Mable: Here we are with the new chapter! ^-^ Enjoy!
Almost Feels Like Home
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Mike's head felt full and his lungs burned with the urge to cough. He stifled it as best as he could, keeping a hand over his mouth as he hunched down in the dark. He couldn't see anything in this darkness, but if he listened closely then he could hear the small shuffling of footsteps. The sound of an animatronic moving nearby and Mike moved closer to the wall. He swallowed thickly to try and smother the scratchiness in his throat. He wasn't going to be the one who was found.
There was a shuffling coming closer in the darkness that Mike identified with the squeak of someone's shoes. Someone else, a human, safe. Except that something else heard the squeak too and started to quietly move in, though not enough to not recognize the movement of fabric and metal. It was moving closer, they all were, like they were magnetized to the security guard. He swallowed down a cough and inched ahead.
When suddenly a door flew open and there came a frantic cry. "They're gone!"
With the flip of a switch, the basement was illuminated in its dim light. In the doorway leading to the back rooms was Scott, who had made the cry and looked panicked. He stared out at a room full of humans and small animatronics, all slowly creeping around in the dark while trying to dodge the 'vicious animatronic' hunting them, which would be Foxy. In short, their only means of a party game.
Out of curiosity Mike looked back to see that it was Natalie inching up behind him. Even though he though Foxy was closing in, he was clearly tailing Jeremy, who was already carrying a Minireena on his shoulder. Fritz was off somewhere by the stairs. His feet were surrounded by Plushtrap and the Bidybabs, who apparently didn't realize they were following the wrong man and hadn't been willing to open their eyes to tell the difference. Louise was camping out in the corner, which was arguably the smartest plan but not as exciting.
Jeremy was the one to speak up first. "Whose gone? Did Springtrap leave?"
"Springtrap, Baby, Ennard- They're all gone!" Scott exclaimed. "I thought they were still in the back, but there's nobody back there! I-I can't even tell how long they've been gone!"
"Shiver me timbers! They must'a snuck off upstairs!... Ah well, no use cryin' over spilled milk. They'll come down 'ventually," Foxy said. It was that casual disregard that made everyone come to the same realization. With Jeremy slowly looking over his shoulder at him and Scott looking at the captain with disbelief.
"You knew they left," Scott said.
Foxy was taken aback, with his ears raising and his uncovered eye widening. He fumbled a little bit as all the eyes in the room fell on him. "Well, err… Aye, course I did! Cap'n knows what goes on in his ship."
Scott looked aghast with Jeremy now sharing the look of disbelief. Natalie had a more suspicious look as she figured out exactly what was going on. "So… The games and the sing-songs, and the lights being off were all a distraction to cover up that everyone left?" she asked with a quirked brow. Foxy said nothing but she took it as a confirmation, popping her lips and looking at Fritz. "Who exactly asked for the van keys?"
The technician stared back for a moment as he processed the question. Then got a look of alarm and made a run for the stairs, not caring about the storm as he hurried to the top and out the door.
"The van's gone!" Fritz cried back down. At this point, nobody was surprised.
"Figures," Natalie said flatly. She called back up, "Who asked for the keys again?"
"It was Marionette," Louise answered from nearby. "I remember because I thought it was real weird he'd need the keys, because I don't think he can drive? I mean, maybe, but he doesn't have feet?"
"You mean- Oh no…" Scott covered his face with a hand and gave a mumbled confirmation of, "That means he's gone too. And I didn't see Charlie either. Mike, did he say anything when you saw him last?"
Scott looked to Mike expectantly and suddenly he was on the spot. The security guard took a little too long to answer, and when he did he just gave a noncommittal so-so motion with his hand. This vague answer was a dead giveaway.
"You knew too?!" the Phone Guy sputtered. "You knew they were taking Ennard and Baby out into the tornado and you- you let them go?! And you didn't tell me?!"
"I didn't say that," Mike defended. There was a pause as the older man stared him down, and the younger knew when he was fighting a losing battle. "But yeah, I knew."
Scott's head was back in his hand as Fritz came back down the stairs. The technician was just as upset. "Why'd you let them go?!" he asked. "Better yet, why'd you let them take my van?!"
"What were you doin' givin' Mari yer keys when ya know he can pop into the van without usin' a door?" Foxy asked slightly smug. Fritz's briefly dumbfounded look gave him only brief self-satisfaction.
"…I am never seeing the van again, am I?" Fritz asked. Jeremy gave him the same so-so hand wave that Mike had given Scott.
