Bloodstained Victory

by Mazanica

"Even as he stared down at his bloodied hands, he believed that they did what was right. He had thought that killing would bring a horrible guilt to him, but he felt oddly... gleeful. The children were safe! Their would-be killer was dead! He was directly responsible for it... and he was delighted about it! The blood on his hands was a sign of victory- not a heinous crime."

A/N: This does not completely adhere to canon. Forgive me for this as I do twist the timeline. The murders happen pre-1987 in this story. Also, it's very long for a oneshot, I know. And I know the Parts & Service door doesn't have a knob, just bear with me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

---

"There, that should work. Now all we need to do is run some diagnostics, just to make sure there aren't any problems."

"We can do that tomorrow, Jimmy. This place doesn't open for another three days, after all."

A blue ear twitched as the sound of footsteps faded from the room and a door shut, and green eyes slowly opened. The first thing the robot bunny noticed was that he was standing on a stage. The second thing he noticed was he was holding a bright red guitar.

The sound of shifting next to him caught his attention, and he looked towards his left. He was sharing the stage with two others; a rosy-cheeked bear and a rosy-cheeked chicken. He blinked for a moment before opening his mouth. "Hello?" he called to them, turning their attention to him.

"Hello," they both chorused, looking surprised.

"Who are you?" Bonnie asked them, though as soon as he asked he realized he already knew; they were Freddy and Chica.

"I'm Freddy," the bear answered him anyway.

"And I'm Chica!" she said cheerfully. "Your name is... Bonnie?" The bunny looked a bit surprised as he realized yes, he was Bonnie. He nodded and the chicken smiled at him- or, came as close to a smile as her robotic face would allow.

"A pleasure to meet you both!" the bear, Freddy, laughed cheerfully.

"Right back at'cha!" Bonnie answered with a grin. He then looked down at his guitar and experimentally strummed it. "Looks like I'm a guitarist for a band!" He paused as he thought. "The... Fazband?"

"I'm the singer," Freddy informed him, holding his mic up.

"I'm backup singer," Chica added.

"And I be a storyteller," another voice called over, startling the trio. They turned to look at the doorway where a fox with a parrot on her shoulder stood.

The parrot squawked before adding, "Aye!"

Something in Bonnie's head clicked. "Foxy, Pierre!" he called triumphantly, only slightly surprised when his voice echoed in unison with his bandmates. "What brings you from the... the Cove?"

"Oh, lad, I heard ye all speakin' and just wanted to come see what was up," Foxy answered, walking into the room. "Lads, lass, ye don't have to be stayin' there. Ye can walk."

"We can?" Chica asked, surprise lacing her voice. She looked down at her feet and took a tentative step forwards. She brightened, realizing that yes, she could walk. "We can!"

Bonnie and Freddy both took slow steps, adjusting to this strange feeling. Then they shared a grin. "Awesome!" Bonnie cheered, locating the stage stairs and very carefully stepping down off of the stage. "Totally bangin'."

The other animatronics turned to look at him, and Bonnie paused as well as he reviewed what he just said. "Huh, I think we got different dictionaries based on our characters," he observed.

"I would think so, yes," Freddy agreed, obviously amused. "I would never use something like 'banging'."

"Bangin'," Bonnie corrected with a grin. Chica giggled while Foxy laughed.

"We should explore our new home," Chica finally suggested, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Squawk! Let's be goin' then, ye land-lubbers!" Pierre called, flapping his useless wings a bit. He was attached to Foxy's shoulder, so he couldn't actually move, and this kind of amused Bonnie. He figured he shouldn't say so, though...

"Hello!" a new, childish voice called with a laugh, causing the animatronics to pause and turn. There was a robot that resembled a human child, holding a sign and a balloon. "I'm Balloon Boy!"

"Hi, Balloon Boy," they all greeted in unison, lifting a hand to wave.

"I passed ye on me way over here," Foxy noted. Balloon Boy nodded.

"I followed you!" he laughed. "Silly Puppet is watching us, being all lonely and boring. I invited him along but he said he prefers to 'listen from afar.'"

"Aw, that's perfectly fine, BB," Bonnie told the child robot. "Not everyone's the same, ya know."

"BB?" Freddy questioned, but everyone else seemed to simply accept it without question.

"You're right," BB agreed with Bonnie, nodding. "I want to see what's attached to those!" he suddenly said, pointing with his sign up towards the stage. Confused, the three band members looked up.

"What are you talkin' about?" Bonnie asked, not seeing the object he spoke of... but then he noticed it. A clunky white-and-black machine, staring at the stage. There was what looked like a light bulb, but it wasn't lit. "Huh. That's a... a... security camera."

"So there must be a security room," Freddy mused. "It's probably near the entrance."

"Or far from it," Chica countered. "Come on, let's go exploring!"

And within a few seconds, the group had split up, each looking around curiously at their new home. Bonnie looked around as well, his eyes passing over the carousel and prize corner, past the door to Kid's Cove, scanned over the pictures on the wall... and landed on a door to the right of the stage. Curious, he clutched his guitar to his body and approached the doorway. Oddly enough everything felt so familiar, and he knew he must have been programmed to know the building's layout.

He stopped in front of the open doorway and looked down the dimly-lit hall. "Guys, I'm gonna go see what's down this hall," Bonnie called over his shoulder before he began walking forwards. He heard Freddy call a confirmation that he understood, but he made no response himself.

As he walked, he passed two more open doorways. The signs on the wall beside each door were rather humanoid- one wearing a triangle and the other not. Clearly these were the bathrooms, he realized, and gave them no more attention. He looked at the posters on the walls with interest, noting they were of him and his friends.

"The new face of fun!" one poster with Freddy declared. New? They were in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, Freddy Fazbear was always the "face of fun!" What did they mean "new?"

He turned his gaze to the other posters, but neither of them really answered his question. All they said was "let's rock," "let's party," and "party time! U ready?" Nothing about "new." He shook his head and continued to observe the posters, feeling a little... bored. Honestly, he almost felt tired. How strange...

Then, from the corner of his eye, he noticed something. A closed door- the first door he had seen thus far. He turned to look at it, and he realized it was a closed, heavy door. It almost unnerved him and he didn't like that so he began walking towards the door, forcing himself to be brave. His hands may have gripped his guitar a little tighter than normal, but he confessed to nothing.

When he stood in front of the door, he could see "Parts & Service" printed clearly on a plaque on the door. "This must be where they keep our spare parts," he told himself. "Or the tools for our upkeep."

Feeling less afraid of this big metal door, knowing that it was just where their spare parts were, he loosened his grip on the guitar and reached out with his right hand, grasping the knob. He was almost surprised to find the door unlocked while pulling it open. It was pitch black inside, so dark that even his night-vision setting was struggling. The bunny glanced over his shoulder; he could see Freddy through the open doorway, his back to the door as he inspected the carousel. Seeing no one else, Bonnie turned back to the dark room and stepped inside, his curiosity getting the best of him.

After all, there was nothing about this room in his programming. He could recite the layout of every party room, Kid's Cove, even the Office and Kitchen without seeing them, but there was no information whatsoever about this room besides it existing. He brushed his hand along the wall, sure there was a light switch somewhere because for some reason his night setting wasn't wor-

Light flooded the room as Bonnie's fingers brushed over the switch, and his eyes widened in horror at the sight that greeted him.

He had expected shelves and boxes filled with mechanical bits and pieces. Maybe a bare endoskeleton or two. But not this. No, he would have expected anything but this.

Four animatronics. Not disassembled- not completely, anyway- but extremely damaged. But the damage looked purposeful. It wasn't just age and wear that had gotten to them; someone had taken tools to them, broken them to access what was inside and left them as a mess of broken machines strewn across the room.

Standing against a wall was a large chicken animatronic, its jaw split completely from its head. Its arms were stuck straight out, and where hands had once been there were only wires.

