Hello, Rockstars!

I am back after a much-needed vacation - although I did have plans to update while I was away, life happens. Nothing has changed; I will be uploading two chapters a week as I initially planned. Only the timeframe shifts, so you may be reading this well into early August.

Anyways, onto Chapter 5!


"Beautiful, is she not?" Gabe admires. "And it only took Parts and Services half an hour to assemble her and bring her up to speed with the current databases. Actually, she's the first prototype for the future of Fazbear Entertainment. Durable casing only needs to be charged weekly, and her A.I., beyond what this world has seen."

The tiger rolls her eyes playfully. "Oh, Gabriel, stop it." Tessa steps off the stage to approach them. Chica could feel the immense pressure from the shiny animatronic whose eyes threatened to consume her. "So, you are Freddy," she stops in front of him, ignoring the rest, and lightly strokes his arm. "My, you have quite the statue."

"Um, it is a pleasure to meet your acquittance... wait. Hold on, Gabe. We do not need a new guitarist," he imposes. "No offense to you, Tessa; I am sure you have remarkable skills."

"Then what good are my 'remarkable skills' if I can't play in the band? Especially if we got a great lead singer." Tessa is flirting with Freddy; it could be intentional or not. That wasn't the point. The point was it was enraging Chica.

She steps forward, making her presence known as she glares at Tessa. "We have a guitarist." She enforces dryly. "Me."

Gabe scoffs at her in annoyance while Tessa's eyes dilate in a wave of excitement. "OMG, Chica?!" She switches position to gravel in front of the chicken. "You are such an inspiration!" Then, she stands to glance at the CEO. "Gabe, what is this? You told me that I will be filling in, not to be the replacement of an OG legend!"

"REPLACEMENT!?"

"Are you kidding me, Gabe! This wasn't what you said." Vanessa retorts. "The deal was for Chica to get fixed so that she won't end up in a pile of scraps –"

"I did not agree to such meaningless things! I have a business to run. They have children to entertain – I will not postpone months of planned parties and concerts for one merely replaceable robot. I got millions of shareholders' money on this, and I will not let this place go out of business. I have made up my mind. Tessa, in and Chica, out."

Her eyes widen, feeling a heap of sorrow clinging to her. Every speckle of hope she had was fading away from her. She wanted to cry. She had been sure that she would be given a chance to redeem herself. She would still be able to play and give off that redemption image. However, the way Gabe is wording, it sounded like she wouldn't be able to play anymore.

"Excuse me," She mumbles, ignoring her friends calling her as she rushes away. Away from any open area that would expose her vulnerability. In a secluded and dark abandoned hallway, Chica stoops into a corner. She scanned the place to find even more depressing findings – boxes of old merchandise from forever ago. She and Freddy with Bonnie and Foxy, playing with their respective instruments, picking up a sweatshirt decked in glitter as she and her friends rocked on stage. The camera captured the moment in graphic pictures, but Chica could still recall the last time they had performed together as best friends in a band. A few days later, Foxy was gone. A year after that, Bonnie. She recalls that moment and right up until a few minutes ago, prompting a trail of tears down her cheeks.


"Chica!" Freddy's voice echoes through the halls, listening for anything that would reciprocate his calls. There is nothing other than the whirling sounds of the wet floor signs gazing in his direction. He had the opportunity to sneak away; Roxy and Monty had gotten into yet another argument amid their practice – resulting in many uncontrollable errors. Tessa, in between takes, would try to butter him up with compliments. He got the impression that she was hitting on him, much to Monty's anger, Gabe's amusement, and his discomfort. Tessa sounds pleasant and talented, but it had upset him seeing how nonchalant his bandmates and Gabe were to how upset Chica had gotten earlier.

The sounds of a robotic cry prompt his attention to follow the sound into a room, revealing Chica moping and sniffling on the floor. He grieves for his friend, kneeling midway to the floor. He places his hand on her shoulder pad, watching the chicken scrambling to wipe her face with embarrassment. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I had to check on you; you ran off quickly."

"Yeah," For a while, they don't speak, but Chica likes to think they're having a conversation somewhere in their background roaming. No words said or unsaid could rid the feeling of sorrow that clings to her. "I guess I don't blame Gabe for wanting me out of sight. I don't think anyone wants to experience a child getting crushed. Good to know that I didn't kill anyone yet."

"You are not going to kill anyone ever."

"How would you know that Freddy? This thing is inside of me. I almost killed that little girl..." She hugs herself tighter, imagining the scooper pulling out her insides. "What if I can't be helped? What if I hurt someone again?"

"That is not going to happen. Yes, there have been a couple of slipups, but we were able to get Gabe to reconsider. Tessa would only be temporary; Vanessa and Gregory are confident that this newfound machine will work. If they are confident, I trust them enough to make that decision. We all want to help you, but you have to let us. The hardest part is always asking for help."

Outside, Tessa is calling out Freddy's name. Chica sighs quietly, allowing herself to build a once of courage before glancing at Freddy. "Okay, I will give it a shot."

"That is the spirit, rockstar." Freddy grins widely. "You are going to do great. I will be there beside you every step of the way." He adds, ruffling the three feathers on her head.

"Thanks, Freddy," Chica hugs him at the last second to express her gratitude for his support and their friendship. Freddy would be the most patient with her progress from all the animatronics. She's so thrilled that she could kiss him.

