Millie's hands shook violently as she crept across the driveway to Sarah's garage. With no cars and no trees in the yard, she felt completely naked. She tried to reassure herself that Funtime Freddy was keeping watch though, and that he would lure any leering neighbors away if necessary. Still, she could already hear the police sirens, and had to shake her head to clear the maddening paranoia away.
Once she made it up to the garage doors, she leaned down and tested it, shocked when the metal gave way. Sarah, or her mother, had left it unlocked and easy to get into it. "I guess this is a safe neighborhood!" Bon-Bon remarked.
"Yeah, or whatever's inside is worse." Millie quipped. She lifted the doors a little more, wincing at the metallic screech, and crawled under the door. She fumbled around in the dark for a moment before finding the light switch. She blinked, adjusting to the sudden brightness, then stopped.
In the corner of the garage was a tall pile of trash. Bits of junk, sheet metal, and scrappy pieces of endoskeleton were all piled together haphazardly, facing a mirror. "Now that...is weird." Millie whispered.
"Weren't the rumours that Sarah turned into a bunch of metal junk?" Bon-Bon said. "Maybe this has something to do with it. Be careful." He warned.
Millie approached, her hair standing on end. The air felt electric. Atop the pile of garbage was a necklace, a cartoonish silver heart on a clunky chain. It was beautiful and immaculate among the rust and junk. She stared down at it, reaching forward and touching a rusty metal spoke in the pile. She yelped and immediately jerked back-the metal was warm to the touch, and it felt as if it had shocked her.
"Are you okay?" Bon-Bon cried. "What happened?!" He hung out of her bag, eying the pile of junk warily.
"Yeah, it's just… Warm. Really warm. And it felt like I got shocked, like with one of those prank buzzers." Her stomach swam with dread. "Bon-Bon, I really don't like this. I want to go home."
"I know, Millie. But we just need to-"
They both froze at the sound of singing.
"Go to sleep, Go to sleep,
Go to sleep, my sweet Sarah.
When you wake, when you wake,
All your dreams will come true."
"She's back! I thought Freddy was supposed to keep watch!" Millie exclaimed, panic setting in.
"Hide!" Bon-Bon crowed. "Now! Hurry!"
Millie looked around, heartbeat thundering in her ears. She heard the garage door start to rise. She dashed forward, throwing herself into a nearby storage cabinet and squishing herself up against the door. She closed it quickly, sucking in as she stuffed herself inside. She pulled her bag to her chest, holding Bon-Bon tightly as she tried to steady her breathing. He placed one of his hands to hers, silent but supportive.
They heard Sarah prance inside, open a drawer, and root around. "Ah, there it is!" She sing-songed. "I left my favorite scrunchie down here the other night. I almost left it here on the opening day of Very Berry Frooty Tooty! Can you believe that, Sarah?"
What? Millie peered through the seam of the cabinet doors, willing herself to stop trembling. Sarah was circling the pile of metal garbage, stroking a rusty sheet of metal lovingly and flicking the rust off her fingertips. Her laugh really was like tinkling bells.
"You look lovely as usual, my sweet little Sarah. What a wonderful view you must have! I'm going to be going on a date this evening you know. He's no Mason, but he's an absolute doll. You would've loved him. He sure does love you!" She giggled. "Or should I say me?"
She danced her fingers over the clunky chain of the necklace, blowing it a kiss. "My little wish granter. I'll be back later tonight. Perhaps I'll sing you a lullaby?" She clasped her hands together. "Yes, I've had our song stuck in my head all day! I'm sure you never grow tired of it. I'm sure you never grow tired of anything anymore."
Sarah, or whoever she was, laughed, twirling away. "Goodbye, my sweet! I'll tell you all about our date." And with that, she departed, still humming as she left.
Millie and Bon-Bon remained frozen in the closet for a few moments more. Millie could hardly breathe, and clutched the little hand puppet like he was a lifeline. Finally, when enough minutes had passed and they heard not a thing, they emerged.
