-Time: 3 days after Nightmarionne's attack-
Marion muses silently as the day goes by. After Daniel told them what happened to him, things had gotten slightly more anxious. Marion knew that some of the less mature animatronics won't be able to handle more attacks like the previous ones, no matter how normal they acted. He also knew that their stay was long overdue.
As he ponders this predicament, he feels a gentle tug on his leg fabric. He looks down and sees a young girl wearing a pink shirt and blue shorts. She had long blonde hair topped with a red bow and big green eyes.
Marion smiles at the girl and kneels down to her level. "Hey there kid. What can I do for ya?" The girl simply smiles and runs back into the Toys' dining hall. Marion's face switches to confusion when the girl runs. It turns into curiosity though when the girl makes a motion for him to follow. Deciding that since it was slow today, he has time to do so.
The girl's smile widens when she sees Marion following her. He smiles as he watches her skipping along towards the arcade section.
The girl soon stopped in front of a specific arcade machine. Marion raises an eyebrow in confusion. "This one doesn't have a name. And it doesn't look like anything we ever owned."
The arcade machine had a simple red and white color scheme. The side of it depicted what appeared to be some sort of orange and red clown-animatronic running in some fields with a tray of cupcakes, and Marion could swear that he's seen that animatronic somewhere before.
Despite his observations though, he doesn't see any real problem. Deciding to simply see why the girl brought him here, he asks her the obvious question. "You want me to play this?" The girl nods fervently.
Marion chuckles at the girl's obvious enthusiasm. He keeps smiling as he pulls out some of his spare tokens and inserts them into the machine. The screen turns on and he sees that he is starting as a small child. A boy, in fact. A boy wearing a gray and black striped shirt, and seemed to be constantly crying. Marion already is having second thoughts at this.
Despite his raising suspicion, he continues playing. He moves the boy across the screen, watching as the scene flickers every time he hits the side of the screen. After a few more moments of simply walking in the meadows, he comes across a town called Dust Falls.
After entering the town, Marion passes by a few buildings, but none of interest. A few more screen changes later though, Marion is met with an interesting sight. It shows the child walking into a building called "Circus Baby's Pizza World". His mind once again finds a connection in the words, but he still can't put his finger on it.
The child enters the building and Marion finds himself within a pizzeria similar to Freddy's. He passes by multiple guests and tables, even passing by a stage once. But nothing of interest happened.
Just as Marion passed another stage, the screen changed and showed a set of open doors. "Circus Baby's Auditorium". Marion knows this is important, and once again gets the feeling that he should recognize the name shown. But he doesn't have time to remember. He simply goes back to the game, moving the child into the next room. But he was never prepared for what happens next.
The screen switches once again and shows the child at the doorway, not moving. But the real interest was what was happening at the other end of the room. A little girl was moving towards what appeared to be the clown animatronic shown on the arcade game's box.
The animatronic was holding out an ice cream cone to the little girl. He tries to move the child in the game, but nothing is happening. But he can see the light girl moving, though, so he assumes it is a cutscene.
The little girl was moving slowly towards the ice cream the animatronic was holding. No emotions could be shown due to the large pixels, but Marion was getting worried from the stiff movements the girl showed. Glancing at the boy he played as, he notices with worry that the boy had his pixelated hands over his face, tears falling freely.
Marion only had a split second to process this before a sinister, yet calm female voice said, "Would you like to see the scooper room?"
Marion's eyes snap back towards the little girl and the animatronic just in time to see something horrifying. The animatronic's eyes had suddenly gone completely black, and a compartment opened on its stomach. A claw arm flew out of the compartment and snatches the little girl, presumably dragging her inside.
This all happened in one second, a demonic, mechanical screech acompaining the scene. Marion could only stare as the screen goes black. His brain is in complete chaos. He knew that the game seemed familiar. It was the same thing that happened to him, and his cousin Elizabeth.
Marion didn't notice as tears silently fell down his face, the recovered memories causing more turmoil inside him than he realizes. He was lost in his thoughts, reliving the horrible experience that developed his severe fear of animatronics.
He then remembers the whole reason he saw this game in the first place. His head quickly moves to look down at where the girl is, or was. The place the girl occupied was now empty. Marion looks around, using his increased height to find the girl. Despite this advantage though, he couldn't see her. Marion's face falls in defeat.
Despite this though, he can't help but remember what the girl looked like, ACTED like. She was just like Elizabeth, practically a complete copy. Maybe she was Elizabeth. He's seen stranger and more impossible things since finding Freddy's. His very presence was an impossibility to most living people.
