The Lullaby
Chapter Two
It didn't take more than a few minutes to drive to Fritz's home. The technician had a nice enough house from what Mike had seen when he had visited once or twice. It was a single floor home but had a fully furnished basement that very much replaced the lack of a second floor. It would certainly be big enough to fit guests. Mike pulled up outside of the closed garage and turned off the car.
"So… I didn't bring my jacket or anything to cover you up with and the porch light's on, so for about a minute or two- depending how long it take Fritz to sulk to the door- you might be in plain sight," Mike forewarned the animatronic. "You want to wait in the car or come up with me?" The hands tightened on his arm in an answer.
"At this point, I don't care if I'm seen…" Marionette murmured. Though then he gave a thoughtful hum and his tone lightened. "…Though I should warn you that if I'm stared at by complete strangers I have a tendency to freeze up."
"Good thing that Fritz isn't a stranger," Mike cheekily added. He then started to get out of the car, with Marionette fluidly following him out. He kept a firm grasp on Mike's arm and looked around in paranoia.
Thankfully, Fritz lived in a neighborhood where the houses were spaced apart a little more than the typical suburb. There were also plenty of trees planted around the neighboring homes. They were short and not too thick, but perhaps helped in shielding him. Alas, they also blocked the view from the black bear, which could be anywhere. His paranoia was strong even as Mike knocked on the front door. When Fritz didn't come fast enough, he knocked louder, then nearly started braying down the door in the hopes that the other would wake. Eventually, he heard hurried footsteps from the back.
"Hold on, I'm coming!" the man called from inside. He then opened the front door with an exhausted look and a, "Mike, what-?" He then did a double take, stared at the animatronic currently standing alongside Mike, and got a deer in headlights look. Mike knew he was going to shut the door and jammed his foot forwards to catch his shoe in the door.
"Oh no, you're not," Mike remarked. He nearly pushed his way in and allowed the Puppet past before slamming and locking the door. "Before you say anything, there is a rabid, one-eyed black bear that broke into my apartment, broke my car window, and is probably right now prowling the streets looking for us. We have nowhere else to turn to. You are the last chance we've got."
Fritz looked between the two, still looking equally unnerved, and then cautiously asked. "Shouldn't you call animal control about that?"
Mike ran a hand down his tired face. "No, Fritz, it's an animatronic black bear. It broke down our door." The technician's eyes widened, and the security guard's tone grew quieter in desperation.
"Look, I'm pretty sure I know what happened between you and him a couple of years ago," Mike remarked as he pointed to Fritz and the back at the Puppet. "But we have to put that behind us. This is a crisis." The two exchanged a look. Fritz was obviously uneasy about the animatronic sent him, and the flat default smile it used to cover up actual emotions, but he continued listening. Maybe it was because Mike was always so honest and seldom fooled.
It was then that the Puppet tugged at Mike's arm to draw him closer. He leaned in beside him and spoke quietly enough that the technician couldn't hear. In any case, Mike could barely hear it.
"You can tell him everything, Mike," Marionette whispered. "I'd rather he know what the beartrap did to me than us being sent out there again." Mike almost cringed at that, though did briefly grit his teeth, exhaled, and looked to Fritz.
"Look, let's just… Get out of the entranceway, and I'll explain the whole deal with this bear… Maybe I could sit down and get a glass of water or something?" the security guard asked.
"Uh… Yeah, sure. This way." Fritz stiffly led them down the short hall to the living room, which was connected to the dining room and had its back to the kitchen. Both Mike and Marionette focused quickly on the large windows that stared into the darkened space behind the house. Mike still made the motion to sit down on the couch and tugged the Puppet down beside him.
"It's okay. It's still probably halfway across town," the man assured his companion. The animatronic was hesitant, but also weary, and sunk into the sofa alongside him. Fritz returned shortly and handed over the water. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it. So… What is this with this black bear?" he asked as he sat down in chair that matched the couch. He watched them intently, either out of interest or dread.
"Ugh, where do I even begin?... I guess, at the beginning. Or the beginning that I know of," Mike remarked as he glanced to the Puppet. Marionette gave an encouraging nod. "Right before I was let go someone brought in this recolored Freddy into the pizzeria. I'm guessing it used music to coax him in and then tried to trap him inside of it. It was when he was escaping that trap that he got injured. Tonight, the bear popped up at our place and broke down the front door." Still looking at Fritz with cold determination, Mike reached to the side to take the Puppet's wrist in a reassuring hold. "We can't let that bear get Marionette."
Fritz was staring with wide eyes. He slowly raised a hand to cough into, clearing his throat. "No, I… Look, everything in the past set aside, that frankly sounds horrifying… But it makes sense." Mike raised a brow questioningly. "I mean, we knew that something must have crushed… Him? Him, okay. Him. Something must have crushed him, but we didn't know what. Though now that this came out I kind of wish it was just a bad boxing incident."
"Now that the bear trashed my car, yeah, I would've preferred a packing malfunction too," Mike pointed out. He then hesitated a moment before looking confused. "You're still working over there. You see anything about a black bear?"
"No. I don't even work at Freddy's anymore. I'm holding some stuff for them, but I've been taken off the payroll… Sorry I can't be any more help. Believe me, I wouldn't cover for Freddy's now. You know they skipped out on my last paycheck?" While Fritz was aghast at this, Mike was pretty much unsurprised by it. "But I wasn't the one who packed up and shipped off the old animatronics. I don't know who they had to do that or where they went, but there wasn't a black bear… Nobody was asking about him either, but I didn't even know he was there."
It almost felt like they were at a dead end. Mike was hoping that there would be some sort of answer to the black bear or a quick fix that they could use to stop it. Elsewise, it could very well come after them again.
