A/N: I LIIIIVE!

Well, as you can see, I've actually been posting one-shots in other fandoms over the past several months. This story was kicking my butt, and I struggled to make things work.

That being said, I have first-draft versions of the next four chapters, so as long as I cna force myself to rewrite/edit those, posting should be a bit more consistent from here on out, at least for a bit. Thanks for the patience, and I hope this and the next few chapters were worth the wait!

I hummed to myself as I switched camera views, eyes scanning for any movement. Passing over the supply closet, I froze, then backtracked to that screen. "There you are!"

Bonnie stared back up at the camera, unamused. (Or at least in a manner I would've called unamused, had it not been an animatronic.) I shut the tablet down, sighing in relief. That was all of them accounted for-Chica was back in the kitchen, Freddy hadn't moved yet, and Foxy was still in his cove.

Thomas returned from his own search. "I-I heard Chica in the kitchen, b-but, uh, I-I couldn't find Bonnie anywhere," he said, dragging a chair in behind him.

"Yeah, bun's in the closet right now." I watched him as he sat down, saying, "You know, you don't have to remove and replace that chair every night."

"W-well, no, but I don't want Bella getting mad at you over it." Thomas said, settling down next to me. He poked the thermos of coffee sitting on the desk in front of him, his chin in his hand.

I glanced at him. "What, you want some?"

"Hm?" He looked up at me, confused. I pointed at the thermos, and he let out an 'Oh!' of realization. Shaking his head, he said, "N-no, I'm, I'm good. Just f-force of habit, is all." He hummed, then said, "I-I was actually wondering…" He sat upright, pulling one of the drawers open. After moving a few things around with his hand, he shook his head. "I, um, I used to keep a couple of granola bars and the like in here. Was, uh, wondering if any of them were still there. Heh, not like I can really use them anymore, but I was gonna offer you one."

"Huh." I smiled at him. "Thanks. Could've used the extra sugar or something." As if on cue, I heard my stomach gurgle. Crap, I hadn't eaten a real meal in a couple of days. Call it stress, a mood, knowing I didn't have a crazy amount of cash-nothing had sounded good, and I was starting to pay for it.

Thomas raised an eyebrow and gave a lopsided smile. "Uh, d-do I need to-"

"No, no, it's fine," I muttered, my face heating up with embarrassment, but it was too late. Thomas was already standing up. "Look, do you really want me eating anything from here? It's probably made from… people, or something."

Thomas chuckled. "D-don't worry. They, uh, they put any leftover pizza in the fridge. I think they're thinking about reheating it the next day for the customers, b-but Walter said a lot of employees who can't bring a lunch just steal from there." He paused, then waved a hand and said, "N-not that I ever did that."

"Sure, you didn't." I rolled my eyes. Leftover pizza didn't sound bad in theory, but Freddy Fazbear's Pizza… Still, it was something different, and different might be just what I needed.

I sighed. "Would you be willing to run into the kitchen and get me some?" I felt... weird, asking somebody else for food. Sure, it wasn't really getting used, and I sure as hell didn't mind taking from Freddy's (hell, they own me a lot more than a few slices of gross pizza), but it felt wrong, anyways.

"If you can't support yourself, you don't deserve it. I raised you better than that."

Ah, there it is! I massaged my forehead. Christ, hadn't missed that. Hadn't missed the little voice in my head, repeating things I'd heard so much growing up, reminding me how I was screwing up-

"M-Mike?" I jumped, looking up at Thomas, who was leaning over me, one hand on the back of my chair and the other next to mine on the desk. "Are you, um, a-are you OK? D-did you hear me?"

I blinked a couple of times, trying to reorient myself. I must've spaced out for a moment there… "Yeah, sorry. What's up?"

Thomas was silent for a moment. "Um, d-do you have any preference on what I get you?"

"Nothing with peppers. Give me heartburn, and I don't need that crap tonight." I sighed again, pushing a piece of hair out of my face, struggling to regain my bearings.

