Fractures

"NO!" The Cuckoo smashed the secret machine in his Master's office in the wake of the news. "No, no, no, NO! This isn't how this is meant to go! She shouldn't have won? Why did she win?!"

The Puppet had no answer. He wasn't certain he even knew himself. He'd had them. He was winning. He had trapped Her below the Hidden Place. He had surprised the Doormat with his new Rabbit Monster. The Doormat had become his Toy again, as had the Fool. The First Night-watchman had tried to flee and the Mouse was under his control as well. He'd almost had them all.

But the Mouse had broken free. He shouldn't have been able to, but he had. They had fought. Then She had been freed again. The Doormat and the Fool were freed as well. They had been too many and She had caught him…

He had fled. He was ashamed that he had to, but he did. It had fallen out of his control. They'd even broken his mask. How? How had it happened?

He was brought back into the moment when the Cuckoo suddenly grabbed him by the neck, lifting him off the floor as he squeezed.

"You were supposed to get them. You said you would! You're supposed to be better than her! You messed up, Puppy-boy! This is all your fault!"

Before he could try and extend a form of control over him, the Puppet was thrown into the wall. He smacked against it and fell to the floor. Panicking, his hands went to his face. His mask was still relatively intact, though he could feel the crack running along it. That brought his anger back.

He pushed himself up, glaring at the Cuckoo.

"…!"

"Shut up, yes it is! I set you free and this is how you pay me back? You had one thing to do and you couldn't do it!"

"…!"

"I told you to SHUT UP!" He started towards the Puppet, fists raised. Then he stopped. He cackled. "Fine. Fine! I guess this is what we're dealing with now. But it's fine. We can work with it. They're almost ready. It's a little earlier than I thought it would be, but…"

The Puppet tilted his head. What was almost ready? What was the Cuckoo planning that he hadn't told him?

"We'll have to make Freda come to us some other way," he continued before the Puppet could ask. "She likes humans. She thinks they're her friends. They all think that, her and her buddies. That's what she's done to them. Twisted them up inside by making them think that humans actually want them as their friends, like they can be like them." He laughed manically. "Isn't it hilarious? It's so stupid, it's funny!" He laughed for a long while, then suddenly stopped. "They don't see them like I do. So we'll just have to make them see."

"…?"

"How do you think? You do what you do best." Cuckoo thrust a finger at the Puppet. "She isn't here to protect them, so you can get inside their heads and make them see that I'm right. That we're right. And when they do, that's when the real fun will start!"

He descended into another fit of laughter. The Puppet stared quietly at him, thankful his mask hid the misgivings that would be on his face. While he had attempted to control the Toys when he found them, he had intended to lift it when they had returned. It had just been to subdue them. This didn't sound like it would be temporary.

"…"

"Well, I've changed my mind," Cuckoo snapped. "I gave them the chance to be my friends. I showed them how much better we are than humans, but it isn't enough. It's her fault! She made them like this, her and the old bore. This is the only way they'll start to understand and when we bring them back to that stupid little town that's kept them stuck all this time, then they'll really start to see!"

The Puppet blinked in confusion. What did the town have to do with this?

"…?"

"Well, I figured we could throw everyone a nice, big party, the Spring Bonnie way! No, no, not that," he said suddenly. "That's the name they gave me. The one they fixed me with, even after they left me trapped and alone. Well now I'm the one who's trapping them and I'll…!" He trailed off and giggled. "Hey, that actually sounds good. Spring. Trapped. Spring…trap. Yeah, yeah! Springtrap! I like it! Quick, say it back!"

"…"

He cackled even louder. "I love it! My new name and that's just the start! I'm gonna get rid of everything that's tied us all down. I'll start with Johnson, I know he's still kicking around. Then that kid that messed me up and got me shut down, the one who pushed his buddy to me! What was his name? Eh, I'll check it later. But those'll just be the party favours! Then it'll be everyone's turn! We'll make it into our own town, get rid of everything and everyone so that nobody will ever leave us in the dark again! Then everything... everything will be better. Yeah, yeah it will. Of course it will!"

The Puppet cocked his head. The Cuckoo seemed like he was talking more to himself than to the Puppet. He didn't sound like he completely believe his own words.

"…!"

"Who says I can't?! The Nightmares are all ready to go, we can churn out as many bots as we want and when those guys downstairs come around to our way of seeing things, nobody will be able to stop us! In this world, we can do anything, Puppy-boy. There's so much tech everywhere. Everything will be ours to do whatever we want and there'll be nothing they can do about it! Even better, Freda won't be able to just watch as her precious humans scream and run. She'll come for them, she'll come for her friends and try to make them think she does again, but we'll be ready. We'll trap her, we'll crush her, we'll stomp and smash and smush her until there's nothing left. The rest of them will be made to come around too and then we'll all be together and free, forever and ever and EVER!"

