The weeks flew by quickly, turning into months in the blink of an eye. Their schedules didn't change much; they performed, cleaned, ate, and did various chores. As the weeks progressed, things changed.
Seeing that the animatronics were fully capable of doing the dirty work, the humans left them mostly unattended. The workers attempted to fix Toy Foxy several times, but the children were getting more violent with the poor fox. They finally decided to just leave it as-is.
Red did everything in his power to fix them, but every day it seemed as if there were less and less useable parts to work with and replace.
Due to Toy Foxy and Tangle getting weaker from the lack of parts, they weren't able to do their chores. In pure spite of Red, Clyde was becoming more lazy as Toy Foxy got weaker, and in turn was able to talk T-Chi into not cleaning as much. Along with that, she no longer remembered to stand in between Red and Clyde when they fought. Which was incredibly often.
Even though there was an extra animatronic in the establishment, the bear didn't want to ask B.B. for help. He was considered a child to them all. He wouldn't understand their troubles, let alone Red's.
The humans had gotten so used to the animatronics doing the jobs that when chores began to pile up, some of the workers decided to start taking it out on Red.
While the animatronics all played, and the humans ignored the duties, Red was left to do almost everything.
Red became a master at keeping the music box wound. He only encountered the Marionette several times after that horrible night, but each time they met it got worse. He learned to avoid it, but he had to quickly alternate between working on paperwork, cleaning, and even cooking just to wind the box up.
He only had from 12am to 6am to finish everything on his agenda.
He had to clean the dining room, tables, mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, clean the halls, clean the kitchen, do the paper work, all while keeping the music box wound tight.
Despite his young age, he was wearing down quickly. He could feel it, and it scared him.
He could feel his gears slow down, and he began to shut off randomly while doing paper work at night. He even shut down on stage during the day once.
He was fearing for his mental well-being, but also for his life.
"Red, you're so LAZY." Clyde taunted, leaning on the desk in front of Red. The bear ignored him, puffing out smoke through his nose. He scribbled onto the paper quickly, not looking up.
"All you do is sit there, writing. You can't publish a book, y'know. You're a robot, dear."
"Piss off." Red growled, not looking away from the papers. Clyde simply laughed, completely getting onto the desk. Papers scattered everywhere, making Red roar in distress.
"Poor baby." The rabbit cooed, wagging his tail a bit. "Need help?"
Shoving the bunny away with all of his power, he snarled and stood up, knocking his chair over in the process. He kicked it aside, stomping over to the other animatronic.
"TEA-BAG, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY OFFICE!" He shrieked, taking the bunny by surprise. He had never seen Red lose his temper. Before he could respond, Red grabbed the blue male by the arm and dragged him roughly by the arm down the hall, smoke billowing out of his nose at an alarming rate.
"LET ME GO!" Clyde cried out, eyes wide in panic. Red simply growled in response, eyes flashing with rage. He dragged the bunny to the main stage, taking T-Chi by surprise.
"PISS OFF!" Red roared as loud as he could, chucking the bunny onto the platform. He collided onto it with a loud crash, causing the chicken to jump back in fear.
"What's going on?!" She cried out, looking at Red in anger and fear. "Why did you hurt him?!"
Burning through a full cigar already, the bear pulled out a new one. Smoke continued billowing from his neck, indicating that his motors were close to overheating. Lighting the new cigar, he took a few puffs of it. The smoke began streaming from his nose again, joining the smoke his body was producing on its own.
"You know damn why." He snarled, snorting loudly. "He hasn't left me alone for MONTHS. You haven't done anything to help."
"Well, I-...He-..." T-Chi stuttered, trying to think of what to say. She looked incredibly offended and angry, her brows furrowed in frustration. "He doesn't mean any har-"
"NO. DON'T EVEN TRY TO DEFEND HIM." Red yelled, grabbing the bunny by the foot, causing him to yelp. He was pulled close to the stage edge by the brown male, whose ears were flat from agitation.
