A/N: Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted on FFN, but I decided that I wanted this fic to be cross posted. As an FYI, the summary was cut down for this fic, as I forgot there was a word limit on FFN.

Note from Ao3:

I have finally caved after at least a year of seriously thinking about writing something in this fandom. I've wanted to write something for FNAF for longer than that, but could never fully land on what exactly that was going to be. I've finally come to a decision and wrote it out, and now, I'm going to start posting the fic. Even if the initial scenario has probably been beat to death over and over again, I'd still like to give my own spin on it, and if others enjoy it, that's great.

The night guard of this fic will be in 1st POV, and William/Springtrap will be in 3rd person. I am alternating between them with each chapter. The chapter length will vary depending on the editing (And the rating of this fic will go up when appropriate).

Tags since FFN doesn't have that option: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mix of ic and ooc, takes place mainly at Fazbear's Fright, last part at an old location, william is dramatic, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, night guard gives no fucks and will throw hands, Hearing Voices, Keeping Promises, springtrap is aware but can't always fight the suit's programming, night guard wants a raise, Fredbear and the Puppet conspire, original four and golden freddy are ready, Reap what you sow, revenge is a dish best served dead, Blood and Violence, No Escape, Psychological Trauma

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

My first actual night spent at Fazbear's Fright made me seriously reconsider my agreement to work there in the first place.

It was a shithole, and a dangerous one, at that. It was nothing compared to the time I'd spent there training only the week before.

The wiring was more faulty, even if the ventilation was as crappy as ever.

There were more dangerous props for sure.

With the state this building was in, I wouldn't be surprised if the walls all caved in and dropped the roof on top of me. Was it too late to call up my boss and tell him that I had changed my mind after the initial training?

Probably.

I had been rather desperate for a job, and the only reason I was here now was because I received a letter from an old friend, though now, I suppose, he was my boss. It wasn't like I had anything better to do with my time, and I really did want something to distract me from the nightmares. The unease and panic that welled within me even nearly a month after I had a harrowing miss with what could have been a fatal traffic accident.

I closed my eyes, trying to not dwell on what could have been, if that other vehicle had hit me head on.

The fact that I had been nearly hit outside of a closed off Freddy's location was rather ironic, considering where my new job was.

But even if this place I now worked in wasn't actually a Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria, I was still grateful for that letter. While an email would have been faster, the letter from my old friend was enough of a push to give me something else to think about other than what could have been a messy demise.

A grudging agreement to work the early morning hours at a still-mostly empty building was reached over the phone with my new 'boss'.

As I got a real good look inside the building for the first time after its redecoration, I wasn't entirely certain what to think. It had more spooky props and tacky ones than last time, and they all oddly fit the horror the vibe my boss was going for. If I had know in advance that this was what I was myself getting in to, I may have backed out. It really wouldn't help my mind in the least to be sitting in a such a dark place with barely functional equipment, and yet..

And yet...

This job was exactly what I needed right now.

A distraction.

Besides, I was most definitely stuck here, at least for the agreed upon initial time before this place opened. By then, I would have a better handle on whether I wanted to go through the same thing another week, but with more people inside of the building.

I gave the security office I was currently seated in a nervous once over, as if expecting something to leap out at me even though I knew better. The quiet was expected, given how spacious this place was, and the lack of visitors. At least, it was silent, until the monitors were turned on or the ventilation alarm went off.

The screens were a new addition but surely they had to be a joke.

I half listened to the recording that my boss had left me, talking about me getting used to the new set up. I tapped a button to bring up the monitors, and scrolled through the cameras within the building. The screens truly were terrible. I could barely see anything through the static that flickered across them. A brow raised over the fact that I could scroll through another set of cameras that were within the vents.

Why were those there?

And why...

I tapped another button, and I let out a 'huh' over the fact that I had somehow blocked off one of the vents.

Why in the world would I have to block off a vent?

What was even the point?

Yet another thing to put on the list of questions I had for my boss about this place.

