Author's Notes: Hey there people, Vex here with a Halloween special! ... it's a week late but let's just glaze over that.
To get right to the point, this is another story where I mess with Yang. It might make more sense to have a different character in this story but screw it - she's kinda become my go-to girl for these short stories.
So I'm pretty sure you can all guess what this is gonna be about. This is my first time writing something that's supposed to be scary, so I'm not sure how it'll go, but fingers crossed!
I hope you guys enjoy this spooky special!
- Vex
Lights flashed by the roar of an engine in vivid blurs as the bike tore its way through the streets of downtown Vale. The crescent moon hung high in the air of the direction the bike drove, moving off the main road and into side streets, taking each turn with spine-tingling speed that sent a buzz through its rider. The speed was her addiction – one that for once was justified.
She slowed down with a dramatic screech and veered into a dark alleyway where she halted. She sat there for a moment, listening to the machine between her legs as its growl faded into a sweet mewling before turning silent. Of the gloomy light of the moon above, fading behind the shroud of clouds. The shadow blocked out that usually beautiful natural light, leaving only a scarce few street lamps to light the rest of her way to her destination. Regardless of the lighting conditions, the sound of boots striding over the pavement below radiated confidence and anticipation at the night ahead.
Money was a concern to all people in a civilized society – that included one Yang Xiao Long. As a student with various needs, including weapon maintenance following a training session where Ember Celica was damaged and an upcoming Achieve Men event, she was forced to look around for a part time job to cover these, and other, essential costs. As she got older she was finding support from her parents to be waning quite severely. Still, she understood, and so took it upon herself to find her own source of income.
Upon arriving at the place of work she had found, many would turn around without a second thought. Retro would be a polite term for the eatery that she had discovered – decrepit was the word that had come out of Weiss' mouth. The wearing paint was coming of in flaky peels, as though the skin were malting in a baking heat. Patches of rust blemished the railings that ran along the dirty steps to the entrance. But the worst thing was the sign. Under the flickering street light the visage of the restaurant's mascot character was decidedly more sinister than its creator would have ever intended, deep shadows being cast from the shape of a bear's face. Further lighting malfunctions didn't help the situation as only one of its eyes lit up, casting a dead gaze down at any who had the misfortune to walk down the street at night, its lecherous grin revelling in the company.
Yang shrugged. ''Meh, it'll do.'' A job was a job and, so long as it brought in the Lien, she didn't care what she had to do. Hell, for the paycheck she was getting at this job she would be willing to work at a trash heap. And the opportunity was just ripe for the picking – dropping into her lap when she told her partner Blake of her plight. It was she who recommended the placement as night security, a job she had taken for a time before entering Beacon.
And so, with the thought of cash on her mind, Yang entered the restaurant: Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.
It had been a long time since she last went to a place like this. It had to have been back when she and Ruby were just little girls. Her sister had seen an advert for a similar restaurant and wouldn't shut up until they went. It wasn't too bad in the end - the food was good and everyone had fun. But there was always a weird feeling about the place that Yang couldn't figure out. A kid's imagination perhaps?
The small security room was exactly as she and Blake had left it after the crash course she had given Yang one night last week. On the desk sat the scroll to monitor the security cameras, right where they'd left it, under a collage of posters and newspaper clippings celebrating past success. To either side were two doors on either side of her with windows showing the corridors outside, the room felt isolated from the rest of the building. The weirdest thing was the doors themselves: press a button and a slab of metal so thick it could block a missile would seal off the room.
''Kinda overkill for a pizza place,'' Yang commented the previous week.
Blake just shrugged, saying the owners thought it was necessary.
The job really didn't need her to do anything other than make sure nothing bad happened to the place in the middle of the night. Not that Yang could see why anyone would target a place like this; they were hardly rolling in cash and their only claim to fame were the old animatronics they had.
''Speaking of...'' Sliding off her bag, Yang stepped out of the security room. Before settling in she had been told to make sure that all the doors and windows had been locked. Sound enough advice, but looking at the state of the east hall, it wouldn't be surprising to her if there weren't any locks at all. Stepping into the dining area and turning, Yang laid her hand on rusty kitchen door handle. Trying to open the door turned out to be as difficult as beating an Ursa in an arm wrestling match. No matter how much she pushed the door would not budge. Then, as she took a step back to figure out how to get through, a light turned on behind her.
Yang whipped around. A single flickering spotlight had turned on, shining down on a lone figure stood on the stage. A bulky body covered with brown fur. It stood rigid, head turned so the dull glow of its eyes was directed right at her. Unblinking, as though frozen in time, the animatronic waited to perform.
She approached slowly, trailing through the aisles of deserted dining tables that cluttered the room. Standing at the foot of the stage, Yang folded her arms close to her body. Then, bouncing onto the stage, she strode forward, fronting on the animatronic. ''You shouldn't be out here, fella.'' Bending down, she wrapped her arms around its waist, and lifted. The weight of a mech that size would be too much for the average person, but with her training Yang was able to move it with some effort.
The worse part of moving it backstage wasn't the weight, it was the smell. It was the scent of rot and decay - the smell that caused flowers to wither and die. Dumping it behind the curtain where two other characters were sitting like good children, Yang gave Freddy a hesitant pat on the head. ''There, you stay back here... creepy... bear thing.'' The thought of a kid who enjoyed these things was nigh unimaginable, but making sure they didn't get damaged in the night was also part of the job description.
A mere peek in the maintenance room was all she needed; it was empty barring the decapitated spare heads of animatronics and a single naked metal skeleton. Not a place she wanted to hang around in.
