AN: I'm CynonianHunter. If it's not already clear, I'm here to write my own version of TeaBladeWriter's stories Foxy's Evolution and Steel Vendetta. And, rest assured, I will finish it. My own version will be different, very different. I like the changes, but more importantly I hope you will too. Me, and my Editor/Co-Author Spacecat both put a lot of work into figuring out how we wanted to rewrite the original fics.

Author's Notes will never contain spoilers of any kind, and only either small comments from us, or information I feel you as the reader need/deserve to know.

For those who would prefer it, this story is cross-posted on AO3 under the same title. Also, discord members will be given access to bits early and behind the scenes stuff! (so join, or else. -spacecat)

With that out of the way, let's begin.

Chapter 1: Wake-up Call

"I told you to stay away from us!"

Foxy didn't even have the time to process what Toy Fred yelled at him, let alone respond, before the bear launched his fist into the vulpine's head, sending him sprawling onto the floor.

Foxy wheezed, struggling to lift himself off the floor.

"I wasn't… anywhere near-"

His plea was interrupted by a swift kick to his gut by a golden-furred foot. Foxy coughed out specks of oil, curling in on himself and holding his stomach as he collapsed again.

Suddenly, he was reminded why it was a bad idea to be outside his cove. He mentally kicked himself for thinking it would be fine to just walk around the place and stretch his legs, so long as he kept his distance from everyone else. No matter what he did, there was always a cruel reminder that no such distance existed, at least not outside of his place of forced isolation.

"Ugh, he coughed on me…" Goldie dully remarked, lifting his foot to point out the two minuscule dark spots of oil. If anything, they just blended into the rest of his filth-ridden yellow fur. Calling his fur 'gold' was bordering on hyperbole. Toy Freddy, though, seemed more concerned about it, immediately turning Foxy over with his foot before planting it on his chest.

"Oh, and now you think you're free to cough up your filth on us? This is why we do this, trash like you needs to be reminded of its place or it'll go off getting the wrong idea."

Foxy's chest felt as if it was caving in on itself with the weight of Fred's foot bearing down on him, slowly growing heavier and heavier as Fred leaned more and more of his plentiful weight against him. He could barely even look up, though it would probably be a bad idea even if he could. Knowing Fred, he'd probably find some way to twist it into another reason to take this "punishment" even further.

Through his blurred vision, he saw everyone gathering around. An all too familiar sight, one that he hated that he could recognize so easily. Fred and Goldie beating him, Bonbon and Toy Chica walking up to watch… and Mangle. She had an indescribable blend of mixed emotions plastered on her face as she stood off in the back, with Balloon Boy standing close beside her.

Foxy closed his eyes.

He didn't want to be reminded of her.

Coughing, the vulpine struggled to speak as the weight on his chest from Fred felt like it was going to flatten him entirely.

"Leave me be, and I won't bother ye again… I swear on it," Foxy wheezed.

"Oh, and I suppose that you really mean it this time? Just like every other time?" Goldie spat back.

"Yeah," Fred chimed in, "you don't really seem to get it, do you? Figures you'd be so stupid you'd need it spelled out for you." At that moment, Fred leaned more of his weight onto Foxy, his chest creaking under the strain.

"You're not welcome here. Why can't you just stay in your little cove and waste away already?"

Foxy was silent. If he said anything, he'd get beaten for it. If he was silent, he still would, but it would probably be over quicker. That's what he hoped at least. With Fred, there was no telling what he'd do. No rhyme or reason as to why he insisted on continuing this torture. At this point, Foxy just wanted Fred to finish saying whatever shallow, grandiose speech he was giving, and let him go back to his cove.

"Look at the state of this restaurant Foxy… it's worse than it's ever been, all thanks to you. If you just hadn't killed that little girl this place would be as great as we deserve, but you had to go and ruin that for us! Just like you ruin everything!" -Fred lifted his leg to stomp on Foxy for some extra emphasis- "Monsters like you make me sick."

Without even realizing it, Foxy had begun baring his teeth. At first the speech had been more of the same, more of what he got every day. But the girl, that wasn't his fault.

He'd die before he'd let Fred pin that solely on him.

Before Fred could bring his foot back down on him, Foxy swung his arm out and knocked Fred's leg away, sending the ursine off-balance and toppling to the floor with a loud metal slam to the surprise of everyone.

