Update! 7/21/15: Don't be alarmed if you're not seeing a new chapter (there isn't one yet), I just fixed up a few errors I found back in the earlier chapters and re-posted them. It had been bothering me for awhile now and I couldn't resist any longer (OCD I guess). Sorry if I got your hopes up. If it makes you feel better, the next chapter is about two or three days to completion, and all is going well with it.


Mike awoke to the sound of voices, distant and indiscernible. He lacked the strength to open his eyes, feeling the heaviness of sleep still pulling at them. His mind and body felt sluggish for some reason, and there was a faint weighted pain settled within the entire left side of his face. He could tell the pain was there, but couldn't bring his mind to focus on it. He tried to move, sensing the hardness of concrete beneath him.

Where am I? he wondered.

The air felt strangely cool, if not a bit damp, and he could sense the encasement of a blanket around him. Again he heard the voices speak, but this time he could understand them.

"Man, you really did a number on him, Freddy!"

Freddy… that name was familiar. He searched the depths of him memory to try to put a face to the name but everything was foggy.

"Bonnie, please," a voice, male, berated, "this is serious."

Bonnie...he recognized that name too! Frustrated, he forced his eyes open; found that only his right would respond. He felt like he should've been more alarmed, but simply lacked the will to be. The instant his vision cleared from the flooding light, he saw a purple face, hovering much too closely over his. It moved back slightly as it made eye-contact with him.

"He's awake." The rabbit said flatly, magenta eyes still glued to the guard as if there was something wildly entertaining about him. The animatronic was pushed to the side as a new face—a bear—came into view. His eyes were wide worry.

"Michael, how are you feeling? Is there anything you need?"

The guard didn't immediately answer the question, instead taking in his surroundings. Directly above him were what appeared to be grated stairs, and through them he could see a single wall light close to a ceiling high above. The place was odd and unfamiliar to the guard and he just assumed it was part of a dream he happened to be partially aware of. But still the question came through his heavy lips.

"Where am I?" he muttered softly.

"You're in the in the basement of the restaurant." Freddy informed. When he saw the confused look on the guard's face he continued: "Do you not recall what happened?"

Mike weakly shook his head. Basement? No, this crazy talking-bear was wrong, there were no basements where he worked... joke's on him; silly, silly bear.

"You were hit in the face." He admitted, guiltily. "You passed out immediately after. We had to bring you down here to prevent the day staff from discovering you… this might come across as somewhat of a shock, but you slept through the entire day. I figured you would though, because of the medication we gave you. Luckily we've witnessed enough first aid over the years to know exactly what to give you."

Mike blinked slowly at the animatronic's words, said: "That's good." It came out slurred from the narcotic. Bonnie snickered.

"I don't think he got a single word of that." he said, amused.

Freddy imitated a sigh. "Michael, do you understand what I'm saying?" he asked, making his voice as clear as possible.

The guard just stared through half-lidded eyes. "What?" he asked after a long moment.

Freddy nodded slowly, receiving all the information necessary to draw his conclusion. The guard was out of it! And it was likely everything he'd just said had slipped in one ear and instantly out the other. Explaining himself now would be a fruitless endeavor. He'd just have to wait until the drug wore off more and the boy regained his faculties. But he felt worry begin to arise deep within him. The guard had been here, in this basement, for nearly twenty-four hours. Now he had confidence that the drug he administered to Mike would not harm him in the quantity given, but he had not anticipated the effects to last this long. He just hoped that it would wear off within the next few hours before their servos locked up at six. The last thing he wanted was for the guard to come out of his comatose in the middle of the business day and cause a scene out of confusion. Management would not be pleased.

Glancing down at the guard he saw that his eyes were closed once again, most likely sleeping. He turned to Bonnie. "Stay here with him." he ordered. "I'm going to make him something to eat. I'm sure he's hungry after having gone an entire day without anything." He stopped as he began climbing the stairs. "If he wakes before I return, make sure he doesn't fall back asleep. We need to talk to him before the restaurant opens." And before the rabbit could even respond, Freddy was gone, closing the door at the top of the stairs with a solid thump.

The bear was confident in his decision to leave Bonnie with the guard. He thought: As hard as I know Bonnie will press him, Mike won't tell. He's stubborn, but strong-willed.


When Mike awoke the second time, it was with much more clarity. And Pain.

He winced as he went to sit up. His face felt like it had been hit by a freight train, pain throbbing throughout the entire side. He also couldn't open the eye on that side, it refusing to so much as budge. Acting on impulse, he reached up to touch the side of his face, instantly hissing when it exploded in pain.

