Universal Language: Hieroglyphs

Chapter 1: Halloween

Freddy Fazbear wondered if it was possible to strangle a being that didn't need to breath. Was it even possible to strangle a being without a trachea or, to the best of his knowledge, lungs? Well, either way, at the moment he wanted to wrap his hands around the puppets neck and not let go until the Toy calmed down and shut up. Beside him, Jonathan Fazbear II was wondering much the same thing, though his thoughts were more along the line of whether it was legal to sedate an employee in order to retain his sanity.

It was Halloween, and the night security guard, Roni Byrd, had completely lost her mind. Since October 1st, she had been planning out the holidays activities. Every year, the Fazbear gang would stand by the doors and hand out candy to children while wearing capes or hats and fake fangs. They used the same costumes and routines every year. Roni had made it her personal mission to spice up this holiday, and the candy stashes she had hidden in every room did nothing to help. For the past thirty-one days, she'd been on a straight sugar high, pestering Jon into agreeing to her ideas and, finally, giving in to using Foxy for this years celebration.

Jon had finally bought the neighboring lot, and construction was half-way done on a new arcade area, prize corner, dining area, Kids Cove, and stage for the Toys. The outer walls were all up, as was the roof, and the wood studs were in place, marking where the future walls would go. Roni declared it the perfect place to scare the older kids who would be visiting on the 31st. At the moment it was one large, dark room, only the studs interrupting it's vastness. With the help of the animatronics (well, the help of Foxy, Mari, Blue, and Chichi, who were all 100% behind her plan), she'd dragged several props from Foxy's stage to the back of the new dining area. A fancy dining chair from the local thrift store was painted, draped with fancy scarves and fabric, and placed on a pedestal Roni made from several pallets she snitched from the kitchen.

Mari and Blue proved to both be dab hands at painting. Roni bought a pile of black and navy blue bed sheets, which they hung up along the studs, creating a hallway that led to the 'throne', as the fancy chair had been dubbed. The 'entrance' hallway, in the east hall, was long and curved through the new spaces, meant to disorient the customers. The 'exit' hall was shorter and went straight from the throne room to the west hall. The guard provided them with glow-in-the-dark paint, and the two set to creating spooky scenes of sunken ships, abandoned islands and harbors, and other creepy pirate-y imagery. The throne room was also hung with sheets, and these had piles of golden treasure painted upon them. Strategically placed lights lit up the throne room, though the hall was left in darkness.

The haunted room would be home to Foxy. The plan was for him to sit on the throne, apparently deactivated, with a treasure chest of full-sized candy bars on his lap. When the older kids appeared to get some of the candy, he would let them take one, then leap up, accuse them of stealing his treasure, and chase them down the haunted hallway. If younger kids wandered down the hall, he would compliment them on their costumes, hand them a candy bar and wish them a happy Halloween. Donnie, who was just as crazy about the holiday as his sister, volunteered to be Foxy's helper. He would refill the candy chest, let Foxy know if there were little kids or big kids coming down the hall, and guide the kids if they went off course and got lost in the construction zone outside the painted bed sheets. Mari was going to be there as well, creating soft, eerie sounds and, if he could get away with it, simple illusions such as ghost pirates coming out of the walls, or skeletal hands coming out of the floor.

Roni herself was in charge of the 'Haunted Cove.' She enlisted her grandmother, a seamstress by trade, to make costumes for her, Donnie, and Foxy, as well as new costumes for Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie. The retired woman was more than happy to help out, and had spent the last three weeks dashing to and from the restaurant, making sure she had the right sizes for the animatronics and checking that Roni wasn't driving Jon completely mad. This year, Freddy was going to be a vampire, Chica was a fairy princess, and Bonnie had, after much begging and pleading, gotten Jon's permission to dress up as Elvis. Foxy was given a dashing new pirate outfit, complete with a new hat that had a large feather plume. Roni and Donnie both got pirate outfits as well, to fit their role as the Haunted Cove helpers.

