Universal Language: Cuneiform

Chapter 2: War Declared

By 9:45, the two Byrds' had declared war on each other and each had enlisted the animatronics help. Donnie, of course, joined forces with Foxy. A groaning Bonnie had been dragged into the cove, where he'd been outfitted with a black bandanna and a peg leg (which he'd thrown at the guffawing fox before picking up a wooden sword instead). Roni, meanwhile, led both Freddy and Chica into the kitchen and outfitted all three of them with pots for helmets and various weapons – Freddy now wielded a spatula, Chica had a whisk, and the guard herself had an ladle.

"Do you two do this often?" Freddy asked, adjusting the soup pot set between his ears. Thanks to the magnets in the top of his costume head that kept his hat (also ringed with magnets) attached, the pot was not in danger of falling off.

"All the time!" Roni adjusted the saucepan so the handle pointed back, out of her eyes, and put her hands on her hips. "My Gran's home is a tiny farmhouse, but it has a huge backyard, and it goes right up to some woods that go on for acres. We split up the backyard and woods, then have stick fights or use pine-cone 'bombs to 'battle' for territory. We've gotten lost a few times – it drives Gran nuts 'cause then she has to call the cops out to help find us."

"It must drive your parents nuts, too!" Chica laughed, exchanging her pot for a pasta strainer, which fit more nicely over her round head. When Roni didn't answer, she looked up and saw the guard giving her an odd, confused smile, while Freddy was pinching the bridge of his muzzle in annoyance. "What?"

"Chica, my parents are dead." Roni remarked softly, shaking her head. "I thought you all knew!"

The chickens feathers fluffed up in embarrassment. "Oh, oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't-"

"It's okay," Roni patted her arm, "it happened a long time ago. They died in a car accident over..." she paused, quickly subtracting years, "seven years ago now."

"But Donnie's eight-"

"Yeah, he was a year old when they died. He was in the car with them, too. He's got a bad scar on his scalp, but it's only visible when he shaves his head, and you saw his hair! He never shaves his head." The smile on her face when from wistful to mischievous. "I shaved his head last year for April Fools Day, while he was asleep. He didn't speak to me for nearly a month!"

Chica still looked repentant, so Roni gave in and hugged the chicken. "It's not a big deal, Chica. Yeah, it still makes me sad and I miss them, but it's okay to talk about it."

Freddy coughed into his hand, catching the girls attention. "Forgive me, Roni, but we've been told to avoid talking about death around the kids. We're not used to the topic."

"Well that's dumb." Roni snorted. "One night I'll give you guys some advice on grief counseling for kids – trust me, I would have been over the moon if I'd been able to talk to one of my idols about it when I was thirteen." The guard thwacked the egg beater against her palm, a feral smile taking over her wrinkled nose and frown. "For now, however, we need to face the enemy and retake the pizzeria!" She pointed dramatically at the kitchen door, which did absolutely nothing in response.

Donnie was jumping from foot to foot, a wooden sword clutched in one hand, a plastic cutlass in the other. He had an eye patch pressed against one eye, the elastic cord going around a red and white bandanna. Bonnie was sitting behind him, a smirk on his face as he watched the boy leap about in excitement. It hadn't taken long for the smart little boy to figure out they weren't just robots, but were actually sentient. The implications of that had distracted him for all of three seconds before he'd pulled a pine-cone out of his backpack, thrown it at his sisters head, and declared 'war!'. His sister had huffed and declared war right back, dragging Chica and Freddy with her into the kitchen.

Foxy had disappeared behind the wooden ships bow that protruded from the back wall of his stage, going through a little wood door that used to lead to a small resting room for younger children when they needed a break from the noise. He rarely went in there – originally, Toy Vixen (who eventually became known as the Mangle) was supposed to work with Foxy in the toddler area. Foxy would run around and entertain, while Vixen would handle the calmer children in her own little pillow-filled space, reading them books and singing songs with her parrot puppet. In the end, Foxy had been scrapped, and Vixen had been unable to handle the rambunctious toddlers and had become the Mangle. When this store had been remodeled, they'd made the ship with the resting area, but Foxy had never been given the chance to use it. Now, he and the other animatronics used the boat for their own personal storage.

