A/N: Forget chapter 2! This ended up being 8k words long and it's been 3 months since I've last updated. I give up!

Hello one and all, I am finally back after 3 ye- months with chapter 3! At this point, I have accepted that these chapters will always take a few months to finish, so when I finish them, I finish them. I'm done estimating. So sorry for the long wait again on this chapter, though. Ik updates for this AU take ages now, but I promise you its because I want each and eveery chapter to turn out great for your reading pleasure! ^^

Before you start reading though, I'd like to mention a few Trigger Warnings: This chapter contains mentions of blood, gore and death! If you find any of these things mentioned triggering, please refrain from reading!

If you've read the trigger warning above and are still willing to proceed, I hope you enjoy this chapter and that it was worth the wait! Happy reading! ^^

Chapter 3:

Animatronic Retrieval

24 minutes later…

9:13 AM

At Freddy's

After chasing Susie down 4 blocks practically nonestop for almost 30 minutes, the six of us had all ended up arriving at Freddy's before we even knew it. Susie of course being the first one with her head start advantage.

As she casually waited for the rest of us to arrive in front of what was once known as Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria's main entrance, I ran up to her as fast as I could manage with my extremely low stamina along with the rest of the ghost kids following behind me.

I began to slow down my running pace and eventually stopped in my tracks as I approached her, panting heavily as I could feel myself starting to collapse due to how numb my legs were. The others also took a pause in rapid flying as they took a pause and hovered beside me.

"Susie.." I said completely out of breath as I bent down slightly and held onto to my knees tiredly with both my hands. "What the hell were you thinking..?" I hissed as I glared at her angrily.

Susie stared down at me with a brow raised as she crossed her arms. "I was thinking that I wanted all of us to get here as quickly as possible while enjoying my freedom!" Susie retorted with a proud smile as she placed a hand on her chest. "Took you guys long enough to get here." She hissed with an annoyed frown as she placed both her hands on her hips.

The five of us all stared back at her with a mixture of shock and confusion, but said nothing. "You know what.." I panted. "I'm too tired for this.. Just..give me a second to catch my breath..then we'll head inside.." I hung my head down exhaustedly as I continued to take in and out heavy breaths.

The ghost kids all nodded in agreement to my instructions as they scattered away and began to fly around and mingle amongst themselves to help kill some time, while also remaining close by. Except for Gabriel, who decided to stay by my side as he hovered a hand over my shoulder in an attempt to aid me.

Susie on the other hand was the oddball that decided to take a preview of their old home as she approached only inches away from the smeary glass entrance doors and began to peer inside.

She narrowed her with a mischievous smirk growing on her face as she placed both her hands over her eyes in the shape of binoculars. "Ooo! Whoo! Whoo!" She grinned to herself in a soft tone. "Can't wait to get this plan going." She whispered to herself enthusiastically.

"What plan?!" A familiar voice suddenly hissed behind her.

Susie's eyes widened as she quickly turned around to see that it was none other than Cassidy, giving her an irritated look with her arms folded. "Oh, hey Cassidy-" Susie beamed as she waved to her, but she immediately got cut off by Cassidy.

"Oh don't hey Cassidy me!" She interrupted sternly. "You almost got us exposed out here!" She stated spreading both her arms out.

"But, I didn't!" Susie smirked as she crossed her arms. "If anything you should be thanking me for single handedly running your 'tests' for you!" She cooed knowingly as she raised her right arm sassily and air coated upon saying 'tests'.

Cassidy rolled her eyes as she became a bit taken aback by her statement, refolding her arms in the process. "Yeah! Yeah! Yuck it up!" She grumbled. "But, I guess even I can admit that your crazy antics were found to be helpful for once." She stated, looking back at Susie with a calmer expression. "Given the amount of people we flew past earlier," She contemplated as she began to stroke her chin. "It's definitely safe for us to say now that no one else seems to be able to see us but Taylor.."

"HAHA! I KNEW IT!" Another voice suddenly sneered cockily out of nowhere behind Cassidy.

Cassidy and Susie both flinched upon hearing it with widened eyes as Cassidy turned around and Susie looked over to see that it was none other than Jeremy, who just 'happened' to be floating by and overheard their conversation.

"Should have let me explain my theory when you had the chance ladies!" He smirked with his arms crossed as he casually continued to float past the two backwards towards the left direction.

Cassidy glared at him livid with her body straightened stiff as she balled up both her fists. "Ugh, I said 'seems to be' for a reason you know!" She snarled back at him in annoyance as her eyes continued to follow his movement. "This doesn't make your crappy theory right, IDIOT!"

"You know it does~!" He boasted from the distance.

