Marcus stepped inside, stun gun at the ready just in case Cassidy decided to rear her head again tonight. The animatronics gave him friendly smiles in response, prompting him to lower the stun gun slowly, although he didn't put it away. The fact that Cassidy had been upfront with her attempts to kill him during their first encounter didn't mean she wasn't willing to change her strategy. He inched his way over to Charlie's box and rapped the top of the box with his knuckles.
Charlie shot out of the box, causing Marcus to jump backwards. He lifted his arm and pointed the stun gun at the puppet. He pressed the button on the side, causing a visible flash of electricity to jump between the prongs. He looked at her eyes, seeing only the empty soulless pits that ironically enough, gave away the presence of her soul.
"Sorry," he said, lowering the device in his hand, "Still a little on edge after last night."
"What do you want?" Charlie asked bluntly. For once, Marcus chose not to comment on her cold behavior towards him.
"Do I have to worry about a visit from Cassidy tonight?" he asked. He heard her imitate the sound of an irritated sigh.
"Marcus, you had two weeks before Cassidy showed up. I don't think you have to worry about her regaining her full strength over the course of a day."
"No one's done what I did, right? Your suggestion for combatting her was just a theory, so that must mean no one's survived her before."
"No one's survived a direct confrontation with her. Anyone who attempted to fight back was either killed or forced to flee. A handful of guards at the old location were able to survive a week, and two or three made it through at least one night here before either quitting or getting killed. How do you think they knew the Freddy head trick worked?"
"I…I guess that makes sense," Marcus said. Charlie nodded and began to close her box when the night guard considered something. "Wait!" he shouted, prompting the puppet to stop and pop back out.
"What?" she snarled, her mask seeming to twist into an irritable glare.
"Scott…the guy who leaves me messages on the phone on my desk, told me about the Freddy head trick because of the Toys' moving around during the night. He never even mentioned the older models until the next night. But you said that the Toys gave Cassidy the most trouble. Does that mean there was a point where she was strong enough to possess them, too? Besides, where was Cassidy those first two weeks?"
"Leave it alone, Marcus."
"I'm not leaving until you explain what's been going on for however long you've been in that damn puppet," he growled, "Otherwise I might just take them all apart, just to be safe."
"Trust me, you're not the first one to have that idea," Charlie replied, "But fine. If it gets you to calm the—" She fell silent for a few seconds, likely to compose herself. "—to calm down, I'll tell you what you want to know." Now Marcus took a moment to relax before sitting down on the floor in front of the puppet.
"I'm all ears."
Charlie watched her father's creations perform for their audience, a group of kids barely able to sit still. She wished she could sit there and become entranced by the robotic characters of Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica like the other children. Unfortunately, thanks to a family friend, all she could do now was hand out prizes. In all honesty, a part of her just wanted to go up into the sky and find her home in what her parents called "heaven." So why couldn't she just go?
"Sorry, kids," Freddy said, "It's getting late. Our little band needs to get some rest for tomorrow, so I'm afraid we won't be singing any more songs today." Freddy's announcement sparked several disappointed "awwwww"s from the children. Some even began to throw tantrums, but no screaming and flailing would change the fact that the restaurant would be closing soon.
One by one, kids were led away from the stage by their parents, eventually accepting that the animatronics were done performing. Within a minute, only four children remained, one girl and three boys. The four of them munched on candy they purchased from the Prize Counter, occasionally glancing over at the dining area. One of the boys offered a handful of candy to the girl, who eagerly took it and stuffed it into her mouth. The boy who gave her the candy smiled as she brushed some of her brown hair away from her face. Another girl walked over to the group, this one sporting blonde hair.
"Mom said to wait here until she was done catching up with her friends," the new arrival reported, eliciting a groan from the kid who had given the first girl candy.
"I just finished my candy!" he whined.
"No you didn't!" another one of the boys said, "You gave it to Cassidy because you're in looove!'
"Am not!" the first boy said, turning red.
"Face it, Jeremy! You want coooties!"
"Shut up!"
"Jeremy and Cassidy, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N—" Before the boy could finish the rhyme, Jeremy tackled him onto the ground and began pulling at his friend's dirty blonde hair. The other boy started hitting back and pulling at Jeremy's brown hair.
"Take it back!"
"No!"
"Take it back!"
"Never!"
The girl named Cassidy calmly watched the fighting, while the other two ran in to pull them apart. The other girl grabbed Jeremy and dragged him off of the other boy, while the third boy caught the second boy as he got up to retaliate.
"Susie, let me go!" Jeremy growled. He managed to wriggle free of her grip and shoved the other boy, causing the third boy to lose his grip and fall backwards. The two boys still standing began to wrestle with each other, each trying to push the other over. The third boy picked himself up off the ground and moved between the two, holding them apart.
"Cut it out, guys!" he said. After a few seconds, it became clear that the fight wouldn't continue and the two boys stopped trying to get to each other. "Fritz, say you're sorry," he said to the other boy.
"I'm sorry, Jeremy," he muttered, "Sorry you have cooties." Jeremy pushed against the third boy, but his friend didn't budge.