"This- This is a nightmare," Scott said. He was becoming only more panicked, rubbing at his temples as he took in the full scope. "Ennard can't be out in daylight, Baby can't be around children, none of them can be seen by anyone, none of them even know how to drive-!" He already sounded at the end of his rope as he exhaled, trying to calm down, and looked to Mike again. "Did he at least say where they were going?" There was this look that Mike didn't frequently get, a hesitant sort of one. "I'm… Taking it from that look that they didn't just drive back to the house to get something…"
"Someone's going to have to break it to him," Mike thought with a weary sigh. He bucked up and did it though, looking Scott directly in the eye as he gave him the bad news. "They went to ARI." That was the closest Scott got to looking like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. Mike continued, "I don't have all the details, but what it came down to was Springtrap wanting to prove that he was Michael. Which probably came about because Ennard and Baby got themselves worked up thinking he was Will. They went in to get evidence."
"That's a terrible idea! Why- Why didn't you stop them?!"
Because he trusted Marionette and knew he could handle himself? Because he had become so desensitized that he hadn't considered how much of a bad idea it was? Because he was feverish and delusional?
"Because I didn't think anything I said was going to stop them. From how Mari worded it, he was just tagging along, not leading them down there. He's the only one I could've reasoned with. We all know that nothing I could've said was going to stop Springtrap, let alone Ennard and Baby," Mike explained. He still felt bad about it. "I'm sorry. I would've gone with them if Mari would've let me and I could've kept an eye on the whole thing… Or what I should've done was tell you thirty minutes ago and not let it go on this long… Don't look at me like that, Foxy. I didn't hear you saying anything."
"I ain't a snitch," Foxy said with determination while crossing his arms. As soon as Jeremy gave him a pointedly unimpressed look the pirate lowered his ears almost submissively. They perked back up at jingling as Scott brought his keys out of his pocket.
"I've got to go find them. Someone please watch my cats," Scott announced as he hurried to the stairs.
Mike started to follow right away. He knew hands down that he had made a mistake. He didn't even know why he had gone with it so willingly; maybe just blaming the fluid feeling in his head for making him pliable. "Let me come with you and help," he offered. The Phone Guy turned back quickly.
"No, you sit down. We worked too hard to get your fever down to have you go outside and catch something worse. Just wait here, watch my cats, and I've got my cellphone, so call me if Ennard comes back," Scott instructed. Mike nodded and the older man then turned to Fritz. "You, uh, you want to come find your car?"
"No, but I will. I just know it's going to be in a ditch somewhere," Fritz muttered. He turned and trudged back up the steps. "Let's hope they at least left the keys in it."
As they shut the door behind them, Mike felt some regret. He knew that he hadn't done right by Scott. He knew he would've been upset if Marionette snuck off without him knowing and nobody who knew had told him. Except this case was different, as Marionette had directly told Mike beforehand.
"You know something's going to go wrong, right?" Mike mumbled under his breath. Not loud enough for anyone else to hear. Though that would've been hard anyway because of how Foxy was trying to rile everyone into a sea shanty. Which resulted in him singing loudly and Balloon Boy laughing loudly and rhythmically, which in and of itself did not classify as singing. "There's no way this is going smoothly."
"I know. That's why I have to be there." Marionette's voice intruded into his mind as soon as his hands laid on his shoulders. Just as he had done with Foxy when he told him of the plan. Funny enough, because of Mike's earlier headache he barely felt the effects of it. "We won't get caught; we'll make certain of it. Our biggest risk would be intragroup conflict and I know how to handle that."
"Yeah, but I don't think they know how to handle that. And isn't there still a tornado out there? I saw it right outside," Mike said, betraying more of his concern. The Puppet squeezed his shoulders reassuringly.
"You think a little wind is going to stop Michael? Especially when you had to bribe him to get him down here? It'll be fine, trust me! We'll be back before anyone has to know."
It turned out that the little trip that should've only taken thirty minutes at max had dragged on longer than expected. Which did raise red flags for Mike, but he wasn't sure which ones. The animatronics knew how to be careful- most of them did at least- and the others weren't too prideful to throw themselves into a dumpster to dodge prying eyes. They had wanted to go and even though he knew it was wrong, he couldn't be the one to tell them not to. They were machines, yes, but there were semi-rational humans controlling those machines. He treated them accordingly.
He only wished he could trust Springtrap and Baby as much as he trusted Marionette and Charlie. They were the wrench in the works, the cause of any uncertainty.
"Should we do something? It feels like we should do something, but I don't know what. All mine are here… Right?" Jeremy did a quick headcount and was relieved to see that all of them were accounted for. "Right."