Now, all their hard work was going to pay off. The restaurant had closed at four that afternoon, which gave Roni and her co-conspirators plenty of time to set up the haunted cove. Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie, dressed in their new dashing costumes, would be standing by the door with large bowls of candy. Roni would move between them and the entrance to the Haunted Cove hallway, guiding kids and parents to and fro all night. They'd advertised the special scary attraction for the past three weeks, and it had created a lot of buzz, as well as another small newspaper article. The store would throw open it's doors at six, and close at midnight.

It was 5:30, and both Freddy and Jon were contemplating, if not murder, than certainly assault in order to get five minutes of peace.

Roni, dressed in her pirate costume, was buzzing around like a hummingbird, making sure everything was in place. She had on a red-striped tank top and a torn-up black skirt over a pair of gray leggings. She'd found a pair of knee-high boots with thick cuffs at the thrift store and was clomping around in them, a bit less than graceful. Her hair was caught up in a black bandanna with a white skull and cross bones on it. Multiple gold earrings hung from each ear, and she had on several gold chains and pirate-themed necklaces. A pair of rubber cutlasses hung from a thick black belt, which she wore at a jaunty angle across her hips. She was even wearing make-up to complete the pirate-wench appearance.

Mari was also dressed as a pirate – though none were sure just quite how. They'd learned by now not to question the puppet, however. He had supernatural powers, and they just left it at the simple answer of 'magic.' He had on a striped blue shirt, a red bandanna, and had even managed to steal one of the eye patches Foxy kept in his costume chest on his ship in Pirate's Cove. He was rushing around after Roni, adding little touches here and there, just as excited and panicky. Roni had learned that the puppet was able to eat (though it was more of a luxury than a need), and had immediately shared her candy with him. Now both were buzzing with energy and driving the rest of them nuts.

"Half-an-hour!" Roni declared, jumping in place before Jon and Freddy. "Aren't you both so excited?" She asked eagerly.

Freddy, looking rather dashing in a ruffled white shirt, black slacks, and a suit coat, barred his teeth at the young woman, revealing fangs. He swept his cloak, which was black on the outside but lined with red satin, around himself. "Oh ves, my dear, very excited." He lisped past the fake fangs.

Chica, adorned in a sparkly blue dress, a silver crown, and fake wings made of tulle and glitter, joined them. She waved her fairy wand – a ribbon-wrapped stick with a plush star on the end – at Freddy. "Ah, ah, ah," she tutted in a high, breathy voice, "There will be no eating the guests tonight, Count Fazbear."

Freddy muttered to himself and pretended to sulk. Bonnie, wearing a white bedazzled jumpsuit and rocking a black pompadour wig, bounced up to join them. He pulled his lips in a sneer and tipped his large sunglasses down, wiggling his brows at Roni and Chica. "Hey there, pretty mamas." He greeted in a deep voice.

"You are all insane," Jon muttered as Roni fixed up Bonnie's suit cuffs and checked that Freddy's fangs were firmly attached.

"Of course we are. That's why you love us." Roni affirmed with a bright smile. "Fifteen minutes now – I'm going to check on Foxy and Donnie." She skipped down the dark, haunted corridor, completely ignoring the ghosts that popped out of the walls and the skeletons clawing at her feet.

Mari pouted as his illusions had no effect on the girl, who hadn't seen them before. He'd wanted to try and scare her with them. "It's getting harder and harder to scare her," he muttered.

"That's a good thing," Bonnie pointed out.

The puppet sighed. "I guess," his voice had an unmistakable whine to it, but Jon and the Fazbear Band were smart enough not to call him out on it.

"Foooooxy," Roni sang as she entered the Throne Room. She didn't see the pirate anywhere, and so she began to poke her head out between the bed sheets, looking for him in the construction area. Donnie was sitting by where they had stored the candy bars, carefully filling up the plastic treasure chest Foxy would be using as his candy bowl. She couldn't help but smirk when she saw the several wrappers piled beside him – her brother was sure to have a stomach ache tomorrow morning.

"Have you seen Foxy?"

Donnie jumped, his eye patch slipping off his head and coming to hang around his neck. He flashed her a guilty smile and shuffled the candy wrappers out of sight. "Uh, no. I thought he was in his cove, getting ready."

"M'kay. Don't eat too many of those, you'll make yourself sick. Mr. Fazbear said we could take home any left over candy, so there's no need to chow down on it all at once."

