*Thoughts*

"Speech"

".Plushtrap Speak."

In the Shadows

Fredbear's eyes blinked open slowly.

Sitting up, he stretched; it had been a few days since his fall, so his mouth wasn't as sore anymore.

Blinking again, he looked around.

He immediately knew something was off; his room, usually lit well by the time he awoke, was dim, some sort of... presence, lurking about.

His ears folded down; he gave a small whimper.

"Nightmare...?"

No answer.

Shaking, the bear looked around again, before slowly climbing out of bed, making his way to his door.

He nervously reached for the handle.

However, he paused.

*Should I wait here...?*

He felt a shiver run up his spine; craning his head around, he found that his room had become darker.

Fear gripped his heart; he pushed up on his toes, turned the handle, and got out as fast as he could.

"Guys, what's going on with the house today?"

Panic laced Nightmare's voice as he entered the kitchen.

The others, already gathered there, looked at him.

"We are not sure either," Freddy replied. "We woke up and it was like this--"

"Where's Fredbear?" Chica asked.

Nightmare bit his lower lip.

"I don't know...I can't find his room..."

He looked over his shoulder; the house beyond the doorway was dimly lit, and practically a maze of identical hallways.

"I'm getting worried..."

The others shot nervous glances at each other.

Foxy stepped forward, concern on his face.

"Ye wan' us t' help look fer 'im?"

Nightmare looked back at them, worry still plastered on his face.

"Please...if you would..."

They agreed without a second thought.

The eleven split off into pairs; when Nightmare trudged off down into a hallway, Bonnie trailed after him, concerned for both of the bears.

Fredbear fearfully wandered down a hallway, looking around.

All the halls he had been down already looked exactly the same; dark green carpeting and deep orange wallpaper.

The little bear began to shake as the lights dimmed once more; he quickened his pace, hoping to find another staircase to descend down soon.

Unfortunately, every time he found a staircase, he felt a new sense of fear and dread; he desperately didn't want to fall, but the fact that he was shaking now certainly didn't help his chances.

Upon finding the staircase, he whimpered; he stumbled a little going down, scaring the daylights out of him.

Once he reached the bottom, he paused for a breather, looking around.

Same exact look to the hallway.

His ears folded down as he whimpered again.

Nightmare went into full panic mode, charging down the hallways as he searched.

"Fredbear?! Fredbear!!"

Bonnie ran after him; upon catching up to him, he had no choice but to tackle the bear down.

"Nightmare!! Slow down!!"

The bear yelped as they crashed to the floor.

Sitting up and rubbing his nose, he shot a small glare at the bunny.

"What the heck, Bonnie?"

The bunny sat up as well, looking at him.

"Dude, you need to calm down--"

"I need to find Fredbear!!" The bear snapped back. "He could be hurt!!"

"Yeah, I know--"

He yelped as he found himself suddenly pinned down by the larger predator, the black bear's hands around his neck.

Nightmare's eyes glowed bright red as he snarled.

"Then why are you stopping me?!"

Fredbear shrieked as he tripped, starting to fall down the staircase he was currently on.

He just barely managed to grab onto the railing before he went for a full tumble; he clutched onto it for dear life, whimpering.

After a moment, the shaking bear carefully made his way down the rest of the stairs, looking around.

Yet another hallway.

Tears stung the corners of his eyes as he began yet another walk down it.

Nightmare helped Bonnie up.

"Sorry about that," He apologized nervously. "I don't know what came over me..."

"It's fine," Bonnie replied, rubbing his neck.

Got a pretty strong grip, though.*He thought to himself.

He placed a hand on the bear's shoulder.

"Like I said, I wanna help ya find Fredbear, but panicking ain't gonna help anybody."

Nightmare nodded.

"You're right..."

He pulled the bunny into a side-hug.

"Thanks, Bonnie."

"No prob."

With that, they parted, continuing the search.

Fredbear spun around, eyes darting around fearfully as his body clammed up.

He could'veswornsomething had made a noise behind him--

A shadow moved.

His eyes widened yet again at the almost unnoticeable sight; shaking, he whirled around and sprinted away.

Taunting, almost unbearable, footsteps followed; like they wanted him to hear, but not be loud.

The other kids regrouped in the kitchen after an hour.

None had seen hyde nor hair of the little bear, much to his brother's dismay.

The panic was beginning to set in again; he clenched his fists to hold it down.

"Why is this happening?" He muttered, rage slowly replacing his fear. "Why would the house do this to us?"

"Maybe it's mad at us?" JChica mused nervously.

"Perhaps...perhaps it is not the house itself?"

All heads turned to Freddy.

Said bear rubbed his chin as he thought.

"Perhaps it is being manipulated somehow..."

"All the dark, scary hallways are way different than what it usually puts out," BB offered up.

"And it hasn't separated us like this before," Bonnie added.

"And there's that weird feeling..."

All heads turned to Mangle, the vixen deep in thought as well.