"Well, now that Fritz ran off, I'm going to have to be worried about him too. We'll probably be back to sitting around twiddling our thumbs and jumping up whenever we hear anything," Natalie said. She had a point, but nobody looked particularly thrilled about this plan. It only took a few seconds before Foxy folded.
"…Yar, we be havin' none of that. Schmidt, go get the lights. We're goin' for another round!"
It would take too long to find the lift and even then, they didn't know if the Molten animatronics had set off any alarms in the higher floors of Afton Robotics with their antics. They were already down this far, the smartest thing seemed to be to stick to the plan. It didn't take too long to find the hatch that accessed into a maintenance tunnel connected to the sewer. One large enough that they could walk through instead of having to crawl through. Springtrap worked to pry open the hatch alone since Baby was helping Ennard walk, and they were the ones with the raw strength.
Springtrap had been silent since Ennard had reappeared alive and decided not to voice his two cents about the situation. Considering that he had arguably talked his way into coming down here in the first place, that seemed like the best option. Except that he found those words fighting to get out. Especially with every assurance that everyone else gave the clown in question. Finally, it reached its boiling point as he lifted the hatch and stared down at the ladder.
"This is it. I'll go down first… Ennard, come down with me," Springtrap said. This caught everyone off guard, including the clown in question. The rabbit started to climb down into the hatch before shooting a brief glance at him. A commanding look telling him to follow. Ennard had a feeling he would regret following, but he did.
"Ha, sure!" Ennard drew his arm back from around Baby and headed over. He limped slightly from the gnawing pain from the burned spots but ignored it as he started to climb down. "You guys hang tight and we'll scare off all the boogeymen and dust bunnies. Be right back!" He then climbed down the ladder.
"Close the hatch," Springtrap said in a commanding tone. Ennard hesitated before doing so, and looked down to see the rabbit turned away, turning on his Handunit, which he had retrieved from the lift before they left the room. It didn't take long for Springtrap to start searching for maps of the sewer tunnels- if it had them- but twitched and grew distracted when he heard the amalgam coming up behind him.
"Okay, latch closed. Not suspicious at all, you and me standing down in the dark," Ennard started when Springtrap suddenly spun on him. There was that look of writhing anger that he had gotten acquainted with.
"What were you thinking pulling a stunt like that?" he hissed through his tightened teeth. "Do you have a death wish? What part of 'fire kills us' did you not learn from Chance's attempt to murder us?!"
"Take it easy!" Ennard raised his hands in defense. "I was just trying to keep everyone safe! It's not like I wanted to climb in that furnace. You tell me that they would've stopped willingly if I didn't."
"Don't turn you sacrificing yourself- or you making me sacrifice you- into some act of heroism! What would Scott do if you didn't come home? Do you have any idea how Baby reacted when she thought you were dead? She screamed louder than any of them in there. And worse off, you made me be the one to press that button. Is that some passive-aggressive act of revenge for what I said earlier? Because I said to not sacrifice yourself! I made that very clear!" Springtrap's voice only grew louder until it echoed through the tunnels. "Next time, stop and think about who you're going to hurt, other than yourself!"
There was silence. Ennard stared back as Springtrap struggled to reign himself in. He felt so betrayed. To think someone would so carelessly throw himself away for an easy solution caused him to boil.
"…I might be reading this wrong, but I'm thinking you might've actually been worriedabout me."
Ennard's comment took Springtrap completely aback. He didn't know what startled him more, the fact that the only thing the clown got from his scolding was that, or the fact that he did have a point. There had been a part of him that had been horrified by seeing what he thought was Ennard's death, regardless of their past transgressions. Even now when he should've been correcting the other, he instead found himself pondering this, and taking a long time to do so if the amalgam's questioning look was any indication.
Springtrap turned his head away. "Try not to read too far into it… While we are no longer close, I do care about my sister. Scott too."
"Gotcha…" Ennard looked down at his arm and noticed a tiny, melted spot on his forearm. That had been a close one. Maybe the other had a point in his concern. "You know… They would've taken over my body if they would've gotten me. That would've been way worse than burning, so… Thanks for listening to me. If it wasn't for that fire, I wouldn't have gotten away. I owe you one."
Again, Springtrap wasn't sure what to think about that. Or anything involving Ennard now that he knew that the animatronics had been separate beings. Maybe he really wasn't connected to the deaths down here and was an offspring created through their efforts. He knew what it was like to be the reluctant offspring to a monster. If he was willing to sacrifice himself then there was something good in him. After taking a moment to let this sink in, Springtrap decided that it would have to be enough.