Laying on the floor was a bear, quite a bit larger than Freddy, with an old damaged microphone in his hand. He was staring towards a camera with a permanent grin on his face. He had some wear and tear, but not nearly as much as the chicken...

Slumped in a corner on the far side of the room, out of sight of the camera on the wall, was a fox. He was very damaged, and it looked like he had been in a state of disrepair for a while. He was missing many patches of fur, even more bits of paneling, what remained of his suit was torn in places, and his endoskeleton was practically bare on his shins.

The worst part, though, was the figure slumped against the wall across from the door. It was a bunny. It was missing an arm, the paneling on its hand and one of its feet... and its entire face. As in, its face was completely gone, all Bonnie could see of it was its endoskeleton head. It was slumped forwards, its faceless head staring at the ground.

If he had lungs, Bonnie was sure he'd feel like he was suffocating. For an animatronic, they looked like mangled corpses. He took a few tentative steps towards the large purple bunny across the room, but he stopped. What did he think he could do? These animatronics were as good as dead, probably destroyed by the very people hired to fix them. Besides, why would he even want to help? They were old and, well... scary.

Then Bonnie made a sudden and horrifying realization.

A bear with a microphone with a yellow chicken and a bunny... and a fox with an eye patch and hook- a pirate... He was looking at past models of themselves. Now he knew why that poster said "new." They weren't originals...

They were replacements.

They were these animatronics' replacements.

Bonnie was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed two red dots light up in the bunny- old Bonnie's- endoskeleton face. He did, however, hear the whirring and clacking as the old animatronic booted up, and his own green eyes widened.

Slowly, the faceless bunny looked up at its blue replacement, and Bonnie hardly even registered the guitar slipping from his fingers. All he could do was stare at the large bunny and its red would-be eyes...

Then the purple bunny began pushing itself to its feet, and Bonnie came to his senses. He jerked back a couple of steps, but he, still being new to the whole "walking" thing, lost his footing and fell backwards onto the ground. He didn't take his eyes off the now-standing should-be-dead-and-deactivated damaged original. Now, he was sure, now if he had to breathe he'd be hyperventilating. This thing could crush him.

The large, bulky bunny took a step towards him, and Bonnie scrambled back away. Static filled the air; Bonnie wasn't sure where exactly it was coming from but he did not want to find out. He finally got his senses about him and scrambled to his feet. He raced back out the door and slammed it closed, then proceeded to run down the hallway back towards the entertainment area.

He almost ran straight into Chica, but she leapt out of the way before he did. "Bonnie!" she cried out, worried at the bunny's freaked out expression. "What's wrong?"

Bonnie turned to look at her. "Just... d-don't go in the parts and service room," he told her, pointing down the hallway towards the door. Freddy and Foxy walked over, looking concerned as they noticed Bonnie's expression as well.

"What be in that room, lad?" Foxy asked, crossing her arms. Bonnie looked at her, finding himself unconsciously comparing her to her older and obviously male counterpart. Her scarier counterpart he now had doubts about actually being deactivated...

"Oh, nothing important," he started rather nonchalantly. "Just, you know... they guys we replaced."

The other three stood in shocked silence. Then Freddy spoke up. "Replaced? What do you mean replaced?"

"Exactly that," Bonnie rolled his eyes- Freddy wasn't an idiot, after all. "See, in that room there are four animatronics; a bear, a chicken, a fox, and a bunny. They look like they were scrapped."

"You look like you've seen a ghost, no offense," Chica told him. "Seeing deactivated robots shouldn't have scared you that badly."

"No, it shouldn't. There's just one problem; they're extremely damaged and they're not deactivated at all." The others exchanged worried looks; they hadn't been expecting this.

"I guess that explains the toys in Prize Corner," Freddy mused to himself. Bonnie blinked, showing his confusion, so Freddy expanded. "The toys in Prize Corner don't really resemble us at all. My toy's fur is darker, Chica's has a bib that says "let's eat" instead of "party," there's no toy of Foxy at all, and you're purple. And none of us have our rosy cheeks."

If he could have, Bonnie would have been sick to his stomach. Sure, he was confident he was right in his assessment, but part of him had still hoped he was wrong. "Yeah, that's them for sure."

A sudden banging sound caused all of the present animatronics to jump and turn to look down the hallway. It sounded like someone was banging on the door. Bonnie's voice box made the closest thing to a whimper he could come, which sounded more like a high pitched whirring, and he hid behind Freddy.

However, a new, softer voice entered the scene. "I will speak to them," it said, causing them to turn to the side. A black-and-white puppet with a painted mask was looking at them. Instinctively, they all knew this to be the Puppet of Prize Corner.

"What? Speak to them?" Bonnie asked perplexedly. "They might hurt you! They-"

"-are confused and scared, much like you would be in their situation," the puppet interrupted, causing the bunny to fall silent. "I will speak with them so they understand." He began moving towards the hall, and with a jolt Bonnie realized the puppet wasn't moving its limbs.

In fact, it wasn't walking at all; its pointed feet dragged slightly on the ground as it moved as though floating... but it had no strings holding it up.

It paused and turned its head to look at them. "Also, your animatronic models are called the Toys. You are Toy Freddy, Toy Bonnie, Toy Chica, and Toy Foxy." He continued moving, leaving the "Toys" behind to watch him slip inside the parts and service room.

Bonnie looked at his new friends, his ears lowering. "I don't like this at all, guys. This is such bunk."

"Are we really replacements?" Chica asked sadly, her beak turning down in a slight frown.

"We might be the same characters," Freddy started, "but we are not them. We are completely separate from them. If we were not, I'm sure we would have their memories. We are different interpretations of the same characters... completely different entities."

"Why I bet our personalities don't even be the same," Foxy suddenly added, crossing her arms. "It's 1987, if they be much older than a few years their AIs wouldn't be advanced enough for it."

"So either they adhere completely to their programmed personalities or they have developed separate personalities," Freddy mused. The others nodded slightly in agreement.

"Still, to think I'm someone's replacement... oh, she must hate me," Chica sadly said.

"Come on, let's get back on stage. I think we've learned some things we need to process."

"Alright," the others agreed with the bear, and Foxy headed towards the Cove while the band settled on stage, falling into their default positions. Bonnie lifted his hands as though he was holding a guitar...

"Oh no!" Bonnie gasped, staring at his hands empty hands in horror. His bandmates looked at him in confusion. He turned his green eyes up to meet their blue and magenta ones. "My guitar! I dropped it earlier, it's in the parts and service room...!"

"Calm down, Bonnie," Freddy spoke softly to try and not upset the blue bunny further. "I'm sure the staff will notice tomorrow and find a spare, if not bring you back the one you dropped."

Bonnie wanted to cry; he liked that guitar. However, crying was a physical impossibility for him, so he settled for hanging his head sadly. He nodded, though, and said, "I know, you're right..."

Freddy gently pat him on his back before getting back in position and going into shutdown in order to process and accept what had been learned. Chica followed suit, and Bonnie cast another sad, nervous glance towards the doorway before shutting down as well.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

A few hours later, he felt himself come into awareness again. There was a person right in front of him. From the sounds of the footsteps as they walked along the stage, he was sure they were human. He kept his eyes closed so they wouldn't notice he'd activated or acted without programming.

"I wonder where his guitar went," the man in front of him wondered aloud.

"If they're anything like the old models," his partner started, "he probably lost it while wandering around."

"Be serious, Ross," the first man laughed. "They're robots, they don't wander around without it being programmed into them."

"Uh... it is programmed into them, Allan," the second man, Ross, informed Allan with a raised brow. Bonnie was tempted to open his eyes so he could see what the men looked like, but he didn't want to make them aware of his being awake. "Remember? After Fazbear Entertainment bought out Fredbear's, they had them updated with that really advanced super-secret technology that the company head had to pay out the ass for."

