother’s fear. 

 

He broke out in a run, not caring if there would be anything to stop him now. He would tear anything that got in his way to shreds. He didn’t care that Lunar was struggling to hold on, or him saying to slow down, that it could be a trap. He was going to help his brother! 

 

“SUN!” He yelled out, listening as the bells stopped ringing only to start again and grow closer. The panicked breathing was turning to pain filled sobs. 

 

When they finally met up in a corridor he ran over to hug his brother close, but the hug was not returned. His eyes scanned the hallway his other half had just come from in case he was being followed. The floor had a trail of dark oil that led directly to Sun. 

 

“I’ve got you.” Moon whispered, shushing his brother gently. “You’re safe now. We’re going to get you home.” 

 

Lunar whimpered as he landed on the ground beside them. “Moon, he’s missing a hand. We need to go before he bleeds out.” 

 

He tensed up and pulled back, taking a good look at his injured brother. Sun’s right arm hung limply at his side, his entire hand missing, while his other arm was trapped behind his back. The handcuffs that were holding the arm in place looked to be threaded through his skyhook, and the cuff that failed to go through was covered in oil. There were also broken cuffs on both of his ankles, the chain broken in the middle by something. His unusually blinding white eyes were dull, almost all light gone from them.

 

“Shit shit shit shit fuck fuck fuck! Lunar, get bigger and hold him!” Moon yelled as he handed Sun to their little brother, pulling up his arm computer to see if there was enough of a signal to open a portal. Behind him, Lunar grew large enough to easily hold their now unconscious brother as he walked around to search for a signal. As soon as he found the smallest ping he sent their location to Monty in rapid succession. “Come on, hurry up!” 

 

“Stay with us Sun!” Lunar begged, running to the portal to the lab as soon as he saw it. 

 

Moon was quick to follow, instantly setting another one for parts and service, not listening as Monty ran down the stairs. “Get him in NOW!” He yelled, watching as the gator grabbed Sun from the large Lunar and ran through. He followed quickly. 

 

Monty quickly went to place Sun in the cylinder. “Solar! We need an oil transfusion stat!” 

 

The eclipsed model ran over with his tools, looking panicked when he saw the mess. “Why haven’t you stopped the bleeding yet?!” 

 

“We didn’t have time!” Moon yelled as he paced nearby. He was too agitated and scared to be of any help. He could hear his hands shaking through his bells so he gripped his arms to try to stop it, letting his claws sink into his casing. He knew it was a bad habit to have, but he needed something to ground himself. 

 

He couldn’t break down. He couldn’t be another problem for them to worry about at the moment. A hand on his leg startled him, but as he looked down he saw it was only Lunar. 

 

“Moon, we should go sit down. You look like you’re about to collapse.” 

 

He shook his head, looking to where his brother laid unconscious. “I can’t. They might need me. He might wake up.” 

 

The small attendant pulled at his pants more. “We won’t be going far. Come on.” 

 

Monty looked over. “Moon, go get him some new clothes. His current ones need to be tossed. Solar and I got him.” 

 

He didn’t want to go. He had already been separated from his twin for so long, and he felt like he would lose it if he couldn’t make sure he was safe. He couldn’t lose him. He couldn’t. 

 

The gator sighed, eyes understanding before he went back to his task at hand. “Then at least listen to Lunar and sit down. Maybe on the stairs so you can see us?” 

 

That was… an acceptable alternative, and Moon allowed himself to be led to the concrete stairs to sit. Lunar hugged him, bringing a sense of security to the situation. 

 

“...I’m going to kill them all.” He whispered. 

 

“Sunny has to get better first.” His brother whispered back. “In the meantime, Monty and I can talk to Taurus about what we can do to fight against that dragon and Nexus. There has to be something…” 

 

“We should go and kill them as soon as possible. They’ll come after him while he’s weak.” 

 

“Moon, that’s why you’ll need to stay with him. Just let me and Monty figure it out while he recovers and then we can go in guns blazing. Literally.” 

 

If they waited that would just give Dark Sun and Nexus more time to hide. They couldn’t let them get away just to plan their next attack. For all he knew though, they could have already disappeared. There was no logical explanation to how Sun had managed to escape without being noticed, or that they weren’t noticed as soon as the dragon had seen them. It was even less logical that it all happened at the same time. 

 

He wrapped an arm around his little brother for any sense of comfort as his stomach twisted over how off everything felt. The rescue mission was too easy. Yes they managed to get him back, but until he woke up they wouldn’t know how. Moon looked into the cylinder to watch as the two worked on his twin. The previously captured arm had been set free and the now broken cuffs tossed to the side in disdain. Solar was working hard on the stub where Sun’s hand was supposed to be, eyes determined as he replaced the needed parts. Monty made himself busy with replenishing the oil Sun had lost while keeping an eye on his systems to ensure nothing went wrong throughout the process.

 

The next few hours ended up being the longest in his life. 

 

Not only had Sun managed to detach his hand in probably the worst way possible to fix, but he also had damage to every segment of his arm and skyhook from pulling too hard, causing internal damage that was difficult to fix. There had also been damage to his leg casings that looked like they could have been from chains and the cuffs. It was a surprise how there wasn’t more damage such as him also missing a foot. 

 

They were lucky he didn’t have any major internal damage or bleeding.

 

Moon could feel himself dozing off by the time Monty left the cylinder, wiping oil off of his hands with a rag. “That’s all we can do, so now we just gotta wait for ‘im to wake up. His systems also look clear, so they didn’t do anything to him as far as I could find. I’d suggest bringing him home so he wakes up somewhere comfortable.” 

 

He nodded tiredly, yawning as he picked up the already asleep Lunar. “After all that, he probably won't want to be in anything lab like for a while… Solar, do you have him?” 

 

The eclipsed model nodded silently as he picked up Sun, nuzzling their faceplates together sadly. His brother was covered by a ratty blanket that they didn’t care about, his pants having long been disposed of. Only one of his bell ribbons had been salvageable. “I’ll make sure he’s cleaned up and comfortable… I won’t let him out of my sight this time…” 

 

He didn’t want his brother out of his sight either, so he went over to pat Solar’s shoulder. “Why don’t we set up a family sleepover in the living room? Get Dazzle and Jack in on making a giant blanket nest?” 

 

His friend nodded, smiling at the idea. “He’d love that… being surrounded by nice things and his family.” 

 

Moon smiled lightly before he opened up a portal. “Monty, bring Earth and the kids over. You’re invited too.” 

 

“Damn right I am. We’ll bring some of the extra fluffy blankets as well.” 

 

He nodded and led his friend through the portal with a hand on his back before he went to open the door for him. Solar instantly went upstairs to give Sun a bath, so Moon set Lunar down and gently shook him. 

 

The small animatronic looked up at him, still half asleep. “Whaaaaat?” 

 

“Go get clean, ok? We’re going to be having a group sleepover in the living room and you can’t be covered in blood for that.” 

 

“Can’t I just go sleep in my room? I’m tired…” 

 

“Lunar, please.” 

 

Lunar groaned and pouted before he started to head downstairs. “Fiiiine. I’ll be back…” 

 

Moon sighed as he went to his own bathroom to get cleaned. He knew he would have to toss out his own pair of pants and slippers with how much oil had gotten on them. It didn’t matter though. He had extra. All that mattered was the fact that his twin was home and repaired. The warm water helped ease away the stress that had gathered over the past two weeks along with the idea of being able to make sure his brother would really be there when he woke up. 

 

By the time he had gotten out, Earth, Monty, and the kids had started setting up the giant nest surrounded by the couches and chairs while Lunar was already asleep on one of the chairs. The coffee table had been moved off to the side with a pile of sleepover snacks and drinks set up. He brought out his own extra blankets and pillows to add to the nest, plopping a light throw blanket onto Dazzle, causing her to laugh. 

 

“Moon! Moon! Is Sun really back?” She asked as she uncovered herself and looked up at him with her big adorable eyes. 

 

He smiled a bit and knelt to be at eye level with her. “Yeah. Me, Solar, Lunar, and Monty got him back from the bad people. But he’s probably going to be scared for a bit so you gotta be careful around him, alright? Can you do that for me, Doe-drop?” 

 

She nodded excitedly. “Yeah! I’mma help watch Sun and make sure no one bothers him!” 

 

He ruffled her hair with a chuckle. “I bet you’ll do an amazing job. He’s going to need you while I go to try to find the bad people who did this.” 

 

“Can I help?” 

 

Moon frowned, looking at the little deer. “No… Not in the same way I am. You can help by being a good girl for Sun. Okay? Listen to what he says and if he has a bad day go to someone else for things so he can rest.” 

 

Dazzle nodded before looking up at the sound of someone coming down the stairs. He looked up as well and relaxed at the sight of Solar carrying Sun, who was now cleaned and in his favorite cat themed pajamas. He was still asleep, but he looked peaceful. The night themed animatronic quickly made sure that there was a comfortable spot set up in the middle of the blanket nest before motioning the eclipsed model over and helping his friend set his twin down. 

 

Once he made sure that Sun was comfortable, he laid down while facing him, taking one of his hands in his own. “I promise, I’ll find them and make it so they can never hurt you again…” 

 

If he had to, he would rip out Nexus’ motherboard himself and snap it in half. For Dark Sun he could probably take a hammer to the back of his faceplate. That or a nail gun. He knew Jack knew how to make one.

 

He squeezed his twin’s hand before he allowed himself to close his eyes, never letting go in fear of his other half disappearing as they slept. 

 

As Moon allowed himself to slip into sleep he could feel the rest of the family settle around them, with Dazzle squeezing herself between him and Sun without disturbing their hands. He allowed it, and placed his other arm over the small deer. He could feel Solar’s hand come to rest near his own over her, the mechanic’s own arm laying over Sun protectively. 

 

It was the first real moment of peace they had been able to get in weeks, and he would make sure that it would stay that way.

Chapter 7: Reunited

Solar woke up as someone moved and looked up just in time to see his partner start to pull away from his brother in a panic. He was quick to sit up so Sun’s retreat would press his back against his chest, allowing him to carefully wrap his arms around his scared lover to console him. “Shh, you’re ok. You’re home, with us. No one is going to hurt you. I’ve got you…” 

 

As everyone slowly started to wake up, Sun’s panic started to fade. The trembling animatronic looked around carefully, clearly surprised that he was home. As the realization sunk in fully, he began to sob tears of relief. 

 

Moon smiled, taking his brother’s hands to hold them close again. “You’re home, brother. You’re safe.” 

 

Dazzle got up and hugged Sun, nuzzling into his chest as she sniffled. Everyone held back to wait their turn, not wanting to overcrowd the likely traumatized bot. They all had their questions, but those could wait. All that mattered was that they were all together. 

 

It took a while, but eventually the sunny animatronic calmed down, leaning back into Solar’s hold while wrapping his arms around his unofficial daughter. Earth sat next to them offering a bottle of water, which he gladly took and drank down as if it was the first he’s had in weeks. 

 

When he was done, Sun finally spoke. “i-I’m sorry for scaring all of you…” 

 

The eclipsed model nuzzled into his lover’s shoulder. “You don’t need to apologize. Ruin was the one who took you. It’s their fault.” 

 

“n-No! Ruin had to. They would have been hurt if they didn’t do it, and they’re the one who helped me escape. Nexus… He was going to reset me.” 

 

Solar froze as he heard that as the others gasped. He could see Moon’s worried expression twist into rage as Earth covered her mouth in shock. If Sun had been reset, then they would have lost him. He would have died. Sure Moon had been able to be brought back from it, but with how Nexus was, that likely wouldn’t have been an option. 

 

He held his sunlight closer. “How did Ruin save you?” 

 

“They told me about what Dark Sun and Nexus planned to do, and that they didn’t want that to happen… Ruin… They risked their own life to get my legs free so I could run before going to distract them… Did you guys find them?” 

 

Moon shook his head, his voice showing a very poor attempt at hiding a growl. “No, we left as soon as we got you. How did your arm get injured if they freed you?” 

 

“The cuffs were put through the chair I was on… Ruin didn’t notice it and ran off before I could say anything…” He ran his fingers through Dazzle’s hair, likely to try to calm himself.

 

“God damn…” Monty said, shaking his head. “Didn’t know you had it in ya. Glad to have you back though. The kids missed you a lot.” 

 

“I missed them too… I just don’t know if I’ll have the energy to play for a while…” 

 

Solar placed a kiss on Sun’s shoulder before he maneuvered the two of them enough to see each other’s faces. Tears were starting to well up in the attendant’s eyes so he gently wiped them away. “Hey, don’t worry about that. I’ll be helping as much as I can so you can take the time you need to recover. If there’s anything you need, just ask us.” 

 

“Is there anything specific you want for breakfast?” Earth asked. “I could make everyone pancakes, waffles, or french toast? Maybe a quiche?” 

 

The little deer pouted as she looked up. “Noooo you put spinach in the… the… quiche.” 

 

She giggled. “Well it’s Sun’s decision, honey. This is to help him feel better.” 

 

“Suuuuuuun, waffles? Pwease?” 

 

The sunny animatronic looked down. “I don’t know… I’m not really in the mood for sweet things right now..”

 

She pouted and looked down. “Ok…” 

 

Solar rubbed Sun’s side before he stood up, helping his partner up as well. He could see the early signs of his partner getting overwhelmed with how his rays were subtly retracting into their home. “Hey guys, I’m going to take him out for fresh air. We’ll be back, alright?” 

 

The others all gave the ok so he led his sunlight outside to the porch. The distant sound of waves from the lake and the songs of birds drifted through the air, creating a calm feeling to blanket the area. He made sure to keep a close eye on Sun to gauge his reactions, prepared to change anything needed at a moment's notice. 

 

When the sunny animatronic relaxed, he allowed himself to as well. Finally, the nightmare was over. Still, Solar kept an arm around his waist to reassure himself that he was still there and would stay there. “I’m glad you’re home. Moon and I were searching nonstop for you.” 

 

“You were?” 

 

He nodded, rubbing his thumb into his lover’s side. “How are you feeling? Are you in any pain? Is there anything you need?” 

 

Sun leaned into his side, placing his head on his shoulder. “I’m really thirsty… Other than that, I’m alright… Thank you.” 

 

“Anything for you.” Solar said as he sent a quick message to the group chat asking someone to bring more water. He then leaned down to gently kiss his love. Sun tensed up at first and the mechanic nearly pulled away before he felt the other lean more into the kiss. It was soft and innocent, full of all the care he had for his beautiful sunlight. When he pulled away, the sunny animatronic’s face was covered in a light glow. “I missed you so much.” 

 

“I-I missed you too. I couldn’t stop thinking about you and being home instead of that horrible place… I missed everyone so much… But it’s a little intimidating to suddenly be surrounded by everyone and being the center of attention..” 

 

“I’m sorry if we scared you. We just… We were all scared that you’d be taken again if we couldn’t see you.” He heard the sound of the door opening and closing behind them and looked back to see two water bottles on the ground next to the door. He moved to grab them before taking his place back at Sun’s side with his arm around him. 

 

When he offered the water the daycare attendant was quick to drink it, just as he had the one Earth had given him earlier. It reminded Solar of how he had been when he had first woken up with the ability to ingest food and drinks. It was possible that his nano machines were attempting to recollect missing materials so that they could be ready to replace anything that was necessary. It was discovered that sun and eclipse models did burn more energy and ran hotter than other models. He offered the second bottle once the first was emptied and watched as it was quickly downed. He sent a quick note to the group chat that they would have to restock on water soon. 

 

After Sun was finished drinking he leaned back against the eclipsed model and closed his eyes. “I was… surprised to wake up to see Moon…” 

 

Solar blinked in surprise at that. “Why were you surprised?” 

 

“He was just… so close to me. He never cares that much. Not when it comes to me.” 

 

He thought back to what he knew about this Sun and Moon’s relationship, but he didn’t really know that much. Most of what he knew was really Nexus, but he and Moon weren’t that different as far as he remembered. Even when it had been Nexus he supposed there were times where the scientist had troubles helping his brother. The worry had been there, but it had never been so direct. Most of his form of helping had been to direct himself at the problem and to fix it. From what he had understood, that had been the reason he had gone mad after his death. 

 

“Moon never stays to actually help me.” Sun continued, looking towards the lake. “He’s done it for Lunar, Earth, Monty, and even you, but not me. He talks to them about their problems, but when it comes to me he always says he’s not good with his emotions… Waking up and seeing him… seeing him holding my hand as if I actually matter to him… It was a bit much after everything.” 

 

Solar tightened his grip on the other as he looked back to the house, remembering what Moon had said the night before. The promise to find Dark Sun and Nexus. To make them pay. Through the glass doors he could see everyone but Earth and Moon spending time with each other. He knew that the planetary animatronic was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, but he doubted his friend was in there with her. He didn’t cook. 

 

“...He’s already gone, isn’t he.” 

 

He sighed. “I don’t know, he might be in his room or in the kitchen.” 

 

Sun sniffled and wiped at his eyes before he turned and started to head inside. Solar was quick to follow after he grabbed the discarded bottles to recycle. When they entered the house, Lunar ran up to his big brother. His clothes looked like they were still stained with oil, meaning he hadn’t bothered changing after everything. They would have to have a talk about that. 

 

“Sun! Are you okay? You looked really bad last night.” 

 

He shook his head and sighed a bit. “I.. think after breakfast I’m going to go to my room.. I’m not feeling well…” 

 

The small animatronic looked worried and glanced to Solar for answers. He motioned his head towards the kitchen before he looked around the room. Jack and Dazzle were playing a capture the bad guy game with Monty so he led Sun to the couch to sit. “Hey, why don’t you sit here for a moment while I go check on how breakfast is going?”

 

The sunny attendant nodded and stayed sitting while he led Lunar to the kitchen. Only Earth was there, meaning Moon had likely left. He sighed as he sat down at the smaller table. 

 

“Come on, Solar. What’s up with Sun?” The small daycare attendant asked, also sitting down. 

 

Earth looked over as she poured the ingredients into the casserole dish. “Lunar, he went through a traumatic event. He’s probably not going to do well for a while.”

 

“There is something else wrong, unfortunately.” He said as he looked towards the living room. “He was surprised Moon stayed as long as he did, and now he’s upset because he figured Moon already left.” 

 

He didn’t think his own brother cared. The way the other two looked down didn’t give him much confidence. 

 

Lunar sighed as he crossed his arms. “It’s a difficult situation. Moon did a lot of bad to Sun in the past so I really do get where he’s coming from. I wouldn’t believe he cared either if I didn’t live inside his head.” 

 

Earth didn’t look happy about the conversation as she put the food in the oven and stepped back. “I know he cares in his own way, but we do need him here. Sun especially needs him around more than ever at the moment.” 

 

“I’m going to try talking to him, but I need to be here. So if someone can somehow drag Moon home, I’ll be able to have a chat with him.” 

 

He had to talk to Moon. From what he had been told about Dark Sun, he didn’t like Moons. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he had used those two weeks to try to convince Sun that what he said about all Moons was true. This one was different as far as he knew. He had never seen the current night themed animatronic needlessly yell at or abuse Sun like his own had. He didn’t take any enjoyment in causing his brother pain. He was different from the others. 

 

He just needed to get him to stay home while Sun recovered. Set the computers to auto search and portal to the lab only when something had been found. 

 

“Before any of that though, Lunar, why are you wearing the oil stained clothes from yesterday?” 

 

The small daycare attendant threw his hands up into the air. “What am I supposed to do? I can’t take these off! I don’t know how I’m going to get the stains out since the shower didn’t work.” 

 

The mechanic and taller attendant looked at him in horrified disgust. Earth was the first to say something. “Please tell me you’re joking.” 

 

“No? Why would I joke about this?” 

 

She covered her mouth as if she was about to throw up. “That’s disgusting! Monty!” 

 

“I’m a little busy!” Her boyfriend yelled back, followed by the sounds of someone being tackled.

 

She looked back to Lunar. “Get out of the kitchen, now.” 

 

“What?! Why?” 

 

“Out! You will talk to Monty when he’s not busy! Go to your room, mister! You’re disgusting!” 

 

“It’s not that bad!” 

 

He looked at the smaller bot, stepping away from him. “Dude, that’s pretty gross. Just go wait for Monty, because I do not think he would make it so you couldn’t change clothes.” 

 

Lunar pouted before going off to his room while his sister washed her hands. “I’m going to tell everyone to take baths and wash their clothes today. I am going to deep clean this entire house, I swear, because I know Sun shouldn’t at the moment.” 

 

Solar shook his head with a sigh before he went to grab yet another water bottle. “How long until the food is ready?” He asked Earth.

 

She frowned as she dried her hands. “After it cooks and cools? I’d say about twenty minutes to a half hour. Is Sun doing alright? He’s drinking a lot of water.” 

 

“I don’t know. I’m going to have to ask Monty to check his nano machines, but my best guess is that he didn’t consume anything while captured. If they hurt him during that time then his nanites would draw from whatever they had reserved from before getting taken to repair the damage. To compensate they’ll likely be making him seek out water, proteins, and foods higher in iron and salts. We might need to get him some supplements if that’s the case since he lost a lot of oil last night.” 

 

She nodded and started making a list of what he mentioned. “Then it’s a good thing I added spinach. I’ll have to make him more dishes with it included for now.” 

 

Solar smiled and nodded. “Thank you, I really appreciate it. If you need any help cooking, I can try my best. I’m going to go back to him for now, okay?” 

 

“Of course. I’ll be here if any of you need anything.” 

 

“I know.” He said, before heading back to the living room. 

 

Monty was laying in the middle of the floor, tied up with discarded blankets. Dazzle stood on his back striking a pose of victory as Jack clapped rapidly to the side. “We have defeated the big green meany! Now evildoer, what do you have to say for yourself?” 

 

The gator sighed, his voice tired and unenthusiastic. That had likely been his experience for the past two weeks, so he couldn’t blame the big guy. It was still funny to see. “I have been defeated and my evil schemes have been thwarted. Spare me, oh mighty Dazzle, and let me turn my life around.” 

 

Solar sat next to his partner and wrapped an arm around the sunny animatronic again, handing him the water bottle. Sun gave a quiet thanks as he sipped it slowly. 

 

“Hmmmm what do you say, second captain Jack?” 

 

The pumpkin moon grinned wide. “Captain Dazzle, I think we should make the green meany do as we say to prove that he will change!” 

 

“Oh god.” Monty grumbled under his breath. 

 

Captain Dazzle gasped and smiled wide. “Second captain Jack, you are so smart! Um, what should we ask for?” 

 

“We should ask for waffles!” 

 

“You are the smartest, Jack!” The little deer hopped off of Monty and stood in front of him. Her tiny arms were crossed in a pose that was supposed to be intimidating. “Big green meany, to show you are sowwy you must get us waffles so we don’t need to eat the icky green stuff.” 

 

Solar was about to speak up to say that she needed to eat her greens but before he could, Monty stood up and started untying himself with a loud, cartoonishly evil laugh. “HAHAHAHAHA! You fell for my trap and now I have escaped! I will never give into your commands! Roar!” 

 

As he put his arms up in a scary monster pose, Dazzle squealed in fake terror before she ran off laughing towards the stairs and her room. “Back to base, Jack! We need to make new plans!” 

 

“Coming Dazzle!” He said before suddenly tazing Monty and running. 

 

“SON OF A BITCH!” He screamed out as he fell to the floor, gripping his arm where he had been shocked. Earth quickly ran over to check on him and quietly talk to him. 

 

The eclipsed model groaned and facepalmed. “He’s so grounded. How many times do I have to tell him not to use his weapons during his games?” 

 

“More than once is too many.” Sun mumbled. “I get why you don’t take the weapons away, but he needs more discipline.” 

 

He sighed. “Yeah, I’m working on it… It’s on a very long list.” 

 

“Lunar what?” Monty suddenly said, standing up to head downstairs. Earth was already following her partner. 

 

“I really think we should go get, like, industrial soap.” She said as her voice faded. 

 

Sun looked back before looking to Solar for answers, causing him to rub his faceplate. It was so early, yet there was already so much stress. “Please don’t worry about it. Earth is going to take care of it, but we learned that Lunar has never changed his clothes, and has never taken them off. Why don’t we go to our room while we wait for the food? That will be less stressful.” 

 

“I-...” The attendant sighed before he nodded. “Yeah, let’s go…” 

 

Solar stood once again and helped his partner up. The decline of energy worried him as it seemed that Sun just kept sinking lower and lower into his mind as time went on. He would have to figure out how to help him soon. 

 

“OH GOD I’M GREEN!” Lunar screamed in horror, his voice clear throughout the entire house as it faded into distressed sobs. 

 

He quickly decided that they would need to set up the sound blocker near the stairs before they went up to their room. He did not need Sun worrying about deep cleaning the entire house while he recovered. 

 

“IS THAT A MUSHROOM?!” 

Chapter 8: Lack of energy

Over the next few days as everyone else focused on deep cleaning the house and Lunar, Solar kept a close eye on Sun. His worry for the other only grew and grew as his energy levels lessened. 

 

Sun had been fully charged, he had eaten, and he had finally started to drink regular amounts of water. His nano machines had been looked over and cleared so he knew they weren’t malfunctioning. But even with everything being safe and functioning, he was shutting down. At times, he would stop staring at the wall to break down into sobs, which he held him through and did his best to offer comfort. 

 

Solar didn’t dare to even try to leave the somber attendant alone, too afraid that something would happen if he did. The last time he had left him only for a moment to get him food, he had come back to Sun pulling at his rays while in a fit of panic and sobs. 

 

To make things even worse, Moon didn’t respond to any of his messages. The only reason they knew he was even still at his lab was the fact that someone would bring him food during the day. The eclipsed model could hardly hold back the anger he felt towards his best friend as time wore on. If he could leave just for an hour he would go to the lab personally to beat up the prick. 

 

But he couldn’t. Not while Sun needed him. 

 

All he could do was try to distract him to hopefully bring some light back to his eyes. He had tried video games and movies, but it hadn’t been enough to keep his attention, cooking was out of the picture since no one trusted the attendant with anything sharp at the moment, a shopping trip with Dazzle and Jack only seemed to make Sun more concerned about something, and going to work would have only stressed him beyond what was possible for most. 

 

There was one thing they hadn’t tried yet, and he didn’t know if it would work, but he had to try. He just hoped it would help. 

 

Solar set the book he was reading on the bedside table before he turned to Sun. His partner was just blankly staring ahead, as if he wasn’t even there. His eyes were dull and breathing still, showing that he was for some reason on low power mode even though the mechanic knew he was nearly fully charged. He took the daycare attendant's hand and gently pressed a kiss to the yellow knuckles. When that didn’t get him a response he turned the hand around to kiss the palm, and then the inside of his wrist. 

 

That seemed to get a response as Sun’s breathing stuttered back to life and his eyes lightened slightly. He smiled lightly and continued to kiss up his lover’s arm as he slowly came back to reality, looking over. 

 

“s-Solar?” 

 

He relaxed and leaned forward to kiss the sunny animatronic fully, still keeping it innocent in case the other wanted to pull away. He could feel as Sun hesitated before kissing back, deepening the kiss himself. Solar could feel his internal fans start as his systems slowly heated up. Slowly he lifted his hand to slide up and under his lover’s shirt, enjoying the feeling of the yellow bot shivering under his touch. 

 

It was the most reaction he had managed to get out of the other in days, and he planned to go further as he reached down with his other hand to slide it between the waistline of his red pajama bottoms. The attendant let out a shivering breath which allowed Solar to slip his tongue inside and deepen the kiss further as he rubbed his thumb over his hips. 

 

He knew where every sensitive spot was, he knew how the other enjoyed being touched on difficult days, and he knew exactly how to drag everything out to pick his lover apart, moan by moan. 

 

Solar was just about to move his fingers down to Sun’s modesty panel when his phone started to ring. The caller ID on his HUD indicated that it was Moon. Just seeing the name caused him to growl angrily as he pulled away. When Sun whined he leaned forward to give him a reassuring peck on the lips. 

