Henry makes his children a new friend.
But you don't have to do this on your own, even if you're never coming home you're not alone.
The noises of the cameras provided him little comfort as he pressed on his tablet, focused on finding where the rest of the crew were. It had been a couple of minutes since the last animatronic had attacked. He had almost failed to shut the door in time when he had switched to Pirate's Cove and saw it empty. The fast-approaching metal clanks had been enough to shake the sleepiness out of him and almost give him a heart attack. Fortunately, he had reacted in time. Curse that fox, if he didn't switch the cameras over to its little cove every two minutes then the robot would get anxious and open its curtains more and more before deciding to take a joy ride all the way to his office. He could barely afford a moment of respite. He hadn't quite washed the sleep out of his eyes, that would always happen later in the nights, right now he wasn't 100% alert. He knew he should be, but after spending so many weeks in this damned place he had become apathetic to its life-threatening dangers. One could go so far as to consider him a veteran; he was pretty sure no one had made it this far. Why was he still coming here, oh right, for the money. That's how desperate he was. In any case, during the "opening to mid hours" he would always struggle to stay awake, especially since things weren't so bad early on even in later nights of the week. He stole a glance at the green clock to his left, it read 3:17 AM.
He should have brought some coffee in a thermos or something. Why hadn't he? Come to think of it, he didn't remember entering the building either… Whatever, he had better things to do now than wondering about what he should've done hours ago. He instead focused on the cameras. He spotted the bear, or more accurately the pinpricks of his eyes, in the dark of the bathroom entrance, the girl's, staring at the camera, a habit he shared with his fellow fur suits. Freddy was a dude, right? What was he doing in the women's bathroom? Well, at least he knew where he was. He briefly pressed on to Pirate's Cove to give Foxy his undeserved attention before resuming his hunt, he moved to the kitchen camera and, as expected, it was down. He listened for a moment but heard nothing. After a quick check on the rest of the cameras his target, Chica, was nowhere to be found. The cameras had, regrettably, plenty of blind spots, which the crew often frequented whenever they did not want to be seen, safe for Foxy, he kept to himself in his cove.
Powering down the tablet, he rose from his seat, prepared for the worst as he pressed the right light button. The hallway was illuminated and, thankfully, there was no sign of the chicken. Shutting the light off, he opened the handheld monitor once again, now intending to find the rabbit. His search led him to a dead end as he was unable to locate the long-eared creep. Knowing he had to confirm it, he moved over to the opposite side of the office and pressed the left light button. He froze when the darkness went away, staring face to face with a predator. His heart stopped for a second. Through the window, the rabbit peered its head from behind the wall. Half of his body was obstructed by said wall along with most of his ears. It stood still, allowing him to get a good look at it. Its indigo fur had lost its shine, no longer being in pristine condition. The dirtiness made it look darker and more worn-out that it actually was. The rabbit's pink eyes edged on crimson, creating a glassy stare that pierced his soul. They did not fit properly in their sockets, they were in their proper positions but they did not fill the sockets, giving the bot a skull-like appearance. Behind them was hidden a fury, a thirst for vengeance so primal and so raw it could hardly be contained under the surface. It showed life where there shouldn't have been any. Unknowingly, he took a step back, gulping down his saliva. Bonnie's jaw was hanging loosely, if only a tiny bit, stretching all the way to where its ears would have been had it been human, into a perpetual smile. Its visage was eager, it enjoyed his shock, his moment of weakness upon which it could strike at any moment.
Acting solely on instinct, he darted forward, pulling the red lever down. Not a second later, the door came down with a heavy, metallic thud. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, resting his head on the cold metal. He closed his eyes as he waited for his pulse to settle. Why had he frozen? This was nothing new. He should've been used to the scares the crew liked to practice on him, this had happened before after all. Opening his eyes, he looked out the still lit up window again only to find the robot gone. Biting the inside of his cheek, he raised the lever, opening the door. He shut off the light and made to turn around when he bumped into something soft. He recognized the aged smell. Unable to move the object, he fell on his ass. Trembling, he gazed up. The seven-foot-tall rabbit towered over him. Its face portrayed no particular emotion, but its jaw was even more open. The unblinking eyes stared into his own in anticipation. Although it didn't show it, the robot was amused. He could tell it was laughing on the inside.