"You serious?" Allan asked, shock lacing his voice. "Wow. Hope this place doesn't go the way the last place went. I don't think Fazbear's can take another fall like that. Bad enough he had to decommission Fredbear after '83, but those kids... they nearly ruined this place the first time. If a second time happens, well, there's no hope."

"Eh, Fazbear always pulls through," Ross dismissed. "It's been a few years and these models are completely different. And now the springlock suits aren't in use. They're put away in storage. Away from the other old ones- don't want a kid finding them and trying to climb inside."

"Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen."

"Exactly. Come on, lets continue. You need to be well acquainted with all the rooms if you're gonna be the new night guard."

Bonnie risked opening his eyes slightly when he heard the footsteps fading. He watched them walk away, noting one- he had no idea which- had oily black hair, and the other had sandy blond hair.

Their conversation confused him. Kids? Springlock suits? Fredbear? '83? A fall? Yes, Bonnie was thoroughly confused. He glanced at his bandmates and he saw that they were just as confused as he was.

Bonnie looked straight ahead, over towards the carousel and towards BB. The balloon kid had his back to the stage, so Bonnie couldn't even determine if he'd overheard the humans at all. With an imitation sigh, Bonnie closed his eyes and shut himself down again. He only came back online when the humans were running final diagnostics, and then he was allowed to rest until the building had been vacated completely for the night.

It was Freddy who woke him up later in the evening. Bonnie turned to look at his friend, but before he could so much as wave a greeting, Freddy asked, "Do you have any idea what any of what they said meant?"

"I was hopin' you did," Bonnie answered with a shrug. He still didn't have his guitar, neither of them brought it back to him... "So are they gone?"

"Yeah," Chica responded this time, nodding. "They left about ten minutes ago. Apparently the guy 'Allan' is coming back around midnight to work as the night guard."

"Midnight... it's only eight, though."

"Yes, it is," Freddy agreed as he walked towards the stairs to step off stage. "I'm going to look around some. You want to join me?"

Bonnie thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I think I'll rest for a bit longer." Freddy and Chica exchanged worried glances but shrugged, leaving to explore more of their new home.

The bunny glanced around, seeing that he was left completely alone in the room... except for the Puppet across the room in his box, but he didn't much count. With a sigh, Bonnie closed his eyes again and bowed his head to go back into shutdown for a bit more rest.

He was sure robots shouldn't exactly feel... tired. It was probably from that scare he'd had the night before... He should probably run a self diagnostic and find any inconsistencies in his coding, just to make sure...

His world faded into the familiar blackness... and then lit right back up. He knew what that meant- there was someone or something right in front of him. He stayed completely still, pretending he was still in shutdown in case it was a person. Then he felt something press into his hands, and he instinctively closed his fingers around the object.

It was his guitar. He could feel the strings, the sleek, smooth surface under his plastic fingers, the oddly familiar and comforting V-shape of the guitar's body...

His ear twitched as whoever retrieved his guitar walked away, and after a few moments he finally opened his eyes. The person was gone, of course, and they had left no sign of who they were. All Bonnie was able to determine was that they had been an animatronic; their footsteps had been too heavy for a human. For a moment he thought it might have been his original counterpart, but... No, the parts and service door didn't open from the inside. That much was proven the night before, when the robot had banged on the door with his one arm instead of twisting the knob.

Plus he was pretty sure that the guitar he held in his hands had originally been that animatronic's guitar, so he doubted the bunny would so willingly just hand it back to someone he should hate.

"This is only mildly confusing," he complained quietly to himself, glancing towards the door. Then he closed his eyes again, locked himself into position, and went into shutdown for real.

He looked around himself curiously. For a moment he was confused, wasn't shutdown complete unawareness? He pushed the thought away in favor of looking at his surroundings. He was in a place he didn't recognize- he had never been there before... but wait, yes he had. He came here all the time, of course he knew it! It was his favourite place to go in the whole wide world.

But- no. 'I don't know this place,' he told himself, feeling himself walking forwards towards a hallway. The walls around him were covered in childish drawings... hung above him. 'Why am I so short?' he wondered, looking around. He felt gleeful for some reason, but at the same time he was confused.

He remembered stuff... but at the same time he remembered completely contradictory stuff. He continued down the hallway until a voice stopped him. Turning around, he saw a very large animatronic... A purple bunny.

The bunny looked friendly enough, though he felt himself instinctively afraid. The bunny said, "I'm sorry but only employees are allowed back here. You should go find your mom and dad, I'm sure they're worried about you."

He ran up to the bunny, despite something in him yelling at him not to because he was pretty darn sure that bunny wasn't supposed to have a face. What a weird thought... no, wait- yes...

"Will you help me, Bonnie?" he asked gleefully, and he was confused to hear the high-pitched babble of a... a child. A child?

"Of course! Come on! What's your name?"

"Eric!" the child giggled happily. 'No, wait- no, it's Bonnie. Bonnie!' he said to himself, but he couldn't make his mouth form the words.

"Well, come on, Eric. Hey, maybe you can meet the band, and Fredbear and Spring Bonnie would love to meet you too! But first let's find your parents!"

He followed the large bunny, a mixture of fear and excitement in him. It was strange.

As the world began fading to white, he looked over his shoulder down the hallway again to see...

He wasn't sure what he saw, exactly. All he could make out was a smirk and a deep purple uniform...

Bonnie's eyes suddenly snapped opened, feeling extremely surprised. "What was that?!" he asked himself.

"I apologize," the puppet spoke up, causing Bonnie to jump in surprise; he hadn't expected the puppet to leave his box. "I tend to give people, hm... visions," he told the blue bunny. "It usually only happens with humans, but, hm, I suppose it isn't far-fetched for it to happen to another animatronic in shutdown."

Bonnie blinked and glanced aside. Then he asked, "Hey, what's your name?"

The puppet stared at him blankly. "What do you mean?"

"Well your name can't just be 'the Puppet,' so what is it?"

"It is actually Marionette," the masked being corrected him. "I am a marionette named Marionette. But I do not mind being called Mari or Nette."

Bonnie nodded slowly as he processed this. Then he grinned. "Nice to formally meet ya, Nette."

Nette nodded slightly in response. "And to you, Toy Bonnie."

"Please don't call me 'toy,'" Bonnie requested, glancing aside.

"Why not?"

"I know I'm not to original Bonnie," he started, sitting down on the stage, "but I am a real Bonnie anyway. Calling me 'toy' just makes it sound like, well... like I'm just a toy. A fake."

Nette watched him for a few moments before nodding. "I understand. It's just I find it a bit strange, a bit hard even, to call you Bonnie. You see, I am from Fredbear's Family Diner as well. The 'original Bonnie,' as you call him, was once my friend."

Bonnie's ears twitched as Nette told him this. Of course he could understand why Nette would have reservations calling him 'Bonnie' if he had once been friends with the old Bonnie...

"Well if you wanted I guess you could call me something like... uh, Blue, I guess. Not BonBon, though. That just sounds funny," Bonnie mused to himself. Actually, differentiating himself from the original Bonnie would probably be best... He didn't want to be a mere replacement, after all. He wanted to be his own being. He wanted to be separate from the original. He wanted to be an individual. He just wanted to be... himself. Not someone else.

"Very well, then, Blue," Nette agreed with a nod. Bonnie- no, Blue now, he reminded himself- gave Nette a smile and stood up.

"I think I'll join my friends in exploring now," he decided, setting his guitar down so as not to lose it again. "By the way, did you happen to see who returned my guitar...?"

"I'm afraid not. I was in my box at the time," Nette informed him. Blue nodded a bit in understanding.

"Well that's all right," Blue shrugged, stepping off the stage. He watched as Nette went back towards his box, and for a moment Blue wondered exactly why Nette had been so close to the stage... but he chose not to ask. For some reason, he didn't want to know. Instead he stepped out of the room and made his way towards the second hallway that lead to the party rooms and office, avoiding even looking at the parts and service room.

