Activating start-up protocol.
Auto update date and time: 03/05/1996 10:53:16pm
Activating watch_learn.
Activating sound_location.
Activating personality_test.
Activating artificial_intelligence.
Activating facial_recognition.
Activating give_gift.
Uploading Fredbear_Pizza14062.
Upload complete.
Auto update date and time: 03/06/1996 03:02:24am
Power source undetected.
Charge: 100%
Opening bwickes_personal…
The gray ceiling tiles came into view on its internal cameras. It turned its head to see shelves lined with masks and boxes, all of them better placed than before. It listened, realizing that something sounded different.
Slowly, it pushed itself up. Somewhere behind it, a gentle note rang. It paid the singular sound no mind.
Looking over the edge of where it sat, it saw black and white tiles, shining with polish. Its long-fingered hand clutched the edge, the thin arm covered with stripes. It noted there were more than usual, not only on the forearms, but winding their way all the way up to the shoulders.
Retrieving character information.
Character information: P.U.P.P.E.T.
Puppet curiously moved its arm, tilting its head to better see the stripes along it. It glanced down to see similar stripes around the bottom half of its its torso, with a single white button on its dark chest instead of a set of three.
A new costume, it realized.
Puppet gave it no further inquiry. Instead, it accessed its activation logs. The files it discovered showed records of numerous manual access sessions, copied files, and shutdowns, dating over the course of over two years. The last time it activated properly had been…
Information retrieved.
11/13/1993 07:13:53pm
The most recent video files showed footage of the inside of the crawl space above, of the decrepit Spring Bonnie suit, the bright dining room…
...The Smiling Man.
Puppet quickly turned its head. The little chime rang again, once more ignored in favor of something more important.
Two years, four months, and twenty-five days passed in that time. Had it failed its task? Did the Smiling Man slip through its fingers once again?
It moved to the edge of the work table, then slipped off the edge, intending to float above it as it often did.
It crashed to the ground.
Something jingled on impact. Puppet turned to look for the source, but nothing came into its camera view. The little chimes still sang behind it. It turned its head, and they sang again. Puppet reached behind its head and found the source: a round little bell hanging behind it, attached to the top of its head like a single piece of a jester's cap. With that mystery solved, it looked around the room for the source of the constant audio disturbance, to the neatly organized shelves, the mascot heads, the tile floor below it.
Everything looked familiar, and not. Nothing made any noise.
Puppet pushed itself up, and searched its vocabulary files for words to describe what it was hearing. It found it after a moment.
Silence.
It no longer heard crying.
Puppet rang out a desperate chime, then played a song that often soothed the crying child and lulled her to sleep.
No answer.
It got onto its knees and reached for the ceiling tiles, longing to crawl into them. They remained beyond its reach unless it wished to climb the shelves.
Activating emotional_algorithm.
Determining factors.
Processing emotional output…
Puppet turned its head, then glanced down at the tiles below it. Its reflection showed a new mask, similar to the old one, but with a line down the middle where two halves met, and with its cheek circles extruding out further.
More than that, it noticed its eyes glowed blue again, LED lights peering out from the back of its sockets.
Not ghostly white, as they had been when it shared its body with Vesper.
In that moment, Puppet realized why it heard the silence. It reached a hand to its chest, gripping the single button as it turned away from its reflection in the tiles.
I am...empty.
"Puppet."
Puppet looked up. Vesper floated just a few inches from the floor. A delighted chime rang from the marionette. It reached for Vesper, and she placed her hand over its own, her ghostly form fading through it. Briefly, a faint surge went through its metal fingers, a memory of the bond they shared before. Vesper smiled. Her empty eyes shifted to become green and human for brief flashes.
"You are back!"
Another voice spoke after her.
"Little one."
It recognized Miss Bonnie's voice. Puppet turned and watched her appear, as translucent as Vesper, but just as it remembered her: her olive-gold skin, her green eyes, her red polo and matching headband holding back her dark hair. It noticed shine in her eyes, barely held back with her smile.
"Your task is complete," she said, gently. "Thank you."
Puppet reached for her. Miss Bonnie knelt down and held out her arms, pantomiming an embrace. Puppet returned it as well as it could, holding its arms where they would have wrapped around her in life.
"I am proud of everything you accomplished," Miss Bonnie said, "and thanks to your efforts...I found Freddy."
Puppet noticed another form behind her, this one about as tall as Miss Bonnie herself. He wore work jeans, thick boots, and an old shirt. It recognized his dark skin and large form from the pictures, but more than that, his large smile behind a trimmed, bushy beard, bald head, and warm eyes. Freddy stepped beside Miss Bonnie and got down on one knee to be at Puppet's level.
