See the end for author's notes.

"You'd best stop wasting your time, reading between the scan lines,
So long as number four,
Does not build on the lore,
You'll never know exactly what it is that came before…"

Chapter 7. Time to Get Mean!

"Bonnie!" Danny was up and hugging the rabbit before Bonnie could fully upright himself. The purple bot grunted, still trying to get his bearings. His ears were twitching and flicking and he himself was making small, necessary adjustments as he rose back to Active.

"Hi, kid." The bunny's young, electronic voice was the same as it ever was. He was certainly a bit more worn on the outside than the last time Danny had seen him, all those years ago. But Bonnie's voice was like that decade hadn't passed at all. Now that Springtrap's optics hit the wall behind the other bunnybot, Danny could see the small piece of paper hanging above Bonnie's once inert form. It was a page torn from Mike's journal.

Nowhere to turn?
Nowhere to hide?
let the bunny
be your guide. –M

Danny grinned so hard his cheeks hurt. Relief at having his best friend and another sign of Mike's possible survival made him almost lightheaded. He hugged Bonnie again, not caring if he got made fun of for it.

"You're still you! You're okay, I mean, sort of—" pulling himself together and finally letting the bunny out of his clingy little hug, Danny jerked back and tried to look over Bonnie all at once. The bunny didn't sit still, instead jerking up and shoving his frame off the metal bench. It was then Danny remembered how it felt working at Freddy's. Standing near one animatronic was one thing, but Springtrap was always politely (or perhaps because of age) slightly leaning to one side, making him appear shorter and thinner than the robots Danny used to work with. But Bonnie, Bonnie towered. He only bent down for kids.

"I'm still me alright. Limp's gotten worse, but machinery never was supposed to age well." Bonnie said, taking a few careful steps as his ears finished their twitches. Bonnie regarded Springtrap carefully, eyeing him up and down.

Despite the scuffs and worn patches, Bonnie the bunny's ears were still tall as ever, and they were the only thing that made him the tallest of the gang. Well, aside from Mike when he was doing his 'knight guarding.'

The sting of memory about his boss and the once-unstoppable Golden Freddy sobered Fitzgerald right back up. His throat tightened and he gave those scarlet optics his full attention.

"Where's Mr. Schmidt?" Danny hesitated when he saw Bonnie's expression shift down to him. "Where is he, Bonnie? Where's Mike?"

"You've seen those things out there—they're chrome. New. Built really, really well. Maybe…too well, for children's entertainers." Bonnie spoke carefully, slowly. But he went on before Danny could pick apart any hint Bonnie had given him.

"Gold's supposed to protect the pizzeria. He's supposed to protect us, but he's also the oldest of us all. He wasn't really in the best shape to begin with when the Puppet made Mike his Suit. And the more strain on Gold, double the strain on his Suit." Bonnie flicked his crimson optics to Springtrap, his expression strangely unreadable for how emotive the purple bunny usually was.

"You saw Gold back then, kiddo. When Nightmare went after him. Gold was kind of over the hill after that. And once you get over the hill…you begin to pick up speed."

"I don't understand, Bonnie," Danny said, feeling desperate. Maybe he didn't want to, but wisely Bonnie just gave a simple statement in return.

"Machinery." Bonnie reminded. "Doesn't age well."

Bonnie gave Danny a far too sympathetic and kind look. Danny knew that stare, even coming from a cartoon rabbit. It was the same look people had given him when they told him about his father.

"But Mike isn't—" Danny stopped, closed his mouth. Yes, Mike Schmidt was. Because of Gold, Mike was very much so. More than a normal human, more than any human would ever understand. Bonnie had just said as much. Danny certainly didn't understand the full complexity of it, and he had the feeling Bonnie didn't either. But Bonnie knew enough.

"So he's…gone?" Danny murmured. Using gone as a synonym for dead made the kid feel sick to his stomach.

"He, he didn't make it?"

Come to think of it, only one animatronic had ever spoken to him with an air of casualness about the mysterious monstrosity that protected the pizzeria. It had been so out of the realm of normal for the bot that Danny had noticed it, but hadn't dwelt on its implications until now.

