Part II
Four Pictures
Chapter III
The One that Makes the Rules
Look up, raise head, raise left arm, open jaw.
Turn right, close jaw.
Open and close jaw twice, close eyes, nod.
Turn left, raise head, open eyes.
Look right; lower head and arm.
There are rules in here. There are rules everywhere. Some are small and specific, others overreaching and absolute. Yet the rules, all of them, moved their world like clockwork.
Freddy followed the rules to the letter. He found a strange wonder and appreciation for their integrity and inherent cohesiveness, and did everything he could to make sure he and his friends did not break them. He was so good at enforcing them that, in fact, he was trusted to make the rules governing their games with Night Bird. And every night that he saw the others playing by his rules and being happy, he felt a tinge of pride.
Freddy learned he had a ways to go, however. He often wondered what else there was beyond what he had already known, and the Night Bird's stay with them gave him an exciting glimpse at what lay beyond his comprehension at the time. Night Bird was smart, very smart. Freddy hoped he could be half as smart as that man. The gulf that separated Freddy from him became much more apparent right after the incident with the children during the final week that Night Bird kept watch over the building. Freddy and his friends did everything they could to catch him on those nights but simply could not do so.
Night Bird confused them, separated them, evaded them, and wrought havoc on Freddy's plan of approach for everyone. In those final nights, he realized the intricate choreography that he always set up for all of them each night will no longer suffice. On the very last night, he told Bonnie, Foxy, and Chica to forget each and every method he had conceptualized though the years and gave them all a single instruction: 'Capture.'
It wasn't enough for them to catch him, unfortunately, but that night had been the closest they have gotten to him in the final week. It was the most fun he had ever had. The Night Bird never broke the rules the entire time, of course, but he did something else. He did something else amazing. While Freddy merely played the game within the rules, Night Bird played with the rules themselves. In that brief period, Freddy realized that there was still much more for them to learn. That there was more for Night Bird to teach them.
But then, why didn't he?
Freddy's mind paused for a moment at the question. He had asked himself this same question many times before and, try as he might, he could not find a satisfying answer. He consciously pulled himself from thinking about it and consequently falling into the well of his own thoughts. He brought his mind back to the task at hand. Following Bonnie's cue, Freddy began to sing to the music.
Freddy bobbed his head to the lyrics and let his eyes wander across the party hall, toward the double-doors to his right. They were closed today, and the noisy crowd that Foxy usually had around him was nowhere to be found. Freddy noticed the maintenance note by the handles, the crew was going to replace his chest piece and maybe upgrade his leg joints. Foxy was alone again. Freddy felt a heavy sensation in the pit of his stomach when he thought about his friend's condition.
Was Foxy right, and Freddy wrong? Should they have intervened during the incident with the children? Should he have denied Night Bird's final request? The questions lingered in his mind. For Freddy, there was only the certainty of the rules to be obeyed. But for Foxy… well the good captain couldn't really explain why he thought otherwise, except that 'it felt wrong'. Some part of Freddy sympathized with his friend, as if he himself understood despite not knowing why. Such disjoints were confusing and possibly dangerous for them, and Foxy especially. The rules always kept them safe, and to go against them was never a good thing.
They still trusted Freddy and the rules, didn't they? The bear wasn't sure anymore. He didn't know if the rules could still keep them safe. He didn't know if he himself could keep them safe. Recently Freddy has felt that they've all been wandering aimlessly. Without the figurative anchor of Night Bird, he felt they had lost all purpose. That they had lost all their rules. Even the smiling and singing children, which used to give them a measure of joy, provided little solace to ward away the feeling of abandonment.
Freddy turned left again, as scripted. Looking across the hall, he spotted Chica among the crowd. She was hugging a girl with yellow pig-tailed hair who was wearing the red party hat. As the girl came off, she laughed and called for her friends to come over. Freddy blinked. Something struck him odd about the girl. She seemed… familiar. Freddy invoked 'transmit', a function he had developed during their games to help with coordination. He secretly telegraphed to her in the way only he and his friends could hear. Chica?
Is something wrong? Chica maintained her pace perfectly, only glancing toward him onstage.
Red hat. Do you recognize the child?
… Yes. Chica promptly pinged back. Wait really? Before he could ask her to confirm, she followed-up with another message. She has visited twenty three times. Now is her second wearing the red hat.
Wh- what? Chica's last transmission stunned Freddy. He never considered that any of the children actually came back after leaving the pizzeria, let alone doing so that many times. Freddy collected his thoughts a moment before sending back, Are there others that came back?
Yes, many. Not just children.