That was when Marion remembered what he was musing over before the little girl arrived. He needed to tell Daniel something important. He needed to set Daniel on a task that literally means whether they live or not. And tonight he was going to need to tell him.
-Time: 12:11 AM-
Marion was practically pacing at what he needed to do. It was something that needed to be done, something they have all waited years for. So why did he feel so reluctant?
Maybe it was that he had grown fond of the pizzeria, as ironic as that may be. Maybe it was because of how Skylar managed to make them more human than ever before. Maybe it was simply a refusal for goodbye. Whatever the reason, Marion was getting nervous. But Marion also wasn't one to back down, especially when it came to the welfare of those close to him.
Running a hand through his human body's snow white hair, he sighs loudly. There was no easy way to do this. And the reaction Daniel will have will only make it worse.
Deciding that if he doesn't go now he won't ever do it, he leaves the prize corner to search for Daniel. He walks slowly, a combination of careful observation and hesitance for the future. Despite his subconscious attempts though, he arrives in the Classic dining hall. And who is sitting in the middle of it other than Daniel, speaking animatedly to Skylar. Skylar laughs loudly at something Daniel said, causing Daniel to smile in glee.
Marion simply stares at the couple, once again having doubts at what he has to do. And almost as if sensing his gaze, Daniel looks towards Marion. Marion beckons him over, having to use all of his will power just to get him to come. Daniel says a few words to Skylar, peckes her on the lips, and makes his way to Marion.
"Hey Marion. Need something?" Daniel's face was practically glowing with joy. Ever since Skylar's confession, the two have been much closer than ever before. The attack by Nightmarionne only seemed to enforce this bond.
Marion hesitates to respond. Could he really do this to Daniel? Everything was going fine. Even with the almost constant attacks, things have been better than ever before, even in his living life.
And it was that statement that brought him out of his stupor. Living life. His life has already ended. He was breaking natural order by simply being here. He can't stay, and neither can the other animatronics.
Taking a deep breath to help steel himself, Marion says what he has been debating for days. "Daniel, you know how much our lives have improved. We have had an amazing time here, but we need to leave now."
Daniel looks at him confusion. "What do you mean 'leave'?" Marion sighs. Of course this couldn't be easy.
"I mean that the animatronics and I have spent too long in the living world. We need to pass on." Marion looks at Daniel, wondering how he'll react.
At first Daniel's face only showed more confusion, trying to process the information given to him. But once he processed it, his emotions went chaotic.
At first he showed anger at Marion for what he said. He wanted to make them leave? Basically die?! He lost his friends once, and he won't let it happen again!
But he knew this wasn't fair to them. They were also not alive in the first place. He can't lose them if they are already lost. It was only because of Nightmare's surprisingly protective nature of passing on and the afterlife that he accepted quickly.
Daniel sighs, feeling surprisingly calm for what was just laid out in front of him. "I know. I just don't want to accept it. I don't want to see you guys leave."
Marion was at first surprised by Daniel's calm demeanour, but the tone he used showed that he was still in turmoil, no matter how he accepted their fate. "I know Daniel. I don't want to leave either, but this needs to happen. We at first stayed simply because we trapped. We had no way of leaving as long as we were driven by revenge. But the years soon began to go dull and weary. I was one of the few still pushing on completely in the killings. But after you came and helped fix things, we have no reason to stay."
Daniel nods at this. He knew that a spirit couldn't pass on if it had things to do in the living world, even if it was as unnecessary as revenge. But there was one thing he wondered about. "Wait. If you guys could've left after Michael died, then shouldn't you have left then?"
And there it is. This is where Marion could tell him about the mission. "The reason is that each of us are bonded together. One of us can't leave without the others being able to as well. It is this bonding that causes problems. We are bonded to other groups that faced similar problems to use in the same franchise. We need to find these two other groups and free them so we can leave."
Daniel nods, quickly catching on. "So you want me to go out and free them." It was more of a statement than a question, showing that Daniel knew what he needed to do.
Marion nods, but he still has more to explain. "Yes, but we only have the location of one of the groups. It is at a sister location of Freddy's called Circus Baby's Pizza World. It located in the outskirts of Los Angeles. You need to go there and free them before worrying about the other group."
Daniel nods, ready to take on the challenge. LA was only about half an hour away, so getting there won't be difficult. Daniel's eyebrows slant, a confident grin on his face. "You can count on me. I will set you guys free."
Marion chuckles. "You know I do. I wouldn't have asked otherwise." Daniel chuckles as well, then walks away, presumably to get ready for the trip.
Marion sighs as Daniel walks away, his thoughts starting to stray. Soon. Thought Marion. Soon you will be free… Elizabeth.