"Okay, sis." The boy went back to methodically settling the candy in neat rows, making sure all the different brands could be seen by the kids coming to grab it. Shaking her head at what she affectionately called his little 'neat-freak' tendencies, she moved back down the hall and ducked into the cove.

Foxy was there, bedecked in his new royal-blue jacket, black slacks, and ruffled white shirt. His matching hat – royal blue, embroidered with gold like his jacket – had a large white plume in the band, which wiggled as he paced back and forth across the stage. He was chewing on his hook with his newly-replaced teeth. Roni had suggested having his scary sharp teeth replaced with softer, rounded versions. Jon had hesitated, but she persisted, pointing out that it would reassure the parents. So Foxy was given brand new teeth made of firm foam, the kind used in making kids play mats and bath toys. They'd even painted some of his new teeth gold, making him even more pirate-y than before. Of course, now he would jump out at her and grab her arm in his mouth, gently chewing on it like she was a squeaky toy, whenever he got bored. It was worth it if it got him back in the show, she reasoned.

"You look nervous." Roni sat on the edge of the stage and watched as the fox jumped, clutching at his chest in surprise.

"Arrrgh, lass, ye know better than to sneak up on me when I be thinkin'!" He growled, waving his hook at her.

"Sorry, cap'n," Roni apologized, motioning for him to come join her. "What's got your tail in a knot?"

The fox immediately looked behind him. His tail wasn't in a knot – in fact, he'd spent an hour earlier brushing out the fake fur to make sure it looked nice. "Me tail be fine, lass. Ye be seein' things?"

"It's a saying," the guard explained. "I meant, what has you so worried?"

He went back to nibble on the end of his hook with his new teeth. "Yar, it be a silly fear, lass..."

"Aw, you can tell me, Foxy. I won't laugh." The guard, accepting that he wouldn't come sit by her, got up and stopped his pacing by putting a hand on his arm. "Promise."

"What if...what if the kids don like me?"

"Is that all, you goofball?" Roni reached up to poke his nose. "Everyone is going to love you, Foxy. I swear. The boys will find you strong and exciting, and the little girls will think you're absolutely dashing. You have absolutely nothing to worry about." She stood on her tip-toes and kissed his nose. The foxes ears drooped back in embarrassment, and he managed a smile for her. "Now c'mon, we need to get into our places. Haunted Cove opens in...oh crap, thirty seconds!"

In a blink of an eye the fox was gone, the sound of his new boots hitting tile echoing throughout the dining hall. Roni followed his lead, jumping out of the cove and running over to join the others near the front doors. There was already a long line of kids in colorful costumes waiting alongside their parents, holding trick-or-treat bags or buckets and eagerly waiting for their chance to get candy from their favorite animatronic band. Mari had disappeared to do his job in the shadows, and a quick glance down the hall showed both Donnie and Foxy in place.

Roni flashed Jon a thumbs up, and he unlocked the front door and allowed their customers to flood in.

The Haunted Cove was a huge hit. Older kids, and even some teens, were lined up throughout the dining hall, waiting for their chance to be allowed back in the cove. There was a smattering of younger kids as well, accompanied by their parents. Roni let them enter the curving hallway in twos or threes, and sometimes fours if a group of friends refused to be split up. Thanks to the way the bed sheets turned, nobody in the dining hall could see the Throne Room. They could only hear the yells and laughter as the kids ran back into the dining hall from the west hall, clutching their candy and talking about how 'awesome' the pirate fox was.

Many parents who had, at first, been hesitant to allow their younger kids to go meet Foxy were reassured when they saw the happy children emerging. The younger kids who weren't scared, but instead simply met the fox and spoke with him for a minute or two, became just as big fans as the big kids and teens. Roni even heard a few parents talking about how much they liked the fox.