Cassidy growled at him as she watched with narrowed eyes as he flew away. Her body relaxed a bit from its tense position, but the grip she had on both of her fists only grew tighter by the second.

"Oh c'mon Cass, lighten up!" Susie beamed as she floated over to her. Cassidy only looked back at her with a tired expression as Susie stopped and hovered beside her.

"Didn't you see?" Susie asked excitedly, turning to the pigtailed girl as she raised both her lower arms up to her chest with both her fist balled up. "We went past like thirty people and and not a single one of them scream!" Her eyes practically sparkled as she spoke those words. "Now that is what I call freedom!" She smirked as she laid back relaxedly without a care in the world.

Cassidy turned away from her as she let out a heavy sigh. "You and Jeremy seriously give me a headache, you know.." She groaned.

It wasn't long after that before I was fully able to catch my breath and regain my composure. I raised myself back up and stood up straight as I let out one final breath with a hand placed on my chest.

Since I finally had enough energy to rejoin the others, I decided to approach Susie and Cassidy along with Gabriel still by side. "Well, since there literally doesn't seem to be any other explanation for all this," I said, immediately gaining the two's attention as they both broke out of their previous hovering positions and turned to me. "I guess it's safe to say that excluding William, I'm the only human that we know about that can see you guys."

"Hell yeah, you are!" Jeremy bragged from afar. The four of us only looked at him briefly with a mixture of different expressions. Gabriel and I confusedly, while Susie and Cassidy looked at him with an entertained smirk and an annoyed frown respectively.

"Yes, I was just having the same thought process a bit ago.." Cassidy replied, turning her attention back to me as she rubbed the bridge of her nose frustratedly and tried her best to suppress her irritation.

I myself then became a bit amused by Cassidy's reaction to his evident taunting as I asked her with a smirk, "Really? So, I'm guessing that you were discussing that thought progress with Jeremy earlier?" I pointed my left index finger towards him from the distance with my left arm in a forearm position to the side.

Susie couldn't help but snicker beside her as she lowered her arms tiredly. "No," She began as I lowered my left arm. "I was actually discussing my thoughts with Susie." She responded in a surprising calm tone as she folded her arms. "Jeremy just happened to overhear our conversation and decided to pipe in by boasting about his quote on quote 'theory' he was mentioning earlier." She rolled her eyes.

"Heh, I can only imagine how that must have gone." I chuckled underneath my breath, but my expression soon shifted to a more serious one as I decided to return my focus back to the main topic. "But it's all kind of strange, don't you think..? How come William and I are the only ones we know about so far that are able to see you guys. It's not like either one of us is anything special. We're just normal homo sapiens like every other human in the world. So it doesn't make much sense why there's only a select amount of people that can see spirits."

"It is indeed quite strange if this truly is the case." Cassidy replied as she placed her right hand on her chin. "But it is still possible for there to only be a small percentage of humans that can see us. Think about how you and William differ from other humans for instance." She explained as she put her right hand out to me. "Many people rumored for years now that the animatronics used in this very restaurant were haunted after our bodies were found inside of them serval months after our murder. But you two were the only two humans that we know about that have witnessed proof of that, and our existence."

Susie suddenly gasped upon hearing her explanation as she turned to her. "Are you saying that only the believers of the undead can see us!" She questioned shocked with hopeful, widened eyes and a large grin on her face.

Cassidy looked back at her with a concerned smile as she raised a brow at her. "N-Not..quite.." She stammered as she returned her attention back to me. "But it does play as a factor." She said.

"I mean, I guess that is true.." I stated. "But don't you think a hypothesis like that is a bit far-fetched..? Your reasoning makes a lot of sense, but it still leaves us with a lot of unanswerable questions too. As bizarre as all this has been for me the past year," I said as I circled my right palm at the two of them then lowered my arm. "At the end of the day, this is still real life. Not some crazy horror movie the six of us woke up in one morning out of the blue. And if my C- knowledge in science has taught me anything, it's that everything that happens in the real world has to have a logical explanation behind it. And that includes this."

"Well, there's no rush in figuring all this out." Gabriel chimed in with his arms crossed as he lowered his head slightly and shut his eyes. "I'm sure the answers we're looking for will all come to light eventually when the time is right." He lift head back up and opened his eyes once again as he continued, "For now, how about we return our focus back to the main task at hand. Which might I remind everyone is the entire reason why we came all the way here in the first place."

"Right!" I said as I hit my fist into my left palm. "To retrieve Golden Freddy. Are you guys ready to head inside?" I asked with a smile.

Cassidy's face lit up as she was about to reply, but suddenly stopped as her expression dropped, then shifted to an unsure one. "..Yes," She finally spoke hesitantly as she continued to look fixedly at something in the distance. "But I suggest that we head inside quickly."

