Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 1: Alive
Present day
He groaned as he slowly woke up. Dj vu.
As he slowly sat up, he raised his hand to his head. Wow that doll
had hit him hard.
He stopped in shock. His fingers were covered in flesh, not a green-
yellow suit. He looked at both his hands. There was the scar he had
from that time when he cut himself with a knife, right there on his right
hand.
What the hell?
"Oh, he's awake. Again."
He turned his head quickly, there was that Puppet. He hated that
thing. He hated it with a burning passion. He wanted to tear it apawait, did it just talk?
"You look kind of surprised. Not a shocker, really. Considering you
were dead for the past sixteen years." The Puppet said in its
monotone, gender neutral voice. "Don't panic, I'm not going to hurt
you. That would be a waste of effort."
Not listening to the Puppet, the man fell back into unconsciousness.
unconscious body.
"Hey Bonnie don't the guards usually try to lock us out?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Maybe they're scared of us."
"Aww nonsense," Bonnie said waving his hand, "We're not scary."
"They don't seem to know that."
Mike began to stir.
"He's waking up!" He heard a voice say. Odd, he didn't recognize that
voice.
Mike's eyes shot open "Holy crap I fell asleep on the job!"
"Watch your language!" Chica said sternly "This is a kid's restaurant!"
Mike suddenly realized why he fell unconscious and scrambled to his
feet. "Oh. My. God. The animatronics. Talk."
"Well of course we talk, Silly." Bonnie said with a chuckle, "how else
would we perform during the day?"
"I'm sitting in my office, talking to a lavender bunny and a bright
yellow chicken. Where did I go wrong?" Mike said, resting his face
in his hands.
"If you really think it's that bad, we can leave" Chica said
apologetically
"Why would we leave? We haven't gotten to know this guy yet!"
Bonnie exclaimed.
"Bonnie! If he wants space, we should give him some space!"
"He should at least try to be friendly"
Mike chuckled, these two were like little kids.
So, in case you couldn't tell already, most of the early chapters
will contain flashbacks. Don't worry, we'll get out of these
eventually.
Chapter 4: Vincent
Vincent shook his hand and smiled. "You must be fearless going into
that place. Those animatronics are just creepy."
"Oh it's not that bad" Mike replied
Vincent raised an eyebrow "You're going back tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I kind of need the money."
Vincent shrugged. "I heard those things were dangerous, but hey.
Whatever floats your boat." The man grinned. "In any case, I hope
you enjoy your stay here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."
Present Day
He woke with a start this time. At least it wasn't an identical wake up
to the last two, but it was certainly less pleasant. He groaned just for
good measure.
"He's awake."
"If you say that one more time I swear to God I will stab you." He
muttered as he put his hand on his head. Right, back to life. Don't
freak out this time.
"He's making threats. That's a good sign, shows that he's retained his
mind." The monotone voice said from somewhere in the shadows.
"I wasn't kidding about the stabbing part."
"I brought you back to life."
"And you expect me to thank you for it? Thanks, I just needed to go
back to a crappy life with an abusive family."
A different voice spoke from the direction he thought the door was in
"Well, since it's been sixteen years, I doubt anyone remembers you"
He recognized that voice but where?
"Schmidt!?"
"Go away"
"You've gotta be lonely in there" Mike said. "The kids hardly ever get
to see you"
"I don't care" the fox said gruffly
"Foxy, please come out. You're my favorite."
Foxy poked his head out of the curtains. "Say what now?"
"I said that you're my favorite."
"Yeah, well" Foxy stepped all the way out of pirate's cove, revealing
extensive gashes on his torso. "I'm always the fan-favorite."
Mike was a bit confused. "Why aren't you using the whole pirate voice
thing?"
"It gets old after a while." Foxy replied. He then look at Mike,
suspicion in his eyes. "Wait a minute, what are you doing here after
hours anyway?"
"Oh, I'm the new night guard. My name's Mike"
"Uh huh. And Mike, do you know a man, about your height, wears
purple?"
"Purple's the color of all the guard uniforms."
Foxy snorted "O'course the devil had all the other guards wear the
same color"
"What are you talking about Foxy?" Mike asked confused.
"Never ye mind that. Have ye met Freddy yet?"
"Not yet, he always seems to be gone, any time I come in here."
Mike said, still confused about where Foxy was going with this.
"Ye'll meet him soon enough, I suppose" Foxy said. "And his
brother too, unless I miss me guess" he muttered.
Present day
"Schmidt!?"
"How's it going Vince? Been a long time hasn't it?"
"Schmidt you bastard I'll rip your eyes out!" Vincent launched himself
off the table, only to crash to the ground in an uncoordinated mess.
"Calm down Vincent, I'm probably the only reason you're alive." Mike
said, reaching down to help the man up.
Vincent took the man's hand, and tugged downwards as hard as he
could. Nothing happened.
"Aww c'mon Vince, you didn't think I'd fall for that trick did you?" Mike
grinned.
Vincent grinned back. "Of course I didn't. That's why I'm doing this!"
the man swung himself about, scything Mike's legs out from under
him. As soon as Mike hit the floor, Vincent made a mad dash for the
doorway, only to be knocked out by what felt like a steel bar hitting his
forehead.
Vincent really hates Mike for some reason. In other news, Foxy's
a sucker for his fans.
Chapter 6: Golden
on the sign.
"Mister Schmidt?"
Mike jumped at the deep voice coming from directly behind him, and
whirled around.
"Oh god Freddy you scared the living daylights out of me."
"Forgive me Mister Schmidt, but I need your help." Freddy replied.
"Help with what?" Mike asked confused.
"Follow me."
Freddy lead him to the room designated as "backstage" although in
all honesty it was more of a parts and service room anyway. What
Mike saw inside was something he was not prepared for.
Just outside the line of sight of the cameras was a yellow Freddy suit
with sounds emanating from it.
Before Mike could react the seemingly empty suit twitched and the
head turned towards him. He ducked out of the room and stood with
his back to the wall, panting.
"Mister Schmidt?" Freddy asked "Is everything alright?"
"I just It's What the"
"Mister Schmidt, if you cannot handle this, you do not have to"
"No, no I'm fine" Mike slowed his breathing "I can handle it"
Mike took a deep breath. "What exactly is it you want me to do?"
"Mister Schmidt, are you aware of what a spring-lock suit is?"
"Yes, yes I am. Why?" Mike asked.
"My brother is a spring-lock suit, a spring-Freddy, to be specific. I
need you to undo the spring locks."
"Wait why?"
"There are a multitude of reasons why, but I will give you the
important ones. First, he does not trust anyone over the age of
twenty."
"And I'm sixteen."
"Exactly. Second, he is lonely, the spring locks keep him from moving
around, they keep his endoskeleton permanently compressed against
the suit. Lastly, because none of us have the ability to utilize the
crank that can undo the spring locks."
"Okay then" Mike took a steadying breath.
He entered the room, determined not be scared by the strange,
boneless seeming animatronic. As he approached it he heard
whispers with the voice of a child "please don't hurt me, please"
"Shh... It's all right, I'm not going to hurt you." Mike said soothingly
as he slowly approached the suit. "I'm just here to undo the spring
locks"
Mike began to circle the suit, looking for the place where the crank
would be used to tighten and loosen the spring locks. As he did so he
heard more whispers "Please don't hurt me I just want to go
home I just want to see mommy"
"It's okay, I'm going to help you" Mike was extremely unnerved by
the strange whispers, but he kept calm, and eventually managed to
unwind the spring locks.
With a sudden jolt of movement, the golden animatronic was
standing. Then it was simply gone.
"This has to be the weirdest day ever"
Present Day
Take four. Let's see wake up, try to kill Mike, get knocked
And here we have the reason the first location shut down.
Chapter 8: 1987
Present day
"So WHY did you resurrect me, exactly?" Vincent asked the room's
only other occupant, the Puppet.
"Mike is the one who should tell you this." The Puppet replied.
"Why do I need Schmidt to tell me?" Vincent asked, irritated.
"Because I'm the one who planned this out" Mike said from the
room's doorway.
"Oh look! Mikey! I'm gonna stab you until you bleed out for what you
did to me."
"Not really a likely occurrence, what with the Puppet being in this
room and all."
Vincent grumbled. What a buzzkill, he could have the decency to act
scared when he was threatened. "So what's your 'master plan'
anyways?"
"I'm not sure I can tell you, but you should know that you are a vital
part of it." Mike replied.
"Oh great, so I'm a vital part of this great plan of yours, but you won't
even tell me what to do." Vincent threw his hands in the air.
"That's not what I said Vince, and you know it." Mike said "What I
need you to do is atone for your crimes."
"Like I didn't do that when I got stuck in that rabbit suit."
"You may think you have paid for your sins, but the others don't."
"Fine" Vince sighed.
"Wait, what others?"
November 1, 1987
10:00 A.M.
Mike sighed, he was running out of money already. He had spent his
funds on a degree in mechanical engineering. Idealistic, but not
practical.
He checked the newspaper. Let's see if there are any job offerings
waiter, delivery guy, night guard, usher mechanic wanted, that
could pay nicely. Wait, night guard? Mike looked at the ad in
question.
Grand Re-opening!
Mike stared in astonishment. They were bringing the place back?
After the things that had happened there?
Should he take the job?
Well, couldn't hurt to try.
November 1, 1987
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 1:00 P.M.
Mike rode his bike up to the front of the pizzeria. The new location
looked a lot different from the old one. The animatronics looked a lot
different too. He sighed, the new designs for the stage trio looked
disastrous. He couldn't tell whether Bonnie was a boy or a girl,
Freddy just looked overweight, and Chica well, the less said about
that the better.
"Mike!"
Mike turned to see Vincent Tollini. The slender man looked more or
less identical to the last time he had seen him.
"Hey Vince, how's it going?" Mike said with a grin on his face.
"You coming back to be our night guard?"
"Yup, saw the ad in the paper and thought that this place could use
another experienced worker. I've gained a few more skills since last
time too, including a degree in mechanical engineering."
"That's great, we might need a mechanic to help out if something
happens during the day." Vincent said with a smile. "Of course, Percy
will need to approve it first."
"Well, for now I just want to work on the night shift." Mike said with a
shrug.
"You're hired." Came a voice back from the building.
Mike turned back around, seeing the wheel-chaired head of staff.
"Percy!"
"Hey Mike. We kinda need a more, um, experienced night guard. The
new animatronics are probably going to be glitchy, and, um, I need
someone to monitor their behavior for a week so I can give new
guards a heads up on what to expect." Percy sighed. "After what
happened at the last location, I don't want to take any risks. The
spring suits have been locked up in the back room of the old place,
hopefully we can forget about those."
"Well, how can I sign up?" Mike asked enthusiastically.
"All you need is your uniform." Vincent informed him. "You do still
have it, right?"
"Yup, brought it along for if I got hired."
"Good, see you later then." Percy said, then headed back indoors.
Mike sighed, Vincent had an even shorter attention span now than
when he was Springtrap, and that was saying something.
"The other animatronics, Vincent." Mike said
"What, those scraps of metal? Why do I have to ask them for
forgiveness?"
"They're your victims."
Vincent laughed. "Those crappy robots are my victims? What did I do,
rewire them incorrectly?"
"They're not just robots. You should know that, especially considering
how you died in the first place."
That sobered Vincent up. "The children, that's who you mean?"
Mike gave an affirmative nod. "They're not children any more Vince,
they've grown up in the time they were animatronics."
"Oh great, just what I needed, a bunch of ghosts who've had however
many years to hate me. And now I need to ask them for forgiveness"
Vincent laughed. "This sounds like some sort of storybook scenario."
At this point the Puppet spoke up. "You may find this amusing, but I
don't. You killed me too."
November 1, 1987
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 11:30 P.M.
Mike walked into the building, thankful that he had gotten a new
watch while he still had money.
He looked around and sighed. Guess the new place is a lot different
from the old one. He had taken a look around earlier, during business
hours, and there were lots of things that worried him.
For starters, the original animatronics were locked up in the parts and
service room, and they were in a condition that was, to say the least,
poor.
Second, the animatronics were apparently prone to glitching. The
new animatronics had facial recognition software, and while that
wasn't a problem for Mike, who had a clean background, he knew
that the bugs in the system would inevitably lead to problems.
Third, the new Foxy animatronic was constantly taken apart by the
kids. He had tried to get them to stop, but by the time he could do
anything, it was already a mess on the ground.
Last but not least, there was the fact that the new animatronics,
apparently called the 'toys', had two new members with them. One of
them was constantly locked up in a box, but the other was an
unnerving child-like figure called "Balloon Boy".
Mike heard the clock chime twelve. Blast, he had spent too long
reminiscing, better get to the office and see if Percy had left a
message.
An hour later, he regretted his new job.
He had been forced to abandon the office. Almost immediately after
twelve, he heard "Pop Goes the Weasel" and on the cameras there
was a tall, stick-thin puppet. It got to his office, and started to chase
him around.
"Can't we just talk about this?" Mike asked the puppet. No response.
"Please? Umm what did Freddy say your name was? Puppet?"
The Puppet stopped chasing him for a moment, proof that it at least
recognized its own name. Before Mike could capitalize on this pause,
it was back after him.
Mike ducked inside the parts and service room and slammed the door
shut behind him. "Guys? Are you still active?"
Mike heard some mechanical movement from deep in the shadows of
the room. "Bonnie? Chica? Freddy? Foxy? Hello?"
The answer was far from what he expected. From his corner of the
room Bonnie said, in a heavily distorted version of his ordinary
cheerful voice "You left us Mike."
"Bonnie, I came back, I'm so sorry but the place shut down. I couldn't
stay even if I tried!" Mike said, leaning against the door to hold the
Puppet outside.
"You left us to rot Mike. You left us to die" Bonnie said, sounding
angry.
"Bonnie, please! I never wanted to leave! Now I've come back, as
soon as I heard about this location!" Mike was starting to panic. If his
old friends turned on him now, his only resort would be to brave the
Puppet, and that thing was creepy.
"Well you won't be leaving now, right?" Bonnie asked, hope in his
voice.
"Of course I won't leave!"
"Good. Saying anything else would be lying." With that, the rabbit
launched its broken body across the room.
Chapter 10: Box
Present Day
"If you expect an apology, you are sorely mistaken." Vincent said to
the Puppet.
November 2, 1987
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 1:00 A.M.
Mike reacted quickly.
The instant Bonnie lunged at him, he pulled the door open, causing
the lavender bunny to rocket into the Puppet, launching them both
down the hallway.
Mike ran out of the parts and service room. There had to be some
way to calm down the Puppet and to avoid Bonnie.
He ran back into the security office. C'mon door button door button
Hadn't Percy said there were no doors in the new location?
Cursing his stupidity, Mike climbed into one of the vents, hopefully the
animatronics couldn't fit in here.
He was wrong. As he turned the corner of the vent, he heard a loud
clanging sound behind him, as of something large and heavy climbing
onto the vent.
Mike climbed out of the vent as quickly as he could and dashed out of
the party room he had wound up in. He ran back to the mainstage
area, and skidded to a halt.
All three of the animatronics that were on the stage when he got here
were gone.
Mike racked his brain, and realized that he had ran past them all at
least once in his panic to escape Bonnie and the Puppet.
Well, too late to wonder if they were dangerous.
Mike suddenly got an idea. What if he hid in the same box the Puppet
came out of.
Climbing into the box, Mike told himself that this idea was either really
clever, or incredibly stupid. He hoped it was the former.
After a while of waiting within the box, Mike checked his watch. 5:00
A.M. one hour left.
Then disaster struck.
Almost immediately after Mike checked his watch, the lid of the box
opened, and a porcelain face with two white pinpricks of light for eyes
stared down at him.
Mike got the feeling it was really, really mad.
Before Mike could so much as scream, the Puppet was extending a
long, three fingered arm towards him.
In panic, Mike grabbed the nearest thing he could find and held it up
protectively.
The Puppet stopped its forward movement, then tilted its head and
looked at Mike.
Mike looked down at the object he had picked up. A music box? Mike
began to wind it up experimentally.
The soft, tinkling tune of "My Grandfather's Clock" began to play.
Present Day
"No way. Nuh uh. Nope. There is no chance in hell that I am getting
back into that deathtrap." Vince said angrily.
"Vince, it has undergone extreme repairs, it hardly even looks like it
did when we found you in it." At this Mike pointed to the back corner
of the room, where the golden rabbit stood deactivated.
Vincent took a good look at it. The height was about the same as
before, but that was one of the few features that was the same. It
looked less like a suit and more like a humanoid rabbit, down to the
joints being hidden and the ears looking lifelike. "Mike, I'm not going
to climb back into that thing."
"We fixed the spring locks as well, now it's completely impossible for
them to collapse while someone is inside. In addition, we've given it
more articulation, and the inside is as comfortable as a soft bed."
Mike continued, not seeming to hear Vincent's complaints.
"Mike, I literally said it twice now. I. Am. Not. Getting. Into. That.
Trap." The pale man said, waving his hands for emphasis.
"You can't really do much else, you're stuck here until you are fully
forgiven."
"Watch me." Vincent said, and walked out of the room
Vincent was seething. Mike must think he was crazy and idiotic. Get
back into Springtrap? Not a chance.
He paused as he reached the glass doors of the building and looked
at his reflection. Huh, his hair was white. Shame, he really liked it
when it was midnight black. Not important Vince, stay focused. He
told himself as he marched out of the building.
Less than thirty minutes later, a wheelchair rolled into the parts and
service room, where Mike and the Puppet were working on the
finishing touches of another animatronic.
"Mike, Vincent just left the building" Percy said from his mobile seat.
"He'll be back, don't worry." Mike told him, still focusing on the robot.
"I know, I'd just hate for him to happen to anyone."
November 3, 1987
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 12:00 A.M.
Mike sat in his office checking the cameras as was his job. He was
glad to hear that Percy had taken his advice and installed a music
box, along with a remote method to wind it up. Hopefully that would
keep the Puppet calm.
Mike checked on the parts and service room, and it felt like his heart
had stopped.
Bonnie was gone.
Mike frantically checked every camera in the building. Not on the
main stage, not in the prize corner, kid's cove is empty save Toy
Foxy Mike looked up from his cameras.
Bonnie was right there.
Now that Mike had his office lights to look at him, he could see very
clearly why Bonnie was so mad.
His face was missing, along with his left arm and patches all over the
suit.
"Bonnie" Mike said in a whisper. "What happened to you?"
Bonnie's red eyes lit up. "You left us to d-decay, Mike. We've been
replaced by a bunch of p-plastic numbskulls."
"Bonnie, I never wanted to leave." Mike said, nearing panic. The
lavender rabbit was much more intimidating without the top half of his
face.
"Well you're never going to leave us again. You're going to stay with
us forever." Bonnie said, and reached towards Mike with his
remaining hand.
Mike ducked under his desk and dashed past the rabbit, not caring
that as he did so he had run past Toy Freddy. Fortunately for him, the
plastic bear was docile, and didn't give chase or impede his flight.
Mike made a mad dash for the prize corner, hoping against all hope
that the Puppet would be able to help him.
"Bonnie, the place closed down. I just recently heard that it was up
and running again" Mike said apologetically. "I learned some things
in the interim." Mike showed Bonnie the arm.
"How is showing me my severed arm going to help anything? I'm in
constant pain Mike. It hurts so much."
"One of the things I learned was how to repair and maintain robots."
Bonnie looked up at him.
"So, after this week is over, I'm going to be the one who fixes you
guys up." Mike finished with a smile.
For the first time since Mike arrived, Bonnie didn't seem so sad.
Chapter 12: Suit
Present Day
Twelve hours.
Twelve damn hours.
Vincent cursed himself. He felt like absolute crap. He had a
headache, his whole body felt sore, and he had the feeling he had
forgotten to grab something before leaving Mike and the Puppet in
the dust.
To top it all off, he now craved a glass of coffee.
He hated coffee.
Which was why he was currently sitting in an alleyway, clutching his
head and moaning.
"I swear I didn't used to have migraines, why do I have migraines
now? What did I do to feel so cruddy?" Vincent mumbled, feeling
sorry for himself.
"Alright old man, give us all your money and nobody gets hurt."
Vincent looked up from his moaning to see a trio of men wearing ski
masks. Old man? He didn't have wrinkles, he knew that for a fact, he
had seen his reflection in a window just half an hour ago. Guess they
were confused about the hair.
"You deaf or something? Give us your money!"
The man took a knife out of his pocket and pointed it at Vincent.
"You messed with the wrong person" Vincent said as he awkwardly
climbed to his feet.
One of the men laughed "You must be drunk or something, as if you
can take three of us simultaneously. Get a load of this drun-Oof!"
Vincent had punched the man in the stomach, and before the
mugger's colleagues could react, he had forcibly disarmed the man
with the knife and held it to the throat of the third member of the gang.
"I'm sorry, this is a bad day. So how about this: You bastards give me
all of your money, and nobody gets killed."
The two who were not currently at knifepoint simply ran.
"Bunch of cowards" Vincent muttered. "Alright get out of here, if I
see you again I'll slit your throat and disembowel you."
The man just nodded his head and ran for dear life.
This was how, as he stumbled back into the pizzeria, he had a knife
in his hand.
Vince's condition had gotten even worse at this point, his only
thoughts were of getting to something. He still couldn't remember
what it was he needed.
He staggered down the hallways, banging his head on the doorframe
as he collapsed into the parts and service room, where Mike and the
Puppet were working on a golden animatronic.
"Told you he'd be back." Mike said to Percy, who was sitting in the
corner of the room.
"You swear this thing won't kill me?" Vincent asked Mike.
"Certain. I checked it out myself. The only way to undo the spring
locks is the do so from within the suit, the lever to do so is
inaccessible while someone is using it." Mike assured him.
"Well, you brought me back once, you'd better do it again if this
backfires."
November 4, 1987
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 3:00 A.M.
"So let me get this straight. Foxy's lost in his own mind, and I'm the
one who needs to bring him out? How am I supposed to do that?"
Mike asked
"Mister Schmidt, it's not very complicated. Foxy loves his fans. He
would do almost anything to make them happy, regardless of whether
they are adult or child." Freddy said calmly.
Earlier that night both Freddy and Chica had activated. Fortunately
for Mike, both had a calmer temperament, and - despite Chica trying
to bite his head off at first due to confusion - they both appreciated
that he had come back at all.
Foxy was another matter.
Foxy had activated all right, but not as himself. Not as the popcorn
loving pirate that Mike knew and adored.
Foxy was just a machine right now.
According to Freddy, Mike was the only one who could fix it.
Mike followed Freddy into the parts and service room and stepped
into the back area, where Foxy was stored. Golden Freddy stared at
him lifelessly, only barely able to move due to having his
endoskeleton removed entirely.
"Hey Goldie, hi Foxy." Mike said nervously.
"It is good to see you again Mike." The yellow bear replied. "Are you
here to help with Foxy's issue?"
"Yes I am. Freddy said that you were helping?" Mike asked.
"I have telepathic abilities, in addition to teleportation and some
telekinesis." The bear answered. "I will be helping to weaken Foxy's
mental barriers so he can hear you speak."
"Okay then." Mike said, not really understanding. "Let's get this show
on the road."
"Very well. I will begin now."
Mike didn't see or hear any changes, but he could feel a bizarre
disturbance in the air, it seemed to be emanating from Goldie.
"Foxy?" Mike asked. "Foxy can you hear me?"
The fox didn't respond.
"Foxy? Buddy? It's Mike. Your biggest fan."
Still no response.
"Foxy, it's show time. We're counting on you buddy."
Nothing.
"Foxy I miss you buddy."
The fox was as lifeless as ever.
Mike sighed sadly. "This isn't working. Goldie, you can stop now."
"Alright then Mike." The suit ceased its strange activity. "Shame we
November 5, 1987
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 12:00 A.M.
Mike settled in for another night of watching over the animatronics.
Pulling up the camera, he noticed that the Toy animatronics were all
missing from the show stage. Not really worrying, considering that up
until now they were more or less just moving scenery.
Mike quickly wound up the music box to keep the Puppet happy. He
had forgotten about it yesterday and the only reason he survived was
because the Puppet thought he was a good person.
Mike looked up from the cameras and shined his light down the
hallway to see Toy Foxy standing there, a bizarre look in its eyes.
Mike couldn't tell if it was supposed to be male or female. The original
Foxy was male, certainly, but this one had a color scheme that could
only be described as feminine.
"Toy Foxy?" Mike said, wondering if it would respond to its own
name.
The animatronic's eyes refocused, then the eyes changed.
Originally a yellow color similar to Foxy's, the glass orbs that passed
for animatronic eyes seemed to be missing, with only two pinpoints of
light in otherwise empty sockets.
Then the fox lunged at him.
Mike ducked to the side, dodging its attack. Those teeth looked
sharp, and this animatronic no longer looked like a child's toy.
Toy Foxy crashed into the wall and fell apart.
Mike stared in shock. Not only had this docile animatronic tried to
attack him, but it had destroyed itself in the process.
Unfortunately for Mike, his night was about to get much, much worse.
Toy Foxy was little more than a pile of parts, but somehow, it was still
moving. The parts that were still attached made it look like some sort
of mangle.
It sounded like it was crying.
"Are are you alright?" Mike asked. It was his job to make sure the
things didn't get damaged after all, he had to make sure the thing
didn't fall apart on his shift.
To Mike's surprise, the animatronic answered, in a tear-filled voice
"W-why are you taunting me?"
Mike was astounded. The animatronic sounded like a little girl. "I don't
want to hurt you, you tried to attack me."
"Only b-because you're the one who-" She paused and sniffled "Who
did it."
"The one who did what?" Mike said as he reached under his desk to
grab his toolbox, stored there in case of breakdowns when he
couldn't get to the parts and service.
"The one who r-reprogrammed the scanners, and the one w-who
killed us."
Mike went cold. Another set of murders?
"I'm not the man who did that. All the security guards wear the color
purple." He said as he began to put the broken fox back together.
"Why are y-you fixing m-me?" she sounded confused.
"My job is to make sure none of the animatronics get broken, and to
fix it if it does. You broke, it was my fault, so I'm going to fix you."
Mike began his reparations on Toy Foxy. "I've always found the whole
Toy 'name' thing to be irritating and unnecessary. Plus it makes you
sound like a ripoff of the first four. What would you like to be called?"
"Vix."
The return of Freddy, Chica and Foxy! Also, those kids really did
a number on poor Vix.
Chapter 14: Discovery
Present day
As Vincent climbed into the Spring Bonnie suit, he noticed that his
headache was lessening, along with his constant soreness. The
pressing need to return had already faded entirely.
The coffee craving hadn't ended though, and that was the only
reason Vincent even bothered to try getting into the suit.
Once the suit was sealed and he was able to move it around, Vincent
felt strange. It was as if something he was missing had been found.
As if he had been incomplete before, and only now was he complete.
What kind of drugs had they given him?
Vincent blinked once.
He noticed that Mike and Percy were looking at him with
dumbfounded expressions on their faces. The Puppet looked
uninterested, but that was usually the case.
"What are you two looking at?" Vince asked irritated.
"You look so alive." Mike said.
Vincent couldn't tell, but the ears on the top of the animatronic's head
moved and turned towards sound, as if they were real. The face of
the rabbit also moved to display Vincent's emotions, and when the
man inside blinked, the eyelids of the animatronic flicked down and
back up again. When Vincent had spoken, the mouth of the suit had
opened and moved exactly like the sound was coming from the
golden rabbit itself, rather than the person inside.
Vincent blinked again. Something was off, but he couldn't place it.
Then he realized. He wasn't seeing through the eyes of the suit.
He was seeing with the eyes of the suit.
November 5, 1987
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 1:00 A.M.
"Alright Vix, I gotta get you into parts and service in order to repair
your joints." Mike told the white fox "Your current condition should be
good enough to get you there without doing damage."
"O-okay mister" Vix seemed nervous. "Wh-what's your n-name?"
"I'm Mike. Resident night guard." Mike reached down and picked up
the damaged animatronic. She was heavy, but not any heavier than
the crates that Mike had been paid to move in the four years since
the last time he was night guard. "Can you tell me more about the
one who killed you?"
"I Um"
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."
"N-no you should know, if you're going to h-help us." Vix made a
sound that Mike assumed was meant to be a calming breath.
"It happened y-yesterday. We were having a b-birthday party for mmy little brother. When the p-party was almost over, a m-man came
up t-to us. H-he asked if we wanted to s-see a special char-" Vix
broke off, sobbing.
"It's okay, it's okay." Mike said soothingly. "You don't have to tell me
any more than you want to."
Mike had reached the parts and service room, and nudged the door
open. The room seemed to be vacant. Guess the others had gone to
roam around. "Goldie, you in here? I've brought a guest."
"Who's G-Goldie?" Vix asked.
Mike walked into the area that was set up for individual animatronic
repairs. "Goldie, meet Vix, Vix, meet Goldie."
"A pleasure to meet you Vix. What brings you here Mike?" The
possessed suit asked.
"Vix broke, so I'm going to be fixing her up."
"D-did that empty suit just t-talk?" Vix said in bewilderment.
"Well, considering that you are a haunted animatronic yourself, it
would not be too far-fetched for a disembodied voice to be attached
to an endoskeleton-less suit." Goldie said.
Mike set Vix down on the table and turned towards the boxes of
spare parts. "Let's see, joint connectors, joint connectors" Mike
began to rummage through the boxes, causing a precariously
perched Freddy head on top of a pile of boxes to fall, landing square
on his head.
"M-Mike?! Where did you go?" Vix said, panicking
"What are you talking about, I'm right here." Mike took off the mask
and rubbed his head. The thing was a bit heavier than he would have
liked, but it hadn't really hurt.
"S-sorry, ever since the b-bad man messed with our f-facial
recognition software, w-we can't distinguish between a m-masked
human and an animatronic and with h-humans, we can o-only see
colors" Vix sounded apologetic.
Mike was thoughtful. "So that's the reason you attacked me" Mike
found the piece he needed and grabbed the wrench "The older
animatronics mentioned something about the killer having a purple
uniform."
"Y-yes. I'm very, very sorry."
"It's all right Vix. It's not your fault." Mike said reassuringly as he
started the repairs on the damaged animatronic. The room was quite
dark, so he had to have his flashlight in one hand and work on Vix
with the other.
"Mike?"
Mike jumped and turned the light towards the intruder, then sighed
with relief. "Foxy, give me a little warning next time."
The animatronic fox didn't respond, it seemed to be shut down.
Mike frowned. "Foxy, are you all right?"
Motors audibly activated, and Foxy reactivated. "What happened?"
"Foxy, you shut down for a moment when I shined my light at you."
The pirate nodded. "Aye, that happens sometimes. Bright lights
directly in our optical sensors can cause us to freeze and
occasionally reset." Foxy rubbed the back of his head. "Unfortunately,
it happens to me more often than the others. Part of the reason I was
always 'out of order'"
Mike nodded. "Sorry about that buddy. What did you need?"
"I wanted ta ask ye if ye knew what was wrong with the new 'bots."
Foxy said.
"Unfortunately, I do know. Vix here tried to attack me, but wound up
smashing against the wall, so I'm fixing her up." Mike said and
grinned. "I seem to have a habit of befriending the people trying to kill
me."
"H-hello Foxy" Vix said meekly.
Mike finished up repairing Vix. "There we go, that ought to last you a
while." Mike looked at the flashlight and the Freddy head. "If you will
excuse me, I have some notes to make."
It's gonna take a while for Vincent to get used to his new life. We
also get to learn how Percy learned to inform the night guard
about the lights and the Freddy mask.
Chapter 15: Pain
Present Day
Vincent was having a nervous breakdown.
"What the hell did you do to me?!" Vincent shouted.
"Vince, calm down!"
"Don't you tell me to calm down Schmidt! What kind of crazy crap did
you and that masked doll do to me?!" Vince was grabbing his ears
and trying to pull them out.
"Vincent stop! You'll damage the suit!" Mike was frantic.
"Damage the suit? Damage the suit?!" Vincent was practically
screaming. "I AM THE GODDAMN SUIT!"
"Vince calm down! I can't understand, what do you mean?"
"What part don't you understand!? I'm stuck back in this hellish thing!"
Vince put his hands on his top and bottom jaws and began to pull
them apart.
"Puppet! Stop him from killing himself!" Mike launched himself at the
golden rabbit and tried to pull his arms away.
There was a loud crack and Vincent screamed.
November 6, 1987
"My name's Billy, but the others call me BB." BB giggled. "Vix told me
about you! She thinks you're a really nice person! My sister doesn't
like people much, but she likes you!"
"That would mean that you're the birthday boy from a couple days
ago. How old are you now Billy?" Mike asked with a smile.
"I'm five now!"
"That's very good!" Mike said. "Hey, can you ask your sister to come
see me? I need to talk to her."
"Okie-dokie!" The child turned towards the hallway and ran off on his
stubby legs.
Before long, Mike heard a static noise from the main hallway. "Vix?"
He shined his flashlight down the hallway, then gasped and got up to
run towards Vix. The fox was in an even worse condition than the
previous night when she had shattered against the wall.
"M-Mike I'm h-hurting s-so much." Vix was crying as much as was
possible for an animatronic.
"Shh shh it's okay, it's okay I'll help you, I'll help you" Mike
said soothingly.
"Th-they t-tore me apart a-and called me 'Mangle'" She was
calming down now, that was good at least. "The d-day staff didn't
even t-try to fix me this t-time."
Mike cradled her head in his hands. "It's okay, I'll protect you. I'll help
you recover."
"There he is!" Mike turned to see Ben standing in his office.
Present Day
Vincent groaned and slowly woke up. His jaw hurt like hell and it felt
like his ears had been pulled out.
He opened his eyes for a second, then closed them again, trying to
go back to sleep.
His eyes snapped open.
He was still in the suit.
He was still in the goddamn suit.
Vincent took a look around. He was still in the parts and service
room, but he was seated on the floor against the wall. Nobody was in
the room with him, for once. He sighed and tried to push himself off
the floor and into a standing position.
There was a hand mirror sitting on the table that Vince had woken up
on however many times it was. Guess Mike had wanted him to see
his new appearance or something. No real reason to not see what he
looked like while in the suit.
When he looked into the mirror, Vincent gasped, then rubbed his
aching jaw.
His eyes were a brilliant turquoise. No, not his eyes, thinking like that
would lead to disaster. The suit's eyes. The suit's eyes were
turquoise. Vince had always wanted brightly colored eyes, but had
settled for his naturally grey eyes simply because they were different
from anyone else he knew.
The rest of his no, not his, the suit's- face was moving as he felt
emotions run through him. His ears hurt, but they were in good
condition however, and they twitched and turned towards sound. The
only part of him that looked hurt was his jaw, as the skin, or whatever,
of the cheeks looked like it was healing, as if it had recently been torn
or cut. That made sense, seeing as he had just torn his lower jaw off
of his head before falling unconscious.
Why had it hurt so much? The only thing that had actually hurt other
than damaging the suit had been when he had a headache. The
Puppet's blows had knocked him out, and he had felt them, but they
hadn't actually hurt much; but the time he had banged his head on
the doorframe, and then the floor, hadn't hurt at all.
"Oh, you're awake. Admiring the appearance of your new suit?"
Vincent turned towards the doorway to see Mike and the Puppet
entering the room.
"Schmidt, what the hell did you and that creepy puppet do to me?"
Vincent said with a scowl.
"It's very simple. Since your soul is bound to the suit, it is not
dissimilar to how the rest of us are haunting the animatronics. Your
human body is alive within the suit, but your spirit is controlling the
suit instead." The Puppet said, a bored look on its face.
"Alright then, explain the 'skin' and the fact that m- the suit's eyes look
alive." Vincent said. "I thought you things couldn't feel pain."
"Mike and his friend are extremely good at technological matters.
Ordinarily we could only feel pain if the endoskeleton was damaged,
but Mike's friend has added senses to all of the animatronics. All of
them will be able to smell, taste, and feel whenever they are
activated. Pain is a necessary part of the sense of touch. In addition
to these upgrades, all of them have artificial stomachs that can hold
food and break it down into any components that are usable for
electrical energy, although that which cannot be used in such a
manner will need to be cleaned out. As for the skin and eyes, those
are artificial, the eyes are glass with extremely detailed paint on them.
The skin is magically constructed, and as such it acts just like human
skin, healing after injury and regrowing fur if necessary."
"Geez, can you put it in a simpler form?" Vince said confused.
The Puppet sighed. "All of the animatronics are effectively living
beings that can be turned on and off, and have no ability to grow
weak or ill." It paused. "Yourself included. The artificial stomach folds
against the inside of the suit along with the endoskeleton, and the
taste sensors are disabled while a person is inside."
November 6, 1987
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 2:00 A.M.
Mike reached up to grab his mask, only to come to a shocking
realization.
His mask was on his desk.
Mike carefully laid Vix's head back on the floor and rose to his feet,
his hands palms out by his sides. "Your name is Ben, right? I'm Mike."
Ben blinked. "How do you know my name?"
"I've been sitting in the security office. Freddy was never in there."
Mike said. "Sorry for tricking you, but I needed to bide my time until I
could be sure you wouldn't, you know, kill me."
Ben laughed. "Well looks like you messed up purple man, I've got you
now!" The blue rabbit started walking towards Mike.
"B-Ben no!" Vix said in horror. "You c-can't!"
"Sorry Vix, but this man has done so much evil to us. He's the reason
we're stuck in these things, so I'm going to get us some revenge,
even if you don't want to cause bloodshed." Ben said sadly.
"But he's n-not the killer!" Vix cried out. "H-he's the one who fixed me
up l-last night! If he h-hadn't I would just be pieces on the f-floor!"
Ben paused. "He what?"
"The man who killed you was wearing a purple uniform, right? He
Present Day
"Magic." Vincent said in disbelief.
"Well of course. How else would you have come back to life?" The
Puppet said calmly.
"I don't know, some sort of genetic recombobulator thing?"
The Puppet sighed in exasperation. "And where would we get a
device like that?"
"I dunno! The pizzeria had fully mobile animatronics before the '80s! I
assume some sort of similar mechanical marvel could have
occurred!" Vincent threw his hands in the air.
The Puppet rested its face in its hands. "Sometimes, I wonder if you
actually pay attention. Your antics are among the most irritating things
I've ever had the misfortune to deal with, and that's saying a lot,
considering that I acted as a children's entertainer for the past thirty
years"
"Yeah, well, I try." Vincent said with a mischievous grin.
The Puppet looked up and glared at him. "You are the most selfcentered, cruel, vile, backstabbing MONSTER!" The Puppet's
normally emotionless voice growing angrier and louder as it spoke.
"You bastard, I never should have brought you back you-"
"Calm down, Marionette." Mike said. "He's trying to get under your
skin, the more you react the more he'll try to pester you."
"Ohh, Marionette. Normally Mikey just refers to you as Puppet. Guess
I really irritated both of you."
Mike sighed in disappointment. "I thought that if we could bring you
back you would be able to improve yourself. Guess I was wrong."
Mike shook his head. "I'm really disappointed in you Vince."
Vincent would have normally felt great for causing such discomfort in
another, especially the Puppet and Mike, the two he held responsible
for his torture as Springtrap. However, ever since he had gotten into
the Spring suit, he had felt different. As if acting like he did in his
former life was something to be ashamed of. But he still felt as if the
suit made him complete. He wasn't proud of his actions, and he knew
November 7, 1987
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 4:00 A.M.
"Well done Vix!" Mike said encouragingly. Vix had had a surprisingly
easy time climbing the walls, and was now hanging from the ceiling.
After a couple falls, she was nervous, but glad that she was finally
succeeding.
Astonishingly, once Mike had managed to get Ben on his side, the
other toy animatronics had accepted him.
Tia was a bit vain, and tended to ramble and chatter. She wasn't too
happy with her design either, but as an animatronic there was little
she could do to change it. Theodore was a bit uptight, and he
preferred to spend more time by himself than with the others, but he
was generally polite and intelligent. Ben was easily excited, but also
tended to jump at shadows. At the same time however, when he
wasn't scared he tended to be confident and sure of himself. BB was
a cheerful little fellow, but he could throw temper tantrums when he
was upset. Fortunately, it was difficult to upset the little guy, meaning
that he rarely reacted violently. Vix was sweet and kind, but extremely
nervous and unsure of herself, but considering the pain she had gone
through, Mike could easily understand that.
All in all, they acted like children between the age of nine and twelve,
with the exception of BB, who was five.
The night had gone extremely well, especially considering that the
toys and originals had hated each other at the start. Now they were
getting along like siblings. Which is to say, with many fights and
arguments, but not in hatred.
Mike was getting ready to pack up his stuff so that he could make
room for the next night guard. Suddenly, he saw something in the
corner of his eye. A figure so black that it looked like it was made out
of shadows, with glowing white eyes and teeth. Mike whipped his
head towards it, but before he could say or do anything, it was gone.
"Weird" Mike said to himself as he got one final thing ready. A note
for the new guard, with one sentence on it:
Speak to them.
That's the end of the Fnaf 2 location as far as the night shift
goes, but we still have a few more things to look at before we
leave the year 1987.
Chapter 18: Bite
Present Day
Vincent was out of the suit and feeling more like his normally
belligerent and ADHD self. It turned out that the suit was painfully
easy to get out of from the inside. The suit didn't limit Vincent's
flexibility in any way, as surprising as it was. This made it no problem
to reach under his armpits and undo the latches that held the back of
the torso on. Once that was undone, it wasn't difficult for the skinny
man to just pull his arms out of the suit and push himself out.
The Puppet's explanation of magic was actually quite surprising to
Vincent.
"Some very few people are born with a natural ability to do magic.
Having magical potential has strange effects. One with the capacity
for magic has the ability to see spirits in life, and to do the impossible
in death. For example, reanimating the dead, conjuring ghosts, and
giving life to an otherwise inanimate object are feats that I myself
have seen occur that would otherwise be impossible." The Puppet
paused. "One of which you did yourself."
"But I've never done magic, what the hell are you talking about?"
Vincent asked confused.
"You called up the ghosts of the children who now inhabit the
animatronics in order to send them after Mike. Funnily enough, there
"Goodbye Mister Schmidt. I hope we'll see you soon." Freddy said.
"Me too Freddy, me too" Mike said as he stepped out of the parts
and service room.
Mike sighed and started down the hallway. Hope Jeremy's doing fine.
Jeremy Fitzgerald had joined the staff of the Pizzeria the day that
Mike had been moved to the day shift. He was a fairly short guy, with
freckles on his face and curly red hair. The reason Mike liked him was
because he didn't let his size limit him. Jeremy had an attitude that
made him seem like a bigger person. He was an adrenalin junkie as
well, seeking out anything that promised a scare or a rush of
excitement. The thing that set him apart was the fact that to top it all
off, he was the owner of a large inheritance of money, several
hundred million dollars' worth. He was barely at the employable age,
but he had more money than Mike could ever hope to get. The part
that surprised Mike the most was that Jeremy had a completely clean
criminal record, and was a considerate and courteous individual.
When Jeremy had been moved to the day shift the day before, he
had been replaced by Fritz Smith, a computer genius and fellow
adrenalin junkie. Fritz had apparently been friends with Jeremy since
the first grade. Fritz had gotten the job of night guard for a similar
reason to Jeremy, in order to test the myth that the place had haunted
animatronics. He was a medium height man with dark hair and blue
eyes, as well as well-tanned skin. Fritz looked like a guy who did
sports a lot, but surprisingly he rarely went outside, he was gifted with
a marvelous physique.
Mike went to watch the last event of the pizzeria, a birthday party in
Kid's Cove. He was worried about Vix, because she didn't like small
children much, but Jeremy had told him he would keep an eye on the
animatronic, and Mike trusted the ginger.
Mike entered the room to see Vix climbing up the wall unnoticed,
Jeremy standing more or less directly between her and the children
who were enjoying a birthday cake.
Vix reached the ceiling and turned her head to look at Jeremy below
her. That's when Mike noticed.
"Mister Schmidt?"
Mike had zoned out for a moment. He shook his head, trying to shake
off the dark memories that plagued his mind.
Jeremy had been taken to the hospital and put on life support.
Apparently he was so close to death that it took all of the best
equipment in the hospital to keep him alive, and he was never going
to make a full recovery. Mike had visited him and told him the truth
about the animatronics while he slept, not knowing if Jeremy heard
him or not.
Just today, Mike had received the terrible news.
The hospital had a power outage, and Jeremy had died as a result.
Mike didn't even know this had happened until just half an hour ago,
when a lawyer had showed up to inform him that Jeremy was dead.
Jeremy's death wasn't the topic of the day, however.
Jeremy's will was.
Just hours before the power cut out, Jeremy had woken up, and in an
hour of lucidity he had changed his will entirely.
He had given everything to Mike.
"Mister Schmidt? Is everything alright?"
"Sorry, just thinking."
"I understand, it's a lot to take in. You just inherited seven hundred
million dollars."
"Yeah I've never really had much money."
"It's not just money, we need to discuss other conditions and assets."
"Conditions?"
"Yes sir. Mister Fitzgerald put a single condition on the money. It must
The end of our 1987 stories. We learn how Mike acquired the
money to fund the new pizzeria.
Mr. G was just a one-time thing. I couldn't think of a good name
for the manager, so basically he's just here for Mike to buy the
toys off of.
Chapter 20: Doors
Present Day
"Oh, that kid Fitzgerald." Vince said. "Shame about him. Heard about
the power outage a few days after."
"I only have one question for you Vince." Mike said. "Why did you
tamper with the animatronics?"
"Fritz got fired for that, what makes you think I would do it?"
"Vince, stop lying." Mike said. "Fritz didn't touch the animatronics."
"Fine, you caught me" Vince grinned "I needed to find a way to
prevent the animatronics from killing me, so I figured that ruining the
facial recognition would make them get decommissioned before they
"Sorry Goldie, Vince has been breaking things." Mike said. "Let me
introduce you properly. Vince, Goldie. Goldie, Vince. Goldie doesn't
really mind what you call him. Golden Freddy, Goldie, Fredbear, and
Spring Freddy are all valid names." Mike paused. "Goldie, could you
get Fritz and Percy real quick?"
"Sure thing Mike." The bear vanished.
Vincent's jaw dropped.
November 8, 1993
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 12:00 A.M.
Mike had finally found the new location of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.
After six years, the place had opened back up, and it was back at the
1983 location.
After ten years, the old office felt like home.
Mike thought back to earlier that day.
"Hey Mike! What's up?" Vince had said cheerfully. Mike didn't trust
him much anymore after what happened in '87.
"I'm looking for a job." Mike had replied.
"Why? You just inherited millions of dollars, why are you working in
this place? You know we can only pay minimum wage, right?" Vince
said confused.
"Love this old place, lots of memories." Mike had explained. "Hey,
where's Percy?"
"Percy, um, couldn't be here. Today, I mean." Vince said nervously.
Mike hadn't trusted him to mean what he said, But Mike couldn't do
anything about it.
Mike checked his cameras. 4:00 A.M. already? Bonnie was the only
one who had left the stage, and that was to go into the supply closet.
There had been a message from Percy about the animatronics being
glitchy, but Mike had ignored him for the most part, thinking himself
safe.
Mike put down the camera and checked his left door light to see
Bonnie standing just outside his door, eyes blank. "Bonnie?"
Bonnie twitched, then screamed and charged towards Mike. Mike,
reacting, slammed his hand on the door button, locking the lavender
rabbit outside his door.
Mike took a steadying breath. This was going to be one hell of a
week.
Present Day
They had moved into the main show room of the new location.
Turns out that having four humans, a large animatronic bear, and a
floating puppet all in a room that was designed simply for animatronic
repair was a bad idea.
"Mike, how the hell did you get Percy to come back? I thought he quit
the previous location." Vince asked confused.
"Well, um, I didn't exactly quit. Mr. G fired me." Percy chuckled.
"Turns out, having a heart attack on the job can lead to expulsion
from your job. Especially when the job in question is likely to include
sudden loud noises, creepy animatronics, and a likelihood of being
"Calm down Fritz. I have healed the skin and Mike repaired the jaw.
Vincent simply forced the jaws open beyond their normal range of
movement. He didn't damage the pain sensors, and he felt his own
fair share of pain." The Puppet said calmly, glaring at Vincent.
Fritz took a calming breath. "If he damages the suit permanently, I
swear I'll kill him."
"Noted." Vincent said. "What about you Fredbear, what are you
contributing to the team?"
Goldie sighed. "You can call me Goldie or Fredbear, I don't care
which. I am one of the first group of five that you killed. As a child, I
was attentive; but slow and unable to communicate properly. In some
ways, I am better off like this. That doesn't mean I forgive you for
brutally murdering me, but that there is a major upside to my new
existence. My limitations as a living child have vanished in my
afterlife, and my magical potential has been unlocked."
"Wow. So vanish bear was socially awkward and stupid. What a
surprise." Vincent said, hoping to get on Goldie's nerves.
"Yes I was." Goldie said, not upset in the slightest.
"Get back here you two!"
Vince turned to see a pair of figures dash into the room. One was
long-eared like a rabbit, the other was a figure that resembled the old
Freddy animatronic. Both had glowing white teeth and eyes, and both
of them were such a dark shade of black that it looked like they
absorbed the light around them.