"Fritz!"
"Fine," the blonde-haired boy said, "Jeremy, I'm sorry that I made fun of you."
"I forgive you," Jeremy said, although only after the third boy gave him a warning glare. The tension between the two began to subside, and the kids sat back down.
"Do you want some of my candy, Jeremy?" Fritz asked, "I know you don't have any because you gave it to your girlfriend." Jeremy glared at him, but ultimately his sweet tooth overpowered his anger and he accepted the offer.
"If you ask me, I think Jeremy was quite the gentleman," Cassidy said with a coy smile. Jeremy's already red face became comparable to a tomato. Charlie couldn't help but smile at their little episode. Those five were the kind of kids she would have wanted as friends if her childhood, as well as her life, hadn't been cut short.
Two minutes later, and all five of them were out of candy. The children were slumped over onto a table, moaning hungrily. Cassidy was the only who seemed unaffected by the lack of sugar.
"What's taking your mom so long?" Jeremy whined.
"I don't know," Susie groaned, "I could try to get her to leave."
"Hey there, kids." Charlie turned to look at the source of the new voice, and so did the other children. There, standing before them, seemed to be Bonnie, but a golden yellow. The rabbit cocked its head to the side, confused.
"Why so glum?" it asked. The rabbit's voice was smooth, and had a British accent that immediately clued Charlie into his identity.
"We're out of candy and there's nothing to do," Fritz said.
"Nothing to do?" the rabbit said, looking around, "What about the arcade machines?"
"We don't have any quarters," Jeremy replied.
"Ah, I see," Spring Bonnie said before leaning in close, "Well, I'm not supposed to tell anybody, but between you and me, there's a secret code that you can put in that lets you play the games for free."
"Really?" Jeremy said, his voice betraying his growing excitement.
"Why would I lie to such wonderful little kids?" Spring Bonnie asked before moving over to the machines. The children slowly got up to follow the yellow rabbit. Charlie desperately wanted to attack the man in the costume, to trigger the springlock mechanisms her father always raised concerns about whenever he and his friend talked, but before she could do anything, one of the employees closed her box. She tried to push it back open, but they must have placed another box on top, holding it shut.
Charlie rammed against the top of her box again and again. Not again. She couldn't let it happen again. But there was too much holding it closed, and finally she closed her eyes as she sat against the side.
All she could do now was wait and listen for the screams.
Susie glanced over to the side at Jeremy and Fritz, who had seemingly made up after their scuffle. She looked back at the screen in front of her, finding a game over screen. Her time had run out again. She shrugged and put in the code Spring Bonnie had taught her.
As if summoned by her thought, Spring Bonnie stepped up behind her, revealed by a flashing message reporting that the time limit was extended by her performance. Susie glanced back at him, then returned her gaze to the game. A part of her assumed it was just her interest in the game, but in all honesty something about him made her unable to look him in the eyes. Strange, considering she had no problem when the other characters were looking at her.
"So, what brings you kids here on this fine day?" the rabbit asked.
"Well, last week, my dog Sparky was hit by a car," the girl replied, tears forming in her eyes, "My mom thought it would make me feel better if we spent the day here."
"Does it?"
"It helps, I guess." The tears in her eyes started to roll down her cheeks. "I m-miss him," she sobbed.
"You don't have to."
"Huh?" Susie sniffled, wiping at her tears with her hand.
"Did you ever get to bury him?"
"N-no. My d-dad took him to the vet, 'cause h-he was hurt real bad, and then Daddy came back w-without him."
"He's not dead."
"H-he's n-not?" Susie's tears stopped, and she took a deep breath like her mom told her to do when she was upset. "He's alive?"
"He's alive."
"How do you know?"
"I found him. He's here, in the restaurant."
"Really?"
"Follow me, and you two can be together again." He began to move towards a door labeled "Employees Only." Susie hesitated. Her mother had told her not to go into doors with those words on them, whatever employees were.
"I'm not supposed to be in there, am I?" she asked.
"It's okay," Spring Bonnie reassured her, "I'm giving you special permission."
Susie looked back at her friends. They were all too engrossed with their games to notice what was going on. She looked at her mom, who was still busy talking with her friends. She would be able to get back before Mom got worried.
Gabriel looked up from his game and looked around at his friends. Cassidy was busy playing her game while Jeremy was staring at her with a small smile on his face. Fritz was also fully immersed in his game. Susie was nowhere to be seen.
"Guys, where's Susie?" he asked.
"Who cares? I'm sure she's fine," Cassidy replied, "This place should cheer her up."
"You haven't lost any pets, have you?" Gabe said.
"Well…" Cassidy dropped her gaze to the floor. "No. I guess I don't know what she's been through."
"So don't just assume she's overreacting, okay?"
"Okay, I'll try to be a bit nicer to her."
"Great," Gabe said with a smile.
"Hey, kiddos!" Spring Bonnie called as he returned to the group, "Would you like to see one more show before you have to go home?"
"But I thought Freddy and his friends were tired," Jeremy said.