He didn't have time to waste trying to fathom how it had gotten in when he had shut the door. Seeing as it made no movement, he attempted to get up in a futile attempt at an escape. The rabbit had decided it had had enough fun for the day as it reached for him faster than he could register. Before he could realize it, large blue hands were wrapped around his throat. Bonnie pulled him close, making avoiding eye contact impossible. It looked into him as it chocked him to death, or perhaps to unconsciousness, if the phone calls had been anything to go by. He found it hard to think, but he had an idea of what awaited him. Desperately, he tried to pry the furred hands from his throat but was unsuccessful. His strength was no match for the servo-powered grip of the robot. Soon, dark spots began to dance at the corner of his vision. His face had gotten red with blood from the pressure. The rabbit's visage dissolved into nothingness as his eyesight failed. The last thing he saw before everything went dark was the flickering light of the office.
o0o
"You have some pretty weird nightmares." Cassidy agreed with him.
"Tell me about it." he let out a sigh. "I just don't get why they're happening, it's not like I'm scared of robots." he lamented. Those dreams had gotten so bad he would oftentimes stay awake longer just so he wouldn't suffer through them. Not one was the same, each was unique but equally terrifying. It annoyed him how much they spooked him even though he was supposed to have a tolerance to this kind of horror given the media of his original world. He could watch fan made VHS tapes and ARGs with only the slightest chill down his spine and some hair-raising but he couldn't handle some bad dreams. Where was the logic in that? It made him think that the dreams meant something, that they were warnings, perhaps sent by what had brought him here, given the universe he found himself in, but he had been unable to find any meaning so far. They only left him with more questions than answers.
Is this how Evan is going to feel when he starts having nightmares? he asked himself.
"Maybe you are and you just don't know it." she suggested.
"I shouldn't be, `cause I've become desensitized to this kind of stuff."
"What's that?" it made him a bit of a nerd in her eyes whenever he used big words, which he tended to do quite frequently. But he never had issues explaining them to her in a way she could understand. He had a habit of not acting his age, she had noticed long ago, but then again, neither did she.
"It's when you've seen something so many times it no longer bothers you."
"Well, have you seen any of those- what did you call them- animatronics, up close?"
"Not up close, but I've seen them... I shouldn't have nightmares about them."
"You can't control what you dream, Matt, might as well accept it."
"I know that, I just can't help but wonder if they mean anything, you know. They're too different from each other and they're not about something that's going on right now… I've no idea. And you know what sucks? I don't forget them. Ever. They're so vivid I remember every single detail. They aren't like normal dreams where I just forget everything four seconds after I wake up." Matthew complained. Oh, what he wouldn't give to rid his memory of every one of those hellish dreams of his, to stop being haunted by them.
"You're getting too caught up with this. I think what you should do is go to sleep early." he gave the girl a less than amused look.
"You're telling me to not stay up late? The point of not going to sleep is so I don't have nightmares." he questioned.
"Mhm." she answered his question. "Because if you do that, you're going to be a tired zombie and when you eventually fall asleep from exhaustion, you're going to have even worse nightmares, so it's better to go to sleep in time so you'll at least be well rested when you wake up. And if you keep that up, at some point the nightmares will go away."
"Somehow, I doubt that but I guess we'll see. Thanks for the advice, anyway."
"No biggie, someone has to watch over your dumbass. I swear, what would you do without me?" she teased.
"I'd probably be dead."
"Most likely." he stuck his tongue out at her and she made a "face" in response. The two snickered. Matthew grimaced internally at the irony.
"Don't tell anyone about this."