The vulpine shook his head, ears flicking, and pulled his plastic treasure chest from where he'd tucked it in the narrow bow of the ship. He opened it, revealing a stash of props left over from when he could perform. Grinning from ear to ear, he unearthed his old costume, put it on, and climbed a short ladder to a hatch, which opened to the top of the bow. Cackling, he leapt onto the tip of the ship, peering down at his 'crew.'

Donnie and Bonnie were both in awe, forgetting for the moment that the animatronic was in disrepair and in need of fixing. Foxy had put on a puffy white shirt, which covered the hole in his chest. A belt hung at a jaunty angle around his waist, a holster holding a plastic revolver that shot ping-pong balls, as well as a long, shiny cutlass. On top of the shirt and belt was a resplendent coat, made of soft black cloth and trimmed in gold and red. A large, matching hat sat between his ears (held in place by handy-dandy magnets), made of black felt with a pair of gold and red feather plumes arching back from the brim. He threw his head back and cackled again, before leaping down to land neatly before the pair.

"Bonnie," Donnie grabbed the bunnies arm as said bunny stood up, shaking it eagerly. "I think we're gonna win!"

Roni had 'borrowed' several sponges from the kitchen and had distributed them between the three, declaring that they were 'bombs' and that if they hit anybody, that person couldn't move for a whole minute. Freddy had pointed out that it was a bit of a violent and inappropriate game. Roni had countered, telling him to think of them as 'tag balls' instead of 'bombs' and had then marched out of the kitchen, crowing for them to follow her to glorious battle.

The trio had been ambushed by pine-cones the second they stepped foot in the dining hall. A cackling Foxy, dressed like a true pirate, had led his crew in pelting them. Roni had groaned but had stayed put, as the 'rules' of the game required.

"We declare the dining hall to be the property of Captain Foxy and his crew!" Donnie had yelled, dancing from one foot to another. Foxy and Bonnie had both pelted them with more pine-cones before dashing back to the cove to restock. As soon as the minute was up, Roni grabbed the sponges she'd dropped and ordered the others to follow her around the hall to the security office, where they could plan their counter attack.

By eleven, both teams had thoroughly exhausted their 'bomb' supplies, had witnessed a truly amazing duel between Foxy and Freddy, and Donnie had scraped one knee and Roni was nursing a bruised elbow. Donnie had finally declared the war over (and he and his team the winners) when he got to hungry to continue. He and Roni shook hands (and made the animatronics shake hands with each other as well) then collapsed on the stage. Chica began listing all the different pizzas she knew how to make, while Bonnie sat down with his guitar and began to tune it. Foxy declared himself to be 'sweltering' and left to put away his costume in the cove. After a moments rest, Roni sat up.

"I've got to get the tablet from the office." She explained when her brother gave her a curious look. "I'll be back in a minute. Stay here, and behave."

Donnie pouted. "I always behave!" When she'd gotten across the dining room and to the hallway, he stuck his tongue out at her back.

"I saw that!"

The boy hunched down, bringing his shoulders up around her ears, nose wrinkled. "How does she do that?"

"She's the security guard," Freddy sat down beside the boy, "It's her job to know everything that goes on in this place."

The boy laughed and leaned against the bear. "Thanks for playing with me Freddy."

Freddy wrapped an arm around the boy and gave him a hug. "Of course, Donnie. We're all very happy to have you here, visiting us. Maybe your grandmother will let you visit again."

"It'll be hard, once school starts." Donnie pointed out. "I'm going to be in third grade, after all!"

"Wow!" Freddy acted suitably impressed. "That's going to be hard work. Well, hopefully if you do well and get good grades, your grandmother will let you come visit as a treat."

"Yeah!" Donnie brightened. There was a clunk from the direction of Pirates Cove, followed by a salty swear that made the child giggle. Freddy rolled his eyes.

