Really early morning posts…yaaay? Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
Shadow chuckled as they arrived in her living room, Foxy seeming a bit disoriented. With a shake of his head, Foxy straightened up, looking around curiously.
"Lass…did ye just teleport?"
Shadow shrugged.
"Like I told Fazbear…I'm nothing like any guard you've ever met. Anyways…welcome to my humble abode. You've got free reign of the house…except the spare room. I use it for various projects I'm working on. Eh…make yourself comfortable I suppose. I'll start working on you once I wake up."
With a wave at Foxy, Shadow put Plushtrap down and headed down the hallway into a bedroom, closing the door. Foxy looked down at the little rabbit when it chattered at him, crossing his arms.
"And what do ye want, ye little bilge-rat?"
Plushtrap frowned and stomped a foot, causing Foxy to chuckle.
"Ye got spirit…fer a rabbit. What be this black plastic thing?"
Foxy tapped the television gently, getting an excited click out of Plushtrap, who went running for the remote. Turning it on, the little rabbit only grinned when the fox was immediately distracted by the moving pictures. Now his favourite mortal could sleep in peace.
Few hours later
Foxy was still enthralled by the television, Plushtrap sitting on the fox's lap. When the portal opened up beside the tv, Plushtrap leapt up and went running down the hallway. Foxy watched the rabbit curiously as it jumped up and opened the night guard's door before slipping inside. Turning to face the portal, Foxy cocked his head to the side.
"What be this then?"
Foxy crept closer, only to back up quickly when the massive bear came through. Immediately falling into a crouch, Foxy lashed his tail and growled. Nightmare tilted his head curiously as he examined the animatronic fox, a wicked grin stretching across his face.
"Well, well…it seems little Shadow has found herself a guard dog. A stray, if your battered appearance is any indication."
Foxy snarled.
"Ye won't be getting to the night guard ye scurvy dog."
Nightmare just laughed.
"And who are you to stop me little fox?"
When the door slammed open down the hall, both of them looked down the hallway and immediately backed off. Shadow looked furious, bags under her eyes and hair a flyaway mess. Foxy could feel the oppressive aura she gave off, and it made him feel extremely unsafe. Chancing a glance at the black bear, he was slightly pleased to see that it seemed hesitant to continue their verbal scuffle.
Nightmare removed his hat, holding it in front of him.
"Good morning little one. How are you?"
Shadow just growled and pushed past Foxy and Nightmare, heading to the kitchen and starting to make coffee. Plushtrap scampered between the two of them, making a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh before climbing up Shadow's back and settling on her shoulder. After a few minutes of silence Shadow turned around holding a cup of coffee and wandered over to the couch. Foxy straightened up from his crouch and skirted around the black bear, sitting down on the floor beside the couch.
"From yer lack of reaction lass, I'd be assuming ye know this bear?"
Shadow just grunted and continued to drink her coffee. Nightmare sneered and walked to stand behind the couch.
"I've known her for many years, fox. I don't know why you are here, nor why she is unconcerned enough to sleep while you're here but if you touch one hair on her head..."
Rolling her eyes, Shadow put the coffee mug down.
"Cool it Nightmare. I don't need the overprotectiveness when I've just woken up. To the sounds of you two fighting none the less. I would have slept easily for another two or three hours."
Foxy scratched his jaw with his hook.
"Aye lass, I be sorry about that. 'tis instinct to protect precious treasure."
Nightmare rolled his eyes at the fox before focusing back on Shadow.
"I just wanted to check that you were still in one piece after your second night little Shadow."
Shadow leaned back and looked up at Nightmare.
"I'm sure you can figure it out yourself. I am in one piece."
Nightmare sighed.
"That is not what I meant. When did you become so snarky?"
Shadow grinned cheekily at Nightmare.
"A few months after I started training with you and Fredbear."
With a groan, Shadow stood up and stretched.
"Alright Foxy, you stay here while I go grab my tools. I need to take a look at what kind of parts to get. Nightmare…don't go giving him a hard time. He may be from the pizzeria, but he allowed me to hide in the cove last night."
Nightmare watched her walk down the hallway and growled.
"What did she mean by that, fox? Why would she have had to hide in your cove?"
Foxy shook his head, jaw flapping loosely.
"The lass annoyed old Fazbear somehow. 'e usually doesn't go hunting until the third night of a guard's shift."
Nightmare sighed and put a paw on his face.
"Of course she did."
When Shadow returned to the living room, she found a confused Foxy and an exasperated Nightmare. Chuckling, she motioned for Foxy to sit down and began taking a look at his endoskeleton.
"Well the good news is I can fix your jaw now. I've got the right size of bolts in my garage. Your legs are going to be a bit harder to fix. There's a few pieces I'm going to have to pick up, and I'm going to see if the manager has a second costume for you, because this one is torn to pieces and completely unrepairable."
Shadow smirked.
"You and Nightmare should get along just fine Foxy. You both have a habit of losing your jaws. Please get along while I'm looking for the bolts. And that last comment is aimed at YOU Nightmare…I've known you long enough to know how you can get."
Foxy snickered as Shadow left the room. It died off when he noticed the hostile look he was getting from Nightmare.
"What be yer problem with me, ye black devil?"
Nightmare sneered at him.
"You have no idea what that girl went through because of you and your cohorts. She may have forgiven you, but do not think I am not watching you."
