Night 4
The day was just as predictable as every other day so far – be taken apart and be put back together. It was the same old thing, over and over again. Every time, it happened, Mangle was is pain. But there was no way he could stop it at this point. For whatever reason, the children weren't disciplined, even before he was declared a take-apart-and-put-back-together attraction. If only things were different…
Mangle took his mind off of that for now. But the thought kept returning. He couldn't entertain the children. To them, he was just a toy. A worthless toy that could easily break within the snap of a finger. They didn't think he had feelings, did they? They probably just thought he was an emotionless robot who couldn't feel pain. They could do whatever they want to him, and they wouldn't care.
But they were mostly young kids, with such vivid imaginations. Only they knew what stirred in their mind. Mangle knew what was in his mind. It was a turmoil between love and hate. He loved entertaining. He hated children. Those two things don't mix. If anything, they would only make things worse for Mangle. Plus, who knew what words he would spit out to the children? Words of hate? Words of love? He didn't know, and he didn't want to know.
He thought about giving up all together, and wanted to leave the spirit of Mark to rot in the pizzeria, with little hope of leaving. But he couldn't. Entertaining children was his job, and he knew of no possible way to force the spirit inside of him to leave his current body. The only thing that was true that he was no longer meant to sing of joy and life. He was only meant to be a toy to children.
As time went on throughout the day, what happened to him was the same old things. The children were particularly ruthless today, as they often slammed his parts on the ground in a fit of rage, and stepped on them. At this point, he might as well be as fragile as a feather. One single bump might as well bring him down completely.
At least the night served as a break for him. That was the only good part of being at the pizzeria right now. When it was night, he could do whatever he wanted, without fear of being caught or confusing any living person. The only stranger to the pizzeria was the night guard, and even he was starting to become familiar at this point.
When night finally fell across the land, Mangle deactivated once more until midnight, which followed in his reactivation. The good thing was that he had slightly better coordination than the previous night, but he was still extremely damaged. He stumbled throughout the pizzeria, to the hallway. He went the same route as always, and climbed up to the vent leading above the office. He didn't bother waiting for the right chance to – the only thing he was going to do at the moment was talk to Jeremy.
"HeY," he muttered, hoping to grab his attention.
A small yelp escaped from Jeremy's mouth, and he scrambled to put a Freddy head on. Mangle could faintly hear the sound of heavy breathing, along with some soft murmurs. The night guard's eyes darted back and forth, trying to detect the source of the sound.
"GoSh, sToP oVeRrAcTiNg," Mangle insisted, rolling his eyes. "iT's JusT mE."
"Who?" Jeremy asked, the word barely escaping his mouth while he was in panic.
"MaNgLe," he answered. "Or ToY FoXy, as mOsT ouTsiDErs kNoW mE aS."
"Mangle…" the young man uttered under his breath. "The person who runs this place told me you were called 'The Mangle'."
"PLeAsE, jUsT caLL mE 'MaNgLe'. 'The MaNgLe' maKeS mE sOuNd LikE a ThiNG."
"But you are a thing. You're a robotic animal, an animatronic."
Mangle let out a long, deep sigh, memories of his final day alive coming to light in his mind. "YoU wOuLdN't uNdErStAnd…"
Jeremy looked up at the vent he was in, showing a sign of… something in his eyes. "Is this about that incident that happened a few months ago?"
Suddenly, Mangle was intrigued by what the night guard had to say. "Hmm… TeLL mE mOrE."
"Well, a few months ago, shortly after this place opened, five kids went missing, and no one knows what happened to them. They've been gone for so long, everyone just thinks they're dead."
"AnD whO aRe ThEsE cHiLDrEn?"
"Fallon, Brandon, Brian, Courtney, and Mark. The newspaper never said their last names. Brandon was said to be 7, while the others were said to be 9. Surely, you've at least seen them, even if you don't know their names."
Mangle just sat there, looking at the night guard in disbelief. He was surprised Jeremy knew the toys' former names, considering he was supposed to be an endoskeleton. He waited to see what happened next, if anything was going to react in some way.
Unfortunately for Mangle, it looked like he sent Jeremy the wrong message, so the night guard frantically took off the Freddy head, and turned to a monitor, and pushed a button. Mangle could hear the quiet sound of music in the distance. Once he let go of the button, Jeremy pressed some more buttons, illuminating the left and right vents, and let go shortly after. He then flashed his light into the hallway. Mangle couldn't see what was there, but he was flashing it a few times.
Once all of that was done, he put the costume head back on, making Mangle register him as an animatronic with a suit on once more. Jeremy looked up at the vent where the animatronic fox was, and blinked a few times, expecting something to happen.