"You don't owe me anything. As far as I'm concerned, we're even," Springtrap said. He looked down at the Handunit again. The screen had been left on a menu and was waiting for his commands, but he left it as it was. It hurt looking at it, being down in this place and talking about death. "…Do you still want to keep that truce?"
"Are you serious?" Ennard asked with surprise.
"That's what it seems like," Springtrap said. He started to tap at the screen again, deciding not to look at the clown or risk breaking his pride.
"Sure! Why not?! We almost got burned together twice- we oughta figure something out 'cause I think we make a pretty good team! Or it keeps us from killing each other if we get stuck in in an itty bitty basement while twisters are doing the tango over our heads," Ennard teased. He boldly nudged the springlock suit, causing Springtrap to grumble and the clown himself to hiss, having touched a sensitive spot. As he was rubbing it that he noticed the Handunit in Springtrap's hands. Here he was, fixated on it again, and the amalgam perked.
"And just to show you a sign of good faith, why don't you hand that over and I'll show you something real neat?" Ennard asked. He reached for the tool and, as expected, Springtrap recoiled. "No, come on. I'm not gonna do anything like drop it or break it. Lemme just have it for a second. Promise you won't regret it, cross my heart."
As hesitant as Springtrap was- he knew the clown was quite capable of damaging it with one wrong spark- he slowly handed it over, curious. "Be very careful."
"I'll handle it like a kitten!" Ennard chirped. He took the tool and began to tap on it, hesitating halfway through the motion and looking over. "…Okay, I gotta know. Why's this thing so important to you? Cause it's probably the last working one out there, or what?" he asked.
Just as intrusive as usual. Springtrap wondered if it was even worth explaining when Ennard would probably not understand the weight of it. On the other hand, this was a weight on his chest that he had carried for so long. Maybe it was worth speaking to someone who he knew would probably not ready too deeply into it nor remember what he said. Yes, Ennard was smarter than he seemed, but there would be little to gain.
"Earlier when you asked me about the person I mentioned… The truth is that I knew someone who worked down here. That Handunit is the only thing I have left of him now that I'm like this and he's… Gone…"
Ennard looked over towards him, hearing that change in tone. There was a change in body posture too, with Springtrap's head lowered and his shoulders sunk in. He looked shaken by just talking about it.
"Heh, uh, sorry I asked. Didn't want to bring up anymore bad memories," Ennard sympathized. He brightened a little, already beginning to restart his ruse to lighten the mood. "Here, take a look at this!"
He offered him the Handunit back just as music began to play. Springtrap looked down to see a game playing on it. Except instead of the Freddy one, or even one of the others he knew about, it was an unfamiliar game with Circus Baby as the main character.
"I saw you showing Lottie some of the games and I thought you'd like to see this one! I'd bet this is the only one that survived Circus Baby's Pizza World."
Springtrap took the Handunit and started to test the controls. It was easy to learn with the rules being to move Baby, jump over pits, and shoot cupcakes at pixel figures that slightly looked like children.
"I've never seen this one before," Springtrap admitted. Ennard would've been grinning proudly if his mask wasn't already smiling.
"Almost worth calling you Willie and dragging us both down here for pretty much no reason?" Ennard asked. His voice wavered between cockily confident and still slightly hesitant.
"Not quite." Springtrap narrowed his gaze at the screen. "I knew there could've been more hidden files, but I've had this with me for weeks and I never found this game. How were you able to?" he asked. He looked to the clown questioningly who in return looked only prouder of himself, thrilled that he managed to impress the person who hated him hours before.
"It's all part of being a good technician. Or the best technician in Utah, same difference," Ennard playfully bragged. He leaned in to tap on the edge of the screen. "You wouldn't believe what I've put this little baby through. I cracked this thing open so much that I practically broke the keyboard until Fritz fixed it. Not that I couldn't have fixed it, but he got to it first."
"And by cracked… You don't mean physically. You mean you broke into the files and the programming?" Springtrap guessed. There was something odd about this comment that stood out. "…Before Fritz must have fixed it, I had it for a brief time and the keyboard didn't work. It constantly corrected to the most inopportune thing."
"Yeah, that was it! Heh, good grief that was busted. To this day, I still don't know what I did that caused that. I pretty much ditched the thing once that happened," the amalgam casually explained.
