Chapter 5:

Cryptic and Panic

The wind breezed in silence, it wobbled from boughs to boughs, wriggling each twig of branches that stretched so far, befriending every piece of leaf that danced to its song. Sunshine radiated glory vigorously from above, it acted as a life bringer, emitting the warm and affectionate heat like a caring figure who loved its creation, yet capable of destroying everything if desired to. Sunlight making polka-dots on the ground, lighting up dead tree trunks where shelf fungus grew like dinner plates for the creatures inhabiting its sanctuary. The dirt was damp, the air smelled pulpy. You might hear the gentle gurgling of an animal by a small creek in which the forest had concealed.

An hour had passed when the boy returned from his short expedition, and more hours had passed when he could finally take a nap inside the van where it peacefully rested under the wall of bushes and the dome of canopies. After that, he woke up, feeling a lot more energized, as if he had never gotten a proper sleep before, though it was true that he didn't.

His vision of the woodland which encircled him drastically changed. Everything became clearer with vivid colours that distinctively bordered each other, vibrant noises that altogether harmonized into that of a country tune. The afternoon air was as fresh as in the morning, smelled like damped dirt flavoured with a bit of dust and vegetables. You could say that the chlorophyll within the leaves had executed their job flawlessly in producing oxygen to the environment, contributing to the relaxing cool temperature.

Gregory did what every normal human being was supposed to do after getting up from their slumber – answering nature's call. Ah, yes. The sensation of utter satisfaction of one's necessity. When you hold it in, that feeling of uneasiness slowly built up, forcing you to release and let it all go. Personally, he felt quite peaceful when doing it in front of mother nature. He felt as if he was free, unbound and emancipated between the concrete walls that warped around him. He felt as if he could loudly scream, using both of his lungs and nobody would be around to hear it.

Was this true freedom? To not be controlled by the rules makers? To not be chained by the endless cycle of the repetitive daily life of a human person? Like what he had been enduring back when he was still living in the orphanage?

No, do not think about it. Like a propaganda, the boy whispered to himself over and over again, a not so perfect distraction. Perhaps, there had been memories not worth remembering.

He returned to the van, where Freddy remained motionless, as still as a statue. He stared at the animatronic bear with his blank face, almost forgetting the fact the bear was still functional, and not… dead. Yet, these annoying thoughts won't stop invading his head like worms and maggots that slowly eating up his precious brain. Fortunately, the propaganda which he had just made, seemed to work against them. He should practice doing it more often.

He looked at his Fazwatch, it was two in the afternoon, just an hour left until his friend's meeting. He needed something to kill the time, to divert himself from the mind-numbing slowness of the constant moving day. Another walk around the forest wouldn't hurt, right? Just that, an idea suddenly popped up from his refreshed head.

Gregory opened the van's door, looking for something to capture the magnificent splendour that lied deep inside the woodland, where the bear might never be able to reach. After a while, he managed to remember where he had put it. He reached his arm out at the cabinet above. Upon opening the door, a hard, rectangular object fell onto his head, causing him to wince in pain. Soon, the pain died down, he regained his focus on the current task.

As he looked down, he saw a polaroid camera with a colouration of blue, orange and red patterns. It was decorated to look like the bear, just like his Fazwatch. The flash lens on the camera was built into the ears, and the button to take a picture was situated on the side.

Behold, the Fazcam – a camera that could stun even the bulkiest and strongest animatronic you could think of, thanks to its brilliantly dazzling flash. With just a push of a button, the camera would produce a flash of light brighter than a lightning strike in a split of a nanosecond, capturing an entire environment in front of it. Modern technologies sure were terrific! And for that reason, he feared that the flash might even temporarily blind him as its mentioned capability.

He bent down to retrieve the camera, checking if was still usable. He had lost count on how many times he had used it to escape the animatronics and the staff bots when Freddy wasn't around to help him. Every time he pushed the button, the camera flashed, bright like the sunlight in an instant. After that, it produced a blurred photo, implied that he wasn't idiotic enough to stop and take a shot of the chasing robots, clearly asking for a painful death. Obviously, he had no time to examine the picture and immediately threw it away upon receiving it. The cleaning bot would do the job of erasing the evidence.

He ran to the nearby brook, looking for a perfect spot, before giving it a try.

Upon pushing the button, came a flashbang, then the sound of running gears inside the camera, and ultimately, a picture was produced. The quality was fantastic, it managed to capture every single frame of the brook's striking exquisiteness, from the colourful pigments, to the imaginary yet audible sound. Perhaps, he had underestimated the company's investment in manufacturing these things, it wasn't so useless like many of the souvenirs he had found after all. Talking about souvenirs, who in their sane mind would buy a Mr Hippo fridge magnet?

