Chapter 3: Perfect Unison

It was barely the start of dawn as Tyler left the house, knowing that he would start to get tired somewhere on the walk over, but needing to head over just to settle his curiosity and anger. Charlie told them straight out that the whole family would be Hosting an animatronic of their own, and so far...it seemed to be coming true.

Tyler was the Host of Foxy, Kyle was the Host of Golden Freddy and Tommy was the Host of Freddy, each of them being permanently bound to their animatronic. Tyler didn't know what to think of that. On one hand, it was terrifying, the idea that these animatronics would outlast them and possibly drag them along for the ride, but on the other hand… Tyler couldn't help feeling sorry for the animatronics for the exact same reason.

That line of thought was sadly besides the point, the point was that so far, each one has been bound to an animatronic aside from two. The deadbeat bastard and Mom, both of which nev- Tyler blinked a moment, thinking back to the photograph. While Mom never showed any signs of the animatronics finding their Host, the deadbeat 'father' did with that weird puppet looking thing. Which meant only one was missing, yet all the main cast was full up.

The original cast of Fredbear's Diner was completely full up (probably? Tyler wasn't entirely sure where that puppet-looking thing was from) with the murderer in the Golden Bonnie animatronic as its Host and Kyle as Golden Freddy's Host. The secondary cast of the main gang was full too, with Tommy as Freddy, those two other kids as Bonnie and Chica, and Tyler as Foxy. That only left those animatronics, and it didn't even look like they were interested in Mom, never showing up in the photographs as much as Tyler could tell.

Tyler sighed, not even sure where his thoughts were trying to lead him. When it came down to it, there wasn't a single animatronic in any of the pictures of Mom, so there was no telling how she was bound to the restaurant, if she was at all. He pushed the thoughts away as he continued walking down the empty streets. Cars would pass every now and then, but he gave them no mind.

There really was no reason for Tyler to go to the restaurant given he didn't have a shift today, no work reasons at least, so he didn't bother to go in uniform and even brought some money to pay the entrance fee. Tyler just wanted a break, and Freddy's was a decent place for it? The more he thought about it, the less sure of himself he really was, but he was still walking so he might as well go all the way.

After a while of not really thinking while he walked, Tyler made it to the restaurant and went inside. After paying the fee, much to the confusion of the clerk before explaining that he was here off duty, Tyler went into the main hall. It had been decades since he's last been able to just…explore the place, but he didn't really feel like going anywhere other than Pirate's Cove. After entering the place, Tyler blinked in confusion at Foxy and Henrick being in there together.

"Hey, Tyler," Henrick greeted while Foxy gave a nod in way of greeting, "Isn't the afternoon shift not for a few hours?" Henrick asked before taking another look at Tyler and blinking.

Before Henrick could ask about the lack of uniform, Tyler moved to clear up the confusion, "I'm off duty, just wanted to visit to try and...figure some things out."

"Things? Like what?" Henrick pushed on, walking towards Tyler before Foxy placed a paw on his shoulder. That feeling of being home crashed between the two of them as Tyler took a deep breath, looking at Foxy to notice him looking right back at him.

Henrick looked back at Foxy, confused, but Foxy merely shook his head, looking at Tyler as a weird sense of understanding past Tyler's mind.

Tyler knew there was some magic...or whatever it was going on, but it was one thing to hear about it, and another to experience it yourself, and no matter how many times it happened, it still took Tyler by surprise each and every time. Taking a few moments to blink away the feeling, Tyler chuckled, "It's nothing really, I just… I just needed some time to myself to try and decide what to do next. Like in one of the arcade games here! People only have so many quarters, so the company tries to give them as little time to think before they have to either get to the end of the line or just put another quarter in. Think of this as…me just heading to the end of the line in order to think of how to approach the level I got stuck on or something like that." Tyler explained, pointing towards one of said arcades, a Princess Quest One, and the good amount of kids trying to play it.

"Are you sure? You seem…troubled." Henrick pressed on as Foxy kept his paw on Tyler's shoulder, looking towards him and then back to Henrick before stepping forward towards Tyler.

A bit of static came out of Foxy's mouth before it shifted towards words, "Be…careful…I…with you."

"Alright, Foxy, I'll be careful, don't worry. After all, you're with me all the way, right?" Tyler said, a smile on his face despite the weirdness of the situation. Tyler couldn't help but wonder if this was how Stockholm's Syndrome worked, where you just got so used to the strangeness of the situation that it felt normal to you, but he also felt that…it was right. A feeling of completeness that he felt a lot more throughout the last few weeks whenever he was with Foxy. Foxy nodded with a smile, looking a lot more human than just a few seconds ago before the image faded with a blink.