Freddy mulled on what he had just learned. People come back? Why do they come back? How frequently do they come back? What rules are they following? Freddy pooled his memories, trying to piece his thoughts together into something coherent; something that made sense given this new information. His mind envisioned a puzzle, its pieces in complete disarray. Freddy willed them to be ordered, forming patterns where he thought they should, and shattering pieces into smaller ideas that fit together better when necessary. It was difficult task, but not impossible. Slowly an image formed from the chaos; the grand, all-encompassing sum of everything Freddy had ever known.
Yes, it made sense now. Everything makes sense now.
Freddy! A transmission broke through his thoughts, cracking apart the shell that Freddy had unconsciously built to seclude himself from distraction while he was thinking. He turned to the source and saw Bonnie. He received another transmission, this one emphasized as urgent. Freddy, are you okay?
Yes, everything is fine. Freddy replied, picking up his routine where he left off. He had slipped into his thoughts during show time, definitely a breach against the rule to keep the show running smoothly. He should feel bad for doing so, but after coming out with his new unified knowledge he could feel nothing but elation. He raised his microphone to his mouth to continue his song and waved his other arm with renewed gusto, completely dispelling the concerned looks from the waiting staff.
Freddy could barely contain his happiness. He wanted to tell them everything, but knew that his friends' reactions could throw the entire show in confusion. So he kept it for now, but let them know that he needed to talk to them immediately after hours. He sent out a single transmission to everyone, carefully making sure there was an inflection of importance to it. Meet at Pirate Cove, 12:00AM. About Night Bird.
There are rules in here. There are rules everywhere. Some are small and specific, others overreaching and absolute. Yet the rules, all of them, moved their world like clockwork.
Night Bird will come back.
They will make him come back.
#
In utter darkness a small cub lights a single candle, and reveals all the world's secrets.
Are you ready for the turnabout? I said ARE. YOU. READY. FOR THE TURNABOUT?! Sorry, I just wanted to drum up some excitement. It's an exciting ending for the chapter, don't you think?
Of the four pieces in Part II (the last of which we haven't seen yet), I'd say this one is my personal favorite. That's not to say I think any less of the others, of course, but this chapter came out of the typing board exactly how I wanted it. The short 'clockwork' paragraph in the opening and closing, for example, is exactly the same in both instances but projects a different feel (similar to what I did with chapter When The Air Went Still). In the opening, it inspires an image of Freddy being just a puppet on strings; in the closing, it puts on the image of Freddy taking the strings himself, no longer bound by the whims of circumstance. All this without changing a single word.
Freddy is, perhaps, much more attuned to his robotic side than the others; rules are valued above most anything. That doesn't mean he's devoid of emotion, of course. You can see he how he feels pride, joy and concern. Also consider what that means when the title says that Freddy is the one that makes the rules or, in our terms, the programming. Of all of them, he has the greatest capacity to improve himself and others, like with that 'transmit' thing mentioned in this chapter (and 'motor lock' in the previous chapter).
In a nutshell, Freddy is a great thinker, and this chapter is styled to reflect that. On the surface, there's not much to discuss but there are hidden depths here to those that can read between the lines, or rather read what is intentionally missing. As a hint, consider the working title I had for this chapter: 'The One that was Never Wronged', in reference to the title for Foxy's chapter, 'The One that did Nothing Wrong'.
For someone who almost got killed by Foxy, which one would think to be a definite traumatic experience, Freddy never once mentioned being angry at or afraid of the fox. In fact all Freddy ever says about the matter is that he's unsure if he can keep Foxy safe, and that it was dangerous to Foxy for things to go on that way. Let me rephrase that: the fact that Freddy was nearly dismantled is of so much less concern than anything else that it doesn't even deserve to be mentioned. Freddy isn't selfish. Everything he's done, from letting the kids get murdered to killing David, he did because he truly believed in the rules and that the rules would make everything better, especially since David himself was the one who gave him those instructions and he had so much respect for the man. It's really not a stretch to say he did all of it because he loved David.
I wonder, dear reader, if you noticed what I did back in When You Left, and how it reaches forward into the chapters here in Part II. Give it a short re-read for me, if you can spare the time, but skip ahead to where David starts giving them the first four commands. David asked Chica to be happy without him, and in her chapter she deliberately steered her memories into one that would make her happy. He told Foxy he was going to hear terrible things that he should ignore, and in the captain's chapter his rampage started when the voices in his head grew too strong. He asked Bonnie to take care of the others and, from what we've seen so far, he has been doing exactly that. Now think about what he asked Freddy to do...
Final chapter due to release next weekend. It may be a day late compared to usual, though, as I'm going on a trip next Saturday and may be tired.
As always, if you liked this chapter or the story so far, I would so very much appreciate a review. If you didn't, but care enough to point out how I could improve, I would also very much appreciate your review as well.
PS. Wow, this is a really long post-chapter babble. Would you care for a Freddy mix on my profile?
PPS. Fun fact! The acting sequence at the start of the chapter is a transcription of Freddy's movement in the demo for the first FNAF game.