"Maybe you should go help Foxy get his costume put away. Sometimes," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "his hook gets stuck in his coat!"

The boy nodded and giggled. He was nearly to the cove when Roni reappeared at the end of the hall, though to all of the animatronics surprise, she wasn't alone.

Having the muzzle of a gun pressed against your temple was, unsurprisingly, rather uncomfortable. Roni stood stiffly at the end of the east hall, eyes traveling over the three animatronics on stage. She spotted Donnie on his way to the cove. He had stopped when he heard her footsteps and turned to look at her. It didn't taken long for the boy to figure out what was going on, and beneath his freckles he went pale.

"Donnie," Roni swallowed hard as the large man behind her – the tallest of the four men – dug the tip of the gun against her temple. "Donnie, go to the cove and stay with Foxy. Don't come out, no matter what, okay?" Her eyes met his, green meeting green. "No matter what you hear, you stay with Foxy, okay?"

The boy didn't respond, just stared, and the tall man sneered at him , wrapped his arm around Roni's throat and angled the gun against her forehead, making it appear all the more threatening. "You heard her, brat. Move it." Tall Man motioned his head towards the cove. "Go be a good little boy."

"It's okay Don," Roni said quietly. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise."

The boy nodded and, very slowly, closed the short distance to the cove, never taking his eyes off Tall Man. He paused when he reached the curtains, but at an encouraging nod from his sister he ducked inside.

"Now," Tall Man turned his eyes to the three animatronics on the stage, all of whom were standing stock still in shock, "We need to take care of these monsters."

"They're not monsters!" Roni snapped. The man to her left – a slightly shorter and rounder man with a squashed nose and beady eyes – sneered and pulled something black out of his pocket. Ugly (as she decided to call him) pressed his fingers and thumb against both sides, which sent a jolt of electricity arcing between two prongs sticking out of the top. "NO!"

The butt of the gun smacked against the top of her head, hard enough to have her seeing stars. "Shut up, bitch."

"Please," Roni shut her eyes tightly, trying to shake off the sudden dizzy feeling. "Don't hurt them. I'll – I'll tell them to go to the back room. They won't hurt you. Please."

Tall Man actually looked like he was considering it – he'd glanced towards one of the other men for an answer. Unfortunately, they waited just long enough for Donnie to finish explaining what was happening to Foxy. The curtains to Pirate Cove were ripped apart with an unearthly shriek and the captain bound out with death in his eyes. Roni was shoved to the side as Tall Man pointed his gun towards the fox. Roni grabbed his arm, jerking it so it pointed at the floor instead of the Cove. "No! You'll hit Donnie!" The gun went off, burying a bullet in the tile instead of the fox. The muzzle hit Roni's cheek, and there was a sizzle as the hot metal left a burn along the side of her face. Before he could aim his gun once more, Foxy was upon them.

Ugly still had his taser in hand. He slammed it into the hole in Foxy's chest, connecting directly with the metal. The fox let out another screech, his body jerking in unnatural ways as electricity raced all along his endoskeleton. From the floor, Roni yelled in horror as the animatronics systems overloaded, and he collapsed into a twitching pile on the floor. Freddy, who had begun to move with the others when Foxy had emerged, stopped cold and held out his arms, stopping Bonnie and Chica from running to Foxy's side.

"You." Tall Man shoved his steel-toed boot into Roni's hip. Roni stayed kneeling on the floor, staring at Foxy's twitching form as the man pushed the gun against the back of her head. "Tell them to stop moving."

Roni swallowed hard and looked up at the three. "Freddy, Chica, Bonnie. Go to the backstage room and stay there, no matter what."

"Tell them to take that heap of junk with them." Ugly demanded, the taser still sparking in his hand. Roni was dragged upright by the back of her shirt, the gun still in place. "If they try anything, you die."