Neither was touching the ground.
Mike, who was chasing them, reached out to grab both of them, and
suddenly he stopped in his tracks, as if he had run face first into a
wall. He slid down to rest on the ground, rubbing his face with his
hands. "Both of you are going to be stuck in a bottle for the next three
years."
"Do I have to be stuck with him?" The rabbit figure asked, jabbing his
This will be the last chapter that is set in the present for a little
while, so I made sure it was a fairly long one.
Place your bets on who our mystery character is.
Chapter 22: Night 2
November 9, 1993
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 12:00 A.M
Mike knew that he should listen to the message Percy left him, things
had definitely changed a lot since the last time he was here.
"Uhh, Hello? Hello? Uh, well, if you're hearing this and you made it to
day two, uh, congrats!"
Yep, Percy behaving as normal.
"I-I won't talk quite as long this time since Freddy and his friends tend
to become more active as the week progresses. Uhh, it might be a
good idea to peek at those cameras while I talk just to make sure
everyone's in their proper place. You know..."
Good advice. Mike checked all of his cameras. Bonnie was offstage
already, but everyone else was still onstage.
"Uh... Interestingly enough, Freddy himself doesn't come off stage
very often. I heard he becomes a lot more active in the dark though,
so, hey, I guess that's one more reason not to run out of power,
right?"
Mike knew that Freddy didn't like leaving the stage much, but more
active in the dark? That was new.
"I-I also want to emphasize the importance of using your door lights.
There are blind spots in your camera views, and those blind spots
happen to be right outside of your doors. So if-if you can't find
something, or someone, on your cameras, be sure to check the door
lights. Uh, you might only have a few seconds to react... Uh, not that
you would be in any danger, of course. I'm not implying that."
Not in any danger. Hopefully that was true. Better safe than sorry
though.
"Also, check on the curtain in Pirate Cove from time to time. The
character in there seems unique in that he becomes more active if
the cameras remain off for long periods of time. I guess he doesn't
like being watched. I don't know."
Foxy doesn't like being watched? That's different entirely. Foxy loved
to perform for people, the more watching, the more he enjoyed it.
"Anyway, I'm sure you have everything under control! Uh, talk to you
soon."
Click
"Bye Percy." Mike said.
He opened up his camera again. Foxy was beginning to peek out of
the curtains, and Chica had left the main stage.
Mike heard the sound of an animatronic walking around and turned to
his left to see Bonnie outside his door. Mike immediately pressed the
button to close the door, locking Bonnie out.
"Bonnie, can you hear me?" Mike asked.
The response was a bone-chilling screech.
"So much for that then." Mike said as he listened to the rabbit walk
off.
Mike opened the left door and checked the time. 5:30. Time really
flies when you're trying to figure out why your friends have gone
crazy.
Mike looked at Pirate's Cove. Foxy was gone.
Mike jumped to the left door and slammed the door button.
Seconds later, he heard the sound of something cunning directly
outside the door, and then something banging on the door.
Then it was 6:00 A.M., and the animatronics returned to their places.
November 9, 1993
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, 11:30
Mike walked into the pizzeria.
The past two shifts had been nightmare inducing, causing him to
sometimes wake up in the middle of the night screaming. It had
gotten to the point where the toy animatronics, who he visited on a
daily basis in order to make sure they remained in optimal condition,
started to creep him out.
Mike shook his head and looked at the trio on the stage. "Freddy?
Bonnie? Chica? Can you three even hear me?"
No response.
Mike sighed and walked towards his office, pausing by Pirate's Cove.
"Foxy? Can you hear me buddy?"
The curtains twitched.
Mike's spirits rose. "Foxy? Come on out pal."
The curtains moved to the sides to reveal the fox standing there with
pinpricks of light for his eyes. The animatronic was twitching and
stuttering as it began to walk towards Mike.
Click
Mike calmed himself down and checked the cameras. This night
should be fun
scream.
Click
"NO!" Mike shouted and slammed his fists down on his desk.
Mike stood up so quickly that his chair slammed into the wall behind
him.
He marched out of the office, no longer caring for his own personal
safety.
"You killed him! You killed Percy!" Mike shouted in anger, marching
straight up to Freddy. "You lost control and you killed him!"
Freddy's eyes opened for the first time that night, little pinpricks of
light in otherwise empty sockets.
Mike's anger began to drain and he slowly backed away from the
bear animatronic.
Freddy's hand snapped forwards faster than Mike's eyes could follow.
Mike flinched, but the hit never came.
A golden colored bear animatronic had appeared out of nowhere and
had grabbed Freddy's arm, stopping him in his tracks.
Before Mike could react, the yellow animatronic had grabbed him and
teleported the both of them away.
Mike found himself in a decrepit room. Among other things, there was
the Spring Bonnie animatronic and several arcade machines. The
rabbit was in horrible condition, large holes in the torso and most of
the fabric on the legs missing showed that it was in the process of
decaying.
"Mike, you very nearly died."
Mike looked at his savior, the golden bear had a sympathetic look in
his eyes.
"Thanks, I guess" Mike said, still shaken by the events that had
transpired thus far. "Goldie, what happened to them?"
"Us. I was part of this madness too, until just recently." Goldie said
sadly. "We were overwhelmed by rage. It didn't matter that the people
we stalked and attacked were not the killer, we simply wanted
revenge. It has taken us all, and made us different. Freddy, who
used to adore show time, has grown to hate it and the light that he
associates with it. Bonnie has become reclusive and refuses to
interact with us. Chica, who is usually so even tempered, now blows
up at the slightest things. Poor Foxy has grown to hate people
watching him, to the point where he would continue to hide in Pirate's
Cove even if he wasn't broken."
"What about you?" Mike asked.
"I tried to kill Percy."
Chapter 24: Fired
Mike sighed in relief. "So what can I do to snap them out of it?"
"For me, it was the realization that I was destroying my own morals
by hurting a helpless man." Goldie said. "Perhaps if you managed to
show them that they went against their values by being the monsters
that they are, they would snap out of it." Goldie looked at the clock in
the corner of the room. "But perhaps you should get back to your
office, six is in five minutes."
Before Mike could say anything, he was back in his office, alone.
Mike thought about what Goldie had said. If he could get them to see
that they were no longer themselves, perhaps
The clock chimed six, knocking Mike out of his thinking. This was
something for tomorrow night.
Immediately the fox shut down, going into an offline position, probably
the only time he had turned off since '87.
Mike came to a sudden realization. The toys and the original
animatronics had both been in a similar condition back in '87. The
toys, unlike the originals, were still sane.
Their souls would keep going within the suits until those suits shut
down. That meant that they got no rest, and even if you are a
supernatural entity, if you were human at some point, you needed to
rest.
They had been driven insane by exhaustion.
Mike ran up to the main stage, all three of them were active and
moving towards him, but he was faster than all of them, so long as he
stayed out of their reach.
Mike flashed his light in Bonnie's eyes next, hoping it would just reset
him like it had Foxy. The rabbit froze for a few moments, but did not
cause his reset. Fortunately, Mike managed to take advantage of this
freeze, and got behind the lavender animatronic. He quickly
unlatched the manual control panel on the back of Bonnie's neck and
turned him off.
"Two down, two to go" Mike muttered to himself.
He turned around to see Freddy reaching towards him. Mike flashed
his flashlight in the bear's face, causing a momentary pause. Mike
used that pause to duck under the animatronic's arms. Mike slid
under a table and popped up directly behind Chica. Mike quickly
deactivated her, then ran off again to avoid Freddy.
"Goldie! Help me out!" Mike called to the golden bear that he knew
was aware of this battle.
Mike quickly turned around and slit between the bear's legs, coming
back up behind him. Goldie was there, holding Freddy's hands in
front of him. Suddenly, one of Freddy's hands ripped out of Goldie's
grasp, and whistled through the air towards Mike.
Foxy was there holding him back. "Now, now Freddy. You can't do
that ta our friend. Ya don't want to kill Mike." He winked at Mike. "I got
yer back buddy, go ahead and give Freddy some rest."
"Thanks Foxy." Mike said with a smile. He reached over and turned
Freddy off. "Now then. Think that's enough resting time for us to
reactivate Bonnie?"
Foxy shrugged. "If it isn't, we can always hold 'im back for you to turn
him back off."
Mike went over to Bonnie and turned him back on.
Bonnie's eyes blinked a couple times. "Mike? What happened?"
"It's a long story." Mike looked at his watch. 3:00. Still enough time to
make certain that Chica and Freddy could rest.
To say the least, Mike went home that day in a bad mood.
"You are locking the door on a murderer. Your action will not be
morally or legally incorrect." The Puppet assured him.
"Okay then..."
Mike gets his friends back, gets fired, and the Puppet gets
revenge.
Chapter 25: Follow Me
trying to get out of the building. As he hit the doors, he tried to open
them. Locked.
They had locked the doors.
The man, beginning to panic, ran through the whole building, taking a
roundabout route to get back into the safe room, where he was sure
they couldn't follow.
He was wrong.
was one thing that the child was certainly capable of. Creating fear.
The man tried to flee from the ghost, but eventually got cornered.
Panicked, he looked around, finally spotting what he took to be his
salvation.
The old Spring Bonnie suit.
The man dodged around the ghost and dashed towards the golden
suit. He quickly opened it up and got inside. Standing up, he laughed.
"You little bastards can't get me now!"
Then the man realized where he went wrong. The spring lock suits
shouldn't be moved suddenly, gotten wet, or, for that matter, worn at
all.
He had done all three things.
Crack!
The spring locks broke, sending the endoskeleton parts launching
into the man's body. He cried out in pain, but the ghosts simply
watched as he sank to the ground. Any movement hurt, and he could
feel his blood leaking out of his body. As he expired, he uttered two
words.
"You can't"
June 4, 2007
Fazbear's Fright, 12:00 A.M.
Mike sighed. He had gotten this job in the hopes of finding the two
last animatronics.
Mr. G, after the events of that night, now thirteen years ago, had sold
him the company at a price so low that Mike couldn't even believe it
Mike knew all about the incident where they had found a "genuine"
Freddy head. The thing had turned out to be papier-mch, it had
collapsed the instant they tried to clean it.
"And we found a Desk fan, very old school, metal though, so watch
the fingers! Uh, heh! Uhm, right now the place is basically just, you
know, FLASHING LIGHTS and SPOOKY PROPS. I honestly thought
we'd have more by now, uh so if we don't have anything really cool by
next week, we may have to suit you up in a furry suit, and make you
walk around saying: "BOOO!" Hehe. Uh, but you know like I said,
were trying to track down, a good lead right now."
Mike actually laughed at that. He knew Charley was joking, but the
concept of running around wearing a fur suit and screaming in
people's faces had an irony that was hilarious.
"Uh, some guy who helped design one of the buildings, said there
was like, an extra room that got boarded up..?"
Mike sobered quickly and sat up. That was new.
"Or something like that. So! Were gonna take a peak, and see what
we can find."
That could actually reveal the locations of his friends. Mike had never
known about a secret room in the pizzerias.
"Uh, for now just get comfortable with the new setup. You can check
the security cameras over on your right, with a click of that blue
button. Uh, you can toggle between the Hall cams and the Vent
cams. Uh, then over on your far left, you can flip up your maintenance
panel."
Mike checked out the new gear. Nothing as impressive as what Fritz
could rig up, given time and materials, but a bit easier to use than the
primitive tablets at the old locations.
"You know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline."
Wait, what?
"Uh, in trying to make the place feel more vintage we have overdone
it a bit! Heh heh. Some of this equipment is BARELY functional! Uh, I
wasn't joking about the fire, that- that's a real risk."
Great, so the place might burn down while he was here. Not the
biggest risk Mike had ever been in, but something he didn't want to
happen nonetheless.
"Uhm, but the MOST IMPORTANT THING, you have to watch for, is
the Ventilation. Look, this place will give you the spooks man, and if
you let that ventilation go offline, then you'll start seeing some
craaazy stuff man, keep that air blowing!"
Mike wasn't certain if this was just Charles being Charles, or if there
was actually a risk of hallucinations. Either way, best to keep this
working anyway.
"Ok, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for
ya tomorrow night."
Click.
June 5, 2007
Fazbear's Fright, 12:00
Ring Ring
"Hey man! Ok, I have some awesome news for you! First of all: We
found some vintage audio traning cassettes. Dude, these are like,
prehistoric!"
Not exactly Charley. Not exactly.
"I think they were like, training tapes, for like other employees or
something like that. So, I thought we could like, have them playing,
like over the speakers while people walk through the attraction?"
Wait, they were going to play some of the training tapes Percy had
recorded? That was interesting.
"Dude, that makes this feel, LEGIT man. But I have an even better
suprise for you, and you're not gonna belive this! We found one. A
REAL one."
This was why Mike was here. He didn't quite know which it could be,
but either of his friends would be a fantastic find.
"Uh, oh uhm, gotta go man! W-well look I-It's in there somewhere, II'm sure you'll see it. Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio
I found. Talk to you later man!"
Click.
As Mike pondered what Charley said, the audio that his employer had
found started to play.
"Oh, Hello! Hello, hello! Uh, welcome to your new career as a
perfomer/entertainer, for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."
Oh, this was a tape for one of the performers. But the staff didn't do
any performing?
"Uh, these tapes will provide you, with much needed information on
how to handle/climb into/climb out of, mascot costumes. Right now,
we have 2 specially designed suits, that double as both animatronic
and suit!"
Oh, the spring lock suits. These tapes really were quite old.
"So please, pay close attention while learning how to operate these
suits, as accidents/injury/death/irreparable and grotesque maiming
can occur."
Mike nodded. That much was true.
"First we will discuss how to operate the mascots when they are in
Animatronic form. For ease of operation the animatronics are set to
turn and walk towards sound, giving an easy and hands free
approach, to making sure the animatronics stay where the children
are, for maximum entertainment/crowd pleasing value."
Wait a second, hadn't Charley put buttons on the camera setup that
would play a child's laughter? Did that mean?
"To change the animatronics to Suit mode, insert and turn firmly the
hand crank, provided by the manufacturer. Turning the crank will
recoil and compress the animatronic parts around the sides of the
suit, providing room to climb inside. Please make sure the spring lock
is fastened tight, to ensure the animatronic devices remain fit. We'll
cover this in more detail, in tomorrow's session. Remember to smile,
you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."
Mike had ignored the last part of the message, and was frantically
searching the cameras to see where Goldie was. As he flipped
through the cameras, he spotted a tall figure, but he had clicked the
next camera before he could get a good look. Mike changed back to
the previous camera and took a good look.
It certainly wasn't Goldie.
June 5, 2007
Fazbear's Fright, 3:00 A.M.
That wasn't Goldie.
That thing didn't even look like it was supposed to be functional.
Wires were hanging out of various holes in the thing's body, along
with the legs being completely stripped of any protective covering.
Spring Bonnie looked like it had turned into some sort of demon.
"What the hell have you been through springs?" Mike muttered to
himself. The Spring Bonnie suit wasn't haunted like the others, in fact
it was the only animatronic that was in the pizzeria that had never
housed a child's spirit. Despite this, it was still unsettling to look at the
yellow animatronic.
Suddenly, the suit looked directly up into the camera, and Mike
immediately knew it wasn't just an animatronic. The eyes glowed with
supernatural energy, so similar to the Puppet's eyes when it was
mad.
Mike took a deep breath and pressed one of the "play sound"
buttons. The sound of a child saying "Hi" echoed through the building,
and as Mike watched, the suit walked out of the sight of the camera
and into another room.
Clunk. Clunk.
Was it in the vents?
Mike quickly changed camera mode to the vents to see the eerie suit
glaring at the camera, barely a foot away. The glowing white eyes
were far from the creepiest part of it. It had a creepily unnerving grin
all the time, and Mike could see bits of endoskeleton and
something else poking out of the various parts of the suit.
Mike quickly shut down that particular vent. After a few minutes, he
heard the clunk, clunk of something exiting the vents. Soon after, a
red light began flashing and an alarm began to blare through the
office. Mike turned to his left to see that the ventilation had gone
offline. He quickly began to reboot the system when he heard a voice.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Michael Schmidt."
Mike looked up from the maintenance panel to see Spring Bonnie
right outside his office, staring in through the glass. The animatronic's
voice was extremely familiar, albeit more broken. "Vincent!?"
"How's it going Mikey!" the decaying suit said cheerfully. "How's my
favorite murderer doing?"
Mike sputtered. "Murderer?!"
"Yeah! After all, I thought I saw you walking away from the pizzeria
that night. My only question is why you locked me in the building?"
Vincent paused, "Actually, I think I know. You care more about those
damn robots than your own co-worker. That's why you locked me in
June 6, 2007
Fazbear's Fright, 12:00 A.M.
Tonight would be interesting.
Very interesting.
Ring Ring
"Uh, hello hello! Uhm, for today's lesson we will be continuing our
training on proper suit handling technique. When using an
animatronic as a suit, please ensure that the animatronic parts are
tightly compressed and fastened, by the spring lock located around
inside of the suit. It may take a few moments, position your head and
torso between these parts, in a manner where you can move and
speak. Try not to nudge or press against ANY of the spring locks
inside the suit. Do not touch the spring lock at any time. Do not
breathe on a spring lock, as moisture may loosen them, and cause
them to break loose. In the case that the spring lock comes loose
while wearing the suit, please try to maneuver away from populated
areas, before bleeding out, as to not ruin the customer experience."
Company policy being downright lethal, as per usual.
"The way you act, anyone would think you didn't have one either."
"Touch" Vincent muttered. "How did you come back anyway? I
can understand the brothers shadow coming back, they were
obliterated by those spring suits; but you died peacefully, in your
sleep."
"Well, it's a long story. But I figure you've got time."
June 6, 2007
Fazbear's Fright, 3:00 A.M.
"How exactly did you get here Jeremy?" Mike asked confused.
Jeremy had entered the office, completely ignoring the glass of the
window. The ghost still looked like a burnt version of Vix, however.
"You know how you told me that the children had come back to life
using the suits?" Mike nodded in confirmation. "Well, when you told
me about it, I immediately made up my mind to make sure those kids
would have a safe place to live. I figured that since you knew about
them being alive, not to mention the fact that you were the mechanic,
you would be the ideal custodian." Jeremy paused. "This is when
things get a little weird."
"I can handle weird. Some of my best friends are haunted robots."
"Good enough for me. When the power went out in the hospital, I
panicked. The whole time I was in my coma I was lucid. I could hear
everything that was said and I could think clearly. I just couldn't act.
So when the machines that were keeping me alive cut out, I was able
to think of a way to save myself, but not to act on it. In short, I died."
Jeremy paused again. "But I didn't stop thinking. My mind was
beginning to go blurry and my thoughts began to flee, but I held one
thing in my mind: I can survive this."
"You kept yourself alive with the power of positive thinking?" Mike
asked incredulously
"No, far from it. I died almost immediately. What happened was that
magic user."
"What?" Mike asked
"Yeah, I was confused too. But I saw the proof as soon as I came
here. In fact, the proof is the exact reason that I'm here. Vincent, or
Springtrap, as he wants to be called now, summoned a total of six
ghosts to this place."
"Six?!"
"Yeah, the fool brought six of his worst enemies here. Lessee he
called for BB, Foxy, Freddy, Chica, and Puppet."
"But that's five, and what about you?" Mike was still confused about
the discussion on magic earlier.
"Vince called Mangle as well." The phantom grinned again. "But the
ghost within the toy Foxy animatronic doesn't answer to that name. I
do."
"So why can't he control you, if he obviously has control over BB?"
"Magic users are naturally resistant to the magic of others. Well,
Ghost magic users are. I'm not as powerful as the Puppet or even
Springtrap himself, but Vince has stretched his power too thin."
Jeremy paused. "In other words, he's powerless do utilize his magic
to do anything else. He used most of it up calling us here, and the
rest is going towards controlling four of his 'minions'."
Before Mike could ask another question, the clock chimed six o'clock,
and Jeremy simply vanished.
"This just keeps getting stranger and stranger"
If you bet that the mysterious final member was Jeremy, you
were correct!
This is just a little dip back into the present, we're going to have
a little ways to go before we end the memories. At least we
finally know exactly when the "present" is.
Chapter 29: It Burns!
June 7, 2007
Fazbear's Fright, 12:00 A.M
Ring Ring
Mike had settled himself in for the night already, he knew that
Springtrap would be after him soon, but he was still listening to
Percy's old training tapes in case anything important came up.
"Uh, hello? Hello, hello! Uhm, there has been a slight change of
company policy, concerning you and the suits. Uhm, so. After learning
of an unfortunate incident at the sister location involving multiple and
simultaneous spring lock failures, the company has deemed the suits
temporarily unfit for employees."
Sister location? Oh yeah, Percy hadn't been there that day. He was at
another location for almost a week when the two spring suits had
failed.
"Safety is top priority at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, which is why the
classic suits are being retired to an appropriate location, while being
looked at by our technicians. Until replacements arrive, you'll be
expected to wear the temporary costumes provided to you."
Hadn't they ordered in some suits that had been a similar color to the
original golden spring suits? They were more brown than gold, and
they were eventually scrapped entirely.
"Keep in mind, they were found on very short notice, so questions
about appropriateness/relevance should be deflected."
Ah, that explains it.
"I repeat, the classic suits are not to be touched, activated or worn.
That being said, we are free of liability, do as you wish. As always,
Mike shook his head, trying to clear away the afterimages. He looked
at the panel and rebooted the ventilation system, knowing that
Springtrap would get him if the alarms kept blaring.
Mike closed the panel and pulled up his camera. Looks like Vince
thinks the vents are a good idea. Mike quickly sealed the vent that
Springtrap was in. In response, Springtrap made a rude gesture.
Mike chuckled, he found Springtrap's antics to be funny. "Don't you
ever change Vince." Mike considered what he just said.
"Well, maybe less murder, but other than that, don't change."
June 8, 2007
Fazbear's Fright, 12:00 A.M.
Another night, another shift of keeping Springtrap out of the office.
Ring Ring
"Hello? Hello? Um, this is just a reminder of company policy
concerning the safe room. The safe room is reserved for equipment
and/or other property not being currently used and is in fact a safety
location for employees only. This is not a break room, and should not
be considered a place for employees to hide and/or congregate - and
under no circumstance should a customer ever be taken into this
room and out of the main show area."
Old news really. The only person to have ever broken that last rule
was now dead. Not to mention rotting.
"Management has also been made aware that the spring Bonnie
animatronic has been noticeably moved."
This made Mike sit up. So Vince had been using the Spring Bonnie
suit for a long while. Fortunately, Mike knew that no children had
gone missing at the approximate time that this message was
recorded. It looked like that particular group of kids was smart enough
to stay away from him.
"We would like to remind employees that this costume is not safe to
wear under any circumstances. Thank you and remember to smile;
you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."
Click
"What a bore, right?"
Mike looked up from his cameras. "How did you get here so fast?"
"You're getting really bad at checking those cameras Mike. I had to
wait for a few minutes before realizing you had forgotten to even look
at them." Springtrap laughed.
"Vince, are you enjoying yourself?" Mike asked suddenly.
Springtrap immediately went from laughing to furious. "NO! I am not
enjoying myself! And Vincent is dead! DEAD!" He slammed both his
fists on the glass. "This is what he looks like now!" The rabbit reached
up and pulled the top half of his head away, revealing a mummified
face, locked in an eternal scream. "This is the face of the man you
once called Vincent Tollini!" Springtrap pulled the animatronic face
back down. "You're not worth my effort tonight. Enjoy your ghosts,
Schmidt. Tomorrow you won't leave." The rabbit turned and walked
away.
June 9, 2007
Fazbear's Fright, 12:00
Almost immediately upon entering his office, Mike spotted the
phantom fox to his left. Mike knew how to avoid the phantom attacks
by now, they couldn't attack if you paid no attention to them.
Ring Ring
"Uh, hello? Hello? Uh, this is just to inform all employees that due to
budget restrictions, the previously mentioned safe rooms are being
sealed at most locations, including this one. Work crews will be here
most of the day today, constructing a false wall over the old door
Mike heard the sound of clapping. "Bravo! Bravo! You really showed
them who the boss is."
Mike turned around to see Springtrap climbing out of a vent. "What a
shame there's one more guest to this party. Mangle couldn't be here
today, hell if I know why." With that, the rabbit snapped his fingers.
As Mike stared, four long spindly limbs extended out of the vent
behind Springtrap. All four limbs out of the vent, the Puppet raised
itself to its full height, being almost a foot taller than the spring
animatronic.
"Sic 'em." Springtrap said, pointing at Mike.
The Puppet raised both its arms and wrapped them around
Springtrap's neck. "What the hell are you doing?! Get HIM!"
The Puppet put its masked head next to Springtrap's "I never was
yours to control."
"Goddamn you all! God DAMN IT!" Springtrap shouted in rage, flailing
about in the Puppet's grasp. Somehow, this stick-thin figure was
stronger than the mechanical rabbit.
As Springtrap flailed, he kicked a Chica head lying on the ground,
breaking the lightbulb inside. Almost immediately, Mike could smell
something burning. As all three of them watched in horror, flames
began to spring up on the ground around the animatronic head.
Springtrap laughed. "Finally! FINALLY! I can finally leave this crappy
horror attraction!" Springtrap said, managing to break free of the
Puppet's grasp and launching himself into the fire.
"No! Vince!" Mike shouted in horror. "Don't let him kill himself!"
The Puppet responded, pulling Springtrap out of the fire and lifting the
rabbit, still smoldering, into the air.
"Let me die! Let me burn!" Vince shouted angrily. The Puppet
responded by deactivating the golden rabbit, forcing him to sleep.
"Quick, we gotta get out of here!" Mike shouted to the Puppet. The
fire was beginning to climb the wall, growing bigger and hotter by the
second.
Mike and the Puppet, plus Springtrap, rushed out of the burning
building. There was little they could do to stop the fire at this point,
not even magic could accomplish such a feat.
The Puppet set Springtrap down and sighed. "His soul is damaged,
and his mind is broken. It is nearly impossible to make out his
thoughts."
"Could you fix him?" Mike asked hopefully. Despite everything that
had happened, Mike still believed that Vince could eventually find
redemption.
The Puppet looked over the rabbit. "For you, yes." The Puppet turned
towards him. "For the man who will rebuild our home, and repair our
damaged family, I will heal this man who is so broken." The Puppet
turned back towards Springtrap. "It will take months, even years,
before he awakens again. You had best begin preparations soon"
Mike nodded. He knew now that both the Puppet and Goldie would
be in the new pizzeria when he needed them, and the only other
person who was still alive and associated with Freddy Fazbear's
Pizza was already working on the animatronics. But wait, how could I
forget him? Mike took out his phone and dialed in a number.
Ring Ring
"Hello hello?"
"Hey Percy. You up for another night shift?"
Present Day
"So, basically, you became a ghost because you wanted to?" Vince
asked incredulously. "Why the hell would you do that?"
"I didn't want to leave the world yet. I figured that I could help out with
something." Jeremy replied, then grinned. "After all, it helped save
Mike from you."
Vincent grumbled. "How was I supposed to know there were two
ghosts in the Mangle?"
"Tsk tsk Vince, you should know by now that she doesn't like to be
called that." Jeremy scolded.
Percy and Fritz just watched in confusion. As far as they could tell,
Vincent had been talking to himself for the past ten minutes.
"Um, Vince?" Percy said, "Who are you talking to?"
"Fitzgerald, who else?" Vince replied irritably.
"Who else is exactly what he asked." Fritz pointed out.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Neither Percy nor Fritz can see or hear spirits."
Jeremy said, rubbing the back of his head. "Lemme just" There
was a slight change, nothing Vince could notice, but it was there
nonetheless.
the back left corner of the room was a staircase that led downwards.
Vincent followed Mike down the staircase to see a short hallway with
four doors leading out of it. One door is marked 'Mike' one marked
'Percy' one marked 'Fritz', and the last unmarked. At the other end of
the hallway was a ramp that curved back upwards into the staff
lounge. Mike went to the unmarked door and opened it, showing
Vincent the inside.
To put it simply, this was the nicest room Vincent had ever been in.
There was a bed in one corner, and directly opposite a television. On
a bedside table was a tablet, a smartphone, and a lamp. There was a
walk-in closet directly opposite the entrance to the room. To top it all
off, there was a soft carpet that covered the entire floor of the room.
"Wow."
Just under a week since I started writing this story, and I'm
already at chapter thirty. Admittedly, most of the chapters are
fairly short, but the speed at which I wrote this astonishes even
me.
Uploads will probably be a bit slower from here on out. Writing
the first arc was fairly easy, I had the games as a guideline. From
here on out, it will be more unique.
Chapter 31: Adjusting
room's a bit, you know, impersonal. Didn't want to just paint the room
purple, but I had no idea what other things you liked."
Vincent walked over to the bed, not really paying attention to Mike.
He stopped just at the edge of the bed and spread his arms out.
Whoomph
Vincent was lying face down on the bed in his room, out cold.
Mike just stared at the sleeping man in astonishment for a little while,
then shrugged and chuckled, before backing out of the room, closing
the door. Since his resurrection, Vincent hadn't actually slept yet.
Being knocked unconscious by various forms of magic doesn't count
as rest.
Mike walked back upstairs to find that everyone else was in the staff
lounge, awaiting Vincent's reaction to his new room.
Mike sighed in irritation. "C'mon guys, don't you have anything better
to do?"
At that, everyone left the staff lounge, returning to the duties that they
had been performing when the meeting had been called in the first
place.
over.
"It's called Smash. Fritz introduced it to us." Mike explained. "You
take control of video game characters and use them to beat each
other up. You seemed to have a really good grasp of the controls.
Especially for a first-timer."
"It's fun. Really fun. It means I can kill someone with a sword and
they don't get to complain about it afterwards."
Mike chuckled. "Somehow, the Puppet's better at this game than the
rest of us. He has only three fingers, but, by some miracle, he can
press those buttons at lightning speed."
"I don't like this game much." Percy said. "Too, um, fast paced. Not
enough time to plan ahead. You can take my spot. I'll watch."
After a few more games, Vincent had decided that his favorite
character was Ganon. The guy couldn't run quickly, and his mobility
was crap, but he hit like a freaking truck. Plus he was apparently the
main villain of a game. That was pretty cool.
The Puppet won every time though. It tended to play a white haired
character named Robin. The character had a sword and used spells,
like some sort of wizard. But that wasn't why the Puppet liked the
character though. Apparently, Robin was a tactician, and the Puppet
was able to just juggle the other players using the correct button
inputs.
"I think I know why the Puppet's so good at this game" Vincent said
after the Puppet won for the fifth time in a row. "It's using magic to
press the buttons."
The Puppet shrugged. "I have only three fingers. I am using magic to
press the buttons that I would be otherwise unable to use."
"Yeah, yeah. Cheater" Vincent teased. He felt good. It had been
forever since he had actually had fun with other people. Fun at the
expense of other people was one thing, but this was more lasting.
For the hour that they played Smash, Vincent felt like he belonged.
Next Day
Vincent decided he hated shopping.
But today he could make an exception.
Mike had told him that he could pick out almost anything he wanted to
decorate his room.
Hell. Yes.
So now Vincent was running through the store, stopping every five
minutes to look at something, before running off to look at something
else.
"Hurricane Vincent, coming through" Mike muttered to himself.
Eventually Vincent settled on the things that he wanted. He grabbed
himself multiple game systems, along with a respectable collection of
video games, mostly ones with an M rating. He also picked up an
alarm clock that was shaped like a skull, and a chair that balanced on
a single leg.
In addition, Mike had gotten him to pick out a week's worth of
clothing, so naturally Vincent just went with whatever caught his fancy
at the time.
The cashier gave Mike a quizzical look as the bizarre assortment of
items went through the register. Mike simply shrugged in response.
Mike drove back to the pizzeria, Vincent sitting in the passenger side
seat, playing on a handheld gaming device that he had picked out.
"You having fun Vince?" Mike asked
"Yes. Don't talk to me." Vincent answered, frowning in concentration.
Mike chuckled as they pulled into the parking lot of the pizzeria.
Parking the car and turning it off, he stepped outside and started to
carry the chair inside. "Might want to pause your game Vince. We've
"Why did I agree to this?" Vincent muttered under his breath. "Oh
yeah, because I have no choice"
Several hours had passed since they got back, and at this point, it
was 12:00 A.M. The Puppet was sleeping, and Fredbear was turned
off. Everything should be calm and quiet, right?
Wrong.
Ring Ring
"The hell? Who's calling at this time of night?" Vincent said. He
looked at his tablet, seeing an alert that said 'incoming message'.
"Uh, hello? Hello hello. Hey Vince!"
"Percy! This better be important, otherwise I'll make your life a living
hell tomorrow."
"I figured that you might want me to leave you a message for your
new job."
Oh, just a message. Shame, Percy was one of the few people
Vincent liked just talking to.
"You should probably know, we've kept the old company policy. Um,
about the injuries. Just as a refresher, I'll read it out to you. Ahem:
Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. A magical place for kids and
grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. Fazbear
Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or person.
Upon discovering that damage or death has occurred, a missing
person report will be filed within 90 days, or as soon property and
mark his gaze. The normally soft features of his face were angular,
making Vince get the impression that Fredbear was extremely angry.
Vincent shuddered, that was creepy.
"He might occasionally teleport though."
Right, because the yellow bear only needed to be more terrifying.
"If he enters your room without using the doors, just, uhm, ignore him.
He might make you see some really weird stuff, but he won't hurt you.
Not that he would hurt you if he just walked in. That's not what I
mean."
Vincent checked on the cameras again. Four o'clock already? Fast
night
"That should about cover it. Remember, we are not responsible for
any injuries and/or death. Don't worry, you'll do fine. See you in the
morning. 'Bye."
Click
That was unnerving.
Vincent checked the cameras. Clown doll was still in its box,
apparently the music box hadn't 'overloaded' yet. Fredbear was at the
show stage.
The cameras all went blank for a second, and Vincent could hear a
faint song throughout the building.
All around the mulberry bush
The monkey chased the weasel
The monkey thought 'twas all in good fun
Pop! Goes the weasel
Vince was confused. Wasn't the music box wound up? But wait,
Percy said something about the music box overloading
This version of "Pop Goes the Weasel" is the one I grew up with.
In other news, Vincent's night shift isn't going to be nearly as
boring as he initially thought.
Chapter 33: Opening Day
"Just a few finishing touches before he's ready to wake up." Fritz
said.
It was just one day until the pizzeria opened, and they needed the
mascot to at least see what was going on for the first week of
operation. In order to make this possible, Fritz was putting in the last
few sensors that would complete the bear's arsenal of senses.
"So, when Freddy wakes up, what exactly will he be doing?" Vincent
asked curiously.
"Nothing for a while. He'll need to become acclimated to his upgrades
before he can go on the show stage. Speaking of upgrades, these
Opening Day
The new pizzeria was a major hit. Many of the people who had been
avid patrons of the previous two locations had grown up, and now
had children of their own. This naturally meant that, although the
franchise had a bad reputation, there was a massive turnout.
Vincent found that he really enjoyed portraying the enigmatic and
oftentimes hyperactive Spring, and much to his surprise, he really
liked the way that the children laughed at his jokes. Once an hour, he
and Fredbear would stand on the stage, performing a routine of
jokes, songs, and skits.
Whenever it wasn't time to perform onstage, both of the golden
performers would wander through the party room, making many
children extremely happy.
In the Prize Corner, the Puppet was a massive hit. The new face
meant that it was no longer cold and creepy, but warm and friendly.
Children who had played the arcade games in the main area would
put their tickets into a machine and receive a receipt that stated the
amount they had won. They would then turn the receipt in to the
Puppet and receive the prize that they picked out. Occasionally a
child would throw a temper tantrum, and the Puppet would arrive with
a present to calm them down.
The only problem was the parents.
"So, how do they look so alive?" One mother asked Mike.
"Our tech crew is extremely good." Mike answered.
"How do you get them to act so lifelike?" another parent asked.
"We've got the best AI accessible to us in these animatronics. They
have thousands of preprogrammed responses." Mike paused.
"However, both of these animatronics are specialized suits that can
be used both as animatronics and suits."
Thankfully, the parents didn't ask if there actually were people in both
suits. That would have led to either lying or an uncomfortable
situation.
Vincent had just finished a joke routine with Fredbear and was
walking around the party room. Fredbear was the recipient of more
attention than Vincent, but that was fine. Vincent didn't know if he
could handle the constant hugs and children clamoring for attention
that Fredbear endured.
He looked around. The children seemed to be having fun, playing
arcade games, talking to Fredbear, or just chattering amongst
themselves.
All in all, it seemed like nothing could make this go wrong.
Unfortunately, there is always something that can go wrong.
Vincent's attention was grabbed by four men entering the building.
They didn't seem to be the usual partygoers, and they hid their faces
from the cameras. As he watched, all four spread out across the
room, seemingly harmless.
the room.
"you're an idiot" Vincent mumbled to himself. Vincent had been
planning out his course of action. He had a devil on one shoulder and
an angel on the other.
And both wanted him to make these bastards pay.
He used his positioning to launch himself towards the robber who had
been waving the gun around. Before the man could do more than
turn, he had grabbed the robber's arm, pulling the man off balance,
and knocked the robber unconscious with a quick jab. Before the gun
fell to the ground, Vincent grabbed it out of the air.
Vincent made a mad dash towards the next closest robber.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three gunshots rang out, but Vincent didn't even flinch. The man was
unprepared for a nearly seven foot tall golden rabbit to blitz towards
him, and unprepared men with guns were less able to attack than an
unarmed man who had situational awareness.
He grabbed the man's arm and twisted it until he heard a Crack! He
then let go of the man's arms and grabbed the gun with his empty
hand.
Vincent whirled to see both of the remaining robbers gazing on in
amazement, neither of them had their guns pointed at him. Vincent
raised both of the guns in his hands and pointed them at the two
robbers. "It's really sad when you try to rob a kid's pizzeria. It's even
sadder when you get stopped by the mascot of all people."
From the prize corner there was the sound of someone shouting in
terror. It was immediately followed by a high-pitched scream and the
sound of children giggling. Sounded like there was a fifth burglar, and
he had the foolish idea to try and rob the Prize Corner.
The man standing behind Mike just dropped his gun on the ground
and got on his knees. The fourth and final robber just bolted. He didn't
get far, however.
As the man neared the doors, his feet just slipped out from under
him. In one corner of the room, two barely visible silhouettes highfived each other.
All of these things happened in less than thirty seconds.
Vincent walked over to the robber who had landed on his back and
looked down at him. "Wow, at least the other two were beaten by an
actual person. Your colleague had the sensibility to surrender. But
you? You went and got taken out by pizza grease." Vincent laughed.
"That's really funny."
Mike stood up from his seat and walked into the Prize Corner. He
came back carrying another man with a ski mask. The odd part
wasn't that Mike was strong enough to carry the man in one hand, but
that the man was covered in what looked like marionette strings. No
surprise who the culprit was here.
Just then, a trio of police officers burst into the building. "Looks like
Percy made some use of his position in the kitchen." Vincent
muttered to himself.
The Police officers all had their guns trained on him. Vincent had to
keep himself from saying 'look, this isn't what it looks like'. That
phrase just causes infinite suspicion. Instead he answered them with
"About time you got here!"
"Officers! My name is Michael Schmidt, I am the owner and manager
of this pizzeria!" Mike said. "Please excuse Spring, he's the one who
disabled the robbers, and he's a little bit cranky because of it."
All three police officers lowered their weapons, but didn't stop staring
at Vincent.
"What are you looking at?" Vincent demanded. Then he looked down
at himself.
There were three bullet holes right in the middle of his chest.
"Oh." Vincent said, and fainted.
When Vincent came to, he was lying on his bed. Mike was sitting on
the chair in his room watching over him.
"Thank god you woke up." Mike said relieved.
"Mike. What the hell happened?" Vincent asked, still not quite awake.
"Well, after you passed out, I told the police officers that you had had
a stressful day, what with it being your first day on the job. I also told
them that the suit was bulletproof, and that you were fine." Mike
explained.
"The suit's bulletproof?" Vincent said surprised.
Mike sighed. "I have no idea. Theoretically speaking, yes. The
endoskeleton would block the bullets."
"You don't KNOW?!"
"It was the only way to keep you from the coroner."
Vincent looked down at himself. He was still in the Spring suit. "Why
am I still in this thing?"
"We couldn't get it off you." Mike said.
"What do you mean you couldn't get it off me?! Did you get the
Puppet to take it off me?!" Vincent said in confusion.
"None of us could get the latches to budge. Not even the Puppet."
Mike explained. "I think it has to do with the fact that your spirit is
bound to it."
"Couldn't the Puppet do some of that weird magic crap?"
Mike sighed. "Just take the suit off."
One minute later, Vincent was standing in the middle of the room
looking at the suit.
I've been planning this sequence since the start of the story.
Just a little info for those who may be wondering.
Chapter 35: Back Again
Vincent opened his shirt and looked at his chest. There were three
spots on his chest, as if he had fading bruises there.
"The hell?" He muttered.
The man stood up and buttoned his shirt back up. He hobbled over to
Spring and looked closely at the chest of the animatronic, where the
bullets hit it. The fur had already grown back, and the skin was mostly
healed, but since he knew what he was looking for, he found the
same fading bruises that he had on his own chest.
Behind him, he heard the sound of the door opening. Then a voice
broke his confused ponderings. "Glad to see you're awake Vince."
"Mike, mind explaining what the hell happened?" Vincent asked
innocently
"We were lucky you survived. Puppet said that it was a very close
call." Mike said.
"Oh, is that all it was then? A 'close call'?" Vincent said, becoming
agitated.
"I'm glad to see that you've already recovered. We had to go for a day
with just one animatronic, you'd be surprised how many kids were
upset the Spring the rabbit couldn't perform." Mike continued as if
Vincent had said nothing.
"Holy hell Mike! I was shot in the chest! Three times!" Vincent
exploded.
"Calm down Vince, you've got nothing to worry about!" Mike said
soothingly. "You've fully recovered. It's like you haven't been shot in
the first place."
Vincent started to calm down, but he still needed answers. "How long
has it been?"
"You've been out for a day. We had to tell everyone that you were
sick and that the attack yesterday had spurred it on." Mike answered.
Mike clapped his hands. "Now that we're done with the death threats,
let's get on with more important things."
"Like what?" Chica asked.
"Like getting you guys acclimated to your upgrades."
speed to dash to your office. Just keep an eye on him, and he won't
catch you by surprise. Uh, as for Freddy. He's, uhm, unpredictable.
He'll try his best to enter your office when you aren't expecting it.
He's very clever. Fortunately he doesn't move much, otherwise you
would have a lot more to worry about."
"So Freddy's lazy, but smart, Bonnie and Chica are both
straightforward fools, and Foxy will blitz to my office." Vincent
muttered. "Not to mention Clown Doll in his box trying to murder me
and/or steal my tablet; and then there's Fredbear, who'll teleport into
my room from time to time and drive me literally insane. Fun."
"Uhm, if Fredbear gets into your room while there's someone at either
door, he might force the door open. So uh, to counteract this, just
ignore him and he'll leave you alone." There was a pause. "Probably.
Just be careful, monitor Foxy and Freddy, ignore Fredbear, and don't
ignore the Puppet. Good luck, and see you tomorrow."
Click.
"Pleasant"
Vincent checked his cameras. Lessee Foxy, Bonnie, Chica, and
Freddy are still in parts and service. Fredbear hasn't moved
Puppet's box needs to be wound up.
Vincent paused, Chica and Bonnie had moved. Bonnie seemed to be
making a beeline for the left door, while Chica was wandering
throughout the pizzeria at random.
Vincent checked through the cameras. Bonnie was missing no
wait. He was in the supply closet. "What? Why is Bonnie sitting in
the closet?" Vincent shook his head. "Whatever where's the
duck?"
Vincent changed cameras to find Chica, then jumped in surprise. The
normally harmless-seeming chicken had nothing more than white
dots for eyes, and she was staring directly into the camera. "Geez,
sorry, not a duck."
He swapped cameras to the Prize Corner to wind up the music box,
only to get another surprise. Freddy was standing in the Prize Corner,
barely visible behind the box that the Puppet lived in, and the Puppet
was beginning to climb out of its box. Vincent quickly toggled on the
music box and checked on the parts and service room.
Foxy was gone.
Vincent quickly closed both doors. Less than a second later there
was the sound of someone pounding on the left door, then running
off.
"Well that was a close one" Vincent muttered, wiping his forehead.
He was beginning to sweat now, Foxy had gotten closer to getting in
than either the Puppet or Fredbear, with the exception of when the
yellow bear would teleport.
Vincent opened the doors again and checked on the Puppet. It
seemed like having both doors closed caused the music box to drain
considerably faster than it was being wound up. He needed to keep
both doors open for a little while in order to get back to a safe buffer
before the box ran out.
Foxy was back in the parts and service room, Bonnie was still in the
closet, and Chica
Vincent did a double take. Chica was in the kitchen, humming to
herself and making pizza. The man shrugged. If Chica wanted to
waste time, that was fine by him.
Freddy was nowhere to be seen.
A deep laugh echoed through the building, alerting Vincent to the fact
that Freddy was still on the move. Checking through the cameras,
Vincent finally spotted the brown bear standing in the corner of the
main party area, nearly hidden in the shadows. On the complete
other side of the room, Fredbear was standing in the open looking at
the camera. Without warning, the camera flickered, and Fredbear
simply vanished.
Vincent looked up from his camera to see the yellow bear sitting limp
in the middle of his office. This wasn't exactly something that Vincent
They had run out of supplies to make pizza, and Chica was freaking
out about it.
When a human freaks out, they might shout, maybe punch
something.
When an animatronic freaks out, you wind up with holes in the walls.
"Chica calm down!" Mike said, trying to prevent the chicken from
breaking any more walls. "We'll get some more supplies!"
"What am I supposed to do?!" Chica cried in despair. Ever since she
had been badly damaged in '87 she had needed to be doing
something, or she would begin to panic and freak out.
"You can help to clean up your mess." Vincent said.
"Vince, don't be rude." Mike scolded. "Although the way he said it
wasn't very nice, his suggestion is helpful. We will need help to clean
up before we open for the day." He said to Chica.
The yellow animatronic took a calming breath, or at least seemed to.
One of the things that the animatronics didn't have was lungs. In
almost any other way they resembled living beings. "Okay I'll help
clean up. I'm sorry."
"It's alright. We'll be back in a couple hours In the meantime, Puppet
will repair the walls." Mike said. "See you soon."
Vincent checked his watch. There was only thirty minutes until the
pizzeria was going to open for the day. Now that Chica was cooking,
people were complimenting them on the incredible food, as well as
the incredibly lifelike animatronics and friendly staff.
The only problem was that Chica never stopped cooking. In one day
she had burned through all of the backup supplies. Percy, who had
been the cook before Chica had been reactivated, had stockpiled
what he believed to be enough for a week. Chica had gone through it
all, and the interesting part was that the people ate it all. So not only
were they out of supplies, but they had very little backup pizza.
When Chica was able to perform, odds were that she would be
making pizza less often. She had an odd need to be doing something
at all times, so she was cooking more or less nonstop. Chica wasn't
the only one to have a bizarre quirk left over from the time they had
all broken down. Bonnie had grown angry, holding grudges far longer
now. Foxy had a tendency to just stop talking in the middle of a
conversation and gaze off into space. Freddy, although he didn't have
any obvious problems, was always thinking, planning, and plotting; he
couldn't calm down, regardless of the scenario.
"Hey Mike, we'd better be getting back soon." Vincent informed his
boss.
"One moment Vince, let me just place this order for the next month."
Mike said, focusing on the paperwork.
"Mike, its thirty minutes until opening time." Vincent said impatiently.
"Okay then, let's go." Mike replied, finishing with his signature.
They arrived back at the pizzeria with ten minutes until opening time.
They were greeted by the sight of two men trying to pick the lock on
the front door.
"What is it about Freddy Fazbear's pizza that attracts criminals?"
Mike muttered to himself before climbing out of his car. "Hey you!
What do you think you're doing?" He shouted.
Both men jumped in fear, then dropped their lock picking tools and
drew knives.
"I'll take care of Bozo and Buffoon. You can take the stuff in." Vincent
informed Mike.
Mike shrugged. "If you think you can do it, go right ahead." Mike
turned and began to unload the car.
"Alright boys, let's get this over with." Vincent said.
"What makes you think you can handle both of us at once?" One of
If it isn't obvious who the Puppet is referring to, you may need to
reread most, if not all, of the story.
Just some more filler, along with a situation assessment.
Chapter 38: Bleeding Out
It was nearing closing time for the pizzeria's fourth day of operation.
Chica had been making pizza like nobody's business, and the people
were enjoying it, many of them asking who the cook was. Naturally,
Mike couldn't tell them the whole truth, but the half-truths he told them
were good enough answers for the parents.
Vincent was watching the children as they flocked around Fredbear,
giving the yellow bear hugs and asking him questions. Spring was still
popular, but it was obvious that Fredbear far outshone the rabbit in
popularity.
