Marcus held the desk phone to his ear, listening to the dial tone for what felt like the thousandth time. He had been trying to get to whoever was in charge of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza for an hour, but no one had answered the phone, no matter what number he tried. Receptionist? No answer. Directory? Nothing. Their own personal phone number, courtesy of the manager and a bit of threatening? No such luck.
He heard a click and held his breath, waiting for whoever was on the other side to say something. "I'm sorry, but—" Marcus didn't even bother listening for the rest of the message before he hurled the phone across the desk, the cord it was attached to being the only reason it didn't fly further. His head slammed onto the desk as he let out a moan.
This was pointless. Fazbear Entertainment had every reason and every right to close down the restaurant. After several murders and maimings, there was only so much damage control they could do. He could beg and badger all he wanted, but it would do no good if they weren't willing to listen.
A click brought him out of his dejection-fueled trance. Charlie's slender fingers retreated from the phone as she set herself down onto the desk. Marcus had never seen her move so casually; she was always so wary and conserved. Frankly, her new attitude creeped him out more than the old one.
"No luck?" she asked. Marcus studied her mask, trying to discern what was going on in her head, but it held as good a poker face as ever.
"Nothing," he finally replied with a sigh, "Nada, zilch, not even a damn intern." He leaned back into his chair, doing so with such force that he needed to grab hold of the desk to keep from falling over.
"Are you going to give up?"
"No! Of course not!" the night guard growled, knocking over his chair as he stood up and jabbed his finger into the animatronic's chest, "After all the shit we've been through—a lot of which is your damn fault, might I add—you really still think that I'd be thinking about wiping my hands and walking away?"
"I wouldn't blame you," Charlie replied, completely unfazed by Marcus' outburst. She turned her head towards the hallway, where the other animatronics were peering in from the main hall. She waved them away before returning her focus to Marcus. "Look, this place isn't going anywhere Freddy Fazbear's has survived controversy like this before."
"Not like this. There were several years between your murder and the murder of Gabe, Susie, Fritz, and Jeremy. These happened within a few months of each other."
"Regardless, there's nothing we can do but hope for the best," she said, "Your noises have made that clear. I'm sure things will be fine."
"Are you sure you aren't Cassidy or something?" Marcus asked, squinting to try finding any white dots in her eyeholes.
"I can't say that I am," Charlie chuckled, "But your time here made me realize something."
"How not to be such a bitch and stand up for yourself?"
"I was perfectly willing to strangle you if you had the sense to go for the crowbar when we first met."
"Believe me, I know. You have some sort of kink for choking people?"
"I died before puberty, genius."
"Right, right. What were you getting at?"
"Ever since you came around, I've started wondering about whether I've really given those four a gift. Between Cassidy and Mangle and…well, you, I seem to have brought them more grief than Mr. Afton did."
"Afton? You know who killed you?" Marcus gestured down the hall. "Who killed them?" Then at himself. "Who almost killed me?"
"You think I would be dumb enough to trust a random stranger?"
"You were five."
"He was my father's business partner. Neither of us knew what he had in store for the business. But he didn't make Cassidy, I did. Her and her attitude straight out from those high school movies. If she had lived, I'm sure she would have menaced some poor girl instead of you. And yet I tried to bring her back anyway."
"Not just her, all of them were there. She just had the misfortune of not having a body to go with. How did you know how to bring them back, anyway?"
"I…didn't. I saw a chance to not be alone anymore, so I thought back to how I came to be and tried to repeat it. I guess it all worked out, for better or worse." As she spoke, the phone began to ring. "Speaking of, don't you wanna get that? You'd think you would be interested in someone taking interest in what you have to say."
Marcus glanced down and, recognizing the number immediately, began speaking before the phone reached his ear. "Scott. What're you doing up so late?"
"Well, uh, the higher ups in the company have taken notice of everything you've done. They're hoping to give you a new job after the restaurant closes down. Would you, uh, would you be interested in sticking around a bit longer?"
"That depends. What does this job entail?"
"Well…" Scott's words became inaudible as Charlie floated away to give Marcus some privacy. Before she rounded the corner, she took one last look back into the office.
"Thanks, dad."
Mangle couldn't see a thing inside her crate, her night vision settings failing to draw even a shred of light into her eye. The only evidence to any world outside her prison was the humming of the engine and the occasional jostling caused by bumps in the road. She tried to shift into a more comfortable position, but the hardened wood refused to give. Finally, she let out the sound of a defeated sigh and hung her head.
It's not your fault, Mangle.
"Of course it is," she moaned, hoping that the extra effort of her voice would drain her reserve power faster, "Whose else would it be? I bit that poor man's head off, I got us in hotter water than we ever have been, I am the reason we're all doomed.
Bill. He implanted all that pain in me, then he gave you the reins without any proper programming. He fractured you, cracked you, kept applying pressure on you so you'd snap. He wanted this to happen, so the new models with their best capabilities to stop him would get scrapped. You think that decommissioned Fetch model was placed there by accident? That was his backup plan, something to cause enough chaos for him to slip away in the event that he was caught in the act. And both of his plans did work, but not in his favor. You set Fetch off in a circumstance that minimized injuries and made sure it wouldn't work again. You were able to hold it off until he made his move. He had to sneak around because you didn't play into his hands. You dismantled his plans. You and Marcus. You beat him.
Toy Foxy's words of encouragement brought out a small smile on Mangle's face, but the grin vanished as quickly as it appeared. "Not in any way that mattered, though," she muttered.