Nonetheless, with the limited usage and what was left of the camera, Gregory once again began his expedition into the woodlands, capturing anything worth the shot while slowly marching his way to Lily.

Gregory travelled between pillars of wood that reached the sky, their burly and lumpy trunk gave off the feeling of being watched by the keeper of the forest, for how gigantic they were. Streams of light hindered below the green canopies, creating dark spots that the brown soil, an ideal place for any creature to rest after a long day. He trailed along the dirt road, sending himself deeper into the mystical land, where flora competed in a beauty contest, where fauna of many kinds resided. The forest was more than meet the eyes. Who knew what mysteries lied out there, waiting to be discovered?

With the Fazcam, he was able to capture many marvellous and magnificent sceneries. There were flowers whose name he never knew of; their beauty was rather something vibrant in an elegant way. There was a diversity of the insect kingdom: winged ones, legged ones, slithery ones, shelled ones… and the list never seemed to ever stop. There were animals which he had never seen before, most of which he only watched on TV. The camera's intense brightness always caught their attention, which forced them to leap away and disappear into the bushes.

He wondered if any grizzly bears were living nearby, for he wanted to take a photo of them so badly, so that he could show Freddy what his furry counterpart actually looked like in the wild, and that they don't put up bizarre makeup as the bear did. But at the same time, he did not wish to be mauled at by a predator. Though, he was a bit surprised since he hadn't got jump scared by any of them yet, which was a relief. Wouldn't it really be worth a shot to risk such likelihood? It had been half an hour, and he found no trace of any meat-eater. Maybe they didn't live around, or none of them had lived here in the first place. Both presumptions were as impractical as they were compared to the vastness of the forest.

He could be wrong; the place was limitless anyways. He was just both fluky and ill-omened, and he didn't know which side he should feel grateful for.

In the end, he decided to call it day as he started pacing to Lily's.

Upon arriving, he was struck with a warm and cosy feeling, the sensation was oddly familiar, yet evidently unacquainted with. Picnic tables, besides them, a high cliff, beneath it, a river - perhaps, he had forgotten what it felt like to go on a camping trip, despite not ever having gone on one. He imagined a scene where many families were enjoying their blissful moments: the adults were grilling meats for lunch, the elders went fishing at the nearby river, the teens went exploring and taking pictures, the children played whatever games they could think of on the grass… So happy and intimate, yet so dull and distant. But it was just his imagination, anyways.

The place was deserted, he preferred that, as people would have asked where he came from and he to lie again. Lying took more effort than speaking the truth, and nothing can be truer than that unless you're a trick master.

"Lily?", said the boy, who was surprised at how his friend had arrived so early.

The girl turned around, startled. "Gregory?" She was alarmed at first until she saw the distinctive look of his. "You came early!"

"I didn't think you would be here so soon.", the boy replied as he sat down next to her. "What are you doing out here?"

"I would ask you the same.", she responded. "It was kind of boring back at my place, everyone had their own things to do, while I'm being the only "little child" and had nothing to do. So, I decided to come here to wait for you."

"Oh, what do you do to kill the time then?", he asked. "Thirty minutes is pretty long."

"W-Well, sketching…", she stuttered, her face reddened.

Gregory was a bit confused as to how his friend suddenly blushed but didn't care that much. "That's cool! What are you drawing?"

"Trees and stuff."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure…"

Lily handed her notebook to him. Gregory looked at the draft, although the outline was somewhat unclear and indistinguishable, he could see the scenery slowly materialized within the drawing. Using his creative imagination, he saw an image of a land of grass fields and towers of trees embedded in grey, flocks of birds flapped their tiny wings in formation, placid flowing rivers fidgetly wiggled through chunks of forests, until all came together in one big canal with the only task left was to become one with their origin – the seas and oceans. No animals were presented inside the sketch, yet the landscape managed to deliver a vivid and lively aura of its own.

True art is channelled through the loving heart, guided by emotions that stirred the soul to loving bonds and the sort of imagination that was free and child-like in its sense of wonder and joy. Art is not a technical skill, not one that can be aped by those cold within, yet it can be a path they can take to resuscitate the love they were born with and learn to be brave enough to reconnect with their soul.