Suddenly, he felt someone tugging at his arm. Vincent turned his
head to see a little girl trying to get his attention. "Mister Spring, can
you help me find my mommy?" The little girl asked him.
Vincent fought a war in his head. On one hand, he would ordinarily
ignore this child. It wasn't really his concern to help out lost children.
On the other hand, it actually was his responsibility to look after this
little girl; and as he had noted before, being in the Spring suit made
him feel different from usual.
"Let's take a look around and see if we can find her, okay?" Vincent
said in his 'Spring' voice.
"Okay." The little girl said, sniffling.
"What's your name?"
"Angela."
"Well Angela, let's go see if we can find your mom." Vincent said.
Vincent led the little girl through the main show area, the whole time
telling himself that he just needed to remember where the safe room
was, then he could be rid of the brat.
"Mister Spring, where are we?" Angela asked him
Damn, forgot. The new location doesn't have a safe room. He quickly
thought up an explanation. "Sorry Angela, I'm a little bit confused
today. Let's get back to the main show area."
As the two entered the main stage area, Angela spotted her parents
and ran off, leaving Vincent standing in the hallway.
"Thank you for coming everyone! Come again soon!" Fredbear called
out to the departing patrons.
The doors closed for the day with the click of the lock, and Vincent
began to undo the latches on the suit.
"Vincent." Mike said, walking up to the pale man. "Don't think I didn't
see what you were going to do."
"Can't imagine what you're talking about." Vincent said innocently
"The little girl that you dragged through the building? I saw you stop
at the end of that hallway as if you were looking for the hidden safe
room door." Mike replied, sounding angry. "You know what will
happen if you go back to killing kids!"
Vincent was surprised. This was the first time he had heard Mike
angry. Frustrated, yes, but never angry. "Look, I didn't do it. You kept
the kid from danger by not building a safe room."
"Why did you do it Vince?" Mike said, no longer sounding angry.
Instead he was just disappointed.
"Force of habit." Vincent answered.
"Vincent, please don't make me write you off as a lost cause."
Vincent sighed. "Look, I don't know any more. Dying really screws
with your memory. You told me that the Puppet didn't even remember
if they were a boy or girl? I can't remember my reasons for killing
those kids."
Mike looked at Vincent sadly. "Just don't do it again. Please" The
green eyed man walked off.
Vincent climbed out of the Spring suit and picked it up. It wasn't
nearly as heavy as it looked. He carried it to the parts and service
room before his emotions finally caught up to the conversation that he
had with Mike earlier.
"Goddammit" Vincent muttered to himself as he set Spring down in
Vincent knocked on the door with his right hand. Seeing as how his
left hand was kinda obliterated, it was probably better to not damage
it any more than already.
"Come in" The answering voice said.
Vincent pushed the door open and entered Mike's room. It was the
same size as Vincent's room, but with several notable differences.
First, there were two beds in the room, Mike was laying on one and
watching some cartoon about these twins who were visiting this crazy
little town for the summer. The other bed seemed occupied, but there
wasn't anything moving on it. There were pictures of the older Freddy
Fazbear locations on Mike's bedside table, along with a picture of a
younger Mike, Vincent, and Percy.
"Hello Vincent, what's up?" Mike asked, pausing his television show.
"Mike I have a few questions." Vincent said. "First, what's up with
this?" He raised his left hand. It was still locked into a fist, due to the
fact that the muscles that would be used to uncurl his hand had been
obliterated.
Mike looked at the ruined hand, eyes wide. "Well, we had to replace
some of your skeleton with metal bones the Puppet can't recreate
human bones properly"
Vincent nodded, he had expected an answer like this. "Alright then."
He drew a long knife from somewhere about his person. "What about
this?" before Mike could react, he had flayed his forearm, revealing
more metallic bone structure.
"As I said, we had to replace some of your skeleton" Mike began
again.
"Wait, I'm not done yet." Vincent seemed oblivious to the copious
amount of blood running down his arm. Before Mike could say
anything else, the pale man had sliced open the front of his chest,
revealing ribs made of the same metal. "And this?"
"Vincent, please, stop cutting yourself open!" Mike was beginning to
grow worried. Vincent was losing a lot of blood, and unless Mike
missed his guess
Vincent then fell over, flat on the ground. He had sliced himself open
too far, and was bleeding out. He would be dead in
"Puppet!" Mike called out.
"Hey Mike" Vincent said hoarsely, he was still conscious. "Where
are my-" He coughed up some blood. "-my answers?"
The last thing Vincent heard was "Pop Goes the Weasel"
When Vincent woke up, he felt three thi- wait. That's already
happened twice.
Vincent sat upright, feeling lightheaded. Let's see breathing, check.
Eyes working, check. Skin flayed, nope.
Vincent rubbed his arm. The area that he had flayed off was healed,
feeling similar to a cut that had already healed most of the way. His
left hand was the same way. Guess that was good. Would suck to
have his primary hand completely disabled.
Vincent looked down at his clothing. Looked like most of it had been
replaced. Probably for the better, seeing as he had bled out in them.
Wait a second. He had bled out entirely. Nobody could possibly
survive that much injury, not even with the Puppet's healing care.
But that meant
Vincent sat back down on the table in shock. He had died. He was
certain of it. There was no way he could've possibly survived that
unless he didn't. The Puppet had brought him back once, the thing
must've done so a second time.
"Holy crap..." Vincent muttered to himself. "I died"
"Not permanently."
Vincent looked up to see Mike entering the room. "You wanted
answers Vince. I'll give them to you. I shouldn't have lied in the first
place."
"Right, so first you're going to tell me about the metal skeleton thing,
right?"
"I'm going to tell you everything." Mike said. "When the spring locks
broke and killed you, your bones were badly damaged. By the time
we managed to recover your body, there was nothing left of them but
splinters. The Puppet informed me that it would be completely
impossible for him to recreate the bone cells properly. In order to
make it possible for you to move at all, Fritz made a metal skeleton.
Exactly like a normal one, simply mineral in origin. Don't worry about
the fact that your immune system would ordinarily be lacking without
the proper cellular structure. You're completely immune to any and
every kind of disease."
"So I'm some sort of superhuman robot?" Vincent asked
"Far from it. Your increased speed and strength come from your
strength of will. You're technically a ghost possessing a living body.
The fact that your heart is beating is the only reason you aren't
technically a zombie." Mike paused. "As for bringing you back I
wasn't entirely honest. Remember when you got shot?"
"Yeah, why?" Vincent said confused.
"You didn't survive. One bullet went through your heart, instead of
merely grazing it. In addition, you had extensive lead poisoning.
Nothing could have possibly saved you from dying. A similar thing
occurred this time. You not only bled out, but you completely ruined a
large amount of your skin. I believe I've told you this before, but skin
is the second hardest thing for the Puppet to heal, right next to bone."
Mike said.
"So then how long have I been dead?" Vincent asked.
"A week." Mike answered.
"I've been dead a week" Vincent mused. "So if, say, I were to shoot
myself in the head, how long would it take to heal me?"
"The brain is incredibly complex Vincent. It would take several days
just to fix your brain, then several more to replace your skull." Mike
replied. "Oh, and we would probably remove just about everything
from your room."
"Fine, I get your point. Suicide isn't the answer, even to curiosity."
Vincent said. "So What's happened in my week of being dead?"
"Well, we've got Pirate's Cove up and running, Freddy, Chica, and
Bonnie are now the main attraction, and Goldie has been covering for
your absence." Mike paused. "You're taking this surprisingly well."
"I've been through a lot of weird stuff. Floating dolls, ghosts getting
beat up, getting killed by my previous murder victims. This seems
about par for the course, all things considered." Vincent paused.
"Although the part where I didn't kill that kid was kinda odd."
Mike sighed. Even after being resurrected, some things never
change
"So, how have things been running?" Vincent asked, walking with
Mike into the main stage area.
"If you're implying that we fell apart while you were dead, you're
incorrect. Frankly, the only problems that arose from that was that
some of the children were upset that Spring was 'sick' again." Mike
said. "The three onstage are amazingly popular, and Foxy's the single
most popular animatronic."
They entered the main stage area to see Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, and
Chica playing a board game.
"I always wanted to ask you about the changes to the rules." Vincent
told Mike.
"How so?" Mike asked
"Well, you've removed four of the rules." Vincent said. He started to
count on his fingers. "Don't scream, don't touch Freddy, leave before
dark, and don't poop on the floor."
"Well, most of those were entirely insane. I honestly have no idea
why they had 'don't poop on the floor'." Mike answered.
"I was wondering why you removed the 'don't touch Freddy' rule."
Freddy said from his position at the table. It seemed he was winning
the game that the four were playing.
"Well, now that people have permission to touch you, you can finally
receive hugs from the kids." Mike said.
Freddy gave it a moment's thought. "Never mind. Carry on."
"What exactly is your question Vincent?" Mike asked wearily.
"Well, I always thought that 'don't scream' was a pretty important
rule." Vincent said.
Surprise! Vincent did actually die back when he got shot. The
whole "coming back to life" thing is mostly going to be used for
comedic effect, I just needed to establish that it was possible.
Chapter 40: Animatronics and Adventure
Vincent dashed into the room, swords in hand. There was a cluster of
goblins in the corner, and a massive troll sitting in the center of the
room.
"Bonnie, you better back me up here!" The man called out.
"Stop running into deathtraps you moron!" The wizard replied. This
wasn't the first time Vincent had run into a room full of hostile
creatures, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
"Now really isn't the time to be fighting." Freddy said, entering the
room and slamming his hammer into one of the goblins. "Not with
each other, at any rate."
Vincent completely ignored the goblins, making a beeline for the main
target, the troll. The thing was extremely ugly, with beady eyes and
green skin. It carried a club in its hand, but that wasn't the part that
was worrying. Vincent launched himself at the monstrous creature,
swinging both his swords.
Thunk.
Both of Vincent's swords got stuck in the troll.
"Goddammit!" Vincent swore.
Freddy gave Vincent a glare. "Watch your tongue."
Foxy was the next to enter the room, blitzing past the goblins like
Vincent had. Both of them had known who the priority target was, but
unlike Vincent, the rogue's sword actually sliced through the troll,
rather than getting stuck. "And that's how ya do it."
"Oh shut up." Vincent muttered, trying and failing to pull his swords
out of the creature.
The troll swung its club, launching Vincent into the wall. The purpleclad ranger just lay there for a little bit. "Ow"
"I got it, don't worry Vince!" Chica said, entering the room. She raised
her staff into the air and cast a healing spell on Vincent.
Vincent grunted as the spell popped his bones back into position.
"Damn Chica, you always get a crit"
Chica blushed. "Well, I'm just lucky."
"Yeah, and I keep getting ones." Vincent replied. He rushed back to
the troll and pulled his swords out of it. The cuts left behind already
regenerating.
"All right, make way for the wizard." Bonnie said as he entered the
room, a spell already on his fingertips. With a snap, the wizard
launched a fireball blazing at the troll. In seconds, the vile creature
was nothing more than a pile of ash on the floor.
"Why is it that the robots get crits all the time?" Vincent asked Percy.
"Vincent, you're breaking immersion" Percy complained.
"I need to know. Are the dice weighted? Are they able to consistently
roll the same number over and over?"
Bonnie, the one sitting closest to Vincent, reached over and smacked
the man on the back of the head. "We're lucky."
Vincent rubbed the back of his head. The blow hadn't really hurt, but
he knew for a fact that it would bruise. "Why do you like using me as
your personal punching bag?"
"If you were sitting just within arm's reach of the man who murdered
you, wouldn't you take that opportunity to give him a few smacks?"
The pale man considered it for a moment. "Fair enough."
"Anyways" Percy said "Let's get back to the fight."
Freddy finished mopping up the goblins and turned to look at both
Foxy and Vincent. "You two really need to stop rushing in and leaving
me to mop up the mess."
Vincent shrugged. "As the primary damage dealer of the party, it's my
job to take out priority targets."
"You mean attack the troll that Bonnie can kill with a single spell. You
know full well that you can't kill a troll without fire." Freddy paused.
"Not to mention, what would've happened if the goblin shaman had
conjured a demon?"
At this, both Foxy and Vincent looked at the pile of goblin bodies.
Sure enough, there was a goblin wearing mage's trappings. "Well,
that coulda' been an issue cap'n" Foxy muttered.
Freddy sighed. "Yes, it could've. Your job is to take out priority targets,
and a troll is not a priority target when there's a mage in the mix."
At this point, Mike entered the room. "What's up guys?"
"Ah, Mikey! Good ta see ya me lad." Foxy said warmly. "We're playin'
this game, what'sitcalled"
Percy rolled his eyes. So much for immersion. "We're playing a table
top roleplaying game. Foxy's probably our best role-player."
"Well, my job is to entertain the kids with me stories." Foxy asserted.
"Of course, when it comes to combat, Freddy's a masterful strategist."
Percy continued.
"I do my best." Freddy said humbly.
"Chica and Bonnie are far from bad role-players, but they have a little
ways to go. As for Vincent" Percy sighed. "Well"
"I managed to get Percy to nearly rage quit four times." Vincent said
proudly.
Bonnie smacked the man on the back of the head again. "That's not a
good thing you idiot."
"Ow." Vincent muttered.
"Is it too late for me to pop in?" Mike asked
"Yeah. Sorry Mike. We'll be done with this adventure soon." Percy
answered.
"Okay then, I can wait. Carry on."
"Where was I?" Percy muttered as he flipped through the pages of
the adventure booklet. "Ah-hah! Troll room"
The party looked at the doorway to the next room. Apparently that
was where the dreaded warlord called home.
"Well, what're we waiting for?" Vincent asked, kicking the door open.
"Vincent you idiot!" Bonnie shouted as the trap on the door shot a
dart at Vincent's throat.
Vincent ducked. "Wow, my first roll that didn't fail. That's a miracle."
"Only for you. Bozo." Bonnie muttered.
"Bonnie, Vincent's a member of our team! We can't just let him die to
a trap!" Chica said, clearly upset.
"He's chaotic neutral! For all we know, he's going to steal the treasure
and stab us all in the backs!"
"I would just like to say that yes, I would gladly do that. If I could roll
more than a five." Vincent called over his shoulder as they walked
into the room.
In the center of the room there was a large, four armed statue. In its
hands it held a large gemstone, the likes of which none of the party
had ever seen before.
Foxy whistled. "That be the finest treasure a pirate could wish fer"
"Well, let's get it then." Vincent said, walking up to the statue.
"Wait lad, don't-!" Foxy began
Vincent grabbed the gem out of the statue's hands, causing the
dungeon to begin to collapse.
"Ya idiot Vincent! We coulda' just done a trap check!" Foxy snarled.
The whole party began to make a mad dash for the exit of the
dungeon, jumping over corpses and traps that Vincent had triggered
earlier. As they came out into the sunlight, they turned to see the
whole structure simply sinking into the ground.
"Well, at least we got this beauty!" Vincent said, raising the gem into
the sunlight.
The other four just glared at him.
"What?"
Fredbear, who was the unofficial fifth member of their group, acted
almost less predictable than Freddy. The golden bear could, at any
time, just teleport into the office and force Vincent to keep his eyes on
the cameras. It had caused Vincent to almost leave the door open for
Foxy, and on one occasion, the fox reached the door right before six
o'clock. The weirdest part was that as soon as the clock struck six, all
of the animatronics were back in their positions, regardless of how far
away that was.
Vincent checked his watch. Eleven forty-five. Fifteen minutes until the
animatronics would try and kill him tonight. Fun.
Click
That was odd, the animatronics didn't move until twelve, and the
other three humans were still asleep. The ghosts could've potentially
made the sound, but they tended to be silent, up until they opened
their mouths, then the brothers would chatter endlessly.
Maybe Freddy's trying a different tactic tonight Vincent mused. But
that doesn't sound like an animatronic moving. In fact, it sounded
like
A lock.
Vincent sat bolt upright. Nobody would be messing with any of the
locks at night. Not unless they intended to break in.
Vincent snatched his flashlight from his desk and bolted down the
hallway, trying to find the source of the sound. Keeping silent as he
had learned to throughout his life, he eventually located the site of the
break in. The back door was open.
Vincent stood still and listened, trying to locate the intruder. His
hearing didn't fail him. He heard footsteps moving through the
building, somewhere near the parts and service room.
Silently running through the building, Vincent located the intruder. The
intruder was a fairly short man, with brown hair and a tool belt on his
waist. The man in question had fair skin, and looked to be in good
physical condition.
"Stop right there, put your hands up, and turn towards me." Vincent
said, pulling a pistol from his pocket.
The burglar in question slowly turned around with his hands up,
showing his pale green eyes. Said eyes widened in shock when he
spotted Vincent. "Holy crap. Tollini? You're still alive?"
"Franklin Johnson. You scumbag." Vincent said, not moving the
weapon an inch. "What are you doing here?"
"You know how it is. My job is to tamper with electronics, generally
illegally. This time, my employer didn't even want me to change
anything. I was just supposed to copy the data from the animatronics
and send it back to him." Franklin shrugged. "It'll probably be easier
than when you asked me to ruin that facial recognition program back
in '87. Plus, I'm getting paid this time." The short man paused.
"What're you doing here anyways? I thought you only worked in the
old place to shut it down permanently."
"I'm doing my job, and defending my home." Vincent answered. "Now
get on your knees. I want to shoot you so bad, but that's illegal."
"Since when has that ever stopped you Vinny?" Franklin grinned.
"After all, you killed those kids. Also, did you dye your hair? It used to
be black, I swear."
"Don't call me Vinny."
"What, aren't we friends?"
"That ended when you ditched me in that alleyway."
Franklin shrugged again. "It was nothing personal. Where you been
all this time?"
"Places. Now get on the floor, I'm not telling you again."
Franklin didn't move an inch, still grinning at Vincent. Then, without
warning, the man's face went from a mischievous grin to abject terror.
Vincent turned his head to see the Puppet walking down the hallway.
Vincent gasped and opened his eyes. "You're fortunate that it is easy
to restart a heart. Even humans can do it, with the correct apparatus."
The Puppet informed him.
Vincent rubbed his head, then looked at the circle of salt. It was
complete, but the Puppet was leaning over it like it was nothing more
than a line on the ground, which it effectively was. "Aww come on"
He muttered to himself.
"I really can't imagine what you expected." The Puppet looked at the
salt on the ground and sighed again. It got out of its box and floated
down the hallway to the supply closet. "You can go, I'll clean up your
little mess."
Vincent got up off the floor and began to walk out of the room, only to
bump into something. "Ah Vincent, I was hoping I would find you
here."
Vincent looked at his employer. Mike hadn't really been demanding of
him, simply requiring Vincent to behave during the day and to not
miss the night shift. "What do you want?"
"Well Vincent, as you know, the primary reason you've been
resurrected is so that you can find forgiveness with all of the
animatronics." Mike paused. "You've managed to get exactly one to
like you in any measure."
"Which one? Freddy? Chica? I know it's not Bonnie, that guy hates
me."
Mike paused again. "Goldie, and the primary reason he forgives you
is because he's actually a good deal better off as a spirit. Of course,
the event with the armed robbers helped your case, but that's not
important. What is important is that you have interacted with the other
animatronics on a one-on-one basis zero times."
"So what?" Vincent said, not getting the point.
"So, if you ever want to be free of your obligations, you're going to
have to individually bond with the animatronics." Mike answered.
"Oh, that makes sense. I'll start with Fredbear." Vincent said, about to
walk off.
Mike stopped Vincent. "I literally just told you, Fredbear is the only
one who currently forgives you. Befriend one of the other four."
Vincent looked at Mike like he was crazy. "You know they hate me,
right? Freddy is cold, Foxy doesn't want to talk to me, and Bonnie is
openly hostile. Chica's the only one who's friendly, and I know she's
scared of me. She flinches when I go near her."
"Which is exactly why you need to try and befriend them. They won't
stop hating you until you prove that you've changed."
Vincent was beginning to get angry. "Who's to say I have changed?"
Mike shook his head. "You saved the pizzeria from no less than three
separate sets of robbers. You could have killed any of them, but you
didn't. You helped a little girl, when in the past you would've slit her
throat. I can tell you've changed, for the better."
Vincent took a steadying breath. "Fine then. I'll go try and befriend
these murderous robots." He shoved his way past Mike, a scowl on
his face.
Vincent shook his head. "Not really, although my nose itches, and
lacking hands makes it worse."
The Puppet picked up both of Vincent's arms off the floor. "How are
you still conscious?"
Vincent opened his mouth to speak, then fell flat on his face.
The Puppet sighed. Vincent had found yet another way to grievously
injure himself. Fortunately, it was a simple matter to reconnect his
arms and return the blood back to his body. Waking him up took a
simple smack.
"Ugh, couldn't you wake me up gentler?" Vincent asked, rubbing his
face. He'd been working here for three weeks now, and magic still
astounded him.
"No. You have a mission to attend to." The Puppet paused.
"Sometimes, fear is easier to dispel than anger." It said, before
speeding off, back to whatever it was going to do.
Vincent pushed himself off the floor. "I get a better look at the floor
every day" He mused, thinking about what the Puppet told him.
"Fear huh" he snapped his fingers. "I'm an idiot."
He walked to the kitchen, at this time of day, if his assumption is
correct
It was. A lighthearted humming was audible from within the kitchen,
along with the sounds of someone using a variety of implements.
Vincent pushed open the door to see Chica humming to herself and
making pizza. She was astonishingly efficient, never once was she
idle. She was always either putting something in the oven, taking
something out of the oven, or preparing something to be cooked. She
was about to start on a new pizza when she spotted Vincent standing
in the doorway.
Vincent could clearly see the way she jumped, but she hid it fairly
well. "Oh hi Vince! Can I help you?"
"I just wanted to watch you at work. I don't get to see it often." He
replied.
"Oh, um, okay then!" She said cheerfully. She still didn't seem
comfortable around him, but at least she was friendly
He watched as she took a lump of pizza dough and flattened it out
using the rolling pin. She then took the partially flattened wheel of
dough and began to spin it in the air, expertly catching it each time
before launching it back up to spin again. After a few repetitions, she
put the dough back on the counter and began to spread pizza sauce
over it, an even distribution. She then took a pinch of cheese from a
bowl that she had prepared earlier, and began to spread it over the
pizza. When she was finished, she put the pizza into the oven.
"Could I try?" Vincent asked. Chica jumped, it seemed as though she
had forgotten he was there.
"Sure!" She said, stepping away from the counter.
He walked up to the counter and tried to remember what to do. Let's
see so first we take the dough then the rolling pin He mentally
went through the process for making a cheese pizza. It seemed the
easiest, so it couldn't be too hard, right?
He flattened the dough with the rolling pin and picked it up to start
spinning it. He tossed the dough into the air
Splat.
"Huh." Vincent said, looking up at the ceiling. "I wouldn't think dough
would be that sticky."
"It's okay, try again." Chica said encouragingly. "Maybe put some flour
on it this time. I don't usually need it, but it does help."
Three globs of dough stuck to the ceiling later, and none of them had
come down. "Maybe you should just let me do the dough" Chica said,
laughing nervously.
Vincent stepped back to let the chicken do her work. Somehow, she
managed to get the dough into the air without tearing it or sticking it to
the ceiling. When she finished, she stepped back so Vincent could
continue.
"Just try to do an even distribution of sauce and cheese" Chica
told him
"Got it." Vincent said, doing his very best. As he finished, he picked
up the pizza and put it into the oven. "So, uh, what now?"
"Well we kinda ran out of pizza dough." Chica said nervously. "So,
um, we'll wait for it to finish cooking."
When Vincent's pizza eventually got out of the oven, it was little more
than a blackened mess. "I can't say I'm surprised." Vincent said. 'I,
uh, can't cook."
"Well uh." Chica said, growing anxious. "I guess I'll wait until
tomorrow. That's when we get the next shipment."
Chica seemed to be handling this better than last time they ran out of
dough. Looked like interacting with the children really helped her
nerves. Vincent thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers.
"Chica, you ever heard of the game Tetris?"
"Yes. Most of the kids say they're not very good at it. Why?" Chica
asked confused.
"Well, we have a Tetris machine in our arcade." Vincent walked out of
the kitchen. "C'mon."
"We can't exactly play an arcade game without tokens Vince" Chica
said, still confused.
"True, true." Vincent walked up to the token machine. "However, it
just so happens" He pressed a button combination on the machine,
then slammed his elbow into it. Several dozen tokens started to pour
out of the slot. "That I know a couple tricks." Wow, that still works.
Some things just don't change, do they
Chica put her hands over her beak and looked at Vincent with joy in
her eyes. "Thank you so much!" She said, picking him up and
hugging him.
"Woah, all I did was cheat the machine. I'll show you how, if you
want." He said, not having too much trouble breathing thanks to his
metal ribs. But if he didn't have said ribs, he was certain something
would've cracked.
"I've been looking for something to do other than cook for forever."
She put him down. "I just haven't been able to."
"Well, just let me know if you need more tokens." Vincent said,
beginning to walk away.
"Vincent..." she said, looking down at her feet. "I'm sorry."
Vincent paused. "What for?"
"For being scared of you. For not giving you the opportunity to prove
yourself." She looked up at him. "Can we be friends?"
Vincent smiled. "Yes. Friends"
"Knock, knock."
"Screw off Vincent."
"So I wanted to ask you, why do you like this supply closet so much?"
"It reminds me of the one back in the '83 location."
"And why did you like that one."
"Nobody else went in there."
"Look out captain!" Vincent shouted, taking aim with his flintlock
pistol. Bang! He fired at the gunner on the other ship. He grinned as
his target cried out and collapsed.
"Don't get too cocky!" Foxy shouted back over the sound of cannon
fire. "yer a good shot lad, but ye still die ta enemy fire!" The fox drew
his own pistol and fired a few shots at the enemy ship.
"Haven't yet." The man replied, reloading his flintlock. He was
Vincent the deadeye, the most skilled shooter on the seven seas. He
was one of the most feared and sought after mercenaries in the
world.
"Fire the cannons!" Foxy shouted. The whole ship rocked as the
heavy cannons fired at the bounty hunter ship opposite. This was far
from the first time bounty hunters had tried to take him out, and it
wouldn't be the last, but Captain Foxy always had a trick up his
sleeve. "Get in there Vincent!"
Vincent saluted his friend and ran across the deck, jumping across
the gap between the two ships. He landed in a roll and jumped
upright, drawing his trusty long knife and shooting down the nearest
bounty hunter. He threw down his pistol and drew his cutlass from his
back. He quickly cut down a man who was about to fire a flintlock at
him, then lunged towards the staircase to go below the deck.
He stopped for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the sudden
darkness, then crept down the staircase to see what exactly these
bounty hunters had down there. What he saw was shocking.
Hundreds of kegs of gunpowder, enough ammunitions to bombard a
city, and more dynamite than you would need to obliterate an island.
Vincent grinned evilly. "Well this should be fun."
He did a little bit of impromptu fuse work, then ran back on deck. He
waved to Foxy as the captain was cutting down a bounty hunter that
had jumped across. "What're ye doin' Vincent? Get back over here!"
"Not yet captain! Gotta make sure the leader doesn't get away!"
Vincent called back, making his way to the captain's cabin.
"Vincent ya fool!" Foxy shouted, turning his attention back to the
skirmish.
Vincent entered the captain's cabin to see the captain of the ship, a
massive man with a cutlass in either hand. "So here ye are. How
much did Foxy pay ya? I'll pay ya double ta work fer me."
"I don't charge friends." Vincent answered, pointing his own cutlass at
the man. "Now then, your unconditional surrender is much
appreciated."
"Is it really? Who said anythin' about surrender?" The man gave him
a gap-toothed grin and then slashed at Vincent with both cutlasses.
Vincent ducked under the swing, then the man's leg came up,
knocking Vincent to the ground.
"Never thought I'd be guttin' the infamous Vincent." The man said. He
raised up his cutlasses
"Hey Vince, Foxy."
Vincent turned to look at Mike. "Oh, hey Mike."
"What're you two doing?" Mike asked.
"We be pirates, Michael." Foxy said.
"That sounds like a game a bunch of kids would play" Mike said with
a grin. "Can I join?"
to be blocked by a pike.
"What?" The captain said.
"Pleasure to meet you. Ever heard of Michael the strong? Vincent's
partner in arms?" Mike paused. "Probably not, I'm the less popular
Credit to Tomorrow's Hero, and their story After Hours for the
idea of having the characters participate in Foxy's adventures. If
you haven't yet read it, go do so.
Chapter 44: Bonding with Bonnie
that the child could choose one or more of their favorite animatronics
to come and celebrate their birthday with them. It was a tradition that
stemmed from the first location, where the specified animatronic
would come offstage and sing happy birthday.
It was after a particularly lively birthday party that Vincent was
cleaning up in the main party room. The kids seemed to have no idea
that the cake belonged on the plates and not on the tables. As
Vincent was wiping off one of the tables, a deep voice spoke from
behind him.
"Mister Tollini."
Vincent turned around to see Freddy himself. "What's with the
'mister'? I thought you only did that for Mike."
Freddy smiled warmly. "I refer to those I respect as 'mister'. Percy
and Fritz prefer me not to. If you would like, I will simply call you
Vincent."
"Wait, so does that mean I have your respect?" Vincent said
confused.
The bear nodded in confirmation. "You are making the genuine effort
to befriend the others and atone for what you have done." Freddy
paused. "As you already know, I am the leader of the band. Do you
know what a leader does?"
"Umm to tell his minions what to do?"
Freddy chuckled. "Not quite. A leader's job is to care for his team, to
do what is best for them. Seeing as how you have gained the trust of
half of my team, I fail to see how I should be any different."
"Wait, so you mean?"
"You have my endorsement Mister Tollini. I trust you."
Vincent grinned. "Please, call me Vincent."
"Alright you purple freak. Freddy says that I have to try and be
friendly."
"Thanks Bonnie." Vincent smiled. "I was wondering if you could
maybe teach me how to play guitar."
Bonnie scoffed. "You, learning how to play guitar?"
Vincent shrugged. "You never know. I could be secretly good at it."
"Okay then, let's see how good you are." Bonnie said, handing
Vincent his guitar.
Vincent had actually never held an actual instrument before in his life.
In theory, he knew how to play guitar. You strummed the strings and
music came out. He tried copying the strumming motion that he had
seen before, only for a discordant combination of notes to come out.
"Hang on" He tried it again, this time strumming it the other way.
Another ear-rending noise rung out from the guitar.
"You've never done this before, have you?" Bonnie said, not
bothering to hide his amusement.
"Not in so many words." Vincent paused. "Is it that obvious?"
Bonnie snickered. "You're not even holding it correctly, you seem to
be relying purely on your right hand, when you're so obviously lefthanded, and there's a reason you're supposed to hold the neck of the
guitar with your other hand."
"Alright then, teach me how to do it properly."
Ten minutes later, and Bonnie had proclaimed that he was a musical
failure. "You have the dexterity required, but you're the worst guitar
player I've ever heard."
"Am I that bad?" Vincent said with a sheepish grin.
"On birthday parties I sometimes let the kids try the guitar. They're all
better at it than you are, even with me helping." Bonnie looked up at
the clock. "I gotta go clean the dishes from today."
"Isn't that usually Chica's job?" Vincent asked, putting the guitar back
on its stand.
"Yeah, but today she's helping the Puppet clean up the Prize Corner,"
Bonnie started walking into the kitchen.
"Let me help. More hands makes the job go faster."
Bonnie snorted. "Go right ahead, but don't expect me to be thankful."
As they entered the kitchen, Vincent looked around. There was a
large stack of dishes, all of them clearly needing to be cleaned.
Vincent took the topmost plate and began to scrub it clean. Things
proceeded fairly boring for the next five minutes. Then something
unexpected happened. A blob of bubbles sailed through the air and
hit Vincent in the head, shortly followed by the sound of a certain
rabbit snickering.
Vincent shrugged. "You asked for it. I hope for your sake you're
waterproof." He whirled and launched a handful of bubbles at the
lavender rabbit.
Bonnie retaliated by flinging a glob of pizza dough at him. "Eat
dough!"
The man ducked under the dough and grabbed the bucket of pizza
sauce. Chica may have made all of her materials from scratch, but
she did make some in advance. Vincent grinned and threw the sauce
all over the rabbit. "I think red is a better color for you."
"Ugh!" Bonnie cried out. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to wash
that out?" Bonnie reached behind him and grabbed a handful of flour,
throwing it all over Vincent. "You know, you aren't quite pale enough."
"I am pale and fabulous, excuse you." Vincent retorted, a grin on his
face. He grabbed some of the cheese left over from the day and
threw it at Bonnie.
Bonnie laughed out loud, then countered with another glob of dough.
Before long, the room looked like a localized tornado had blown
through, food on the walls, ceiling, and floor. Both Bonnie and Vincent
were covered in pizza dough, flour, and tomato sauce. They were
laughing so hard that it was a miracle that Vincent wasn't collapsed
on the floor trying to breathe.
"OH MY GOD!"
Both Bonnie and Vincent looked at the figure in the doorway. It was
Chica, and she did not look happy. "What did you two do?!"
The two males looked at each other, then pointed fingers and
simultaneously said "He did it!" before bursting into laughter again.
"Both of you, OUT!" Chica said, pointing. "You're both banned from
the kitchen."
"Aww c'mon Cheeks, it was just a bit of fun." Bonnie said, laughter
still in his voice.
"It's a mess! You ruined my kitchen!" Chica said. "I have to clean this
up now. Shoo! Shoo! Get out of my kitchen!"
"We'd better get out." Bonnie said, bodily picking up Vincent and
carrying the laughing man out of the kitchen.
"She seemed" Vincent gasped for air. "Very mad."
"She'll calm down eventually. She's always been a bit territorial over
the kitchen, and it's not like this is the first time I've ruined it." Bonnie
said with a grin, then he sobered, becoming serious. "I'm sorry I
never gave you a chance before. I thought you were the same man
who killed us before. So, uh, friends?" The rabbit stuck his paw out.
Vincent shook his paw. "Friends."
Vincent was sitting in the parts and service room feeling horrible. He
wasn't drunk, he hadn't touched any alcohol. He wasn't sick, that was
impossible. He certainly wasn't tired or hurting, because his nerves
were dead and he only ever needed to sleep for two or three hours to
get a full day's worth of rest. He had even gotten into the Spring suit
to try and make the feeling go away, and that only made it worse.
So now he was slumped against the wall wearing the rabbit suit and
wracking his brain to think of a possible reason he was feeling so
bad. "Did somebody slip like, a ton of alcohol into my drink?" He
clutched his head. It didn't feel like a hangover. It was just a
horrible feeling. One that wouldn't go away. Maybe because of? But
no, that couldn't be.
"Vince?"
Vincent looked up. Mike was calling for him. He sighed and stood up,
wondering what Mike could possibly want. He stumbled into the
hallway to see Mike walking towards him "Good, you're already in the
Spring suit."
"What?" Vincent said confused.
"So, as you know, we normally don't operate on Sundays." Mike
started.
"Yeah. Why?"
"The sole exception is for birthday parties." Mike continued. "If
someone reserves a birthday party on a Sunday, it's the sole event of
the day. The birthday child, in this case girl, requested you
specifically."
"Someone wanted me specifically?"
"Well, she asked for Spring the rabbit. In any case, you should
recognize her." Mike answered. He looked down at his watch. "We'll
be opening in an hour, we'd better get ready."
Vincent set up the birthday decorations without taking off the suit. It
made him faster and gave him a little bit of extra reach. He was about
to put the banner when he saw the name on it. "Angela" That name
Vincent picked the girl up and deposited her on his shoulders. "Up we
go!" Angela giggled as she was lifted into the air. "Alright, who do you
wanna meet first?"
"Can we meet Foxy first?" Angela asked, excited.
"Of course!" Vincent walked towards Pirate's Cove, taking long steps
to get there quickly. "Captain Foxy! We have a visitor for you!"
While Angela was playing with Foxy, Vincent was watching for the
girl's friends. It seemed like it would be a while before anyone arrived.
He was somewhat surprised when the girl's mother came over to him
"So, um you're just an actor in a suit, right?"
"Yes ma'am." Vincent answered. He reached up and undid the hidden
latches on the suit's neck, then removed the head. It was always
disorienting to change between seeing through the eyes of the suit
and seeing normally. As he removed the suit's head, he heard the
woman gasp. "Is something wrong?"
Angela's mother shook her head. "Sorry, you just seem familiar"
Vincent raised an eyebrow. "Really? I mean, there really aren't many
people with my features."
"You remind me of someone I knew." The woman shook her head
again. "Oh look, one of Angela's friends is arriving."
Vincent quickly latched the head back on and went to go and see
how Angela was faring with Foxy. He arrived in time to hear Foxy
finishing off one of his stories. " and that be how I defeated the
mighty kraken!"
"Wow!" He heard the sound of someone clapping. "Can you tell me
another story?"
Vincent pushed open the curtain to Pirate's Cove. Angela was sitting
on the ground and watching Foxy, a look of complete fascination on
her face. "Hey Angela, your friends are arriving."
"Sorry Foxy! I need to go make sure my friends don't get lost!" Angela
jumped up and ran into the main party area.
Foxy chuckled. "She's a handful."
"She's sweet." Vincent answered. "See you later Foxy."
"See you later lad."
Vincent exited Pirate's Cove and went back into the main party area.
Angela's friends were starting to trickle in now, and the party would
officially begin in ten minutes. He grinned when he saw the birthday
girl pestering her friends, telling them all about Captain Foxy and
Spring.
"Foxy is awesome! He told me a story about how he defeated the
kraken! Spring is still my favorite though, he's funny."
"But they're just robots!" One of the boys at the party said.
"They're not just robots, they're amazing."
Vincent walked over to the group at this point. "I'm going to have to
agree with Angela on this one, I'd say that we are pretty amazing."
The boy looked up at Vincent with his eyes wide and his mouth open.
"Don't keep your mouth open too long, a fly might decide to make it
home." Vincent said jokingly.
"I'm sorry mister Spring!" The boy cried out.
"Woah, it's all cool little guy. A lot of people think we're just robots."
Vincent paused. "In any case, I think it's time for some games."
Before long, all of the kids had dispersed into the arcade and they
were playing the arcade cabinets. Vincent wasn't exactly surprised
when he saw that Chica had the top score on almost all of the games,
but the children enjoyed themselves. Naturally, Vincent was
accompanying the birthday girl throughout her birthday. She asked
him once to play a video game with her, and he was glad to oblige.
After about thirty minutes of arcade games, the children went into the
Prize Corner to turn in their tickets. As they entered the Prize Corner,
Vincent caught sight of the Puppet descending into its box.
"Alright miss birthday girl, time for your presents!" Vincent said.
Right on cue, "Pop Goes the Weasel" began to play, and the Puppet
rose out of its box, a present in its hands. It leaned over the side of
the box and presented the gift to Angela. "Thank you Mari!"
"Mari?" Vincent asked.
"Short for Marionette!" Angela answered. All of the kids started to
trickle out of the Prize Corner, leaving only the Puppet and Vincent.
"Mari? Really?"
The Puppet shrugged, or at least did the closest thing it could to
shrugging. "I don't particularly care."
"Well, if it's fine with you." Vincent said, leaving the Prize Corner.
Chica was just now bringing out the birthday cake.
"Wait! Don't cut the cake yet!" Angela cried out. She ran up to
Vincent. "Spring, can you play me a song?"
This made Vincent a little bit nervous. He had "played" guitar onstage
a couple times, but it had been him acting like he was playing guitar
while the speakers made all the actual sound. "I can try."
He walked up onto the main stage and grabbed the guitar that was
associated with the Spring character. While Bonnie had a red electric
guitar, Spring Bonnie had been associated with an acoustic guitar
since Fredbear's Family Diner. Here goes nothing He began to
strum a slow tune. To the surprise of all of the pizzeria's permanent
inhabitants, it sounded pleasant and calming, while still being upbeat.
To his own surprise, he began to sing along to the tune. "Happy
birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday, little
Angela Happy birthday to you."
The kids began to clap, and Angela was the loudest applauder.
Vincent nodded and put the guitar back, then stepped off the stage.
The partygoers began to throng around the table where the birthday
cake was, all clamoring for their piece of the cake.
"I didn't know you could sing." Mike muttered to Vincent.
"I didn't either." Vincent replied. "Come to that, I can't play guitar.
Bonnie gave up on me."
"Well that's. interesting." Mike mused, then went to go resolve a
fight between two of the kids.
"Spring! Spring!" Angela said, running up to Vincent. "Have some of
the cake!" She raised up a paper plate with a piece of cake and a
plastic fork on it.
"Thank you!" Vincent said, taking the plate. Without hesitation, he
took a bite of the cake, not bothering to ponder if it was actually
possible for him to eat it. The vanilla cake was amazing. It was far
better than any other cake he had ever eaten.
Angela had already run off to rejoin her friends. They returned to
enjoying their cake, then went off to go play more arcade games.
After another half-hour of games, people started to leave. The last
ones to leave were Angela and her mother, Angela giving Vincent a
"Goodbye!" as she left.
Mike walked up to Vincent and stood next to him. "Hey Vincent, do
you have any family?"
Vincent looked at Mike confused. "I had a little brother for most of
my life. Why?" he seemed a little sad when he was talking about his
brother.
"Because Angela's last name is Tollini."
"I can't. I don't know how I was able to yesterday, but I can't. I also
can't sing either, I've heard people call it a garbled screech." Vincent
said, rubbing his shoulder. That was going to bruise.
"Uh-huh." Bonnie said, not quite believing.
"I gotta get my suit on. See you later Bonnie." Vincent said, entering
the parts and service room.
Throughout the week, Vincent had seen other oddities. Doors that
were supposed to be closed had been left open. Some of the spare
pizza was missing from kitchen storage, and leftover cake was
considerably smaller than when it had been put into the kitchen.
Vincent had also spotted flashes of white on the edge of his vision,
but when he turned to look it was gone.
Vincent had ruled out the shadow brothers. Regardless of their
immense magical capability when they wanted to work together, they
had no use for food, they floated through doors, and they had never
showed up as anything other than light-absorbing silhouettes. True,
they had swapped appearances for a day, simply to screw with
Vincent, but they seemed to lack the ability to change color. It could
have simply be hallucinations, but that wouldn't explain the missing
food and open doors; and in any case, the only one who had
displayed the ability to give someone hallucinations was Fredbear,
and he was far from frivolous with his abilities.
There was theoretically the possibility that someone had gotten in
and was living off of the food, but if that were the case, they would be
caught on camera at least once during the night. Percy was
meticulous about making sure to close doors after going through
them, and Fritz only ever went into a select few rooms, with the
exception of when he was moving one of the animatronics to give
them repairs.
Regardless of Vincent's paranoia, there was an important event that
was supposed to happen today. After twenty-three years of sporadic
action, the toys were going to be reactivated.
voice. He looked at Mike, who was grinning. "Are you doing this?"
"Nope." Mike said, as Fritz burst into a sniggering fit.
"What're you laughing at?" Vincent was extremely disgruntled. "And
who keeps talking to me?"
"I am. That should be obvious." The voice seemed extremely pleased
with itself, or rather, herself.
"Who are you?!" Vincent was beginning to get angry,
"I'll give you a little hint. I'm not alive, but neither am I dead."
"Where are you?" Vincent said, still scanning the room.
"Here's a better hint. I'm in the one direction you haven't looked yet."
The voice seemed to find Vincent's confusion extremely amusing.
Vincent stopped in his tracks, then looked up. Gripping to the ceiling
with sharp claws was a snow white vixen, her tail tucked up against
her body. She had pink fur on the tips of her tail and ears, and as she
grinned he could clearly see her sharp teeth. "Ta-da! Vix, at your
service!" She waved, then as she tried to grab the ceiling again,
started to slip.
CRASH!
Snap!
Vix rubbed her head. "That hurt. Oops." She looked down at Vincent,
who she had landed on. "You okay pale man?"
Vincent didn't respond. It was kind of hard to when his neck had
snapped.
purple bowtie and hat. Vincent adored Fredbear, the character was
not only funny and intelligent, but he wore the color purple, which
was Vincent's favorite color.
While on the way to the popular diner, the weather began to worsen.
Rain began to pour from the sky, and lightning flashed through the
air. It was okay though, because nothing could dampen Vincent's
mood. Right?
There was the sound of tires skidding on the road.
Crash!
When Vincent came to, there was wreckage all around him, and the
sound of a small child crying.
"Mom?! Dad?!" Vincent cried out, unsteadily climbing to his feet and
looking around. He was miraculously unharmed by the crash.
The same could not be said for his parents. Both of them had head
injuries, and it looked like they were both dead. Vincent had to grow
up in a matter of minutes then, his childhood shattered. The only
memento of it the golden bear plush he still clutched in his hand.
Vincent realized that he had forgotten about the youngest member of
his family. He tottered over to the baby, also miraculously uninjured,
and picked him up.
"Shh Marcus, shh" Vincent told his little brother. "Big brother will
take care of you"
Sirens began to blare in the background
Vincent woke with a start, his hand immediately flying to the back of
his neck. "Almost like a four hundred pound robot didn't fall on my
head" He muttered, getting up off of the table in the parts and
service room. "I'm seeing the inside of this room far more than I
would like."
Someone knocked on the door to the room, then opened it. Vincent
looked up to see Mike entering the parts and service room, a plate of
pizza in his hand. "Figured you'd be hungry." The man said, handing
the pizza to Vincent.
After taking the plate, Vincent gave Mike a quizzical look. "So, I
thought you said we were activating the toys today?"
"Yesterday, actually. We had to get you some new vertebrae." Mike
paused. "Vix said sorry, by the way."
"Why was she even up there?" Vincent asked, taking a bit out of the
pizza.
"Vix was the first animatronic to undergo upgrades. She volunteered,
in fact. But that's not the only reason." Mike paused. "This
explanation will probably just raise more questions, but you need to
know. The Puppet explained this to me. If a spirit has a residence,
they are permanently bound to said residence. Does that make
sense?" Vincent nodded in confirmation. "Okay, now for the
complicated part. Jeremy is bound to Vix. He does not have
possession of the animatronic, but he cannot stray far from her. His
effective range of operation while she is deactivated is somewhere in
the neighborhood of thirty feet. On the other hand, when Vix is online,
he has the ability to roam a distance of around a mile away from her."
Vincent finished of his pizza. "So you're saying that Jeremy Fitzgerald
is incapable of leaving the Mangle alone." Vincent shook his head.
"How ironic."
Mike scowled. "Don't call her that. She hates it."
"So why exactly does she have a bed in your room?" Vincent
continued, ignoring Mike.
"We went a little overboard. Fritz accidentally made it so that Vix
has to actually sleep at least a few hours every day. Reverting the
changes could cause a full memory wipe, which, as you can probably
guess, would be catastrophic. Vix has spent most of the last few
months sleeping in order to build a large battery reserve so that she
can operate for a while without needing to sleep again. Hopefully we
can find a way to fix the issue before her batteries run out." Mike
were being used to keep her attached to the ceiling. "I prefer to stick
to the ceiling. Something from those days."
"You mean '87." The grey eyed man said flatly.
"Yes I mean '87. What other time would I have been on the ceiling?"
"What other time were you a mess of parts?"
The vixen dropped to the ground, landing lightly despite her inner
workings being mostly metal. "I would prefer if you didn't talk about
that."
"What's the matter Mangle? Don't like to remember when you
murdered Jeremy?" Vincent said, not caring about the consequences.
"Don't call me that." Vix said, irritated.
"Is your past bringing up problems Mangle?" Vincent asked.
"Wouldn't be a problem if you didn't murder someone."
"Don't. Call. Me. That." The vixen snarled. "How would you like it if I
called you names? Salvage. Hybrid."
Vincent began to grow angry. "Stop."
"What's the matter you grey-eyed runt? Can't take what you love to
dish out?" Vix poked him in the chest.
You grey-eyed runt
Vincent grabbed a knife from somewhere on his person, rage in his
eyes. "I'll kill you!"
under his knife, then countered with a swipe of her claws. Someone
began shouting.
You little freak!
The man grabbed the animatronic's claw with his right hand, then
propelled her past him.
Pale weirdo!
He was about to bring his knife down on the back of Vix's head when
a strong hand grabbed his left arm, halting him in his tracks. Vincent
turned his head to see Mike's green eyes wide with concern. He
wasn't scared of Vincent, but worried.
The last person to be worried about Vincent
"Drop the knife Vince."
His fingers loosened, and the knife dropped to the floor. Tears began
to well up in his eyes, but he blinked them back. He was not going to
cry. Not now, not ever. He twisted his hand out of the stronger man's
grip and ran out of the building. He walked down the sidewalk for a
while, then made an impulsive decision to make his way to one place
he had told himself he would never return to.
The orphanage.
A week after the car crash, Vincent and Marcus were introduced to
their new home.
A large orphanage that was criminally understaffed. The two
caretakers being a man and his wife, both of whom forced the
children that lived in the orphanage to constantly clean and repair the
building. There was one group of children that continually bullied the
others, and Vincent and his little brother were prime targets.
