A/N: I'm so happy with the reception this has gotten already, it's much more than I was expecting! Thanks, guys!
December 23rd, 1984; Mike, age 5
It was the week of Christmas, and Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria was in the holiday celebration mode. The band sang Christmas songs and song parodies, Foxy's adventures centered around family and fun, and the party room was decorated with red and green. A large green banner hung up, declaring in beautiful gold text "Merry Christmas!"
Children ran around and laughed as they played their Christmas themed games and ate their pizza. Parents watched their children playing as they sat at the tables, simply happy to see their children so happy.
The animatronics stepped off stage to make the rounds with the children, but Foxy's attention zeroed in on a little blonde girl who stood out from the crowd.
It wasn't her curly hair that caught his attention, nor was it her pretty Christmas dress. She wasn't calling his name either, like several other children. No, what caught his attention was that she was sitting, all alone, at one of the tables without even so much as a smile.
Foxy couldn't help but feel confused. Why was a little girl sitting all alone without even a parent? And why did she look so sad when it was Christmas at Freddy's? Glancing over at the other animatronics, Foxy saw that they were already preoccupied with several children each, so he decided to take matters into his own hands, and careful not to step on any children, he made his way over to the sad little girl.
"Ahoy thar, li'l lassie," he greeted the girl, who looked up, her blue eyes widening in surprise. "What be ye doin' here sittin' all by yer lonesome?"
The little girl looked down again and sniffled a bit, saying, "The others don't like me."
The animatronic blinked, a bit surprised himself. "Now I'm sure tha' don' be true, lassie."
"It is. Even mommy and daddy didn't stay and the other kids said I can't play with them."
Foxy frowned, glancing over at a large sign with a list of rules, one of which being to not leave your children unattended. "Wha' be yer name, lassie?"
"Michaela Schmidt."
Although his programming was telling him that he should take the child to management so they could find her parents, since children are required to have a parent nearby, he found he simply couldn't send her home when she looked so sad. "Well, Michaela," Foxy started, kneeling down so he wasn't towering over the small child, "I like ye. So why don' ye come join me crew an' be me firs' mate, aye?"
Michaela's eyes widened and Foxy was very proud to see a small smile starting to break out. "Really?"
"O' course! A cap'n be needin' a firs' mate after all, lassie!" Foxy offered her his hand, and the girl was all too happy to take it, though her hand was hardly big enough to even wrap around one of his fingers. He was careful not to squeeze her hand too hard as he led her back towards Pirate Cove to play.
Mike watched the security cameras boredly, his left hand propping his head up on the desk. His camera was focused on the party room where he could see all four animatronics gathered together. It wasn't an unusual sight anymore- the first time he had started freaking out, expecting them to gang up like they did with the guy on the phone- so he didn't really pay it much attention.
He glanced at the time, seeing it was a quarter 'til two AM. "Wow, I never knew how boring this would be without you guys trying to kill me," he muttered, watching the animatronics again. "Or without you guys at least talking to me. Gee, talk about rude."
With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. "Who would break into this place anyway? It's not exactly booming business anymore…"
Of course, fate simply loved to prove him wrong. He heard glass smashing from the entrance hall and closed his eyes. "You just love laughing at me, don't you?"
Quickly he started flipping through the cameras, noticing that the animatronics had scattered and returned to their places, but he couldn't see anyone human. He groaned and grabbed a flashlight, stood up, and walked out into the hall. The dim lighting and the childish drawings on the wall, plus the fact that there were killer animatronics and possibly an armed robber inside, made his heart rate pick up as he walked towards the party room.
Throwing a glance up towards the stage just to be sure, Mike began towards the entrance. Just as he expected, the glass door had been smashed inwards, and the shattered glass crunched under his boots. However, there was no one there. He returned to the party room, shining his light around, but upon seeing nothing there, he went to check other rooms that had blind spots in the camera (minus backstage- he could hardly look at that door, forget going inside).
They were all empty.
Back in the party room, Mike glanced around. He noticed the band watching him, not too subtly either, and he sighed. "I gotta call the cops, I guess," he said, speaking loudly enough for the animatronics to hear. "I can't find 'em."
With that said, he turned around and walked down the hallway again, unaware of the red blinking light on the security camera.
Freddy, however, did notice the light, watching how it switched between cameras depending on where the guard was standing. That meant the intruder had somehow made it to the security room without being seen… by the guard or the animatronics.
It worried Freddy, but not because of the guard. No, he worried that the man wouldn't be found before opening and that the intruder would hurt one of their children. He exchanged a glance with Bonnie, who had clearly noticed the active cameras as well. The bunny seemed to be frowning.
Bonnie spoke, his voice low and quiet so as not to be heard. "What are we going to do, Freddy?"
The lead singer turned his attention back towards the party room camera, which wasn't active at the moment. "The guard's callin' police. We probably ain't gonna be openin' tomorrow."
