Here we are! The first instalment of my FNaF 2 series!
I'm writing up an explanation of my FNaF universe which will be posted in the next chapter in order to clear up anything I may miss throughout these stories.
Right now, I'll give you a quick piece of background info: In order to rake in a little more money, it was decided that the animatronics would also provide some sort of education for the kids; the chosen subject being languages. The four main animatronics were made bilingual; Toy Freddy (Freddie) speaks German, Toy Chica (Chichi) speaks Spanish, Toy Bonnie (BonBon) speaks French, and Mangle (Mags) speaks Portuguese. The Puppet (Marion) is being taught these languages by the others.
Oh, and the gender dispute for Mangle had left me somewhat indecisive as to what to refer to him, therefore I chose to make him bigender. He prefers male pronouns, but can switch to a feminine personality at times. Happy? Good! Lets' get on with this!
Mangle stared down in annoyance at BB. The red-and-blue balloon vendor had called him into the Games Room because he'd had 'something important' to tell him. Turned out that that 'something' had been little more than a stream of high-pitched nonsense that Mangle had quickly shut out. The only reason he hadn't left yet was because the humanoid animatronic was very, very temperamental, and could go ballistic at the slightest provocation. It was okay when the little bugger was in the office because that meant the way was paved for the other animatronics to enter the room, particularly Foxy. But if it happened near a fellow mascot… Mangle shuddered at the memory of the first and last time it had happened. The old Chica and Bonnie had been the victims, and BonBon and Mangle had been witnesses. The decommissioned Chica had been left with her arms locked in a 'T' position, and Bonnie had been forced to watch the upper half of his face get smashed to pieces.
"Mangle! Hey! Mangle!"
Mangle rolled his eyes in irritation. "What is it, Balloon Brain?"
The (somewhat) crazy vendor looked up at Mangle with a rare expression of seriousness on his face. "A little quiet… don'tcha think?"
Mangle tilted his head (or heads if you prefer) in confusion. Quiet? Of course it was quiet! It was closing hours, the only human in the building was the security guard, and he was generally near silent save for the odd scream when an animatronic (usually the old Foxy) got in. Other than him, the only sounds came from Chichi's pet squirrel who was nested in one of the outer air vents, the quiet footfalls of the animatronics and the music… box…
Mangle's eyes widened. He couldn't hear the music box..!
"Puppet!"
Dropping down from the ceiling, Mangle raced down the hallway, bee-lining for the office. Behind him, BB muttered nervously, remaining where he was stood.
In the office, a truly horrifying sight befell Mangle's golden eyes.
The night guard's body lay in pieces around the office desk. Blood splattered the floor and walls (Mangle swore there was some on the ceiling", and stained the blue fur of a Toy Bonnie plush. The air was tainted with the metallic scent of blood and death, and in the middle of the massacre lay a small, bloodied black figure, curled up, rocking back and forth and muttering, sobs escaping its shoulders.
"M'sorry, m'sorry… so, so sorry…"
"Marion?" Mangle bentured, scared that his surrogate cub was still possessed by the bloody madness that took over whenever the tinkling of the music box came to an end.
The ghostly face of the marionette snapped up to meet Mangle's eyes. Oily black tears accompanied the purple stripes underneath his eyes, and the black smile that normally masked his face was downturned with sorrow and fear.
"M-m'sorry," he whimpered, his black-cloth-clad arms shaking with violent tremors. "Th-the m-music s-stopped a-and I… I just felt so scared and… and angry all of a s-sudden!" The small, child-sized animatronic collapsed into another bawling fit.
The feminine, motherly part of Mangle immediately surfaced, and the mutilated animatronic rushed forward and scooped up the traumatised puppet into his twisted arms. Being bigender had its advantages when it came to comforting kids.
"There, there, sweetie," he soothed, his voice taking on a feminine lilt. "It's okay, little cub. He can't hurt you now."
"I-I don't want it to happen again!" Marion, wailed, his lanky arms wrapping around Mangle's exposed endoskeleton chest, the soft, snowy white fur being long gone. "I-I don't want to end up h-hurting you!"
Mangle let the child cry into him, but continued to rock him back and forth and whisper to him softly. Eventually, Marion's sobs ceased, replaced by soft sniffles and the occasional hiccup.
"Better?" Mangle asked, nuzzling the puppet with both his heads.
"A – hic! – little…"
"Come on, let's go find Chichi," the white fox suggested. "We can make some pizza in the kitchens. Your favourite?"
