Universal Language
Chapter 6: ...Freddy?
Fazbear wasn't back from the hospital until nearly five that same morning. He walked straight to his office, past the three animatronics sitting on the edge of the stage. A few minutes later, they heard the old printer in the managers office whir to life and start spitting out papers. Fazbear quickly reemerged, several pages of paper clutched in his fist.
"Dad?" Bonnie had gotten off the stage and was standing near the office door, wringing his hands. Fazbear almost groaned when he heard the nickname. A few days after he had been created, Bonnie had heard a child use the word 'dad.' His AI processor had been having trouble keeping up with all the new information, and had stuttered when trying to pull up the meaning of the word 'dad.' He'd knelt down and asked the boy what the word meant. The boy, after squealing and giving Bonnie a hug, had said that his dad was the one who took care of him and loved him and taught him. As soon as Bonnie had stood up, he'd spotted Fazbear across the room and waved at him, yelling 'Hi Dad!' much to the amusement of the patrons. The name had stuck for the bunny, luckily none of the others had picked up on it.
Fazbear pulled himself from his past musings to grace the bunny with a gentle smile. "Roni will be fine, Bon." He patted the bunny on the shoulder. Bonnie let out a simulated sigh of relief. "She'll be back in a few days."
"The lass still wants to be workin' here?" Foxy and Chica had left the stage, joining Bonnie.
The man laughed at the question. "I doubt wild horses could keep her away!" He chuckled. "As soon as I suggested quitting, she spit nails. She insisted that she had to stay and get to know her new friends."
"Friends?" Chica clasped her hands together in front of her, beaming at the idea.
"Yes, friends. She swore to keep your intelligence a secret."
"She be a fine lass!" Foxy chortled.
The three began to plan a welcome back party for the night guard, arguing over cake flavors and what Roni's favorite color was. Fazbear rolled his eyes at their antics and left them to it, heading for the stage. He had one more animatronic to talk to.
Some would think that being given advanced AI would also instill in the animatronics a strict, un-bendable moral code. Those people obviously did not know the Fazbear gang. As soon as the door was wedged back into place by Fazbear, they were across the room and quietly padding across the stage to eavesdrop on the tongue lashing they had no doubt was about to be delivered.
Freddy had definitely had better days.
He was sitting on the work table, the Bonnie suit shoved to the floor, nursing his wounds. Foxy had torn his suit in several places along his arms and back, as well as one nice, rough cut along his right leg. His joints were aching from being thrown to the floor repeatedly, and there was a ringing in his audio sensors from being smacked in the face with the Bonnie costume head.
The bear didn't notice Fazbear entering the room until he flipped on the overhead light. He looked up slowly, wincing as the joints in his neck rubbed together. The look on his creators face had him wishing Foxy had returned to beat him up some more. Fazbear wedged the door back into place and turned to glare at his oldest animatronic.
"Freddy."
The ice in Fazbear's voice could've solved global warming. Freddy hunched his shoulders up around his cheeks (his ears being too far to reach) and watched as his creator shook his head.
"Why?" When he didn't receive an answer, he continued. "The others told me what happened. Why didn't you listen to them? Chica told you Roni was human, but you ignored her. Why?"
Freddy looked away, pulling his hat off his head and sliding the brim between his fingers, eyes focused on the black silk instead of his creators disappointed face.
"It – I mean, she looks like an endoskeleton. No matter how I looked at her, it – she was an endo skeleton." He bent the rim back and forth between his thick fingers. "I tried, after Bonnie said it was a human. I watched her in the office when she couldn't see me." He shook his head. "Every time I looked, I only saw an endo. Just like that one," he pointed to the defunct endo slumped in the corner of the room, "Only smaller."
"That is a concern," Fazbear agreed, "but that is not the biggest issue right now. I want to know why you ignored the others."
"I was protecting them!" He snarled, finally meeting the mans eyes. "Every time something has gone wrong here, it's been because someone broke the rules!" He stood, his entire frame thrumming with tension. "The murders happened because he," he pointed to the corner and the endoskeleton once more, "wasn't in his uniform, so that man could use it! The Bite of '87 happened because Mangle wasn't fixed right and her suit was destroyed!" Freddy crushed the silk hat between his large paws.
Fazbear shook his head. "No. The murders happened because a madman slipped into our haven. The Bite happened because Mangle identified the man as a murderer, but her systems glitched and she bit him. The endoskeletons being visible in both cases was just a coincidence." He sighed, taking the hat from the bears hand and reshaping it, frowning at the wrinkles.
"Roni is just a kid, Freddy. She wasn't even alive when the murders happened, or the Bite. You have absolutely no reason to attack her." He put the hat on the work table, then grabbed the papers he had brought in with him, face turning thunderous. Holding up a black-and-white picture, he pointed to two long white lines, both of which fractured into seven pieces towards one end. "Roni is going to require surgery in order to fix her wrist, which you broke."
