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Chapter Seven
Close Call...

The children were angry.

The bots hated it when the children were angry.

Half passed six, the animatronics were in the dining room. Freddy as usual was on stage, he hadn't moved once in the night, but was now sitting on the edge of it. Microphone still clutched in hand, Foxy was sitting on one of the tables swinging his uncovered legs. Bonnie was adjusting the chairs quietly and Chica was standing a bit away from the others.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Bonnie was the first one to speak, his voice had a robotic quality to it, but was otherwise very clear.

"...I wanted to know what happened to Mike." The chicken muttered wringing her hands together nervously.

"Mike is gone, like all the others he is gone and he is not coming back." the rabbit countered, "we all know that."

"No!" the avian countered turning to him, and lifting one of his ears, the hare followed suit.

"Explain Chica." the deep voice of Freddy pulled both their attention to the bear. The chicken looked down again shifting her feet.

"He's in the hospital. That's what the guard said."

"Aye lass that's impossible, we all know they don't survive." the only accented voice broke the momentary silence.

"But the head didn't get put on! We all saw it when they took him out the front door!" Chica protested stepping forward.

Freddy's shoulders lifted and sagged, an imitation of a sigh, "his injuries were extensive. It is highly unlikely the newest guard was telling you the truth. Adults lie all the time."

"His name is Leo..." the rabbit murmured, moving a party hat slightly with his finger. But his comment went ignored.

"Say he was tellin' ya the truth, still doesn't answer the question of why ya didn't kill 'im lass." The fox countered gazing at the avian. Chica mimicked a sigh and looked back at where the guard still hadn't emerged from.

"I didn't want to." At the raised eyebrows she stomped one of her feet. "He answered my question! And he was injured! It wasn't fair." She crossed her arms and looked away.

"You know because of this it will only get harder for him. Freddy joins us tomorrow." Bonnie glanced briefly at the bear before turning his attention to the chicken. "It's only going to get worse."

"Good! The last one survived far too long for ma tastes!" the pirate said as he hopped to his feet.

"I liked Mike! He brought his kid and wife..." Chica said gazing at the ground.

"Yeah...his kid was sweet." Bonnie mimicked a sigh and adjusted a chair that had been perfectly in place.

"Bonnie, Chica, you know how things go." Freddy's calm voice cut in once more. The rabbit and bird looked up before shifting in their spots.

"The bear is righ', we can't change things, and we shouldn't even care. He is a night guard! You all know what happened last time one was around for too long."

At that they all stiffened, Chica shuddered and held herself.

"Right."

Freddy got up on the stage again and took his position, "we need to get ready for the day."

Foxy and Bonnie nodded and headed to their positions, but Chica remained where she was.

"Do...we even know who did it? To Mike?" She asked looking up at the bear and rabbit on stage. Both of them paused, and Bonnie shook his head.

"You shouldn't think about those things Chica." The bear advised before motioning to the spot next to him. Her spot. The bird mimicked a deep breath before going onto the stage.

They all took position and there was a long silence, until it was broken by whispered swears coming from the nightguard. The man, using his crutch hobbled out of the hallway and then stopped and looked at the three of them. He gazed at Chica for a long moment, his dark brows furrowed.

Without his hat on and daylight streaming through the window Chica was finally able to take in his appearance. It was quite different from their usual night guards she saw, he was short, very short even for a human. He appeared more like a young mid teen then a full grown adult. Over his left arm was a full cast that had been dirtied up from being on the floor. On his left leg was much the same. He had what could be described as auburn hair, eyes much the same. The bird could best describe his coloration like that of the caramel they sometimes put on the ice cream that was served at a birthday party.

Though his appearance at the moment was something much less than flattering at the moment. Some of his hair stuck to his face from sweat, there were unhealthy bags under his eyes, and his dark brows furrowed deeply over his eyes casting the upper part of his face in a shadow.

Something flickered through her systems that she couldn't comprehend, he gazed at her for a long moment and huffed shouldering his backpack and hobbling to the front door to unlock it. Likely for the cleaners, then he turned around, punched out and went back into the office. It was interesting, in all her time here she had never seen a guard work both the day and night shift, and it seemed that even with his injuries he intended on working.