 

“I’ll be right back, Sunlight. I just have to yell at a moron. We’ll continue, I promise.” 

 

The attendant nodded and allowed him to pull away so he could go to the upper hallway door. He left the door open as he took the call so he could keep an eye on the other but still be far enough away to hopefully not bother him with the call. Once it seemed good enough he answered. 

 

“Solar, I need you to come to the lab right now. Dark Su-“ 

 

“Are you kidding me?!” He growled, glaring at the contact picture he had saved for his friend. “You don’t answer anything for days and you expect me to drop everything to go to you? You need to come home, Moon.” 

 

“I can’t, Solar. Listen, if you could just-“ 

 

“No, you listen to me. I don’t care what Dark Sun is doing. I care that Sun is in a constant shutdown because you’re not here. We can’t leave him alone for even a moment or else he starts to spiral. So either you get your ass back here and help in a way he actually needs, or I’ll have someone watch him so I can hunt you down and drag you back myself. And if I have to do that, you will need repairs.” 

 

“I-“ 

 

“You have twenty minutes.” He growled lowly before he hung up. 

 

Solar could feel his systems heating up with anger as he paced. The need to unleash the stress and pent up energy he had accumulated caused his hands to shake as he clenched them at his sides. He needed something to do. Something to distract him before he broke something. 

 

He couldn’t just continue what he had started with Sun on the chance that his twin came back home during it. Even though he really wanted to. He had finally seen some light in his eyes again, but it had all been dragged away by that call. 

 

“Solar?” Earth’s voice came from down the hall where the kids room was and he looked over. “Is everything alright?” 

 

The eclipsed model shook his head. “Moon called so I told him he can either come home or I’ll hunt him. Can you watch Sun for a while? Maybe have Lunar watch the kids?” 

 

She nodded, still very clearly worried. “Are you okay? Your rays are… you have extras. It’s almost like Eclipse’s rays.” 

 

Solar tensed up and reached up to feel around his head. Sure enough, he could feel the smaller, darker rays that usually stayed hidden. When he looked at his fingers he noticed they were slightly sharper than usual. 

 

Cursing under his breath, he hid his hands underneath his arms. “I need to go calm down… if I see Moon like this I might accidentally tear him apart.” 

 

The taller animatronic placed her hand on his shoulders before she gave him a hug. “Go make yourself tea and maybe go outside for a bit. I have Sun.” 

 

He hugged her back before he looked towards his partner and frowned when he saw that Sun had gone back to his state of low power, dissociating as he held himself. It hurt to see after the progress he managed to make but at least he had found something that worked for at least a moment. He would have to try again after his chat with Moon. 

 

When he pulled away, he saw her reassuring smile and tried to give one back. “I’ll hopefully be back soon. Do you also want tea?” 

 

“I can make myself some afterwards. Don’t worry yourself with it.” 

 

“Alright…” Solar let out a breath as he forced himself to turn away to head downstairs. 

 

He set the water to boil as he got two cups ready, grabbing his and Sun’s favorite teas and cups. The whistling of the kettle was loud enough he didn’t notice the door opening. He did, however, notice the sound of Moon’s bells as the night themed animatronic made his way over. 

 

Solar growled quietly as his hands shook. He didn’t have enough time to calm down, and the anger was telling him to throw the boiled water into his friend’s face. He had to physically set the cup he had been holding and step away from the counter to stop himself from doing anything he would regret.

 

When he turned around he could see Moon’s eyes glance at his rays before he took a step back. “Oh, you’re… Very mad I guess.” 

 

“Oh, you guess? ” He growled louder. “Was me threatening to hunt you down if you didn’t come back not enough of an indication?” 

 

“Solar, please. You know I need to focus on this. The sooner we can find them the sooner we can kill them.” 

 

“You have a computer in your lab that auto searches through thousands of dimensions in moments! Set it to auto search and be with your god damn family!” He could feel as the darker rays slid out a little more. He needed to calm down but the anger burned too hot. 

 

Moon backed up, clearly nervous as his back hit the garage door. His prey was cornered, and scared. The eclipsed model placed his hand next to his friend and allowed his claws to sink into the wood of the door. It would be so easy to make it so he couldn’t leave again. 

 

He hated the feeling that bubbled up in his chest. The sense of power as he made the other cower. He growled at himself and pulled away, turning his back to his friend. “Sun needs you. He should be your top priority right now.” 

 

Moon took a deep breath, his voice still trembling slightly. “Is it really that bad? He was fine when I had left and usually he’d be back to his usual happy self. But, I’ve never seen you so pissed off before…” 

 

Solar placed his hand against the cabinet, needing to let his claws sink into something that wasn’t metal. “He only got worse, specifically because you left. He asked if you had already left, and then he just started to slowly shut down. His battery isn’t damaged, his nano machines are working perfectly, his systems and codes are fine, but he is still getting worse and worse.” 

 

He couldn’t help the growl as his claws sunk deeper into the wood. He would have to replace it but he didn’t care. It was easier to replace than the counters or his friend. “He hardly does anything other than break into sobs, and if we leave him alone he hurts himself. Only Earth and I have been sitting with him. Monty has other thing he has to do like work and he goes out to get us supplies, and Lunar is spending most of his time training and doing his own fun things. We need you. He needs you.” 

 

When he was finished speaking the other stayed quiet, taking in everything he just said. After a moment the night themed animatronic dared to step closer to try to carefully pry his claws out of the wood before holding his hand. “I didn’t know… I thought that he was fine… That I could focus on finding the source of his pain to stop it. That’s what I’m best at. I’m terrible at comforting people.” 

 

He pulled his hand away, not trusting himself to not rip Moon’s hand off. “No, you’re just terrible at comforting Sun. You do just fine with everyone else.” 

 

The other looked away, guilt apparent over his faceplate and in his voice as he spoke. “I’ll go see him, I promise. It sounds like you and Earth could really use breaks…” 

 

“We do. She’s also been working double shifts at the daycare during all of this, so you should also help her there.” Solar sighed, walking away from the other to go back to making the tea. “What did you need me to come to the lab for? You said something about Dark Sun?” 

 

“y-Yeah.” Moon cleared his throat. “Dark Sun showed up at the lab and all he did was talk. Saying how the only reason we found him in the first place was because he let us, and how we wouldn’t be able to find him again unless he let us.” 

 

“Why the fuck would you need me at the lab to tell me that?!” Solar hissed. That wasn’t important at all compared to everything else at the moment! 

 

“Because, he stopped suddenly at the end of it and left in a panic. Something is off with him, meaning we could find a break in his defenses. I don’t know what could have happened, but if it’s something we can exploit, we can use it to find out where they are.” 

 

“Again, set your computer to calculate that. If anyone shows up or if it finds information you can portal to the lab. You don’t need to be at the lab for that.” Solar threw away the teabags before he picked up the two cups, heading towards the stairs. “Come on. You have an apology to give.” 

 

The two of them headed up the stairs, making sure to make just enough noise to let the other two know they were approaching. When they got up there, it was very clear that Earth was distressed. She was holding her arms close to herself as she looked at them with a tired smile. 

 

“I managed to get him to talk a little, but he’s back to his shut down… Moon, when we get a chance later, we are having a talk .” 

 

Moon winced at her tone but nodded. “Yeah, that’s fair… Are you alright?” 

 

“I think I just need to take a break. Is Monty home?” 

 

Solar checked the family group chat. “I think he’s still out shopping. Do you want to talk?” 

 

“No, I don’t want to add onto your plate, Solar. Maybe when things are better for us, but not right now… I’m just going to go take a walk outside, alright? I might start dinner too.” She said, her smile tight as she walked out of the room. 

 

He wanted to follow her, but he knew she was right. He couldn’t handle much else at the moment when he had already almost attacked his best friend. At least Moon looked guilty. As he should after he had practically left them. 

 

He watched as the scientist slowly walked over to the bed to look over his twin, his navy hands shaking as reality flooded over him. “Brother?” 

 

Sun didn’t move. There was no indication that the attendant had even heard his brother as he just continued to stare into space. Moon let out a distraught noise as he sat on the bed and held his twin’s faceplate so that he could look at him. 

 

“Come on, Sun. Please. I’m here now. I didn’t know this would happen…” 

 

Sun’s eyes didn’t change, but he finally spoke. His voice was quiet, just above a whisper and it sounded devoid of life. “Would you have cared if no one said anything?” 

 

“w-What?” 

 

“Would you have even come home if Solar didn’t threaten you?” Tears started to well up in his pearlescent eyes and he finally moved to reach up and wipe at them. “w-Why do you care about everyone but me?”

 

“No no no no, I do care. I promise, I do.” 

 

“You’re just going to leave again.” Sun sobbed, moving to grab Moon’s arms to try to push them away. “You’re going to leave me just like you always do!” 

 

Solar placed the tea down on the bedside table and carefully moved Moon back so he could sit on the bed and hold his partner, allowing Sun to hide his face in his chest while he sobbed. The eclipsed model looked to his friend with a harsh stare, daring him to make a choice. 

 

He could either go back to his lab and prove his brother right, or stay and help. 

 

The clear guilt and distress coming from the night themed animatronic showed his choice as he stumbled back to sit in the chair. Moon covered his face with his hands as he let out a shaky breath. Now that he had finally seen how bad things were, he had no doubt the other would stay. 

 

The Celestial family was a mess, and it would take a lot to fix everything. If they wanted to get better, they would have to work together.

Chapter 9: Duct tape

Notes:

Because Duct tape fixes everything.

Moon had no idea on what to do or how to help his brother. Usually he would focus on the problem itself and try to make it go away, but for this problem he couldn’t. He had only made everything worse. Monty had even let him know that Earth was at her breaking point, meaning that his actions had hurt more than just his brother. So while everyone else took a well deserved break, he stayed to watch his twin. 

 

He had at least managed to convince Sun to move to the couch in the living room, though his twin didn’t want to sit too close. It hurt, but he understood the distance. He had messed up, but he would do his best to make up for it. 

 

With the goal of cheering up his brother in his mind, he set up Sun’s favorite show on the TV with his favorite blanket. All they needed was snacks and something to drink. Since Solar was busy taking a nap he didn’t want to bother him, so he got up himself. 

 

“Hey Sun, I’m going to head downstairs and make us some popcorn. Do you want soda or water?” 

 

“s-Soda?” The other looked up, his eyes nervous. “You’ll come back, right?” 

 

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, of course. I promise, I’ll be back before you know it. Just focus on your show.” 

 

He waited for his brother to give him the go ahead before he made his way downstairs to the popcorn machine. He would only be gone for a few moments. And who didn’t like fresh, movie theater style popcorn? 

 

Moon hummed to himself as he got everything ready, keeping an ear out towards the stairs just in case his brother called for him. He didn’t hear anything, and a few minutes later he filled two popcorn buckets with their treat. He then placed two cans of soda in his pockets and headed upstairs back to the living room. 

 

The sound of Sun sobbing hit his ears and he ran over to see what was wrong, dropping the popcorn when he saw his brother gripping his rays and pulling harshly. 

 

“Sun?! Sun, can you hear me?!” He asked as he kneeled in front of his twin and tried to get him to let go. 

 

The attendant shook his head and pulled harder as he continued to sob. “ You left! You said you’d come back soon but it was so long! I-I thought you just- You left! ” 

 

“I didn’t leave, I was just downstairs. Please, just let go of your rays!” 

 

He tried his best to pry his hands away without pulling too hard, but Sun fought back, only letting go to try to hit the hands away. Taking advantage of that, Moon grabbed Sun’s wrist and held them close to himself. 

 

“Let go of me! Let go!” Sun yelled as he struggled to get away before he broke down. 

 

Before he could do anything else to try to comfort his twin he heard Solar running down the stairs and over to them. The lunar attendant was quickly moved out of the way as the mechanic brought his partner into his arms. 

 

“Moon, what happened?” The mechanic asked, clearly attempting to stay calm. 

 

He shook as he looked at his twin, not knowing what could have gone wrong. He had been fine moments before. “I-I don’t know. I was just getting us snacks and when I came back-” 

 

“You left him alone?! I told you he can’t be left alone right now!” Solar growled. When that made Sun whimper he switched to gentle soothing sounds as he maneuvered himself onto the couch with the sunny animatronic in his lap. “Shhh, you’re alright... I’m sorry for yelling…” 

 

“I-I thought you meant alone in the house, not that we had to be in the same room at all times.” 

 

He hadn’t known how bad it had truly been, but now he did. How could it have possibly gotten to that point? Was it something Nexus and Dark Sun had done, or was it because he had left to search for them? Whatever the cause, he felt sick. 

 

Not knowing what else to do, Moon knelt by the couch and looked up at his brother. He could feel tears falling from his own optics. “Sun, please. I didn’t realize I was gone for so long. I promise I wasn’t going to leave you again.” 

 

Eventually Sun calmed down enough to where he could be sat back down onto the couch. He was still shaking and sniffling, but at least calmer and still focused. “y-You were gone for so long…” 

 

“I didn’t mean to be… I thought I was close enough. I’m so, so sorry.”

 

“c-Can we just watch the show?” 

 

Moon nodded before he went to start the show again. He set the sodas he had gotten on the coffee table before he cleaned up the popcorn. Solar stayed on the couch with his partner, occasionally glaring. He wasn’t surprised the mechanic didn’t trust him enough to go back to his nap for the moment. He wouldn’t either if he had been in the same position. 

 

He felt like an idiot for not realizing sooner. It was no wonder why Solar and Earth were stressed beyond belief about the entire situation. How could they not be when leaving for a moment could cause the daycare attendant to break down enough to hurt himself. They needed more help. They needed more people that they could trust to keep him safe. 

 

He hated that the first thing he could think of was Eclipse and Puppet. Since no one in their right mind would ever consider that a good idea he quickly scrapped it. He didn’t care how much his sister trusted him, there was no way he would ever trust that bastard with his twin ever again. No matter how different he was. 

 

After about an hour, Solar ended up falling asleep with his head in his partner’s lap. Sun was still managing to stay focused on the show somehow as he ran his fingers over the edges of the other’s rays in a silent stim. From what Earth and Monty had told him, it was better than he had been for days, meaning that him staying actually did help. Moon didn’t know how to feel about that since he felt like he couldn’t help. 

 

Nothing he had ever done had helped his brother in the past. Everything he had done had only hurt his other, and he used to laugh as he did it. Until it affected him as well. By the time he had figured it out and had the chance to be better, it had been too late to fix things. Sun was always on edge around him. Every kind act was met with suspicion. It was why he could help everyone else except the one person he cared for more than anyone else. He had never hurt Lunar or Earth. He treated Solar with nothing less than the respect he deserved. Monty had been just like him in the past and changed. 

 

He had hurt Sun too much for any change to ease the pain he caused. It had also been the same with Eclipse. His own fear and self hatred drove him to hurt someone who only lashed out exactly as he had. And now, there was no possible way for him to be civil without his actions being met with doubt and caution. The best he could do for them was to try to fix what he had caused. Because it was always his fault. It was always either because of his own mistakes dragging themselves forward to taunt him or it was because of the creator. 

 

Moon never wanted to hurt his brother again, but no matter how much he tried to keep him safe everything kept going wrong. 

 

“Moon?” Sun spoke up, voice still quiet as he looked over. 

 

“Yes, brother? What do you need?” Hope grew in his chest as he was acknowledged. He needed to help however he could. 

 

“You never answered me last night… Would you have come home if Solar didn’t threaten you?” 

 

That was the worst thing he could have been asked. The truth was worse than he wanted it to be, because he really wouldn’t have. His plan had been to bury his head in the sand and work until he found Nexus and Dark Sun. 

 

“Of course I would have.” He lied. “I just lost track of time and didn’t realize how much time had passed.” 

 

Sun smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. He clearly didn’t believe him, but wasn’t going to say anything. The sunny attendant probably planned to hide his pain and hold it inside as usual. He shouldn’t have been surprised since he had been the one to instill that mindset into his brother, forcing false positivity onto his twin with the threat of abuse or even death if he didn’t keep up the right attitude. 

 

It was just another thing that he had done that permanently harmed his brother. Something else he could never take back. God, he was the shittiest brother in the world.

 

“Sun, you know I love you, right? If there’s anything I can do to prove to you that I do, all you have to do is let me know.” 

 

The other shook his head and looked back at the TV. “Unless you can go back in time and stop yourself…” 

 

“You know I don’t mess with time…” 

 

“Then there isn’t anything.” He said, his tone distant and sad. “I didn’t want to believe what he told me… But he pointed out so much… It hurts to think about how sometimes you still act the exact same.” 

 

“Sun…” 

 

“Thank you for at least trying, Moon. I guess you’re at least better than most other Moons I’ve seen…” 

 

Moon sat back in his chair as he clasped his hands together in an attempt to self sooth. The truth hurt, but he needed to hear it. He now knew that Dark Sun had used the two weeks to try to convince Sun that all Moons were the same or similar. He had tried to turn his brother against him, and it might’ve worked. Even so, he would have to do his best to prove the bastard wrong. 

 

“And I’ll keep trying. I know I’ll never make up for what I’ve done to you in the past, but I can promise that I will keep trying to get better. If I ever act like my old self in a way that’s harmful, tell me. I’ll correct myself.” 

 

Sun looked down and nodded slightly as he continued his stimming of tracing the edge of Solar’s rays with his finger while watching the show. 

 

—----------

 

Later that night, Moon helped wash the dishes with Earth after dinner. It was mostly silent work as they listened to Monty and Lunar play with the kids and their new friends. Apparently Jack had found Molten in a junkyard and decided to bring him home. He had also brought home a much smaller robot named Neptor. Apparently the smaller bot’s parental figure or whatever had told them it was alright to spend time with their friends. 

 

It was lively with them playing their strange murder mystery cowboy game. Usually Sun set up clues and objectives for the game, but since he wasn’t available that had been left to Lunar to do. Monty couldn’t because the last time she had tried she gave Dazzle middle school math. While he agreed she needed to start having lessons, the Pythagorean Theorem was a bit too advanced for a seven year old. 

 

He took the next plate that was handed to him and started to dry it before he put it in its cabinet. “Hey, Earth?” He kept his voice calm and gentle, not wanting to upset her more than he already had. “I never got to apologize to you for what I did… I shouldn’t have left so soon. Sun didn’t deserve it, and you and Solar didn’t deserve it. To make up for it, I’ll do anything you guys say until things get better. You need me working at the daycare? I’ll do it. Theater? Done. Want me to watch Sun so you guys can take breaks? I won’t let him out of my sight.” 

 

“That’s very sweet of you, Moon.” She said as she handed him the last plate and got started on the silverware. “And it’s a good way to put your focus towards the different needed goals.” 

 

He dried it and put it away. “I’m guessing Monty told you how I can get?” 

 

“She specifically told me about how you were when Sun expelled the original Eclipse from his mind. How Lunar had to take control just so you could charge. I understand you want to do what you can to stop the future problems, but that doesn’t help with how often they are in our lives. The time will come to take care of it, but if you destroy your family ties by forcing it along, it only causes more problems.” 

 

He knew what she meant and who exactly she was referring to. The exact same thing had happened to cause Nexus. Moon doubted he could even reassure her that he wouldn’t go down that same path because the other him had tried doing the same thing. Until he snapped and showed his true feelings. 

 

He just leaned slightly into her, hoping the physical contact would be able to help get the intent across. “I’ll keep my head out of my ass. I know I can’t make you promises since they were broken before, but I will be trying. I won’t hide anything from you like he did.” 

 

Earth dried off her hands before she brought him into a tight hug. “All we can ask is that you try… I do have a bit of a request though, but it might be selfish.” 

 

He hugged her back. “You’re allowed to be a little selfish. What is it?” 

 

“I don’t want you to kill Nexus.” 

 

Moon pulled away to look up at her. “What? After everything he’s done? After he attacked you? After he almost reset Sun and left him in this state?” 

 

He couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t want him gone. He nearly killed her! But the look on her face was desperate and she wrung her hands together. He told her she could be selfish. He took a deep breath before he placed a hand over hers. 

 

“I’m sorry. I’ll listen, ok? Explain it to me, and help me understand your point of view.” 

 

That seemed to help as his sister relaxed and she pulled out her phone to look over messages. “Alright, so I think there’s a way for us to possibly get him back, but we would need the Astral’s help. I’ve been talking to Eclipse and he’s told me a bit about how dark star power works, and I’ve confirmed it with Nebula. It’s like an addiction or a possession? If you touch it once it forces itself into the mind and makes the host want to collect more and more. I was thinking maybe we could find a way to remove it and get him into professional therapy.” 

 

“What if we can’t find a way?” 

 

She looked down at him sadly. “He’s still my brother, Moon. I know Sun still cares about him and also wants him back. We’ve talked about it before… I know it’s a longshot, but we have to at least try.” 

 

He squeezed her hands slightly and nodded. “Alright. We can try to find a way. But if it doesn’t work and he tries to kill us, I will defend all of you.” 

 

“As long as we try… I know he hurt us, but he’s still my brother. I still care about him.” 

 

“I know, Earth…” He truly did know better than anyone else what it was like to still be cared for after everything. Sun knew better than anyone what it was like to desperately hold onto that care no matter how much he had been hurt. “See if Nebula or Pollux can find a way to help. I’m sure Monty has a way to help as well to at least disperse the stuff. She did handle whatever the Stitchwraith was.” 

 

She smiled, and it was all he wanted to see from her. That hope. “Thank you, Moon. I know it’ll be different than what you’re used to, but I think a change of pace will be a good learning experience for you.” 

 

“I do have some things I wanted to try learning. Maybe needlepoint? Embroidery?” 

 

The way his sister’s face lit up made him smile as well as she pulled him into a tight embrace. “Oh of course! We can do projects together and it can be so much fun! We should go to the craft store together to get you some supplies!” 

 

“I do need to go anyway for some of my own art stuff.” He had gotten low on wood for carving his dolls and some of his knives had gotten dull so he would need to get a new set. Also new colors of paint that he needed for his latest project.

 

She pulled away so she could clap happily. “You already do crafts? What do you do?” 

 

Moon looked away, glowing slightly in embarrassment. The only person who really knew was Lunar, but that was because he lived inside his head. “It’s just some wood carving I do when I’m stressed. It’s nothing special and not even themed so I don’t show anyone.” 

 

There was no way he could show her, especially since the one he was working on was the one of her. It was embarrassing enough that he was making dolls. He didn’t need people gushing about them. 

 

“You wouldn’t even show your precious baby sister?” Earth asked with a playful pout. 

 

He couldn’t help but laugh at the tone she used. “Earth-” 

 

“Your precious baby sister whom you love very much?” 

 

He laughed more as she got closer. “Earth I don-” 

 

“Your precious baby sister you love and want to share your interests with because you love her?” 

 

“Fine, fine, but you can’t show anybody . Okay?” 

 

“I promise!” She smiled happily, heading towards the stairs. “Come on, you can show me while the silverware soaks!” 

 

Moon shook his head fondly as he followed, glad that his actions hadn’t completely ruined his relationship with her. He would still have to work on himself, but he knew he was in good hands. Hopefully she liked what he had gotten done so far on the one he made of her.

Chapter 10: Bonding

Notes:

Mind the tags, this one had smut

Over a week had passed and there had been no further appearances of Dark Sun or Nexus. While it was good they never showed up, it made Solar nervous. He knew Nexus, and how he had never liked sitting still. If the dark moon had a goal he would do anything in his power to obtain it. Yet there was no sign of him. 

 

Sun, on the other hand, was slowly improving with his episodes of spacing out happening less and less. The other day he had asked if he was allowed to buy something online after having played a game with the kids. He of course encouraged his partner and they ended up looking over school workbooks for homeschooling together to figure out what would be the best for Jack and Dazzle. Apparently, the sunny attendant had been worried about the little deer’s education ever since his first trip to the store after the incident when she had trouble with reading. 

 

They had even managed to go to work for a day, with Sun helping him behind the theater concession stand while Moon took over his position at the daycare. Freddy had, of course, been understanding of the entire situation and didn’t mind as long as there had been someone to keep the daycare open. Luckily, even Monty was willing to help with that while they weren’t busy with their regular Pizzaplex duties. 

 

Now it was after work and everyone was at their respective homes except for Lunar who was once again out training. Moon was busy trying to show Dazzle and Neptor the show Bear in the Big Blue House while Jack got himself tangled with some yarn he had been given. Solar had his arm around his lover while they ate their own bowls of ice cream. It was peaceful. 

 

He smiled and Sun leaned his head onto his shoulder and he leaned down for a moment to kiss his forehead. “How are you feeling, Sunlight?” He asked, adoring the way his love looked up at him. It was the type of look where he wanted something but didn’t know how to ask around the others. He was so precious. 

 

“Can we go back to our room? I’m getting tired.” 

 

“Of course.” He said as he collected the bowls and looked to his best friend. “Moon, Sun and I are heading to bed. Make sure the kids don’t stay up too late?” 

 

“Got it.” The scientist said with a thumbs up as he knelt by the small grey robot that had been staying with them. “Hey buddy, are you staying the night again? I know you said your parent is letting you but we don’t even know who that is. Can we call them?” 

 

Solar got up and headed to the kitchen to put the bowls away while he listened to the conversation. Sun followed him close. 

 

“w-Well… um.. My parent is very busy, a-and doesn’t like to be bothered… I get left alone to myself, but they’re strict on who I can… be friends with?” 

 

As they washed the bowls, the sunny attendant hugged him from behind, placing his faceplate between his shoulders. “What Neptor said just made me think…” 

 

“About who his parent might be?” 

 

“Can we help take him in? Dazzle and Jack are already attached, and he mentioned last night that he sleeps in the daycare tower… What if he’s lying about having a parent but was just nervous? What if whoever built him hurt him and he’s just scared adults would hurt him too? Jack said they’ve been friends for a while now but Neptor was too scared to come out to talk to us…” 

 

It was concerning. Such a small bot left out alone was a magnet for danger. They at least made sure he hadn’t been made by any of their enemies, and the designation seemed to come from an off brand robotics company, but it looked like the identification code had been placed over the original with the previous information of who it belonged to gone. Likely some engineer at said company who wanted to make something private but got caught. It would explain the fear of adult figures and the mention of his parent being strict about who he could be around. 

 

Once he set the bowls to dry, Solar turned around to hug his lover gently. “If you want to house him while we figure things out, we can. Moon, Jack, and I already made sure he wasn’t dangerous so he’ll be safe around Dazzle. Is that what you wanted to talk about?” 

 

Sun shook his head. “No, but you’re a good dad.” 

 

“So are you, Sun. So are you. Even if it isn’t official yet.” He leaned down to kiss his sunlight, enjoying the fact that his lover didn’t hesitate to kiss back as he had the previous days. “So what did you want?” 

 

“This.” The sunny attendant said quietly before kissing him again. “I want you. Please, Solar.” 

 

He couldn’t help but purr as he picked up Sun and held him close as they went up the stairs, hitting the button to block out noise on the way up. It had been nearly a month at that point since they had slept together and this time he wouldn’t let it get interrupted. He put his phone on do not disturb mode so people knew not to contact him as he laid the other out on the bed, kissing him as deeply as he could while removing their pants. He only pulled away long enough for them both to remove their shirts before he went back to capture his lips again. 

 

As he moved to kiss down his sunlight’s body he reached up to play with his rays, enjoying the way the sunny animatronic arched up into him with his whimpered moans. “Look at you, so good for me~ How do you want it, Starlight?~” 

 

“g-Gentle?” 

 

“Anything for you~” He promised as he ran his hands down Sun’s sides before kissing his bare hip. He would make sure to take it nice and slow as he showed him how much he loved him. After everything, his beloved light deserved nothing more than pure love and devotion. 

 

With that in mind, Solar knelt to the ground and took Sun’s leg into his hands so he could kiss his calf. He kept one hand wrapped around his ankle with a gentle and reassuring pressure to keep him in place as his lips and the other hand slowly trailed up those lithe dandelion colored legs with feather light touches. He kissed over all the spots along the way where he knew were the most sensitive, all the way up past his knee and to the thigh, back up to his hip. 