My first night was uneventful, apart from the ventilation system crapping out once or twice. It was reset easily enough with the use of another monitor and set of buttons, but the ventilation failing so easily left me feeling even more certain that this was going to be a bad idea. And not just because this place was shitty and not feeling very scary right now. The bad feeling I currently experienced was because if tonight was any indication of what was to come, I was going to be so damned bored for the rest of the week.

Time to go.

I held still for a moment. I could have sworn someone had just spoken to me, but when I looked around, there was nowhere for anyone to have said a peep for me to hear. Not without seeing someone standing in or just outside the office. My cell phone was on vibrate, and the phone within the building itself had been silent after I had listened to that message from my boss.

Take care.

There it was again.

A whisper that I could just barely make out.

I gave my head a firm shake and slapped my cheeks lightly.

It didn't help, as the whispering continued on.

Don't push yourself.

Sleep.

I needed to get some sleep if I were beginning to imagine voices. And so long as the nightmares stayed at bay, I would be able to catch a few hours uninterrupted.

I left without hearing anything more. But the moment I returned to my small apartment that just so happened to be located near Fazbear's Fright, I knew I was going to be in for a struggle. I noticed that sleep came to me less and less after the incident on the road, and sleepless nights had been the norm for me on and off this past month.

With the state I was in because of that? I was only able to catch a few hours here and there, and this morning was no different.

So, it was unsurprising that I only managed to doze off for a few hours. When I was unable to go back to sleep, I returned to Fazbear's Fright around 10 AM.

It wasn't like I had anything better to do, and scoping the place out during the day gave me a sense of purpose. Being plagued with nightmares and a scattered memory that didn't seem to be getting any better made me want to find something to do.

Even go into work early.

At this point, I was afraid to ask for help, because it was a struggle to even remember who I was. I had lost my ID and hadn't bothered getting a new one and yet, my boss still gave me the job.

I had so many questions, but no focus to grasp on to them long enough to ask.

Why?

Why was it so hard to remember now, after that almost brush with death?

I sucked in a breath and let it out shakily. Now I definitely needed to drag my attention and focus on something else before I began to think too deeply about what could have been, and the loss of so much of my memory.

Luckily, or unluckily, Fazbear's Fright did have something new, and quite alarming, for me to fixate on, dashing away the darkness and unease in my mind.

There was an animatronic in the corner of a room that I did not remember seeing when I had been in this building hours earlier.

I gave the animatronic a nervous once over, taking in its beaten-up, rather moldy-looking body, before continuing on to my office. I was puzzled by the dilapidated thing that now occupied the building with me, until I checked my email. There was only one new unread in the inbox and surprise, surprise, it was from my boss. I scanned the email without much interest, until it clicked what my boss was so excited about. Something about him and some of the other guys finding 'a real one' and how 'it should be in there somewhere.' I must have just missed my boss, then, because he wasn't there any longer.

Guess those questions would have to wait.

If I could even remember them.

At the very least, I had seen the surprise sooner rather than later, because holy shit, I would have not taken the sight of a supposedly 'real' animatronic well. Especially if I was even more sleep deprived than I was now, and most certainly was going to be later that night. I went out of the office with a low groan and checked on the animatronic again to confirm that I'd seen it.

Yup.

Still there, and incredibly unsettling.

I proceeded to cross my arms to silently judge the unmoving thing.

It remained slumped on its robotic ass.

"Damn, you have definitely seen better days." I declared after a few minutes had gone by. I had no respect whatsoever for this falling apart, disgusting-looking animatronic rabbit. It was moldy too, as I thought before.

Who the hell would bring something so dirty and unsanitary into the building?

My boss, apparently.

Not that the building itself was overly safe either, nor were many of the other props within it, including that vintage steel fan on the desk in the office.

No, I did not touch it.

I was tempted to, but I didn't want shredded fingers in addition to the nightmares.

I went back to silently staring at the animatronic, and made a disgusted sound. I was not going to come back tonight to a green decaying rabbit suit that could spore me to death if I accidentally took in too deep a breath near it.

So, I decided to do something about that with the time I had before my shift.