Toy Foxy let out a sigh in their thoughts. No, I suppose not. Mangle slumped to the ground as far as the restrictive box would allow her. Look, you've done just as good a job, if not better than what I did. If this is how it ends, you deserve to go out proud of what you've gotten the opportunity to do.
"I…I guess." The conversation ended there for several minutes before a new topic emerged. "What do you think is going to happen to Foxy?"
He and the other originals were going to be stored to maybe use later. He'll be fine.
"Do you think he'll miss me?"
Without a doubt. I think they all will. But you'll have to part ways eventually.
"That 'eventually' is now, and—" She fell silent as the truck came to a stop. I guess this is goodbye, she continued inside her head, Now they crush us into cubes.
Maybe… As Toy Foxy trailed off, Mangle felt her crate be tipped onto its side. As the end drew near, she closed her eyes…only to hear several pieces of metal clatter to the ground, one after the other, each with a strained grunt from a familiar voice. Suddenly, a crack of light streamed into the box as a piece of metal poked in through a joint. The lid of the box popped off as the metal crowbar wrenched itself upward, freeing Mangle from her wooden prison. Marcus reached down and offered a hand to the supine animatronic.
"I'd ask if you need a hand, but I think you already have an excess of limbs," he said. Mangle grabbed onto the guard's arm and pulled as hard as she could, causing him to fly directly into her ribcage. "Ow…" he wheezed, "You know you're made of metal, right? Not squishy skin like me?"
"Where are we?" Mangle asked, "I thought we were getting scrapped."
"That was what they told the public, wasn't it?" Marcus said as he moved on to the next crate, "But, being the cheap bastards that they are, the higher-ups in the company didn't exactly feel like throwing out perfectly good animatronics, public be damned. So, they chose to lock you guys up in this secret warehouse and since I've been a nagging asshole to them, they assigned me here and paid me what, frankly, is pretty pathetic for shut-up money to keep an eye on you and anything else they cram in here."
"What about Foxy and the other original animatronics?"
"They should be getting here in an hour or two, after these guys finish unloading you guys." Marcus' attention was drawn back over to the door by the sound of a nearing forklift. "Speaking of, you might want to hold still." Mangle stiffened with a grin plastered across her vulpine face.
You knew, didn't you? She asked Toy Foxy.
I might have picked up a radio transmission or two without you hearing. I thought it would make for a nice surprise.
I think someone earned a functioning head…
"Do you guys really have to go?" Mangle asked, clinging to her predecessor.
"'Fraid so, lass," Foxy replied, "We're going back onstage. We can't fight this." Marcus watched the Toy's goodbyes from the other side of the warehouse, glancing over to see Charlie staring as well. As he approached the puppet, he started to see the gleeful mask turn mournful.
"They're not the only ones leaving, are they?" he said.
"I can't just stay here. Mr. Afton is out there, I need to find him. Find a way to stop him."
"Don't you want to say any goodbyes?"
"I just finished my last one." As she floated off, Marcus' eyes widened and he grabbed her lanky wrist.
"Wait! I thought you guys couldn't operate outside Fazbear facilities. Won't you run out of power before you can do anything?"
Her mask morphed into an amused smirk. "My circumstances allow me some benefits that the others don't have." As she spoke, her arm passed effortlessly through the guard's clenched fist and soon after, disappeared into the wall.
"She's gone, isn't she?" Marcus turned to see Freddy standing behind him.
"I guess so," he sighed, "and I guess you guys are, too."
Freddy shrugged. "Only for as long as this next restaurant is open. Once it closes, I'm sure we'll be back."
"I'll be sure to visit you guys at the new place."
"Don't keep us waiting too long, lad!" Foxy said as the other three came over.
"I won't." Marcus checked his watch. "Looks like it's time to pack you guys up. Can't exactly keep the company waiting. Unfortunately."
"Hi!" a familiar, childlike voice said.
Marcus groaned. "They couldn't have scrapped one animatronic? They had to keep Balloon Boy..."
"You settling in well, Foxy?" Bonnie asked.
"Aye," Foxy said, leaning back against the wall in his individual stage, "Who would've thought we'd end up back here?"
"It feels weird," Chica said, "We died here, Cassidy tormented us for most of our time here, Charlie was our only positive link to this place. And yet…I kinda missed it."
"I hope she's okay…" Freddy said.
"I'm sure she is, my friend," Foxy said, "Besides, this place finally has some sort of positive feel to it! Why don't we take some time to appreciate what this accursed place is like without Cassidy?"
"I suppose…" Freddy said. As the four possessed animatronics went into the main area, a poster on the wall morphed into the visage of Cassidy's ethereal form.
"Yes, Gabe, make the most of it while you can," she hissed, "Tomorrow is another day."
And so ends my first story (that matters, don't look for anything)! I'm once again so very sorry that I kept you guys waiting so long. Excuses related to other things, writer's block, etc. I was worried that this ending would feel subpar by my trying to force myself to finish it, but I think it still turned out nicely. Sure, it's a bit of a cheap resolution, but this was always what I had in mind when I started this story and I tried to make it an acceptable bittersweet ending.
I do have other stories planned, but unfortunately, no more FNaF related stories for the time being. Sorry to disappoint you guys…again. But, if anyone is still interested in what else I have to offer, I do have another story with the first chapter all ready to go and publish. It will probably be sent out into the world later this week, as I'm going to let this chapter sit for a bit out of respect or something else cheesy.