 

He went back to repeat the actions on the other leg, reveling at how his lover trembled under his experienced actions. When he made his way back to his thighs he wanted to do nothing more than bite into the soft artificial flesh, but he didn’t. He had promised to be gentle, so he would hold off his need to claim and possess for the next time. Instead he mouthed and sucked at the spot he knew drove the other mad with arousal. 

 

Just as he had expected, Sun began to breathlessly plead for more as he gripped the sheets. His modesty plate was already open with his cunt dripping and needy, basically begging to be used. With such an open invitation, Solar couldn’t deny his lover any longer and moved in to taste. The light flavor of lemondrop candy was sweet on his tongue as he went over the soft yellow folds before he dipped his tongue in. 

 

He watched with hooded eyes as his sunny lover tried to keep his composure, face bright in a blush as he held back his moans. It was cute that he was trying to hold back, but Solar knew what his Sunlight loved and how to make him sing. When he closed his eyes and started to eat his lover out in earnest he could hear as those held back whimpers turned to desperate keens and moans as Sun tried to press himself closer. “g-Good~ s-So g-good~” 

 

Solar rubbed the other’s thighs with his thumbs as he pulled away for a moment to let his lover take a moment to breathe. He chuckled as Sun whined and clenched around nothing. “Do you want more of that, or do you want me, Starlight?~” He purred as he turned his head to kiss his calf again. He loved to see his beautiful light fall apart in pleasure under him. 

 

He continued to kiss up to his thighs while watching him from the corner of his eye. Sun whimpered and looked up at him, mind clearly struggling to wrap his mind around what was said. “w-What?” 

 

“Do you want my mouth or my cock, Starlight?~” 

 

“y-Your cock~ p-Please~” He pleaded, closing his eyes as he shivered. “Please fuck me~” 

 

“Do you think you’re ready for me?~” Solar asked, purring as he leaned forward to kiss his love’s chest. He knew the other could take him if he went slow, but he wanted to make sure the other was ready for him. He didn’t want to go too fast and accidentally overwhelm Sun after everything. 

 

Still the sunny attendant nodded and spread his legs further as an open invitation. He loved the eagerness and he leaned forward to press against his Sunlight and kissed him deeply. As he did so, he carefully guided himself into him and began to thrust gently, sinking deeper and deeper into the awaiting wet heat, slowly stretching him open each time. Once he was fully seated to the hilt Solar stilled to allow Sun to adjust, panting as he looked at his partner lovingly. 

 

“f-Fucking move!~” Sun moaned as he tried to grind down more onto Solar’s cock. 

 

He chuckled and kissed his rays, adoring how Sun shivered underneath him. “You’re the one who wanted me to be gentle~ I’m being gentle~” 

 

“n-Not that gentle!” He whined, trying to wiggle his way into more friction. 

 

“Alright, my beautiful Starlight~” He purred, pulling out slowly before thrusting back in quickly, dragging a loud moan from his partner. The feeling of that tight heat clenching around his cock sent pleasure up his endo that caused him to moan. “Fuck you feel so good~ Keep moving your hips, baby~” 

 

Sun did as he was told, doing his best to move his hips as Solar rolled his own forward and made love to his sunny partner. With every thrust he kissed Sun, either on the mouth, somewhere on his face, or his rays. Each time, Sun clenched around him and moaned his name like a desperate plea. He tilted his faceplate back at a well placed thrust, arching his back as he exposed his neck pipe. “t-There!~” 

 

Solar kissed at his artificial throat and aimed for that sweet spot again and again, watching as Sun unraveled from the pleasure. It almost felt like it was their first time again as the lighter model leaned into every inch he was given. “Does that feel good?~” 

 

“Yes~ Yes so good~” 

 

“Good~ I love you, Sun~” He purred as he quickened his pace for a moment, but slowed again to a stop when he noticed the other started crying. “Sun? Are you alright?” 

 

The sunny animatronic nodded as he wiped his eyes, his breathing mechanisms stuttering slightly. He was clearly overwhelmed so Solar pulled out and sat on the bed to properly hold him. “I-I don’t know w-what’s wrong.” 

 

“It’s alright, we can take a moment so you can relax. If you need, we can stop for the night and take a bath.” 

 

Sun shook his head. “No, I… I want to do this.”

“Just don’t push yourself.” Solar asked as he rubbed the other’s side. He had been prepared for something like that happening of course. It was easy enough to expect the traumatized bot to get overwhelmed easily after everything, but he would make sure he took care of the problem like he always did. “Do you want water?” 

 

Sun shook his head again before trying to sit in his lap. He allowed it but sent a code to sheath his dick to avoid it slipping back into his lover on its own. That only seemed to upset the other more. “Solar, please…” 

 

“You’re still crying, Sun.” The eclipsed model said as he reached up to wipe a tear away. He was worried and knew the other was probably trying to push himself to not seem weak or like a burden. “Just take a moment and we can continue. Maybe we can figure out what went wrong?” 

 

The sunny attendant whined and put his head on the darker model’s shoulder. “I’m fine. I just got a little overwhelmed. I still want you, just… Maybe not as slow? I think that might have caused it.” 

 

He thought that over as he rubbed his back. Sun did hate feeling like he was being coddled, and he had been cared for by everyone ever since he had been rescued. It was sometimes difficult to balance what the daycare attendant wanted and needed, and the slow lovemaking was likely frustrating on top of everything else. He would have to save it for another day. 

 

Solar sighed as he lifted his other hand to rub over one of Sun’s rays, pulling a whimper out of him while he kissed the top of his head. “Alright, we can keep going, but if you need me to stop at any point I need you to tell me. No pushing through your own discomfort.”

 

“I promise I’ll tell you. But also please don’t stop over a few tears? I… I kinda like how it feels when everything is a bit too much during sex.” Sun said, his face glowing in a blush. “It’s a good kind of intense. One I can control.” 

 

He smiled and relaxed at hearing that. “I see. I’ll keep that in mind for next time then.” He lowered his hands to squeeze Sun’s hips. “Do you want to stay on my lap or do you want to be laid down?” 

 

“Lay me down? I’m still low on energy..” 

 

“Of course.” Solar said, kissing Sun before he pinned him onto the bed. They would focus on helping him with his energy levels later. For the moment though, he had a starlight to fuck. He unsheathed his tentacock and pressed back in, kissing Sun as he groaned and set a faster pace. 

 

His sunny lover moaned and whimpered as he wrapped his legs around his waist. They only pulled away from their kiss to pull in needed air to help their already overtaxed fans. “y-Yes~ There~ h-Harder~” 

 

He did as he was asked, moving to kiss at Sun’s neck pipe as he listened to the other moan and plead for him to keep going and to not stop. His own pleasure was building quickly and with how his bright lover was moving and moaning he could tell he was also close. It all felt amazing and he couldn’t hold back as he quickened his pace. 

 

It wasn’t long before Sun tensed up beneath him and came with an overwhelmed cry. Solar came not long after and breathed deeply, feeling the aftershocks pass over him pleasantly as he rubbed his other’s sides. “Shh, you’re alright. Breathe, Starlight. Breathe. I’ve got you.” He leaned down to kiss away the escaping tears as he pulled out. “There we go. Deep breaths.” 

 

His partner shivered as he slowly relaxed, limbs limp as he took deep breaths, his eyes closed. He looked exhausted and well fucked, so Solar carefully picked him up. When the sunny animatronic whimpered he gently shushed him. “Shhh, I’m taking you to the bath. A nice warm bath to get clean and relax in and then you can sleep. Does that sound good?” 

 

Sun nodded so he took him to the bathroom and held him as he started the water, setting him down inside once it was warm enough. Solar smiled as the other relaxed completely and worked on gently washing him with a soft washcloth and his favorite soaps and scrubs. He made sure to give extra focus to his back, doing his best to give as much of a massage as he could despite their metallic plating. The soft groans he got in response told him that it was appreciated. 

 

Once he made sure his partner was clean and relaxed he kissed his sunlight on his forehead. “I’m going to go get your pajamas. Can I trust you to be good while I do that?” 

 

Sun nodded silently. 

 

Solar smiled and left to go get the clothes, but he still kept the door open so he could keep an eye on him just in case. Yes he had gotten better, but they couldn’t be certain anymore. Not after the past few weeks. Even with the door open, he made sure to be quick with grabbing his partner’s favorite pajamas as well as his own before going back. 

 

When he got back he could see Sun was spacing out once again, but this time it was different. Instead of a far off gaze his eyes were clear and focused, but far more serious than usual. He was staring at the water, deep in thought. It was a shock to see and Solar didn’t know if it was a good idea to bring him out of the thoughts or not. 

 

He decided to not draw attention to it, feeling like it would be worse for him if he did. Something was wrong, but he needed to figure out what. If he asked, there was a good chance that Sun would try to hide it. He needed to talk about it with someone else. He needed a second opinion. 

 

“Solar?” The sunny attendant spoke up from behind him and he could hear the water as it started to drain. “Could you grab me my towel?” 

 

“Of course.” The eclipsed model said as he got it, checking over his lover as he helped him out of the bath. His eyes and expressions were once again the soft ones he recognized. Maybe it had just been a memory that he had been thinking about? No, that would have likely ended up with more panic instead of a calculated stare. At least that was how it had been over the past two weeks. 

 

Once they were both cleaned, dried, and dressed he made sure his tired lover was plugged in for the night before he waited for him to fall asleep. When he had made absolutely certain the other wouldn’t wake up, Solar left to go downstairs, getting himself a snack and setting the kettle to boil. He could hear the others watching a movie in the living room, and looking at the clock all of the kids were likely already asleep. 

 

He needed someone to talk to, but needed to figure out how exactly to bring the topic up. What made it more difficult was that he didn’t want to bring up certain parts of what he noticed, especially with Sun’s siblings. It was awkward. 

 

“Hey, Solar.” Monty’s voice startled him out of his thoughts as she came into the kitchen to grab a soda from the fridge. “Sun finally asleep? You should come watch the movie with us. It’s Ponyo.” 

 

The eclipsed model sighed as he leaned back onto the counter. It wasn’t ideal, but who else would he talk to about it? And the timing was unfortunately too perfect. “I might for a little bit, but I did actually want to head to bed soon. I’m just… a bit worried about him. I think we should look over his systems again.” 

 

The gator rolled her eyes. “We check his systems nearly every other day. Nothing has been coming up an’ he’s been getting better aint he?” 

 

“He has been, but…” 

 

A hand was placed on his shoulder. “Hey, man. Did something happen? You can tell me and we’ll figure it out.” 

 

He sighed and took the kettle off the heat before the whistle could fully start and worked on his tea. “I know I should but it happened during a private moment so I’m not sure if I should… it’s… awkward, and probably stupid.” 

 

Monty laughed. “Come on man, we’re buds. Besides, I helped you install everything, remember? And baaaaasicaly in-laws at this point without the in-laws part. I’m pretty sure we’re fine to talk about our sex lives.” 

 

Solar blushed lightly at the idea and rolled his eyes. “Ugh… it’s just… he tensed up when he came. He doesn’t do that.” 

 

When he looked at the gator, she just looked confused. “Uhhh, isn’t that normal though? It’s a pretty intense feeling.” 

 

“Yes, but he always does his best to not tense up and take deep breaths instead. This time he didn’t even try and I had to coax him into breathing.” 

 

“…So like, does that make a difference or is that just for personal preference?” 

 

“It makes the orgasm more intense and lasts longer.” He explained with a sigh, not knowing why he was entertaining this. “If you tense up, your body holds back and it’s a lot less satisfying. If you’re relaxed, it just lets everything pass. It’s like that with a lot of things.” 

 

Monty’s eyes widened as if she suddenly understood the secrets of life. “Oh my god, that’s why Earth’s always looks so much better than mine? I thought she just didn’t like being tense ever. I didn’t realize there was a reason.” When he covered his face in embarrassment she continued. “So he didn’t even try? And that’s not normal at all for him?” 

 

Solar shook his head. “Not since I taught him the trick. Sometimes he can’t help it but he always at least tries. I tried rationalizing it as maybe it was just too intense at the moment but I didn’t do anything extra and even if it was he would at least try.” 

 

Monty pulled away and got herself a snack as well, deep in thought as she munched on the apple she grabbed. “That is actually pretty strange… I know that guy pretty well and I don’t think he’d forget something like that if it's something he always does. He likes having things a certain way, and that includes how his body reacts. He gets frustrated if his body aint acting how it should.” 

 

Frustrated was one way to put it. He remembered how Sun once told him it was due to Moon and Eclipse taking over his body in the past and modifying it or doing stuff with it that he didn’t like. If something didn’t react properly, it would make him worry that someone had messed with his systems and was trying to hurt him. Once it had just been a broken part in his arm that made it stiffen up and twitch. The daycare attendant had fallen into a full blown panic attack as he ran to Solar and Nexus thinking that someone was trying to take him over again. It had taken them hours to calm him down and a week to reassure him that there was no sign of unknown coding inside his head. 

 

It was why he had been so concerned, even if most others wouldn’t see anything wrong with it and would probably just chalk it up to Sun forgetting in the moment. Because for once, Sun wasn’t concerned about not reacting as he normally did. 

 

“There’s one other thing.” He said as he picked up his cup to sip at his tea. “I left him for a moment to get our clothes, and he… I wouldn’t say he spaced out but.. He looked to be deep in thought? But not how he usually is. His eyes were more calculated. It almost looked like how Moon gets when he’s trying to understand something but it’s just out of his understanding.” 

 

Monty blinked in surprise, looking far more concerned than before. “Alright, now that ain't right. I know he’s done that before but he ain’t in the right headspace or situation for it. Want Moon and I to check him over tomorrow?” 

 

“Yes, and we need to do deeper checks.” Something was clearly wrong that they just couldn’t find somehow. It frustrated the eclipsed model to no end that something was wrong with his precious sunlight and they couldn’t find out what it was. 

 

As soon as Dark Sun and Nexus were found, they would not be spared from his wrath. He didn’t know what exactly they did to his sunlight, but he would make sure they would pay. And if they could rescue Ruin in the process, then he would be able to thank the combined attendant for their sacrificial rescue. He would never be able to repay them, but perhaps they could call it even for the time they killed him. 

 

Monty patted his shoulder again and started leading him towards the living room. “We’ll do everything we can, but you need to relax. Come on, let’s go watch that fish movie.” 

 

“Yeah… Yeah, let’s watch Ponyo.” Solar nodded as he followed her to the living room. It wouldn’t do him any good if he stressed himself out when they already had a plan in mind. He would watch a bit and then head to bed.

Chapter 11: Learning

“Sun! Solar! Package!” Moon called out, causing Solar to look up from his tea party with his partner and the kids. They had set up a picnic blanket in the middle of the living room with real tea, tiny sandwiches, and cookies. Sun was in one of his sundresses acting as one of the formal ladies with Dazzle while Jack, Neptor, and Molten all wore ties. 

 

He set his cup down and dusted off his flowery apron in preparation of going. They had run out of ties and he didn’t want to risk spilling anything on one of his lover’s dresses, so he had resigned to wearing that instead. “I’m sorry my lords and ladies, it seems the courier has brought uhhh the magical spellbooks ooooof uhhhh, Eduschoolius?” 

 

The five others looked up at him, the kids and Molten confused while Sun looked amused at his attempt of keeping up the act. 

 

Neptor was the first to raise a question. “What?” 

 

“...I’m just gonna grab the package.” He said, embarrassment probably clear on his face as he left to get the box. It was decently sized with the workbooks and textbooks. Luckily it wasn’t too heavy for him as a mechanic and animatronic. 

 

Moon on the other hand looked very amused as he handed the box over. “Magical spellbooks of Eduschoolius? Really?” 

 

Solar glared with a huff. “I’d like to see you try to come up with something like that on the spot Mr ‘I’m not a good daycare attendant’.” 

 

The night themed animatronic snickered. “Yeah, I wouldn’t be able to come up with better. Hey, do you lords and ladies need more tea or anything?” 

 

Dazzle raised one of her hands happily. “More cookies pweese!” 

 

“On it!” Moon said before he headed to the kitchen. 

 

Solar rolled his eyes fondly before he took the box to the couch so that he could open it up and look through the books as the tea party continued. There looked to be a homeschooling textbook for each of the main subjects for first graders along with activity books for four people. It looked like Sun had decided to add Neptor and Molten to the curriculum instead of just their two kids. He smiled at how thoughtful his partner was and took out the math book. He had already talked with Earth about how they could possibly use cooking and baking to help teach the kids not only math and science, but how to also get a head start on cooking. Only with supervision of course. 

 

It almost felt like they were starting up their own little school, though they didn’t have nearly enough students to consider it as such. Still, he was proud of Sun for coming up with the idea and just knew it would be the perfect thing to help get him back into the swing of taking care of kids. Maybe he could even possibly use it as a chance to give small lessons at the daycare? Sure the kids were all different ages, but it was still good to revisit old lessons for the older kids. Especially spelling and math. Maybe they could set up a reward system to encourage the kids to study? 

 

Sun got up for a moment to look over the books, smiling when they appeared satisfactory to him. “After our tea party we should get started on some of these.” 

 

“What are they?” Neptor asked, trying to float in the air to try to see. He couldn’t get too high so the sunny animatronic held one of the workbooks down so he could. “Social studies? What’s that?” 

 

“It’s like history and geography and stuff, but simpler for young kids or those new to learning.” The daycare attendant explained. “This is going to be one of your workbooks, Neptor.” 

 

“I get one too?” 

 

Solar smiled and he knelt down and pet the small grey robot’s head. “Of course. You and Molten are under our care now, so we’ll be helping you guys learn what you need to know too. Just like Jack and Dazzle.” 

 

He watched as the tiny bot’s emotes turned happy as he jumped up and down. “Yaaaaay! I like learning!” 

 

He smiled and pat their head a few more times before he looked to Molten, who also looked surprised. “We figured it would be a good opportunity for all of you. Molten, I know you say you’re not a kid, but you also weren’t finished and we want to make sure you get at least some form of an education that can help you while you’re out in the world.” 

 

The wired bear looked at the books curiously before he nodded. “I… appreciate it… Solar.. I do not… know.. much..” 

 

Solar nodded and put the books back, getting back to his place at the tea party just in time for Moon to bring over more snacks. Sure only four out of the six of them could eat, but the other two seemed happy enough to pretend with empty cups and plastic food. 

 

Dazzle looked up to her uncle with her big green eyes, pulling gently at his pants. “Moon, Moon, play tea party with us!” She asked. 

 

The nighttime attendant chuckled and ruffled her hair before he knelt down. “I don’t have an outfit, Doe-drop. How can I be a gentle lord without a fancy outfit? I’m playing by helping bring more snacks and tea.” 

 

The little dear pouted and tugged at his pants more. “Pweese?” 

 

Sun sat down and held out a sandwich to her. “Dazzle, honey, he said no. What did we talk about when someone says no?” 

 

She pouted more but let go, taking the sandwich instead to nibble at it. “That no means no…” 

 

“And how would you feel if someone tried to pressure you into a game you didn’t want to play?” 

 

“...I’d be sad…” She said quietly. 

 

“Very good, sweety.” The sunny attendant nodded. “I’m proud of you for remembering, but you need to work on listening when someone says it the first time. Now what do you say to your uncle?” 

 

“I sowwy…” 

 

“And?” 

 

“Thankies for the snacks.” 

 

Sun nodded again in approval and Moon ruffled her hair again. “No problem Doe-drop. Have fun with your tea party.” He said before he headed off. 

 

Solar smiled as he watched the exchange, noting how the bright attendant had finally started to take his position as a caretaker more seriously when it came to his unofficial daughter. Maybe since he was feeling better they could make it more official? He would have to talk to Moon later about how they would be able to do that. He knew that Glamrock Freddy and Roxanne had been able to adopt Gregory, but he had no idea how it technically worked since they didn’t have rights. 

 

Still, it was a nice thought. It also made him wonder if Dazzle would ever call him dad like she had started calling Sun dad. Jack already called Sun second dad, but that was because he thought dating someone meant that they would be the kid’s second parent. He knew the kids tended to bounce off of each other when it came to learning, which was a problem with their speech impediments, but it was always just a matter of time before one copied the other. They were basically already siblings. 

 

“Would anyone like more tea?” Solar asked as he held up the teapot. 

 

“Me! Me!” Jack said happily as he held out his cup. “Oh, uh, please!” 

 

Pride swelled in his chest at his own son picking up those manners as well and poured the little pumpkin moon his drink. Maybe tea parties were the best way to teach the kids about manners? “Here you go. Thank you for saying please.” 

 

“Yay!” Jack said, happily sipping his drink. 

 

“May I please have some as well?” Sun asked, holding out his cup. 

 

“Of course, Sunlight.” He said, pouring him some more as well. He then picked up the empty teapot and looked to the smallest and largest bots at the blanket. “Neptor, Molten, would you two like more?” 

 

“Yes please!” The tiny grey bot said. 

 

“I would… Like more….” Molten nodded. As Solar pretended to fill their cups up, he continued. “Will I be able to… have real tea.. One day?” He asked. 

 

The eclipsed model thought about it as he looked over the unfinished animatronic. To give him the ability to eat he would need a lot more parts and a proper casing. It was difficult enough to get the wired bear to that state alone. To be able to do it properly he would need a lot of time to work on the plans and to get all of the necessary parts, but it would be possible. 

 

Though they would also have to figure out what exactly they would make the casing out of since they wouldn’t be able to easily replace anything if he got damaged. They could possibly try to make it out of adaptium like his wires, but figuring out a way to find or even make the unique metal would be difficult. Figuring out how to forge it into the casing afterwards would be even more of a challenge. The only reason he knew it could be forged was because the Goliath had been made from the stuff. 

 

“Solar?” Molten spoke again, pulling him out of his thought process. 

 

He looked up, realizing he had likely been mumbling to himself. “Huh? Oh, sorry. Yeah, maybe one day. It just would take a while since I still have to make you a more permanent body for that. I can start working on that soon.” 

 

He would need to either get someone to watch Sun to do it or bring the attendant to the lab with him. His partner was doing a lot better, but everyone was still too worried to leave him alone. That meant that he would need to mostly work on it after work in the theater. Though he would also need to take into account whenever Sun wanted to do the lessons… Perhaps for that he could have Earth watch him? Yes, that would likely be the best option.

 

Solar settled back down and tried to focus on the tea party while he worked out a schedule in his head. With 8 hours for work on a basic day, 2 hours for working on Molten would move that to 10 hours, leaving 14 hours. With people usually asking for him to help with things, that tended to take off an extra 1 to 3 hours. That left him with about 11 hours. If he wanted a good night’s sleep of about 8 hours that would leave him with 3 hours to relax with Sun and the kids, but if he changed the sleep to 4 hours with a quick charge he could change it to 7 hours to do what he wanted with them and on his own. 

 

Even that didn’t account for the other necessary tasks that would take time such as cooking, cleaning, and self care. 

 

“Father!” Jack called, pulling at his sleeve. The eclipsed model looked to his son, trying to remember if he had picked up on the conversation that had been going on around him. 

 

“Yes, Jack?” He felt bad for getting distracted from the game, but he did need to figure things out sooner rather than later. 

 

“Papa Sun says it’s time to clean up.” His little pumpkin smiled as he pointed to the sunny animatronic who was showing the other three how to properly clean the snacks up. “We need to help!” 

 

Solar smiled and nodded before he got up to help, taking some of the plates of unfinished snacks to put them away while the kids helped Sun wash the dishes. He could hear as the sunny attendant explained why they didn’t just rinse out the teapot even though it only had a liquid in it. It was like he was actively trying to bring out their curious sides, and the kids watched and listened closely. 

 

It felt like after the last couple of weeks they were finally slowly getting back into a small sense of normality. They were still far off from how it had been, but they all knew it would take time. He could at least trust that he could look away for a moment and one of the kids or someone else would also have a close eye on Sun. Still, once everything was put away and cleaned he wrapped an arm around his partner’s waist and held him close as they made their way back to the living room to set up the first lesson. 

 

English and learning how to read and write. After all, the rest of the lessons would be difficult if they didn’t know how to at least do that.

Chapter 12: Regression

It had been nearly a month since the rescue, and Moon was itching to get back to the lab to continue the search for Dark Sun and Nexus. It had been far too quiet and it made him uncomfortable to not know why. Why would Nexus suddenly stop going after them after they got Sun back? He didn’t even appear anywhere else in the dimension to torment anyone else, let alone other dimensions they monitored! Not to mention all of the unrelated projects he had to finish for the government! 

 

His twin was doing a lot better after everything, even to the point where he was allowed to cook again under supervision. Surely he was stable enough to where Moon could go to the lab for a day or two? It wasn't like he’d be gone that long. He would just check in on how the program was doing and increase the parameters, then work on some science. 

 

All he needed to do was to let Solar know, then he could be on his way. 

 

With his goal in mind, Moon started by heading towards the theater concession stand, figuring the two would still be there since work had only ended recently. Knowing them, they would be in the middle of cleaning before they themselves headed to the lab to work on Molten’s new frame. When he got there though, he didn’t see them behind the counter. That was fine. That just meant they were probably just cleaning in the back. He would just check to be sure, and if they weren’t there he would give them a call. 

 

“What if we’re caught?” Came a hushed whisper from the storage room, causing the night attendant to stop for a moment. It sounded like his twin was breathless, and he felt almost scared to go further. 

 

“No one comes back here, so don’t worry about it~” Was Solar’s reply, his voice a low purr before the two of them let out muffled moans. 

 

Moon cleared his throat awkwardly, which made the sounds go silent before he spoke up. “Hey, uh, is it safe to go back there? Or should I just go?” 

 

Sun let out an embarrassed eep while Solar let out a heavy sigh. “You can come in. We’re dressed.” 

 

“Oh thank god.” He said before he made his way further into the storage room. The two day models were in the back, with his brother blushing brightly as he tried to fix his own clothing. His friend looked far more annoyed than anything. Moon rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. “So uh, you guys are going to the lab to work on Molten today, right? I figure we could go together since I also need to head to the lab.” 

 

“Man, you literally have the worst timing.” The mechanic sighed and shook his head. “But yeah, we can go. Just uh, maybe give us a few minutes?” 

 

He made a face, not needing to think about his twin and his best friend going at it. “Yeah, whatever. Next time maybe go to a closet or something. Somewhere with a door. Meet me in the daycare when you’re done.” 

 

With that, Moon left to head back to the daycare. His other siblings were still in the middle of cleaning so he took up the task of ordering more supplies while the other two worked. Dazzle, Jack, and Neptor were also trying to help, but the smaller two just couldn’t get the barrels onto the counter without them falling back off. It was amusing to watch. 

 

“Need help there kiddos?” He asked, watching as the barrel once again fell and almost hit the little deer on her head. 

 

She gave him a determined look and shook her head, a sparkle in her eyes. “No. I can do this.”

 

“You sure? I’m sure Auntie Earth and Uncle Lunar would be more than willing.” 

 

“Noooooo, they do a lot! I help!” 

 

“I would like help.” Neptor admitted as he looked down. “My arms are short… and I cannot go very high.” 

 

Lunar chuckled as he walked over to the desk holding an armful of candies the kids had somehow gotten into again, flying slightly just to put them onto the counter. “Need help, Nep?” 

 

“I need help.” The small robot repeats before the barrel is taken and placed on the counter for him by the small attendant. He still looked upset though. “Is there any way I can help that does not have a height requirement?” 

 

Moon snickered as he looked to the jungle gyms. “You know, cleaning those play structures actually has a height requirement of being small. You can help Lunar with that when he gets to it.” 

 

“...But it’s gross in there.” The small bot said, causing both night themed animatronics to burst out laughing. 

 

“You asked.” The scientist said as he continued to fill in orders. “Lunar, how are we doing on craft supplies?” 

 

“Oh, we ran out of most paints today in the little paint war incident. And glitter. It’s probably a good thing Sunny isn’t helping us here yet because I’m pretty sure he would have shut down seeing that.” 