"G-g-got it." Thomas removed his hand from the desk, but still stayed behind the chair. "Are, um, are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, don' worry." I forced a smile. "You don't need to worry 'bout me, got it?"

Thomas lowered his eyes, looking at the floor beneath me, before taking a deep breath and shaking his head. "A-alright, but, uh, yell if you need me, g-got it?"

I chuckled grimly. "You know I will," I chimed in, watching as he left the room. It would be fine, I told myself. He'd be gone for only a bit. It'd be fine.

It wasn't exactly… fine.

For the first few minutes after Thomas left, nothing happened-nothing out of the ordinary for Freddy's, at least. The animatronics moved as they normally did, and other than the whir of the fan and the buzz of the lights, everything was quiet.

But after about ten minutes, right as I flipped to Pirate Cove, the hairs on the back on my neck stood up, and a chill ran through my body. I froze in place, trying to focus. Everything seemed alright-at least, as alright as it ever was at this place-but I couldn't shake the feeling that… something was off.

I held my breath, not bothering to look up from the tablet, but straining my ears, hoping I could hear something that way. Nothing… Nothing…

There. A thud. But the cameras showed that none of the animatronics were anywhere near me. I looked up at the noise, finally coaxed away from the monitor. Glancing over my shoulder, I said hesitantly, "...Thomas? That you?"

No answer. I stood up, hesitantly looking down the hallway I thought I heard the noise in. No sign of anything.

Although…

That was weird. A… music box of sorts; playing what sounded like a nursery rhyme, could be heard. I looked around. Where could it be coming from?

This wasn't the song I'd heard Freddy playing at times, either. This was… different. Almost soothing. I'd never heard it before. I tried to figure out where it could be coming from, but no such luck.

From down the hall, I heard a footstep noise. Whirling around, I could make out Chica's silhouette standing at the end of the hallway. I swallowed hard, backing slowly into the office, praying she hadn't seen me and wouldn't make a charge of some sort. Closing the door behind me, I made my way back to the desk, picking up the tablet again. Maybe I missed something on the camera, I told myself, because the only idea worse than that was the thought that the mystery noise came from an invisible threat, something I couldn't find.

I forced myself to flip through the cameras again, telling myself that I'd find whatever was making all this noise any second now. I could still hear the music box tune playing when it was interrupted by another thud noise. This time, my breath caught in my throat.

That wasn't possible. It didn't make any sense. It couldn't…

But I could've sworn the sound came from the ceiling above me.

My head shot up, so fast I thought I'd give myself whiplash. It was probably just a rat. Or the building settling. Any manner of mundane sources.

But this was Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, and suspicious noises were always a cause for alarm.

I scrambled to my feet. One hand rested on the back of the chair to steady myself, while the other grabbed the flashlight off the desk. I trained the beam of light on the ceiling, squinting my eyes. I couldn't see anything that would've caused the sound… but I heard laughter.

It wasn't like Freddy's laughter, either. It was a young girl laughing. My first instinct was to turn to the right hallway, where Chica had been standing, but I didn't dare make my way over to see if she was at the door. At this point, I was afraid to even move, not knowing where this thing was. I swallowed hard, working up the courage to speak. "Wh-who's there?"

There was silence for what felt like an agonizingly long time. I took a few steps forward, nails still dug into the cushioned back of the chair. My stomach churned and squirmed with anxiety and fear.

"Hello again, Michael."

I almost screamed out long. The voice sounded as though it was directly behind me. I whirled around, but nothing-nobody-was there. I scanned the room again, my heart pounding. That voice… I even thought I recognized it, but I had no idea from where.

"Aw, what's wrong?" The voice appeared to be mocking me now. "You scared?"

My fear was quickly replaced, at least partially, by anger. Alright, if it wanted to play like this, let's play. "You wish," I muttered, creeping towards the right door and daring to peak out the window. Chica wasn't anywhere in the hallway. "Who are you? What are you?"