The chicken had done many bad things in her tenure here, some she remembered and others she didn't. Guard after guard they went through. Hunting them down every night and stuffing them into the spares suits in the back. It was the children's wishes, and they were programmed to listen to the children. Chica didn't like the assumption that they couldn't see the humans.

They could.

And she remembered all their faces.

She...was tired of remembering faces. She hoped this one would leave...she didn't want to remember his face like that either.

Leo was exhausted, the night before had been a confusing and stressful nightmare. He had thousands of questions and no one to get answers from.

The guard leaned heavily on his crutch and gazed down mournfully at his chair. He wished he had remembered to grab one from the dining room. The cleaners wouldn't arrive for another hour or so, and there was no way he could stay standing for that long. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and hobbled back into the dining room. He cast his eyes up to the stage only once, the bird was looking at him again, and an uneasy feeling washed over him because of it.

"Stop that." He growled, but stiffened when she tilted her head. The guard let out a deep breath. "Just...stop, I don't understand what is happening. What do you want? Why didn't you kill me!?" After his voice raised to a shout he winced and rubbed his sore ribs. He needed to take more medication, his body was starting to painfully remind him that it was broken.

"You...answered my question." At that his head snapped up so fast he was sure he had whiplash. He blinked, staring at the avian themed bird.

"Wha...what?"

"You answered my question." She stated again, simply...like it was so simple…

"B...but...but how...how does that...how does that correlate with not killing me?" He stammered not sure if he actually believed this was real or a pain induced haze.

"I didn't want to. I didn't see a point to do it, you answered my question I didn't see a point in killing you." The chicken answered and Leo let out a breath rubbing the back of his head.

"Okay...okay, either I am in desperate need for pain medication or I am talking to a chicken robot." He rubbed his face, "now...am I to assume that tonight nothing will change?" The guard looked up at her from under her bangs.

"I'm afraid so Leo." the young man jumped at the sound of a male voice. He looked around wildly before finally settling on the…rabbit.

He resisted the urge to glare at him, but to be fair he could, because no way in heck was any of this real.

"Yeah. I figured so." He let out a breath and scratched at his head, "okay...so, since we are talking apparently. Why? Why are you doing this, you do realize I'm here to make sure your home doesn't get broken into right? Why are you attempting to murder me? Why did you murder everyone before me? Why put Mike in the hospital? Sure he can probably get annoying...but really? Paralyzing him?" He glanced at all of them respectively, Bonnie had shifted his gaze to the ground and Chica adjusted her feet. Freddy was gazing at who knew what in the distance. But they were all avoiding looking at him.

Like they were...ashamed?

But no one answered him, he took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead, "whatever, this whole conversation just left me with more questions then answers so thanks for that. When you hunt me down tonight I can spend my last moments pondering why the #$#$# you can speak like normal during the day!" he threw up a hand to further emphasize his point. Still. They said nothing. With a roll of his eyes he turned and hobbled back to his office with a chair in tow.

He heard whispering behind him, but shook his head. Whatever, it's not like anything changed. They still wanted him dead.

Children were screaming so loud Leo was sure his ears were going to burst. There had been a flood of children today, and it was likely due to the rain storm that had settled itself over the city. Due to this the children were either screaming every time thunder boomed, or when they got a high score on the arcade games. His pain medication was slowly wearing off and he was feeling the exhaustion weighing heavily on him. Jamie was working today, and Leo felt the frequent concerned glances from the waiter. Luckily management didn't seem to mind him sitting down, and Jamie seemed rather content with running errands that Leo sent him on. Whether it be breaking up a fight, or dealing with irate parents.

The guard also felt the glances from the stage entertainment. Especially from the bird and bunny, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wanted to leave the room and smoke, but repair men were in his office fixing the door. Which of course management assured would be coming out of his paycheck...for a while.

There was so much commotion going on it was hard to tell one thing from another, and Leo was starting to get dizzy. He wasn't sure from what but he wanted to escape from the room. Using his crutch he pushed himself to his feet, he hobbled toward pirates cove keeping his head down in hopes to avoid interactions.

He would've made it into the room fine, when commotion came from his left. Normally he would ignore it, but something told him to look over. The guard glanced over and spotted the sight of a young child, black hair, soft appearance, he was being led away by a tall man, in a hoodie. The child kept glancing behind him, as if he was looking for someone, but the man yanked his arm a bit more to prompt him forward. It was slightly suspicious but nothing to be concerned about right? Just a parent leaving with their child.