 

He groaned at the memory of the mess. He had just come in after the kids had been taken to play gator golf only to see the entire daycare looked like a game of Splatoon took place. He had to send his siblings away to get clean while he called in staff bots for even the smallest amount of help. They didn’t help much, but some was better than no help at all when it came to a mess like that. They had to have Monty give the kids an extra hour, then send the kids to the theater for an impromptu movie just so they could get enough of the mess cleaned so they could open again! 

 

He added the paint to the list along with extra paint remover. Just in case. 

 

“Anything else? Glitter glue? Googly eyes? Popsicle sticks?” 

 

“All good on those!” Earth called from the crafts station. “But we do need more sanitation wipes!” 

 

“Got it!” He called, placing the order quickly. 

 

Lunar helped with the last of the barrels before he sat on the counter and kicked his feet, far too close to the monitors for the older night model’s liking. “So where’s Sunny and Solar? Weren’t you going to go to the lab with them today?” 

 

He grimaced as he remembered what he walked in on. “Yeah uh, don’t go to the theater storage room.” 

 

The smaller attendant made a face and nodded. “Got it, yeah. Guess I’m not going to grab any snacks from there any time soon.” 

 

“You shouldn’t be anyway. Fazzbear takes anything taken from there out of Solar’s pay.” 

 

“So it was you.” Came Solar’s accusatory voice as he entered the daycare with a brightly glowing Sun behind him. The eclipsed model crossed his arms as he looked at the small lunar attendant with unamused eyes. “I thought Jack was taking food without looking again, but he swore it wasn’t him.” 

 

“I AM INNOCENT!” The pumpkin headed moon called from the play structures.

 

Moon snickered as he got up from his seat and made his way around the counter to pull up next to the mechanic and his twin. “Alright, alright. Lecture him later, Solar. We have stuff we need to do.” He looked between his little brother and sister. “You two going to be alright with the rest of the cleanup?” 

 

Earth smiled as she made her way over to give them each a goodbye hug. “We’ll be fine, just focus on what you need to do. Oh, and I’m making egg drop soup tonight. It’ll be ready by the time you three come by to pick up the kids.” 

 

He hugged her back tightly, feeling a little guilty that he was going to have to miss out on that. “I was actually going to work late tonight so I was going to pick up some sandwiches later. The soup sounds really good though.” 

 

“Well, maybe you can stop by for dinner as a break before you head back? Or take a break for the night?” She asked, and he didn’t miss how her eyes went over to their sunny brother before falling back onto him. A silent plea for him to not fall back to his old habits. 

 

He tried to give her a reassuring smile. While he couldn’t promise he wouldn’t go back after dinner, he could at least show up for dinner. “Yeah, yeah I’ll stop by.” 

 

She smiled at him with a nod before she pulled away to continue her work. Moon smiled back and turned to get a portal ready for the other two, but paused when he saw the look on his twin’s face. It was the same look Sun had recently whenever he mentioned going somewhere for a while or mentioned working on a project. He knew it meant his brother was wondering if he was leaving again and was anxious about it. He would have to reassure him when they left for dinner that he wouldn’t be gone for too long. 

 

When the three of them went through the portal Moon decided to try to lift the mood with a conversation change as he set his things on the nearby desk. “So uh, pretty stressful day huh? Would have to be if you two couldn’t wait for some stress relief.” 

 

Solar sighed as he went to set his toolbox next to his usual computer and got it set up for the day. “You have no idea. With the daycare closed for cleaning around the time some parents started to come pick up the kids, some of the more loud ones tried demanding free food since their kid wouldn’t want to leave until after the movie was over. Once one demanded it and another heard, it was like a swarm of locusts mixed with the Finding Nemo seagulls. One man bought a drink just to try throwing it at us, but it hit a different Karen in the manager haircut, and she demanded a comped meal and discounted movie tickets for the next month.”

 

Sun grumbled as he grabbed one of the floating steel balls and sat down, tossing the ball between his hands. “Everything was a mess. Someone also even ordered the popcorn with all three sauces. Who looks at popcorn and thinks ‘butter isn’t enough, I want nacho cheese and ketchup on this too!’” 

 

“Or the exotic beverage soda with extra shots of butter before mixing it with a lemon Chica bar and a bag of disappointment chips for a blended drink.” Solar shuddered in disgust. “So yeah, we needed a quick break.” 

 

Moon gagged as he thought about the horrible tastes humans had if they thought any of that was real food. He was so glad he didn’t work at the concession stand, because he would probably tell anyone who gave him a disgusting order to just get out. If they wanted to poison their stomachs it would be easier to just go to El Chips. 

 

“Yeah no, fair.” He grumbled as he finished organizing his needed tools for the day and started heading towards the door. “Hey, I’m going to head to the main section to get to work. If you need anything or just want to hang out, feel free to head over.” 

 

“What are you working on if you don’t mind me asking?” Solar asked as he leaned back in his chair to watch him go. 

 

“Some backlog government jobs mostly, but also going to be checking on if there’s been any progress on finding Nexus or Dark Sun. I’m thinking of expanding the parameters.” 

 

“You’ll come home with us, right?” Sun asked, his voice almost a quiet plea. 

 

It caused Moon to stop in his tracks as he looked over. His twin had stopped playing with the ball and was instead looking down, rays drooping slightly. It was… difficult to get any good work done anymore with the worry of Sun spiraling again, but he had to get things done. If he didn’t then they could be in danger. They needed to work on transitioning back towards a more normal schedule or else things would never be able to improve. 

 

“I’m going to be staying late tonight, but I’ll still be there for dinner and breakfast. If I don’t catch up on this missed work, I’m going to have the government on my ass. Taking a month off isn’t exactly the best look on my record.” 

 

“But…” 

 

“It’s either I take late nights in the lab or I start working here during the day again, Sun. I can’t support us only on daycare work…” 

 

Yeah it had been nice being able to spend time and have fun with his brother, especially after he had gotten better, but their lives couldn’t just stay like that. It wasn’t good for either of them. He couldn’t let Sun grow overly dependent on others again. They couldn’t fall back to how things used to be. 

 

Moon went back over and knelt in front of his brother to make sure that they could look each other in the eyes and smiled. He still wanted to reassure his twin and not just leave him hanging. 

 

“Hey, chin up. Think of it as us getting back to things. It’s been a month, and you’re doing a lot better. Especially after the therapy you’ve been going to. Earth has also been thinking it would be good for us. Especially for you to slowly start taking shifts at the daycare again. And hey, once I get my schedule fixed, I won’t have to stay late anymore and I’ll be able to go home after regular work hours. But for now, the longer I stay back, the longer those times are gonna be. Okay? It’s nothing to do with leaving you or anyone. It’s just my actual work this time.” 

 

“w-What if you…” 

 

He shook his head. “I’m not going to fall back on the habit again any time soon. I saw how bad it hurt you and you know I don’t want to hurt you again. You’re doing so much better, I know you can get through this.” 

 

That seemed to relax the other enough and he relaxed in turn before he stood up again. It was going to be a long recovery, but they were at least on the road. A few pit stops here and there were only natural. 

 

Once he was certain his brother was going to be alright, Moon made his way to the core of his lab. The swirling centerpoint of magic flowed calmly as usual and filled the air with lively energy. He had been away from it for far too long and needed to check over everything to make sure nothing needed recalibrations. The computer he had set up there would have informed him if anything had set it off too much, but it was always safer to check just in case. 

 

Moon made his way to the console and turned it on, planning to take at least an hour or two reading what had been scanned to help him wind down from the hectic day at the daycare before he got to his actual work. When he checked over the records though, he froze. 

 

All the dimensional scans that had been going over the last month were gone, and the progress had been stopped a week prior. It was as if he had forgotten to set up the parameters, but he knew that he had. He had Solar check over it just a week and a half ago. Checking the logs and the cameras he couldn’t see anyone that had come in other than the mechanic and his brother that one day to look it over while they were there to work on Molten, but nothing else showed up on the feed. There weren't even any notifications of the logs being tampered with. No one had come in after that, and as far as he knew, his friend wouldn’t have done anything. 

 

Had there somehow been a system crash that the computer failed to log or let him know about? The temptation to just rebuild Spaniard grew more and more tempting by the day since the less advanced one clearly didn’t function as well. At least if he did program a new version he wouldn’t make it like him, or give it two argumentative personalities. God what an idiot he was back then. 

 

For the moment though, all he could do was grumble and sigh as he began rewriting the new parameters for the dimensional searches, setting it to specifically search for Ruin instead of just Dark Sun and Nexus. The deletion had set them back weeks in their search, and it was getting to be too much. What would he do if it happened again? What could have even caused it? Based on the timeline it had to have happened a few days after Solar had already left, but the cameras showed no one! 

 

Could Dark Sun have found a way to get past his sensors and cameras? But the computer would have noted any access attempts to the console even if he had somehow managed to do that. Maybe one of them had accidentally been implanted with a virus that would transfer to the computer if they connected to it? No, he constantly checked all of their systems and when he checked the computer there was nothing. None of it made sense and he hated not knowing! What could he have missed? 

 

He sent a quick message to Solar to let him know what had happened, needing him to know the situation before he got too far into working on it and forgot. He needed more eyes and minds on the situation just in case they had any idea on what could have happened. Moon growled to himself as he thought about how stupid he was to have just left the program running without supervision. What did he think would happen? For someone to not go there and sabotage their entire search? They were trying to find an evil genius, so of course they’d get sabotaged! 

 

Why couldn’t Sun just understand that he had to do it? That it was better for them if he focused on finding the bastards who hurt them? 

 

“Ruin detected leaving dimension B9-942,640.” 

 

Moon sighed in relief at something finally going his way as he leaned back in his chair. “Run diagnostics on dimension and label it for observation. They might travel back to it. Also continue to survey other dimensions for signs of them.” 

 

“Running dimensional diagnostics. Dimensional changes, William Afton started the Fredbear pizza franchise in the UK instead of America. All related animatronics are British, except for Montgomery’s family, who are all southern Americans.” 

 

He groaned at the idea of everyone he knew but with british accents other than Monty, who would likely have a fake british accent instead. But of course the one place they would find Ruin would be a British pizzaplex dimension! Moon did not want to go there himself to see if he could grab the amalgam freak, but he would if he had to. They saved his brother, and deserved to be helped in return. At least before he sent them to a different dimension because he was not going to stand having that guy around his family. 

 

“Computer, next time Ruin is detected, see if you can scan their systems. It doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t escape on their own.” 

 

He knew that Dark Sun had implanted damaging code in both Ruin and Eclipse before as a way to keep them in line before Nexus had snapped. It would only make sense that it would happen again. Especially since the last time they had seen them, the amalgam had all but said they couldn’t say anything or Dark Sun would do something to them. 

 

“Parameters set. Scanning schematics on record to better detect anomalies in the system of Ruin.” 

 

“Good. Continue scans through dimensions for signs of Ruin and try to triangulate their point of travel. Also create backups any time a sign is found, just in case the information is deleted again.” 

 

“Understood.” 

 

Moon sighed and closed his eyes. With the setbacks he would have to work even longer hours just to make sure no one would try to sabotage everything again. For all he knew, they probably did find something but it was taken down before they could see it. 

 

He didn’t want to fall back onto his old habits, but it had to be done. Sun would just have to understand. It was what was best for everyone, and he would do anything to protect his family. 

 

He just had to hope that his brother would understand…

Chapter 13: Back to basics

Notes:

a few tags added, please mind them.

The transition back to how things were was of course difficult, but Solar was able to trust Earth and Lunar to make sure Sun didn’t get too overwhelmed. If he ever did, they were able to send him over to the theater concession counter to take a break. After work though was a lot easier as cleaning came easy to the overwhelmed daycare attendant, and brought some peace with the repetitive tasks. 

 

“Sun! Sun! Sun!” Lunar called happily as he ran over, holding stacks of paper. Solar watched with a smile as he placed them on the counter and hopped up to sit next to his brother. “You know how it’s October, right? And how Halloween is soon?” 

 

Sun smiled and nodded, continuing to clean the barrel in his hand. “Yeah. The kids are really excited to show off their costumes.” 

 

“Well during craft time Earth and I gave them a prompt for drawing us in Halloween costumes! Here, I grabbed all the ones for you!” The small attendant handed the stack over before he turned to Solar and held a few more out. “Some of the kids drew you too!” 

 

The eclipsed model smiled and took the ones for him. “Really? I didn’t think I was seen enough by the kids to get any.” Since he wasn’t a daycare attendant he didn’t expect to be included in any of the activities, but it was always nice when some of the kids remembered him as more than just the snack guy. 

 

There were only three pictures, but he loved them. One had him dressed as a vampire, another as a superhero that he dressed as for one of the games in the daycare. His smile fell at the last one which was clearly Lunar’s artstyle of him dressed as a candy corn. He glared at the small lavender animatronic who burst out laughing. 

 

“Oh ha ha, very funny. Did any of them draw you as a beanbag, you little shit?” 

 

“Nope, because I don’t look like one! I did get drawn as a blueberry though. Twice.” 

 

He snickered at that, relaxing as he leaned back against the counter. “Alright, I guess that makes up for it. Did Dazzle and Neptor enjoy drawing?” 

 

Lunar nodded, eyes going towards the ball pit as the sound of the portal activating rose up from it. “Yeah, but Jack tried eating some of the crayons agai- Oh god dammit.” 

 

Solar looked over and grumbled under his breath as familiar orange rays and a dark crescent face made their way out of the colorful balls. “What is he doing here this time?” 

 

Eclipse hadn’t come by since that one time where his new Sun had accidentally fallen through a portal only to fall right back through. It had been an annoying encounter, and luckily Sun had been at home when it happened, but now the asshole was back. 

 

Sun hadn’t visited or seen the other Eclipse ever since the kidnapping, and they had no idea how he would react to the former enemy turned somewhat acquaintance after what happened. When Solar glanced at his partner though, he looked more curious than anything. More neutral. “Hey there, Eclipse. What’s up?” 

 

The darker eclipse model walked over, holding up a bag with an annoyed look on his face. “Earth told me you were doing better, and Puppet insisted I brought you something. So here.” 

 

The sunny attendant smiled and took the bag, looking over the packaging. “Aww, that’s so sweet of you.” 

 

“Tch, consider it to be from her, not me.” Eclipse huffed, looking away and crossing his arms. “I didn’t even want to come here, so just hurry up and open it.” 

 

“It’s still sweet of you to deliver it.” He said before he started to open it, smiling more as he pulled out a knitted cardigan with cat paw prints dotted around it. “Oh this is so cute! I love it!” 

 

Solar eyed the cardigan, taking note of the clear amateur work and mistakes. It was handmade by the darker model himself. Something like that would take Earth maybe a few weeks, but him maybe about a month or so. Longer if he wanted to do it carefully. The bastard had probably started when he first heard the news, or maybe even before the incident. 

 

Eclipse scoffed again. “Whatever. I did my part and dropped it off. I’ll be going now. 

 

When the other started to walk off, the lighter eclipsed model stopped him. While he didn’t like the darker model, he did have questions. “Hold on. How is Puppet doing?” 

 

The former villain turned back around with a roll of his eyes, and Lunar quietly excused himself. “Puppet? She’s doing just fine. A bit paranoid after an incident, and now won’t stop watching the cameras, but other than that she’s just as annoying as ever.” 

 

“An incident?” 

 

“I’m not going to go into details, but there is a Stitchwraith there. Two kids are trapped in there, and we managed to get them before they could become like the one that was here. That’s all you’re getting.” 

 

Solar nodded as he thought over the new information. The incident had likely been related to the two children dying, which would make sense as to why Puppet would want to watch over cameras more than before. She likely felt responsible for not being able to stop it from happening. He would have to visit her at some point. 

 

“And your Sun and Moon? How are they?” He asked, but then grew confused as Eclipse suddenly tensed up, his eyes locked on to Sun just over his shoulders, as if something horrifying had just happened. The lighter model looked back only to see his partner happily looking over his new cardigan. When he looked back to the darker model he found himself being dragged closer to the ballpit. “h-Hey!” 

 

“Shut up.” The darker eclipsed model hissed before stopping once they were past the play structure, eyes still trained on the sunny attendant as he whispered. “Something is wrong.” 

 

Solar pulled his wrist away from the other with a growl. “What the hell do you mean?” 

 

“I’m saying that something is wrong with Sun. Either something in his systems or that isn’t him.” The other hissed out in a whisper. 

 

He shook his head. “He was put through a traumatic situation and had to break off his own hand to escape. He was almost reset. Of course he’s going to be traumatized. He still sometimes has moments where he dissociates.” 

 

Eclipse faced him again, eyes steady, but still filled with a sense of dread. As if something would come over and kill him again. “No, you don’t know him like I do, Knockoff. I was inside his head. I know what he’s like, and how he acts. Especially after he’s traumatized.” He glanced back over to Sun before looking to Solar again. “The look he had… It wasn’t the Sun I know. That look… was wrong. Why would the Sun we know ever look at a gift that way?” 

 

Solar was tired of the bastard already and just wanted him out. What right did the darker model have to come back after leaving the dimension, give Sun a random gift that clearly had a lot of meaning, then judge the traumatized attendant for not reacting correctly. “Maybe he doesn’t actually like it? Did you ever think of that?” He growled, glaring at the darker model. “And maybe you don’t know him as well as you’d think since you’ve been gone for months and he’s gone through a lot. Different things change people, and he’s been spacing out a lot since he was rescued. Yes, he looks upset sometimes, but it’s likely from an upsetting memory. So why don’t you leave him alone since you trying to say shit like that isn’t going to help him recover.” 

 

“You’re not listening.” 

 

“No, you’re not listening, Eclipse. We already checked everything we possibly could. It’s him. Don’t act like you know him better when you weren’t there. You weren’t there when he started shutting down because Moon left. You weren’t there when he hurt himself any time he was left alone. You weren’t there trying to bring him back to reality whenever he would space out for hours on end.” 

 

“Don’t you see how even that’s wrong?” Eclipse insisted. “Sun doesn’t hurt himself for attention, he hides it and hurts himself to control the pain he’s in. Why would someone as strong willed and resistant as him suddenly act pathetic and in need of 24/7 watch? He hates too much attention being brought to his own problems. He hates being seen as weak, because he learned that being weak would only get him hurt.” 

 

“And who was the reason he learned to be like that?” Solar growled, wanting to do nothing more than punch this alternate self in the faceplate. 

 

“That’s exactly why I know how he acts, idiot. Moon and I hurt him, and he grew strong from it. Being kidnapped wouldn’t take him out of commission for an entire month. He would’ve been back in the daycare within a few days or weeks and taking on shifts alone.” 

 

“Maybe it’s all just getting to him, okay?” He sighed, looking over towards his partner so that he wouldn’t punch the asshole back to the other dimension. “Look… I do know that this isn’t normal for him, but we basically deep check his systems every other day. We don’t know all of what happened, but he had been kidnapped for two weeks. Who knows what Dark Sun and Nexus did to him. They probably tortured him, and with how he’s acting around Moon I think they tried turning Sun against him. At the moment there’s not much we can do except be there for him.” 

 

“Let me look into his systems then. Clearly you idiots are missing something.” Eclipse said, crossing his arms. “You missed things with Ruin the first time, so it wouldn’t surprise me.” 

 

“We checked encrypted storage as well and scrubbed him for any deletions. There would have been some sort of sign if anything was deleted or changed. We learned after what happened with Ruin.” He looked back to Eclipse and shook his head. “No matter how deeply we look, we can’t find anything. I know you feel like it might not be him, but there's nothing proving otherwise. I can send over the next one we do if it’ll get you off my back about this.” 

 

The darker eclipsed model huffed but nodded, eying the sunny attendant again. “Fine… I’ll see if I can find anything wrong with it and send over anything I find. But if anything does end up being wrong, and it hurts Earth, I will personally hunt you all down and decommission you.” 

 

“Careful, someone might accidentally start thinking you care about her if you keep talking like that.” 

 

“Go fuck yourself, Knockoff.” 

 

“No, you’re not my type. I think I’ll go fuck Sun instead.” 

 

The two glared at each other before Eclipse flipped him off and started to head back towards the ball pit. Solar flipped him off back and headed back to the daycare security desk. He hated that guy so much. When he got back to the other, Sun looked up at him. He was wearing the cardigan, and while he looked cute, Solar hated it. 

 

“Was everything alright with Eclipse?” 

 

He sighed and leaned back against the counter. “Yeah, he thinks I’m not caring for you properly. Like he could do better.” 

 

The sunny attendant snickered and leaned forward. “Is that why you look so upset? You’re jealous?” 

 

“Of course I am. He always talks about how much better he is than me, and how he knows you better since he’s your Eclipse and I’m just…” He gripped his arm and sighed deeply. “Are we almost done with cleanup? I’d rather go home than stay here.” 

 

“Yeah, I just have to finish this barrel then we can go. I’m almost done.” Sun said with a smile before he continued to clean. He helped put everything else away and made sure it was up to standard before he set a portal down for home. 

 

When they arrived, Earth was in the living room setting up the lessons for the kids and Molten. After she had heard the idea for the small classes, she had been enthusiastic in helping and they set up a schedule for her to help with English and spelling after work, which allowed Sun and Solar to take a break before going in to teach math and science. Once they all got enough of a handle on reading and writing, they planned to move on to social studies. 

 

With the three of them all working on the lessons together time flew by, ending with him teaching the small science lesson of different things reacting with different temperatures of water, such as salt, sugar and tea. He even set up a long term experiment with the four to show that tea could even be brewed by leaving a few teabags in sealed jars of water outside in the sun for a day or so. As he did that with the kids and Molten, Sun and Earth cooked dinner together. 

 

After the lessons and dinner, they were able to settle the kids down with a calm show before they all got ready for bed. Solar and Sun helped make sure Jack, Dazzle, and Neptor were all settled in before they read a bedtime story together, switching up who did the silly voices as they acted out the scenes. It was… cozy, and homely. 

 

He had missed it, the simple aspects of life that they had together, but now they were getting it back. Not only that, but they were acting more and more like a proper family. He loved his Sunlight so much, and he loved the kids they raised together. The mechanic only wished there was a proper way he could show that love. Maybe it was time?

 

Dazzle and Jack snickering brought him out of his thought process and he looked over at the two older kids. “What?” 

 

“Papa Solar has heart eyes!” The little deer said as she covered her mouth to stifle her giggles. 

 

“Father is in loooooove!” The pumpkin moon cheered. 

 

Solar blushed brightly as he looked away and cleared his throat, looking over to the last child. “Neptor, are you comfortable on the bean bag chair? Do you need anything?” 

 

“I am comfortable, Mr. Solar.” The small grey bot said tiredly. The charging cord looked properly secured so he just checked the part where it was attached to the wall to make sure it wouldn’t come out at night. “Alright, good. I still need to work on getting you a bed so you can have a proper place to sleep.” 

 

“You don’t have to go out of your way to do that. I do not need it.” 

 

“I know, but you’re a part of this family now, so we should treat you as such. A bed closer to the charger would make it less likely for you to accidentally unplug yourself or fall off like you did last night. It’ll be safer, and more comfortable. And it doesn’t have to be like a regular bed if that isn’t comfortable. We can work out designs.” 

 

“I- thank you.” Neptor said, eyes emoting to show that he was really happy. 

 

Solar smiled and pet the small robot before he turned on the nightlight and stood up again. “Remember, lights and TV stay off.” 

 

“””Okaaaaay.””” The three kids chimed in unison. 

 

“Good. Have a good night.” Solar said before he and Sun walked out into the hall. 

 

Once the door was closed behind them, he made his way behind his lover and wrapped his arms around his waist, sliding a thumb under his waistband as he kissed the back of his neck pipe. The feeling of the sunny animatronic shivering under his touch encouraged him to continue. 

 

Sun’s fans stuttered for a moment as he leaned back into the attention, voice a shaky whisper. “Solar, not here. The kids are right there.” 

 

“To the room. I want you.” He whispered, giving a low suggestive growl as he moved to kiss one of his lover’s rays. He then pulled away just enough so they could walk across the hall to their shared room. Once they were inside, he activated the sound barrier and put his phone on do not disturb before he turned back to the sunny attendant. 

 

Solar watched as Sun started to remove his clothes while blushing, and he couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his endo at how lucky he was as he removed his own clothes. He had an amazing family. A loving partner, kids, and unconditional support from those around him. He loved them all so much, and he wanted to show it however he could. 

 

He lovingly smiled at the bright attendant and went over, slowly kissing him as he tried to put all the love he held for his other into the action. As the kiss deepened, he moved his hands down Sun’s sides and rested them on his hips as he backed him up towards the bed. When his partner sat down, he moved his hands to the covers and moved to kiss at his rays again. 

 

“I love you, Sun. I love you so much.” He whispered, shivering as Sun’s hands came up to rub at his own sides. 

 

“I love you too, Solar. Is it okay if I fuck you tonight? I want to make you feel good like you always do for me.” Sun asked, reaching up to cup the sides of Solar’s faceplate. 

 

The mechanic closed his eyes and leaned into one of the hands, turning his head just enough to kiss the palm. It wasn’t often that his lover wanted to top, but he never said no to the opportunity. It was a good way to boost his confidence and self esteem, and he always made sure the eclipsed model felt good. “Go ahead~” He purred, opening his eyes to look at his sunny partner. 

 

This time it was Sun who leaned in, capturing his lips in a heated kiss as he eased Solar’s hips down until he was straddling him. He ground down against his lover, groaning as the motion was returned and one yellow hand slid down his hip to his inner thigh before pressing two of his fingers against Solar’s modesty panel. 

 

The insisting rubs sent sparks through the eclipsed model’s casing as he held onto Sun’s shoulders, gasping as the other leaned forward to draw his tongue up his neck pipe. “Open up for me, Sol~” He said with a deeper tone than normal, a purr in his voice. “I promise I’ll make you feel good~” 

 

“I know you will~” Solar groaned as he felt the plate slide back as those pressing fingers started to circle his exposed folds. The pressure made his tanks start to release lubricant, which coated his lover’s fingers before they pressed inside. He gasped at the stretch of the intrusion and rocked his hips against them, urging them to go deeper. “f-Fuck~ Sun~” 

 

His sunny partner smiled up at him and pressed the fingers in deeper, scissoring and curling them around inside. “That’s it~ You like that?~” 

 

He nodded, moaning as his sweet spot was pressed against. “t-There~” 

 

Sun kissed his chest as he continued to press into the sweet spot, his other hand rubbing comfortable circles into his hip. “How many times do you want to cum tonight?” 

 

Solar shivered at the question, not knowing whether he wanted to be edged or have multiple orgasms. Both ideas were tempting at the moment as those wonderful fingers teased inside of him, no longer pressing where he wanted them to press but purposefully circling around it. “f-Fuck~ Edge me into one?” He asked, trying to grind down on the fingers again. “m-Maybe two?~” 

 

He knew the bright attendant knew how to draw everything out. They were programmed to be detail oriented after all, and it was handy when it came to taking care of each other’s needs. He would be well taken care of both during and after. 

 

“And how do you ask?” Sun asked as he pulled out his fingers. Solar opened his eyes in time to see the lighter model lick them while keeping eye contact. It made him groan in desire. 

 

He took Sun’s faceplate in his hands and tilted it up so he could hover his lips over the other’s, his fans kicking in as his body heated up in pure need. “Please, Starlight. Bring me to the edge and drown my thoughts until there is nothing left but you.” 

 

His lover smiled and closed the distance between them, kissing him deeply as he slowly maneuvered them to lean back against the headboard and turned the eclipsed model’s body to have his back pressed against his chest. Solar tilted his head so Sun could have access to his neck pipe as he spread his legs, exposing himself completely for his partner. 

 

Sun slid his hand down and rested it on his thigh, pressing into the soft, artificial flesh. “Let me know if it becomes too much, alright? If you don’t say stop, or red, I will keep going.” 