The response was enough to draw Bonnie's attention to the guard and he smirked a bit. "So you can feel it now, right?" he asked, chuckling as the guard nearly jumped in surprise. "You must've done something really bad to get Mr. Calm-and-Collected to hit ya." He said, referring to Freddy. He scooted closer, eyes intense with curiosity: "So what did you do?"

Mike just stared at the bunny overwhelmed by his barrage of questions. The inquiries had instantly triggered two things in his sluggish mind—one: the memories of what had happened between him and Freddy the night before. Two: The others didn't know that he knew about the Bite. And Freddy had made it absolutely clear that he was to tell no one about what had happened. And God knows he wasn't going to cross the bear in any way, shape, or form. He wouldn't even consider it.

Staring into Bonnie's eager eyes, Mike tried to think of a different response. What could he say to this rabbit that would satisfy him? He obviously wasn't stupid, there's no way he was going to believe it was an accident. He had to think harder than that, deeper. It was in that moment that he realized honesty might very well be the best choice.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said, putting it as flat as he could so that the rabbit wouldn't question him further. It failed.

"Oh, come on!" he begged. "You can't at least give me a hint or something?"

Mike shook his head firmly, "I said I don't want to talk about it." There, now the rabbit should know that this debate was over. But Bonnie gave a sly smirk.

"You're embarrassed," he surmised, amusement growing at the guard's expression. "That's it, isn't it?"

Mike rolled his uninjured eye, growing irritated by the rabbit's persistence. "So what, are you here to torture me, then? To throw salt into my wounds?" he didn't mean to come across so bitter, but he just wanted the rabbit the stop questioning him.

Bonnie's amusement remained though, smirk unwavering. "If that's what it takes for you to give up the details." He said.

The guard stared at him for a second before saying: "Fine. You really want to know what happened?" When he saw the rabbit nod vigorously, he grinned tauntingly. "Freddy hit me."

Bonnie narrowed his eyes at the guard's deliberately vague answer, not fond of being led-on. He was going to find out what had happened, even if it meant he'd have to pester the guard nonstop every night.

"Why do you want to find out so bad anyway?" Mike suddenly asked, shifting in his makeshift 'bed'. "It was nothing interesting. I can barely remember what happened anyway." He lied. "Why don't you ask Freddy?"

The animatronic's tone came out in thin resentment. "Because he says it's 'not important'."

"Well maybe that's because it actually isn't." Mike offered, hoping to curb the rabbit's curiosity. Again, it was in vain.

"I know it had something to do with that guy you were talking to. You know, the one you were ready to beat with that fan? You came back upset and that's when Freddy went to talk to you, alone." He regretted that last part. His eyes lit up as a thought entered his mind. "Did you attack him!? Did you attack Freddy!?" That had to be it! Why else would the normally docile bear fight other than in self-defense?

The guard sighed, "I didn't attack him. And it wasn't because of anyone I talked to."

Bonnie just stared at him a moment, processor whirring in an attempt to come up with another solution. After a long moment, he crumbled. "Why can't you just tell me?" he pleaded. "No one else'll find out, I promise!"

Mike arched a brow. "Not even Chica?"

"...Okay maybe her, but that's it!"

Mike pursed his lips as if in contemplation, but quickly shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I still don't want to talk about it." Bonnie groaned in frustration.

"You're a tougher than I thought." he complimented dryly. "But you'll still fold eventually."

What is it with him? Bonnie wondered. Why's he trying so hard to keep this secret from me? And Freddy won't tell either (even though that's kinda to be expected from him)! Still you don't just nail someone in the face and both then go about casually as if nothing even happened... They must not want me to know something... It better not be about me!

Narrowing his eyes at the guard, Bonnie scrutinized him, glancing at him from head to toe in observation. He's a stubborn one, but I think I can draw the answer out of him eventually.

Mike furrowed his brow at the animatronic, feeling uncomfortable under his intense gaze. He tried to divert the feeling by asking: "So, how bad does it look? My face, I mean." This was easy to ask because he was genuinely curious and also a bit reluctant if the pain was any indication.

The rabbit stood still as if he hadn't heard the question, but chuckled after a moment. "Well I don't think your face is supposed to be that big."

Mike immediately understood what the rabbit meant, having assumed the same thing himself. His face was swollen from his cheekbone to his eye. It probably looked horrible, he was hit by a metal fist after all. Still the image his mind portrayed based on the way his face felt made him feel slightly self-conscious, and coupled with the knowledge of how it got that way just made it worse. He sighed, carefully rubbing the bloated skin.

