Title: Misconceptions

Author: hohlagh

Rating: PG-13/T

Genre: Horror

Disclaimer: All characters you may recognize belong to Scott Cawthon and the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. I am receiving no monetary funds from the posting of this fanfic.

That night started off normally enough. Mike had entered the security room five minutes before he was due to begin and – so far – he had only had a few minor problems with the animatronics. They seemed more curious about his presence rather than murderous as the phone messages implied. He therefore felt relatively safe and the job gave him exactly what he wanted: a thrill. It didn't pay well; however, compromises had to be made. It was his third night on site, which was probably a record or something.

Mike sat down at his desk and kept an eye on the various monitors in front of him. He also glanced to each door from time to time. He had already figured out a pretty decent routine to follow so he settled in for his six hour shift.

Two hours passed uneventfully before he heard a low rumble that sounded a little like thunder, but it was different somehow. The noise quickly escalated into a dull roar and everything around him started to shake. He just sat there stupidly, not knowing what to do, as the lights started to flicker. He felt the floor beneath his seat shudder and suddenly the room went dark. His adrenaline finally hit, which allowed him to dive underneath the desk. Then the whole building slowly began to shift left and right before gaining momentum. Mike braced himself under the desk.

He had never been in an earthquake before so he didn't know what to expect, but he certainly wasn't prepared for anything like this... He could hear the walls starting to protest; moaning and cracking as the tremors got progressively worse. Something hit the desk above him, causing his heart to jump up into his throat. It felt like the place was starting to tilt to one side and there was no way that the restaurant could withstand something of this magnitude...

Freddy Fazbear's hadn't been built for it.

Mike experienced a brief moment of weightlessness where it felt like everything stopped for a split second and then it all came crashing down.

Bonnie was the first one to react once the earthquake had stopped. The animatronics were strangely self-aware and each of them had a personality of their own. Bonnie therefore pulled itself out of the rubble. Some of the ceiling had caved in, but the walls were still standing. It was disappointing; however, maybe now they had a chance to escape...

Bonnie moved out of the storage room and into the main dining hall. It saw Freddy jumping down off of the stage. Freddy looked Bonnie over. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Bonnie was a little banged up although it was nothing too serious. "Where's Chica?"

"In the kitchen, I think. You can check on Chica. I'll get Foxy."

The two parted ways. Bonnie went into the kitchen where it found Chica playing with the appliances as if nothing had even happened. "Come on, Chica, let's go. Freddy needs us."

Chica closed the oven and followed Bonnie out. Freddy, meanwhile, discovered that the Pirate's Cove was in disarray. Well... even more than usual anyway. The curtains had been violently slashed open and the only thing that had been left behind was that stupid 'Out of Order' sign. Foxy was gone.

Foxy stalked down the west hall towards the security room instead of sprinting. The lights were off and the door was open... There was no sign of the security guard anywhere. The office itself was a wreck. The chair had rolled to the back wall and the desk had collapsed as part of the ceiling had landed on top of it. The front and east walls were both damaged as well. The east wall door didn't even exist anymore. Foxy stepped into the room and looked around for a moment or two. Where was the security guard?

Mike let out a muffled groan as he slowly started to wake up and piece together what had happened in his head. He vaguely remembered putting his hands on the desk as he felt or sensed his location becoming unsafe, but he had not had enough time to move so now he was stuck. He could feel a heavy sort of pressure across his lower back and spikes of pain were traveling through both of his legs. He needed help...

He was glad when he heard the back-up generator kick on. Unfortunately it hadn't been built to maintain everything within the pizzeria; just the emergency lights, which were dim at best. It still brought him a sense of comfort though.

He had almost forgotten about the animatronics until he saw a clawed metal foot nearby and his breath caught in his throat for a moment. He tried to stay quiet; however, at that exact moment, something shifted above him and he released a louder groan at the movement. Suddenly Foxy's face was uncomfortably close to his own. He had only seen a few glimpses of Foxy in the past and this up close personal look did nothing to abate his fears.

"Ahoy, matey." Foxy greeted before – strangely albeit thankfully enough – pulling away. "Oi, Freddy, c'mere."

Mike could easily explain the first statement away as one of the set phrases that Foxy had been given, but the second comment was different. He had no idea what to think. Could the animatronics actually communicate?

It didn't take long for Freddy to arrive along with Bonnie and Chica. Freddy surveyed the scene in silence. Bonnie was the next one to speak: "What should we do, Freddy?"

"We need to get him out from under there... carefully."

Maybe something had hit Mike's head. He had to be imagining or hallucinating or possibly dreaming all of this. They were talking to each other and it almost sounded normal minus the fact that each voice had a slight electronic filter. They didn't seem like they wanted to kill him either. They were going to help him instead and they had always seemed more curious about his presence instead of hostile anyway. It made him wonder if the phone messages had just been prerecorded to purposefully scare him or something of the sort. Besides, if the last security guard had been telling the truth then no one would want to visit the pizzeria and that certainly wasn't the case.