The fox scrambled onto his feet in an attempt to escape. If he could lock himself in another room until they gave up, he'd be home free. But before he could begin his sprint, he was pulled to the floor again, Goldie had grabbed his leg and yanked him back towards them. Foxy tried kicking at Goldie to free himself, but after two good hits at Goldie's jaw, he got his second ankle grabbed and pinned down, holding him in place as Fred placed his foot back on top of Foxy.

"See? It's just like I said," Fred began, stammering slightly as he quickly got up again, "If you leave trash alone for too long, it starts to forget its place!" he preached, gesturing at Foxy as if he was giving a demonstration, or rather a show, to the others.

"We need to teach this waste of scrap a lesson…" Fred said, trying to come up with something. It was pretty clear he couldn't think of anything, but he kept over-acting, stroking his chin and pacing, as if he was cooking up something good.

"He tried to run away earlier, seems busting his legs once wasn't enough to get the point across." Goldie suggested, his booming voice giving off a far stronger presence than Fred's.

"R-right, I like your thinking! I was onto something, but yeah, let's go with that. Keep him pinned for me."

Goldie grabbed Foxy's neck, holding him against the floor with every pound of his weight, all but crushing the vulpine's throat. He stared down at Foxy with a horrific grin, one so out of place on his normally expressionless face. He really seemed to enjoy getting Foxy tortured like this, it wasn't just some passive fun like the rest found it, for him it was a genuine pleasure.

He leaned down to Foxy and spoke with a low growl. "Y'know, if you were to beg, we might just let you go."

Foxy spat another speck of oil on Goldie's face, "I'll never beg to the likes of you."

"Have it your way, fox."

With that, Fred began stomping on Foxy's right leg, quickly shattering the weak remains of his outer metal, and exposing his bare endoskeleton. Foxy clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth to hold in his would-be shouts of agony. Goldie's grin grew with every stomp, and Toy Chica and Bonbon cheered Fred on.

And Mangle… Mangle just stayed in the back, not involving herself beyond shielding the eyes of Balloon Boy beside her. Seeing Mangle here hurt Foxy more than any of the damage being done to his legs, and to his pride. She just stood there, not even paying attention, let alone trying to stop Fred. She just looked at the floor.

How was she even the same person he met a year ago?

About a minute passed, but it felt like hours. If Foxy could sweat, he would be spilling buckets. No amount of dissociation would keep this amount of pain from getting to him. With one last kick, Fred was done destroying Foxy's legs.

They were completely trashed, to the point it made their earlier state seem brand new. The outer layer was entirely gone, leaving absolutely nothing below his lower thighs but his endoskeleton, which now was dented, damaged, and even loose at some parts. His right leg was worse off, the joint was damaged, twisted out of place. Sparks flew out from it as it twitched, jerking inwards as if trying to fix itself from Fred bending it too far the wrong way.

"There, maybe now you'll think twice about trying to bother us." Fred returned to Goldie and motioned for him to get up. "Come on, let's go."

Goldie stood up, looking down at Foxy before giving him an extra kick in the head and stepping over him, walking away with the rest. Toy Chica and Bonbon both joined Fred as they left the room, followed by Mangle carrying Balloon Boy close behind as Goldie caught up to her.

And then, silence.

Aside from the ringing in his head thanks to that kick.

Foxy was finally alone.

Slowly he pushed himself off the ground, struggling to get up as his right leg would jerk out of place every time he thought he had finally got his balance. It was difficult to keep himself on his feet now that they were in this condition, but he slowly managed to rest his weight on them. He stood still for a moment before he even dared to move. Carefully, he began walking, hunched over to keep his balance every time his right leg would jolt.

He began making his way to the back rooms, just like he did every night prior.

Foxy stumbled into the backroom as quietly as he could, silently shutting the door behind him as best he could manage with his right leg jerking around. Sparks flew out of his joint with each movement, like his leg was fighting against his every movement.

The backroom was all but pitch-black once he shut the door. The only source of light was the faint light from the hallway outside shining in from the crack beneath the door to the room. It was barely enough to illuminate the room. In fact, it was just barely enough to even outline the scrap parts that lined the floor, old and worn, no longer usable in any way. Only there because no one cared enough to clean the room anymore.

The light was enough for Foxy, though. His eyes made plenty of use of that dim glow, seeing through the pitch-black just fine. Even more than his eyes being good for it, he was used to it. He came back here often; it's where all the tools and spare parts were, after all. Considering how often he had to use them, this place had essentially become his second cove.

