*Bats a few cobwebs away* Geez... Almost a month since my last update. Guys, I am so so sorry that this is taking so long... Between college, life, and general inexcusable laziness this has taken me far too long to do. Especially since Night 5... Actually doesn't have a fight scene in it. Reason being: after Night 4's flat out brawl, I figured I couldn't top that until the final battle on Night 6. So this is just a one-chapter deal. Sorry if it's a bit short, or a bit messy... I promise that I'll try and do better for Night 6 and wrapping the story up.

Again, an extra-special thanks to all my devoted fans. You guys are the greatest, and I'm sorry this keeps taking so long... Which is why I have a request. Next time it takes me more than two weeks to get a chapter out? Feel free to flood my PM inbox, because that'll get me to actually do something about it. XD

Anyway, Night 5's chapter is a lot of exposition as you can imagine, but it's setting up for the final battle.

On with the show!

I finally pulled in, back at home and exhausted. The others looked concerned, especially after seeing that I'd gotten more than a little bit battered and bruised from all of this. I halfway muttered something about updating them when I got some sleep, staggered into my bedroom, and collapsed on the bed. I was asleep before I hit the pillow.

Another night, another dream. This time, it was of the old pizzeria once more… I was wandering the halls. It looked like the place had been abandoned for a long time… Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadowy silhouette in the distance; it looked almost like… Bonnie? I turned, just as it stared at me with pure white eyes, a menacing grin on its face. It slowly approached me, arms outstretched… And I woke up once more.

Foxy and the others were nowhere to be seen; I figured they were waiting for me to update them on what happened last night. With a sigh, I headed for the bathroom and got myself cleaned up. There was a lot of work to do before midnight tonight, after all… I needed to get in touch with Adams about the files I had found, as well as Faz. My hope was that I could meet this Fritz Smith guy and talk to him, see if he knew anything about what went on in this place… As well as seeing about Damien. Something about that guy was throwing me off…

I shook my head. Too many questions, and the bots had some of their own. I headed out and grinned; they were gathered in the living room, and Chica already had a slice of pizza and cup of coffee out for me. "Thanks. You know me too well." She smiled and gave me a quick hug, and I winced. "Careful there… Still a bit sore from last night." She muttered a quick apology and sat, as Freddy leaned forward.

I explained what I'd found, and alluded to my suspicions with Damien. It seemed like hearing his name caused them to freeze for a moment, and Freddy slowly spoke. "Damien Mitchell, huh… Sadly, I know who he is."

This had my attention. I leaned forward, gesturing for Freddy to continue. "He was one of the night guards at the old place… Shortly after we were controlled. At the time, we thought his behavior was strange, but didn't really have the option to look into it too much, as you can see. But now…" Freddy sighed. "Alex, I think you may be onto something with your suspicions. You see, every time I was right at his door while he was working, his behavior was… Odd.

"He'd stare out the window at me, and I'd see him pull this weird looking black book out, mumbling something from inside it. And then… I'd see him poke his thumb with some kind of blade, making a strange shape in the window… The first time he did it, it freaked me out enough that the programming was overridden and I retreated back to the stage. Every night I came to his window, he'd do the same thing; and he'd always clean up the shape…"

I felt a chill like ice water going through my veins as Freddy laid out what he'd experienced. I hoped against hope I was wrong about this… I tugged a notebook out of my pocket, sliding it and a pen over to Freddy. "Can you draw the shape he made?"

Freddy hesitated, then nodded and began to draw. I leaned back as he did, hoping and praying that my suspicions were wrong, and that this was just a simple case… But as he turned the book around, I knew it was not to be.

The symbol that he'd made was one I was familiar with. It was the symbol of a dark cult that had been in the area several times during my SWAT days, and I'd even led a few raids against some of their more malicious members. The thing I remembered most was that symbol; it was like a modified pentagram, except with a large, bold X in the middle. I didn't know symbolism, but I did know that it was bad news if these guys were behind the Marionette…

I had to call Faz. I got to my feet, nodded at the others, and grabbed the phone. He picked up after two rings.

"Hello?"

"Faz, it's Alex again. We've got a big problem."

He went silent for a moment. "What's going on?"

I explained to him how I knew Damien, and that he was my current boss. Faz hesitated for a moment, before sighing. "I get the feeling you're spot on, Alex. We actually had to fire Damien from the night security job after only two weeks of him surviving; he had a strange odor about him that people had begun to complain about – smelled of brimstone, so they said – as well as general unprofessionalism. He was always muttering something, and the authorities were nearly called in one shift when he started yelling what they said was gibberish. Also…" Faz trailed off.

I sighed, gripping the phone tightly. "Also…?"

"Also, we fired him for tampering with the animatronics. Foxy, to be specific; we caught him trying to carve some bizarre shape into her body…"

I hoped this wasn't where it was going. "A pentagram with an X in it?"

