Jack was the last to clamber up onto the elevated stage, with much difficulty. His oversized feet made it awkward for him to step up the small steps that led to the stage.

Once he was in Bonnie's proper position, he began bending over to pick up the red electric guitar that he'd let fall to the ground in his initial surprise to being in a completely new body, surrounded by the talking animals he'd grown a fondness for.

As soon as the instrument was within his reach, he wrapped his blue fingers around the head of the guitar, and its body with the other, as if ready to begin playing at any moment.

"Okay, you're all set," Sammy said, hovering in front of the stage, "Now you just need to stay like for the rest of the day. Just let the animatronics do what they want, don't try to fight it. The grown-ups will be here any minute, so just don't move." Sammy turned to leave, when Lilly spoke up.

"Sammy," she said from the far right side of the stage, with concern in her voice, "What is wrong with Michael? Is he going to be okay?"

Sammy hesitated. "He's fine, don't worry. I'll tell you about it later, but they'll be here any minute, and we've already pushed our luck as it is." And with that, Sammy floated swiftly down the Dining Area, past Pirate Cove, where Samantha hid, concealed behind the purple curtains, and into the dark hall, where the pitch black covered him, and he was gone.

They were all silent. There was nothing to say. They were each wrapped up in their own troubling thoughts; their families, their homes, their pets. They'd lost them all in one day, because of one man, and had been resurrected as ugly, clunky robots, built for the sole purpose of entertaining other children, who had still got their whole lives to look forward to, who still had their childish ignorance, and not a care in the world.

The red, double front doors to the right side of the stage unlocked, grabbing their attention. They could only hear a pair of footsteps, making their way across the large room, and over to the right side of the room, where a switch was flipped, and the rectangular lights attached to the building's ceiling lit up, one by one, erasing that darkness that had previously covered the room.

The slightly fat, bald man who had turned on the lights whistled a chipper tune and strolled down the hallway next to him, where he unlocked another door and went inside.

The violet curtains of Pirate Cove rustled, before a long, red snout poked out, followed by the head of Foxy, its eyepatch flipped up. Samantha glanced curiously around the room, before stepping out of the curtain entirely.

"Sam!" Christopher hissed from the stage, almost shouting across the room, "Get back in there! He's going to see you!"

"Relax, Chris, I know what I'm doing," she said dismissively. She hobbled along the checkered floor, the right foot of her exposed endoskeleton clinking against it.

"Where are you going?" Chris asked, the commanding air in his voice disappearing almost entirely.

"I'm going to see if Michael is okay. They won't notice I'm gone, since Foxy is usually behind the curtains, so stop being such a scaredy cat," Samantha explained as she made her way across the room to the restroom hallway, not stopping until the door that the bald man had entered opened again, and he stepped out.

Samantha froze in the middle of the room. The man frowned as he walked into the room, looking around. "Hello? Who's there? I get it, very funny, moving Foxy to make the big ol' boss freak out. Come out now and I won't fire you!" he called out, his voice echoing around the room. When there was no reply or indication of another presence in the room, he simply shrugged and approached Samantha, who had not moved a muscle since the man's reappearance. He inspected the fox's red body, then glanced up at the three robots onstage, before returning to his room.

"Phew," Samantha sighed as soon as the man disappeared again.

"I told you! I told you he'd see you!" Christopher exclaimed proudly.

"Ugh," was all Sam had to say. She reluctantly turned and trudged back to Pirate Cove, hiding herself behind the curtains once more.

Just as the curtains closed, another two men entered the pizzeria, chatting to each other. The bald man exited the room again, and approached the two men. "Hey, you two, help me-" he stopped, looking over at the spot where Samantha had stood just minutes ago.

"Help you what?" one of the other men questioned when the bald man did not continue his sentence.

"It was-Foxy was standing right there just a second ago, I swear! I heard something, so I came out to check what it was, and he was just standing there!" the bald man gestured to the spot furiously.

"Well...he's not there now," the other man replied lamely, earning a scowl from the bald man.