Marion just nodded, and mangle carried him out down the hallway in search of the yellow toy animatronic. They passed the old Foxy, who decided to strike up a rare conversation. It turned out the decommissioned pirate still had a soft spot for kids, but his relationship with the newer animatronics was still a shaky one, and the older models still despised him to the point of abusing him. It showed too, what with his ripped red fur, dented muzzle and bent hook. His eyes – which were normally devoid of any true emotion – now shone with a rare concern.
"I'm guessing the idiot forgot to wind up the music box," he muttered, voice lacking the now redundant pirate accent.
"Yes," Mangle said bitterly, his dislike for Foxy stemming from the Bite of '87.
"Anything… salvageable?"
Marion suddenly whimpered and buried his head further into Mangle's chest, and the fox growled softly. "Why'd you want to know?"
"I'm starving. I'd ask for pizza, but after living on… well… you know… for so long, processed food like that makes me hurl. I don't think I can kick the habit any more after over twenty years."
Resentfully, Mangle nodded. "I didn't get a proper look, but by all means, check."
"Okay. I'll clean it all up for you too. You've got your hands full already." The red fox glanced down at the puppet, who still had his face buried into Mangle's chest. "Quick question: why doesn't that endoskeleton who hangs around wind the box up?"
"The only way to wind it up is using the tablet, and only the night guards can use them." Mangle said, muttering something about 'stupid robot fingers' under his breath.
"Right; no manual controls."
"Yeah. You gonna..?" The white fox jerked his head in the direction of the office.
"Yeah. Don't want 'the old gang' getting in on it first." With that said, Foxy briskly made his way down the hallway, joints creaking with each step. Mangle continued his way to the kitchens with Marion.
Chichi was already in there, pottering around with ingredients in hand, and singing quietly in Spanish. By the time Mangle walked in, Puppet had calmed down and was no longer crying.
"Olá, Chichi," Mangle greeted in Portuguese.
"Hola, Mags!" Chichi chirped, calling Mangle by his female nickname. "Hola, Marioneta. What can I do for you, mis amigos?"
"Hehe, seems you're doing it already," Mangle chuckled. "Some of Puppet's favourite if you don't mind." Walking in, he placed Marion on the kitchen counter. The white-faced puppet let his legs dangle from the worktop as he looked up at Chichi tiredly.
"Oh!" the chicken exclaimed, noticing the blood covering the puppet. "Are you okay, cariño?"
"Caja de música stopped," Marion stated sadly.
"You poor thing! Tell you what; you and I can make some pizza, and then Mama Mangle can get you all cleaned up for the morning. How's that sound?"
At the sound of Chichi's cheerful tone, Marion perked up a little. "Sounds great."
With the mood now a lot lighter, Mangle decided to hang from the ceiling to watch Marion and Chichi, the position he'd assumed being a lot more comfortable than standing up. Since he'd been literally mangled by the kids, he couldn't stay in certain positions for too long before it hurt. Even walking caused small stabs of pain every now and then. He was just thankful he went into a sort of shutdown state during opening hours.
Just as Marion and Chichi finished making the pizza dough, BonBon and Freddie walked in.
"We couldn't hear the music box," BonBon said, voice full of worry. "When we checked the office, Foxy was in there. He told us what happened. Is Marion okay?"
"He's fine," Mangle explained. "Just a little shaken up, is all."
BonBon sighed with relief, and made hiw way to Chichi and Marion. Gently, he scooped the puppet in his blue arms and rocked him back and forth.
"Bonsoir, petit fantoche," he crooned in flawless French. "Ça va?"
"Comme ci comme ça," Marion replied. His accent was a little off, but he was certainly improving. "Just tired."
"You want some pizza? There's carrots in the fridge," Chichi offered.
"Oui, merci," BonBon said, putting Marion back down on the worktop.
All the while, Freddie and Mangle had been silently watching the exchanged. The latter remembered that he had something to talk about with the leader of the band.
"Freddie?" Mangle enquired. "Can we… talk? In private?"
The animatronic bear nodded. "Of course."
When the two mascots were out of the kitchen and in Kids' Cove, Mangle cut the silence.
"I hope you don't mind if I stay here on the ceiling," he said. "It's the only comfortable position right now."
"Keine problem, mein Freunde," Freddie said. "I suppose you want to talk about Marion, right?"
Mangle sighed. "I'm worried about him, Freddie," he stated sadly.