"I figured it was that bad." he said, lying back as another question entered his head. "How long have I been out?"

"Almost twenty-four hours," he said offhandedly. "We put ya down here so that no one would see you and your face."

Mike nodded, ignoring the rabbit's obvious insult as he took in his surroundings once again. He was never aware that there had been a basement to this place, he assumed it was all one level. But you'd think he'd have stumbled upon a mysterious door or something during one of his many ventures throughout the establishment. But he could recall no such door.

"How did you get down here?" he asked the rabbit.

"What?" he asked, staring at the guard as if he'd grown a second head. Mike elaborated.

"This is part of the building isn't it? How come I've never seen it before?"

Now Bonnie understood. He pointed directly above him. "See these stairs?" he asked. "The workers don't want us wandering down here in case we fall or can't get back up. Said we can't 'properly traverse stairs'." His voice took on a tone crude mimicry as he recited the quote. He wasn't too fond of some of the staff.

"Anyway," he continued, "the door down to here is through the Backstage room with all the spare heads. Its painted the same color as the walls. They did it because they think it'll trick us into thinking its the wall, like were stupid or something."

"Yeah..." Mike forced a laugh, trying to ignore the fact that it had actually fooled him. "Sounds more like they're the dumb ones."

"Thank you!" Bonnie exclaimed gratefully. "No body else seemed to even care about it! It's like—" there was a click and the door at the top of the stairs was thrown open, followed by a boisterous, intrusive voice.

"Argh! Mike? Ye down here, boyo?" Foxy's voice boomed down.

Bonnie's eyes near rolled back into his head as he let out a whispered sigh. "You've got to be kidding..." he breathed exasperatedly.

Suddenly Mike felt dread consume him as he saw the pirate's head curiously leaning over the railing at a total disregard for the large plummet should he fall off the side. There was something clenched in his good hand. "Ahoy! Thar be me matey!" He exclaimed, racing down the stair case with lightning speed.

Mike remembered clearly what he'd learned about the fox the night before, about the Bite, and he really didn't want to be around the animatronic, especially in this debilitated state. And for the first time since he'd started this job, he prayed that Bonnie would stay with him. Perhaps the fox would keep his distance with the bunny close by.

The moment the swashbuckler set foot on the basement floor he tilted his head at them staring directly at the guard with a strange glimmer in his metallic eyes. Without a word, he walked up to them, crouching beside the injured guard. And Mike's heart nearly stopped as Foxy's face drew very close to his, razor teeth mere centimeters from him. He tried his best not to betray his fear of the animatronic, but he jumped when a cold finger carefully prodded his injured cheek.

"Foxy, give him some space." Bonnie said. And Mike nearly deflated in relief as the crimson animatronic complied. He'd never been more grateful of the rabbit!

As Foxy leaned back, a puzzled expression overtook his face. "Ye look like ye've been ta Davey Jones' Locker 'n back! Wha' in blazes happened to ya, lad?"

Mike blinked, trying to still the savage beating of his heart. "I was hit." he said, leave out as much detail as he could. He didn't want another curious animatronic patting him down for answers. Bonnie was enough as it was.

"Did ya win?"

Mike blinked in confusion, "What?" he asked.

"Tha fight, did ya win?" he repeated, obviously eager for the answer. Mike shook his head.

"It wasn't a fight, it was an accident." Foxy nodded pushing his jaw shut in understanding.

"Ye lost, didn't ya?"

"Wha—no! It wasn't a fight—"

Foxy held up a hand to stop his protests. "It be okay, lad, we can't win every figh'."

"Foxy—"

"Jus' tell me it weren't a lubber ya los' ta."

Before Mike could even counter the fox's argument, Bonnie spoke up, said: "Freddy hit him."

The guard felt his head drop as if he'd just received the death sentence. Why Bonnie, why!?

Foxy's head snapped nearly 180 degrees to face the rabbit, eyes wide with surprise. "Freddy?" he questioned. "Ye be tellin' tha truth?" he couldn't believe his ears! Why would Freddy, another member of his crew, do a thing like that? Especially Freddy! His head snapped back to the guard, "Wha' did ya say ta get 'im ta hit ya?" At this Bonnie's eyes came alight with curiosity as well and he stared expectantly at the guard as well.

"I don't remember," he lied, sending the rabbit a glare. "My head's still a bit fuzzy." In a desperate attempt to change the subject, he glanced down at the object in the fox's hand. He pointed to it, "What's that?" he asked feigning curiosity. A huge grin broke out onto Foxy's face as he looked at the object.