And unfortunately, Tessa ruined that moment. "There you are!" Tessa opens the door with a sigh of relief. "Chica! You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm okay." She barely gets her statement as Tessa switches from her to face Freddy.

"Anyways, marketing's here to shoot a short clip for the socials. Gabe wants us back on stage before opening." She grabs his hand and gives him no chance to say anything to Chica but throws her a nervous smile as Tessa ushers him out the room. Chica refolds the sweatshirt, leaving for her green room. She takes her guitar and sits in the backroom, and silently plays. It'll be a while before she sets foot on stage, but at least she could play out of sight.

After a few hours, she ventures into Parts and Services to stick to the undergrounds. She notices Gregory sitting near the control panel with his laptop and headphones. "Gregory?" she taps the boy on the shoulder. He's startled at first, but he's relieved to see his friend after he whirls around in the chair. She asked why he was here instead of in school.

"Yeah, uh – I may have told my teacher off and got sent home." He answers sheepishly before telling Chica of the brief interaction that resulted after he tried standing up for himself.

"You get yelled at for talking, but she didn't hear your classmates teasing you?"

"Yup."

"What? Why?" He shrugs in response and rummages through his bag for something; and more likely to want to change the subject. "I'm ready to give my statement."

"Freddy told me you would." Gregory grins and pulls out his phone.

"What would I say?."

"I have a few ideas."


"Would you relax? You're making me anxious." Vanessa instructs after 20 minutes of watching Chica having this outspoken debate. The animatronic would tell herself she shouldn't watch it. Then she would convince herself to watch for a few seconds. Then she would tell herself no, then yes, and then no again.

"I can't relax!" Chica exclaims as she watches Gregory working his magic on the computer. "I don't know, Nessa. Maybe I should have one more retake."

"You did fine."

"I may be a robot, but I don't want to sound like I've been programmed to say these words. I want everyone to know that it's genuine."

"And it is," Gregory spoke, eyes still fixed on the screen. "You guys are the most sentiment robots known to humanity. Someone theorized that you might have souls from past lives." A few clicks, and a loading screen appears. "There, in three minutes, the world will see a testimony of a lifetime."

"And just in time to outdo the marketing promo Gabe personally released," Vanessa added, rolling her eyes with every scroll. While they had succeeded in pursuing Gabe not to get rid of Chica, she was still furious from this morning with Gabe, and any chance taken to stick it to his face will be great.

Chica gasps from looking over Vanessa's shoulder. "The promo already three million views." Her eyes didn't dare look away from the ongoing count as the video of Tessa brushing against Freddy while playing the guitar played repeatedly. It didn't help to peek at the comments of users excited about the newest animatronic.

Vanessa noted this and pointed out. "Some people are asking about you."

Then, like her sentence was a cue, the Instagram page disabled every single video available for the PizzaPlex. Except for one video:

"Hey there, rockstars!" Chica appeared in the video as bright and bubbly as she could be. In real-time, Chica bites her fingers nervously. "I hope you are doing well; last time we talked, things didn't go the way you had hoped. Most of you visited the PizzaPlex before this video, probably terrified of what would happen if you saw me. Some of you are scared, and some are angry with me. I want to let you know that I am sorry. I understand the situation of what had happened that night, and I take full responsibility. I take responsibility for not seeking help and letting myself get to where I almost cost a life. And so, as much as it hurts me, I am giving up my obsession with pizza and working on being the Chica that I was before. And in doing so, I hope that I have your support and patience as I undergo this new phase. Take care, Rockstars; I hope to see you around soon." The video ends with Chica throwing up a peace sign and fading to black.

"This is awesome!" Vanessa cheers, wiping a tear from her eye. "You did amazing!"

Chica sighs and a small smile before ruffling Gregory's hair. "Thanks, Gregory."

"No problem. I told you there's nothing to worry about." He grins, "Now, when we get the machine, work on a couple more videos, and you'll be good to go."

Not long after, Freddy and Sun enter Parts and Services. Chica gets pulled into a hug. "You did amazing, Chica; I am so proud of you!" Freddy beams.

Sun's clapping his hands. "Absolutely! Just a marvelous job! Oh, I cannot wait to see your progress as the weeks go."

She feels her circuits warming at the compliments. Maybe this would not be so bad. She holds on to that thought as it allows her to regain a newfound hope.


Chica's video went viral, gaining twice the amount of views instead of the breakdown video. Users were commenting away, giving their support and love. Three days passed with reservations doubling in size, the stock prices increasing, and thousands of letters sent.

But while most have shown their support, there were quite a few individuals who were not so supportive. They remain behind the scenes, scowling at the ongoing population of this 'redemption' video. The fury intensified – it had always been there, but now it's at a point where they would do anything to bring this chicken down.

I can't believe they would think of doing this stupid video. The scowl remains, looking at Chica in her greenroom reading letter after letter of fan support mail while talking to Freddy. They rolled their eyes, itching at the anticipation of making their move now before the sunrise. No, no. I will not let them ruin my plan. A plan like this will take precision and lots of internal damage. A plan like this couldn't take place all in one night. Besides, the greater the damage, the more rewarding it will be in the aftermath. And that was enough for them to continue to endure the patience and bring their scowl into a smirk.

Alright Chica, you want to play games? Let's play.