"…You aren't going to kill me?" he asked, his voice soft and afraid, reminding Mangle how he felt when he was killed so long ago.
"DiD I sAy I wAs gOiNg tO kiLL yOu?" Mangle answered. He paused for a few seconds, and then said, "No. I'm NoT gOiNg to KiLL yOu."
Jeremy uttered something unintelligible under his breath. The office went silent as the night guard continued to do his job, while Mangle just sat there in the vents, unable to tell what time it was. Mangle wanted to capture the endoskeleton, but he might as well wait. Besides, he might provide some valuable information to him. The animatronic waited for a response from Jeremy.
Finally, Jeremy put back on the Freddy head, and he looked up at Mangle once more. "Well, is there a reason you want to talk to me?"
Mangle hesitated for a bit, and then replied, "Oh, weLL…" His second head started to make garbled radio static, and he tried to stop the sound while Jeremy looked around, panicking.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" he screamed, clearly scared. The night guard was visibly sweating, his back up against the wall, and he was hyperventilating as well. As soon as he calmed down, he picked up his flashlight, and swung it around wildly, the light from it even showing through the vent above the office for a few brief moments. Mangle peeked out of the vent, and once the light was shone into his eyes, down he went.
The loud crash from Mangle's impact with the floor could be heard all throughout the pizzeria. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy all rushed to the scene, wondering what had happened. They all just stared at him in disbelief. Meanwhile, Mangle was so dazed from the impact that he couldn't make out the next few moments clearly.
"Mangle!" several voices yelled, trying to get his attention. After a few moments, Mangle finally responded, letting out a low groan of pain.
"Oh... WhAt diD I dO tHiS tiME…?" he muttered.
"I think ye fell, lad," one of the animatronics responded. Foxy. "Why?"
He glared over at Jeremy, and let out a snarl while the night guard was making small, whimpering noises, trying to get everything straightened out for him. His flashlight was off at the moment, but hopefully, Balloon Boy would come and disable it.
"ThE eNdOsKeLeToN…" Mangle growled. "HE sHiNeD tHaT L-LiGhT aT mE."
"What light?" Freddy questioned. "The only light I see here is the office lights."
With what little control he still had over his hands, he pointed at the flashlight that was sitting on the desk. It was pointed towards one of the vents, oddly. Jeremy had his Freddy head off, now just simply looking at a monitor.
"ThAt LiGhT?" Bonnie said. "HoW cOuLd iT KnOcK yOu DoWn hErE?"
Mangle paused, and muttered, "…It's nOtHiNg yOu sHoULd wOrRy aBoUt."
Chica looked at Mangle, and let out a few garbled sounds, each one cutting abruptly before the next. Freddy simply just did a slight nod, and headed out of the office. He gestured for the other withered animatronics to follow, and so they did. Mangle was left alone in the office with Jeremy now.
The night guard stared at him, annoyed. "So, what was that sound? It wasn't you, was it?"
"…It wAs…" the fox animatronic uttered. He looked up at Jeremy, and said, louder, "I'm SoRrY, I sHoULdn't Be TaLkiNG tO yOu."
"But you're talking to me anyways?" Jeremy questioned.
"Yes," Mangle answered. "BuT… YoU rEmiND mE oF sOmEoNe..."
"Who?" he asked in a small voice.
"ToY BoNNie," he uttered. "A fiEsTy aNiMaTrOniC iNdEeD, aNd OnE oF tHe OnLy pEopLE wHo UnDeRsTaNdS what I've gOnE tHrOuGh… wHaT wE hAvE aLL gOnE tHroUgh…"
"What do you mean by 'we'?"
"…YoU wOuLdN'T uNdErStAnD…"
"Why do you keep saying that?! Maybe if you told me, maybe I would understand!"
"BeCaUsE yOu'Re NoT DEAD!" Mangle screamed in a fit of anger.
At that moment, everything went silent. Everything just seemed to… stop. Jeremy stared at him with an expression of both terror and shock. His entire body seemed to tremor in fear, and his mouth was wide open. Mangle's expression was quite similar, but without intense emotion.
"…You're… dead…?" the night guard muttered, scared. "But… You're a… robot…"
The animatronic, not wanting to cause any more chaos, turned around, and ran back to the Kid's Cove as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast. After what happened, he didn't want to accidentally reveal any more information to the enemy. Plus, what would the animatronics think? Mangle didn't even want to know. Without another word being uttered from him, he scuttled back into the room, and hid in the corner of it.
And with that, Mangle deactivated, not wanting to handle it anymore. He didn't know what time he did so, but there was one thing for certain – he did not want to go talk to Jeremy again. Ever.