The three of us raised a brow at her in confusion as she then pointed over to the same direction she was looking in. I turned around and immediately became shocked as I spotted that she was pointing over to a woman passing by with a baby stroller in front of her, giving me a weirded out look as she continued to stare at me.

After a few seconds of staring back at her stunned, I let out an awkward laugh. "Nice day we're having, huh?" I called to her with a nervous smile as I waved at her with my right hand.

She didn't respond to me as she shook her head away in contempt and continued on her way. Once she became out of sight seconds later, I lowered my hand mortified as my expression faltered into a relieved but troubled frown.

"Yeah, let's head inside quickly before people start to think I'm losing it..!" I agreed as I then turned around once again and began to walk over to the restaurant's doorway. "Jeremy! Fritz! Come on!" I yelled to get the two's attention as the rest of the ghost kids all followed me on my way.

As I approached it with all five of the ghost kids now floating above and beside me, I grabbed onto both handles and began to push on the doors to try and get them to open. They became a bit stiff after a few months of zero maintenance on the building ever since the restaurant closed, so it took me a moment of repeated pushing before I was able to get them to budge.

The second I did, both the doors flew open as I pushed them to the wall, revealing what was left inside of Freddy's last standing location. The six of us stared at the building's interior before us with widened eyes as I slowly lowered both my hands to my sides.

I walked in as the ghost kids all followed along at a constant speed that was on par with my walking pace. We were only able to make it so far inside upon entering however, before suddenly hearing a loud SLAM behind us as the entrance doors were no longer able to remain open.

The ghost kids and I instantly became startled by the sound as we all froze and flinched simultaneously out of fear the second it caught our ears. But none of us even dared to turn around as we all just let out a breath to try and regain our composure.

As we then proceeded to head further inside while entering the first party room, we began to look around at the old place inquisitively. I couldn't help but grow surprised as I continued to scan the area, beginning to recall many of the major changes I've noticed previously in the restaurant's interior. "Damn, I forgot how beaten up this place has gotten since it closed down." I commented.

Every since William's body was first found in storage room that morning inside of the Spring Bonnie suit, the entire restaurant became nothing but a s### show from there. When I first arrived back at the restaurant one week later after getting fired, I was shocked to find the entrance doors covered in caution tape practically everywhere from inside out.

Not the most surprising sight at a 'crime scene' I know, but it still managed to catch me off guard.

Along this, there was also a large, dark wooden, rectangular sign hung in a tilted position at the top of the right glass door that read in bold, white, painted letters, Closed.

This outcome was only one of many that resulted from the events of the week before, a week so chaotically hellish that it was basically equivalent to a night of getting wasted at a party or bar.

Disaster #1

July 17th, 1987

On Friday morning for starters, the moment word began to spread throughout the building that there was a dead body on the premises, naturally almost everyone there that day at the time started to freak out. Including the employees..

And because of the sudden commotion, all the costumes, their kids, the waiters, the cleaning staff, and most importantly, the cooks along with many others, began to scatter throughout the building in a panic. Leaving their tables, posts or whatever other room they were present in at the time in the process during the middle of opening hours.

With most of the stoves then left turned on unattended for a good few hours without anyone remembering or realizing, an uproar of fires started to spread throughout the building later that same day. Not to mention the huge gas tank explosion that occurred during all this due to the fire spreading to one of the gas tanks.

This currently left most of the building's rooms permanently charcoaled, but that wasn't even the worst of it.

Disaster #2

July 17th - 20th, 1987

Apparently due to the heat and smoke fumes from the fires as well, an entire infestation of termites that were unnoticeably living from within a crack in the Show Room's right ceiling corner came crawling from out of their nest and into the building.

This then caused most of the already worn out ceiling beams and wall structures from the fires to start collapsing by the end of the weekend.

Disasters #3

July 21st, 1987

Don't even get me started on how half the place became flooded out due to a bursting pipe accident caused by one of the exterminators on Tuesday afternoon.

Disasters #4

July 22nd, 1987

Or the constant power outages that were happening during the police's proceeded investigation on Wednesday morning due to the pervious pipe burst.

Thanks to both situations, the restaurant now had moldy flooring and zero electricity. And the list only goes so long from there that I could write an entire book about it.

The only reason I decided to find all this out was because of how frequently I used to sneak in and out of the building, wondering more and more every time I went how the hell things got so out of hand in the time span of a week.

After taking in the ghost kids and Puppet, every few days I would go over to Freddy's to grab some items they wanted me to get back for them. Like Puppet's present box for example..