"I dunno about you guys," she continued, "but I've had this weird feeling all day, like something else... something bad...is here with us..."

Sadly, the others did know what she was talking about.

Nightmare opened his mouth to speak...

Something sparked in his chest.

Faint, but there nonetheless.

The wide-eyed bear went charging from the room, the others unable to stop him.

Fredbear ran down the hallway, tears streaming down his face.

He tripped, faceplanting; he went skidding a couple of feet, aggravating the wound on his gums.

The bear sat up, whimpering.

His entire body clammed up when he heard dark chuckling and slow clapping behind himself.

Shaking almost violently, the golden bear slowly turned around.

He was greeted by the sight of a dark purple bear and a black rabbit stepping out of the shadows.

Their pure white eyes and evil grins burned into his soul as they came closer.

The bear spoke, malice lacing his voice.

"Hello, Fredbear..."

Nightmare sprinted on, the feeling in his chest getting more intense as he followed it.

Running up staircases and down hallways, Nightmare grew more frantic as he went.

Suddenly, he heard sounds.

Not good ones, unfortunately.

Sounds of crying and striking assaulted his ears, making his eyes widen.

*No...no, he can't be...oh no...*

He sped up even more, fear and rage consuming his body.

Fredbear curled into a ball with a cry of pain as the two began hitting and kicking him.

He gave little yelps and whimpers as each of their fists and feet connected with his small body.

"Oh, don't cry, little one," Shadow Freddy smirked. "It will all be over soon..."

"Soon forus," Shadow Bonnie added.

"Very true."

After a few minutes of beating the poor child, the purple bear grabbed him around the neck and hoisted him up.

Fredbear flinched back, attempting to cover his face with his hands; however, Shadow Bonnie grabbed his wrists from behind and held them down.

Shadow Freddy examined his face for a moment.

He then proceeded to punch him in the face as hard as he could.

That elicited a loud cry of pain from the smaller bear, pain shooting through his face and into his gums, aggravating his healing wound.

Shadow Freddy repeated the process a few more times, changing his aim every time.

He seemed satisfied when the gums around one of Fredbear's teeth began to bleed; he dropped the little one on the floor again.

"Done already?" Shadow Bonnie asked, incredulous.

"Perhaps we can stay a little longer," Shadow Freddy replied, looking down at Fredbear again. "After all, we haven't gotten to know our new friend as much as we could yet, have we?"

The golden bear's face was stained with tears, new ones still falling; his crying increased at the other's words.

Shadow Freddy smirked.

"If you think that was bad, little one, we can do much--"

He was cut off by a roar, sounding as if it came straight from the underworld, sounding in the hallway.

The unwelcome visitors were scared out of their wits; they shot glances at each other, until Shadow Bonnie was suddenly punched in the stomach and sent flying.

Shadow Freddy's eyes widened, but he wasn't given much time to react as he was tackled by a jet-black blur.

He came face-to-face with two very, very angry red eyes adorning a jet-black face with large fangs.

Said fangs were a matching set with large claws, which he soon became very well aquainted with as they ripped into his "fur" and "skin".

He attempted to fight back, but the attacks were too swift, and he was pinned down after being taken by surprise.

Shadow Bonnie had hit the wall and roughly landed on the floor; rubbing the side of her head, she saw her partner being mauled by the angrier bear.

"Fred!!"

She began charging up something in her hand, but stopped when she realized she might hit her partner.

"Fuck..."

The curled up bear on the ground caught her eye; she creeped over to him, grabbing him around the neck and yanking him up in the air, ignoring his yelps.

"Hey!! Demon bastard!!"

Nightmare's head whipped around to her, snarl still on his face; his eyes widened when he saw her holding Fredbear.

The black bunny narrowed her eyes.

"Let 'im go, or the puny one gets it."

She had expected him to let her comrade go and grab his brother away from her.

What she wasn't expecting was a moment of silence followed by another angry roar, which in turn was followed by him literally exploding.

She was sent flying again; after hitting the wall and rendered unable to get up from the pain, she felt two careful arms wrap around her.

"That was extremely reckless," Shadow Freddy whispered. "But thank you for the distraction."

With that, he teleported the two away, out of the house.

Said house brightened significantly without their influence.

Nightmare panted heavily, resting for a moment as he wiped a little sweat off his forehead.

His attention immediately went to Fredbear, who had curled into a shaking, crying ball again.

Nightmare gently pulled him into his arms.

Holding his brother close, he began gently stroking his head.

"Shh...it's okay, Fredbear...I'm here now..."

Fredbear clutched to him, burying his face in the older's skin; his tears and sobs continued.

Nightmare could feel his heart breaking.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here in time..."

He began rubbing circles into the smaller bear's back; that seemed to have a better calming effect, even if it took several minutes.

Once Fredbear's sobs had died down to sniffles and hiccups, Nightmare gently stood, cradling him.

"Let's go get you fixed up, buddy..."

And with that, he sprinted away, clutching the little bear to his chest.