"But that was ages ago. That couldn't have been-…" Something was wrong here. Springtrap knew someone had tampered with the Handunit, but that would've meant that Ennard was around before he had been scooped. Back when Baby, Ballora, and the Funtimes had been separate animatronics. Sure, they had said they had been together before, or implied it, but that didn't make sense considering Ennard's claim that he gained life from their forming. "I don't understand."
"Eh, it was a long time ago and things get blurry. Not to mention that it was before my, heh, 'accident'." Ennard even made air quotes to punctuate it. "No big deal."
"But you do realize that this means you worked on this before I did? Back when I was still a human?" Springtrap pointed out. The amalgam paused and stared in response, understanding what he was getting at. There was an accusation in there, but that wasn't what the springlock animatronic was focusing on. "Be honest with me, are you just saying you put this in when you just found it? I don't care if you are."
"No joke! Seriously, I'm not gonna lie and say I hacked something when I didn't," Ennard defended. Now he was arguing for the sake of his role as a technician. "Trust me, here!"
"Says the same person whose previous 'trust me' ended with him in a fire," Springtrap flatly remarked. It barely disguised his disappointment. "I just don't understand this. I thought someone purposefully sabotaged the keyboard. To purposefully pop up on frustrating responses as some sort of elaborate joke towards the company. Or some last swan song…" That disappointment was only growing as he stared down at it. "…But that was all an accident? The Casual Bongos? The Exotic Butters?"
"I've got zero idea of what you're talking about, but yeah, none of that was on purpose. It was all because I busted that keyboard trying to fiddle around with something." Ennard noticed how Springtrap's face fell at that. He almost looked devastating. "What's that look? It's fixed now!"
Springtrap hesitated a moment before shaking his head in defeat. "It's nothing, I just thought… It doesn't matter." He stared at the screen before giving a low growl. "Goddamn Eggs Benedict."
"You think that's bad? Apparently, I liked that joke so much that I told Baby my name was Eggs," Ennard explained, pointing a thumb back at the hatch. "This whole thing wouldn't have happened if I just gave Baby a real name. Instead, I decided to be Mr. Funny Man and then convinced myself I was you. So, I hope that joke got some mileage on that thing, because it really came back to bite me."
Springtrap didn't answer at first. He just stared at the Handunit screen, then started to look past it. Almost like he wasn't looking at anything at all.
When he finally spoke, his voice had that same strange tone to it, and he didn't look towards the amalgam. "You said… Your name was Eggs… But you and Baby weren't… Together? You were talking separately?"
"Well I- It's a little- It's complicated," Ennard fumbled. He didn't like this sudden change in tone. "I know what you're thinking and no. I wasn't lying about not being connected with any of the stuff they did-."
"But that doesn't make any sense either," Springtrap interrupted. He was only becoming more confused and paranoid, tightening his hands on the Handunit and prepared to grill more. When all at once he remembered something Ennard slipped into the conversation earlier. "What accident…?"
"What? You mean- I told you, that was ages ago! It doesn't matter-!"
"What. Accident." Springtrap repeated more firmly. The return of that tone was a bad sign, and Ennard caved in defeat. He was tired of fighting with the other.
"Come on, Michael. You don't need me to say it. We don't just wake up like this. Animatronics don't just- poof- exist. People exist, then they get too close to animatronics, then they stop existing, and then the animatronics get up and move because of it. That kind of accident," Ennard said with exasperation.
Which Springtrap understood fine enough. Living people died and their souls went into nearby animatronics. Animatronics they were in close contact with. Ennard hadn't come out of nowhere. Ennard was someone.
The Handunit slipped out of Springtrap's fingers and fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Ennard winced back at the noise and looked down at the tool in confusion. Here the rabbit had been cradling it like a precious infant and now he just let it drop without any care. He wasn't even looking down at it.
"Yeesh, you wanna try that again? I don't think the screen got cracked," Ennard said sarcastically. Yet this attempt at humor was cut off when the rabbit turned on him again.
The look on his face was one that the clown hadn't seen in ages. Not anger, not suspicion, but wide-eyed and crazed. As though he was suddenly going into a psychotic breakdown. Or spontaneously decided that he was no longer going to be friendly with the amalgam. Ennard couldn't even comprehend what he could've said that set that response off.
"Uh… Mikey? You in there?" Ennard asked. Springtrap slowly turned more toward him, looking over him rapidly, now blinking and trembling like he was malfunctioning. "Hey, you okay? What's going on? You having another springlock problem or something?" Ennard asked, now more worried than fearful. "Can you hear me? Michael?"
"Ben?"
Ennard's body reacted to the name. Every wire seized and tightened painfully, suddenly feeling like they didn't belong there. Something foreboding hung over his head.
