Freddy stared at Red after he finished telling his story. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't seem to find the correct words to say. He had mixed emotions about the entire history of the others; pity, empathy, and déjà vu. It seemed as if their lives mirrored each other's in one way or another. From the incidents with Foxy to even Chica.
"We've been best friends ever since." Red said under his breath, looking at Clyde. The blue bunny had dozed off, using the toy bear as a pillow. He stroked the rabbit's head, smiling to himself.
"Red," Freddy spoke quietly, still unsure of what to say. "I'm so sorry you went through all of that."
Red blinked at that, raising an eyebrow. "Why would you be sorry, Freddy? It certainly wasn't your fault. If things hadn't happened like they did, I probably would've overheated, fried a circuit, or worse." He sighed happily, shrugging his shoulders to work his gears and joints. "I'm glad I can put my full trust into them."
"I wish I could say the same." Freddy muttered, looking away from the two.
"What do you mean?" Red asked softly, tilting his head. The older bear shrugged, squirming a bit in uncomfortability.
"I did a lot of things I regret. A lot. I was under a lot of pressure and stress, and instead of being there for my family, or even just letting them be there for me, I snapped and..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "...L-left them to fend for themselves. I'm a horrible brother, and nothing will ever make up for what I did. If only I had just t-trusted them."
"We all make mistakes, Freddy. Big or small, we still learn from them." Red smiled at the darker-pelted bear, nodding his head. "The important thing is that you learned from them. Haven't you?"
Freddy scoffed in mild amusement at that. He nodded lightly, smirking. "Aren't the older ones supposed to have more wisdom than the youngsters?"
"Age doesn't equal smarts, old timer." Red said, chuckling a bit after he finished speaking. Freddy laughed a bit himself, smiling at the other animatronic. There was a small pause before Red began nudging Clyde gently, standing up slowly after he did so. "Come on, Clyde."
Clyde grunted and whined when his pillow moved away, blinking awake slowly. He looked up at Red and Freddy, rubbing his eyes slowly. He nearly dozed off sitting up, but was pulled to his feet by Red. They both looked to Freddy, while Red got ready to lead the blue bunny away.
"Well, we're off. It's late, and I have to make sure everything is sound and secure before we sleep. Goodnight, Freddy." Red tipped his hat a bit in farewell, gently tugging Clyde's arm. The rabbit snorted in annoyance, looking back at Freddy.
"Y-yeah, goodnight, 'hun..." Clyde said quietly to the old animatronic, stretching out. They left the lounge room after they made sure Freddy would be okay for the night, leaving him alone.
Freddy sighed after he waved them off. He leaned against the couch he had been sitting on for the past three hours, blinking slowly. Red's story had left him exhausted, but gave him a lot to think about.
He could only question who the Master was even more, now.
Laying on his back, he stared at the ceiling. From Red's incredibly detailed description, he was sure that the Master was the same face he had been seeing himself for a good half of his life. Who was this mysterious creature? Was it an animatronic? A puppet? Demon? He wasn't sure. Rubbing his face, he growled, feeling a bit frustrated.
Were the Toys being controlled by it? Did they have their own free will, or were they simply toys to the Master? Were they merely puppets, or were they the same as he and the old animatronics?
Possessed?
Hearing some thumping and clanging in the vents, Freddy jumped a bit. He couldn't hide a small chuckle; the Toys sure did have an odd way of transportation around the restaurant. Sitting up, he swiveled his ears to both of the apertures, trying to figure out which animatronic it was. He jumped again when he spotted two large, blue eyes staring back at him, followed by a child-like giggle.
"Hello!"
Freddy relaxed a bit. He didn't have to worry.
It was just the creepy, satanic-looking child.
"B.B., what are you doing up?" Freddy questioned, scolding the boy a bit. Red had explained enough for him to know that the statue-like creature was indeed a child to them, and had various curfews.
"You should be asleep, what would Red say?"
B.B. ignored him for the most part, stepping out of the vent. He stood up straight and looked around. Waddling to a table, he rummaged around before grabbing something. Upon a quick scan, Freddy realized it was a key. Furrowing his brows, he tilted his head.
"What's that?" He questioned, stepping towards the boy. The humanoid animatronic giggled, stepping backwards to keep a distance from Freddy.