His voice sounded surprised. "Why, yes. How did you… Never mind, I'm sure you had your ways. The point is, I believe you may have something if you suspect him of operating the Marionette. The only issue I have is there's a lack of motive."

I sighed. I had a motive for him… I'd seen what this cult was capable of, first-hand. "One other question, Faz. There was apparently an employee who survived. Would you know anything about a Fritz Smith?"

He thought for a moment, before speaking. "I've heard of the man, but don't know him personally. You'll have better luck calling Mike; as you know, he's been in therapy for PTSD specifically related to the animatronics, so if anyone knew Mr. Smith, it would be him."

"Thanks, Faz. You've been a big help to me. I'll talk to you later."

"Very well, my dear boy. Good luck to you." Click.

I hung the phone up and sat down heavily. The investigation had thought that the cult was disbanded and dealt with… Apparently not. I still remembered when they'd first come into our influence…

It was roughly a year after I joined up with the SWAT team. I was point man – the rookie position through and through. We had been sent in to deal with a hostage situation in a suburban house; three young children had been abducted from their school, and were being held by an unknown organization in black outfits. We were told to go in, clear the building, and apprehend the kidnappers.

I broke down the door and we rushed in… And immediately, I was hit with the stench of death and blood. We looked around; the whole place was decorated in this odd, demonic way… I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach from setting my foot in the place. We'd cleared the upstairs fairly quickly and were now sweeping down to the basement. The smell was getting stronger, mixing with a sulfur-esque smell, and a twinge of brimstone. My hands were death-gripping my SMG as we headed down.

When we got there… It was a nightmare situation. There were easily a dozen bodies in assorted states of decay, all piled up and charred deeply in front of a pentagram symbol with this large X in the middle. The walls were stained with blood, and there were about four men there, all wearing black clothing. Three were dead; suicide. The fourth stared at us and laughed… And laughed. We told him to get on the ground, to surrender. He raised a gun, pointed it at us, chanted something in a bizarre language, and shot himself in the head.

When we finally extracted, the kidnapped children were dead. All with the same wound; a single knife strike to the heart, left to bleed out on that 'altar'. After the incident, at least three of the SWAT team resigned with PTSD, and the department offered counseling to the rest, including me. It was something I'd never forget…

I sighed. It all made sense, in a twisted way. If Damien was part of this cult… That meant he needed sacrifices. And what better place to abduct children – and night guards – than a kid's pizzeria with a bad reputation?

I just had one last loose end to clean up, picking up the phone and dialing Mike. The phone rang, and he picked up.

"'Lo?"

"Mike, it's Alex. Listen, I've got a question for ya."

"Alex! Hey, man. Whatcha need? As usual, I'm not playing robot bait again."

I laughed slightly, before continuing. "Actually, was hoping you could tell me if you knew a guy. Ex-Fazbear security, name of Fritz Smith. Sound familiar?"

He went quiet for a moment. "Yeah…? He's one of the guys I see at counseling sessions. Why, what's up?"

"I'm hoping he can tell me a bit more about the new Fazbear's. Something's bad off about the place, but I can't figure out where the missing piece to the puzzle is. Any way I can meet with him?"

He chuckled slightly. "You're in luck, buddy. Fritz and I are good friends; we're going off to get a few drinks tonight around 9. You wanna join us? It'd get you a chance to talk to him."

I almost declined… Then thought about it. After everything I'd been through, booze did sound good. "Sure, I'm in. I'll meet you at the bar at 9."

"Sounds good, buddy. Finally gives me a chance to buy you that drink."

I laughed. "I'll hold you to that, Mike. See you then." Click. I almost called Adams… Then decided not to. It's not like the police can jump at this, even with an airtight case; all that would happen is that either Golden Freddy or the Toy animatronics would take them and deal with them. Looks like I was on my own. I settled in, getting ready to kill time until 9.

Faster than I expected, it arrived and I gathered my stuff, telling the others I'd call in before going to work, so they wouldn't worry. Foxy gave me a hug and kiss, and Freddy made sure I had my emergency alarm button on me in case things went bad fast. With that, I headed to the bar, arriving just as Mike and Fritz did.

Fritz was a smaller guy, with an almost timid look and blonde hair. He smiled at me warmly, but still seemed to be rather uncomfortable… Hopefully some drinks would fix that. We all chatted a bit as we had our first few rounds, including the drink Mike promised to buy me. After a while, Mike left and Fritz and I were alone.

"Listen, Fritz… I've got a question for ya."

He seemed shy and timid, before nodding. "Y-yes? H-how can I help?"