"You knew all along." The day guard turned slowly on his hells toward the other active animatronic in the cramped, dark room.

Springtrap's silver optics met his, impassive and stoic as ever. Danny took the silence as a yes and swallowed dryly. Somehow, the silence felt downright insulting.

"Those robots—the Funtimes—they beat Gold." Danny amended his statement, wanting Springtrap to hear the real truth of it out loud. "They beat Gold and Mike. You knew, because when you said 'lost' you really meant de—you meant gone! You knew and you still let me keep coming down here?! By myself?"

"You let him come—" Bonnie looked back and forth, catching up in his own fashion. He snarled at Springtrap, looking like he wanted to push Danny aside and go at the rotted rabbit with his own two paws.

"I needed you down here. Operator and I both did." Springtrap said, but it seemed a meager attempt to defend himself. Danny shook his head in denial, which quickly melted to horror.

"You weren't going to protect me, you were just using me as bait!" Danny felt he was seeing his new friend in a new, unsettling light. Mike's animatronics were loyal to him, but Danny had never know one to risk another's life for him. Even worse, Danny was now hoping Mike wasn't doing it either, that he hadn't set Springtrap up to this.

"I never said that." Springtrap murmured though his rotted and acrylic teeth.

"Because you knew I wouldn't come down here if you did!" Danny accused. "Because who wants to die like this!? Mike didn't!"

"Kid, Mike didn't know this was a trap until it was too late. Springtrap shouldn't have let you come down here but I don't think this whole thing was part of Mike's plan. He thought he was helping, we all did. We only let him come down here because he promised to find a way for us to get in, too." Bonnie laid his paw on the guard's shoulder but jerked in surprised when Danny shrugged him off. His mind was racing and drawing long conclusions, hinting at horrible answers. And unfortunately, more questions he wasn't sure he wanted the answers to.

"How do you know Gold, Springtrap?"

"Stuck with that name, didja?" Bonnie muttered behind Fitzgerald, catching the kid's attention.

"It's not his real one?"

"…it's half of it." Bonnie said, sounding like a sibling tattling on another. His arms were now crossed, body language betraying his casual speech. "He's had three names. Used to be a different color, too. Isn't that right, Springy? You wanna tell him what color you used to be? Or should I?"

Danny turned in time to see Spring's jaw working, grinding softly as he inclined his head toward Bonnie. Finally, Danny saw Springtrap glare for the first time. Really, truly, make an effort to push his haggard features into something resembling an emotion. And it wasn't a friendly one.

"Let my secrets lie, Bonnie. I meant no harm, I was only following Operator's orders. The day guard was the one who woke me." Springtrap tried.

"Are you telling me to believe Mike's orders said 'lure our old inexperienced day guard down here into this Horror Lab and hope for the best' and that Mike was totally chill with it?"

Springtrap again fell silent, and for an instant Danny thought he saw the bunny look confused, before it was masked over with startlingly quickness. Springtrap's strange face hardened.

"I'm not telling you to do anything, Bonnie." Springtrap snapped back, icy tone making him hiss his words out. "I am only telling you what I know. Now that you and Daniel are reunited, you two can leave, and never look back. I will search for a way to shut these robots down myself.

Do what you want, Bonnie. You always do."

Springtrap turned, opened the door and went through it. He left Parts and Services 2, causing it to slam. Down in the silent underground Pizza World, it rang between the ears before trailing off into silence.

Danny cautiously relaxed when he realized Springtrap had only stormed off, and that he hadn't run into Funtime Freddy or let the crazed bearbot in. That was good, right? Funtime Freddy and BonBon must have gone back to their stage.

"I thought we were here to find Mike? Not shut down the Funtimes." Danny shook his head. "Why, though? I mean—Funtime Freddy, him I can understand maybe—but the others…"

"They're all a few candles short of a birthday cake, kid. And unsurprisingly, they took major offense to Mike wanting to turn them off. They fought back. Pretty well, since things have gotten this far. This your first night here?"

"Huh? Oh, uhm, no, second. Or third. I can't remember but—but it's awful down here, Bonnie! Did you know about the controlled shock torture thing they do?" Danny turned desperately, gripping the bunny's arm.