Nette had said that the original Bonnie, and so most likely the rest of them along with "Fredbear" and "Spring Bonnie" whoever those were, was once his friend... Blue couldn't help but wonder how the animatronics had been back then, before they were damaged.

It didn't matter, though. Technology that old... well, technology was limited. They were just lifeless machines like everyone expected the "toys" to be. They were only friends because their programming told them to be. Of course, Nette was obviously different... but still.

He kept repeating this to himself as he located his friends and got a quick up-to-date on everything he missed. He didn't mention his guitar. He was almost afraid to know.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

That night with the night guard, things went downhill fast. Somehow, the original animatronics escaped from the parts and service room... and they went for the night guard. Blue and his friends didn't understand why, and none of them knew how to even begin to intervene and save the guard. Why were they going after the night guard? What purpose did it even serve? Did they just enjoy the power and attention it gave them? Blue didn't know, and neither did his friends.

It wasn't hard for the old animatronics to catch the first night guard (RIP Allan, whose face no one ever actually saw...) or even the second. Their screams only solidified Blue's belief that the animatronics were mindless... mindless or bloodthirsty, whichever fit better. It was a unanimous decision on the newer animatronics' parts to stay the hell away from them. Nette sometimes visited them, and Blue never asked him why, but he always felt nervous when he saw the puppet slip into the parts and service room. He couldn't help but wonder if he'd see the puppet again.

The next time Blue saw any of the old animatronics, their hands and torsos were stained with red. Even he knew what that meant.

The worst part was, none of the staff were surprised. They covered it up! That shocked Blue and his friends, but as they entertained the children in the crowd of the newly opened Freddy Fazbear's Pizza he forced the thoughts from his mind. He would think and process them later, when he was trying to process more of the strange visions he kept having when he went into shutdown.

Always in that same restaurant... from that same angle, being called "Eric." All he could really remember was the old Bonnie being there, smiling and laughing and singing with his friends and so unlike the old Bonnie Blue saw every night. Then, of course, that wicked grin would sometimes flash through his mind- he still had no idea what that was about. Well, no matter; his focus was on Bonnie, always on Bonnie. Bonnie, performing on stage with Freddy and Chica. Bonnie, having a scripted argument with Foxy where Freddy was the peacemaker. Bonnie, telling the children a story about how Freddy and Fredbear once had a competition to see who "the better bear" was... a competition that Spring Bonnie apparently won, much to everyone's amusement.

Bonnie, old and withered and damaged with blood on his only remaining hand.

Foxy was the first to break down from the stress- from the stress of being torn apart in the day, put back together in the evening, and hearing the night guards' terrified shrieks at night. One night, she simply bolted through the room and tackled the original Foxy to the ground in the main hall, snarling and angry. She never stayed put after that. She was always there to protect the human.

Freddy was the next only a few days after Foxy snapped, though as his counterpart was very much so larger than him he didn't risk just tackling the bear. He went about it more strategically than their pirate friend, instead distracting the bear and tricking him to get him- and keep him- away from the office.

A day after Freddy gave in, Chica and Balloon Boy teamed up to keep the older Chica at bay through a mixture of strategy and brute force. One wouldn't expect such a small chicken to be up to physically fighting the old original that was at least twice her size, but she did it.

That only left the older Bonnie unaccounted for. It was ironic, Blue mused to himself, that his counterpart should be the biggest of the old animatronics when he himself was the shortest of the new, not including his ears. Unfortunate, but ironic. Oh well.

So one day, Blue decided he couldn't just sit around and listen to the terrified screams of the security guard as he tried desperately to ward the giant bunny off, and that night he found himself crawling through a vent- as his counterpart was standing in the hallway- and dragging his guitar behind him. He slipped out of the vent and intercepted just before the bunny could step into the office, standing between the guard and the faceless bunny.

The guard let out a startled shout, Blue wielded his guitar like a weapon, and the faceless Bonnie stopped moving to stare at him. With his own eyes narrowed, he watched the older animatronic, ready to move or strike or something- anything! Static filled the air, just like that day in the parts and service room... and Blue realized it was coming from Bonnie. He had no idea what Bonnie was trying to do with the static, though... Maybe trying to scare him. Well congratulations- it worked! He didn't back down, though. Instead, he strained his voice box to form the closest thing to a snarl it could produce.

After a several-minute stare-down with static in the air, the purple bunny simply turned and walked away.

Blue slowly lowered his guitar, quite happy that he didn't have to use it as he was sure it would have broken upon hitting the metal bunny. He was confused, though. Why didn't the bunny attack him? It was much bigger, and despite being damaged it was probably a lot stronger too. It probably could have destroyed him without even trying.

He watched the animatronic walk down the hallway and re-enter the parts and service room. Behind him he could hear the guard's heavy breathing. He looked over his shoulder at the guard and then gave him a grin and a thumbs up.

He wouldn't let another guard get killed by those bloodthirsty freaks. He and his friends would protect them. He turned back to look at the hallway, gripping his guitar tighter. He could hear snarling from the main hallway where Foxy fought Old Foxy, Balloon Boy's laugh as he and Chica restrained Old Chica... he couldn't hear either Freddy, but Freddy never exactly engaged his counterpart in an actual fight so that was to be expected.

The guard behind him seemed to have calmed down, realizing Blue and Bonnie were not on the same side. He heard the sound the man's monitor made as he flipped between cameras, probably searching for any sign of the other animatronics.

Blue stayed there the rest of the night.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

It was almost the next week when things took a new turn. They had the same night guard almost that entire time as the "toys" were protecting him, but it was Sunday night and the guard wasn't around. That night, though, something new was added to the equation. Something important. Something imperative to know. Something that changed everything.

Blue was sitting on the stage with his friends. He was strumming his guitar, Freddy and Chica were having a conversation about the party earlier that day, and Foxy and Pierre were chatting with Balloon Boy, who was inflating a balloon happily. The bunny leaned against a wall, listening to his friends' conversations. It was pleasant that night. With no night guard to protect, the "withered" animatronics, as he had taken to calling them, had no reason to be out and about, which meant he didn't have to see them with their blood-stained fur.

He closed his eyes, ears twitching. He didn't go into shutdown, he had no reason to. He just strummed his guitar and listened to the conversations around him. He pretended he didn't see that twisted grin. Pretended and didn't hear a voice whispering, Follow me, child, I have a surprise for you... in his ear. Things that tended to accompany those strange visions... He could ignore them easily enough.

Then Freddy asked something that would have made his blood run cold had he any blood to run cold. "Hey, this might sound like a weird question, but... have any of you been... seeing or hearing things?"

Blue's eyes snapped open and he looked at Freddy. Chica and Foxy seemed surprised while BB seemed confused. "Seeing things? Like what?" Blue demanded, startling Freddy.

"Just this... place I've never seen before. And the, you know... the old Fazbear gang," he explained, gesturing towards the hallway.

Chica slowly nodded her head. "Yeah. Sometimes when I go into shutdown I can see them on stage, and when I wandered down a hallway the old Chica stopped me. She was really nice, offered to bake me a pizza nice and special. Very different from what's, you know, back there."

Foxy nodded quickly. "Yeah! Same with Foxy, only he wasn't on stage with the others a lot. He was usually on a stage on the other side of the room, telling pirate tales. But I also remember them getting off stage to move around, other than just stopping me from going down a hallway."

Blue frowned a bit. "So we've all been seeing these things...?" his eyes trailed over to the other side of the room, where Nette was rewinding his music box. He remembered Nette apologizing, saying he tended to accidentally give people visions. He wondered if the puppet was the reason they all were seeing it.

"What about a... voice?" Blue looked at Freddy again. Chica and Foxy shook their heads this time, but Freddy noticed Blue's expression. "You've heard it?"

"If you mean the one saying 'follow me, child, I have a surprise for you' then yeah," Blue confirmed. Freddy nodded slightly then imitated a sigh.

