The friends were left in darkness as the last adult left the premises, turning off the lights that changed the pizzeria from being a desolate wasteland to a place of joy and celebration during the day. They were free to do as they pleased.
Lilly was the one to utter the first words any of them had heard all day.
"I'm going to find out what's wrong with Michael. You all saw him, didn't you? He sounded like he was so...far away. He didn't even move." It was clear that the thoughts she was voicing had occupied her thoughts for the whole day. She moved Chica's clawed feet from their place onstage and walked purposefully down the wooden steps and into the shadowy Dining Area.
"Lilly, wait," Chris called after the figure of the yellow bird moving clumsily between the dinner tables, "We need to get Sammy first. He's the only one that knows what's wrong, remember?"
Lilly stopped. "Where is he, then?" she inquired.
"Probably the Prize Corner. That's where the Puppet always is," Jack suggested, as he unpromptedly stepped off the stage himself and walked down the aisles of tables.
"Jack, hold on! Wait for us!" Chris moved hurriedly, yet cautiously, off the stage, and followed Jack down the back of the room.
Samantha peeked out from behind the purple curtains, using her sharpened hook to hold the drapes apart. "Where are you going?" she asked curiously. Her voice carried an apparent air of eagerness, and she quickly stepped out of the cove, needing no response to motivate her into joining them.
"We're gonna get Sammy to tell us about Michael," Jack said, not caring to slow down as he answered her question.
The four automatons marched through the darkened establishment, down the long hallway, lead by the blue bunny Jack inhabited, and turned right, into the Prize Corner.
It was by far the smallest room in the pizzeria, only being able to hold seven to eight children at a time as opposed to the vast amounts that the Dining Area held. Shelves of plushies and other Fazbear related knick-knacks hung on the walls, displaying their appealing merchandise to children. At the back of the room was a large, blue gift box. From it came the soft, calm melody of the song "My Grandfather's Clock", repeating endlessly.
Jack decisively approached the box and raised a hand, then hammered it down twice, making a hollow knocking noise. "Sammy, it's us. Come out of that box."
"That's kind of rude, Jack..." Lilly murmured, though she made no attempt to stop him.
"I told you, I can't get out of the box until the music stops, and it opens up," Sammy said irritatedly from inside the box, his voice just barely audible over the sound of the music, "You have to get the person who keeps winding it up to stop."
"So where is he then?" Jack asked.
"He's in the room down the hall from here. You have to-"
"Wait, there's someone else here?" Chris interrupted in a panicked voice. "What if they heard us talking? What if they saw us walking around? Oh no, they're going to throw us out for sure..."
"Relax," Sammy snapped. "Look, I didn't have time to tell you this earlier, what with all the distractions and interruptions, but you can speak with each other without being heard by living people around you. You just have to kind of...mean to. That way you don't have to worry about being heard talking. Anyway, it doesn't matter if they did hear or see you. We're going to kill them." Sammy said this as if it were the most obvious thing he could think of.
"We-we can't just kill someone," Chris stammered out.
"Why not? That's what happened to all of us," Sammy replied coolly.
A silence hung over them.
"Maybe it's him," Jack said. "Maybe he's the one in that room. If we kill him, then won't we be able to...to get free, or whatever?" He turned to Sammy, looking only for reassurance from him.
"Yes, that's right," Sammy said, "Look, I know it seems mean and evil, but that's the only way we will be put at rest. He killed all of us-all of you for no reason. Don't you think we deserve revenge?"
"Maybe," Lilly said slowly, thoughtfully, "If it's the only way to get out of here...then we should try it."
"Yeah, come on, let's go!" Samantha cried vigorously, turning to walk out the door without another word, her hooked hand raised.
Chris was still reluctant, although he knew from experience that when his friends agreed on something together, there was no way to change their minds, no matter how horrible the idea was. There was that time when Samantha bet Jack that she could jump from the top of the jungle gym, and ended up spraining her ankle. And then there was the time Jack had the idea to say his dog ate his homework, and ended up getting a note home to his parents and grounded. Or there was the time Michael had tried to eat an entire pizza by himself, and was sick the whole day afterwards. If they listened to me more, he thought to himself frustratedly, then maybe things would work about better for them.
Silently, he followed them out of the cramped room, and into the hallway. They stood at the end of the hall, next to the glass window of the room, talking to each other. He was about to tell them to quieten down, when he recalled that Sammy had told them how to speak secretly among themselves. He focused on hard on wanting to speak privately to his friends, unsure on what exactly was required of him to accomplish such a goal. "Is it him?" he called over, grabbing their attention.
They simultaneously shook their heads in a robotic manner, downcast.
Christopher feigned disappointment. "Oh, well. We can't kill him, then. Come on, let's try to find another way to get Sammy out of the box."