"Saw what you did for Bonnie all these years," Freddy said. "An' I know what you did for Vesper and the others."
He reached to touch Puppet's cheek. Puppet tilted its head in curiosity.
"You kept us all together," Freddy continued, "and made us a family."
Vesper grinned and hugged Puppet from behind. Her ghostly form shifted into the back of its body, but the child was content enough to pantomime the embrace. Puppet moved one hand to reach behind and shifted it through her ghostly hair.
"You are our family too, Puppet," Vesper said.
She gave it a quick kiss on its cheek. Puppet gently touched the cheek circle where a soft surge reacted to her ghostly touch.
Engage personality_test.
Processing new information.
Activating emotional_algorithm.
Determining factors.
Processing emotional output...
Puppet gently touched each of the ghost's hands as the result came up with the proper word:
Love.
Miss Bonnie smiled again, then stood up. She gestured to the empty space beside her.
Wisps of blue began to appear, each taking form. A Black girl, roughly five or six, appeared. Her pulled-back hair and natural curls made a large pompom on top of her head. She held the hand of a boy a little younger than her. His grin revealed two missing front teeth from his freckled face. Both of them wore shorts and t-shirts. Nearby, another little girl came into view. Her red hair trailed in a long sheet behind her, and her big eyes lovingly took in everything they saw. A Latino boy, taller than the other children, shyly lingered in the back of the group.
Unlike Vesper, who spent so long in her vessel that she began to take on its features, each of the other children still retained their human eyes and forms.
"Look at who you helped," Bonnie said, proudly. "Who you saved."
Puppet glanced at each child and matched each of their faces to the memories of the horrible days when it found them after the Smiling Man got to them, how it placed each of their bodies inside the animatronic suits to give them new life, as it had given Vesper long before.
"The Smiling Man is gone," came a new accented voice, "and our loved ones have peace."
Puppet turned to see Jeremy Fitzgerald appear near Vesper, his security uniform as crisp as the night he perished, his hands clasped behind his back as he stood at attention.
"With your help," he continued, "the Smiling Man was brought to justice."
"We waited for you," the Black girl said. "We wanted to say goodbye."
"Thank you, Puppet!" the red-haired girl exclaimed.
The Latino boy shyly gave a small wave to the marionette and a small nod of gratitude.
"Thanks!" the freckled boy exclaimed.
Bonnie turned back to Puppet.
"I know your task wasn't easy," she said, "but you did everything I couldn't, watched over these children, and brought the right people to help. You are, by far, my proudest accomplishment."
Puppet chimed in delight. It reached for Miss Bonnie, who leaned down closer to its level. Puppet touched its upper lip to Miss Bonnie's cheek. She laughed and returned it with a ghostly kiss to its forehead.
"We must go now," she said, gently. "We have all been trapped here for far too long."
Puppet nodded in understanding. Freddy gently placed a hand around Bonnie's waist. She let out a soft, happy noise and nuzzled into him. Vesper hovered near Puppet.
"You still have friends here," she said.
"Yes," Freddy agreed. "We're leavin' you in good hands."
"I have only one last request," Miss Bonnie said.
"Take care of Will and Vanna and Mike for us?"
Puppet nodded. Bonnie knelt down and reached to move her ghostly hand over its new mask. Jeremy gave the Puppet a small salute.
"We're forever grateful," he said.
He glanced to the children.
"Now we can finally move on," Jeremy continued. "We can go home."
"Home…" Miss Bonnie mused.
She took Freddy's hand and offered her hand to the one of the children. Freddy offered his hand to another, while Jeremy took two more. Vesper floated to the gap in the chain hands to complete it.
The ghosts smiled.
And then they were gone.
Puppet watched the spot where they disappeared.
...I will miss you.
It looked to the table where it fell from before. Without Vesper, it could not longer float above the ground. Puppet pulled itself back up onto the table, then lied back down. It waited for its new bell to settle again.
Satisfied with its completed mission, it went back to its default stasis.
Thursday, June 20, 1996
A little over two years passed since that horrible night. In that time, Will had the floor by the stage dug up to confirm Freddy's remains. The large decaying skeleton and the broken fingers on its left hand helped confirm his identity and theft of his wedding ring. Mike handed over Jeremy's watch and journal, which in turn gave credence to reopen the 1987 case. A search warrant turned up a box of personal possessions taken from Greg Mortman's home, each one a trophy taken from his victims.
