A/N: Aaaaand because I'm self indulgent as frick and I adore this game, here we go. This outta be fun, although it's not going to have as much in the way of BB and Alex. I still need to get re-use to writing them. Note: This screws with time lines a bit on the games, as I'm making them take place in order of the game released. Most of it was written before the third one was even released. With this chapter, I'm going to be focusing mostly on the first game.

Chapter 20: Five Nights at Fuck This

Faye had always been on the fence regarding school. Sure, learning how to do math and read was important, and she knew that, but on the other hand, it also made it took up eight or nine hours a day of time she could be using for other stuff, stuff that could be beneficial to surviving.

Stuff like learning how to sew injuries, which was regulated to an 'after school activity,' since Saski had decided it would take long enough to necessitate pulling her out of school.

The first couple of days back after the little incident with the Countess had been stressful. She'd been fully prepared to have something else break into the school and try and eat her, stab her, or any other assortment of things that would prove fatal. The fact that nothing happened was more surprising then if something would have happened.

Lo' and behold, a month later and everything was calm.

Not that she was complaining. She was actually quite happy with it.

What she wasn't happy with, on the other hand, was the assignment they'd gotten in class. It didn't seem like something the school could force them to do, it would seriously cut into whatever free time she had left, and her grade was entirely dependant on the ability to-

"They can't actually make us gets jobs, can they?" That.

Faye and BB were walking home from school. Things had settled down slightly at her friend's house, considering Smile had attempted eat the girl's father when he stormed into her room one day. Apparently, he was still in the hospital.

"They can make us look for them," Faye muttered, before shrugging. "Hey, normally I'd be all for learning how to do something and earning a few extra bucks along the way, but. . ." Her voice trailed off. There wasn't any need to explain.

"I'm just going to fill out some applications and then turn those in." BB stated. "Honestly, do you think any employer in their right mind would hire me? I'd probably scare off all the customers, wouldn't I?"

That got a laugh out of the shorter girl. "Hey, maybe you can intern for Mr. Todd or something. I'm sure you'd love that." She wasn't as hesitant to mentioned that particular trip as Alex was. He got quiet and tense whenever it was brought up.

"Only if they feed me," was the response. "Seriously though, how do they even get that many people to turn into pies? You'd think someone might have noticed."

"Horror movie logic." Faye stated. "You'd also think somebody would have noticed the fact that every serial killer and their mother to every have a movie or something based off them is real, but nobody does, right?"

"Eh, true, and not all of them are that. . . subtle." BB mused. "Ah, well. Oh, by the way, Alex wanted us to stop over tomorrow. He said Terry was getting a little stir crazy."

Faye nodded sympathetically. It had taken a while, but they'd managed to find out bits and pieces over the strange boy they'd rescued from the Countess the month previous. His parents had been fairly young when they'd had him, and tended to treat him more like a little brother then a child. As such, their family bonding experiences were things siblings would do, such as video games.

He'd also revealed that he was, at nineteen, the oldest one of the group, even though all four of them had assumed he was younger. His small stature, along with the malnutrition, had covered up his actual age pretty well.

Unfortunately, the boy was still very hesitant about leaving Alex's house, chosen because Saski still wasn't too keen on him, and BB's house was. . . well, not the place for him to be resting to try and calm down from his time spent with the Countess.

"Maybe we can bring a board game? Something simple and fun, that nobody's likely to get murdered over."

"Aw, no Jumanji then?" Faye shook her head so hard she was worried that it would fall off.

"Ohh, no, if you even know where that thing is, we're burning it. I am not putting up with that. Plus, with my luck, I'd probably get that one. . . Ah, what was it? 'In the jungle you must wait, 'till the dice read five or eight'? Something like that. I'd end up with that and get eaten by a tiger."

That got a raised eyebrow. "Did they have a lion in the movie, though?"

"Yeah," Faye countered, "but lions don't even live in the jungle. I'm hoping if we ever actually do get stuck in that one it'll have the decency to be accurate."

". . ." The taller girl snickered. "To be honest, I don't think most of the things they had in that movie were accurate. Do rhinos live in jungles? Well, miss jungle expert?"

Faye rolled her eyes. "I don't know, I was focusing on the lion, not the rhino. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. Anyway, you wanna come over and work on applications together?" At the slight pause, Faye grinned and leaned closer to her friend. "Or do you have another date with a certain somebody, hmm?"

"Shush, Fairy. You're just jealous that someone made an entire realm just for me." There was a tone that BB used when talking about Mary that seemed reserved for the mirror ghost and the mirror ghost alone, and the slightly cheerful expression almost got her to laugh again.

"Well, enjoy your date, and tell Mary I said hi. I'm going to be buried in paper and that weird gel stuff that acts like skin." At the questioning look, she shrugged. "I'm learning to sew."

"I thought you already knew how to do that. Didn't you take home ec?"

". . . Not that kind of sewing." She tapped the back of her hand to indicate the type she meant, and BB nodded in understanding.

"Right. Have fun with that. See you tomorrow?"

"Of course! Later."

After she had managed to appease her aunt with her ability to sew through paper, and something that more closely resembled the consistency of skin, Faye went to go work on her applications, and some ads in the newspaper. Most of them were bland looking, but one caught her eye. It had a picture of a bear next to it, and that got a laugh out of her, as well as her attention.

Help Wanted

Freddy Fasbear's Pizzeria

Family pizzeria looking for security guard to work the night shift. 12 AM to 6 AM.

Monitor cameras, ensure safety of equipment and animatronic characters.

Not responsible for injury.

$217.50 a week. To apply call 1-888-FAZ-FAZBEAR

It seemed like an interesting job, and while the injury comment concerned her for a moment, she realized that it was a job that involved being alone for six hours. Lots of people could manage to get themselves injured that way. Granted, she'd have to check with her aunt to see if there was anything off about it, but overall it seemed like a good choice.

She picked up her phone and dialed the number, waiting patiently as the phone rang until-

"Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, how may I help you?" A professional sounding voice answered the phone.

"Hello. Ah, my name is Faye. Faye Christoph." No need to tell them her full first name unless they asked, right? "I'm calling about the job. The security guard one, to be specific. What qualifications are needed, exactly?"

There was a pause on the end, and the faint sound of papers shuffling. "Do you have a criminal record of any sort?"

She was, admittedly, a bit surprised by the question. Sure, she figured it would be asked, but not right off the bat.

"No. No criminal record."

"Good. How old are you?" This was probably the part where she wouldn't be considered. While she was legally able to work, she was also still just a high school student.

"Sixteen."

"Alright. On a scale of one to ten, how good are you at remaining calm in stressful situations?" This one made sense, considering she'd be there at night.

"I would say a seven to eight or so." There was another pause, and she wondered if the man was writing all of this down. She could still hear papers rustling, so she figured that there must be a lot of people applying for this particular job.

"Alright, you appear to meet our qualifications. How early can you start?" Oh. Well, that was easier than expected. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was getting a bit late, and wanting to have some time to talk to her aunt, she decided not to say she was able to start that night.

"I can probably start tomorrow. I honestly wasn't expecting to get the job that easily." There was a small chuckle from the other end of the line.

"Just come in about thirty minutes or so early so we can find a uniform for you." And with that, the man on the other end of the line hung up. Faye studied the cellphone in her hand and a bit uneasily closed it.

Jobs shouldn't be that easy to come by. She'd never had a job, and even she'd known that much. Still, it was a way to get her school assignment done. . .

She decided that she'd bring some of her weapons, just in case. she doubted anyone would arm the sixteen year old, but she might as well bring something, just in case somebody did decide to break in.

Everything had gone well. Saski had told her that she'd never encountered the place, although she did give her the advice to be watchful, stay aware of what was going on, and take a few energy drinks with her, just in case.

The uniform she was wearing was a purple dress shirt thing and a pair of black pants. Like she suspected, they didn't give her any weapons, but they did give her a hat with 'security' scrawled across the front of it, and a bear head shaped name plate with her name painted on. It felt almost professional, and she'd actually been somewhat excited to go about her first day of work.

The excitement died down when she realized that her desk was location in a small room with what appeared to be blast doors. Glancing up, she noted the the metal was several inches thick, and she gave a low whistle.

On the bright side, they looked sturdy enough to protect her from an angry Jason, let alone whatever this place could throw at her.

On the other hand, if this place had several inch thick blast doors, it meant that she'd be seeing something the required several inch thick blast doors, and she almost turned and walked out. The only reason she didn't was because the manager had caught where she was looking and chuckled.

"Oh, don't mind those. This place is very old, and those were put in a long time ago. You shouldn't have any problems." It was slightly reassuring, but there was something about the way he phrased it that made her hesitate for another second before stepping into the room.

"Great. Now, if you need anything, you still have the number, right? I'll see you at the end of the week."

And then she was alone. The girl sat in the chair, swiveled around in it to amuse herself, then checked her watch. 11:45, huh? It hadn't taken her long at all to change into her work uniform.

It was just a pity that she couldn't bring anybody in there with her. It might actually be fun if she had her friends with her. Oh well, she could manage this. It wasn't like she ever got much sleep anymore anyway, and the job was only temporary.

The next fifteen minutes passed with her idly swiveling the chair around while she waited for her shift to officially start. She had just finished a revolution when the clock struck twelve and-

Riiiiiiing. Riiiiiiing. Riiiiiiing.

She almost fell out of the chair, staring at the phone as it clicked and a voice began to talk.

"Hello, hello? Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

So, they were leaving her training manual in the form of a phone call? Okay, that was odd, but understandable. It also explained why the boss hadn't actually told her much; why bother if it was all going to be explained to her anyway?

"Uh, let's see, first there's an introductory greeting from the company that I'm supposed to read. Uh, it's kind of a legal thing, you know. Um, 'Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. A magical place for kids and grownups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or person. Upon discovering that damage or death has occurred, a missing person report will be filed within 90 days, or as soon property and premises have been thoroughly cleaned and bleached, and the carpets have been replaced.'"