Except Leo knew that kid, he had been the one to approach him on his second day of working both shifts. The one who asked about the animatronics.

And his dad wasn't that man.

"Hey! Hold up!" He called and hobbled over, wishing he didn't have this stupid broken leg. The man glanced behind him and back to the door, he hesitated a long moment before finally turning around, which only confirmed Leo's suspicions.

That was not the boy's father.

"Heh...hey there, uh, this is kind of stupid, but I was wondering if you had a lighter? I think I dropped mine." Leo said as he came over to the two of them. "It gets so crazy here and it's not time yet to take my meds. Quick smoke should help with the pain ya know?" the man gazed at him, looking him over, and then deciding he wasn't a threat, he let out a breath.

"I quit smoking a year ago." The man's voice was smooth, it held a charming quality to it. His face was calm and calculated, hazel colored hair falling over his face. Leo let out a breath like he was disappointed.

"Ah ****n. I should've brought my extra." He shook his head, "how stupid of me."

"Yeah, important things tend to slip our minds." the man said, with only a twinge of amusement in his voice. Leo glanced down at the boy who was looking up at him, blue eyes shining with barely concealed fear.

Yeah. He knew it.

"Yeah, like the fact that children aren't allowed outside of the premises with anyone but their parents." Leo said with a breath and tense smile. The man stiffened and then held the boy's hand tighter.

"His parents told me to come and pick him up." He insisted with that same calm voice.

"Oh yeah? All pickup changes have to be clarified with the security staff." He smiled and tapped his badge, "and it was not cleared with me." The man looked him over and then glanced around the restaurant.

"If I wanted to, I could take him, you are the only one on staff and you are injured." The man countered in a hushed hiss, Leo gazed at him, his eyes darkening.

"Like ***l you will. I have chucked chairs with these injuries, if you think you are walking out of this place with that child then you are a dead man walking."

"Are you threatening me?"

"If that's what it takes sicko. Hand the kid over and this whole thing can end quietly." Leo demanded raising his voice only slightly. If he were taller, this conversation could've ended sooner, but he knew he was less intimidating as he gazed up at the man instead of down at him.

The man gazed down at him with an ice like quality to his eyes, Leo stared right back, sure he was nervous around people, but this was something far more important than making small talk with tall strangers.

"C'mon Henry." The man growled and turned to go out the door. However the guard knew it was over as soon as the man left the restaurant. He grabbed him by his collar, putting pressure on his injured foot and suppressing a cry. He yanked him back with whatever strength he had left in the broken arm, and then as the man turned to confront him, Leo let go of his collar and popped him a good one right in the nose with his good hand.

Letting out a cry the man stumbled back holding his nose. Leo grabbed the kid with his good hand instantly and hobbled back. The boy clung to his arm following behind.

"You are now placed on the watch list. I suggest never returning to this place. The cops will also be informed." Leo's voice was icier than he expected, and he could only hope that his glare was just as bad. The man sneered holding his nose and with a huff he quickly left the establishment. Leo let out a breath, and then winced painfully when he realized he had done exactly what the doctor told him not to do.

He winced again but looked down at the boy when he hugged his arm close. The child was shaking, clearly frightened by the whole event.

"Hey, hey kid..." Leo's voice was clogged, probably from pain, but the child looked up anyways, the guard offered a small smile. "Its okay, you are safe now, alright?" The kid nodded but still hugged his arm close. The guard opened his mouth to say something when he felt someone touch his shoulder.

"Leo? Is everything okay? You punched someone..." Jamie trailed and then his eyes fell upon the child.

"Yeah, he was trying to take something that didn't belong to him. I need you to call the police." The waiter blinked before nodding and heading to the phone. Leo turned his attention back to the quiet kid who clung to his arm.

"Hey...kid, you wanna see something cool?" the boy, Henry if the man had been telling the truth, looked up at him and nodded rubbing his nose. "Okay, come with me." He smiled at him through the pain he felt pulsing through his body.

The guard proceeded to take him into pirates cove, having to unlock the door with his keys. A small gasp came from the child as he looked around. Leo hobbled inside leading the child. He could feel the animatronics eyes on him up until the door shut.