Just as he was about to turn away, Jack muttered something unintelligible and slowly walked forward, ignoring the others' questioning looks. He stood in front of the open doorway, and stared deep into the scrawny man sitting in the black swivel chair's eyes, searching for something. He had a red telephone held up to his ear, and his mouth was opened, caught in mid sentence. He stared back up at Jack, a look of something between fear and confusion in his blue eyes. They stared at each other for a moment, before his mouth began to move again, speaking into the phone.
"Yeah, Bonnie's just kind of...standing outside the door right now, lookin' at me weird..." he said, his eyes locked onto Jack's. "The others are just behind him, further up the hallway. They're just standing there, too." He quickly stole a glance at a screen in front of him before looking back at the red eyes of the rabbit towering over him.
Jack decided that it was now or never. He bent his legs, like a spring ready to recoil, and lunged towards the man, grabbing him by the shoulders and using his weight to push him to the ground. The man screamed, and in a desperate effort to escape the rabbit, kicked against his bulky torso, propelling him backwards. He broke free of Jack's grip, and fell to the floor. He began crawling frantically backwards, his face frozen in terror and bewilderment. He clenched his teeth and went to stand up, but Jack quickly stepped forward, stepping on the man's left foot, crushing his toes. The man screamed, a cry of anguish, and dropped limply to the floor.
"Jack!" Lilly's voice shouted from behind him, but he did not turn to face her. He was far too focused on the sobbing man beneath his feet.
"What are you doing? That's not him!" Lilly continued, growing increasingly infuriated with his unresponsiveness.
Jack bent over the man's groaning figure and held him by his thin and fragile throat, pulling him off the ground. His grip tightened, almost effortlessly crushing it. He let go of the man, who fell to the floor.
Jack finally turned to face his friends, something resembling fear or contempt in their plastic eyes.
"What did you do? He wasn't even him, and you-you just..." Christopher's eyes darted between the lifeless body of the innocent man, and Jack, standing over it, his mouth hanging open, his ears drooping in front of his face.
"Jack, what's wrong with your eyes? They're all...black," Samantha said softly, taking her eyes off the man.
Bonnie's usually bright, white eyes with red irises were replaced with soulless, black voids, a tiny pinprick of light in their centre.
Jack closed his eyes, partially because he wanted to try to return his eyes to their former state, and partially to avoid looking his friends in the eyes. "Well...he's dead," he sighed, opening his eyes again.
"Why did you kill him?! He didn't do anything to us!" Lilly cried.
"I don't know. I was just...angry. We had to get rid of him somehow, so I just...killed him," Jack said weakly.
As he finished his sentence, the a song began to play loudly, the simple tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel", echoing through the building.
"You did it!" Sammy's voice came from down the hall, soon followed by his slender body. He floated to them, the smile on his mask truly reflecting his emotions for once. "I never get to get out of that thing at night! Last night was the first time in ages."
He stopped once he saw them looking at strangely. "What's wrong?"
"Jack killed the guy in the room," Christopher said quickly, speaking as if Jack were a misbehaving schoolboy, and Sammy the teacher.
"Oh," Sammy said. "Well, I'm out now. Now I can tell you about Michael, come on."
"Wait, hold on," Chris said, sounding offended, "You're just going to ignore this? He killed someone who wasn't William Afton for no reason!" Jack turned his gaze to the floor and shifted uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to, I just meant to stop him from winding up the box, but I was angry and I went too far. I'm sorry."
"Don't be, he deserved it," Sammy said, "He works with them, doesn't he? The people who hired William Afton in the first place. The people who trusted him, let him near children. Let him use those suits. Let him murder you. They're going to try to cover it up, do you know? Cover all your deaths up, like it never happened. That's the way all adults are, all of them. They try to forget about the problems in their lives, just cover it up and forget about it, so they can go on with their happy little lives." Sammy's voice increased in volume, becoming almost a shout, before beginning to quieten down again.
Sammy shook his head slightly, attempting to calm himself down. He exhaled. "Come on, let's go see Michael."
The four children moved silently through the murky pizzeria. Sammy's words echoed in their minds, an insight to the enigmatic boy's thoughts and motives.
They reached the doorway to the Safe Room quicker than they'd expected to, lost in their own thoughts. Chris opened the door for the others and stepped inside the dark, musty room.
"What's that?" Samantha asked immediately upon seeing the room.
On the table lay the Spring Bonnie suit, covered in blood in the same way the Fredbear suit Michael had been put into was. The crooked smile hung open slightly, revealing the gaping mouth of a human inside.
"Looks like someone suffered the same fate poor Michael has," Sammy said.
"I saw it," Michael said suddenly, startling them, "I saw it happen. He came in here, with another man. He put him in the costume. Then...they walked out of the room. I heard screaming, and then the carried it back in here, with blood all over it." His voice was monotonous and distant.
"Michael, are you okay? Can't you move?" Lilly questioned hurriedly.
"No," was the reply, a few seconds later.
