All noise was speechless.

Ryan's eyes were so wide in surprise he could hurt himself. Nightmare Fredbear just spoke, apologized to be exact. Coming from such cruel and deadly creatures as the Nightmares, the voice was highly expected to be demonic, dark, distorted, but it wasn't any of that. It was like the normal Fredbear's, melodic, soft, albeit his Nightmare version had a deeper tone, but it wasn't startling at all. Thousands of words wanted to escape Ryan's lips, but he couldn't talk from the shock. When did the bear learn to talk? He heard him making the same noises the rest of Nightmares made, how was he capable of such clear speech? More nonsense was deliberately thrown into the situation.

And what was Nightmare Fredbear apologizing for? Having tried to kill Ryan? Perhaps causing the infamous Bite? It remained a mystery, but whatever it was, the golden bear seemed deeply hurt about it. Ryan could see flooding sadness through those eyes when he looked past them. Despite being a mirror version of Nightmare, their eyes expressed far different things. While Nightmare's were filled with cruelty and malevolence, Nightmare Fredbear's had an overwhelming amount of sorrow in them, and it overpowered the tiny malice etched on them.

"I… I didn't mean to bring you here…" the bear spoke with grief. Ryan finally realized what he was talking about, trying to apologize for killing him. Just like his brother. And if he didn't accept sorry once, why would he accept a second one? But he couldn't let the words out yet, no matter what he wanted to say. He was too shocked about the bear suddenly talking, about all the pain that was filling his eyes. Was he truly sorry? It looked like so. His ears lowered a bit as he continued, "Please, you have to understand that… I didn't mean any of this to happen…"

Ryan wanted to say so many things, but not even he understood why he was unable to talk. Maybe it was the fact that his killer was talking and apologizing to him, maybe because his sorrowed words reminded him of the way his brother spoke to him at the hospital, maybe it was something else. "I'm sorry." Nightmare Fredbear repeated.

And then, Ryan understood.

He knew why Nightmare Fredbear had protected him and was so saddened. It all suddenly made sense. He had been so wrong for blaming the animatronic for the accident. In the real word, Fredbear was just a robot. Lifeless and programmed to sing childish songs. A robot was unable to think, to know what was happening around it. A robot was unable to cause an accident purposely. By the other side, a living, sentient and intelligent creature as Nightmare Fredbear was, he could understand the situations that surrounded him, he could understand what happened in the past and present. Ever since Ryan awakened in his never-ending nightmare he had been blaming both his brother and Fredbear, but the animatronic wasn't guilty in any way. But then… why was he laughing at him?

Unless…

Nightmare Fredbear had never been laughing. All the Nightmares were split on two sides – the Nightmare side and the animatronic side. The animatronic side was obscured, thrown away by the greed and desire to kill of the Nightmare side to the point of being completely non-existent, but Nightmare Fredbear had managed to overpower it even if it was still partially controlling him. It meant that he was both laughing… and crying. His demonic side wanted him to end what he had started, his good side told him to fix the mess he had caused. Ryan's eyes sparkled with realization, and the bear noticed it. He felt happiness grow upon him, he recognized an expression like that.

"It… it all makes sense…" Ryan mumbled. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry… I blamed you when you didn't do anything…" He sounded like he was about to cry. Beneath that haunting grin that Nightmare Fredbear always sported, there was a mellow smile filled with joy. "I-I'm sorry for having called you a monster…" Ryan said sheepishly. "You didn't deserve that."

"That is nothing compared to what happened to you. You are the one who didn't deserve any of this."

Ryan looked up at him, his lips pulling a gentle smile. He had always been afraid of the animatronics, but he had never seen the sweet, caring side of one. Mostly because they couldn't show it. However, the smile disappeared into a worried, crooked frown. "But… what about the others?" Nightmare Fredbear didn't seem comfortable with that question.