"Oh I know, trust me. You think you've seen Mike mad? That was nothing to what we saw when he found out—he just about blew one of Gold's gaskets."

"When did you last see him, Bonnie?" At the bot's look, he shook his head. "I'm…Springtrap was right. Well, I mean, he wasn't right. He lied to me, but. He was right about one thing. He said he was following orders. And I went to Freddy's to look for Mike by my own choice." Danny bit his lip, then reluctantly pulled out the one thing that proved something that would exonerate Springtrap.

Bonnie stared at it. "That's not—it is!? You have the—how'd'ja find the Crying Kid's flashlight!? That thing sticks with Mike—" By his own admission, Bonnie groaned, covering his muzzle. He had just said some pretty nasty things to Springtrap, had arguably been the one to chase him off. And Springtrap was many things, but not even he could have got the flashlight from Mike, and got it to Danny from across the state. That meant the strange, weird flashlight had switched owners by itself. That wasn't the best sign. Freddy was going to kill him.

"Does it work?" Bonnie finally managed. Danny looked down, fumbled with it, clicked its button a few times, even gave it a whack on his palm.

"No. Maybe. I don't know. I can't get it turn on. But it's got batteries."

"That doesn't mean anything. It doesn't need batteries to work. And it also doesn't mean Mike's, yanno. Shuffled off his mortal coil." Bonnie winced, but just like the teenagers he was modeled from, he shrugged.

"The chances aren't great, but…"

"They're possible." Danny finished softly, giving the bunny a knowing look. "And if they are, and if I just leave him down here…with the Funtimes." Danny shook his head.

"I think I should stay down here. I know it's not safe but…" Danny trailed off. "But when I got lost in the Nightmare's world, Mike came and got me. He lost something when he did, too, but he never held it against me. He saved me so…so now it's my turn."

Bonnie heaved an electronic sigh, but finally, slowly nodded.

"You keep that flashlight close, kid. If it's still around—even looking like that—maybe we have a shot at this after all. And I'll stick by you, you little punk, because it looks like Mike left me in my suit for a reason. I'm thinking that reason is you, huh?"

Danny flushed, but nodded shortly.

"C'mon, Bon. We gotta…I gotta shift to finish."

Bonnie walked across the room and opened a panel that Danny hadn't noticed before. Danny stared at the secret entrance before realizing this was how they would avoid the roaming Funtimes.

"Y'know something kid?" Bonnie asked as he held the panel back for Danny to squeeze through.

"What's that, Bon?"

"You sounded a lot like your old man when you said that."

"You think I'm dead, Springysprung?"

Springtrap halted, drew back and then started walking on. Ignore it.

"C'mon, say it. You knew it all along." The voice, so casual and laidback but with something so Off about it, trailed eagerly behind him.

Do not give in to it. It's only your faulty programming.

"You do think it. Say it, you'll feel better." Phantom Mike giggled playfully in his ear as he followed the robot down the hall.

It's only Afton's ghosts haunting you. Trying to lure you in. Parts of him always remain.

"Sprinnnngtraaap…."

Don't give in.

"Or better yet, I'll say it. Will that make you feel better?"

They always get worse when you acknowledge them. So, simply put, don't do it.

"Or maybe…my friend here can say it."

Springtrap froze. Against his screaming fear, he slid his rotted skulls slowly to the side Phantom Mike was lurking.

The empty bear's head stared back.

"No…" Springtrap's fists clenched. He stepped desperately to the right, into the wall of the tight hall.

"Goldie…" Springtrap was reaching for his Fredbear model—at least, something that looked like him—before he could think straight. His best friend, his Fredbear! There was no Bonnie without a Freddy, they always told him. He missed the old animatronic more than his ear, more than a robot should know how to miss something. To see him now, even as a Phantom, it was almost too much.

Phantom Gold faded away almost as abruptly as he had come. Phantom Mike took center, leaning in so close Springtrap could count the freckles under Phantom Mike's soot, rotting face. Flesh dripped off his cheeks, one of his sockets had no eye and so it was black and bottomless.

"I'm dead. I diiieeed. You killed me. You did it, it wasn't the Funtimes. It was you." Phantom Mike hissed.

"It was not me—" Springtrap choked out, helplessness blossoming in his chest like a stinking weed.