"I know where your brother is."
Freddy stared at him in confusion, looking him over. The boy giggled again, his oddly-large smile remaining on his face.
"You mean Bonnie, right?" Freddy said, his tone of voice sounding more like he was demanding than asking a question.
There was an odd, heavy pause before the child animatronic spoke up again. "Your brother."
B.B. giggled once again, this time taking off for the vents. Freddy attempted to reach out and grab him, but ended up being too slow. Growling to himself when the humanoid disappeared into the darkness, he looked around the room to see if there was any way he could directly follow him. Seeing nothing, he snorted and walked out of the lounge.
Walking as quickly as he could down the halls, he began his search for the boy. His hearing wasn't as good as it used to be, but it was still better than any human's hearing. Once he heard the giggle in the distance again, he took off towards it.
Finding himself in the main stage room, he flattened his ears a bit. He couldn't help but to feel awkward when he spotted the Toy animatronics sleeping on the distant stage. He wasn't sure if they were all there, but it didn't really matter. Shaking it off, he looked around for B.B., finally spotting him at the Game Area.
Approaching him slowly, he looked around again. He felt uneasy being so close to the Prize Corner, but brushed it off. He looked to B.B. after glancing around, frowning. He sighed, speaking quietly and carefully. "What do you mean?"
"Y'know," B.B. started, looking towards the Prize Corner. He smiled wider, looking up at Freddy. "He's kinda nice, he gives presents to the kids during the day."
As if they had planned it, the music box strained and clunked after B.B. finished speaking.
Freezing at the sounds, Freddy turned around again. Blinking a few times, he successfully turned on his eye-lights after they flickered a bit. Darting his gaze around, it finally rested on the present box across the room.
He felt his broken knees become weak when the lid of the box lifted up a bit. The old bear let out a strangled cry when static assaulted his vision like it had years past. Flattening his ears to his skull, he looked around frantically for somewhere to run, or at least something to stop it.
Before things could go further, Red darted from an unknown location to the Prize Corner. Hastily half-jumping on top of the present box, he easily slammed it shut without trouble. After it was secure, he slid off and quickly wound the music box, snorting out a large amount of smoke in the process. Pausing for a few moments to make sure it was back to normal, he sighed in relief, standing up.
"Freddy, B.B., what are you doing up? What's going on?" He questioned, his voice heavy with worry and annoyance. "You could've-" Pausing when he spotted B.B.'s hand, he looked the humanoid animatronic over a few times. "What is that?"
"What's what?" B.B. questioned, looking to Red innocently. The bear growled and quickly swiped the key away from the boy, inspecting it closely. He studied it for a few moments, before looking up again. He opened his mouth to speak, but sighed heavily when he noticed that B.B. had shut down for the night.
"Freddy, where did he get this?" He asked, holding the key up to the old bear. Freddy shrugged in response, shaking his head.
"I don't know. I was trying to sleep when he came into the lounge. He took it off of the table, I think. He said something about knowing where Bonnie was, or something."
Red thought it over for a second, shaking his head slowly. "Well, I'm not sure where it goes. I'll find out. Also, I found Bonnie hiding in the kitchen, crying about not having a mouth or something. I sent him to the lounge."
"Thank you." Freddy muttered quickly, looking back to the large present box that sat in the Prize Corner. Walking away slowly, he looked back to Red, coughing awkwardly. "Well, uh, goodnight..."
"Yes, goodnight." Red said stiffly, putting the key into his exoskeleton. The two parted ways for the night, going off to get some much-needed rest.
"The Master, huh?" Bonnie questioned, curling up on the couch next to Freddy. The TV flickered in the darkness, lighting up what the two animatronics were doing. Freddy nodded slowly, looking at the bunny.
They had slept for several hours, but woke up to the noises of early-morning traffic starting to whoosh by the restaurant. They decided to just watch TV and eat until they fell asleep again.
"Apparently."
"Hah, what a dumbass. Who relies on a MUSIC BOX to stay locked away? Hah!"
Freddy laughed a little bit at Bonnie's frankness, causing Bonnie to laugh in turn. They both stopped when they heard B.B. giggle in the distance. They both gave each other awkward glances, shuddering a bit.
