Here we are with Freddy now. Poor Freddy…

Freddy stared blankly at the red stains on the walls and floor. They were faint and nearly impossible to see in the dark, but he could. They were the embodiment of their guilt, the proof of their crimes. And that sickened him.

His gaze drifted to the suits lined up against the wall. They had begun to look slightly damaged lately, and they were constantly away, getting cleaned.

Now he knew why.

I should have realized… he thought. I should have known… And he should have. He had been given the most advanced AI, able to learn and adapt more quickly than the others. That was why he stayed on stage the first few nights; he was watching how the guard reacted to Bonnie, Chica and Foxy, planning his moves accordingly. He was always the one able to stay out of sight, entering when the guard least expected it. It had never occurred to him that they hadn't been cornering an endoskeleton to get it back into a suit.

It hadn't occurred to him that they had actually been hunting humans.

His eyes drifted closed as he recalled a conversation he'd had with the others… about Michael.

X

"This is one smart endo," Bonnie said, shaking his joints. The current guard had been there for two weeks at the time, which was odd within itself. Usually, the endos were either put back in their suits or mysteriously disappeared. But this one… This one stayed, and kept them all at bay, as well.

"Yeah, I'm surprised," Chica replied. "I mean, even Freddy can't get to him."

The bear himself was lost in thought. How would he handle this guard tonight? He'd learned the pattern days ago: Pirate's Cove – Show Stage – West Hall Corner – East Hall Corner – East Hall – West Hall – Pirate's Cove – Show Stage (if anyone had been left when it first checked) – Parts and Services – Kitchen – Dining Area – Repeat. And yet somehow, even though it was a pattern the endo very rarely broke, it had still managed to keep them away, continuing to break the rules. At this rate, Freddy and the others would get in trouble with Management.

The endo had been able to predict their movements, to some extent, however. As soon as Freddy entered the East Hall Corner, the endo closed the right door, shutting him out while he checked the other cameras. Freddy had come close to getting it a few times, but it shut the door right in his face, right before he was able to step in.

Like Bonnie said, the endo was smart.

"Okay, what I don't get is why they all have such a problem with being in a suit," the rabbit commented. "It's not really all that bad. I mean, sure, it can get messy, but that's what the cleaners are here for."

"I dunno," Chica replied with a shrug. "Well, I'm going to go ahead and make my rounds. See you later!"

X

In hindsight, Freddy was very glad that they had never been able to catch Mike. He was a valuable friend, and he opened their eyes – albeit a bit harshly – to the cold, horrifying reality of what they had been doing for the past thirty years. Freddy vowed to himself that no one would ever die again in his pizzeria, if he had anything to say about it.

X

"No, please, stop!" the endo yelled as it was being dragged toward Parts and Services. "Please, I have a family!"

"Here with us," the bear animatronic agreed. "But you've broken the rules."

"What rules?!" the endo yelled, crying now. "All I did was sign up for this crap job, I didn't know there were rules like that! I didn't even know you guys walked around at night until I signed the waiver!"

Freddy looked at him, puzzled. Why were the endos so desperate? This wasn't the first time that an endo had tried to convince him, as well as the others, that it was human. But he knew that that wasn't possible, because humans weren't allowed in the pizzeria after it closed, other than Management. It was a rule, and humans seemed better at following the rules than endos were.

Shaking his head, Freddy continued, opening the door and bringing the endo to one of the empty suits. This one had just come back from the cleaners, as the last endo, just like the one before it, and the one before that, had spilled something all over the suit right before it broke. He couldn't understand exactly it was that they were spilling, nor why they always broke, but he still tried anyway.

A few minutes later, he found that this endo was also defective, just like the rest.

X

How had he not realized that it was blood that was spilled on the suits? How had it never crossed his mind that they might be telling the truth about their lives outside the pizzeria, their families? He couldn't hate himself more.

He was a monster.

X

Mike stood outside the closed door to Parts and Services. This would be a big step for him. After all, this had been the room in which this whole thing started. This was the room that still terrified him. And there was Freddy, right inside.

Steeling his nerves, he put his hand on the doorknob and turned. The handle, however, didn't move with his hand. Freddy had locked it.

Sighing and slumping his shoulders, Mike trudged back to the Security Office. Rummaging through one of the drawers, he found what he was looking for: a key labeled 'P&S'. He wouldn't let his friend suffer any longer. It was time to get Freddy to let it go.

X

Freddy had heard Mike try to open the door, but he knew it wouldn't budge. He'd been sure to lock it. Minutes later, however, he heard the knob move again, and with a bit of wiggling, it turned. Mike must have returned to the office and gotten the key, then.

"Hey, Freddy," Mike said, standing in the doorway.

