Just Like Clockwork – A Five Nights at Freddy's fan fiction
(A/N: Alright, so, guys, I discovered FnaF about two months ago, and I have to say, I've become part of this fandom INCREDIBLY fast. The fans are all amazing people, you guys are so talented! I'm a little shy about writing a story on here, since I haven't had a very good past with fan fiction, and I've been doubting my writing skills recently, but I'll try my best! This story will be focusing on Freddy, but Foxy and the others will be in here a bit too, so don't worry. The story will be based on the old animatronics, although the new ones may come in later. Also, since pairings seem to be popular at the moment, I am going to include at least one pairing. The pairing I will almost certainly include is a boyxboy one, so if you don't like that kinda stuff, then, well, don't read it.
Anyway... Don't be afraid to leave a review or ask a question, although flames aren't appreciated. Onto the story!)
The moon. The ruddy thing shone through the window, right into his eyes. Dear lord, it was bright tonight! He had to blink at it for a few seconds before his eyes adjusted. When they did, he still didn't feel like moving. The moon was something that he was willing to abandon himself to, he would be more then willing to stare at it forever and ever. However thoughts flooded his mind with that inevitable sinking feeling, and he forced his gaze downwards. The restaurant was silent, apart from the odd creaking or the sound of a footstep... It was a repulsive place during the day, filled to the brim with screeching children and the stench of grease, but at night, when the air fell silent, it had its own bizarre beauty.
Still feeling rather fuzzy, he turned from side to side, trying to shake the static out of his head. A jolt went right through him as he realised Bonnie and Chica were gone. Ah yes. It's night four, isn't it? The security guard must almost be done by now, surely. Lordy, it must be rather late if Bonnie and Chica were already on the move. "Get your act together, Freddy. The others will end up out-pacing you if you keep this up."
The camera in the corner flickered on, diverting his attention. He leered as creepily as he possibly could, glaring at the unblinking cyclops eye, knowing that the guard would be practically wetting himself. The thought gave him grim satisfaction. The red light went black hurriedly, leaving Freddy to his own devices once again. The animatronic shifted uncomfortably. He enjoyed chasing the guards, but tonight he really wasn't in the mood.
Instead, he decided that he would observe quietly. Not that there was anything to observe, really. It was still painfully silent and his fellow animatronics were nowhere in sight. Unease made its stealthy way into his chest. Every night he found himself worrying for their safety. True, they were the hunters here, but if a guard ever managed to sneak a weapon to work, they wouldn't last long. They were all falling to bits. Just a week ago Freddy's jaw had started to come loose, and he was scared about it coming off completely. A gun or a knife could definitely destroy, or at least maim them. He used to get a wild thrill from the hunt, he used to feel a shiver of ecstasy when victory fell into his grasp, but now that the odds of winning had been equalled out, now that every night they were endangering themselves, not just the guard...
Oh, he didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.
He'd never liked being scared. Not only because fear was a downright unpleasant emotion, but because it brought back memories that he didn't like to recall. Then again, Freddy never liked to remember anything. Mainly because it hurt. But also because there were good memories there too, and they were even worse than the pain. Those five faces, staring up at him, smiling, laughing, holding his hand. The children... He'd let them down, and nothing made him guiltier than that knowledge. It was NOT going to happen again. No matter what the cost was, he was going to protect them.
Just as Freddy could feel his thoughts decaying into his usual lonely, senseless musing, a noise distracted him. A loud screech, similar to the sound one of them made when the guard was captured, but subtly different. It was longer and had a grating edge to it, like fingernails on a blackboard.
"What on Earth is THAT?! The security guard? Surely not. But... What is it, then? One of the others?"
He waited, lifting his metal arms ever so slightly, readying himself for... Well, anything. A few minutes passed, and just when he was beginning to convince himself that he'd imagined it, the scream came again. This time, it was even more odd. It seemed to last an age, and trailed off, turning into what sounded like... Crying? Freddy turned around this time, glancing around his restaurant in alarm. The noise felt like it'd come from very close by, but the dining hall was empty. And anyway, the only sentient beings in the immediate vicinity were himself and...
