#chapter 104

Chapter 104

Rossi’s villa seemed to breathe that evening. Not in the metaphorical sense used to embellish a memory, but in something more concrete, almost physical, as if the walls themselves retained the warmth of the lives that had inhabited them. The lights strung through the garden trees swayed gently in the warm breeze, casting dancing shadows on the grass, and the glasses on the table reflected golden glints that shifted with the wind. Every corner carried a trace of what had been, an echo felt in the details. It wasn't just a house, but a place that had seen the team change, break apart, and piece itself back together—a silent witness to everything that had happened.

Rossi stood alone for a few moments before the others arrived, his hands shoved into his pockets, his fingers tapping faintly against the fabric, his gaze lost beyond the lawn. Precise images rushed back to him, photographs flashing through his mind. JJ and Will’s wedding, the laughter, the music playing too loud as if it would never end. The vigil for Strauss, the heavy silence, glasses raised with respect, words that hadn't been necessary. Impromptu dinners after hard cases, when no one was truly hungry but everyone needed to stay together, to share the same space even without speaking.

He inhaled slowly, his chest rising. It wasn't nostalgia, but awareness—a recognition that went beyond words. When he stepped back inside, the first voices were already filling the house, a spreading wave.

Matt and Kristy were among the first to arrive, their footsteps echoing on the floor, followed by Luke, who moved with his characteristic quiet energy. JJ and Will came in together shortly after, speaking in low tones as if afraid to break the evening's fragile equilibrium, their hands barely brushing. Emily arrived with her usual composed confidence, her movements measured and light, but her eyes softer than usual, a quiet warmth turning on inside them.

Garcia was the last. And when she crossed the threshold, everything shifted—a realignment felt instantly in the air. Her colorful streaks caught the light, her Ziggy Stardust-inspired makeup bold, luminous, and perfectly her own, a statement leaving no room for doubt. There was nothing held back in her, nothing uncertain, only the absolute surety of being exactly who she wanted to be. It was a declaration, more than a look.

"Alright, people," she said, opening her arms, her fingers spreading in a gesture that was both a greeting and an embrace, "let's try not to cry before dessert."

Someone laughed, the sound rising into the air. Someone else didn't, their eyes growing overly bright.

Taylor arrived beside Spencer a little later, her body moving with a naturalness that needed no announcement. She was without Sophie, and for a second both of them looked slightly out of place without that constant presence that now defined their every day, their hands reaching out for something that wasn't there. But it lasted only a moment; a single glance between them was enough to find a new equilibrium, quieter yet deeper—a recognition transcending words.

The evening took shape slowly, like an unguided wave. Conversations intertwined, shifting from group to group, passing from shared memories to small fragments of the future, voices rising and falling with natural ease.

They talked about Denver, about finding homes, about choices that weren't simple but necessary. Emily spoke of it with a calm that didn't hide the change, but welcomed it, her hands moving slightly as she spoke. JJ mentioned the relocation offer to New Orleans with a lightness that failed to fool anyone who truly knew her, but no one pressed her, letting the words find their own space. Not tonight.

When it was Spencer and Taylor's turn, they didn't make a theatrical announcement; they dropped it almost mid-conversation, like something that had found the right moment on its own, the words emerging with a naturalness both surprising and inevitable. They would teach, they would pass on what they had learned, alternating schedules while remaining fully present. It wasn't a step back, but a different way of staying.

Rossi listened to it all, moving among them with a discretion that had never felt more natural, his hands moving lightly along his sides. When someone hinted at his retirement, he simply smiled, his lips curving, letting the truth emerge on its own later—like a secret that no longer needed guarding.

Because tonight wasn't really about him. It was about her.

When Emily spoke up, the circle formed almost spontaneously, bodies shifting without anyone organizing it. No one had planned it, but everyone knew it was time, an undeniable certainty. She spoke without rhetoric, without searching for grand words, her voice steady and gentle. She said what mattered: that the team wasn't a place, but the people who made it up; that some departures weren't an end, but a transformation.

JJ was more direct, more emotional, her voice trembling slightly as she spoke. She thanked Garcia for every time she had made a difference without asking for recognition, for every night spent holding the pieces together when the rest seemed to crumble, the words spilling out with an unadorned sincerity.