The Cuckoo descended into another fit of laughter that didn't seem to end. The Puppet was trying to imagine what he was talking about. Though there was a part of him that felt like it was something he wanted to see, the rest of him… it didn't make him feel right. It made him think of…

The screaming. The pleading. The crying. The Silence. The Silence that never ended. But if this happened, the Silence wouldn't be just for him. It would be for everyone. Would the Cuckoo stop with the town or would he spread the Silence to everywhere else as well? Would that make him stop?

Somehow, the Puppet didn't think that he would.

"…"

"Oh? That's what you think, huh?" The Cuckoo's voice became quiet, staggering towards him. "Did you forget already, Puppy-boy? I'm the one who helped set you free. We're friends, aren't we? Buddies, pals. Right?"

He stopped right in front of the Puppet, motionless. Every now and again, he would twitch. Those bulbous eyes seemed to stare right at the Puppet, through him.

"…"

"Oh really? Great! I was getting worried there for a sec." He laughed again before abruptly stopping. "I really wouldn't want to do anything if you weren't totally on-board. Because I know you get it, y'know? You're not like them. You're like me! We know what it's really like, working with humans. They don't get it yet, but they will. You'll make them see, we both will. What has to happen to them doesn't have to happen to you. You get me?"

The Puppet did get him. He nodded. He flinched when the Cuckoo raised a hand, but it just patted him on the shoulder.

"Good. Glad we had this talk, pal." His last pat was a little too hard. He abruptly turned away. "I'm gonna go have another check on the Nightmares. Don't let me down, okay? If you did, I honestly don't know what I'd do. Really!"

His cackling was still ringing in the Puppet's ears, in his head, long after the Cuckoo left. Somehow, he didn't see so free anymore. But he would do what he had to do. Just like he always had.

Chica made sure Freddy was propped up against the wall, as comfortably as they could manage. She wondered if it would have been worth asking for those pillows and blankets that had been offered earlier, but didn't think that Spring was in much of an accommodating mood anymore.

His earlier beating of Freddy had left him with dark-blue bruising on both sides of his face, along with a cut in his mouth from being punched in the jaw and he'd been left winded from the gut punch. Though they didn't actually breathe, the sudden jolt to his internal systems had left him disorientated. He'd even had to put himself in sleep mode for a bit to fully recover. The cut had already been dealt with and Chica had cleaned up what energy fluid she could using tears from her dress.

"I'll be quite alright," he murmured. "I think… a moment to rest, that's all I need."

"Okay. You take as long as you need then," she said. Chica gripped his hand briefly, then joined the others. "He'll be alright. A little shaken but nothing that he won't recover from."

"He said he wanted to be our friend, but he keeps doing this stuff. He killed Phil and he hurt Freddy. He was going to hurt me!" Billy wiped at his eyes. "Why? Why is he doing this?"

"Because…" Foxy paused as he knelt down to Billy's level. "Because he's hurtin', lad. The kind of hurt where ya feel so much of it, ya want everyone else ta feel it ta make it hurt a lil' less fer yerself."

"That's horrible," he murmured. "Is there a way we could help him? If he doesn't hurt anymore, then he won't want to hurt anybody else."

Foxy didn't seem to know how to answer that. Chica placed a hand on his shoulder, then sat on the floor and patted her lap. Billy came to sit in it and she held him close, making sure to look right into his face.

"There might be. But right now, I don't think he wants to be helped. He thinks he's right and he doesn't want anybody to tell him differently."

"Like what happened with Freddy." He seemed to shiver at the memory. "He tried and he just got mad. He was mad at me when I told him he'd lost the game. Just like the Puppet."

Chica nodded. "Exactly. Which means before we can think about helping him, we need to stop him. We need to take away the power that he has or he'll just use it hurt other people too, like Foxy said."

"I understand," he said quietly. "We need fight, just like before or we'll never be free. Does it ever stop?"

"I hope so. I really do." She hugged him and gently moved him off her lap so she could stand up. "We need to find a way to escape and reach the others."

"Finally, you're making sense!" Vevina clapped her hands together. "I say we rush them the next time they come in here. If all they're coming in with is bots, we can handle them and then we just book it for the exit."

"Bots, aye but them new synths? They were a tough slog when we had to face 'em, rounded us up in less than a minute."

"Then we make sure at least one of us gets away. At least then there's a chance they'd be able to find the others and bring them back here to get everyone else out."

"That wouldn't help," said Billy. "We don't know where Goldie and everybody went, they could be anywhere. Also, Spring'll get really mad with the people who he manages to catch. Mad enough to do…"

He didn't finish his sentence, but he didn't need to. They all knew exactly what he meant.