Foxy crawled along the checkered floor until he sat himself against the wall. He absentmindedly grabbed some tools that were right beside him, where he always put them, and began getting to work on his leg. This was routine for him by this point, every night he had to fix some part of his body, not knowing for sure if it'd ever be repaired to the state it was only the night prior.

Tonight, he wasn't having such luck. Foxy struggled trying to twist his knee joint back into place, but it just wouldn't budge, suddenly kicking every time he was about to make some progress. He threw them to the side in frustration. The joint in his knee was still twitching like the limb of a dying animal, jolting him around with no moment of peace. He sighed, looking at the room around him, and was greeted by the same, grim sight he saw every night.

Around the room were the scattered, motionless, deactivated bodies of Bonnie, Freddy, and Chica.

The original ones, not those lousy replacements.

Bonnie's left arm was missing, and his face torn off completely, flayed wires spilling out of the front. Chica's hands were gone, and her jaw was broken, forever unhinged and gaping, her face locked in an expression of silent pain. And then there was Freddy… Freddy's was somehow the worst. His body was all in one piece, just worn and torn. Perhaps that's why it was the hardest for Foxy to look at. A perfectly put-together body, yet devoid of any life, like the room he resided in.

Foxy picked the tool back up, jamming it into his knee again trying to fix it. He glanced up at his old friends again, gritting his teeth as he lowered his head to his knee, trying his damndest to keep the thing still while he worked on it. As if trying to keep himself sane, the vulpine began talking to himself.

"Every night I deal with their shit. It's not enough for 'em to make me waste away, nooo, they have to go out of their way to make sure my life is a living hell."

His voice was hushed, but furious. Every ounce of anger he had in him at that moment was poured into those words.

"I come in here every night, fixing myself as best I can after what they do to me. Only for them to do it again the next night!" His hands paused, his mouth hanging open before he raised his head, and leaned back against the wall.

He imagined how nice it would be to have just a little help fixing his leg, he'd probably already be done. He let out a long sigh, closing his eyes.

"...It was easier when you were all here with me."

"I'm still here for you."

Foxy opened his eyes, startled. Seemingly out of nowhere, Marionette had shown up right next to him. Foxy was a little flustered, being caught talking to himself and all. Marionette didn't seem to be concerned with that, his gaze directed towards Foxy's twitching knee.

"This is worse than usual, what happened?"

"Freddy, er, Fred bent my leg backwards, the joint got all busted-"

"No Foxy, I mean why? He hasn't been doing stuff this bad since it all started."

"I uh… I fought back this time," Foxy explained, scratching the back of his head, "I knocked him off his feet. He had Goldie pin me down after that. Did all this."

Marionette's demeanor noticeably shifted after hearing what Foxy said, his face sterner now than before. He examined Foxy's knee for a moment.

"So… you fought back."

"Yeah… In hindsight, it probably wasn't a smart move but-"

"No," Marionette interrupted, his tone of voice more serious than Foxy was familiar with, "you did what you should've. I was worried they had broken your spirit long ago." He explained, looking at the husks of the former Fred Gang scattered about the floor, lifeless and withering.

Foxy looked at them again as well, remembering their last moments.

Bonnie's face and arm were torn off for "harassing Bonbon'' as they put it. All that had happened was that Bonbon bumped into him by accident, yet he threw such a fuss about it like he was being followed and attacked by Bonnie. Foxy still remembered the way his voice fell apart in the middle of screaming as Fred tore his face off. It deteriorated so quickly before cutting out entirely when the wires holding onto his face finally snapped. They could see the pain he was in as his body continued flailing, yet he couldn't make a sound. Foxy and Freddy tried so hard to help, but once Bonnie stopped writhing in pain, he just stopped moving entirely, sitting in that same spot as he withered.

Only a couple nights passed before the frantically blinking light on his blackbox stopped, and he was gone.

Chica died next. One day, Toy Chica just decided that seeing her at all made her upset, saying she was like a fat, walking burden on her self-image. Apparently that was all the reason Fred and Goldie needed to beat her, mocking her "Let's Eat" getup while they ripped her hands off and forced them down her throat, breaking her jaw in the process.

After that, she never left the backroom until she died there too, the same silent, agonizing death as Bonnie.