And then it was Penelope's turn, her body moving slowly. For a second she seemed to find no words—an almost impossible thing for her—her lips parting and closing without a sound. She looked around, one by one, her eyes sweeping over every face as if wanting to imprint each person into her memory, to carve them into time. "You were home," she finally said, with a voice that trembled slightly but didn't break, the words emerging with a weight-bearing slowness. "And you always will be."

Nothing more needed to be said, the words settling into the air like falling leaves.

It was then that the music started—the opening notes of Heroes filling the space—and someone—probably Luke—turned the volume up a little higher than necessary, the sound washing over them. And then something both simple and extraordinary happened. They moved, their bodies shifting with a freedom they hadn't known for a very long time.

Not in a coordinated way, not with studied grace, but each in their own way, each with their own energy, together. Spencer was perhaps the most surprising, his body moving with an uncharacteristic lightness. For once he wasn't analyzing, wasn't observing from the outside; he truly let go, with clumsy, authentic, almost liberating movements, a laugh escaping him uncontrollably.

Taylor looked at him, laughing as the sound rose, then reached out, moving toward him. Their hands found each other without searching, a contact both instinctive and conscious.

Around them, the team sang, laughed, held each other close, voices blending into an imperfect, perfect harmony. For a few minutes there were no cases, no losses, no difficult choices—just that moment, an instant that seemed to hold everything. And it was enough.

The next morning arrived far too quickly, light forcing its way through the curtains. Quantico held a different kind of silence—colder, more definitive, as if the building itself knew what was about to happen.

Garcia was already there when the others arrived, moving with a rapidity that was both practical and nervous. She was talking to the movers, her hands gesturing toward boxes, making sure everything was treated with the meticulous care she reserved for everything, her fingers moving precisely. When she saw them, she froze for a fraction of a second, her body stopping, more surprised than she had anticipated, her eyes widening.

"We thought you were leaving at the end of the week," JJ said, stepping closer, her stride both light and heavy.

Garcia offered a small smile, her lips curving. "I know. That was... the idea." There was no need to explain the rest, the words trailing off. Leaving without another goodbye had seemed easier, a way to lighten the load. It wasn't.

Emily received a case notification right then, her phone vibrating in her hand. She read it, her eyes scanning the words rapidly, then looked up at them, her voice urgent yet calm. "We have a case."

It was a simple sentence, but it held everything—a lengthening echo. One by one, they stepped toward Penelope, their bodies closing in around her. No long speeches, just hugs—sincere, necessary arms wrapping tightly around her as if to hold her back for just one more moment.

When the elevator doors closed, she was left alone in the corridor, the sound echoing away. For a few seconds she didn't move, her body motionless. Then she walked into her office, her steps slower, more measured.

She sat at her desk, her body sinking into the chair, looking around as if seeing everything for the first time—the colors, the objects, the details built up over years, every single thing telling a story. She grabbed a small scrap of paper, the paper rustling between her fingers, quickly wrote something down with a decisive sweep of her pen, and slid it into the gap between the two tables—a simple gesture, a mark left behind like a message in a bottle.

She turned off the monitors, her fingers pressing the keys with a movement both definitive and light. Then the lights, the click sounding like the closure of a circle.

No pressure though, sorry!

❤️❤️

As a matter of fact, YES it is! 8D And I will gladly do so right now! Sorry it has taken so long- I actually just got over the hump and should be posting in a few days, so this is an excellent time to post a preview. ^_^

Going Home in a Box Chapter 104 Preview:

Despite being the employee dining hall, the room barely held all of the employees who had come. They were nearly packed in like sardines, and some of them had even brought in chairs from the ones stacked out in the hallway. Some even brought in snacks and scattered them on the tables, since apparently the ‘party’ didn’t have food and nobody knew if they were supposed to provide and didn’t get the memo.

It was all very shoddy for what was supposed to be some sort of big employee meeting. But nobody was really asking since word had already spread about an incident the night before.

Details were sparse. Someone broke in, police were called, Vanessa was injured and was in the hospital- both Vanessas, and Wight looked like he hadn’t slept. He was forcing a smile, but he looked terrible.

And he too was being pretty tight-lipped. That made everyone nervous.

Everyone being Abe.

He wasn’t sure why but something felt off. Maybe it was a funny smell or the amount of people cramped in this room, but something felt wrong about all of this.

Tommy didn’t seem to notice it at all, too busy struggling with a pack of allergy-free nuts. Eventually tearing it open with his teeth.