Bonnie's ears drooped slightly and Chica made a small whining sound, but neither of them protested. They understood that the safety of the children came first.
Back with Mike, he entered the security room and took his seat at the desk. He reached for the phone… but then he heard the whoosh of doors.
"Well isn't it nice to see you again," a chilling, and very familiar, voice drawled. Mike's eyes widened and he jumped up, whirling around to face a taller, paler man with dark hair. His mouth was twisted into that grin that had haunted Mike's dreams for fifteen years…
Mike opened his mouth to let out a shout, but the man's hand was over his mouth in an instant. "None of that, child," he laughed, grin widening. "Can't have your old friends getting curious, now can we? After all," he pointed at his forehead, where Mike could just barely see scars, "I'm pretty sure they'll recognize me, hm?"
The guard tried to bite down on his hand, but the guard simply laughed at that. "You never were very smart. Your marks in school reflected that very well." Mike's eyes widened slightly- how would this horrible man know what kind of marks he'd gotten in school? "I believe in your senior year, it was, what- a C in Spanish, B minus in literature, D in math before that extra credit assignment, and a C plus in science? The only thing you got an A in was art, and even that was a low A. Always doing rush jobs, after all."
Yes. Exactly, even down to the extra credit assignment and the rushed art pieces. That was terrifying. With a heavy shove, Mike finally succeeded to move the man's hand away from his mouth and immediately exclaimed, "You've been stalking me?!"
"I prefer to call it observing my prey," the man laughed, pulling a dagger out and lightly running it across Mike's left cheek, just barely leaving a scratch welling with small beads of blood. He grinned slightly, enjoying the fear in Mike's big blue eyes. "You shouldn't have cut your hair, Michaela. You always had such beautiful hair."
Mike did not like where this was going, so with all of his strength he shoved the nightmare man away and kicked his legs, downing him for a moment. The murderer cursed loudly while Mike slammed his hand on the west hall door button. The moment the door was open, he raced out of the room.
Funny, Mike couldn't help but think. He'd prefer to be surrounded by the animatronics that had tried to kill him than face a human that had tried to kill him. To be fair, he reasoned, his would-be murderer had apparently been stalking him.
"Get back here, you little bitch!" the murderer shrieked, and Mike could hear his footsteps echoing around him.
The man was fast, he realized. Very fast. Faster than he himself was. Shit.
Mike skid to a stop next to the supply closet and yanked it open, grabbing the first potentially useful thing he could find- a bucket and mop, he briefly noted- and whirled around, raising the bucket in time to avoid getting a knife in the chest. Without hesitation, Mike shoved the handle of the mop into the pale man's gut with all of his strength, causing him to double over in pain. Mike took advantage of this to run away again, racing into the party room. He only took a moment to notice the animatronics' seemingly shocked expressions- apparently they had heard the commotion.
"No time to explain!" he shouted at the animatronic as he ran for the entrance.
"You're not going anywhere!" the pale man cried from right behind, and Mike felt something hit his back, sending him flying to the floor. He realized very quickly that the man had just thrown a chair at him. A chair!
Mike tried to scramble to his feet and grab something to protect himself with, but the pain exploded in his back and he gasped. Biting his lip, he forced himself to his feet and spun around- but only for a moment. He felt himself being tackled to the ground, which his back did not appreciate at all. He groaned in pain and tried to push the man away.
"You're insane!" Mike shouted, trying to fight the man and shove him off. The man pulled his hand holding the dagger back and started to bring it down, but Mike quickly caught his hand with both of his, struggling to hold it back.
Not only was he fast, he was strong.
"Yes, I am insane, I've heard it all before!" the man laughed, moving his free hand to Mike's throat in an attempt to get him to release his knife hand. "You're fifteen years overdue, you little shit!"
Mike briefly noted movement in the background- the animatronics had begun to move off of the stage. He couldn't see Pirate Cove from where he lay on the ground, with the insane nightmare man straddling him and preventing him from moving, but he could clearly hear the sound of metal on tile and could only assume the fox was joining his friends.
'Are they going to help me?' Mike suddenly thought, still trying to fight this battle he knew he couldn't win. But then he thought, 'Or do they just want a front-row seat?'
Either way, Mike realized he wasn't the only one who noticed the movement. The hand on his throat tightened and the man's head jerked up, looking over his shoulder. The man snarled at them and shouted, "Back off, you fuckers!"
He couldn't breathe at all, and a roaring entered his ears, preventing him from hearing whatever else the man might have said. His strength failed him, but when the dagger came down, the man had twisted around so much to look at the four animatronics that his aim went off to the side and hit his arm instead of his chest. If he could, Mike could have hissed and cursed in pain, but all he could manage was a wince.
'I am so dead,' he thought to himself right before his vision turned completely black.
"Get back here, you little bitch!"