 

He nodded and closed his eyes. “Alright. Now please, I need you~” 

 

“If you aren’t patient, I might not give you what you want.” The lighter model whispered as he licked a ray from base to tip and moved a hand to finally press against his entrance again, causing Solar to shiver. He wanted those wonderfully long fingers inside of him. They didn’t press in though, instead, they slowly rubbed circles around the opening, just enough to activate the lube pockets to gather more over his yellow fingers. Once Sun seemed satisfied, he rubbed his fingers over the eclipsed model’s clit. 

 

Solar gasped and ground into the sensation, his legs trembling as they naturally wanted to close at the sudden strong feeling, but he forced them wider instead. He wanted there to be no doubt in how much he wanted this. He was rewarded with one of his rays being pulled back to be nibbled on as the rubbing became faster and more insistent. 

 

He gripped the sheets as he moaned, leaning his head back onto his lover’s shoulder as the heat quickly pooled into his lower abdomen. It felt so good, so amazing, and he could feel himself getting closer and closer! “Sun!~” 

 

Suddenly the quick circles were stopped and the fingers moved to lazily stroke between his folds before spreading them. It felt like his wires were buzzing with a need he knew would not yet be fulfilled, and it excited him more. When his body relaxed, those fingers slowly pressed back inside and began to work him open again, slow and methodical, pressing against all the spots he needed but just enough to leave him wanting more. 

 

“You’re doing so well, Solar, it’s hard for me to not just fuck you~” Sun said, his voice lowered an octave as he grinded up into him. His cock squirmed in between them, trying to find its target but being denied. It just served as a reminder of what was in store for him as his sweet spot was pressed against again, causing him to gasp and moan. “You look so beautiful right now~” 

 

Solar tried to respond but when he went to do so a particularly insistent press from Sun’s fingers stole the words from his mind. 

 

Just as he expected, his partner was methodical with every action, easily bringing him to the edge before backing away just enough to keep him there, carefully bringing him to the point of tears as his body grew overstimulated from the treatment. The mechanic had lost track of how long it had been, and how many times he had nearly been tipped over the edge. Even a simple touch to his rays had become sensitive enough to cause jolts of pleasure to make him arch and whimper. 

 

“Do you want to cum?~” Sun asked, panting as he stopped moving his fingers, but continued to grind his hips forward. 

 

It took Solar a moment for his mind to catch up to the question, but all he could do to answer was nod. He didn’t trust his voice to come out as anything but a whine or a mess. 

 

“I need your words, Solar~ If you don’t tell me I just might have to leave you like this and take care of myself~” 

 

“N-n’ p-pleas~” He whined, trying to grind down on anything under him but was stopped. “n-Need it~ Need you~” 

 

“So desperate~ I love seeing you like this~” His beloved purred into his auditory receptors as he began moving again, attacking his sweet spot with quick movements that caused the mechanic to cry out. 

 

His orgasm was so intense he could have sworn that it had almost sent him into a soft reboot, but something in him managed to hold out and keep going. Pleasure continued to pulse through his body as Sun didn’t stop, pulling him quickly into another one before he finally pulled away. Solar could hardly focus as the bright animatronic hovered over him, his mouth moving but the eclipsed model couldn’t make out the words. Only when he felt the tip of the other’s cock slide against his thigh did he understand, and he opened his legs more while nodding eagerly. He wanted it. He needed it. 

 

It felt like he was overheating, his fans overtaxed as he felt his love enter him and quickly get to work. He could hardly even breathe as he was thrust into again and again, his cries and breath soon being stolen by a searing and desperate kiss. Everything was far too much, and far too amazing, and all he could think of was how good it felt. He couldn’t even bother to ignore the error warnings that popped up on his HUD, his mind too gone to even notice what they said as he came once again and his world went dark. 

 

Solar didn’t know how long he had been out, but when he finally rebooted he was dressed and in bed. Everything had been cleaned up and his casing felt cold to the touch. The feeling of slight dampness clung to him, allowing the eclipsed model to conclude that he had been cleaned up after everything. The only thing that felt wrong was the fact that the bed was empty. 

 

He tried to sit up, but his body still felt like jelly after the intense session they had. At most he could sit and lean slightly against the pillows and backrest so he could look around. Downstairs he could hear hushed voices speaking, but it was difficult to make out what they were saying. 

 

“Sun?” He tried calling out, relieved that his voice box wasn’t too rough after everything. The voices downstairs stopped and soon he could see his partner coming up the stairs looking relieved. 

 

“I was really getting worried, Solar.” The bright attendant said with a smile as he brought over a chilled bottle of water. “Your systems took longer to reboot than I thought they would. I was getting ready to ask Moon to come check your systems.” 

 

When the bottle was handed to him, Solar gratefully took it and downed the contents. While his systems were already cooled, he still felt dehydrated, meaning something in him still required the hydration. Once he was finished with it he chuckled. “Was that what you were doing down there? Explaining to your brother that you were worried you fucked me too hard?” 

 

Sun blushed brightly and looked away as he sat on the bed. “Can you blame me? You suddenly went unresponsive and were overheating. Even your cooling systems turned off, so I had to put you in a cold bath and get ice to add to it. Reboots shouldn’t last that long…” 

 

He smiled softly and held out his arms, pulling his lover in close when he accepted the offer. “It isn’t the first time one of us has rebooted from something like that, but you are right. It shouldn’t have taken that long for me to wake up. Why don’t we have Moon check me over before work tomorrow? That way you can know for sure that I’m fine?” 

 

Sun nodded as he pressed himself closer. “We aren’t doing that again. Not for a while…” 

 

“Alright, we won’t. At least not to that extent.” 

 

“Good… Now lay down and sleep. Your systems still need to rest.” 

 

Solar chuckled and relented, laying back down as Sun moved to hold him from behind instead. It was strange being the taller one and the little spoon, but it was cute how his love wanted to watch over him, so he allowed it. 

 

“I love you, Sun.” He whispered. 

 

“I love you too, Solar.”

Chapter 14: The big question

Solar was nervous. How could he not be when he asked all of his partner’s siblings to meet in the living room while Sun and Monty took the kids to the park? Sure they also decided to make the family hang out into a movie night with a big family dinner, but that would still be an hour or so off. At the moment he felt all eyes trained on him as he sat in the furthest chair. The three Celestial siblings took up the two couches and looked at him expectantly. 

 

“Sooooooooooo, what’s up?” Lunar asked as he stuffed a spoonful of nutella into his mouth. 

 

Earth smiled at him reassuringly, clearly able to tell that he was nervous. “You can speak freely. I’m sure what you have to say is very important.” 

 

Moon nodded as he leaned forward. “Especially since you said it was about Sun but you specifically didn’t want him here.” 

 

The eclipsed model took a deep breath and nodded. It was a very important question, and he knew the larger daycare attendant would say yes, but he wasn’t as sure about the other two. “I… I want to ask your permission to propose to Sun. I want to marry him.” 

 

The small attendant coughed and sputtered around his sweet treat while the oldest sat up straight, his red eyes locked on to him. Earth on the other hand clapped and squealed happily. 

 

“Oh my gosh! That’s wonderful, Solar! You have my full support and I’ll help with whatever you need!” 

 

Solar relaxed a little, knowing that as long as he had her support, the other two would eventually agree, but at the moment Moon looked ready to skin him alive. He knew that the scientist would be the hardest sibling to convince since he was so protective, but it was better to ask him for permission first than be ambushed if he found out he proposed without asking first. 

 

Once Lunar managed to stop choking on Nutella he drank some water and took a deep breath. “Alright, but like, why?” 

 

“...Why what?” He made a questioning face as he tried to think of what the small animatronic could possibly be asking. 

 

“Why are you asking us permission? Isn’t that old fashioned? Also we’re not his parents.” 

 

“I’m asking permission because I’m pretty sure Moon would hunt me down if he found out I proposed without asking first.” He glanced at the nighttime animatronic who narrowed his eyes. “He already looks like he’s picking out where to start if I somehow hurt Sun. Also,I am not asking the Creator for permission.” 

 

The night scientist crossed his arms and leaned back with a huff. “Well excuse me for wanting to keep my twin safe and happy. I know you two are great together, but do you really think it’s the right time? He’s only starting to get better after getting kidnapped, he still dissociates sometimes, and you guys haven’t been dating that long. Also, last I heard, you didn’t want to propose for a long while. What’s with the sudden change in mind?” 

 

Earth tilted her head as she put a finger over her mouth as she thought. “That is true, you told Jack that you wanted to wait a while before you asked. What made you change your mind?” 

 

What had made him change his mind? It was an easy enough question to answer. “I did want to wait a while. I wanted to be absolutely certain that we would at least know what it would be like to live with each other for long enough to make the decision on if we wanted it to stay like that forever. Or as long as he would have me. But then he got kidnapped… We almost lost him, and this wasn’t even the first time. Even then I felt like maybe I should wait, but…” 

 

He looked down and smiled as he remembered the past few days. The peaceful moments they had together where they just enjoyed each other's company and took care of the kids. He thought about the way his Sunlight looked so happy and at peace, and how it made his chest flutter in a way he couldn’t contain. He thought about how he desperately wanted to be a real family with Sun and their three children, raising Jack, Dazzle, and Neptor together as siblings. 

 

“I just love him so much, and I want to spend my life with him and our children. No matter what hardships we go through, or whatever tries to tear us apart, I want to be there at his side.” 

 

He looked back up at the three siblings and noticed Moon’s eyes softening. The eldest finally let out a sigh before he smiled and nodded. “You know what? You have my blessing. Admittedly this is a lot sooner than I would want it to be, but you really do make him happy, and you are really devoted to him. Hell, you worked yourself so hard to find him you fell unconscious for a whole day! If that doesn’t prove how far you’d go for him then I don’t know what would.” 

 

Solar relaxed more, having his friend’s approval meant a lot to him and he knew he would be able to prove that it would be the best choice. He would do whatever he could to make Sun happy and keep him safe. “Thank you. I promise, I’ll do whatever it takes to give him the best life I possibly can.” 

 

Lunar huffed. “Hey, I haven't given my blessing yet. I got some questions.” 

 

He looked at the small daycare attendant. What could he possibly ask that could make them think he couldn’t provide for their brother? Whatever the questions were, he would do his best to answer them. 

 

“Alright? What are your questions?” 

 

“Great! Alright, so, why Sun? You could do sooo much better.” Solar glared while Moon elbowed the small star being who laughed. “I’m joking! I’m joking! Yeah, I have like, no problem with you marrying Sun. He’s been very happy with you and you are scary protective.” 

 

He sighed and leaned back, allowing himself to relax. The question had thrown him off and made him mad, but he forced himself to relax. He wouldn’t show aggression while he was asking such an important question. “So, you all agree?” 

 

Earth nodded with a smile, looking at her brothers. “I think so. Right? We all know Solar is a wonderful partner and would be a great addition to the family?” 

 

“I mean, didn’t you and everyone else want him to be part of the family before he and Sun started dating?” Moon asked. “He would have been like a cousin or something a lot sooner if they didn’t get together.” 

 

“Yeah, but that’s awkward to think about.” Lunar laughed. “Nexus wanted Solar to be his brother.” 

 

Solar grimaced at the idea, thinking back to how close he and their current enemy used to be. It hurt to think about how there were many times where Nexus would insist that they could hang out and do projects together or play games without Sun. How the dark moon had seemed to feel closer to him than with his own family at times. When he had come back and Nexus cornered him in the guest room, he had insisted that they would work together again. That they could be brothers, and how he had always seen him as more of one than even Sun. 

 

It hurt to think about. To think that his former best friend would turn into that, disown his entire family, and then insist on claiming him as family. He would have loved nothing more than for his former best friend to be in the room with the rest of them, asking him permission to marry his older brother, and celebrating together. If only he hadn’t been corrupted. He did wish that they could be brothers-in-laws at least. If they could find a way to uncorrupt him, maybe they could have that one day. 

 

“So, do you have a plan? Maybe an idea for a ring?” The planetary animatronic asked, trying to change the awkward conversation. 

 

He was grateful for the change in topic, and smiled at her. “I actually wanted to do something really special. Either a gem from space and or a different dimension, but for either option I would need help. Either from Nebula or friends in different dimensions. Either way, I want it to be as unique as he is.” 

 

Even if he could just get a raw gemstone, he was sure he could make something out of it. Maybe he could turn a larger one into multiple smaller cuts to inlay with a few more gems? Or one as the centerpiece surrounded by smaller different gems? He would have to get his hands on a sample first before he could even start planning a design. He also wanted the metal of the ring itself to be special. Maybe if he could figure out how to forge the exo for Molten he could make the ring out of adaptium? That would also ensure that it wouldn’t break easily. 

 

Moon snapping his fingers made him look up. “Hey, Moon to Solar, you in there bud?” 

 

“Oh, uh, sorry. I was just thinking about what I would need to be able to make it.” He rubbed the back of his neck pipe with an embarrassed chuckle. “I should probably work on prototypes first since I’ve never made jewelry before.” 

 

“Dude, you want to make it too?” The night scientist asked in surprise. “You’re really going all out for this.” 

 

“If I want to give him what he deserves, I have to make it myself. Even if I wasn’t planning on using special materials.” He sighed. “I could never afford a proper ring on my theater attendant salary.” 

 

“But this is just the engagement ring? You could make a nice simple one to start with and save all the fancy stuff for the actual wedding ring. It would be pretty damn difficult to one up an interdimensional and or intergalactic gem filled engagement ring for the actual wedding ring.” 

 

That was… a good point. Solar looked away in embarrassment as the two night themed animatronics laughed at him. He had been thinking too far ahead, but that did at least give him more time to actually get the materials and practice making a few prototypes. “I guess I’ll find something from this world then for the engagement ring. It would at least give me more time.” 

 

Earth went over to him and knelt on the floor so they could be face to face. The smile she had was so bright he couldn’t help but smile back. “Why don’t we go look at designs together to give you inspiration? It would be so much fun.” 

 

Solar nodded and got up. She did as well, and after saying goodbye to the other two they went off to her house to look at ring ideas for both engagement and wedding. He knew that with her help they would be able to figure out the perfect design.

Chapter 15: Necessary assistance

Moon growled as he looked over the readings from the last time Ruin had been caught going to a different dimension, once again wondering if it would be too much trouble to rebuild Spaniard. The current computer hadn't been able to do a system scan of the combined animatronic, meaning that someone would have to be able to get close to them without scaring the bastard off. He had already made a device that would be able to do a scan, but it would need to be in a close enough proximity to work. 

 

If they wanted to get the information without Ruin becoming suspicious, he would need an animatronic they didn’t recognize, and unfortunately there was only one person he could think of that had access to some that he could contact. 

 

With resignation to his fate, Moon called Eclipse. 

 

At first the call was declined, which he had expected and couldn’t really blame the other, so he continued to call and call and call until it was finally answered. 

 

“What?” The very clearly annoyed and angry animatronic asked when he finally picked up the call. “I told you I’d let you know if I found anything in the system scans, so what could you possibly need? I am in the middle of work.” 

 

“Wait, you actually do your work?” When the other growled he cleared his throat and changed to the topic he called for. “I found a lead but I need someone not connected to the family to look into it. Preferably someone social. Maybe British if you can spare them.” 

 

Eclipse scoffed and more than likely rolled his eyes. “What, do you want them to sing and dance for you too? What the hell do you need them for?” 

 

“Ruin has been going to a British-plex dimension, and I need someone they won’t recognize to just be near them for a while. I have a device that can scan their systems to figure out what Dark Sun is doing to keep them hostage.” 

 

There was silence on the other end for a few moments before he could hear the dark day model sigh. “Why do you think they’re being held hostage? If your reasoning is good I’ll talk to Ballora.” 

 

Moon relaxed slightly and leaned back in his chair. “Ruin risked their life to save Sun. They’re the one who made it so Sun could run to us and then went to distract the other two so that he could escape. You’d think after that they’d find a way to get out themselves and maybe check up on Sun, but they haven't. All my computer is picking up is possible signs of abuse but I can’t get anything more than that. From what I know, Dark Sun had put something in both you and Ruin before that made it so you guys couldn’t do certain things, so I want to see if this is the same thing and if we could possibly help them get out. We kinda owe it to them for being the only reason we were able to save Sun in the first place.” 

 

He could hear some typing in the background of the call for a few more moments before Eclipse finally spoke up. “Alright, I’ll speak to Ballora and Puppet about it. Usually I’d try to keep these animatronics out of dimensional travel, but I am curious. Each time Dark Sun does something like this it’s different. For Ruin, I believe it was a bomb that would level a large area if they were killed, but I could be wrong on that part. For me, it was something that made my systems slowly fail so I couldn’t properly work on restoring Solar until Nexus had lost it fully. They usually have special conditions, such as when they activate or when they’re removed from our systems. So if Ruin is going back to the pocket dimension instead of getting help, then it’s likely something dangerous.” 

 

He nodded as he thought it over. “That’s exactly why I’m suggesting someone not connected to us that they know. We don’t know what might activate it, and from what we’ve seen before they would usually try to leave us hints.” 

 

“It could be based on location, proximity, or intention then.” Eclipse mumbled to himself. “I’m also suspicious of the fact that Dark Sun feels the need to keep them in line still…” He spoke up again. “Have Earth bring me the device and dimensional code then let me know the next time they’re spotted.” 

 

“Got it. By the way, do you know if there are any gemstones that are unique to that dimension?” 

 

Moon knew that Solar was probably going to ask Puppet anyway so he figured he might as well help by asking a bit early. If they could get a headstart in searching then he was sure they’d be able to find something by the time he got around to asking. 

 

“Why?” Eclipse asked, tone full of suspicion. 

 

“It’s for something special. If you don’t know, do you think Puppet could search around dimensions for something? I promise she’ll be on board if she knows.” 

 

The former villain sighed and he could hear yelling in the background. It sounded like a Karen. “I’ll ask her, but I need to go. If she agrees I’ll let Earth know when she visits.” He then hung up without another word. As always, he never said goodbye or anything else. 

 

Moon sighed as he turned back to his computer to check over the searches once again. Really he should have been working on the latest governmental commission, but it could wait. He had finally upgraded the systems to hopefully be able to track anything moving through dimensions that didn’t show up. Any unusual dimensional travel signatures that tried to hide would hopefully be pinged.

 

Ever since the data had been deleted the first time, he had transitioned back to lab work to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. He had lied to Sun slightly about it mostly being about his governmental work, but he didn’t want to stress his brother out any further. He at least still made sure to go home for dinner, and made time to be able to hang out with his brother for a few hours before he slipped back to the lab under the guise of going to bed. He had put up multiple alarms to even make sure that he’d be back home in time for breakfast. 

 

Sure it made things difficult, having to go back and forth, but it was worth it to see the smile on his twin’s face. 

 

Maybe he could stop by a bakery on the way home to pick up a treat for the family? It had been a while since anything happened and he felt like they all deserved a little something special. Something to lift the mood and bring a little light to everyone’s smile. After all, the stress of the kidnapping had almost fully disappeared, things were going back to normal, and it wasn’t long until Solar officially became part of the family and the adoption papers for Dazzle came in. Maybe he could also make unofficial papers for Neptor as well to make the little guy feel included? He already felt like he was Sun and Solar’s kid. 

 

Moon smiled a little as he pulled up the website to Earth’s favorite bakery and looked over the options for customizing desserts. A multi-layered cheesecake would be the perfect treat for everyone. And it would also help him feel a little less guilty about lying about his overworking. He hovered over the options as he thought it over. Maybe one that had different layers of citrus flavored cheesecake? Yes, with orange at the bottom, lemon in the middle, and keylime at the top. Maybe he could ask for blood orange so it could be stoplight layered? 

 

“Is this what you do when you have nothing to worry about?” Came a chilling, bored tone from behind him, causing the night themed scientist to whip around to stare at the intruder. Dark Sun was there, casually looking through some of his papers as if he belonged there. “Last I was here, I believe you threatened to find my base, tear my motherboard from my head, and then use it in a detonation remote to blow up my pocket dimension.” 

 

He growled, taking note of how his computer didn’t warn about an intruder and he couldn’t hear the lasers arming themselves. “Last I remember, you also left in a panic for no reason.” 

 

“A matter unrelated to you. But, I’m not here to talk about that.” 

 

“If you’re here to tell me to stop searching for you, it’s not gonna happen. After what you and Nexus put my brother through? I’m not stopping until you pay.” He glanced to the side where he kept a picture of his family. Something to always remind himself why he keeps going, and currently a reminder that he still needed to find a way to remove dark star energy from someone. “And if we can, I’m also bringing my little brother home.” 

 

That seemed to make the sociopath pause for a moment before he set the papers he was looking over back where they belonged. “Your little brother? I must admit, that’s a new one. As far as I’m aware, you only have one little brother, and he’s currently at his training grounds with Taurus.” 

 

“Shows what you know. He’s working today, and it’s naptime so he’ll be on duty right now.” Moon growled. God damned bastard thinking he knew everything. Clearly he had wrong information, which meant he was getting sloppy. A good thing for them. 

 

“Oh really? Call Earth, then.” 

 

“I’m not going to listen to you! I know my family well enough to know they wouldn’t skip out on each other like that! Now why the hell are you here?! Tell me before I blast you!” 

 

The dark version of his twin rolled his eyes and walked around, his hands behind his back as if he had nothing to worry about. “Your lasers are disabled, but I suppose I could tell you why I’m here. I needed Solar’s notes on the Goliath and Molten. I know you still have that brute captured here, but for obvious reasons I am unable to simply study it up close.” 

 

“...What?” 

 

Moon hadn’t actually expected a clear answer, and also hadn’t expected it to not be related to the things that had happened. He expected a lecture about stopping his search, or saying how it would all be pointless. Instead, Dark Sun was interested in their research for making Molten a body? Surely he would be able to do his own research on adaptium, or make some with his star. 

 

“If you could show me where the papers are, I will simply look them over and take my leave. I can assure you, it is needed for a project not related to you or your family.” 

 

Yeah, no. He didn’t trust that one bit. Even if that was the truth, there was no telling who it would be used to hurt or terrorize. But if he was telling the truth, maybe they could work out an exchange. He could get the failed notes from the beginning of Solar’s research and pass them off as the most recent, that way Dark Sun wouldn’t have much to work off of, and in return maybe he could get information on Nexus or Ruin? It would be a gamble, but maybe it would be the key to the breakthrough they needed. 

 

“On one condition.” 

 

Dark Sun hummed and stopped, resting his hand against the stairs railing. “You want information. A trade deal.” 

 

“Research for information on Nexus is a fair trade I believe. The dark star energy that’s controlling him.” 

 

The day model looked contemplative as he thought over the deal. His red eyes calculating. “Ah, so that’s what you meant by your little brother… You want to cure him.” Moon watched as Dark Sun nodded thoughtfully, hopefully actually contemplating it. “The powers he uses are slowly killing him. Eating away at what little form and mind he has. I have given him the suggestion to slow down so it doesn’t, but he refused. It’s why he was so desperate to take Sun. It’s why he’s no longer going after your family.” 

 

Why he was no longer going after them? Had Nexus managed to get ahold of a wither shard in the two weeks he had Sun? But if that was the case, why would they still keep Ruin under their control? Why did they plan to reset Sun? Just to hurt them? 

 

“Will you get me the research or not?” He growled, clenching his fists at his side. One thing at a time. Just one thing at a time. 

 

Dark Sun nodded. “I will collect data on Nexus’ current form and state of being, and then I will allow myself to be found in a different dimension tomorrow. You will bring the research regarding the Goliath and Molten, and we will trade. If you want further information, I could be made interested if you offer something worth my while.” 

 

“What would you want for Ruin to be set free?” Moon asked. He just wanted to see what the bastard was interested in. If it was something reasonable that wouldn’t be too dangerous he would talk to the others about it. 

 

The other ticked his rays for a moment before he shook his head. “I am afraid they are currently not up for negotiations. I will let them free when the time comes, but until then I would advise not going near them. I know you’ve been searching.” 

 

“And why shouldn’t we? What did you do to them?” 

 

“An answer you should not search for. For their sake.” Dark sun said as he opened up a portal. “Goodbye, Moon. I will see you soon.” 

 

And with that, he left, leaving Moon to his own thoughts. 

 

The bastard had all but confirmed with that conversation that Ruin was being held hostage, and whatever it was that was keeping them trapped had to do with proximity to the family and or allies. He sent that information to Eclipse as he sat back at his computer to finish up the dessert order he had started. He also added in a few small things just for himself since he needed the pick-me-up. He deserved something nice after having to deal with that prick. 

 

With one last sigh, the night themed animatronic leaned back and activated the family trackers. He trusted them to be where they said they would be during work hours. Of course he trusted them, and what Dark Sun said didn’t change that. He just… needed to make sure everyone was where they said they would be. He just needed to make sure they were all safe. 

 

Six pings appeared at the daycare, one in Gator golf, and none in the theater. Solar had left his station and was in the daycare with Earth, Sun and the three kids while Monty was at work in their golf course. 

 

A feeling of unease filled Moon as he set to track his little brother specifically and found that Dark Sun had been correct. Lunar’s tracker pinged in his usual training clearing, meaning he was training with Taurus. He had left Earth and Sun alone to deal with the daycare, and for what? A few extra hours of running, jumping, and punching? Clearly they needed more help if Solar left his station. 

 

Wanting to cover all of his bases, because maybe Lunar’s tracker had broken off while training the day before, he called his sister. She was as usual quick to pick up, though her voice was a whisper. “Hello, Moon. Do you need anything?” 

 

“No, uh. I just wanted to check in on everyone. How are you guys?” He hoped that his unease wasn’t audible. He didn’t want to stress her. 

 

Earth sighed and he could hear the main set of doors open and close. “It started as an easy day but… Lunar decided to get some extra training since there weren’t many kids, but then apparently a nearby school let out early for some reason and we were suddenly over packed. Solar had to step in and Sun is currently taking a nap with the kids since he got overwhelmed. Solar is currently setting up a slime making activity since it was what Lunar had planned if he was here.” 

 

“Have you tried calling him?” 

 

“He isn’t picking up, but he usually turns his phone off if he’s doing something that needs concentration. I’m sorry to ask this, since you are probably doing important work, but do you think you could come in? Just for a few hours.” 

 

Moon looked to his computer where he could see Lunar’s tracker moving around in a big circle and he quietly sighed to himself. “Yeah, I’ll come help. See you in a bit, sis. Love ya.” 

 

“I love you too, Moon. We’ll see you soon.” 

 

When the call ended he sighed again, much louder than before. 

 

It almost felt like how he had been not long ago… No one really brought it up since the training was actually important, but it felt like the small animatronic was avoiding the house other than for sleep and did nothing but train. It was a miracle if he even showed up for dinner most days, instead just grabbing breakfast before heading to work or training and coming home late. Sometimes he would be around to play with the kids, but that was it. Had Lunar even spoken to Sun after they got him back outside of work? Had he spent any time watching Sun during the time Solar and Earth had desperately needed help? 

 

Even if he had gone back to work and was doing more than he had promised, Moon was at least at home and helping. He was at least spending time with his family and helping out whenever he saw that he was needed. Lunar only seemed to help out when he was asked… 

 

It felt like their little brother was pulling away from them, and he didn’t know what to do. 

 

Was that how everyone else had felt when he wouldn’t stop working? 

 

He needed to talk to Lunar sooner rather than later, and needed to try to see if he could convince his little bro to take a break from training. It would also be a good chance for them to also make plans for when they found the hidden base again. 

 

Moon sighed as he looked back to the family portrait sadly. When had they become such a mess? 

 

Had they ever been truly whole? 

 

He sighed and opened a portal to the theater storage room and stepped in. He needed to see his family.

Chapter 16: Rising tension

When Moon had called the meeting between him, Lunar, and Monty, he didn’t expect his younger brother to be so resistant towards it. It was like he didn’t even want to be there. 

