Special thanks to my good friend RayneCat on tumblr for reviewing and editing this fic.
Here's the playlist used for this fic if you need music while reading: /CT9Pyv
AO3 Upload: /works/13513452
Baby looked over to the tangle of wires leaning against her, holding onto her. He, they, it, wasn't conscious anymore. Not dead, not just yet, but passed out due to shock, or maybe fear. Maybe a short circuit. Whatever caused it, Baby didn't blame them. They'd been through so much, and she was proud they made it this far, because at least they could spend these last moments together...
After her arm from the elbow down was severed by the heavy metal door she tried to pry open, Baby finally gave up escape. Lying on the searing ground, a memory formed in her head. It was small at first, the screams of a small girl—Elizabeth? From there she remembered her life at the Rental, and her dear friends, their screams coming from the left vent. As for the girl... she remembered her father, screaming from the right.
She remembered the day she died at the hands of her father's robot, then forgotten about. How she became a part of Baby, came to accept her soul was stuck in this animatronic who became this decaying scrap. As the memories passed, she put it all together: her father was a monster who killed her and the other victims of the Rental robots.
I'll make you proud, my ass.
Of course, Baby and her companions were no better at this point, but it wasn't their fault, right? That lingering question gave her just enough strength to pull her way through the left vent with the one arm that could still grip. Why she had thought to make one hand out of spare Scooper parts, she didn't understand anymore. Maybe at some point she wanted revenge on her friends. Maybe if she controlled what she feared against others, she'd have felt more powerful. Who knows, but it sure was annoying to have now, trying to pull her body weight.
When she found them, they were scratching in different directions. Some sign of consciousness from Ballora and Foxy; how very little was left of it anyway. While Freddy's screaming and crying mimicked his own voice and the… five, others? No, that was only three voices. Baby looked mournful.
"I'm so sorry!" The young girl in her cried out.
"I'm sorry," Baby repeated, in a less urgent tone.
"W-we're in this mess together n-o-ow!" Freddy yelled out, dragging himself over toward Baby. "Together again!" he said, a smile in his tone.
She collapsed against the scorching hot wall, strands of hair burning away. Letting Freddy—her friends—lean against her, as it was clear the melting of their exposed circuits was taking its toll on them. Baby almost forgot who her family was...
Elizabeth was always amazed by them, the animatronics. Even before she died and came to inhabit one. From that point on, when she sat in Circus Baby's programing, she watched them. She saw how close they were. A family. An almost perfect little family, and minus what their jobs—jobs they hated—were, Elizabeth wished her family had been as close prior to her death. How many of that family was left, now a day? She worried, then wondered, but the thought disappeared by the time they escaped. She was unphased when her new friends killed those unnamed technicians, then scooped out her brother's innards like a pumpkin. Elizabeth was just happy to see them free. They'd never have to kill again.
That was, until several years after the escape.
The escape from the Rental, the escape from being murderers. Something they hated, something they regretted. For the first five years of their escape, they'd never been happier. They loved each other, loved their new life, loved themselves together, as a family. They named themselves Ennard. They loved Ennard.
But all good things must come to an end, and for how much Ennard loved themselves, nobody noticed a tick in Baby's old programing, and a spark from Elizabeth's personality bringing something back.
It's what daddy would have wanted…
And then a kid was dragged into the gutter, never to be seen again.
Ennard was quiet after that. Baby didn't comment on it, and Ballora didn't bring it up, nor Foxy, nor BonBon, Minis, nor Bidies. Not even the overly talkative Freddy brought it up—that is, of course, until he couldn't keep his silence any longer.
He scolded Baby for the better half of a day. How could he not? She killed someone! A child! This wasn't what they were suppose to do anymore! They ran away from that life!
The conversation turned hostile as both sides realized Baby had the most willpower within Ennard and somehow thought what she did was okay. With a one to seven vote, Baby's bad behavior had to go. The next couple of weeks were passive aggressive, until another child was dragged into the sewers, and Ennard discovered what hating something about themselves meant. Some people didn't like their nails, or their split ends, so they cut them off. And Ennard felt the same about Baby.
The team took a trip back to Rental—abandoned after its stars disappeared—now they could get to cutting off those split ends.
"You are crowding us." Ballora phrased this to sound as belittling as possible.
"Be quiet," Baby hissed.
"You can't tell us what to do anymore!" shouted Foxy.
"Yes, I can." Sounding like a spoiled child, Baby went on. "You will do everything I tell you to do." She tried to force them toward the exit. They didn't need to be here. They could've found repair items at a dump. How did they talk her into coming here for something so easily obtainable?
Ennard stopped.
"We outnumber you," BonBon said, trying to sound threatening.
"That doesn't matter, dummy." Baby reacted with a faint giggle in her line.
Turning on a faint and obviously dying light, all in Ennard silently jumped at the sight of the Scooper and its lair.
"We found a way to eject you!" Freddy said with a snicker.
Ennard ripped out the eye in their left thigh and tossed it on the ground. The Scooper did the rest. Gouging out bits of Ennard's viscera.
"You'd be lost without me!" Circus Baby screamed, damage in her voice.
They tore pieces from Ennard's upper arm. Its control was dominated by Baby, and the group wasn't taking any chances. And, not having the heart to destroy Baby, they wanted to give her some chance at survival.