The animatronic winced at the sight of the shattered bones, oil tank churning. He slowly sat back down on the work table, staring at the picture. Fazbear allowed him his time to think, arms crossed over his chest.
"Is she coming back?"
Fazbear winced at the question. "She said wants to continue working here, on one condition."
"Which is...?"
"You have to stay away from her."
Roni found the restaurant in complete darkness when she arrived at five to midnight on Sunday. Frowning, she used her keys to open the front doors, locking them after her. The dining hall was nearly pitch black. She frowned and grabbed her flashlight (which Fazbear had retrieved for her), using it to navigate through the tables to the east hallway and her office. A balloon was tied to the back of the twirly chair, and on top of the tablet was a folded piece of paper. Grinning, she put her stuff down and threw herself in her chair, which twirled around a few times before stopping. The girl giggled, before grabbing the paper. There was black, blocky printing on it reading:
WELCOME BACK RONI
COME TO THE DINING HALL
WE HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU!
She found herself suitably impressed by the animatronics intelligence once again – she'd never even considered that they'd be able to write. She folded the note and glanced at the watch, which felt odd and bulky on her right wrist. Her left wrist – her whole forearm, in fact – was covered with a thick lime-green cast. Just as she focused on the blinking face, the chiming of the midnight alarm echoed through the quiet building.
Roni wondered why the lights were still out, but shrugged to herself and used the flashlight to navigate her way back to the dining hall. There was no sound, and if she were being honest it was beginning to creep her out.
Just as she stepped into the main room, the lights flared, revealing a beaming trio standing by one of the tables. Chica and Bonnie were holding a sign that said 'Welcome Back Roni!' in swirly purple letters. Foxy stood between the two, arms thrown around their shoulders as he beamed at her. As she entered, all three yelled "Welcome back, Roni!" at the top of their voice boxes.
As soon as they had finished their chant, Chica dropped her side of the sign and rushed forward, catching Roni in a tight hug. "Oh Roni we've been so worried about you!"
She laughed and hugged the chicken back. As soon as Chica released her, Bonnie wrapped a gentle arm around her shoulder and pressed his nose against her head.
"We're happy ye be back, lass." Foxy greeted as Bonnie pulled her towards the table. There was a piping hot pizza on the table, beside a chocolate-iced cake decorated with her name, as well as a ton of sprinkles.
"Aw, you guys!" Roni beamed at the three as she was ushered into a seat that had a big bunch of balloons tied to it. "Thank you so much!"
Chica hummed as she sliced the pizza and cut the cake, plating a piece of both and putting it in front of the guard. The three all took seats around her as she began to eat, nibbling on the cheese pizza. They asked about her cast, and Roni explained about her surgery and the three pins holding her bones together. She also pulled a Sharpie from her pocket and had them all sign it. It turned out that the blocky hand writing from the note was Foxy's, the writing on the sign was by Bonnie, and the icing calligraphy on the cake was by Chica. That led to her asking about their construction and how they functioned. The night dissolved into comparisons between the animatronics and the human bodies, which led to stories about the animatronics history in the restaurant.
Roni hummed happily as the night wound down, completely ignorant of the melancholy blue eyes watching them from the shadows of the stage.
A month passed, thirty nights speeding by as spring turned into summer. The shifts fell into a pattern. Every Friday was movie night, and on Wednesday mornings Roni stayed for breakfast. When the animatronics weren't busy they hung out with her in the office or dining hall. Chica would occasionally drag her into the kitchen to try new cake flavors, and other nights Foxy would pull her into his cove and tell her stories of his sea adventures. Bonnie, if he wasn't practicing guitar, would follow her around, chatting about nothing of consequence. The nights became a time of companionship and conversation for them all.
All except one.
Freddy respected Roni's wishes and stayed away from her. When she was in the security office he would venture out onto the stage or into the kitchen, spending time with his friends. They had forgiven him after eavesdropping on his conversation with Fazbear, understanding that he had only been trying to protect them. They were still upset with him harming Roni, but as long as nobody mentioned it everything remained calm between them. When Roni was in the dining hall, he would retreat to the backstage room, straightening it up and ignoring the empty Bonnie suit he'd nearly used to kill Roni. The very idea still sent shivers down his spinal rod.
Roni, however, was sure that the bear was stalking her. Over the past month she'd been seeing shapes in the shadows, as well as odd lights that looked very much like eyes. These shadows appeared in the corner of her vision, disappearing as soon as she focused on them. At first she thought it was a fluke, a bit of fear from that night left over. Then she began to see the shadows on the tablet, lurking about in every room. As the month progressed, she became more and more annoyed with the bear. She thought he'd be smart enough to stay away from her like she'd asked, but he obviously thought that her not being able to see him negated that rule.
Fazbear had explained the vision malfunction Freddy had suffered, causing him to see her as an endoskeleton instead of a human. He'd cleared it up with the bear, but that did nothing to remove Roni's fear. She froze up whenever she saw him on camera, and winced when she heard his laughter echoing through the halls.