"Aw, you don't remember me? I remember you. I remember what you've seen. And you still came back."

"What are you talking about?" I mentally debated opening the door, or even racing for the opposite one and closing it. On the one hand, any extra safely would be great in this situation. On the other hand, did I really want to be locked in here?

"You've seen horrible things. You knew exactly what happens here. But you came back."

That made me freeze. I thought back to the nights I'd spent here. To the many times I thought I'd die, to the horror of staring those heelish pieces of scrap metal in the eyes, of haring a man die alone, of sitting in pitch darkness, praying that the clock would save me-

Oooh, but like hell was I giving this thing the satisfaction of knowing I was scared.

"Listen. I don't know who you are, and frankly, I don't really care anymore.," I shot back, making my way back the center of the room and glaring at the spot in the ceiling where I'd heard the thump from. "I've made it this far, and I can handle it."

"I don't mean the job, silly. Don't you remember?"

With a start, I realized how I recognized the voice. My dream… the one I'd had that night before I started working at Freddy's… I'd heard that little girl's voice there, too.

I staggered back a step, suddenly feeling dizzy. My breath quickened, my vision seemed to blur, and I felt some sort of unseen presence surrounding me, threatening to choke me.

"I saw you that day. I saw everything."

I looked at my feet, and saw a small puddle of blood. Was it mine? What was happening?

"And you do remember it. You just don't know it yet."

Another crimson drop hit the puddle below me. My stomach churning, I hesitantly looked up at its source.

A mangled metal… thing hung from the ceiling above me. It had two heads-one that looked like a naked animatronic endoskeleton, and one that looked like a dolled-up Foxy head. Blood dripped from its jaws, and it stared at me with a look of pure malevolence.

I was frozen still, and suddenly I felt like I was back in my nightmares. A child, staring down a robotic monster. A monster that then lunged for my head.

A scream tore from my throat, and I threw my arms in front of me in a futile attempt to protect my face. But as soon as the monster came into contact with my flesh, it disintegrated, fading from existence.

I stood there, stunned, my arms still in front of me. My breathing slowed, and I dropped to my knees from relief and stress, my hands falling to rest on my lap.

Through the mental haze, I heard light footfalls race down the hallway towards me, and I jumped, staring at the door. I tried to scramble to my feet, but thankfully, it wasn't any of the animatronics.

"M-M-Mike!" Thomas dropped to his knees next to me, his eyes wide and filled with concern. A cold hand pressed against my cheek, but I brushed it off. "Wh-uh, what happened?!"

"I… I don't know." I really didn't know. As my heartbeat returned to normal, I realized that the… thing I'd seen hanging from the ceiling couldn't have been real. If it was… well, things would've ended way worse for me. I looked up at Thomas, taking a deep breath. "Did you hear it?"

Thomas's brow furrowed. "Um, well, I-I heard you screaming, b-but…" He looked around the room, then helped me up. "Wh-what did you hear?"

"There was… this voice, and this music…" I looked at the floor, my arms outstretched to steady myself, swallowing hard. "It's hard to explain, but… The screaming was because… I saw something." I locked eyes with Thomas, continuing, "Some kind of… animatronic appeared in the office."

Thomas's eye widened, and his hands jerked away from me. "N-no… oh, no, that's, uh-" One arm crossed over his chest, while the other hand grabbed his wrist, in what I was beginning to think was a nervous habit of his. "That's bad."

"Yeah, no shit?" I ran a hand through my hair, taking a deep breath. "I… I don't know what to do, man. It's gone now, but…" I swallowed hard.

"H-hey, it's OK." Once again, I felt Thomas's hand brush against my cheek, and this time, I didn't bother pushing it away. I just turned, looking him in the eyes. He looked… scared. I'd seen him worried before, but never fully, truly scared. But right now, he looked horrified, and that was honestly almost as scary as the thing that had tried to attack me. But even so, he reached for my hand, trying to comfort me. "L-look, it's gone. And, uh-" He looked over at the desk, then said, "Um, whatever you did this time after it appeared? Do it again. I-I think… I think that's your best bet."

