A/N:

Some in-game details, such as dialogues, were changed for the sake of the story.

Also, exams got delayed for another week, so I managed to complete this one.

Chapter 2:

Enlightenment

Gregory almost skipped a heartbeat when Freddy dropped down from a place felt like as high as a cliff, causing the suit to tighten, making him experienced a mild headache.

What was the bear thinking? Were he to jump down from a higher place, the boy would have turned into a meat pretzel. Less appetising, a human meatloaf.

"Freddy, you nearly crushed me!", whispered Gregory angrily. "What happened?"

"Deepest apologies for the sudden inconvenience,", blankly said Freddy. "there is no way around, so I jumped down. Are you alright, Gregory?"

"I'm okay,", replied the boy sarcastically, "except the fact that I almost got squashed like smashed potatoes that is!"

The bear continued his expedition, eyes scanned the surrounding environment as he proceeded forward.

"Where are we now?", asked the boy.

"We are currently in the utility tunnels.", responded the bear. "We can go to the main entrance by these underground passages, as it is both safe and quick. Normal guests are not allowed to walk through here, but you're a special case."

"Um... Okay."

Then, everything turned silent again, reamined the thumping sound made by the bear's massive metallic feet. It's noise bounced back and forth, echoing the entire tunnel. Each step impeccably synchronised the boy's heavy breath, who still wasn't able to familiarise himself with the cramped space. He might even have claustrophobia after this.

"I will get you out of here.", said the bear. "Your parents must be worried sick about you."

"I... I don't think so.", he said, gloomily.

"Why is that?"

Obviously, he was not welcomed in this place, for he was an illegal trespasser, hence the reason why Freddy couldn't recognise him in the guests database. But for him to explain the reason why he had sneaked inside instead of normally going in with his... family was another story. He wasn't sure if the bear would send him to the police after hearing him putting in plain words.

He did not want to return to that place again...

But, Freddy was trustworthy, that he had guaranteed. Up until now, the animatronic had done anything he could in order to help him get out of this cursed place. Freddy did not show any sign of resentment, and pushed it even further by being acutely overprotective. Though, sometimes, the bear was naive and curious, occasionally inquiring the boy about what the outside world looked like, and how many pizzeria locations were there.

Interesting...

"I... came from an orphanage.", said Gregory blankly, uncomfortable with what he had just said. "I have always dreamed of going to the Pizzaplex. I wanted to meet you guys, play arcade games, and eat delicious pizza... but all of which were impossible for me."

"I tried and tried,", he continued."I asked, even begged them on my birthday. I would do anything to get my hands on a complimentary ticket. But you knew how it worked out, they never listen, they have never been since the beginning. So, I sneaked inside the Pizzaplex, and you know the rest."

"Oh...", Freddy stopped for a short moment, before regaining focus of his current objective. "I see..."

The bear did not know what to say nor how to react, he knew for sure, that losing both of your parents were fateful and tragic. He was taken aback by the way Gregory spoke, the way he managed to hold back his sadness and sorrow.

"You don't seem to be happy talking about your 'home'.", he finally spoke up. Is something wrong? Would you like to talk more about it? I'll see what I can do to cheer you up."

"No, I don't like talking about it.", sighed Gregory. "Especially it."

"Which subject would you like to talk about, then?", he asked on his second attempt.

"Sorry Freddy, I'm... not in the mood right now."

Freddy could feel it, he could feel how broken the boy was. The pain he had been enduring, it was immeasurable, so agonizing that his mainframe pulsed strange patterns, which rapidly spreaded over the entire circuit. The peculiar frequency trailed along electric wires, until it reached the processor unit.

In a split of a second, his vision glitched, it unpleasantly reminded him of his recent malfunction while performing the big show – the very main reason why Parts and Services had put him on reduced power. Had it not been for that execrable malfunction, the show would have been excellently carried out.

But Gregory wouldn't have been with him right now. He wondered what would happen to the boy after the show.

Would the boy come back to the orphanage? There's a slim chance that the boy was a runaway child, for how he deeply disliked his "home".

What if the boy still got stuck in the Pizzaplex? Where would he wander? What would happen to him? Would he get lost?

His mainframe flooded with numerous questions with endless possibilities, all of which were simulated at the same time. Unexpectedly, none of them had a satisfactory outcome. He ran the programme again, the results didn't change.

It worried him.

Fortunately, they were merely just his speculations. He felt as if he should be the one taking the responsibility, that the cause of everything, from the delayed show, to the lost child... they were all his.

In his core, a new objective arrived.