Flashback #1

July 28th, 1987

Wasn't the funnest item to carry on my back through the street at 6:30 AM in the morning while my neighbors and bunch a of passersby's gave me weird looks, but it was worth it. At least not until Puppet asked me to go back to get her music box the moment I returned anyways..

Flashback #2

August 1st, 1987

Didn't know why Cassidy and Gabriel were so interested in taking a look at the old television and security tapes that were in Parts & Service, but I just hoped that they would use the hell out of them after I dragged them all on the tray cart down four blocks on foot.

Of course, I didn't just sneak in and out of the place to run errands alone. There was a lot of cool stuff at Freddy's that often caught my eye that I wanted to snag back for myself. Like the old telephone in the office or those sick posters they had plastered on the walls. I even got a hold of William's old ax, which was surprisingly still present within the storage room.

Flashback #3

August 19, 1987

I remember stumbling upon it one day when I decided to take a look inside of the room for the first time since the restaurant closed down, still lying in the same spot where William had dropped it 4 weeks ago at the time. On impulse, I then decided with a shrug to take it with me, because, why not. It was just sitting there after all. Plus, it was way better than the pair of sunglasses I originally came to get at the prize counter.

The ax ended up being a lot heavier than I anticipated when I first tried to pick it, so the only way I was able to get out of the storage room and bring it along with me was by dragging it out by the handle on the floor with both my hands and all the force I could muster.

On my way out with it, I ended up running into a slightly crisped Balloon Boy who was just standing in the shadows of the first party room a close distance from the entrance hallway. He began to let out his usual child-like laughter when I started to walk past him a few feet away, staring at me with a creepy smile that made me grow agitated.

I cautiously walked over to him as I slowly lifted up the ax with all my might and sliced his head off clean, permanently silencing his laughter. His decapitated body instantly fell to the floor as his head rolled away and disappeared into the darker shadows of the room.

I then immediately plopped the ax back down onto the floor as I proceeded to drag it over to the entrance doors and left the restaurant shortly after. As I did however, Balloon Boy's decapitated body began to glow as a surprised little ghost boy with a balloon in hand suddenly emerged from it. He looked around the room with a confused expression for a moment, then smiled brightly with a giggle as he flew away, off to find a new adventure..

I took the ax with me home that day and snuck it into my bedroom past my Mom. The same place where it now remained leant against the right side of my closet as an addition to my bedroom's decor.

Long story short though, my frequent trips to the restaurant last summer and occasionally after, turned out to be very helpful regarding our current situation..

I was expecting at least one of the ghost kids to concur with my comment, but none of them responded to me as they all just exchanged hesitant looks to each other. I didn't think too much of their silence at the time however, as I just continued on my way walking while proceeding to look around.

While I was engrossed in doing so, the ghost kids began to slow down in their floating paces so they could all be a good one foot distance behind me to talk in private. Cassidy and Gabriel kept a close eye on me during the entire process, making sure I wasn't paying attention to the five of them before they took any further action.

Now continuing to keep her gaze fixed on me from afar, Cassidy slowly drew closer to Susie as she floated next to her. She then placed a slightly curved hand on the right of her face next to her mouth as she whispered to the deranged blonde in annoyance, "Alright genius, I convinced Taylor to bring us along here for you and gave you head start on this crazy 'plan' of yours," She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she air quoted upon saying 'plan'. "So what's your next move?"

Susie smiled at her calmly in return as she replied in a soft tone, "Patience my dear friend. I know exactly what I'm doing." She reassured her as she placed a hand on her chest. "I'll just wing it as I go along as usual." She stated as she lowered her hand and returned her attention back to the path before her, earning a look of unsurprised shock from Cassidy. "So all you pretty little cupcakes need to do is follow my lead, just as you did before!" A wide and confident smirk spread across her face as she shut her eyes in content and continued to float along without any further explanation.

"I give up.." Cassidy facepalmed tiredly as she turned her head away from her and proceeded to float along forward.

Fritz couldn't help but let out a small whine either as he said, "The last time you did that, you sang like a canary the moment Taylor saw right through us."

Gabriel, Jeremy and Cassidy all nodded in agreement, but Susie said nothing as she kept on her proud, composed expression.

Meanwhile as we then approached the hallway leading to the storage room, I stopped in my tracks as I turned around to face the others. "Well, if my memory serves me right." I began. "

Golden Freddy should still be in the storage room," I stated as I pointed a thumb over my right shoulder behind me. "In the same spot Cassidy had left it behind that night." I lowered my hand to my side as I then concluded with a smile, "So we should be out of here in no time! That is if Golden Freddy isn't too much work for me to transport, anyways.." I added with less enthusiasm than before.

