Rabbits and Chickens and Bears (Oh, My)

"I reckon you've got a bunch'a questions." Chica said, sitting in the chair opposite Mike, crossing her legs at the ankles.

"I-I can't think of a thing."

"Sure you can! Just start with something small!" Bonnie said, his impressive ears whirring as if to echo their assent.

"Yes, it would probably be in your best interest to stick to monosyllabic responses. Anything larger than that would result in mild brain damage," Freddy muttered, dragging one finger through the thin layer of dust that coated the desk.

Chica gave her companion a half-lidded glare before swiveling back around to face the night guard.

"Don't let him scare you, honey. It takes Freddy a while to warm up to new people."

"Yeah! He still hasn't warmed up to me, and I've known him since—"

"Oh, shut up, Bonnie!" Freddy snapped.

The rabbit just smiled and ducked his head.

"So let me get this straight: you guys...don't actually want to hurt me?" Mike asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Of course we don't!"

"Don't be daft, boy."

"What on God's green earth gave you that idea?"

In response, he curved one finger to resemble a hook and twisted his face into the most bloodthirsty expression he could muster. The reaction was instantaneous. Freddy let out a loud "hmph." Chica glared at the open doorway, her eyes darkening from orchid to plum. Bonnie busied himself with smoothing out the edges on one of the children's drawings.

"Who told you?" Freddy abruptly asked, an accusatory edge in his tone. "About the Bite?"

Mike was so taken off-guard by the bluntness of the bear's demand that he almost forgot that it was being directed at him. He licked his lips. He suspected that responding with "some random guy that keeps bugging me" would only irritate Freddy. And "I don't know" would really irritate him.

"Uhhh...Internet?" It was a flimsy excuse, but it was all he could think of.

Freddy stared him down, those electric blue eyes narrowing critically.

"Typical Millenial," he huffed, straightening his bowtie. "With your posh little smart phones and your Google. The whole lot of you can't have a conversation unless you have a screen in front of your faces..."

"How much of it do you know?" Chica asked, deliberately ignoring Freddy's grumbling in the background.

"Not much. The Internet isn't very helpful for something that has a lot of information." Mike said, giving the phone a perfunctory, but pointed glance. "Could you guys tell me about the Bite?"

There was a heavy pause.

"Um, if you don't feel comfortable talking about it, I—"

"Okay." Bonnie said shyly from his spot near the left door, his gaze fixed on one of the drawings. The other two animatronics exchanged looks.

"You sure?" Mike furrowed his brow.

The rabbit's fingers gently traced the choppy lines of faded crayon. "Yup. On one condition."

"Fire away."

Bonnie tore his eyes away from the bulletin board and studied the young man carefully. "You have to tell us what made you start working here."

The corners of Mike's lips tugged downward. He was beginning to regret even bringing up the Bite in the first place. "Naaah, that's a boring story. Don't you want to hear about something else about my life? Something more interesting?"

"Nope. I wanna know why you started working here."

"W-why that?" he asked defensively, clutching the tablet like some sort of shield.

The bunny wiggled his nose. "'Cause this is something we personally don't like talking about. And it looks like I figured out what makes you squirm. We like you—

"Ahem." Freddy said.

"—Overall. But we need to know that we can trust you. So one traumatic story for another. Seems only fair. Deal?" Bonnie tilted his head to one side.

Mike pulled his chin back like a turtle trying to retreat into its shell. On one hand, finding out more about the mysterious Bite of '97 could give him some valuable insight on Foxy that could very well save his life. What was that saying? "Know your enemy?"

On the other hand, he wondered whether this was worth the trouble of reopening wounds that were still healing.

"...Deal." he said reluctantly.

Bonnie nodded. "Okay, then. After every show, we were allowed to leave the stage and meet the kiddos. It was always the best part of the day. Keeping them entertained isn't always the easiest job in the world, but we loved every second of it. And so did...so did Foxy.

He trailed off for a moment, his expression far-off and wistful.

"There was a birthday party that day. Nothing out of the ordinary. The kids were having a blast...then everything went wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong..."

February 24, 1997.

The floor had been scrubbed so thoroughly that Bonnie could see his face reflected in the tiles. It was almost hard to believe that the linoleum had been slick with blood several hours ago.

The restaurant had closed much earlier than usual. Even though everything was quiet, he could still hear the terrified shrieks ringing in his ears. He remembered every little detail from earlier that day. The way the light filtered through the balloons and casted little patches of pink and green light across the floor. The gust of chilly air that blew in every time a customer sailed through the door, their cheeks tinged pink from the cold. The scraping of chairs being pulled out. And the laughter. Oh, the laughter. He committed it all to memory because as far as he knew, the good old days were now over.

It was the new security guard's first day on the job; the first guy was being promoted to night shift. Bonnie didn't get a chance to talk to him since the guests arrived for the party soon after. For lack of a better term, he was a total spaz. Chica tried approaching him and he flinched like he had been burned. Otherwise, he seemed alright.

It happened so suddenly that it was still all a blur to Bonnie. He vaguely remembered hearing an argument that was barely discernible above the laughs and cheers. And then a bloodcurdling scream. He whipped around just in time to see Foxy lunging at the guard and sinking his teeth into his flesh.

Then all hell broke loose. Bonnie was so numb with shock that he could only watch as screaming parents grabbed their children and stampeded towards the door. Two or three men had to wrestle Foxy off of the young man. His teeth were glistening with blood and the look in his eyes was ferocious.

The next thing Bonnie knew was being whisked back to the stage along with Chica and Freddy and having the curtains snapped shut.