"What?" Ennard squeaked. There was something familiar about that name. Not just it but the voice saying it; it was Michael too. "What are you talking about…?"
Springtrap was looking just as shaken as he was. His reflexes were still sharp though, because as soon as the amalgam started to take a step back, he reached for him. He seized his arm to not letting him escape. They stayed like that for a moment before the rabbit suddenly threw himself on him. No amount of preparation could've braced Ennard for what came next.
Springtrap embraced him. He didn't grapple him or gave any indication that he was doing it to keep the clown in place. He just held him, fingers digging desperately into his wires until they were both hurting. He was still trembling, which was part of the reason why Ennard didn't slip free and make a mad climb back up towards the hatch. It was all so strange and everything was happening so fast. That name still lingered there. It was intrusive and Ennard's mind kept going back to it.
"It really is you, isn't it?" Springtrap's voice choked and hitched just as it had during his earlier outburst. He still seemed to be in shock and held the amalgam tighter. "After all this time. I thought you were gone. I couldn't even find your body..." His voice caught as he considered it. He could've been wrong, but he had a feeling he wasn't. "Say something, please."
"I don't know! I don't- I don't know a Ben," Ennard denied. Yet that familiar feeling was lingering there and climbing up his spine, tapping on the back of his skull and reminding him that something sounded right. Wires tightened in his chest as he grew more fidgety. "I-I don't rem-emember anything. I can't even remember some stupid technician code. Didn't we go through the whole deal about me thinking I'm you?"
But this didn't dissuade Springtrap. If anything, it made everything clearer for him, clutching tighter. "…You remembered me," he said quietly. "You thought you were me… Because you remembered me." Ennard was about to disagree when the rabbit let more raw emotion pour through. "I swear, I tried to come find you. The morning after you didn't come home, I began looking and I never stopped. I kept searching and searching but everywhere I looked was a dead end… I should've never let you go back."
Go back. That was what stood out. That was what lingered in Ennard's thoughts. Because he had gone back.
"No, you don't understand. If you go back down there, they. Will. Kill. You. They are not your friends, they are not harmless little toys; that place will get you killed. Why would you keep going back?!"
He had remembered that voice before, but only now did he recall how similar it sounded to Michael's. Pleading with him not to go back, warning him about the animatronics, about his father's business-.
Springtrap had been right. He was Ben.
"Mich-." Ennard's voice was unceremoniously broken by a gargled choke as wires attempted to escape from his mouth. He shuddered and tried to regain control, but the wires fought to escape his body.
Springtrap noticed the clown's shuddering. He seemed unwilling to release him at first until the gargled choking increased and wires spilled onto his shoulder. He drew back quickly and looked at the mess beginning to transpire. Ennard was unravelling in front of him.
He turned his head up towards the hatch. "Marion-!"
His call was cut off when he was stopped by Ennard grabbing ahold of him. He clung to him and Springtrap couldn't tell if it was a response to whatever was happening or an indication that he did remember. Unless this was from him remembering, in which case maybe it would've been better if he hadn't. That was a painful thought.
There wasn't much time to dwell on it before Marionette opened the hatch. "Michael?"
"Something's wrong with Ennard… He's malfunctioning or something," Springtrap called up. He tried to cover his voice so that it sounded like nothing had happened. He was barely keeping it together.
"What did you do?" Baby asked suspiciously. She started to climb down into the hatch. "I'm coming down."
"It wasn't me, it was… We were just talking about our… Former experiences working here," Springtrap tentatively said. It wasn't a lie really; he had left out a large portion of the truth. They didn't need to know.
Baby slid down the metal ladder and landed with a loud thump. She then looked over just in time to see Springtrap standing there with an arm around a seizing Ennard who was clutching him.
"What did you do?" she repeated. This time with less accusation and instead flat exasperation. "Don't tell me. You saw something terrible down here and didn't warn me before I threw myself down here."
Ennard let out a strange sort of choke and straightened up while trying to reign himself in. He blocked out the overwhelming realization just long enough to start pushing his wires back in. "Noth- Urrgh- N-thing. S'fine. Scooping. Thought of it. Wasn't him," he said. Like Springtrap, he just brushed the line of lying. "M'okay… I- I'm o-okay."
"Are you sure?" Marionette came down quickly and up to Ennard's side. He looked him over and was relieved to see that the amalgam was getting his wires back inside. He now looked to Springtrap and could tell that he was distressed by it, so he explained. "This has happened before. It usually happens when Ennard is strained and considering that he is still injured it's not surprising. He'll be alright soon enough… But this is probably a sign that we need to hurry back to the warehouse."