Along with it, came a malware even he did not notice.

Core instability: 13%

Gregory traced his fingers along with the corroded walls. He was currently upstairs, while Freddy was charging in the kitchen. Although the bear had shown concern, he told him that they could have just talked through the Fazwatch for safety precautions and clearer sound.

Driven by curiousity, the boy's footsteps echoed once more. The abandoned sanctuary, after so much quiet and reflective time, had discovered the company of the trees and wildflowers that brought brightness right up to its doors and windows. It had learned to sing with the wind and lean into the sunshine, to let the birdsong flow within and appreciate the rhythm of quenching rain.

"How long was this place left abandoned?", asked Gregory into the Fazwatch.

"From my approximation,", said Freddy through the watch. "it would take roughly a decade to be able to achieve such a worn state. Contradictorily, the generator had given us a hint, that someone had been living here recently. They might have already left, or would return at any moment."

In front of him, stretched a long hallway, at the end of it, stationed a broken window. He could hear the melody of the wind, which cared not if the edges of the glass were sharp or smooth, nor if the gap was narrow or wide. On occasion, the wind became stronger, enough force to deliver an entire breeze into the hall. It could be the explanation for why there were mold scattered near the window, as it had been directing droplets of rain from time to time, creating an environment with a perfect condition for them to grow up.

But... why did the window was broken in the first place? Who did it? What had happened here?

"There's a broken window at the end of the hallway.", he continued.

"Be careful not the step on the glass shards.", cautioned the bear.

Not too far from him, firmly stood a door. The door, which was as odd and bizarre like the rest, had a strange symbol on it. The sigil consisted of many circles, between their gaps were scribbled characters, all of which he did not understand and many polygonal shapes fittingly drawn within the circles in equilibrium. At first, he thought it was merely just a decor came with the door, yet it showed sign of expert man-made carving techniques.

"There's this door with strange symbols on it.", he said. "It doesn't seem to come along with the door, someone made it, I think."

Had someone been doing witchcraft recently... in the twenty first century?

He immediately put that thought aside, at how ridiculous and preposterous it sounded.

"How odd.", commented the bear. "Is the door locked?"

Gregory placed his hand onto the metallic doorknob, it was cold, as the handle itself had been absorbing the iciness temperature for a long while. He turned it, and opened the door.

"Nope.", he replied.

Expected yet disappointing, he was greeted with a dusty smell of the decaying wood. The rather small room was messy, to say the least. There was a table next to the door, where he could see a lamp rusted from oxidation, a small pile of tattered notes with brown tints contained scrabbled alphabets and squiggled figures in an unintelligible way. He was not sure if they were even written in English, or not.

He then continued to look around. A dirty, worn out bed situated in the corner, covered by a ragged blanket, which looked like a lair of the racoons, hence the black and grey fur stuck on it and the rocky pillow. He'd rather sleep on the floor than having to lie himself on this sordid bed.

Next to the bed was a closet, its dilapidation acted as an ancient ruins which had collapsed into fragments due to time. Inside, threadbare clothes reamined hung from the nearly detached pipe. The mirror next to it had cracked beyond reflection. He stared at himself in splinters. The broken mirror distorted the image which it was reflecting, yet it provided far more places to investigate perspective.

Within in the reflective chaos, he used his mind to inject an image of a boy, who somehow had made it this far, completely unharmed, yet remained lost and bound to his new friend. He still had a long way to go, but things were not as easy as he thought.

"I found some papers on a table," reported Gregory. "but I can't make out anything it says."

"Is there anything else?", probed the bear.

"There's a bed - which I wouldn't dare to sleep on, a closet - which contains dirty clothes, and a broken mirror.", he replied. "This place gives me the creeps. Do you think there's some stuff going on here?"

"Hm...", contemplated the bear. "I do think that this could be a hideout, judging from the condition of this place. Whoever lives here, they seem to have malicious intent. But, of course, it is only my assumption."

"Well, my guess is that they're doing something related to sorcery.", he joked.

"Sorcery?"

"It's basically magic," he explained. "but nobody believes in those stuff, not anymore."

"Whatever it might be, I suggest staying in the van for tonight." said the bear. "in case of any unwanted outcome."

Freddy could be right, someone had been living here recently, and the fact that there were strange carvings and scribbles found within the sanctuary greatly disturbed him. Maybe he should stay away from this place for tonight, just in case someone returned.