I was then about to turn around and enter the hallway when Susie suddenly spoke, causing me to pause. "Aw, what a shame." She frowned sadly, placing a hand on her tilted head's left cheek as I turned to face her once again. "I was really hoping we could stay a little longer.." She said in an obviously fake disappointed tone.

Just as you'd expect however, It wasn't long before her 'frown' turned into a wide grin once more. "Welp," She beamed as she continued, lowering her hand in the process. "If we only have so much time left here, why not make the most of it!" She then floated over to Fritz in flash as she grabbed onto his left wrist, startling him by the sudden contact. "Fritz and I will go look around while you four crazy kids go find Golden Freddy." She stated, taking a look at all four of us individually interchangeably as she then returned her attention back to me solely. "Have fun!" With that said, she then dragged Fritz by the arm along with her as they both averted from the hallway to God knows where.

I stared at the two tiredly as they disappeared out of my sight. "Does she seriously think I'm buying any of this..?" Was all I could wonder in that moment.

The remaining three ghost kids on the other hand just watched as they both left with a mixture of irritation and absolutely no surprise.

"So they definitely went to go look for Mangle, right?" Cassidy whispered as she crossed her arms, speaking loud enough for only Gabriel and Jeremy to hear her.

"Yup!" Jeremy replied in a similar tone of voice as the three of them kept their gaze towards the dark distance before them.

"And I assume we're supposed to keep Taylor busy until they get back?" Gabriel added, in a similar tone of voice as Cassidy's as well.

"Indeed.." Cassidy concurred in a hushed, monotone voice.

"Well then fellow crazy kids," I spoke behind them with a smile as I approached them. Their eyes all widened at the sound of my voice as they quickly turned around to face me, myself stopping in my tracks before them as they did so. "Onward we go."

As the four of us then made our way down the hallway, Susie and Fritz had already made their way back deeper into the Show Room to begin their search..

"Susie will you let go of my wrist already!" Fritz cried, clenching his teeth as he continued to pull on his lower left arm with his other hand. A few seconds later after speaking however, he let out an audible grunt as he somehow managed to pull his wrist out of her tight grip.

This immediately caused Susie to turn around and face him with an annoyed expression as she placed both her hands on her hips in a sassy manner. "Jeez! whinny much?" She rolled her eyes. "I was just trying to help guide you."

Fritz, who was now holding onto his left wrist with care while it gradually recovered, gave her a shocked look as his mouth became agape. "I-I do NOT need GUIDANCE!" He snapped with a slight stammer in his voice as Susie turned back around with both her arms lowered and continued to float along. "I-I've been stuck here just as long as you have you know!" He argued as he proceeded to float behind her.

"Yeah, yeah! You possessed Foxy!" She hissed, turning her head slightly over her left shoulder with her eyes narrowed as she looked at him from behind. "The only way you can show a side of yourself that isn't such a crybaby!"

Fritz gasped in embarrassment as Susie turned her head back forward and returned her attention back to where she was going. "That's so mean!" He cried in a hurt tone on the verge of tears.

"Whatever, Captain Cries-A-Lot!" She rolled her eyes once more. "Let's just keep going until we find Mangle."

Fritz's eyes widened in surprise by her statement, finally realizing the reason behind her sudden action towards him. "Ohh, so that's why you dragged us away from the group.." He said as he narrowed his eyes at her tiredly. "Where do you even plan on looking for her anyways?" He questioned raising a brow. "I can guarantee you she won't be in Kids Cove."

"Who said anything about checking Kids Cove?" She counter questioned rhetorically with a smirk and a brow raised, looking to the side to try and get a glimpse of him from behind. "We're gonna go look for her in the security office!" She stated, averting her gaze back forward as she entered a dark, empty hallway that would lead to the room.

Fritz's expression instantly became shocked as he immediately floated over to her and grabbed her left wrist, causing her to stop. "No! She won't be anywhere near there or this part of the restaurant!" He explained with a mixture of seriousness and franticness in both his tone and expression as Susie turned around to face him. "And quite frankly, I don't think I want to be either.."

Fritz released his hold on her wrist and lowered his hand to his side as she raised a brow at him again, only this time in confusion. "Why not?" She questioned. "You both used to love coming around here to torture the security guards." She smiled as she put her right hand out to him. "RIGHT MANGLE-" She suddenly shouted loudly as she placed both her hands in a slightly curved position on her face next to her mouth on both ends, but Fritz quickly covered her mouth, silencing her almost instantly.

"Don't be do loud!" He hissed. "Taylor might hear you." He then removed his hand and lowered it to his side as he continued with an anxious expression. "And yes, that used to be true, but now.."