 

The small night themed animatronic just sat on the couch, eating a bowl of cereal marshmallows mixed with nutella instead of cereal with his hands. While he hadn’t yet gotten any on the couch, his face was still a mess, and it almost made Moon’s dormant cleaning protocols activate. Why couldn’t he at least use a spoon? When had he gotten that bad? It was bad enough he didn’t know he could take his clothes off until recently to wash them and himself. 

 

“I can feel you guys judging me.” Lunar said as he rolled his eyes. “I’ve been doing a lot of training and need energy. Sugar is my energy.” 

 

“You could at least use a spoon.” Monty grumbled before they sighed. “Moon, are ya sure we shouldn’t have Solar here? Don’t this involve him?” 

 

He sighed and sat back in the chair, shaking his head. “Not this particular stuff. This is more about what we’ve been working on. Also, some kids snuck their slime projects into the theater so he and Sun are working on getting that shit out of the carpet and chairs. I need status on how our dark star power defenses are coming along, how we can use them for capture, and how we might be able to extract it.” 

 

“What do you mean capture and extract?” Lunar asked, setting down his bowl and licking his hand clean. “Taurus and I have been working on the weapons to kill Nexus. I thought that was the plan?”

 

“That was the plan at the beginning, but a few days after we got Sun back, Earth asked me if we could do it without killing Nexus. She wants us to at least try to save him and see if we can rehabilitate him.” Moon explained. “We put it in the attack team group chat.” 

 

“Guess I missed it.” The naptime attendant huffed as he crossed his arms. “And it probably should’ve been discussed in person and maybe agreed on it? Personally, I don’t think we should bother. Nexus nearly killed Earth and Sun. Are we seriously going to let someone like that back in? Sun has enough trouble with you two.” 

 

The silence that hung in the air was heavy as they both stared at the much smaller animatronic. 

 

It was something that was never brought up, and for good reason. They all knew they messed up big time with Sun for most of his life, having abused him and taken advantage of him for years, but despite everything, he forgave them. Or at least it seemed like that. It had never been discussed out loud and it was something they all just tried to keep in the past. 

 

Moon at least worked hard constantly to try to make up for everything he had done. Everything he did now was for his family. For his brother. He had apologized endlessly and always made sure that his twin would never want for anything, because he would have it. 

 

Monty had never done anything of the sort, yet Sun interacted with them all the same. Though it was hard to tell sometimes if it was genuinely because Sun forgave them or just because they were dating his little sister… 

 

He shook his head. “This isn’t the time to talk about that. Earth asked us to find a way and Eclipse explained to her how the stuff works-” 

 

“So now we’re relying on that prick?” The small nighttime animatronic sneered. “Great, yeah, let’s rely on the bastard who blew me up to try to save the other bastard who nearly blew our sister up! What a great plan! What’s next? We’re saving Ruin too? Yeah, let’s also save the bastard who killed Solar!” 

 

The silence that followed was only broken up by an awkward cough from the gator. 

 

“...I’m sorry, am I the only one who cares about what they did?!” He growled as he looked between them. The temperature in the room was rising before the small bot took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. “If I see Nexus, I’m going to do my job and take out the threat. It’s what I’ve been training for. He’s a threat unless he’s dealt with and I have the power to do it.” 

 

“Lunar, we should at least try. Earth confirmed it with Pollux and Nebula that it could be possible.” Monty said as they looked down at their small friend. “Ask your partner. He likely got infected while trying to use star power while driven by his grief. If we can get it outta him, we can try to fix him.” 

 

Moon nodded. “If we can manage to get that stuff out of him, we can have our little brother back.” 

 

Light blue eyes found his own red ones, and he was taken aback by how apathetic they were. “Nexus was never your brother, Moon. And I don’t consider him family. If you want to try to save him, fine. But if I get the chance, I’m taking him out. Like we planned.” 

 

“Lunar-” 

 

His brother cut him off as he got up and picked up his bowl. “Is there anything else we need to discuss? Because if not, I’m going to my room.” 

 

He looked down and sighed. “Lunar… Are you alright? I know I’m not the best one to bring this up, but you’re hardly home. You’re hardly helping around the house and you only really help with the kids when you’re asked. Hell, you even left work to go train, and Solar had to go help. Sun had to take a break and nap with the kids. This.. It’s not like you.” 

 

“How would you know? You never stop working. At least I’m actually getting stuff done.” The small animatronic huffed before he left, leaving Moon alone with Monty. 

 

He wanted to follow his brother and talk everything out. To explain everything more and to try to get him to open up, but he couldn’t. How could he after all of that when his little brother clearly didn’t want to listen? 

 

When did it get so bad? 

 

Monty rubbed the back of their neck as they looked at him. “I’ll uh, talk to Gemini or Taurus about that. I don’t think he’s in the best mindset for trainin’ an’ all that. And if Taurus knows we’re tryna save a life he might give us ideas.” 

 

“r-Right…” Moon said quietly. 

 

It felt like what he knew about aspects of his life were unraveling. The past times he had talked with Lunar had either been at the daycare or playing with the kids, and each time he had seemed perfectly fine. He had been smiling and joking like usual and being his usual cheery self. What happened? Was it because of him? Was it the topic? Had the small attendant been putting up a mask the entire time? Just how much of the little brother he knew was gone? 

 

It almost made him feel sick to think about it. He couldn’t even think about what could have happened to make such a drastic change. Was it because he had died? Was it his training? Was how he acted always been a mask? How shitty was it that he didn’t even know? What kind of big brother was he? Was there anyone in his family who he wasn’t responsible for hurting? 

 

The night themed animatronic flinched when a hand was put on his shoulder and he looked up. Monty was looking down at him with clear worry in their eyes. “Hey man, why don’t we… We can go play some games if you need. We can come back to this later.” 

 

Moon shook his head and sighed. “No… I should probably go check in on Solar and Sun. Maybe bring them and the kids something to eat since it’s getting late. Did Earth say when she was going to get back from seeing Eclipse?” 

 

“She texted me saying Puppet asked her to watch some movies as a way to try to convince Eclipse to take a break. She’s going to be getting dinner over there with Puppet and Ballora.” 

 

That was probably for the best. He knew his sister really needed a break. Especially from all of the family trouble that had been happening. Hanging out with other women who she could talk to about things everyone else didn’t understand was good for her. 

 

He knew his sister had been stressed beyond belief, and he hoped that she was having fun and was able to relax. 

 

Moon got up and took a deep breath to try to get his wires to stop buzzing with anxiety. “Let’s go get everyone else food then. I also need to stop by the bakery on the way home, so if you could bring everyone here while I do that, it would be appreciated.” 

 

Monty sighed but nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. Need anything before we go?” 

 

“No… No, let’s just go.” 

 

After everything, he had to check up on his twin. After that discussion with the smaller night model, he felt like he had to be reassured that the one person that truly meant everything to him didn’t also hate him. Even if he knew his brother didn’t feel the same after the incident, he knew Sun would be able to tell he needed it. 

 

…He was pathetic for needing validation from his twin who didn’t need the weight of his self worth issues on top of everything else.

Chapter 17: Easing up

Everything was finally starting to go smoothly. Moon had somehow gotten information on the dark star energy infecting Nexus, Monty managed to convince Taurus and Gemini to focus Lunar’s training on possible capture and purification, Eclipse had managed to send someone to talk to Ruin and they were just waiting for the information back on that, and Solar was finally getting the hang of making rings. Not only were things going well on those fronts, but October was slowly drawing to an end and the entire Celestial family was excited to finally have their one always cursed month to finally pass without something bad happening. 

 

Solar held up the current ring creation he had made that had a fire citrine set in the middle with two cat paws circling around it to hold two smaller yellow citrines on either side of the larger one. While it wasn’t as well made as a professionally done one and had plenty of mistakes, it was the design he wanted to settle on. It was cute, had their colors, had a representation for both Cleo and Muffin, and they could even go as far to say that the three stones also stood for their three children. It was a perfect design, and all he needed to do was make a few more test ones to make sure it was just right. 

 

First though, he wanted to show his future brother-in-law to get his opinion while also checking in on progress. With the plan in mind, the eclipsed model made his way to the lab core where he knew the scientist would be. 

 

Just as expected, Moon was leaning back in a chair with a cup of coffee in one hand and papers in the other. He looked tired, but not too bad. He would be dragging his friend home to rest soon enough anyway. As he got closer, the other looked up and set his cup down. “Hey man, what’s up? Is it time for dinner?” 

 

Solar went over and took a seat in a nearby chair as he held up the ring with a smile. “I finally settled on a design. Wanna check it over?” 

 

The night scientist smiled and leaned over to take the ring, examining it carefully. “He’s going to love it, Sol. Should I tell Monty you’re ready for that reservation to be put up again?” 

 

He shook his head and took the ring back. “No, not yet.” He said with a sigh. “This is only the prototype. It’s nice, but it’s not good enough yet. Once it’s good enough I’ll tell Monty. I was just seeing if you thought he’d like the design.” 

 

Moon rolled his eyes. “Dude, he’ll love even just that. The imperfections show that it’s handmade, and that’s going to be far more memorable than a perfect ring.” 

 

He knew the other was probably right, but he couldn’t help but feel like he still had to improve on it. Sun had been through so much, and deserved nice things. The least he could do was make a good enough engagement ring to propose to him with. 

 

“Hey, Solar.” The night themed animatronic said as he snapped his fingers. “Trust me, I know my brother. Besides, even if it looks a little rough around the edges I can tell it’s pretty stable. If you really wanted to improve it, you wouldn’t even have to make a new one. Just buff it after cleaning the paws up with a file.” As he handed the ring back he took the eclipsed model’s hand with a smile. “You did amazing, Solar. He’s going to love it.” 

 

He took the ring back and looked it over. All he could see were the imperfections. The rough bumps and the unevenness of it all. Yes it was cute, but was it really good enough? What if it wasn’t structurally sound? But his friend was a scientist who often worked with metal. He would be able to tell… He sighed and nodded. “I’ll try fixing this one up and I’ll let Monty know when it’s done.” 

 

“Good.” Moon said with a smile as he leaned back against his seat. “Now that that’s taken care of, you wanna hear the report Eclipse sent back?” 

 

Solar placed the ring in his pocket and nodded as he leaned back. It would be good to hear whatever news was found so they could start working on rescue efforts. “What did he find?” 

 

The night scientist picked up the papers he had been reading over before and glanced over them for a moment before he spoke up. “For starters, he thinks he found something in Sun’s code, but he’s not exactly sure what it is yet. His Moon thinks he’s just being paranoid as usual but he’s being insistent. Now with Ruin, we actually know what’s wrong with them.” He looked up, red eyes more serious than before. “Dark Sun put a dormant virus in their code set to activate if they come to this dimension or try to get any information out to us. They can’t get close to any of our allies and can’t try to send any message out with the intent of letting out a secret. If they do, a mutated version of the ruin virus will bypass the cure already installed into their systems and cause them to go insane. This time though, it wouldn’t be an act. And it’s given a very specific first target. Dazzle.” 

 

Solar stiffened up and he reached out a hand for the papers which were quickly handed over. It held the information of a complete scan of Ruin’s systems and what was installed. Written in a dark red were the specifications of the implanted virus. It had been mutated specifically to fit Ruin’s code itself, bypassing not only their unusual natural defense against it but also their cure. Surprisingly enough it was also modified to not spread to others, meaning that it was contained solely to the combined attendant. 

 

It was no wonder Ruin hadn’t tried to run away. They all knew that one of their biggest fears was that virus, and Dark Sun had manipulated it to become their own personal hell. It was worse than just being blown up. Whatever was being hidden was important enough that he would go so far just to keep Ruin away from them that he would mess with a virus that destroyed an entire dimension. 

 

Moon sighed as he looked at his now empty cup and set it down. “It looks like once a certain thing happens it will delete itself from their system, but that won’t happen if it’s triggered before that happens. We don’t know what it will be, or what they’re being forced to keep secret, but for now we have a sample. We can start to work on a cure just in case and get a cell ready. Thankfully Ballora being around them didn’t trigger anything and they had managed to become fast friends. They plan to meet up again.” 

 

“So we have a way to at least check in on their health…” He said quietly as he flipped through the pages. “Signs of abuse… Likely from Nexus…” 

 

“Also since they don’t know Ballora is connected to us, if they accidentally let something slip then it probably won’t trigger the virus. We have the chance to get snippets of information if they continue to hang out regularly.” 

 

“That will be helpful at least… Any information will help us in rescue efforts.” He sighed as he set the papers down. “If only we could cure them now, but whatever Dark Sun did bypassed not only their natural defense, but the cure previously injected into their systems. It could take us weeks to get a new cure curated, but who knows what would happen to them during that time.” 

 

“I want to save them as much as you do, but we can’t rush this. If they find out we’re doing this, Dark Sun might activate it and Ruin wouldn’t even know why.” Moon huffed as he continued to look over information. “We still don’t know how the bastard is spying on us… He somehow knew that Lunar had left the daycare to train that one time, and he knows we’re trying to find Ruin.” 

 

Solar glanced at his friend uneasily. “How do you think he’s doing it?” If there was a wire somewhere, then much of what they worked on would already be compromised. They would need to find out how he was getting the information so that they could work on things without Dark Sun and Nexus getting ahead of them. 

 

“I don’t know. I already swept this entire lab and couldn’t find anything, so for now I want to keep any information we find between you, me, Monty, and Eclipse. Lunar isn’t interested in helping us in the rescue aspect…” 

 

He grimaced at the idea of working with Eclipse, but nodded. Even if he hated it, he’d be civil with the bastard so that they could get everything done. “Alright, onto the next topic… Nexus. What are our preparations for him?” 

 

Moon set what he had been reading down and picked up some other notes. “Since Lunar wants to kill him, we can’t rely on him for capture and purification; Taurus and Gemini are helping us with a star powered cage that we can use to capture him and teleport him either here or to the cell they originally put Nexus in after he snapped. Probably not that one since we don’t want to traumatize him more. I’m thinking here so we can modify the cell we already used for Molten. We can find somewhere else to hold Ruin if we still need time to find a cure.” 

 

“That’s good for capturing, but what about draining the dark star energy?” 

 

“Monty has something for that that they had used on the Stitchwraith. They can drain most of the negative energy and then one of the Astrals can come to see if they can purify the rest. It’ll probably be painful, but so far that’s the least risky way. We just need to get close enough to him.” 

 

It sounded like a decent plan, and like they had most of it worked out. So really the most they needed was to somehow find the pocket dimension again and to sneak in… From what Moon had been told they could only find it if Dark Sun wanted them to find it. Maybe they could get Puppet on the case… Or Eclipse since he had found it before, but that time could have also been because he wanted to be found. 

 

“Any idea on how we can find the place without Dark Sun wanting us to?” He asked as he leaned back again and stared at the sky outside the glass. 

 

“Same way we found him the first time. We use the clues Ruin is leaving behind.” His friend said with a smile. “The scanner I gave to Ballora wasn’t just to scan his code for whatever was put in them. It read everything, including the coordinates they have in their portal device and dimensional energy that would be left on them from traveling. We just have to match the energy that is most attached to them and match it with the right energy in their list.” 

 

“Smart.” He smiled back. It was certainly easier than going through millions of dimensions to triangulate where they could be. Again. But at the same time, it left him with less to do. Maybe that was a good thing. “...Do you really think the ring is good enough?” He asked quietly. 

 

“Yeah, he’s going to love it. Why?” 

 

Solar took out the ring to look at it again. “I think… November 1st would be the perfect day to propose. He’s been happy about being able to have an October where nothing bad happens, so celebrating with a fancy dinner would be a perfect reason to take him out.” 

 

The night scientist nodded as he thought it over. “Yeah, that would be a perfect idea. I was thinking of maybe making us shirts saying we survived our first October separated, but he’s going to love yours a lot more. I’ll still get the shirts though.” 

 

He chuckled at the thought of the twins wearing those shirts as if they had gotten novelty shirts for a rollercoaster at a theme park. “Yeah, you should. It would be pretty funny.” 

 

Moon laughed with him until slowly they faded into a comfortable silence. Things were finally going right for them. Soon he would not only be engaged, but they had a plan to save his former best friend and hopefully brother-in-law.

Chapter 18: A night to remember

Notes:

Is everyone ready for this?! I've been excited for this chapter!

Solar looked around at the spot he had been brought to for the reservation and was in awe of the view. It was a large private patio with vines along the pillars, romantic music playing softly through a speaker, a gorgeous view of the sea, and ample space for a dance. The food had been ordered ahead of time and was set to be ready to be brought out as soon as Sun was taken to the table. Everything was perfect. Whatever he owed Monty would be worth it. 

 

He checked his messages once again to see if Earth had finished getting his partner ready but she told him they still needed a few minutes, leaving him to pace around and mess with the cuffs of his suit.

 

What if something ended up going wrong? What if he didn’t actually like the ring? Or what if it was too soon and he rejected him? Their table was out in the open so what if something attacked them while they ate? What if he was too underdressed? The other human patrons had given him looks as he had walked past them, so what if they were attacked by animatronic racists like they usually were in the store? What if Blue or Frank showed up?

 

With his mind stuck in a panic, he had almost missed the ping that let him know that his date was there, so the eclipsed model quickly got into his place near the door and fixed his outfit one last time. It was time. There was no turning back. He could do it. All he had to do was eat dinner and not make a fool of himself while pulling out the ring. And not step on his partner’s feet as they danced. That would also be bad. 

 

He was not prepared for when the door opened and Sun finally stepped into view. The shining daytime model was in his favorite sparkly off the shoulder red dress with the thigh slit, matching heels, and a glittering sunrise colored silk shawl draped over his elbows. He wore a pearl bracelet as a necklace and had pearl clip-on earrings hanging from two of his rays to match. He wore rose red lipstick and had shimmery rose gold eyeshadow on as well, pulling the rest of the look together. He was stunning. 

 

Solar certainly felt underdressed in his basic black three piece suit when compared to how radiant his partner looked. He could feel that he was probably blushing brightly as he offered his arm and led Sun to the table in the way Monty had instructed him to. The lovely animatronic was also blushing brightly as he walked more carefully than normal. He couldn’t even understand how he could walk in heels but he appreciated the look. “You look so beautiful right now.” He said as he guided the other into sitting before he pushed his chair in for him. 

 

Sun smiled, his pearlescent eyes looking him up and down. “You too. You look so handsome in a suit. I think Earth and Monty went a little overboard with me.” 

 

He shook his head as he sat down in his own chair. As he did, the wait staff came out and placed down their appetizer and poured their wine before leaving quickly. “You look perfect. Besides, we’re celebrating something really important.” 

 

“Surviving an October?” The bright attendant smiled as he took his wine and swirled the glass. “I know it’s our first time since Moon and I separated, but I thought the celebration was the party last night? Earth and I spent all morning cleaning, and then I was told I had a dinner date in Italy.” 

 

“I did plan to take you out to this place before everything happened, but I figured now would be the perfect time to try again. I wanted to give you a fantastic night that you’ll always be able to look back on with a smile. I wanted to give you a night as special as you are to me.” 

 

Sun blushed more and sipped his drink. “You really are the most amazing partner. You always know just what to do, and you’re so diligent. I don’t know how I would have handled everything without you…” 

 

He reached over and gently took his partner’s hand, giving it a squeeze as he smiled. “I would have been there for you no matter what. Even if we weren’t together, I would have been there. I care about you so much. I love you, so very much… I can’t imagine being anywhere else. With anyone else.” 

 

“I love you too, Solar. And I…” Sun looked down for a moment, silent with a somewhat troubled expression. Like he wanted to say something, but just couldn’t find the words. He rubbed his thumb over the lighter attendant’s hand to try to reassure him that everything would be alright. Eventually, he took a breath and continued. “I’ve been in a dark place for so long… I’ve been hurt so many times by people I want to care about… By people I wish would care about me… You are the only person who has never hurt me. The only person I can really trust and love…” 

 

The only person he could trust and love? “...What about Earth?” He couldn’t think of anything that she could have done that would have hurt Sun… 

 

He smiled sadly as he picked at the food. “I do love Earth and care about her… And she had never intentionally hurt me… But she doesn’t have my trust. She’s with Monty, someone who tormented and scammed me for years who has never once apologized. She knows about all of it, but never asked them to do anything about it. A lot of the advice she would give me about Moon, Nexus, and Lunar wasn’t all the best for my mental health and more about me being the better person. Then when you died… I was almost entirely alone in supporting Nexus. We should have done it as a family, but I was… I was the big brother. I wasn’t allowed to mourn like everyone else. So I can love her, but I can’t trust her to always be there and to not hurt me. But I can with you. You’re the only person in my life who has never hurt me, and has only ever been wonderful to me.” 

 

Solar could feel his artificial heart break in his chest at the confession. How could someone, who has only ever known to survive and help others, not lose himself? Sun was stronger than he could ever be. “I promise, I will always do my best to make sure I don’t do something like that. You are my light.” 

 

Sun looked at him with love in his eyes before he nodded. “I believe you.” 

 

Slowly, the two of them eased into far more reasonable conversation as they ate their food and drank their wine. Once they had passed the tense conversation, they moved onto far nicer ones about work, the children, how well the lessons were going, and small things they had been able to enjoy over the quiet month of October. 

 

They both agreed that taking the children shopping and trick or treating was some of their favorite moments. Even though Neptor couldn’t eat, he had loved his first night of collecting candy in his little ghost costume. It had been simple but so cute as his glowing eyes looked out from the floating white sheet. 

 

There were also all of the moments when they had spent time together personally, such as when they laid by the lake on a blanket, or cooked together. The peaceful moments where they could just bask in the presence of each other. Even just napping on the couch together while alone was one of his favorite moments. 

 

By the time dessert came out, Solar’s chest felt warm and full of love as he watched his partner purr at the first bite of his delizia al limone. After all of the doubts he had ever had about it being too soon, worrying about something bad happening, or fretting over the ring not being perfect, he felt ready. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted Sun to be his husband. When his partner offered him a spoonful of dessert, he opened his mouth and allowed it to be fed to him. The sponge cake was perfectly baked and the lemon cream on the inside gave a sweeter burst of flavor that wasn’t too much. 

 

When his starlight giggled, he leaned his head more on his hand. “What is it?” 

 

Sun set down his spoon and reached over to play with one of his rays, causing the mechanic to purr. “The kids are right. Your eyes do become hearts when you look at me. It’s precious.” 

 

He blushed a little but didn't force his eyes to go back to normal like he had before. “It’s because I just… feel so much towards you. I suppose my code can’t contain it internally.” 

 

It made him wonder if Sun’s eyes were capable of it too? He knew the daycare attendant was an older model with basic optics, but they still had LEDs in them. 

 

He gasped when his partner suddenly pulled him forward by his ray and whispered with a deeper tone into his auditory processors. “Your eyes also do it when I take charge and fuck you~” 

 

It made him shiver in delight as he looked over the vision of beauty in front of him. Those exposed yellow shoulders slipped down to the slightly padded top of the dress that hugged the other’s curves in a way that made his mouth go dry. He didn’t know whether he wanted to fuck Sun or if he wanted Sun to fuck him. The heat rising behind his modesty panel at either idea made him close his eyes and swallow as he tried to force himself to calm down. 

 

The reaction didn’t go unnoticed as his starlight kissed him with a chuckle before he pulled away to eat more of his sweet treat. 

 

Solar sipped more at the wine he didn’t really like, needing something to distract himself before he embarrassed himself at the fanciest restaurant he had ever been to in his entire life. He just needed to wait and be patient. He already knew there were plans for them to go to a fancy hotel after the dinner and he just had to wait. 

 

With the desserts soon finished and the resolve in his inner coat pocket, he offered his hand and led his partner over to the open area for a nice slow dance to the romantic music. With his heels, Sun was the same height as him for once, but he also moved a lot slower and more carefully. It made sense since the bright attendant hardly had the chance to wear them, but usually he was a lot more confident in them. They did look new though, so he probably just wasn’t used to those specific ones. 

 

The two of them slow danced, their bodies pressed against one another as they just gently swayed and turned to the music as the stars sparkled above them in a moonless night. No words needed to be spoken as they took in the moment and the feeling of each other. The songs blended into each other and became background noise as they relaxed solely on each other. It was a beautiful, peaceful moment. 

 

Eventually though, Solar stopped and pulled away, holding Sun’s hands in his own. It was now or never, so he smiled at his lover, reached into his pocket, and got down on one knee. Sun’s eyes widened as he pulled out the small ring box that Moon helped him carve and paint. 

 

“Sunrise Celestial,” He started, pausing slightly when he saw a flash of unease in his partner’s eyes that was quickly dashed away. Had he imagined it because of his nerves? “I know we have only been together for a few months, but it has felt like a lifetime. The hardships we face, the love we share, the kids we are raising. We are already so integrated in each other’s lives, and I can’t imagine doing any of it without you by my side. I wanted to wait until more has calmed down, but recently I realized I can’t. I can’t wait longer just to reassure myself about something I already know.” 

 

He opened the box, showing his partner the hand made ring, and Sun covered his mouth. 

 

“Sunrise Celestial, will you marry me?” 

 

There was a breath of silence that lasted for far too long in Solar’s mind before Sun nodded enthusiastically, tears in his eyes. “Yes! Yes I will!” 

 

He relaxed and stood up so that he could hug his sunlight close, kissing him deeply. He had said yes! He said yes! When they pulled away he took the ring out of the box and placed it on his new fiance’s ring finger. His beautiful sunlight looked at the ring in awe as he took in the details. 

 

“Solar, did you make this? It’s amazing!” 

 

The mechanic blushed and nodded. “I wanted to make a better one but Moon insisted I stop so I wouldn’t overdo it and burn myself out.” 

 

Sun smiled and pulled him back in for another, more gentle and slow kiss. “It’s perfect. You are the best partner I could have ever asked for.” 

 

Solar went back in for another kiss, and then another. Each one was slow and sensual as he pressed their bodies close together. Everything had gone perfectly. The dinner, the dancing, the proposal. There was only one way to end off their perfect night, and that was to fall into bed with his perfect Sunrise. 

 

With a quick check to ensure it had all already been paid for, the two quickly left the restaurant and checked into the hotel that had also already been paid for. Monty had reassured him that it had been a long overdue expense, and that they would cover everything. All they needed to do was have fun and play it safe. He had rolled his eyes when the gator suggested they used protection, but he knew that neither he nor Sun could get pregnant. Just playful teasing. 

 

As soon as they entered their room and closed the door, Solar lifted and pressed his fiance against the wall and kissed him deeply. As he did so he reached down to lift up Sun’s legs, which then wrapped around his waist to pull their hips closer together. Arms wrapped around his shoulders, and when he moved to kiss Sun’s neck he could feel his lover tilt his head back to further expose his artificial throat with a desperate whimper. 

 

“s-Solar, please~ I-I need you~” His Sunny lover pleaded before he gasped as his neck pipe was nipped. “Ah~ p-please fuck me!~” 

 

Who was he to deny such sweet cries? 

 

“As you wish~” He purred, continuing to kiss and bite at his lover’s neck as he reached down below the skirt of his dress. Below, he was met with the uncommon feeling of lace panties blocking his way to Sun’s already open modesty panel. Solar groaned as he felt his own cock straining against his own plating. He could already imagine taking the soon to be soaked garment off with his teeth once they finally made their way to the bed. 

 

As he slipped his fingers past the lacy fabric and inside his already panting lover, he found little resistance. Sun ground down on his fingers with a whine. “I-I don’t n-need prep, just-” He moaned as the eclipsed animatronic pressed into a sweet spot. “Sol-Ah!~” 

 

He groaned as his modesty plate slid away and could feel his cock slip out eagerly. Putting down his partner was not an option, so he maneuvered the lovely attendant to be held up with one arm and did his best to remove his pants with one hand. When they dropped to his ankles, he decided it was enough and lifted Sun’s dress enough to press their hips together and slide in. 

 

They both moaned in unison as he gave a gentle thrust to start with. Sun was so tight, and the heat engulfing him made him want to go in deeper. His partner clearly agreed with how he tried to get leverage to push himself further on the wriggling appendage with cute little gasps. 