"Red, let me go!" Clyde barked out, trying to squirm away from the stronger animatronic. He was thrown yet again by the bear, making another loud, metal clash sound out.
"RED!" T-Chi shrieked in horror, making the leader look up. She jumped down from the stage and shoved him, clacking her beak in his direction. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
Red stared at the female, not daring to touch her. He looked her up and down, rage still fueling his motives. He forced himself to relax, which stopped the smoke from coming out of his neck.
"Fine." He said coldly, standing up straight. "You're all worthless, pathetic, disgusting wastes of my ti-"
Hearing a short, sharp whistle come from Kid's Cove, he snorted. Turning his back to Clyde and T-Chi, he quickly walked towards the small room without looking back at the other two. He froze as he made his way to where Toy Foxy was, eyes widening.
It was almost completely torn up. Wires were sprawled everywhere, as well as various screws and bolts. Tangle had been fully ripped up, also. Red went over to them quickly, his rage replaced with anxiety.
"Guys, w-what-"
"HELP US!" Tangle yelled out, stopping the other bear from speaking. Red nodded quickly, running over to a spare parts bin. Digging around, he pulled out a pile of exoskeleton parts that he needed to use or replace on them.
"Hold on, I'm hurrying." He said quickly, carrying the pile over to them. Placing it on the floor, he looked around the body, biting his lip. He quickly placed the wires back into their original spots to avoid any later electrical problems, and tightened some screws.
Their exoskeleton was fully gone, aside from Toy Foxy's head, hands and paws. It only had one eye remaining, the other was across the room, fully broken.
Tangle's head had been crushed, leaving only half of the endoskeleton's skull, as well as only one eye. Any limbs that he had were gone along with everything else. A constant odd, radio-like transmission came from Toy Foxy's broken voice box, indicating that it was broken.
Shifting through the pile of exoskeleton bits, he flattened his ears a bit. Adding pieces to an already existing exoskeleton was one thing, but making one out of spare parts was a completely different story.
Grabbing some of the larger pieces from the pile, he tried to fit them into various areas, only to see that there was nothing to connect them to.
"I'm running out of spare parts, guys..." Red muttered softly, shifting and rummaging through the small pile of creamy white and pink metal. Pressing the largest chunk onto Toy Foxy's chest, he shook his head, putting it aside when he realized it was just too small to be used.
"There's no base to put it back onto, and not enough to even make a base. I'm sorry."
Tangle and Toy Foxy looked at each other in worry and horror.
"YOU." Tangle growled, catching Red off guard. "YOU COULD HAVE SAVED US."
"I did all I could." The bear said calmly, trying to keep his cool over the situation. He had already lost it once, he didn't want to lose his temper again.
"NO!" Tangle yelled, his voice filled with anger. "YOU WERE TOO BUSY ON STAGE WITH THOSE FREAKS WHILE WE WERE BEING RIPPED UP! YOU KNOW THE HUMANS STOPPED HELPING US!"
"You know I have no choice. It's the humans' choice." He snapped back, growling lowly. Toy Foxy waved its hands at them, trying to break up the fight.
"YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CALL TOY FOXY NOW? "THE MANGLE". AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"ENOUGH!" Red roared once again, standing up. Grabbing Tangle by what was left of his neck, he growled. They locked eyes before Red continued speaking
"My life is already a chaotic mess, I don't need you blaming me for something that-"
Before he could finish speaking, Tangle bit down on the other male's finger. Screeching, Red pulled himself backwards, glaring at them both.
"WE HATE YOU." The head sneered, making various clacking noises and beeps. Red snorted and walked away, leaving them both. He stopped in the doorway before leaving the area fully, glaring.
"I hate you, too."
Red stomped away, leaving the two broken animatronics all alone.
"C-come ba-a-ack," Toy Foxy struggled out quietly and weakly, reaching out to the empty doorway. This caught Tangle by surprise, instantly calming him down and putting him into a state of shock.
"You talk?" Tangle questioned, frowning at the fox. It growled at Tangle and looked away, closing its only eye.