"I wouldn't dream of it, dummy." if Cassidy didn't call him Matt, she'd use her new favorite nickname for him; dummy. He didn't mind, so long as she didn't do it in the presence of other people, which thankfully she hadn't had the chance to do. Yet.
o0o
Henry led them towards the toolshed behind the house, right at the end of the garden. Calling it a simple toolshed, however, was incorrect as the little wooden building served more as Henry's personal workshop rather than a storage place for utensils. Matthew had seen it but hadn't been inside as the man had never allowed him due to all of the dangerous equipment the shed contained. Charlie had confessed to him that she too hadn't been allowed in all that much, only if Henry was there to accompany her, but under no circumstances alone. Her father seemed pretty protective of his work, almost possessive, from her retelling, but Matt couldn't really fault the man. It did raise a few red flags, the boy admitted as he got some novel Henry flashbacks, but the man before him hadn't done anything to change Matthew's opinion of him for the worst, so he brushed his paranoia aside for the time being.
Henry opened the doors and the three of them stepped inside. It was about what you'd expect. There were two tables near the wall in front of them with a chair between them, littered with all sorts of tools from wrenches to screwdrivers and the like. Another, separate table sat in the corner to the right. On top of it, there was an object that had a large, white cover over its head, obstructing it from view. All of them had boxes underneath that were full of metal parts. To the left there was a shelf that was filled with all sorts of McGuffins. Books about engineering, robotics, artificial intelligence, more tools and parts, gloves. Among them Matthew spotted an issue of Screws, Bolts and Hairpins. He smiled and pondered how Afton Robotics and later Fazbear Entertainment would get ownership of said magazine to feature it in their security logbooks… A large red gas tank rested near the doors to the left. All in all, the shed seemed like a cozy little workspace, but these things were of no particular interest to Matthew. No, what interested him were the bare metal endoskeletons that were laid out on the tables before him.
Scott was great at modeling. If one looked at his past games before FNaF such as The Desolate Hope you could see just how good the man was at what he did. Cawthon had a unique style when it came to modeling robots, he made his characters look realistic but at the same time cartoony. A very 90s aesthetic. Also, incredibly identifiable. The only thing the man struggled to model were humans. A look at his Christian animations or Scraptrap's/Springtrap's rotten bodies confirmed that. He could make robots look realistic, but if you were to take a closer look at the endos in FNaF you'd see they weren't really practical, just crossbeams and spheres connected together without real movement in mind. Now, that wasn't a critique to Scott, he wasn't an engineer so it wasn't expected of him to create endoskeletons that could exist in real life, to speak nothing of the fact that FNaF, at least until Help Wanted, was an indie franchise that had like four games and one book come out in just two years. Cawthon couldn't afford to waste time modeling unnecessarily functional endos when he had to put the games out and when it wasn't even required of him to do so.
With all of that said, the frames before Matt followed Scott's style in shape, but these ones looked real. Instead of spheres there were servos and motors, instead of crossbeams there were pistons and actuators. More wires were connected to the different parts, there were what appeared to be voice boxes beneath the frames' "collarbones" and there were circuit boards behind the heads and backs of the robots as well as tubes that led into the limbs.
Matthew stared in fascination at the mechanical marbles in front of him, his mouth threatening to hang wide open. Only someone that had an active interest in technology could appreciate the man's designs, which were nothing short of amazing. Even in Matt's world of 2022 it would've been hard to replicate Henry's work, and these things were only the beginning. They went to show just how far ahead of the curve Henry was in terms of engineering. The man was a certified genius in his field. In fact, what was he even doing building robot entertainers when he should be working at Nasa? For him to achieve something like this in 1981, it was almost unbelievable and yet, here it was.
Stealing a side glance at Charlie, he could see that she was equally impressed with her father's work, although perhaps not quite as taken aback. Matthew didn't need the man to say it, he already knew what these endoskeletons were. Judging by the long extensions that protruded from the top of the right one's head, he was Springbonnie while the other was Fredbear.