Giants of browns, titans of extended limbs, beneath foliage hues, the van trailed along the narrowed dirt road surrounded by the denizens of flora. Every sprawling tree it passed under acted as a watchful guardian, a silent sentinel of the groves. They ventured deeper into the tangled heart of this primeval forest, seeking for a place where dwellers of the fresh water strove, hiding from the sight of any human beings.

From the rich brown earthen hues of the forest ground to the sweetness of the blue-white sky, the forest was a three dimensional wonderland for the eyes who were willing to absorb the light, especially for those who was curious enough.

With the limited picture frames created by the van's window, the bear gazed upon the umber brown, ancient woods.

To Freddy, there was something about the bizarreness of the forest itself, like a melody without a rhythm, music without sound. To him, the forest was a work of art, yet created by none. And just by being inside it, he became a part of that art, of that three dimensional wonderland on a much greater spectacle that his processor unit couldn't simulate.

A peculiar creature in reddish brown caught his attention, its fur was thin, cream-coloured on the undersides, back spotted in white. But most attention-grabbing of all, was the fact that there were "tree branches" glued on its head as if in poetic salute to the trees.

"Gregory, what is that creature called?", asked Freddy. "And why does it has boughs on its head?"

Gregory was dumbfounded by the bear's odd description. Boughs on its head? He had to look at the creature in order to know what the animatronic was talking about.

"Oh, that's a deer.", giggled Gregory, who had just realized what the bear had just said. "The thing on the head are its antlers."

"I see. Very interesting.", remarked the bear as he went on observing the creature, which so called deer.

The deer had that way of moving, a strong confidence as it gracefully dashed from bushes to bushes. The deer glanced with such sweet and gentle eyes, this must be why their names sounded similar to how we called each other "dear." Perhaps they are a sacred part of this woodland, symbolizing ancient spirits who whispered the song of the woods.

After a while, the van slowled down, until it eventually stopped by a river.

"This place looks alright,", said Gregory in satisfaction. "we can go fishing and clean you up here without anyone noticing."

"I am eager to learn.", said the bear excitedly.

Gregory stayed behind to prepare something, while Freddy trod forward as to admire the charming beauty of nature. In front of him, soil bit by bit was replaced by gains of sand, eventually turning into duck-egg blue liquid, like the subtle sweep of a painter's brush.

The bank was scattered with rocks and pebbles of all sizes and colours. He picked up one for analysing, its surface was grainy and crinkled. He picked up another one, and another one, as if each pebble has its own identity, none of them, not even a single pair was identical to eachother. He could spend all day hopelessly trying to find two pebbles that looked exactly the same, and it would go on until the battery ran out of power.

And that was just the bank part.

The bear continued striding towards the water, where the most beautiful part of a river lied. Into the steady rising light, into the watery warmth of the air, beheld the river of the forest. A symbol of purity, crystallized in blue, yet capable of ceasing all electronics – a natural enemy of his. The river had its own genre of music - white noises, unexpressive yet calming. It came in serenity, gliding among forest roots, calling up to forest boughs.

Gregory returned to Freddy with a lighter, a pocket knife, and some cloths as he put them in his pockets. He then went to look for dead branches nearby with a preferable size and shape. After a while, he managed to collect two ideal branches, both were thick and a bit heavy.

Freddy noticed the boy came back, carrying two branches by his side. He was puzzled at first as to how they were going to fish using them.

Gregory sat on a nearby stone, he took out the pocket knife, which made the bear flinched a bit, as he proceeded to strip off the smaller twigs.

"I have seen people doing this on TV.", said the boy. "Since we don't have any fishing-rods, we'll use this."

After that, he started sharpening the tip. The branch now looked like a mega-sized pencil. Who knew that the boy was this crafty? Freddy had been watching the boy's action attentively, trying not to get distracted by the magnificent scenery, he suspected that he would be repeating them soon.

"Here,", said Gregory as he handed the knife and the other big bough to the bear. "do it as I just did."

Freddy then did exactly as the boy instructed, though he had difficulty in holding the knife because of how tiny it was and how big his paws were. Ultimately, he succeeded in carving a spear, much bigger than Gregory's.

"Nice!", remarked the boy. "Next step, see those fishes over there?"

The animatronic turned to look at the pointed direction. Below the ruffled water surface were fishes, they varied in sizes, from small as a dart of silver, to big as a palm. Without visible effort, it moved from plain sight, glimmering in the morning sun, dashing away into the deep below before he could react.

Gregory took both of his shoes and socks off, before dipping his entire feet into the water. The river's depth seemed shallow, yet it could rise up to his hips. So he stood near the bank, where only his ankles were submerged, shivered as the sudden coldness chilled his spine.