Art is part of our human soul. It is dreams emerging from a part of ourselves, a way to communicate with the deeper self of both the artist and others. Art is coloured glass sculpted by a high-power water jet, then formed into a mosaic that invites the curiosity of the mind. The flowing blues and greens could be so many things, perhaps like a fading dream if is what you want it to be.

Gregory could not draw, nor create such masterpieces, but he had an artistic soul that could ruminate and ponder at the sophisticated elegance of gorgeousness and splendour majesty. The sketch was as beautiful as it had already been, but not many artists took it as granted, for they knew how to stay humble, to be always on all ears and listen to the harmony of the world, to always heed the criticism of those who cared enough to use their precious time to help you improve.

Sometimes he wished he were an artist, though something told him that he was going to be a mechanic, sooner or later.

"It's very nice!", he remarked with a wide beam, he then returned the handbook to Lily. "I wish I could draw like you."

"Thanks, I'm still practicing.", she said, "I can't keep my hand movement fluid enough. You see how jerky the lines are, that's where I need to-"

Before Lily could finish, her eyes gazed upon a particular object lying next to Gregory's right hand. The object was oddly familiar, that she knew, for she had seen it before somewhere.

"Is that… a Fazcam!?", she loudly exclaimed, the adrenaline started kicking in.

"Oh,", the boy blinked, "you mean this? Well, yeah, it is a Fazcam."

"Can I take a look at it?", she winced excitedly, "Pretty please?"

There were times he feared that Lily became too enthusiastic over things, she might have gone crazy were she to accidentally meet Freddy in the woods out of nowhere. She either lost control over herself or straight up passed out due to shock. Though the former one sounded more rational, the first one was more likely. From the watch to the camera, how many things would she geek over?

He handed the camera over to the girl, she snatched it without hesitation, then began scanning the object thoroughly. She examined each side of the camera, sticking her attentive face as close as possible so as to fully confirm something. With each observation, came a gasp. Her eccentric joy was something even Gregory begged for an explanation. Seeing her amusing reaction, he couldn't help but giggle at the comical sight.

"Don't tell me this is another limited edition thing.", he joked sarcastically.

"As far as I know, there isn't any special model for a Fazcam.", she said. "This is just an ordinary one."

"Wait, what?", he demanded, head titled. "Then why are you so freaked out over it?"

The girl stared at him with her greatly perplexed and narrowed eyes. From the look of it, you could guess that she was frustrated, seemingly at a loss for words at the way he had replied. Why though? Was it something the boy supposed to know? Was it something that was widely known by everyone, yet he, the one being able to obtain such rarity had no idea how the heck did he get it in the first place? If so, then it would make sense. And that's literally how this situation played out.

"Seriously, Gregory?", she replied in disbelief. "How can you not know it?"

"Know… what?"

"That!", she exclaimed, finger pointed at the camera. "How were you able to sneak it out of Monty Golf without getting caught? I thought Fazcams were supposed to be confiscated in there! Though it sounds kind of ridiculous, since it is sold in that same place as well… B-But that doesn't matter! What matters is how did you sneak it out?"

Obviously, he couldn't just casually tell her that he got trapped in the Pizzaplex, then proceeded to recap everything while trying not to include the animatronics bear's presence. But then, he had already doomed himself unintentionally many times before. Having expected to make more stupid mistakes in the near future greatly encouraged him to be more careful in deciding what's good, what's bad, and what's utterly reckless and foolhardy. Using the remaining grey matter, he begged his brain to come up with a logical and sensible explanation at soon as possible, for he was sure that Lily wasn't the kind of person that got easily fooled. Unfortunately, having run and hidden all night in the Pizzaplex and not getting enough sleep had used up the last precious droplets of the grey matter of his.

Luckily, there was an easy way out – lying.

"I… would rather not say.", he said, voice trailing off.

As being said earlier, it took more effort to lie, since telling the truth was the same as reading a paragraph in a textbook. Though it actually did require more effort, most of these lies were pretty easy to spit out, some didn't even need time to brainstorm.

"Why, though?", she replied, sounding a little disappointed. "Well, I get it. Not many people can sneak them out, thanks to the impenetrable security checkpoint. If I were you, I wouldn't share the technique as well. Who knows what you can trade with such valuable information? And I'm starting to think the whole buying Fazcams thing is just a way to gain more money."

"It's like a rental service.", he chuckled, trying to divert the subject.

"More like a scam.", she laughed. "I mean, who even buys them, anyway? They look like old-fashioned retro cameras from the 90s, meanwhile, cameras nowadays are much more advanced."