Fritz suddenly went quiet as he then floated past her and began to head further down the hallway. Susie quickly turned around with a surprised expression and followed him, until she caught up with him after he took a stop in front of the last room entrance on the right at the end of the hallway going straight.

She approached him seconds later and immediately froze beside him with widened eyes as she took a look at the sight before them. "Now we're both just too scared to be around here…" Fritz finally concluded with the same anxious expression still on his face as before.

Meanwhile Coincide:

9:40 AM

Around the same time, the rest of the ghost kids and I had already arrived at the storage room's entrance as we began to make our way inside. "Well, we made it." I said as I took my first few steps into the room, the rest of the ghost kids right behind me.

Upon entering however, the room's fallen entrance door, which was placed to lean on the wall at the left of the room an inch or two away from the left corner by someone, suddenly slid down to the floor at a rapid rate and collapsed.

A loud CRASH emitted throughout the room as it did, giving the four of us another fright as we all froze and flinched in fear simultaneously the moment the sound caught our ears. We instantly turned our heads to the left of the room and spotted the now once again fallen door on the floor.

"Yup! This place is just as dandy as I remember it." I stated sarcastically as we all quickly began to regain our composure once again.

I then turned my head back forward to start heading further inside, but I was only able to take two steps before pausing as my nose immediately caught a whiff of the room's atrocious scent. "Eck!" I couldn't help but gag as my tongue draped over my bottom lip. "And so is the scent!" I said with a scrunched up expression as I pinched my nose shut.

That's when my gaze fell upon the middle of the back of the room where William's dead body once sat. Ever since I first took a look inside of the storage room since the restaurant closed down, I was peeking through the slanted rows of caution tape blocking the entrance, which I took the liberty of removing later on, when I discovered that Spring Bonnie suit that William's body reconciled in was no longer inside of the room.

The only trace of his body that was left inside were the dry splotches of blood that now permanently decorate both the wall and floor, along with the white chalk outline of the position he died that surrounded them.

I never knew at the time what had happened to his body or where it was even taken after it was found. I could only assume that it was likely removed from the building for cremation somewhere else while the suit was disposed of. At least, that's what anyone would think…

After a moment of just staring at the area as the sound of William's agonizing screams from that night ran through my mind, I snapped out of thought with a quick shake of my head with my eyes shut as I lowered my hand from my nose.

I then averted my gaze from it as I turned around and looked over at the doorway. As I expected, Golden Freddy was still sitting beside it on my left in the same spot and same condition as it was left in. "Perfect!" I beamed with a hand clap, grabbing the rest of the ghost kids' attention while they were looking around as I began to walk over to the suit.

The three of them followed me to it as I approached the suit seconds later. "I told you guys that Golden Freddy should still be in here!" I said as I took a stop in front of it.

Gabriel and Jeremy both joined me as they hovered a few inches apart from me beside me while hovering directly next to each other. Cassidy on the other hand, who was following from behind the two, flew straight inside of Golden Freddy excitedly a second later and possessed the suit once again.

Two small, white glowing specks then formed in the suit's eyes as she let out a contented, "Ah," while settling inside. "Home sweet home!" She cooed in a relaxed tone as the glowing specks both slowly disappeared.

"Well, now that we've found it, any ideas on how I'm gonna lug this thing across town?" I question crossing my arms as I looked over at Gabriel and Jeremy.

The two both looked back at me as Gabriel placed a hand out to me and suggested, "Perhaps a wagon could help make its transportation easier." Jeremy nodded in agreement with a smile.

"Hmm, I guess that could work," I responded as I began to slowly stroke my chin with my right hand and looked down at the floor in thought. "But where the hell am I going to get a wagon from?" I asked as I lowered my hand from my chin and looked back up at the two.

Before either one of them could answer however, Cassidy suddenly emerged from Golden Freddy with a pensive expression on her face as she stroked her chin just as I was a second ago and hovered over the suit's head.

"Why don't you go and check for one at the old prize counter in the game area." She finally spoke, lowering her hand from her chin as looked up at me. The three of us all turned to face her with neutral expressions the moment we heard her voice. "I'm sure there's bound to be one there."

I looked at her with a discombobulated expression. "Are you sure?" I inquired, raising a brow at her. "I don't recall ever seeing any as sold prizes there."

"Yeah well, you never know what prizes the employees used to stash under the counter for themselves." She rebutted, placing a hand on her right hip.

While I argued against her accusation, Gabriel turned over to Jeremy with a mixture of seriousness and irritation on his face as he placed a slightly curved right hand on his face next to his mouth and whispered to him, "What's taking Susie and Fritz so long to return?"