He carefully eyed for any fish that kindly enough to wish for death, since most of them could speed away from an instant. Alas, one was unfortunate enough for be within his reach. He slowly raised up the wooden spear to build up the momentum, and wait for the perfect moment.

Then, he struck, using as much force as he possibly could.

But the outcome was predictable, not everyone succeeded on their first try, the fish had already gone long before the spear could touch the water surface.

"Dang it!", scowled Gregory. "I almost had it!"

"It does not look very hard.", Freddy observed.

He huffed in frustration, then turned at the bear. "Well, it's your turn now. Let's see how you'll do it, Mr Fazbear."

Gregory moved away, resigning the spot for the bear, who remained extremely calm and collective. Surely, Freddy wouldn't the one who quick to judge the difficulty of a task, and he would never do such thing as lying. Although, he had never seen him being sarcastic before...

Freddy patiently waited, as firm as a statute. From the boy's perspective, he would look motionless, as though time had stopped, despite the constant flowing of the river. Little did he know, the bear wasn't waiting for a "sleepy" target.

Using his mechanical eyes, Freddy could effortlessly mark any fish he wished to catch: slow one, speedy one, small one, big one. He zoomed in and out, looking for the largest one, for he wanted to make the boy happy.

Finally, he had found the perfect victim. At a snail's pace, he raised the spear, narrowed eyes locked on the target. And then, he struck.

In an instant, as if faster than the speed of light, even Gregory couldn't catch up with what had just happened, the spear punctured the surface, creating an enormous splash, wetted both him and the bear.

Freddy then retracted the spear, revealing a pierced fish, whose size was as big as the boy's face as he showed his achievements with contentment.

"I did it.", he blankly said.

Gregory gaped, for he could only stare at the bear's innocent smile. It transpired in a span of a single frame: blistering heat that vaporise liquid, expeditious speed that cut through the air, a cut through space and time.

Had Freddy been this powerful? Did he even acknowledge it? Was it something that even the bear himself knew not? Question danced around the boy's head in circle, jumping up and down in harmony.

Or, perhaps he was just hallucinating. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night after all.

Anyhow, the animatronics had successfully caught one very big fish, effortlessly. And Gregory didn't seem to be satisfied.

"W-What...", his voice trailed of, before loudly spoke again. "Cheater! You must have cheated! I didn't even see your arm's movement!"

"I did not cheat,", said the bear calmly. "for I am not programmed to cheat. Even if I were threatened to be scrapped, I would never dare to think of such thoughts."

"How does cheating has anything to do with being programmed or not?", he frowned.

The bear tilted his head at the boy, as if not fully comprehended what he had just said.

"What I mean was...", said the boy as he took a deep sigh. "Earlier, you said that it was possible for you to learn how to drive a car, despite not being programmed how to drive one. Now you reasoned that you didn't cheat simply because you weren't programmed to do so?."

Gregory grinned, pridefully crossed his arms as if he had won against Freddy from a father-and-son quarrel. The bear remained confounded, something between those elucidatory words flickered within his processor. He was filled with confusion, like a fog to a once clear and sunny day. The fog was thick, yet, the path was clear, but he did not trail along, for something, like an invisible wall prevent him from proceeding further.

One more, one more and it'd break the barrier.

"Freddy...", the boy murmured under his breath, loud enough for the bear to hear it. "not being programmed doesn't mean you're prohibited from doing so."

That was it, the final straw. Words struck him like a thunder. At the same, they delivered a shining light, revealing a path, the path which led to the ultimate truth. The invisible wall had disappeared, as if it had never been there in the first place.

And the answer, it was right there, within his grasp. He only needed to pace a few steps. Yet, remained the firm and steady stance of his, he forcefully refrained himself from making any steps. Why, though? A robot such as him should have already known, as having done something without acknowledgement was rather impractical.

All of this time, he stayed blinded, straying away further from himself. The truth was there, obvious and apparent. He could have done anything he wanted to, for he was only prohibited by nothing else more than his own "conscience".

Just how many things they have lied to him?

But, it was clear as day to him. The only thing prevented him from seeking the truth... was acceptance.

And he wasn't ready for it, yet.

"Uh... Freddy?", said Gregory, who was a bit worried. "Are you... okay?"

The bear jerked, eyes blinked a few times while reality slowly manifested around him, revealing a little boy waving the sticks beneath him.

His vision glitched, again.

Core instability: 19%

"I... I am fine.", said the bear, who rapidly blinked his eyes from the annoying glitch.

"You looked kinda lost back then.", said Gregory worriedly. "W-What happened?"