"Wait, what?" She sat up and stared at the phone, trying to make sure she heard the man on the other end right. He had just outright stated that if she died, they'd cover it up. Her mind instantly went a few different directions. What exactly was the threat here? The next part answered that for her.

"Blah blah blah, now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about. Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same stupid songs for twenty years and I never got a bath? I'd probably be a bit irritable at night too. So, remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of children and we need to show them a little respect, right? Okay."

The animatronics. She pulled up the camera to check the stage, nearly dropping it when she realized that the bunny was missing from stage. This wasn't good, not at all.

"So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long. Uh, they used to be allowed to walk around during the day too. But then there was The Bite of '87. Yeah. I-It's amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?"

"Somebody got part of their head bitten off, and you still let these things roam around at all!?" She'd found the bunny. . . What was his name again? She remembered one of the posters calling him Bonnie. Okay, Bonnie was there, and the other two were still on-

Where;d the fucking chicken go?

"Uh, now concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit. Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death. Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh."

"Okay, thank you, this explains so much." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, and a small bit of fear as she spoke, soon locating. . . Chica? Chica. The chicken was standing outside what appeared to be the kitchen and staring up at the camera. Oh, man, that was creepy.

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

"Haha, I'm not coming back tomorrow, and there's nothing you can do to make me." She stated at the phone. The only reason she hadn't gotten up and walked out then and there was because she was pretty sure one of the animatronics would catch her before she made it to the front door.

Sitting back in the chair, the girl studied the tablet that connected to the monitors and flipped through, frowning as she noticed something in the bottom corner. It was a percentage that was steadily decreasing, and she cursed as it went down another percent.

A quick test of the doors and a glance back at the camera revealed what she'd feared. The percentage was how much power she had, and it was steady decreasing. She opened the door, then checked the other button. Okay, it was a light, and she imagined that the light would be the same on the other one.

Turning to the door on her left, she reached out to press the light and scowled as nothing but a broken sounding noise occurred. She pressed it a few more times, checked the door, then sat back in her chair.

Alright, so one of the doors didn't. The other did, as did the camera system. At least there was that.

Sighing, she went back to the cameras and began to check them. Chica was making noises in the kitchen, Freddy was onstage, and Bonnie was-

Where was Bonnie? Faye checked through again, the scowl turning to a look of fear. Bonnie wasn't in any of the rooms visible to her. A third check revealed much of the same. Freddy and Chica, but no Bonnie. She went back to the main area and the screen went black.

The girl shuddered lifted a hand to tap the screen when something yanked it from her hands.

"SKREEEEE!" The next thing she knew, the bunny had grabbed her by the shoulders. It was at that point that her instincts kicked in and she threw herself back. The action, however, hadn't been meant for a chair with wheels, and the excess force sent her slamming into the wall.

The sudden pain from where her head smacked into the wall made her shut her eyes to try and stop the tears, and then she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and scoop her up.

"No, no, stop it! Let go! Look, I'm not an endoskeleton!" Hadn't that been what the phone guy had said the motive for shoving people in suits was? "I'm human, look, see? No metal bits!"

The animatronic holding her didn't let go, but he did chuckle, and Faye froze as he began to speak.

"That's what they all say." His voice was softed than she expected, and if he wasn't carrying her to her death, she'd almost be willing to describe it as gentle. "Now come on, you don't need to put up such a fight. All I'm gonna do is get you back in uniform."

Of course, that just made her struggle harder for a moment, and the animatronic arms tightened their grip.

The girl had to think of a plan, and she had to do it quickly. This thing wouldn't just let go of her, he honestly thought she was an endoskeleton. He thought he was helping. Still, there had to be some way to get out of this, and if struggling wouldn't work. . .

Faye took a breath to calm herself, and willed her body to relax. From the cameras, she knew where they were going. She knew how long the hall was to parts and services, and she had until then to try and convince the rabbit she was human. What would could she do to, even if not immediately get free, stall? There had to be something, and her mind worked furiously as she tried to figure it out.

And then she had an idea.

The girl was going to play along. She was going to escape, and she was going to do it by pretending to be an endoskeleton.

And so, instead of resuming her struggle to get free, she instead completely stilled herself.

". . . I guess I'm just a bit nervous. It's my first day you know, and I'm worried that. . ." What would an animatronic say? "I'm worried the kids won't like me." Well, it was a family diner, after all.

That actually got the bunny to pause in his steps, and he gave what could be described as a sympathetic nod.

"I understand. I remember my first day. I was so concerned my guitar strings would break or something would go wrong. It was alright in the end, though, and it'll be just fine for you. I'm sure the kids will like you just as much as they like the rest of us." He began to move again, though his grip had loosened. Someone with less steady nerves might try and struggle and slip away again, but Faye figured that she had planted the seed that she was going to do this willingly. Now all she had to do was make it grow.

"Can I walk? I'll go back there with you and. . ." She took a deep breath and forced herself to say the next part. "And I'll get in my suit. I just think-" Why did the animatronics have free roaming again? Something about the servos. "I haven't really gotten to move much, and I think my leg servos are locking up." The girl had no idea what a servo even was, but she hoped that she was bluffing well enough. Bonnie had a thoughtful look on his face, but eventually he set her down. It was almost eerie how well the animatronics could display emotion.

"Fine, but you better not be running off, okay? Freddy'll be angry if I let you keep breaking the rules.

The girl nodded and stored that information. She was beginning to piece together a plan that was a bit better then 'Wing it and pray,' but at least she was back on her feet. Again, she had to fight the urge to bolt. She didn't know how fast the bunny was, but she wasn't close enough to the door to risk a bet on it.

She did move slowly, though, and Bonnie was forced to slow down with her, to make sure she was still coming along. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

"So, since I'm going to be working with you guys and all, why don't you tell me about everyone? The more I know, the less chance I have to screw up, right? Besides, I wouldn't want to upset anybody here. We're all supposed to be friends, right?" If she was going to get out of there, she'd need to gather as much information as possible.

"Well, Freddy's the one in charge," The bunny began, seeming all too cheerful to help. "But he usually doesn't try to get any of the endo's unless you guys are being really stubborn. It usually takes a few days before he'll help out, because he prefers to let us try and take care of it ourselves. That, and he likes learning patterns before he tries to get in. Some endo's are really smart."

Faye nodded while he spoke, noting down what seemed important. She had a feeling that she'd have to talk to Freddy before too long. "Alright. There's. . . Chica too, right? At least, I think that's her name."

"Yep! Chica's a bit moody, though. She gets frustrated very easily and usually works that out in the kitchen. Usually she's really nice though, she just doesn't like getting locked out of the room. She's a bit nosy too. Oh, and she's got a cupcake. Don't criticize the cupcake."

The girl had no clue why she would criticize anything that a creature who was fully capable of killing her would be holding, but she decided to only say the most polite things she could think of about the cupcake.

"And then there's Foxy- Oh, didn't you know about him?" That must have been regarding the surprised look on her face.

"Uh, I was only told about you three. Who's Foxy?"

"Well, Foxy is- Actually, just listen. You can hear him." They were passing by Pirate's Cove, something she'd thought was empty, and there was indeed what sounded like singing. After a few moments the song ended, and suddenly the creature singing lept out from the curtains.

Faye took a step back in shock. She hadn't actually been expecting that, and while the bunny threw out an arm to make sure she wasn't going to run, she was just a bit stunned.

The fox was dressed up like a pirate. Loose shorts looking things, a hook, and an eyepatch that, currently, wasn't actually covering his eye.

He was staring at her, head cocked to the side in what would have been an unnatural angle had he been a living fox. If not for the other animatronic, she might have considered turning and bolting. He was terrifying.

And then he laughed with an oddly cheery "Yar har har!" and turned to Bonnie.

"Well would you look at that! You got t' endo out without draggin' them by their ears!" Yep, he was a pirate alright.

"So, what did you think o' me singin'? That was a traditional sea shanty, that was!" The pirate fox suddenly turned to her, a quick movement that startled her again. This time, however, she kept from jumping back, and simply nodded. The expectant look told her that wasn't good enough.

"It was very nice. I couldn't quite keep up with the words, it was a bit too fast paced." She'd never thought that disappointment would be readable on a foxes face, but there it was. He perked up after a second, though.

"Well that's fine, I'll just have t' teach you. After all, ye be joinin' t' crew, ain't ye?" She kept up the act and nodded.

"I'm just going to get this one all suited up. Poor thing's just got a bit of nerves." Bonnie stated, patting Faye on the head. The girl had flinched, expecting it to hurt, but the hand barely touched her hair. It was hard to view things that were trying to (indirectly) kill her as gentle, but that's how the bunny was acting. The fox seemed to be acting more like a hyped up child.

"I don't see Chica around here. Ye want me t' go get her? She won't want t' be left out o' this." When Bonnie nodded, Faye became quite glad that she hadn't tried to run earlier. Foxy turned and took off at a speed that alarmed her, vanishing out of sight within moments.

"They'll probably meet us in parts and services." Bonnie stated, shrugging and lightly placing an arm around Faye's shoulders, before guiding her toward the room. "It's usually a lot harder to get in. All the other endo's kept up the 'I'm a human!' thing for a lot longer than you did." Faye suppressed a shudder at that. How many people had been killed just because these animatronics didn't realize what they were doing?

Hopefully, the number wouldn't grow any higher. A plan was beginning to formulate even as Bonnie opened the door to Parts and Services and flicked on the light. Faye cringed from the sudden brightness after the dark hallways that had led there, and rubbed her eyes.

Thankfully, Bonnie just waited, apparently having decided that the 'endoskeleton' wasn't going to try and run away. Once her eyes had adjusted, she glanced around.