I warily turned my back on the animatronic to go locate a supply closet in this building. I was bound and determined to give the fur of the animatronic rabbit a good scrub to clean it as best as I could. If there were any cleaning supplies. What I found in a small closet was a hospital mask and gloves for me to wear, and a scrub brush, as well as a small bucket of water from a sink to scrub the hell out of that moldy old thing.

Guess I would make do with what I had.

I grumbled to myself over the way my boss was being so dumb as I made my way back to the animatronic. Why had he been so excited for a piece of trash like this? Was it even going to be functional, or was it just going to sit there as it was, obviously busted? It was a health violation, for sure, as it was now. No one was going to go near this thing if it looked so disgusting and ugly.

Scrubbing the damned fur took forever, but it was paying off slowly but surely. By the time I was satisfied, having shoved the rabbit forward to get at its back, there was only a hint of mold. Even if the green was still around yet faded, beneath it was the color of golden fur. I frowned at the missing patches of fake fur, and the disturbing sight that lie beneath.

Were those...organs?

Bones?

Ugh.

Did my boss have to add those in? No one was going to go anywhere near this thing as it was to see something like that.

If they were smart.

I wasn't being smart, for now, determined as I was to give the animatronic a semblance of cleanliness. I didn't do too bad a job, seeing as I really did want to get this thing looking half-decent. I didn't stare at the ankles long enough to wonder what was wrapped around them.

I honestly didn't want to know.

"You, my friend, look like hell." I muttered, as I went to discard the water and otherwise clean up the mess I'd made on the floor beneath the animatronic. Staring at the rabbit, and then a watch, I decided I had more than enough time to do a quick job patch job. I was going to do my best to cover up the horror-show that my boss had apparently decided was a stellar idea to shove into the animatronic.

I went to what I recalled was supposed to be the temporary storage room, and located varying sized patches and colors of golden faux fur. Further inspection allowed me to find a large needle and thread. I wasn't much for sewing, because I had a terrible eye for detail, but I was going to try anyway. I marched right up to the animatronic rabbit, and began the arduous task of covering up the disturbing sight of what almost looked to be organs and entrails in the chest area and the waist.

It was a slow patch job, as I repeatedly stabbed myself with the needle. I could not find any gold thread, only red, and it gave the suit a rather unnerving look, like it was bleeding.

It worked.

Sort of, considering this place was supposed to be a horror attraction.

I went after the eyes next, taking a break from sewing to fix the eyelids as much as I could without breaking anything. I then carefully wiped the eyes clean, revealing green irises and a black pupil, with what appeared to be a...camera, or something...behind the eyes.

No way.

Could the pupils of the animatronic contract with some mechanism, depending on the lighting?

Giving my head a shake, as I did not know enough about machines to guess or dare to tamper with anything more past cleaning, I moved away from the animatronic eyes.

I took another brief break from doing my patch job on the animatronic. But before too long, I returned to make use of even more golden faux fur around the ankles, again avoiding seeing what was wrapped around the metal. I dug out some off color green feet from the back to cover the metal ones, and the animatronic's seated posture made it a lot easier to pull the feet over the metal ones. I began to wind down my work on the rabbit, for now, as I sewed the fur of the ankle to the new patch of fur around the ankles, and hiding whatever was wrapped around beneath the newly sewn faux fur.

"You are going to be a work in progress." I grumbled as I fixed the arm up with some more patches, hiding the wiring that was poking out. I carefully maneuvered the suit to check the back, and patched up another few spots, before letting the animatronic rabbit settle back against the wall.

"Well, it's a start, even if you still look like hell and seem as if you may come to life at any second." I gave the tall animatronic rabbit a quick once over, checking my handiwork, before I reached out and gave one of the newly furred shoulders a light slap. "At least I won't be breathing in as much mold and mildew when I pass by your creepy ass later tonight."

Naturally, the now more golden-colored animatronic didn't respond.

I stretched my arms up and over my head, before dropping them back to my sides and letting out a very long, drawn out sigh. I was tired and sore after all that scrubbing I'd given the very worn and dirty fur of the animatronic, along with the shoddy patch job of varying golden faux fur.