As she stepped out, Millie noticed dark brown stains on the floor of the cabinet and fought against the bile that rose in her throat. She looked down at Bon-Bon, who looked absolutely aghast.
"That's not Sarah." She said, and he nodded. "Who do you think it is?"
"I don't know." He answered honestly. "But I think it's best if we get out of here. I have a strange feeling about that necklace...would you grab it? We can use the tools in the workshop and get a better look at it."
"Okay." Millie's brain felt like it was short circuiting. She looked at the trash pile and wanted to cry. She knew, deep down inside, that that was the real Sarah. That, and the old stains in the cabinet. She fought the revulsion that traveled through her and plucked the beautiful necklace up, stuffing it into her bag.
And then she ran.
XXX
Millie stared down at the dissembled silver heart before her curiously. Just as she had thought, the heart had held plenty of secrets beneath its surface-it's just that they were just that. Secrets. Millie had no idea of what in the world she was looking at.
Within the heart, there was something like a motherboard with a small coin-sized disc at the center of it. It almost reminded her of Funtime Freddy's power module, but much simpler. She tried prying it out of the motherboard with little luck, but with the use of one of her grandfather's magnifying glasses, she could make out miniscule lines crossing all over the disc's surface, delicate circuitry that was like a language she couldn't decipher.
After they had fled Sarah's home, they had made haste to return to Millie's. Though it was the daytime, Funtime Freddy tucked his friends into his stomach cavity and slunk through the woods that lined the roads that led to home, undetected. They made it back in record time, and after Millie met up with her grandfather and touched base, she instantly made her way to the workshop. There, she had wrestled with the clunky silver heart and its chain, finally managing to pry it open to find the hidden world inside.
"What is this?" Millie asked, looking to Funtime Freddy. "I've never seen anything like it."
"You're fifteen. You haven't seen much of anything." Freddy quipped. He leaned over her shoulder, rubbing his wide chin in thought. "Though, actually, I haven't seen anything like it either. No idea."
"Thanks." Millie grunted, rolling her eyes. "You're such a big help."
"Always a pleasure," Funtime Freddy said, turning away. "I'm going to go practice our duet now, sunshine."
"Hold on, Freddy! Let me take a look at it. We can practice our duet later this evening okay?" Bon-Bon said cheerfully, ignoring the bear's grumbling. The hand-puppet guided Freddy's arm down, peering over the spilled guts of the mechanical heart. "I never would've imagined it would have been so complicated on the inside." He mused. "These are some very advanced robotics, Millie."
"Do you think it's Fazbear Entertainment related?" She asked, taking the heart into her hands so Bon-Bon could get a closer look at it.
"Undoubtedly." He said.
He leaned down further, pressing a tiny paw flat against the disc, trying to gauge what it would do. Funtime Freddy hummed as the rabbit tried to figure something out, finding himself repeating the lilting melody that "Sarah" had been singing at the house.
Suddenly, the little disc spun in place, a spark flying off Bon-Bon's paw from the sheer speed. He yelped, jerking away. Millie stared down in surprise, taken aback by the sudden movement. Unbothered and likely not even paying attention, Funtime Freddy kept humming.
Suddenly, it was as if a cloak fell over Millie's hand, a fuzzy image settling over her own. Where her hand had once been, there was another, more flawless one. Gone was the chipped black nail polish, dry skin, and the cut on her index finger, and now there was a french manicure, clear skin, and perfectly slender fingers.
Millie squealed, dropping the necklace back to the desk. Instantly, the image flickered away and her normal hand was revealed. She jerked back in the chair, breathing hard. "What was that?!"
Bon-Bon grimaced, clutching his hand. "I'm not sure."
Funtime Freddy loomed over them both, attention snapped to the two of them now. "That was quite the spark!" He poked gently between Bon-Bon's ears, eyebrows jumping. "Is your paw scorched?"