Jeremy quickly turned to face him as he mimicked his hand gesture and whispered back, "I don't know," as the two then started their own conversation while Cassidy and I continued to debate. "But we definitely gotta buy them both some more time."

"And more time for what exactly?" Gabriel hissed in a hushed tone. "They went to go find Mangle, we know that much." He explained. "But what's next? We all know that Susie hardly even knows what she's doing!"

"And no one knows that better than the four of us right now!" Jeremy quietly agreed in a calm tone. "But for Fritz's sake, the least we can do is to try and aid this crazy plan," He couldn't help but roll his eyes tiredly. "Of Susie's when we can. This is really important to him, and Susie has made it very clear at this point that we can't depend on her solely. If she doesn't have any bright ideas on what to do next by the time they get back, then the five of us we'll just have to figure something out together."

"Fine then!" Gabriel relaxed as he shut his eyes for a brief moment. "So what do you intend we do to keep Taylor busy a little longer. Her current ongoing conversation with Cassidy seems to be working for now," He said as he took a quick look at us, then back at Jeremy. "But it won't be long before this drives her to go over to the game area, which we cannot allow to happen."

"Don't worry about it!" Jeremy reassured him with a smile. "I know the perfect way to keep her busy here." He smirked mischievously. He then lowered his hand from his face as he turned to me with an innocent smile and yelled. "Hey Taylor!"

Cassidy and I both grew silent as we turned our heads towards his direction and looked up to see him approaching us, Gabriel right behind him with a brow raised. Jeremy then took a stop in his floating in front of us as he turned to me once more, while Gabriel just looked at him with the same expression on his face as he joined him by hovering next to him on the right.

"Can I see your bow for a second?" Jeremy asked me as he pointed a finger at it.

My expression instantly became puzzled as I looked down at my bow still pinned to my shirt for a second, then back up at him. "Uhh, why?" I questioned a bit confused.

"I just want to take a look at it!" He persisted. "Pretty please?" He begged as he intertwined both his hands together and lifted them up to his chest.

"Uh, ok then.. Sure." I hesitantly agreed to his request, even more confused than I was before regarding his sudden interest in it. I then looked down at the bow once again as I unpinned it from my shirt and held it out to him in my left hand fingers' grasp so he could see it like he wanted.

Jeremy began to observe it happily while lowering both his hands to his side as Cassidy gave him a similar baffled look with a brow raised from the distance as Gabriel was. After a moment of observing it however, he looked up from it and gasped suddenly as his eyes widened upon noticing something in the distance before him.

Naturally, Gabriel, Cassidy and I all became alarmed by his unexpected change in expression. "What is it!" I quickly spun around in a panic to see who or what may have been encountering us. As I did so however, the jerk of my body caused my bow to slip out of my grasp, sending it flying straight into Golden Freddy's partly open mouth next to me a few inches away.

I didn't notice immediately at first as I was looking at the sight before me along with the rest of the ghost kids, swiftly becoming bewildered, excluding Jeremy, as nothing out of the ordinary caught our attention.

That's when we all heard a THUD come from inside of Golden Freddy, startling us. The four of us instantly turned over to the suit and looked at it with a mixture of different expressions, myself with the same bewildered expression I had on my face previously as I wondered what the hell could have caused that sound to emit from inside of it.

I tried grasping onto my bow in my left hand as I drew my fingers into my palm to secure it in my hold while I continued to think to myself. Obviously, I didn't feel anything in my light grip as I quickly raised my left hand up to the front of my chest with widened eyes and looked down at it to see that it was empty.

I then shifted my gaze back over to Golden Freddy horrified as I finally realized that the THUD had come from the bow when it landed inside of the suit.

My expression however, immediately shifted to irritated one as I slowly lowered my hand and turned around to face a now nervously smiling Jeremy, who had also come to the same realization as I did along with Cassidy and Gabriel, with an angered glare.

"Hehe, whoops.." Jeremy chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess I just misinterpreted what I saw and let my imagination get the better of me, hehe. S-Sorry about that, Taylor.." He apologized with a stutter in his voice.

I let out a heavy sigh as I closed my eyes for a brief moment to try and calm myself down. "It's fine!" I replied tiredly as I rolled my eyes. "Just don't scare us like that again." I then turned back around as I walked closer over to Golden Freddy and crouched before it on one knee.

"Just great," I complained as I grabbed onto Golden Freddy's upper and lower jaw with my left and right hand respectively, both my hands halfway inside of its mouth. "Now I have to go get this thing out myself." I stated as I pulled its jaws open wider so I could see inside of it.