"Sammy, tell us what's wrong with him, please," Chris said, looking Sammy straight in the eye.
Sammy sighed. "I will. I haven't been looking forward to admitting it, but it's my fault he's like this. Let me explain."
"You have to understand, I've never done this before. Giving life, I mean. So, when I found your bodies in the animatronics, I went to see if there was anything in Fredbear and Spring Bonnie. They weren't on their stage. So, I came to this room, to see if they were here. When I looked inside, I found Michael's body, in the Fredbear suit. That's when I decided to try to save you all, give you all life. And I...started with Michael." He gestured over to the Fredbear suit slumped over in the corner.
"I tried to bond his soul with the animatronic, giving him control over it. That's what I tried to do. I brought his soul back, but I...didn't connect it with the suit properly, let's say. His soul is still here, but it's only half bonded with the suit. He can use it as a vessel, but he can't move it like you all can. I got it right the second time, when I brought you back, Christopher, and the third, and fourth, and fifth. But not the first time. I'm sorry." Sammy finished, guilt evident in his voice.
"So he's just going to be stuck here, not able to do anything?" Lilly asked desperately.
Sammy nodded solemnly.
"It's alright. I'm fine," Michael assured his sister.
Lilly didn't reply. Her expression became one of grievance, as much as her mechanical face would allow.
"Don't be sad, Lilly," Michael said in an effort to console his sister, though his voice sounded unsure.
"I'm not. At least you're here with us. That's good enough for me," Lilly said.
"Um," Sammy said timidly, "Sorry for interrupting, but I just remembered, we need to hide the guy Jack killed."
"Sorry," Jack muttered again, staring at the ground.
"It's alright, but we need to hide him. If there's someone lying on the ground when the others come in, they're going to suspect something. Where do we put it, though?" Sammy tilted his head thoughtfully.
"What about...in one of the animals? Like he did with us?" Samantha suggested after a moment.
Sammy snapped to attention. "That's a great idea! No one will check in the spare suits backstage! We could hide him in there, and then no one will find him!"
"Well, you know, I just thought it was a good idea," Samantha said airily, examining her hook.
"I could have thought of that," Chris grumbled with covetous, folding his arms.
"No time to argue," Sammy said quickly, before Samantha could retort.
He floated briskly out of the room with Christopher, Jack and Samantha in his wake. Lilly lingered in the Safe Room with Michael.
"Are you sure you can't move? At all?" she inquired.
"Yeah," Michael replied, "I've been trying all day. I can only move my eyes." The white pinpricks in the suit's dark eye sockets darted around in demonstration.
"Do you want me to carry you?" Lilly offered generously, extending a hand.
"No," Michael said thoughtfully, "Pick up my head."
"W-what?"
"Pick up my head from the rest of me and carry it around with you. Then I can see what's going on," Michael elucidated.
"Won't that hurt?" Lilly questioned.
"I can't feel anything. Can you?"
Lilly raised a yellow hand and knocked it against her torso twice for good measure. There was a thud indicating connection, but Lilly felt nothing.
"No," Lilly said. She hesitated for a moment. "All right. If that's what you want, I'll try it."
She bent down and held the Fredbear suit's head in her hands, making sure she had a good grip on it, then pulled, removing the head from the body with ease.
"Are you alright?" Lilly asked, somewhat fearing that there would be no answer.
"Yeah, I'm fine," came the reply. Lilly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay, let's go find the others." The chicken exited the Safe Room, the golden head in hand, and was met with the other children dragging the lifeless body of the man Jack had murdered along the checkered floor. Sammy, too frail to move such a weight, was floating next to them, encouraging them on.
"Who's that?" Michael asked apprehensively.
"Oh, that...that's someone Jack killed. By accident," Lilly said, watching her friends dragging the body along the cold ground, hiding the terrible sin that had been committed by her friend.
"Oh..."
There was a silence between them as Lilly approached them.
They were all almost too caught up in their work to notice her observing them. Jack was the first to catch sight of her.
"Did you take off Michael's head?" Jack squinted at the mask of the yellow head. The others looked up at Lilly upon hearing Jack's words.
"I'm alright, Jack, it doesn't hurt," Michael reassured him.
"Can you-" Chris began to say.
"Stop staring at Michael and help me move this, would you?" Samantha cut in angrily.
Chris eyed her, but complied. They dragged the body into the Backstage Area, three of them heaving the corpse, three of them spectating. It was a small room to the right of the show stage, and rested him on the wooden table. Similar to the Safe Room, the shelves were lined with spare parts for animatronics, though these were for the FazBand and Foxy.
"So...how do we do this? Do we just shove him into the thing?" Jack asked frankly. In response, Sammy floated over to a shelf and picked up an empty, smiling mask of Freddy Fazbear.
"We start with the mask, I think. That's the best way to do it."
Sammy brought the head over to the man's body, and carefully placed it over his head, concealing the permanent expression of terror on his face.