Henry didn't need to be a mind reader to tell that his kids were impressed with his creations. He had considered the possibility of them being creeped out by the bare metal endos but he was glad to have been wrong. The man couldn't help but feel proud of himself. If his kids were so blown away by his robots when they were offline and not even covered in golden fur, he couldn't wait to see their reaction when the animatronics would be completed. Matthew particularly seemed the most enthralled with his designs. Charlie herself had seen more of his creations whenever he had allowed her in here, so her reaction was more controlled. The boy, however, was almost drooling over the robots. It made Henry happy to know that he was able to put a smile on the kid's face.
"What are they?" asked Matthew.
"These two will be the skeleton frames for the entertainers at Fredbear's. They'll help Fredbear and Springbonnie move, sing, dance, all of that jazz and more. I've only shown you what they'll look like when they'll be completed so I thought I'd bring you two to see them while they're still a work in progress. Besides the fur, they're mostly finished, just waiting on a couple more parts from William and they'll be ready for action. But do you guys know what the best part is? These two here" he gestured at the frames. "-will allow for a human to climb inside so that Fredbear and Springbonnie could go off stage and play with kids. You like `em?"
"Do I like- they're incredible, Mr. E- I mean, Henry!" the boy exclaimed, to which his daughter gave an eager nod in affirmation.
"So, people can wear them like suits? Isn't that a little dangerous, dad?" she asked innocently.
"It would be, normally, so that's why me and uncle Will designed the springlock mechanism. Basically, by winding up a bunch of springs the frames can fold and compress to the sides to allow someone to wear them like they would regular clothes." he explained happily. "No difficulty moving, perfectly safe." Henry assured them with a smile.
"Do they work, could we get like, a demonstration?"
"I'm afraid they're not quite ready for that yet, but when they will be, I'll be sure to bring you guys here to see. How about that?" the two children looked at each other before agreeing.
"Deal." they said at the same time. Henry just chuckled.
"Now, this isn't the only reason I brought you here today. I had something else to show you."
"What's that?" Henry took a step to the side and pulled the covers off of the animatronic that sat on the right table.
"Charlotte, Matthew, meet the Puppet!" Matt's eyes widened while Charlie let out a gasp of surprise.
The lithe body of what would become the Marionette sat on the wooden table. Made out of dark fabric with a white face of porcelain that had a large smile sculpted into it, the animatronic sported long, slender limbs with stripes. Its hands ended in three sharp fingers each that looked perfect for grabbing plush toys. It lacked any feet or toes; its legs instead being pointed downwards. If it were to stand upright, it would've almost matched Henry in height. There were three tiny buttons on its chest, reminding Matthew of teddy bears. The smooth ceramic of its face didn't have the iconic red and purple painted on, but that did not take away from the animatronic's glamour. It was just as charming and recognizable as Matt remembered.
The Puppet, along with Springtrap, had always been Matthew's favorite characters in terms of design and lore, due to the fact that the two just stood out so much from the rest of the gang. Both just as mysterious and visually captivating. He had always been intrigued by the Marionette, and seeing it right before his very eyes was a dream come true. The excited fanboy in him cried out in delight.
"Awesome." he muttered.
"It looks pretty." Charlie commented.
"I'm glad you think so. This one is different than Fredbear and Springbonnie, as you can see. The Puppet is its own animatronic. It will be able to move freely and interact with children on its own. You'll see it around the prize counter, that's going to be its job, offering gifts, but it can also take song requests and sing them via its music box. Oh, and it's smart enough that it can actually play with kids, too, so what do you say?"
"Wait, we can actually play with her?!" the girl squeaked.
"Is it finished?"