Freddy held up his hands in as non-threatening a manner as possible and approached them. The guard was dragged backwards as all four of the men stepped back into the hall. The bear grabbed Foxy's twitching arm (wincing as a bit of electricity leapt between the fox and himself) and dragged him upright. Bonnie moved forward a bit faster and helped Freddy support the twitching pirate. Both gave Roni a worried look but she gave them a confident half-smile, which she hoped was reassuring.

At the cove, where the curtains still hung wide, Donnie was watching the animatronics with large, frightened eyes. Roni took a deep breath and turned her face towards him. "Donnie, go with them into the backroom, okay? Stay with Foxy and the others. You'll be safe there."

"Who do you think you are, giving orders?" Ugly sneered beneath his squashed nose.

"You said you wouldn't hurt him." Roni snarled. "You said as long as I cooperated my brother would be safe."

Ugly opened his mouth to respond, but the third of the group squeezed his shoulder, silencing him. "Now, we did say that. If she wants to let her brother sit with those monsters in a locked room all night, then let that be her cross to bear." This man was much more well spoken than the others. Instead of wearing black jeans and a black shirt like the others, he was dressed in tailored pants and a navy dress shirt. He was older, with short salt-and-pepper hair and a bristly mustache. Roni had instantly pegged him as the head of this 'operation' and was intent on keeping him from getting angry, even if that meant locking away her best hope at rescue for the rest of the night.

The five watched as Bonnie and Freddy dragged Foxy up onto the stage. Chica caught Donnie's eyes and motioned for him to come over to her. After giving Roni a worried glance, he ran across the room and into the chickens arms. She nodded to Roni, a silent promise to protect the boy, and led him after the others and into the backroom. Salt-And-Pepper swung the keys he had taken from Roni around his finger and led the way into the dining hall. Roni was shoved along with them, up until they reached the stage. Salt-And-Pepper sneered at the still-open door to the backstage room.

"Shut it," he ordered Freddy, who was standing at the doorway, glaring at the men. Behind the leader, Roni nodded her head quickly, mouthing the same words at Salt-And-Pepper. Shut it. She knew the man was going to lock it, but that was okay – as long as Donnie and her friends were safe, it was all going to be okay, even if she ended up haunting this place herself.

Grudgingly, the bear shut the door. Salt-and-Pepper handed the keys over to the last member of their group – a quiet, short man (though still a few inches taller than Roni) with lots of stubble on his face and a cigarette in his lips. When the four had nabbed her in the security office (they'd snuck in through the backdoor near the office and waited to grab her) the first stupid thing that had fallen from her lips had been 'there's no smoking in the building, sir.' They'd all laughed at her, and the man, Smoker, had snubbed the cigarette but kept it, unlit, in his mouth. Now, he shuffled across the stage and locked the door. The tumblers fell into place with a clang that sounded much louder to Roni's ears than the others. Smoker shuffled back and handed the keys to Salt-And-Pepper, all while rolling his cigarette between his teeth.

"Now," Salt-And-Pepper turned his smile on the young woman in the midst of his henchmen, "What to do with you. Really, Ace, put the gun away now. We don't want to hurt her." He purred, reaching out to grab Roni's chin and forcing her to face him. "Now, where is the safe."

"I told you before, I don't know. I don't have anything to do with the money."

Salt-and-Pepper's smile turned into a sneer. "Oh? A security guard doesn't who doesn't know what she's guarding?" He leaned in so that she could smell his minty-fresh breath. His eyes, a hard, flint gray, searched her own defiant green ones. After a moment he leaned back with a laugh. "Hah! She's telling the truth. Old Fazfuck hasn't told her where he keeps the safe." He crossed his arms and shook his head, heaving a heavy sigh. "Well I guess you're worthless to us, then."

"What should we do with her, sir?" Ace (though she doubted that was his real name) asked. "Throw her back in with the monsters?"

Salt-and-Pepper shook his head. "No. We give her to them, we lose our leverage. They'll flatten that door, locked or not, to get to us." He scratched his mustache. "Sid, you saw the plans for the place, right? Isn't there a basement here?"