Honestly, it was far less creepy than it had been on the camera. The scattered parts and suits still made her shudder, but they looked far more innocent in the light.

"Alright, so, these are the suits. We don't have any other than just ones of us, so you'll probably stay back here most of the time, unless one of us breaks. Now, which suit do you want? Usually we just go with the Freddy one, but that's just because the endo's are too wiggly." The next line held a tone of sincere sadness. "They always managed to break themselves because they wiggle around to much. Good thing you're getting in by yourself, you should be fine."

She didn't have much time to comment before the door opened and Foxy skidded in, almost slamming into the wall before skidding to a stop. He was joined by Chica, who giggled at the antics as she walked in, before turning to Faye to study her.

"Well, we really do have a new friend! Hiya, I'm Chica!" The bird animatronic extended a hand, and Faye hesitantly grabbed what she could manage, flinching as her hand was almost yanked out of her arm.

"Woah thar, careful, we don't want t' be breakin' t' endo before we even get t' poor thin' in a suit." Foxy stated with a chuckle, making Chica drop the girl's arm with a sheepish look, before she glanced up at her.

"So, which suit are you gonna pick, huh? You should pick mine, at least for now! Then we can be twins! That'd be fun, don'tcha think?" Faye had to take a step back from the chicken, who seemed to have no idea what personal space was.

Alright. Stalling time.

"Actually, ah, before I pick, I wanted to ask a few questions. Just to make sure that I know what all the rules are, since I didn't even know we weren't allowed to be outside our suits. And I figured that if you told me now, I won't be as afraid of messing up when I do put the suit on." There were a few heartbeats of silence. The three animatronics stared at her and she nervously continued, "I mean, I'll be easier to pick then, and I think it'd be more helpful and. . . and stuff."

"Here's the thing, Freddy really doesn't like us bending the rules." Bonnie stated. "So we're going to have to ask him if we can answer your questions before you get dressed. We still have a few hours before we have to go get ready for opening, so I'm sure it won't be any trouble, though. I'll just go ask him." He shot a pointed glance at Foxy and Chica and added, "be nice you two," before turning and walking out the door.

They waited about half a second after the door closed and both immediately began to talk.

"This be goin' t' be great! It's been a long time since we've added another member t' this crew, and it's high time we did. Perhaps we can even get them t' make ye a new suit so ye can come on stage with us. Ah, if we get somethin' piratey, ye'll be able t' join me in t' cove! We'll have a grand time." Foxy looked like he was having far too much fun imagining the scenario. Then again, Faye mused, Pirate's Cove was supposed to be out of order. He probably got lonely being in there all by himself.

"But," Chica stated as the pirate seemed to be about to go on another rant. "We need a drummer! Imagine how good we would sound with a drummer. We'd sound even better than we already do, and the kids would love it, and we might be able to play even more songs, too!"

Faye had begun to edge to the door, stopping only when Foxy glanced over and asked, "What be ye doin' over thar?"

"Oh, just seeing if Freddy and Bonnie are almost back is all." She snuck a look outside, couldn't see anything because of the darkness, and then ducked back into the lighted room. So much for sneaking out.

"They'll be back soon." Chica stated, nodded quickly. "And then maybe we can have a party! I'll make pizza and everything!"

The two continued to toss banter back and forth, but Faye tuned it out for a moment to think. Honestly, the animatronics didn't seem like bad guys. They just seemed really confused. This, dealing with killers who not only didn't know they were killing, but thought they were actually helping, was something entirely new to her.

And she didn't like it one bit.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the door opening and Bonnie stepping in, followed by Freddy Fazbear himself. The bear glanced over at Foxy and Chica and, once it became clear that they weren't going to stop, made a soft shushing sound.

"Shh, you two. I won't be able to hear anything if you keep up that noise." Where Bonnie's voice was soft, Chica's was high, and Foxy's was. . . well, pirate, Freddy's was deep and rumbly under the mechanical static that all of them had. It reminded her of her father, and it would almost be comforting if not for the suits all around her.

"Now then." He turned back to Faye with an unreadable expression on his face. "Bonnie told me you wanted to clarify on the rules before you got in your suit. Is that right?"

"Yes, sir." She could have kicked herself for that, and the bear chuckled.

"Freddy, that's my name. Now. . . You just want the list of rules, first off?" This was going to be useful. The girl nodded and listened, hoping for a loophole she could use.

"Now, our rules don't start until until rule nine. The pizzeria has a lot of rules, but the first eight of them are for guests. I'm going to tell you them, so you'll be able to keep an eye out, alright?" He closed his eyes and began to recite. "Rule one, don't run. Rule don't yell. Don't scream. Don't poop on floor. Rule five, stay close to Mom. Rule six, don't touch Freddy. Don't hit. And finally, leave before those?" Faye nodded. The first three were common for places with kids. The fourth one had context that she didn't want to hear, and the fifth one made sense, as did the seventh and eighth. She was a bit confused on the sixth one though.

"Uh, we're not allowed to. . . hug anybody, or anything?" Freddy seemed to figure out what she meant, and he just shook his head.

"That rule only applies to me. There was a bit of an incident. . . I don't remember much about it, but they put that rule up right after. Now. Time to hear our rules, the animatronic portion. Ready?" When the girl nodded, he shut his eyes, and again began to recite. "Rule nine, keep your suit on. Rule ten, do not leave the stage during the day, unless you're in for repairs or it's an emergency. Eleven is to never, ever do anything to harm a child, twelve is to know where all the emergency supplies are, rule thirteen is to protect the children, and the last rule is to not let anybody break the rules. Understand?"

There was a hesitant nod. What loopholes could she use? Did she still count as a child? After all, legally she wasn't an adult yet. If teenagers counted as children, then might work.

"Good. Any more questions?" And here was her opportunity. She needed to stall for until she thought out a way to make them understand that she wasn't an endoskeleton, or until they had to go back to the stage. Whichever came first.

"Actually, I have a few. Ah, where are all the emergency supplies?" Maybe she'd get a little tour, that would eat up a lot of-

"We'll show you all of that after you get in your suit. Wouldn't want you running around naked, would we?" Crap. That wasn't going to work.

"Alright." She tried to keep the same sort of cheery tone they seemed to have as she spoke, even though her voice was getting a bit shaky. "So, uh. . . What do we do if a kid gets hurt? Like, if they scrape a knee or something?"

"Oh, that's easy!" Chica stated. "You just get the first aid kit and-" A glance from Freddy got her to back down. "Oh, right. . . We can't leave during the day anymore. Uhm, nevermind."

The bear turned back to Faye. "You'd gesture to one of the guards or waitstaff and let them handle it."

"We used to be able to fix the poor dears up," Bonnie stated, "but like the rules say, we're not allowed off stage anymore, after that. . . incident. Humans are a bit too fragile."

"Yeah! Like there was one waitress who accidently held her notebook wrong and when she moved her finger it started to bleed!" Chica exclaimed. "She got cut on a piece of paper! Paper! Paper shouldn't be able to cut anyone! On the bright side, we never have to worry about that. We don't bleed, all we ever need is a little bit of stitching or paint and we're good to go."

There. She perked up slightly at the words.

They didn't bleed. Of course they didn't. They were, after all, made of metal. Why would they bleed? And the chicken had just said humans did. Now, if she could use that. . .

"Anything else?" Freddy asked. "Or are you ready to pick a suit?"

Faye glanced around the room for anything she could use to draw blood, and her eyes fell on Foxy's hook. The tip gleamed, and it looked sharp and dangerous. Perfect.

"Actually, I have a question for Foxy. How's your hook stay on, exactly? Can I see?" The girl almost held her breath as the fox glanced at the appendage, then shrugged and offered it to her.

"Me hook be screwed in. See, thar, at t' base. Ah, I suppose ye were thinkin' about me offer t' join me in t' cove! Captain Foxy'll find a hook for you too, just as soon as- Wait, stop! What be ye doin'?" The girl had reached up as if to study the hook, and when she did, she brought the palm of her hand to the point-

Foxy jerked back, which only made it worse, but the feeling of pain just meant her plan had worked. She backed up, clutching a handful of the shirt and glancing up at them. Each of the animatronics had a look of confusion, and Foxy's had fear mixed in. Faye looked at them all, before glancing up at Freddy. He was the leader, right?

"Now, there was no need for-" Faye removed her hand from her shirt and held it up, cupped slightly so the blood from the cut across her palm would pool. The animatronic fell silent as he studied it.

"Endoskeletons don't bleed, right? No blood if you cut one." She glanced at the other animatronics. "Endoskeletons don't bleed. I'm bleeding. What does that make me then? What does it make me?"

She counted the moments as heart beats. She could feel the organ working in her chest, pumping quicker than normal out of fear.

It was Freddy who broke the silence.

"Foxy. Go get the first aid kit. Quickly."

"A-Aye." The fox needed no further prompting to run toward the door. A quick glance at the other two revealed that Bonnie looked shocked, and Chica looked almost horrified.

"You mean," the bunny began, "that you weren't. . . You weren't just saying you were a human. You really- Oh. Oh no, I am so, so sorry, I didn't mean- I didn't want to-" Faye walked over and gently patted the bunny with her good hand, the other having grabbed another handful of quickly darkening shirt.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. You're not going to make me get in the suit now, right?" When the animatronic shook his head, Faye tried to smile encouragingly. "Then no harm done, right?" At least, not to her. She could only imagine the harm any previous night guards went through.

"But you're hurt!" Chica broke in, staring at the hand that was still wrapped up in the shirt. "You're hurt and you're bleeding and that's not good, and it's our fault! . . . How are you being so calm about this?"

"She has a good point." Freddy muttered, studying the girl. "You seem a bit too relaxed for someone who nearly died." The tone implied the question he wanted to ask, and she pondered how much she should tell them, before simply shrugging.