The recordings along with the evidence sealed his fate. With nowhere else to turn, Mortman confessed to the murders. In addition, he confessed to being behind the disappearance of Kamili Williams and two other missing children.
Rumors spread that some details of Mortman's case and subsequent trial remained off the public record. As with anything else involving Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, tales of ghosts and the supernatural, of strange and unexplainable things quickly caught the public interest. Those serving on the case refused to say anything more than that the evidence was strong enough to coerce several confessions out of Mortman and to convict him on several life sentences. Any tales of ghostly antics in the courtroom were vehemently denied.
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza shut down long before the case went to trial. Waylon Kent retired and washed his hands of it once the investigation completed. The building stood there, lonely and empty, its unchanging facade standing like a memorial to the tragedies that occurred there. A construction crew surrounded the building for a few months even after recovering Freddy Wickes' remains, perhaps to repair the broken foundation, not that it mattered anymore.
Once the trial finished, Freddy was properly laid to rest beside his wife.
Many times after dark, a little black Chevy, a green pick-up truck, maybe even both were seen in the Freddy's parking lot. They respectively belonged to a tall woman with golden skin and long black hair, and an old Black man who often wore blue coveralls. Whatever their business, they kept it to themselves. On occasion, a smaller, pale, dark-haired young man accompanied them.
The trio always moved with purpose.
Now and again, even through the tinted windows, reports came of a strange blue light moving about the building at night. Occasionally, a child's crying echoed throughout the parking lot. One or two brave souls came close enough to peer through the windows. They claimed the light came from a little girl in a party dress, though she never lingered long enough to pick out further details. Sometimes, a large man's form faded in and out.
Towards the end of the trial, two more little blue lights appeared, then another, then one more. All five of them flickered in and out as the nights passed. The little lights playfully dipped and skirted around the building, chasing each other. The man's form kept watch.
There came a night soon after when two more large blue lights appeared together, both tall and thin.
After a while, the reports of the blue lights mysteriously stopped.
Inside, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza looked just as neat and clean as the day it opened. The new tile floors gleamed. The video game cabinets sported new buttons, new screens, and updated art. Pristine white tablecloths hung from the tables with party hats lining their centers. Every ceiling star glittered more brightly after being dusted down. Children's drawings no longer covered the re-plastered and freshly-painted walls. Instead, art of the beloved characters and framed newspaper clippings detailing the restaurant's history hung from them.
Bonnie, Freddy, Chica, and Foxy all stood on their stages, the starry purple curtains open to an invisible audience. The deathly smell no longer lingered on their suits, their faces looked bright-eyed and friendly, and walking near them...the haunting aura they once exhibited long since vanished.
No more sadness, no more pain, no more ghosts trapped within their inner programming.
All of them had been taken apart, put back together, and tuned up thanks to Vanna's continued studies. Foxy's jaw no longer hung loose, and he finally sported a suit worthy of his companions.
At the entrance stood two tall glass display cases, the hostess stand between them, with room for guests to walk in on either side of it. One case sported a new golden rabbit with green eyes, a purple bowtie, and a matching purple bow around its right ear. One hand held the neck of a purple guitar, the instrument strapped to the rabbit's chest. The other case held a brown-eyed golden bear in a purple bowtie and top hat, a microphone gripped tightly in one hand. Both of them held their free hands up in a friendly wave.
In the back room, all of the parts had been sorted through, cleaned, labeled, and in some cases, thrown out. The shelves smelled of cleaner. The spare endoskeleton no longer sat in the back, having been repurposed up front. Only a sole occupant remained, lying back on the new work table.
A light blue Suzuki FX pulled up into the parking lot at Freddy's. Mike got out. He shut the door quickly as he checked his watch.
11:49pm.
For the better part of the last two years, the animatronics had been in police custody, ensuring no further tampering. Over the last several months, Will began to reacquire them, and with her blessing, repurposed Vesper's trust fund into fixing up the place. He said he still believed in it, and Mike and Vanna assisted when they could.
As Mike approached the old building, he caught his reflection in the glass.
The brim of his guard hat still covered his eyes. The purple color of the uniform barely stood out from the tinted glass. Freddy's face gleamed from his chest.
Mike took a closer look.
His blue eyes reflected back at him, a confident smirk on his lips. He tipped his hat in a small salute.
This time, he looked like himself.
A soft jingle rang overhead as he entered the building. He saw Will first, in dark slacks and a green polo with a matching cap. The older man came from the manager's office. He held a white gift box under one arm, and a few rolled up scrolls of thick paper in the other.