"Now you've brought someone new down here to play with. Billy's gunna be super pleased at you, Springy. Y'know? For giving in and letting him take over even from the grave. But night guards like me, they're easy. Too easy. No sport in them, right?"

"No—you are not….you do not…" Springtrap raised an arm, tendons and muscle from Afton's corpse crick-cracking. But he hesitated, and that was all the Phantom Mike apparently needed.

"What you needed was a child. Younger. Still naive and full of wonder. The same look in that kid's eyes when he looked at you first powered up. It was almost too easy when he came in, fiddling with levers and the generator. You pretended to lie there. You said your lines perfectly.

"I was not p-pretending," Springtrap jerked, forgetting to step back as Phantom Mike leaned in far too close, his smoky shadow corpse fluttering up to Springtrap's chest cavity.

"Spoon fed the little guy everything he wanted to hear, never mentioning the odds of me being Alive are, what, zilch? Because once Goldy goes down, I go with him. So he followed you down here. So it will be easier for you when that wonderful moment comes, when you can…reach your hands out….hold him in place…open yourself up…pull inward…

Phantom Mike's smoky, charred black essence was fading, trickling forward until it was slipping its skeletal fingers into Springtrap's shaking, quivering form.

Springtrap's silver optics were starting to flicker in and out, like a poor reception on an old tv. But instead of darkness or no light at all, the shade that began taking over the silver was something else.

A strange shade to be honest, of violent violet.

A ghost doesn't have to be real to haunt you. -M

Danny read it out loud, then sighed and crumpled the page up. Suddenly he felt no desire to safe guard the clues he was finding all around this chrome hellhole. He had found this particular one halfway down the hidden passageway, dimly light and only because Bonnie's bright floodlight optics had allowed him to see it's shadow bouncing off the wall.

"I don't even know how old these are." Said the day guard, grouching in frustration.

"You said Mike shut you off weeks ago. And if he was trapped down here, how did he survive without food and water?" Danny asked. He gave Bonnie a pleading look, one that asked for so many answers.

"Especially him. That guy could make a bottomless pit look like a kiddie pool."

Danny snorted, but Bonnie reminded him of something. Springtrap was one thing, but Bonnie had been down here longer. Eyeing those intact bunny ears, Danny perked up.

"Hey, Bonnie. Do you have this whole place mapped out?" He asked eagerly, turning to look at his friend.

"Eh…more or less. I have the secret halls, for the most part. Lot of them, actually. More than you would think down here. But the main rooms, the office Mike once mentioned, nah. I don't even know where the elevator he said there was is." Danny deflated, lips twisting in thought as he considered this information.

"So if we wanted to leave, we couldn't." Danny remarked. "I'm not sure if that's by design or if Mike wanted us to go somewhere here directly after I found you."

"Possibly. He didn't tell me much. But then, that's Schmidt for you. The guy's five steps ahead of everyone else, and three steps ahead of himself. I knew he was removing Fred and the others from their suits, but that was about it."

Danny nodded, sobering up. However, Bonnie had a good point. Mike was clever, IQ over everyone else's sort of clever. But he tended to rely on making things up on the fly, and often he had Freddy cover his back when Plan A's looked like they were going to crumble. It was rare, but it happened. Which meant Mike wouldn't go anywhere without Freddy, which wasn't new to Danny but he had forgotten, in all honesty.

So what did he need Freddy, Chica and Foxy, but not Bonnie for?

Oh, and apparently he needed Springtrap to bring Danny (or whoever the flashlight choose) down here, but Bonnie had effectively—almost eagerly—chased Springtrap off once he was woken up from Shut Off. Had Mike known that was going to happen? Or was it an oversight on his boss' part? The thing was, 'oversights' plus 'Mike' didn't really go together. Only once had Danny seen his boss get the rug pulled out from under him, and that was during the Puppet's death.

He found it hard to believe Mike would let his guard down that poorly again. Not when lives were at stake.