 

Solar brought the sunny animatronic into a deep kiss as he began to set a steady pace, moving down to kiss and bite at his neck again so he could hear every breathy mewl and plead. He only slowed down for a moment when he felt Sun’s fingers dig into his back, so he pulled away to look at him. 

 

“c-Careful, Starlight. The suit.” He managed to groan out. 

 

Sun only growled in response as he rotated his hips in a way that felt amazing. “I’ll buy you a new one if it rips. Don’t you dare stop.” 

 

“Fuck, you’re so hot.” He growled back as he started to rut into his fiance harder and faster, leaning in to sink his sharpened teeth into the metal of his shoulder. He was careful to make sure to only go through the metal and to not hit any oil lines, not needing to stain the beautiful dress with something difficult to clean out. 

 

His lover cried out in pleasure as he gripped the jacket tighter. “y-Yes! Fuck yes!~” 

 

Solar pulled his teeth out and kissed the quickly filling holes before he gasped as one of Sun’s hands reached up to grip at one of his rays roughly. The sensation shot a tingle of pleasure down his back that made his hips stutter. The familiar hot coil of pleasure grew tighter, and he knew that he wouldn’t last much longer. With how Sun was grasping at him and half calling his name like a prayer, he must have been close as well. 

 

He bit his lip and pressed his forehead into his fiance’s chest as he held back his own release as best as he could. “Come on, baby~ C-come on, starlight~ I know you want to cum~” He gasped at how Sun tightened around him. “t-Together~” 

 

“y-Yes! p-Please!~” Sun cried as he moved his hand back to Solar’s back. Soon enough, he was crying his name as he came. 

 

Solar followed soon after and kissed his lover once again, pressing him more against the wall for leverage as he finally fully kicked off his shoes and pants. The movement caused him to grind more into Sun which caused them both to moan in overstimulation. 

 

Still, they were not finished as he carried the sunny attendant to the large bed and laid him down on it before he finally pulled out. Sun looked downright enchanting with his eyes half lidded, his lips parted as he breathed heavily, and his face glowing with blush. Somehow his makeup managed to stay intact through it all. While his gorgeous dress still covered up everything, his body language made it clear that he had just had the time of his life. 

 

He ran his hands up his other’s thighs as he got on his knees, enjoying how those beautiful yellow legs twitched at each gentle touch. The eclipsed model purred at the idea that he had done so well it made the golden animatronic sensitive all over. “Look at you, so beautiful.” He said with a breathy whisper as he moved the dress just enough to see the red lace panties underneath. They had a lovely floral pattern, and he wanted to admire how nice they looked against his plating, but he still had work to do. He purred more as he placed a kiss on the fabric above his fiance’s pelvis and chuckled at the whine he got in response. “Just a moment, sunlight.” He promised. 

 

Carefully, he took the top of the panties with his teeth and pulled them down, continuing to run his hands back down the trembling dandelion legs as he did so. All the while he kept eye contact with Sun, whose blush grew down to his chest and shoulders. With a burst of confidence, he growled and winked at his lover. 

 

Sun laid back with a laugh as he covered his face. “I-I can’t believe you just did that.” 

 

He took the garment out of his mouth and tossed it over back by his pants before he shrugged off his jacket and began to unbutton his shirt. “What? You didn’t find that hot?” 

 

“I did, but you’re such a dork. Where did you learn that? Porn?” 

 

Solar blushed and looked away, which only made Sun laugh harder. 

 

“Oh my god, I love you so much.” 

 

“I love you too.” He mumbled before he got up. “Do you want to continue or are you still too sensitive?” 

 

The sunny animatronic hummed for a moment as he stretched out. “I could use a few moments. I don’t want to pass out too quickly.” 

 

Solar nodded and went over to their luggage that had been brought in before they even arrived there and pulled out their chargers. He noticed there were also a few condoms but he rolled his eyes at those and went back to set the cords up. “We have all night. And all of tomorrow as well.” 

 

“Then I suppose we have time for a bath?~” Sun asked as he sat up with a wince and reached for his back. “Solar, honey, can you get my zipper?” 

 

“Yeah, one moment.” He said as he laid on the bed so he could reach over and pull the zipper down. “You want a bath after one round? Was I too rough?” 

 

“Mmmm, not too rough, but I am a little sore. I also want to clean up a little before you eat me out~” 

 

Solar purred and rolled off the bed so he could help Sun pull off the dress before he picked him up and carried him towards the bathroom. “Sounds like a plan~”

Chapter 19: Engagement gift

Solar and Sun worked well in the kitchen together. They were making a nice lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup as the children played outside with Earth and Monty. It had been a few days since the engagement, and the two of them constantly cast glances at each other and smiled as they cooked to the music that played on the radio. Occasionally, when one of them wasn’t busy with one thing, they would slip behind the other to kiss each other’s neck pipe or shoulder. It was peaceful, and the eclipsed model couldn’t hope for a more perfect day. 

 

When the sandwiches were done, Solar plated each of them while his fiance set the bowls at the table. Each one had a few homemade garlic croutons in the soup, other than Dazzle’s who had her croutons on the side so that she could put them in whenever she wanted. 

 

Once the table was set, he made his way behind the bright animatronic and ran his hands down his arm before he brought his hands up so he could interlock his own over them over his stomach. Sun leaned back into his chest and closed his eyes with a smile. “You’re purring.” 

 

He closed his eyes and gently ran a finger over the ring on his partner’s finger, smiling as he did so. “Today is just… amazing. The weather is perfect, everyone is happy, and I have the most amazing person in my arms.” 

 

The sunny attendant chuckled. “I didn’t know I was you.” 

 

He laughed lightly in return as he continued to just enjoy the moment. 

 

Right before he pulled away to get the kids, Solar heard the snap of a camera. The two of them looked up to see Moon who had a big smile on his face.

 

“You two are literally so cute together.” 

 

Solar scowled at his future brother-in-law. “Why are you taking a picture of our private moment?” 

 

“Earth wants to make a wedding scrapbook, so I told her if I ever walk in on natural cute moments I’d snap a pic. You know, for the memories!” 

 

Sun rolled his eyes as he pulled away and started to head towards the back doors. “Not every private moment needs to be saved.” 

 

“But you two were so cute. Oh by the way, after you call the others for lunch I need to see you two in the living room. It’s very important. “ 

 

“Uh, sure?” Solar glanced at his partner who shrugged and stepped out to call the kids, Earth, and Monty for lunch before the three of them went to the living room. 

 

When they got there, Moon was smiling wide as he picked up a large envelope and looked at them. It didn’t have any discernible markings on it so they couldn’t tell what it was, but the nighttime animatronic looked very excited. 

 

The eclipsed model wrapped an arm around his partner and raised an eyebrow at his friend. “Alright? What is it? The croutons are going to get soggy if we’re away too long.” 

 

“That’s not important.” Moon said as he handed over the envelope. “I got you both an engagement gift. I’ve been planning it for a while, and I asked Glamrock Freddy to help me get it.” 

 

Solar’s eyes widened as he looked at the envelope again. Sun was tense at his side as he reached over for the offered papers. “Did… Did you really?” 

 

His partner looked up at him. “Is that what I think it is?” 

 

Moon smiled and nodded. “Adoption papers for Dazzle and Neptor. It might not be really official to the government considering we don’t have rights, but it’s the thought that counts. I figured you guys would want a physical representation. I mean, Dazzle already calls you both da-” 

 

Solar cut his friend off with a sturdy hug before he pulled away and looked at the night model. His throat felt tight with emotion as he wiped his eyes and smiled. “Thank you.” 

 

The night scientist nodded and pat his arm before he looked at his brother. “You two should take a look at them and show them to the kids as you sign them. Make it official.” 

 

Sun looked at him suspiciously. “You just want to get a picture of it, don’t you.” 

 

“What better shot for the scrapbook than the adoption?” 

 

He rolled his eyes fondly and went back over to his sunny lover, wrapping an arm around him. “It would. We can hang the picture up next to the certificates.” 

 

Sun smiled at the idea and nodded before he looked to his brother. “Thank you, Moon. You have no idea what this means to us.” 

 

Moon smiled and gave a thumbs up. “I at least know how much you love those kids. Even if Neptor doesn’t call you dads yet, the kid is basically yours.” 

 

Solar opened the envelope and looked at the two certificates, feeling as tears welled in his eyes but didn’t fall. Jack was going to have official siblings. And who knew, maybe in the future they would want to have another? They could build their own little day model that had both of their codes. Or if one of them wanted to try carrying they could go with the traditional method. For now though, they had three wonderful children that they needed to tell the good news to. 

 

Sun took one of his hands and smiled up at him before he leaned into his side and looked at the papers. “We’ll show them after we eat. That way we don’t risk anything getting on them.” 

 

“A good idea.” He smiled as he put the certificates back in the envelope before he placed it on the coffee table. He then kissed his fiance and the three of them made their way back to the dining room to go eat. 

 

As they ate, Jack, Dazzle, and Neptor recounted the fun adventure they had in saving an underground city from god-like beings who wanted to take them to study! It had really been a bunch of different bugs they had found under a large rock that Monty had insisted they use to help with a class about the difference between different types of bugs. Sun, of course, asked a lot of questions on if they learned anything or how they saved the underground city. 

 

Solar smiled as he watched the kids wave their arms around as they tried to explain the complexities of their game. The way they would jump in while the other was struggling to think of the right words. Inside his head, he was recording the entire thing so that he could save it to show them when they were older. 

 

It was moments like those that he found he appreciated the most. The moments where the only chaos was either from the children or whatever stupid playful arguments sprung up around the house. It was the type of chaos that made him think that not everything was bad around them. Even if they had ups and downs, they would still have each other. 

 

“Why don’t we have fun coloring some of the new underground friends you made today?” The eclipsed model suggested as he got up to pick up some of the dirty dishes and took them to the sink. 

 

Dazzle gasped happily at that as she tapped her hooves excitedly on the chair rungs. “That’s so smart! Can we do that now?” 

 

Sun ruffled her hair and shook his head. “Not quite yet, sweety. Solar and I have a surprise, but before we can show that, you all need to go wash your hands and sit nicely in the living room.” 

 

The little deer pouted. “Is it more homework?” 

 

“No, not at all. Your uncle Moon just got us a gift for our engagement. Now go wash up.” 

 

“Yes daddy!” She said with a smile as she ran off towards the bathroom. 

 

Sun collected the rest of the bowls and plates as Solar called over. “Jack, Neptor, that means you too!” 

 

“K!” Jack yelled back as he ran off as well. 

 

“Do I have to wash up too?” Neptor asked with an adorable head tilt. “I did not eat.” 

 

This time it was Earth who spoke up and knelt down to talk to the small bot. “Well, you played a lot outside, didn’t you? Especially with rocks and the little bugs. You have dirt on you, and should get clean. Like how the rest of us had to wash our hands before we ate.” 

 

“Ohhhhh.” Neptor nodded. “Okay!” He then hovered off to go get cleaned. 

 

Solar cooed at how cute their children were. He couldn’t wait to see how they reacted to the surprise. Though they already saw each other as siblings so it had the possibility of confusing them. Still, it was the symbolism that counted and they would be able to look back on it in the future with fondness. A physical representation that they had been chosen and loved. 

 

Monty went over and pushed him out of the way. “Hey man, go get the surprise ready. I’ll take care of the dishes.” 

 

He smiled at them in thanks before he dried off his hands then took his fiance’s hand and went to the living room. When they got there, he once again took out the certificates and measured them in his head. They would need two frames to hang them up properly. He would look over a few, send the ideas to Sun, and then they could let the kids pick which ones they wanted for theirs. Realizing that Jack would possibly feel left out, he added a few extra options that the small pumpkin moon would probably like so that they could let him pick what frame their first official family photo would go in. 

 

He sent a few to his partner by the time the kids came out to the living room and they all excitedly looked at the papers. In the background, Moon got in position with a camera. A big smile was on his face as he got ready. 

 

Dazzle put her hands on the coffee table as she tried to look at them. “What is it, Daddy? Papa?” 

 

“Are the papers the surprise?” Neptor asked curiously. 

 

Jack excitedly bounced up and down as he looked at them. The kid was practically vibrating! 

 

Solar smiled and set the papers down so that the three of them could see what was written on them. “Your uncle Moon managed to get us adoption certificates. Dazzle, Neptor, you two are officially our children. Jack, they are officially your siblings.”

 

The small grey robot looked to Sun as if not completely sure, and the yellow attendant gave a small nod. That caused him to gasp and show a happy face emote. “Yaaaaay! I have parents!” 

 

Dazzle though, looked confused at the papers. “I don get it. Were we not before?” 

 

Sun reached over and picked his little girl up to hold her in his lap. “Well, we are your dads, but we needed to make it official. It’s more of a formality really, to show that we chose you two. That we chose to take you in and raise as our own. Does that make sense, sweetie?” 

 

The little deer looked at the papers with a head tilt, then back to the two of them, then back to the papers, then back to the two of them. She then smiled and nodded. “I think so!” 

 

The sunny attendant nuzzled his daughter’s head, which made her laugh. “You goober.” 

 

Solar chuckled before he looked at the other two, patting the couch as he held out an arm. “Neptor, Jack, come sit with us and help hold up the certificates. We should have a picture to hang up with them.” 

 

“Yes father!” Jack said as he sat on the couch between the two day models. 

 

“Yes papa Solar!” Neptor said as well. When he got to the foot of the couch, Solar scooped the little bot up and set them in his lap. 

 

Together, the five of them held up the certificates and smiled up at Moon who took their picture. They then set the certificates back down and both he and Sun could hug their children close to kiss on the top of their heads. Jack and Dazzle squealed in delight as they tried to playfully escape while their little brother happily accepted the attention. 

 

They eventually let the kids go free. Solar smiled as he ruffled Jack’s hat, causing the pumpkin head to giggle. “Alright you three, you can go back to playing. And Neptor, I’ll be setting up your full bed soon. I finally got it finished.” 

 

“Thank you papa!” The small grey bot chirped. “I love you!” 

 

“I love you too, Nep. Now go play! You guys can help us pick frames for the certificates and family picture later!” 

 

The kids all smiled and ran off to play, leaving Sun, Solar, and Moon there to thing over the wonderful moment. They were officially a family. All they needed was the wedding and then it would all be complete. The warm feeling of his fiance’s arm around him was a comfort he would never want to go without again. There was only one family member missing, but he had no doubt that they would soon have him back. 

 

He couldn’t wait to ask Nexus to be his best man. Of course they would wait for him to fully recover, but he had no doubts his former best friend would be helped by then.

Chapter 20: Bringing them home

Notes:

Is everyone ready for the Nexus and Ruin rescue chapter? I hope you are!

The day had finally arrived. Moon looked over the group gathered and felt a surge of confidence in their plan. Monty and Eclipse were there and getting ready with their weapons while Taurus and Gemini were on standby for when they brought Nexus through. The astrals were also keeping an eye on the dark eclipsed model, but Earth had managed to convince them to allow him to stay at least long enough to help. She wanted to believe that he could try to work off his past mistakes with community service in a way. They weren’t entirely convinced but said they would bring it up with Libra.

For the moment though, they at least let the bastard hold the star powered net launcher that they had Lunar make. While the small night animatronic didn’t want to help at all, they had to use his energy on the weapons they would bring over to the different dimension. If they didn’t, the energy would dissipate before they could use it. Gemini had somehow managed to convince him to at least help with making the different weapons, but other than that, he ignored them.

Moon checked over the remote they had one last time to ensure they wouldn’t break once used. Since they were sneaking in without permission, they had to make remotes connected to the specific energy that had been found on Ruin. The issue was that they could only be used once to get there and come back. If they tried again, there would be a high chance that they would end up in the void between dimensions due to the pocket dimension being moved by Dark Sun.

Which meant they had one chance to go in to save Nexus and Ruin.

Everything would be fine. They had a plan, they had a backup plan, and they had basically professional purifiers. They would take maybe two hours at most, then they could surprise Solar and Sun with the good news. For now, the two could play at the park with their kids unbothered.

Moon practically jumped when the deep voice of Taurus sounded behind him. “You seem nervous, Moon. If you do not ease yourself, you could cause unease in the others. An unclear mind can cause mistakes.”

He let out his held breath and put his hand to his chest. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“I apologize. What troubles you?”

He sighed and looked over at the cell that they had set up for Nexus. It had been reinforced by the astrals and had devices ready to drain whatever negative star power that they could from Nexus. All they would need to do, would be to get a net over him and get close enough to teleport him back.

Everything was going great. Too great. “I’m just nervous I guess. We worked so hard for this, but usually things don’t go so well for us. Usually something gets in the way or tries to stop us. Dark Sun knew some of our plans before, so I know there’s probably at least something waiting for us…”

“Perhaps, but paranoia will lead your mind to see what is not there. Take a moment to clear your mind of the doubts, and refocus yourself.”

Moon nodded and took a deep breath before he let it out slowly. They could do it. They would do it. “Thank’s, big guy. I really appreciate it. I’m glad Lunar has someone like you helping him.”

The large bull star gave an affirmative hum, but frowned. “Unfortunately, I do not believe I will be able to train him for much longer. He is being held back in a way neither Gemini nor I are able to help in. Any time we try to explain it to him, he does not understand. Until it is resolved, he will remain stagnant at his current level.”

He sighed as he fidgeted with his net launcher with a frown. “Is it about the thing Monty talked to you about?”

“Indeed. It is worrying. Unbecoming. We will be speaking to him during his next training session.”

“I’ll try to convince him to go to therapy again… We managed to find someone who takes animatronic patients, but they’re in a different dimension.”

“Therapy… That is help for the mind, correct?”

“Yeah. It only really works if he wants to go himself though. We can only suggest it and give him the resources. Forcing him will only make him not take it seriously.”

“I see. I will have it suggested as well. I am worried after what you and Monty have told us.”

“Thank’s Taurus.” He smiled up at the astral. “I’m feeling better.”

“Even though we did not speak of what you were worried about?”

Moon shrugged. “Talking in general helped. Anyway, I should check to see if the other two are ready to go. Are you and Gemini ready to help with the purification once we drain most of the stuff?”

“We are. Though, understand, not all of this negative energy will be from our dimension. Releasing it here will cause more damage and grow the strength of our enemies. Are you certain Montgomery has a location to send it to?”

“Yup.” He nodded as he looked to the extra device that the gator held. One that wouldn’t return with them. “We’re giving it right back. All of it. That pocket dimension already has a wither storm in it, so it’s the best place.”

“I see. Then, we will see you upon your return. May your hunt be successful.”

Moon smiled with a nod before he went back to the group. Together they all triple checked their equipment one last time and prepared themselves for the task ahead of themselves. They all had a net launcher just in case, but he and Monty also had guns with star rounds just in case. Eclipse wasn’t permitted one due to him essentially being on probation. It had taken long enough for the astrals to be willing to even give him a net. Still, the bastard had his claws, which would have to be enough if he was placed in a tough situation.

Once they were all certain that their equipment would work, they set their notes for their families and friends on a desk and pressed their buttons.

The three of them were transported inside the halls that still showed in Moon’s nightmares. The white walls and grey flooring brought him back to the moment they had found and rescued his brother. They had been so close to losing him, even if just temporarily. The memory of how he held his brother as he bled out from the missing hand and how his bright eyes dimmed, unresponsive for the most part.

His grip tightened over his weapon as he looked around. They were in a small alcove in the halls that looked to be used for storage. For some reason, it was the place Ruin teleported to most commonly when they returned to the base. Still, it was better than the entrance and having to sneak past the dragon again. Their weapons would be able to do some damage, but it would also alert their enemies, and they didn’t need that.

Moon looked to his friend and former enemy and nodded, showing that they were safe to walk before they started on their way. He and Eclipse had removed their bells to avoid making any sound and they kept their footsteps as silent as they possibly could against the metal flooring. Just like before, it was far too quiet. This time though, they at least had something that allowed them to track Ruin through their unique signature instead of actual implanted devices that could be blocked.

Hall after hall they slowly looked around, ducking into rooms that looked like labs so they could tap into important looking computers to take information to look over later. From what they could see on physical documents, it looked like there was research on a small wither shard that had been located, so what information they stole likely would teach them more about dark star energy and its connections to the storms, shards, and stars.

Eclipse was clearly nervous the longer they took as he looked around. The tall animatronic would constantly check behind them and his rays twitched at any sound. His bright pupils would also dart between the computers or machines and the turns in the halls as if he expected danger to come around the corner at any moment, but nothing did. The dark model didn’t dare to say anything either as they were all worried that saying anything would get them caught.

Monty was also on high alert but also focused on making sure their data collection didn’t trigger any silent alarms. Once they were certain something wouldn’t trigger, they would plug in the device and transfer the data.

They were able to do it through three rooms before they finally heard someone approaching. Based around the familiar mumbles, it was Nexus. Not wanting to be trapped inside a small room with only one exit point, the three of them hurried out and tried to sneakily make their way over to the nearest storage alcove. Based on the tracker, Ruin wasn’t too far away, so if they played their cards right, they would be able to get the drop on his corrupted brother and someone else would be able to run off to grab the combined attendant.

Before they could hide, a sinister voice spoke up from behind them. “Well well well… I was wondering when someone would show up.”

Moon turned around and looked at the taller version of himself. The person that he had unintentionally destroyed the life of. His little brother. The darkened half of his face swirled with corrupted energy, with the smile on that half looking almost as incorporeal and made of magic as the side it was on. The tall figure had lines of purple cracked over his body and it looked like his casings were chipping away and falling apart. It looked like he was dying, but the madman only smiled wider.

“I’ve been wanting to go see my old family, but I was told it wouldn’t be for the best. Not yet at least. But what do we have here? You came to me!”

“Nexus…” Moon took a breath and stepped forward. The feeling of the dark energy was strong in the air and it felt suffocating, but he wouldn’t back down. “We came here to get Ruin, but we also came to get you. Your body is falling apart. Corroding. If you don’t stop, you won’t even have a form anymore. Doesn’t it hurt?”

The corrupted being laughed out loud as his sickening grin widened. “Oh it’s excruciating, but hey. That’s the cost of becoming a god.”

Eclipse growled, as he rattled his rays. “You’re not becoming a god, you’re being consumed. If you don’t stop, there won’t be anything left of you.”

Nexus scoffed as he summoned some dark energy in his hand. “What do you know? You had the chance to become a god but you gave it up. I won’t be weak like you.”

Monty raised their shotgun and cocked it. “You don wanna try that. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice.”

The corrupted being laughed as he stepped forward, his grin growing more manic. “Do you really think a gun would be able to do anything against me?! I am a new god of the void and darkness! I could say a single word and control your entire body!”

The gator smirked as they lifted their gun. “Bet I could pull the trigger before you could get a word out.”

“We’ll see about that! KN-” Before Nexus could get the command out, a shotgun round blew through his right thigh. He screamed out in agony as he fell to the ground, holding the wound as cracks of light formed around the wound. “WHY DOES IT HURT?!” He screamed out, curling around his leg. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Monty chuckled. “Star power, bitch. Now are ya gonna stay down or do you want to try again?”

Moon stepped forward and held out an arm. “Calm down, Monty. He’s already down. Use the other one if he tries again. You work on bringing him back while I find Ru-”

They all froze as a strikingly familiar voice called out. “Stop! Don’t hurt my brother!”

Moon felt like the oil in his body suddenly turned to ice as he looked at the new person who arrived. A sun model wearing a similar type of outfit as Nexus other than the fact that it was with more warm reds, oranges, and yellows. Their white eyes glowed in fear as they put their body in front of the much larger animatronic, holding their brother.

Nexus gasped in pain as he reached up, gripping the arm of the one who called him brother. “n-Nova, I told you n-not to come here! You need to go!”

“b-But-”

“I SAID GO!”

The yelling caused Nova to finch. His eyes widened in terror. He then looked towards the hall he had come from as the sound of bells followed.

“n-Nova! What happened?!” Ruin called as they ran into the hall, only to freeze as well as they saw the group. Their eyes widened in fear as they suddenly reached up to their head and gripped it as if they were in pain. The virus must have activated, meaning they didn’t have much time to act. The combined attendant screamed out in pain and drew the attention of all of them.

“Shit!” Monty yelled, lifting their gun to aim at Nexus as the corrupted bot suddenly got up, grabbing Nova to put in front of himself as a shield before he grabbed Ruin by the neck strut and threw them at the group.

“Don’t shoot!” Moon yelled as Eclipse moved to catch the amalgam. He didn’t fully know if his fears were true, but they couldn’t risk anything.

The strange day model cried out and struggled in Nexus’ arms as they tried to reach towards the screaming combined attendant. “w-Why would you throw them?! Eclipse! Eclipse!”

“I told you not to call that damned freak that! We have to go, Nova!”

“b-But they’re hurt!”

“I said Let’s go!”

That caused the scared sunny animatronic to struggle more, giving Moon the opportunity to aim and shoot his net launcher at the two. As the glowing ropes fell over the pair, Nexus screamed in pain as wafts of corrupted black smoke rose up from where it came into contact with the dark animatronic. He tried to struggle but that only made him scream more in pain as Nova cried in terror.

He winced at the familiar sounding cries of his brother begging to be released. Whoever it was, sounded exactly like Sun. But they couldn’t be Sun. Sun was back with Solar and the kids. Had Nexus become disillusioned enough to make a replica of Sun and made them into his own new brother?

No, those thoughts could wait. He had to focus on the next danger.

Ruin was writhing in Eclipse’s arms, growling and screeching as they desperately tried to fight off the mental attack. “m-Moon!” They finally managed to get out.

He knelt beside them. “Hey, don’t worry, we’re already working on a cure. We just need to take you with us.”

A pair of mismatched eyes looked at him, filled with pure terror. “y-You h-have to hurry! You d-didn’t save s-Sun!”

Notes:

...I'm sorry..

Chapter 21: Unkept promises

Notes:

READ THE TAGS! This is a very heavy chapter that deals with the realization related to the Dubcon tag. Please go into this chapter realizing that Solar has been taken advantage of by an imposter. He had consented thinking it was Sun. Please, focus on your own mental health.

Solar smiled as he watched Sun and the children play around the park. A game of tag had started and the littlest kids were climbing the play structure while Jack ran as a ‘distraction’ for Sun to chase. The little pumpkin moon made sure to not go fast enough to lose his dad, but also just fast enough to not get caught.

It was amusing to watch his son wait just long enough for Sun to get almost close enough to catch him before running off again. The two of them were finally getting along and were able to play without accidents. The bond formed between them was much stronger than it had been a few months before.

His attention was pulled away as his phone rang. When he checked who it was he smiled and walked a little ways away and answered it. It was Moon, likely with an update on the rescue mission. "Hey Moon, how did everything go? Did you manage to get them?"

On the other side he could hear the familiar, crazed cackling of an insane Ruin. His friend made a sound of uncertainty which made him worry. "Yeah, yeah, we got them both. There were complications though…" The night scientist took a deep breath. "Is… Is Sun there?"

"Hm? Yeah, he's here. Did you want to talk to him?"

"No!" The response was quick and panicked. Moon took another breath and tried to steady his voice. "No… Actually, I'm sending Earth to pick up the kids to take them to the zoo. I need you to do something, and I need you to trust me."

Solar didn't like the tone the other had, but they must have found something important during the raid. Something that needed him and Sun to be there for. Maybe Nexus had been hurt and they didn't want to tell him yet? "What do you need?"

"Alright, I need you to not react. Seriously, don't let Sun see you react."

He glanced over to where his loving partner was lifting up Dazzle and spinning her around in the air while she laughed happily. Jack looked up at his sunny parent and picked up Neptor to do the same. Whatever he was about to be asked would likely ruin the peace they had worked so hard for. "I'll do my best, but you need to explain things quickly."

"I'll explain more later, but… Eclipse might've been right. That might not actually be our Sun. I need you to get close enough to him to shut him off before he realizes anything is wrong and bring him to the cells we're keeping Ruin in."