"Wonder which one you were." I mumbled aloud, giving the rabbit a long stare. The fur all over looked like it may have originally been golden beneath the moldy green, but that still didn't give me much to go on. The fact that I'd nearly made it golden again, apart from the ears, didn't really tell me much. Maybe I would do some research before I came back for my actual shift. I may as well bother to learn a bit more than I did before showing up to the building yesterday.

And before, during my training.

"Why does it feel like you're actually watching me?" I muttered, voice pitched low as if I believed the animatronic might hear me otherwise. It was a silly thought, because even if it could have moved before, there was no way it would bow. Not after so much neglect. This rabbit would not be able to even lift a finger, even with a lot of TLC.

But despite being unmoving, the animatronic was still freaky and disquieting. In this lighting, I could almost believe that the animatronic rabbit was staring up at me through its cleared-up eyes.

I was being ridiculous.

It wasn't like the animatronic was actually a living being.

But the idea that it could appear to look at me was too much for me right now, so I turned away.

There was no way in hell an animatronic in such terrible condition would be fully functional in time for it to be an attraction for Fazbear Fright's opening.

It was with a heavy heart that I knew, almost instinctively, that I would be forced to wear a onesie with an animal head to scare people. But it wasn't a very fun thought, and I wasn't very keen on the thought of being punched in the face. Not for just standing there with a mask over my head and having done nothing wrong.

Wait…

Where had that thought come from?

There was no time I could ever recall wearing any kind of costume. Not that I could be certain with my jumbled memory.

And then I heard it again.

The whispers of the voices that were not my own. It was like before but unlike the last time, the whispers caused a brief sensation of vertigo. The sensation caused me to reach out to brace myself with a hand against a wall.

You promised.

Please remember.

We want to be free.

We'll help you…

…so you can help us.

I gave an involuntary shudder, uncertain over whether or not I had imagined those voices, despite how…familiar they sounded to me. But I couldn't place those voices, not right now, and I suddenly felt the strong need to go home and actually try to get some sleep while I still could.

It wouldn't do any good to have blurry eyes for the shift later that night. Or to imagine oddly familiar voices speaking so quietly to me, when I was alone.

While I was very doubtful over the idea of anyone breaking in to this place to make out in the dark, I wanted to be damn sure there weren't any such incidents. I needed the money from this job, even though there was a nagging insistence at the back of my head that I didn't actually need any cash.

Not anymore, and especially not after I was done with this gig.

With that cheerfully morbid thought, as I had no idea why I wouldn't use that money, decided that I did need sleep. I didn't want to contemplate dark shit in this place, as I might scare myself over nothing. And as I found out from my first night in this place, my eyes and ears could play tricks on me.

If I had witnessed the way the rabbit animatronic's eyes actually shifted to the side to track me as I left the dark, gloomy building. I may have said 'fuck it' to the cash and never showed my face again. Not that I had a choice in not coming back, but at the time, I believed I had a say in my employment, and when I thought enough was enough.

What a joke.

And yet everything was hunky-dory as far as I was aware. Nothing would be amiss until later, when I would finally realize that something was very wrong with my memories.

The important ones.

And the time they started to come back to me it would be far too late to do anything.

But right now, before all of that misfortune made its way back to me, I chose to focus on my job I really hoped that it would help to tether me to reality and make it so the focus would not be on the nightmares.

Less than a week before opening, and there really wasn't anything to worry about. All I had to do was watch to over the place and maybe repair the exteriors of the animatronic rabbit some more.

Should be simple enough.

How very wrong I was.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As an FYI, another reason I put off writing for FNAF is that I have stayed on the fringes of the fandom for the longest time. It was mainly because I don't enjoy the idea of getting into arguments about the characters and which ones I tend to gravitate to. I like villains such as William Afton, even if I don't approve of what they have done in the story's canon, as I find villains interesting characters to write about and explore. That being said, nothing is going to go well for the villain of this story. He hasn't really escaped like he believes he has.