"Yes, and yes. I began working on it before I even made the sketches for Fred and Bonnie, you see. I completed its programming this Monday, actually. This is going to be its first time online with all of its systems done, and I want the two of you to be the first people it sees. The Puppet is always going to be evolving, improving itself once it's turned on so it can better connect with kids. By simply spending time with you it's going to learn a lot. Think of it as building experience for when Fredbear's opens. No matter how much I code into it, it needs actual experience for socialization and this is how we get that. It's better to turn it on now so it'll have a baseline for the future... But I'm sure I'm boring you with all this technical stuff. Just trust me, you're going to love it." they both nodded. if what the man was saying was true… Matthew had a feeling not even Henry himself knew the full extent of what he had achieved. The boy was having a hard time keeping his excitement contained. He whistled instead.
Henry reached his hand, pressing the top button on the Marionette's chest three times, causing it to make a few corresponding soft clicks. The two children held their breaths. A few seconds later, the Puppet woke up.
o0o
HNRYOS Ver4.6.78 Loading…
Loaded.
Primary Systems Loading…
Locomotory Systems – Online
Auditory Systems – Online
Optical Systems – Online
Personality Matrix Ver8.14C – Online
Loaded.
Secondary Systems Loading…
Memory Banks Refreshed – 5 Present Files, 2 Archived Files, 0 Corrupted Files
Main Data Pack Compiled – Pending
Reaction Processing Algorithm Started – Pending
Response Development Program Started – Pending
Complexity Comprehension Engine – Online
Adaptive Matrix Ver11.14B – Online
Loaded.
Battery Power At 100%
Full Unit Diagnosis – Clear
Activating…
No sound was made as two pinpricks of green light appeared in the Puppet's eyes due to its optics starting for the first time in a while. Slowly, almost as if it was shy, the animatronic lifted its head, the motion appearing fluid and natural, only to be met with the face of the man it had been made by. It instantly recognized him.
1 Adult, [Male] Recognized
Designated As "Henry Emily/Creator"
Positive Value=10
Saved.
A pleasant chime was emanated from its internal music box at the sight of its maker.
"There you go. How are we feeling?" the man asked, his tone soft and gentle. The Puppet offered another note as a reply.
"That's good. Here, I have someone I want you to meet." He put his left hand on its shoulder and stepped aside, pointing with his right towards the other people currently in the room with them. The animatronic followed his movements, spotting the other humans. It zoomed its optics on their visages in harmless curiosity. This time, it let out multiple chimes resembling giggles.
2 Children, [Girl, Boy] Recognized
Girl Designated As "Charlotte Emily", cross-referencing her face with its Data Pack, the Marionette was able to identify her. Unfortunately, it did not have the same success with the other child.
Boy Missing Designation
Positive Value=50
Saved. The Puppet quickly decided on what to do next, without any form of input. Raising its hand, it gave them a small wave. Both of them waved back.
Greeting Successful
Positive Value=200
Saved. It was here that it hit its first roadblock. The robot moved its head to look to its creator for assistance.
"Go on, no need to be shy." he encouraged. Turning to face the children again, it grasped the table it was sitting upon and got down. Having no problem standing upright on its pointy legs, the Puppet took a testing step forward, and after receiving no negative reaction from the two it took another step, moving with more ease than it was expected. As it got in front of them, it carefully knelt down to the kids' level and tilted its head in an inviting gesture. The children said nothing, letting their eyes widen more so than they already had, their faces turning brighter. Its Reaction Algorithm pinged a fourth time as it processed their expressions, understanding they were captivated by it. The Marionette moved two fingers to its chin as if in thought, then after a moment, snapped them. The fluidity with which it moved radiated a sort of grace, making it impossible not to be entranced by it. To all humans present it was clear that what they were seeing before them was something special, a one of a kind being that had just woken up for the first time and was displaying so much character so soon. Although the Puppet itself did not know it, its uniqueness made the others around itself feel privileged to be able to bear witness to its mere existence.