They sat in silence after that, staring into the dark.
Nobody noticed that the music box had stopped playing.
"...Y-...onster...reak."
Clyde yawned, twitching his ears. Blinking awake slowly, he stretched out. He could've sworn he heard someone speaking in his sleep, but he wasn't sure. Swiveling his ears lazily, he shrugged it off. Closing his eyes again, he almost dozed off.
"Failure."
Looking up more quickly that time, he frowned. He certainly did hear a voice that time. Carefully moving from his spot and placing his guitar down, he hopped off the platform silently, looking around. He attempted to find where the voice was coming from, but couldn't seem to find it right away.
After going towards the hallway and not hearing it, he went towards Kid's Cove. Sighing when it stopped, he shook his head. He decided to go back to the stage. Walking up to it, he almost stepped back into his spot, but that's when he noticed that Red was missing. Tilting his head curiously, he frowned, looking around more.
Getting off the stage once again, he went down the halls, even going as far to check the office and the Parts and Service room. Sniffing around for Red, he sighed, not sensing him anywhere.
"Red?" He called out quietly, squinting his eyes in attempt to adjust his vision to the dark. Jumping when he heard a clatter of items, he whipped around, looking around frantically. Seeing an odd flash of some sort of dirty animatronic before it faded out, he allowed his ears to droop. Backing up and out of room, he sped-walked away until he heard a voice.
"Save him."
He yelped loudly, jumping as high as an animatronic his weight physically could before bolting out of the area. The voice that he heard was completely different from the one that he heard earlier; it was much deeper, and not as creepy. Still creepy, just not as creepy.
Stopping near the stage, he wheezed. His eyes darted around, still trying to see if Red was anywhere. Leaning against the platform, he looked up to see that T-Chi was still asleep. Rubbing the back of his neck, he sighed.
"You're putrid, disgusting, vile filth."
Clyde's ears shot up at the sound of the odd, creepier voice from before. Looking around more, he frowned, tilting his head side to side in attempt to listen in on where the conversation was taking place.
"Do you honestly think you can stop me?" The voice whispered coldly and gently, louder than it had been earlier. The rabbit glanced over into the Prize Corner once he pinpointed the noise to there, tilting his head even more. Sneaking slowly, his eyes widened at what he saw once he got close enough.
An odd, electric current had Red in its grasp. The bear was twisting violently in attempt to get away, letting out various quiet groans and cries. His eyes flickered from normal to pure black, finally setting on black. The creature from the box half-popped out, its upper torso only making it out. It clung to Red's throat, a soft hiss coming from its constantly-smiling mouth.
"It's funny, really. Your family cares nothing of you. The humans are the same. If you were to die, nobody would notice...Yet, you come here every night to 'keep me at bay'..." Its voice was a mocking, pitiful tone. It giggled at him, smirking.
Red gagged, trying to scramble away. The Marionette simply laughed.
"You remind me of someone..." It whispered, tracing the bear's jawline. He gagged, yanking his head away.
"He was a lot like you, always sticking up for his family...He kept everything in his life golden, kept his family happy..."
Red was raised up into the air by an unseen force. He growled weakly, still trying to struggle away.
"...But in the end..." It trailed off with a laugh, shaking its head. The bear struggled more, growling loudly.
"He failed."
Red was hurled across the room violently. Screeching in panic, he collided with a wall, sounding out with a loud clang of clashing metal and debris from the wall. He knocked over various items, crashing to the floor along with them. He coughed and gagged, shutting off for a few seconds before booting back up, his eyes normal.
Maniacal laughter erupted from the demon before it faded away, going back into the box as if nothing had happened.
"And I won."
Red scrambled to get out of the Prize Corner, not even caring about the music box anymore. He ran past Clyde without even noticing him, nearly falling over various times. He finally collapsed near a table in one of the party rooms, dry sobs escaping his voice box.
"Red," Clyde quickly exclaimed, running over and falling to his knees beside the bear. Hugging him, Red sobbed quietly, jumping a bit from the sudden contact. He stiffened in the embrace of the bunny, but relaxed after a few moments.