I sighed. I really didn't want to put this guy through this, but I needed answers. "Look. I'm looking into the new Fazbear's place, and…"

He froze, downing his drink quickly. "A-and you wa-want to k-know if I k-know anything, r-right?" I nodded, and he sighed. "A-alright, I'll t-tell you the o-one thing y-you probably d-don't know."

He took a deep breath and spoke. "Y-you see… I saw someone break in on my last night working there. He was just a kid… Probably halfway through his teen years. A-and… The withered robots ignored him, b-b-but… The new ones, the toy ones… They took him." He shuddered again. "They took him, gagged him… Dragged him down, into the Parts and Service room. I-I-I thought they were going to st-stuff him…"

"B-but they didn't."

I froze at that, my eyes widening. "…What?"

He nodded. "Th-they took him… And dragged him to this hidden hatch… I didn't even know the place had a basement… B-but the bots dragged him down there… A-and that's the last I saw of him. I r-reported it to the day guard… A-and when I came for work the next day, I f-found that I was f-fired."

I took all this in… It sounded far too much like the old cult issue for my liking. I finished my drink and nodded to him.

"A-after that… I don't know. I… I don't know why they brought him down there instead of, well…" He trailed off.

I nodded again, paying for one more drink for him and checked the time. It was 10:30 now; we'd been drinking and having a decent night of it, but I had to get ready. All my stuff was in the truck, and I wanted to get to Fazbear's early tonight to try and figure out where this basement was. Just then, Mike got back. "Hey, man. Fritz, thank you so much for the info. This is gonna be really handy, trust me." With that, I gave Mike a quick hug and back-slap, before telling them both I'd see them later. I put in a quick call to reassure the band, then headed for work.

The place was just emptying out as I arrived, and I headed in with my cases and supplies. First priority, check out Parts and Service. I loaded up, making sure my assault gear was ready, and headed in with a deep, slightly shaky breath.

The minute I opened the door, I caught a whiff of an all-too-familiar scent of death… Mixed with sulfur. That settled it, I was definitely on the right track. I moved around a bit, surprised not to see any of the bots at all back here… Then I realized why as I saw a workbench with a withered robot's head sitting on it. I knew Golden Freddy had to be around somewhere… But he wouldn't be active until midnight. I hoped, at least.

Finally, I found the basement hatch and looked over it, trying to find a way to open it… But no luck; it was locked up tight. I put my ear to it, and faintly heard some quiet muttering noises coming from within… I glanced at my watch, and my eyes widened. 11:40; time to get out of here and figure out about the latest call. I made a note to look into that place, though…

I made it back to the security room just in time for the phone to ring. I waited for it to click over, and sat back.

"Hello, hello? Hey, good job, night 5! Um, hey, um, keep a close eye on things tonight, ok? Um, from what I understand, the building is on lockdown, uh, no one is allowed in or out, y'know, especially concerning any...previous employees." I paused. No previous employees? That must've been recorded around the time of the murders. "Um, when we get it all sorted out, we may move you to the day shift, a position just became...available. Uh, we don't have a replacement for your shift yet, but we're working on it. Uh, we're going to try to contact the original restaurant owner. Uh, I think the name of the place was..."Fredbear's Family Diner" or something like that. It's been closed for years though, I doubt we'll be able to track anybody down. Well, just get through one more night! Uh, hang in there! Goodnight!" Click.

Nothing I didn't know from that call… And yet still, I had a feeling there was something odd going on here. I had barely gotten ready for any visitors when suddenly, my screen clicked on… And I froze, staring at the face of Golden Freddy. He grinned wickedly at me, and began to speak.

"Hello there, Mr. Redding…" His voice sounded much better than I remember; apparently he'd been able to fix that… "You have proven yourself to be quite the thorn in my side… You've damaged my allies and enemies equally as we move into this night, and as such none of them will be available to… Deal with you, tonight.

However… A parley has been agreed to. We will cease all hostilities for this night, provided you remain clear of Parts and Service as well as the Prize Counter… However, tomorrow night we will find out who will triumph." A chill went down my spine at that menacing grin as he contemplated my demise. "You have no need to remain here… The games and recordings are complete. I have no doubts that you were able to interpret them… So, that being the case…" His eyes glowed a menacing red. "LEAVE THIS PLACE!" I jumped at that, and he chuckled in his dark way. "Goodnight, Mr. Redding…"

His laugh echoed through the building, sending chills through my body. I knew what had happened now… I didn't waste any time gathering my things, leaving the pizzeria and locking the door behind me. My mind raced as I headed home, trying to figure out what I'd tell the band… I also had to get in touch with Adams again once day arrived, make sure he had a team ready to respond.

I shuddered. Something about this seemed to have a sense of foreboding to it… I knew one thing, though.

Not everyone would survive the battle tomorrow.

A brief reprieve... A calm before the storm. Night Six is coming, folks... The final battle.

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