The next day. Sam Baker's home, 2:50PM

Sam had been surprised at how eager Mr Fazbear was to give him the night guard position. Surprised and a bit wary. Especially considering he started later today, which was way too fast for the majority of jobs that people applied for. Now that he'd had time to calm down from his child-like excitement, clear his mind and think more logically, he was shocked at how he wasn't absolutely terrified when BB and the Marionette had started speaking. From what he remembered, they were just basic animatronics when he was a child. So what had given them free will and sentience? He knew that free will and sentience were two completely different things, so how had this happened? It wasn't normal, for sure. If only his excitement hadn't made him completely ignore those facts yesterday when he came across the puppet.

Ah, the puppet. The character who he used to enjoy spending most of his time around whenever he went to the resturant, which was most days when he was a kid. His folks were an average working class family, so money was never really a major issue. His dad worked in a hospital as security and his mother was a nurse in the same hospital. Funny enough, that's how the two had met all those years ago.

Now, he obviously couldn't go every day of the week, but he remembered going at least 3 times a week. And of all those hours that he spent there, at least half of those hours were spent talking to the puppet, his childlike mind imagining that it...no, she, was actually alive.

Now, it seems like his dreams had come true. He didn't know why, but they had. And like an idiot, he didn't even react like any normal human would have yesterday when he witnessed it with his sister first hand. Which would have been to scream like a little girl and run off.

He wasn't a tough guy and he knew this very well.

He didn't expect his sister to really think about it as she was only still a young kid, but he was 19. Goddamn 19 and he wasn't even scared or shocked by the revalation.

This was one of the main reasons as to why he was currently sitting in his bed, trying to rest, dreading the night ahead. But...he was honestly somewhat excited, too. He was going to get some answers, that was for sure.

Before his thoughts could hurt his head any longer, he heard the door open downstairs.

"Sam? Are you in?"

He sighed and shouted back. "Yeah! Just in bed getting some rest for later!"

He'd told his dad about getting the job so fast and even he was shocked, but happy none the less. After all, it was money and it gave him something to do in the day. He'd chosen not to tell his parents about the animatronics appearing like they were...more than robots, now.

They would have called him crazy or just shrugged it off as his childlike imagination coming back. He had a tendancy to imagine things, this much he knew. But this time, it wasn't his imagination.

Mary hadn't really been phased by any of it, which wasn't surprising. She just saw them as fun, lovable characters. She'd told his parents about the animatronics talking and that the Marionette...Mari, wanted a word with him.

God, he just realised how confusing that might get. Mari and Mary.

Anyway, he digressed. His parents laughed at Mary's claims, acting as if they believed her, appeasing her young mind. They did, however, look at him skeptically when she mentioned that Mari wanted to talk to him alone.

In response, he'd just shrugged and laughed at her. I remembered saying something along the lines of "I don't know where she gets it from."

She'd pouted at him, to which he'd winked at her as he put a finger to his lips. It took a minute until she understood what he meant and stopped talking about the whole thing.

He suddenly heard footsteps coming up the stairs, signifying that his father was making his way up. Not a second later, the door to his room opened, indeed revealing his father. He shot Sam a look and smiled.

"Hey, son. Just wanted to congratulate you on getting the job so fast. I can't believe that the guy wanted to employ you so fast."

Sam nodded and smiled back at his father, who looked really tired. "Thanks, dad. Work tiring today, huh?"

He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Aye, that it was. Just the typical day, I suppose. Nothing abnormal happened. Anyway, I'm going to catch some shut eye myself. You should probably try and do the same before you start your night shift later."

The young teen nodded and rested his head down on his pillow, his father leaving his room, closing the door on his way out. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Well, tonight will certainly be interesting, to say the least..."

The Mario...Mari, was currently pacing around the pizzeria, it being past closing time now. So, the place was empty of customers and staff alike. She was trying to find the others so she could let them know about Sam being the new night guard. The last night guard hadn't stayed long. She didn't know much as she barely saw him, but from what the others had implied, he wasn't a friendly person. And they didn't like that what so ever. So, they made him leave.

