November 14th, 1993 - 5:10 AM
The Puppet waited patiently in his box for the animatronics to be distracted. He drew on the inside of his box with a marker, unable to make anything that looked good because of his awkwardly long slender fingers. His whole life he felt like his mind was detached from his body. Movement was awkward and he knew he was too intelligent for his own good, although he was now starting to question why the robots here were so smart as well. Back at Fazbear Storage, where he arrived from, he was the only sentient machine. He was a robot that had never been in use before - never once did he get to perform for children or anything of the sort, but by listening to the songs the Fazbear crew would periodically play to their tiny audiences he guessed that was a good thing.
"Hey, Puppet!" said a familiar voice from the other side of the backstage door.
The Puppet froze and didn't respond, hoping the voice would just go away.
"Puppet, the door is locked from the inside! You're going to have to unlock it yourself!" the voice continued.
"Chica…" the Puppet muttered something under his breath. "You're going to get me caught. Please back away from the door."
"I'm sorry, but someone's going to have to tell you since Bonnie won't! Our friend, Foxy-" Chica began before getting cut off.
"I thought he wasn't your friend?" the Puppet said suspiciously.
There was a short pause before Chica continued. "Right, you know what I meant. The fox locked us out of there. We can't unlock the door, but he'll know something's up if you unlock it yourself. He can't know about you, right?"
"Okay, you make a fair point. But really, it's fine, I know how to get out of here," said the Puppet.
"Really?" asked Chica. "I only noticed a few years ago."
"I'm very observant," said the Puppet. "Don't worry about me."
"Well, it's 5:10 AM. It's a Tuesday, so the cleaning crew will be here early today," said Chica. "Right around 6 AM. You don't have much time left today."
The Puppet nodded to himself. "Thank you for letting me know, Chica."
She made a good point. If the Puppet wanted to do anything productive that night, he had to do it right then. He was running out of time. He only had until the restaurant was shut down.
He crawled into the backstage vent and slid all the way to the other side, but immediately stopped when he saw the door was shut and that Freddy and Bonnie were talking to each other.
"It really wasn't you stashing shit in the kitchen vent?" said Freddy to Bonnie.
"Listen, Freddy, I've never been in that vent in my life. It's a real pain in the ass to get into those things with my ears," said Bonnie. "Listen, man, for all we know it was probably Foxy. It's just like him to try and weasel out of a bad situation like that. All I know is, it sure as hell wasn't me."
"If I find out it was you, there's going to be a problem," said Freddy. "You will have to face the consequences, Bonnie. After seeing your little tantrum earlier today with Foxy, I don't know if I can trust you anymore. You scared Chica."
Bonnie stifled a laugh. "She hasn't seen anything yet…"
Freddy sighed. "Just don't forget who's in charge here, Bonnie. Step out of line, and I'll have to put you in your place."
As the bear tried to step out of the room, he stepped on something sharp and metal, listening to it clatter on the floor. It was the ventilation cover. He looked up at Bonnie.
"Wasn't me, I swear," said Bonnie. "Really, man, I have no idea what's going on."
Bonnie mentally gulped as the intimidating bear glared at him, stepping out of the room. The rabbit followed close behind. The puppet crawled out of the vent and looked As he passed through the office he saw Freddy's back turned to him with Chica distracting him.
The Puppet went off through the office and into the kitchen vent, and sure enough, there was a pile of supplies stashed inside - a crowbar, a bunch of metal parts, a spare Bonnie head, and assortments of different costume parts from all the different animatronics except for Foxy. It made it difficult to sneak through but the Puppet was able to slide around it with his slender body. Once he left and got out, he found the kitchen.
There was mold and dirt around the kitchen. It was clear that it was no longer truly being cared for. The Puppet sighed sadly at the thought of Mr. Fazz giving up on his prized business. The health regulations for the pizzeria used to be so good, and now here he was, inside the room where the magic happened - and it was disgusting and horrible. The Puppet would've plugged up his nose if he had one. He stepped out of the kitchen, looked around, and then went over to the restrooms, staying up against the wall to try and minimize his chances of being spotted.
As he slid outside of the kitchen he saw Freddy walking out into the dining room with Bonnie and Chica at his sides. The Puppet saw that the bear caught a glimpse of him and he ducked underneath a table and slid down the floor to the office.
"The hell was that?" asked Freddy, looking at where the Puppet just was.
"What was what?" asked Chica.
"I just saw something jump away from the restroom entrance," said the bear, scanning the entire room.
Bonnie squinted and shrugged. "There ain't nothin' there. You're goin' wacko."
Freddy crossed his arms and looked at him angrily. "I am not 'going wacko,' whatever that means."
"Nothing to be ashamed of there. Just the stress of the restaurant closing getting to you," said Chica. "You need to take a break and go relax."
"No, I don't. There was something there," said Freddy, walking over to the restrooms.
Bonnie looked at the Puppet and moved his head in the direction of the supply closet, indicating that all was clear. The Puppet slid into the closet and over to the backstage room.
"Well, guess you two were right. That's a shame...my eyes used to be so good," said Freddy. "I suppose I'll go shut off for the night."
"Good idea," said Bonnie. "Go get some rest."
Freddy walked up on stage, stared straight ahead at the wall, and shut down with his eyes open.
Bonnie and Chica walked over to the backstage. "Hey, man, what was all that about? You were almost caught!" whispered Bonnie.