"It's alright, just stung a bit!" Bon-Bon affirmed. "Thank you, dear. But now we know what that disc does."
"It was like...it suddenly made me perfect. My hand at least." Millie stammered.
"The hand that was holding it." Bon-Bon added.
"An illusion." Funtime Freddy surmised. "Imagine if you were wearing the entire necklace when it did that. You could be anyone."
"Wait a second…" Millie said thoughtfully. "You were humming, Freddy! You were humming whatever that not-Sarah-girl was singing, right? Maybe that's what activated it!" She swallowed hard, picking the heart back up despite her reservations. "Can you sing it again?"
"Sure thing, cupcake! You know how I love an encore." He drawled, picking up his microphone. "If you'd like, I can sing the whole thing! I do have an eidetic memory."
The door to the workshop opened and Millie jerked violently, startled by the sudden intrusion. Oh no… Grandpa! She could already feel herself starting to sweat, heartbeat racing. She turned to face him, and instantly felt her heart drop lower than she could have ever imagined.
"Oh, but I would sing it so much better." Sarah stood in the doorway, her eerie smile unwavering and the frizz of her hair framing her head like a halo. "Why don't you let me? Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep my sweet Sarah-"
The disc spun inside the heart once more, and Millie's hands were perfect. Beautiful.
Terrified, she dropped the heart to the desk again and moved behind Funtime Freddy, who was cocking his head at the girl singing before them. His own uncanny smile echoed her own. "Ah, but you have no humanity in your voice, do you Sarah?" His voice took on a mocking edge that made Millie's skin crawl with memory. Then she grounded herself, knowing it wasn't directed at her. "You sound empty. Tinny, even, like metal. You're one of us, aren't you?" He gestured to himself with a flourish.
Sarah's smile seemed to stretch even wider, green eyes shining dangerously. "A clever little troupe you are. Now, what do you intend to do with that information?" She shut the door behind her, and instinctively, Millie grabbed at Freddy's hip.
He looked down at her, surprised, and winked. Millie's resolve hardened, and she peeked from behind her enormous friend. "Where's Sarah?"
"I believe you've already met her." Not Sarah said, studying her nails. "I made her wish come true-with that little illusion disc in the necklace, I made her beautiful. But I knew she wouldn't listen to my instructions, and she...let's say, she fell apart." She giggled. "She became true to her own heart, and I took on her human form. Something truly beautiful, our fates intertwined. I was meant to become her."
Millie thought of the pile of junk. Garbage. Her heart clenched. "She was just a girl." Millie whispered. "She didn't know any better. That's just cruel."
"How did you do it?" Bon-Bon demanded, his voice harder than Millie had ever heard it.
Not Sarah giggled again, the sound of tinkling bells filling the workshop. "Oh, taking her apart? That was an art. And since she lived so close to the junkyard she found me in, it was so easy to find her new, more suitable parts for her broken self image. The disc did the rest. All things I learned from an old friend of yours, Funtime Freddy."
The bear's back stiffened. "Oh? Who might that be?"
"Do you not remember Circus Baby?" Not Sarah cooed. "Oh, she always had so much to say about you. Especially after you ejected her from your big happy family." She was mocking him now.
Funtime Freddy was frozen. Millie tapped his arm, then looked to Bon-Bon. The little rabbit was frozen too, staring up at his partner. They both looked inanimate. Millie felt a bead of sweat drip down her forehead. Not Sarah smiled sweetly, looking pleased with herself. "Have I jogged something inside of you, Funtime Freddy? That's not your original body, is it? That's just an ugly old pile of junk. A prototype."
"How did you know Circus Baby?" Funtime Freddy sprung back to life, eyes narrowed.
"Are you remembering now, silly bear?" Not Sarah strut forward, humming. With each step, a little of her façade faded away, the illusion dropping away to reveal the truth. She was tall and slender to Sarah's short and chubby, all pointed edges and confident strut. She was a feminine animatronic, more humanoid than Millie's robotic friends.