The shout startled the three band mates, and their attention snapped to the west hall. From the stage they couldn't see down the hallway very well, but they could hear footsteps, a door slam, something that sounded oddly like breaking plastic, and then more footsteps.
Then the security guard ran out into the party room, his wide eyes immediately turning to the stage. Blue eyes met blue. Freddy felt a whirring in his head when their eyes met, but it was very brief and he couldn't figure it out before the man had turned away, racing towards the entrance. "No time to explain!" he had shouted, but Freddy could see the attempt was in vain. A tall, pale male raced in from the west hall as well and grabbed a chair, hoisting it up.
"You're not going anywhere!" the man, who looked suspiciously familiar to Freddy, screeched as he hurled the chair, which hit the guard square in the back and sent him down to the floor.
Freddy continued watching the altercation before he noticed Foxy poking his head out of his curtain. Freddy turned his head to look at Foxy, and Foxy turned to look at him as if, once again, sensing his gaze. There was a fierce look in his eyes, a look that seemed to say, "That's the man, Freddy! The bad man in the Freddy suit!"
Why that was what Freddy felt that look was saying, he honestly didn't know, but looking back towards the man who seemed to be strangling the guard as well as trying to stab him, he could see it very clearly. Tall, pale skin, dark hair, and- though Freddy couldn't see the man's face, he could clearly imagine it- a crazed expression.
If there was a scar, they'd know for sure.
He turned to look at Bonnie, who seemed shocked, then turned to look at Chica, who seemed to be getting angry. He wondered if they had realized the identity of the guard's attacker.
Without asking any questions, Freddy began moving towards the stage stairs. Bonnie and Chica, though they were a little surprised, were quick to follow their leader.
The band met up with Foxy on their way to the fighting men. The man tensed up and looked up at them, twisting his body a bit to glare at them. "Back off, you fuckers!" he snarled at them while tightening his grip on the other man's throat. "This doesn't concern you! We have some unfinished business and you won't stop me again!"
Freddy watched as the guard's own defensive grip loosened and eventually slipped, and the knife finally was able to go down. Instead of hitting its mark, however, it angled off to the side and hit the guard's arm, slicing through the sleeve and skin easily. The guard only winced before finally going still. Freddy didn't know if the man was dead or unconscious. It didn't really concern the brown bear too much- what concerned him was the person who attacked and possibly killed the guard.
Clear as day, they could see a scar retreating into the man's hairline.
With a dangerous growl, Foxy stepped forward. "Ye bloo'y bilge rat," he growled at the man, raising his hook threateningly. "We ough'a be spillin' ye guts 'cross th' floor, we ough'a!"
The man, they all knew, was terrified of them. Had been since before Foxy even bit him. Therefore, Foxy's threat was very effective. His hand retreated from the guard's throat and he scrambled to his feet, brandishing the bloodied knife at them as though that could protect him.
"You're breakin' the rules," Freddy stated matter of factly as he stepped towards the murderer. This was their chance to get revenge, he realized, to make sure the children were safe! However, before he could reach forward and grab the man, the man jumped back, raced towards the entrance, and was out the broken door.
Foxy, shrieking angrily, chased the man to the door, but he stopped in front of the glass. Their programming wouldn't allow them to leave for any reason whatsoever, so the pirate fox began cursing as he watched the man disappear. "Ye bloo'y coward, ye be'er run 'nd ne'er show ye face 'round these 'ere parts again!"
Chica looked down distastefully at the guard. "Is it dead?" She asked, kneeling down to poke him.
"I don't think so," Bonnie replied, also kneeling down to look closer at the guard. "Look, his chest is moving, that means he's breathing, right?"
"So its windpipe isn't crushed," Chica guessed. "What do we do with it, then?"
"We could always get him out of the way," Bonnie suggested hopefully, looking at Freddy. Freddy simply shook his head, staring at the guard's face.
He couldn't see the man's eyes, of course, but he could remember them when their eyes briefly met earlier. There was just something about those eyes that Freddy couldn't place…
"We'll put 'im back in 'is office," Freddy decided after a few moments. "He shouldn't be out too long, and then he can call them cops he said he was gonna call."
"But Freddy-"
"Bonnie," Freddy's tone was warning, shutting the bunny up immediately. "Thank ya."
Bonnie glanced down at the guard, clearly unhappy, but did as he was told; he picked the guard up and headed down the hall towards the security office. Freddy followed, just to be sure the guard wouldn't have an… accident.
After all, Freddy wanted to figure out what was going on, and he was sure that the guard had some answers to some of his questions.
When Mike woke up later, he was in his office, slumped over his desk, at half past five in the morning. For a moment he was sure he had simply fallen asleep and had another nightmare… but then he felt the terrible aching pain in his back and his uniform's sleeve sticking to his skin. One glance at his arm and he knew it wasn't a dream.
"So…" Mike started aloud, looking around his office and down at himself. "Why am I not dead?"