She shuddered slightly.

Suddenly, as she walked past the kitchen, she heard noises inside. She snickered and walked in, spotting who she figured would be in here.

"Hello, TC, Chica."

They turned around in surprise and smiled, realising that it was her. "Oh, hey, Mari!" They both shouted, happy to see her.

She smiled in response and walked over to them, her smile now gone, replaced with a serious expression. "I wanted to talk to you two and was hoping if you could spread what I'm going to tell you to the others."

They looked at each other quizzically and turned back towards her. "Erm, sure. What's up?"

Mari sighed and continued. "There's a new night guard starting here and I know him personally. You girls might remember him, too. Goes by the name of Sam Baker. He used to spend a lot of time around me back when we...you know. Weren't as intelligent as we are now."

They looked shocked, looking at each other. Chica spoke up. "Yeah, I remember him. He was such a sweet child, always wanted to help all of us here at the pizzeria. I also remember that he had a fondess for you as well..." The bulky chicken chuckled and smirked at her.

In response, she looked away and coughed. "Yes...anyway, I want to make sure that he doesn't get scared away on his first night here. He came here with his little sister yesterday and Mr Fazbear hired him as soon as he applied. It wasn't surprising, considering Fazbear really needs a new night guard., regardless of who it is. He seemed rather...unsurprised and quite accepting that I had free will now, unlike when he was a child. But..I think it might have just been his nostalgia of me or this place what could have clouded his logical judgement at that point."

They nodded. Toy Chica suddenly walked up to her with a skeptical look. "He was a nice kid, sure, but what's to say he hasn't turned out like the last night guard that we had? The last 3 night guards that we had treated us like garbage. They're lucky that we didn't..."

Mari looked at her with a stern expression, causing TC to silence herself. "I know. And I'd rather not speak about our past, thank you."

The more slender chicken looked at her and then looked down, obviously upset. "I'm sorry..."

She sighed and looked at TC with a warm expression. "It's okay. I just want him to be welcomed here, you know? And as for the 3 previous night guards, Sam is nothing like them. He actually respected us, even if he was only a child. And this was even when we didn't have the intelligence that we have now, so we couldn't even properly thank him. And yet, he kept coming back to see us. When he saw me yesterday...it was like nothing had changed, except the fact that he's older now."

Chica and TC nodded, walking past Mari and out of the kitchen. They looked back at her as they went out. "Don't worry, we'll make sure the others know not to judge him before they even get to know him."

Mari smiled in response and walked out of the kitchen a few seconds later, heading back to her prize box, eager to meet Sam again.

It was 11:45PM and Sam was currently stood inside his office, having only just made it inside. He took his jacket off and hung it up on a rack near the door. Mr Fazbear had been here when he had arrived 15 minutes ago. He went through what he had to do again and yada yada, gave him the keys for the resturant and went home, letting him get on with his work. He sat down on his office chair and picked up the tablet that Mr Fazbear had talked to him about. It was used to view the CCTV cams around the resturant. The animatronics were nowhere to be seen. None of them, not even the pu...Mari.

He was going to have trouble remembering that name.

His fears suddenly came back in full force. Where the hell where all the animatronics? He'd only just got here on his first day for crying out loud! What if the rumours were true? What if the animatronics had indeed stuffed the night guards into suits?

Before his paranoia could increase, he heard a sound that made him jump up from his chair. It was a knock. More specifically, a knock on the door to his left. He went up to the door and flicked the light switch, revealing the puppet in the hallway. She was smiling at him and waving. In natural instinct, he backed away and under the desk like a little baby. He could hear the puppet start to bang hard on the door, hearing her say something along the lines of "Sam! What's wrong?!"

He sighed and eventually decided that she was probably going to get in eventually anyway. The door wasn't exactly strong and she wasn't exactly weak, no doubt. And even though his paranoia was making him think otherwise now that his head had cleared from his earlier excitement, she did indeed seem sincere when he spoke to her earlier. Thinking this, he got up from under the table and walked towards the door, opening it for her.