"O-oh, Red..." He spoke again, tears forming. He nuzzled the bear gently, petting him in attempts to soothe the other male. "I-I'm so sorry, honey..."
Red hid his face in the younger animatronic, his ears falling against his skull. He clenched his eyes shut, desperately holding onto the rabbit for dear life. Clyde held him close, nuzzling him every few moments.
"It'll be okay..." The blue male whispered, trying to catch the eyes of the bear. They locked gazes. Red's sobs finally died down, and Clyde's grip loosened.
"I care, Red...I'm sorry I was such a...such a jerk to you. I didn't know...W-why didn't you tell us?"
They sat like that for a few more minutes. The bunny stroked the back of the bear's head until he finally pulled away, standing up. Clyde helped him stand, smiling at him gently. Red smiled back weakly, still wary of the bunny.
"Come on, sir. I'll get you some pizza."
Clyde led him to the kitchen carefully and gently, making sure not to move too quickly. T-Chi joined them shortly after, worried about the loud noises that had happened earlier. They didn't tell her, but Clyde admitted that it was his fault. They ate pizza and T-Chi went back to bed, while Clyde decided to help with clean up and paperwork.
Something unspoken had happened between the two males that night, and the others didn't quite know exactly what. That one incident brought them together and closer than ever. They became best friends. Clyde was always there to support their leader, and Red was always there to support him in return.
Nobody ever questioned it.
Author's Note:
AND THEN THEY KISSED.
Just kidding!
Heya, everybody! How 'ya doin'?
This is the last flashback chapter, so expect to see the normal gang return in a few days!
Sorry for the lack of updates, I'm having a horrible bout of procrastination. I promise there's gonna be at least one more chapter before Christmas, though! Hopefully two if I can get my lazy butt into gear.
(I'm actually cutting out spotlights for now, at least until my mind starts working again. I haven't been thinking clearly lately, it's kind of alarming.)
Sorry if there's any typos, I did the beta reading myself.
I'd like to thank TheMeOfTheUniverse, KudleyFan93, MCHaunter, MarmaladeBird, Purest of the Hearts, Robaschi, Mumble the Penguin, MLPFan298, Elysion Wish, Anon Bla na na, MLPFan298, LevitatingPiez animalover4forever , animalover4forever, Unknown Forgotten Friend, Anon Jules, BlueFoxCub, Anon Astral, shiro0408, and The Ghost-Ninja Guy for the reviews!
Answered Questions!:
Anon Jules: "If you could make your own FNAF animatronic, what animal would it be, what features would it have, and how would it try to kill you?"
Answer: I'd make a macaw or a cockatoo! And it'd try to kill you by flapping into your office, and attempt to bite you with its beak. (Macaw/Cockatoo beaks are hecka strong as it is, so think about how strong an animatronic macaw/cockatoo beak would be!) (And yes, I hate to admit it, but Tangle being a bear is my own idea. I really didn't want to make a fan character for this fandom, but I suppose it was inevitable.)
MC-Haunter: "1. Do you still think you could maybe fit this story into the actual FNAF timeline (NOT THAT I WANT YOU TO, JUST WONDERING IF YOU SEE THAT AS SOMETHING THAT COULD HAPPEN)
2. Are there any secret crushes?
3. What is Mangle (Toy foxy) gender? I dont think you said. *Quickfacepalm* oh, yeah. right.
4. Do you ever blare the campfire song song into your ears as inspiration?
5. on a scale of 1-fabalous, how pretty do you think i am? (Yes, I am straight. I do like rainbows and unicorns doe.)"
Answer: 1. Maybe, if I ever tried to! I think.
2. Maaayybbeee.
3. I'm actually keeping it genderless! I thought it was funny/amusing when I first started writing.
4. Maybe .
5. 100000000000000000000
I can't answer all of the questions I got, I'm sorry! I really want to, but I want to avoid clutter/a long AN. I'm sorry, I'll answer more on the next chapter~!