“Some party. Here I thought we were getting cake, got all excited, and I’m sittin’ around eating nuts. Or whateva these things are,” Tommy muttered, squinting in the bag. He shrugged it off, tossed his head back, and dumped some into his mouth.

“…I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Abe admitted.

“Hmm?” Tommy hummed through a mouthful of nuts.

“Just something about… Y’know, all this.” He gestured around. “Something’s up.”

Tommy nodded, chewed, swallowed, and then gave a rather blunt, “We’re all about to get laid off.”

“What?!” Abe whipped his head at him.

“Call it a hunch, but my hunches ain’t usually wrong.”

That wasn’t exactly the feel Abe had, but thinking about it… yes, that seemed like a very likely possibility. All of them being laid off to be replaced by Staff Bots under the guise of a party.

Panic began to creep up inside of him. It couldn’t happen this suddenly, could it? They’d give them two weeks, right? Severance pay? Anything?

“I can’t lose my job right now…” he said.

Tommy looked back at him and noticed the look on his face. Immediately he sprung into action.

“Hey, hey. Abe, look at me. It’s gonna be fine. I’ve already got jobs lined up at Fry Me Taco, Foxy’s, Flo’s, you name it,” he assured him.

“Really?” Abe asked hopefully.

“No, but how hard’s it gonna be to get a cheap job?” He put an arm around his shoulders and shook him. “We’ll make it work,” he promised. Then tilted his head back for another much-needed swig of nuts.

He didn’t sound as ready as Abe had hoped, but his confidence assured him a little bit. But still, something seemed odd.

But little did they know, but James Wight himself was noticing that very same thing.

When he had seen the mass-email sent to him and everyone else, he was assuming that he would be walking into a presentation by Dr. Talbert to basically explain the situation and smooth things over. Though James, while usually quite in awe of Talbert’s mere presence, had a cynical air about him. Just daring anyone to try to explain what had happened and ready to pounce if they said one thing out of line.

And yet, no Talbert. Not even Taggart. There wasn’t even the much promised cake and he, the current CEO, had to bum coffee off some random employee. At least that was keeping him awake.

If that didn’t, the sudden power surge and light flickering would’ve. The doors closed automatically as the pulse rode through the lights before evening out again. The screens on the wall, which had been left on default blue screensavers rebooted into angry static. A shocking occurrence and transformation that surprised absolutely nobody.

James took another gulp of coffee. Another day, another random electrical failure. Glad to see that the nightly recharges were working, he thought bitterly.

It wouldn’t have been his problem at all until someone called out.

“Hey, the doors are stuck!”

That caught his attention. He looked back towards the door they meant and then waded his way through the people with ‘excuse me’s and ‘pardon’s.

“Did you use your keycard? It might be on security lockdown.”

“I don’t have one.”

“Let me try… Hmm, no go.”

“So, what, we’re stuck in here?”

“Wait just a moment,” James said as he arrived at the door. “Now what seems to be the problem?”

“The door’s glitching,” the woman, who he didn’t know the name of, explained. “We can’t get it open.”

“This one’s stuck too!” someone called from the other side.

There was some murmuring from the crowd.

“Now let’s not panic, everyone! Obviously, the power failure activated some sort of emergency lockdown. It will probably go off on its own- but! So we don’t have to stand here waiting around, I will send a call up to security and they will have us out in a jiffy!”

Abe and Tommy exchanged a look.

“Would you mind calling up to security?” James asked the woman closest to the phone. “Just type in one-one-two, it should route up there.”

She agreed and called but soon began to frown. “They’re not answering.”

“Well, try it again. Let’s see.”

She did, again. And then again. And by then James was getting impatient. He gave a dramatic huff and dropped his arm by his side.

“The one time we need those two and we can’t reach them. If I find out those security guard are loafing around up there-!”

“Mr. Wight, before you keep swallowing your foot there…” Chaz interrupted.

Wight looked to him in offense. Chaz directed his attention to Abe and Tommy who were still at a table. Tommy with his head tipped back finishing off his peanuts, Abe wide-eyed, and both waving when they were finally acknowledged.

James’ eyes went wide as saucers as it clicked.

“So, time for plan B,” Chaz said.

“What is plan B?” James asked.

“Well, if we can’t get to anyone, I’m going to have to bust the panel open and try to override the door.”