"He's right," said Chica. "If we're going to escape, we all have to make it out. Then we find a way to contact Goldie somehow. She'll be able to tell us where they're hiding. If that doesn't work, we try our best to lay low until they contact us. They won't leave us behind."

"No offence, but I'm done waiting around in here," said Vevina. "I'd give me other eye to never see the inside of this place again."

Billy frowned. "But then you'd never know if you were here anyway. You couldn't see it."

"Don't read too much into it, Billy. We just need to-" She suddenly cried out and clutched her head.

"Vev? What's the-?" It started happening to Foxy too. "Argh, blast it! What is this?!"

Chica started to feel it too. It felt something cold and unwanted was trying to worm its way inside her skull. It met resistance, was pressing and probing against it to find a way inside. It only made the sensation more unpleasant and it just wouldn't stop.

"No, no, no!" Billy was slapping the sides of his head. "Get out! Stop it, stop it!"

"Everyone… what's going on?" Freddy had fallen to his knees, crawling to them. "I don't know… I can't think…!"

"It's him!" Vevina was on all fours, slamming her head on the floor. "He's… he's trying to…!"

It didn't take much for Chica to work out who 'he' was. She vaguely heard the door to the testing room open and moments later, her arms were locked behind her back. She was forced to stand and the pain lessened, enough for her to see clearly again. Gaiting and twisting, like he was being moved by invisible strings, came the Puppet. The doors had locked behind him again. Trapped and at his mercy.

But something was different about him. The black clothes that covered his unnaturally slim body were torn in places. A long, hairline crack ran in a roughly diagonal way on his mask with tiny chipping on one of the edges. He seemed rather hunched and subdued, compared to how proudly he'd carried himself when he first arrived.

He stopped in the middle of the semi-circle he had the bots restrain them in. He gazed around at them, expression unknowable. Not even his eyes seemed to give away anything.

"Nice to see you again, Smiley." Even though almost every limb of Vevina's was restrained, she was still putting up a struggle. "Who gave you the shiner? I wouldn't mind buying them a drink."

The Puppet snapped his head in her direction. He raised his hand and she started screaming again.

"Stop hurting her! Leave her alone!" yelled Billy.

It lasted for about ten seconds before he relented. Vevina was breathing heavily, but she kept her fierce grin.

"Aww Puppy-boy, you're not angry, are you? I thought we were all pals now."

"Pals-NOT!" he repeated back in her voice.

"Oh you know how to cut deep, you really do. We were getting on so well. How about you let me go and we just hug-"

He thrust his finger at her and she was screaming again. This time, it lasted a little longer before it stopped.

"What… what do you want?" Freddy asked weakly.

"Come on… Freddy. It's… obvious…" Vevina managed to raise her head. "Come on… Puppy-boy. Tell them… what you want. Suspense is… killing me."

"Strings to hold-YOU-down," he responded in his choppy way that he did.

"Of fucking course!" Vevina bared her teeth in a snarl. "Finally showing your true colours again! Well come over here and fucking try it!"

"Please, no!" Tears welled in Billy's eyes. "Please, don't do this to us again. Please!"

The Puppet regarded him for a moment. He tilted his head at Billy, approaching him slowly. He craned his head down, moving his body to look closely at him. Billy's lip wobbled and he looked away, his face flinching.

"No. Stop it, s-stop it," he whispered.

"Get away from the lad! Yer scarin' him, stop!"

The Puppet glanced at Foxy for a moment, then back at Billy. He gently nudged his finger under Billy's chin, trying to make him look at him.

"Don't you fucking touch him," hissed Vevina. She yelped from a short bout of pain. He didn't even look at her when he flicked his finger.

"No-choice," he said at last to Billy.

Chica had held her tongue up until now, but something about this broke her silence.

"'No choice'. That's all you have to say for yourself?" Chica's voice came out a strangled whisper, but rose in volume with her ire. "Is this all you do? You just do what everybody else tells you to do and then say that it's out of your hands? You're pathetic!"

The pain started again, but she didn't shut her eyes. She made sure that they never left the Puppet.

"Fine!" she shrieked when it was over. "Hurt us all you want, but that changes nothing! You are pathetic! You're a sad, bitter, twisted thing who loves to take it out on everyone else! That's all you do! That's all you'll ever do! You don't have the excuse of Sid to hide behind now and you're still doing it! It's no surprise you came from him: you're just like him!"

The pain that followed felt worse than before. She could hear Foxy bellowing at the Puppet to stop, Billy weeping from next to her while Vevina cursed and swore. Before, it was more like it was curiously examining her mind. Now, it was hammering against it, trying to batter down the protective walls that Goldie had put in place. They were holding but for how long?

