Michael knew that his father's new business venture was most likely the worst think that he could think of. He already failed in trying to open sub-par Italian restaurants in their hometown of Britain, as well as had many business failures when they moved to Phoenix, Arizona. This included another Italian restaurant, a car repair shop, and horrible grocery store that sold the most least fresh produce in the county. Michael sighed in annoyance. He now understood why their father and mother had divorced. Even though both came from rich families, William was more inclined to spend his money hap-haphazardly, instead of saving it like a sane person. Their mother was worried that if they didn't move away from the irresponsible man, they would all end up bankrupt and living on the street. Michael could only wonder after one whole decade, what his father could be planning this time.
"Are we there yet!?", Elizabeth asked, waiting in anticipation to finally meet the family's father. The two twins, Elizabeth and Andi, were about two when they moved away so they didn't really have a chance to really meet their father. Michael, however, was ten at the time, and knew their father well.
"You know full well that we aren't there yet, Elizabeth", Michael said in annoyance. "We have at least a half an hour to go."
"But I'm BORED!", The girl groaned, burying her pale, freckled face in her hands.
"Elizabeth, please, can you wait?", Andi said quietly, hugging his old, golden teddy bear with shyness.
"No Andi! How can I wait! We haven't seen Daddy for so long! He might miss us!".
"Well, Elizabeth.", Michael said back, a slight grin emerging on his face, "Father would want you to wait. He always said patience was a venture.".
"I know, I know." Elizabeth pouted.
After about thirty minutes of driving as well as Elizabeth's bored cries of unhappiness, they ended up near a forest path. A man was standing near the path, having brown hair, a pale face, a thin build, and a wide smile. He was wearing his signature purple suit, as usual, as well as a big black top-hat.
"Michael! Lizzie! Andi! Welcome!", The man said, smiling from ear to ear. Michael smiled and hugged him. While he had made some mistakes in his life, Michael knew that his father loved his family and they loved him.
"Daddy! Daddy!", Andi and Elizabeth ran up to their father and hugged him tight. William picked them up and hugged them back and kissed them on their cheeks.
"So, you wanted to show us something, Dad?", Michael asked.
William's face seemed to light up in child-like excitement as he placed the two twins down and and ran up to the path in the forest.
"Yes! Yes! Follow me!".
And thus, William began to run through the woods, giggling like a child all the way.
His children were confused. They have never seen their father THIS excited, even if it was a new idea or concept he had been working on. They even wondered if what he was planning was going to work.
"Should we...?" Andi asked unsurely, glancing over at his siblings with confusion.
"We gotta!", Elizabeth said. "Daddy's feeling will be hurt if we don't!".
"He never said what he was working on, though.", Michael said. "For all we know, he could be showing us some weird sculpture of chickens being melted."
At that, the two twins looked at Michael, one with confusion, and one with pure terror.
"W-what made y-y-you think that h-he'd show us t-that?", Andi stammered, imagining the horrifying image of the statue.
"Nothing! Nothing!", Michael said, trying to calm his little brother down. "I'm just saying that our father is a bit.", Michael speech faltered, "Eccentric."
Elizabeth began to pout. "Eccentric is just another word for weird, isn't it? You think daddy is weird!".
"No no no!", Michael said in defense. "I'm just saying..."
"You children coming!?", William asked from deep in the woods.
"Yes father!", they all said in unison, before glancing at themselves and walking into the forest path.
The forest path was dark, and the children couldn't see past their noses. They could feel the forest though. All the thorns and prickers, all the brambles and bushes, and most importantly, the spiderwebs. Elizabeth and Andi would've most likely objected to this adventure if they knew about said spiderwebs.
Finally, they got to their destination, which was, to the children, just a cubic building.
"SO!", Will exclaimed. "What do you think?".
The cubic building was bland looking, just a grey cubic building. Nothing more, nothing less. None of the children were very impressed.
"Well...", Michael said uneasily, not wanting to hurt his old father's feelings. "I'm not trying to be rude...but...".
"It looks kinda boring.", Elizabeth interrupted bluntly.
"WHAT SHE MEANS...", Michael shouted, "Is that...it's not much to look at.".
William looked at his children in confusion, before laughing like a cackling hyena.
"No no no!", William laughed. "You must understand, the outside, might be bland and boring, but the inside, is a different story! C'mon, follow me!".