Come to think of it…

Danny mulled it over as he turned a corner. The recording left for him—while it hadn't mentioned him by name—had been sent to Danny's email. Either Mike had taken an almost ludicrously impossible shot in the dark, or Mike had some idea where the flashlight was going to. To accuse Springtrap of orchestrating the whole thing to—what, lure Danny down here?—was kind of absurd. Besides, Danny thought uneasily, Spring had plenty of chances in the last few nights to do something more to him. Either abandon him to go after the Funtimes, or hand him over to the Funtimes, or…worse.

Danny brushed the nagging feeling away almost as quick as it presented itself. That was just paranoia setting in. Springtrap wouldn't have let him get hurt on purpose. He could have simply shut Parts and Services2's door on him in that case, and let Funbear get him. Still, these conclusions lead him to an altogether different, but not necessarily new point. He addressed his bunny now, giving him a knowing look.

"If we see Springtrap, we need to apologize to him too, I guess." Danny said, but kept mulling over Mike's plan in the back of his mind. Bonnie scoffed, tossing his head and making his ears bob in irritation.

"You go ahead and fly solo on that one, kemosabe. I wouldn't touch that creepy older me with a ten foot microphone stand." Bonnie's teenager based programming sometimes lead him to make stubborn statements, and be a little petulant over things he was sensitive about.

But even this side of Bonnie was new to Fitzgerald. Come to think of it, Bonnie's elation over seeing Danny hadn't even sort of extended to Springtrap. And Springtrap's voice hadn't activated Bonnie either—it was Danny's. Bonnie said so himself. But Bonnie had been the first to turn a negative light on Springtrap when he learned Spring had helped Danny come down to this dangerous place. Had antagonized him so much, Danny had seen Springtrap make his first solid, real expression.

"You…you don't like Spring, huh Bonnie?"

"I just don't want anything to do with him, kid. It's complicated. And I'm not hashing it out here either, so let's focus on getting you somewhere you know, and I don't. I'll learn the map of this place, you can get your bearings, and then we'll look for Mike. Everyone's happy." Bonnie ranted sardonically. "We'll throw a party."

Danny snorted, but let the subject drop. Bonnie had made that loud and clear.

"Hey…you see that?"

Danny leaned down, grabbed the ball of journal paper. It crinkled in his hands as he unfolded it, spreading it on the wall before he read it.

Many pages came beFore this
In the JOurnaL with a cLue,
But nOthing coMes after this,
Unless I wrotE it in the glue.-M

"…what does it mean?" Bonnie grunted, and Danny jumped. Springtrap wasn't a big talker, nor did he ever question Mike's rambling notes and comments.

Huh.

"I…I dunno. I think maybe," he scanned it again, frowning, "some of the words are weird, like, they've got capital letters, but I'm not sure what—" Bonnie leaned in, and Danny could hear the cameras in his eyes focus and sharpen, and begin adjusting rapidly.

"F. O. L. L. O. M. E." Bonnie said.

"Fullomee?" Danny tried.

Bonnie's processors whirred, before suddenly,

"Try it slower, kid."

"Full…Foll…Folloo-Follow—follow me?"

"Well. Guess we're headed in the right direction then. Hah! And to think, I only showed you this way so I could avoid Springtrap."

"And Funbear." Danny reminded with an amused glance at his best friend.

"Him too, sure. I haven't seen him myself, but Mike says he's ugly. And don't even get me started on 'BawnBawn!'" Bonnie mocked in Funbear's theatrical voice. "What a rip! As soon as we get home, I am copy writing this adorable cotton tail." Bonnie announced as he followed Danny down the darkened hall.

Despite the situation, Danny couldn't help the little laugh.

Man, he had missed this bunny. Ulterior motives or not, Danny can't help but send a silent thank you to Mike—wherever he was—that he had Bonnie stay behind to be with him during this search and rescue.

He's not sure he could have gone on alone much longer.

Springtrap, buddy, you ain't looking so good.

This chapter's song is 'Before' by Shadrow. It's a Springtrap centric tune, and its catchy as all hell. Hey! I just wanted to take a sec, and thank you guys for all the wonderful support. Whether you've reviewed on A03 or FFN or left kudos, or favorited or what have you, thank you very very much! I had some amazing people even do fanart of this series! I hope to do a better shout-out toward the end of this story, I want to make sure I name every who really gave this series some love. Thank you again!