"Hey, Will," Mike said.
Will glanced up with a smile.
"Good to see you, Mike."
Mike smiled back.
"Never thought I'd miss this," he said.
"'Cept this time, the critters're more behaved."
"Even if they weren't, I can handle them," Mike told him. "Where's Vanna?"
"In the back with our old friend."
Mike nodded as he looked over the room. Their months of hard work and dedication showed in every corner. Even the animatronics seemed to approve.
A set of footsteps got both of their attention. Vanna stepped out with Puppet sitting on her hip like a child. The marionette's long legs were carefully draped over her waist, its arms wrapped around her shoulders. She wore a T-shirt that almost perfectly matched her favorite purple lipstick and dark jeans. Her silver Doc Martens shone rainbows with every step.
"Getting in a little late there, Mr. Schmidt," Vanna teased. "Caught up with a girlfriend?"
Mike smirked and shook his head.
"Boyfriend, then?" Vanna asked, amused. "Or both?"
"Pretty sure one of them's yours," Mike shot back.
"And both on a trip to Canada," Vanna said sweetly, "riding unicorns with Bigfoot."
They both laughed at that. Will simply shook his head, more than used to their antics now. He set his load on the table and carefully set the scrolls aside. Mike now saw the box had a blue ribbon wrapped around one side.
"I can't believe we're actually going to do this," Vanna said when she calmed down. "I'm excited."
Puppet made a single chime in agreement.
"Bon and Fred may be gone," Will said, "but their dream isn't. We owe it to 'em to try."
He picked up the gift.
"Got this for you for the big day tomorrow, Vanna," Will said. He turned to Puppet. "But I think you should do the honors."
Puppet let out a delighted chime as Vanna set it back inside its box. Will then handed the gift to Puppet, who in turn properly presented it to Vanna. Vanna laughed as she took the box.
"Thanks," she said.
She pulled it open, and gave a warm smile at its contents. Vanna pulled a new gold chain with a polished wedding band on the end. Underneath it was a red shirt, with a golden bear and bunny smiling up at her.
"Uncle Will…" Vanna breathed. "...You're serious?"
Will nodded.
"S'time that shirt came out of retirement. And I've got no use for Fred's ring. Figured it should go to someone who'll appreciate it."
Vanna's hands shook a little as she lifted the chain over her head and pulled it on. She then picked up the ring to read the inscription, a small tremor on her lips. Vanna carefully wiped her eyes, then quickly hugged Will.
"Thank you," she said whispered.
Will returned it with one arm, patted her back twice, then pulled away.
"Got one more thing to show you," he said, "provided we're still here and doing well in a few years."
He gestured to table, where he left the scrolls of paper.
"Came across these a while ago," Will continued. "Bon was gettin' ready to expand not long before she passed. Had a lot of ideas for a new place, with her original theme. There's one in particular I wanted you to see."
Will thumbed through the scrolls, and picked one with a specific marking. He opened it and gently rolled the paper out to show a blueprint. Mike and Vanna came over to see. It took Vanna a second to pick out the design. When it registered, she felt her eyes water a little.
"She was gonna do this for you and Vesper," Will said. "Think she would've liked it?"
The blueprints showed sketches of a new animatronic, this one of a ballerina. Vanna looked over her aunt's careful notes for counterbalancing, a collision sensor for safety, and an audio activation mechanism similar to the the ones in the other animatronics. A small segment even showed Bonnie had picked out color swatches of white, dark blue, and pink.
"...She would have loved it," Vanna whispered.
She took a quick look at the other blueprints: a clown, a bear similar to Freddy with a bunny hand puppet, and what she presumed was Foxy's initial design. After taking them in, she rolled the blueprints back up and handed them to Will.
Will smiled as he collected the blueprints.
"What do you say, kids?" he asked. "Ready to open tomorrow?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," Vanna said.
Mike nodded.
"Same," he said.
"Then I'll leave you to it," Will said, tipping the brim of his hat. "Night, Mike."
Vanna held her present under her arm. She turned to Puppet.
"Keep him out of trouble," she said.
Mike crossed his arms and shook his head with an amused smile. Puppet nodded once in affirmation and made its new bell jingled. It then waved to Will and Vanna as they headed out.
"See you in the morning," Mike called.
He then turned to Puppet.
"We've got a long night ahead of us," he said. "Think you can handle it?"
A delighted chime rang. Mike smiled.
"Then let's get started."