William then preceded to walk inside the building. This both confused and excited the Afton children, Elizabeth especially. She had never seen her father so excited, so the thing inside must've been one of the greatest things, if not, the greatest thing in the world. Quickly, she ran away from the others and ran too the cubic building.
"Liz! Wait for us!", Michael cried out, but Elizabeth wasn't listening, she was too excited.
Quickly she ran in the building. There wasn't much to see, the building was empty, well, nearly empty. There was William, but there was also a man, and a girl, about her age. The man was slightly plump in build, with brown hair, pale skin, brown eyes, and circular red glasses. Next to him was the girl. She was thin and pale as well, with the same brown hair and eyes. While the man was wearing a grey suit, she seemed to be wearing jeans, with a purple tee-shirt and a green hoodie.
"Oh, hello Elizabeth!", William said with a smile. "I want to introduce you to two new friends of mine. This is Henry Emily, and his little daughter Charlotte.".
"Please, call me Charlie.", the girl said, with the nonchalant-ness of a teenager. This caused Elizabeth to laugh.
"Lizzie?", a familiar voice called. It was Michael holding hands with a clearly panicked Andi, and he was obviously not happy. "Lizzie!", Michael scolded. "You know better than to run off like that. That impulsiveness will get you into trouble one...oh!".
Michael stopped scolding his sister to look at the people that soon introduced themselves again as Henry and Charlotte, or Charlie, as she liked to be called.
"So, are they going to be apart of your new business venture?", Michael asked.
William nodded before patting Henry on the back, a slight twinkle in his eye.
"Right you are, my boy!", He said. "This fellow here, isn't just my friend, he's my new business partner.".
"I-in what?", Andi asked, curious in what his father was planning with his new friend.
"Well...", William said mysteriously. "It wouldn't be as fun to just SHOW you. It would be better if we show you! Bring him out, Henry!".
Henry smiled and pressed a red button in the wall, causing a hidden door to open creakily. Inside, there was nothing but darkness, at least, until the trio of Afton children saw two, metallic turquoise orbs glowed from the darkness.
"It's alright...", Henry said calmly. "Come on out.".
Slowly, but surely, the thing walked out, the Afton children's eyes widening as the thing and it's eyes coming closer and closer. They could here a strange whirring sound that sounded like the noises that machines on the assembly line. It took a little while for the thing to come out, but when it did, and those turquoise orbs turned to eyes, the Afton children looked on in wonder. It was a robotic yellow bear. It was a robotic yellow bear, similar to Andi's teddy bear. It had a dark purple hat with a light purple ribbon on it. It appeared to be wearing a golden vest with a lavender shirt, as well as greyish blue dress pants.
"Say hello, Fredbear!" Henry said kindly.
And just like that, the bear moved this robotic paw and waved .
"Greetings, Afton family.".
The Afton family didn't really said 'hello' back though. The children stared at the robot in awe, while William was jumping up and down hysterically like an excited schoolgirl.
"Now you understand why I am so excited!", He exclaimed. "This is one of the greatest advances in modern technology!".
"We can see that.", Michael said, astounded. "What does it do?".
"OH! He can do many things!", William replied.
"Many things!", Henry said, though judging by his tone of voice, he was a bit shy. " He can sing songs, play games, and interact with the audience. Best of all, he is completely sentient!".
"Sentient?!", Andi questioned.
"Exactly.", Henry replied. "He can feel pain, feel emotions, empathize with people, and read facial expressions, like a normal human being!".
Everyone was clearly impressed at this. This stuff was literally science fiction coming to life right before their eyes. It was all so surreal.
"This is amazing!", Michael exclaimed, "You and Henry could make millions with these. What are you going to do with them?".
"Why we show him and others just like him to all people who don't know about him yet, of course.", William replied "Henry owns a robotics factory down the road from here, so all we have to do is design the robot, and BAM! It'll be reality".
Henry nodded. "People never believed me when I said that it could be possible, to be able to give a robot, human-like emotions. Said it was all sci-fi. With this, we can finally prove we were wrong! And make a lot of profit doing it.".
"I know just what to call it, too!", William said, pulling the other man into a one-armed hug. "We'll call it 'Willy and Hen's World of Amazing Automatons'! I'll handle the business side, while Henry will handle the robotic side. As soon as we get enough robots, we can open to the public!".
Michael smiled, while the children went to Fredbear to play with him. Even though, Micheal once had his doubts, Michael was sure that this business venture would not only chance the family's fortune, but their entire lives .