Vincent was always hit with taunts about his bizarre appearance, as
well as his obsession with Fredbear. After only a month of living in
the orphanage, Vincent had hidden his lone possession, his Fredbear
"Vincent! Help!"
Vincent looked up from the floor he was scrubbing. There was
supposed to be an inspector visit today, and the caretakers had
forced all of the children to either clean up, or be left on the streets.
"Aww, is the wittle boy crying for his ghostly protector?"
Vincent's brow furrowed. That sounded like Brian, the leader of the
bullies that continually picked on both of the Tollini brothers. Vincent
dropped the brush he was using and stood up, trying to find the
source of the disturbance.
"Leave me alone! I just want to clean!"
"You will clean, you'll be cleaning our section too."
"Leave my little brother alone."
The bullies looked up from Marcus to look at Vincent. "Aww, we're
just making a little deal, ain't that right Marcus?" Brian kicked Marcus
in the side.
"Leave. Him. Alone." Vincent was beginning to get angry.
"What? You want to join him, you pale weirdo?"
Vincent's hands tightened into fists. "Leave my brother alone." He
repeated.
"Or what? You'll hit me? You wouldn't, you little freak." Brian sneered.
A quick jab to the face made Brian cry out, more in anger than in
pain. Vincent wasn't strong, far from it, but he was quick.
"That's it you grey-eyed runt!" Brian punched Vincent back, knocking
the black haired child to the ground. "You asked for it!"
Before long, the other bullies had joined him, raining blows on the
trembling boy. It continued for a solid five minutes before a deep
voice said "Stop!"
The bullies pulled away from Vincent to show that he was nearly
unconscious, and covered in bruises and cuts. The man who had
shouted stop stepped forwards. He was holding a clipboard and was
scowling. "Where are your caretakers?"
Brian nervously pointed towards the office that both of the caretakers
were waiting in.
The inspector's eyes narrowed. "Hmm and why are you attacking
this boy?"
"I Uh You don't tell me what to do!" Brian said defiantly.
Marcus spoke up at this point. "They're attacking my brother because
he was protecting me from them."
"Really? Well then"
Vincent didn't notice what came next because he fell unconscious.
Vincent turned the corner and gasped in shock. The old building was
in horrible disrepair. The doors and windows were all boarded up.
What was more surprising was the fact that it was still there. He
expected it to have collapsed by now.
If it was still there, then maybe
He looked around. This part of town was mostly deserted, with only a
few homeless people in this area. That was good. He walked up to
the front doors, then paused. There was a back door Vincent
walked around the building, searching for the back door that he knew
was there. It was, predictably, also boarded up. Not anything a couple
minutes' worth of effort couldn't fix, however.
Stepping inside, Vincent let out a low whistle. The inside was in a
surprisingly good condition, especially considering the outside's
appearance. He walked slowly through the building, trying to
remember the room he had been put into when he was a little kid.
Let's see room fifteen ten beds Ah hah. He entered the room
that he had inhabited for two of the most miserable years of his life.
Taking his old Fredbear plush out of its wrapping, Vincent still wore
his smile. "I've missed you" He whispered to himself.
"So this is where you called home for at least one year of your life,
correct?"
Vincent whirled around, knife in his left hand and plush in his right,
only to realize that the voice was a familiar monotone. "Creepy damn
doll" He scowled. "How do you know that?"
The Puppet had a sympathetic look on its face. "When you die, your
mind drifts a bit. Occasionally I catch glimpses of your memories."
"So you snooped on my thoughts. Great. I thought you were
supposed to be the good guy." Vincent started to replace the wooden
floorboard.
"It's not as though I can help it. I got a pretty good picture of what
happened to you in your childhood." The Puppet floated over to him
and put one of its hands on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"You didn't do anything to me." Vincent muttered, putting the nail back
in its place. It looked exactly like it had before he had pried it out of
the floor.
"Maybe not, but I haven't been too welcoming towards you, even with
the fact that I know what horrible things have happened to you."
Vincent waved him off. "I murdered you. I don't deserve your
sympathy."
The Puppet looked him dead in the eyes. "Everyone deserves a
second chance."
"I've been doing a horrible job of making the most of mine." Vincent
muttered, sitting down on his bed. It was the same mattress he had
back when he was seven.
The Puppet gave him a quizzical look. "If you're referring to the
incident earlier with Vix, then you shouldn't be so worried. Vix has
developed a hot temper, and you can hardly be blamed for reacting in
the manner that you have."
The man shook his head. "I've lied to all of you."
That made the Puppet stop in its tracks. "What?"
"I'm not your friend. I'm not anybody's friend. I'm an actor, I always
have been." Vincent looked at the floor. "I'm not the kind soul who
decided to give Chica a way to work out her stress. I'm not the
adventurous spirit who played with Foxy. I'm not the polite gentleman
who listened to Freddy. I'm not even the goofball who got into a food
fight with Bonnie." He looked up at the Puppet. "Hell, I'm not even the
hero who stopped the burglars. I'm an actor. I put on a persona so
that I can resolve everyone's issues. I gained their trust, but I don't
deserve it."
The Puppet looked at him sadly. "But you are the one who helped
them. You helped Chica with her stress, you gave Foxy assistance in
his stories, you eased Freddy's doubts, and you resolved Bonnie's
grudge."
Vincent shook his head. "They trust me, but I don't trust them. I may
be their friend, but they sure as hell aren't mine."
"You've come a long way from the man you were sixteen years ago."
The Puppet said, floating over to sit down next to Vincent. "You're no
longer the man who murdered eleven children and blamed it on the
company."
"The man who murdered eleven children was a far cry from the boy
who only wanted to protect his little brother."
"Vincent." The man looked at the haunted marionette. "You're already
on your way to becoming a better person. Look at you! You're
admitting your mistakes and trying to fix them! So what if you don't
believe that you deserve their trust? They believe that you do. No
matter what, we are in this as a family."
Vincent sighed. "Yes. As a family."
Vincent really isn't good at this sappy stuff. Also, raise your
hand if you thought one or more people were going to wind up
dead and/or stabbed. I'm watching you.
Chapter 49: New and Shiny, Take 2
Vincent was still shaking off his emotions when they finally got back
to the pizzeria. The Puppet had cloaked itself in some sort of
invisibility spell, so as not to cause unnecessary panic when people
spotted a floating puppet roaming through the streets.
He pushed open the door to be met with a yellow blur that lifted him
off the ground. "Vincent! We were so worried!"
"Woah, calm down Chica." Vincent said. "I'm fine. Please put me
down."
Chica lowered him to the ground, but didn't release her hug. "Where
have you been? Are you hurt?"
"Chica, I'm fine. I just needed some air." He answered, squirming out
of her grip. "What's been going on since I left?"
"Oh, Vix decided to pick up your knife by the wrong end." Chica
giggled a little bit. "She has politely informed us that pain is not fun."
Vincent raised an eyebrow at this. "Wait, is she the first animatronic
to actually receive an injury? Seriously?"
"Apart from Spring, yes." The Puppet informed him, floating back to
the main entryway from the main show area. It had drifted past him
when Chica had launched her ambush, and was now returning.
"Although it's not all that much of a surprise. The others tend to
exercise caution. Vix is a bit too hotheaded for her own good."
The man snorted at this. "A bit?"
The Puppet shot him a glare. "You're one to talk."
Vincent shrugged. "Fair enough."
They were interrupted by the sound of a teenage girl swearing loudly.
"That would be her." The Puppet said, drifting back into the main
show area, Vincent and Chica in tow.
"Could you do this WITHOUT hurting me more?" Vix said, eyes
closed shut in pain.
"Calm down Vix. The first time the pain sensors are activated is the
worst, but it'll be better soon." Mike said, stitching closed the cut on
her hand. There was no blood, but that was because the
animatronics didn't have any. The gash would have been a major
There was a nearly silent pop and the two shadows appeared out of
nowhere. Shane, the more mature of the brothers, was standing on
the air, while his brother was upside down. In the ceiling. "You
called?" Both brothers said simultaneously. "Jinx! Double Jinx!"
"Shut up." The Puppet said. "Where were you two?"
"Well, first we had to go conjure some more silly string." Shane
began.
"Then we had to go replace Vincent's pillow with a rock" Sean
continued, his ears twitching.
"After that we needed to see if the trip-mines had been triggered yet."
"Oh, and then we stuffed Freddy's head full of shaving cream." Sean
finished.
The Puppet sat through all of this with a blank expression on its face.
"Vincent, you should go and find your actual pillow. Mike, I suggest
cleaning out Freddy's head before he wakes up. Chica, kindly go
remove all of the trip-wires in the hallway. I'll handle the silly string." It
paused. "After I finish up on Vix's hand. Thanks for getting it started
Mike."
"My pleasure." The man said, standing up. "If you will excuse me, I
need to go make sure the bear doesn't wake up to a head full of fluff."
He added, walking towards the parts and service room.
Both the shadows froze as they realized that they had blurted out all
the pranks that they had planned. "Aww c'mon Marion. You've gotMmmf! Mmmmffff!" Sean stopped as his brother clapped a hand over
his mouth.
"Pardon my moronic brother. We've got some talking to do." Shane
informed them, before both vanished.
"Marion." Vincent said flatly.
"Yes. People like to shorten my 'official' name of Marionette." The
Puppet said, one of its hands hovering over the gash on Vix's hand. "I
Vincent and Marcus had lived for eleven years after the orphanage
shut down. They hadn't had an easy time of it, but they had survived.
Vincent had become a formidable fighter, using his lightning reflexes
and scrawny stature to his advantage. Many of the street roamers
had learned early on not to mess with the Tollini brothers, especially
after Vincent had disarmed them and was using their own weapon to
scare them off. Marcus had developed into a brawny young man,
slightly taller even than Vincent, and was quite intimidating in his own
right. He tended to take his time, however, never acting without first
pondering the outcome.
Times were difficult for the two brothers. Vincent had sacrificed
several of his own meals in order to make sure that Marcus got
enough to eat; resulting in Vincent permanently looking emaciated
and starved. There was no doubt they were brothers, however. Both
of them had similar facial structure, enough so that, even though
Vincent was a solid hundred pounds lighter than his brother, and had
different skin tone and eyes, they looked like family.
In order to make certain that he had enough money to keep them
both alive, Vincent had begun taking jobs from the local crime
was after dark, so there was no way anyone inside would see him out
there. The only character roaming around was Fredbear himself,
giving cake to all the kids.
"Hey, you the Tollini kid?" a gruff voice said from behind him.
Vincent turned around to see the man he was told to expect. "That's
me. I've got the stuff you wanted."
"Good. C'mon."
Five minutes later, the rusty blue truck the drug dealer he had
delivered to owned drove off, the back covered by a tarp. "Idiot, the
cops'll catch you in no time." Vincent mused to himself. He looked
around one last time and caught a glimpse of scared eyes. In the
blink of an eye, Vincent had dashed over to the young child and had
a knife to their throat. "How much did you see?"
The child trembled. "Please don't hurt me!" They burst into tears.
"Goddammit" Vincent muttered. The kid was going to draw
attention. He started to drag them into a nearby alleyway when they
started to struggle. "Stop it." He whispered into the child's ear. The
small child ignored him and continued to struggle, tears pouring down
their face. "Stop it!" he said louder, putting the knife closer to their
neck. Then, before he could do anything more, the child jerked out of
his grasp and began to run off. He reacted purely on instinct, slashing
at the fleeing figure before he could stop to think his actions through,
then his eyes widened. He had slit the child's throat. "Oh god" He
said, beginning to panic. "What have I done?" Vincent began to
hyperventilate. He wasn't a murderer. He didn't mean to. It wasn't his
fault right?
Vincent climbed back into the car he had been given and drove off,
panic in his mind. He had killed someone. He had murdered a child.
Oh god
Vincent turned the car into an alleyway and then turned it off,
abandoning it. He could run back to the alley he and Marcus called
home, no problems. He could calm down and forget this happened,
right?
Right?
"No he's not, he's all white. Not purple." A childish voice said. Vincent
looked down to see BB. The little robot had woken up while the
others were talking, and was now staring up at Vincent.
Vincent knelt down and poked BB in the nose. "The correct term is
pale."
BB giggled. "You're funny. Why are your eyes grey?"
The man shrugged. "I don't know. Why are your eyes blue?"
A flicker of motion in the corner of the room caught Vincent's eye, but
there was nothing there. Probably just one of the shadows playing a
prank on him. Again.
Ben and Tia were arguing with Mike. "He can't be the purple man, the
Puppet told us he was dead!"
"The Puppet brought him back."
"Uh huh, and I'm blue."
"Hey!"
"Sorry Ben."
"I am the purple guy," Vincent interjected, standing upright again,
"Purple man, whatever it was you said. I'm him."
Three sets of blue eyes and one set of green eyes stared at him.
Vincent shrugged. "I've done a lot that I shouldn't have. I stole. I lied. I
murdered. In retrospect I'm far from proud of what I've done. I'm
going to do my best to make it up to you all." Vincent grinned. "And
I'm going to do that, by getting you guys outside."
Vincent has a little trick up his sleeve, and you guys will get to
see it soon enough. In other news, Fritz made a universal
remote. Not exactly the best plan, but it could have its perks. Or
not.
It was nearly midnight, and Vincent had said no more about his plan
to get the animatronics outside. Mike had shot him a confused
glance, but didn't contradict what Vincent said; for which the pale man
was grateful. All of the animatronics had pestered him about it, from
Freddy's subtle nudges to Vix straight up threatening him. Even the
Puppet was curious, an interesting fact considering that it could leave
any time it wanted, provided that it used illusion to make sure that it
didn't accidentally terrify anyone.
Vince was patiently awaiting Percy's phone call. The man always left
a recording to inform him of the habits of the new animatronics. It was
frankly the only reason Vincent hadn't been strangled, driven insane,
or forcibly stuffed into a suit yet. Not that they hadn't gotten close.
Freddy was incredibly clever, while his golden doppelganger was able
to give Vincent hallucinations, more or less on a whim.
He reminisced on the '87 location. That place was supposedly hellish
to work the night shift on. Jeremy had mentioned something about
eleven different animatronics after him, and even though none of
them actually wanted him dead, it was still something that terrified
him to this day. Back then, the only toy animatronic that was actually
even slightly unnerving was Tia, and that was only due to a flaw in the
design that made it so the beak and eyes could be removed, leaving
her looking like some sort of deformed banana in a miniskirt. Ben was
the least intimidating, which was quite a feat considering that BB was
straight up laughable. Vix, while terrifyingly mobile, wasn't ever that
scary to Vincent. It probably had something to do with the fact that
her mangled body had reminded him of a spider, and he had
absolutely no reason to fear spiders.
"Three two one."
Ring Ring
"Right on time Percy." Vincent muttered, picking up the tablet.
Hopefully Freddy and his little gang of followers would ease up on the
Vincent froze. "Oh god. I've been looking in the wrong places." He
quickly began to flip through the cameras until he came to the Prize
Corner again, finding Vix suspended directly over the Puppet's Box.
Also in the Prize Corner were BB and Freddy, Freddy standing
behind the box, almost invisible save his pinprick eyes, and BB was
sitting in a corner near a bundle of balloons that weren't there the
previous day. "God Billy loves those balloons"
"She should be visible using the door lights, however. Something that
makes her just a bit less stealthy than Freddy, thank goodness. Uh,
so while Ben and Tia use tactics that are similar to Bonnie and Chica,
Tia's a good deal more aggressive. Theodore doesn't use similar
tactics to Freddy at all, instead he simply ambles through the pizzeria.
It's, uh, kinda weird. Sometimes he just vanishes entirely, only to
reappear in your office a little while later. It's really odd."
"Teddy can teleport. Great." Vincent muttered "As if two magic
animatronics trying to kill me wasn't bad enough, we have a robot
that can teleport directly into my office."
"His reaction times are pretty bad though. Almost laughably so. Uh,
oh yeah. BB. He's the least dangerous of the animatronics, simply
because he hasn't got enough mass to hurt you. That doesn't mean
you should completely ignore him though. He's pretty clever, if he
gets into your office, he's not going to leave. That's not even the
worst part, once he does get in, he can jam the doors until he's forced
to leave at six A.M."
"Little Billy's a major threat then. Good to know." Vincent checked on
Theodore. The bear was just wandering through the main show area,
but Vincent knew better than to underestimate him.
Vincent checked on Pirate's Cove. One benefit of the room was that
Vincent could see if Foxy was still in residence. What he saw made
his blood run cold. The fox was gone.
"I'm a moron" He muttered, slamming closed the right door. His
prediction proved accurate as soon as he heard the loud thump of the
fox colliding with the door. He opened it immediately afterwards.
"Oh, one more thing. We've noticed the door to the parts and service
room being left open. It's probably just Bonnie's wandering, but you
might want to keep an eye out for it. That's all. Good luck Vince."
Then, almost too quietly for Vincent to hear. "You'll probably need
it"
Click.
"Fun." Vincent said, scanning the cameras. Freddy was still a
comfortable distance away from him, Chica was in the kitchen, as per
usual, Fredbear was standing in the Prize Corner, and BB was still
standing by his bundle of balloons. Vincent looked up from his tablet
for a brief moment to check the door lights, then resumed his search
for the ten robots. Ben had wandered into the arcade, while Tia was
standing near the currently occupied Pirate's Cove. Bonnie and Vix
were both currently standing in the main dining area, thankfully. But
Theodore
Vincent scanned all the cameras. Theodore was missing. He looked
up and listened closely, then grinned. There was the muffled clank,
clank of something moving through the vents. "So Teddy bear can't
teleport. Thank god for that."
The man looked back at his tablet. Fredbear had moved, and BB was
staring at the camera now, but otherwise the animatronics hadn't
moved at all. He looked up to see Theodore, his eyes completely
black, reaching towards him. Quickly, Vince activated the app that
Percy had told him about, and closed his eyes. There was the feeling
that something was slightly off, but there was no other noticeable
difference. Vincent opened his eyes again to see Theodore stomping
off, and breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly checked both door lights
and went back to monitoring the animatronics.
He checked the hall camera and frowned a bit at seeing the parts and
service door open. As he watched, something moved in the shadows
of the room. He quickly changed to the parts and service camera to
see that there was nothing amiss in the room. "Weird"
He checked on the Prize Corner and started when he saw that both
BB and Fredbear were missing. He shrugged and rewound the music
box, then put down his tablet and checked the door lights. Bonnie
was at his left door, and BB was at the right. Vincent quickly activated
the app to disrupt BB and closed the left door, praying that both of
these things worked out properly. Fortunately, the signal that the
tablet produced didn't have any marked effect on the doors, meaning
that he could safely close one or both doors and ward off a toy
animatronic simultaneously. The only thing he couldn't do while the
app was running was check his cameras.
Speaking of which, he checked around again. Chica was still in the
kitchen, Theodore had returned to his mindless ambling through the
main show area, and Freddy was staring directly into the camera of
the parts and service room. Fredbear was missing, but that problem
was quickly solved when Vincent looked up to see the yellow bear in
his room. Fighting the growing headache that always came with the
bear's presence, at least during the night shift, he quickly checked the
left door lights, then opened the door. He then returned to his scan of
the pizzeria, making sure to rewind the music box. As he settled into
the pattern, Vincent began to hum a catchy tune and started singing
under his breath. "There's a shadow on the wall, stay calm, stay
calm"
He was interrupted by childlike laughter. Vincent looked up to see BB
standing directly in front of him, the animatronic's eyes completely
missing. "Goddammit" The man muttered, activating the app that
screwed with the animatronics' facial recognition program. He hated
to admit it, but BB was extraordinarily creepy, especially without his
normally cheerful blue eyes.
Vincent was a bit surprised when BB didn't move an inch. "What? Did
Percy lie to me or something?" He muttered, pressing the button
again. Still no change. Then the man slapped himself in the face. "I'm
an absolute moron. Doesn't work on BB after he gets in." Vincent
stood up. "Alright Billy, get out." He snapped, reaching over to grab
the childlike figure.
Before he could get any closer, a fierce screech rang out, and a figure
dropped from above, all teeth and claws. Vincent flinched, but before
the irate vixen hit him, the six o'clock alarm sounded, and both of the
animatronic simply vanished.
"What the hell?" Vincent muttered to himself. "They can all teleport
now?"
Vincent's confusion was cut short by a familiar clicking sound. One
that he had last heard when an unwanted visitor showed up
"Crap." He muttered, grabbing his pistol from the desk and pulling a
long knife out of a pocket. "I swear to god I'll murder whoever had the
bright idea to try and break in" Vincent paused. "Not literally."
After scanning the cameras to make certain he knew exactly where
the intruder was going, he silently ran back to the hallway where the
parts and service room was located. He wasn't exactly surprised
when the burglar in question was a familiar brown-haired man. "Well
isn't this dj vu."
Franklin turned around, a large grin on his face. "What's the matter
Vince? Did you think I'd just let this place lie?"
"What exactly are you here for Franklin?" Vincent said, irritated.
"I already told you, my employer wants a good look at the AI of these
things. He wants to know how your boss managed to improve them
so much from the old Fazbear Entertainment monstrosities." Franklin
shrugged. "I could frankly care less. They're paying me a sizable
amount, and apparently failure on my part will lead to their downfall.
Doesn't really matter to me, I get fifty grand for finding out how a
bunch of machines work."
"You're a clever bastard. Figure it out for yourself."
Franklin's humor vanished. "You know full well my talents don't
extend to creating code. I can modify it, bypass it, destroy it even. It's
not exactly my forte to make AI."
"What a shame." Vincent said coldly. "Now get out."
"Let me tell you something Vince," The hacker said suddenly, "There
are two ways this can happen. Either you give me a copy of the code
tomorrow night, at that old orphanage you hate so much; or I'll get in
here and make your life a living hell."
Yes, Vincent was singing "Stay Calm". Yes Vincent just died.
Again. I would say he's gonna feel that in the morning, but he
really won't.
Fun fact, I wasn't originally going to have Vincent's name be,
well, Vincent. I didn't want to use the same name that everyone
else did, but by the time I thought of a different name that would
work, I already had him cemented in my mind. The name just
works.
Chapter 51: Hope
The next time Vincent killed someone was exactly three months after
the first time. The victim in question was a tall burly man with a pistol.
He had threatened Marcus with death unless the boy had told him
where Vincent was. The man didn't even realize that his target was
the one who killed him. Using the man's own knife, no less.
The nightmares had returned almost immediately after he
accidentally killed the first child, taunting him with his fears. Telling
him that he was a murderer, that he deserved to rot in hell. That
Marcus hated him for what he had done. The nightmares pushed him
to the point of apathy once again, his only care being Marcus once
more.
Vincent had used the money in the failed assassin's wallet to pay for
food for a few months, before coming to the decision to get himself a
legitimate job. He knew he wanted a job at the place that had been
his childhood haven, but unfortunately they had shut down. The
reason for it wasn't entirely clear to him, but that wasn't important.
There was a new place opening up that sported the same characters,
except it was called Fredbear and Friends. Apparently the diner's
property had all been bought out by a company called Fazbear
Entertainment, and they were trying to preserve the reputation the
diner had built up. Vincent applied for a job, as a day time security
guard, and they had hired him without bothering to do a background
check. The pay wasn't much, but it was enough to reliably feed
Marcus, and that was what mattered.
A month after taking out the assassin, a man showed up in the little
alley that the brothers called home.
"Are you two the Tollini brothers?"
Vincent gave him a suspicious glare. "What's it to you?"
The man gave a thin lipped smile. "My boss is extremely excited to
meet you two."
"And what makes you think we'll go with you?"
"Five thousand dollars, simply for showing up. Your brother does not
have to come."
Five thousand dollars was a fortune for a pair of street dwellers. It
would allow them to live extremely well for weeks. "Fine." Vincent
answered.
He followed the man to a large white van, into which he and Vincent
climbed. The windows in the back were blacked out, and the two
unobstructed windows weren't visible from the back of the van. After
ten minutes of rattling travel, they arrived at their destination, and two
sets of strong hands grabbed him by the shoulders and escorted him
through the building.
"Ah, here's our guest." A surprisingly friendly voice said.
Mike pushed the door open, a concerned look on his face. "How are
you feeling Vince?"
"Pretty good, considering I just died. I did die, right?" He looked at
Mike, then continued when the other man nodded in confirmation.
"Although I don't think I'll ever be able to have children. Not that I
could have anyways."
"Unfortunately true." Mike said. "I'll leave you then." He turned to
leave.
"Mike?"
"Yes?"
"Why don't you have a wife? Why is there no Mrs. Schmidt?" Vincent
asked. "I mean, not that I'm judging, but you don't seem like that kind
of guy. You're rich, intelligent, strong, and kind. I mean, I would have
thought the ladies would be all over you."
Mike sighed sadly. "You're right. There have been a lot of women who
tried to woo me, but none of them really mattered." He looked at
Vincent. "You should know something first. I'm an only child. I never
got to know my father, and my mother died of a brain tumor not long
before I got the job at the '87 location."
Vincent just stared at him for a little bit. "I I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You had nothing to do with it." Mike paused. "Where was
I oh yeah. Three years after the '87 location shut down, I met
someone. Her name was Hope, and she was the love of my life."
Mike sighed again. "She was intelligent, witty, kind and caring. She
was beautiful too, but she hid behind her glasses and thought nobody
cared." Mike gazed into space wistfully. "At first, she was surprised
that a 'rich man' such as me found any interest in her. She was a
nobody, or so she claimed, while I was a part of the 'upper class'.
Eventually, we grew close. I loved her so much I would like to think
she loved me too." Mike looked at Vincent, sadness in his eyes. "It all
ended in 1991. She was travelling through the city when it happened.
A group of thugs got her as she went past an alleyway. The only
reason I even found out is because her body was found three days
later, her throat slit." The big man blinked back tears. "She she was
the only one. I just haven't had any romantic inclinations."
"Mike" Vincent said sadly. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault Vincent" Mike said, turning to leave again. "Get
some rest. Death can't really be easy on you."
The door closed with a click, leaving Vincent with only his own
thoughts.
"HiMikehow'sitgoingVincentgavemesomecoffeeandIloveitseeyoulater
bye!"
Mike blinked. "What?" From what little he had noticed, Goldie had
teleported in, said something about coffee, and vanished again in the
blink of an eye. "Did someone give him coffee?" Mike stopped
there. "Of course"
The man stood up and exited his office, making his way to the main
show area. From time to time he would spot Goldie flickering in and
out of sight, appearing in one place then vanishing and appearing in
another. Ordinarily it would've been unnerving, but the whole time the
yellow bear was wearing a goofy grin and laughing.
Mike marched into the main show area to find Vincent lying on the
ground, laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe. "Alright Vince,
what did you do?"
Vincent slowly settled down, regaining his breath. "Hey Mike! Did you
know if you feed coffee to one of the animatronics, they go crazy?"
The green eyed man scowled. "I hope you don't mean literally
insane."
"No, no. Fritz said something about volts and amps, but I didn't really
hear him, I wasn't paying attention. He also said something about not
giving the animatronics alcohol or caffeine, specifically coffee."
"Fine. I won't give the animatronics coffee." Vincent said, lowing his
hand. "You're no fun."
"I'm trying to prevent anything from breaking, there's a big difference."
Vincent checked his watch. "I need to get going."
Mike frowned. "Where?"
"Got some scouting to do." Vincent said with a wink, walking towards
the main entrance.
"We're opening in half an hour!"
"I'll be back by then, don't worry." Vincent said, before walking out the
door.
Vincent had worked at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza for four years before
he hit any issues. He was a dedicated worker, and despite his apathy
he acted like a good friend, caring and happy. It was just that,
however. An act. He cared little for his coworkers, and even less for
the children that it was his job to protect. He had quickly been
promoted to head of security once a second security guard was
hired, and he was careful to maintain his new position.
Management had decided to completely change the lineup of
characters. Bonnie was changed from a yellow female bunny to a
lavender colored male rabbit. Fredbear was completely removed
from the character lineup and replaced by Freddy Fazbear, a brown
bear with a black tie and top hat. Two other characters were added
as well, Chica, a female chicken, and Foxy, a male pirate fox. The
creepy marionette that came from Fredbear's was put into storage,
for later potential use.
Both of the original mascot suits were transformed into something
called a spring lock suit. These specialized suits had an
endoskeleton in them that could be compressed against the walls of
the suit, making it usable as both an animatronic and a costume.
Vincent hated the things, but it meant that, from time to time,
Fredbear was onstage instead of those new, creepy animatronics. As
Most of the time, the guard stayed all of one night, screaming about
killer robots and psychotic animatronics as they left. The only guard
who stayed more than a couple nights was a bulky young man
named Mike. The kid was clever, but far too trusting for his own good.
As the deadline that Tony had given him closed in, Vincent began to
worry that he couldn't force the place to shut down in time. In a
desperate ploy, he rigged the Fredbear and Spring Bonnie suits to
collapse upon the next person to use them. It worked, causing the
unfortunate brothers who acted out the mascots to be crushed, killing
them both.
It turned out that a public 'accident' was all that was needed to get
the place shut down. Fazbear Entertainment closed the place down
with the announcement that they would be reopening across town
with 'safer' animatronics.
Vincent shook his head. That wasn't important right now. His current
goal was to find places he could take the animatronics that he knew
they would enjoy. He had already decided that the park was a good
idea, they would love the scenery, but he wanted to locate a place to
eat. The best way to do that was to use his eyes.
After a few minutes of walking, Vincent finally spotted what he was
looking for. He took note of the location and turned around to head
back to the pizzeria. He had another twenty minutes to return to the
pizzeria. He was about halfway to his destination when something
swung out of the darkness of an alley, catching Vincent on the head.
Four years later. It was four years after the first Freddy Fazbear's
Pizza shut down, and they were opening a new location. Spring
Bonnie was left behind, blocked up in the safe room, while Fredbear
was stripped of his spring locks and endoskeleton, leaving him just
an empty suit.
The old animatronics were in an absolutely terrible condition. Vincent
could care less what happened to any of the accursed robots, but it
was almost saddening, learning that the old things were in such a
bad condition. Bonnie was missing not only his face, but his entire left
arm. Chica's hands were both removed, and some bozo had thought
it would be a good idea to see how far they could open her jaw,
resulting in the endoskeleton being the only reason the top of her
head was still attached to her body. Freddy and Foxy weren't in as
bad of a state, but the optical sensors on the fox were extremely
glitchy, causing him to reset entirely when a light was shined in his
face.
The new animatronics weren't much better. Fazbear Entertainment
had tried to make them more 'kid friendly' and in doing so had
absolutely ruined the identities of the characters. The new Freddy
looked like it was overweight, so much for being a good role-model.
New Bonnie was feminine to a fault, despite the fact that the
character was SUPPOSEDLY a male now. Chica's redesign was
catastrophic. The color choice on certain parts was an absolutely
idiotic decision, not to mention the body shape being far too
suggestive for a child entertainer. The new Foxy was the only one
Vincent didn't have a major gripe with, but that changed once he saw
the kids dismantling the thing.
In the interim between the two locations, Vincent had met a clever
little man named Franklin. The kid was a genius, he knew exactly
how to manipulate computers to do what he wanted them to. His
biggest flaw, however, was that he wasn't physically powerful.
Franklin was scrawny and short, and unlike Vincent didn't have the
necessary speed to make up for it. In order for both of them to better
survive, Franklin would help Vincent with technological issues, in
exchange for Vincent's fighting prowess.
Franklin had the beginnings of a good fighter in him. He was small
enough that most people underestimated him, but had enough
muscle mass to hold his own, should a conflict arise. Vincent took to
teaching him how to defend himself, in case the kid should ever need
it.
It wasn't very long before Tony called up Vincent with yet another job.
This time his goal would be to get those sickeningly cute new robots
put out of commission permanently. He was to use similar methods to
the previous attack on Fazbear's but to find some way to get them to
Vincent woke up, but made sure to keep his breathing even so that
his assailant wouldn't know that he was conscious.
"Just get the money and slit 'is throat."
"You idiot, what do you think will happen when they find the body?"
"It shouldn't matter anyways, just take his wallet."
"I dunno why we ever listen to you!"
Three people, it sounded like. One of them with an accent that he
couldn't quite place, one of them sounded like an intellectual, and the
last was probably moronic, if conventions followed through.
Now was as good a time as any to surprise them. "Have you ever
heard of the Violet Assassin?" He asked, otherwise not moving an
inch.
"Who said that?"
"The Violet Assassin that's a title I haven't heard in a long time."
"Who's the Violet Assassin?"
Vincent inwardly chuckled. These three were morons. He snapped
his eyes open and quickly jumped to his feet, snatching a knife off of
the closest of the three muggers and hurling it at the gun that another
one held. To finish his trick, he knocked the third member of their little
gang unconscious with a jab to the throat, then whirled back around
and kneed the first mugger in the gut. "Answer to your questions:
you're looking at him."
Vincent began to walk out the alley when a voice made him stop in
his tracks.
"Never thought I'd see the day I get to kill a legend."
The pale man ducked just before a gunshot rang out, bullet whizzing
over his head. Vincent whirled around to see a fourth mugger, this
one wearing what looked like gang colors. At the sight of the insignia
on the man's jacket, Vincent's blood ran cold.
Tony's band of 'gentlemen' were still terrorizing this city.
"So, Vincent Tollini eh? I thought you were dead. You vanished for
sixteen years without a trace, and here you are. Hair white as snow,
but not a wrinkle on your face." The man said, an antique looking
revolver resting in his hand. Vincent knew better than to think that the
weapon was old, Tony's henchmen all used bizarre and often fancy
looking weapons. None of them were anything but top quality. The
lone exception had been Vincent, and that was purely because he
preferred a plain steel knife to some fancy dagger.
"I can't help but feel like I should know you, but you obviously weren't
important enough for me to remember." Vincent replied. "In any case,
you should know better than to point a weapon at a man who's made
thirty kills."
His assailant chuckled. "I will admit, you were one of the best. The
Violet Assassin, your title was. The deadliest man on the streets.
Killed ten kids just for a paycheck. Hunted his own brother for three
years, before just disappearing. You're a legend, among our inner
circle." The man chuckled again, steadying his aim. "But even
legends die." The man pulled the trigger.
Click
"What?" he looked down at his revolver.
"You're an idiot." Vincent said, producing a knife from somewhere on
his person. "You didn't even pull the hammer back." Vincent launched
the knife, catching the man's revolver and knocking it to the ground.
The ex-assassin walked up to the man who owned the revolver and
picked him up. It didn't seem like it should've been possible, seeing
as how Vincent was extremely scrawny, but he lifted him by the front
of his shirt as if he weighed nothing.
"Please don't kill me!" the man squeaked.
Long chapter this time. I'm increasing the amount of words I put
into a chapter before I consider it good enough to post.
I've wanted to do the scene with hyperactive Fredbear/Goldie for
a while, I decided that now would be a good enough time to fit it
in.
We also go over more of Vincent's past.
Chapter 53: Betrayal
The rest of the day was more than a little weird. For starters, there
was a very good reason for Mike needing Vincent at the pizzeria for
the day. The toy animatronics, despite having only been activated two
days ago, were going to be performing. There was a secondary party
area that branched off of the arcade for this exact purpose. Theodore,
Tia, and Ben would be using the stage of this second party area,
while Vix and BB joined the Puppet in the Prize Corner.
steady income, more than enough to feed himself and his brother.
Things were finally looking up.
Then disaster struck.
It started with Franklin betraying him.
It was a relatively normal job. He and Franklin were to break into the
museum, kill the curator, grab the large, rune-scribed pearl that was
the main exhibit, and get out. It should have been easy, Franklin had
only gotten better at his hacking, and Vincent was able to move like a
shadow when he wanted to. It would have been Vincent's thirty-first
and final kill. Tony had said that he would let him go after this job was
complete, and the pay was enough for Vincent and his brother to live
for kings for nearly thirty years.
The first phase of the plan went as scheduled. Franklin hacked into
the security system and shut down the automated defenses,
replacing the camera footage with the footage from the night before.
Next, Vincent picked the lock on the door, silently swinging it open.
He made his way past the security guards and located the pearl,
extracting it from its casing both silently and smoothly. After placing
the artifact in a pouch he had been given for that exact purpose, he
crept through the building to the room where the curator was doing
late night paperwork.
Or where he was supposed to do late night paperwork. As soon as
Vincent pushed the door open he knew it was a trap. It triggered an
alarm, one that wasn't linked to the mainframe, and the inhabitant of
the room drew a gun and took aim at him. Vincent ducked back
around the doorframe and spoke into the earpiece that Franklin had
given him. "Abort. Part one was a success, but they knew about part
two."
"Gotcha. Disabling the lights now."
Immediately the building went dark. It didn't hinder Vincent much, but
the security guards couldn't see, and that was the important part.
Several gunshots rang out, some of them quite close, but none of
them hit Vincent, thankfully. He made his way back to the door he
had entered by, only to find that there were far too many people there
for him to take them on, even with the lack of light, one of them would
shoot him. "Main exit is a failure. I'm coming out the window."
Vincent reversed his steps and found his way to a ladder up to the
catwalk near the ceiling. He watched the security guards running
under him as he crept along silently. After making his way to the
window, he paused for a moment. There was no latch to open it.
Vincent shrugged, then broke the glass using the butt of his knife
before jumping through onto the roof outside, where Franklin was
waiting.
"Alright Franklin, let's get out of here." He said to his partner.
"Got it." The hacker replied. The both of them made their way to the
ladder up to the roof and climbed down into the side alley. The
hacker and the assassin made their way to the end of the alley, to a
wall that was their planned escape route.
"Up and over." Vincent muttered, boosting Franklin to the top of the
wall. He passed the pearl up to him, then reached up to Franklin.
"Sorry Vince. Can't exactly get you out after getting paid to sell you
out." The hacker shrugged. "Plus, I heard that I can sell this for much,
much more than Tony pays." He raised up the bag with the pearl. "As
I said, sorry Vince. It's nothing personal."
"You bastard." Vincent growled. He drew his knife and launched it at
Franklin, who instinctively pulled the bag with the pearl in the way.
The knife tore the bag in two, dropping the pearl into darkness.
"You moron!" Franklin shouted. The hacker looked down the alley
and grinned evilly. "Doesn't matter, you're going to be executed." He
dropped down on the other side of the wall and ran off.
Vincent turned around to see that there were police cars blocking his
only exit. Or so they thought. Vincent drew another knife and stuck it
into the mortar of the wall as deep as he could, then jumped up onto
it, using the knife as a stepping stone to reach the top of the wall. He
pushed himself over and searched the shadows for the pearl. After a
couple seconds of searching he found it and picked it up. "Hmm"
He only had a few minutes before the police would come around this
years ago, and you missed it because you never listened to what I
had to say. You just went off on another one of your little jobs,
probably to kill another person!"
"You got married" Vincent said, his anger beginning to grow. "I take
care of you, I fund you, and you go and do this? I hate you, you
traitor!"
"You're sick and twisted, you only care about yourself! I'm not going
to stay here with your 'family' when there are those that need me
more!" Marcus shouted. "I have a little boy! He has to live with his
mother and never meet me because of you!"
"Family? I hate those bastards!"
"You act just like them! You're a mass murderer!" Marcus shoved
past him, making his way out the door. "You're going to die alone
Vincent." He said, and left.
"I'll kill you!" Vincent said, not thinking. "I'll kill you!"
Marcus was already gone.
Vincent turned around and kicked the table over. Everything had
collapsed. His partner had betrayed him, his brother had left him, and
Fazbear Entertainment was bankrupt.
But maybe he could put the money from his jobs to a different
purpose.
Fazbear Entertainment was about to be under new management.
"I don't know where he is right now, but he's a very nice man. He
loves you very much." Vincent said honestly. If Vincent's guess was
correct, then Marcus was indeed this little girl's father.
Now that he looked at the girl, he realized that there was little way
Angela wasn't his brother's daughter. She had the same blue eyes
and black hair, as well as similar facial structure to both Marcus and
Vincent himself. Angela seemed to have the same slender figure as
Vincent and his mother.
"Why don't you go and play with the new guys? There's a white fox
I'm told wants to meet you." He said, sending her off to the Prize
Corner.
Vincent looked around the room for Angela's mother. He had to know.
He had to be certain that Angela was his niece. After a few moments
of scanning the room, he spotted the woman he was looking for. He
made his way across the room to her. "Diane?"
The woman started. "Yes? Do I know you?"
He realized that he was still wearing the Spring suit. "My name is
Vincent, I'm the sole performer for the Spring character. I was
wondering if you knew Marcus Tollini"
Diane nodded. "He was my husband, why?"
"I'm his brother. What do you mean was?" Vincent asked.
"He disappeared a couple years after Angela was born. Marcus has
told me a lot about you. You raised him, right?"
Vincent nodded. "Yes I" He stopped, something distracting him.
"I" It wasn't his normal ADHD; that never actually drew his attention
off of something. This was something else entirely. He shook his
head, a buzzing sound beginning to crowd out his thoughts. Before
he knew it he was holding his head in his hands and trying to ward off
a headache.
"Are you alright?"
Vincent opened his eyes. Let's see, there was something special
about today
Well, it was Sunday, that was one thing. Was it a birthday party?
Probably not. Was it D&D day? Yes, but not until seven. So what
to climb into the Spring suit. "As for the rest of us" He stood up in
the suit and closed it. "We're going to the park."
offended.
"Bonnie, now is not the time." Mike told him. "We don't want to draw
any unnecessary attention."
"What exactly is up ahead that draws enough attention for us to worry
about it in this otherwise empty park?" Freddy asked.
"The lake. It's the middle of summer right now, so there are a lot more
people who want to come out to the lake, rather than walking around
the forested areas." Vincent paused. "Do NOT swim. I'm well aware
that you guys are waterproof, but a normal person in a fur suit cannot
swim very well. Come to that, a normal person in a fur suit would be
sweating like mad in this weather, and would be completely incapable
of running."
"Noted." Freddy said with a nod.
"Alright guys, come on." Vincent said, leading the way. They left the
heavily forested area to a spot on the edge of a large lake. There
were several people fishing off the edge of the lake, and in a
partitioned off section a large amount of people were playing in and
around the water.
After the group entered the clearing, something flew through the air
and hit Vincent in the side of the head. It was shortly followed by a
man shouting something in Spanish. A couple seconds later, Vincent
could understand what the man said. "You stupid furries! Get out of
here and let the real people enjoy themselves!"
Vincent looked towards the man who had thrown the projectile. It was
a Hispanic man with an angry look on his face, and he was readying
another rock to throw. As he loosed his weapon, Tia stepped forward
and snatched it out of the air, before unleashing a torrent of abuse in
Spanish. "You're the one who's ruining everyone's enjoyment, you
worthless drunk! Get out of here and let the sane people enjoy
themselves! You're such a waste of space" And so on.
Vincent kind of zoned out. He could understand Spanish. How? He
had only a very basic understanding of the Spanish language,
enough to say 'no habla espanol'. So why was it that he could
understand it now, albeit after a short delay? He knew that all of the
animatronics had translators that took a second to properly work, but
did that mean that he was the animatronic, as opposed to the person
inside?
By the time Tia was done cussing the man out, he was already
running, a completely confused look on his face. It seemed he had
expected his targets to just back out, or for the other people to back
him up. In fact, it was likely that this man acted in this manner fairly
often. Vincent looked at Tia questioningly. "You speak Spanish?"
"I yes." Tia seemed just as confused as he did. "I didn't even use
my translator" She seemed thoughtful.
Mike checked his watch. "What time did you say we were going to get
sandwiches at?" He asked Vincent.
"Twelve thirty. Why?" Was the response.
"It's twelve right now, we need to leave if we're going to meet the
deadline." Mike informed him.
Vincent shrugged. "Just as well. We don't want to be here if people
like that are the kind that frequent the area. Intolerant bastard."
"Watch your language Vincent." Fredbear scolded.
"Got it. Fredbear's going to tell me to watch my language every time I
swear. No offense to you Fredbear, just something I find funny."
Vincent rubbed the side of his head. That rock had actually hurt quite
a lot. "Let's go."
As the group gathered up to leave, Vincent noticed that Marion was
staring off into space and muttering. "No, not lethal. Of course it can
be humorous that's a bit too far. Don't hurt him, just good. You
understand." Marion turned their pale face back to the group.
"Hey Pupp-Marion." Vincent began. "What was that?"
The darkly clad figure grinned. "You'll see. About now."
There was a scream and a man fell into the lake, shortly followed by
Marion sniggering, and the sound of two ghostly figures laughing like
crazy. Vincent raised an eyebrow. "And what was that?"
"Just desserts." Marion said simply, a twinkle in their oddly colorless
eyes. "After all, we can't just let a man throw rocks at us. Someone
could get hurt."
"More likely them than us." Vincent replied with a grin. "Let's get
going. I think that moron got what was coming to him."
Mike seemed disappointed in the Puppet. "Please tell me you didn't
hurt anyone."
"Of course not. I didn't do anything. You can thank the brothers for
that little stunt." Marion paused. "Although I must admit that I may
have been the one to put them up to it" They trailed off in thought,
before seeing the look on Mike's face. "No, he's not hurt. It's just
water, after all. He landed in a part of the lake deep enough to
cushion him from getting hurt, but shallow enough for him to just walk
out."
"I'm not even going to ask how you know this stuff." Mike said,
shaking his head. "But I'll take your word for it."
"Umm I thought we were going?" Bonnie cut in.
"Yes, of course. Let us leave." Marion announced, straightening up
and dropping the mischievous grin.
Vincent just shook his head. "I never had you down for a prankster."
The group began to move off, back towards the entrance of the park.
"I'm not. Usually." Marion smiled, a quick flash of their teeth. "But then
again, I have to be serious. Usually."
"Vix! Get down from there!" Mike shouted. The white fox had climbed
a tree and was proceeding along the trail via treetop.
"Why? This is fun!" Came the response. She dropped down to a
lower branch, one just out of arm's reach. "I mean, climbing along the
The gang made their way back to the park with their sandwiches.
There had been a small issue when Chica and Tia learned that
chicken sandwiches were often eaten. Fortunately, Chica was
understanding and easy to calm down. Tia, on the other hand well,
the poor man at the counter would recover eventually. Until then, he
probably wouldn't eat any chicken.
As they re-entered the park, the group made their way through the
trails towards a picnic area. This particular spot was unpopular, but
only because of the distance from the concrete path. It would be the
perfect place to fool around. There would be no people, but plenty of
trees and space for the animatronics to run around and explore.
Upon reaching the area in question, Vincent looked around, spotting
two picnic tables. They were a bit too far apart for his liking not to
mention the fact that there was absolutely no way they could all use
one table. It would barely fit three per bench, four if it was Mike, Fritz,
BB, and Marion.
Vincent walked over to one of the tables and grabbed one side. "A
little help here?"
"On it." Ben answered, giving him a goofy grin and walking over. The
two of them lifted the table and set it end to end with the other one,
effectively combining them.
"Alright, sandwich time." Mike said, setting the bag of sandwiches on
the table. All of the others had volunteered at various points to take it,
but Mike had refused, saying that he preferred to get his own work
done.
"Who ordered the jalapeno bread?" Vincent asked, taking one of the
sandwiches out of the bag and examining it.
"That's mine." Tia raised her hand into the air.
The pale man blinked. "Okay, now who ordered the supreme?"
"I did." Marion answered.
Vincent sighed. This would take a while
After everyone got their sandwiches sorted out, they settled down to
eat. Vincent reached down to grab his meal when suddenly a pitch
black shape popped out of the table, emitting a loud 'SCREE!', before
bursting into laughter at Vincent's reaction.
"Sean. Why are you here?" Vincent said tiredly.
"Well see, nobody really knows why we're here on earth. I mean, is
there some higher power that-" Sean began.
"That's not what I meant." The man said, pinching the bridge of his
nose.
"Oh, I see. You're wondering why I'm here in your table? Funny story
that." The rabbit started again.
"No, I mean how are you here at the park?" Vincent was clearly
beginning to grow tired of the ghost's shenanigans.
Sean snickered. "You know how Jeremy is linked to Vix, since he has
the strongest connection to her?"
Vincent nodded. "Yes, but I don't see oh, now I understand. You're
linked to Spring the same way that Jeremy is linked to Vix. I'm
guessing that Shane is linked to Fredbear?"
"Yup!" The ghost said happily, floating out of the table. "It's not every
day we get the chance to go out! Shane's currently off doing his own
thing. 'Exploring the area' he said. Otherwise, he would've been here
to pull the old 'head in the table' trick with me."
Fritz snorted in amusement. "That was pretty funny. You should've
seen the look on your face Vince."
"Vincent scares funny." Sean remarked. "Of course, it's nothing
compared to your screams. Those were hilarious!"
"Okay, can we dispense with the jumpscares?" Vincent muttered,
picking up his sandwich and taking a bite out of it. "I thought we were
past that." He added with his mouth full.
feminine voice from above and behind him spoke. "Billy! Up here!"
Vincent turned his head to see Vix on a low hanging branch,
stretching one arm towards BB. The child jumped up and tagged her,
and the fox vanished into the foliage. Vincent looked all around, trying
to spot Vix before she could get the jump on him. The golden rabbit
shrugged, then ran off, trying to get far enough away from the area.