"I know you are Mangle. We all are. This is… what? The third time this has happened?"
The white fox nodded. "I just don't understand why it happens. Whenever a guard neglects to wind up the music box, it's as if he's possessed. It scares me, Freddie. What if he doesn't come around, next time? I don't… I don't want to… to…"
"I know, Mangle. We're all worried, and those constant visions of his just make it worse."
"That… that's not the only thing, though. The night guards. Are… are we really doing the right thing in following our predecessors' footsteps? We may have a good reason for doing it, but that doesn't redeem us for the fact that we're killing people."
"Do you really want to risk it though?" Freddie quizzed. "Andy one of those guards could be the one Marion is having nightmares about. These visions shouldn't be ignored."
"I know that, but… I can't help but wonder how many families we've hurt; the wives we've left widowed and the kids we've left fatherless. Fifty guards have been employed here since we opened just over a year ago; most of them have died one way or another, three to Marion. At least one of 'em has had to have had a family… right?"
"… It's for the best."
"I… Okay…"
"Anything else you want to talk about?"
"It's too much for one night. It's five o'clock. Eddie and I will put Marion back to bed when he's ready."
Freddie nodded. "I'll go check that the old animatronics are in line. You head back to the kitchen."
With the conversation evidently over, the two animatronics went their separate ways. Mangle checked the prize room to see if Eddie was there. The bare endoskeleton had quickly been abandoned partway through development, and had been left as a reserve for spare parts, but he'd somehow gained the same sentience as the rest of the animatronics. No one knew what he was meant to be, not even himself, and he hadn't even had a name until Marion had given him one. Since then the puppet and the reserve had developed a sort of father/son relationship. Eddie kept to himself mostly, but whenever Marion left his box and disappeared on his way to the office, Eddie went near insane with worry.
Said endoskeleton wasn't in the Prize Corner, so Mangle headed for the office. In the bloodied room, he found Foxy trying to pull a shiny, blue-eyed endoskeleton out of the left air vent. Yes, Eddie was sentient like the others but he still glitched a lot.
"Okay, mate, on the count of three, use your legs to push yourself out. I'll pull you!" Foxy said, bracing his rusty legs.
"My legs are locked too, you know!" Eddie grumbled. "I can barely wiggle my damned toes!"
"Well… use your toes then! One… Two… Three!" Foxy pulled, his battered arms creaking, and Eddie grunted as he slid slowly out of the vent. Mangle watched with amusement. Men…
"You two done?" he asked from the ceiling, feminine side winning out.
"You could have helped," Eddie complained, getting up now his limbs were finally moving again.
"Hey, I'm the one who scrambled to get to Marion."
Eddie surveyed the carnage of the office his eyes sad and leaf-shaped ears drooping. "This is worse than last time," he said.
"And this is after I ate," Foxy cut in. "Poor kid seems to be getting worse each time."
Mangle winced. Not wanting to talk with the old fox any more, he clamped his jaws over Eddie's shoulder and dragged the endoskeleton to the kitchen. In the room of gleaming worktops, ovens and refrigerators, BonBon, Chichi, Marion and BB were happily chewing on fresh-baked pizza. Eddie immediately hugged Marion, glad he was okay.
When the puppet was full, Mangle and Eddie took him to the restrooms to wash off all the blood on his body. Then they brought him back to the Prize Corner and put him back in his box. A few soft lullabies later, he was fast asleep and clutching a plush toy version of Mangle in his glory days to his chest.
The two older animatronics then left, and stood in the hallway, Mangle having left his usual perch on the ceiling. Facing each other, they said nothing for a while.
Then Eddie took hold of Mangle's separate heads and placed them together so that they were one, as they were meant to be. It didn't hurt the white fox. In fact it was oddly comforting.
"What if they found out?" Eddie asked, placing his forehead against Mangle's. "What if we showed them who we really are?"
"Humans fear the unknown," Mangle replied. "Now isn't the time to be revealing our sentience. Wait a while; the right time will come eventually."
They said no more; simply hugged the way family does, and parted ways. Eddie to the parts and service room, Mangle to Kids' Cove. It hurt when the two fox's heads were separated once again, but then again it always did. He was always in pain, and longed for the day when someone realised and had the heart to fix him. To fix all the tortured souls in this hellhole of a wonderland…
I'm considering shipping Mangle and Eddie. If you have any reason as to why this couple should not be shipped, speak now or forever hold your peace!