AN: Hey guys. Sorry for the long delay. Don't worry, as you can see I still LIVE! Although I've been really craving brains for a while now… meh just kidding. I've had a bit of family issues that I had to deal with and it made my moose sort of take a hike for a while, but things have settled a little so hear is another chapter.

CHAPTER 11

NIGHT 4 PART 1

The blinding light died downwards and Emiko fearfully dropped her arm, expecting the man to still be standing over her with his knife wielded like a maniac to end her little life. She did not understand what had happened. He had been such a good man. Just a few days previous he had been playing pirates with her in her parents' back yard while they waited for the food to be cooked and now he was doing bad things to others. She shook and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, unable to remember when she had fallen over and glanced down. Her mouth popped open in shock at the sight of her new necklace glowing and she carefully took a step forward. The back room had always frightened her and now was no different as fresh tears ran down her cheeks. She jumped back when she saw the man and frowned in confusion. He still stood as through leaning over something with his knife raised but she had woken up on the other side of the room. She had been right in front of him by the door way. She knew she had been. So how did she appear on the other side of the room? The man wasn't moving. His arm was locked in a wide arc to strike like he had been frozen in place. Not even his chest moved. She tilted her head, becoming curious despite the situation as she realized she could not even hear the screams from the people inside the pizzeria. A sniffling sound caught her attention and Emiko turned to see the golden bear that had been used to make the kids scream had large black tears that ran down its face from its eyes. The animatronic was actually crying.

"It's okay," she whispered reaching up to touch the blood stained fur of his knee. Her hand became covered in the red stuff and she wiped it off onto her jean pants, "It's over now."

"I couldn't do anything to stop him," The golden bear that reminded her of Freddy whimpered. His one ear twitched and pressed itself back against hi skull and Emiko wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"Why did he do that Mr. Golden Bear?" She asked and the figure shrugged, twisting his head to look in her direction with black eyeless sockets. The red pin pricks at the back of his head blinked before they refocused pointedly on the necklace she wore.

"Madness," Golden bear said softly from the table, "He was consumed by madness."

"What does consume mean?" She asked but the bear did not reply, instead he tilted his head upwards to peer at something in the doorway behind her.

"There isn't time for that little one," he said sadly, "Go with them Emiko, you must survive."

"Go with who," She wrapped her arms around her frail body and shook as a long spindly arm wrapped itself around her middle and picked her up. It was black and white and had spots on it that made it seem like it had been connected to rope at one stage.

"You are safe," A smooth velvety voice said into her ear and she caught sight of a rusted mask when she glanced backwards. At some point in its life it may have been a lighter white color with two stripes that ran down its face and a large smile and black eyes, but now it had rusted away and the fabric of the mask had been ripped... She couldn't tell much about it from the way it was holding her and she wondered where he had come from because she did not remember seeing the puppet like animatronic. Where had he been hiding?

"Who are you?" she asked and he glanced down at her, bring up a hand to wipe away the blood on her face.

"I am the Marinette or even simply the Puppet," The Puppet explained as he changed his grip on the small child, "Come child, we do not have a lot of time."

"What about him?" she asked pointing at the still crying bear. She did not know why, but his tears were really upsetting her. It was strange because she had been okay around other kids that had been crying.

"He will get better one day," The strange animatronic said and began retreating into the other room. She felt frozen as the animatronic gently carried her over to a corner where a bunch of boxes stood alongside the one wall. The puppet shifted his hold till she hung from his one arm like a football and opened the largest of the boxes that had been sprayed in paint and vandalized before lowering them both inside. She gasped as the top began to close again but stopped as soon as she did when she felt a long spidery finger be pressed against her lips. The sound of a match striking hit her ears and Emiko relaxed when the Puppet lit a dim candle for her. The box was slightly cramped as the Marionette took up most of the space so she was forced to sit with her legs pulled up to her chest, but she felt safer than she had in the room with the mad man. A strange sound drew her attention back to the Marionette. Or rather behind him where there stood a strange robotic like figure. It was all sliver with large blue eyes its frame was thin much like the Marionettes. The two small ear like structures on its head reminded her of a smaller version of Freddy's and they twitched as the small bot turned to look at her.

"You will be safe here little one," Marionette said gently and reached up with a long finger to gently touch her in the center of her forehead. She did not know why but it suddenly made her very sleepy and the last thing she remembered before she gave into the darkness that consumed her was the soft look in the strange animatronics' eyes, "You will be needed…"

Steel jumped up in a cold sweat. She glanced around frightened before the past events returned to her and she sank back into the couch she had been resting in. Outside the sun had long since begun to shine brightly meaning it was properly around noon and she relaxed when she spotted her beloved son resting on the couch opposite her and the two boys just as equally fast asleep on the floor with the blankets barely covering their bare chests. She sighed. That dream. She did not always have it as most of the time the most she got was everything before that and each time she had awoken with the bastard leaning over her with his knife raised. But when she did it was exactly as it had happened. And she remembered what had happened after. She had climbed out of the box after her unexpected nap, only to find the police in the back room. One of the officers had spotted her and she had been taken to safety. That had been the last time she had been to the restaurant. After that it had just became history. One she had been trying to forget for years. She knew that if it had not been for the strange puppet she would have been one of those kids that had been killed and rotting in a suit for two days. She frowned and gently fingered the stone on her necklace. It was not the puppet but the stone. She knew that but without her hiding in the box, the murder would have found her when he awoke.

