The sound of the softly ticking clock on the wall mirrored the noise of moving gears and mechanical parts. Old, worn, but well loved fur shuffled and shifted against the worn exoskeleton as the ancient creature followed the sound of quiet laughter. He had eyes, was missing parts and chunks of fur and his gait was irregular and sluggish. A bit of oil oozed from one eye in a thick trail of sludge and finally one leg gave out and in a rain of sparks and grinding pieces the animatronic took to a knee, it's bottom jaw malfunctioning and snapping animatedly. He couldn't see anymore but he tried to get to her, tried to reach that soft whimsical laughter. He crawled, dragging his mangled body across the filthy tile. The laughter stopped and so did he. She was gone. He'd failed.

His head drooped, his bow tie sliding off from around his neck, his hat falling uselessly to the floor. One of his arms buckled and the sound of malfunctioning gears echoed down the filthy hallway, he slumped slightly to the right, his other arm gave out and he braced himself for the impact and expected never to move again, he would wind up just as the rest of them had. Forgotten, broken, discarded, except he was met with warmth and the gentle, familiar caress of her. She caught him and the bulk of his weight forced her down onto the dirty tile. That wasn't right, he would never hurt her, not anymore. Her soft hum overrode the sound of malfunctioning gears and he felt his circuits spark as he felt her warm fingers smooth over the roughened patches of fur. "Goldie..." Her voice was so Goddamned beautiful. Best thing he'd heard in all his years. "What have they done to you?" He slipped into a willing sleep mode, knowing he was safe so long as he had her.

-

It was cold and the only sound in the stale diner was the rain pattering against the building, outside tattered police tape warned trespassers not to cross onto the premises. This once joyous children's paradise was now an abysmal place with dusty tables and chairs, moldy food in the kitchens, and filth covering just about every nook and cranny. The walls were covered in graffiti, the paint beneath was chipped and falling off, the children's drawings were rotting away and even the animatronics... the five originals didn't move. Freddy took his rightful place center stage, a rusted microphone clasped in one monstrous paw, Bonnie took stage to Freddy's right his trusted guitar in hand, Chica stood to Freddy's left, her head down and eyes closed, Foxy was slumped perched on the edge of his stage and Golden Freddy... his endoskeleton now returned, sat slumped beside the kitchen door. Mold and dirt filled their rusted joints, they'd stopped looking for the children months ago. The people were gone.

After the murders in 1971, the pizzeria was closed down, the doors bolted shut, their programming prevented them from leaving and... there was no guarantee that a second pizzeria would ever be opened up. They talked amidst each other, their speech garbled and warped from the lack of care to their voice boxes but slowly... even that stopped and it seemed like they would become lost in time until they simply disintegrated and became one with the building... it was a terrifying thought but at least they wouldn't be mangled at the dump and ripped away from each other... here they'd perish together.

The scratching of something weaseling it's way through the vents stirred Foxy's attention first. With a series of whirs and grating of dry metal grinding against itself his torso straightened and his eyes began to glow a brilliant gold as his head turned, his jaws snapping shut. The ungodly noise stirred Bonnie and Freddy and both of them trembled and shook, coming to life after nearly nine years of minimal movement. It was 1980 now. "A-animal?" Bonnie's crackling voice snapped through the silence and Freddy turned his head jerkily to stare at him. A groan erupted from Golden Freddy and even Chica began to stir. Golden Freddy was the first one to really move, using the wall to brace himself and forcing his soiled joints to move as he pushed himself up against the wall. The noises in the vents grew louder and the soft quiet pants of a human began to mingle with them. There was a pause of pure silence and then the rusted grate of the vent above the far side of the party room fell with an echoing clatter and a small scrap of a child weaseled her way out of the vents, hung down by her hands and dropped the last several feet. Chica tried to move forward, her programming demanding she protect the child even if it was after hours, but she couldn't budge. The child landed on the center of one of the large party room tables with a thud and winced, but didn't cry, she scooted off the edge of the table and got down, brushing dirt and debris off of her blood stained clothes.