"This is all so confusing," Chica murmured, glancing around at her friends. "Why are we seeing these things?"

"I think I know why," Blue muttered, glancing towards the music box again. The others turned to him expectantly, and Blue turned his gaze back to them, opening his mouth to answer...

But then he froze, spotting what was standing in the doorway. "Uh... g-guys." He lifted his hand and pointed towards the door. The others turned around.

The old Freddy Fazbear stood in the doorway, staring directly up at them with his microphone clutched tightly in his hand. Over his shoulder, just visible, was a mass of yellow that was undoubtedly the old Chica.

Chica gasped and brought her hands to her beak. "What- but how... how did we not hear them?!" she whispered, scrambling to her feet. The other three followed suit, Blue clutching his guitar tightly. The old animatronics slowly entered the room. It was strange- they had never entered this room before.

After the old Chica followed the old Foxy, and following the old Foxy was the old Bonnie. Each of them turned to stare at the stage, and static filled the air again. Blue felt absolutely terrified. Were they angry? Could they even feel angry? Were they there to get rid of them for ruining their plans with the night guard?

No one moved for several moments before Foxy suddenly snarled and lunged off of the stage at her old counterpart. Freddy cried out to try and stop her, afraid the others would attack her, but the other old animatronics just looked at the two Foxy's before turning back to look at their own counterparts. The static got louder.

"Do they want a... fight?" Blue asked Freddy quietly, his ears flattening as much as they could. The static was absolutely horrendous.

"I... I guess so..." Freddy watched as his counterpart suddenly took a step towards the stairs. "Oh no..." With that, Freddy leapt off the stage and ran away from the others. Blue knew he knew his counterpart would follow; they seemed to only want to engage their own counterparts. Just as they figured, the old Freddy moved to follow the new Freddy.

Chica said something that Blue didn't catch before she ran off stage as well, undoubtedly to draw the larger chicken away from the stage and Blue. Blue briefly wondered just how many damages this fight would cause. He looked back at his own counterpart and let out a surprised shout as he realized the bunny was on the stage with him. Now that was terrifying, and he didn't even know when the bunny animatronic had started climbing the stairs.

Just as he did in the office, Blue moved his hands along the guitar and held it like a weapon, falling into his best impression of a defensive stance. The other animatronic didn't do anything but stare at him with those unnerving red lights-for-eyes. Blue's ears twitched and he glanced around, noticing the others were directly fighting against their counterparts, constantly moving around as they had better mobility than the old ones. Blue, however, had nowhere to run. The stage wasn't exactly large.

Something seemed... strange about the scene he was observing, but the bunny didn't have time to ponder on it as he moved his gaze back to his old counterpart.

The old Bonnie took a step closer to Blue, and Blue took a step back. 'Oh my poor guitar will get destroyed if I hit that thing with it,' he thought mournfully, but he'd rather not be a heap of robotic parts thank you very much. If he had to sacrifice his guitar to save himself, well, the choice was easy.

Bonnie took another step towards him, and Blue took yet another step back. It took Blue only three seconds to realize what just happened.

His back hit the wall. He was trapped between a brick wall and a giant withered bunny. He was cornered. He was dead. He was screwed, that's what he was.

He tightened his grip on the guitar, ready to swing, when the other animatronic stopped and stared down at him. There was another burst of static, causing Blue to wince. Why wasn't it attacking him?

It was like they were at a stalemate. The faceless animatronic stared down at Blue, and Blue stared up at the faceless animatronic. Trying to read what a faceless animatronic was thinking was pretty much impossible; there were no subtle keys to look for in their expression.

"...SssSsS..."

Blue jerked back a bit- causing him to hit his head on he wall- and stared wide-eyed at the bunny. Through the static he was sure he heard something.

"...SsSsSSsSSaaAaAAaAAaaA..."

"Are you... trying to say something?" Blue asked hesitantly, staring at the bunny. From the other side of the room, he heard a shriek he couldn't identify but he knew it was probably Foxy. Which Foxy, he had no idea.

The faceless bunny tilted its head slightly, and Blue had no idea if the bunny could actually hear him with all of its damage. "SsssSssSsSsAaaaAaAaaAA..."

He couldn't understand through the static. "Say...?" He slowly lowered his guitar, not even really noticing that he was doing it.

"SsssSsSSaAaAaaaAaaAaavvvVvvVVvvVe..."

"Save? What?" Blue's ears twitched in confusion.

Suddenly, the bunny lifted its single arm, and Blue brought his guitar back up in a defensive position. The bunny didn't bring its hand down towards Blue, though. Instead it lifted it and slowly curled its metal fingers until only its pointer finger was extended, and it pointed out towards the room.

Blue had no idea what that meant, but he risked a glance off of the stage towards where the others were all fighting. Save? Was the old Bonnie telling him to save its friends? But that would mean that the old animatronic could feel, that would mean it was just as sentient as he himself was. But why did it expect him to-

No, wait. The bunny wasn't asking him to save its friends with that gesture. The gesture was separate from the word... It was telling him to look at them. He stared at his friends and their counterparts locked in three separate fights, and his eyes widened as he suddenly realized what was so strange about the scene he was looking at.

The fighting was one-sided.

The "toys" were attacking, but the "originals" were only defending themselves. They blocked every attack they could, and the ones they couldn't didn't really do any damage anyway. But the originals were doing something. They were emitting horrible static sounds just like old Bonnie. And old Bonnie's static was his voice box.

They weren't here to fight. They were here to talk!

The guitar almost fell out of Blue's grip as he realized this, but he was able to keep his grip this time. He lowered the guitar, staring at his friends as they attacked their older counterparts for what was, essentially, no reason at all. No reason except fear.

"ThthThTHth... iiiIiiIIiiiiIilllLllllLLldDddDRrrEeeEeeEEennNN..."

Blue turned back to old Bonnie, who let its hand fall back down by its side. The children? But there weren't any children in danger. No children were at the restaurant after closing time...

"...pppPpPPPlLllLllaaAAaiiIiiIIIiInnNnNnnN..."

Plain...? Explain? Wait, did they want to explain just what the heck was going on?

Well, Blue was extremely confused and not ashamed to admit that he was also very curious. He wanted to hear just what the animatronics had to say, especially if they were going to explain their actions towards the guards. So he looked back towards his friends, watching as they fought... no, as they attacked. Then he shouted, "Guys, stop!"

Freddy glanced his way. "What? Are you crazy, Bonnie?! They'll-"

"Just trust me and stop attacking them!" Blue interrupted, knowing he'd pay for interrupting the bear later.

His friends did stop, more out of surprise than trust Blue was sure. When they stopped, though, they noticed their counterparts did too. The static got louder, and then, finally, just like with old Bonnie, their voice boxes finally began to emit the proper sound they were looking for... if a bit glitchy.

"SssSSsSSSaAaaAAavVvvVVvvVe..."

It was hard to hear through the static, but it started becoming more and more clear as their damaged voice boxes finally made the words they were trying to say.

The "toys" stared at their counterparts with wide eyes as the old animatronics all said the very same thing.

"SssSSsSAaaAaaAAVvvVVvVVve ThthtHhhTHtheeeEeEeeEmmMm..."

Freddy glanced at his friends. "W-what? Save who?"

Blue frowned and looked at his own counterpart. "The... children...?"

It was the old Freddy Fazbear who gave a jerky nod. "SsSSsSsAaAAaavVvVVve tTHhhTHthHeEeEEe CHchCHhHHiIiiIIiIiilddDrRReEeeEEenNNnNnn..."

"What children?" It was Chica who spoke up this time, sounding a mixture of terrified and worried. "There are no children here after hours."

"HhhHHhhHHhHHheeEeeEEeE's bBbbBBbbBBaaAAaaAaaAccCccCCkkKkkK..."