"This be me spyglass." he said.

"Your what?" Mike asked.

"Me spyglass," he repeated, sitting down now as he raised the thing up to his eye, doing it pointedly. "I brough' it along 'n case I needed ta look fer ya. C'n only see so far wit' me one eye, y'know."

"It's basically a telescope." Bonnie surmised. Foxy sent him a frustrated glare.

"No, this be spyglass, no' a tel'scope. Ya need ta learn yer tools, matey." The rabbit just rolled his eyes not wanting to argue. He got his point across to the guard, that's all he cared about.

"Uh, why don't you tell us a story?" Mike offered, not wanting to hear the rabbit and fox's argument anymore. Foxy's face brightened.

"Tha' be a fine idea! I been waitin' ta tell ye me tales since tha nigh' I brough' ya outta tha' office." He put the spyglass down carefully, ushering Bonnie (despite his obvious resentment) in closer to the guard as he began.

Mike had to shift slightly as he sent a smug glance up at the rabbit beside him. There was an unspoken message in the guard's eyes. This was payback for telling the fox about Freddy hitting him.

Foxy began: "Lemme tell ya abou' tha time I got 'n a skirmish jus' like me matey, Mike..."

Foxy walked across a long rocky beach toward the infamous Blood-Reef Cove, where the supposed legendary treasure was hidden. He strode across the sands with cutlass poised in hand, navigating around the shattered monoliths that stood prominently from the golden terrain. He had to treat this place with the utmost caution, knowing well its reputation for traps. And these traps were ugly, trapping men like wild animals, maiming them only to taunt their failure to obtain the sacred treasure!

Foxy himself had fallen prey to one of these abominable traps once. It was sudden spark, but Foxy had his speed on his side, only losing one eye to the speeding rock fragments instead of both.

He had been young then. Now he was more acute to the unexpected and perhaps a bit faster as well, especially with a blade. There was a reason his name struck dread into the hearts of even the Imperial fleets, none daring to confront his crew without at least an armada as reinforcement. Some had even come to call him 'Foxy the Tameless', whose wild adventures had been muttered in lands afar. And of course as any pirate would be, Foxy was proud of this reverence.

And today was just another accomplishment to solidify his name in legend. But it wouldn't go down without a fight. Because there just so happened to be another, just like him, after the same loot. And as every pirate knew: there was no sharing of spoils outside of one's own crew.

So when the pirate fox ventured into the depths of the cave, it was no surprise the other man had prepared an ambush.

He kicked Foxy hard in the back, knocking him to the cold ridged ground. The fox was taken off-guard by this, but swiftly regained his composure as he rolled out of the way of a cutlass slicing the rock where he'd just been. Foxy quickly took advantage of the man's vulnerable position and kicked him in the stomach, following through with a swift swipe of his blade across his chest.

But the man avoided it, using Foxy's momentum against him and spinning him down onto the floor. He grabbed the vulpine's throat constricting it with all his strength. Foxy grabbed for his cutlass but it was just out of reach. So instead he decided to try the old Barroom method and socked the man across the face. He was puzzled to see the man simply absorb the blow and then counter with a punch of his own. That was a mistake.

In the brief second that the man had only one hand around his throat, Foxy shifted right, reclaiming his cutlass and smashing the man over the head with its blunt side.

He fell off the fox, dazed for only a second, but that had been enough time for Foxy to get to his feet and kick his blade far out of reach. Now the man was at the mercy of the fox who towered over him, blade glimmering in hand. The man—

The story was interrupted by the rattling of the stairs, someone coming down them. Simultaneously all three looked up to see Freddy descending with a pizza perched on a tray.

Mike immediately felt his mouth water and his stomach growl in hunger. How long had it been since he last ate?

Freddy saw the look on the guard's face, smiled in return. "I took the liberty of helping prepare food for you, with the help of Chica of course." he set the tray down beside the guard, following up with a paper plate and a few napkins.

"I brought these to help prevent a mess. As wonderful as pizza may be, it can make quite the mess! I also—"

"I'm guessin' this be an o'pology fer wha' ya did?" Foxy asked suddenly, staring at the pizza. Mike felt his cheeks get hot with embarrassment. Foxy had no idea what had happened...

"Well," Freddy began, "I've already formally apologized to Mike for my actions, but you are correct, this is part of my reparation."

Mike felt relief wash over him at Freddy's averting response. He could tell the fox felt like he had a part in all this and him finding out truth, what Mike had said about the fox? Something told him that he'd wind up with something worse than a black and blue face.

