"What on earth were you thinking?" I lay, face down on the stage, listening intently to the voices in the other room. "I gave you very specific rules. Don't approach the guard. So, the first thing you do is to attack him?" The Puppet's voice grew louder with each word. I sat up and put a hand on my forehead. I had, at most, fifteen minutes before he came in and gave me an even bigger piece of his mind. They weren't supposed to approach him, but I wasn't even supposed to be seen. Definitely screwed up that one.

"We didn't attack him." Chica said, her voice on the edge of tears. "We just wanted to get a closer look."

"I don't want to hear excuses. No matter what you though you were doing, it only matters what the guard thinks you did. And I don't think he took the time to think about your motives."

"I'm sorry." Chica broke into tearless sobs. I'd had enough.

I left the Cove, headed for the front stage. The Puppet and Freddy were standing side by side on the stage, looking down at Chica, curled into a ball and sobbing into her knees. Bonnie sat motionless at the back of the stage. The only indication of consciousness was the gaze shifting uncomfortably.

"I don't want to have to yell-"

"Then don't." The Puppet turned to look at me. I walked nonchalantly, my hand and hook pressed against the nape of my neck. "Give her a break."

"You're in no position to talk here, Foxy. I'll deal with you shortly."

"No, you're going to deal with me now." Taking a running start, I leaped up to the stage. "Before you deal with her."

The Puppet shook his head. "You don't understand. This is for your own good."

"You seem to be saying that a lot lately. Take a look at her." I outstretched a hand, palm up, toward Chica. "You've reduced her to tears. How exactly is that for her own good?" I could feel heat building in my chest.

"Because," the Puppet said, taking a long stride toward me. "That guard has power over all of you. You may not realize it, but he has the power to shut this place down, if he wanted to." Chica sniffled, looking up her two persecutors.

"What do you mean?" I asked, taking up a position in front of Chica.

"If that guard reports unusual activity, such as attacking animatronics, or, heaven forbid, a shut down animatronic roaming the halls, then they shut this place down."

"You think someone will believe him?" I asked.

"Why not." The puppet's emotionless eye sockets locked on me. "They all know that you tried to kill a man before." An awkward silence filled the room. I stepped back and lowered my gaze, forgetting my challenge to the Puppet. With a start, he realized what he'd said. "Foxy . . . I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Just shut the hell up!" All eyes in the room, even Bonnie, turned to stare at the small chicken on the stage. Chica pushed herself up to her feet. "Just because you brought us here doesn't mean you get to push us around like this." Chica pushed past me, advancing on the Puppet. With fearful trembling, he staggered backward, but Chica kept with him, waving her arms madly. "You haven't explained a damned thing to us, and you expect us to just go along with whatever you say. Why should we trust you? Why are you keeping us in the dark?" Chica stalled her advance at the edge of the stage. "What are we to you? Pets? Friends? A damned entertainment show for you? What is your problem?" Another, even longer gap of silence, filled only with the sound of Chica, panting in anger.

"Wow." Freddy remarked, raising an eyebrow.

With a look of pure terror, Chica realized what she'd done. She back pedaled fearfully, tripping over her own feet. I broke through my shock and lunged forward, grabbing her before she could hit the ground.

"What was that?" I asked incredulously.

"I don't . . . I . . ." She stammered.

I looked expectantly at the Puppet. He'd recovered his calm state, with his hands folded behind his back. "Very well." The Puppet said calmly. "I think we may both have overreacted."

"You think?" Freddy asked.

The Puppet cast a glance in his direction. Freddy raised his hands in surrender. "I promise that I have only the best intentions for all of you. It's my job to keep you all safe. I need you to understand that. You are all my family now, and I have to protect you until you're able to protect yourself. That was why I gave you those rules."

"I know." Chica added, her head hung low. "I'm sorry for that."

"Well, how about one big group hug?" Freddy asked sarcastically.

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"Well. The morning shift should be here momentarily. Foxy and I must take or leave now." The puppet headed for the shadows in the corner of the stage. I headed for the end of of the stage and back to the Cove. "I do care for all of you. Please be safe." The Puppet finished before vanishing.

Back in the Cove, I climbed up to my stage. I brushed a tuft of hair out of my eyes with my hook, while my hand took the pocket watch in my back pocket. Seven. Someone seemed to be running late. In the corner of the watch's glass, I saw a flash of yellow.

"Hey." Chica said, ducking under the curtain. "Do you have a second to talk?"

"Yeah, but do you?" I asked, hopping up onto the end of the stage. "Isn't the place going to open soon?"

"We've still got about an hour. We're still allowed to roam free until the first customer arrives." She took her seat next to me.

"Well, what's up?" I asked, leaning back.

"I feel kind of bad." She leaned back, but kept herself propped up on her elbows.

"Let me guess. The Puppet?"

"No, for you." She kicked out her legs. "Cooped up here all day, nothing to do. Even at night."

"It's not as bad as it sounds." I said, waving her off.

"It's still unfair."

I shrugged her off. "I don't really care. It really isn't that bad."

"Why are you stuck back here?" She asked.

I frowned, though I'm not sure it reflected in my appearance. "The Puppet told me that I attacked a man. That's why I was shut down."

"You attacked a man?" Chica exclaimed. A part of me expected her to back away slowly, but she didn't. Instead, she turned onto her side and stared at me. "Why?"

"I couldn't say. I . . . I don't remember." I lied.

"You don't remember? Or you never did? Did Foxy attack him?" She asked skeptically.

"I am Foxy." I shrugged.

"You weren't always, though." She put a hand on my arm. "I know we were human before. I can't explain how I know, but I know it."

I sighed. "Yeah. We were . . ." I trailed off.

"Yeah?" Chica asked, waiting for me to finish the thought.

"What if . . . What if we were killed?" I finally whispered.

"Makes sense." Chica thought out loud. "I keep seeing these images in my head. Like watching a badly edited movie. The scenes are blurred, but I could make out the voice of a little girl, screaming. What if that was me? Has anything like that happened to you?"

"No." I shook my head. "I knew I was human before, but I don't know what happened. The only theory I have is that the animatronics killed us."

"The anima . . . You mean us?" Chica shot up.

"Think about it. Something linked us to this place, otherwise we wouldn't be here, right?" Chica nodded absently, running over the facts in her mind. "And, I know Foxy has attacked people before, but . . . Do you think he killed us? Did I kill us?"

Chica didn't answer right away. She lay back down on the stage, analyzing her thoughts. "I don't think so."

"What makes you say that. He nearly killed a man. And that's only that I know of. He's able to kill."

"Whether your body killed us before or not, it doesn't matter." She put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to face her. "You're not the same person you were before. Maybe the Foxy animatronic killed us, maybe it didn't but one thing is absolutely sure. You didn't kill us."

I closed my eyes and hung my head. "But-" Chica threw her arms around me, interrupting my thought. "What?"

"You didn't kill us? Okay? You couldn't have." To my surprise, her voice sounded on the edge of tears. "Tell me that you didn't do it."

For the first time since I'd woken up here, I felt a bead of warmth inside. "Alright, Chica. I didn't do it." She let go of me. She had a smile on her face. "But something did. I know that much. There's so many things I just can't figure out. So many missing pieces."

"You could ask the Puppet?" She suggested.

I shook my head. "He refuses to give me a straight answer. Foxy and Bonnie probably wouldn't know too much either." I thought back to the previous night, Bonnie outside the Cove.

"So how are you going to figure it out?"

"I can only think of one other person who might know."

"Who?"

I reconsidered for a moment, but I couldn't see any other options. "I'm going to have a little talk with the Night Guard."