Vix was fast enough when in the trees, but not as fast as most of the
other animatronics on the ground.
Up
The man ducked as a paw swung down just above his ear tips, just
barely brushing the fur. "Not today Vix!" He said triumphantly, right
before the fox dropped down on him.
"Uh huh. Looks like you were wrong. You're it!" She said, using his
shoulders as a launching pad to get out of his reach. "C'mon Billy, I
know a really cool spot on the treetops."
Vincent sighed. Now he had to go find someone else. That was a
problem. Or maybe not
As he listened in, he could hear Vix and BB talking, but that wasn't
what drew his attention. Instead it was the steady thump, thump of
something heavy hitting the ground repeatedly. "Looks like a certain
purple rabbit doesn't know the virtues of stealth" He muttered,
hiding behind a tree as Bonnie continued in the same direction,
directly towards him.
His prediction proved correct as Bonnie came into view. The lavender
rabbit jumping along in order to be faster. As the animatronic passed
Vincent's hiding place, he jumped out and tagged him on the back.
"You're it!"
Bonnie started. "You sneaky little" He muttered, trying to slow his
momentum. It didn't exactly work, as he then crashed into something.
"Ow." Freddy muttered as the two lay on the ground. "You really
should watch where you're going."
"I can't help it if you move into my path. You have no idea how hard it
is to change direction while in midair." The rabbit shot back. "By the
way" Bonnie poked him. "You're it." The rabbit launched himself off
the ground and grabbed onto a tree branch, finding himself just out of
Freddy's reach.
Freddy gave the rabbit an unamused look, then shrugged. "There's
more than one way to skin a cat." The bear looked around until he
spotted Vincent. "Greetings Vincent!" He started to walk towards the
suited man. "Do you know where the others are?"
"Well, Vix and Billy are in the treetops, I don't think they're playing any
more. Foxy ran off in" He looked around, then pointed. "That
direction."
The bear pat him on the shoulder. "Thank you." He said warmly. "By
the way, you're it." And the bear ducked behind a tree.
Vincent stood there stunned for a few minutes. "Did I really just fall for
that?" He muttered, then shrugged. He probably wasn't going to
catch Freddy. That bear was as stealthy as he was, and he had the
proper colors to boot. Being a giant golden figure in the middle of a
forest of greens and browns was not very stealthy. But then, that
would work to his advantage in this case, wouldn't it. Especially since
there was a particular top hat wearing figure right there
The man knew that he needed to be careful not to get spotted. After
all, Fredbear could just teleport away
"Why are you sneaking?"
Well, there went his cover. Vincent turned around to see Marion. The
paranormal puppet had probably levitated, hence why he hadn't
heard them. "Well, we're playing tag"
"Yes, I know that." Marion said, seeming annoyed. "That doesn't
answer my question."
"If you must know, it's because..." Vincent reached out and poked
Marion. "I was it."
Vincent sighed. They'd been back for two hours and still nothing was
done. He was no longer wearing the suit, he had taken it off almost
immediately once they got back. The weirdest part was that Vincent
had felt refreshed, as if he had been sleeping all day; as opposed to
frolicking through the park. There wasn't a drop of sweat on him
either, in spite of the fact that he had been wearing a full body fur suit.
The real issue here lay in character creation.
The plan for the day had been to play Dungeons and Dragons after
the group got back. Percy had a massive thirteen person campaign
planned, and although it could work with less people, it would be a
blast with all of the animatronics plus Mike and Vincent. Fritz didn't
really like role playing games. For some reason, he hated the dice
rolling system and the fact that you had to actually act out your
character.
It had started fine, up until the Puppet read the class list.
"Wizard? How does that work?" It asked, confused.
"Your primary weapon is magic. Uh, kinda like in real life." Percy tried
to explain.
"Yes, but that makes no sense. Magic is only usable by the dead and
the unalive."
"Puppet, it doesn't work like that. In the game, I mean. It's not real, so
the rules of the real world don't apply. Or at least, don't apply all the
time." The bespectacled man tried again.
The haunted puppet raised an eyebrow. "But you cannot simply
ignore some of the rules and follow others. That is not how the world
works."
"I I don't know how to explain it." Percy pondered for a second,
then came up with something. "It's just a game of pretend. A very
I opened my eyes. It was dark, almost frighteningly so. But that was
OK. I have night vision. I went to stand up, only to find myself unable
to move. Let's see how did I do it again?
Click.
There we go. Full range of movement. The only problem was how
do I stand up again? Wait, use the walls as a support. That should
make it easier. Now, walking was simple, right? Everyone could walk.
Except for most animals. And extremely young children. But other
than that, it was just putting one foot in front of the other. Slowly
one foot, then the other. Left, right, left, right no problems.
I tripped over my own legs, just barely catching myself before I went
crashing down to the floor. That would've been bad. Falling over
hurts. A lot. Not to mention the noise it would make. I didn't want to
make Him upset with me.
As I slowly hobbled through the dark room, I looked around. Not
much, really. This room didn't usually need all that much stuff. Just
little things, really. Of course, this was where I spent most of my time.
I didn't mind. I reached the door and leaned against it, trying to push
it open. It didn't budge. Doorknob, right. How do I work a doorknob
again?
Fingers. Grab the doorknob, twist, push. Simple as that. I flinched a
bit at the loud creak of the door swinging open, but I doubted anyone
heard it. I slowly walked out of the dark room into the hallway. Which
way was it to the place He was waiting? Oh right. I can't exactly
lose Him. That would be silly.
Following my instincts, I made my way through the halls. This place
was nice. It was clean, brightly colored, and spacious. It would be the
perfect place to play. Not today though. Today I needed to talk to Him.
There was a large room, but it was vacant. Just a bunch of tables in
orderly rows. Off to one side I saw the door to the room that He was
in.
I crept up to the door, my footsteps silent as I made my way across
the spacious room. I nearly banged into a couple tables as I tried to
get better at walking, but thankfully I didn't hit anything. I made my
way towards the slightly open door, laughter emanating from it.
When I reached the door I peeked inside, careful not to touch the
door and move it. That was a lot of people I don't think I should talk
to Him now. Not while there are so many others in the room. Some of
them scared me, like that really tall black and white thing. It had been
nice and friendly looking earlier, but now it was creepy looking again.
There were a couple of less substantial people in the room too, but
they weren't what I was looking for.
While I stood there, a conversation seemed to have started.
"I don't see why a ball of acid does not simply kill this creature." The
creature with the tear-stained face said.
11:50. That's what the clock said. Not anything to be alarmed about,
really; especially after being in this office about a month. Not counting
time dead, of course.
Vincent whistled to himself. It was probably going to be a fairly quiet
night. The animatronics would need to recharge after the events of
the day. That raised an interesting question though; how exactly did
they recharge? It's not like they plugged into a wall or something.
They could eat, but the only animatronics that went anywhere near
food at night was Chica, and the amount of pizza at the end of the
night was always the same amount as what she made.
Ring Ring
That was weird. Percy never left him a message unless something
changed. Like the toys or Freddy and gang. Did that mean that
something was changed tonight?
He looked at the tablet. This wasn't from Percy. It was from was
that even pronounceable? RWQFSFASXC. What the hell? Vincent
pressed the answer button to hear what this strange caller wanted.
After a few minutes of listening, he pressed the mute call button.
"What the hell was that?" It had sounded demonic. It was a garbled
sound, not unlike speech; but it was completely incomprehensible. It
sounded almost like
Vincent snapped his fingers. "Reverse the call." He grabbed his tablet
and was about to pull up the sound edit software on it when he
realized that he was in the middle of a life or death struggle. Pulling
up the security system, he noticed that all of the animatronics were
already gone. All of them. Foxy was blitzing his hallway, Fredbear
was mid teleport, and Theodore was probably in the vents. The only
one who wasn't missing from its spot was the Puppet, for which
Vincent was eternally thankful.
He knew he would have to act fast to survive the night so the first
thing he did was turn on the disruption program in order to ward off
Theo, then close his left door to stop Foxy. Fredbear appeared just
after he checked the right door, so he flipped up his tablet
immediately, the facial recognition disrupter having finished mere
moments before the yellow bear popped up. He quickly wound the
music box to full and checked both doors. Fortunately, no
animatronics were there, Foxy having run up and slammed on the
door before returning to Pirate's Cove.
After pausing to breathe, Vincent pulled up the cameras again. Vix
was climbing through the main show area on her way to his office,
while Theo was back in the secondary show area, staring up into the
camera with pinprick eyes. Ben and Tia were tag teaming him, the
both of them going down the hallways to reach the office. Vincent
quickly checked the lights on his doors and then activated the
disrupter, making the two animatronics back off.
The man sighed in relief. This was intense, and it wasn't even one
o'clock yet. A childish laughter stopped him in his tracks, and he
checked the door lights. Nothing there. But there was the sound of
something in the vents. "Dammit Billy" Vincent muttered, whirling
around to see the animatronic crawling through the vent. A quick
press of the disrupter sent the balloon vendor back to his spot,
however.
"This is the most hectic night yet." Vincent stated. He had a feeling
that things were only going to begin heating up. His suspicion proved
correct when he spotted Vix crawling in the vent behind him, Foxy
rushing his right door, and Fredbear at his left door. He quickly closed
both doors and activated the disrupter. As soon as the effect ended,
he quickly opened his right door and pulled up his tablet to wind up
the music box. "That's right, stay in your box" He muttered, then
checked both door lights. Chica was at the right now, but Fredbear
was gone. It was strange, Chica hadn't entered the kitchen at all
tonight, almost like
Vincent's train of thought was interrupted by something on the
cameras. As he watched in horror, the door to the staff room opened
and Fritz walked out, muttering about something. "Fritz! No, no, no"
Vincent said, flipping through the cameras. He had other things to
worry about, and Mike wandering around wasn't helping. He was just
Or tried to.
Ben jumped over his legs and swiped with his paw, trying to snatch
the man's shirt. Vincent knew that the rabbit couldn't possibly be
much heavier than he was, but it was certainly faster and more agile.
The thing somehow had even faster reflexes than he did, and there
was no way it would tire before him.
After launching a flurry of kicks at the rabbit, all of which were
dodged. The blue animatronics had an incredible amount of agility, so
much that it was shocking. Vincent knew he didn't want to hurt the
animatronic, but if he had to, he would resort to knives. If this little
skirmish continued like this, he would probably need to do so sooner
rather than later
Don't
Vincent stopped before grabbing the knife. If he hurt the
animatronics, he ruined any chances at redemption. His best bet was
to escape capture and save Mike and Percy by stealth instead of war.
He pulled another leg sweep to get Ben to jump, then dashed off
while the rabbit was in midair. He made it a few feet, then a pair of
golden hands grabbed him by the arms.
"No! No!" Vincent shouted, struggling. His captor marched him
through the building to the Prize Corner. As they entered the room,
the other animatronics began to trickle in.
All around the mulberry bush
The monkey chased the weasel
The monkey thought 'twas all in good fun,
Pop! Goes the weasel.
The box in the corner of the room began to open.
A penny for a spool of thread
A penny for a needle,
"I mean, I can understand if you're angry. We kind of tried our best to
terrorize you at night." The Puppet sounded like it was about to burst
out into laughter. "But insults? I didn't know you would have one for
all of us."
The pale man was shocked. This was completely the opposite of
what he had honestly expected. "Wait, you planned this?"
"Well, uh, it was the Puppet's idea." A familiar voice said as Percy
wheeled his chair into the room. "Although, it wasn't always easy to
just ignore you shouting at your tablet."
Vincent blinked. "You're fine?"
"The animatronics never actually hurt anyone. A couple scares, yes. A
few people ranting about haunted robots, certainly. But never has
anyone been stuffed into a suit." Mike said, climbing out of the
Puppet's box.
"What about the call earlier tonight?" Vincent asked confused.
"That was Sean's doing. He may be a ghost, but he's damn good at
hacking." Fritz said, entering the room behind Percy. "Well, maybe
he's so good at it because he is a ghost. His specialty, I guess."
"So the rumors?"
"Just a theory." Percy assured him. "The only people to have ever
died at Freddy's are the children and the brothers."
"So why do all of this?" Vincent was still extremely perplexed.
"A test." The Puppet said, stepping forwards. "To see if you actually
cared enough to 'risk' your life to save Percy, Mike, and Fritz. It turns
out you do care. You're certainly not the same person as the man
who killed us. Something has changed, and all for the better."
Vincent raised an eyebrow. "So does that mean that you're not going
to be hunting me down at night anymore?"
The Puppet grinned. "The game will only continue if you want it to.
You know things are getting bad if the Puppet is saying swear
words.
Chapter 59: Hectic Night Part 2
"So, just like any other night, huh?" Vincent asked, kicking back in his
swivel chair and looking at his tablet.
The Puppet gave him a glare. "On the other nights, you had nothing
to worry about. If you were caught you would be knocked
unconscious and your memory would be wiped, as difficult as it is to
affect your mind. Not to mention, Fredbear could have teleported in at
any time and just attacked you. We were playing a game, really." It
looked through the window, apparently seeing something in the
darkness. "The sole benefit we have now is that the music box is no
longer a concern. The doors can be kept closed indefinitely. The only
avenue of access is the vent, and that's not a problem, provided you
"Vincent, that was unnecessary." Mike said, giving the night guard a
stern look. "Fritz, there was no way you could know that someone
would take the remote. It was a good idea at the time, it just turned
into a disaster because of unforeseen events."
"Speaking of disasters, why exactly does this work on Fredbear, but
not the Puppet?" Vincent asked, activating the disrupter. Theodore
was trying to get in.
"As I already stated, the Puppet has no AI. It wouldn't be able to
operate at all without the spirit inside." Was Fritz's explanation. "Hell if
I know how it controls the others when the spirits override the AI the
whole time."
"That's because the AI is set to adaptive mode." The Puppet said.
"They have the freedom to do whatever they want, so long as they
don't do anything beyond the animatronic's physical limits. Fredbear
is being commanded to go after one or all of us, so his AI is
overpowering his mind. Regardless of what he, and the others, want,
they must enter this office by any means necessary."
"So don't hurt them, got it." Vincent muttered. "So what are we
supposed to do in the mean time?"
"Well, once opening time rolls around, the signal receiver shuts
down." Fritz said, turning on a hall light to reveal Bonnie and Foxy
standing at the door. "You know, to prevent anything from happening."
Vincent nodded. "Makes sense. What about Spring? Is he affected
the same way as all the other animatronics?"
Fritz snorted. "Spring is a suit. He only has a basic AI, and even then
he's not even in animatronic mode. He's tapped into the radio signal
that the animatronics all share, even the Puppet, but he doesn't have
an actual intelligence to utilize it."
"Then why does he have a radio transmitter and receiver?" Vincent
asked, confused.
"The original plan was to have you be resurrected as Spring. We
weren't sure that the Puppet could reconstruct your body properly,
and your soul was only linked to two things. The suit and your body."
Mike explained.
"Great, so I was going to be reincarnated as a golden rabbit. That's
something I wanted to do." Vincent muttered, trying to remember
something. Spring didn't have a proper AI, did he?
Percy, looking at the tablet, gasped in shock. "Our intruder is in the
Prize Corner."
"What's the problem with that?" Vincent asked irritably. There was
something he was forgetting.
"He's downloading the AI from Vix." Percy looked up, his eyes wide.
"And he has the remote."
"Impossible! Nobody can get past the firewalls that quickly!" Fritz said
in disbelief. He looked at the tablet. "Who is this guy?"
Vincent realized what was bugging him. "Franklin." He bolted up from
his position on the swivel chair. "Franklin's the one with the remote."
He jumped towards the vent. "He's got the remote and he's sending
our friends after us." Vincent got on his hands and knees. "Get Sean
on his case. Franklin always complained if there was another person
directly counteracting his attempts. Apparently having someone who
can adapt to his efforts screws him up."
"You're not seriously thinking of going out there!" Percy cried out. "Yyou're going to get caught!"
"Sorry Percy." The pale man said, climbing into the vent. "But this is
my fight." He ducked into the vent, gone.
"Dammit Vince!" Fritz cried out. "We can't fight them!" He jumped into
the vent, going after the night guard.
The Puppet swore under its breath, then launched both its arms into
the vent, strings launching after the two humans. "Get back here!"
Fritz and Vincent were dragged back out of the ventilation shaft. "You
stupid clown! I need to get Franklin out before he steals anything!"
Vincent was struggling the whole way, trying to tear the string off of
himself.
There was a faint giggle and garbled whispering. All three of them
froze. "Was that?"
The Puppet was wide eyed. "I let down my guard"
Mike and Percy were gone.
"Vincent you moron! This is all your fault!" Fritz seethed. "If you
hadn't-!"
"Hadn't what Fritz?" Vincent shot back. "I was the only one doing
something. We have to stop him before he just wipes the
animatronics clean! Their memories as spirits are horrible, they need
the memory banks of the robots!"
The Puppet gave him a quizzical look. "How did you know that?"
"I" Vincent hesitated. "I don't know."
"It's not important." The Puppet sighed. "We need to get them. Now."
"Actually" Fritz said, holding the tablet. He looked up from his work.
"I can cancel the signal of the remote in a small radius. It's not
enough to override commands, but it can stun the animatronics for a
few minutes."
"How did you come up with this so quickly?" Vincent asked in
surprise.
Fritz grinned. "I had a little help from a certain ginger I know."
Jeremy flickered into visibility. "Hey guys."
"Jeremy!" Vincent said in surprise. "You haven't showed up much
recently."
The spirit shrugged. "Even ghosts need sleep."
"So, what's your expertise with technology, exactly?"
Franklin was sitting on the Puppet's box and waiting. This ordeal was
boring, frankly. He had expected a considerable amount of
resistance, but instead all he got were a bunch of compliant robots
and a pair of ordinary humans. The big guy had almost hit him, but
this time Franklin was prepared. A quick hit with the Taser prevented
that issue. Despite his big stature, Mr. Schmidt was afraid to hurt
someone
The other human had been pitiful. His legs were paralyzed and his
glasses fell off, leaving him blind. The big yellow bear stared at the
scrawny fellow, but that didn't worry Franklin. The animatronics were
under his control, and his alone.
The firewalls had proven unbreakable. Somehow they kept shifting to
match his assault, shoring up the defense wherever he attacked. It
was like someone was repelling his attack. Franklin hated
competition. It meant that he had to worry about someone else, and
other people could be unpredictable. Could be, but they tended not to
be. This opposing programmer had proven to be as wily as he was,
and that was something Franklin did not like. Not one bit.
That puppet thing was an enigma, however. It was an animatronic,
right? It certainly wasn't human. But maybe it was
Franklin grabbed his pendant and rubbed it between his fingers. It
wasn't useful for much, but based off of what he'd seen, it would
certainly be necessary.
"Franklin!" an angry voice echoed through the halls.
"Promise not to bring the animatronics into this?" Vincent raised his
eyebrow.
"Sure, why not." Franklin dropped off the box and stepped over the
unconscious Mike. He put the remote into a tool belt pocket and drew
a second knife. "Let's fight."
Vincent nodded. "As you wish." The assassin drew a long knife from
somewhere on his person. "Let's dance."
The two launched into a duel, dodging and feinting, swinging and
stabbing. Vincent swiped at Franklin's arm, only for the hacker to
block his swing and retaliate. Vincent dodged the counterattack and
kicked out at Franklin. His adversary ducked to the side, then swiped
at Vincent's head. The assassin spun his knife around and disarmed
Franklin, knocking both knives to the ground. The pale man pointed
his long knife at his shorter opponent's throat. "Game over."
Franklin grinned like a pumpkin. "Not quite." He stepped back and
pulled what looked like a pistol out of his tool belt. "This is no ordinary
weapon, as I'm sure you know." Franklin pointed it at Vincent. "This is
a customized weapon, modified to fire shotgun shells, but it fits in my
pocket."
"You bastard" Vincent muttered, dropping the knife and putting his
hands behind his head.
"There's no way you could've won." Franklin stated. "After all, I-" he
grunted, then looked down. A knife handle sprouted out of Franklin's
chest, Vincent's hand on it. "How?"
Vincent pulled the man close, almost like he was about to give him a
hug, then whispered in his ear. "I had another hand."
Franklin stared straight forward, still alive, but not for long.
"Don't you ever. EVER. Think you can get away with hurting my
family." Vincent said, then dropped the dead hacker to the ground.
Vincent took a shuddering breath. "Well, looks like thirty-one was the
last one after all."
Bonnie looked around. It looked like it was safe, but you never knew
with Vincent.
"Bonnie why are you in the girl's restroom?"
The rabbit jumped, then sighed in relief. "Hey Mike. I'm over here
because I'm not allowed in the kitchen."
Mike raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to go to the kitchen?"
The animatronic looked around again, trying to spot anyone else.
"So, Vincent's running around trying to decapitate everyone. The
others are hiding in the kitchen."
"Vincent's trying to decapitate everyone." Mike said flatly.
Just then, a loud yell echoed through the building. "Where are you?! I
just want to see how the endoskeleton works!"
Bonnie ducked around the corner as the pale man came into sight.
"Hey Mike. Have you seen the animatronics anywhere?"
"Nope." Mike said. "Try the Prize Corner."
"Thanks boss." Vincent said, running off.
unbuttoning the front of its chest. It pulled the fabric aside to reveal an
artificial stomach.
"That's just creepy" Vincent muttered.
"You asked for it." It said, looking down into the cavity in its chest.
"Where's the stabilizer?"
"Stabilizer?" Vincent raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"My stabilizer bar. It keeps things from moving unnecessarily. You
have no idea how awkward it is to have your innards wobbling around
while you move." The Puppet looked at him. "Did you take it?"
"How would I take your stabilizer while you're watching?" The man
raised an eyebrow.
"Vincent."
"Fine" He sighed. "Fun killer" He reached into a pocket and gave
the stabilizer bar to the Puppet.
"How did you steal that while I was watching?" It asked him, putting
the metal bar back into place.
Vincent grinned evilly. "Trade secret."
Vincent got out of bed and stretched. He had slept well, and was
ready for another day of work.
Something's not right.
The man shook his head. Things hadn't quite been the same as usual
since Franklin broke in a few days ago. Tensions were a bit high, but
things were beginning to calm down now. Vincent walked over to his
closet and got dressed. Franklin's body had been easy to get rid of,
relatively speaking. The Puppet basically disintegrated him, after
Vincent removed the man's amulet. Apparently it was strong enough
to ward off supernatural forces, hence the Puppet and the shadows
being unable to attack the hacker. According to the Puppet, the things
were relatively expensive, due to requiring specific herbs and
materials that were hard to come by.
"Franklin must really have believed in spirits if he spent so much
money on a hunk of wood" Vincent thought out loud. He shrugged,
then got dressed. His uniform had obtained a couple bloodstains, but
he knew a guy for that. For now he just wore a purple t-shirt and
jeans.
Vincent made his way up to the main show area. Opening time was
later today, and there were no birthdays planned, thankfully.
"Good morning Vincent!~" Chica said in a singsong voice. "How are
you this morning?"
"Doing pretty good, how about you?" The man replied.
"You murdered us"
"What was that?" Vincent asked, confused.
"What was what?" Chica questioned him. "By the way, one egg or
two?" While Tia and Chica still objected to people eating chicken,
neither of them cared much about people eating eggs. That suited
Vincent just fine, especially since Chica made the best breakfast.
"Um" the man tried to shake off the feeling that something was off.
"Two, please."
"Bacon, right?" Chica asked, heading towards the kitchen.
"You know me so well." The man answered with a grin. He waved at
the animatronic as she entered the kitchen.
Vincent pulled a chair out from a table and sat down in it. Today
would probably be a good day. Acting out Spring was always fun, and
he didn't even have to worry about Franklin any more. All in all, things
were looking pretty good.
"Heads up Vince!" A voice shouted, just an instant before a football
collided with the back of Vincent's head.
"Ow." Vincent muttered, turning around. Bonnie was standing there
with a mischievous grin on his face.
"You okay?" the rabbit asked.
"Yeah. Just a bit surprised." The man answered, rubbing the point of
impact.
Something's not right.
Vincent blinked. Something seemed off, but he couldn't place it.
"Toss it over here!" Ben called from the other side of the room.
Vincent shrugged, then threw the football to the blue rabbit.
"Enjoy." The man said with a smile.
"See ya Vince!" the rabbits said in unison, running off.
The man waved at them as they ran off and grabbed a book that was
on the table in front of him. "Theo! Found your book!"
"You don't need to shout, I'm right here." Theodore said from another
table in the room. "I'll get it once I finish this game of chess with
Freddy."
"I'll play the winner." Vincent said.
"Sure thing." Freddy replied.
"Thanks guys." Vincent said happily. He looked at his watch. Usually
Chica didn't take this long to cook
He stood up and walked into the kitchen, whistling on his way. He
reached the door and pushed it open. Usually he wouldn't enter the
kitchen, mostly because he still wasn't allowed, but he was worried
about Chica. "Chica? Everything okay?"
"Everything's just fine." The chicken replied, looking away from him
and staring at the counter.
"Is something wrong?" the man asked her.
"" Chica didn't say anything, but she grabbed the knife on the
counter.
"Chica?" Vincent was extremely worried.
"You murdered us." The animatronic turned around. Her eyes were
missing entirely, and as Vincent watched, blood was pouring from the
eye sockets. "You murdered us, and now you've murdered another."
Vincent backed up, hands raised. "Cheeks? What's going on?" This
was extremely out of character for the kind and caring animatronic.
"I'm going to make sure you never murder again." Chica began to
walk towards him, knife in hand.
The man backed up, hands still raised. "Chica?"
He ducked as the animatronic swung the knife at his head, then
grabbed her wrist and tried to force her to drop the knife. To his
surprise, it failed, causing no effect whatsoever. He looked up into
Chica's empty eye sockets and gasped in shock. There wasn't even
the faint light that signified the presence of a spirit.
Something's not right.
"What the hell is going on?" Vincent asked, dodging another clumsy
swing of the knife. All of the animatronics were shockingly fast and
strong, but only a few of them knew how to fight or use weapons.
Chica was far from the most combatant of the spirits, and she was
certainly the slowest animatronic.
Vincent ducked out of the kitchen and closed the door behind him.
"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always here to help."
That was Mike in a nutshell. He was caring and fair, even to a man
who had murdered more than thirty people.
"Thanks Mike." Vincent said. He waited for his employer to walk away
before exiting his room. Vincent didn't want to talk with anyone right
now.
As he walked through the hallway, Vincent tried to think of what went
wrong. Was this just residual guilt from killing Franklin? Did he
actually do something to deserve the fear and pain of the nightmare?
Come to that, how had he even felt pain? His pain centers were
dead, more or less literally. Did that just not apply in the dreams?
He was so lost in thought he didn't even notice the two shadowy
figures in the staff room as he exited the area.
"Hey Vince!"
Vincent jumped in surprise, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, hello
you two. What's up?"
The two shadows were more or less just standing there and doing
nothing. But something seemed off. Sean seemed normal, but
Shane's bowtie was sideways
"Not much." Sean answered him.
"Yeah, we're just goofing around like usual." Sean said.
Vincent did a double take. Shane had spoken second, but it had
sounded like
"Sean! You screwed it up!" The shadow rabbit said, with Shane's
voice.
"What? How?" the bear seemed confused, then stopped. "Oh. I forgot
to do the voice change."
"You- what?" Vincent sputtered. "You switched appearances?"
course, that was if they didn't get fired on their first week, be it
because the animatronics didn't trust them or because the cameras
stationed throughout the building and in the office caught them doing
something against the rules.
That was another thing that had surprised Vincent. Mike, Percy, and
Fritz had placed a camera in the security office. Apparently Fritz had
wired it so that you couldn't possibly see the camera on the tablet, at
least when you were in the office. Of course, every camera had blind
spots, but that's what the animatronics were for.
Vincent left the office and entered the parts and service room. This
was where he had been springtrapped in the nightmare. He didn't
exactly want to be in here, but once opening time came around, he
would have to wear the Spring suit. Vincent wasn't exactly looking
forward to that part, but he had to do it.
"Are you okay Vincent?"
The man jumped and whirled around. "God, today's just the day
everything scares me."
"Is there something wrong?" The Puppet asked him. It had a
concerned look on its painted face.
"I'm fine." Vincent answered, waving it off. "Just a bit stressed."
"Are you certain?" the Puppet questioned.
"Yes I'm certain." Vincent replied irritably. "Leave me alone."
"Vincent." The slender creature reached forward and grabbed his
shoulders. "You are not fine. Something is bothering you. Something
profound. What is it?"
The man wrestled its hands off. "I said I'm fine."
"Vincent." The Puppet said sternly. "Look at me."
Vincent looked into the black voids of the Puppet's eyes and his mind
reeled. He knew that the Puppet's mask lacked eyes, but the recent
So, in case you could not tell, last chapter was indeed a
nightmare. Some things to tip you off: the animatronics being all
to take a break."
"I will." Vincent assured him, walking off to the parts and service
room. He hesitated for a moment before going in. What happened in
the nightmare couldn't happen in real life.
Right?
Vincent grabbed the Spring suit and looked at it. The eyes were
closed due to being in an offline state, but Vincent knew that they
were a brilliant turquoise. He rubbed the fur on one of the ears. It was
slightly warm, which was actually to be expected. The artificial skin on
the animatronics did have a small amount of self-generating heat. It
made the animatronics more lifelike, as well as making them better
huggers.
All of the animatronics with the obvious exception of BB- had soft
fur. Or feathers, as it were. Vincent was certainly biased, but in his
opinion Spring was the softest. It wasn't just fuzz, but it was far from
coarse.
The man stood up and pulled the suit upright. It needed to be in an
almost standing position for him to climb in. The legs were more rigid
than one would expect, but when Vincent was in the suit he had no
limitations on his movement. Apart, of course, from normal human
limitations.
With a couple of clicks, the back of the torso of the suit came off. The
latches were completely invisible to the casual observer, and even
though Vincent knew what to look for, the only real reason he could
find them was because he had to use them on a daily basis. He had
gotten stuck in the suit more than once because he had forgotten
where the latches were.
For most people, climbing into the suit would have required
contortionist skills, but the suit was built to Vincent's specifications.
The man's slender limbs could slide in through the arms and legs of
the suit.
As Vincent got into the suit, his mind was filled with apprehension.
What if the dream wasn't just unfounded fears? What if the locks
actually did break? He got all the way into the suit and blinked. To his
relief, when he opened his eyes it was Spring's eyelids that moved
up. He wasn't locked in darkness this time.
After sealing the back of the suit, Vincent made his way into the main
show area. Opening time was in a few minutes, and the animatronics
were onstage and waiting. They always did one show at the start of
the day, then once every hour. In between shows the animatronics
would wander around and interact with the children.
It was strange how Vincent's worries had started to fade the instant
he sealed the suit up. He found the presence of the suit reassuring. It
wasn't really surprising though, seeing as he was spirit bound to the
thing. Apparently it wasn't just a trick the Puppet pulled, although
Vincent was almost certain that the Puppet had linked his soul to the
suit after he got springtrapped. Either as punishment or in preparation
for this.
"Vincent!"
Vincent realized that he had gotten himself turned around, and that
he wound up in the Prize Corner. Looking around, he spotted the
entity that had called his name. "Hello Puppet."
"I called your name three times. Are you alright?" Although its voice
was always monotone, the Puppet's face openly displayed its
concern.
"I'm good, just thinking." Vincent replied.
"What about?" the porcelain face of the marionette relaxed.
"Just how well, awesome this suit is." Vincent said. "I mean, it's like
I am the animatronic."
"Really?" The Puppet asked curiously. "That's interesting."
"How so? You were the one that explained how it works." Vincent was
slightly confused.
"I expected it to stop after your soul stabilized within your body" It
stared into space, lost in thought. "Usually, the only thing that accepts
a spirit bond is an object that is incompatible with the human soul.
Like a piece of jewelry, or a weapon. It's really odd that it actually
worked for the Spring suit at all. But then, machines are interesting"
"Aaand now you're speaking gibberish." Vincent shook his head,
completely lost at this point. "Could I have that without all the
geekspeak?"
"Very funny Vincent." It gave him an unamused glare. "Your link with
Spring is unique. Extremely so."
"I wanted to ask you about that. Normally when someone dies, their
soul goes to wherever. Right?" The Puppet nodded in confirmation.
"Okay, now why didn't that happen to my soul?"
"Magic users - such as you, me, and Jeremy have the ability to
linger in the world by choice. It's really the only reason Jeremy and
the shadow brothers haven't moved on yet." The Puppet explained.
"Okay, but I didn't exactly want to stay in the world when I died. And
what about the other kids? I'm pretty sure at least one of them
wanted to move on when they died; and only one of them is a magic
user." Vincent queried.
"Well, as you probably know, I have the gift of spirit control. In some
places it would be called necromancy, but it's far more than raising
and controlling the dead. I used this power to bind the spirits of the
children to the animatronics, so as to give them a second chance at
life. As for you" It paused. "Promise you won't hate me?" it tensed
up.
"I make no promises. But if you're implying that you bound me to my
own corpse in order to punish me, all is forgiven." Vincent said, to the
Puppet's evident relief.
Hmm
Vincent suddenly doubled over with a crippling headache. It was
similar to when Franklin had activated his modification to the
universal remote. But it certainly wasn't that device, Fritz had straight
"I thought I was, but apparently I'm not." The man said, shaking his
head to try and get rid of the headache. He hadn't felt this bad since
all those weeks ago, on Angela's birthday. He had since diagnosed
the feeling as guilt, but this was different. It was a horrible headache,
one that disrupted his ability to think to the extreme.
"Do you need anything?" Chica asked him. Apparently she felt a bit
guilty for not getting him something for breakfast. But that wasn't her
fault. If anything, it had been his.
"I'll be fine." He responded, then added under his breath. "I think."
Let's fix that.
Vincent's vision began to spin and his headache intensified. He could
feel his consciousness begin to slip away from him. It hurt, incredibly
so. Not physically, but mentally. His mind felt like it was under
incredible strain, however that worked. He began to stagger around,
unable to keep his balance.
He felt as though his mind was warring against itself. One side of him
was trying to force him into unconsciousness, while the other wanted
to stay awake; and the latter was losing.
Wake up.
The last thing Vincent heard before drifting into forced sleep was four
separate voices calling his name.
There will be more bold text within the story itself. My authors
notes will always be either at the top of the page, above a line
break, or below the story, under a line break.
Chapter 64: Back in Fazbear's Fright
He put his hand on his forehead to try and ward off the residual
headache. What the hell had caused that headache? It had been
downright debilitating, but he had never had headaches in his first
life, and the Puppet had assured him that he was healthy since being
resurrected.
Why was it so dark in here? It wasn't the darkness of a room with no
light, but it had the shadowy gloom of an area with extremely poor
lighting. It didn't look like any room of the pizzeria either. Vincent was
acquainted with every single room of the pizzeria. Some more than
others. This wasn't a room in the pizzeria.
But how could he have wound up out of the pizzeria? He was
surrounded by the animatronics when he fell unconscious, there was
no way someone could have taken him outside. Was there an extra
room in the pizzeria? There could be, but that was far from likely. He
had checked the measurements, and there was no space for an extra
room in the pizzeria. Maybe under it, but the only stairwell was in the
staff lounge. Maybe it branched off of Mike's room, but Mike wasn't a
person to hide things.
Mike was also the sort of person to keep a room clean. This place
was filthy. In fact, it reminded him of
No. No. No no no no nononono NO!
Vincent's eyes shot all the way open. His suspicions and fears were
all confirmed. He was back in Fazbear's Fright. There was the Puppet
mask on the wall, the Chica head with the lightbulb in it, and even all
of the present boxes.
He scrambled to his feet, finding it far more difficult than usual. It was
as if he gained a hundred extra pounds in clothing, but also gained
enough strength to wear it like it was nothing. He felt stiff, as though
he hadn't moved in a long time.
Vincent stumbled down the hallway, using his arms to keep himself
upright. If he was in Fazbear's Fright, then he should get out of this
place. He made his way through the halls, looking at the decrepit
attractions. The place seemed to be fine, as if the fire had never
happened. Maybe Vincent's memory was flawed, but he was certain
"This is reality, but not the one you came from. Something has moved
your mind here from your home. This reality has several notable
differences form yours. I don't know where you came from or how
your home reality is, but I can tell you don't belong here." Goldie
explained.
"So how did this place survive the fire? And what about Mike? He's
supposed to be the night guard." Vincent asked.
"There was no fire in this building, I'm assuming that there was in
your reality." The bear paused. "Mike Schmidt isn't a name I
recognize, I'm sorry."
"So" Vincent started, then hesitated. "How do I get home?"
The golden bear laughed. "That's quite simple, really."
Wake up.
"I don't think so. If you were going insane then this voice wouldn't be
able to affect your consciousness or give you pain." The masked
figure grabbed Vincent's chin and jerked the man's head so that he
was looking into the Puppet's eyes. "But there is something external
within your mind. Whatever it is, this supernatural entity is powerful."
"So is this 'supernatural entity' the source of my nightmares?" Vincent
asked, wondering for a fraction of a second why his head felt fuzzy.
After a moment of thought, he realized that he was still wearing the
Spring suit. It didn't affect him negatively, in fact he would never have
noticed if it weren't for chance.
"Nightmares? More than one?" The Puppet queried.
"Yeah, the one last night, and now another one today." Vincent began
to undo the latches on the suit.
"Interesting. That's not an ability most spirits have" The slender
marionette mused. "Perhaps" It paused in thought. "Do you still
have the amulet?"
"Of course. Why?" The pale man asked as he climbed out of the suit.
"Perhaps if you wore it, you could block out the spirit that has been
affecting you." The Puppet made its way to the door.
"Where are you going?" Vincent sealed up the back of the suit again.
"Letting Mike know that you're awake. He has been worried for your
welfare." The spirit said as it left the room.
Vincent opened the drawer in the bedside table. Inside, along with a
book that he would never admit he had 'borrowed' from Theodore,
was the amulet. It wasn't flashy or special looking, but Vincent could
literally feel the power resonating from it.
Made out of a dark wood, the polished tablet had several runes
inscribed on it. The runes were carved into the surface of the wood,
and then colored with rare materials that apparently made the
wearer immune to magic. To a magic user, the effects were obvious.
The amulet radiated a protective energy that was almost tangible.
So you not only escape, but you try and defend yourself. Cute.
Vincent shook his head. He heard something that wasn't real, but he
couldn't understand what it was saying.
"What are you?" The man whispered, not expecting an answer.
I am the darkness in the night.
To Vincent's surprise, the entity that was haunting him answered. Not
only that, but it was understandable. "What do you want from me?"
Wouldn't you like to know.
With that, the voice vanished, leaving Vincent wondering what exactly
that thing was. The voice hadn't had any tone or definable features,
and Vincent knew he hadn't been hearing with his ears. It had been
like a message had arrived in his brain from somewhere else.
He shook his head and went back to what he was doing. The amulet
should help against this strange creature that was haunting him. As
he slipped it on, he felt like something was cut off. Like a string that
he had been holding snapped.
It was probably fortunate that the amulet didn't have any adverse
effects on him. Some things that should have had no effect on him
did. A good example would be the salt circle trick he tried. That had
killed him, apparently because of the fact that his soul wasn't
technically alive.
There was the sound of someone lightly knocking on the doorframe.
Vincent looked up to see Mike standing in the doorway of his room.
"Hey Vince, how're you feeling?" the green eyed man asked.
"A lot better now, thanks." Vincent grabbed the amulet he was now
wearing and rubbed it between his fingers. "Hopefully this prevents
any recurrences."
"You really had me worried Vincent. Do you know what caused that?"
Mike queried. "The Puppet said that you're in perfect condition,
physically at least."
"Some thing. It was in my head. With luck, the amulet should help
ward it off." Vincent said, standing up from his bed. "What happened
while I was out?"
"Not much, it was a fairly uneventful day. The Puppet brought you to
your room and stayed to watch over you. I ran the Prize Corner for
the day, using the excuse of the Puppet being out of order." Mike
informed him. "Now we're playing Mario Kart. Wanna join?"
"We really should hire more people. You, Percy, and Fritz are good,
but seriously, we need to have enough employees to operate safely."
Vincent mused.
"True. But that's what the five nights strategy is for. The best
employees will be the ones who know about the animatronics. Not to
mention the fact that, by the end of their night shifts, they should have
dispersed any fear of the animatronics, and especially the Puppet."
Mike stated. "We'll certainly pay them well if they do a good job."
"Makes sense." Vincent agreed, "I'll join you in Mario Kart."
Mike shook his head. "I will never figure out how thoughts travel
through your brain." He waved at Vincent. "C'mon, I'm pretty sure
Fritz is getting impatient."
"Question: does the Puppet ever get bored?" Vincent asked as the
two made their way up the staircase.
"Not that I've seen. The thing just seems to have a bottomless well of
patience." Mike shrugged. "Up until the point where you fail to
understand what it says. That's about the only thing that gets on its
nerves."
The duo made their way up to the staff lounge. Fritz was heatedly
pressing the buttons on his controller as the Puppet calmly took the
lead. Fritz looked to the side at the two newcomers, then looked back
at the screen with a cry of rage. "Come on! How do you always land
the green shells?!"
got him once, but a bobomb from Mike knocked the programmer out
of the game. Not once was Vincent in danger of losing his position at
first place.
All in all, it was a pretty fun time.
I know that the last chapter was pretty boring, but it contained
some needed exposition. In this chapter, we have a mini
conversation between the mysterious entity that is attacking
Vincent, and the gang plays some Mario Kart.
This should be obvious, but I own literally nothing in this
fanfiction apart from my interpretation of the characters, and the
small handful of OCs that are in previous chapters.
Chapter 66: Is This All Real?
"That's probably left over from your nightmare." Marcus replied. "After
the museum heist was a success, we came home to celebrate."
"So Franklin didn't sell me out to the cops, and you went with us?"
The pale man was confused. "How long were you a part of Tony's
gang?"
"I've been in the 'gentleman's club' almost as long as you have."
Marcus grinned. "After all, how many people can honestly say they've
been trained in combat by the one and only Vincent Tollini?"
"If my faulty memory is correct, only you and Franklin." Vincent said,
returning the grin. "What's been happening in the interim?"
"Well, you broke literally every record in the book. One hundred and
ten confirmed kills, and never once caught by the cops."
That made Vincent feel sick inside, but he didn't show it on the
outside. One hundred and ten kills? How many people did he
slaughter? And now Marcus was following in his murderous
footsteps? This couldn't be real, could it?
"So what's the plan for today?" Vincent asked.
"Well, to finish off your illustrious career, we're going to make one
final kill. Remember Freddy Fazbear's Pizza?" Vincent nodded in
confirmation, and Marcus continued. "Well, after you and Franklin
shut it down sixteen years ago, some rich guy bought out the rights to
the restaurant and all of the animatronics. He hired the famous Fritz
Smith to upgrade the things, and now they're basically his
bodyguards. Tony, the sentimental old fool, wanted to give you a job
that was symbolic, so he's sending you, me, and Franklin to take out
the new owner of Freddy Fazbear's."
Vincent knew that there was a problem with this, but he couldn't place
it for the life of him. He didn't want to do it, but he had no idea why
the idea of killing the owner of the franchise he hated most was
repelling to him.
"Alright, what approach are we taking?" The pale man asked, looking
around his room. It was sparse, which was normal for him.
razor blade. With luck, it would make short work of this animatronic.
The fox dropped down on top of him, trying to crush him with the
initial drop. Vincent ducked out of the way and brought his tool down
on the back of its neck, straight into a wire cluster. The animatronic
lost power to its torso, and Vincent drew back to finish it off.
He hesitated, then just continued onwards to the staff lounge. The
animatronic wouldn't be able to hinder him anymore.
Vincent pushed open the door to the staff lounge. He proceeded
down the ramp in the back right corner of the room. The stairs would
be faster, but he wasn't certain he could stay stealthy. Growing older
had reduced his confidence in his abilities.
There were four doors down here, three of which were marked with
names. Vincent guessed they were living quarters, which would
explain the lack of people up in the main building. Percy, Fritz, and
Mike. Vincent knew Percy Giles, the man had been his coworker in
the time he had been an employee at Freddy Fazbear's. The man
was clever and intelligent, but not a leader. Fritz had been hired by
whoever owned the place, which left Mike as the last possible person
to be the owner.
The assassin pushed open the door to see a broad-shouldered man
sitting at a desk and working. The man didn't even notice the door
opening, he was so engrossed in his work. Vincent crept up behind
the man and drew a knife from somewhere on his person. He raised
his arm and was about to strike when Mike turned his head and
gasped in shock.
He couldn't kill this man. He couldn't. Mike Schmidt was the only
reason Vincent was even alive. Mike had shown him nothing but
kindness, it would be wrong to stab him in the back.
"Dammit Vince, are you going senile?" Marcus said from behind him.
Vincent whirled around and deflected a thrown knife, saving Mike's
life. Marcus was almost as fast as he was, and a hell of a lot stronger
too.
A tall figure with a white face and purple tearstains appeared behind
Marcus. The eyes nothing but pinpricks of light. It looked at Vincent,
and shook its head.
"Puppet" Vincent muttered, remembering everything. He shook his
head. "This isn't real."
NO!
Vincent brought the knife down.
Through his own heart.
How? What keeps you anchored? What keeps bringing you
back? You're wearing the amulet, nothing can get in!
The world froze.
"Well, if nothing can get in, how are you here?" The pale man asked,
his hair draining to white and his body returning to its actual age.
Close all the doors you want Vincent, I'm already in your head.
The human shrugged. "Figured that much." He stood up, pulling the
knife out of his chest. "So then, give up yet?"
I may not be able to drive you to insanity, but you will be
punished for your insolence.
Vincent swung his knife wildly, catching the child across the face and
slicing their throat. As he watched, the slashed eyes of the child
drained of both life and color, leaving them entirely colorless.
As he slowly backed away, the child's eyes bled out into their
tearstains, and their face grew paler. The child's body grew taller and
thinner, eventually ending in the child being a towering figure with
colorless eyes and purple tearstains on its white face.
It reached towards him with its spiderlike fingers, seeking to strangle
the life out of him
Wake up
Wake up
"Oh c'mon! It's not that bad! It'll be hilarious!" Came the upset
response. "After all, it's not every day we get the opportunity to pull a
prank like that!"
"Okay, maybe it'll be funny, but we need to wait on it. After closing
time, sort of thing." Shane replied.
"Yes!"
Vincent shook his head, wondering who the brothers would be
pranking. Whatever they had in mind, it was certainly going to be big.
It was rare that Shane shot down an idea, but when he did, it was
something big. Vincent just hoped that he wasn't the unfortunate soul
they were targeting.
When Vincent entered the staff lounge, the brothers were gone. It
probably didn't matter anyway. The duo never did anything that could
potentially hurt someone. Well, permanently, anyway. They had hit
him with a fireball once, and while it had tingled, it wasn't permanent.
It had made the Puppet irritated, since it needed to heal the man from
the wrecked state he had been put into.
The man shrugged. Whatever they were up to, he didn't need to
worry about it.
Even though she spent most of the nights to prep food for the day,
the backup pizza ran out. Mike had needed to rush out and grab
some more supplies in order to keep from running out.
The next problem was a bunch of teenagers in the game area. They
forced Vincent to keep a constant eye on them in order to keep them
from destroying something. At first things were normal, but then one
of the teens started to hit the token machine in an order that Vincent
recognized. The man had needed to get there before they cheated
any tokens out of the device.
However, that wasn't the biggest problem. The teens had backed off
once Vincent noticed that they were trying to get the machine to
glitch, but they didn't stop messing with the arcade machines. One of
them started to fiddle around with the latches on the back of an
arcade machine. Vincent had basically kicked them out at that point.
Tampering with the arcade machines was a very easy way to get
yourself booted out of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.
There was a whole group of kids that were afraid of the animatronics,
which gave Billy a lot of trouble. In addition to handing out balloons,
the childlike animatronic could very easily pass for a normal human.
BB often used his appearance in order to help children with a fear of
the larger robots, gaining their trust and then introducing the child to
either the Puppet or Vix, since those two were the least imposing of
the big animatronics. With ten children that were afraid of the
animatronics, BB wasn't able to get the one-on-one time needed to
gain their trust.
While all of these happened on a fairly common basis, once or twice
a week really, having all of these happen on the same day was
disastrous. The icing on the cake, or rather, the bombshell in the
chaos, was the fact that the Prize Corner actually ran out of prizes.
The Puppet might have the ability to conjure objects from other
places, but it couldn't simply create prizes out of midair. When the
Prize Corner ran out of prizes, it was a major problem. It wasn't very
easy to order new prizes, and making them took time. The Puppet
may have been a master at sewing and the creation of plushies, but
even then it took a while to make even the simplest toys. Not to
mention the fact that the plastic toys had to be ordered from toy
companies.
It was probably fortunate that Vincent had been able to calm down
the kids that had a phobia of the animatronics. Spring was a less
intimidating figure, and with Vincent's knowledge of how to keep the
kids happy, he was able to entertain them. It's hard to be scared of
something you're laughing at, Vincent knew this for a fact. That was
why Vincent had developed the ability to make almost anyone laugh.