It directed its focus back to the kids. Using its music box, the Marionette began to sing a rendition of My Grandfather's Clock. As it sang, it noticed a grin tugging at the corners of the boy's lips. Quickly enough, the grin tuned into a full-blown smile. It continued singing for about minute, having its Reaction Algorithm ping positives multiple times as it caught on pretty fast to the fact that the children were being entertained. When it finished it as met with cheering as well as exclamations of delight from the little ones. The Puppet leaned back a little as it adjusted to all the attention it was receiving, however, being the ever-resilient creation that it was, its programs adapted with no issue, allowing it to learn more concerning the situation it found itself in.
Singing Successful
Positive Value=1000
Updating Main Data Pack…
Updated.
Saved New Memory File. Satisfied, the doll looked at its maker for confirmation of a job well done, to which the man responded with a thumbs up. Focusing back on the nice and lively children once more, it began thinking on how to further entertain them, but before it could do so, the girl spoke.
"Hey, Matt, let's take it inside so we can play with it in there. I want to show it my toys. Can we, dad? Please?"
"I don't see why not, dear." her father responded.
Matt – Matthew
Probability To Match=88%
Positive Value=150
Boy Designated As "Matthew"
Updating Main Data Pack…
Updated. The Animatronic registered the name. It decided it liked it.
"What do you think? Want to come play with us in the house?" Matthew turned to look at it. For some reason, it was unable to decipher the boy's expression. Or rather, it knew he was in awe as its facial analysis concluded, but there was something more behind that, a feeling it did not recognize. Making a temporary note, it mulled over the question. In truth, it puzzled the Marionette. It would not deny playing with children, after all, that was one of its purposes, to care for and keep them safe, to make them happy. If that meant playing with them then it would do so without hesitation. So why was the boy inquiring about its opinion? Did he not know its objective. He appeared to be related to the Puppet's creator and his daughter so he should've known what it was meant to do. Logic dictated that such a line of questioning was unnecessary. Opting to not keep Matthew waiting any longer, as it had done so for 348 milliseconds, it agreed with a modest nod.
With that, Charlotte eagerly took its hand in her own, Matthew mirroring her action a moment later, and led the Marionette outside the toolshed, Henry following after them at a leisurely pace. The building they were walking towards was a house, it associated. With the shed being in the back of the garden, the Puppet had about 20 seconds to observe the world, it estimated. It did not mind, however, as that was more than enough.
Raising its head, the green dots of its pitch-black eyes flickered as it watched the perfect sea above. Despite never actually seeing clouds, it knew what they were and how they looked like. There were very few in the sky, allowing it to stare into the endless blue with no restrictions whatsoever. The doll's auditory sensors picked up the chirping of a flock of birds that flew overhead, making it turn its porcelain face in order to see them pass by. Afterwards, it observed the grass beneath its thin legs as it got squished by children's feet. Finally, it watched the sun, and how it bathed everything that existed in its warmth. The Marionette could not comment on the great contrast between the two worlds, above and below, but if it were human, the beauty would've made it lose its breath. Instead, its music box activated, quietly playing a pleasing tune.
As they got to the back door of the house, Matthew suddenly perked up.
"I've got a thought. We should give you a name."
"Didn't dad say it was called the Puppet?"
"Well, yeah, but that's more like a title, you know." he looked up at it. "You should have your own name."
"Hmm, okay! What do you have in mind?" she asked, starting to like the idea.
"How does… Mari sound? Short for Marionette."
"Oh, that's actually great! Very fitting. Nice job, Matt!" Charlotte praised.
"Glad you're on board. So, what do you say?" he asked it. The doll stopped for an instant, frozen. Then, as if nothing had happened, it tilted its head before ruffling the little one's hair in a show of gratitude. A multitude of cheerful jingles and chimes rang out of its music box, only stopping after a good half a minute, expressing its joy.
Positive Value Exceeding Parameters.
Updating…
Updated.
Saved New Memory File.
Yes, the name fit indeed.
Mari…
The Puppet decided it liked its name very much.
Chapter title from "The Puppet Song" by TryHardNinja.