Solar felt like the oil froze inside his veins and he felt sick at what was being insinuated. "What? Moon, that-"

"Please, Solar. You know I would never ask this if I wasn't sure and you're the only one he trusts to get close enough to do it. I just need you to trust me. Earth is already on her way, so just tell Sun that she'll be taking them for a few hours so you two can have quality time or something."

He didn't want to believe it one bit, but his friend sounded desperate. As far as he knew, Moon really wouldn't do something like that unless it was absolutely necessary, but at the same time… He was asking Solar to betray his fiance on the chance that he was actually an imposter. How did Moon think he would react to hearing that?!

He sighed as he looked away from his happy family. "If you're wrong about whatever this is, I'm leaving. This is too big of a risk for me. Everyone has hurt him."

"I'll take all the blame and I'll tell him I forced you or something. I promise you though, this is necessary."

Solar didn't even say goodby as he hung up. He was angry at Moon but couldn't express it. His head was swimming with the idea that was presented to him, but it felt so hard to believe. Because if it were true then he… The amount of times that they…

The light, belled footsteps coming up behind him let him know that his fiance was coming, so he turned and smiled at him. His sunny partner looked tired and ready for a break, but he smiled back. "Hey, do you think you can be the one to chase the kids for a moment? I'm feeling a bit hot." He nodded and started to walk back to where the kids were. Sun leaned into his side, so he naturally placed an arm around him. "Who was on the phone?"

"Earth. She called saying she wanted to take the kids on a field trip to the zoo. I know Jack has been begging to go, and we could use some time to relax." The lie felt like ash in his mouth. He had promised on their engagement night that he would never do anything to betray his lover's trust, but now he was being made to either choose to do so or risk everything. How was he supposed to not give anything away?

Sun smiled more and nodded. "I bet the kids will love that. I'll have to thank her later."

"Yup, so let's get the kids ready to go." He said before he called out to them. "Jack! Dazzle! Neptor! Time to get ready to go! Your aunt is coming to pick you three up!"

"Where we going, papa?" The little deer asked as she ran over.

Solar picked her up and held her on his free hip, booping her nose. "Your aunt is taking you to the zoo! Isn't that going to be fun?"

She gasped happily and looked towards her little brother. "Neptor! We're going to the zoo!"

The small grey robot gave a small happy beep as his little head nubs lifted. "The zoo? I have never been to the zoo before!"

"Well, I'm sure you're going to love it." He smiled at his youngest before he looked at Jack. "Are you excited?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna see all the animals!"

He chuckled and set down his daughter before he gave them each head pats. "When Earth gets here I need you three to be on your best behaviors."

"""Yes papa!""" The kids said in unison.

They all waited, mostly patiently, for Earth to eventually come. When she did she didn't show any signs that she knew of what the plan was for, so either she didn't know or she was very good at acting. He hoped she wasn't told yet. He still felt sick and didn't want to believe it himself. He didn't want to do it.

Once the kids were gone, Solar set down one of the mini portals to go home, and gestured for his… partner… to go through first. Once they were both at the house, and went inside, he steeled his nerves and kissed Sun. The lighter model was surprised, but kissed back with a chuckle. They had the entire house to themselves after all, so no one would bother them for a while.

"Eager, aren't you?" He purred as he ran his hands down the eclipsed model's sides. "Have you been holding back all day?~"

Solar nodded and kissed him deeper, feeling as his precious light kissed back. It was time to make his choice. He could either betray his fiance at the chance that Moon was right, or he could take his fiance to bed at the risk of Moon being right… If the night scientist was wrong, then the betrayal would be the worst his partner would face, and it would be his fault. If his friend was right though, then not doing it could put everyone in danger…

He softly moaned as he slid his hand up the lighter model's back and stopped sight below the neck strut. Would he really do it? He shivered as a knee pressed up in between his legs, and he slowly slid his fingers up the pale metal. He could easily just play it off as playing with his rays if he just moved his hand to the side. If he just stopped.

When his fingers gently brushed against the open wiring in the back of his fiance's head, Sun shivered and started to pull away. "So-" His white eyes then darkened as Solar pressed the switch, and caught the now limp body.

The distressed eclipsed model held the body of his betrayed lover and sobbed as he lowered himself to his knees and cradled him. He didn't want to just collapse and accidentally hurt the lifeless yellow body. Solar cried out in despair at what he had just done as he held Sun closer and hid his face into the cooling chest.

---

Solar felt hollow as he sat in a different room away from the cells. Moon had insisted he took a moment to relax while he and Eclipse got everything ready for the interrogation.

"It's a piloted drone." The darker version of himself had claimed. "The code was so hidden it was nearly impossible to find."

A piloted drone. His mind refused to believe it was true. How could he possibly accept that? It had been nearly three months! He would have noticed! He knew his partner!

Right?

The door to the room opened but he didn't look up. He couldn't stand to talk to anyone at the moment. Still, the person sat next to him and he could see familiar blue pants with yellow stars next to him. "Hey…"

He didn't say anything.

"We had three people look over the code, and we confirmed it's a drone… We're about to wake it back up for questions. You should be there."

"Why?" He finally choked out quietly. He didn't want to believe them. He didn't want it to be true.

"Because whoever is piloting it might've grown a soft spot for you. It might answer you more than us."

"A soft spot?" He asked, looking up at Moon in disbelief. "A soft spot?! Do you even realize the implications if you're right?!" Solar screamed as he stood up. "Do you realize what I'm going through right now?!"

The night model looked apologetic, but that only made him more angry. "Solar, Sun is my brother. My twin. This is hard for me too."

"NO!" He yelled as he shoved his friend out of the chair. "You don't understand! If this is really him, then I just betrayed him after promising to never do something like that! If this really isn't him then I-" He sobbed as he thought over the past couple of months he had spent with Sun. The amount of times that they- How many times that he- "i-If that isn't Sun, than who have I-"

Solar broke down, falling to his knees as he covered his face. He couldn't even voice the implications. He didn't even want to think about the implications. The idea that he had shared his bed with… some imposter… it was too much.

He could hear as Moon got up and stepped close, but didn't touch him. He didn't want to be touched anyway. He didn't want to be there! He wanted to be at home with his fiance and his children! Instead he was at some Persona ass looking dungeon, waiting to see if he even had a fiance!

Still, Moon sat with him for however long he needed. Eventually, he fell silent again. It still took him a while longer to speak, but when he did, his voice felt hollow. "What benefit would there even be for me being in the room?"

Moon let out a breath and stood up so he could offer Solar a hand. "Well, for one… I feel like if it does confess, you'd believe it more than if we just told you after. But also if we're wrong, we'd need you to comfort him."

"He'd never want to speak to me again…"

"Wouldn't you still want to be absolutely certain and hear it for yourself?"

No, he didn't, but he knew that if he didn't then he would be in denial. Solar took the hand offered to him, and got up.

Together they went into the main cell room where Eclipse and Gemini waited. The darker day model was leaning against the desk while looking over some papers, his eyes only moving towards them to see who was coming into the room. The astral was in front of one of the far cells, observing what looked to be a sleeping Ruin. For what reason, Solar didn't know. He couldn't find the energy to care.

In the closest cell, he could see Sun. His eyes were closed, and with how he was placed against the walls next to the bars, it almost looked like he had fallen asleep peacefully.

Moon went over to the cell and looked back at Eclipse. "We ready?"

"Have been for two hours." The darker animatronic sighed as he set down the papers. When he looked over at his lighter counterpart, his eyes showed no malice. He had no cocky grin or sharp words. Only sympathy. "You can leave at any time during it. I won't hold it against you."

The fact that Eclipse of all people was the one to offer that to him made everything feel more… heavy. Real. Final. Even though he didn't like the other, he appreciated the gesture. He nodded in thanks and looked towards the cell. "Do it."

Moon nodded as well before he reached through the bars and flipped the switch to turn Sun back on. He then stepped back and they waited for him to wake up. It took longer than usual, which wasn't a good sign.

When he did wake up, his movements were slow and sluggish. His dim eyes blinked for a moment as he looked around before they brightened when widening. "w-What's going on? Why are we here? Why am I-" His eyes fell onto Solar and filled with tears, causing the eclipsed model's chest to feel like it tightened. "s-Solar? w-What happened? Why did you…"

Eclipse stepped forward with a growl. "Cut the act, we know you're not really Sun. We found the evidence we needed."

The scared animatronic shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about! Solar, please! I-I'm scared! Please, I didn't do anything!"

Hearing his partner cry out for him made Solar want to just open the cell so he could hold the sunny attendant, but a firm hand on his shoulder prevented him from making that decision. It kept him grounded in the possibility. Still, tears escaped his eyes as he looked at them. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't want to. Please, just answer them."

"I don't know what they're talking about! Why is Eclipse even here?! Are the children okay!"

Eclipse growled even louder. "Shut up with your pathetic whining. I know you're not really Sun and I can prove it. Use some magic."

Sun stiffened up at that and looked at the tall animatronic with wide eyes. "w-What?"

"I make piloted drones." The dark model sneered. "I know that there is no way to imbue them with magic that wouldn't be noticeable. So, if you can use magic then we will believe you're the real deal."

"Please Sun." Moon said with a softer tone. "Just shoot a small fire bolt at the wall. Or hey, turn one of us into a goose. Just do that and we'll let you out instantly and throw the biggest apology ever."

The yellow animatronic looked uncertain at that, and looked at Solar. He just looked back with a silent plea. Just one spell, that would be all it took. If he could do it, then they could all work on earning his forgiveness.

Sun's face then slowly turned from his fearful uncertainty to a bored expression with with a sigh as his eyes gained red irises. His body language grew more relaxed, and his voice took on a deeper, bored tone. One that was familiar, and filled Solar with dread. "I was really hoping this would last longer, but oh well. It seems you really do still keep secrets from your brother. But, what could I expect from a Moon?"

He could feel as his friend's fingers tightened on his shoulder, but he didn't care. Solar felt sick as the last few months came crashing down around him fully.

"You son of a bitch! What did you do to my brother?!"

The imposter, Dark Sun, sighed as he stood up. In his usual fashion, the evil version of his partner put his arms behind his back. "He had been reset before you had gone to rescue him. As I was acting as him I overrode his backups with my own, so the only way for you to get him back is to convince Nexus to give you his storage chip."

Eclipse punched the wall next to the bars but the drone didn't flinch. "What the hell was your plan?!"

"Why should I tell any of you? All you have is a body that isn't even my own. You have no power over me currently, and I am the one who has the information you want. I don't want anything from you currently, so I will offer nothing in return. To you at least." His red eyes drifted towards the lighter eclipsed model instead. "I do wish to speak to him before I go."

Solar stiffened up, his eyes widening. "What?"

"I understand that this is likely a difficult situation for you, but I know that once you get Sun back, he will be able to help you. You never betrayed him."

"How can you say that?" He asked brokenly. He wanted to run into the cell and kill the bastard but his body wouldn't move. "How dare you!"

Dark Sun sighed and gave him a look of pity. "I truly am sorry for the distress I've caused you. If it's any consolation to you, you can keep Neptor. I have no more use for him." Before what he said could sink in, he continued to speak. "I truly did enjoy our time together. Perhaps I should get a Solar of my own."

Before anyone could stop him, Dark Sun suddenly reached up and tore out his own wires, setting off a chain reaction as the body fell and convulsed and smoke started to pour out from the yellow casings.

Solar called out in horror and distress as he tried to run into the cell, but was held back by Moon. He had to get in there! All he could see was the body of his partner as it seized and burned from the inside out. Eclipse cursed as he ran in instead and attempted to stabilize the body. He couldn't hear what they were saying as the visual of Sun dying in front of him burned into his memory. It didn't matter that it was Dark Sun piloting a drone, it still looked like the man he loved!

Even Gemini rushed over and knelt next to him, holding him instead as Moon rushed forward to help stabilize the body. There was no way to fight against the astral, but he continued to try anyway. He had to… He…

He couldn't do anything…

Chapter 22: Damage report

Notes:

A reminder. This fic has heavy topics and can be distressing. I would rather you focus on your own mental health over reading this if it becomes too much. Always read the tags, and step back if needed.

Moon sighed as he looked over the damage report for the drone body. He had hoped that when they got Sun's chip back that they could use it to bring him back. Unfortunately, it seemed that Dark Sun had set up something to ensure that the body would be rendered useless. All of the internal workings were either fried or burned, leaving no software to build off of, and hardly any usable hardware. Even the casings themselves were partially warped and wouldn't be structurally sound.

It was a complete hunk of junk.

He had been working on trying to recover what he could, but it had been hours with nothing to show for it. He knew that he should take a break, but any time he closed his eyes, all he could see was how the body that looked like his brother convulsed and cooked alive. Even if it wasn't really his brother, the traumatic experience remained. He couldn't blame Solar for shutting down afterwards. He wanted to lock himself in his room and just ignore the world, but he couldn't. He had to start the process of purifying Nexus.

With a sigh, Moon got up and made his way over to the holding room. It had been a while since he had used it against Molten, but it still held up well. Especially after the upgrades that the astrals had helped with. Now, it held Nexus. Even though it had been a day since they had brought him in, the corrupted animatronic was still trying to break out. Thankfully, the sound barrier blocked the screaming so that they wouldn't have to hear it. Nearby, Taurus stood to ensure the threat did not somehow escape.

The reset of his brother, Nova, was sitting against the glass of the cage. A blanket was wrapped around his shoulders and he eyed everyone with a sense of fear. Even so, he didn't try to run. He stuck next to their brother like a loyal guardian. That, or he was too afraid to go anywhere.

Moon stopped at a distance and crouched down. He made sure to keep his voice soft for the trembling animatronic. Even though he was angry that this was a reset of his twin, he refused to ruin the mind of another innocent AI. For once, he had to be the calm and composed one, because no one else was. "Hey there. Your name is Nova, right? I'm Moon."

Nova nodded slightly and brought the blanket closer to himself. "I know… Eclipse told me about you…"

"Eclipse?" He had heard him say that before when Nexus had thrown Ruin. "Do you mean the short celestial model with the different colored eyes? The one who was there with you and Nexus?"

He nodded again."I'm not supposed to call them that, but calling them Ruin just sounded mean… a-Are they alright? They were screaming."

Moon gave a reassuring smile. "Yeah, they're just sick at the moment. They have a virus that makes they very aggressive, so we need to keep them somewhere safe where they can't hurt anyone or themselves. Do you want to see them?"

Nova looked torn for a moment as they looked up at Nexus. The corrupted animatronic had taken a pause in his tantrum and just looked tired and pained. With the upgraded cell dampening his energy to prepare him for the extraction, it likely was leaving him more weak. "I… I can't leave my big brother… but I want to see Eclipse…"

"Hey, no worries. We have someone special working on helping them. And we're going to be helping Nexus too."

The bright animatronic's eyes widened as he looked back at him. "You're helping my big brother? Can you make him not sick anymore?"

"Yeah, we'll be removing the stuff that's making him sick. I'm letting you know now though. It will be painful for him, and with how much he has we'll have to do it in batches to avoid causing any unnecessary damage. He's actually my little brother, and we've been wanting to take him home for a long while now."

While he himself had only been trying to get Nexus back over the past couple of months, he knew that before Sun had been kidnapped, he and Earth had been wanting to bring him home. Solar as well. Now it seemed that they had a new little brother… Eclipse and Monty had suggested that they just erase Nova so they could take back Sun's original body if they couldn't use the drone, but everyone else agreed that they couldn't. He hadn't chosen to be created or to take the body. He was just a new AI that had woken up and grew into himself.

No matter how badly they wanted Sun back, they couldn't kill some innocent kid.

Nova frowned a bit. "Nexi told me that his old family abandoned him… Hurt him…"

"I know, but that was his perspective. His idea on how it went was… warped. The sickness he has? It infects the mind and makes someone aggressive and irrational. It drives people into doing things they usually wouldn't do, and if someone tries to help them in a better way, they might see it as them… trying to stop them."

"…Like when he hit me, and Eclipse said it was because of the sickness?"

Moon could feel his artificial heart drop at that single sentence. While he knew of course that Nexus would have been possibly verbally abusive and commanding, he had hoped that it wouldn't have been physical. This animatronic wasn't even three months old, and the big brother they clearly cared a lot about had already hit him, and used him. He should have realized when they saw Nexus use him as a shield.

He nodded sadly. "How much have you been told?"

"He didn't tell me much, but Eclipse tried to help fill in what was left out. They don't treat me like a kid, unlike Nexi and Sun."

"Sun?" Moon asked, trying to keep any hostility out of his voice.

"Yeah, the other animatronic that looks like me. Except he has red eyes, and wears a suit. He doesn't tell me much, but did tell me that I shouldn't take the bad things Nexi did to me…"

That must have been Dark Sun, but he likely would have gone by Sun with no other to go by the base name. That wasn't important for the moment though. "What did he do to you?"

Nova looked down, guilt on his face. "It was really my fault most of the time… I should have just listened more and did what he told me to do… He gets so angry when his sickness acts up, and I'm just not quick enough at listening."

"How often did it happen?" He asked, heart breaking more as he listened. He was so new, yet he had already been hurt so much. Even though it would be a difficult time for a lot of the family, he knew that they would need to work hard on making Nova feel cared about.

"It didn't happen much at first, but… it slowly got worse. He only hit me once though, and it was because I couldn't feel the thing he wanted properly. After we found it, he got angry more often… but he always tried to hold back from hitting me. He did shake me a few times though… He also would lock me in my room sometimes…"

"Well… when we help take the sickness out he shouldn't do that anymore. We're going to make sure both of you are taken home and well taken care of. You have a few older siblings who are worried about the two of you."

"Even me?"

"Yeah, even you."

The young day model teared up and his lip trembled. "Even if I'm the reason you can't get your brother back? t-The mean gator said that it's not even my body, a-and that I don't deserve to be here…"

Moon growled and looked towards the doors. "I'll be telling Earth about that so she can deal with them." He sighed and looked back. "Look… it's true that that body isn't actually yours, but we aren't going to force you out of it. You didn't ask for this just as much as he didn't… When we get him back, I'm sure the two of you will be good friends."

"h-How will you get him back?" Nova asked sadly.

"Your big brother Nexus has the chip we need to bring him back. Once we have that, we can work on making him a new body. Or, if you want, you could design your own body, and we can give him back his own. How does that sound?"

Nova thought about it for a moment before he nodded. "Okay…"

"Good… Now do you want to stay here for the purification process? As I said, it is unfortunately going to hurt, but we'll be doing it in batches to make sure it isn't too much for him. You can either go visit Ru- Eclipse, or you can offer support. It's your choice."

"I want to stay with my big brother, but I also want to go see if Eclipse is alright…"

"Here, why don't I pull up camera feed of them while this goes on? That way you can see them." Moon smiled as he got up and went over to the desk. He just had to continue to act calm for a little while longer before he could go home. Maybe have Molten watch the reset… "I'm also going to make it so we can hear Nexus so I can ask him questions before we get started. It looks like he's calmed down from his temper tantrum."

When he allowed the sound to pass through, Nexus sat up, squinting at them as if to guess what they said. His breathing sounded labored, meaning his fans were likely damaged and corroded. They would need a spare body to move what little of him there was left so that he wouldn't die after the purification. For all they knew, the dark energy could have been the only thing holding him together.

Moon typed away at his keyboard to look over his little brother's vitals while he waited for him to find his voice again. From what he could see, the bullet in his leg was causing positive star energy to poison his body. Combining that with the dampening equipment, and the purification became both easier and more dangerous. If they did too much at once, they would kill him, but not enough and it would take too long, risking a slow and painful death.

"Nexi?"

Nexus drew in a ragged breath before he spoke. His voice was raspy and every sound was clearly a struggle. "Nova… what did t-they tell you…"

Nova pressed his hand against the glass. "They said that they're going to help you not be sick anymore."

"And you believed them? They're going to kill me and then kill you just so they can have your body."

"But-"

"They broke into our home and attacked us. They kidnapped us and started telling you lies."

Moon glared at the corrupted bot. By this point he should count himself lucky that he was still trying. "Stop it, Nexus. We're trying to save your life. If we don't, you'll just die slowly."

"You're manipulating my brother! You're going to torture and kill me right in front of him!"

Taurus made his way over, towering over the corrupted animatronic in a way that made Nexus back away slightly with a growl. "Interesting… Do you truly think we are attempting to kill you?"

"Yes!"

"Hmmm. You will see in time as the darkness fades from your mind. Moondrop, please proceed."

"Alright… Hopefully he'll be willing to give us Sun's chip after a few rounds… We couldn't get it earlier…" Moon mumbled as he started to set the program up. "Remember, Nova. We are trying to help him. You can leave at any time and Gemini will help you go see R-… Eclipse."

When the reset nodded, he started the program.

It started off slow at first since they didn't want to shock his systems, but as the amount of power rose, so did the clear pain in Nexus. Soon enough, the corrupted animatronic was screaming in pain as they watched large clouds of the dark energy flood into the machines at each top corner of the cell. Nova huddled off to the side and covered his audio receptors, eyes closed as tears streamed down his face.

"s-Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it." The young animatronic cried quietly.

"We're almost done for the day…" Moon tried to say reassuringly. He knew it wasn't going to make it any better.

"Moon, he has something." Taurus suddenly said, sounding concerned.

When he looked over, his eyes widened and he suddenly stopped the process. "n-Nexus, don't do anything rash."

In the dark moon's hand, was a storage chip. Something so small and hard to notice, but held so much. That was Sun. Without it, they would never be able to bring him back. When he took a tentative step forward, the other put pressure on the fragile thing, making him stop.

Nexus chuckled darkly. "If you're going to kill me, I'll at least make sure you never get your precious Sunny back."

"We can talk about this."

"The thing is, Moon, is that I know this is all you really want." His broken grin widened, causing bits of his faceplate to chip off. "As soon as you get him back, you're going to kill me, and steal my brother away. Play him off as just another Sun in your collection. I might as well earn my death."

"No!" Moon tried to rush to the controls to try to open the cell so that Taurus could do something, but before his hands even touched the keyboard he heard a sickening crunch, and small shards falling to the ground.

It was too late. By the time his hands touched the computer, his twin had been killed. He couldn't have done anything to stop it.

But he could do something now…

Moon clenched his jaw, and pressed the button to start the program again. His hands shook as the screaming started.

Chapter 23: An overfilled emptiness

Everything was wrong. Solar felt like he had no energy, but felt like he needed to do something. He wanted to be alone, but wanted someone there. He wanted to see his children, but couldn't bear to see them at the moment. How could everything be too much but not enough at the same time?

He had already taken multiple showers, not feeling clean after everything he had learned. He had tried everything to try to scrub away the feeling of Dark Sun's hands roaming over his body, but nothing worked. And what was worse, was that when he tried he kept thinking about the moments they had shared. Like the time that the imposter had made out with him against the shower wall. The way he had kissed him deeply as his hand worked their writhing tendrils between them.

Solar choked back a sob and hid his face against his knees, wincing as he put pressure against the metal. Using coarse steel wool to try to get the feeling to disappear had been a horrible idea that hadn't even worked. Now his entire body would just hurt until he healed, and he needed new paint.

"Solar?" Earth's voice called softly from the stairs. He pulled his knees closer to himself. "Are you done with your shower? I made you lunch. Just… knock twice on the headboard if you can hear me."

He knocked twice. Apparently he had become non verbal after what he had witnessed, but he hadn't realized until after it had been pointed out. He couldn't think properly.

When she came up he could holding a bowl that held white rice, along with a plate that had strips of beef and vegetables on the side. she set them on the bedside table before she looked him over with a small frown. "Solar, can I see your arm?"

He freely gave it without a thought and watched as her eyes watered. She probably understood exactly why he had done it. She had been told what happened by Eclipse.

"Would you mind if I got something to wrap these up?"

He shook his head. It would probably be for the best so the damage wouldn't be made worse before it could heal…

"Is it only the arms?"

Solar looked away in shame. She didn't chastise him though, and instead stood up.

"Alright… I'm going to go get some bandages while you eat, and… maybe ask Monty to buy more. When I come back, I'm going to help you put them on. Are there any parts you don't want me to help with?"

He nodded, closing his eyes as more tears fell. Now that he focused on it more, everything just hurt.

"Do you think you can do those parts yourself?"

He nodded. It would be difficult, but he didn't want anyone touching around his hips or thighs.

"Alright… I'll be back soon. And I think it might be best if you're more supervised for a while. I know you're going through a lot, but I don't want you hurting yourself."

Solar gave no answer at that. He didn't want to be constantly watched when he did every little thing. He didn't want anyone in the bathroom with him when he tried to shower, but if he said no then it would be hypocritical. It was exactly how they had treated…

He began to sob openly as he thought back to the first month after they had brought Dark Sun home. How they had all kept constant watch over him to ensure he wouldn't suddenly start hurting himself. They had all lost sleep over it! They had been stressed beyond belief because they were so terrified that if he was left alone for a moment that they would come back to find him broken!

And it had all been an act to ensure that their focus had been drawn away from the search.

And now he was the one in that position, being a burden to the family that cared about him. That took him in. Except he wouldn't have his lover to fall asleep next to every night. If they didn't trust him after this, would they even allow him to sleep alone?

He could vaguely hear Earth as she tried to ask him something, but he couldn't understand the words. When she held her arms open though, he understood and leaned into her. Her arms wrapped around him carefully as if he were made of glass, and it felt like he was as even the light touches caused pain to shoot through him. Like all of his nerve endings were being pressed into with the smallest shards of shattered glass.

She continued to speak softly to him, the words mostly unheard as he tried to block out the pain. To block out everything. He just felt so tired… Before he could close his eyes though, a plate was put into his hands, and he was forced to focus as a spoon was also placed in his hand.

Right, he needed to eat…

Solar slowly ate what he had been given, and when water was placed into his hands as well, he drank that. He didn't want to think about how he probably was in a similar state to how… He just didn't want to think anymore.

Eventually the plate was taken from his hands, and he could feel someone messing with the back of his faceplate. He could somewhat recognize the voice of Monty saying something before he felt his pain receptors turn off. The gator's green claws then snapped in front of his face, and didn't stop until he was focused.

"Monty, stop that." He could finally hear Earth say. "That isn't how you help someone."

They huffed. "Well I'm sorry, but I think he'd feel worse if we jus started to take his shirt off. That's the whole reason he did this, ain't it? He needs to be able to wrap himself up."

Monty was there with what looked to be extra bandages and some sort of spray. He must have been dissociating for longer than he realized…

When they looked at him again and realized he was focused, their eyes softened. "Hey man… I know you're going through a lot, but we need to take care of your casings. We need to at least wrap them up while we wait to get ya new ones. Do you think you can do it on your own still?"

No, he didn't, but he didn't want anyone to touch him other than his arms. So he nodded.

"Do you want Earth to stay with you to make sure you can do it right?"

Solar nodded, even if he didn't want to be touched, he knew they wouldn't want to leave him alone. He also knew she wouldn't do anything to make him uncomfortable.

"Alright, I'll head down an check on the kids…" They looked to their partner. "The spray is to help against rust. Make sure it gets over any exposed metal. Since he did it in the shower, there's a higher risk."

Earth took the spray with a nod. "Of course. Thank you, Monty."

"I'll check in later, and I'll tell Moon about this so he can get the replacement plating ready. Hopefully we can get him fixed up soon." They said before they headed out.

Once Monty was gone, Earth looked at him sadly. "Alright… We should probably start with the spray. I'm so sorry to ask this, but could you please get undressed?"

Solar looked away but worked on taking his clothes off.

Somehow it didn't take long to get it all done. He couldn't remember doing it, but when the world came back into focus he was bandaged and dressed in new pajamas, and Earth was reading a book on the chair. He just felt so tired and wanted to sleep… where would she go though?

…He didn't care anymore. Solar laid down and closed his eyes. He could hear her move for a moment before she messed with something on the bedside table. The lights dimmed and soft music started to play.

"I hope you have a better night, Solar… I love you." She whispered before he heard her leave.

Notes:

Solar now knows what it was like on the other side of how they cared for "Sun".

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Severed ties