Now that the day was over, however, things should be better. Calmer,
certainly. Less chaotic.
Vincent went downstairs from the staff lounge to put Spring in his
room. He just felt safer with the yellow rabbit nearby, and anything
that helped would hopefully ward off nightmares.
After dropping Spring off in his room, Vincent went back upstairs to
the staff lounge.
As he came up the stairs, he heard the sound of two voices
whispering.
"Now!"
He was hit by the spell that the two shadow brothers had been
preparing all day.
It was certainly something unique.
indirect route that stopped at the Prize Corner. He walked over to the
Puppet's box and tapped on the lid. The Puppet had said that it didn't
want to be disturbed, as it needed to make more plush toys for the
next day, but this was important. If the brothers had managed to cast
a spell of that magnitude
"Yes?" came the answering voice from within the box.
"There's a problem Puppet." Mike explained. "Did you feel that
energy pulse earlier?"
"" The Puppet was silent for a few moments. "My box is insulated
against magic. What pulse of energy?"
That was news to Mike. The Puppet had never said anything about its
box being magically insulated. Although it did make sense, seeing as
he had never detected any magic while the Puppet made toys. He
disregarded it as irrelevant right now. "A couple minutes ago, a
massive pulse of magical energy permeated the building. It was
bigger than the one that pulsed when you repaired Vincent's soul. I'm
worried that the shadow brothers might have pulled a trick they can't
fix."
The lid of the box opened and the Puppet's porcelain face peeked
over the edge. "How powerful did you say?" Its eyes were wide with
worry.
"More powerful than anything else that I've seen, the sole exception
being when Springtrap pulled his little stunt." Mike explained.
This brought the Puppet out of its box. "Let's go."
"Turn me back NOW!" a high pitched voice came from the staff
lounge. It was certainly Vincent, but higher pitched than usual.
The two looked at each other, then rushed to the staff lounge. Mike
shoved the door open and barged into the room, looking around.
What he saw surprised him.
Shane and Sean were laughing exhaustedly, as if they found
something unbelievably funny, but they were too tired to laugh
Through all of this, Vincent was just sitting against the wall and
sulking. He looked up at the two shadows that had turned him into a
little kid. "So I'm stuck like this for how long?"
"One month." Shane assured him.
"We have no idea!" Sean exclaimed.
All of the others turned a glare towards Sean. "Sean!" his brother
shouted. "We set the timer to one month!"
"Well, we used a lot of magic on this one! We don't even know if the
timer took effect!" Sean explained. "For all we know, Vincent is going
to be a five year-old forever!"
"Or at least until he becomes a six year-old." Shane muttered,
smacking himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand. "The
spell doesn't refresh, numbskull."
"I'm still confused as to why that was so difficult." Sean said, flickering
again.
"You two go rest." The Puppet said with a sigh. "Last thing we need is
to lose two of our number."
"Yessir!" Sean said with a salute, then he paused. "Or ma'am. Or
whatever." He vanished.
"Sean you moron" Shane muttered. "Sorry about all this. I didn't
think it would have this bad of an effect." The shadow bear vanished
as well.
The Puppet shook his head and floated over to Vincent. "Let's see if I
can counteract this spell."
"So if it doesn't work, I'm stuck as a five year-old. Amazing." Vincent
pouted. He retained his thought processes, but his mind was
beginning to cloud. He couldn't think nearly as well as he used to. Not
nearly as clearly.
"Hopefully not. If all else fails we can wait until the spell wears off. If
the spell was built with the timer in mind, the timer will be a part of the
spell. You can't have just part of a spell." The Puppet muttered, its
colorless eyes scanning Vincent. "Their spell shouldn't have done
anything. Of course, aging someone up would be more difficult,
simply due to the fact that it would require your body to undergo
changes it hasn't experienced before. Aging someone down simply
takes power, and lots of it. At least you didn't have to endure the pain
of gaining years. In any case, age change spells are never
permanent, the power required simply doesn't exist. Not to mention
the fact that the human body will eventually revert to its normal form
after any alteration spell. Shapechange, invisibility, property altering,
and age change are simply not possible to be permanent."
Vincent just stared at the Puppet, not understanding a word the
towering figure said. "What?"
The Puppet looked into his eyes, all patience now. "The spell won't be
permanent. I promise."
"O-okay." Vincent was slightly unnerved by the Puppet's strange
eyes. Before they simply brought him sadness as he remembered the
color draining out of his first victim's eyes. Now his child mind thought
that the eyes were creepy.
That was an unintentional change wrought by the spell the shadows
had cast. His hindsight was stripped of barriers, and his emotions
were uncontrollable. Any time he thought about something that had
happened, it brought with it a wave of emotions, some good and
others bad.
With his past, most memories brought incredible sadness. Others
brought unbearable guilt, while others still made him extremely angry.
There were less of this last kind, and far more of the first two, but he
did remember things that made him angry.
Oddly enough, his memory was even better as a five year-old than it
had been as an adult. As if his mind was healed from the damage
that had occurred with death.
The Puppet looked up at the clock in the staff lounge. "I think it's
about time for you to go to bed."
There are some legends that have persisted even in modern day.
Slenderman, Weeping Angels, the Bogeyman, Cthulhu. What do
these four entities have in common?
"They're not real." The human replied, surprised that his foe
answered.
Incorrect. All of these creatures, these legends, inspire fear.
They all cause people to quiver in horror. Together, they are the
things that go bump in the night. A modern scientist would
classify these creatures as phobovores, fear eaters. But science
has no grasp on me or my brethren.
"Your brethren" Vincent muttered, processing the information.
"You're one of these fear eaters?"
I am far more than such simple creatures. While my brethren are
content to persist off of fear, I have learned how to become
stronger. Human souls are such interesting things. They cannot
weaken in power, but they radiate magical energy. With the
correct spell, you can mark a soul to be bound to a certain place
upon death. With a little more preparation, you can make the
marked soul send their victims to that place.
Of course, with enough power, you can exponentially increase
the amount of souls within your power. I've found that thirteen is
the ideal number to leach power off of, regardless of whether or
not they are magic users. But what use is power if you don't use
it?
"You never answered my question. Who are you?" Vincent continued
to look around the room. As he watched, the sparse light began to
dim and the shadows began to grow.
Me? I'm just a whisper in the void. I'm just a ghost in your head.
The answer dredged itself from the depths of Vincent's subconscious.
"Nightmare" He whispered, dread growing in his mind.
As Vincent watched, the shadows began to gather in the center of the
room. The darkness was impenetrable, and it ate the light instead of
"For some reason, I doubt that." The human replied, trying to put
some space between himself and the angry creature.
Perhaps, but you should know this. I can see all of your fears,
ALL of them. I know what you are afraid of; what all humans are
afraid of. You, you're afraid of your so called family. Nightmare
drifted back, its form rippling. To one side of it, an image of the
animatronics appeared. First, the Puppet. Said animatronic was
highlighted. Your first victim. Yet also the most powerful of them.
It has so much magical power, the most of any single entity you
know. But it seems to be the most caring. Seems being the
operative word. Who knows, maybe one day it would simply
decide to sever your soul from your body. Perhaps when you
die, it might decide to not bring you back.
"No no, the Puppet is my friend. My family." Vincent denied,
shaking his head. "It wouldn't hurt me. It wouldn't hurt anyone."
Is that really what you think? Nightmare laughed. You're a
masterful liar Vincent. Even when you're talking to yourself. You
fear that creepy monstrosity. You hate it, and you're afraid that it
hates you too. Do you know why the Puppet's tearstains are still
purple? It's not because of a design choice by Frederick Beyer,
but because it's the combination of the blood of that poor child
and their tears of despair. But the Puppet is not the only one you
fear. The Puppet faded and vanished, replaced by Freddy, Bonnie,
Chica, Foxy, and Fredbear. What of these five? They all scare you
in a different way. Let's start with Fredbear. The yellow bear
moved to the front. He's a magical powerhouse. With his power,
he could tear your mind apart, both physically and mentally. Not
even mentioning the fact that he can teleport at will, he's quite
imposing. He may have been your favorite once upon a time, but
now he's terrifying.
"Stop. Stop!" Vincent screamed, putting his hands over his ears and
closing his eyes. "You're lying! I know you are!"
Nightmare's eyes flashed, and the torture continued. But you know
that I am only saying your thoughts, dear Vincent. This is the
truth. But there are still nine more that you fear, and we must
address each and every one The image shifted, and Vincent
could see despite his closed eyes. What of Freddy Fazbear? You
know him to be a masterful strategist, but you also know him to
be stealthy, at least as much as you are. But he's also incredibly
intimidating. He may be the figure the kids look up to, but for
you, he's the one who is intimidating.
The image shifted again. Then there's Bonnie. The big, lovable
bunny. The goofy pal that every child wants to have. But in your
opinion, he's dangerous. He has the ability to tear you apart, and
he has done so! At any moment, Bonnie might simply decide
that you look nice in four pieces. The image shifted again. What
about Foxy? He's playful and creative, but he's also a soldier. He
has the mindset required to kill those who deserve it. What if he
decides that you are a threat to his family? The image shifted
again. Last but far from least, Chica scares you. The first one to
show you kindness. Yet you are afraid of her. Afraid of what will
happen if you let her down.
"Stop. Stop it!" Vincent was cowering in fear. Nightmare was hitting all
the right notes to terrify him.
Then there are the toys. Let's start with Billy. Little Billy, the least
intimidating and the most human of the animatronics. But you're
afraid that you'll hurt him. And then Nightmare shifted the
image, this time focusing on Vix and Billy. Well, his older sister is a
formidable fighter. She's already killed you once, what's to stop
her from doing it again? The image focused on Ben and Tia. Now
these two. They're equal in capability, although differing in
attitude. Ben has already proven that he can outfight you, and
that's one of your biggest fears. You know that Tia is Ben's equal
in physical prowess, but she has a far feistier temper. What if
you make her mad, and she just decides to kill you?
"Stop it!" Vincent screamed at the top of his lungs.
But why stop here? There's one more. Nightmare's eyes flashed,
and the image vanished, replaced by a creature he had hoped to
never see again. Good old Springtrap. When he was around, you
were insane. To such a degree I could communicate with him
Author's note:
So, as some of you have guessed, Nightmare is indeed the
mysterious entity that has been haunting Vincent. Nightmare will
speak in bold, without quotation marks. A note on his
appearance, he does not look like any specific thing, instead he
takes the form of a cloud of shadows, with glowing red eyes.
I hope you guys like how I've chosen to write Nightmare. He's
unpredictable, and by human standards he would be insane.
was monotone, most likely the Puppet. "In any case, he still has the
mind of a child. Illusion cannot change the way the mind works, only
what it perceives."
"Well, why not just get another guy to be Spring for a day?" Fritz
sounded irritated.
"You know we only have one Spring suit. In any case, I doubt anyone
could do the hyperactive character well enough for the kids to not
notice a difference." Mike said, exasperated. "Not even mentioning
the fact that Vincent is basically our only real security guard. Mark
has no idea what actually goes on here, even if he is slowly figuring it
out."
"So we're running with three 'employees' and one less mascot.
Probably until the spell the brothers prankster put on Vincent wears
out." Fritz sighed. "Goddammit."
Vincent walked up the stairs into the staff lounge. Fritz had left the
room and Mike was having a quiet discussion with the Puppet. As
soon as the child entered the room, the Puppet stopped talking and
smiled gently. "Good morning Vincent. How are you doing?"
The child backed up a couple steps. The Puppet still scared him. He
knew logically that it was kind, but he was still frightened.
"Are you hungry?" The Puppet asked kindly. Vincent shyly nodded in
response, and it continued. "Would you like to go get breakfast?"
Again, Vincent nodded. He was really looking forward to having
something to eat. He was starving.
The Puppet knelt down, hand extended towards Vincent. "I know
someone who makes the best breakfast."
"Okay." Vincent said, hesitantly taking the Puppet's hand.
The Puppet stood up slowly, not to its full height, because Vincent
wasn't tall enough, but to a solid six feet. Its face was in a gentle
smile the whole time.
The two of them made their way through the building to the kitchen,
where Chica was preparing breakfast for Fritz.
"Why hello there! What's your name little guy?" She crooned when
she saw Vincent.
"Hi Chica." The child said shyly.
"Hello Chica. We had a little issue involving the shadow brothers."
The Puppet explained.
"Are they doing that whole 'impossible magic' thing again?" Chica
asked sympathetically.
"Yes, and Vincent here is experiencing the effects." The Puppet
gestured towards him. "Could you take care of him for a little while? I
still need to prepare for today."
"Okay then." Chica nodded, then turned to Vincent. "So what do you
want for breakfast Vincent?"
"Pancakes." Vincent answered, then added on the end. "Please." He
sat down at a table that was in the
"Okay then, pancakes, coming right up!" The chicken started
multitasking, continuing to cook the bacon for Fritz's breakfast, while
going to work on the pancake batter. As always, she made it from
scratch, combining the ingredients in between checking on Fritz's
food. "You want any chocolate or blueberries?"
"Blueberries." Was the answer. Vincent didn't much like chocolate.
"Gotcha!" Chica grabbed a small handful of blueberries and put them
into the batter. After a couple seconds of stirring, she ladled some of
the batter on to a skillet and let it cook. "Do you want anything else?"
Vincent thought for a moment. "Can I have an apple?" He didn't really
like to put things on his pancakes, but he did like fruit.
"Absolutely!" Chica cheerfully replied. She stepped aside to the
pantry and grabbed an apple, then stepped over and handed it to
him. "The pancakes will be done in a few minutes. Fritz! Your food is
ready!"
The programmer walked into the kitchen to see Vincent eating an
apple. Fritz grinned. "Hey kiddo."
"Don't call me that. I'm older than you are." Vincent replied grumpily.
"Not right now you aren't." Fritz said with a snigger.
"It's not like it's my fault!" The child wailed, his emotions getting the
better of him.
"Fritz, take your food and go." Chica said, uncharacteristically harsh.
"Sorry." The programmer apologized, taking his plate of food and
leaving.
Chica walked over to Vincent and set a plate of pancakes down on
the table in front of him. "Hey, is something bothering you Vincent?"
She asked worriedly.
"Yes! I've been turned into a five year-old, both physically and
mentally! I can't control my emotions, and from time to time I just go
and do something I can't understand!" He cried out, and slammed his
head on the table. "That's not even mentioning Nightmare." This last
part was muffled beyond understanding.
"Hey, don't worry." Chica rested her hand on Vincent's back. "We'll
solve this. I promise."
"But what if we can't fix it? What if I'm stuck like this forever?" Vincent
looked up at Chica, his eyes wide with fear. "What happens then?"
"We're your family. We won't let that happen." Chica pulled Vincent in
and gave him a hug. "And if it does, we'll take care of you. We will get
through this."
Vincent returned the hug. "Thank you." He whispered. Things were
looking up.
Vincent was on his elbows in the Prize Corner. The Puppet was
watching over him for now, seeing as it was the least busy of all of the
animatronics, and Mike and Percy had paperwork. Fritz would have
volunteered, if he was any good with children.
When it came to most forms of art, Vincent was horrible. He couldn't
play instruments, and his singing left a lot to be desired. He couldn't
write either, having never been in school at all. But drawing was
something he could do fairly well. Fortunately for him, the Puppet had
all manner of coloring tools stashed away in its box, so now he was
drawing,
Although in this case, he had no idea what this was.
He had just been drawing, but as he continued to draw, he had payed
less and less attention to it. Now that it was nearing completion, it
scared him.
The creature he was drawing was massive, with long claws and
monstrous teeth. It looked like some sort of humanoid bear, but at the
same time it gave the feeling that it was something else entirely. The
most disturbing thing was the eyes. They were blood red, despite not
having any crayons of that color. The whole creature was a shadowy
black. It absorbed light, the crayoned lines coming to life on the page.
Aww, little Vincent is an artist! Nightmare taunted. Draw
Springtrap next, I'm sure he would love it.
"Go away." Vincent muttered, tearing the paper up and grabbing a
new sheet. This time he focused on his drawing, trying to portray a
friendlier face. He began to draw Spring, the first friend that came to
mind.
The Puppet raised an eye ridge. "If you say so." It reached into its
box and took out an amulet. This one was very different from the one
Franklin had. The amulet was a ring on a piece of string, the ring itself
made out of strings. "I was working on this, it should help with your
nightmares." It handed the amulet to Vincent.
"Umm" Vincent mumbled. "I don't know" The last amulet hadn't
helped at all. If anything, it had made things worse. Apparently
Fredbear's presence mitigated any psychic invasions, and Vincent
honestly didn't understand what the Puppet was talking about when it
had said that. The Puppet had also said something about the amulet
nullifying the protective aura, although that was also complete
gibberish to Vincent.
"Please, at least wear it." The Puppet almost pleaded. "It will soothe
your fears."
"Okay then" Vincent put the amulet on. There was no marked
difference, but he could sense that there was a slight change. "I don't
feel different."
"Its effect will take place once you sleep." The Puppet explained.
"With luck, it will help to resolve your nightmares."
"I hope so." The child muttered in response.
The Puppet hesitated for a moment, then snapped its fingers as it got
an idea. "Tell you what, go play some arcade games. I know Chica
has the top scores on everything, but you can still enjoy yourself." It
reached into its box and pulled out a cup filled to the brim with tokens.
Vincent took the cup and paused for a moment. "Thanks Puppet."
"Go, enjoy yourself." It said with a smile. As Vincent walked off, it
returned to its task of preparing prizes.
The first game Vincent went to was Pac-man. Sure, there were lots of
new games with amazing graphics, but Vincent liked the games that
reminded him of earlier times. The classics were his favorites.
Centipede, Pac-man, space invaders, and Donkey Kong were all
games that he enjoyed.
"You know, my satellite dish ears may be amusing, but I can hear
literally everything you're saying. Cussing isn't allowed in this
establishment pal. Come to that, neither is tampering with the arcade
machines." Bonnie tsked. "You four really know how to break the
rules."
"Screw off you stupid rabbit."
"Alright, I give you punks to the count of five to scram." Bonnie
warned. "One."
"Let's just take the rabbit apart. It's not like it can stop us."
"Two."
"Just beat it up like we did that little brat."
"Five." There was the sound of punches being thrown, followed
immediately by groans of pain.
"Dumb rabbit can't count" One of the teens muttered from his new
position face down on the floor.
"Oh I assure you, I can count perfectly well. Well enough to know that
there will be four corpses if you morons ever decide to step foot in
this place ever again." Bonnie threatened. "Nobody. NOBODY. Hurts
a child here and gets away with it. Am I understood?"
"Screw off" the teen mumbled under his breath.
"Didn't I just say I could hear you from the other room? Get out of
here, you spoiled little brats." The animatronic spat. "I'm stronger and
faster than all four of you combined. Now run along. I don't want to
hear your obnoxious voices or smell your foul odor ever again."
The four rulebreakers scrambled off, trying to get as far away from
this intimidating animatronic as possible.
A soft paw gently rested on Vincent's arm. "Hey buddy, you okay?"
Vincent groaned in pain. Everything hurt, and he was having difficulty
breathing.
"I'm so sorry. I should've gotten here faster." Bonnie quietly
apologized, gently picking the child up. Vincent had never noticed it
before, but Bonnie's fur was incredibly soft. The rabbit was as gentle
as could be, carrying Vincent into the Prize Corner. Holding Vincent in
one arm, the animatronic tapped on the top of the Puppet's box.
"What is it?" came the response. "I'm kind of busy."
"Puppet, Vincent's hurt." Bonnie explained.
Immediately, the lid of the box flew open and the Puppet rose out of
it. "What happened?"
"A bunch of teens came in and started tampering with the arcade
machines. When Vincent found out, he tried to stop them. Brave, but
not exactly smart." Bonnie looked down at the child in his arms.
"Sorry Vince." He looked back up at the Puppet. "When Vincent took
a screwdriver away from one of them, they beat him up."
"They won't be able to do it again when I'm done with them." The
Puppet promised.
"They won't be coming back, Puppet." Bonnie said. "I made sure of
that."
The Puppet paused for a moment. "Are you certain?" Bonnie nodded
in confirmation. "Very well." It sighed and looked at the injured child.
Its face reflected its worry. "Poor child" It muttered. "I'm so sorry"
"You can best take care of him." Bonnie said, handing Vincent over to
the care of the Puppet.
The Puppet gently took Vincent, who had fallen asleep. "I'll help you,
little Vincent. I will protect you."
"Okay." Vincent said, following the Puppet. It led him to Mike's office,
where the man was doing paperwork.
As they entered the room, Mike looked up. "Hello you two. How are
you feeling Vincent?"
"Better. I'm not hurting anymore." That was something that had
slightly confused Vincent. His nerves were basically dead when it
came to pain, he knew this from experience. Apparently, when the
shadows had transformed him, it had fixed his nerves. Vincent didn't
know if he liked or hated it.
Mike smiled kindly. "That's good. The Puppet's good at healing.
That's more or less its specialty."
"Mostly due to how often I must utilize my healing skill." The Puppet
joked. "I mean, what kind of healer gets as good as I am without
extensive practice?"
"Hopefully the brothers can learn how to use their extreme magical
capability on something that isn't a prank. With luck, one or both of
them will discover that they can heal injuries." Mike shook his head. "I
never really understood how that worked. You said that you couldn't
use your abilities to levitate until a couple years after the Puppet
became your vessel. What exactly did you mean?"
"Some spirits develop skills the longer they exist. Some older spirits
can do things that would be otherwise impossible, such as
transforming living beings into other things permanently. Other spirits
simply have all of their magical capability from the moment they die.
Others still have immense magical power, but still develop new skills
as they persist. It's impossible to tell right at the start." The Puppet
explained, going into teacher mode. "Some spirits have a completely
unique power, but no other magic. Others are extremely specialized,
such as Fredbear. He has extraordinary power when it comes to
telepathy, and teleportation on the scale he does is incredibly difficult;
but that's about all he can do."
Vincent looked up at the tall figure next to him, understanding none of
what it said. "What?"
Mike laughed. "We're getting off topic here Puppet. I know you're
training to be the world's first undead school teacher, but we do have
other things to talk about."
"Of course, sorry." The Puppet apologized.
"So what did you want me for?" Vincent asked, curious. What did
Mike need from him? He was just a kid now.
"First, I wanted to ask you if you were OK. Those punks have been
banned from the pizzeria in multiple ways, but you were really hurt."
Mike began. "But my real reason for calling you here has to do with
your transformation."
"What do you mean?" Vincent shifted on his feet.
"With your new perspective, you can let us know how best to appeal
to children." Mike explained. "Since your mind has been changed with
your body, you can let us know what most children classify as
entertaining."
"Well" Vincent started, thinking. "More one on one time with the
animatronics would be something anyone wants. But it's not really
possible without having more of them. Otherwise, the pizzeria is the
best it can be right now."
The adult nodded in response. "Okay, thanks for your input. Now
then." He leaned forward, worry in his eyes. "You woke up last night
screaming in fear. What was it that bothered you?"
"I don't wanna talk about it." Vincent muttered, wondering why
everyone was trying to play therapist. He couldn't talk about this
issue. Nobody could help. Nightmare was powerful, this much
Vincent knew for certain. It would be able to kill him regardless of
what help he may receive. The last thing Vincent wanted was to give
Nightmare another target.
"Vincent, we're here for you. All of us." Mike assured him. "If you
need anything, please, let me know."
"I really don't want to talk about it." Vincent stated adamantly. "It was
Like the last time Vincent entered Nightmare's domain, he was met
with the sound of multiple people whispering. It was impossible to tell
how many people, or whether they were men or women, but there
was more than five.
He should have killed himself.
Nonsense! He should fight! Nobody should give in to
Nightmare!
Watch what you say Paul. Nightmare's always listening.
I don't care! I'm sick of being a tool to torture people. I never
wanted this!
None of us did, but we deserve this hell.
One of us wanted it, although he's certainly sick in the head.
Oh god, is Barry here?
preteens appeared on the scene. The tallest of the four was brown
haired, and had a book in his hands. Two others acted like they were
brother and sister, although the girl was Hispanic, while the boy
looked like he was of European descent. The last one was the
youngest, with a pink highlight in her hair. She looked like she was
related to the birthday boy. Then you killed them. All of them.
Theodore, Veronica, Benjamin, Tia, and Billy, the birthday boy.
"Again, this isn't news." Vincent said, still not understanding what
Nightmare's point was. "I feel horrible about what I've done, but I can't
change it."
Something has changed. You aren't reacting properly. What
changed? Nightmare seemed irritated. It doesn't matter. You'll
be dead momentarily.
"Not if I can help it." With a flick of his wrist, Vincent shined the
flashlight in his hands at Nightmare's eyes. As the formless shadow
reeled back in surprise, Vincent ran off, blitzing down one of the side
hallways.
GET HIM! An enraged shout echoed through the building, quite
different from Nightmare's usual soft speech. It seemed the shadowy
creature was extremely mad. Vincent wasn't sure that was a good
thing.
As Vincent ran, he was aware of something monstrous following him.
Something massive was thundering down the hallway behind him.
But Vincent couldn't afford to slow down and see what it was. It was
certainly a minion of Nightmare's.
With a quick movement, Vincent pointed the flashlight directly behind
him and turned it on. His efforts were rewarded when something went
Gah! and crashed into a wall. It sounded similar to one of the voices
from earlier, although Vincent couldn't tell which one.
Vincent turned a corner to be met by a towering figure. He didn't see
what it looked like, apart from its glowing eyes and long limbs, but he
could tell it would try to kill him. Just before he crashed into it, he
dodged to one side and zipped between its legs, just barely fast
enough to evade the grasping claws that the monster had tried to
He was falling.
An endless void spiraling around him, he was lost in darkness. There
was nothing below or above him. There was nothing, both outside
and inside of his mind.
No. This isn't real.
With a thud, he fell to the ground. A gray wasteland, nothing but a
bland plain. The darkness was limiting his sight, and there was
nothing above him but the void he had fallen out of.
"Why did you do it?"
Vincent looked around, now spotting a small figure that hadn't been
there before. It was one that he could never forget, a little girl with
short hair and almost luminous eyes. She looked at him and tilted her
head.
"Why did you kill me?" She asked again, stepping closer. "What gain
did you have?"
"I-I panicked! I didn't want to!" Vincent protested, knowing that
something was wrong here. "I never wanted to kill anyone!"
"Really? Is this the truth, or are you just lying again?" The color of her
eyes began to leak out, draining to colorless as twin purple stains
poured down the little girl's face. As Vincent watched in horror, the
girl's mouth gaped open, locking in an endless smile with nothing but
darkness behind it. "You cannot hide the truth from me!" It screeched
as its limbs elongated and its skin turned pale.
This isn't real. Come back.
The world spun, the scenery blurring and changing, coming to a halt
on a familiar scene.
He was in the Prize Corner. In the pizzeria. Compared to the previous
scene, this was extremely friendly. There was Vix, sitting on the chair
that was a prop for her story time. While Foxy told more exciting
stories to the older kids, Vix created stories for the younger children.
On the other side of the room, BB was handing out balloons to the
children. The Puppet's box was right there, its occupant most likely
inside.
Something seemed off.
After a moment of thought, he realized he was back in his adult body.
That was impossible though, right? The Puppet had told him that
even it didn't have enough magic to turn him back, but here he was.
Nightmare was likely more powerful than the Puppet, seeing as it
drew power from multiple souls, but it had no reason to transform him
back.
That left one option.
This wasn't real.
"Hey Vince! What's up?"
Vincent shook of the feelings of strangeness. "Hey Vix what's"
Vix seemed different. Quite notably so.
There was blood on her teeth.
"Vix" Vincent began.
"What's the matter Vince? I was just having a snack." The fox replied,
standing up. Her eyes vanished, leaving the dark voids that Vincent
had learned to be wary of. "After all, a cranium tastes so much better
when the person is scared."
Come back to the room.
Vincent opened his eyes. He was back in the room with the bed and
two doors.
He made it out.
Good for him! Nightmare isn't as powerful as he thinks!
It could use more claws, but otherwise it's great! The child spirit
replied, baring its teeth at Vincent. The knowledge that Barry was the
one who was in the form of Spring inspired dread in Vincent's heart.
Hmm well, fear works best when it originates in the victim.
We'll have to stay with your current form, but trust me, you'll
have your fun. Nightmare assured the demonic creature. Now then
Vincent, I have a deal that I believe you cannot refuse.
"Watch me." Vincent replied. "No."
You haven't even heard the terms yet! Nightmare put on an air of
false hurt. It's rather simple. You are inevitably doomed to
insanity, but I can help you escape it, at least for now. Your soul
will be mine eventually, and while I'm not feeling particularly
patient, I will give you the opportunity to postpone it.
"Not listening."
But you should be. Let's play a game, Vincent. Nightmare
laughed. Five nights. Me and my minions will attack you for five
nights, starting tomorrow night. If you manage to avoid death
within the game, we will leave, and you won't be mine to take
until your like hits its natural end. If you fail, I get your body and
your soul.
Vincent paused for a moment. This deal could lead to his freedom
forever, or at least until he died from something else. On the other
hand, he could just lose and wind up being Nightmare's immediately.
"What's the catch?"
The rules are simple. There are four routes to enter this room.
The bed, the closet, the right door, and the left door. I may
choose up to four of my minions to attack you, and each one will
use a different tactic. If they catch you, you die. You may use the
flashlight and the doors to ward off the monsters, although each
reacts differently.
Seven. Not four. The big brown Freddy creature added. Don't
forget the triplets.
I'm not just gonna have Nightmare kill Vincent. That would end
The Puppet came into the room, a tray of food in its hands. "Good
morning Vincent! How are you feeling?"
"Fine, thanks." Vincent replied. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a
couple times. "Why do you ask?"
"There was a massive pulse of energy at around midnight." The
Puppet informed him, putting the tray on Vincent's bed, folding out the
legs.
"Is that why I'm getting breakfast in bed?" The human joked.
"That's strange, you're acting more like your adult self again." The
Puppet commented. "Has something changed?"
"Not really. I'm just feeling more lucid than normal." Vincent
explained. He tapped the side of his head. "I'm always watching, but
sometimes I can't exactly control myself."
"That's interesting." The Puppet remarked. "So, do you know
exactly what caused the energy pulse? It originated from a source I
couldn't distinguish, but it was in this room."
Vincent was silent for a few moments, then he spoke. "I know what
caused it."
"What was it? It was enough energy to kill someone outright."
Vincent hesitated. Should he tell the Puppet? He made a snap
decision. "Do you know what Nightmare is?"
"I get the distinct feeling that you are not speaking of bad dreams."
"I'm not." Vincent confirmed. "Nightmare's a monstrous creature that
claims to have existed since the dawn of time. Last night, it tried to kill
me."
"Hmm" The Puppet paused in thought. "This creature must be
powerful, to have such a powerful blowback from the spell. What
prevented its spell from working?"
"The amulet you made for me." Vincent grabbed the ring. "Apparently
it deflected the spell. Then Nightmare tried to drive me insane, but
something pulled me out. Did you do that?"
The Puppet shook its head. "I can't get into your dreams, otherwise I
would have done so after the first nightmare. What I'm more
concerned about, however, is the fact that Nightmare probably won't
stop its attack. From what you've told me, Nightmare is extremely
strong. It may be able to bypass the amulet, given time."
That made Vincent's blood run cold. Nightmare could bypass the
amulet? What was the point in playing its game then? "Then what
should we do?"
"Give me a week. It shouldn't be able to get to you in that much time."
The Puppet placed its hand on Vincent's shoulder and looked into his
eyes. "If there is anything I can do to help you, let me know."
Vincent froze in indecision. He didn't want to drag the Puppet into it,
but it might be able to help. Before he came to a decision, the Puppet
sat down on the bed next to him and pulled him into a hug. "I'm here
to help you."
He looked into its caring eyes, something nagging at the back of his
head. He could feel his mind clouding again, but there wasn't much
he could do about it. "I'm fine." He said, knowing in the back of his
mind that he was not. The Puppet might be able to help, but he would
rather handle it on his own. If anything, telling it would simply hinder
his chances. Nightmare might choose to alter the rules.
"If you're sure. Just remember, if there's anything bothering you, let
me know." The Puppet reassured him. "Fredbear should be able to
watch over you today, we changed the schedule a bit."
"Okay." Vincent replied, looking at the tray of food. It was a good
breakfast, with several bacon slices, sunny side up eggs, and a piece
of toast. To the side of the plate was a tall glass of milk. Vincent
picked up the glass and took a sip.
"I'm going to go get ready for today, I'll see you later." The Puppet
said, getting up and floating out of his room.
"What've you got here?" Fredbear asked him, referring to the drawing
tools.
"Crayons!" Vincent let go of Fredbear and raised the wax drawing
tools in question.
"I see. What do you plan to draw?" The bear queried.
"You and the other animatronics." Vincent answered, putting the
papers and crayons on a table. He pulled out a chair and started
drawing.
He was so engrossed in this task that he was drawing until it was
nearly closing time. He had drawn all of the animatronics, taking his
time to draw them in painstaking detail. Down to the correct eye
colors for all of the animalistic characters. The Puppet was the tallest,
by a staggering margin. Its long limbs making its height the greatest.
The other animatronics weren't exactly short though. Freddy was the
tallest of the others, then Bonnie and Chica. Foxy was a good bit
taller than Fredbear, who was slightly taller than Spring. All of the Toy
animatronics were just barely shorter than Spring, with Theodore
being the tallest, then Tia and Ben. Vix was shorter than all of them,
with BB being the absolute smallest animatronic.
There was one more that he had drawn, although he didn't remember
drawing it. It was a figure that was behind all of the others, almost
unnoticeable unless you were the one who drew it. It matched the
same theme as all of the others, being a humanoid animal. The
biggest difference lay in the eyes. They were a blood red, not just the
iris like Bonnie, but the sclera as well. The center of its eyes was a
white ring with absolute darkness in the exact center.
The animatronic seemed bearlike, akin to Fredbear, but it was a black
that shouldn't have been obtainable with crayons on paper. In fact, it
was more reminiscent of the shadowy form that Shane and Sean
had.
You like my representation of myself? The others won't see it at
all. Not until I let them. Nightmare laughed. I would have had you
draw my normal form, but that's not very artistic. A simple blob
with eyes would've sufficed at that point. But now you've drawn
a form for me that is recognizable.
"What do you want Nightmare?" Vincent muttered.
I'll be honest, waiting for you to fall asleep is boring. I've been
watching through your eyes for a good hour now. Nightmare sent
him a mental shrug. Last night was draining, as they will be from
here on out. Attacking your mind is more difficult than it seems.
By the way, Fredbear's about to warn you to hide. There are
some people coming who aren't exactly friendly.
"Why would you help me?" Vincent asked.
Before the immortal entity could answer, Fredbear walked past,
whispering to the child. "Vincent, hide."
Vincent looked up at Fredbear, then back at his drawing. Grabbing
the paper, he walked out of the room and hid around the corner of the
doorway to the Prize Corner. He carefully kept a line of sight to the
main entrance to the pizzeria, while being invisible to the newcomers.
Nightmare was right, they didn't look friendly. Both of them wore suits,
one pinstriped and the other plain. One of the two men had a fedora
on his head. Probably trying to look fancy. It actually made him look
like he was trying too hard.
"Hello sirs! Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! Can I help you
today?" Fredbear asked the two men.
Both of the newcomers looked at Fredbear in surprise. They had
heard that there were some robots in the place that seemed almost
alive, but that two of the mascots were people in suits. They had no
idea which was which. The man in the pinstriped suit stepped forward
and clasped his hands together. "My associate and I wanted to know
if you or anyone you work with had heard of Vincent Tollini."
"I heard about that person. Apparently he was some sort of myth on
the streets. Why do you ask?" Fredbear feigned ignorance.
Fedora stepped forward. "We're with the FBI. Vincent Tollini is no
I like to protect my wagers. I gain far more from you losing the
game than if you were to be killed. Nightmare manifested its
shadowy form in front of him.
"Not to mention the fact that it makes you look good." Vincent
muttered.
Too right. Nightmare laughed, the demonic sound echoing through
the building. You'd best get ready, the Nightmares are on their
way starting
A grandfather clock in the hallway chimed midnight.
Now. Have fun! Nightmare laughed again, dissipating into the
shadows in the room. Vincent got off of the bed, wondering exactly
how it was an avenue for the Nightmares to enter his room.
Get the flashlight.
Almost instinctively, he grabbed the flashlight off of the bedside table.
If what he had learned was accurate, all of the Nightmares had
sensitive eyesight. The flashlight should be able to help him ward
them off.
The human walked over to the closet and looked inside. There was
nothing there, but he knew that there would be something there
eventually. Maybe later in the night, or a later night.
He whirled around. There was a flash of movement on his bed as
something crawled off of it, the small creature rushed under the bed.
That answered one question. Apparently, under the bed was
somewhere the monsters could come from. It made sense, in a
childish way.
But then, this place was meant to scare a childish mind. Just like the
monster in the closet, and the creature behind the door. Something
hiding under the bed would terrify a child's mind.
Vincent got the distinct feeling that he should be checking the doors.
He quickly walked over to the left door and shined his flashlight.
Something at the end of the hallway moved, glowing blue eyes sliding
around the corner.
Well, he's got a flashlight.
Maybe he'll be able to win.
Hopefully.
One of those two voices sounded familiar. Actually, both sounded
familiar, but one of them was more recent in his memory, while the
other was something he recalled hearing a long time ago.
Check the bed.
Vincent walked away from the door and shined his light on the bed.
This time, there were two creatures that clambered off of the bed. He
got a better look this time. Both creatures were mechanical, like the
Nightmares he had seen last night. Although these were far smaller.
Both of them were brown in color, with massive tears in what seemed
to be animatronic suits. The eyes of the small creatures were nothing
more than glowing white orbs in dark sockets.
He mused on the fact that the monsters seemed to be animatronics.
It made sense, with the fact that Nightmare had identified that he was
afraid of the animatronics that he called his family.
Were the little creatures associated with the nightmarish Freddy
creature that had spoken out against Nightmare? It seemed a definite
possibility. Especially since a similar creature had crawled out of its
body.
Right door.
The human snapped out of his thoughts and walked over to the right
door, putting his ear up to it. To his surprise, there was a heavy
breathing sound.
Immediately, Vincent slammed the door closed. Whatever was out
there, he wasn't letting it get in.
other Nightmares. Does this ring a bell? Her voice changed "Aww
c'mon! I was so close!"
"Violet Blaze?" Vincent muttered. She had been the only person to
have ever gotten close to defeating him in single combat. Of course,
it had been a sparring match, simply to test their skills, but Vi had
gotten astonishingly close to winning.
Violet had been a muscular woman, being broad shouldered and
quite tall. Vincent was taller than she was, but only barely. The
woman had enjoyed the challenge of combat, but killing people
wasn't something she wanted to do. She and her twin sister had been
a tag team, of the brains and brawn type. While Violet had been the
straightforward and stronger sister, Azure had been willing to utilize
anything to gain an advantage.
You remember! Violet exclaimed. I was worried you wouldn't. The
massive robot picked Vincent up, and pulled him into a hug. And
aren't you just the cutest thing!
"Can't-" Vincent struggled, gasping for breath. "-Breathe!"
Oh! I'm sorry! I forget how strong we are now. Violet loosened the
hug enough for Vincent to breathe. The triplets don't have to
breathe anymore, so I sometimes forget that living people do.
"Not that I'm complaining, but why are you hugging me?" Vincent
asked, his voice slightly muffled.
The robot set him down. Sorry, I got carried away. I always wanted
to have kids of my own, but I died before I could. I just can't help
myself.
"You must really have hated me, huh" Vincent muttered,
remembering the things he had done.
I didn't know about the pizzeria incidents until after you died.
Now that I know Nightmare was screwing with your mind, I don't
really blame you. Violet explained. Nightmare has made all of us
kill people. At least you've made amends with some of your
victims.
The rabbit was vaguely reminiscent of Bonnie, but taller and more
imposing, although not nearly as imposing or intimidating as the
nightmarish version. The eyes were a pleasant blue, brighter than the
fur color, and almost indigo in color. The big rabbit had a red bowtie,
and a friendly, yet confident, smile on his face.
There were also two blood red eyes looking over the rabbit's
shoulder. Somehow, Nightmare managed to sneak into everything
Vincent tried to draw. It didn't even seem intentional this time.
Nightmare was dormant right now, but it seemed to influence
Vincent's actions nonetheless.
Finishing the drawing with a flourish, Vincent started on a new
drawing, this time attempting to draw Violet. He drew her more
muscular than Chica, seeing as the woman had been bulky in life.
Like with Aaron, he was drawing the animatronic form, the one that
he could remember. He gave her the same warm scarlet eyes and
kind smile that she had worn whilst in the nightmare. Vincent
hesitated to draw the cupcake, then decided not to. It wasn't really a
part of her. It was like a doll, without any real personality or
importance.
Again, Nightmare managed to sneak its presence into the drawing.
There was a pair of red eyes hidden just over Violet's shoulder.
Where's the cupcake? Nightmare spoke up.
"It's not important." Vincent answered, continuing his drawing.
But it is a part of her appearance. Nightmare protested. And
though it lacks its own personality, she can manipulate it.
"That's exactly why I'm not drawing it. It's not important, it's just an
extension of her will." Vincent explained to the immortal entity.
"Anyways, you only want me to draw it because you made it."
Tch, was it that obvious? Nightmare taunted, laughing. Its
communication was more like a voice now, instead of simply being an
alien presence. I suppose I should be more subtle, but subtlety
isn't as useful in some situations.
Not that sneaking was really necessary. Once the shows started,
everyone was enthralled with the animatronics onstage. It was
magical, seeing people of all ages watching the same show and
laughing at the same jokes.
After watching for a moment, Vincent continued to the toy stage. He
had seen the shows so many times, but they were still entertaining.
Just another example of the incredibly clever planning skills that Mike
had. Mike was a font of good ideas, no matter what Vincent and Fritz
said.
Slipping under the bar that marked the toy stage as closed for the
time being, Vincent walked up to the stage. Ben and Tia were playing
one of the few arcade games in the room, it was some sort of fighting
game.
"Oh C'mon! How'd you do that?!" Ben cried out, quite obviously upset
about something.
"It's not my fault you can't block properly." Tia retorted, sticking her
tongue out at the blue rabbit. "Anyone could slip past your flimsy
guard."
"I demand a rematch!" Ben declared, pointing up to the air. At this,
Vincent burst out into sniggers, causing both of the animatronics to
whirl around.
"Umm" Ben started, eyes wide. "Hi?"
Vincent realized suddenly that the toys hadn't yet seen him after the
transformation. "Wow! The animatronics play video games, and argue
with one another!" Vincent exclaimed, giggling hysterically. This was
incredibly funny.
"Uh" Ben began panicking. "You shouldn't be back here. You need
to go back to your parents."
"My parents haven't been alive for forty five years." Vincent replied,
knowing that this would simply confuse the poor rabbit further.
"What." As Vincent predicted, this completely confused the poor
"'s not my fault they made my thighs the size of watermelons" The
chicken muttered. "Anyways, you tell anyone about that, and I'll let
the world know that you freaked out the first time you looked in a
mirror!"
"I thought I was turned into a girl!" Ben protested.
In moments, the duo had broken down into basic squabbles,
countering each threat with another. It seemed they both had millions
of embarrassing moments to threaten each other with. Vincent rolled
his eyes and walked off, hoping that the two would resolve their little
argument by the time their break ended.
"Those two are always squabbling, aren't they?"
Vincent looked up to see Theodore standing there and shaking his
head. "I would swear those two were siblings in life" The bear
muttered, probably not intending for Vincent to hear.
"They were. Adopted, though." Vincent answered, then froze. Wait,
how had he known that? Was it something Nightmare had told him? It
seemed likely. Nightmare knew a lot of things, and liked to flaunt its
knowledge. Of course, Vincent never fully remembered what the
demonic creature said, especially after waking up.
"Really? That's interesting. Not a surprise, but interesting
nonetheless." Theodore mused. "It would explain their behavior
towards one another, as well as the fact that Tia occasionally says
something in Spanish, which Ben will take a few moments to process.
As if he understands without the translator, but not as easily as Tia."
"Huh." Vincent replied, only partially understanding. He stood there
for a moment and tried to remember why he came to the toy area in
the first place. "Oh! Chica wanted me to show you this." Vincent
reached up and handed Theodore the drawing.
Theodore's blue eyes scanned the paper. "Wow. This is impressive.
How long did it take?"
"Just one day." Vincent answered.
"This is very, very good." The bear muttered. "Where did you learn to
draw like this?"
"I didn't learn from anyone else. I just practiced."
The animatronic gave a low whistle in appreciation. "That's amazing.
You've got an amazing amount of talent, especially for someone who
was never trained." The bear looked at him. "How would you like to
use some real drawing tools?"
"Really?" Vincent asked hopefully.
"Come with me." Theodore told him, walking to the backstage room.
He pulled the door open to reveal a room divided into three sections.
Two of them were messy, like a typical teenager's room, while the
third was absolutely spotless and orderly. Theodore led him to the
clean third of the room and opened a trunk that was against the wall.
"Ah, here we are." The bear reached in and pulled out a box with
multiple drawers on it. "This should have just about everything you
need."
Vincent opened the box. Within it were all manner of drawing tools.
He closed the box again and looked up at Theodore with a smile on
his face. "Thanks Teddy."
Really?
That's so sweet!
Why did he do that?
I don't know, it's not like we asked him to. Nightmare was
furious though.
Then it was a good thing he decided to do it.
Will he draw me and the triplets?
'Scuse me?
And Connor.
Thank you.
I have no idea, but he might. He seems to enjoy drawing, and he
just received some drawing tools.
Was Nightmare watching him today?
Only for an hour. Big Black and Ugly seemed a bit exhausted. I
think it's getting old.
Thank you Connor, for insulting our captor.
Hey, I speak my mind.
You also get the rest of us in trouble, you blabber mouth. Are
the others awake yet?
They're resting. Newbie's still getting adjusted, and the old man
spends most of his time sleeping anyways. Your sister and her
boyfriend are gonna be up soon, but Mister Missus is up now.
Connor, I swear to god, if you call people names, you WILL wind
up getting your rear end handed to you.
Hasn't happened yet.
Yes, it has.
Stop talking. He's here.
Well, that was longer than usual. Maybe he should just not move
whenever he entered this dark world. It could lead to more
communication between the Nightmares. It usually helped him a little
bit when he paid attention to their conversations. Of course, he
remembered little of what happens during the nights, but he could
remember the Nightmares for certain, even if he couldn't remember
what Nightmare itself said.
Enjoying their banter?
"And you had to ruin the moment. Thanks Nightmare." Vincent
muttered. "So, do you ever punish them for their insults?"
When they insult each other, it's hilarious. Nightmare informed
him. Especially when they were foes in life.
"Yes, but what about when they insult you?" This was the issue that
Vincent wanted Nightmare to answer. If it made the creature
uncomfortable, all the better.
All fun and games Vincent. They call me old, I call them too
young to understand the true nature of the universe. Nightmare
performed its special kind of shrug.
"Uh huh." Vincent seriously doubted this answer. "So what are you
here for?"
Why Vincent, can't I visit my companions? Nightmare asked in
mock hurt. I cannot simply have a jovial time with my friends?
"You have no friends." Vincent stated flatly.
Too right. Nightmare confirmed.
"So what do you want with me?" The human asked again.
Well, you seemed to be having difficulty with last night, or at
pair of red eyes and a shadowy cloud. It was extremely creepy, like
the Cheshire cat in reverse. Well? What are you waiting for? Let's
have a little fun with Plushtrap.
The entire room became cloaked in shadow, as if Nightmare had
spread its ethereal form over the walls and ceiling, removing
Vincent's ability to see. After an indeterminate amount of time, the
darkness faded, revealing a long hallway ending in a chair. Above the
chair was a window, through which the moon shone. There were two
doorways on either side, with rooms of indeterminate sized rooms on
the other side of the empty doorframes. On the floor directly in front of
Vincent was an X.
It was the thing that was on the chair that made Vincent worried.
The thing was short, child sized really. But then, so was he. It was an
animatronic like the rest of the Nightmares, but it wasn't a twisted
parody of the animatronics that Vincent considered his family.
No, this was worse.
Plushtrap, Nightmare had called it. Vincent didn't have any difficulty
figuring out why it had chosen that name.
It was a small rabbit, with sickly green yellow fur. Its eyes were
strangely colorless. Not in the manner that the Puppet's were, but
simply because this creature had no irises. The eyes were simply
white sclera with holes in the middle. The hands lacked the signature
claws that all of Nightmare's creations had, and the mouth had
needle teeth instead of the massive fangs that the other Nightmares
had.
This little monster was quite obviously a parody of Spring.
With a start, Vincent realized that he was holding the flashlight, and
that it was the only reason he could see. Hesitantly, Vincent clicked it
off. The room was plunged into near complete darkness, with the only
thing visible being the window in the wall in front of him. There was
the barely audible sound of furry feet stepping around on carpet.