"I'm sure they have it in them for one more show," Spring Bonnie replied, "What do ya say?" The rabbit strolled over to a door and opened it, looking back at the children expectantly. Cassidy was the first to approach the door, and Jeremy and Fritz quickly followed suit.
"Guys, we shouldn't be going back there!" Gabe protested.
"Oh, come on," Cassidy replied, "Don't be such a baby, Gabe." Gabriel frowned and reluctantly complied with Spring Bonnie's request. The bunny smiled as he closed the door behind him and pulled out a knife.
Charlie pushed open the box that had her confined and looked around. There was no one there, but yellow police tape was all over the place. She simply hovered past it all and opened the door leading backstage. She moved over to the extra suits for the characters and looked inside Fredbear's eyeholes.
Sure enough, a bloodied corpse stared up at her. The eyes were lifeless, and yet Charlie felt a presence there. A soul not yet ready to move on. Someone that could come back.
Charlie looked over the other suits, finding the same scene and the same feeling of someone there. Mr. Afton had managed to get hold of five victims. There had to be a way to get them to come back. How had she done it?
"Hello?" she said, "Can you hear me?" There was silence for a moment, and then five voices all cried out to her, their words drowned out by their friends. "One at a time, please," Charlie said, "I can't hear what you're saying." She pointed to the corpse in the Freddy suit. "You first."
"How do we get out of these suits?" the boy's voice asked, "They hurt. A lot."
"I don't know if you can," Charlie replied.
"Can we go back to our families?" the kid inside Bonnie asked.
"No. I'm afraid that you're all dead." Her words caused the children to murmur among each other. "Quiet, please," she said, "I think I can bring you back. How does that sound?"
The spirits seemed to consider this before they all began speaking at once. From what Charlie could decipher, they were eager to come back. The puppet gestured for them to lower their voices, then racked her mind on how to make good on her promise. She didn't really get a choice on her resurrection.
"Well, bring us back," the girl in Fredbear snapped.
"It's not so simple," Charlie replied. Somehow, her instincts told her to concentrate on one of them. So she selected the girl in Chica, focusing on taking hold of her spirit and wrestling it free. It took a minute, but sure enough, the girl's body came loose and began floating around.
She studied the girl, interested in what the appearance of such ghosts would be. The girl looked like what Charlie saw of her before, but her entire body was a ghoulish white. The only other thing that differed from her original appearance was two dark grey marks running down her face from her eye. They reminded Charlie of the tear-like stripes from her own mask.
"I…I didn't know I could do that," Charlie breathed, then reminded herself of her objective. "Susie, right? Come with me." She led the ghost to the main stage behind the curtain. She gestured to the animatronics. "I can't give you back a body like you had, but you can become whichever character you want," the puppet explained, "Which one do you want?"
"I want Chica!" Susie said, entering the chicken and disappearing. The robot shuddered before looking around, finally setting her gaze on Charlie.
"Wow, this—" Susie, now Chica, froze. "My voice sounds like Chica!"
"You must be able to use Chica's voice box to speak," Charlie theorized, "This…body, doesn't have that, so I have to use my own voice."
"This is so cool!" Chica said, before turning to face the empty area where her audience would normally be. "Hi there, boys and girls!" she practiced, reciting Chica's lines perfectly, "Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! Do you kids wanna hear us play a song?"
"You're taking this better than I expected," Charlie commented.
"Well, grown-ups are better at dealing with stuff, and right now I feel like I'm a grown-up now!"
"Interesting," Charlie whispered to herself, then called over to Chica, "I'm going to get your friends into their new bodies. Can you behave while I'm gone?"
"Yep!" Chica replied. Charlie's mask finally reflected her actual expression as she returned to the other suits.
"What took you so long?" the Fredbear girl, Cassidy asked.
"Sorry, we were getting the hang of things," Charlie said.
"Well get us out already!"
"Be patient," Charlie snapped. She was going to put Cassidy in a body last for her attitude. She moved to Bonnie's suit and continued her work.
The process was simple enough. Every ghost was as white as snow, with the same gray tears on their face. They all even chose the characters whose suit they were stuffed in, to the point where Charlie wondered if their killer had offered them a choice of what suit they were stuffed in. Finally, she made it to Cassidy, who's blank, lifeless eyes glared at her.
"About time," she growled, "Give me a body."
"There's a problem with that," Charlie said, "There aren't any more characters that I could put you in."
"What about the one I'm in? Put me in that one!"
"You don't want that one. It's not in use. That suit is the only trace of it left."
"Well, figure it out! I want a body, now!"
"I don't have control over that," Charlie said as she turned to leave, "You'll just have to sit tight and hope that they introduce a new character. I'm sorry."
"Come back here!" Cassidy screamed at Charlie as she floated away, "GIVE ME A BODY!"
Hey, guys! I figured this would be a single chapter story giving the backstory of Golden Freddy and explaining some things, but then I got a lot more into this and really fleshed it out to where what was originally going to be a fairly mediocre chapter actually is looking to be one of my favorites. Unfortunately, it's getting a little long, so this is going to be another two-parter at least. Stay tuned!