"It happens more often than you think. I've kind of gotten used to it." Luckily, Foxy saved her from having to elaborate just then by skidding back into the room, first aid kit dangling from his hook.

"Alright, I got t' kit! Who's goin' t' bandage t' lass up?" Faye blinked and then reached out with her good hand to grab the box.

"I can do it myself, if you'll just-" The hook was yanked back, and the fox shook his head, clutching of medical supplies as he did.

"With all due respect lass, I think ye best let us handle it. We'll take good care o' ye, don't worry." The girl stared at him for a moment, then sighed and nodded.

"Fine, if you really want to." Foxy studied her for a moment, and then unhooked the first aid kit and tossed it to Bonnie.

"Ye best let t' rabbit take care o' your hand. He's best at dealin' with this kind o' thin'. I think I'll just be headin' back t' me cove." He glanced at Freddy as he spoke, and when the bear nodded, he turned and sprinted out of the room.

"I think I'm gonna go back to the kitchen." Chica muttered. "I wanna have a little bit of quiet time."

Honestly, 'quiet' time was not how she would have described events in the kitchen, but if that was what the chicken wanted to call it, she wasn't going to argue. Faye just gave a slight wave to her as she left, then turned to look at the two other occupants of the room.

Bonnie took a step forward and made a slight gesture. "Can I see your hand, then? I'll have it wrapped up nice and neat in just a few minutes." The girl nodded and, after a moment of hesitation, held out her hand.

Considering the bunny suit had rather bulky looking hands, he was surprisingly good at maneuvering the supplies from the first aid kit. As the sadly familiar sting of disinfectant hit the cut, Freddy spoke up.

"I don't want to pry, but if I might ask. . . What did you mean when you said you've gotten used to this kind of thing?" She glanced over at him, then back at her hand. Ah, wait until she was being held captive via injury treatment to ask. Clever.

"Like I said, this kind of thing happens a lot. I've lost count of how many times I've nearly died over the past couple of years to be honest. Huh, maybe I should start keeping a tally." The girl didn't add that the only reason she was being calm and joking now was that the danger seemed to have passed. After all, now that they understood she was human, it should be okay, right?

"Hm." Freddy gave a brief nod. "You know how to take care of yourself. Otherwise. . ." He didn't need to finish the sentence. Faye understood, and returned the nod when he made a brief gesture for her to continue.

"Yeah, I do. At first it was. . . Well, not luck. I had a vague understanding of the things I was dealing with, and I managed to maneuver around them with what I knew." It was how she got out of the dream world, talked Jason out of killing her, and managed to block Candyman until the lights got turned on.

"After that, I had people helping me, and eventually my aunt found me, and she's been teaching me how to handle situations. For instance, she taught me how to listen for someone following me, how to pin down somebody bigger than me, and today she started teaching me how to do stitches. Admittedly, I hope I never have to use that, but it's still good to know, right? Uh, anyway, it was actually pretty calm for a while before I started working here. And we're good now, right?" Freddy and Bonnie both nodded in confirmation at that, in an eerily in sync movement. Faye decided to blame the whole 'animatronic robot thing' part for that one.

"So, yeah. Now I just have to prepare for whatever's next. Hopefully I get another month before hand. Speaking of hands. . ." She glanced over at the bandage work, which was getting just about wrapped up. Pun not intended but fully endorsed. Somehow, the animatronic had managed the dexterity to clean and wrap the wound in something that looked like what her aunt would manage.

"Does it feel okay? I didn't wrap it too tightly, did I?" Bonnie sounded almost anxious, and Faye offered him a reassuring smile.

"No, it's fine. Just the right amount of pressure, actually. Thank you." It took a moment, but the bunny animatronic smiled back as the girl held her hand up slightly, above heart level. It would help the bleeding stop, at least.

"It's almost time to close ," Freddy stated, a bit suddenly. The human followed his eyes to the clock on the wall, a bit startled to see that it already read 5:45. She only had fifteen minutes before she was off.

"Huh, it is." The girl stood up and stretched. "So. . . I'll see you guys tomorrow, then?"

The two animatronics stared at her as if she'd just dumped a jar of marbles right on the floor.

"You're going to come back?" Bonnie spoke first, though it was clear from his tone he'd have preferred if Freddy had gone.

"Well, sure," the girl said, glancing back and forth between the two. "I mean, hey, I'm sure you all make great night guards, but I kinda need to stay for at least the rest of the week. It's for school and stuff, and I'm not sure finding another job would be easy. . . Plus, again, no suits, right?"

Actually, thinking about it, working there was probably a good way of keeping safe for the week. If the animatronics were strong enough to force people fighting for their lives into those things, they must be strong. Granted, she wouldn't ask them to do anything they didn't want to, but at the very least they might make a good distraction.

"Right. Humans don't belong in them. The last time a human was in them-" Bonnie was cut off by a slight warning growl from Freddy.

"We should get Chica and get back to the stage. We're going to be opening soon." Once Bonnie nodded and headed out to what Faye assumed was the kitchen, Freddy turned back to the human, who was just standing there, a bit awkwardly.

"If you're sure you want to come back, even after the night you had, I guess we'll see you tomorrow." With that, the bear turned and walked out. Faye waited for a few minutes, and then returned to the booth to gather what stuff she had.

It wasn't until she was unlocking the door to leave that a faint noise reached her. She paused and listened, but brushed it off as nothing. Still, for a second, she could have sworn somebody had whispered in her ear. What had it sounded like?"

The answer came to her as she stepped out.

"It's me."

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Jennie! Happy Birthday to you!" Jennifer smiled, a toothy grin with a few half filled gaps, and blew out the candles on her cake.

The party was a small one, consisting of only a handful of children, all under watch by a man with a bear shaped name tag. She could remember each of them, her wonderful friends. Jennifer, who was making good money off the tooth fairy, Harley, who was eyeing the cake as if trying to figure out how he could get an extra piece, and Hannah and Tom, who were arguing over who's present the birthday girl was going to open first.

She remembered her friends well. Jennifer, Harley, Hannah, and Tom. They were her best friends, and she would always remember them, even if they had forgotten her.

After all, how could she blame them for forgetting her when she had forgotten herself?

"And that's how my night went." Faye stated to her friends over lunch. The girl had a thermos of coffee to keep her from falling asleep in class. Her clothes were a bit mismatched, considering she'd had to change pretty quickly when she got back home, and the bandage on her hand had been replaced with some butterfly bandages and a piece of gauze taped over the cut.

"It sounds like it was. . . eventful." Alex replied after a moment. "Though I hope you're up to date on your tetanus injections."

"I am, don't worry. And hey, at least it was just a scrape instead of, you know, dying."

"True," the Scot muttered. "Still though, wouldn't these things be a bit dangerous to let around kids?"

That just got a shrug out of the girl. "The phone guy implied they're okay with recognizing people as people during the day, so that might not be too big of a concern. I can only really see it being an issue if a kid either got locked in, or broke in after hours." The girl hesitated for a moment, then curled her good hand into a fist and rapped it against the wooden table three times.

"If you're going to go back and work there longer, you should be careful," BB, who had been listening to the conversation while consuming a jar of jam, finally spoke up. She set the jar aside and gave her friend a stern look.

"If those things try and go after you again tonight, you're not going back there, okay?"

"Oh," Faye stated, "you don't have to tell me twice. Like I said, the only reason I'm even going back is because of the school work, and it'd be nice to have some more money. Hey, maybe I'll even keep up the job. The animatronics seem pretty tough, after all, and maybe if I make friends with them, they'll be willing to help keep some of the weaker killers away from me, right?"

"Maybe," the other girl admitted, "But just be careful, alright?"

Faye nodded. "I will. I promise."

It had been easier than expected for Faye to get her aunt to let her go back for another night. The woman had apparently, at some point, began to trust her judgement. Either that, or she'd simply given up on trying to make the girl do things she didn't want to do.

Either way, the girl was back at work after a nice long nap upon getting home from school. She'd run her uniform through the wash since it had admittedly gotten a bit sweaty from the night before, and terror sweat tended to smell pretty bad after a while. It wasn't quite midnight yet, so she figured she might as well take a glance over the place. After all, her job did require her to do that, didn't it?

She paused on the stage as it switched over to midnight, watching as Bonnie glanced up at the camera and waved, before he jumped off the stage. Maybe he'd come by to say hi.

The girl flipped through the cameras and nearly dropped the monitor when she got to 2B and the sound of a cheerful giggle sounded. The first thing that caught her eye was the poster, the gold standing out against the rest of the area. The giggling got louder and the sound of movement made her set the screen down. Bonnie must have gotten-

The girl let out a loud screech. There was something in the corner, something that looked like Freddy minus the eyes. His suit was gold, and ripped up in a few places, and the girl shoved her chair back as it stood up and took a step over to her.

"Are you alright?" A newly familiar and very welcome voice spoke. As Bonnie peered into the room, the golden appiration vanished, and Faye's heart rate began to slow down.

"I'm good, yeah, there was just. . . I thought I saw something in the corner over there." The animatronic glanced over at the corner, but it was empty. There was no trace of the golden suit.

"Well, if everything's okay. Should I just go?" Faye glanced at the tablet in her hands, and then stood up.

"Can I come too?" Bonnie seemed to perk up slightly, and he nodded.

"There's a flashlight in the drawer of your desk there. You might need it, it's a touch dark out here."

The girl smiled gently and checked the drawer. Sure enough, there was a flashlight. It was cheap and plastic, but an experimental flick of the switch revealed that it still worked. She shined it at the floor, so she could watch where she was going, and gestured for the animatronic to lead the way.

She ignored the ringing of the phone from the room. There wasn't much the guy could say to help her now, considering she'd already handled the issue.