I then drew my face closer to the gap in between both jaws as I began to look inside of the suit for my bow. But as soon as I did, I immediately got a whiff of its bad odor. "Eck!" I instantly gagged once again with my tongue draping over my bottom lip as I couldn't help but turn my head away from Golden Freddy in disgust. "I keep forgetting how bad everything smells here." I scrunched up my face.

I quickly however sucked up my repugnance as I slowly grew closer to the suit once again and carefully reached my right arm inside after placing it back in its proper, closed position. I kept my head turned away from it as I did so with a grossed out expression on my face as I then gingerly rested Golden Freddy's upper jaw on top of my right arm once it was far enough inside.

As I then began to feel around inside of it for my bow, Gabriel gave Jeremy an annoyed look as he narrowed his eyes at him. "Really?" He questioned as he turned to him with his arms crossed. "That was the perfect way to keep her busy here?"

"Hey, at least it worked!" Jeremy turned to face him with a confident smirk as he crossed his own arms as well.

I kept feeling around for the bow inside of the Golden Freddy in every single empty space and on every single spring lock I could reach and touch, but no matter where I looked inside in that range, I had no luck finding it.

I figured that it likely must have landed at the bottom of the suit as I took a pause in my searching, but there was just no physical way that my arm could reach any further inside to get it out. "Ugh!" I groaned as I turned my head to face Golden Freddy once more. "This damn thing just had to fall somewhere that I can't reach!" I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I spoke that sentence. "Guess I'll just have to find another way to get it out." I sighed.

As I then delicately began to pull my right arm out of the suit's interior however, I suddenly couldn't draw it out any further than up to half of my upper arm. I instantly froze at this instance with widened eyes as I looked down at my right arm blankly in confusion. It was as if something was preventing my arm from coming out.

I tried pulling it back once again with more force than before when I felt something tug at my shirt's sleeve as I did. I didn't exactly know what it was at the time, but my shirt sleeve had definitely gotten hooked into something inside of Golden Freddy.

I decided to keep pulling my arm back as much as I could to try and get it out, hoping that the sleeve's fabric would tear or somehow release, but it just wouldn't budge.

Cassidy was the first one to notice what I was suddenly doing as she immediately flew down to me in alarm. "Hey, Is everything ok, Taylor ?" She asked worriedly as she halted next me to my right,

I shook my head and replied, "No!" As I continued to struggle pulling. "My stupid shirt sleeve got caught into something inside of the suit and I can't get my arm out!" I grunted.

I tried not to show it, but I was becoming a bit panicked at the point as I began to pull my arm back harder and more roughly by each passing second. My continuous harsh movements had then caused Golden Freddy to start shaking as its mouth briefly flapped open with every violent pull of my arm that I made.

The suit only proceeded to shake more and more vigorously as the force of my pulls increased. Even its mouth began to flap open wider and faster by the second, until it suddenly flew open so wide, it could practically sink into my flesh the moment gravity kicked back in.

I didn't even notice the frightening sight before me until I suddenly heard Cassidy gasp and yell out to me, "Taylor!" I immediately turned my head to face her alarmed expression startled as she quickly pointed over to Golden Freddy's upper jaw and warned me in a frantic tone. "Watch out!"

I instantly turned my head back around towards the direction she was pointing in and froze with a gasp as my eyes widened in horror. The suit's mouth was already flapping back shut once more as it was now only inches away from closing the gap between itself and my right arm in a matter of seconds.

I screamed loudly in trepidation as I shut my eyes tightly, preparing for the moment of excruciating pain that was about to surge throughout my body. But instead of getting my arm crushed in that moment, something else entirely ended up being the outcome…

As Golden Freddy's large, metal teeth sunk into my arm, I felt a strange tingle arising within my body instead of pain. My head then suddenly shot up in the air on its own as my eyes instantly flew open wide once again.

My vision was completely blank for a second, then hazy, as I had no conscious awareness of what was abruptly happening. Before I knew it, I began to collapse backwards onto the ground as everything slowly began to go dark…

To be continued…

A/N: And with that, we are finally diving into the main plot! :D Thank you all so much for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! I bet you're all dying to know what happens next after that ending, but unfortunately if I'm being quite honest, I'm not exactly sure when I'll start working on chapter 4 since I've been busy with other things I wanna get done first. Hopefully however, I get by to start writing it before the end of the month (maybe even sooner than that knowing myself lol) so I can try and get done for you guys as soon as I can in the future! ^^

Also, while you're waiting for the next chapter, since chapter updates take a while these days, I've decided to start posting updates for this AU (fr this this time) among other things on my instagram account, ScienceGal_YT! Feel free to check it out if you'd like for chapter 4 updates and wips when I begin working on it on my insta story! ^^

Anyways, have a great weekend as well a wonder rest of your summer and I'll see you guys in the next chapter! :D