The blade cuts deep, the veins under the skin bursting red across my arm as the blood taints in the chill air. I grimace at the pain and step forward and let my arm fall, the blood dripping onto the tiled floors that have seen the traffic of too many feet, too long ago. The building is all but silent this early into the morning, so late into the night and each noise is loud, invasive and terrifying, from my own light breathing, the patter of crimson continuing to stain the floor and the faint pads of roaming feet nearby. A flick of my wrist deepens the wound slightly against my zip, and then I step forward into the parlour.
I walk slowly, the buildings door shut and relocked behind me. A lone guard waits here, hidden deep into the building but evident from the occasional flash of light from a camera nearby. The devices are easy to avoid with their glaring defences, each movement obvious and loud in the dark rooms as the mechanisms whirr and twist to move the inanimate metals. They are almost soulless, only alive by the will of the controller. They are uninteresting, but peeking eyes must be avoided none the less, the records must be avoided. The counters in this room are covered in prizes, machines around designed for wasting young ones money in near impossible challenges. It`s almost sadistic in design, a penance for their brood-wardens. I walk for a minute before the challenge is made, a monster of flesh, entombed in steel with too many jaws and a burning soul standing before me.
It mutters something faintly as it closes in on me, its movements slow and confused as it smells the runes in its sprit, the faint aura of energy slowing its circuits. I raise my arm and nick the wound on its teeth, the movement splattering over the words "Let`s Eat!" on its bib. The creature groans loudly at the taste, the echo`s demonic. A light flares on, but the animatronic shields me from view, starting to twitch under the bright lights. I wince as it harms my eyes, stinging and clawing into them even with "Chica" blocking most of it. Then it's over, the hellfire brightness elapsed as the fool goes to check on another of his charges.
"Monster." Chica groans, its voice childlike, horribly feminine and only half heard though the grind of its teeth as they move, a nightmare sound of metal on metal that raises sparks in her maw. She backs away, my blood running down her front slowly.
"Why?" She manages, after a moment. I frown, surprised at her intelligence. The sprits shouldn`t still be this sane, aware enough to register me as anything more than a child after the marking, the chemicals repulsive to her hybrid existence and in theory sending her stumbling away. Instead she stands and challenges me. I can smell her hatred, almost as overwhelming as the scent of decay. The light near the prize counter flares into existence as we stare, the music box behind her illuminated. I point, wordlessly with a questioning gaze and she turns and looks as it clanks and whirrs in the wind up sequence.
"Monsters." She says now. I nod, conceding the point and take her hand lightly, a pained smile on my face. I point at her with my spare hand and then to myself, to my heart. She looks though me, deep past my skin and I feel my mind prickle as she reads me using the blood running though her systems and she stares before dragging my by the hand into a party room, some impulse causing me to take some sort of paper plate-esk doll of the balloon creature with my spare hand before we`re stood in front of the original. Freddy. He stares at the open cut as confused as his sister, before I mark him as well. Then he just glares, his presence black and a strong pressure on the back of my mind.
"Endoskeleton-Office." I say, pointing at Chica and him. "Bonnie." I state, pointing at myself. "Please."
They watch for another moment, the faint whirr of another animatronic passing over head, a small flash of white and pink that snatches the paper plate model from my hands before Freddy nods twice, once at each of us. They wander off towards the office to carry out my command. I mutter a thanks to the Wardens and Rune Weavers for accurate carving and cut again to ensure the enchantment doesn`t fail now at the most critical junction. I walk to the parts and service room and immediately back out as the black bear stares at me, my eyes burning for a second from the malevolent hatred of it. I slam the door shut and turn to find myself face to face with the original Bonnie, its face mutilated. I shake my head, trying to rid myself of the afterimages and urge to gorge my eyes out.
"Fucking hell…" I mutter, offering out my wrist and watching the blood flow between too many teeth. It glares for a while, and I shuffle awkwardly and take his hand. The cold metal is less then comforting.
"C`mon?" He shuffles after me, lets me lead him to the door. I`m unlocking it when I hear the screams, the wet thunk of someone meeting a messy end. The pressure in my heart increases as I slip out with the animatronic and lock the door behind me, securing it with a set of magnetic seals across the door to make sure they don`t come looking for their missing kin, I slump against the doors for a second, breathing heavily before walking again. He just stares.
I load him into the van, the compartment sealed from and secure the door. Once I sit down and turn I find him staring straight at me, red eyes glowing though the armour glass. I put my hand to the material, leaving a faint hand mark and smile wry, with taint of sorrow as I bandage my arm.
"We`re going home." I say to my brother, for the first time since that fateful day in June, nearly three decades past.