Mangle woke up in a black void, floating in midair. Looking down at himself, he wasn't Mangle at this moment. He noticed the all-too-familiar ripped pants and shoes in bland shades of gray. He was the spirit of Mark at this moment, not Mangle. Tears fell down endlessly into the abyss below. He looked around, confused.
"Hello?" Mark/Mangle yelled into the void. "Is anyone here?"
"Behind you," the voice of a boy said.
Startled, the spirit turned around, and saw an unfamiliar figure. It was the figure of a boy, about one or two years older than Mark. He, too, was in various shades of gray, but he was wearing a different outfit than him. He was simply wearing a rather plain striped shirt and jeans showing signs of age. His shoes were no different, just some typical shoes of the early 1980s. His hair was sticking upwards, making his hairline visible. The boy's eyes were watery with tears, running down his face and into the void.
Mark/Mangle's first impression was, "…Who are you?"
"I expected that question. I am the spirit residing in Golden Freddy," the boy answered. "Or George, if you want to call me by that name. Nice to you formally meet you, Mark."
"George…" The name felt foreign in his mouth. Mark knew a dark-skinned kid named George when he was younger, but since he moved away, he didn't have the need to say that name until now. But the mention of his former name sent a shiver down his back. "Do you mind if I just call you Golden Freddy?"
"Not at all. I guess it is just your instinct to call me by that name," George/Golden Freddy said.
"Then… Why are you here?" he asked.
"I felt like we needed to discuss something."
"Discuss what?"
"Several things, but the main topic is your discussion with the endoskeleton."
"Jeremy?"
Golden Freddy nodded. "Yes, him."
"What about him?"
The spirit paused, as if he was lost in thought. "…He… It is personal."
"You can tell me, can't you?"
"I could, I just rather not tell you."
"Is it because… you… You don't approve of me, do you?"
He let out a long sigh. "I had my doubts about you and your friends, the toy animatronics. When the Puppet told me that he put your souls into the toy animatronics, I did not like that at all. In fact, I was furious. I did not want you all to suffer the same fate we did – rot in this damned pizzeria for all of eternity."
Mark/Mangle stared at the spirit in disbelief. "You mean… we're all stuck in the animatronics forever?!"
"Yes, unfortunately. We are all trapped in here for eternity until we have gotten our revenge against our murderer. Then we will be put to rest."
He was speechless, but a deep sorrow resonated within him. He will never be able to join his parents and siblings in the afterlife. He will never be able to talk to anyone without them thinking he's a freak. He won't be able to even do anything once Toy Foxy is out of commission. For the first time in a long time, the spirit of Mark began to weep, his vision becoming blurred from the tears. It started out as a low sob, then into a wail, and it then turned into a complete meltdown. For what felt like forever, the only sound in the area was his wailing.
Golden Freddy sighed. "Dear god, I probably should not have mentioned that…" he muttered.
Once Mark had started to calm down, he wiped the tears from his eyes, while Golden Freddy stood there with a hint of pity in his eyes.
"D-Do you think… I can talk to Scott again…?" he asked.
"Scott?" The spirit was scratching his head, puzzled. "I do not know someone named 'Scott'."
"S-Scott… He was my younger brother when I was still alive."
"…I doubt it. Some younger children are scared of animatronics, you know?"
"…Oh…"
"Life has its disappointments. Unfortunately, I cannot really do anything about that. Now, about Jeremy…"
"What about Jeremy?"
"Talking to him was a very bad idea, Mark. You have given some information to him that was supposed to be a secret."
Mark looked down at his feet in shame, not wanting to make eye contact with Golden Freddy.
"You do realize it is a bad idea to talk to an endoskeleton in general, right?" the spirit asked.
He slowly nodded.
"That is what I thought. I thought you had better morals than this, Mark. Is there a reason why you talked to him?"
"…I wanted to try to lure him so I can stuff him in a suit. But… I guess it turned into something more…"
"Then this discussion is over."
"But-"
"I do not think I should tell you anything else. It is up to you to decide what is right and what is wrong."
With that, the spirit of George disappeared, turning into wisps of smoke, and then becoming nothing. Nothing else stirred in the void. And then Mangle felt nothing.
A/N: Here it is: The last chapter of 2016 where I live. For some of you, it might be 2017 already. But hey, at least I got this out before the new year. I was aiming to finish this before Christmas, but... oh well. Anyways, I hope to get this finished before my birthday in April, but that might not happened. I also want to say this: the next chapter will be rather short. The reason why should be explained in the next chapter, but if you are confused about the reason why, you can PM me once it is released. HOPEFULLY, the next chapter should be out by around the middle of January, if not sooner. Anyways, happy new year, and Branchwing, out!