Freddy tilted his head to the side, fixing his gaze on the curtains on the other side of the dining area. Foxy? It could've been him, but he couldn't imagine why his fellow animatronic would be making such a racket. A new attempt to scare the guard, maybe? Some kind of joke? He frowned. Whatever was going on, it didn't sound good. After a few minutes of indecision, Freddy decided that he'd wait and see if the sound happened again. He didn't have to wait for long. The wail happened a third time, except now it was quieter, more of a high-pitched whine than a scream. This time it was cut off part-way through by a jumbled, glitching mess of pre-recorded speech. Freddy knew that voice. It was definitely Foxy causing the commotion, he could recognise the over-the-top pirate's accent anywhere.
"SCREEEEEEEEE- 'Ello me 'earties and welcome to Pirate's Cove I- Freddy best be getting' back to th- Scrreeeeeee- the stage- I hope all ye lads ha- I'm F-F-Foxy the pa-pa-pa-pirate it's wonderful to be meeting ye ma- Goodbye lads ol' Foxy's sh-shutting down for todayyyyyyy goodbye goodbye gooooooddddddbbbbyyyyyyeeeeeeeeee..."
Freddy looked hastily up at the various cameras stationed around the room, and after confirming that they were all off he bumbled across the dining hall as fast as he could, knocking over a few chairs in the process. After falling over a few times on the stairs, cursing his large metal feet, he finally managed to reach the Pirate's Cove curtains. Upon opening them Freddy had expected to see Foxy glaring out at him, but instead the fox was slouching on the floor at the back of the old stage. Freddy could only just make out the pirate's shape in the darkness. As softly as he could, Freddy called out his name.
"Foxy?"
Yellow eyes flickered open, two pin-pricks of light glaring through the darkness. There was an awful cracking sound as Foxy moved his head slightly, and Freddy could see the animatronic's teeth glinting. The sight unnerved him, but he stood his ground. A few more cracks, clicks, hums and whirs later Foxy had managed to stand on both feet.
"Foxy? Is..."
Freddy grimaced. He'd never been good at stringing sentences together independently. The others had always been quite good with language, but despite the fact that he was (supposedly) the most advanced out of all of them, he'd always lagged behind when it came to English.
"Is... Is something wrong... You? I hear noise. Came to... Help?"
Foxy whined like a wounded animal, one of his legs beginning to wobble dangerously. Freddy started to walk forward to try to help him, but the fox raised a large metal hand, stopping Freddy in his tracks...
"I'm alright, matey... Me curcuits... 'ave been malfunctionin' a bit... But... I'm OK... I dinnae think ol' Foxy'll be 'aving much luck wit' suitin' up th'... Endoskeleton... Tanight, though."
Endoskeleton. Not security guard. It always seemed odd to Freddy that the others hadn't figured out what their prey really was. Not that he minded. It was better to keep them in the dark, to be honest. He'd always viewed the hunting of the guards as revenge for the children. No one could blame him for wanting revenge, right? But if the others knew the truth they almost certainly wouldn't agree... Which was why he'd reprogrammed them to believe the guard was an endoskeleton, all those years ago...
"You were... Making loud. Loud noise. It... sounded not-nice. I want... Help you. You friend of me... I don't want you... Hurt."
Foxy worked his jaw back and forth, trying his best to smile. Now he'd stood up Freddy could see him a bit better. Foxy looked exhausted... Broken. This couldn't be normal for an animatronic, surely, even a broken one! The poor creature was shuddering like a sapling in the wind!
"Ol' Foxy is a'right, matey. S-Say, I-I'll prove it to ya, eh? Th'- Th' endo hasn't been a checkin' me cove on them cameras... so why don't I do what I normally do, run down that hall an in th' door, so I will!
Freddy shook his head. Foxy had always been like this. Once when he'd been performing and his leg had fallen off he'd refused help from any of the staff, instead he'd crawled across the stage himself to go get it. Foxy always preferred to help himself, rather than asking for assistance from others. And, not only would he spurn those who tried to help, he'd also do something foolhardy to try and prove he was OK.
"NO! You are... obvi... obvi..."
"It's o-obviously, matey."
"You are... Obviously not good. You shouldn't be... Moving. Rest. Rest is good. Don't want you to get broken."
"Ye want me ta rest, matey? HA, tha's a good one, tha' is! 'Ave ye seen me run, matey? Ol' Foxy never rests!"