At that moment, Freddy clapped his hands together. "Would you two mind giving Mike and me, a moment?" he asked. "It'll give you a chance to grab a board game for when you come back."

The rabbit and fox both shared a look of reluctance, but knew it would be unwise to disobey the bear—their surrogate leader. So without a word, the two animatronics left, Bonnie going first.

Once they were gone and the door at the top of the stairs closed with a thud, Freddy stared at Mike who looked pale from fear. "Michael, my actions were uncalled for and it pains me to see the look of fear on your face. It will not happen again—that much I promise." He went silent for a moment, face darkening before he continued. "But we need to talk about one thing: Tell me about the man you talked to. I want to know everything..."


Mangle recalled being drawn out from Kid's Cove abruptly during one of the Fazbear crew's final shows. It was a cold November's day, and Toy Chica had suddenly asked to see her. Now Mangle had known the other animatronics long enough to be able to virtually predict their questions, but this time, she had been unprepared for what the chicken had to ask.

The white fox walked across the game area, avoiding the many children crowded around the isles of arcade machines as their fast glowing lights illuminated her face with colorful hues. She hadn't been particularly pleased to have received this information from Balloon Boy and not the chicken herself, but she knew how busy the animatronic was and therefore let it slide. She wasn't one to hold a grudge anyway.

When she arrived at the Show stage, the fox was puzzled to find Chica absent. Approaching Bonnie, she greeted him, asked: "Have you seen Chica around? I need to speak with her." But before the rabbit could respond, Mangle heard a somewhat discreet psst from her left, turned to see the chicken-in-question half hidden behind the doorway leading to the Party rooms.

She sighed, letting her hands rest on her hips as she shook her head disapprovingly at the chicken's diffidence. Sometimes she felt like she played mother to these animatronics. When she saw the animatronic make no move to leave her cover, Mangle walked over.

"Chica, what's the meaning of this? Why are you hiding?" she asked firmly. The chicken still stayed behind the door frame.

"You gotta help me!" she pleaded. "I can't… I can't…"

"Whoa whoa whoa, just calm down Chica," she said. Once the avian settled sufficiently, she continued. "Now tell me what's wrong."

"It's my voice box; it's not working!" The frightened look on her face was enough to tell Mangle that the issue was serious.

"It's all right Chica. Hey, look at me, okay? Now what exactly's wrong with your voice box? You sound just fine to me."

Chica hesitated before speaking. "It goes all fuzzy whenever I try to sing. I don't know what's wrong!"

Mangle closed her jaw in thought. This didn't seem like a normal malfunction. "Maybe you should ask one of the employees to take a look at it." She offered. Chica shook her head.

"They'll just think I can't sing." She said bitterly. "They never seem to care when something goes wrong with our show…"

Mangle put a hand on her shoulder, "You pay them no mind. They don't have an ear for music like you or me."

"But what if they don't fix me? I want to be able to sing!"

Mangle smiled warmly. "They'll fix you, sweety, don't worry." She assured. "We won't be forced to live in disrepair."

The memory faded and the white fox glanced at herself in sadness. How naïve she'd been to say something like that… At least it was her that was forced to live this way and not one of the others, despite how isolated she felt because of it.

A swift metal thud sounded just outside her door in Kid's Cove followed immediately by a, "Dang!"

It didn't even take the voice for Mangle to know that the noise was caused by none other than Chica and her poor depth perception. She frowned, unfortunately the others had not escaped damages as she had desperately hoped. She especially worried for Bonnie since the fear of disrepair had condemned him to the stage. And she knew well that it was her that had inspired that fear.

The Chicken slipped into the room, hands checking her forehead for damage. "Marion wants to see us. Apparently it's about Bonnie."

Bonnie? Mangle wondered worriedly. Did something happen to him? Is he all right?

He fears were quickly put to rest as the avian continued: "I guess we're gonna surprise him somehow and try to cheer him up." She shrugged doubtfully. "It probably won't work. He's too afraid of breaking himself. Ah well. Not like we have something better to do anyway."

The fox frowned at the cold indifference in the chicken's tone. What she wouldn't give to bring back happiness to this place...


Author's Note: I worked my butt off to get this chapter done before I went on my trip and I'm so glad I was able to do it! It was a pretty easy chapter to write and it seems as though my writer's block has completely vanished. So updates should be closer together from now on.

Also as a sort-of tease to the next chapter, we'll get to see some investigations with Freddy.

See ya next time!