She was soaked from her blonde hair all the way down to the tips of her very bare toes. She wore an over sized shirt that was tattered and torn and no pants. Her face was bruised, her arms and her legs in no better condition. Small scrapes, large scrapes, cuts and scars marred her skin. One of her eyes was a faded blue while the other was bright and vibrant. She was young, very young, somewhere around six years of age, but all five animatronics starred at her with something akin to shock. The girl finished dusting herself off and glanced around, her large eyes bright and animated as she took in the poor condition of the room. Her eyes fell on Foxy first, blue meeting glowing yellow and her own eyes widened before her gaze slowly drifted around the room, absorbing each animatronic as she spun silently in a circle, landing finally on Golden Freddy who took a tentative, broken and shaky step towards her. Whether his intentions were harm or help... not even he was sure himself.

The girl choose, a silent gasp filling the ominous silence in the room before she was running. Her small feet made almost no noise on the tile, just a quiet pitter-patter that none of them had heard in years. She reached the decrepit bear and even if faint traces of blood still marred the suit, she embraced his right leg with a quiet, almost inaudible giggle. She stayed there for a moment before she pulled back, stretching her too thin arms upwards towards him, a smile on her face, her slightly mismatched eyes glowing. It was hard and difficult but slowly he forced his joints to grind and bent down, lifting her almost effortlessly into the air. She laughed her joy, a touch louder this time and settled almost instantly, she was a tiny frail thing and slid easily into the bears arms. He could crush her in a nanosecond, but he didn't because she wasn't afraid and those tiny little fingers were pressing into his filthy cheek. "Did everybody forget about you too?" Golden Freddy shifted to hold her proper and tucked her head into his neck, walking with her to the center of the room. Six words was all it took to decide her fate.

She wasn't afraid of him, all the children were afraid of him because of how much older he looked and the stains that just wouldn't leave his pelt but out of all the animatronics here, she'd chosen him first. He set her on the table, but she reached for his paw, settling her tiny hand in his as he lowered himself to sit on the bench, she giggled again and smiled, scooting a little bit closer. "My names Luce! What's yours?" She smiled and Golden Freddy opened his jaws in an attempt to speak but failed miserably, his voice box simply too damaged to function. The crackling and grinding of more metal drew both of their attentions and Bonnie steadily took one step after the next. He came down off the stage and approached them, placing one furry paw against his chest. "Booooonniie." It was long, drawn out and gargled but a word all the same. He pointed towards the golden bear. "Goooldeee-e-e-e" His wiring malfunctioned and he jerked with each repeat of noise and she blinked but then smiled in understanding. "Nice to meet you Bonnie and Goldie." She smiled, glancing between the two and Bonnie's ears perked up a bit in pleased happiness.

"Aye!" The shout came from Foxy and nearly made the girl jump. "Don't foooorget the rest of us lass! I be Foxy, that lassie up on the stage be Chica and the bear in the front be Freddy." Foxy was trying to get up but his right leg was locked up and trying to hobble on one wasn't working too well. Chica and Freddy were having similar issues up on stage. Damn servos. She smiled, seemingly unafraid despite the decrepit state of all five animatronics and she waves slightly and then frowned. "Are you guys hurt? Do you need help?" They glanced amidst each other, voice boxes producing garbled static, before they looked back at her. "You...staaaay... helpsss us." Bonnie's deep voice rumbled up through his voice box. Luce looked back to Goldie. "I wish you could talk too." She gazed at him sadly and then beamed. "Don't worry I'll find out how to help you! I've got spot's that need band aids so I just have to find band aids that help you!"

Golden Freddy lifted one arm and patted her on the head, an amused smile curling the corners of his mouth. Freddy had managed a few steps forward and Foxy had managed to stand when the small child took Bonnie's hand and stood up herself. "Bonnie you look like you can move the best, show me things to help you and your friends?" She asked and gently pulled on Bonnie's paw. The animatronics glanced between one another, seemingly unsure. "I won't hurt you I promise, I've never had friends before and I want to help." She smiled with hope glittering in her eyes and whatever inhibitions they had seemed to vanish. Bonnie took Luce's hand and walked with her to the backrooms, pointing out things and getting them off of shelves when Luce couldn't reach. It took awhile cause Bonnie had to go slow, but they returned to the party room a few minutes later. Chica, Freddy and Foxy had managed to make it to the one centralized table and Luce beamed, letting go of Bonnie's paw to meet everyone proper. She hugged Foxy first, than Chica and ended with Freddy. They crowded around her, forming a tight knit circle and Luce climbed up on the table so she could be more at eye level.