I opened my mouth to explain that I hadn't done anything after it appeared-except stand there, frozen with fear-but then, Thomas gasped and looked out into the hallway. Before I could say a word, he stood up, running out the door and calling out a quiet "Hang on" over his shoulder.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. Well, I didn't really have any grounds to complain about not explaining things, what with how often I drove headlong into a thought without telling Thomas first…

"Note to self: work on communication skills," I muttered. With a grunt, I pushed myself to my feet and staggered over to the desk. I shot another look over my shoulder, to where I'd been standing earlier. It wasn't there again-as it shouldn't have been, but dammit, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something…

"You want answers?"

I yelped again, stumbling backwards into the desk. My breath quickened. No… My eyes scanned the office, my heart pounding in my chest. Nothing to be seen, but that voice was back.

"I'll give you answers."

"Shut up!" I yelled, throwing my hands over my ears, panic starting to set in. This was almost worse; at least when there was an animatronic, I could see what was coming to kill me-

I heard a thud as something landed in the chair next to me. I gasped out loud, turning to the noise, only to feel a pair of cold hands come to rest on top of mine. Thomas locked eyes with me briefly, before silently picking up the flashlight and shining it through the entire office. He then walked quickly to one door, and then the other, turning on the light in each doorway. When he couldn't find anything, he made his way back over to me. He gently pulled one hand off of my ear (where they both sat, as I was still not quite ready to move) and asked, "What's wrong? Wh-what do you see?"

I stood, frozen, until my breath finally slowed. I choked out a noise somewhere between a cough and a sob, dropping my hands to my sides, and strained my ears for the voice. Nothing. Was it gone again? What did it-she, what did she mean by 'give me answers'? I took another shaky breath. I didn't realize I had been crying until I felt a tear run down my cheek. Thomas reached for my hands, squeezing both. The animatronics were one thing, but this? This seemed ridiculous.

"W-where is it?"

I looked up at the voice. Absentmindedly, I noticed that Thomas was making a point to stand between me and the spot where I'd seen the thing earlier, and his hands holding mine, along with how close he was standing, partially covered me on the left and right. He was trying to shield me.

One cold hand moved to my shoulder, and Thomas locked eyes with me. "M-Mike, I-I bet this isn't fun, but-look, I-I need to know what's happening. Where is it?"

I took a deep breath, then muttered, "It's… It's gone."

Almost immediately, he took a half-step back (because I don't need to be protected at the moment, I thought, and despite everything, it felt amazing, knowing this man that I barely knew would still put so much effort into protecting me) and sighed in relief. "G-good."

"I-it was this voice," I blurted out. Now that I'd found my voice again, I desperately had to explain what the hell had happened. "I heard it earlier, and it started talking again, saying it had answers, a-and-" I stopped short, trying to catch my breath. "Fuck," I muttered. This was bad.

The grip on my hands tightened, and Thomas smiled slightly. "It's…" He sighed. "It's fine. You're fine." His eyes fell sideways, to the chair. I followed his gaze, seeing a greasy cardboard box sitting on the chair. "Hey," he asked quietly, "a-are you still hungry?"

I looked at the box silently. I'd kind of forgotten why he'd left the room in the first place. "Uh, little bit, yeah," I mumbled.

I saw Thomas nod out of the corner of my eye. He reached down and opened the box, handing me a slice of pepperoni pizza. "Uh, th-there was more, b-but when I heard you yell the first time," he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I-I dropped most of it in the kitchen."

The crust was dry and stale, but, hey, it was food. I took a bite hesitantly, while Thomas picked up the box and put it on the desk. A hand wrapped around my wrist, causing me to jump. I looked up, seeing Thomas, who held my free wrist in one hand. Silently, he tilted his head towards the chair, and I hesitantly sat down.