He had zoned out for the rest of the day, sitting with his knees tucked tightly against his chest. He felt as hollow as one of the spare mascot suits.

The only thing that he could think about was the image of his best friend senselessly attacking an innocent man...

Around midnight, Foxy slowly emerged from Pirate Cove, his shoulders hunched and his arms hanging limply at his sides.

With a high-pitched screech, Chica barreled past and launched herself at the pirate, sending him sprawling to the floor and then pounced on him.

"Chica—what the—arghh—Jesus!"

"YOU—BACKSTABBING—SELFISH—GOOD FOR NOTHING—HEARTLESS—SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed, her fists colliding with his face again and again in an endless barrage of punches. Chica usually refrained from using vulgar language, but when she swore, she meant business.

With great effort, Freddy finally managed to pull her off of Foxy. Bonnie had retreated behind a table and sank to the floor, covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut. He hated this. His whole world was falling apart and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Chica growled and tried to wriggle her way out of Freddy's arms, which were locked firmly around her midsection. "Let me—go! DAMN IT, FREDDY! LET ME GO!"

"Are you quite finished?" he hissed through gritted teeth, his top hat slightly askew.

"I will be when his head is on a silver platter!"

"Violence won't solve anything, my dear. We're above stooping to his level." He shot a scathing glare in Foxy's general direction. "We are going to discuss this calmly and civilly."

Chica opened her beak.

"And by 'civilly' I mean 'without beating him senseless.'" Freddy said. She glared at him from over her shoulder.

"Fine." she grunted as she was freed from his vice grip.

Foxy had clambered back to his feet, wincing slightly as he tried to put his jaw back into place.

"You've gotta lot of nerve showin' your face here after that stunt you pulled." she snarled, her Southern accent more pronounced and harsh.

"Please—let me explain."

"Oh, hell no. I don't wanna hear anything you're got to say, you bastard."

Freddy's jaw was set tightly. Though he was showing much more restraint than Chica, there was no mistaking the contempt in his eyes when he finally looked at the pirate.

"I have no words."

"You attacked an employee! One of our own. He did nothin' wrong!" Chica jabbed a finger at Foxy.

"That's just it. He did nothin'," he snarled in a tone that oozed of hatred. "A jellyfish has more backbone than that spineless piece of shit—"

"F-Foxy?" Bonnie asked in a small voice.

The pirate's corded posture slackened slightly, but did he not turn towards him.

"Bon...just stay outta this." he said softly.

"Yes, let the grown-ups handle this." Freddy sneered.

Chica placed a hand on Bonnie's shoulder, but he shrugged her off. He slowly moved towards the fox, his eyes wide and confused.

"W-why? Why d-did you do that?"

Foxy shook his head, his eyes screwed shut. "Bonnie, please don't."

"M-maybe it's not too late to f-fix this. Maybe if you j-just—"

"No."

"—Say you're—"

"Shut up."

"—Sorry—"

The pirate turned on Bonnie, his eyes blazing feverishly. "SHUT UP! Ye shut the hell up! I'd rather throw myself to the sharks! I ain't apologizin' for somethin' I ain't sorry for. The only thing I regret is not finishin' him off!"

The rabbit trembled violently. Foxy had never spoken to him this harshly before. "Y-you don't m-mean that."

"Ye don't know shit. About any o' this or about me. So just keep yer mouth shut, ye idiot—"

SMACK.

Freddy and Chica gaped as Bonnie struck Foxy hard across the face.

For as long as he could remember, he constantly had to put up with Freddy's dismissive remarks and put-downs. Stupid. Dimwit. Imbecile. The list went on and on. If he was ever praised for something, he could count on the bear to make some sort of snide comment that would bring him down.

Foxy was the one to take him under his wing. He had taught him everything that he knew about performing. The buccaneer had seen potential in him that the others had overlooked. He made him feel...important. Good enough.

When the words "ye idiot" left Foxy's mouth, something inside Bonnie snapped.

"How dare you." he said lowly, his fists shaking. Foxy cringed as if he had been slapped a second time.

"P-please, Bon. I didn't mean it—" he took a step forward.

Bonnie stepped back, his ears standing straight up. "You didn't mean it?! You just said that you're not sorry! If there's one thing I know about you, it's that you don't say anything you don't mean. There are a lot of parents that never wanna come back here ever again because of you. We can never—"

He cut himself off. He needed to be sure that he could say his next words without breaking down completely. "W-we can never leave the stage during the day again. Because of you. Not once did you stop to think about the consequences of your actions and what it would cost the rest of us. You're so selfish. Good to know that you didn't mean it."

"Y-ye have to believe me. I had a g-good reason—"

"I don't care. I'm done."

Foxy stared at Bonnie with a pained, raw expression. When he spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper. "Please. Ye're the only friend I have left. I've lost s-so much today. I c-can't lose ye, too—"

He moved towards him again, his arms extended in a pleading gesture. The rabbit recoiled.

"You ruined EVERYTHING!" he screamed with every ounce of strength he had. "You failed the pizzeria! The kids! The parents! Freddy and Chica! YOU FAILED ME! I looked up to you! You were my b-best friend—"

A horrible sob escaped his voice box, rendering him unable to continue. He turned on his heel and fled to the stage as fast as his legs could carry him, ignoring Foxy's desperate cries. He was ashamed of himself for breaking down in front of the others. Freddy and Chica gave Bonnie space for the rest of the night. Every once in a while, Foxy's tearless weeping drifted through the curtains.

"I failed...I failed..."

I'm just gonna leave this here. This one was a bit tough to write, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. The next chapter is the calm before the storm. You have been warned. Lol

I've already started writing the next one, which is coming together fast. Stay tuned.