"You ok?" Mike asked and she turned her head to regard him carefully.

"Could be better," She replied carefully and sighed as she accepted the cup of coffee that the man offered to her, "Thanks again for letting us crash here."

"Not a problem, but you never really explained what was going on," He said and she picked up the slight hint. Steel forced herself to sit up from her half reclined state and stared into the depths of the drink in her hands. She knew that he deserved an explanation after all that happened and yet she hesitated.

Pursuing her lips, she answered, "If I tell you, will you help us?"

"You got some sort of plan?" He asked and she started to nod before thinking twice about it and shrugged.

"Half of one anyway," Steel said eventually, "But if I said that you would have to come with us back to Freddy's tonight will you?"

"The Pizzeria?" He asked. The haunted look that she had seen before returned and she almost felt bad that she brought upon those memories for him, but he needed to know what they would be up against, "Why the hell would I go back to that hell hole. Those fucking possessed monsters tried to kill me!"

"They're not possessed," Emmitt said to her right. She hadn't even noticed him move, "They're just lost and in pain."

Mike's face bulged with anger, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Freddy and the gang is alive Mike," Steel explained softly, "But after the murders happened they went on a rampage to find the people who were responsible."

"Bull," He snapped, "They're just machines with viruses or something. You don't see them attacking anyone else. Only the guards."

"That's because the night guard in the 80's was the one responsible for the murders of those kids Mike," Emmitt ran a gentle hand through the dozing Matti's locks. The boy had fallen asleep across Sylvester's chest with a tight grip around the chain the man had around his neck. The other delicate hand was slobbered on as he sucked his thumb.

"Freddy and the gang had never seen what he looked like," she finished and saw a look of understanding wash over the previous guard's face.

"And they thought that the man still worked there," He said before collapsing into his chair, "But what has all of this got to do with you?"

"I was the 5th child Mike," Steel sad as she finished her drink and passed what was left over to Emmitt, "I escaped before he could kill me but he was never caught either."

"You know what he looked like," Mike's voice was hard, almost accusing but Steel took it any way, "Why didn't you go to the police?"

"I tried," She whispered, "But they didn't believe me. That's why I need your help Mike, he knows where I am."

She watched as the young man took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. For a moment he looked like he was going to start screaming and shouting and she would not have been surprised if he kicked her off his premises. Instead he nodded and held out a hand to her.

He chuckled at her surprise, "I'll try to believe you for now."

"Then why are you helping me?" she asked as she took his hand and the man smirked, some life returning to those dull eyes that she had gotten used to. She had to admit, it did make him appear more healthy and charming.

"Because if there's a chance that I can help take down the bastard that caused all this trouble in the first place," He explained, "It might help me recover from everything I went through."

This time she could not help but smile along with him.

When she finally got back to the restaurant, the sun had begun to set just beyond the buildings in the distance. The joint was still open but it didn't bother Steel in the slightest. Instead she simply waved at the receptionist that waited at the door and made her way past the stage. She could feel the band's eyes on her. She paused in the back room to grab a spare voice box that was supposed to be used for Freddy and tried to not notice the dozen empty heads that stood on the shelves and tables. Or the dark stains that covered them. The stench in the room was enough to inform her of what they consisted of. She couldn't get out of that room fast enough.

Golden Freddy was just as she had left him the previous night, halfway taken apart and sadly slumped against the wall. Steel winced when she noticed him do his half head lift to peer at her with pinpricked eyes and remembered that she had forgotten to turn him back off before she had left with the others.

"I got you a new voice box," She said as she stepped onto the stage holding it up, "Well it's actually one of Freddy's spare ones and a piece of shit, but it's not as bad as your old one. It will work for now."

The bear said nothing but she knew he was frowning at her choice of her words. She didn't really blame him. The Steel from three days ago would have been horrified at her lack of respect, but she had realized something over the few nights she had worked for Freddy Fazbear's pizza pizzeria. She decided that if she was going to die, it would be with no fears. And a fight.

The black haired woman worked quickly and apologized each time the screw driver pushed too hard against the bear's throat and made him wince. When the last bolt was tightened she let out a breath that she had not realized she had been holding and stepped back to give him some space.

"Give it a go," She murmured gripping the screw driver. The last of the sounds in the place had died away, so she guessed that the place had just closed. Only the cleaning staff and the manager would be there which suited Steel just fine.

"It has been a long time has it not?" Goldy murmured and she nodded sadly.

"You've been cooped up a while now," She ran her normal hand through her hair. It was still knotted and had only been pulled into a messy pony during her rush to get to the place, "I assume you know what is going on at least."

The bear chuckled, "The dead hear what those don't want heard."

"Very poetic for an animatronic," She mused but the bear just did one of his messed up creaking sounds, "Will you join our fight Goldie?"