"What do you need me to do?" She glanced around the various faces all peering down at her but landed on Foxy, his voicebox seemed the most intact and he grinned wolfishly, his jaw falling open. "We need the dirt scraped out of our joints lassie, and then we need that oil." She frowned a bit in confusion so he looked at Bonnie who managed to bend an arm, displaying the caked on dirt, debris, and mold in the joint of her elbow and understanding spread across Luce's face. Using a mixture of various screwdrivers, cloths, and tools, Luce did her best to scrape out the crud from each of Bonnie's joints. The large rabbit bent and moved so Luce could get to each one and then Foxy guided her through the process of lubricating the joints. When Bonnie was done, he moved much more fluently and the harsh grinding of parts was no longer painful. Bonnie's ears twitched back and forth before he scooped up Luce in a big hug and spun her around. "Luceeee... Luceeee!" The broken static sound filled the air and Luce laughed, overjoyed and ecstatic that she was able to do something that could help. The other animatronics watched in silent amusement.

"Help Golden Freddy next lassie, He needs a bit more than most of us." Foxy rumbled and the rest all seemed to agree. She turned to the large Golden bear who was currently glaring death at Foxy who, in turn, was grinning like... well his namesake. "Please? Let me help? Nobody should have to be in pain and then we can play more right?" He couldn't say no, even if he'd wanted too, they were programmed to make children happy and this little wisp of a thing didn't understand that they were animatronics and couldn't feel pain. Discomfort maybe but... that smile on her face, it could melt the hardest of ice. He bent and moved and offered her each of her joints, letting her scrape out the grease, mold and bits of...blood that no one had ever bothered to get. It was too dark and she couldn't see that well and for that he was grateful. For the next several hours she moved to each one, scraping the gunk and oiling joints until all of them could actually move and Luce was covered in more grease and oil than bruises. She talked to each one, laughing and giggling and even when they couldn't talk back she just filled the empty silence and by the time she was finished, none of them wanted her to leave.

"Foxy could I help them find their voices too?" The pirate hoisted her up onto his shoulder and she squealed and giggled as the others followed as Foxy literally paraded her around. "I don't think so lassie, on the inside we can be a bit dangerous, we wouldn't want ta be hurtin' ya." Foxy hadn't felt this good in years, swinging her onto his bac, he tore off around the main party room and she squealed, giggling as he raced. Golden Freddy barred their path after a moment his gaze dark and directed right at Foxy. Luce grinned. "I'm fine papa! Really!" Shock spread across Golden Freddy's face at the term of endearment, and the animatronics glanced around at each other before Bonnie opened his mouth to speak when foreign sounds drew everyone's attention.

The sound of cursing outside the diner entered through the cracks and crevices and Luce jumped, her eyes flickering about in their sockets. Bonnie noticed the distinct lack of color in the one and the way her pupil hadn't dilated and realized with a start that she was blind in one eye. "You stupid fucking shit where are you! You're dead when I find you girl! Dead!" The snarl was cruel and violent and Luce trembled, all the color draining from her face. She looked back at her new friends and shook her head. "You have to go! Hide! If he finds out you talked to me he'll hurt you too." She hissed and Bonnie's face face twisted into a mask of vehement fury. His eyes turned red and he glanced in the direction of the noise. Golden Freddy stood, all hard lines and damaged wiring but fueled with raw fury as he put the pieces together. Men like this girls father were the reason they lost everything.

Foxy's jaw snapped a few times and the whole atmosphere of the animatronics seemed to change. Through sheer willpower alone, Freddy opened his mouth and highly garbled and static-like noise erupted from him but the words were vaguely intelligible. "Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's" His voice wheezed and crackled as he moved forward towards Golden Freddy, Foxy, and Luce. "A magical place where kids can have fun and be entertained." He reached for Luce and plucked her off of Foxy's back and hoisted her into the air. "Welcome to the family." She blinked confused and then smiled and hugged the brown bear tightly. Golden Freddy shifted and pointed to Bonnie as the voice outside grew louder and closer. Bonnie forced himself to calm before he gently lifted Lucy and settled her in his arms. "H-he lets bad people touch me. He makes me do things and takes my clothes and when I say no he hurts me." She whimpered into Bonnie's chest. "I don't want him to hurt you too."