Chica was quite happy to see that she'd decided to come out and 'play', judging by the jumping up and down and clapping. It actually impressed the human of the group that the animatronic even could jump, considering how heavy they all must have been.

"Ohhh, can we play hide and seek? Please? That's a fun one, and there are lots of places to hide and stuff! Pleeeeaaaaaase?" Admittedly, she wouldn't mind taking a few hours to pretend that she didn't have anything to worry about. Unfortunately, she also had a job to do.

"I'd like to, but don't I have to keep an eye on this place and make sure nobody breaks in or something?" She lightly tapped the tablet she was using to keep an eye on the place. Chica stared at her for just a moment before moving her shoulders in what might have been a shrug.

"You locked the doors, right? We'll know if anyone gets in here, trust me. Come on, please play with us? It's more fun if we get more people!"

"But won't I get in trouble with the management? I mean, the cameras. . ."

The cameras. If they were recording, then wouldn't the owner of the place know that the animatronic were, at best, terribly programmed for night time? If they were actually filming, then wouldn't they know about all the deaths that must have occurred due to the little error of mistaking humans for endoskeletons?

She remembered the phone call from the night before and shuddered. Not like they cared.

"You know what? Sure, I'll play. Who else is playing?"

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The only one who hadn't wanted to get involved in the game was Freddy, who stated that he had other things he needed to do. She wasn't quite sure what the bear was up to, but the fact that he vanished backstage unnerved her slightly. While the girl still held a bit of confidence that the animatronics wouldn't hurt her, she was still a bit freaked out by the amount of people that must have died back there.

It wasn't the obvious that bothered her. She'd seen death before, and the collective death count of all the murderers she'd met likely far exceeded that of the animatronics, but she'd never really met a killer who'd been unaware of what they were doing. Maybe that was the part that bothered her.

The girl shifted just slightly from her spot in the kitchen. She was tucked into one of the cabinets that had been a bit emptier than the others, and considering Bonnie was currently the seeker, she figured she'd have some time to think. After all, Chica was the one who always went to the kitchen, so maybe the bunny wouldn't think to look there for her. Hopefully he'd go and look in the-

The doors opened quickly, closed, and then opened a bit slower. Faye glanced up into Bonnie's glowing eyes and gave a small wave as he crouched down slightly to get a better look at her.

"Gotcha," was all he said, and Faye admitted defeat with a small chuckle as she crawled out, using an offered paw to pull herself to her feet.

"I still need to find Foxy and Chica. Do you wanna help?" Eh, might as well, it would get the round over faster.

"You can keep looking around this area, and I'll take the other side of the place?" Bonnie seemed to consider, then nodded and walked over to the fridge.

Faye, meanwhile, slipped out the door and turned her flashlight on. It might give her away, but she figured that it would be hard to miss the animatronics if they tried to switch hiding spots. It would also help her to actually spot them if they were still in said hiding spots. All she really had to do was keep looking around and-

She'd been walking past a bulletin board type thing, and one of the papers had, with a small ripping noise, fluttered down and landed at her feet. Picking it up, she realized it was barely more than a scrap of paper, and she couldn't make out most of it.

The small piece of paper had part of a headline on it that seemed to read "-ssing chi-" along with a few lines of words that, without the rest of the paper, didn't make much sense. For a long moment she considered putting it back on the board, but the fact that it had seemed to be torn off made her shove it in her pocket. The action seemed to trigger a giggling sound, one that sent chills down her back. It reminded her of the noise she'd heard when she saw that poster, right before that thing appeared.

She shivered, and then started back down the hall. She'd probably feel better after she found one of the animatronics.

It hadn't hit her that the cake tasted funny until after she'd already eaten a piece and a half. The girl might have just pinned it down to being a weird flavor of cake, but she was suddenly too tired to think very clearly. When had that happened? She'd just eaten cake, she and her friends should be going off to play party games. It wasn't supposed to be naptime yet.

Everyone else looked as tired as she felt, and every blink threatened to drag her to sleep.

She remembered, dimly, watching as her friends slumped forward. Tom fell into his ice cream, and she wanted to giggle, but she couldn't. There wasn't the energy for it.

The girl felt a hand on her shoulder and she managed to glance up to give the guard a confused glance. Why was he. . . why was he smiling like that?

That was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out.

Digging up information on the pizzeria wasn't easy. It seemed to be one of those things that people just wanted to forget and while Faye could relate to that, all it was currently doing was making her life that much harder.

The game of hide and seek had actually only had one round. On a hunch, she'd gone by Pirate's Cove, and upon seeing the curtains closed, she peered in to find what looked like it had once been a pirate themed playground style area, with a large ship in the middle. A quick glance inside had revealed Foxy quietly humming and building something with legos. Her initial assumption was that it was a potato, but then she noticed the sail and realized it was supposed to be a pirate ship.

Chica had proved to, somehow, be an expert at the game. It had taken most of the night scouring the pizzeria to find her. At about fifteen until six, Faye had given up and resorted to checking the cameras, then proceeded to direct Foxy and Bonnie from there. Even then, it took another ten minutes before they found her.

The chicken was a force to be reckoned with.

She had spent most of the school day sneaking naps between assignments, and once she got home, she'd set a date with a coffee cup and the internet, to do some research about the scrap of paper she'd found.

The articles she'd found made her hesitate about going back to the pizzeria. For most of them, she just read the titles. It summed up the events pretty well.

Accident at Local Pizzeria: Man Loses Frontal Lobe

Two Children Missing: Evidence Points to Local Pizzeria

One More Lost Child Reported: Pizzeria Under Heavy Investigation

Twins Missing as Well: Linked to the Controversial Pizza Place?

Four Bodies Discovered in Animatronic Suits.

She clicked on the last one and skimmed through the article. According to it, four of the five children that had gone missing of the course of a week had been discovered shoved inside the animatronic suits. However, it had been deemed that the children hadn't been killed by that. Each one had bruising around the neck, indicative of strangulation.

She also discovered a little bit more info about the children. Rebecca Watson, age seven, had been the third child to go missing. Kimberly Brown had disappeared some time before her, during her tenth birthday party. The twins seemed to be named William and Walter Reed, and they had both been about eight years old.

The article took a while to reveal any information about the first child to go missing; an eight year old girl by the name of Alice Evens. The child they hadn't yet found. She'd gone missing when she'd gotten sick at a birthday party and gone outside to wait for someone to come get her. According to the paper, she hadn't been in any of the suits. Of course, considering there were only four of them, it made a little bit of sense. But why kill five children if there were only four suits?

There were a few options. One of the twins walked in on the murderer killing the other, prompting him to kill both. Then again, that would mean that he would have removed Alice to put another child in there, and she didn't see that being very logical.

Alice hadn't gotten put in a suit at all, which was a bit more likely. After all, if she was the first one, it made sense that it would have happened a bit differently. Whoever had done this would have been still getting used to actual killing. Perhaps they'd panicked and hidden the body elsewhere.

There could also be another suit, but that option didn't seem very likely either. After all, as far as she could tell, there had only ever been the four animatronics. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy. No, most likely the girl had been left somewhere else.

On the bright side, they'd managed to catch the man who'd done it. A day guard by the name of Craig Salazar who'd been with the company for a few years. He'd been arrested a few days after the four bodies had been found. A further search on his name and she found more articles, interviews with friends and family talking about what a nice guy he was and how he would never harm anyone, let alone a little kid. The same spiel that a lot of human serial killers got. Faye also found an obituary, not that it was very reassuring. After all, Mr. Todd had been human, and he died, and that didn't stop him from being in London. Granted, she still wasn't completely sure how that was even possible, but she'd long since stopped questioning such things.

This situation screamed spirit to her. The animatronics, likely, had been a red herring. The universe wasn't going to just let her off the hook that easily. No, she had a good feeling she'd be meeting Craig Salazar, living or not.

The girl sighed and shut the laptop, then stood and headed to the bathroom. Time to talk to the resident expert on ghosts.

"Faye, just because I'm dead doesn't mean I know every single spirit out there and what they're up to. I'm a bit delegated to mirrors, and whatever I happen to hear at slumber parties and the like when I get summoned." Okay, so maybe she wasn't an expert, per say, but Mary was still the best option when it came to figuring out spirt stuff. After all, she knew things that might actually work, as opposed to Google, which could give her a bunch of stuff that, if it didn't work, would end with her dying.

"I know that, and I wasn't trying to ask about the guy in specific. I'm pretty sure he's going to show up eventually, I just want to be ready when he does." The spirit stared at her for a few long moments, then wiped a bit of blood off her cheek and nodded.

"Alright. Fine. What exactly do you want to know?" Faye shot the ghost a grateful smile.

"Anything that could keep the guy away from me if he does show up." She'd already explained the way the doors were set up, along with most of the other details about the restaurant. Mary seemed to consider and then spoke, her tone resembling one a parent might used to explain something complex to a young child.

"Have you considered quitting? Perhaps if you aren't working at the restaurant, he won't try and do anything to you. He might not even be capable of it, depending on how he's tied down."

This got Faye to hesitate, and then shrug. "I did think about it. The first night especially, when I thought the animatronics were going to kill me. Something doesn't feel right about just dropping it, though, and Saski told me to trust my instincts."

"But," the mirror ghost countered, "those might not be your instincts. They could be the result of the pizzeria itself drawing you in. That would lend a bit more credit to your ghost theory, too. Have you considered that?"

"I've considered a lot of things," Faye argued back. "And I don't think it's the place itself. If it was, there'd be some kind of difference. This feels more like instinct. Which, again, I was told to trust. Besides, it's already set in motion. I have the feeling that whatever I do now, I'm still going to have to deal with this."

She got another long stare from the bloody spirit, who proceeded to shake her head after a few moments.

"Fine, I can give you some tips on keeping a spirit out. You might want to write these down. . ."