"Foxy can break up some of the rubble while Bonnie and I move it aside. Chica, I need you to watch him as we work and make sure he's okay." Freddy said.

Chica's beaked face soon appeared in his limited range of vision. A few seconds passed in relative silence as she just stared at him with those big yellow eyes. Mike heard a piece of plaster crack above him and felt a bit of the weight shift away, causing him to let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks, that's a bit better already." He told them.

Foxy's sharp hook continued to cut through the debris and, slowly but surely, the pressure started to ease. Eventually, after a short while, Mike was free. His right leg was hurting more than any other part of his body with the pain starting all the way down at his ankle before traveling through his knee and up into his hip or pelvis. He could see that his uniform was ruined since it was pretty dirty and torn in a few places. There was some blood too, which mostly stemmed from a couple of other minor injuries that he possessed. He had been pretty lucky.

Mike slowly shifted his position so he could examine his leg and he was surprised to find out that it looked fairly normal. The building continued to creak and groan. He didn't think the restaurant would hold for much longer and – as if to prove a point – he heard a bit of debris fall down somewhere nearby. He needed to move, but he wasn't sure if he could even get up or not.

"It's not safe here." Freddy said. "We need to leave."

"I don't think I should. My leg really hurts." Mike replied.

The animatronics looked at each other for a moment. It was Bonnie who spoke next: "Maybe we can help..."

They were all about human-sized with Foxy being the tallest and Chica the shortest. Chica finally backed away, allowing the others to move in. Mike sighed, but relented. They were right. They couldn't stay in the restaurant. There was no telling when emergency crews would arrive. He wasn't even sure if they would be able to get to him. Freddy moved to his right while Bonnie took the left. He felt cold metal hands (or were they paws?) grip him underneath each armpit. They were gentle about it though, as if they knew that he was just a human and therefore fundamentally different. They heaved him up and Mike let out a slight groan at the movement. He was able to use his left leg, but he couldn't put any weight on the other one.

Freddy eyed him with something that resembled worry. Or maybe that was just Mike's imagination... "Can you walk?"

"One of you will have to brace me, but yeah... I think I can make it."

They chose Foxy, which didn't exactly thrill Mike; however, he wasn't going to complain too much because he was about the same height as Foxy so he could understand their logic at least and they weren't trying to kill him or anything like that. They were more human than the phone messages had implied... They weren't murderous or dangerous. Maybe they were just misunderstood or perhaps – as he had reasoned earlier – the last security guard had just been messing around with him.

Mike could put as much weight as he wanted to on Foxy. The animatronic didn't seem to mind and was fully capable of handling it just fine. That was definitely an added bonus... "All right." Freddy said once everyone was ready. "Let's go."

"Aye aye, Captain." Foxy replied.

It was slow going.

It was kind of surreal as well. Mike could hear the mechanisms of each animatronic whirling away and the restaurant was still shifting a bit, as if trying to find a comfortable place to settle. The sensation of cold metal pressed up against his right side was definitely a little strange too. He gritted his teeth against the pain and let out a grunt whenever there was a particularly bad spike of it. Freddy had taken the lead, though Bonnie wasn't too far behind. He and Foxy were kind of in the middle with Chica in last place. They had to stop sometimes to either move rubble or let Mike rest, but the journey was otherwise uneventful.

They finally reached the main exit, which was always kept locked so that none of the animatronics would escape and Mike was the only one who had the key. The glass was also reinforced just in case any of the animatronics tried to break out and the whole area basically looked untouched by the recent earthquake. There was no debris or dust or anything like that. Mike could hear sirens and such now that they were closer to the exit as well.

Freddy and Bonnie moved aside as Foxy helped him to the door. Mike smiled at them and took the key out of his pocket. He put it the slot and turned it...

"Do it now, Foxy!"

Suddenly Mike felt something stab him in the gut. It was hard, cold, and metallic. He stared down at Foxy's hook with a stupid or maybe shocked expression on his face. Foxy turned it cruelly inside of him before wrenching it back out. Mike let out a gasp and he felt a warm gush of blood spill out from the horrible wound.

What...?

He felt himself start to slump and one of them – he wasn't sure who – flung him aside carelessly without a single hint of remorse. He fell and landed in an undignified heap. He heard a strange gasping gurgling noise and it took Mike a moment to realize that he was the source. He couldn't do anything as he watched Foxy push open the door. His vision was starting to blacken and blur. He was bleeding too much...

Oh God...

One by one the animatronics left until only Freddy remained. "Don't you remember the rules here at Fazbear's? Never trust the animatronics and never unlock the door until six." He then walked out of the restaurant, leaving Mike behind.

They were free.

END