"I will but I doubt that I will be much help like this," His pin pricks focused back onto her and she sighed, letting a soft smile grace her lips. It was a real one the oozed with confidence. Not like the shallow ones she had been giving for the last few months. This time she was sure of what she was going to do.

"I wouldn't worry so much about that," Steel drawled out. She jumped off the stage and landed lightly on her feet as she crossed over the hall to the stacked up boxes she had seen earlier. There were more than she remembered. Her mind flashed to the far emptier than she remembered Red Fox and guessed that many of the boxes held the props and such that foxy and the rest had used over the years. Although she knew that much of it had been sold to other companies, "I have a feeling I know where your endo skeleton is. Why do you even need one though? It's not like you can't operate without one."

"When the creator created me he did not have the supplies on hand to fully help me maneuver around. The endo is connected to me, a part of me, But it allows me to move," The bear watched her curiously, "I can usually call it back to me, but something is blocking it."

Steel nodded. In a way it explained why both had their own pairs of eyes to get around as well as how the thing had moved when the puppet has saved her. Speaking of which. It took her while to clear away the majority of the boxes as many were heavier than she thought they would have been, but eventually her eyes caught sight of a familiar blue one. It was larger than all the rest, big enough for even Foxy to sit in and be able to stretch out. The paint had faded and chipped of further inn areas that made it seem as though that had been slashed in flakes of blue instead of painted and she sighed as she carefully pulled away the rusted top. It looked like a music box.

The marionette looked to have had better days. His thin suit was torn in several places from age and the mask had been worn out even further. The crank mechanism on the inside of the box was rusted and she could almost guarantee that it would have to be replaced if she wanted to see the puppet ever working again. Goldy's exoskeleton did not look to be fairing much better but it was still in a better condition than its host. The suit blinked up at her, surprising her that it was still awake before she heard what sounded like a computer start up.

'It must have gone into some sort of sleep mode,' She realized when she noticed the moment he was fully awake. The little bear ears on top of his head twitched before he sprang out of the box with a speed that frightened her. She stepped back when she took note of his actual size. The thing was over eight and a half feet tall, despite how small it looked when crouched down.

Steel closed the Marionette's box and mentally noted to give Sylvester a ring to see if he could get a music box for her from one of the ship yards. The things she had been able to find in that place never ceased to amaze her. She had once even found a working radar that had been thrown out only because it had been out of date. Sadly she had not been allowed to keep it though.

The exoskeleton ran up to Goldie and Steel stood back as she watched the creature open up the rest of the suit as though it were nothing more than a briefcase and closed the suit once it was inside. She jumped when Goldie jerked and lifted him unstably off the floor with her heart in her throat. Was he going to attack her as Freddy and the gang had? She needed a weapon. The woman cursed to herself when she noticed her tool case within arms of the bear's reach and peered around out the corner of her eyes. She refused to take her sights off of the bear, regardless of how safe she felt with him. An old rusted pipe drew her attention out of one of the boxes and she reached slowly back to grab it. It was one of the props to the pirates' cove and she doubted that it would help protect her against the ancient animatronic, but she felt safer with it anyway.

"You are safe from me," Goldie's voice reminded Steel of an English gentleman, one of the ones that she had once seen in an old movie what had a mustache and did boxing in his spare time. The tone was smooth and well educated with only the slightest of accents. She couldn't hear it previously with his other voice box but she could now, "It has truly been a long time. You're all grown up Emiko."

"I go by Steel now," She explained warily approaching him. She gestured to the Marinette's box with a thumb and the bear nodded. He walked up to it stiffly and pulled the puppet from its confines. The thing was double her length in height, "Do you think he will help us?"

"My old friend will be more than happy to lend a hand if you can get him up and running again," Goldie let out a sad sigh, "Things used to be so different."

"I'm sure they were," She ran a hand through her hair. Steel sent a message to her roommates before she settled down to work on the puppet. For the better part of an hour, something in her mind bothered her and when the puppet was almost able to work again she turned to Goldie.

"Goldie?" She asked softly as she tucked the Marinette's mask backing place. She had not done anything for the astetic damage to the bot and wished to have more time to work on fixing the animatronic fully before she brought him online but sadly time was not on her side, "Did you know about the guards?"

The bear nodded, doing his strange creaking sound again, "I couldn't do anything to stop the madness. They had put me back together so basically that many of my parts did not work during the first few times they had crushed an innocent soul into one of those suits. Back then I had just been kept backstage. After they sealed me in here, I could only listen to them scream."

"Why didn't Freddy and the gang try to talk to you?" She asked as the bear gently put the animatronic back into the box. He had explained to her that they needed the music box to work before the puppet would stir from hi slumber, "Sylvester should be here soon with a music box."

The bear nodded, "you are not the only person they believe they had lost."

Her eyes softened at the almost pained like expression on his face and she carefully reached up to place a soothing hand on his shoulder. He surprised her though when he wrapped his arms around her torso, careful of her injured arm and tucked his head into the crook of her neck. It took hear moment to relax before she returned the gesture and waited for him to let her up. Her watch beeped.

11:56

"I guess it's time to meet Freddy?" she asked once the bear had put her down and she sighed when he nodded before she began to lead the way out.