He nodded, which reminded him that Freddy didn't seem to notice how badly manufactured Fazcams were. Sure, the quality of the pictures was fantastic, but the design wasn't worth excusing. Maybe, the bear didn't know what modern cameras actually looked like? It wouldn't make sense since he spent every day taking photos with the children, he must have seen cameras for professional photographers. If he told the robot about it back when they were still at the Pizzaplex, he would have immediately lodged a formal complaint and started apologizing to him for having scammed the customers. Only by imagining the hilarious scene had already amused the boy, it made him want to see the panicked yet adorable reaction of the bear so badly.

Then again, wasn't the Pizzaplex themed after the 80s glam-rock style? It would explain why the cameras' design looked so outdated, though it still baffled him as to why people would buy them in the first place, this thing could temporarily blind someone with its bright flash!

"Have you been taking pictures with it?", asked the girl.

"Yeah.", replied the boy, who then reached his hand into his pocket, taking out a handful deck of pictures that he had taken. "I took some of them when I was exploring the forest. Here they are."

Lily took the pictures and started looking at each of them. Most of them were images of the forest, the rivers, the brooks, the trees, the bushes, some were flowers, some were insects… they were all common everyday sceneries in social life, where they could be found within the park or nearby woods next to a suburban town. The details were passable if they were to be compared to a photo taken by a professional camera or a photographer. Not bad for a Fazcam, maybe she had underestimated its capability.

She went on looking at the pictures until one caught her attention.

"Huh… that's weird.", said the girl, eyes narrowed. "Where did you take this picture?"

Gregory raised a brow. "What is it?"

Lily showed the picture, it showed an angle of the woods covered by the excessive greenery of the leaves and bamboo-like tree trunks plunged into the ground. If quickly glanced over, one would find it ordinary. But if you took a closer look in the middle of the picture, you could see a strange-looking, small humanoid shape made from twigs being hung on one of the tree branches. The stick figure oddly resembled a five-pointed star, being held together by dense, beige-coloured threads at each intersection. Its presence gave off an ominous feeling of being watched, which he had not felt until now.

"Oh, this? I took it near the lake.", he said. "Is this something people do when they go on camping? Like a sign to mark in certain places in the woods so that they know how to get around? I'm not really sure."

"Well, people usually do it on the tree trunks.", she replied. "I haven't seen anything like this before. Although, it… looks very familiar to the witchcraft signs in some horror movies that take place deep in the forest."

As if the clues themselves started matching up together, forming a map of red threads that acted as connected links, creating a board of mysterious and cryptic lore. From the bizarre carvings, strange-looking symbols, and intelligible handwriting to eerie-looking stick figures hanging on a random tree. It might sound unbelievable and farfetched, but having known there was a pattern to it all greatly disturbed him. He dared not to jump straight to conclusion, for there was no such thing as witchcraft, let alone magic and miracle. This is the twenty-first century, damn it! It had nothing related to those scary and perhaps made-up urban legends that usually took place during the 80s or the 90s. It could be a prank to scare the campers or just a normal mark so that they wouldn't get lost.

The more he thought about it, the more unsettling it felt. Thankfully, he wasn't going to stay here for long, for he still had a long road ahead. But with Freddy's consistently low power and the uncertainty of the van's battery being dead at any moment when using it to charge to bear were something that drove him mad crazy. He might have to spend the entire night tonight thinking of a plan to fix all of this.

"Maybe I can look it up for you on the Internet.", offered the girl.

"Alright, you can keep the picture.", replied the boy.

Lily tucked the picture into her backpack, upon opening it, she realized something, then excitedly exclaimed. "Oh! I almost forgot. Here, I brought us some snacks and drinks!"

"Sweet!", he gasped in glee, these snacks might help him fill his stomach for this evening. Though he suspected that he would need the bear to catch the fish again.

The two then went on gossiping about everyday subjects. Gregory asked Lily to teach him how to draw, in return, he would let her borrow his Fazwatch. As predicted, she accepted it without hesitation.

The concept of shutting down or rest mode was somewhat similar to sleeping, but not quite.

In order to fall asleep, you must pretend that you are sleeping, which may sound odd, but it's true. To achieve such impracticability, you stop all thoughts from impeding your mind, you relax your body until you feel like you are floating in the air. And then, you just… fall asleep.

The process would sound remarkably unusual from the perspective of a robot. Instead of having to do the pretending, he just did it, like a push of a button. When shutting down, his awareness of the environment went blank in a span of a second, leaving him vulnerable to external forces. He couldn't help but wonder what really happened not to his mainframe or processor unit, but to his 'self' during off-power. Since shutting down caused almost everything to go offline, even the concept of time, he felt as if he had jumped a few hours forward in time, depending on how long his sleep cycle was.