Five hours in, Roni was still buzzing around, feeding off the energy the crowd of excited kids provided. The younger kids had stopped coming by now – it was mostly kids Donnie's age and older who were trickling through, getting their candy from the three at the front before joining the line for the Haunted Cove. It didn't take more than five or ten minutes for a group to go through, so Roni was able to move the line along quickly, using a flashing light by the east hall entrance that Mari was triggering to know when to send the next group in. Nobody had gotten lost, hurt, or too terribly scared yet, and Jon had yet to hear a complaint from a parent. The manager had been hesitant to agree to Roni's idea, but seeing all the kids once more enjoying Foxy the Pirate made him glad he'd agreed. Maybe, if the night ended without incident, he'd be able to re-open Pirates cove. Yeah, maybe add a jungle gym and a large pirate-ship themed play house, and some ropes to swing on...

The manager went off in his ideas while Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie continued to give out candy. The animatronics loved Halloween. Ever since 1987, when Golden Freddy had accidentally bit a child, their free-roam mode had been turned off. This was the one night when they could interact directly with the children, talking with them and, most excitingly, getting hugs and high-fives. They made sure to compliment each child's costume, smile at every baby, and compliment the parents on their well-behaved children. They watched as the kids emerged from the Haunted Cove, happy to hear Foxy's laughter echoing after the giddy teens and overjoyed children. This was the best Halloween they'd had in a long time.

Then the bullies showed up.

Three boys – in high school, at least, though Roni couldn't tell if they were freshmen or seniors – had slumped in. Chica offered them each a piece of candy. The boys had taken it, then snickered, commenting that they liked her 'chicken titties.' Freddy had stepped in, speaking in his robotic voice to hide his anger.

"Please remember that there are children here, and use proper language when visiting Freddy Fazbear's Pizza." He watched them with hard blue eyes as they laughed and brushed past him to join the line for the Haunted Cove. The entire time they loudly chatted about how 'lame' it was going to be and how they couldn't believe this stupid restaurant was still running. They also made several less-than-kind comments about the costumes of the kids around them. The customer flow had slowed, leaving the animatronics by the door free to keep an eye on the three boys. It wasn't until they got to the front of the line that they caught Roni's attention.

"Hey, snot-face, what are you staring at?" The shortest of the boys snapped at a toddler who was watching him over his mothers shoulder. The boy was wearing a dinosaur costume and had his face painted a matching green. At the harsh words, the toddlers face scrunched up and he began to cry. The mom shot the boys a nasty glare while bouncing her baby, rubbing his back and whispering to him.

The crying grabbed Roni's maternal side and brought her buzzing over to the line. The mom and her toddler were at the front of the line, along with the dad and an older boy, who was also dressed as a dinosaur. The guard clapped her hands, catching their attention, and beamed at the toddler.

"Oh my, what a fantastic costume!" She commented, reaching out to poke the little dinosaurs tail. "Why, you look just like a real dinosaur." She looked at the older brother and poked the dinosaur nose of his hoodie-like costume. "And look at this!" She crouched down so they were closer to eye-level. "You are quite a dashing dinosaur as well." The toddler had stopped crying and was watching the bouncy girl move, specifically watching her gold jewelry glint as she moved.

Roni glanced back at the light hovering above the east hall door. It flickered to green. "Oh, it looks like Captain Foxy is ready to meet his new shipmates." She stood and moved to the side, motioning the family forward. "Oh, and sir?" She caught the fathers arm as he passed, and he smiled at her.

"Yes ma'am?"

"When you see Mr. Foxy, tell him that First-Mate Roni gave you the special password: seaweed."

"Seaweed?" The man raised a brow, and the grinning guard nodded.

"Yes sir. You'll see what I mean." She winked, and sent him on his way, before rounding on the three bullies, who had been watching her with sneers and smirks. Roni gave them a stretched smile, then followed the family into the curvy hall. Once she'd reached the first bend, and was sure the dinosaur family was several turns ahead, she hissed into the darkness: "Mari!"

The pirate-puppet appeared with a pop and a frown. "Trouble?" He asked knowingly.

"Yeah, in the form of three stuck-up teens who just made a toddler cry for no reason."

"So why not just kick them out? You are the security guard, after all."

Roni scowled. "Oh no, these boys need a special lesson in being kind." Her lips curved up in a devious smirk. "I thought that Cap'n Foxy and First Mate Mari might be just the ones to teach it."

Mari's smile matched hers. "You want us to scare them?"