"HhhHHhhHHheeeEEeEEeE AaaaAaAaaAllLlLLLwWWaaaAyyYyYYSss ccCooOooOmMMeEeEsS bBbbBBAaaAaACcCkk..."

The "toys" all looked at each other. They had no idea what any of this meant. "Who? Who's back?" Foxy asked the damaged animatronics.

"Our killer."

They jumped in surprise at the sudden voice and looked over towards Prize Corner where Nette was climbing out of his box. "What?"

Nette looked at the toys with his permanent smile. Now it simply looked creepy to Blue, what with the words the puppet had just spoken. "I'm sorry, I should have said the children's killer," he apologized, making his way over to the animatronics. "Sometimes it is difficult to remember which I really am..." He gently placed a fabric hand on the side of old Chica's head and sighed. "Do not be afraid, Toys. They only want to help the children."

"I-I don't understand," Blue spoke up. "The children's killer? What does that have to do with any of us?"

"Simple. You were trying to stop them from getting their revenge." Nette turned to look at Blue. "They want you to understand why the guards can't be trusted. Why they need to die."

"But no one needs to die," Blue argued. "They were just innocent guards...!"

"You haven't pieced it together then, Blue?" Nette asked, tilting his head slightly. "The visions I've been giving you have been clues, I had hoped you would understand and let things be. But perhaps it is best to finally reveal to you the truth."

Nette looked around at all of them. He turned to the old animatronics. "Children, rest. I will explain it to them, and then they will hopefully understand our pain. My dear friends, comfort the children. Help them sleep. Go sit by my box, and Foxy will wind the music box. It will ease them."

Blue watched with wide eyes as each old animatronics nodded and began to make their way towards Prize Corner. He continued to watch as they each sat themselves down next to the box, and the old Foxy picked up the music box to wind it. Then he turned his attention back to Nette and his friends.

"What's going on...?" he asked quietly. Nette gestured for the others to get on stage, and they slowly did as they were bade.

"I told you, Blue, a week or so ago that I am from Fredbear's Family Diner, and that Fredbear and the others had been my friends," Nette started, watching as they settled on stage. Blue nodded weakly in confirmation. "I did not tell you of what we all witnessed there, though. The horrible crimes none of us could stop."

"Crimes...?" Chica's voice was faint.

Nette paused as if to think, then he said, "Perhaps it is best that I show you."

Blue opened his mouth to protest- he did not want to see whatever had happened back then- but before any words could leave his voice box, he felt himself going into a forced shutdown. His vision faded to black...

Then his vision came right back, but he was standing in the middle of a room. He looked around. These weren't like the usual visions. He could tell he was definitely an animatronic, but he didn't really feel like he was... there. And unlike the other visions, this location was... different, too. It wasn't the one he was used to seeing.

As he looked around, his eyes landed on a large brown bear bringing cake to children. The children were rowdy and getting angry when the bear took too long. The bear, while he was still following his programming to keep the children happy, had his gaze firmly locked outside. He looked like he wanted to say something- anything- but nothing would come out. His movements became slower and more jerky as he watched the outside.

By the window was a box. Blue spotted Nette, who had his hands pressed against the glass. Outside there was a crying child. Outside of the animatronics' jurisdiction. Blue knew they couldn't step outside. Even he felt the desire, nay, the need, to cheer the child up, to stop his crying. But there was no way they could get to him, and Blue couldn't move at all... and he had a feeling he had no influence here anyway. These were happenings of the past, and he was merely a spectator, so he was left to simply watch the child cry.

Then something happened. A purple car slowed to a stop outside. A man got out, his purple Freddy Fazbear's uniform looking bright and happy against the drab grey buildings in the background. Blue hardly noticed that he couldn't see the man's face. The man knelt beside the child, and Blue felt happy that there was someone to help the child.

But then the man pulled a wrapped up piece of cake out of nowhere- where did he even keep that?- and the child happily took it. The man got back in his car and drove away, and Blue watched as the child ate the cake. Something didn't feel right, though, and even though the child had stopped crying, he felt something inside him screaming.

Why was no one with the child? Why did no one stop to help him except that one man, who Blue was suddenly positive was not helping the child at all?

All Blue could do was watch, just as the animatronic he was sure was Freddy and Nette had to. And as he watched, he saw the child try to walk away as he finished his cake. He watched as the child began crying again and fell. Watched as the child began vomiting blood. Watched as now people finally paid the child attention.

He heard Nette cry out for the child, and he heard someone shouting to call for an ambulance.

He watched uselessly as the child died and there was nothing he or anyone else could do.

The bunny tried to move, but as he did Nette turned to face him, but he wasn't really seeing him. He looked through Blue, looked to Freddy, who stared back. The children who earlier were screaming angrily were now crying as their mothers pulled them away, so no one but them heard as Nette said, "Save him."

Then the world around him faded to darkness, and if he weren't aware of himself he would have thought it was just the normal darkness that came when he shut down or booted up. No, he felt like he was floating... and then he was somewhere again.

It was a different location, the location he was used to seeing. There were six animatronics standing on stage, obviously going through a skit for the children's entertainment. Blue didn't see Nette anywhere, but he was sure the puppet was present.

He immediately recognized the four originals on stage, and he recognized the golden bear from some of the visions he'd had over the past week. The golden bunny was new- was it that Spring Bonnie he'd heard mentioned a few times? He'd never seen it in his visions, but it was even bigger than the original Bonnie. Or... was Spring Bonnie the original? Blue honestly didn't know.

"Follow me, child, I have a surprise for you..." Blue's eyes widened and he turned to the voice. There was another gold bear. A spare suit, he was sure, since the gold bear was onstage, and he could just barely see skin through the mouth. The child, however, was oblivious to it, totally excited to have Fredbear talking to him. Blue wanted to call out, to tell the child don't, because he didn't trust anyone who would walk around in a suit like that, but he couldn't make his voice box work. Instead, he watched helplessly as the child was led into an adjacent room that said "Employees Only."

Then it was like everything was fast-forwarded; suddenly, the crowd was thinner. Only a few people remained. Four couples were talking frantically to the manager, and Blue looked over towards the animatronics. Nette was finally with them, and they all looked oh so worried.

A flash of purple passed them by, and Blue's head jerked to the side. A man in the restaurant's purple uniform and a golden security badge walked over to the worried parents. Blue didn't see his face, and his hair was hidden under a security cap. The animatronic looked back towards Nette, who was staring at the guard.

Suddenly, Nette began moving towards the Employees Only door, and Freddy and his friends began to follow. Fredbear and Spring Bonnie hung back, most likely choosing instead to watch the guard converse with the frantic parents and help them.

Blue felt himself moving, not of his own free will, to follow the animatronics and puppet to the room. He stepped inside and looked around. Something looked off about the room... His eyes zeroed in on a strange door that only Nette seemed to notice. Nette approached the door, getting a strange look from his friends.

"The safe room I told you about is here," Nette informed them. "If you bypass your programming, you can see it."

Blue approached the room curiously. Safe room? How strange. Did they have a safe room too? Blue wasn't really sure but he didn't bother asking. After all, his voice box wasn't even working in this vision.

Not that it ever did.

He heard the whirring and clicking of robotic parts as the four tried to bypass the mapping codes installed in them. It took a few minutes but apparently it worked because suddenly they could see the room.

Chica gasped in surprise. "There is a room! Do you think the children are in there?"

Nette looked back at her and was silent for a few moments. "I fear so," he finally answered, turning back to the door. "Bonnie, can you open the door? It's too heavy for me."

That was very odd, considering Blue clearly remembered Nette opening the parts and service door, but he decided not to think much on it. Maybe he got updated or figured out how to work doors since.

The purple animatronic stepped forwards and grabbed the doorknob. He twisted it and pulled the door open...

And immediately he cried out in shock and stumbled back, lifting his hands to his mouth.

The others, upon looking inside, had similar reactions. Blue peeked in and his eyes widened in horror at what he saw.