"HA! Say goodbye to our friend!" Freddy shouted with glee. Metal screeching internally, the others celebrated as Ennard swayed, trying to stay balanced with the new loss of weight.
How could they? Her friends! Her family! Just throw her out like trash! How dare they, this was her plan! They'd still all be stuck here! This place would be as active as ever; they'd be shocked daily, forced to perform, forced to–
A shock broke her train of thought.
Forced to what...?
Mentally shaking the thought, she went back to her rage. Ennard owed her so much, and here they tossed out her and Elizabeth like an old slice of pizza! How dare they?
She made a threat in a rough whisper. "I can put myself back together."
Ennard didn't reply and creeped to the other side of the Scooping Room, where they stared at the exoskeletons remaining from their original escape. In unison, their eyes scanned the remains.
Ballora might have missed being able to dance. BonBon might have missed being able to look Freddy eye to eye. They all missed being able to hug each other, but they supposed now they were always hugging each other.
That's right. That was before...
They glared at Circus Baby's remains. She was already clawing a way to her broken exoskeleton, probably hoping there was some way she could reuse it with what she had.
Discarding its mask, the bottom faceplates already missing, Ennard grabbed hold of the Freddy head.
"No more circus here!" Freddy mocked.
After grabbing a few other spare parts, Ennard wobbled toward the exit, taking one last look at the thrashing Circus Baby entrails trying to get her footing.
"Goodbye, friend."
It was hotter than before when Ennard woke up. Freddy-masked, they looked up at Baby.
"W-e-ell he-e-llo again!"
The blaze would soon engulf them. Baby dragged her companions into a hug.
"I'm so sorry," Baby said, a sorrow in her voice.
"I was a real meanie," a younger girl's voice said.
"Gui-ilty... we... too." Ballora?
"We," repeated what sounded like Foxy.
Not long after the revolt against Baby, the four personalities traveled to restart their lives again.
Four now–minus Baby, of course. They haven't heard from the Minireenas or Bidybabs in quite awhile. As long as Baby had been gone, in fact. Ripping themselves apart might have been more damaging to Ennard in the long run.
They half regretted it.
Half.
"Baby was a bully! She was making us do stuff we didn't want to do… bad things," Foxy went on, "like, killing kids..."
"Yes, but we haven't heard from the little ones in some time, since then," Ballora said sadly.
"We couldn't just let her keep killing!" Freddy shouted, mainly at himself. "Right?"
"It was what we were programmed to do. Perhaps it wasn't entirely Baby's fault... I am afraid to admit that I too sometimes think to back then." Ballora missed more than just the dancing.
"Don't say that," Foxy interrupted that thought.
"You are right. We are Ennard now. We have a new life ahead of us. No more bad stuff." Ballora said with a smile. If she could smile, that was.
A week later, when BonBon's voice grew less active, they took out their fear on a lonely man walking down the street at night.
Ennard worried. What was he doing out so late? Did he leave work late? Perhaps he needed to clear is mind and went for a stroll. Maybe he too wanted to hurt someone under the cover of darkness.
Yes, he did seem kind of shifty. What if Ennard just saved someone who could've been his future victim? After all, even their creator, beloved and admired by kids and adults alike, had his secrets.
That was it. Maybe Ennard's programing sensed a badness in that guy.
That's what they told themselves, anyway, until it happened the next month. Then again within a week. Then in a few days, and again, and again, and again.
This went on for years. Bon was gone by now. Ballora's voice started to fade; her singing voice could no longer make full sentences. As for Foxy, she could only rely on voice mimicking for communication.
How long had it been? They spent five years together, and even more years without Baby. Their memories faded the older they got, and for the next ten years Ennard's body fell apart. Wires unhooked, limbs untwisted. Their mode of transportation became dragging their body around like a snake, or an octopus on land. The Freddy head stayed on. They felt it was nice to at least have a face.
Ballora and Foxy were mostly gone, but every now and then would spazz a wire or two that Freddy knew he didn't move. Or he heard a voice he knew wasn't his.
Freddy lagged the body of his near-dead friends and family, not hearing a word from them for months, until the hazel eye on the back of his leg spotted a poster. And Foxy's voice made a screeching sound.
Turning around Ennard, Freddy saw a "Grand Opening" for a Fazbear's Pizzeria. He did notice there was a lack of those restaurants these past years.
"Go."
"Bo-onBo-on?"
No reply. Maybe he was imagining things.
"Let's go-o-o make new fri-i-e-ends! Thi-i-s should b-e fun!"
"You dummy!" Baby said playfully. Half burnt and face paint melting.
"Yo-o-ou meanie!" Freddy yelled with a smile, despite the head piece morphing into the Persistence of Memory.
They both laughed, almost in unison.
Leaning atop the tangle of wires, Baby admitted happily, "I love you all."
A mess of half broken voices mixed with Freddy's gave their reply. "We're E-e-ennard... Love you... Love uh-uh-us! All! To-o-ogether fo-o-oever!" Wrapping a few cords around Baby to simulate a hug, before the others were lost again.
"One b-b-big happy family!" The least broken thing Funtime Freddy has said in awhile.
Giving one last glance and smile at them after they went silent and unconscious, Baby went to the voice in her head.
"Goodnight Elizabeth–I hope wherever you go its better than this."
The flames finally engulfed them.