"And I thought being attacked by a freakshow was a sign," Baby said. "My mistake."
"One of many signs we've received tonight and have chosen to ignore," Marionette said with light chiming. "For Ennard's sake, we should take heed of this one."
This seemed like the best call. Though there was that tenseness that still lingered. Ennard managed to pull himself together the rest of a way with a shudder. Springtrap walked over to get his Handunit, pointedly not looking at the amalgam any longer. Charlie came over to check on him, and it, and he mumbled some half-hearted excuse about accidentally dropping it. They both looked fine, but they weren't.
Baby rolled up to his side and noticed his distant staring. "He didn't do anything to you, did he? Because if he did, it doesn't matter if my one arm is worthless. The other works fine…"
Even with all these uncomfortable thoughts, Ennard couldn't help but be a little endeared by her concern. He gave a subdued but genuine chuckle. "Aww, that's real sweet of you, Baby. Only problem is that I was fooling around with his little hand-buddy and that's what set me off. If you're gonna use your arm on anything, use it on that!... But don't, 'cause it's got the maps and I'm too tired to think of where we are."
"If you say so…" Baby sighed. "We will be home soon. Then you can fix yourself and me, and we can go back to living without a car."
"Unless the house is gone!" Ennard chimed in.
"You say that like you wish the house was gone," she answered flatly.
"Ha ha, are you kidding? That house goes and there goes all my extra wires. Not to mention your bed and the TV." Ennard played it off like he was back to normal and it was a convincing display. It bought off Baby for the moment, but she was easy to convince when she was distracted by her injured arm. "What are we all waiting around for? Let's climb out of here and get going!"
It felt like an eternity before they made it up and out to the actual sewer system, and then made it to the surface in an alleyway behind Afton Robotics. They were quick to load back into the van and drove back towards the warehouse, driving right past Scott's car in the parking lot and not seeing it.
It felt too uncharacteristically quiet. Everyone was too tired to bring it up.
"Okay, whose next?"
Louise was rewarded in a volley of excited voices vying for attention. She eventually chose the Minireena that was climbing her leg and scooped her up and set her in her lap. She held up two bottles of nail polish. "Which color?" The Minireena pointed to the red. "Where do you want it?" The doll tapped her own forehead. "Star, heart, or flower?" Louise shook the bottle as the Minireena- she couldn't tell which it was- clapped twice for heart. "Alrighty! You're going to look adorable."
Louise had been a lifesaver for Jeremy. He loved his little animatronics and did his hardest to comfort them, but he needed the break for a few minutes. The nail polish face painting was enough of a distraction to give him some time to breathe. Or he would've had time to breathe, if not for him immediately having Foxy latch onto him. With Louise focused on the painting, Natalie on the phone with her family, and Mike zoned out in an office chair, nobody was watching and Foxy was emboldened.
It started innocently enough. Sitting alongside Jeremy, putting an arm around his shoulder, pulling him into a comforting embrace, and then eventually nuzzling him just a bit too obviously. Foxy had to know that they could've been caught. All someone had to do was look over and they would. Maybe that was why there was a strange excitement in it that didn't accompany their normal time together. Just on the edge of danger- or the edge of someone looking over and the jig being up. At least this risk didn't put his life on the line.
Until Foxy came to a sudden halt. He drew his head back and paused for a moment as he listened in. "Do you hear something?" Jeremy asked.
Foxy hummed and leaned his head against the wall to listen. Sure enough, he heard another couple of heavy thumps and hushed speaking. By now the human could hear it too. "Aye, sounds like it's them," Foxy said. He turned around towards Mike. "Oiy, Schmidt. They be back."
Mike straightened up instantly and fumbled to get his phone out. "I'll call Scott," he said, standing from his chair and heading out to meet the animatronics. Foxy was close at his heels, and Jeremy behind him.
It turned out that their assumptions were correct. There was Springtrap backing slowly down the steps and holding Baby by the legs. Ennard was on the other side, carrying Baby around the waist, and both were clearly trying to maneuver her down quietly and safely. They were almost at the bottom when Ennard noticed the onlookers.
"Head's up, we've got an audience," he announced. Springtrap turned to look over while Baby groaned in dismay. "Ha ha, hey guys! Glad to see that distraction worked out!"
"You try keepin' six men and a bunch 'o knee biters distracted fer two hours. It just don't happen. Not unless yer willin' to pay fer it," Foxy retorted. Marionette was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, having come down first, and came over to greet Foxy. Just from how slow he was moving and hunched he looked his brother could tell something was amiss. "What happened to you, Lad?"