After that, Tyler did something he never believed he would. Tyler went forward despite the paw in order to hug Foxy, not even bothering to watch out for any exposed parts of the endoskeleton. He couldn't explain why, but that drowning feeling in their chest seemed to finally…level. Suddenly, he wasn't just Foxy, not just Tyler. He was both and neither all at once. They felt safe…they felt whole again.

"Uh…" Bonnie muttered after who knows how long of watching the two hug, but merely blinked in confusion as Foxy's animatronic body seemed to shift somewhat. It wasn't perfect, but it seemed to complete itself enough that Tyler's hug hit nothing even when a few seconds ago, he was heading straight for the exposed part with his hands, "Do…do you two need a minute?" He asked as silence enveloped them.

Bonnie took a minute before he started to leave, flee, but the hug ended right as he took a step away, "It's…huh." Tyler blinked alongside Foxy, "So…huh, that's how you…okay."

"Are you two going to kiss or explain to me what's going on!?" Bonnie couldn't hold back the confusion that had been building from the longest hug he had ever seen, and was only glad that they were still on break and had the showroom closed as it would be so goddamn weird to explain.

"Do you- me? Okay," Tyler blinked out in front of him before turning back to Bonnie, "Sorry, still…new to this connection. I…I don't think I'm just one of us, more like…"

Bonnie rolled his eyes at the familiarity of that statement, "That you're one and the same, and still trying to find who's who?" At the surprise that reached both their faces, Bonnie merely chuckled, "Thanks for winning me the bet, knew you two would eventually bite the bullet. You were kinda scaring me there, one more day and I would have lost that bet."

"Jeez, thanks." Foxy said as Bonnie was the one to blink in surprise, "Glad to know that ye lads still want to use us as betting boards."

"So, was this why you came in, or was there a different reason?" Bonnie asked as Tyler and Foxy stared at each other for a second before looking back.

"Eh, was wanting to relax a bit. Figured that this was the best place for it. Ironically enough, this happened and here we are." Tyler explained simply.

"I see, this state shouldn't last too long as it's your first time truly Hosting Foxy here, but who knows?" Bonnie explained before smirking, "In the meantime, want to help out with the kids, 'Private' Tyler?"

Tyler merely grinned as Foxy's voice resonated with his own, "Aye, ye scallywags!"

Henrick should have known better than to ask them that, but Tyler couldn't argue with the results. It…felt insanely weird after the unity feeling fell away to mere confusion. Tyler could feel Foxy's fear, especially when the understanding of what Tyler had decided to do passed on through in that unity.

The story was supposedly a smash hit with the kids, even more so than yesterday was. Tyler could feel it all still, as if that blinding confusion had led towards a pure clarity that he didn't even know he needed all this time. He had to help his family, and maybe it's time for the Captain to make sure his Mateys weren't the ones to go down with the ship.

A stray thought went into him, was this the Building trying to help out? Tyler blinked as he looked towards Foxy. After so long of the two of them being hesitant of it all, to suddenly feeling like he was falling down before being caught in that union? Tyler wondered if he should have been appalled at that possibility, but found that…he didn't really mind. He had been needing to get out of that shell of his, and Foxy was his friend, one that understood him perfectly and…they were still finding 'themselves' in this weird new union, but it was a fun journey! One that just kept getting more and more interesting with every passing second.

Even Henrick, for as weird as he probably found all of this, merely took it all in stride after Tyler and Foxy's…well, Tyler didn't even know anymore. He was both done with the magic stuff and still ranting about the magic stuff and couldn't even tell which one of those was Foxy. They were, like everything else so far, both wrong and right over what would happen when they fully accepted each other.

In a way, they did lose themselves in that flood of them both, but at the same time…they were wrong. There was still Tyler and Foxy, it was just as if someone spilled water all over the boundary between them. Now, rather than a mere feeling of what Foxy was thinking of feeling, it turned into a pure understanding of each other. It wasn't as strong as when they were in pure unity like earlier, but Tyler could finally understand where Kyle was coming from in the explanation of it all.

Tyler just couldn't put it all into words no matter how his thoughts, their thoughts in a way, tried to do just that. He merely took a deep breath before leaning his head on Foxy, "Thanks."

"As I said before, I'm with you. Just be careful, okay?" Foxy asked as Tyler smirked.

"Aw, are you scared for your private, o' captain?"

Foxy scoffed at the joke, "Why, of course! It's a captain's job to care for his crew!" The two shared a laugh at the reply before the mood sombered again, "Are you sure?"