And then there was Freddy. He wasn't the same after Bonnie and Chica died. He and Foxy were beaten and abused all the same, but one night he said he was "too tired for this anymore."

He just didn't wake up after that.

Foxy remembered desperately trying to wake him up for hours the morning after until he just sat across from him, choking on air. That was the first time he wished he could cry. Really cry, like the children that came to the restaurant did.

He could choke up, whimper, and stammer all he wanted, but it never made him feel any better. He never felt any release.

Foxy's eyes flicked back to Marionette, remembering he was in the middle of a conversation. Marionette's expression was patient, his eyes seemed to show an understanding.

"...They've broken me in a lot of ways, but no, I guess not my spirit just yet," Foxy finally answered.

Marionette seemed to be thinking hard for a moment, barely paying attention to anything around him before Foxy saw him nod to himself. "I'm happy to hear that much… here, I'll hold your leg for you."

Foxy gave a weak smile to show his appreciation as Marionette held his leg down, the joint flailing far less now.

It was a lot easier to see what was wrong now that it was staying still. Foxy's suspicions were confirmed, the outside guard for his knee had bent inward, jamming the joint entirely. He leaned over and got to work, holding the guard out of the way while repositioning the joint back to its original position.

After a few moments of silent working, Foxy spoke up again.

"You seem to be thinking a lot today," the vulpine brought up, grunting his words as he finally pulled the guard back into place, "more than usual, I mean."

"I could say the same to you, I don't think I've ever heard you talking to yourself like that before."

"Well," Foxy started, carefully thinking about how he wanted to phrase it, "it's just getting worse here. I don't know how much longer I can take it."

Marionette looked extremely worried as Foxy said that, "Foxy, you're not going to-"

"No, no!" Foxy quickly insisted, glancing at his old friends before looking back to Marionette, "I'm not thinking of that. I just… I don't think I can stand it here much longer. I've been thinking about leaving this place. And I know, I know there's not much for an animatronic out there, but it's gotta be better than this..."

At that moment Foxy finally finished with his leg, a loud metal click sounded out as it finally snapped back into the position it was supposed to be in. He wiggled his leg around a bit to get a feel for it again before slowly getting back onto his feet. Standing still, he turned to Marionette, who was already standing up alongside him. His expression seemed relieved at what Foxy had to say, but Foxy could swear he seemed almost eager about something. Even so, his demeanor was as calm and reserved as ever when he spoke.

"Actually Foxy, there is," he started.

"There is a place for you in the outside world, a sort of haven for runaways. That said," Marionette's expression became less enthusiastic, "It's… not what it was supposed to be. It's a very dangerous place, maybe even worse than here."

Foxy raised an eyebrow, "I can never tell if you're telling the truth about the outside world, or if you're just saying things to keep me going."

"I am being entirely serious with you Foxy, what I'm talking about is real." Marionette said sternly. "I'm not telling you what to do with your life. It's yours and yours alone. I just want you to know what kind of risk you're taking if you run away from here. It really could be worse for you…"

Foxy's ears drooped, listening to Marionette speak with more emotion in his voice now than every other time he could remember combined. After a brief moment, Marionette continued.

"...And yet, it might be better for you."

"Didn't you just say it was too dangerous-"

"Don't misunderstand me Foxy, it is. It absolutely is" -the striped figure slowly began to pace as he spoke- "but I can't pretend that staying here is any good for you either."

Marionette seemed completely absorbed in thought, as if he was having the idea of a lifetime.

"I suppose this is what they'd call being stuck between a rock and hard place. Either way, I can't stop you from doing whatever it is you choose to do with your life, just… please don't waste it."

"What would you call this then?" Foxy said, hints of aggravation in his voice as he gestured to the building itself.

"Living at all is better than death," Marionette answered.

Foxy looked down at Freddy's withered body, then back to Marionette. "Not everyone sees it that way."

Yet another moment of complete silence filled the air before Marionette spoke again.

"...If you ever end up in that place, find Horton. He lives at the eastern edge, he's an old friend of mine, tell him I sent you and he'll take you in. You'll know the place when you see it."

Foxy nodded gently, "Alright, alright, I will." He made his way over to the door, not wanting to spend any more time in this room full of scrap and husks, or ask unwanted questions. He paused right before the door and turned to Marionette.

"...Thanks."

And with that, Foxy left for his cove to go enjoy what little peace he was afforded in this wretched place.