"No," Roni's eyes narrowed, "I want you to terrify them."

Mari waited until the dinosaur family had emerged from the west hall, both children clutching Foxy plushies, to turn the light green. Roni ushered the three boys into the curvy hallway, assuring them that they had nothing to be afraid of. The scoffed and snorted and declared this a 'baby's haunted house' as they wandered towards the Throne Room. As soon as they were out of sight, Donnie crawled underneath one of the sheets and gave Roni a thumbs up. She grinned and put him in charge of the line, reminding him not to let anybody in until the light turned green. Then, she snuck after the boys.

The three were grousing about the 'stupid paintings' and how 'lame' the glow in the dark paint was. A light appeared ahead of them, and they emerged into the throne room. The gold spray-painted throne was empty, and the candy chest was lying on the floor, the last few candy bars scattered across the floor.

"Oh nooo," one of the boys waved his hands in the air, "Something happened to distract us while the monster sneaks up behind us!" His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh my," the second boy laughed, "we're so scaaaaared."

The third boy – the one who'd made the toddler cry – bent down and picked up a few of the candy bars. "Whatever. Help me carry all this candy outta here."

The other two quickly gathered up the fallen chocolate and, still laughing, kicked at the throne and the chest. In the hall, Roni pulled one sleeve of her shirt down, tore up her dollar-store bandanna, and mussed her short hair. She pulled off one boot, ripped her skirt a bit more, and glanced at Mari, who was hovering behind her. He'd retrieved some vials of fake blood from the box of costume stuff Jon had bought for tonight. On her other side, Foxy grinned ferociously, his yellow eyes glinting. Nobody messed with his mateys!

"Mari," Roni hissed quietly, taking the fake blood and dumping it over her shoulder and spreading some on her forehead and leg, "can you make sure the other customers can't hear what we're about to do?"

"Already taken care of," the puppet assured her. "You can scream bloody murder and only those three boys will be able to hear you."

"That's the plan." Roni smirked as the puppet faded back into the shadows. She glanced at Foxy, who was more than happy to be doing some real scaring tonight. As much as he enjoyed the little jump scares for the kids, there was something challenging about trying to scare a teen. "Are you ready?"

He held up his hook and Roni smeared more fake blood on it. "Aye, lass. Lets send these bilge rats home to their mommies."

Somewhere behind the curtains came several bangs, making the boys pause and roll their eyes. "What a stupid gimmick," one groaned as he picked at the paint on the throne. "I knew this would be stupid and babyish." There was a louder crash, and then a scream. The youngest of the boys winced, but didn't say anything. There was another crash, a growl, and then a pained shout. The boys were just about to go back to destroying the throne when one of the bed-sheet walls was pulled down.

Roni stumbled into the throne room, covered in blood, eyes appearing bright and fevered in the odd lighting. "Help," she choked, trying to get to her feet. "Help me, please!"

All three of the boys scoffed. "Oh please," the dinosaur bully snarled, "This is so fake it's sad."

"You don't understand," Roni got to her knees, "He's...his programming. He fought it. He's not going to...not going to...not until everyone's dead..." The growl came again, and Roni turned to face the looming shadow that approached.

Captain Foxy stepped into the light, coat whipping about his legs, a sneer on his face. Thanks to an illusion from Mari, his teeth had gone back to looking sharp, silver, and dangerous. With only a deep, dark growl, he grabbed Roni by the front of her shirt, hauled her upright, and opened his jaws to screech in her face. Then, he clamped his mouth down on her head.

Roni obligingly screamed and thrashed as blood squirted everywhere. She slowly stilled, hanging there, glad that Foxy was still supporting her with his hand otherwise this would have been incredibly uncomfortable. Mari's illusions made it appear to the bullies that the fox had bit straight through Roni's skull, killing her. The cocky teens had gone from scoffing to silent, as pale as Marionettes mask.

Foxy pulled Roni away from him and, once he was sure she wouldn't be hurt, he dropped her to the ground. The boys were too distracted by the 'killer' fox to notice the girl caught herself and quickly laid down on her side, facing away from them. The grin on her face would have given them away in a second. The animatronic brandished his hook at the three boys, who had dropped the candy and were watching him in horror.