Freddy turned his head at the crystal clear water, brooded over the remnant of a once peaceful and lively aquatic aglae. He never knew how destructive it was, for violence was never the answer. But, knowing what he was capable of, he could not help but felt... terrified.

"It was nothing.", he said, expressionlessly. "Let us continue our lesson."

"R-Right.", said the boy, back to his excited mood. "Now that you caught a big one... too easily, the next step is to make a fire."

"Fire?", he rephrased, confusion struck again.

"To grill it, of course!", exclaimed the boy.

"W-Wait a second, Gregory.", he stuttered. "Are you going to consume the fish?"

"Yes. What did you expect?", asked the boy. "That's what fishing about."

He was speechless, for this was not what he had expected. Just when he was able to realize the situation, it had already been too late.

He had violated one of his own "conscience-made" laws.

"I have never killed before...", the bear mused anxiously. "This was the first time I have ever end one's life. It felt... unnerving to me."

"But... that's how things work in nature.", explained the boy. "Plants get eaten by a plant eater, then it gets eaten by a predator, then that predator gets eaten by a bigger predator. The bigger one is usually called the apex predator. Soon, the apex predator dies, its body is decomposed by the bacteria, which fertilized the dirt for plants to grow. Eventually, the cycle repeats itself."

Somehow, Gregory missed the library more than ever.

Freddy hastily processed the new information, storing it in his database. An interesting knowledge of how nature worked, the creatures did not seem to be bothered by that fact. It staggered him, to see how cruel, yet pacific wildlife could be at the same time.

"What would happen were the cycles to be broken?", inquired the inquisitive bear.

"Then, the ecosystem would lose its balance.", replied the boy. "The animals would have no food. Basically, everything dies out, not all though."

"Oh, that does not sound good..."

"Come on, let's go make a fire.", said the boy as he tugged Freddy's other paws with him. "It's raw, so we'll have to cook it first."

Gregory then instructed Freddy on how to find some stones while went for tree branches and dry leaves. After a while, he returned with a handful of boughs, while the animatronic carried a rocky tower without difficulty.

Gregory piled his gatherings into a large stack, he mindfully arranged the pile, looking for two perfect candidates. Next, he put the stones ,which Freddy had collected, parallelled to eachother. He asked the bear to soak the boughs in water so that it wouldn't burn while he prepared the fish.

A few moment later, everything was set, Gregory took out the lighter from his pocket. As he was about to lit up the leaves, a metallic stopped him.

"I shall do it.", said the bear. "Playing with fire is dangerous."

"Freddy, your hand is huge!", he objected. "How are you-"

Just before Gregory could finish, the bear raised his forefinger, which puzzled him at first. But the next moment rendered him mind-blogging.

"Your finger is a lighter?!"

"Yes, it is a rather... odd design.", admitted the bear.

Freddy crouched down and leaned forward, his "fiery" finger came in contact with the dry leaves. The flame feasted upon them and spreaded itself in ardency, occasionally producing tiny sparkling dots from its crunchy bite.

"I am at all sea.", he said, still baffled. "Why would you eat a poorly cooked fish? I thought we already had the canned food?"

"Yeah, about that...", the boy darted his eyes to the left, slowly trailed off. "Apparently, they're all expired."

Freddy blinked, before exploded in disbelief. "What!?"

Just then, he finally realized why the van was loaded with so many boxes.

"I didn't pay attention to the expiration date. Thank gosh, I have only ate one.", the boy darkly joked as, chuckled to himself.

"How long has it been since the expiration date?", he probed, worried for the boy's condition. "I want the exact date and time."

"Five months, I think.", responded the boy causally.

"Five months?!", bolt from the blue, he loudly exclaimed. "Gregory, we need to get you to the hospital, this instance!"

"Calm down, Freddy! I'll be okay! Trust me! It's my fault, I didn't check carefully." The boy tensed, he wouldn't think the bear would be this overreacted.

Though, it didn't surprise him a lot, as expected from a caring and overprotective robot.

It actually took Gregory five minutes solid to calm the bear down, who was dead worried about his health while furiously trying to file a formal complaint about the Pizzaplex's food safety procedures despite the fact that his connection from the main network was far from any possible linking. He manage to convince the bear that he would be okay, unless his stomach decided it was time to let it all go through the "entrance"... or the other way.

Freddy wasn't to going to enjoy the other way, much.

Gregory couldn't wait for tonight. Let alone being surrounded by darkness and wild animals, they could get to watch the stars.

"Truths are painful, reality is often disappointing, yet wonderful."