The fox was quivering even more violently now, and there were sparks flying from his head, but somehow he was still on his feet. Freddy waddled a few steps, hoping to get the fox to sit down, but before he knew what was happening, Foxy had darted out of the way. With a soft whoosing noise the curtains flew open and Foxy was launching himself down the steps, through the dining hall and beyond. Freddy followed, hissing as one of his own feet loosened in it socket. Foxy's running was more laboured then usual, his legs having to work much harder.
"Foxy, stop! NO! Come back!"
The pirate was about to leave the dining hall when the event that Freddy had been dreading came to pass. There was that same horrid wailing noise and Foxy froze mid-step as if he had been paralysed. As if in slow motion, the animatronic fell backwards, smoke pouring from his body, eyes wide open in shock. Then there was a deafening crash and Foxy was on the ground. Freddy paused, hoping that Foxy would move or get up again. He didn't. He just laid there, unmoving, frozen in the same pose. Freddy walked over, confusion and fear making him shake.
"F-Foxy?"
He knelt down beside his friend. Foxy was still sparking and smoking, but his eyes were closed and he didn't move.
"Foxy, are you... Awake? You alright?"
No response. Just the sizzling of electricity and the odd buzz or whirr. Freddy felt panic nestle into his chest, and he sat down, grabbing Foxy's head and holding it up gently.
"Foxy? Wake up? Not six yet... Not six... You need to wake up! Now, Foxy! NOW!"
He took on a demanding tone, hoping that perhaps if he was firmer then Foxy might listen. When there was still no reply he felt the panic begin to turn into something else. An ache, as if his some of the gears in his throat were jammed. What was going on here? Something was wrong with Foxy, but what was it? Did he need to be fixed?
"Foxy... Told you was bad... Told you should've rested... No listen to me. Never listen. What do I do now? What I do?"
Silence. Just silence.
"WAKE UP! WAKE UP YOU S-STUPID FOX!"
Then Freddy remembered something, something which made his heart sink. Death. Humans died, right? He'd seen if happen with those poor five kids, he'd caused it plenty of times when it came to the guards. But now that Foxy was lying in his arms, his eyes jammed wide, Freddy began to wonder. Was Foxy... Dead? Could robots die? He juddered, overcome by a sudden wave of sadness. Foxy couldn't be dead...
"BAD. Sad bad sad. I no like, Foxy, I no like! You not dead?"
It was then he began to notice the smaller details. The oil leaking out of Foxy's joints, the way his jaw hung open and his body was all limp. The smoke... Freddy felt something rise up into his mouth, and before he knew it he was wailing, crying like he'd seen some of the children do when they were scared or sad.
"FOXYYYYYYYYYYYY! FOXYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
For a while he sat there and howled, attracting the attention of the other two. However, when they reached the room they simply stood there and watched Freddy grieve. Bonnie and Chica were certainly very intelligent, but this situation was beyond their grasp. When Freddy finally noticed that they were there he attempted to compose himself. After all, Foxy COULDN'T be dead. He'd learnt from experience that whenever a robot broke or stopped working then all you needed to do was fix them, and then they'd be right as rain. But, how did you "fix" a robot? Freddy frowned. This posed a problem. He had no clue how to fix things, which meant they'd need a mechanic. But Foxy was a "retired" animatronic, the mechanics hadn't bothered with him since the bite... And they couldn't force the mechanics to fix him, because they were only around during the day when the animatronics were shut off.
The only human here during the night was the security guard. Freddy pondered that for a minute. The guard must be smart if he'd survived for this long. It was night four, after all. Maybe this guard knew how to fix things! Freddy briefly considered the fact that the guard would probably be unwilling to help them after he'd been hunted and terrified out of his wits by them, but he soon let go of that notion. It was worth a shot, and anyway, if the guard refused, well, Freddy had always been good at "persuading" people. Usually his techniques involved a lot of growling and an empty Freddy suit. Not pleasant for the person on the receiving end.
"Fr-Freddy? What is wrong with F-F-Foxy?"
Freddy turned around. Chica was staring at him, her eyes wide in concern.
"Foxy... Broken. Mechanics no fix. I not know how to help. I try to get endo to help fix Foxy, OK?"
She nodded, purple eyes flashing.
"If you think the endo can help..."
Bonnie looked on, shifting from foot to foot nervously. Freddy pulled himself back to his feet, putting down Foxy's body as delicately as he could manage. The bear tipped his hat at Bonnie before slipping off down the hall, towards the security guard's office.
(A/N: And that's a wrap! See ya next chappie, mates!)