"Charlie already said, you know as well as I do what we have to do," Tyler sighed, "Despite the choice we have in the manner…"

"Like hell we're letting them get into trouble again." Foxy scoffed again.

"I can't even blame us for being scared of this, but…wow, this is weird." Tyler blinked when Foxy nodded midway.

"Agreed, it's as if we're able to just-"

"Know," Tyler finished simply as Foxy nodded again, "When do you think Henrick is coming back?"

Foxy shrugged, "Probably in an hour or so, I bet he's just explaining to the others what happened. Not much we can do given we still have an hour before the evening shift. You going to tell them that Kyle's not coming in tonight?"

Tyler thought about it for a moment before groaning. Foxy merely smirked a bit, "You didn't think that far, did you?" He asked despite knowing the answer to that.

"I…I still think he's going to try coming." Tyler couldn't meet Foxy's eyes as Foxy rolled his eyes.

"He's definitely stubborn enough for that. Let's do our best," Tyler grinned and nodded as the two got up, "We got a lot to do, and the Building is probably giving us the tools we need to take it on. Wouldn't be the first time." That line gave Tyler pause despite how Foxy probably didn't voice it aloud.

"Not the first time?" Tyler asked as Foxy nodded.

"Yeah, your…the bastard as you call him, was the first time that it really happened. Remember…the incident?" Foxy grimaced a bit as he felt more than saw the flashes of jaws and a black void appear in Tyler's mind before that line of thought was forcibly closed off, "Look, it's fine, I'm not going to hurt you, you're safe now. All of you got out of there." Foxy calmly explained, mildly surprised that he was able to use both of his hands to put on Tyler's shoulder. His eye looked towards his left hook, only to find that it wasn't as sharp, and instead looked…detachable.

Foxy barely registered Tyler staring wide-eyed as Foxy slowly tried to detach the hook. It came off like always, but there was a hand that could be brought up now, with the hook able to safely be placed on his captain hat. Foxy was nearly dead silent as he stared at the hand in disbelief, having to move through each of the fingers just to prove to himself that it was real.

Slowly, Tyler and Foxy's eyes met and they had but one thought running through their minds, "I have a hand." Foxy stated simply as he slowly started to chuckle, tears running through both of his eyes.

"You have hands," Tyler added, just as surprised, "YOU HAVE HANDS!"

"I HAVE HANDS!" The two grinned at each other when they heard the curtain to the Pirate's Cove open up, revealing Henrick looking at them like they were insane, before taking a look at Foxy's left hand.

He stared for a second before walking up to the two of them, reattaching said hook much to their annoyance, then leading them outside towards the kitchen, "Show her." Henrick said simply when Cassandra looked up from where she was making the pizzas.

Tyler took a moment as the names of everyone started bouncing in his mind; he barely noticed before when he was calling Henrick Bonnie while in that unity state, but maybe it's due to how the two view the names as different. Tyler looked towards Foxy as a voice seemed to wade into his brain, "It would make sense. They're just Bonnie and Chica to me, just like I'm Foxy to you. I'm tempted to ask for another name though, would be interesting." Tyler blinked, not even being alarmed at Foxy's words sounding so clearly in his head.

"Hmm…what would you like?" Tyler spoke aloud to Foxy, barely even registering the facepalm of Henrick as he did, "What even sounds good to you?" Foxy shrugged, "C'mon, don't be like that! We both know I suck at giving names!"

"Fair, you named your dog…Pupster." Foxy deadpanned while Tyler's face lit up like a fire truck.

"H-Hey! Pupster is a perfectly good name!" Tyler defended as Foxy merely put his hand on Tyler's shoulder.

"Sure it is," Foxy reassured, "Know I will castrate you if you name me Fox." Foxy assured him seriously, raising his hook with the same steady smile he started the conversation with. Despite the fact the two were fully bonded… Tyler couldn't tell if he was joking.

A shiver went down his spine as Foxy opened his left eye as the truth of the matter rushed into his mind, causing him to 'Eep!' aloud embarrassingly. Coughing nervously, Tyler turned back to Cassandra in a desperate plea to change the topic to literally anything else, but she was too busy jaw-dropping at Foxy.

"He can talk." Cassandra repeated slowly, looking at Foxy with the blandest look of someone two seconds from freaking out before staring at Henrick like he was stupid. Tyler couldn't help but blame Kyle for being able to recognize that so quickly.

"Eh, your mom wasn't that much better from what I've seen. Neither were you for that matter, you three got really messed up when Tommy became Freddy." Foxy reminded him as Tyler merely sighed.

"Yeah, you're not wrong with that one, so, do you want to make her faint or wait for the inevitable blow up?" Tyler couldn't quite keep the smirk off his face or the excitement in his voice.