He didn’t have to say it for James to know that it would lead to a broken door whether it worked or not, and that would be another unnecessary expense. But if they couldn’t find anyone else to open it…

“AH! Wait one moment!” James said, snapped his fingers. “We’ll call one of the Glamrocks! The bots can override the door, yes? After all, they are supposed to automatically unlock them to get in. We will just summon one here to let us out. Let’s say… Freddy. Freddy’s the most even tempered. We’ll call him.”

“That’s not exactly how that works, but we can take a shot at it,” Chaz agreed, though he seemed pretty unimpressed with this suggestion. “Anybody have a Handitool or Fazwatch?”

.

Freddy wasn’t having a good day. He had been stuck in his green room for hours- not by anyone else’s choice but his own. For how could he face anyone except himself in the mirror?

No son. No daughter. No companion. No band. He felt like the loneliest person in the world.

And worse, he wasn’t quite a person anymore. Just another thing to literally haunt him.

When all of a sudden he received an alert. He straightened up with a gasp, recognizing it as a summons from a Fazwatch.

“Gregory?!”

Had he come back? Snuck back to the Pizzaplex? He checked the alert and immediately his heart fell. No, it wasn’t him. The Fazwatch’s code didn’t match, and it was located downstairs in the employee cafeteria, where he was aware that there was a meeting going on.

How strange, what would they need him for? Perhaps to ask about last night. Chica and Roxy were still holed up in Parts and Service as far as he was aware, stubbornly refusing to budge until someone rebuild Monty. Chica had sent him a message earlier saying as much and offering for him to come join them. They were worried about him, clearly, but he preferred to be alone.

How strange that was too. He felt so lonely and yet he didn’t want to see anyone at all. Maybe it would make him feel better, but he doubted concocting a story for the Pizzaplex staff would scratch that itch.

What would he even say?... He would tell them the truth. A woman in a rabbit suit came into the Pizzaplex. She and the security guard got in a tussle. The security guard was stabbed, the bunny woman fell, and that was all. No mention of the secret labs in the basement. Not a word about Glamrock Bonnie, or Foxy, or anyone else who had been there.

With this decided on, he gave a firm nod and stood up. He left his green room through his door and started the long walk through the atrium. It was eerily quiet, and he couldn’t bare to look at the posters.

Maybe… Maybe he would go see Sun after this. Everything was so strained with him, knowing what he did about him, but he missed him so much. He missed everyone so much.

He heard a whisper.

Freddy spun around and looked around. “Hello?”

He couldn’t identify the voice, so he wasn’t sure who it was, but it had crept up behind him. Within only five to ten feet of him. Yet the only thing behind him was empty space.

How strange… Something didn’t feel right. Now uneasy, Freddy turned ahead and continued through the atrium and behind the food court to reach the elevator down.

He sighed as he passed right over the spot where he told Sun that they had to let Gregory go. It still hurt, a raw wound in his chest were-

A pop up appeared in his vision. The words on it were jumbled but it seemed to be an error message. Confused, he blinked forcefully, and it closed. Then he entered the elevator and pressed the button.

Maybe he was breaking down. From a broken heart, perhaps, he considered. Or more realistically, from his drained battery and the transfer it required. Maybe it had gotten into his systems.

He could run an assessment, but he didn’t want to. He just wanted to get this over with. Then he could head over to Parts and Service and see his friends, like he should’ve hours ago.

But as he stepped out of the elevator he felt a strange tremor in the floor. It was enough to shake even his weighted body, and the light above him flickered with an obnoxious buzz.

“An-An earthquake?” he asked in surprise.

Suddenly he was snapped out of his despair and began to jog towards the employee cafeteria. It wasn’t safe for anyone to be in the basement now; he had to warn them!

He almost broke into a run, only holding back because he knew the risk of running during such an event and risk shaking the floor further. He hurried though, heading down the hallway towards the door leading into the employee cafeteria.

When a familiar voice suddenly screamed out.

“FREDDY!”

He snapped his head to the side, looking down the hallway. He knew that voice but it couldn’t be- and why did it sound like-?

“FREDDY, HEEEE̷̡̅LLLLP! He̷̛̻HEHLLLeELLP!”

He dared to step down the hall, but something held him back. It was a deep-set instinctual fear that told him that there was no way, no possible way it could be-

He heard movement and watched as it came around the corner at the end of the hall and saw-

i love so much how rudo made it look up haahahahaaa aaaa its so cool you are SO COOL and have SUCH A HEART AND SOUL IN YOU

full on FLASHBACK FROM CANIS' POV