The room wasn't nearly the size of the main one, but it was a decent size. There was a pirate ship in the middle, dust had collected on it, there were tables in front of it and a spot for the children to sit that was focused around the half circle stage with a curtain in front of it covering up the animatronic within.

"Whoa..." the child breathed, Leo gazed at him a long moment before motioning.

"Wait here, I'm going to see if I can show you something." With that Leo hobbled over to the curtains. He really didn't know if the fox would jump out and attack him or not...but he slowly opened the curtains, and stared up at the mammal animatronic. "If you are going to kill me, then wait till tonight please, not in front of the kid." He whispered to the red colored bot. Foxy moved his visible eye down and gazed at Leo for a long moment and when he didn't do anything. The guard nodded slightly and turned to look at the kid.

"C'mere." The small child paused before slowly coming over, his blue eyes widened at the sight of the animatronic. "His name is Foxy, he got injured and is currently resting, that's why he isn't out with the others."

Henry shifted his gaze from Leo to the animatronic.

"He got hurt?" His voice was soft, and the guard nodded, turning to look at the bot that could very well kill him tonight.

"Yeah..." He took a deep breath, "things often get disregarded when they are considered...broken."

"...well, I like him!" The child said suddenly, startling Leo out of the downward spiral.

"What?"

"He's like a pirate right?" Henry questioned before gazing up at the bot in awed silence, "he's a fox pirate! That's so cool!"

"Uh, yeah, he's a captain. He used to tell stories too, before he got hurt that is." Leo had heard some of the older staff talk about how much the kids enjoyed Foxy's story time.

"Do you know when he will be better?" the boy asked, turning to look at the guard, who quickly followed suit.

"Hm? Oh, well I'm not sure. He got hurt real bad." The injured man murmured before turning to look back at the bot.

"Oh...well..." the child stepped forward and Leo's heart leaped into his throat, he reached a hand to grab him, but the child had already grabbed Foxy's paw, and smiled up at the animatronic. "I hope you get better soon...uh..."

"F...Foxy..." the guard stammered, frozen in fear and glancing between the bot and the boy.

"Foxy! I hope you get better soon Foxy!" The kid smiled brightly and Leo finally let out a breath he had been holding when the child let go of his hand.

"I...I'm sure he appreciates that." The guard offered a smile and the child smiled in return. Leo let out a hard breath and rubbed his face. "We should get you back with your friends huh kid?"

"Yeah! I can tell them all about Foxy!" the kid smiled brightly and followed Leo out of the room. The guard locked up the room just as a few other children ran over. An older blond boy shook the young raven haired one.

"Henry! I've been looking for you everywhere!" The blond proceeded to check Henry over looking for injuries before pulling him into a hug. "Never run off again!"

"G….Gabriel..." the younger boy groaned a bit and tried to push his friend away. "I'm fine!"

"Hey, kids." they snapped their attention to the guard, "be careful, and if you are feeling uncomfortable, come and find me, or a waiter named Jamie. Okay?" Those were honestly the only people he could be sure of.

Jamie had said that it was one of the staff members that hurt those kids...

"Okay sir!'

"Sorry sir!"

The boys chimed out in unison, and Leo nodded before spotting Jamie waving him over. With a breath the security guard went over to the man.

Leo spent the rest of his evening helping the police, he gave a description, a rundown of what happened, and they made sure to contact Henry's parents and put out a wanted alert for the man in question.

The guard was just downing his pills when Jamie came over, the police had finally left and the last of the customers were slowly trickling out. The evening guard had failed to show up, which had been irritating at first, but Leo got over it. He needed to earn the money for the door somehow.

"You know they've been watching you this whole time right?" The teenager's voice made Leo look up, he followed his gaze to the stage where the animatronics were not so subtly watching him. Leo let out a breath and resisted the urge to flip them off.

"Yes, I just am choosing to ignore the jerks." He grumbled with a deep breath. They were so determined to kill him at night, and were clearly capable of getting off the stage. Why the ## did they not help him in dealing with the guy?

He was so close to losing the kid…

"M...maybe you shouldn't be calling them names..." Jamie said, his voice taking on a worried note. He gazed at the animatronics and Leo let out a huff of breath.

"I don't ***king care Jamie." The guard mumbled before resting his head on his arm. The younger man looked at him and then down at his watch.