Not everything was being kept inside, however. Other feelings and memories flashed in her mind. Being told she and the others would have to hide away. The times she'd cried to herself in the kitchen at Freddy's. The knowledge that no matter how human she might look, it was something that she simply wasn't. The suit she had to put on to reinforce that fact, that felt like she'd have to wear forever. Never being free…

"Stop… it!" she managed through it all.

Surprisingly, it did. Now it was her turn to have the Puppet lean right into her vision. He tilted his head to one side. She tried to see a hint of the face behind the mask. Did he even have one? Was it only the same black fabric as his clothes, featureless but for those two eyes? If they could even be called eyes.

She flinched when she thought she heard something. Whispers. But not in her ear. In her head. She took a moment to decipher what they were.

"No," she whispered. "No, I'm not like you."

"…"

She laughed bitterly. "Trapped? You're not trapped!"

"…!"

"Not anymore, you're not! You're right, I used to be trapped too. We all were. But not anymore. We're free now or we would have been, but you and your master just couldn't leave us alone." She glared unwaveringly into his eyes. "You did this to us!"

"We're imitations. That's all we are. Imitations of humanity."

Chica froze. That was her voice. She remembered when she said those words. She tried to ignore the familiar ache in her chest.

"Stop that."

"…play mother… stupid crushes… silly fantasy… selfish, p-pointless delusion!"

Chica shook her head, trying to shut out the words. But they just kept coming.

"…stuck in this stupid place… don't get to be normal… stupid synthetic… I wish I didn't care!"

"You heartless wretch, let her be!" Freddy yelled.

Chica could already feel the tears begin to trickle down her face as the Puppet played overlapping, tinny laughter.

"Pathetic," the Puppet echoed.

Yes, it was. She had felt so pathetic and hopeless when she'd said those things. Hearing them being thrown back in her face was even worse. It made her want to curl up and hide away. Who wouldn't?

No, a part of her said. She'd already cried her tears, back then. She'd been through it all but she'd moved past them. She hadn't let them pull her down. Nor had her friends. She wasn't about to let it happen now.

She craned her neck to look at the Puppet. Was it a trick of the light or did he recoil, ever so slightly?

"I can remember some things you said too. You probably thought I wasn't listening, but I was." She looked back into his eyes. "'Not me'. 'Didn't do it'. 'Didn't want'. 'No choice'."

She waited for a response, even if it was another dose of pain. But it didn't come.

"Is that what you tell yourself? When you see their faces, when you remember them, is that what you cling onto? You were ready to mock and laugh, poke and prod but I saw what happened." She managed a small smile. "You're ashamed of what happened, aren't you? Good. You should be. But that shame isn't stopping you from being as bad as the man who created you."

She could feel the mental probing start again, but she rallied against it. It felt weak, almost tentative. Mentally, she slapped it back. She suddenly felt like she was back in the pizzeria and the Puppet was nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum.

"You can stop that, right now, because it doesn't change what happened or what's happening right now." She stood as straight as the bots would allow her. "Because this is you. This is your choice. Your master isn't here to tell you what to do anymore. In your own words, you are free and this is what you decide to do with it. The same cruelty, the same petty and heartless things you subjected your Toys to. Because that's all you have and hiding behind excuses or a mask won't change that."

The Puppet took a couple of staggered steps away from Chica. His attempts to get back into her head were barely even notable.

"You're right in one way, in how we're alike. I used to let my nature as a synthetic be what decided what my life would be like. But what I am doesn't matter. Who I am, what I choose to do, that's what matters. I choose not to let my nature define me. I choose to be happy and to try to be better than I was. It isn't what happened before, it's what you do right now. Are you going to let your master or Spring choose for you, Puppet? If you are, then go right ahead. Do what you think you have to do."

For the longest moment, he did nothing. He just stood there, unmoving. Silent. His gaze no longer frightened her. In a way, she almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

The door to the testing room opened. One by one, saving Vevina for last, the bots released them and filed out. Foxy started to move, but Chica raised a hand and stopped him with a shake of her head. The Puppet's eyes lingered on her one last time before the door closed.

"No!" Vevina slammed uselessly on the door. "We could have gone then! You wanted to wait for our chance? Well there it fucking goes!"

"I don't think so." Chica accepted the hug that came from Billy. "I think we'll be getting another one, a lot sooner than you think."

Guest: I would have to disagree XD

Fate-Be Changed: What gave you that idea?

NC: Don't worry, spring lock suits in this function very differently to canon FNAF.

Arc of Carona: I mean, they won. It's not all that bad XD

Yellowscar1: Not quite, but you'll see soon enough.