Foxy went to retort, but fell silent when Shadow returned to the room, metal bolts and a wrench in her hands. She stared suspiciously between the two animatronics before rolling her eyes and getting to work on Foxy's jaw. Halfway through the last bolt, the cell phone sitting on the table began to ring with a familiar jingle. Humming quietly, Shadow continued to work.
"Nightmare, do me a favor and put it on speaker please? And both of you shush…I don't need whoever is calling to get curious."
Nightmare leaned over the phone, looking between the various buttons. Rolling her eyes, Shadow sighed.
"Green button that looks like a phone, then the button that looks like a megaphone. I really need to teach you and Fredbear a thing or two about recent technology."
Careful not to scratch the glass, Nightmare hit the buttons Shadow had mentioned, falling still when it turned on.
"Hello?"
"Nicole, honey! You haven't been returning my calls!"
Shadow scowled and tugged on the bolt a little too hard, making Foxy flinch. Gently patting his shoulder to apologize, she got up.
"Hello mother. I've been busy."
Shadow's mother tutted over the phone.
"Honey, you can't go hiding in your home and call it being busy! Enough about that though. I'm in town, and decided I'm going to come visit!"
Shadow's eyes went wide.
"Uuh…bad time mother. My home's a mess, and I'm really busy working on a project."
"Oh, don't be silly dear. I can handle a little mess, and I won't get in your way while you're working. I'll be there in about 10 minutes!"
With a beep, the call was ended and Shadow groaned.
"Of all the times for her to decide to visit. Nightmare…if you're going to insist on staying, which knowing you, you will, then you need to stay hidden. Foxy, you're going to have to hide yourself in the spare room with my other…ah…project. Just until she leaves. Plushtrap…just…behave yourself."
"Aye lass, don't ye worry about old Foxy. Where might this spare room be?"
Shadow started walking down the hallway and motioned for Foxy to follow her. When they arrived at the door beside her room, she opened it and gestured inside. Once he was in, she shut the door, leaving a curious Foxy to stare at the other animatronic in the corner. Back out in the living room, she looked around carefully, finally spotting the dim glow of Nightmare's eyes peeking out from a closet. Snickering, she sat down on the couch and Plushtrap crawled into her lap.
When the doorbell rang a few moments later, Shadow groaned and stood up, Plushtrap scrambling up her back to sit on her shoulder. She flicked his nose playfully, grinning.
"That is not behaving buddy. Just don't go scaring my mother."
Opening the door, Shadow was immediately swept up into a hug by the taller, blond woman. Gently pulling out of the embrace, Shadow turned around and walked back inside, her mother following with a frown.
"Nicole, honey, it's so dark in here! How do you live like this?"
"Mother, I have a night shift. I'm used to the dark."
Shadow's mother frowned again, letting out a little gasp when she noticed the moving rabbit on Shadow's shoulder.
"Nicole…what is that?"
Shadow turned to look back at her mother before looking at Plushtrap sitting on her shoulder.
"Just another one of my projects mother. You know I took animatronic engineering and programming, this is the first one I built. His name is Plushtrap."
"Oh my…well. He's certainly interesting. Would you mind showing me more of your work dear?"
Shadow went to answer, but Plushtrap chomped his jaws together at her mother. Shadow chuckled.
"Plushtrap wants to know what your name is."
Shadow's mother looked at her, a bit flustered.
"How does it have its own thoughts? And how do you understand it?"
Shadow sighed.
"It's got an advanced, learning AI. As for understanding him, I don't, not really. I can just guess at what he's trying to say through his actions. He lets me know if I'm right or wrong."
"I see… well, um, Plushtrap… my name is Isabella."
Plushtrap brightened, happily clicking at Shadow.
"Yes Plush, I know you like the attention, but what did I tell you about behaving yourself?"
Plushtrap shrugged and smiled at the shocked Isabella before jumping off Shadow's shoulder and running down the hallway.
"Well. He's headed towards the room I've been using to work on things. If you really want me to show you what I've been doing, we might as well follow him."
Isabella smiled nervously as her daughter walked down the hallway. Something had changed all those years ago, after her friend was murdered in the pizzeria she worked at. She had grown distant, cold almost. Calls were never returned, and she rarely came to visit even during holidays.
Isabella shook her head when her daughter came to a stop at a door, staring into it cautiously when the door creaked open. Isabella gasped. There were two full sized animatronics standing in the room, both in shutdown mode. One was a fox that looked familiar for some reason, and the other was a bear. Both stood slumped over, half-lidded golden eyes staring ahead. When the door creaked, Isabella jumped, then her daughter walked over to the fox, checking over its jaw.
"Well at least the bolts seem to be holding…"
Pulling out the wrench again, Shadow began tightening one of them.
"Nicole, honey, what are these for?"
Shadow smiled wryly at her mother.
"I took courses on animatronics. I built the bear myself as a bit of a test of my abilities, and I'm repairing old Foxy here for Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria."
Isabella gasped.
"Honey, isn't that where you worked one summer on weekends? Your friend, the other night guard, he died there, didn't he?"
Shadow sighed.
"Yes mother, he died there. I can handle myself, there's nothing to worry about. Look, it was nice seeing you and all, but I need to get ready for work soon, and there aren't any spare beds for you."
Isabella sighed, gently rubbing her daughter's head, frowning when she stiffened under the touch.
"Oh alright Nicole. I'll get out of your hair. Do be careful honey."
Shadow didn't breathe until her mother left, at which point she sighed in relief.
"I'm too tired to deal with this shit…"
Next chapter will deal with Foxy finding out what happened all those years ago, along with our night 3 and other possible reveals. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to leave a review!