"You all were right, I'm not Sarah, at least not in truth. I was created as Eleanor. Circus Baby found me after you cruelly rejected her, when the last pieces of her were searching for a new body. She came across me, but had eventually decided on a...different form. Still, she left me activated. She did not want to be alone, especially after what you did to her."
Funtime Freddy took a step forward, but the much smaller animatronic didn't blanche. "You know nothing of what happened."
Millie had never heard the bear so serious. She shrunk back. What's going on?
"I suppose you'll tell me you loved Circus Baby, that she was part of your family. That what you did was for the greater good, or something sweet like that." She scoffed. "How pathetic. Circus Baby told me all about it, and how she never forgave you. And she was right about the waste of your intelligence."
"We'll see what's a waste when I'm done with you, Eleanor." Funtime Freddy's voice was low, dangerous. "You named yourself, didn't you? Too pretty of a name for a knockoff Circus Baby. And you call me the prototype!"
Eleanor's eyes narrowed, and Millie could see that her friend had hit a nerve. Or circuit. Whatever. "Oh yes, I'm so sure the inferior model, so big and clunky and ugly, will have the last word." She paused, crossing her arms, resting her cheek on her slender hand. "I knew it was you the second that little girl walked into my ice cream shop. I've been preparing for the eventuality of being found, and I'm most certainly prepared for the likes of you. And after I'm finished with you, I'll finish off your little pet." She chuckled. "Perhaps I can make her beautiful too."
Millie struggled to breathe, holding back tears. Why do I have to cry so easily? "Why? Why are you doing this? Why would you kill Sarah? Just for wanting to be beautiful? Wanting to be accepted?" It was a feeling Millie knew all too well, and she felt her emotions swelling up within her. "Why?!"
Eleanor shrugged. "She was the human to stumble upon me, the human to want a silly little wish, and the first opportunity that arose. Her desires and my own were so closely intertwined. You see, little Millie, I wanted to be human. When Circus Baby activated me, she spun many a fanciful tale about the beauties of humanity. I never even had the chance to entertain children, to be a part of the world-I was scrapped before I could even try." She said bitterly.
"Circus Baby may have known what it was like to be free. She may have held humanity at her fingertips, once carrying the memories of a child and the skin of a man. But I have done better. I have integrated and become human." Images of Sarah flickered over Eleanor's, human and imperfect. "I have become beautiful."
"No, you haven't." Millie felt rage rise up within her, and stepped from behind Freddy to stand beside him. "What you've done is nothing but ugly."
"Well said, Silly Millie." Funtime Freddy nodded his approval. "You're nothing like Circus Baby. She was...a child, broken and desperate and with too much power. You're just a little pauper with the dreams of a princess." He sneered then. "You will never be human. Do you know how easy it was to see you so out of place among the other humans?"
"Even your human companion seemed uncomfortable. Everyone would have discovered it eventually." Bon-Bon added. "You cannot be human, Eleanor. You have killed for nothing."
"And what of your own murders?" Eleanor challenged, eyes flashing.
"At least I'm not pretending to be something else.." Funtime Freddy said. Then, eyes flicking to Millie. "And now I've got better things to do anyway. Didn't you mention how bitter you were that you never got to make children smile? How jealous you must be of me." He taunted. "And didn't you say that the girl needed to activate you? Seems Circus Baby thought you just as useless as your creator in the end. And here you are calling me inferior, little princess!"
Eleanor stiffened. Her smile was threatening now, like a predator baring its teeth.
"You have nothing." Millie echoed Funtime Freddy. "You could've been her friend. You could've done so much more. And yet… She's gone, and you're alone." Millie almost pitied her. Almost.