She looked at him in confusion and looked concerned. "Why did you close the door and not let me in? I thought you were excited to start working here?"

Another deep sigh escaped his lips as he motioned for her to come in, which she did. He then closed the door to make sure nothing else could get in. He sat down on his chair and she leant against the desk in front of him. He tipped his office hat down and looked at the floor, covering his face out of shame and embarassment. "I let my fears get the better of me. When I came here earlier, my childhood excitement at seeing you act and talk like a person clouded my logical thinking. You shouldn't be able to talk, nor should you have sentience and free will. Doesn't make sense."

She looked at him with a sad expression and put her hand on his shoulder. At first, he flinched, but then he shot her a sad smile.

"I'm sorry. I was worrying that you or the others might kill me and that the rumours were true."

He felt her hand let go of his shoulder and he looked at her, confused. She was staring with hurt and slight annoyance. "The rumours were true. We did kill some guards who used to have your position. It was due to our glitched programming at the time. Whenever we saw someone after hours inside the resturant, we would see them as an endo skeleton without a suit. And considering that was against the rules here at the time, we tried to forcefully stuff them inside said suits. Some of them managed to keep us at bay and survive the week. Some didn't. The reason as to why we have free will now is that we got upgraded with the best technology around. These upgrades were what also fixed the glitch in our programming that caused us to kill those guards. But don't worry...it's safe here now. Unless..."

Sam gulped. "Unless w-what...?"

Mari smirked "Unless you're a predator, which you are not. So don't worry. I won't let any harm come to you while you're here.£

He gave her a warm smile. "Thank you. To be honest, I didn't even think tech like that existed yet. So, that's why everyone spread rumours? Because they were true to some extent?"

She nodded and sighed. "Yes."

"D-do...you remember any of the guards that you...you know...?"

She looked down at the floor, closing her eyes. "Yes. One. He actually survived...somewhat."

Sam gulped nervously at that. "S-somewhat...?"

She looked back up at him, her eyes now open again. "Yeah. Jeremy Fitzgerald. He survived the week, only to have the frontal lobe of his brain bitten off in the daytime at a birthday party by one of the animatronics. Mangle. He basically became a vegatable, from what I remember. Still feel bad that I nearly killed him, along with the others, due to the stupid glitched programming."

Sam winced at that. He sighed and stood up. He put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him for moment and smile at him. "Hey, don't worry about it. By the sounds of it, you guys weren't really in control of your actions. Obviously, I wasn't there, but you shouldn't blame yourself for their deaths. Neither should the others. If it was a glitch, it can't be helped. And thank you for the information."

She smiled. "I have to say this, though. After I first saw you, I thought that my own excitement had done the same as yours did to you and blind me with nostalgia. But, it turns out that it isn't the case. I couldn't ever hurt you, even if you had turned bad. You were the only person back then who ever cared for me. As in, actually cared. You didn't just come to me for prizes, you came to say hello. Obviously back then you were mainly talking to yourself as I couldn't respond, but I do remember how cute it was if I look into my memory banks."

This prompted Sam to smile and blush. "Heh. Thank you. I just can't believe that you can actually talk."

She smiled. "I know. I'm glad that you're our new night guard. Speaking of which, I should introduce you to the others."

He frowned and looked a tad concerned. "Oh...yeah, the others. Bet that'll go down well..."

She put a finger on his lips and giggled. "Don't worry, I made sure that they knew not to judge you immediately. Besides, when they came to me, they had said that they do remember your name."

Sam scoffed. "Huh, they do? I'm surprised. I understand why you remember me, but I barely spent as much time with the others as I did you."

Mari smiled softly. "But you still cared for them and visisted them. Some of them might be skeptical as you've grown, but they'll see that you're still the same lovely person."

He blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Awh, shucks. Anyway, better go meet them, I guess. Lead the way."

She turned around and walked out, motioning for him to follow.

He chuckled to himself. "Well, that went better than expected."