Missing

Early the next morning, around midnight, Emma was in the elevator again, descending down to where her friends waited. As usual, she slipped through the vent into the small room. But unusually, it was silent. No sound. She switched on the light to Ballora gallery and looked through the window. There was nobody there. Emma opened the vent and entered the Gallery, looking around. "Ballora?" She called. No answer. "Ballora?" She called again, louder. Still no answer.

Emma ran over to Funtime Auditorium. "Foxy? Freddy?" She asked. They emerged from behind the curtain. "Do you know where Ballora is?"

"She's not in her gallery?" Foxy asked, tail waving.

"No. I called for her and she didn't answer."

"Let's ask Baby," Freddy said. "Come on!" Emma dashed after Freddy, Foxy following, into Circus Gallery.

"Baby!" Emma said as they entered. Baby looked up from where she was sitting. "Ballora's missing!"

"What?!" She asked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she's missing! She's not in her gallery."

"She's not in Funtime Auditorium either," said Foxy. "We would have seen her come in."

"We've gotta look for her," Baby decided. "Everyone, split up and search. Foxy, you search through the halls and closets. Freddy, look through all the rooms in your auditorium. Emma, look through the rooms in her gallery. I'll look in here."

"On it!" Freddy and Foxy said, dashing away. Emma followed, heading back into Ballora Gallery. She searched under all the tables, behind her curtain, and began to search through the rooms lining the wall. She searched through the janitors closet, nothing. Through the tools room, nothing. Through both the bathrooms, nothing. She was about to look in the final room when she heard a shout. It was Foxy.

"Guys! Come quick!" Emma dashed out and towards Foxy's voice, panting. The metallic clangs of footsteps followed her. She turned a corner and saw Foxy standing outside one of the closets in the hallways. Emma peeked inside and was horrified by what she saw. There was Ballora, in pieces. Pieces of her metal plating and endo skeleton were strewn across the small floor of the closet. She heard a gasp behind her. Baby had arrived.

"What happened?" Freddy asked. "Why is she in pieces?"

"I don't know!" Emma said, hand over her mouth.

"Can you fix her?" Foxy asked, looking toward Emma desperately.

"I- I can try."

"Please try!" Baby said. "The children will be so disappointed tomorrow. And we'll- we'll miss her." Emma thought for a moment.

"Alright, but I'm gonna need some help." The other animatronics nodded. "I need Foxy and Freddy to carry all of her parts back into her gallery and lay them out on one of the tables. Then pull another table over parallel to it. Baby, you're going to help me find and carry the right tools and spare parts. Some of hers look damaged. Thankfully her memory chip looks intact."

"On it!" Foxy and Freddy said, and began gathering up the parts carefully and gently.

"Let's go," Emma said, heading back into Circus Gallery, where the parts room was located. Thankfully, they had parts sorted into different bins with labels on them since the last time Emma was here. Baby lifted the bin labeled Ballora with ease, and followed Emma back into Ballora gallery. She set the bin down next to the table, then followed Emma into the tools room.

Emma gave her a large tool box and began throwing different tools into it. Different sizes of screwdrivers and wrenches, small hammers, extra bolts, drill, and welder's equipment. She then gathered all the paint colors she might need for Ballora, white, blue, purple, etc. She carried these on her arms, but put different sizes of brushes in the toolbox as well. She also added a couple of rags. "I think that's everything we might need," she said, tying her hair back.

"Let's hurry," Baby said. "Your shift ends soon."

"I'll stay past my shift if I have to," Emma said, exiting the room. "I'll explain to the day shifters. Probably something about programming you guys to help with heavy stuff or something." She set the paint down next to the Ballora parts, Baby doing the same with the tools. Emily took a deep breath and rolled up her sleeves.

First she placed the parts on the other table in the shape of Ballora's body, leaving the plates. She would deal with those later. The endoskeleton was mostly intact, while in many pieces, but easily fixable. She fitted the parts together, welding and screwing the appropriate pieces together. She did have to replace a lot of the rotators.

After an hour and a half, the endoskeleton was complete. Emma didn't replace the memory chip yet, she wasn't sure if this would hurt Ballora. And so she began with the plates. Repainting the ones that needed repainting, she fitted each one carefully in the correct place. She made sure that the eyes were still able to open and close, then picked up the memory chip, flipping up her welding mask. "Oh, I hope this works," Baby said, standing next to Emma, above Ballora's head.

"There's only one way to find out," said Emma, and gritting her teeth, she inserted the memory chip. Ballora whirred to life, eyes open.

"What- what happened?" She murmured, sitting up, then standing up. "Oh my goodness! I feel AMAZING!" She twirled about. "I feel brand new!"

"You have Emma to thank for that," said Freddy, sighing in relief. "We found your parts and she completely put you back together, without any instructions and barely any help from the rest of us!"

"You guys helped a lot…" Emma said, blushing. "But we're glad to have you back, Ballora."

"And I'm glad to be back!" She exclaimed, hugging Emma.

"Ballora," Baby said, moving forward. "Do you know who did this to you?"

"Yes," Ballora said, sitting back down on the table. "It was a man. He was taller than you, Emma. He wore a purple uniform, similar to Emma's uniform. He had a name tag. It was hard to make out, but I think it said Afton."