Faye arrived at work about thirty minutes early, to set up her guard room. She'd have to clean it all up before the place opened, but she could manage that.

The first thing she did was to get on the chair and carefully dig a pin into the space above the door. Next, she tied a wooden creation onto it, a small pentacle charm made from tied up twigs. As she hung it, and a second one of the other door, she quietly murmured, "Rowan tree, red thread, holds bad spirits all in dread."

Once those were up, she reached into the bag she'd brought and pulled out a black taper candle, and a small candle holder. Mary hadn't mentioned this one, but the spirit had mentioned that the power of belief could potentially work. Black candles represented protection, and they repealed negativity, so she felt that it would help. Plus, a little extra light never hurt.

The next and final thing she'd managed to get was also probably the most obvious; a large container of sea salt. She poured the salt in as big of a circle as she could manage, first in a thin line, then adding to it. In all, she circled it three times.

Now that the guard room was a bit more securely protected, she adjusted the chair so it would be in the middle of the circle, and then set down to wait.

. . . This was going to be interesting to explain to the animatronics. Oh well, might as well wait to cross that bridge until she came to it.

With that, she sat down and tuned out the third night's phone call. There wasn't much point in listening to it, was there?

Bonnie had, as usual, been the first one to show up, and he raised an eyebrow at the salt. Faye just gave him a slightly sheepish look.

"I had a theory. I wanted to test it out. It's nothing bad, and I'll clean everything up when I leave, alright?" The bunny hesitated and then, since none of the items technically broke the rules, nodded.

"Do you want me to leave you alone to test this theory, then?" Faye thought about it, and shook her head.

"Actually, I wanted to ask a few things about the place, if you don't mind. Just try not to step over the salt, okay?" She didn't want the circle broken; part of the reason the salt was the last thing to go down.

"I can do that." The animatronic edged into the room, carefully, then sat down on the desk and studied the girl. "So, what is it you want to know? Oh, wait, was it about the emergency exits? We were going to show you those after-" Bonnie paused and frowned, but Faye just shook her head.

"Actually, it was about you guys. Remember how I didn't know about Foxy? I was just wondering. . . Are there any other animatronics I don't know about?" That got a curious stare, but the animatronic just shook his head.

"No, no more. There's just the four of us. It's always been that way." There was a slight pause, and then he added, "There was one time when Freddy was replaced for a few days, but that was because of. . . issues, and it was with one that looked almost exactly like him."

"Issues?" She asked. "Are they the same issues that caused rule six?" The girl watched as the animatronic nodded, slowly.

"And these issues. . . Do they have anything to do with an accident that happened here?" In the beginning, she hadn't paid much attention to that article. The children had caught her attention more, but now she recalled it. "Something to do with someone's head. . .?"

Bonnie glanced down to the floor for a minute, then looked back up at the girl.

"It really was an accident. I know you might have some doubts about us still, and I think we'd all understand, but it's not really something we like to talk about to the guests. It'd just scare the kids, and we're supposed to entertain them, not terrify them."

"That's true," she conceded, "but I'm not here as a guest, right? I'm here as a night guard. It won't scare me off, okay? I promise."

There was a long moment when she wasn't sure that the bunny would respond, and then gave another small nod.

"Alright, I'll tell you, but you might not like us much when I'm done. I'll have to start a bit ahead of the. . . incident, though."

Bonnie stood in his place onstage, music flowing out of the guitar in has hands, much to the delight of the children sitting in the audience. Freddy and Chica's voices mingled together as they sang the chorus together, and even over the music he could hear the laughter from Pirate Cove. It had started out as a good day. There were lots of parties, lots of kids, and everyone was having a good time. Just as it should be.

As the day wore on, most of the guests left. There were a few small groups here and there; a couple of parents with a little baby that couldn't be much more than toddling age, a small group of five kids around a cake, and a couple of teenagers were the only guests left.

Freddy and Chica were softly talking to each other, and Bonnie tried to join in the conversation, but something was bothering him. The group of kids didn't look like they were having much fun. One of them had appeared to fall asleep, and the rest of the group looked like they had upset tummies. One of the day guards was standing over them, a newer guy that Bonnie couldn't quite place the name of. As the animatronic watched, he scooped up the sleeping child and began to usher the kids away, probably to go call their parents.

Bonnie shook his head slightly, then glanced down at his guitar and carefully fiddled with one of the strings. The children would be taken care of. After all, that was part of the reason the guards were there, wasn't it? The information went out of his mind pretty quickly, since the children were with a responsible adult, and he waited until it was time for them to shut down for the nightly post show maintenance, before they'd be allowed to wonder for the night. Judging by the waitress who had appeared to usher the remaining guests out, it wouldn't be long.

"I heard some o' t' adults talkin' through me curtain. Did any o' you see any o' t' pups leave with a strange lubber?" Bonnie glanced down from his spot on the stage. It had barely passed midnight, and Foxy was standing in front of the band, anxiously swaying on his feet. "They were sayin' they couldn't find a couple o' them. T' parents came t' pick them up, and they weren't here."

Chica blinked and shook her head. "Nope! I didn't see any of them leaving with anybody but their momma or papa. Orrrr that one kid that left with his big brother, but I think he counts as okay, right?"

Freddy nodded at the chicken, then turned to the fox. "As far as I knew, everything was okay. How long have the children been missing?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but Bonnie interrupted. "I, um, I saw a little group of them go off with one of the day guards. They looked a little sick. I thought that he was taking them to call their parents."

For a second, the pizzeria was silent. Then, in what appeared to be an attempt at remaining calm, Freddy spoke.

"Bonnie, did you see where exactly he took them?"

The endoskeleton in the guard room had an easy, but probably confusing night. The animatronics did peek in occasionally, but after seeing that no, there were no children there, they backed off. It would take too much time to get him suited up. They'd almost gotten this one, and he had wiggled around so much, they'd had to go get ready for the show before they could actually get him suited up. It would just take time away from looking for the kids if they tried to go after him now.

It wasn't until a few days later that the news finally reached them. Four of the five children had been found, and for just a moment, Bonnie was happy.

And then he discovered the state they were found in. Broken, empty. Dead.

That night was another easy night for the endoskeleton. The animatronics didn't care about dealing with him. Instead, they all headed to the kitchen, the one place they knew they wouldn't be watched, and they mourned for their lost children.

They were singing to a birthday child a couple of days after the bodies were found. Freddy and Chica were singing together, and Bonnie was adding in the music, his own voice too soft to be heard over the other two's loud deceptively cheery voices.

Even if the animatronics weren't in a very good mood, they couldn't let the children see that. The kids had to think everything was alright. As long as they managed that, everything would be okay.

Someone had been arrested. They'd said that it was his fault the children were gone, and they'd seemed to honestly believe it, but there was something wrong about the guard that they'd accused. He was shorter than he had been the day the children were taken. Shorter, with lighter hair, and his movements were different too. He moved slower, where as before, the man had been twitchy.

Best not to think about it anymore. They'd caught the man, and that was all the mattered, wasn't it? Best to focus on the children they still had with them.

It was about that moment, when they finished the song, that the day started to go down hill. One of the girls leaned forward to help the birthday kid blow out his candles. One of the adult chaperones grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back, and the girl let out a noise of protest.

At any time before the incident, they wouldn't have reacted the way they did, but Bonnie was already taking a step forward to intervene. He could feel Chica moving next to him, fully ready to get the little girl away from the person who, in their eyes, was trying to hurt her.

Freddy just got there faster.

Crunch.

"He didn't mean to hurt him, really, he didn't. We were all really nervous about the safety of the children, and he just wanted to make sure the girl was okay. Chica and I dragged him to Pirate's Cove, since most of the kids were being dragged out, and we talked to him. Freddy said that he hadn't done anything but push the guy away. He really doesn't remember that he did a lot more than just that."

Faye had, throughout most of the story, sat and listened. She'd occasionally asked for clarification about something, but she hadn't really commented. The girl had honestly just wanted to get to the end of the story. There was something about it that bothered her, but that would have to wait. The bunny was giving her a nervous look, and she had to calm him down.

"It's okay, I understand. It was a bit of an overreaction, but again, it's understandable. I have more more question, though, if that's okay?" Bonnie looked up at her and nodded.

"You said that Freddy was replaced with one that looked almost exactly like him? Why the almost? What was different?"

"Oh. Um, the other one was a different color, and he was in the basement for most of the time, when he wasn't in use. He was less brown and more. . . gold."

As soon as the last word left his mouth, Faye could swear she heard a faint giggling sound, and it made her shudder. Okay, that answered a lot more of her questions then the purple animatronic might have guessed.

"And where'd that one go? I mean, is he still in the basement?" Bonnie considered, and then shrugged.

"I don't know. We don't really go down there much. It's where. . ." Faye could guess what happened, and she nodded.

"Okay, yeah, I understand. Don't worry about it, alright? Sorry for making you dredge up all those old memories."

"It's-" He was interrupted by a noise from the right door. Chica poked her head in, looked around and then rested her gaze on the two occupants of the room. The look she'd been wearing when she'd first appeared, an irritated expression, faded to one of confusion.

"What are you two doing? Are you playing a new game or something? Why's there salt all over the floor? The janitor isn't going to be too happy about that."

"I'm going to clean it up before I leave," Faye assured the chicken. "Is something wrong? You looked a bit upset."

"We're almost out of some of the toppings for the pizzas! I can't find any pepperoni or sausage, and those are two of the favorites." The fact that she was distressed about pizza toppings slightly puzzled the only human in the room.

"Why are you looking at the food anyway? Uh, no offence, I just. . . I didn't think you could eat, considering." That made the female animatronic laugh.

"Oh, I don't eat them. I do like making pizzas, though! You can prepare them so they'll all ready to be put in the oven, and it makes it a bit easier on the cooks, I think. I wooould cook them, but then they'd have to be recooked and I heard they don't taste very good recooked." Faye blinked and gave a small nod.