"You sure you don't want to come and get dinner? I'll pay." The waiter offered before then pausing and looking around, "and if you don't want to leave we can always see if the cooks will make us a pizza." Jamie offered with a small smile. Leo didn't move, his face toward the table.

"I'm fine Jamie."

"Leo, I haven't once seen you eat anything in all your time here. I understand being financially strapped...but you have to eat." The waiter proceeded to take a breath, "the nurse explicitly said to eat." He continued, Leo took a deep breath, wincing at the pain in his ribs, the drugs hadn't kicked in yet, and his broken limbs pulsed in pain with every beat of his heart.

"Jamie. I'm not hungry." At that the waiter sighed and sat down as well.

"I know you are the independent broody type...but you can't continue like this. You are always working, you haven't eaten a crumb. It's not healthy." Jamie advised gently, Leo felt himself tense, before pushing himself up again and turning to the teenager.

"Would you just stop? Why do you care so much? Can you please just leave me alone?" The guard gazed at the waiter, and Jamie took a breath looking away.

"No one cared about him." The waiter murmured and Leo paused gazing at him, that was completely random.

"No one cared about who?"

"My brother." At those two words Leo shifted in his seat, thankful the medication was starting to kick in. Jamie sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. "There aren't many places in town that will take you with no job experience, so a lot of high schoolers take up jobs at Fazbear's. There used to be two locations." The younger man paused and took a deep breath, Leo listened quietly. "My brother was the night guard at the previous location."

Leo's brow furrowed at that, was he the one who had gotten bitten?

"Until one of them...Mangle...bit him." The teenager finished confirming Leo's thoughts. "He had to go to the hospital...there were so many surgeries...all his friends left...our parents...who granted were never really that involved...they couldn't stand the person Jeremy became...no one cared." Wringing his hands together, the teenager fidgeted. "I haven't seen him in two years."

"He...left?" Leo's voice was quiet as he gazed at him, the teenager paused before nodding.

"Yeah. One day I came home to our apartment...and he was gone. No note...nothing." The teenager took a breath, "I've been looking for him ever since." Leo pursed his lips uncertain of what to say. Should he comfort him? Apologize? Say nothing at all?

This seemed like a very odd thing to tell someone that he barely knew.

"I uh...I'm sorry…?" He finally got out, Jamie let out a breath and rubbed his face.

"No, I'm sorry, I made it awkward." He took a deep breath, "my point is, when he worked there, everyone thought he was crazy, they called him nuts and dismissed all his warnings that the animatronics were active. When he was switched to the day shift...it was already too late. Mangle got him." Jamie finally turned to him, "I don't want that to happen to you." Casting his eyes up to the stage the teenager sighed, his brows furrowed deeply. "I don't know what they are up to, but they have gone through so many guards. You are injured and refusing to eat-"

"I'm just not hungry Jamie!"

"My point." The redhead sent Leo a look before taking a breath. "Is that you are weaker, and they know that. I honestly don't think you should stay tonight. It's not like they are under any threat. I really don't know why management insists on hiring a night guard. They can clearly defend themselves."

Leo let out a breath and rested his head on his arm again, this time gazing at the bots, "maybe, but they have weaknesses too. Plus the pizza is ***t...the animatronics are the only reason they are still in business." At that Jamie took a deep breath.

"Yeah, no wonder they cover up all the ***p they do." Leo could only nod. His eyes flickered over each one of them. It gave him far too much satisfaction to see the dent in Bonnie's face.

If Leo hadn't been beaten to a pulp, and on pain meds, he probably would've cared that the animatronics would not stop watching him. But at this point he didn't care. Let them watch, they would get bored anyways.

"It's kinda creepy how they just stare at you. Do...you think it's because you're the guard…?"

"Maybe, they just about have strokes when I'm around a kid. Even though I am the one who is protecting the children. But oh no, I'm a terrible person, aren't I?" Leo sat up finishing with a glare at the end.

"You think they understand you?"

"Oh I know they do. ***kers understand everything I'm saying." He huffed and got up, using his crutch as his aid. Taking a breath, he headed to his office, he needed to take a nap before tonight.

Thank you again and I hope you enjoyed it! Lemme know what you think! Leo is the kind of guy who comes with a lot of baggage, anyone have any ideas as to what some of them are?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

:)