She didn't mention the shadows to the other animatronics; they got along with Freddy fine, and while she didn't like the bear she wasn't about to stir up more problems between them. She did her best to ignore the shadows, until one night it finally became too much.
It was a busy night; an elementary school had arranged a field trip for all their students to the pizzeria that day. Thankfully they had staggered the trip by grades; Kindergarten and first grade for two hours, then second and third, and lastly fourth and fifth. Still, the sheer number of pizzas they would need had Chica recruiting Bonnie and Foxy to help in the kitchen. Roni had gone to offer her help, only to see that there was barely any room for her among the large animatronics. She'd wished them luck and returned to the office, checking in through the camera's audio feed every once in a while.
An hour passed, and after listening to Chica lambaste Foxy for getting his hook stuck in the counter, Roni turned the tablet off and propped her feet up on the desk. Without any of the three around, it was quiet. She rolled her neck around, eyes tracing the posters and crayon drawings on the walls. They traveled over to the left doorway, which revealed nothing, then to the right.
A hulking shadow lingered in the doorway, taking up the entire space and leering at her. Bright white pinpricks shone from its head, hovering over sharp white fangs. A tophat was perched crookedly on the shadowy head, fenced in by a pair of small, round ears. Roni sat ramrod straight in the chair, eyes wide as saucers. The shadow bared it's fangs, head twitching erratically on it's shoulders as it took a step inside the office.
She was not going through this again. Roni lunged out of the chair, screaming at the top of her lungs. There was some PG swearing down the hall, as well as the sound of metal dropping. The shadow vanished, leaving Roni seething in the middle of the empty office. The guard grabbed the heavy flashlight off the desk and stormed down the east hall. Bonnie and Foxy had escaped the kitchen and hurried down the hall towards her, twin expressions of worry on their faces. She brushed past them, stomping towards the dining hall. Chica poked her head out of the kitchen doors and watched as the girl passed, Bonnie and Foxy trailing after her with confused and concerned faces.
Freddy looked equally confused when the girl stormed into the room. Before he could duck backstage, she had pinned him with a fearsome glare, and he found himself frozen in place. The guard stomped right up to the stage and pointed her flashlight (which was turned off) up at him.
"You!" Roni snarled, the anger in her voice startling all four of the animatronics. They'd heard her happy, scared, and excited, but never angry. "Stay the hell away from me! I don't want an apology! I don't want to talk to you! I want you to stay far, far away from me!"
Freddy took an involuntary step back, completely surprised by the sudden onslaught of anger coming his way. Bonnie moved to grab Roni and take her back to the office, but Foxy grabbed his arm and shook his head, stopping him.
"I don't care that you feel bad about what you did!" Roni waved her left arm at him, showing off the bright green cast. "I'm going to be stuck in this stupid, itchy thing for five more weeks! Do you have any idea how much it hurt to have my wrist crushed?"
Roni took several deep breaths, allowing silence to settle over the stunned animatronics.
"Cut the creepy shadow act, and leave me alone." She turned on her heel and stormed past the animatronics, down the east hall to her twirly chair and tablet. Freddy waited until she was out of sight to climb off the stage and approach the other three.
"I don't remember ya' being anywhere near the lass, matey." Foxy eyed the bear, who was staring down the hall in worry.
"I haven't been near her." Freddy was rubbing his chin, eyes showing worry.
Chica rested a hand on his arm. "Then what is she talking about?"
"She said 'creepy shadow' at the end there, didn't she?" Bonnie asked, tugging on one of his drooping ears, a nervous habit of his. "You don't think...you don't think it's..."
"No." Freddy said firmly, crossing his arms. "It can't be him."
"Mate, I know ye don't want it ta be, but if it is-"
"It can't be." Freddy insisted. "He's been gone for years. He can't be...he can't be back."
Foxy sighed, standing in front of his friend and grabbing his shoulders. "Freddy, listen to me. If it's him then we need to be ready. He'll go after Roni. You know he will."
Freddy reached up, laying his hands over Foxy's, gripping them tightly in place. He was trembling.
"I know." He huffed a breath through his vents. "We have to protect Roni."
Chica and Bonnie joined in, hugging Freddy between them. "We'll protect her," Bonnie swore.
After a moment, Freddy took a step back, nodding seriously to his friends. "One of us stays with Roni at all times during the night. She is never to be alone here."
The four nodded, and three of them headed to the office to comfort their annoyed guard. The fourth returned to the stage, to watch over the building from afar.
AN: One more chapter to go! Thanks so much to those of you who reviewed, it means a lot to me.
Also, I have never broken a bone (so far. Honestly it's a miracle I've lasted to age 25 without breaking something) so I apologize for any inconsistencies with Ronnie's broken wrist. It was a comminuted fracture, which is a break with more than two parts.
Now that the semester is over I'll have more time to write. I should have the finale up by next weekend at the latest!
I hope you enjoyed! Review if you did, and lemme know if you'd be interested in seeing Roni meet the Toys. :D I'm not sure they could handle her spitfire-ness.