"She isn't gone!" Eleanor sneered hideously, her smile gone now. "Though she's but a pile of garbage, her spirit lingers in the metal and the last pieces of her humanity, pieces of her mind still intact. Her fear, her desperation, her agony… It keeps her alive there, hidden away in the metal and tortured by her own insecurity. With her there, I am never alone! We are intertwined!"
Millie's heart skipped a beat. "She's still in there?" Can she be saved?
Eleanor drifted forward, impossibly elegant. "Yes, little Millie. I knew she would never agree to our switch, so that's where she will stay. Would you like to join her?"
Millie stood her ground. She knew she wasn't alone.
And then, one massive hand gripped Eleanor's head. "Say, princess. Have you ever heard of what happened to royalty during the French revolution?"
Eleanor twisted away, scratching his arm as she went. He didn't even flinch, and merely laughed. She growled, an ugly snarl twisting her metal lips.
"There were many reasons." Funtime Freddy approached her, his gait leisurely. This time, Bon-Bon didn't stop him. "One, accusations of treason. Two, bringing France into debt. And three, the choice of hedonism over giving help to an entire nation of people in desperate need after their own poor decision making." His eyes glowed. "If you want to be a human, princess, then you'll find yourself paying for their crimes. After all… You were the one to walk into this workshop."
Eleanor hesitated. "I am better than you. You are old news, ugly and slow." She circled him, then froze. Her head cocked, and she smiled once more. "There are forces greater than you at work here, Funtime Freddy. And you can't keep playing with your pet human and pretending everything is fine. If you do, the ending of your story will be a terrible one." A trickle of black, something between blood and tar, dripped from the corner of her lips. "You cannot escape the fate we were created to be doomed to."
"You've got a little something on your mouth there." Funtime Freddy pointed. "Let me get it for you!"
He lunged forward with a speed that betrayed his hulking physique, and even Bon-Bon's little paws outstretched. Millie gasped, pressed against the wall.
"I will survive you!" Eleanor cried, barely dancing out of his reach, his fingertips grazing her pigtails. She twisted around, clawing at his back, sparks dancing off his metal hide and illuminating her crazed face. "I will be human, and you will be nothing!"
"Oh please, princess. There's only so much you can whine about, over and over." Funtime Freddy sighed, unaffected by her attack despite the deep gouges she had left in the metal. "It gets tiring. At least you've got the human moaning and groaning going for you."
Eleanor hissed, her voice venomous. "I will be more than any of you!" The blackness leaked from her eyes like tears. "I will not be left alone to rot among the trash! I will be great, and I will be remembered!" She leaned into a crouch, fingers bent into claws as she readied to lunge at the much larger animatronic once more.
Pity gripped Millie's heart, but then she remembered the garbage. She remembered the girl it had been, and realized that she didn't know Sarah at all.
She looked right at Eleanor then, her voice soft. "Remembered like Sarah?"
Eleanor paused as she looked back, her face unreadable. "Yes. Like Sarah."
And then Eleanor lunged for her, the black smeared across her face like blood as her faceplates flew open to reveal the endoskeleton underneath. A harsh metallic screech tore from her, ugly and horrifying as she flew forward spraying the same blackness that had been leaking through the cracks in her face.
A scream caught in Millie's throat as she scrunched her eyes closed in surprise. The last thing she saw was outstretched fingers, pointy and long and aimed right for her face.
And then…
A mighty shrieking sound, the sound of twisting, crushed metal and imploding plastics. The whine of mechanical gears, the scream of electricity bursting through circuitry, the tumultuous cry of defeat.
Then, a loud clang as something fell to the ground.
Millie opened her eyes, the tears finally coming. Eleanor lay there before her, head separated from her body and her chest torn open to reveal sparking circuitry and stalling gears and a whirring power module complete with an AI core. Funtime Freddy raised his massive foot, preparing to stomp down on what was left of the animatronic, right as Millie noticed the slick, shiny blackness that seemed to crawl over the power module, like something alive.