"Ye three be next!" He roared, before leaping over Roni and landing before them, screeching all the while. The boys screeched at the top of their lungs and ran out of the room through the exit hall, tripping over each other as they went. As soon as they were gone, Roni sat up and Mari appeared. A wave of the magicians hand and both Foxy and her were clean, their costumes mended and lacking any fake blood stains. Roni fixed her hair while Mari repaired the curtain. Foxy put the candy back in the chest and sat back in his chest. The silencing spell Mari had put up was removed, just in time for Jon to thunder into the room, looking alarmed.

"Roni?" He looked at the Throne Room, which looked the same as it had a few hours earlier. Roni was helping Foxy to refill the candy chest while happily talking about the cute dinosaur kids she'd seen before.

"Oh, hey Jon. It isn't midnight already, is it?" She asked innocently.

Fazbear gave the room another once over, then shook his head. "No, it's not. There's a couple of teens out there causing trouble. It's your job to take care of them, remember?"

"Of course, sir!" Roni pulled her security hat out from her belt and put it securely on her head before striding out of the room, humming the Pirates of the Caribbean theme all the while.

Jon glared at Foxy and the floating Mari. "I don't know what you did, but don't do it again." He left without waiting for an answer, leaving the two behind him to exchange a quick high-five.

In the dining hall, the three teens were absolutely hysterical. They were telling all the parents who would listen that the pirate fox had killed the pirate girl who was working by the front of the line earlier, and that he was dangerous and coming after him. Several of the children were looking very upset by this, and two or three had even begun to cry. Roni, wearing her security hat, strode out of the exit and stood behind the raving boys, who were insisting she had been killed by the fox.

"Ahem."

The teens whipped around to stare at the girl, going even paler than before.

"GHOST!" One of them screamed before charging out of the building, right past the startled Fazbear Band. The other two quickly followed, throwing harried glances over their shoulders at the guard. She kept a puzzled look on her face as they left.

"What was their problem?" She asked one of the nearby parents. They shrugged.

"I think they were trying to ruin this for everyone else." The dad explained, patting the back of his now-frightened child.

"Oh, how rude." Roni checked her watch. "Uh oh, it's almost midnight." There were only a dozen or so parents left, each with one or two children, and a few teens. Thanks to those idiot bullies, she had everybody's attention. "There's not going to be enough time for everybody to go to Foxy's treasure room tonight." The children who hadn't been terrified groaned in disappointment. "Aw, don't be sad, guys! I'll go ask the good Cap'n if he'd be willing to make a special trip out here to meet you all." A cheer went up as Roni dashed back down the exit hall.

The fox was sitting on his throne, still smirking. "Hey Foxy, times almost up for tonight. Grab your candy and bring it out to the dining hall."

"Aw, no more scares tonight?" The fox pouted.

"'fraid not. Now c'mon, there are kids waiting to meet you!"

That got the fox up out of his chair and eagerly following after her, the chest of candy gripped tightly in his hands. Donnie and Jon had herded the parents and kids towards the west hall, grouping them around with the children standing in front. Roni beamed at the audience. "Guess what, kiddos! Cap'n Foxy said he could come meet you all before his ship left for the night." She stepped to the side, revealing Foxy.

There were gasps of astonishment as the pirate stepped out in all of his glory. Several little boys went 'wow' and even a few of the parents looked impressed. Foxy knelt down in front of the children who had been gathered in a semi-circle, and looked over them all.

"I see a lot of fine shipmates here tonight!" He greeted them, setting down the chest. "Now, who be wantin' some candy?"

The kids immediately surged forward, but to the surprise of the adults, they almost completely ignored the chocolate in favor of chatting at Foxy, feeling his fur, poking his ears and snout, or petting his tail. The fox answered their barrage of questions as best he could, making sure he gave each child a moment of his attention. Several of the kids demanded hugs before their parents could drag them away. The handful of teens left in the store asked the pirate just as many questions, and a few of the girls also got hugs in.