Unlike any normal sleep cycle of a creature, he could not wake himself up unless he arranged the time when to boot up or being manually turned on using an appropriate method, like a Fazwatch, for example. It was his biggest weakness, and so were his friends.

It was in the middle of his peaceful slumber when a stream of electricity suddenly kicked the circuits into life. His "self" might not be aware of it, but his mainframe did.

Fazbear Entertainment Robotics.

Starting up…

Entering safe mode…

Booting up complete.

Initiating power-saving mode…

Current battery: 42%.

Estimated time: one hour and five minutes.

Reality slowly manifested in front of him, revealing pitch-black darkness that smothered the once lush greenery and muddy brown of the plants and soil. It was a strong black, deeply soulful in the way all absolute things were. It was the sort of black that brought the silent music of the universe so deeply within one's core. Freddy had just powered up; his vision was a bit glitchy. His face was blank, for he had not yet fully grasped what was in front of him, besides the intense darkness.

Wait… dark?

Eyes blinked in realization; his expression suddenly bolted from zero to one-hundred in a base of ten. Dark could only mean one thing, night. Never had he been so panicked since it reminded him of the last time when he got snatched by the moon and had his head detached from his body when he was in the maintenance cylinder. It was a very unpleasant experience, to say the least. But this wasn't about Moon, it was Gregory, and he was nowhere to be seen.

Freddy hastily opened the van's door, just in time his vision stopped glitching. Everything became clearer through his robotic eyes: Stood as the noble black knights, fresh from the fields of legend, the trees solemnly saluted in pride, rising up as tall as the protectors of the exigent grounds. The impregnated bushes had consumed the hard regions of the forest, concealing the land from beneath the vibrant faint blue light. The dark woods of deepened hue found tranquillity in the starlit velvet, in the steady glow of moonlight. It released the sounds of a plethora of nocturnal ghosts, of they who might move safely within the hug of grey shadowed night.

With each step made by the bear, the ground cracked in dry leaves, causing him to flinch in reflex. At the same time, the wind sept through the trees, whirling past his metallic shell, howling a song which could only be heard by nothingness. He never thought such a small sound would be as loud as snapping a giant branch, let alone the eeriness consuming the woods. Just before, everything was bright and alive, now everything was black and ominous. He had this feeling of being stalked from afar, despite not seeing any creature nearby. It seemed to be an invisible and unknown presence, acting as the watcher of the night, amusingly staring at his peculiar design, for he was not born from this wild nature.

What were these strange sensations? The dark somehow must have found a way to frighten those who dared to enter it. Yet, he had no reason to be afraid of, for he was sure, any creatures who were sensible enough would keep their distance from an exotic, furless, oddly colored beast like him.

A few steps later, he noticed a fire. The night brought such a silence that the crackle of the fire was all that could be heard, a natural music in the black-duvet night. Red flames sent red sparks dancing into the breeze along with the heavenward twirled smoke. It glowed in golden, providing a light source, a glimpse of hope within this dreadful forest.

Someone had made the fire, it must have been the boy, which meant he was nearby.

"Gregory?", the bear called out, trying to connect with the boy's Fazwatch. "Gregory, are you there? Gregory?"

Unwanted thoughts flooded his mainframe once again, it was something he could not stop from happening. Perhaps, it was necessary for an emergency or a dilemma, where he would run tests and diagnoses to come up with the best solution. Seeing a scene of the boy being dragged away by a predator worried him to a great extent. And it was just one of the many outcomes simulated by his program. He should have insisted on staying in the sanctuary, although the place was dirty and unhealthy for the boy, it could provide protection from the outside danger. But then, someone might have returned unexpectedly, and things would get very messy after that.

"Gregory?", he tried again, but nobody answered. "Answer me, please!"

No. Not like this. He could not let this happen. Things might not go out as nicely as he had thought, but at long as he stayed with the boy, everything would be fine, he would protect the boy from any threats.

Well… not anymore.

Everything would have been alright, had he not left the boy to befriend by loneliness. Everything would have been alright, had he decided to stay in the sanctuary. Everything would have been alright, had it not been for his stupid design. Everything would have been alright, had it not been for that damned glitch he had gotten when performing onstage. Everything would have been alright…

New feelings wouldn't stop overflooding his mainframe. Some were apprehensive, some were painful. And as much as he wanted to learn these new emotions, this wasn't the time to experience such appalling and devastating sensations. But he could not stop them, they drove his vision beyond perception, glitching as it had never used to before.