Ordinarily, such a sound wouldn't even be audible, but 'Plushtrap'
the bed. They all had rips and tears on their bodies, some of them
extensively so. Vincent slowly backed up as the middle Freddle
looked straight into his eyes.
The small creature screamed a battle cry, and all three of the little
monsters launched themselves at him.
"Agh!" Vincent cried out, ducking between the Freddles. One of them
grabbed onto his hair and swung its legs around, sitting on his
shoulders. The other two landed on the floor, only to launch
themselves at his legs, knocking him to the ground. Vincent
struggled, trying to push the creatures off. He then froze as they
continued their assault, only then realizing what the battle cry had
been.
Tickle Fight!
Vincent burst into uncontrollable laughter as the small creatures
'attacked' him. He couldn't breathe, but this was so much fun. The
Freddles had soft paws, unlike the other nightmare creatures, and
that meant that they could tickle Vincent without actually hurting him.
Alright you three, let him go. He needs to breathe, after all. A
deep voice said from the bed.
Aww. The trio complained, but all three of them climbed off of Vincent
and returned to the bed.
Sorry Vincent, but usually the person in the room freaks out and
screams. The voice apologized. You have no idea how much it
hurts their ears. So you can probably understand how lonely
they've been without any other children to play with. Barry
hardly counts. There's some serious problems with that kid.
The human wiped tears from his eyes and took a gasping breath of
air. "That was fun." Vincent gasped, giggling still. He looked up at the
bed to see a towering creature, although this one was familiar to him.
Its orange eyes looked at Vincent in amusement. The brown fur was
torn in many places, most likely due to the bear's rebellion against
Nightmare.
"So you?
Yes. I killed them. Paul answered, sadness in his eyes. It was an
accident. Tony wanted me to bomb a car in order to scare
someone into paying off their debts. I I didn't know that the
target was a woman with three children. Worse, I didn't know
that there were three children in the car. Triplets. All three died
instantly. The bear's eyes began to tear up. Not with water like
normal, but instead a dark fluid that seemed to be oil. After that, I
kinda blew myself up.
"Wait, you were an explosives expert." Vincent said in confusion.
"How did you blow yourself up?"
It was intentional. I decided to hold a grenade after pulling the
pin. What I didn't intend was to kill the other two. Paul scratched
the back of his head, blinking away the tears. Azure and Violet were
caught in the blast. Nightmare kinda got six for the price of one
that week.
Vincent mulled this over for a few moments, then raised his hand.
"Question. Why didn't the triplets attack me?"
The bear smiled. Those three are special. Did you know that all
spirits are capable of magic? The only real difference between a
magic user and a normal spirit is really the accessibility of
power. The triplets are the only ones who are magic users
among us thirteen spirits trapped by Nightmare. They're able to
completely resist its control, although they do still have to
participate in its games. Paul shrugged. I've probably picked up
some of their ability to resist Nightmare. It can't affect me as
easily, although it was trying hard last night.
"Okay, another question. Why haven't the others been coming in
while I was chatting with you?" Vincent knew full well that he had
lowered his guard too much by talking with Paul, but he was more
curious as to why the others hadn't showed up than he was worried.
Vi loves kids. She's probably busier playing with the triplets
than she would be attacking you. As for Aaron, he's actually
been outside your door the whole time. Paul chuckled. Nightmare
All the while, Vincent had been trying to make connections. "Connor
Parr. What happened to you, exactly? And why the hell has
Nightmare decided to send people who have connections to me?"
Can't answer that last question for you, but I can say that it's not
because Nightmare has sentimental value for us. Thing hates us
all, especially me and Paul. Connor laughed. As for how I died,
the short answer is asthma attack.
The human almost laughed, but held himself back. Connor had been
lightning fast in life, but by some quirk of fate he had asthma. Connor
Parr, the man who was built like a sprinter, was extremely hampered
by his respiratory issues. "Okay, but what about the long answer?"
Tony sent me on a job. The old bastard wanted me to sneak
through a ventilation shaft. Connor sighed. Ordinarily it wouldn't
be an issue, but ordinarily the ventilation shaft isn't the dustiest
place on earth. I had an asthma attack in that metal coffin, and
the only reason my body isn't still there is because the smell
forced them to search the vents.
"Wow. That sucks." Vincent said sympathetically.
You have no idea. The fox paused in thought. On second thought,
you probably do know. You were stuck in that suit, right?
"Yeah" Vincent scratched the back of his head. "I would rather not
talk about that."
Hey, I get it. Conner replied. Look, I need to tell you something
about Nightmare. ItBeep Beep Beep Beep.
Alright. This portion of the game is over. Nightmare announced, its
shadowy form appearing out of nowhere. Time for you to wake up
Vincent.
Tomorrow is another day.
So, I managed to write this one faster than the last one. If you
couldn't tell, I enjoy writing the Nightmares. Their interactions
are different from the ones with the normal animatronics.
Of course, Nightmare itself takes the cake.
In this chapter, we meet Paul, Tony's old explosives expert. Poor
guy never wanted to kill anyone, but he wound up killing five in a
couple days. As for our other newcomer, Connor, he's a big
mouth. Guy doesn't know when to shut up. His interactions with
the other Nightmares are very fun to write.
Chapter 79: Angela
"Do you know who Spring the rabbit is?" the girl asked, not knowing
anything happened in Vincent's mind.
"Yeah." Vincent put the half-finished drawing of Connor to the side
and started drawing Spring. It was extremely easy for him to do, since
he could mentally picture the rabbit in almost photographic quality.
He started with the head, with its easily identifiable ears and happy
grin. Within minutes, Vincent had drawn the outline of the golden
rabbit and was starting to color it in. He wasn't taking a long time to
draw it, but it was still really good. He finished by drawing and
coloring in the turquoise eyes.
The whole time, the girl was watching over his shoulder, eyes wide in
amazement. "Wow, that's so cool!" She looked at him. "What's your
name?"
"Vincent." The boy answered without thinking. Then he started
mentally cursing at himself.
Vincent, watch your language! No child your age should know
words like that! Nightmare interjected with a cruel laugh. But then,
you really screwed this up, didn't you?
Don't rub it in. Vincent angrily thought, continuing with the drawing as
if nothing changed.
"My name's Angela." The girl informed him. "My favorite animatronic
is Spring, which one is yours?"
"Fredbear." Was the answer that Vincent gave. He knew that he was
being taciturn, but he really didn't want to talk too much. Giving away
the fact that he was the Spring actor would cause problems.
"That's cool, I like him too." Angela commented happily.
"There we go." Vincent announced, finishing the drawing. He handed
it to his descendant with a smile.
"Wow, this is really cool! It's super realistic!" Angela enthused. "You're
awesome!"
Foxy doesn't have any stories fer ya today, but he does have
somethin' fer First Mate Vincent and First Mate Angela."
With that, the fox reached into the treasure chest and pulled out a
pair of tricorn hats. "A pair o' hats fer tha two of ye, ta mark yer
importance in me crew!"
With wonder in her eyes, Angela accepted the hat reverentially. She
slowly put it on her head, then looked up at Foxy. "Thank you Foxy!"
"'Tweren't nothin' fer a special lass like yerself." Foxy replied with a
smile.
Angela blushed and hugged Foxy. The fox, used to reactions like this,
laughed and returned the girl's hug. "Now off with ye! Ol' Foxy rarely
gets any break time."
"'Bye Foxy!" Angela said, breaking off the hug. "C'mon Vinny!"
The girl skipped out of Pirate's Cove, Foxy and Vincent watching in
amusement. "Cute kid, your niece." The fox whispered in
amusement.
Vincent looked up at the animatronic. "She seems to like you."
While it wasn't possible to see any of the animatronics blush with
the obvious exception of BB they very much could. In this occasion,
Foxy was obviously blushing, the aura of embarrassment was almost
tangible.
"You like her too!" Vincent exclaimed quietly.
"I'm not used to the attention Vincent." Was Foxy's honest answer. "I
know I'm the favorite of many, but I'm seriously not used to it."
The human shrugged. "Okay. I'll drop it."
"Thanks Vince. And, uh, sorry for taunting you earlier." Foxy
scratched the back of his head.
"All good." Vincent replied, starting on his way out of Pirate's Cove.
sweetie, we need to go." Diane told her daughter. "We'll come back in
a couple of days."
Angela sighed. "Okay"
With a final glance behind her, Angela ran off with her mother. She
was smiling, not because they would be back, but because as they
left, she saw something that made her grin.
A pair of golden yellow ears, poking around a corner.
Vincent smiled as the two left. They would be back on Monday, then
he would be willing to show himself to Diane.
A chime signaled the closing time, and the animatronics stepped off
the stage.
"Busy day." Bonnie commented, stretching.
"Well, it IS Saturday." Freddy informed the rabbit. "We do tend to
have a lot more people come here on Saturday and Friday."
"Yeah, but why did it have to be so MANY?!" Bonnie complained. "I
mean, when I got off stage during roaming time, I got mobbed!"
"We all did Bonnie." Freddy said with a sigh.
Chica, who had been silent up until now, spoke up. "Hello Vincent!~
How are you doing?"
Vincent grinned. He had been standing still the whole time, and
apparently he had managed to evade the attention of both Bonnie
and Freddy. "I may be stuck in the suit." He answered eventually.
"How?" Bonnie asked, scratching the back of his head. "Normally you
have no problems hopping in and out of that thing."
"Normally I'm not" Yawn "five." Vincent replied, only then realizing
how absolutely tired he was.
"I'll help you out, then you need to get to bed." Chica said with a
smile.
"Ok."
"Come on Vince."
The two made their way to the staff lounge. Vincent began to stumble
down the stairs, only to suddenly lose his balance.
Before he could cry out in panic, Chica caught him. The chicken
picked him up and started to carry him down the stairs. "Don't worry
Vincent, I've got you."
"Thanks Chica." The boy murmured tiredly.
The animatronic carried him into his room and set him down on his
bed. "You're going to have to undo the latches sweetie."
"Mhm." Vincent sluggishly undid the latches on the suit, causing the
back to fall off. He slowly pulled his arms and legs out of the suit and
slid himself under the covers of his bed.
Chica tucked him in with a smile and put Spring on the ground. "Good
night Vincent."
"'night mom"
Chica's eyes widened and she gasped in shock. "Did you just?"
Vincent began to panic, his tired mind not working properly. "I'm sorry!
I'm sorry! I'm-"
He was cut off by Chica pulling him into a tight hug, her face buried in
his hair. "Never say sorry for that." She kissed the top of his head,
tears running down her face. "You've done absolutely nothing wrong."
It was then that Vincent realized that what he had said wasn't wrong,
but was entirely what Chica had wanted to hear. Chica loved children
as if they were her own, but therein lay the issue. Chica could never
have children, so she never had an outlet for her love. She was a
mother hen with no chicks, and there was no way for her to have
them.
I've been thinking of this last scene for a while, and while I feel
somewhat satisfied with it, I probably could've done better.
A guest asked whether Vincent's hair was black again, or if it
was still white. I probably should've stated this earlier, but it is
still white. The brothers made him a five year old version of
himself, but they did not return him to true childhood.
Chapter 80: Plushtrap
Ow.
Connor, for the last time! Stop trying to remove the spike!
What'm I supposed to do? Nightmare frickin' IMPALED me!
You'll be fine as long as you stop trying to wiggle off.
I want to go visit Vince! I didn't get to tell him about ##########
Yeah, well, Nightmare's not gonna let you tell him about that. It
would blow a hole in its plans.
Who's Nightmare gonna put in my place then?
Her.
Not much, just some more fun with Plushtrap. Nightmare laughed,
and the room began to fade. In moments, Vincent found himself in
the hallway with the chair.
"Always with the dramatic entrances." Vincent muttered, clicking on
his flashlight. There was Plushtrap on the chair, just like last time.
Vincent felt far more confident this time, feeling as if he couldn't lose.
With a small click Vincent turned off the flashlight to wait. Plushtrap
would have to start moving soon, and hopefully Vincent would be
able to halt the rabbit on the X.
Now.
Vincent shook off the feeling that he should click his flashlight on. It
was too soon for Plushtrap to have reached the X. Right?
After a moment of internal debate, Vincent clicked the flashlight on.
Right in front of him, between him and the X, was the yellow rabbit.
"Gah!" Vincent shouted, jumping back. "I just lost, didn't I?"
To Vincent's surprise, the rabbit shook its head.
"Did you just?" The human muttered in surprise. "Are you
answering me?"
This time, the rabbit nodded, then tilted its head and chirped. It took a
few steps closer to him, then chirped again.
Vincent blinked. "You're not Barry are you? You would be talking if
that creepy kid was in control"
Plushtrap stepped even closer, then quickly threw its arms around
him.
"What the?!" Vincent exclaimed, not expecting the rabbit to attack
him after its previous friendly attitude. Then he realized that it was
hugging him, and not only that, but it was crooning happily as well.
Vincent chuckled, then ran his hands through the surprisingly soft fur
of the greenish yellow rabbit. "Who are you really?"
any of the heavy breathing that signified the presence of one of the
spirits, but there was a sound that Vincent couldn't identify. "Violet?
You there?"
In response, there was a happy chirping sound. That was different.
Vincent clicked on his flashlight to see Plushtrap standing in the
hallway, a triumphantly mischievous look on its face.
"Umm what?" Vincent said dumbly, not comprehending the fact that
the rabbit had made it here from its hallway. "How did you get here?"
Plushtrap just chirped happily again, throwing itself at Vincent and
hugging him.
"Well you're clingy." Vincent laughed. Plushtrap crooned in response,
causing Vincent to laugh again. "I like you too."
Vincent? You here? A female voice echoed down the hallway.
"Yeah I'm here Vi. I need you to come to the room." Vincent called
back, looking down at Plushtrap, who was still hugging him. "C'mon
buddy, let's get in the room."
Vincent pulled the rabbit into the room. Plushtrap refused to let go of
its hug. Its fluffy fur made the hug comfortable, but it was still almost
the same weight as Vincent. This meant that it was difficult for
Vincent to move the mechanical bunny, but it was still doable.
What is it you needed Vincent? Violet asked as she pushed the
door open, her warm scarlet eyes scanning the room. At the sight of
Plushtrap, she snarled, then reached out and grabbed the rabbit,
ripping it off of Vincent. BARRY! You little runt! What're you doing
here?!
In response, the rabbit started squirming and crying piteously. "Vi
stop."
The massive animatronic ignored him. What's your angle? What're
you trying to do to Vincent?
"Vi stop it. That's not Barry." Vincent protested.
eyes began to slowly shift colors, never staying on any one. It was
impossible to guess what gender this animatronic was, but that was
fine. Vincent knew who this was.
Tali, the disguise master. Vincent was never certain which gender
they were. They never looked the same each time Vincent had seen
them either, their skill at cosmetic design and outfit manipulation
allowing them to never be recognizable a second time. Not to
mention their incredible skill at voice mimicry, Tali was impossible to
pick out from a crowd of people.
"So Tali, what lead to your death?" Vincent asked, a safe distance
from the irritated fox.
Well, it's rather simple. I'm a wanted thief. I've stolen millions of
dollars' worth of assorted objects, both fenced and straight
cash. So once the police finally caught me red handed, they
locked me up in the highest security prison they could. Tali
shrugged. Needless to say, they underestimated me yet again. I
managed to knock out a security guard and sneak out using his
outfit. Unfortunately, one of the buggers recognized the outfit,
and shot me in the leg. The white fox laughed. The bastard was a
bad shot. He missed my leg entirely and hit me in the back. I
was dead before he even realized his mistake.
"Ouch. That sucks." Vincent said sympathetically. "So uh, why were
the others referring to you as 'she' and 'her' earlier?"
Tali decided that they wanted to be female today. Aaron
explained, looking down at the fox. If I let you go, will you leave
Vincent alone?
Yes. Although I'm pointing at you when it comes to Nightmare
deciding punishments. Tali warned.
Nightmare already hates me. I think I'll survive. Aaron replied,
lifting his foot off of Tali's back.
Thank god. That was starting to hurt. The fox pushed themselves
off of the floor, brushing themselves off. Anyways, didn't expect
you to get Barry of all people to leave you alone.
"It's not Barry. I don't know how, but Plushtrap is not Barry. At least
not tonight." Vincent scratched the back of his head. "And Plushtrap
is extremely clingy. It seems to really like hugs."
What is going on here?
Everyone froze. Nightmare began to coalesce in the center of the
room. You are supposed to KILL Vincent. Not befriend him. You
have all failed me.
Screw off nightmare. Aaron growled. In response, Nightmare
launched the blue rabbit into the wall.
Tsk, tsk Nightmare looked around the room, its eyes landing on
Violet. The chicken was holding Plushtrap in her arms, the small
rabbit crooning happily all the while. What do we have here?
You leave Plushtrap alone! Violet snarled viciously. He's done
nothing wrong!
Plushtrap? But Barry should be Nightmare stopped in surprise,
then a tendril of shadow launched out of its mass and snatched
Plushtrap from Violet's grip. You're not Barry! Nightmare seemed
genuinely surprised for once.
Plushtrap whimpered in response, clearly not liking Nightmare.
Vincent gritted his teeth. "Leave him alone."
Nightmare seemed to completely ignore Vincent. How? You are my
construct! What are you?! You have no soul I can detect, yet
your existence is external to my own!
"Leave Plushtrap alone." Vincent repeated angrily.
Not now mortal, I am investigating this. Nightmare brushed
Vincent off, its original goal forgotten. How do you exist at all, little
one? You are an enigma. Your form is born of my power, yet
your spirit, your equivalence of a human soul, is unique. It lacks
many human qualities, yet it has more than my own.
The rabbit whimpered again, wanting to get away from Nightmare.
Vincent shifted in bed and mumbled a little bit, not forming coherent
words. That had been a weird iteration of Nightmare's game.
Plushtrap had been friendly, however that happened.
He shifted again, and realized that there was some other weight on
the bed. That was strange. Maybe one of the adults or animatronics
was in the room.
With a yawn, Vincent opened his eyes. To his surprise, his gaze was
met by a pair of brilliant turquoise eyes.
"Vinny!"
Odds are, if you liked this chapter, you'll like the next one. No
promises on when it'll be posted though.
For those wondering whether Tali is a male or a female, the
answer is yes.
Also, yes, Nightmare broke the fourth wall up at the start of the
chapter. Don't want to confuse people with that.
Chapter 81: Spring
"Vinny!" The small creature in front of him cried out, throwing its arms
around him.
"Spring?!" Vincent muttered in disbelief. Sure enough, the golden
yellow rabbit was the one who was hugging him. "How?"
The rabbit let go of him and hopped to the floor. "I can change from
suit mode!" To demonstrate, Spring walked over to the corner that he
had been placed in, and with a loud click, slumped to the floor. After a
moment, there was another click and he stood back up again. "Tadah!"
Vincent's jaw dropped. Spring certainly not just an AI, especially with
how he was acting. In fact, it was almost human.
But that was impossible. There were no spirits attached to Spring.
Apart from Vincent himself, of course; and he was inhabiting his own
body. So how in the world was the rabbit a fully alive entity?
"Vincent?" Spring seemed nervous. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No. Why?" Vincent asked in surprise.
"You weren't talking and I didn't tell you earlier" Spring shrank
down, his ears drooping.
"Tell me what?" Vincent was confused. What was it that Spring had
been hiding from him?
"That I'm alive" Spring shrank down even more, as if he expected
Vincent to explode on him.
Oh. That. "No, I'm not mad at you for that."
"I-I was scared. I thought you m-might not like me" Spring
continued onwards. "I thought that the others wouldn't like me either. I
wanted to see you first"
Vincent could tell that the rabbit was convinced that he was mad.
"You were shy. There's nothing wrong with that."
"B-but you had to worry about N-Nightmare and then before that I
had s-so many chances and I didn't tell you!" The golden rabbit trailed
off with a wail. It looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"It's not your fault." Vincent wrapped his arms around Spring, the two
small figures huddling together in a hug of companionship. "I'm
scared of Nightmare too."
"I-it's scary. I-it hurt. When it g-grabbed me, and threw me on the g-
smiled.
Vincent giggled. Spring looked really funny with how he was reacting
to having behind his ears scratched. The rabbit was leaning into the
Puppet, his eyes closed in pleasure. "Do your ears itch Spring?"
Spring seemed to notice his reaction to the Puppet scratching his
head, and stopped immediately. "yes." The rabbit seemed
embarrassed.
The Puppet laughed, a strange musical noise that Vincent hadn't
really taken notice of before. "Tell me Spring, what is the earliest date
you remember having your own identity?"
"Umm" Spring stopped in thought. "Not long after Vinny came
back."
"From death?" Spring nodded in confirmation. "Very interesting"
"Why is this important?" Vincent asked, not comprehending.
"Because in that case, Spring would have needed to have some
amount of your memories in order to function. A completely new soul
usually exists within a child, and grows as they do. This is almost
anomalous." The Puppet answered, still thinking. "Spring's whole
personality is an extension of your memories and experiences. Not
necessarily your knowledge, however."
The Puppet was interrupted by Chica's voice echoing down the
hallway. "Puppet? You came down here thirty minutes ago. Is
something holding you-" The chicken entered the room. "-up?" Chica
looked around, her eyes landing on Spring. "Oh my gosh! Aren't you
just the cutest little thing!"
"Hi Chica." Spring replied shyly.
"Wait a second" Chica looked at Spring, then Vincent, then back
again. "How?"
"Spring has developed a soul of his own, independent of Vincent. It's
rather unique." The Puppet explained. "Something caused by the
She came out again with a plate of pancakes in one hand, Spring still
cradled in her other arm. She set down the plate on one of the party
tables, then ducked back into the kitchen, coming out with a stack of
plates. "Here we are, help yourselves!" The chicken looked down at
Spring. "I'm gonna have to set you down if you want to eat."
"OK." Spring replied, rubbing his eyes.
Chica set Spring down in one of the chairs and started to dish out
pancakes. Freddy decided to join them, five plates being set out on
the table. As soon as there were three pancakes on his Plate, Spring
began to scarf them down, not even stopping to taste them.
"You must be very hungry." Chica said with a laugh.
"Low battery." Was Spring's answer as he continued to shove
pancakes in his mouth.
Of course, that was it. The animatronics had two methods of
recharging, either by eating or by going to sleep and recharging their
internal battery using the somewhat electrical energy generated by a
soul. They could, of course, also plug into an outlet and recharge that
way, but it was inefficient and extremely expensive. Fritz's adaptation
of technology to make cheaper recharging methods was truly genius.
Spring finished his pancakes and put his plate to the side, seeming
much more awake than earlier. "Thank you for breakfast Chica."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Chica replied with a smile, taking the plate
into the kitchen. She came back a moment later to collect the other
finished plates, taking Vincent's, Freddy's, and the Puppet's.
"Vincent" Spring started. "I gotta talk to you." The rabbit looked at
the Puppet and Freddy. "Um. Alone."
"You two go. You have things that you need to talk to each other
about." The Puppet waved the two off.
Spring and Vincent retreated to the staff lounge and went down to
Vincent's room. "Okay so you already figured out that I'm the one
who was Plushtrap last night"
"Yeah. What did you want to tell me about?" Vincent was curious.
Spring apparently had quite a few secrets.
"So, um" Spring twiddled his thumbs. "I've been in your dreams
since the start"
"The start of what?" Vincent asked, confused.
"Since you came back. Um every dream. I may have been
snooping. In your personal memories" Spring shrank back a little
bit, but continued on. "I have most of them. In here." He tapped the
side of his head. "But not not all of them. So I've been looking at
your memories. Digging some of them up that's why you had
flashbacks"
"Okay then." Vincent replied, deep in thought. He wasn't mad at
Spring, truly. Although he had only known about Spring's sentience
since this morning, he felt like the rabbit was an important part of him.
Kind of like how Marcus was his driving force way back when.
"Remember that day in the park?" Spring asked suddenly.
"Yeah, why?"
"I may have cheated just a little." Spring scratched the back of his
head. "I have a, um, radar in my head. I don't know if the others do
too. It lets me know where the other animatronics are. At all times. So
I may have cheated and warned you when Vix was about to get
you"
"So that was you?" Vincent asked in surprise, then he laughed. "It
didn't matter anyways. Vix just dropped on my head." Vincent thought
for a second. "Has that voice always been you?"
"Most of the time" Spring replied sheepishly. "Not before your
death, or while you were Springtrap. I wasn't alive then. But since you
came back. And more since Franklin died."
Vincent snapped his fingers in realization. "Like when Nightmare first
attacked me?"
"And the second time, and the third, and every night since." Spring
added.
"You were Fredbear in that dream where I was Springtrap again,
weren't you?" When Spring nodded, Vincent continued. "Why did
you tell me it was an alternate reality?"
"Nightmare would've noticed immediately if I broke character too
far" Spring shrugged. "And it's accurate to what would've happened
if Mike had never been hired as the night guard. You would still be
Springtrap, Fredbear would be Goldie instead, the Puppet would
have destroyed itself, and many, many night guards would have been
forcibly stuffed into suits."
"Wow" Vincent muttered. "What about the one after that?"
"Where you were still a thug in Tony's employ?" Spring asked.
Vincent nodded. "Well Tony would still be alive today, Franklin
would never have betrayed you, and you would never have been
Springtrapped. But that's if Marcus had joined you."
"Ok then what about after? When Nightmare openly attacked me?"
"Nightmare has extremely strong magical barriers but I can sneak
past them." Spring snickered a little bit, before flinching again. It
seemed like he expected Vincent to explode on him at any moment.
"It can't stop you from entering your own mind. And, magically and
spiritually speaking, I am you."
"Good loophole." Vincent commented. "What about when you were
Plushtrap?"
"Barry never got that body. He had it that one time when Nightmare
showed you, but after that, it was all me." Spring shrank down a little
more, but continued onwards. "Um Mike doesn't hate you." Spring
flinched a little more. "About Hope, I mean. He wouldn't hate you."
Spring began to shake. "I'm sorry for snooping in your head. I didn't
mean to go where I shouldn't! I just want to make you happy!"
Vincent grabbed Spring's shoulders and looked straight into the
rabbit's turquoise eyes. "I'm not mad at you. I'm not upset that you
looked at my private memories. I'm not even upset that you didn't tell
me." The human pulled Spring close to him, embracing the rabbit in a
tight hug. "What does upset me is that you think I'm mad. That I
would be mad at you." Vincent buried his face in Spring's fur. "I could
never be mad at you."
"I'm sorry" Spring trailed off.
"Don't say sorry if you haven't done anything wrong." Vincent replied,
his voice muffled by the rabbit's soft fur. He pulled away from Spring.
"Now then, I have someone I need to talk to."
Vincent ran out of his bedroom and up the stairs. He rushed past the
animatronics in the main show area, making his way to Mike's office.
He arrived and knocked on the door, then bent over to try and regain
his breath.
"Come in."
The child pushed the door open and stepped into the office. "Mike I
have something I need to tell you."
Mike looked up from his desk. He was doing paperwork when Vincent
came in, but he put it to the side. "What is it Vincent?"
"I" Vincent started, then hesitated. "You know I did a lot of horrible
things before I died, not including the children."
"Yes, why?" Mike asked kindly.
"I only just realized recently, but" Vincent hesitated again, then
sighed and just said it. "I'm the one who killed Hope."
Vincent winced and shrank back, expecting Mike to be at least a little
angry. What he didn't expect was the man's response. "I know."
"You-you know?!" Vincent exclaimed in disbelief. "How?"
"Fredbear picked it up the other day. You were so distressed that you
were apparently projecting it on a psychic level." Mike explained,
standing up from his desk and walking over to Vincent. The man knelt
-=Spring=I looked up from my drawing. Vincent had finished his picture, and it
was much better than mine. "Is that Tali?"
"Yeah." Vincent answered, examining his work of art. "Although Tali's
eyes aren't ever one color"
Vincent had drawn Tali as the white fox that had attempted to chomp
his head the night before. Of course, this was mostly because Tali
had never had the same appearance between encounters. He had
decided to give Tali the golden eyes that the fox had worn, but only
because Tali's true eye color was entirely unknown. As with all of the
Nightmares, Vincent had drawn Tali fixed up, with white fur and pink
highlights on the ears and tail.
"I'm still confused." I muttered, turning my attention back to my
drawing. "Is Tali a boy or a girl."
"To quote Tali," Vincent replied, grinning. "Yes."
"Thanks for the clear answer." I pouted, tilting my head to look at the
drawing. Mine wasn't nearly as good as Vincent's, being more like a
blob than Chica. "I don't think I should draw any more."
Vincent leaned over and looked at my drawing. "Umm" He tilted his
head a bit, squinted his eyes. "Nice duck?"
"Yup. Not drawing anymore." I crumpled the paper into a ball and
tossed it across the room, landing it square in the trash can.
At this, Vincent raised an eyebrow. "That was impressive. Where'd
you learn to throw like that?"
I giggled. "Well, you. Oh, and the fact that I'm programmed with
perfect coordination. Just like the others."
"Huh." Vincent turned back to his drawing then sighed. "Well,
Nightmare got in again."
I stood up and walked around the table to Vincent's side. "Why does
answered. I paused, then shrank back a little bit. "But, you know,
inside your head. I'm sorry."
"Hey, don't be sorry. You've saved me more than once." Vincent
reached over and pulled me into a hug. "Digging around in my mind
really isn't something you should be sorry for. You have most of my
memories, after all."
"Ok" I bit my lip, then just asked the question. "Why did you kill the
others?"
Vincent stiffened, and my eyes widened. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just
wanted to know!"
"No. Don't be sorry. I don't much want to talk about it, but you need to
know." Vincent pulled away. "I was working for Antonio Veron. Guy
ran a criminal organization, here in the city. He payed me a lot to do
his dirty work. Anything from stealing, to murder." Vincent paused,
then continued, his voice dead and flat. "The Puppet shouldn't have
died. That was entirely accidental. The others Tony wanted to use
the first Freddy Fazbear's location as a base of operations. The
second location had incredibly sophisticated facial recognition tech.
Tony didn't want that getting out in the public."
I looked at him in horror of his story. "So you?"
"Killed ten kids." Vincent confirmed, his voice still flat and
emotionless.
"B-but you've been helping them now, right?" I asked. "Y-you're all
good, right?"
"I hope so." Vincent seemed so dead inside. It hurt me to see him like
this, so broken and lonely.
"You're a good person Vincent." I reassured him, throwing my arms
around him. "You've made them happy. You brought them out of the
pizzeria. You gave them the ability to interact with the outside world.
Not Mike. Not Fritz. Not Percy. Not the Puppet. You."
Vincent buried his face in the fur on my shoulder. "Thank you."
"I can't do any music. Apart from that one time. On Angela's birthday."
"Umm" I began, then paused. Vincent may not want Bonnie to hear
this, but it had nothing to do with Nightmare. It would be lying to say
that Vincent had done that alone. "Every time you wore me, you
weren't the only one doing things"
"What does that mean, exactly?" Bonnie asked confused.
"It's technically a mind share. Um. I can't explain it, but I can show it."
I said nervously. "But only Vincent will really see."
"See what?" Vincent was perplexed. That was understandable, I
didn't even understand how it worked. All I really knew was that when
it happened, Vincent was in my mind, or I was in his. Normally I was
just an observer, but that didn't mean that I couldn't make actions as
well.
"Vincent, come sit over here." I suggested. "Proximity may make it
easier. I don't really know. In any case, one of us is about to lose
control of his body."
"Oh kay then" Vincent walked over to the edge of the stage
and sat down next to me.
"So, you want to piggyback on my mind, or do you want me to join
you?" I asked, not sure which Vincent would prefer. Something told
me that he would understand better if he joined me, but if he didn't,
then he would be more comfortable.
"I'll join you. I guess." Vincent replied, still confused.
"Close your eyes." I instructed. "Now don't try to resist."
I concentrated, closing my eyes. Then, with a mental effort, I tugged,
pulling Vincent's mind into mine. Vincent's body slumped, causing
him to lean against me. Not surprising, seeing as his mind and soul
was now within my body.
What. The. Hell. Vincent practically shouted.
unite.
Vincent's body awoke with a start. "That is SUPER weird."
"You get used to it. I did." I replied, snuggling into Goldie's fur.
"How often did you piggyback on my mind, exactly?" Vincent asked.
"Umm" I paused in thought. "A better question is how often I didn't.
And the answer is whenever you were wearing me."
"Oh. Kay then." Vincent muttered, looking up at the purple rabbit that
was cradling him. "You can put me down now."
"Gotcha." Bonnie dropped Vincent.
The human screamed in terror as he plunged towards the stage. Just
at the last second, Bonnie caught him again. There was a clatter in
the kitchen, and Chica rushed out. "What happened?"
"Bonnie dropped Vincent." I spoke up. "But he caught him again."
"Bonnie!" Chica scolded. "Don't do that!"
"I caught him again Cheeks!" Bonnie protested. "He's fine."
"My whole life flashed before my eyes." Vincent groaned dramatically.
"I thought I was gonna dieee"
"Bonnie, you are never going to be put in charge of these two ever
again!" Chica seemed really mad.
"But I-"
"EVER AGAIN." Chica asserted.
"Chica, Vincent's fine. He was never in danger." Goldie said with a
sigh. "I would have caught him before he hit the ground. Don't be
mad at Bonnie. He was trying to have some fun."
Chica sighed. "I know, but if anything happened to Vincent"
Chica took a deep breath and calmed down. "I could never forgive
myself."
"None of us could forgive ourselves if that happened. Especially after
all he's done for us." Bonnie said softly.
I yawned, not deliberately trying to ruin the moment, but doing so
anyway. "'m sorry." I murmured. "'m tired."
Goldie looked up at the clock. "Hmm no wonder. It's well past your
bedtimes."
Vincent mumbled something about wanting to be put down, but
Bonnie shook his head and handed the human over to Chica. I knew
immediately that Vincent wasn't complaining much. He craved
affection at least as much as I did, even if he didn't admit it.
Tonight will be quite different from usual. Nightmare's more worried
about keeping me out than it is about catching you. Unfortunately, it's
made things more difficult for you tonight. I warned Vincent as the two
yellow animatronics carried us downstairs to our- no, Vincent's- room.
"I hope you two don't mind sharing a bed. At least, for now. We all
have our sections of the backstage areas, but we don't have another
bed for Spring." Goldie informed us quietly. We both mumbled in
response.
How are things more difficult? Vincent asked.
Paul has been put on the sidelines, and both Aaron and Violet have
been replaced by others. Not to mention the fact that you might lose
the game at the beginning of the night. Barry'll be there to greet you
tonight. I explained. As you know, Nightmare cannot directly kill you.
You can thank Mari's amulet for that. Sh-it saved your life more than
once with that thing.
Did you just misspeak in telepathy? Vincent asked, clearly amused.
Yes Vincent didn't consciously know about who Mari was. I wasn't
about to tell him. There were some things that he needed to learn
without Nightmare's interference. Apparently Nightmare fully agreed
with this, as it had wiped most of what it had told him from his
What is it?! What is this creature that defies the rules of the
game? What keeps getting in?!
Wow, Nightmare seems pissed today.
What happened?
Hell if I know. It ain't talkin' to me. Still hates me for that whole
scenario with ######.
Connor, stop cussing.
That wasn't cussing this time. Swear on my right hand.
You don't HAVE a right hand right now.
Right. Wrong thing to say. I meant that I wasn't cussing. No
swears, remember? Nightmare hates 'em.
Only because you cussed it out the first ten minutes you were
here.
Yeah, and now our vocabularies are limited to what Nightmare
considers 'clean'.
Keeping your mouth shut is often the best way to avoid conflict,
Connor.
Oh hey! It's ####!
Did I not literally just tell you to keep your mouth shut?
Goddammit. Nightmare censored your name. What's up old
man?
Why would Nightmare censor my name, but not 'damn',
'dammit', 'goddammit', and 'hell'?
Hell if I know.
The voice belonging to the "old man" sighed. Really?
Maybe Nightmare wants you to be a surprise for Vincent?
Not just Vincent, but our mysterious intruder and the spectator
that looked in last night.
Umm who?
because Nightmare is a stickler for the rules and I'm not allowed
to open the door after you shine a light on me.
"Boo hoo. So sad." Vincent replied unsympathetically. "Oh, I've been
meaning to ask you or Vi. Is Blaze your actual last name, or is it just a
cover?"
It's just a cover. Neither of us can remember our real last name.
It's our actual first names though. Azure informed him
conversationally. Oh! I just remembered! I left something in there,
can I come in and get it?
"Stop trying." Vincent said with a sigh. "I'm not letting you in."
Azure sighed then walked off. Vincent leaned back against the door
and sank to the ground. As much as Vincent liked to taunt her, Azure
scared him. Not in the same manner as Nightmare, but as a matter of
temptation.
The reason for this was because Azure had been particularly
attractive in life. Her deep blue eyes. Her, to quote Connor, 'smokin'
figure'. Her flawless features. Her lovely blonde hair. Her graceful
movement. Azure had been incredibly attractive, and she had known
it. While Vi had been sweet and kind, for the most part, Azure was
cunning and manipulative. Azure was blessed with incredible looks,
and she was fairly agile in her own right, but she wasn't anywhere
near as strong as her sister.
The smaller of the two sisters had made up for this by manipulation of
many types. Lies, bribery, blackmail, and most often seduction. Azure
had used all of these multiple times in order to try and sway Vincent.
The first three had flopped, as Vincent was mistrustful, didn't accept
bribes, and had nothing to hide. The last one had almost succeeded,
and not just once. She had tried multiple times to get him into bed,
and the only real reason she had failed was because of Vincent's
apathy. Really, Nightmare was the primary reason that Azure's
seductive tactics had failed. Rather funny, really, considering that he
would have killed a lot more people if she had succeeded.
That hadn't stopped the blonde woman from claiming that Vincent
was her boyfriend. At least, for a while. Her claims were very quickly
"So, who're you then?" Vincent asked curiously. The voice didn't
sound too familiar, but it rang a couple bells.
Not really a surprise, I guess. We never talked much. The voice
replied. It was male.
"Can you give me any hints?" Vincent queried, still trying to place the
voice to a name.
Well, the first time we met, you freaked out. The voice sniggered.
"I freaked out, huh?" Vincent pondered, then snapped his fingers.
"Oh, right. That was because Tony sent you in to test your skills. You
looked unassuming and scrawny, but the instant combat started you
nearly took me out in one hit. How's it going Matt?"
Well, I'm dead. Things could be better. Matthew Carter answered
conversationally. Not to mention Nightmare has us as its slaves.
"So how're things going with your girlfriend?" Vincent teased. The last
he knew, Matt had been the one that Azure had been 'dating'.
She's not my girlfriend. Matt replied angrily.
"Sorry. Sore spot there, I guess. Why not?" Vincent was curious. This
might have something to do with what Tali had said.
Matt sighed. It was right before she, Paul, and Vi died. She
tricked me into taking a job for her. A job that was supposed to
be for two people. When I went in, I didn't know this. So I get
into the building, and I'm shot almost immediately.
"Wow, so your girlfriend sent you into a deathtrap." Vincent
commented.
She's not my girlfriend! Matt shouted in rage.
"Uh-huh. Last time I saw you, you said you loved her." Vincent
taunted.
That was until she KILLED ME! Matt basically screamed.
head.
"Paul's been kicked from the room, and I get the feeling he isn't
coming back, so come on, let's go sit on the bed." Vincent invited,
walking over to the edge of the bed and sitting down.
After a moment's hesitation, Matt followed him, setting his several
hundred pound bulk down next to the small human. I could just
reach over and impale you right now
"Yes, but you won't. I'm just about the only one who can heal your
relationship." Vincent retorted. He grinned. "So, tell me about what's
been troubling you."
God, I never imagined the apathetic mass murderer to be my
therapist. Matt muttered, shaking his head.
"That's DOCTOR apathetic mass murderer to you!" Vincent joked
with a grin.
You're horrible at this. Matt groaned, falling forward and burying his
face in his hands. I might as well confess my feelings to a rock.
"Seriously though. What exactly is going on?" Vincent sobered and
asked.
Well as I told you, she's kind of the reason that I died. She
thinks I hate her. Matt started. In some ways, I wish I did hate her.
It would hurt less
"Well, why don't you tell her how you feel?" Vincent asked.
I if I did, she might think I'm trying to trick her Matt said sadly.
She doesn't trust many people
"Ok. OK." Vincent nodded his head in understanding. "I get it."
Before Matt could do anything, Vincent jumped off the bed and ran
over to the left door. Vincent, what're you?!
Vincent slammed the door open, causing Matt to cry out in warning.
It also caused Azure, who was carefully leaning up against the door,
to fall into the room. "Thought as much."
Azure's current body was a nightmarish version of the old toy Chica
model. The torso was feminine in form, but the arms and legs were
disproportionately long. Similarly to the other Nightmares, her skin
was a strange, almost biological material that grew fur, or feathers in
this case. Her extremely long arms ended in cruelly curved claws.
Her face was what was truly terrifying, as it had the same sinister grin
that the toy Chica model had worn. The eyes were a sapphire blue,
and right now, they were tearing up as well.
Y-you don't hate me? Azure asked, looking up from the floor at Matt.
You might be manipulative and sometimes cruel, but you have
so, so many redeeming qualities Matt walked over to her and
knelt down, extending his arm to help her up. You can be kind, and
witty, and you make me laugh. You're not just beautiful on the
outside, but you can be beautiful on the inside when you try. I've
seen you at your worst, and I've seen you at your best; and
frankly, I love both equally.
Azure took his hand and he pulled her up. The female spirit then
threw her arms around the blue rabbit, tears in her eyes. Thank you.
And so the seductress and the socially awkward freak lived
happily ever after. How touching.
Nightmare! Matt snarled, holding Azure close.
Hmm, yes. You know my name. Impressive feat, for one who has
been dormant up until now. Nightmare seemed bored. Say, weren't
you two supposed to KILL Vincent?
Your punishments aren't enough to make us kill someone.
Especially when that someone has helped us so much. The
rabbit retorted.
The closet doors slammed open and Tali stepped out, their eyes a
furious red.
Ah. Tali. Talk some sense into these two. Nightmare commanded.
Keep it up you two. Tali said with a thumbs up. Oh, and thanks
Vincent. When those two were fighting, nobody was happy.
You all attempt to insubordinate me? Nightmare asked
incredulously. Your punishment will be painful.
"Shut up Nightmare. Nobody cares about your punishments. There
are things more important than self-preservation." Vincent growled.
Why you little- Nightmare began, then stopped. The sound of an
alarm clock was audible in the background. It doesn't matter.
Tomorrow is another day.
The door slowly creaked open and a tall figure slipped into the room.
Its gaze swept over the two small figures sleeping on the bed, and a
kind smile appeared on its face.
The slender creature leaned over and stroked the fur on the face of
the golden rabbit on the bed. Its spiderlike fingers slowly running
through the yellow fur. In response, the golden rabbit unconsciously
moved into the stroking sensation, a croon in the back of his throat.
With its smile growing wider, the towering creature turned its attention
to the other figure on the bed. The white-haired child was sleeping
soundly, a triumphant smile on his face.
"Have you defeated your enemies Vincent?" The Puppet whispered
almost silently, running the spidery fingers of its other hand through
the human's hair.
Vincent mumbled something in response, not even awake to hear the
Puppet's question. The Puppet smiled even wider at that, then stood
upright again, turning around. "Goodbye you two. See you later.
Sleep well"
With that, the Puppet stepped out of the room, the door clicking
quietly shut behind it.
Vincent woke up with a yawn, stretching his arms and sitting up.
"Ow."
The human quickly drew his right arm back in. "Sorry Spring."
"'s okay." The rabbit replied blearily, also sitting up. The golden
animatronic rubbed his eyes. "Just hit me in the ear is all."
"Sorry about that." Vincent apologized again, flinching. The weirdest
part was that he had felt that. Not just on his arm, but where he had
hit Spring on the ear. It felt like someone had flicked him, right below
the earlobe.
Vincent slid his legs off of the bed and stood up. He looked down at
himself and sighed. He was still wearing his day clothes from the
previous day. With sluggish movements, he walked over to his
dresser and opened some drawers. After pulling out a shirt and some
pants that the Puppet had kindly downsized for him, he pulled off his
current shirt and pants, and put on the new ones.
"Can I open my eyes now?"
Vincent sighed and turned around. "Spring, you didn't need to close
them. We're both parts of the same person." The human shook his
head. "In any case, I just changed my shirt and pants. I wasn't
naked."
"Oh." Spring blinked, his ears drooping in embarrassment. "Sorry."
"It's OK. You were just respecting my privacy." Vincent reassured.
"Even if it wasn't necessary."
"Okay then." Spring replied, perking up again. "So what happened
last night?"
"Why? Weren't you piggybacking on my mind?" The human asked in
response, confused.
"Not this time. Nightmare was searching too hard for me to try it."
Spring answered, scratching behind his ear. "Last thing I want is for it
to catch me."
"Fair enough." Vincent conceded. "Umm lemme see. Barry took
your place as the minigame before the night. Well, took his place
back. He's super whiney. And irritating. And loud."
Spring giggled. "Yeah."
"Anyways, he complained about me 'cheating'. Nightmare basically
told him off for that. It was really distracted, trying to find you." Vincent
chuckled, then continued. "After that, I met Azure and Matt again.
Turns out they still love each other, despite events."
The rabbit closed his eyes and thought for a moment, looking through
Vincent's memory. It was almost like Vincent himself was running
through his memories, even though he knew that Spring was the one
doing it. "Ok. Gotcha. Your memories are more accurate than your
recounting. You know that, right?"
"Doesn't surprise me." Vincent replied with a smile.
"My only question is why Matt has four arms" Spring muttered.
"I don't know. It's creepy though, so I guess it works." Vincent
answered, shrugging. "Let's go get breakfast."
"Amen."
The duo made their way upstairs, Spring leaning on Vincent part of
the way. The golden rabbit still wasn't good at walking, and Vincent
was happy to help him out.
As the two entered the staff longue, they were greeted with the sight
of Mike talking on the phone. Vincent immediately hushed Spring's
question before the rabbit could do more than ask "Wh-?"
"Yeah, I know. The Fright didn't work out too well." Mike said,
probably in response to something. "But we've been going for almost
two months now, and things have only gotten better."
There was the sound of someone talking on the other end of the
phone. After a moment, Spring sent what he heard to Vincent.
"What'd you do with the old stuff anyway?"
"We've revamped everything. All of the animatronics look almost
nothing like what they did way back then." Mike replied.
"Woah, so you've, like, turned them into androids or something?" The
person on the other side of the phone asked.
"Well you'll have to see them for yourself." Mike answered
hesitantly. "Come by tomorrow, I'll be able to show you."
"Okay then man. Can't wait to see what you've done with it." The
other person chuckled, then the phone line went silent.
Spring, that was simultaneously the most sneaky and most awesome
thing you've ever done. Vincent sent mentally, in awe that the rabbit
had heard that much.
Fritz gave me really good ears. Spring replied sheepishly.
"Charley" Mike muttered with a sigh, putting his phone in his
pocket. He only then seemed to notice the two diminutive figures that
had entered the room. "Oh, hello you two! How are you doing this
morning?"
Mike checked his watch. "I'm off too. Got a lot of paperwork to do."
Chica and Mike both left the staff lounge, leaving Spring, Vincent, and
Jeremy. Vincent walked over to the table and took a seat. Picking up
his fork, the grey eyed human dug into his breakfast. The eggs were
nice and fluffy, with just the right amount of salt and pepper, while the
bacon was crispy without being overcooked. Just another example of
Chica's excellent cooking.
"Something happening today? You ate really quickly." Jeremy
commented once Vincent finished.
"Oh! Angela's going to be back today." Vincent replied, getting up and
running to the main show area.
He was just in time to see Fritz unlocking the doors. The man turned
around and raised an eyebrow. "You seem to be in a hurry. Normally
you wait until after opening time to enter the public areas."
"Angela's going to be here today, so I wanted to be down here to
greet her." Vincent explained.
"Angela's the kid who turned out to be your niece, right?" Fritz asked.
"Yup. She also really likes Spring. He's her favorite." Vincent
confirmed, going over to his little drawing corner. He had a small table
to himself, as nobody else ever came over to use it. Angela had been
the first person to go anywhere near him while he was drawing. Apart,
of course, from the animatronics, Mike, and Fritz.
Vincent grabbed a piece of paper and some drawing tools and
immediately set himself to drawing. He had decided on a picture of
both Azure and Matt. With a little altering of proportions and a bit of
fixing up, he managed to draw Azure as she would be without
Nightmare's dark tweaks. Matt was a little more difficult, mostly
because his current form had four arms. In order to make it more
normal, Vincent had decided to omit the extra arms.
Are you going to draw Barry? Spring asked, hopping into Vincent's
mind. The rabbit had a much easier time jumping from his body to
Vincent's than Vincent did jumping to Spring's body. Not surprising
when one took into account the amount of practice Spring had.
Nah. He's not worth my effort. Vincent replied, continuing to draw.
That's probably- Spring suddenly cut off his communication.
"Spring? Vincent cast out to try and locate the rabbit.
Oh. You're drawing again.