We sat in silence for a moment, while I ate and Thomas watched me from his chair. Eventually, I cleared my throat. "Well, that's the closest I've ever come to a heart attack," I joked. "Let's not do this again."

I'd been hoping to lighten the mood, but judging by the unamused look on Thomas's face, it hadn't helped. I sighed. "I… I don't know what happened."

"I-I know." Thomas looked to the side, and I thought I saw him swallow. "I'm, uh… I'm not quite entirely sure what happened, b-but-"

"'Not quite entirely sure'?" I chuckled. "God damn, that's uncertain, even for you." I heard Thomas laugh under his breath, and I smiled. "Do you have any idea? Even a vague one?

Thomas shrugged. "M-maybe?" He turned to face me, asking anxiously, "Was it, um… Was it an empty suit?"

My brow furrowed in confusion. That sounded more than a little out of the blue-to me, at least. Surely he had a reason to ask that... "What?"

"G-guess not." Thomas shook his head. "N-n-nevermind that, then. Uh, then I honestly have no clue what it could be." He sighed. "B-besides, I-I think we need to be more worried about that voice you're talking about."

I nodded. "Yeah, probably." I looked down at the slice of pizza in my hand, then put it down on the desk. I took a sip of coffee, before speaking again. "It sounded like a little girl. Not like, super-young, if that makes sense? Not like a toddler or anything, I mean." And I've heard it before, I thought, though I didn't bother sharing that point with Thomas.

Thomas's brow furrowed, a look of concern (and... sadness?) flashing through his eyes. "Hm." Again, he shot a look over his shoulder, then asked, "Wh-what time is it?"

I glanced down at my watch. "We're good. Just past six." Really, I was lucky nothing had shown up to kill me while I was tripping out. I sighed, looking back at Thomas, who was back to fiddling with his own wrist. "Thomas? What's up?" He jumped, looking up at me, and I realized what, exactly, was 'up.' "You know something about the voice, don't you?"

Thomas squeezed his eyes shut, and I heard him mumble something about "...don't want to..." He took a shaky breath, then said, "I-I had a thought, but... It doesn't made sense... and I really, uh, I just don't want it to be the case." His whole body seemed to shiver as he shook his head, then muttered, "It can't be. It can't."

I shivered slightly, watching Thomas like this. He was usually well composed, and even his worst moments looked absolutely zen compared to this. "Look, I'm gonna need to know what you're talking about, got it? But," I added, seeing the worried look on his face, "I won't push you for it tonight. I'll give you until tomorrow after my shift to come up with an answer for me."

Thomas sighed, dropping his arms to his sides. "Th-thank you. I, uh.." He cleared his throat, before dropping his voice to a whisper. "I... may have an idea, but..." He shook his head again. "N-nevermind. I'll talk about it tomorrow."

I nodded solemnly. "Got it." While I wasn't exactly happy with this agreement, it was becoming increasingly obvious that whatever Thomas was talking about, he didn't like it, and I didn't feel comfortable forcing him to talk about something that made him this upset.

Besides, maybe, just maybe, by the time I asked him again tomorrow, I'd have my own ideas and theories straightened out.

What was that voice? Why had it appeared in my dreams? And what about that animatronic? What did it have to do with all of this? While one of its' heads (the one with blood dripping from its teeth…) reminded me of Foxy, I could tell by the color that it wasn't the Foxy I knew. I needed to think on it. Maybe the dream would return tonight, and I could see what else I could find and match up to what I'd seen tonight.

By the time I left the office an hour or two later, I'd calmed my nerves again. Like most things at Freddy's, by the time I was out of imminent danger, I wasn't scared so much as I was annoyed. I mean, how dare this thing mess with my head?!

As I left the office and walked towards the front door, I shot a glance towards the backstage door, as if expecting to see the mystery animatronic leering at me from the doorway. Thankfully, nothing was there. Nor did I hear the mystery girl's voice chime in as I clocked out.

However, I could've sworn that, as I put my keys in the door, I heard a thump noise from the ceiling over me.