"Michael," the animatronic greeted. "I wish to be left in peace, please."

"No can do," the guard informed him. "Not until we talk."

"What is there to talk about?" Freddy asked. "The others and I are murderers," he began, looking over his shoulder at Mike. "And you, Michael. You're still too terrified to set foot in here."

Mike stared for a second at the bear before steeling his nerves and taking a step inside. He needed Freddy to see that, above all else, even his fear, he trusted the animatronic. "I may be afraid of this room," he began. He knew the next sentence would come out wrong, but it had to be said. "It might terrify me, what your guys have done." Freddy winced at the words. Mike, however, bore an unexpected soft smile. "But I trust you, Freddy. I trust all of you."

"Why?" the leader of the animatronics asked. "We have murdered countless people without a second thought."

"You didn't know they were people," the guard insisted. "I went through this with Bonnie and Foxy, but it's not your fault. None of you guys are to blame. Your programming told you that they were endoskeletons. Why should you think any different?"

"They told us, Michael," Freddy answered. "As they were taken to this room, they begged and pleaded for their lives. They spoke of their families, the loved ones that they would leave behind."

Mike paused at that. The guards had told the animatronics that they were human, yet the robots hadn't listened. After a moment of pondering this, Mike said, "But you didn't believe them. You thought they were all endoskeletons, and since they locked themselves away in the office, you thought that they…" He took a deep breath. This was still a hard thing for him to talk about, as the horror of what had happened was still too fresh in Mike's mind. "You probably thought that they would do or say anything to avoid being put in their suits, so you probably thought that it was just a story they were coming up with. Everything you knew told you that you were doing the right thing."

Freddy replied by simply shaking his head. "I don't believe you understand," he began. "We've torn families apart with what we've done. How many men and women will never see their husbands and wives again because of what we did? How many parents will never see their children again due to our actions?" He looked Mike dead in the eye and addressed the problem directly. "How can I face the children knowing that I may be responsible for the loss of one of their parents?"

Mike paused, realizing that this was what had been truly bothering Freddy. He knew that the bear loved children more than anything in the world, even more than Bonnie, Chica or Foxy did. So the thought that he had caused any amount of sorrow for a child… It must be tearing him apart. And what could he say? Nothing he had to say would help Freddy move past this, as he seemed quite adamant in believing that it was his fault.

Taking a glance back at the stage, the man had an idea.

Stepping further into Parts and Services, and even shutting the door and turning on his flashlight to prove the complete trust he had in Freddy, he said, "How do you think the children will feel if you aren't there? This place is Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Not Chica's, not Bonnie's, not Foxy's. Yours. Children come here to see you perform every day. It might even be the highlight of some little kid's rough day at school. And even if you do perform… My boss told me that she can tell that you guys are depressed. What if the children start to notice?" he asked. "Do you want to worry those children who care about you so much?"

"You may be right, Michael," Freddy said softly. "But if the children knew about the horrors we have committed, they would run from this place and never return."

"Okay, one, they'll probably never find out and two, even if they did, you guys aren't like that anymore," Mike informed him. "You realize now what you've done, and you're beating yourself up over it. That's good, it means that you really didn't know, and that you regret what you did. But the time for beating yourself up is over." His eyes softened. "I think you and the others have suffered enough."

Freddy took one last look at the bloodstains on the walls before turning and fully facing Mike. "I suppose you are right," he told the guard. "The time for mourning and self-hatred has come and gone. It's time to return to the stage," he added, glancing at the clock to reveal 5:55. Chica and Bonnie had already taken their places on the stage.

"Remember that," Mike told him as the animatronic joined his friends onstage, smiling gratefully at the human before clearing his face and staring straight forward, his servos shutting down until it was time to perform.

X

Mike returned to the pizzeria at 3 PM when his boss once again called him in. Had his efforts not been enough to cheer them up? He thought he'd done a good job. It had seemed that Chica had come to terms with everything on her own, as she hadn't appeared depressed earlier when she had returned with Bonnie to the stage, while he was still talking with Freddy. But had he missed something with Bonnie or Freddy? Was there still something left to address?

His fears were quelled, however, when he saw Valerie leaning against the wall next to the West Hall.

"Ma'am?" he asked, a bit confused.

"I don't know how you did it, Schmidt," she began, looking at the animatronics as they put on their show. All signs of depression were gone. It was as though Mike had never dropped that bombshell on them in the first place. "But you did."

Mike simply smiled in response. It looked like things were going back to normal again.

Well, normal for Freddy and the gang, anyway. Welp, that's the end of that. Next up is Making Money. I hope you enjoyed this installment, and I hope you keep your eyes peeled for the next one~