Core instability: 23%

Then, the sound of crunching leaves caught him off guard from behind. When he turned around:

"Boo!"

"Gah!"

He shrieked in both shock and horror as he fell onto the ground with a big thud. Moments transpired quicker than his processor, he had less than a second to comprehend what had just happened. Then, he heard a laugh of a boy.

"Hahaha! You should have seen the look on your face!", said the boy, who couldn't hold back his joyful tears.

He stared at the boy in utter confusion. It was Gregory, no doubt. The boy was still alive, safe and sound. Perhaps, he was wrong about Gregory, for he had not yet realized how stubborn, yet courageous and independent the boy was back when they were at the Pizzaplex. Still, he couldn't help but be always anxious whenever he got separated from him. He felt as if the boy was the only purpose for him to function and exist in this world. He might not know why, but he knew for sure that his mission would never complete until the boy had had a place to stay, to be with his new parents, to go to school, to make new friends, and to live a happy life.

Freddy slowly stood up, towering the boy with his mighty height. He then crouched down, eye to eye with the boy, face expressionless.

"Aw man, I should have taken a picture of you sitting in that pose.", the boy continued laughing, unaware of the bear crouching in front of him. "You looked so-"

And then, an embrace.

"Gregory… I am so sorry, for I have left you alone, letting you wander by yourself in this dangerous forest. I should have listened to you and stayed inside the sanctuary, even if someone did return, I would try my best to talk and explain everything to them. But I did not, instead, I kept worrying about nonsense, only to become an impediment, forcing you to take care of yourself. I am very sorry, I will never leave you alone again. I… I promise."

The boy, who was taken by surprise, carefully heeded every single word spoken by the bear. There was it again, the guilt of letting the bear do all the sacrifices just for his own wellbeing. Oh, how he hated it. Oh, how he really despised it. I wanted to be strong enough to do things without the bear's help, but by trying, he made the situation harder to get through than it was before. And the bear wouldn't stop blaming everything on himself. He hated it.

"W-What are you talking about?", said Gregory, who pushed the bear back. "I am fine, really. You don't have to worry about me. A-And I don't think it is safe to stay in that place for tonight."

"It is safer than being out here!", he snapped, but not too harsh. "Gregory, this is not the Pizzaplex. You are no longer in the building, you are now outside, you are now in the woods at night! How can the sanctuary not be safer than that?"

"That place gives me the creeps! Didn't you say that whoever lives there is evil or something? retorted the boy. "We can sleep in the van and lock the door. There! That way, we don't have to worry about getting snatched away by animals anymore."

"You do not understand!", he replied. "I do this for you! It is for your own good-"

"Shut up already!"

Gregory's scream stunned the bear, words cut through his ears, piercing like a sharp blade. Did he do something wrong again? He feared so, it would explain why the boy started trembling uncontrollably.

"You broke it…", the boy murmured under his breath, his voice was unstable.

"Broke… what?"

"Our promise.", upon saying the words, the boy started crying in whispers, he paced forward, tightly hugging him.

He forgot. He put his thought over protecting the boy as a priority while forgetting the fact that he had made a promise to him. What promise, you ask? Stop being overprotective and start thinking about his own sake? It was a promise he had made just this morning. And now, he had forgotten about it.

Then again, robots don't forget. That's impossible, they're unlike a human brain. Yet, he forgot. But how?

You might say that there was something wrong with the bear's mainframe, with the "core instability" thing. Comically, even Freddy himself didn't notice anything out of the ordinary within himself. He would have detected it already had he run a few self-diagnostic. Maybe, he didn't make the promise and lied about it. But he had no reason to lie. Why would he need to lie?

The bear thought about it, as well. He sought for an explanation within his processor, only to receive a bunch of contradictions and inconsistencies. He tried again, eventually, he gave up, for he knew that he was no longer the good old cheerful, humble, and loving animatronic bear like what the children had thought of him before.

After what seemed to be five minutes of crying, the boy finally calm down. He remained hugging the bear, though.

"Freddy?", said the boy, his voice returned to normal now.

"What is it?", he asked.

"I want to show you something. Look up, in the sky."

"A promise is easy to make, and easy to break."

A/N:

I have watched MatPat's latesed fnaf theory about GL Freddy being possessed by Micheal and Gregory being a robot...

Yeah, I don't buy it. I prefer both of them being just a normal boy and his animatronic friend.