Foxy merely mirrored his grin as the two looked at Cassandra in union before Foxy pulled off his hook to reveal his left hand.

Cassandra stared, blinked before looking at Hendrick and merely slapping him, "HEY!" Hendrick cried out in pain as she then turned back to the two of them. She looked super ready to slap the both of them, but merely put her hands around their shoulders.

"What do you want for supper?" She asked with a wide smile that Tyler and Foxy both frowned at.

"I would like you to stop trying to push the reaction aside, it's not healthy." Tyler pouted a bit as Cassandra smirked at the two.

"And let you two see the utter shitshow you just caused? Where's the fun of giving you that satisfaction?" Cassandra muttered darkly as the two froze up, "Oh, don't worry. I'll get you back for this, but not today. You're safe for today." Cassandra continued with her grip on their shoulders tightening. Foxy's caused a bit of whining sounds while Tyler's merely hurt a lot. Thankfully, she was controlling her strength to not break Tyler's arm off.

"Uh…can we drop…one more bombshell on you while you're in a…nice mood then?" Tyler asked meekly, noting the hand seemed to press down that much more.

"And what might that be?" Cassandra asked with a look bordering on madness. Tyler was honestly getting worried for Foxy, feeling the pain in both of his shoulders as she bore down on them.

"U-Uh…" Tyler was terrified. He saw her anger when she brought it out on Henrick, and that motherfucker was watching them with a smirk on his face. Tyler and Foxy swore vengeance as Tyler took a deep breath and tapped the hand away. Breathing a sigh of relief when both hands rose and having to shake both of his shoulders and not just the one she pushed down on while noticing Foxy doing the same, Tyler looked back up sheepishly, "Well…Kyle might not be coming to the night shift today."

"And…why isn't he?" Cassandra asked impatiently.

"It's…complicated." Tyler finished lamely as Foxy continued to save their hide from being fried by the chicken animatronic.

"We will explain it to everyone, but not now, we still have stuff to do, and while Tyler here isn't truly working at the moment, h-"

"TYLER, I SWEAR I WILL REVEAL YOUR UNDER-" Tyler and Foxy rushed out of the kitchen the moment Cassandra became distracted at the familiar voice while Tyler swore up a storm as he rushed towards his younger brother.

"OI! I WILL SO REVEAL YOUR DAMN COOKIE HABITS IF YOU TRY IT!" Tyler yelled back with nervousness as Charlie floated by his left, before looking towards Foxy with wide, nervous eyes.

"Ah crap, just as we feared." Charlie muttered aloud before disappearing again while Kyle threw Tyler his uniform.

"And who are you to decide when I can and can't do the night shift, that's my job." Kyle snarked as Tyler growled…or was that Foxy. All four of them blinked when they realized it, "Man, you're hungrier than I thought you would be. Change into your uniform and let's get to work."

"Um, you're not supposed to be-" One of the newer employees tried to inform Kyle, who merely smiled alongside Tyler.

"We're volunteering." The two spoke in unison as Kyle walked towards the main supply closet in order to get the cleaning supplies while Tyler went to change into his uniform. Foxy, obviously, didn't follow him, but Tyler could still feel that he was there and waiting for him at Pirate's Cove.

Tyler looked at the wall, hoping no one else was in the bathroom before taking a deep breath and speaking aloud while he changed and did his business, "I'm.. not sure that you can hear me or not. I know Foxy can, but I'm not talking about him, but…you know that, don't you?" Tyler mumbled aloud, not wanting to be too loud with his question and feeling somewhat silly about it, but curiosity was killing them and he needed some answers, "I want to help, I know that.. Kyle isn't ready for this one, and we both know that given what happened last time. He's been having nightmares for years about it all that he can't understand, and I doubt he's fully recovered as much as he seems to. He's always been good and bad at hiding his pain. I..we want to believe that our union or hosting or whatever you call it was due to you, and if so, thank you. If so, please, give us the chance we need to help them out, let the Nightmare or whatever we're calling it go to me, not him. I know my past enough that I can fight through it without too much trouble so long as Foxy is there alongside me, I swear that we'll get through all six nights, just believe in all of us." Tyler continued despite the lack of reply.

He doubted that he would get an answer, but he merely sighed when none came. He didn't need an answer in words anyways, merely in action. After finishing up, cleaning his hands and putting his employee cap on, Tyler looked at the mirror and saw two reflections back. Himself and Foxy stared back at him, and Tyler merely smiled as the Foxy in the mirror nodded before fading away. Tyler didn't entirely know what to think of it, yet did at the same time.

Now it's merely time to make due on that promise.