A creaky snap emits from behind the curtain in Pirate's Cove, reverberating through-out the Pizzeria.

"Did you hear that?" Chica mutters to Freddy, leaning in close.

He responds with a soundless half nod, eyebrows drawing together.

"Whatever it was, it was likely Foxy… Maybe he's up to something" Bonnie states as she turns to the other two; taking no qualms to lower her voice. "He's not come out in years, and no one has been brave enough to go check on him; not even the humans. Maybe he's short circuited."

Chica's circuits warm as she stands there, chagrinned. "What makes you think that?"

"Well we receive regular maintenance from the humans. And no one has bothered to go behind the curtain since… the incident… We have no clue what's going on inside of his head."

Bonnie leans her guitar against the stage and walks down the steps, straightening her bow-tie. "Someone's got to check-up on him eventually – better late than never, right?"

"No, please Bonnie don't –"Chica cuts off mid-plead after receiving a sharp look from Freddy.

"This is good," Freddy whispers to Chica as Bonnie strides out of the dining room. "Trust me…"

"Hello... Fo-x-xy" Bonnie stammers, mounting the stairs next to his stage. Another electrical creak comes from behind the moth-eaten curtain causing her to jump.

A metallic flash of an endoskeleton leg catches her eye as she edges closer to the opening.

"Are you… alright?"

Carefully, she parts the curtains, still a silky-satin after all this time. Looking back at her is a single, orange glowing eye; an eye that always caused her electrical current to speed up and her circuitry to over-heat as she caught herself staring as she was now.

"Aye, Lass" came a throaty mechanical reply. "What brings ye to these parts of the res'rant?"

She gulps, taking a step further into the dark abyss that her long-time friend now calls home.

"There was a-a… sound, that we heard from the dining room. So I came to check on-n you. So-o, are… you doing o-okay, nothing broken? We could-d fix you…"

The orange eye continues to bore into her gray ones, unwavering in its resolve.

"Would... it be too much to ask, for ye to sit with me for a spell?"

Chica crossed her arms and glowered at Freddy, now that Bonnie was gone. "Why would you let her go like that? You KNOW what he's like, Freddy… He's DANGEROUS" Her voice rising with each word so it filled the room and seeped into others "We ALL know that, even the HUMANS know that – and they're oblivious to everything."

Freddy remains unfazed by the out-burst, instead choosing to lay a slightly deteriorated paw upon her pho-feathered shoulder; "Relax. You're going to cause yourself to blow a circuit, and then you'll have to be sent away for repairs, again. This is good for Foxy – and for Bonnie. He'd never hurt her, or any of us. You saw the look in his eyes when the incident happened, something… something malfunctioned, Chica."

Chica grumbled, her arms still crossed – she remembered just fine how things had gone down… And as far as she was concerned Foxy had MEANT to bite that kid. He relished the way the human's screamed and ran away – and all the blood… so sticky and bright red as it ran down his face and matted the crimson fur on his chest.

She also loathed the way Bonnie looked at him. The way she moved toward him as he had retreated to Pirate's Cove…the way she had stood there every night, staring longingly at the "Out of Order" sign posted on the door, creating a barricade that would (hopefully) protect from future incidents.

"I just don't like it" she grumbled, pulling away from Freddy's paw and stalking toward the kitchen.

"S-sure," she replied, grateful that the only light coming in was through the holes in the curtains.

Though, didn't Foxy have night-vision, and that's why his eyes glowed?

She leaned her back against the old EXIT door and glanced toward her silent companion, wondering if he really HAD broken a piece of his internal structure, who knew what kind of shape he was in after being neglected for so long.

"Thank ye for staying, Lass. It's been quite some time since I've had any comp'ny."

"No problem," she replies, becoming more confident as her eyes grow accustomed to the unnatural dark in this part of the restaurant. "Things have been a lot different without you around, you know?"

After a long pause, maybe waiting for a response from her reclusive partner, she trudges on.

"We weren't… ignoring you. The humans put up an 'Out of Order' sign up outside of the Cove – and we weren't really sure what you were going through. We all made the assumption that you would come out when you were ready… Guess we were wrong…"

He turns his head toward his nervous companion, his hinged eye patch flipping up to reveal a second orange glowing eye.

"Aye, Lass… I am no longer a functioning member of the crew, it t'would seem. Freddy made the right decision, keeping ye and the other lass away for me."

"Foxy…" She begins, words failing to come forth as a glint of light plays across his exposed endoskeleton legs.

"T'was an unfortunately accident… I've spent me years here in this purgatory replaying it. Just the slightest – the slightest glitch, and your whole world falls apart" he continues, face shifted toward the ceiling. "But I have also had time to do some other thinking, I have.

Without realizing, Bonnie's paw slides across the scarred hardwood floor toward his. Gently, she wraps her hand around his hook, taking solace in the small bit of contact.

"Booooonnnnnnnnnnniiiiieeeee…" Chica's voice floats in, sounding from within the bowels of the restaurant.

With a sigh, she begins to stand – her reprieve from the wiles of the crazy chicken apparently over.

"Guess I've better get going… But – you should come out and spend time with us, we miss your company."

"Ah, I don't know, Lass," discomforted anxiety filling his face. "Don't think that'd meet with good reception."

"Think about it, okay?" She smiles down at him as she slips back through the curtain, and smiles wider to herself as she again mounts the steps.

Dealing with Chica's backlash would be worth visiting with the old fox again.