"Clawed by a bear. Still recovering," Marionette said. He turned slightly and pointed down at his injured leg. By now the gash had sealed, but the mark from where it had been hadn't yet faded. "But we gave just as much as it took, so all in all a victory."
"Bloody 'ell, so that's what happened…" Foxy looked back over to the others while Mike came over to check the puppet. He zeroed in on the mark and crouched down to look.
"Yeah, they just got back," Mike said into the phone as he carefully lifted the striped lower leg. He turned it in his hand to double check for wounds and ran his thumb gently over the seam to make sure it was closing. "I'll tell him. You just be careful getting back," he finished and hung up. Still checking the leg, he called over towards the stairs. "Ennard, that was Scott. He says to not go anywhere until he gets here."
"He's not here?" Ennard asked in surprise. Which quickly turned to panic. "He left?! But that storm could touch back down! Why'd he leave?!"
"I don't know, but maybe you can both figure that out when he gets here and asks you the same question," Mike answered. Ennard winced at the thought. "So, it just got your leg? Nothing else?" He asked in concern, to which this was declined. From here he couldn't see any cracks in the Puppet's mask, but he couldn't help but be paranoid. Marionette getting injured wasn't a possibility he had agreed to. "What kind of bear are we talking about here? Some sort of forgotten Freddy?" Mike asked as he stood.
Marionette smiles tiredly. "Funtime Freddy, in fact, but he isn't quite what we remembered… Or what we might've remembered if we ever faced the real Funtime Freddy," he added, looking back towards Ennard and Baby. The security guard sent a questioning look at the clowns as he stood, and the puppet put an arm around him before slumping on his shoulder tiredly. "It's a long story and I have all the details, but I think I would do better if I was sitting down to tell it."
"Yeah, you're not looking too well," Mike agreed. He reached down to hook his arm under the stiped legs and easily lifted him into his arms. He could feel the puppet go nearly limp in his grasp.
"I'm exhausted," Marionette admitted. He then gave an amused chime. "But at least that makes two of us?" Mike snickered as the cool mask pressed against his heated cheek.
"Unfortunately, he's not the only one that was injured," Springtrap voiced as he arrived at the bottom and put Baby's feet on the ground. Ennard helped her stand.
Mike's momentary calmness became slightly more concerned as he glanced past them. "Where's Charlie?" But he was answered with a wave as she stepped out from behind Ennard, hidden behind him on the stairs.
"Nope, just me and Baby," Ennard chimed in. He patted her shoulders reassuringly as she hung her head in what looked like mortification. "She broke her arm and I got a little burned."
"…What kind of Freddy was this?!" Jeremy cried in disbelief. "You're saying, what, a- aFreddy Fazbear broke Baby's arm, slashed Mari's leg, and set you on fire?!" He looked to Foxy. "Thank goodness you didn't go!"
"…Kinda wishin' I had," Foxy mumbled. He shook his head with a mutter. "That- That ain't important! What happened to this 'bear'?"
"It burned in a furnace. Along with all my old friends, Ennard, and my dignity," Baby answered quietly. "…And any hope of my band getting back together."
"Uh huh. So, how exactly did you get in the furnace?" Mike asked, nodding at Ennard. "What, was it like a Hansel and Gretel 'lure the witch into the oven' thing?"
"…You know what? It was!" All at once, Ennard suddenly broke into crazed, stressed, raucous laughter. Laughter that was abruptly ended by a shriek from the door. He and everyone else looked over to Louise standing there with her hands clasped over her mouth. She stared at the clown in horror for a moment and he stared back, and then she cried out.
"What happened to you?! You've been shredded to pieces!" she cried out, having only now seen Ennard without his disguise.
"No, Louise, it's not what you think. He was attacked by a bear," Jeremy explained. Louise stared a moment longer before her eyes got as wide as saucers and she looked over towards Chance. "No, not that bear."
"Close enough," Mike said. He gestured his head to the other door. "Come on. We can get the details while we wait for Scott and Fritz to get back." Everyone seemed willing to follow him.
Except one. As soon as the attention was off Springtrap, he started to retreat into the back to isolate himself. He felt worn down and melancholy; relieved of one burden and saddled with another. He needed time to think about what he was going to do now, and slipped back into the hallway without another word.
But this time he wasn't going to be alone for long.
Mable: Sometimes getting what you want doesn't turn out the way you want it to, but there's still time. Maybe there's still hope for them yet?… Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!