"Anyway, they ran out of stuff! There's barely even enough for a few pizzas." She pouted slightly.

"Well," Bonnie began, "maybe you could use what we have? Let's go see just how bad this is."

As the two left, Faye picked up the cameras and flipped over to the kitchen. Even if she couldn't necessarily see what was going on, she could still hear. All she'd intended to do was leave it open to keep an ear out for when the two got there, but as she activated the camera, she heard strange noises. They weren't even the usual strange noises. They were much quieter, as if whoever was making them was trying not to be caught. For a moment, there was silence, and that a clear shutting of a cabinet. A few seconds later the camera picked up a somewhat staticy version of the two animatronic voices.

She had a vague idea of what might be there, and she gave the rest of the restaurant a once over, just to check it out. Freddy seemed to be messing with some chairs, and there was more cheerful singing coming from Pirate's Cove. Hmm, she'd really have to get Foxy to teach her that whole song, he'd sounded so excited about it and-

"Ahehehe." Oh shit the poster was there again. Nope, she wasn't going to look at the room, she'd just-

"It's me." The girl flinched and dropped the screen, looking up at what she'd already known was going to be there.

The golden bear was standing this time, and staring at her with empty eyes. It seemed to flicker, spots of it fading into and out of existence as it's head fell to the side and it opened it's mouth. It couldn't be a spirit, though. She'd put up the wards against them, hadn't she? It shouldn't have been able to get into the room with her.

So then, what was it?

"It's me. Don't you remember me? It's me, it's me, it's me! I'm still here." It took a step forward and lifted it's hand, reached out to her. "It's-"

The hand froze in midair, just beyond her circle, and the creature looked almost confused. The flickering got worse, and it let out a loud screech, before vanishing.

Faye was confused. The circle itself had worked, meaning whatever the bear had been actually was some kind of spirit. That and the disappearing led to the belief.

If that was true, then why hadn't her charms worked? A quick glance at her watch revealed she had fifteen minutes before her shift ended, and she stood to break the circle and start cleaning it up.

As she unhooked one of the stars, she muttered the line to herself again. "Rowan tree, red thread, holds bad spirits all in dread. Rowan tree, red thread, holds bad spirits all in dread. So why didn't it? It should have kept the thing from even getting into the room."

And then it came to her. The salt circle, that was specifically for any sort of spirit that might try and come after her. It had done it's job. So why had the candle and pentacles failed? They hadn't.

They'd been made to banish negativity and keep harmful spirits out. If they hadn't worked, and the salt had, it simply meant that the spirit had no harmful intentions. Honestly, if that was the case, the black candle might have even helped to draw it in, with it's offer of protection.

She added in all of that, plus the information about the spare suit and the fact that one of the children hadn't been found, and it became easy to see just what the spirit was. At least, that one. Still, if that one wasn't dangerous, than the other one was bound to show up at some point, wasn't it?

She figured she'd just have to set the items up again. After all, she only had two more nights. As long as she was prepared, she'd be able to handle it. On her way out, she ran into Bonnie, who had gone to fetch his guitar before getting back on stage.

"Hey, Bonnie? One thing, real quick, before I go. Um, would you mind telling everyone else not to bother me tomorrow? I have a couple of things I'm going to need to take care of while I work."

The bunny had blinked, then nodded. "I'll let them know. Just be careful in there, whatever you do, alright?"

"Oh, don't worry. I know exactly what I'm dealing with."

She been intending to ignore the phone call again. That's what she'd been doing so far. The only difference was that this time, it emitted a lot banging noise that startled her into almost dropping the bag she was carrying. The girl set it down and turned to the phone for the first night since day one.

"It's-It's been a bad night here for me. Um, I-I'm kinda glad that I recorded my messages for you uh, when I did.

"Uh, hey, do me a favor. Maybe sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits in the back room? I'm gonna to try to hold out until someone checks. Maybe it won't be so bad. Uh, I-I-I-I always wondered what was in all those empty heads back there. You know..oh, no -" The repetitive banging that had gone on through the message ended, and the cheerful music just made the screech at the end that much worse.

He'd asked her to go check, but she'd already been in the room. If he had worked the week before, and he'd been put in the suits on the fourth day, a week ago, he'd have been in there on Monday when she'd gotten caught. There hadn't been any indication of the suits having a corpse in them, and none of the animatronics had mentioned a suit being occupied.

Faye took a moment before setting her items up. She hadn't known the man on the other end of the phone, hadn't even listened to two of his calls. She had people far closer to her die, but it had never been this senseless.

The girl took a deep breath, shook her head, and set to work. A new candle, the rowan twigs and thread, and the salt. She had, briefly, considered not placing the circle, since the girl's spirit might try and talk to her again, but in the end, she'd left it.

Better safe then dead in a ditch. Not that she was likely to find a ditch inside the pizzeria.

Regardless, even if that golden thing did come back, all she'd have to do would be to talk from inside the circle. That was something she could do, and it might get her a few more answers, such as where the other spirit- the actually dangerous one- might be.

She figured that part of the method of getting Goldie, as she would refer to the bear until she was sure that it was the last child spirit, had something to do with the poster. After all, it never showed up until after it appeared there, so maybe that was part of it. All she'd have to do was keep an eye on it every now and then, and eventually Goldie would show up.

It wasn't until after three am that something actually happened. Faye had, for the most part, been idly spinning the chair and glancing at cam 2B. Thus far, not much had happened.

She was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Pausing to glance up from the monitor, she listened, for a moment, and then turned to the left door.

"Bonnie? Is that you?" They stopped, and the girl sighed. "I asked you to leave me alone for the night. Maybe tomorrow we can play another round of hide and seek, okay? But let's make Chika the seeker, she's too good at hiding." There was no response, except the sound of retreating footsteps, and the girl just sighed and shook her head. Maybe she'd upset the animatronic yesterday. She wasn't really in the mood to handle the situation, so she just lifted the camera up again.

The girl didn't hear the footsteps again getting closer. They were softer, slower, as if the person walking was trying their hardest not to make a noise, and her attention was focused on the cameras. A glance at the main doors to make sure nobody broke in while she was distracted, and then back to 2B-

Her efforts were rewarded with the familiar childlike giggle, a sound that covered what, to any other night guard, would have been a reassuring. The sound of one of the doors swooping closed. Even as she lowered the camera to look up at where the golden bear, she didn't register the fact that someone was reaching over to hit the other button-

The spirit screeched and Faye jerked back, startled by the sudden noise, and then she felt something tighten around her neck.

"You know," a voice spoke from behind her. "I've been keeping an eye on this place. And every time, it's been the same thing. The guards have always either gone missing or left, swearing to never come near this hell hole again." The girl tried to struggle forward, and the pressure tightened on her throat. She gave a weak gasp as she was pulled back to the chair and the pressure lessened, allowing her to breath again.

"Stop struggling. The animatronics didn't kill you, huh? I've been watching, they haven't even tried tonight. And I thought I programmed them better then that." The girl's eyes widened and she lifted a hand to the rope around her neck, causing it to tighten again.

"Looks like I'm just going to have to do it myself." Faye blinked and opened her mouth to shriek, but the rope tightened.

"It's. . . me. . ." The quiet whisper drew her attention to the bear in the corner. It was staring at her, and one of it's hands was stretched out, stopping just outside the circle. . .

She was seeing spots, but she had enough sense to kick the salt and break the circle.

And then everything went black.

"Do you. . . remember me?" The voice was soft, and wrapped around her like a blanket. She couldn't open her eyes, couldn't move to respond.

Was this dying?

"Night guard. . . It's me! It's really me, don't you remember?"

There was the voice again. It was cool, and it felt lovely. Other than the burning at her throat, she would almost be happy to stay there.

"You don't remember, do you? Nobody remembers me. . ."

The voice sounded so disappointed, so sad, and Faye wanted to comfort the owner. How could she, though? She couldn't move, couldn't talk.

. . . She could still think, though.

"No, it's okay. I remember you. . . Alice. Alice Evens. I remember you, Alice. I do." There was a pause, a shift, and then the cold was gone. In it's place came a warmth that soon developed into a raging flame.

The girl's eyes opened, slowly, to meet those of the man above her. They were no longer the deep green that they usually were.

There were a deep, vivid gold.

Nathan Gregory had always been one of the kids that seemed to have a fascination with animals. He would always find birds nest and watch them, find animals in the streets and offer them food, and find books in the library on them.

It was almost sad that the boy never had any pets of his own. He always said that his parents wouldn't let him keep any of the animals he found, so he always had to get rid of them.

On the plus side, the boy also liked gardening, and he managed to grow beautiful flowers. He had some way of making the soil especially rich, and it was often freshly turned over, whenever he felt like the plants were looking a bit needy.

Growing up, he'd been a bit of a jack of all trades. He was good at all his classes, and he picked up basic skills for sports quickly.

However, he never really got out of the realm of just being fairly good. He never excelled, and as his classmates began to find things they were great at, he was left behind. Somebody was always better at him then something.

He'd originally taken the job to help pay for college, since scholarship opportunities were so few and far between. It was a simple job; cook pizzas at the local pizzeria. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but it wasn't much fun.

And then one day he'd been volunteered to fill in for an absent performer, and he'd gotten stuck wearing a stupid discolored Freddy suit.

It had only been afterwards, when a pair of small arms wrapped around him, that he realized something. Kids trusted the suit. . .

And kids were so much better than animals.

And he'd never been caught. They'd blamed the first person they could find the most circumstantial evidence on, and the trial had been over in record speed.

Nathan chuckled as the teen stopped squirming and loosened the rope, then glanced up. The rumors about the place being terrifying were fairly wide spread. It wouldn't be too hard to believe the she'd simply gotten too afraid.