"The fact that I won't harm you doesn't mean that they will change." he said sternly. "Freddy helped you because I ordered him to, but that is the last favor you'll witness from him, or any of the others. They are not your friends, and will never be." Ryan looked down, musing. He wanted the Nightmares to give a change, to look further into their greed and see the light of their kindness that remained hidden from them. It looked like that was never going to happen, and the excitement the kid felt for a chance of being able to form a friendship with the Nightmares faded away. Nightmare Fredbear gave a sigh, and with a calmer tone, continued, "They are dangerous. No matter how many times I command them to leave you alone, they won't listen more than once. They will be active for the next and last night, but they won't attack you. After that night, it will all reset and you'll have to fight for your life again." He noticed how Ryan was looking at him with that eerie, almost hopeless expression. "I know, but nothing here is fair."

Plushtrap nuzzled Ryan's arm with his large head, trying to comfort him. He didn't like what had been told to him. He wanted everything and everyone to leave him alone. Just the thought of having to restart everything like that little scene had never happened… The eight night was the only night of peace, and then everything would again be a nightmare. At least, with Nightmare Fredbear having met his animatronic side, he wouldn't bother him and so the fifth and end of the sixth night would be calm… he hoped.

"I understand." Ryan acknowledged. "But, if something happens… will you be there?"

Nightmare Fredbear took a while to reply, and nervousness filled Ryan when he looked through those scarlet eyes and saw the reflection of doubt. "I'll do what I can." he finally replied. It was hard to admit the truth – if any of the Nightmares got Ryan before he could run away, Nightmare Fredbear wouldn't have time to arrive at the scene. That was one of the reasons of why the child started to fear Nightmare Freddy and Nightmare Foxy in an awful way, even more than before. There were slim chances to get away from the knavish rabbit and the sly chicken, but escaping from the other two was more of a deathly challenge. At least he wouldn't have to endure the terror of the eight night.

The golden bear looked up to glance at the clock. It was 5 AM, and the seventh night was just about to end. There wasn't much time left. "The night is coming to an end." he told Ryan, who looked behind to check the time. "Take the next one as a well deserved rest, and please be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you." The last sentence warmed up the kid's heart. Nightmare Fredbear did care about him, Ryan couldn't help but think of how hurtful it had to be for him to realize what he had done.

"Thank you." the boy said kindly, putting up probably one of the most gleeful smiles he ever directed at someone. He couldn't remember the last time he had smiled that way, it had to be somewhere far, far in the past, when his life was actually something to be happy about. When his brother wasn't a bully and instead was a cheerful kid. Good times, pity they'd never repeat.

Nightmare Fredbear had that mild smile skulked beneath the toothy grin as he gave a sideways glance at the boy before leaving with heavy footsteps stomping on the carpet. Once seen it couldn't be unseen, the bear was full of mystery and goodness. It was something worth pondering; if he was gentle, why couldn't the other Nightmares be as well? Ryan wanted to find it out. It was a huge risk, it was a folly, the boy even started to question if he was going crazy but he knew perfectly well he wasn't. He'd find it out the next night, when everything remained calm and he had a chance to observe the neglected animatronics' demeanor 'safely'.

Not long after Nightmare Fredbear's footsteps fainted in the halls, the alarm clock chimed 6 AM. Plushtrap gave Ryan a gentle croon, limply sitting next to him. "What? Don't you want to play as always?" he asked it, confusion etched on his face. Plushtrap gave a waiting purr – it was letting Ryan decide whether to play or stay in the bedroom. He cogitated about it, and he just needed that to realize how tired he was. The near death he had when the flashlight mistake occurred, the search for Plushtrap, the encounter with Nightmare, all that had drained his strength. "I'm really not in the mood to do anything," he admitted shyly. "Do you mind if I stay here this time?" The plushie shook its head nonchalantly. It was all fine. It stood up, rather shakily, and nuzzled him sweetly until he fell down on his rear. Ryan couldn't keep in a little giggle at the affections of the living toy. It seemed to have gotten a liking towards him, probably because he was the only company it had.

And while it was true that Plushtrap had anger issues, especially concerning its games, it was still as friendly as a friend Ryan had his entire life.