Four children laying strewn on the ground, blood pooling around them. Their eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling, their faces contorted into a look of shock. Tear tracks stained their faces, and their bodies were torn in so many places Blue couldn't count them all. There was so much blood, and their skin was so ashen... Blue knew they had been dead for hours. How had no one heard the screams? How had the animatronics not heard the screams? So much blood... so much pain, agony...

Blue remembered comparing the sight of the four originals to mangled corpses. Now, seeing actual mangled corpses, he wasn't so sure the comparison was truly accurate. This was more horrible than he could have ever imagined.

Apparently his counterpart thought so too. Hands pressed over his mouth, he fell heavily to the ground and stared with wide magenta eyes at the slaughtered children. His voice box made a strange sound that still managed make Blue's metaphorical heart ache.

Their voice boxes weren't made to imitate true, horrified sobs or wails or even cries. The closest they could come was childish, cartoonish, exaggerated cries for their skits. This wasn't a cartoonish cry though. The sound that emitted from his voice box was extremely high pitched, so much so that Blue doubted it was even within human hearing, and it was garbled as though his voice box was glitched. It hitched, like a sobbing child's breathing might do when they're completely overwhelmed. The others weren't faring much better, but Bonnie's was the worst.

Nette approached the children slowly, staring at them. It was horrible. Absolutely horrible. And Blue felt like he was actually physically hurting, a feeling he had never felt before. They were children! Who could hurt children? Beautiful, young, energetic children who had a whole future ahead of them!

"Save them," the voice was sudden, drawing Blue's eyes back to Bonnie. He was staring at the puppet now, his eyes wide and his hands still over his mouth. But he didn't need to move his mouth to speak. "Save them, Mari... you've done it before. Save them..."

Nette looked at his friends. "Please..." Freddy added, his eyes not leaving the children. "So young..."

"You know I can't give them back their real lives," Nette said it so quietly Blue almost missed it. His voice sounded agonized; he was hurt, he was in pain, he was... angry. "Their souls would need hosts..."

"Then use us!" Foxy burst out then covered his muzzle, glancing towards the door. His voice was quieter when he spoke again. "Then use us. We'll help 'em. We'll get the man who did this. We'll... we'll avenge 'em. He won't get away with it..."

Nette stared at them then back towards the children. "I saw him. The guard. He came out of here just ten minutes ago." He then turned his gaze to the empty golden suit, laying just a few feet away. "He tricked us all."

Bonnie let out an imitation of a growl, another sound they weren't actually programmed with. "Then we'll get the guard. We'll get all the guards! Until he's gone, until we finally get him!" he shouted, though his voicebox's level was very low so as not to alert the humans. After a beat, he spoke again. "A guard did this? Then any guard might! Wh-who's to say others won't..."

The question trailed off as they all let it sink in, realizing Bonnie was right; if a guard could do this, then any guard might. The children weren't ever safe- Blue realized that was what they were thinking. Their children weren't safe. Ever. Nette turned back towards the four children. The world began fading from view and Blue felt like he was falling.

"We'll avenge them..."

"Save them..."

Bonnie's eyes snapped open at the same time his friends' did, and he jerked up. "Wh-what... so not cool..."

The others looked around, and Blue could see the horror and understanding in their eyes. Nette watched them expectantly.

"Do you understand now why we go after the guards?" he asked. "You see, none of us know which guard... but we know he'll come back."

"What if you already got him?" Chica asked softly, looking at Nette.

The puppet shook his head. "We didn't. The restaurant was shut down the next day, when some children threw another child in Fredbear's mouth. It prompted an investigation, and the children's bodies were found. That mixed with the accident shut us down." He lifted his hands to gesture around. "That was back in 1983. Now it's 1987, and Freddy's has opened again. We're sure he'll come back... but we don't know his face. There were two different guards back then, and we were friends with both. Only now do we see the error of our ways back then. No guard can be trusted, and we will kill every single guard if we need to." He looked at the "toys" again. "All we want is to protect the children and avenge our children's deaths. Ease their pain and anger. They are angry that you interfered. They wanted you destroyed. That is why they- Freddy and his friends- wanted to talk to you all. To make you understand... so you won't interfere again. And that... no guard can be trusted. The children are not safe. Do you understand now why the guards must die?"

The animatronics all looked at each other. Yes, they understood... but that didn't mean they agreed with it. "Surely there be a better way," Foxy said softly. Nette simply shook his head.

"The man killed five children in cold blood, and who knows how many more he killed. Any one of those guards are capable of the same, having access to all of the rooms here... and after night has fallen, as well." Nette stared at them with his unblinking eyes. "They deserve no mercy. I am not asking you to aid us. I am only asking that you not get in our way. The children are very angry, and sometimes they can take over."

Nette stood up and started back to his box. Blue wasn't sure if that was a warning or a threat. Either way, he knew what the puppet was saying; don't get in our way or we'll have to destroy you.

That was a terrifying thought.

He looked at his friends. They looked back. None of them spoke.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Monday came and went, and soon the clock struck midnight. Usually, they would instantly be in the hallway as this was the time their old counterparts would become active. Freddy usually became active later than the others, but Blue's Freddy would still be out just in case...

That day, none of them but Blue moved. Blue dropped his guitar down (carefully, mind you!) and simply walked off stage. He could feel his friends' gaze on his back, but neither of them called after him. He slipped into the hallway and paused, staring at the parts and service door. The door was closed.

Blue considered for a fraction of a moment opening the door, giving them free reign... but he chose not to. They kept finding their own way out, he was sure they could manage alone. He walked quietly past the door, into the office hall and he walked right into the office.

At the desk sat a grown man, the same one who had been there last week. That night he was talking on the phone, his face practically pressed up against his monitor to watch the old animatronics. Blue's ears twitched but he didn't make his presence known. This man was fine, he'd been there for a nearly a full week. He was no danger, Nette and the old animatronics were just crazy- this man wasn't capable of killing... Why would anyone want to- ... wait... Blue's ears twitched again as he noticed something funny with the phonecall. The man was cursing at someone, something about a... kid... he twitched his ears and began to record everything he heard.

"...no shit! Dave, I told ya, take the kids to the original dinah. No one'll think to look for 'em there. I did not say take 'em to the last location. You know their safe room's boarded up. Well I don't give a shit how ya get 'em there, just do it. Nah, ya don't have to be careful, don't care if they're in one piece. Just make sure to leave some fun for me. Don't touch the throats, I like slittin' 'em."

Blue's ears flattened and his eyes narrowed. Immediately all of his good thoughts about this man crumbled, and darker thoughts surfaced. 'Nette was right. None of them can be trusted,' he thought to himself, slowly approaching. He could feel a snarl whirring up in his voice box, and he could feel someone's gaze on his back. Whose, he didn't know. Whose, he didn't care. All he cared about was this man was talking about children. Taking children to a location no one will look, slitting their throats, cutting them...

He saw flashes of red and he remembered the vision Nette had shown them. Blood, blank glazed eyes staring at the ceiling, slit throats stained with blood, shredded skin, tear tracks...

"Dave, just get ya'r ass on it. Make sure none of the brats die on ya, though. Ya know how hard it is to nab a kid without their parents noticin'? ...What? No, you can't stab 'em in the eyes. Yet. Wait for me to get there, ya louse." The man hung up the phone then. Blue was glad for that. He had heard enough. He was wrong and Nette was right. This man was a threat to the children. All of them were.

He reached out and grabbed the monitor. "Huh?" He ripped the monitor out of the man's hands and threw it across the room, not caring that it shattered as it collided with the wall, and the man's eyes widened as he realized Blue must have been there for a while. He tried to act cool, though, and it only served to make Blue angrier. "Woah, uh, h-hi Bon Bon, wh-"

The man didn't finish his sentence. The snarl that had been building up in Blue's voice box for the last few minutes suddenly released, and instead of a snarl he discovered it was actually a shriek.