He began to work the rope, tying it into a noose, and as he did, he glanced down.

Right into a pair of bright golden eyes.

The man jumped as the girl launched herself to her feet, moving far too quickly for someone who had just been nearly asphyxiated. He undid the knot and held it, carefully, ready. The girl would be too weak to actually fight him, after all.

At least, that was what he'd thought.

He hadn't been paying much mind to the salt on the floor. If the teen was some superstitious whack job who watched too much Supernatural, that wasn't any of his business. It hadn't really occurred to him that a circle of salt on the floor could be used against him.

At least, not until a handful of it was thrown in his face. The man shoved the girl away and winced at the loud crash from whatever she'd smacked into.

The salt burn his eyes. He had to close them and resist the urge to rub, because those crystals were sharp, and they'd probably screw up the fragile organs if he messed with them. He needed water, to flush the salt out, and he needed it quickly.

The only problem was the doors. They were still shut, and he couldn't see them in his condition. Nathan squinted them open, just enough, and felt for the button, he clicked it and-

"Son of a bitch!" The light flared on to reveal faces staring at him. He couldn't make out the details through the tears in his eyes, but the vague outlines were enough to scare him.

The bear and the chicken were outside the window. And they didn't look very pleased with him.

Okay, he couldn't leave. He'd just wait in here, where it was safe.

At least, that's what his plan was. It didn't work very well, once he felt something brush his face, then tighten against his neck. It wasn't too late, he just had to get his hands in between the skin and the rope, and then he'd be okay.

His fingers clawed uselessly at the rope. Any attempt to breath was met with it being pulled tighter, tighter, always tighter.

And the man's last thought before everything went dark was that this must have been what all those children felt, right before. . .

Everything had gone dark for Alice too, albeit for a much different reason. The doors, which had both been closed, had finally drained the building of it's power. There was a second of confusion as everything seemed to stop.

And then her friends walked in. Her dear friends. . . but hadn't they left?

Maybe they'd come to take her off to somewhere nice. Somewhere happy. She felt a smile split the borrowed face she wore. Alice. Yes, that was her name. And her murderer was dead.

She didn't feel happy, persay. She felt. . . relieved, almost. Content. It was a vague warm feeling that wrapped around her.

It was time for her to go.

Faye dropped as if she were a puppet whose strings had been cut. She didn't manage to hit the floor, though. Arms, hands, grabbed her and lifted her up.

She wasn't aware of it. Neither was she aware of being pressed against metal covered by fabric.

The girl wasn't aware of anything anymore.

"Is t' lass still with us?"

"She's not waking up! Did he-"

"No. She's still alive. I can feel her breathing. She's still here."

"The girl needs help. Bonnie. . . That last endoskeleton. He didn't break, did he?"

"Well, no, but he hasn't been moving around much- . . . You don't think he's a-"

"Go look in the suit. If he's still alive, see if he'll help."

"What about the girl? What about the. . . body?"

"Set her down in her chair. Careful, we don't want to hurt her any more than she already is. Chica, Foxy, get back to your places. It's not long until opening, and I don't want any of us caught roaming."

"Aye, Freddy."

"Okay!"

"I'm going to stay here and keep an eye on her. If I'm right about our last endo. . . I don't think he'd take very kindly to me showing up, considering-"

"Right. I'll be back as soon as possible."

Even after meeting Faye and learning that she was, in fact, a human, Bonnie hadn't considered that the other 'endoskeletons' might have also been human. They'd been put out of his mind, forgotten.

But not he could remember. How many had there been? Hadn't they all protested, begged, said they were human?

How many people had they killed?

It wasn't something he could think of, though. Not then. He had to figure out a way to get help soon, and frankly, animatronic fingers were not made to dial phones.

He could into the room and glanced around, pausing as his eyes rest on a suit that was sitting in the corner. Originally, they'd left him standing, so that was a good sign, right?

The bunny decided it was and walked over. The suits required two people; one to get in, and one to zip it up. It couldn't be unzipped from the inside, since there was a little latch that held it closed.

Now, he undid the latch and pulled down the zipper. It took a moment before he was willing to reach in, but there was time for that.

He turned the suit, gently, and reached in, grabbing a handful of fabric. Not suit fabric, but shirt fabric, and then he pulled, gently.

The body came out easily, almost completely unscathed. Bonnie adjusted his grip and flinched at the dry feeling of the skin. Humans weren't supposed to feel like that, were they? It was too late. If the suit hadn't killed him then-

He moved. The sick and almost dead looking human in his arms moved, shifted to face him. His eyes were sunken in, but they were open.

He was still alive.

Bonnie stood, holding him, and turned. Now all he had to do was get the man back to the room, and everything would be okay.

David Bruno, better known as Dave to his friends, or Phone Guy to the night guards of the pizzeria, had never thought that he'd be caught.

The man had been with the place for years, and each night, without fail, he'd come, locked himself in the building, and then head to the security room, where he'd spend his shift. He came in for a few hours before whoever had the midnight to six shift, to keep track of what was going on and leave messages for whoever was going to be there for the rest of the night.

Even on the nights when he had stay until six in the morning while they were between guards, he'd always managed. He was very careful with the building, and he'd learned most of the animatronics patterns by heart. He'd managed to survive for so long. . . So why'd he run out of power on his last week?

He didn't know. He just knew that Foxy had been right outside, and Chica was on the other side, making a creepy groaning noise, and then. . .

The power had died.

And he'd gotten caught.

Luckily, the man had remembered the training tapes he'd made, back when they'd occasionally used people to walk the suits around, before. . .

The crank to switch the animatronics to suit mode was in the security booth, and the seconds the lights had gone out, he'd grabbed it and clutched onto it, even as he spoke to the phone.

It had been a hassle trying to the suit to actually be a wearable suit, while the animatronics were trying to force him into it. Eventually he'd managed, though, and his body was shoved in. He was bruised, sure, but not as shredded as he'd be if the wires and chunks of wood were still there.

And then. . . he'd waited.

It wasn't even two days after he'd been shoved in that the next guard had arrived, but the mouthpiece had something in it, and it blocked him from talking. He'd had to watch as the girl. . .

Walked in. And talked, and stalled, and finally proven that she was a human.

The animatronics reactions to that knowledge could explain why he'd stayed so long.

They were horrified. And he'd always known that, at heart, they weren't bad individuals. Sometimes he heard them through the cameras, discussing how to convince the 'endo' to come out and just get in the suit so they could play.

They'd never meant harm. That, and the fact that he knew how to handle them, led him to walking in the doors every night.

He'd lost track of how long he'd been in the suit. He remembered setting the messages to play over the course of a week, and it must be getting to the message that told her to check. She'd convinced them she was human, so surely she'd check, wouldn't she? There'd be no danger from it.

Time passed. Occasionally, one of the animatronics would come in, but he wouldn't move. He was to hungry, to thirsty to actually get to sleep. All he could do was wait.

His mind fluctuated back and forth between the idea of finally dying, and the hope that someone would get him out. He was on the former when the door opened, and his eyes shot up to look. Was it-

No. It was Bonnie. Bonnie was the only one who hadn't actually been there when they'd finally caught him. He'd arrived later, sure, but Dave could remember that he hadn't been there when they first grabbed him.

That didn't stop the panic that shot through him when the rabbit approached his prison. What was going on? Were they going to try and get him to perform? He wasn't sure his legs could manage that much.

The bunny turned him around, and the sound of a zipper made him perk up. Were they letting him out?

Sure enough, hands reached in and pulled him out of the suit. The feeling of fresh air brushed against his skin, and he closed his eyes to savor it. What ever the animatronic did to him, this few seconds of freedom was worth it.

Taking a deep breath, he twisted slightly and opened his eyes to look at Bonnie. The animatronic was cradling him like he was a baby. Fitting, considering he was about as weak as one.

And then they were moving, out the door, and down the hallway. A path he recognized. He was being carried back to the security room. He was not prepared, however, for what he saw when he got there.

Freddy was standing there in the mess, glancing around as if trying to decide what to do. There was salt everywhere, along with a candle and some weird things hanging over the doors.

That was the least alarming part, though.

The bodies were what made him wiggle to try and get away from the purple bunny holding him, though.

The girl he'd seen before was slumped in the security guard's chair, and it took a few moments of panic before he realized that, despite the bruises around her neck, she was still alive. Her chest, at least, was moving.

The other body was an old employee. Nathan, and the rope was still around his neck.

Despite all his beliefs the the animatronics were honestly good, the sight made him panic. He didn't want to see this, why did they bring him here. Oh. . . Oh God, where they actually going to kill him? But they'd been nice before, so why-

"S-Stop. You'll hurt yourself." Bonnie finally spoke up. Dave just continued to try and push away from him. He wanted to leave, to go home and sleep and eat and not die-

"Bonnie, go ahead and set him down, then go get some water for him. I'll talk to him." He felt the bunny set him down.

He felt the urge to run, to flee, to get out of there before they did something else.

Logic, however, kicked him in the face before he could even try.

He was too weak to be sprinting anywhere, and Freddy could move fast when he wanted to. There was no way he'd be able to get away.

So instead, he grabbed the table and pulled himself to his feet, using it to support his weight as he stared at the bear, then back at the two bodies.

"What happened?" His voice was hoarse, hardly recognizable as the man who'd left instructions over the phone. "What do you want from me?"

"We didn't do this. We never knew what we were-" Dave held up a hand to cut him off.

"I know. I heard." The tone of his voice was harsh, whether from anger, or the lack of use. "What do you want from me?" He repeated.

Freddy gestured to the girl in the chair.

"She needs help." The next gesture was to the man on the floor. "He tried to strangle her."

There was one more question he could have asked, glancing between all the occupants of the room.

But that was something for another day. Instead, he turned to the phone, picked it up, and dialed.

"Nine one one, what is your emergency?"