The restaurant didn't close until fifteen minutes past Midnight, thanks to Foxy's insistence that he answered each and every questions he could. The kids that left waved and promised to see him again the next time they visited. As soon as the doors were locked, Roni found herself grabbed around the waist and picked up in a tight hug. Foxy spun them both around, laughing with a joy the others hadn't heard in a long time.

"That was wonderful, lass!" He crowed, setting her down after a moment. Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie joined them, all sharing overjoyed smiles. "Did ye see how they smiled at me? They weren't afraid at all!"

"I told you," Roni said once she got her breath back, "Everybody loves pirates."

Roni really did try to help the animatronics and Mari clean up the Haunted Cove set up. She got several of the sheets folded up, and had swept up a few candy wrappers. Freddy sent her to get a crate from Pirate's Cove to store some of the decorations in. When she didn't return within half an hour, he and Foxy went to check on her. She was curled up by his ship, fast asleep on a pile of the painted bed sheets. The two animatronics had left after taking a picture, knowing that she had run herself ragged over the past month making sure everything was perfect.

When Jon arrived at 6:30, the Haunted Cove had been completely disassembled and packed up. The Toy animatronics were upstairs, listening to the Fazbear Gang tell all about the night, from the costumes they'd seen to Foxy scaring the three bullies half to death. Roni was fast asleep in the Cove, wrapped in the painted bed-sheets. They all left her there until Police Chief Mike Schmidt arrived at eight, throwing open the doors using the key Roni had given him and yelling for Jon.

The manager knew the mild-mannered officer never yelled unless it was urgent. He rushed out of his office to meet the man in the dining hall. The toy animatronics had returned to the basement, while the others relaxed on the stage until opening time. Before Mike could explain what he was doing there that early in the morning, Roni stumbled out of Pirates Cove.

"Wha's going on?" She asked, still half asleep. "Who broke in? I'll keelhaul 'em!" She stopped and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, finally identifying a harried Mike standing in the middle of the room. "Oh. What the hell, Mike?"

"Roni, good, you're still here." He waved her over, and she saw he had the days paper in his hand. "We've got a problem." He set the paper on the nearest table and pointed to a side article. "Here." Jon, seeing that Roni was still half-asleep and that the animatronics were all listening intently from the stage, read it aloud:

Coming Soon!

Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction

Local amusement park is getting

ready to scare the your socks off

with a new attraction based on the

unsolved mysteries of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

Featuring actual relics from the decades-old

pizzeria, this new attraction is guaranteed

to bring back your childhood in the

worst way possible!

Roni was wide awake by this point. "What the hell? Jon, why are you opening a horror attraction?"

"I'm not." Jon frowned, re-reading the page. "Mike, is this today's paper?"

"Yeah," Mike pointed to the date at the top. "I was sure you wouldn't do this, which is why I came straight here. Do you want to press charges against these people?"

"Charges?" Freddy had joined them, looking just as alarmed as the others.

"Yeah, look at this – it says they have actual relics from one of the old locations." Mike pointed out. "If Jon didn't give them permission or sell it to them, than it's stolen property."

"We don't know if they actually have any actual Fazbear property." Jon rubbed at his chin. "Everything from the old restaurants is either in the basement or stored in a warehouse across town." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'll have to go check on the warehouse and see if anything is missing today. I'll call you when I've done an inventory." He promised.

"And if they have stolen property?" Roni prompted.

"Then I'll send you to go take a look at this so-called Fazbear's Fright tonight to see what they're doing."

The girl raised a brow. "That could be fun," she sighed.

"I'll go with you, if it comes to that." Mike volunteered. "Make it an official police investigation into stolen property – that way you won't be arrested if we're caught."

"Sounds like a plan." Roni scratched the back of her head and yawned again.

"Go on home, Roni. I'll call you as soon as I'm done at the warehouse."

"Yes sir," she gave him a sloppy salute, bid the animatronics good night, and headed for home, thinking of the mysterious Fazbear's Fright and what might be hiding inside of it.

AN: I've had this first chapter in my head since I started Universal Language. I'm happy to have it written. Next up: Fazbear's Fright!

I hope y'all enjoyed!

REVIEWS are LOVED and CUDDLED and WELL-FED and APPRECIATED and MOTIVATING!