A blood-curdling, angry, pain-filled shriek that echoed throughout the entire pizzeria.

The man screamed in alarm and shoved himself away from his desk, tipping his chair over. "Get away from me!" he yelled, scrambling to his feet. Blue's shriek tapered off and he could hear footsteps running towards his location.

"Bonnie!" he heard Freddy shout in surprise. Blue ignored him, keeping his narrowed eyes on the guard.

"Hey buddy," he snarled loudly enough for the others to hear down the hall. He had no doubt all nine others were standing in the hallway somewhere, and he was almost a hundred percent sure at least one of them was actually standing in the office with them. And he had a feeling it wasn't one of the "toys." But he didn't look around to confirm his suspicions. "Wanna tell my posse about that little conversation you just had?" The man felt completely horrified as he realized the animatronic was speaking non-scripted words. That the animatronic was sentient to some degree.

Without answering, the man tried to run around the desk, but Blue blocked his way. The man, panicking, threw a punch, thinking the plastic would break easily, but the animatronic easily caught his fist... and squeezed. The man cried out in pain as the metal-and-plastic machine shattered every bone in his hand with ease, and he tried to jerk his hand away from Blue. The bunny didn't let go. The man finally managed to almost literally rip his hand out of Blue's grasp and scrambled backwards, staring fearfully at the bunny and cradling his broken hand. Blue felt a plastic hand on his shoulder (funny, he hadn't heard any of the toys approaching), but he shrugged it off and advanced on the man. He heard Freddy try to call his name again, but he ignored the bear, keeping his eyes on the man. No... on the monster.

"Or should I play it back for them?" he asked, continuing his one-sided conversation as though he hadn't just broken the guard's hand into possibly hundreds of pieces. "We record things, you know, you scumbag." The man's eyes widened as he realized he had been backed into a corner by the friendly looking bunny. His horror only grew when his voice began echoing through the room, and he realized that the bunny was not lying- he really did record his words. And now it was being played back for every animatronic in the restaurant to hear. The ones that had been targeting him as well as the ones that were on his side. Or formerly on his side.

Blue barely registered the imitation intakes of breaths from his friends, who had long since entered the room- at first to stop him or calm him down, probably. He played the recording right up to the end where it cut off right before Blue's shriek. The man was staring wide-eyed, looking like he stopped breathing. "Game over."

It wasn't just his own angry shriek that echoed through the restaurant as he reached out and grabbed the man, yanking him roughly away from the wall and out into the open where they all could get at him. All of his friends shrieked in anger as they realized all this time they had been aiding the enemy.

Nette was right. The old animatronics were right. And they were wrong. The guards couldn't be trusted. They all needed to die.

Blue and his friends would never make the mistake of doubting it ever again.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

It was one AM- only an hour later- and Blue sat alone on stage. Everyone was alone at the moment. None of them wanted to talk about what had happened. He felt angry, he felt betrayed, and he felt sick. Not sick at himself, though.

Even as he stared down at his blood-covered hands- something he had judged their older counterparts for- he believed completely that he and his friends were in the right. What he wasn't sure, however, was how the manager would react.

They covered for the old animatronics who were never seen, but what would they do when they came in and found them covered in blood? Would they scrap him and his friends? Would they end up like their older counterparts? Even if they did, Blue couldn't bring himself to regret the killing.

It was strange... he had always thought that killing would bring a horrible, deep-seated guilt to him. That he would hate himself, that he wouldn't be able to stand the sight of himself... but no, instead he felt oddly... gleeful. The children were safe! Well... their children were. He had no idea what would come of those kidnapped children. He had a feeling Freddy or Nette may have dropped an anonymous note to the police, and the sirens that were heard passing not long after the incident only supported that thought.

The point was their would-be killer was dead... and Blue was directly responsible for it.

Not his friends. Not Nette. Not his counterpart or his counterpart's friends. Him. And he was delighted about it! The blood on his hands was a sign of victory- not a heinous crime.

He protected the children, and he would continue doing so for as long as they were around. And if the restaurant got shut down because of it... well, then so be it. The children were safe from one more bad man because of them.

The blue bunny heard heavy footsteps enter the room and looked up. He was only slightly surprised to see his counterpart standing there watching him. He lifted one of his bloody hands to wave. The other bunny must have noticed something in his expression, though. He walked over to the stage- though he didn't get on it- and looked at Blue. Blue felt too tired to feel afraid. Besides... it wasn't the bunny who was the monster.

There was a burst of static, causing Blue's ears to twitch, but he waited patiently for the bunny to form his words.

"...fFFfFffFeeEElIiiIinNNnnNgGGgG ooOOoOkaAayyY?"

Blue glanced back at his red hands. "I'm fine. It just feels weird." The other bunny nodded knowingly... at least, Blue assumed it was knowingly. The bunny was faceless, after all, he couldn't make any expressions..

"FffFfiiiiIiiIIrRrRssSsSTttT TtttTTtTiIiiIiiiImmMmMe AaaAAalLwWwWaaAyYs hHhHaaAarddDd..."

It sounded like the bunny was getting better at using the damaged voice box. The static was still annoying, though... Blue wondered briefly if he and his friends could find some way to repair those voice boxes so the old animatronics could speak clearer.

Blue looked back at the bunny, remembering the bunny's expression when he first saw the children laying in pools of blood. How the bunny had begun pseudo-sobbing and begged Nette to "save them," swearing revenge on every guard who dared work the night shift. He wondered how the other bunny felt the first time he tore into someone's flesh, the first time thick red liquid ran down his hands. Was the anger and satisfaction enough to overwhelm the sense of guilt he felt like it was for Blue? Did he cry when he saw the blood on his hands? He didn't know, and he doubted the other would tell him.

"I'll get used to it," he said simply. He glanced down for a moment before looking back up at the bunny, finding those two little red lights that served as the bunny's eyes. "I'm sorry for getting in the way before. I... I didn't know... but now we all know the truth. I want to protect the children and those... those guards are dangerous. They gotta be eliminated."

Older Bonnie stared at him for a few silent moments before he nodded in what Blue assumed was understanding. Whether or not it was understanding, Blue knew that it meant the older bunny wouldn't stop him from joining their hunts.

Blue glanced aside again before scooting towards the edge of the stage so he was closer to the damaged animatronic. "You probably already know who I am and I know who you are," he started awkwardly, holding one of his bloodied hands out as if to shake, "but I'm Toy Bonnie. But, uh, you can call me Blue."

Old Bonnie stared at him for a moment before taking his hand with his only remaining one. It was strange, seeing how differently they were designed; even their hands were different.

"...BbbBboOoOnnNnNiIiIEeE... NNnNiIiiIcE ttTOoO mMMeeEeEtTtT yYYoOoU, BbBlLlUueE..."

Blue smiled a bit at him and he liked to think that Bonnie smiled back. When he released the larger bunny's hand, he pretended not to notice some of the blood from his own hand was left behind.

He didn't bother asking about the child's name. He was pretty sure he already knew. After all, he had seen Bonnie so many times from Eric's point of view, it was almost silly to think the child with Bonnie would be anyone but Eric.

The older animatronic turned to leave. "You know you don't have to stay in that dark room all the time..." Blue called to him. "You can come out here. All of you." Bonnie turned to look at him, and somehow Blue just knew the bunny was surprised to hear him say that. He grinned a bit. "Aw, don't be surprised. What do you say?"

The animatronic didn't say anything, but it didn't leave to go back to that dark room either. Blue knew he'd have to return before six AM, when people would arrive to do any needed cleanup and get ready for opening at eight, but it was only one-thirty and he kind of wanted to hang around with the older bunny.

He wouldn't touch his guitar with his bloody hands, even if the blood had mostly dried by then. But he didn't mind talking with the older bunny. He gestured for the bunny to come up on stage and sit beside him.

Somehow, he had a feeling that elsewhere in the restaurant, the others were doing the same.