"I was going to go to the room where it happened!" said the Puppet. "I didn't anticipate Freddy being some psychic all-seeing genius."
"The room where what happened?" asked Bonnie. "I'm lost."
The Puppet sighed, knowing that he couldn't keep the truth from them any longer. "The room where the children were murdered in 1987. There's a false wall at the end of that room, and behind that wall is the room where everything started."
"There's a real, secret room here?!" said Bonnie. "And we never found it?"
"Nope," said the Puppet. "It doesn't matter, anyway. Your programming won't allow for you to go into it, anyway. It's a safe room. It should be invisible to you."
"How do you know that's where it happened?" asked Chica.
"I...I don't know. Instinct, I suppose," said the Puppet,
"What's this?" said a deep voice from behind them all.
Before the Puppet could answer, Bonnie and Chica gasped and turned around when they noticed a shadow looming over them.
"F-Freddy!" said Bonnie. "That was a short nap!"
"What's the meaning of this? Who are you two speaking to?" asked Freddy.
"N-nobody!" answered Chica unconvincingly. "Look, Freddy, you should really get some rest-"
Freddy shoved the two of them aside. "Still having trouble with the damn door? Can't break it open, can you?! Watch and learn!" The bear went ballistic and started smashing into the door with all his weight trying to brute-force it open.
"Calm down!" said Chica.
Bonnie moved in front of Freddy. "Afraid I can't let you in there, man," he said.
"What's stopping me?!" roared Freddy. "Get out of the way!"
"C'mon, man, be reasonable about this. You were right about how I acted earlier, it wasn't right," said Bonnie.
"I don't care what I said! Make me tell you one more time to get out of my way-" started Freddy angrily.
"Stop!" yelled the Puppet from behind the door. All three of the animatronics stood, shocked. "They were talking to me." He unlocked the door and opened it.
"That thing can talk?!" said Freddy, surprised.
"I thought you didn't want him to know!" whispered Bonnie to the Puppet.
"Well, I also didn't want him to rip you apart, so here we are," whispered the Puppet back to him.
"So why were you two keeping this from me?" asked Freddy.
Before either of them could say anything, the Puppet spoke up. "I'm here to kill that man in purple you saw the other day."
"What?" said Freddy.
"He's the one who killed those children 6 years ago," explained the Puppet.
"No, they caught that guy," said Freddy. "He's in prison. His name was Manfred Barnes. It was all over the news."
"Apparently not," said the Puppet. "That man was set up. There was one, crucial detail that the cops missed. The killer was a night guard."
"And how do you know all this?" asked Freddy skeptically.
"I don't know...but I just do," said the Puppet. "You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. It's just a gut feeling."
Freddy shook his head. "I'm sorry, but this story is just ludicrous. I trust the law's word over yours, I'm afraid." The bear began to turn away.
Something about Freddy's words shook something within the Puppet's mind. He turned around and stared Freddy in the eyes. "You believe the animals that write those stories over me? I'm one of you. But of course you wouldn't remember."
"Remember what?" asked Freddy.
"It's not really your fault, I suppose...but I was in this restaurant from the day it opened, until they finally shipped me out to Fazbear Storage. And that was right before the murders," explained the Puppet. "It was before you guys really became...sentient."
"What do you mean? We've always been like this," said Bonnie.
"Your memories before the murders...do they feel detached, like they aren't even yours?" asked the Puppet.
They all thought about it for a moment.
"I do remember waking up in the middle of the night the day that it happened," said Freddy. "I felt very strange. I thought we went under repairs when we were shut down."
"And...there's one more thing," said the Puppet. "There was one more child."
"What? Really?" said Chica. "They only ever reported five, how did they miss one?"
"No, no. This child was killed before the other murders. This one died in 1984," said the Puppet. "I remember...it felt like I was right there that day. The purple man, I know he was there that day, I just do..."
The animatronics all watched as the Puppet seemed to be thinking hard about something, as though he just realized something.
Freddy sighed. "Well, I suppose I believe you, but no more secrets from now on, you all understand me?"
Bonnie and Chica both nodded their heads.
"Don't forget who's in charge, here. If I find out either of you are hiding anything else, there will be consequences. You can't lie to me."
They both nodded their heads again.
Satisfied, Freddy turned around and then groaned when he saw Foxy lurking in the corner, apparently having watched the whole conversation go down. He came out of the shadows and said, "Lost yer temper there a bit, huh Freddy? I can relate to yer troubles, boy."
"Stop talking, Foxy," said Freddy angrily.
"Sounds like ye can't trust any of yer mates, huh?" Foxy continued.
The bear stormed off, much to Foxy's amusement. The pirate smiled and turned to face the Puppet, and extended his hook hand out to him. "Pleased to make yer acquaintance, Puppet man. Sorry fer lockin' you in that room."
The Puppet, much to Foxy's surprise, wrapped his hand around the hook and shook it before walking off.
Bonnie brushed past Foxy and the pirate called after him, "Nice job keeping a secret, dumbass! I didn't even have to do anything!"
Chica walked by and Foxy didn't say anything when he realized that everybody was ignoring him. He groaned with boredom and walked over to the backstage room and grabbed some of the files off the floor, then carried them over to the Pirate Cove to prevent the others from seeing them. Nobody ever dared walk inside the cove anyway, so he was certain the files were safe.