"God, that kid is creepy." Bonnie muttered, curling up tightly. Freddy nodded in agreement.
"I know." He responded, snorting and shaking his head slowly. Reaching out to the nearby coffee table, he opened a cardboard box and took a slice of pizza out of the greasy, hard paper-like substance. "He said something about knowing where you were, then took off."
"Wait, you too?" The bunny asked, tilting his head. "He came over to me when I was in the kitchen and said he knew where my brother was, and I was all, 'Well,yeah, he's in the lounge'! And he was all-"
"Don't ramble." Freddy scolded, ripping a small piece of the pizza from the slice he was holding. He carefully took Bonnie's lower jaw and pulled him closer, turning his eye-lights on to illuminate what he was doing. He carefully dropped the pizza down Bonnie's fuel pipe, much to the bunny's surprise.
"W-wow, thanks!" He said excitedly, whirring loudly once he felt the fuel hit his tank. "I was starving, I really needed that..."
Freddy smiled at him, patting the purple animatronic's back. "No problem, bud." He paused for a second, looking at the TV. He sighed, shaking his head. "Red said something about me being able to save them. I don't know what he means by that."
"Who knows? Maybe you're the guy who can crush that music box!" Bonnie exclaimed, punching the air to get his point across. Freddy chuckled again, gently whapping the younger male on the back of the head.
Bonnie laughed at the contact, rubbing the back of his exoskeleton. "Don't hit me, you dork."
After they both calmed down from their bout of rowdiness, they both leaned against the couch and stared at the TV. Bonnie seemed to be completely absorbed in the show they were watching, but Freddy was zoned out.
He couldn't help but to wonder if Chica and Foxy would ever power back up.
"Bonnie," Freddy began, looking up at the ceiling. Bonnie turned his head to look at the bear, twitching his ears a bit.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think Chica and Foxy will wake up?"
There was an awkward silence between them both. Bonnie finally shrugged after a little bit, tilting his head downwards. "I don't know. Chica's pretty m-messed up, and I don't even know where Foxy is."
Freddy heaved another sigh. Laying on his back, he stared at the ceiling, frowning a bit. "I feel like something is going to happen."
"Me too."
Bonnie curled up against Freddy's chest fell asleep relatively quickly, leaving the bear to himself.
He felt himself become more depressed by the second as he thought about Chica and Foxy.
Author's Note:
Heya, guys! How are 'ya doin'? Good? I hope so!
I would've updated sooner, I haven't been doing too well myself. I'm sorry! I've been sick on and off, and I think Walmart scammed my mom out of $50. Also, I had this chapter almost finished, and it was much longer than this version. But guess what? Gmail deleted the entire thing last night. I had to start from scratch, ugh.
Anyways, I apologize for the short chapter! I promise chapter 9 will be longer, even if it's just by a bit. A lot of stuff is gonna happen, though! And I'll try my best to crank out chapter 9 by either Christmas Eve or Christmas!
I actually have some spinoffs planned, but it depends on how I finish this.
Big thanks to Chillaid for beta reading!
Also, a huge thanks to KudleyFan93, ChimeraNumber52, TheMeOfTheUniverse, Purest of the Hearts, shiro0408, Anon xxtoxicwolfxx, Unknown Forgotten Friend, MLPFan298, Dickchappy98, MCHaunter, The Ghost-Ninja Guy, LevitatingPiez, HetaliaFTW6811, Anon Pecabo2, Anon Jules, DeathClaw1787, Elysion Wish, Anon MissDarkRaven, Anon Kayla, Lolz, Jenny Lockhart, Anon Lmi, and Anon big banana for the reviews! Thank you so much!
Sorry, but I won't be answering any questions for the next few chapters!
Reviewer Spotlight: Today's reviewer spotlight goes to MCHaunter for for such a kind review. I'm touched that you actually care about me! So...well, thank you. You're too sweet! (I think I'll be fine, though! I'm just worried about my physical health.)
Song Spotlight: Today's song spotlight goes to "Bright Eyes", by Art Garfunkel! (Also from the Watership Down soundtrack~) It reminds me of Freddy's and Golden's relationship with each other, so. Go listen! It's a part of my childhood~