Roni swallowed hard at that. She knew there was a basement – it was huge, as big as the building above it. There was even a room under part of the parking lot. After the 'Golden Freddy Debacle', as they had named it, some pieces of furniture had been brought up from the huge, dark room. It actually served as a storage space, mostly, for things left over from the last restaurant. It was all concrete – concrete floors and stone walls, lined with shelves stuffed with cardboard boxes and steel bits and bobs. There was one huge room at the bottom of the stairs (which were located near Foxy's cove), and a few other small rooms along the far end from where the basement was originally intended to be a laser-tag course. Those rooms had been locked for ages, though, and Roni didn't know what lurked behind them.

While she was reviewing what she knew of the basement, Sid pointed to the small, unassuming door by the cove. "Toss her down there," Salt-and-Pepper said with a casual wave of his hand. "Lock the door behind her. She won't cause us any more trouble tonight."

Ace chuckled and grabbed Roni by the arms, dragging her to the basement. The girl took a deep breath and bit her lip as she was pulled farther and farther away from the others. The man unlocked the door with the key he'd taken from Salt-and-Pepper and threw it open. At the top of the steps was a platform. The stairs went down to the left, parallel to the building. Otherwise, they would have gone right out into the parking lot. Ace dragged Roni onto the platform and looked at the bottom of the stairs – there was nothing but darkness. Chuckling, he shifted his grip.

"The boss did say to toss you down the stairs." She barely had a moment to comprehend what he meant before she was airborne, having been picked up and literally thrown down the stairs. The guard bounced a few times before hitting the bottom, landing on something – a discarded cardboard box or ripped tablecloth – that lay at the bottom. She didn't move, her head spinning, cheek burning, limbs aching and bruised. The door at the top of the steps slammed and the lock fell into place with an audible click.

Roni shut her eyes against the darkness that flooded her senses. Of the few things she feared, why did the dark have to be one of them?

Donnie was inconsolable. He sat in Chica's lap, head buried against her feathery chest, crying softly into her bib. The four could tell he was trying not to act upset, trying to act strong, but for the little eight year old this sudden and dangerous turn of events was a a bit too much. Foxy had mostly recovered from the taser – he was still twitching at random intervals as the extra electricity worked its way out of his system, but he could sit up and move now, at least.

Freddy had taken off his hat and was tugging on the edges, bending the brim out of shape, as he paced around the small room in an effort to come up with a solution to this problem. Bonnie was watching him as he sat beside Chica, patting Donnie's back as Chica gently rocked him. Foxy sat on Chica's other side, wary of touching the boy because of the electricity, but wanting to be nearby anyway.

A large sniffle heralded Donnie running out of tears. "I-I-Is Roni gonna b-be o-okay?" He asked, wiping snot from his face on the back of his hand. Chica clucked and took off her bib, using it to wipe his face and arm off. Without being asked, Freddy went to the stack of boxes of their extra parts on the other side of the room and rummaged through them for a new bib for her.

"Roni's going to be fine, love." Chica took the fresh bib Freddy handed her and tied it around her neck. "Your sister is incredibly brave, you know. She can easily handle those...those thugs."

Freddy sat in front of the trio, reaching out to rest a hand on the head of wild red hair. "Everything will be fine, Donnie." He reassured the boy in his deep, comforting voice, a hint of south in the lilt.

"Promise?" The boys bottom lip was trembling, but he'd stopped crying and though he sounded stuffed up, he was breathing normally now.

The bear smiled, took off his hat and placed it above where his heart would be, did he have one. "Yes, Donnie. I promise, all of us are going to make it out of this safe and sound."

Deep in the bowels of the basement, the slamming of the door echoed around the concrete and stone, awakening things that had been asleep for nearly thirty years...

AN: Yay! Once I started I could not stop writing. I had a ton of fun with the play 'war' scene. Not all my updates will be this fast, but I've been super excited to write this story, so who knows when chapter 3 will be up.

PLEASE REVIEW so I can know what I'm doing well and what needs improving! Critiques are always welcome.