That made sense now. The last thing Spring wanted was for
Nightmare to catch him. That could lead to problems upon problems.
"Yes, I'm drawing again." Vincent retorted, slightly irritated at
Nightmare's interference.
Hmm where is it? Nightmare demanded, sounding genuinely
confused.
"Where is what?"
The intruder it keeps evading me. Do you know where it is?
Nightmare must've been really desperate if it was asking Vincent.
"Not a clue." The human lied, going back to his drawing.
Damn. The dark creature sighed. I'll go.
Just like that, Nightmare was gone again. Spring's presence returned
to Vincent's mind. It's desperate. If it doesn't get me soon, it's going
to take it out on you.
It's not catching you. Vincent adamantly stated. I won't let it.
Thanks Vincent
Vincent resumed his drawing. Matt's eyes were emerald green, while
Azure's were sapphire blue. Azure was the shorter of the two, but her
form was more aesthetically pleasing. Matt was taller, but his scrawny
limbs made him unthreatening.
"Hey Vincent!"
behind. The four hiding behind the box held their breaths. The suited
man gave the little alcove a once-over, then turned back to his
companion. "Nothing here. The place is completely free of Tollinis."
"Damn. Maybe come back in a couple days. Come on. Let's get out
before those robots show up." Pinstripe scanned the room one last
time then left, Fedora in tow.
Vincent, Angela, and Jeremy let out a collective breath. Then Angela
opened her mouth and asked a question that made Jeremy cringe.
"Why were they talking about my last name? And how did that man
not see us?"
"I have no idea." Jeremy lied. "I need to talk to Vincent real quick.
Alone."
"Okay." Angela answered, biting her lip. It seemed like she was going
to ask another question, but she knew that it was better to keep her
mouth shut for now.
Jeremy grabbed Vincent's shoulder and pulled him to another corner
of the room. "Vincent, I need your help. I would KILL for a pizza right
now."
"Then go ask Chica for something to eat." Vincent stated simply,
slightly confused.
"Okay, you don't seem to understand. What am I?" Jeremy tried
again.
"A ghost?" Vincent raised an eyebrow.
Then it clicked. Vincent's eyes widened. "Holy crap. You're alive
again."
"I don't think so. But, well." Jeremy gestured to himself. "I'm
corporeal, I'm starving, and I seriously want to take a shower after
twenty three years of collecting dust. The only odd thing out is the
fact that I can't feel my heart beating, and I've been holding my breath
throughout this whole conversation and I'm not blue and dying."
"But you did magic back over there." Vincent noted, gesturing at the
Puppet's box. "You made us invisible."
"I know. That's what's bugging me." Jeremy sighed. "I'm currently
trying to turn incorporeal again, but it's not working. I guess it's
something to do with technique, but I can't get it to work out."
"Maybe you should ask the Puppet about it." Vincent suggested,
shrugging. "I don't understand magic. Until then, be glad that you're
effectively alive again."
"Yeah." Jeremy murmured in response. "I just can't help but wonder
"What will the others think?"
I'm so sorry that it's been so long since I last posted. I've had a
combination of writer's block and the fact that Enter the
Gungeon has consumed my soul keeping me from writing.
You won't be getting any answers on Jeremy's sudden
corporeality for a while. Just be glad it's here and that it gives us
back our redheaded adrenaline junkie.
Chapter 85: Night Five
teeth, crimson eyes, and a cruel scowl. It had also had a decaying,
brown-yellow color scheme, which reminded him of Springtrap.
Irrationally so, but a reminder nonetheless.
"What. The. Hell. Was. THAT?!" Vincent practically screamed.
Sounds like Vincent saw him.
You heard that over Connor's whining?
This HURTS. It hurts like hell!
You've been impaled before. You're fine.
Doesn't make it painless.
You'll get used to it. It's not the same slow suffering of
suffocation.
Ouch.
Oh I forgot about that.
No you didn't, you ####.
Okay maybe I didn't.
Vincent shook his head. The Nightmares' conversations were still
audible, funnily enough. Even when they weren't allowed anywhere
near him, they still had an impact on how the night went.
There was the sound of heavy footsteps, followed by another
demonic laugh. And, surprisingly, muffled swearing.
"Does he not want to laugh or something?" Vincent muttered in
thought, going over to the other doorway and checking with his
flashlight.
Something like that.
With a cry of terror, Vincent whirled around and stumbled back
through the doorway, falling on the ground.
my distorted mind, the cost was worth it. I had heard that the
animatronics were incredibly advanced. In fact, I heard that they
had incredibly advanced facial recognition software. I couldn't
have that getting out to the public
The hulking creature spread his hands wide. I've done so many
horrible, horrible things in my life. I've made many others into
similarly horrible monsters. All I can do is ask you for
forgiveness.
"Seeing as my own victims are forgiving me" Vincent smiled. "I
would be a hypocrite to say that I won't try."
Tony smiled, as best as he could without much ability to move his
face. Thank you Vincent.
"So, uh, what now? We have another couple hours before Nightmare
kicks me out." Vincent scratched the back of his head, still not quite
comfortable with this monstrous creature. Tony as a human had been
intimidating, now he was terrifying.
Why not come visit the others? Tony invited. It's impossible to
get there without using some form of control over the dream
realm, but control over the dream realm is something that those
of us stuck here have.
The massive robot reached out its hand, and after a moment's
hesitation, Vincent took it. The room warped for a moment, eventually
coming back into focus in a similar, yet completely different room. The
bed was in the same place, the closet still had the same sliding
doors, even the little purple robot was still there. The differences,
however, were staggering.
For starters, there were twelve mechanical monstrosities scattered
throughout the room.
That wasn't the only difference, however. The dimensions had
changed, making the room much larger than before, to better
accommodate the metal giants. In addition, the doors on the sides of
the room were gone, leaving nothing but blank wall. Lastly, there was
a giant metal spike sticking out of the wall.
glare at Tony.
Tell me Aaron, in my position, would you have told Nightmare
that you would go commit suicide? Tony retorted calmly.
No.
Then do not judge my death, it was not of my choosing. The
massive golden bear shrugged. Damn. I almost forgot. Tony pointed
at the shadows beneath the bed. Don't grab its attention.
"Nightmare?"
Immediately, the shadows under the bed began to seep out and form
up into a towering pillar of darkness. Two blood red eyes snapped
open and scanned the room. Who said my name? Why was a
living being saying my name in this room?
The reason the dark creature didn't spot Vincent was because Tony
had taken the precaution to move Vincent out of the extradimensional
space that the Nightmares called home. He could still see the room,
but now it was like a set of phantasmal images, superimposed over
the ordinary room.
A living being couldn't enter this room, Nightmare. Tony replied
with open hostility.
Yeah, it's not possible for anyone to get in. Connor added, finally
managing to pull himself off the spike. Victory!
With a cruel snarl, Nightmare levitated Connor back onto the spike.
What a shame. Now you need to do it all over again. How sad.
You. Suck. Connor shouted angrily.
I need to go. He'll be expecting me to show up in the closet or
on the bed. Tony vanished.
Immediately, Tony reappeared, again just as a phantasmal image.
No. Time is nearly up. Don't bother. I'll attend to our guest.
Uh-oh.
True to its word, Nightmare manifested itself in Vincent's room. So.
You've beat night five.
"Yeah. And?" Vincent wasn't feeling very cooperative, especially
towards Nightmare.
Just a warning. I feel as if it is necessary. Nightmare said
indifferently. You won't survive the next two nights.
"Uh-huh. Gotcha. Didn't you say that about night five too?" Vincent
asked cockily.
The instant Antonio opened his mouth I knew he had done
absolutely nothing. Nightmare growled. Night five would have
been a challenge. If Tony weren't useless.
"At least Tony has a heart." Vincent retorted.
Hmm, quite. Yet what does an organ that pumps blood have to
do with worth? He has not done his job, thus he is worthless.
Nightmare seemed particularly unamused.
Vincent didn't have a good answer, so he said nothing.
Nothing to say? Just as well. I'll see you tomorrow night. I have
a couple, shall we say, surprises, lined up for you. But for now
Tomorrow is another day.
Wait-
The Puppet had been surprised when Jeremy had walked up to it. As
opposed to, you know, floating.
"What's going on?" It asked, looking between the trio. It was after
closing time, thankfully, and Jeremy, Vincent, and Spring were in the
Prize Corner.
"That's what we're here to ask." Jeremy answered, gesturing to
himself. "I'm corporeal again, and not just that, but I'm hungry too."
"Really?" The Puppet's eyes widened in surprise. "Describe your
current state. Please."
"Umm" The redhead scratched the back of his head. "I'm solid. I
have nerves again, fully functional, mind you; I checked. My full five
senses are functioning, although my sense of touch is slightly
numbed. Not by much, however. I feel more or less identical to how I
did in my first life, minus breathing and a beating heart. I also don't
have the scars, but that's because this isn't my base form. It's
draining my energy, but not more so than normal; funnily enough."
"So the only strain upon your energy reserves is the shape change?"
The Puppet clarified.
"Yeah. Oh, and I'm tired. Not excessively so, but enough to remind
me that I'm mortal." Jeremy shrugged. "It's not bad as such, but I
would like to be able to go back to my incorporeal form."
"It's a matter of options, yes?" The Puppet asked absentmindedly. It
was clearly thinking. "What happened when you first changed to this
current state?"
"Well, those two goons had just showed up. You know, the morons
who opened your box earlier today." Jeremy recounted. "Anyways,
those two had just showed up, so I went to the Prize Corner to try and
get Vincent to safety. Next thing I know, I'm walking instead of
levitating, and I grabbed Vincent to drag him behind your box."
"Hmm" The Puppet put its elbow on the edge of its box and rested
its chin on its hand. "Can you describe your emotional state at the
time of the thugs entering the building?"
"I was worried. Panicked, even. I didn't want them to hurt Vincent."
Jeremy explained.
"You do care!" Vincent joked, laughing.
"Hey, if those goons killed you, I wouldn't have someone to tease."
Jeremy retorted, flicking Vincent behind the ear.
The Puppet stayed silent for a bit, adding things together in its head,
then it nodded as if it had been expecting Jeremy's answer. "So it
happened in a time of distress?"
"You could say that, yes." Jeremy replied, slightly confused.
"Interesting. I'll study this to see what we can do about it. Are you
able to do magic whilst in this form?"
"Yes, actually. And it's as strong as usual, too."
"Hmm I can't do anything for you now, but I should have an answer
in a couple days." The Puppet informed. "For now though, you're
effectively a living being."
"I understand." Mike took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When
he opened them again, he had a resolute look in his eyes. "If I tell
you, you have to swear that you won't tell anyone, and that we are
allowed to use our preventative measures."
"Preventative measures? Like brainwashing?" Charley's eyes
widened and he took a step back.
"Charley" Mike smacked the palm of his hand into his forehead. "I'll
explain in detail in a bit. For now, I need you to come with me to the
Prize Corner. It's been surprisingly empty recently, and for our
purposes that's a good thing."
"Okay man, I trust you." Charles nodded.
Gesturing for Charley to follow, Mike led the way to the Prize Corner.
With a sudden jolt of worry, Vincent realized that Spring was still in
the Prize Corner.
Incoming. He warned.
I gotcha. Want me to send you a feed? Spring asked, not worried.
Sure.
It was like watching television out of the corner of your eye, difficult to
pay attention to in your current position, but possible. The only real
difference was that it was in Vincent's mind, as opposed to actually
being a television.
"So what exactly do you wanna talk about?" Charley asked, an
easygoing smile on his face. He seemed to have forgotten about the
whole 'brainwashing' thing already, although it was more likely that he
had been joking.
"Tell me what you think you know about Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."
Mike replied.
"Umm okay then? It's a franchise that began in the early 80s, with
four animatronic characters and the two springlock suits. The
characters are Freddy, Bonnie, Chica-"
"Charley, I know that you've researched the history of the place, but
what do you know about the legends behind it." Mike cut him off.
"It started in 1978, at Fredbear's Family Diner. There was a drug
trade there, and only one man was a direct witness, being Frederick
Beyer, the owner of the diner. He was also witness to a murder,
wherein a tall figure with dark hair slashed a child's face and throat.
The culprit was never caught, but Fredbear's was shut down due to
the tragedy. Two years later, the first Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was
opened, and the original characters were reworked into the iconic
quartet. They kept Fredbear and the original Bonnie as springlock
suits, in order to pay homage to the diner; even if they changed the
gender of Bonnie. In the early summer of 1983 more tragedy
occurred, wherein five children were lured into the back room by an
employee in one of the spring suits; the bodies were never found.
Most don't think it was an employee, but all evidence shows that it
was an employee, likely one of the higher-ups. A month later, the two
employees that regularly wore the springlock suits died, due to a
malfunction in the spring mechanisms. Four years later, a similar
tragedy occurred. Five more children were lured into a back room and
murdered. The bodies were also never located, however there were
five child skeletons found under the building a year later. Around a
week after the children went missing, one Jeremy Fitzgerald was
bitten on the head by an animatronic dubbed 'The Mangle', damaging
his brain irreparably and sending him into a coma. A while later, I
can't find the exact date, Jeremy died due to the emergency
equipment failing in a power outage. In 1990 the place was reopened,
and while it was beloved, it was on a rapid decline. In 1993 Percy
Giles was hospitalized after a heart attack brought on while manning
the night shift. On November 21, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza shut down.
Exactly one year later, Vincent Tollini, the head of security and
number one suspect for the murders went missing. I forgot to bring it
up earlier, but throughout all of this, starting after the first five children
went missing, the animatronics roamed around the building, in 'free
roam'. However, many ex-night guards believed that the animatronics
were possessed or haunted, because they roamed into the night
guard's office. Anyways, after Vincent Tollini went missing, thirteen
years passed with Freddy Fazbear's being largely unmentioned. You
had bought out the company, but there was no action. Thirteen years
after you bought the company, I opened Fazbear's Fright, where you
"I was going to." Mike facepalmed for the second time that day.
"Magic too? This just gets better and better man!" Charley laughed
again. "What's next? Is Vincent Tollini going to walk in the door?"
"No. No he's not." Mike asserted, then mumbled quietly enough that
only Spring could hear. "At least he'd better not." He spoke louder
again. "However, there are two other ghosts that were killed by spring
suits; they're currently resting. Not to mention that we've revamped
Spring Bonnie, or Springtrap as it used to be called."
Both Vincent and Spring flinched at the name Springtrap, but Mike
continued anyways, not noticing. "Not to mention that all of the other
animatronics are haunted. Just don't call Vix by the name she had
back in '87, avoid ticking off Bonnie and Freddy, do not mention the
name Springtrap if you can avoid it, and in general avoid talking
about 1987 around the toy animatronics."
"So what were you talking about with magic?" Charley sobered.
"Living humans are incapable of magic. Only the dead need concern
themselves with it." The Puppet cut in before Mike could answer. "You
had best hope you won't need to."
"Alright then." Mike conceded. "The Puppet's our magic master of
sorts. If it says you don't need to know, you'd be best off doing as it
says."
"So I still get the job, right? I do actually need the money." Charley
asked seriously, his easygoing mood gone.
"Well, you've uncovered just about every secret of this place." Mike
replied. "I'd say you're practically already part of the family."
insane, he was still a child. The plastic creature had synthetic tears
streaming down his face. With sadness in his heart, Vincent turned
the flashlight off again. After a couple seconds, the heavy and slow
thump, thump of Barry's footsteps was audible, and it came to a
complete stop directly in front of him.
The human turned his flashlight back on to show Barry already
slumped over on the X.
You weren't trying. Nightmare commented, sounding disgusted.
I-I was! I was trying! Barry protested
Likely story. Nightmare snorted. Fine. You win your little game.
Enjoy your small victory, because while the battle is won, you've
lost the war.
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch." Vincent retorted. "After
all, anything could happen."
I don't think so. Nightmare's ephemeral form expanded to
encompass the whole room. The omnipotent can alter fate itself,
after all
When Nightmare moved off, Vincent was back in the room with the
bed.
And a particular, twinkling tune was playing throughout the room.
It made Vincent's blood run cold.
The human rand to the right door and shined his flashlight directly
into the frozen visage of a terrifying creature. Its glowing white eyes
narrowed to vertical slits, it lunged at him. As quickly as he could,
Vincent slammed the door shut, catching its spiderlike claws against
the doorframe and causing it to hiss in pain.
Send me in now.
We can't!
Need time!
Start then.
And we'll hope Vincent survives until then.
"Real encouraging guys." Vincent muttered, holding the door shut on
the creature's claws.
The creature on the other side of the door slammed into it, forcing it
open just enough for the striped claws to slide out, letting the door
close completely. Immediately, after, there was a thunk and a black
and white striped claw punched through the door directly next to
Vincent's head, the fingers sweeping the air blindly.
With a cry of surprise, Vincent ducked away from the door out of
range of the claws. Just a fraction of a second later, the claws dug
into the wood where Vincent's head had been, and pulled. A large
chunk of wood broke off of the door to reveal a white ceramic face,
black tearstains below its slitted white eyes. Its mouth was locked
open in a perpetual grimace, with needle teeth lining the top and
bottom.
Hsss! It snarled, the mask vanishing behind the door.
Then the strangest part happened.
The door's fragments on the ground vanished, and the wood of the
door began to regenerate. Dark, shadowy ooze seeped out of the
splintered edges of the hole, filling the gap entirely. Then the slimy
looking substance hardened, congealing into white painted wood,
seamlessly healing the damaged door.
Vincent's jaw dropped. "The doors are literally alive. This place just
gets weirder and weirder."
'My Grandfather's Clock' came to a sudden stop, then began again.
Vincent quickly went over to the closet and opened it, revealing a
mask lying on the floor. Vincent's vision flickered for a couple
moments, and when it cleared, the mask was gone.
"This just gets creepier and weirder" Vincent muttered, closing the
closet again and turning to look at the bed.
It was right there.
A smiling mask with black tear stains was sitting on the bed, slowly
rising. Already, a pair of striped claws were grabbing the covers of the
bed and pulling down, as if it was pushing itself out of a pool. With
panicked breaths, Vincent shined his flashlight directly on the puppet
like creature, forcing it to sink back into the bed.
Then there was the sound of something pushing on the left door.
With a groan of anger and frustration, Vincent rushed over to the left
door and shined his flashlight to check for the creepy marionette.
It wasn't there.
Smacking himself on the forehead, Vincent rushed over to the right
door again and checked for the marionette.
It was right in his face again.
Boo.
Vincent slammed the door shut again, but this time its whole arm was
caught instead of just its spidery fingers. The spidery, skeletal limb
flailed wildly, then stopped. It made its way to the doorknob and
yanked as hard as it could. To Vincent's eternal gratitude, the door
held; apparently the weight of a human child and the door was
enough to stop a monstrous skeletal puppet.
With a scathing hiss, the clawed hand pushed on the door, again to
no effect. Another hiss, and the claw changed targets, swiping directly
towards Vincent. The claws stopped a fraction of an inch away from
Vincent's face, and the human forced himself not to flinch.
He's going to die if we don't act now.
Ready!
Send me in.
There was the unmistakable ripple of magic, shortly followed by a
brief scuffle.
I think I'll do it instead.
Connor you absolute ####### MORON!
Wow, and you all call me a pottymouth.
YOU LITTLE ####, YOU'LL KILL VINCENT.
Relax, I got this.
There was a strange sound that Vincent identified as portal
transportation, and Connor appeared in the middle of the room.
Oh, sweet. It worked.
CONNOR I'M GONNA ####### KILL YOU.
Connor chuckled. Aaron's a little pissed right now.
"Is that because he was supposed to be the one who helped me;
what with the whole 'stronger than the rest of us' speech?" Vincent
growled, sliding a little ways along the door to keep it closed while
avoiding the creature's claw.
Well, yeah, that's true. But I wasn't just gonna go and sit there
while he's playing hero. So I decided to take over. Connor replied,
brushing it off.
"So you, the useless, one handed fox with a habit of getting impaled,
decided to take over when Aaron could actually DO SOMETHING."
Vincent was shouting by the end of the sentence.
-Oh. Connor came to the sudden realization that he had screwed up.
I just signed your death warrant, didn't I?
YOU THINK THAT WASN'T WHAT I TOLD YOU?!
Now it's your turn, you pathetic whelp! The slender monster
growled, stalking towards Vincent. The hole in its rib portion was
already knitting itself back together, much like the door had.
"Who are you?" Vincent asked, slowly backing away. "Who were you
in life?"
Of COURSE you forgot. Of course you did. It's not like we were
friends or anything. The skeletal marionette continued to approach
Vincent.
"Franklin" Vincent said, his eyes widening in realization. "You're the
thirteenth the one who Nightmare went ballistic on that first night.
The one that the others have been referring to as 'newbie'. How?"
How am I here? Franklin spat the question, venom in his voice.
Have you already forgotten that you're one of the marked? Hell, I
was one of the marked too. But then, you wouldn't know that.
Not unless you listened way back then when I told you about my
nightmares. 'Ignore them' you said. 'It'll pass' you said. 'Focus
on the mission' you said.
"But I was also under Nightmare's influence! I didn't-" Vincent
protested.
You didn't CARE. Nobody cared while I was slowly spiraling into
INSANITY! Franklin shouted, his eyes changing from slits to swirls,
then back again. So now, I'm going to return your apathy, your
cruelty. Your HATE.
"F-Franklin please!" Vincent stumbled and fell onto his back, arms
upraised. "I never- never wanted to hurt you! I-I wanted to help you,
b-but I n-never knew-"
Knew about what? Franklin's clawed hand snapped forward and
lifted Vincent by the front of his shirt.
"Nightmare! None of us kn-knew about Nightmare!" Vincent was
panicking now, breathing far faster than was safe and tearing up in
the eyes.
"I could have- could have fought off my apathy. I could have listened.
I could have done so much different" Vincent choked back another
sob. "So now I'm going to die for my- my sins."
When Nightmare first gave me this body, I was ecstatic. I was
stronger. Faster. More dangerous. Taller. Franklin's voce was flat,
emotionless. I was its choice for killing you. It knew already that
the others would either fail or refuse to attack you.
But you know what I feel about this? I feel angry and frustrated.
Constantly. This body may be nearly indestructible and able to
tear apart those doors, but it's uncoordinated. I can't use any of
my, or rather, your fighting techniques like this. I can't just be
normal again.
Franklin's eyes widened from slits to orbs. I don't hate you. I want
to hate you, I want to want revenge. But I can't. I can't blame you
for anything you've done. I know it's all been Nightmare, and
that you've helped me more than anyone else. Period. I would
have died on those streets if you hadn't taken me in, and I
repayed you by trying to sell you out.
I hate myself more than anything. And I don't blame you if you
don't forgive me. I'll go. Franklin slowly lowered Vincent to the
ground and began to walk off, picking Connor's head up off the
ground. And you can stop pretending to be dead. ###hole.
To Vincent's surprise, Connor's eyes opened. Damn. Thought I was
being sneaky.
I know your anatomy better than you do. Go put your head back
on. Franklin dropped Connor's head to the fox saying ow and left
the room.
And here we have the full roster of Nightmares! Franklin isn't too
happy about being a giant creepy puppet, and he's even less
happy that he's attacking the only person who actually ever
helped him.
Alternate title: Aaron's F###### Pissed.
Chapter 88: Fears and Forewarnings
Have you ever felt like everything was going to fail? Like there was
nothing you could do to prevent your day from slowly spiraling into
failure? Like your plans are all collapsing, despite what the facts
state?
That's how Vincent felt today.
He knew intellectually that Nightmare was overconfident and likely
just trying to screw with his confidence, but he still felt like he wouldn't
survive tonight.
It was distracting him so much that he couldn't focus on his drawing.
The feeling of dread that had settled over him was keeping him from
drawing Franklin. He had already redrawn Barry as a friendlier
creature, making him into a more normal child with orange eyes and
a striped shirt. He had foregone the hat, drawing Barry with the dark
hair that the child had had on the first day he had seen him.
If you're done laughing, could you please scare these people off?
Spring asked, irritated.
Okay, okay. I'll go stand over by the Puppet box. Vincent soothed, still
laughing inside.
Walking over to the box, Vincent took note of how some of the other
kids gave him wary glances. He didn't honestly blame them, although
he did feel a bit demoralized because of it. With a heavy sigh, he sat
down next to the Puppet's box and stared up at the 'memorabilia'.
It wasn't long before kids started to trickle out of the Prize Corner. In
groups of one or two, children who were just looking for Spring left.
Others who were chatting stayed a little longer before leaving,
following the crowd. Any of the kids who were turning in tickets for
prizes hurried up, before they too eventually left. In minutes, the room
was empty save Vincent, the Puppet, and Spring.
The towering marionette looked down at Vincent. "Not that I don't
appreciate your company, but I get the feeling that you deliberately
scared the children off."
"Eeyup." Vincent replied, nodding.
"Why, exactly?" The Puppet tilted its head.
In response, Vincent pointed upwards at the rabbit on the shelf, who
was looking down at the two with a cheeky grin.
"How did you get up there?" The haunted puppet asked, craning its
neck to stare up at Spring.
"Umm" Spring blinked, his face scrunching up in thought. "I don't
actually know. Please help."
With a sigh, the Puppet stood to its full height and reached up to the
rabbit. It was easily able to lift him off of the shelf, then it lowered him
gently to the ground. "Just try not to do it again. Please."
"I still have no idea how it happened, but I'll try." Spring assured,
scratching the side of his head. "So how's Jeremy been doing?"
"I still haven't figured out how he can turn back, much less how he
became corporeal in the first place." The Puppet replied with another
sigh. "On the bright side, he'll be able to sustain his current condition
for another week before he runs out of energy and reverts to
incorporeality anyways. Although that is not a route we want to take,
as it will also require him to go dormant for a while."
"So we're hoping that you can figure out a way to get him back into
his incorporeal form without draining his energy reserves?" Vincent
clarified.
The Puppet nodded. "Exactly. In addition, I've been working on the
solution to Nightmare. It should be ready tomorrow."
"T-tomorrow?" Vincent asked, trying and failing to hide his worry.
"Why? Is there an issue?" The Puppet raised one of its eye ridges in
concern.
"No, no. It's fine. Tomorrow." Vincent nodded
The tall creature gave him a look that said it didn't believe him, but
shrugged as best it could anyways. "I'll see if I can get it done earlier,
but no promises."
"Okay then." Vincent nodded again. "Umm, so what's happening
today?"
"Nothing much, actually. Today's fairly empty." The Puppet replied,
turning its attention to something in its box. It pulled a half-finished
doll out of its box along with a needle and thread. It immediately
began to work on the doll, its spiderlike fingers moving quickly.
"Well, I'll leave you to it then." Vincent waved goodbye.
"Have fun." The Puppet looked up from its work and smiled.
Vincent went into the main show area, Spring staying behind to hide
from the mobs of children that sought him out.
The grey eyed child returned to his drawing table and began to draw.
When Vincent entered the dream realm that night, he was greeted by
music. It confused him, until he realized just who was singing.
Don't mind the noise, outside the door
It's just a phantom, nothing more.
No need to give yourself a scare,
When you glance and no one's there
I don't wanna have to hurt you
Nightmare broke off with a malicious laugh. Oh, my mistake. I lied a
bit there. Hurting you is something I'd love to do. But where was
I oh yes.
It's not your fault, I felt his rage.
Just a child, about your age!
But something drives me to this place,
I can see him, in your face.
You'll never know, the hell I've seen.
Hmm not quite accurate, but part of my favorite song,
nonetheless. Nightmare cut its own song off, chuckling.
Don't fear what's coming,
We can't fight off the urge inside
It's dark and you're afraid of
The devils that come out at night.
Tch, is the child mad, now that he's finally caught on? The
immortal taunted. It's all been a game! The instant you agreed I
could have simply killed you. You never stood a chance!
Quicker!
Almost!
Nightmare raised one finger to stop Vincent before he could open his
mouth and respond. And now.
The grandfather clock in the halls of the dream realm chimed,
marking midnight.
"So. What now?" Vincent asked warily.
Now, you die. Nightmare drew back its clawed hand and launched it
forwards.
Only to recoil as Vincent shined the flashlight in its eyes.
GAH! GODS DAMMIT! The demonic creature screamed, covering its
sensitive eyes with its other hand. Of course. OF GODDAMN
COURSE. THE FLASHLIGHT.
There was a crunch, and Vincent looked down to see the flashlight in
his hands was nothing more than a mess of destroyed plastic.
Shadows began streaming out of the mangled device, running down
the plastic to the floor below.
Then the plastic melted.
Vincent cried out in panic and shook the dark ooze that the plastic
turned into off of his hand. "What the hell?!"
Children shouldn't know such words. Nightmare scolded, swiping
towards the human with its claw.
Vincent closed his eyes against the pain of Nightmare's claws,
expecting it to be comparable to the intense agony of being closed in
the Springtrap suit.
Fine then. Nightmare ripped its wrist out of Paul's grip and slammed
its other hand into Paul's shoulder simultaneously. The effect of the
two opposing forces caused Paul's right arm to pop straight out of his
shoulder. The dark creature followed up by ducking under Paul's
reactive punch and ripping the bear's leg out of its socket. Another
quick movement and Nightmare ripped Paul's other leg out of its
socket.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye, and only after did Paul hit
the floor. The orange eyed bear snarled and swung his remaining
arm, which Nightmare caught and pulled off, leaving Paul limbless.
Not even a challenge.
As if karma was directly influencing it, a claw scythed into
Nightmare's skull, pulling up. Nightmare's head disconnected from its
body cleanly.
You're going to pay for hurting Paul. Violet promised, bringing her
other hand around to try and crush Nightmare's head.
The monster's clawed hands both stabbed straight into Violet's gut,
ripping outwards and badly damaging her torso section. Then both
hands launched towards Violet's face, more specifically the eyes.
Violet screeched and dropped Nightmare's head, covering both her
eyes and stumbling backwards into the closet, before collapsing to
the ground incapacitated.
Nightmare's decapitated body then swung around and reached down
to grab its head, only to be prevented by said cranium being swiped
from just beneath its grasp. Connor blitzed by in a red blur, the dark
monster's head caught on his hook. Neener neener.
I will kill you for this. Nightmare promised, its body vanishing.
Connor blinked and looked back at where it was, only to run headlong
into the towering monster and stop in his tracks. Peeka-boo. I see
you.
It seemed that Nightmare could operate at perfect performance
regardless of the position of its head, meaning that it wasn't hindered
at all by lacking its cranium. The demonic entity put its hand out and
gestured for Connor to return its head. In response Connor tucked
the head under his arm and ran, shouting I'm so dead for this! as he
went.
Self-fulfilling prophecy. Nightmare commented, its body teleporting
again into the perfect condition to swing both of its clawed hands
down onto Connor's face. The fox screamed in agony when the razor
sharp claws shredded his skin and exposed the endoskeleton
beneath, absolutely destroying his visage.
Hmm now your outer appearance matches your true
personality. Absolutely bare bone ugly. Nightmare commented
with a chuckle. It reached down and picked up its head and put it
back on. The neck healed back to the severed head with a twining of
dark fibers. After a couple moments, the head was attached
seamlessly. Now then, who'sThe demon was interrupted by a figure swinging down from the
ceiling and slashing at its torso segment. Black ooze sprayed out
from the tears in Nightmare's body, and the spidery creature that had
attacked it swung back up to the ceiling, its luminous white eyes
visible in the darkness. Before Nightmare could retaliate, three more
spirits came through the portal, and Azure, Matt, and Tali appeared in
the room.
Trying to overwhelm me with numbers? Not a viable strategy.
Nightmare commented with a cruel laugh. Do you honestly think
you can kill me?
We can try. Franklin replied from the ceiling. The puppet dropped
straight on top of Nightmare and began tearing at the monster's eyes
with his clawed hands. Nightmare hissed in annoyance and plunged
its claws into Franklin's skull, pinning the marionette to the wall.
Franklin kept fighting, however, swinging his spiderlike nails at the
dark monstrosity that was trying to kill him.
You're so pathetic. Nightmare chuckled. I could just keep you here
until the day the world ended. You do realize that, right?
I could just tear my head off your claws and regenerate. You do
realize that, right? Franklin spat back.
Vincent suddenly realized that he had been standing there and doing
nothing the whole time. He took this opportunity to duck into the
closet where Violet was slowly recovering. "Vi? You alright?"
I'm recovering The chicken replied with a groan. But I can't see
"Move your hands." Vincent commanded. Violet was still holding her
hands over her eyes, despite the fact that she couldn't bleed to death
and any damage was already done.
After a moment's hesitation, Violet removed her hands from her eyes.
Her left eye was fine, even though it was flooded with the black ooze
that the Nightmares had for blood. The right eye, however
She was half blind.
"Um your right eye. It's all grey" Vincent didn't know how to
phrase it without causing her unnecessary panic.
I can't see out of either eye. Violet said fearfully. Am I?
"Probably not entirely. Hopefully not at all." Vincent answered,
knowing the question she was asking.
The creature sighed. I already knew we would be paying for this
heavily. Partial or whole blindness isn't too bad a price to pay
for helping you survive.
GET OFF OF ME! Nightmare roared outside the closet. There was a
hiss of pain that sounded like Franklin, and something slammed into
the closet door. Vincent slowly peeked around the sliding door of the
closet to take a look at the battle.
Franklin wasn't doing too badly, especially since he could regenerate,
and the others had been moving into position the whole time he had
been in the closet.
Tali lunged at Nightmare, their claws outstretched and jaw gaping
wide to take a chomp out of the monster's skull. Nightmare whirled
around and caught them under the chin, ripping upwards and pulling
their spine out of their body. Then, with rapid, savage movements,
Nightmare tore Tali apart. The white fox's skin was basically removed
from their body entirely, leaving a mangled metal skeleton. The
vicious creature ripped Tali's endoskeletal head out of her mask,
splitting the spine in two and leaving the skull and the mask with one
eye each.
The worst part was that Tali was still conscious the whole time. The
now obliterated fox screamed in pain and collapsed in a pile on the
floor.
Azure stepped in at this point, not being fast enough to have stopped
Nightmare's brutal assault. The feathered creature dropped from the
ceiling, suspended only by her claws. With swift kicks, she managed
to cave in Nightmare's face and create a large hole in the side of the
dark entity's head. Take that, you red eyed freak!
Would you like to be the kettle, or the pot? Nightmare asked
innocently, its head already regenerating.
Umm
Oh for crying out loud Nightmare sighed, swinging its claws at
Azure's long legs. The monster shredded through both synthetic skin
and metal, damaging Azure's legs even worse than it had Tali. Azure
cried out in pain and dropped to the ground, her grip ruined.
Nightmare didn't even stop attacking her, still taking its wrath out on
her lower body. This wasn't the same kind of damage as with Paul's
limbs, as that was simply popping the limb out of the socket. This was
downright obliterating Azure's legs and lower torso.
Leave her alone! Matt roared, swinging four punches at Nightmare
simultaneously. The bright blue rabbit opened his mouth wide and bit
into Nightmare's shoulder with his needle teeth, all the while jabbing
Nightmare at various pressure points.
I don't have a nervous system. Nightmare commented, slightly
irritated.
In response, Matt unclenched his hands and jabbed with the
fingertips. Vincent would have thought this stupid, but the black ooze
flying out of Nightmare's injuries every time the rabbit struck told him
more power over the dream realm than the others. You're not.
You're just stupid for thinking that you could overpower me. You
and your stupid mortal friends. None of you ever stood a
chance.
When the darkness collected again and coalesced into Nightmare's
humanoid form, both of the spirits were incapacitated. Franklin's
spidery limbs were bound up in a knot and his body was covered in
gashes, and Tony was ripped cleanly in two.
Now then, I do believe I win. The immortal boasted, scanning the
room. Now, where did the human go?
Vincent held his breath and hid behind the door. There was the thud,
thud of footsteps, and the closet door was thrown wide open.
Vincent, Vincent, Vincent
Nightmare reached down and picked the human up by the back of his
shirt, shaking its head all the while.
I do believe there's a saying for this Nightmare tapped on its
chin in thought, then raised its index finger as if in realization. Ah!
You lose.
"Nightmare" Vincent murmured, his eyes on the alarm clock that
was sitting on the bedside table.
Hmm? Any last words? The creature queried cockily.
"Just one and a couple letters." Vincent gestured for Nightmare to
lean in, which the creature did. "Six A.M."
Beep Beep Beep Beep
Nightmare's visage contorted into one of pure rage. NO! NO! I
REFUSE TO FAIL AGAINST A PETTY HUMAN. The monstrous
creature raised its hand into the air and began to murmur to itself.
One minute should be enough.
The whole world twisted.
The human in the bed stirred and slammed his hand down on the
alarm clock on the bedside table. He sat up and rubbed his eyes
before opening them.
His eyes were blood red.
"Hmm seems Vincent forgot about this part." Nightmare
muttered, looking down at its new body.
With a heavy sigh, the demonic entity cast a spell; conjuring an orb of
energy that shrank down into nothing. There were a couple seconds
where nothing happened, then suddenly the pale human vanished,
replaced by an adult version of himself.
"Simple enough spell to break. Cast by a pair of fools who have
no idea what they're doing." The now-human immortal mused,
shaking his head. "I should stop talking to myself."
With its red gaze, Nightmare looked down at its new body. "I
suppose for the time being I should refer to myself as male,
though I don't particularly like it. This body is much better than
some I have claimed in the past. Faster. Stronger. More
magically talented. Regardless of the fact that his magic is
crippled, I should be able to use his instead of mine
"Not to mention the repertoire of tools Tollini has built up. His
unique magic should come in handy for obliterating his little
friends." Nightmare stretched his hands. "Although being mortal
does have its downsides, I believe that I can lessen those"
Another orb of energy appeared in Nightmare's hands, this one being
absorbed directly into the human body. Lines of energy glowed all
over Nightmare's skin, before fading out and vanishing entirely.
"Subtle, not like mine" Nightmare commented on the spell,
examining his newly empowered hands. There was no visible
difference, although he was much stronger and faster than any living
being had a right to be. "Ordinarily, I would've gone with claws,
although I suppose this does help more. Increased combat
capability and increased dexterity, instead of sacrificing the
latter for the former."
Vincent?
Nightmare jumped, scanning the room for where that voice could
have come from. It didn't occur to the immortal that the voice had
been inside his head instead of verbal. "Who's there?"
There was no other entities in the room. Just that oversized stuffed
rabbit that Vincent had taken to sharing his bed with. Nightmare could
care less about what Vincent did to make himself feel better, but there
was something off about the yellow rabbit. It seemed slightly more
alive than an ordinary stuffed animal. Nightmare shook the feeling off,
turning his attention back to the matter at hand.
"Hmm let's dig around in Vincent's head. See what else he has
that I can utilize" Nightmare may not have included Vincent's
mind in the deal, but that was irrelevant. Nightmare could muscle its
way into Vincent's mind and see the human's memories and
Vincent opened his eyes. It was dark. Very dark. He couldn't see at
all. With a grunt of effort, he propped himself up on his elbows and
looked down at himself.
There was a gaping hole in his chest.
Yet, strangely, it didn't hurt.
His nerves were dead again. He was back in his adult body.
Something had happened, and he was no longer locked in the body
of a five year old.
But he still had a gaping hole in his chest.
Groaning in realization, Vincent fell back to the ground, his hand over
his eyes. He had screwed up and lost, hadn't he? His soul was now
in purgatory. Not only that, but Nightmare had his physical body
Cursing loudly, Vincent staggered to his feet. He had forgotten about
that part. How the hell had he forgotten? That letter yesterday was
literally pointless, as Nightmare would be in his place. Would the
demonic entity just pretend to be him? Or would it go on a murderous
rampage with its new corporeal form? Worst yet, there was the
possibility that Nightmare would attack the animatronics
Shaking his head to ward off thoughts like that, Vincent looked
around. It was still pitch black, but his eyes were rapidly adjusting. He
was in the room with the bed, in Nightmare's dream realm. The room
was completely empty save him, along with a ton of black ooze
spattered all over the walls and floor. It looked like a war had gone on
in this room, and the casualties had been moved.
To be fair, that was exactly what happened.
The question was, where had the bodies been moved to?
Vincent scanned the room. Still nothing there, but maybe they were in
a different 'there'?
Concentrating, Vincent tapped into his energy reserves. They were
depleted by a fair degree, but this shouldn't take much. After all, nonmagic users could do it, and he had a larger reserve of energy than,
say, Tony or Franklin.
There was a twist
And a yank
Then finally a snap.
And Vincent was in the alternate version of the room.
All of the Nightmares were scattered around the room, in varying
degrees of pain.
To be honest, it was depressing.
The one in best condition was probably Franklin. While he was
covered in scars and gashes, he was regenerating, and he still had
all of his body parts attached. Someone had unknotted him, and now
he was sitting on the ground leaning against the wall, his eyes round
and sad.
Tony was also in an okay condition. Being torn in two was surprisingly
little to a creature that could reattach body parts at will. Similarly, Paul
wasn't too crippled. The triplets were still trying to get his right and left
leg the correct way around, but his limbs were reattached.
Vi, despite having one of her eyes badly damaged, was tending to
Aaron. The rabbit was still unconscious, having taken a veritable
barrage of energy blasts, not to mention literally having had his heart
ripped from his chest. Vi's torso was torn, but the dark ooze that the
Nightmares had for blood had stopped leaking from the wound.
Aaron, on the other hand, still had a trickle of 'blood' draining from the
hole in his chest.
Barry was with Tali, trying to reattach some of the damaged parts.
The plastic child was lucky to not be badly injured. Aaron had
shielded him from a very heavy amount of damage, in the process
hurting himself. Tali didn't seem to be conscious yet, but their body
was in one piece, even if that piece was strung out unnaturally.
Azure's entire lower body was nothing but a mess of metal and
synthetic skin. The only parts of her that weren't damaged beyond
recognition were from her midriff up. Her arms were still intact, as
was her head, but her lower torso and legs were likely entirely
unusable. Matt was cradling her body in two of his arms, the two
halves of his face moving independently, desynchronized. His other
two arms were holding his torso together, a light trickle of black ooze
slowly running down the line that marked his dissection.
As Vincent entered the room, several ragged heads lifted and
multiple pairs of glowing eyes, as well as a single red one, turned
towards him.
At the sight of all of these people in pain, monsters though they were,
Vincent fell to his knees. They were injured because of him. Because
they fought for him. Because he had made the mistake of making a
literal deal with the devil.
"Guys I" He began, then stopped, startled at the strange echoing
quality to his voice and not sure what else to say.
Before you say anything else Connor wheezed from across the
room, his face still a torn up mess. We don't care.
"But"
Connor's right. Even if he is an idiot most of the time. Vi
interrupted. We needed to fight Nightmare at some point. It's not
your fault we lost.
Vincent opened his mouth to speak again, only to be cut off by Tony.
Vince, listen. We don't want an apology. If anything, we should
be apologizing to you. Together, we should have been able to
take Nightmare. After all, it draws from our energies in order to
empower itself. But we screwed up. Instead of mobbing it, we
tried to wear the damn thing out. Should've known that nothing
less than a nuke would take out Nightmare. We've all taken
injuries that would kill a mortal, but we're not mortal anymore.
We'll all survive. The thing is, you won't. You will not survive
unless you take action immediately. Nightmare plans to take out
all, and I do mean all, of your family purely out of spite. It will
informed, pulling the pistol shotgun out of his pocket. "Eat lead."
Four shots fired off in quick succession, then there was the click of an
unloaded gun. Freddy took all four shots in the chest, not flinching at
all from the incredible force of the metal slugs hammering through his
synthetic skin.
"Damn. This thing is useless on robots." The human sighed.
"Then I guess it's my turn." Freddy replied, not showing the intense
pain he was in. The bear moved with an agility that he shouldn't have
had, jumping up on top of the arcade machines and blitzing towards
Nightmare. With a grunt of anger, Freddy jumped from atop an
arcade machine down onto the human, bringing his elbow down to
crash into Nightmare's skull.
He hit the ground hard, making a solid dent in the floor.
"Clever. Fast too. But not enough." Nightmare assessed from
across the room. Somehow he had made his way to the arcade
machine too quickly for Freddy to see.
The animatronic jumped to his feet and started rushing towards
Nightmare.
In response, Nightmare shoulder tackled the arcade machine next to
him. The machine slid several feet with a scream of metal on
linoleum, revealing a screwdriver on the floor. The human stomped
down on the screwdriver, launching it into the air. With deft
movements, Nightmare caught and hurled the screwdriver in the
same motion, causing it to lodge itself so deep in Freddy's eye that it
sliced through the machine's motherboard.
Freddy skidded to a stop and collapsed, emitting the same tortured
scream as Bonnie had.
"Wow. Didn't actually expect that to work." The human muttered.
"Were ye expectin' this?"
Nightmare ducked, feeling sharp metal slice through the top of his
"And now the golden freak. Great." Nightmare rubbed his neck,
noting the absence of the amulet.
Which immediately lead to him being pinned to the wall by an
invisible force.
"So you're using magic? That's fair, considering I didn't."
Nightmare spat, struggling against Fredbear's telekinesis.
"On the contrary, you empowered Vincent's body with supernatural
strength and speed" Goldie shot back, beginning to squeeze. "And
much as I hate doing this, I'm going to have to kill you."
"That didn't work out so well against Springtrap, did it?"
Nightmare asked, a vicious grin growing on his face.
Goldie's eyes widened just as the telekinesis failed. Cutting off the
flow of energy, the golden animatronic tried to teleport.
Tried to.
Nightmare launched a blast of lightning from his hands, frying
Goldie's mechanisms. The voice box let out a tortured scream that
was growing more and more familiar.
The human brushed himself off and looked around. The rabbit was
gone, as were the three mortals. No matter. That haunted doll was his
target.
Humming happily to himself, Nightmare started on his way to the
Prize Corner.
Then a sledgehammer slammed into the side of his head.
"Oh that would have hurt." Nightmare muttered, stumbling
sideways. Then the immortal used his momentum to whirl and glare
at the light brown bear holding the weapon. "If I was anyone else."
"Can't blame me for trying, can you?" Theo asked, slowly circling
Nightmare.
Chuckling, Nightmare circled the opposite way. "I can't, not without
discounting your will to get yourself killed."
"I'm already dead. At least I can slow you down." Theodore replied.
"Damn. That's what you've been doing." Nightmare stopped in his
tracks. "Stalling. Waiting for that doll to finish preparations to
remove me."
"Must say, you figured that out quickly." The bear commented.
"Not that difficult, now that I think about it" Nightmare
responded, digging through Vincent's memories again. That one
could come in handy... "But I'm going to have to end you now."
Moving with unrivalled speed, Nightmare rushed Theodore, slamming
the heel of his hand into the bear's forehead. As Nightmare predicted,
the head caved in, and the neck joint snapped. As per usual, the
voice box let out one final scream.
"That noise is really getting annoying"
Nightmare continued into the Prize Corner. There was nothing left to
stop it from trapping that damn clown indefinitely.
"Don't come any closer!"
Except for the child.
"Oh. Balloon Boy." Nightmare sighed. "I won't lie, this is getting
irritating."
In a blur of movement, Nightmare grabbed Billy up by the neck and
lifted him off the ground. "Let's get this over with."
Billy launched his right arm into Nightmare's arm, slapping him lightly.
That would have been laughable, if it hadn't imparted a heavy electric
shock that sent Nightmare into painful spasms.
"Y-you little punk. I'll kill you for that." The immortal snarled, his
eye twitching. Bringing his other hand around, he punched Billy in the
In other words, he looked like a shadow version of the old toy Foxy,
after it had become known as the Mangle.
"Well?" Jeremy asked nervously, hanging from the ceiling.
"It could be worse." Vincent said honestly.
"Umm" Jeremy scratched the top of his head. The fox head looked
like it was plastic, but it lacked some of the features of toy Foxy. Such
as the blush and lipstick, as well as the eyelashes. "How?"
"You're asking someone who has spent the past week being haunted
by his nightmares, quite literally might I add, how you could look
worse. Are you sure you want an answer?" Vincent stated flatly.
After pondering for a moment, Jeremy shook his head. "Nah."
"So" Vincent started, going back to the topic of what had
happened. "What did the Puppet do?"
"It swapped you and Nightmare. Instead of Nightmare controlling your
body and soul, you control Nightmare's body and soul. Except, you
know, Nightmare has no body." Jeremy replied.
"Does that mean I command Nightmare?" Vincent asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. It's pretty cool." Jeremy answered with a grin.
Vincent concentrated. Nightmare?
There was no response, but Vincent felt that it was more because the
other party refused to answer than anything else. It wasn't a case of
nobody being there, and more a case of nobody answering.
"What happened to Mike Fritz and Percy?"
"Oh, they've been working nonstop to get the animatronics back into
working condition." Jeremy answered. "Fritz and Mike are in the Parts
and Service room fixing them up, while Percy is doing missed
paperwork. We've been shut down for a couple days now."
"Probably my fault." Vincent muttered, standing up. "I need to go be
Instead, I'm going to write some Pokemon. Look for 'With Sword
in Hand', it should be out in the next couple days.
With that, thank you again for reading my story, and have a
wonderful day.
BewareTheDragon out.