"Wait, Freddy! Her power source!" Millie darted forward, crouching over Eleanor's twisted remains to block them from Freddy's assault. The power module glinted up at her, as if daring her to touch it, the motherboard and AI core seeming to glow. Sparks leapt up from the twisted metal, almost as if they were trying to grab at Millie's face.
Funtime Freddy sighed heavily, but after a prompt from Bon-Bon, lowered his foot. "What about it?" He asked grumpily. "You're ruining my theatrics."
"It...looks like yours. With the black stuff. What if she was...programmed too? Poisoned?" Millie said. "We know we might be able to help Sarah. She said she's still in the metal. But what about Eleanor?"
"What about her?" Funtime Freddy grunted. "She was going to kill us."
"So were you." Millie countered. "I…" She couldn't get the words out. But the guilt was too much. She couldn't just watch someone die, animatronic, human or otherwise. Being the judge was too much. What made Freddy worth more than this animatronic? What if Eleanor too was capable of change, or at least becoming slightly less unhinged?
But what would she even do with it? With what was left of Eleanor?
"I understand." Bon-Bon said, interrupting her ruminations. "If we remove the power module, the body will be inanimate. We will be safe, but Eleanor will live on. Freddy, would you mind procuring it? Gently. And then we can store it safely." His voice was small. Millie knew that he too was under duress. These choices were difficult.
"I'll find something to put it in." Millie suddenly felt distant, as if everything that had happened the past few days was finally hitting her. She turned away from what was left of Eleanor, cringing at the sound of metal twisting and tearing as she began to dig through her Grandpa's junk to find something to put the power module in. Just thinking of touching it made her feel sick, and she wasn't too terribly keen on Funtime Freddy touching it for very long either.
She crouched over a crate full of old jars, digging through it as tears ran down her face. It was all too, too much. But there was no turning back now.
She remembered Eleanor's shift into desperation, the thick oil-like leaking, the sudden cryptic message. There were powers greater than them at work. And Millie felt the weight of it riding on her shoulders. She couldn't stop now. She had to figure out who had programmed Freddy, what had "poisoned" both him and Eleanor, and save Sarah. Somehow.
Plus, there was the matter of the Stitchwraith. She cursed Funtime Freddy's quick action and her lack of reaction due to fear-there was so much more they could discover from Eleanor, if they could've convinced her. But perhaps preserving and observing her power module and AI core would bridge the way to communication. After all, she was sure that it would be easy to procure a small voice box and other equipment if necessary, and her Grandpa wouldn't say no to another project. She could build something to communicate with Eleanor while making sure she wasn't able to hurt anyone else. She knew she could. She just had to have hope.
She remembered the Stitchwraith grasping her journal like a lifeline, pointing frantically to Hope. What did it all mean? If the seemingly poisoned and utterly desperate Eleanor was more than she seemed, then there was no doubt that there were secrets hidden in the Stitchwraith as well. After all, Funtime Freddy was more than his programming, and he had proven so ten times over by now. Why shouldn't these other Fazbear Entertainment creations have the same chance?
It was all so much. Such heaviness.
And then there was who knows how many other victims. She thought of article after article, and had to force herself to breathe.
Right now, she just needed to find a jar. Then plan to help Sarah. And then see what came next.
For now, the danger was over. They had time.
Tomorrow was another day.
A/N:Another fun ride, and the start of the exploration of human and robotic ethics! What fun times. Hope you guys enjoyed, and thanks for the support! I can now finally post the doodle I made for this chapter too! I also hope everyone is having good holidays. I have some trauma related to Christmas, but I'm trying to enjoy it for what it is this year and redefine what it means to me. Plus I celebrate the Winter Solstice, so it's double the fun! I hope that if the holidays are hard for any of you that you're staying safe and taking care of yourself. Just know you're loved and it's okay! And if you ever need to talk, my messages and anonymous asks are open over on chicatenders on tumblr. Love you guys!