Then came pirate's cove...
There was nothing much to it but a small 'Out Of Order' picket sign in front of purple curtains. Supposedly, the fourth character of animatronics was hidden away here after malfunctioning and biting a child on the hand when they tried to touch it.
The curtains moved in some invisible breeze and Yang felt her hand moving on its own, reaching out. Something inside of her was warning it to stop but the hand was possessed - driven with the mission of opening the curtain. Her fingertips brushed the murky felt before grabbing hold.
The curtains opened spontaneously as a crazed beast threw itself forward, sharp jaws wide open to strike at a juicy neck. Yang yelped and tried to move away, but it was too fast.
Before those razor teeth could connect, the animal fell face first to the floor with a dull thud.
Yang's heart pounded in her chest as she too fell to the floor and scurried away until her back was pressed to a cold wall. Her wide eyes remained fixed on the fox, afraid that looking away would allow it to move once more. Minutes passed and neither stirred. Allowing her foot to creep out, Yang gave her assailant a few testing taps with her boot. No reaction. ''I'm gonna burn this place to the ground...'' Yang muttered as she got to her feet. She lifted Foxy and shoved it back into the cove without ceremony, yanking the curtains shut.
Feeling that was enough of a patrol, Yang had never felt more glad to be in a security room. At least in this small room she could sit in peace without fear of random lights coming on or stupid robots falling over. It was one in the morning, which meant she had another five hours to go until she could go back to Beacon and crawl into bed. But before that, there was work to do. Weiss had impressed that if Yang had so much time to kill, she might as well be productive; her bag had been stuffed with books that they had to read for classes which she was supposed to entertain herself.
A crash of metal split the air.
She flew up from her drooling sleep against the pillow pages of Grimm habitats, looking around for what had caused the sound. Grabbing the surveillance scroll and flicking through she reached the maintenance room, and saw the metal skeleton from earlier had fallen over, its form slumped on the floor. A sigh of relief escaped her lips.
'Crap, how long was I out?' she thought, checking the time. '4 AM... oh great. Stupid Weiss and her books...'' Her curses were cut off when she looked at the feed from backstage. Earlier when she left there had been three: the bear, the bunny and the chicken... and now there was only one. ''What the hell?'' Flicking through a few more feeds, she found her answer.
Standing up and leaving the room she re-entered the dining room. Bonnie and Chica were stood there amongst the tables, doing nothing. ''Alright! I know you're out there somewhere. Come on out and I won't get angry!'' Obviously someone was trying to mess with her - some kids had broken in and were playing a joke. However, when Chika's head jumped towards her, something told her that thought might not have been accurate...
Bonnie began to move, step by steady step it navigated the tables, approaching Yang. '' Okay, that's enough,'' she said, taking a step back. ''Joke's over now.'' Her words did nothing to deter the anthropomorphic bunny that kept walking. Then, in a dark flash, it disappeared.
''What the...?''
Yang swept her gaze across the room to see nothing. Bonnie was just... gone. Then she looked behind.
Its hand clamped on Yang's shoulder, stopping her from mowing away from the face that was mere inches from hers. Bonnie's mouth opened, head shaking back and forth in a manic, strangled scream.
With no escape, Yang grabbed the animatronic and swung it through the air with all her might. It let go and flew a few meters before landing on its feet, staring at her unfazed by the counterattack. Yang spun around and ran, retreating to the security room. That was no childish prank. That... thing was too real. Too...
The cameras showed they were both approaching, standing at the entrance to the east and west hallways. ''Screw this!'' Punching the buttons to either side of her, the doors slammed shut. With bated breath she watched, flicking between the two feeds. Then Bonnie disappeared yet again. She found it pressing its gleaming eyes against her scroll; its dumb face was frozen in static and the flicker of old technology. Beyond the window a shadow stretched far across the corridor, the origin lingering at the left door.
''Yeah, not opening that any time soon...'' Yang muttered, just as a chill ran through her body. A question popped into her head - one that all people who have been trained in using Aura are asked at some point.
Do you ever feel like you're being watched?
Its beak was agape, watering at the sight of its prey sitting just beyond the glass panel. Those bulging eyes failed to twitch as it hissed the ghost of a thought. Let's eat! The lights above it switched off, encasing it in darkness, but Chica's ravenous gaze could still be felt through the window.
''What the hell is going on here? What are you things?!'' The animatronics weren't about to answer her, not that she really wanted to know. Job be damned, if she had Ember Celica with her they'd be scrap already, but without her a weapon she couldn't fight.
And so, she hid.
Seconds crawled by as she eyed the camera feeds on the scroll, waiting for them to leave, but to no avail. They could wait just as long as she could - whatever they were. Was it a malfunction, like in that story? Or was something else at work, driving them to behave so erratically? As Yang considered this, the camera suddenly cut to black.
When it finally returned both the doors were clear of any visitors... but two other things sat in the corner of the display instead. The first was a bar that displayed power usage, sitting dangerously high according to the reading. The second was a single percentage, labelled 'remaining power'. The number dipped below forty, descending further every few seconds.
''Oh, you have got to be kidding me...''
Cliffhanger! To be honest I wasn't sure if it was worth continuing this to full completion. Rather than that, I'm gonna focus on Qrossing Field which I want done by about Christmas. At some point I'd like to get back to this and do it properly - rewrite and all that - but if this gets a good reaction then I will definitely finish it as a priority - sexy Vexy promise!