For a moment there was silence and the animatronics exchanged glances and then a growl erupted from Golden Freddy, his broken voice box rumbling to life as his eyes seemed to almost glow. Maybe he did have remnants of that murderer still in him. His eyes flickered to Bonnie. "B-bac-back room. Pro-teeect her." The voice was deep and powerful but nearly drowned by broken static and grinding gears. Fear flickered through her eyes and she trembled, shaking in Bonnie's arms. "No you can't! He'll hurt you!" Luce whimpered, tears dripping down dirtied cheeks. Bonnie held her tighter. Golden Freddy glanced at her when one of the windows was bashed in with a rusted steel pipe and a tall, broad man stepped through the shattered glass. His eyes falling on the small child. "You're in so much fucking trouble Luce! I'm gonna-" Chica let out a bird-like screech and Foxy shot forward. Bonnie forced Luce's head into his chest, turned and ran, racing away to the maintenance closet while Luce shook and trembled, her tears causing some of the muck and grime to fall away from that small patch.

Bonnie shoved open the rusted shut door and it feebly broke from the hinges and collapsed with a bang. Bonnie paced the length of the room and sat slowly with his back towards the door and the tiny fragment of a girl on his lap. Now he understood, he knew why she was so small and emaciated. She wasn't just neglected, she was abused in the worst kind of ways. "I'm scared Bonnie, I've never been out this long, he's gonna hurt you and then he's gonna hurt me." She was crying but she was quiet, her body being wracked with silent tremors and Bonnie wished he could help them dismantle that man... but instead he's been assigned the most important task and he held her tight and close. They were programmed first and foremost to keep children safe. "Luceee. Sa-safe." Bonnie's garbled voice cut through her silent tears and she peered up at him, trying to rub the tears off of her face. Bonnie pressed a paw to Luce's chest. "Safe he-here. Stay with us." She blinked. "Stay here? With you? With Freddy, Goldie, Foxy and Chica too?" She blinked confused. "I can't he'll do things, he's gets so man. I left because it hurt but I shouldn't have been gone so long. He gets so mad Bonnie." She whimpered quietly and Bonnie shifted. "Will protect Lu-Luceeee." Bonnie rumbled with conviction and Luce smiled and set her head on Bonnie's shoulder, grabbing one of his paws and holding it gently. "I love you Bonnie, thank you. Even if I never see you or anybody else again, you were my friends for one day and I won't ever forget that."Bonnie dropped his ears tickling her face and hugged her tight. "Love Luceeee." He answered her and she smiled.

The broken door skittered off down the hallway, fear making her heart pound heavy against her lungs, Bonnie turned, eyes glowing, a viscious sound like a snarl erupting from his garbled voicebox and the static only made it that much more terrifying. Foxy snapped his jaws and Bonnie quieted and relaxed. "It'd done." Foxy's voice crackled through the air and Luce looked scared. "You got rid of my Uncle? H-how? He said he'd never l-let me go."[/b] She was still shaking still trembling in Bonnie's hold. The rabbit affectionately nipped at her hair. "He won't be botherin' you again lassie... Goldie made sure." Foxy looked down at her and she shook, still terrified but wrapped her arms around Bonnie's neck and the large purple rabbit rose. They walked back into the main party room to see Chica and Freddy picking up a few chairs and tables that had gotten turned over in the...scuffle.

"Where's Goldie?" Luce's voice was soft and quiet and the animatronics all exchanged glances, Foxy opened his mouth when the bear in question rounded the corner, he was missing a chunk of his ear and a few tufts of fur but other than a few new still warm blood stains, he was still relatively intact. Luce squirmed, wriggling about in Bonnie's grasp and Bonnie set her down. Instantly she was darting through the tables, weaving her way around all the chairs and plowed straight into the golden bear embracing him tightly. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry he hurt you." She wheezed, crying softly into his damaged pelt. The golden bear crouched down, taking a knee and kneeling before her. The crackling of static and white noise filled the air until rough and barely audible a single word managed to escape. "Stay." Luce's breath caught and she looked up at him in mild shock and just a touch of uncertainty. Her gaze flickered to all the animatronics around the room and finally fell back on Goldie, a small smile curling the edges of her mouth.

"Ok."