"Yes, Phillip, I can see that he ain't there now," he growled, causing the man to flinch back. The bald man walked over to Pirate Cove and pulled back the curtain, revealing the small room, with the character it was dedicated to standing at his rightful place on the small stage at the back.

The bald man grunted in annoyance. "If I find out either of you had anything to do with this, you can bet your ass you're fired! And if you see William, tell him to fix that damn fox." The man stormed back to his office, leaving the two mean alone.

The children had all picked up on the name: William. Jack glanced over to Christopher, but did not dare speak a word. Christopher returned the glance, acknowledging the name.

The two men went about their work, setting up the tables and going in and out of every room, making sure everything was prepared for the day.

After hours of remaining motionless, with a new adult entering the pizzeria now and then, the doors finally opened to the public. The first customers to enter were a small family of a mother, a father, and two sons. They took a table and ordered their food, while the young boys ran straight down the hall to the left of the room and into the Prize Corner.

There was a steady flow of children and families entering the pizzeria afterwards. It only took half an hour for the pizzeria to become full of children, bounding around and laughing and playing.

A crowd had formed around the stage by then, tens of children eagerly awaiting the animal band to start playing. And soon they did.

The spot lights turned on, illuminating the robots in vivid colours of blue, green and yellow.

Freddy slowly turned his head to the right, and then to the left, devoid of any input from Christopher. He raised the microphone in his hand to his smiling mouth, and held the other up in an imitation of a wave. "Hello there, boys and girls!" the star of the show said in his deep, yet light-hearted voice. The children down below shouted a simultaneous greeting to him. "Welcome, one and all, to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! Enjoy your day, and remember to eat lots of yummy pizza!" the bear moved his head to and fro aimlessly while speaking.

"Pizza? I love Pizza!" Chica said excitedly, looking at Freddy. She held up the pink cupcake on the platter in her left hand. "Cupcake loves pizza too!"

"You bet I do, Chica!" it said, the place where the pink frosting met the brown wrapping acting as a mouth.

As the cupcake went on to describe why pizza was his favorite food, Bonnie simply nodded and waggled his long ears joyously, his arm strumming up and down on the red guitar. The children were enthralled by the animals, as the parents watched on with smiles on their faces.

The children behind the masks simply looked on as their bodies moved and spoke of their own free will, as if they were passengers in the suits.

The show went on for a while, with Freddy either singing a cheery song accompanied by Bonnie's guitar, or conversing with one of the other band members. Every so often, the show would go on a break, leaving time for the children to visit the Prize Corner or eat their food.

Halfway through a song about bears, a voice called out from the other side of the pizzeria. There, waving its hands in the air, stood the same suit that had led them to their death. The children flocked over to Spring Bonnie, pleased to see him again.

Jack stopped Bonnie's robotic movements. His voice box continued to speak and the music of his guitar continued to play, but he stood still, staring at the golden rabbit. He looked over to Christopher and Lilly, who eyed him, though the animatronics they inhabited kept moving. Subtly, Christopher shook his head and narrowed his eyelids, then Freddy regained his cheerful demeanor.

When he looked back, the rabbit was gone, but the crowd of children remained. Jack weighed his options. He could try to go after the Spring Bonnie suit, most likely containing William, and risk being thrown out for malfunctioning, or he could let Bonnie act normally again and stay undetected.

A scream broke him out of his thoughts. It was too deep to be a child's scream, but sounded as if it belonged to someone young.

That attracted people's attention. Heads turned towards the source of the cry, and Jack relaxed, allowing the blue rabbit to nod his head and tap his foot to the beat of the tune.

Soon afterwards, the same bald man that had caught Samantha earlier stepped up on stage with a microphone. He was drenched in sweat and was swallowing nervously. The animatronics stopped moving, stopped singing and were still. He announced that, unfortunately, the pizzeria would be closing early and unexpectedly, and apologised for the inconvenience.

Parents booed and children cried, but despite their protests, they were all led out of the restaurant until it was bare, save for the few adults in uniform talking rapidly among themselves.

The children were left alone and immobile, until all the adults had left, and the lights flickered off, engulfing them in complete darkness.


(AN: Thanks for reading the story so far, everyone! Some criticism to help improve my writing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again!)