"You look terrible," Fritz said as he looked over the night guard.
"Gee, thanks. As though I didn't feel bad enough without thinking of how I looked," Mike muttered as he sipped more water.
"What I meant is that you really need to get some rest. Probably him too, if slumping over like a ragdoll is any indication," Fritz pointed out. Mike looked at Marionette beside him and could see that the animatronic was nearly collapsed against him. The human exhaled slowly while the technician stood from his seat. "You can stay here as long as you need to. The guest rooms are right downstairs, here." He then headed towards the stairs and headed down into the lower floor to make sure everything was ready in the rooms.
Meanwhile, Mike lightly nudged the Puppet, who raised his head slowly. It was now clear that it wasn't tiredness, but dread that was causing him to slump. "Hey, let's try to get some sleep while we can," he suggested. The animatronic nodded in agreement and rose from the couch. Before Mike could stand, Marionette slid his own hand easily into his. Mike looked up in confusion and the Puppet, who looked exhausted, glanced down at him out of the corner of his eye.
"Stay close to me. The worst mistake we can make is getting lured into a false sense of security," he quietly warned. It was a somber reminder about their situation and Mike nodded in agreement. He then stood and followed along behind to the stairwell. The Puppet hurried to float down them and kept watching and listening carefully.
The lower level didn't look like one would expect a basement to look. It was furnished nicely, with even a small kitchenette at the bottom of the steps and a hallway leading down to what looked like another living room. It was there when they ran back into Fritz, who was stepping out of one of the guest rooms.
"Alright, so I've got two rooms. Neither have windows, so if the bear comes back-…" He hesitated to glance down at their conjoined hands. It was clear that he was thinking something, and Mike had a feeling that whatever it was would probably be uncomfortable if questioned. Yet he stood through it as Fritz raised a brow questioningly, looked back to him, and then surprisingly let it go. "So, if the bear comes back it won't be able to break in."
"Thanks for this. I know the last thing you wanted was to get dragged into this in the middle of the night, but I appreciate it," Mike honestly thanked. His relief came through clear and his pride all but fizzled out.
"Don't mention it," Fritz answered with a slight smile. He then headed by towards the stairs. "Now I'm going to try and get some sleep, fail miserably, and spend the rest of the night staring outside looking for Freddy Fazbear's violent cousin." Soon the technician was heading up the steps, probably to retreat from the situation entirely. The security guard waiting until he was gone before speaking.
"Come on," he coaxed with a small tug and led Marionette into the furthest bedroom with him. "I'm not letting you out of my sight just yet." Even though still on edge, Marionette couldn't help but give a low warble.
The guest room was rather self-explanatory. There was a bed topped with a checkerboard printed comforter. There was a nightstand with nothing on it, not even a lamp, and a small modern-looking wardrobe to replace a closet. It was still larger than Mike's own bedroom, but it was also emptier, and was lacking most character. It didn't help that the picture on the wall were muted watercolors showing rainy images of city streets; the dreariness seemed uncomfortably appropriate considering the evening that they were having. The salt in the wound was when Mike sat down and realized immediately that the bed was more comfortable than his own.
"Which of us takes the first shift?" he joked as he laid back across the bed. Or it was almost a joke, but he had feeling that they would be staying awake most of the night keeping guard in case the bear returned. He looked towards Marionette, who was now sitting between the pillows with his back against the headboard. His legs were drawn to his chest and his arms crossed around them. Mike changed tactics and assured him, "We'll be fine now. We don't have too much longer before morning and then we'll be on the right track… Or at least, we'll sleep pretty well."
For a little while they sat there in silence. Mike was too alert to sleep, so he just stared at the ceiling fan as he allowed his body to rest from its adrenalin high. Then the Puppet looked to him again. He relaxed his grip on himself and watched the human with growing curiosity. There were some questions that he never asked him. Usually to not dredge up bad memories, but by now they had surely surfaced on their own.
"Mike… Why did you start working at Freddy's?" Marionette asked. A strange sort of look briefly passed Mike's face. It almost looked somber or perhaps just too stern for his usual demeanor. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"No, that's okay. It's a good question. Why would someone willingly go back to Freddy's over and over again?" Mike asked vaguely. He looked over towards the animatronic who was still watching him with a slight tilt of the head. "I kind of got stuck with it. I lost my parents in a car accident when I was just a kid and moved from relative to relative for a long while. I left as soon as I could to strike out on my own. It was great to be on my own at first, but it didn't take long before I was pretty much broke. I needed a second job and Freddy's was the only place that would fit with my day job. So, I took the job."
"I'm sorry for your loss. You've been through so much more than I realized with how well you have yourself together," Marionette sympathized. Mike wasn't sure if he agreed. Sure, it had been rough, but he always considered himself lucky to make it back on his feet. "And working with the animatronics? You never seemed afraid of me. I think we can both tell that Fritz still is." This roused a light chuckle.
"After working at Freddy's this long, it's hard to get spooked. Especially since you're not exactly scary," Mike playfully teased with a flash of a smile. "I'm pretty sure they hated me, but I kept coming back, and every night I was bullfighting for a paycheck. Occasionally I was fired and like clockwork they'd call me back in when they couldn't get a replacement. I don't think they wanted me to figure out about some of their secrets: the missing children, the Bite of 87, whatever happened to the Phone Guy… It didn't take long to start connecting the dots. I should've been scared off then, but I was almost in too deep."
"I certainly know that feeling," Marionette remarked with a chime of amusement. "Freddy's has a way of trapping people in and refusing to let them go."
"That's a serious understatement." Mike now realized that he knew very little of the Puppet sitting beside him. He knew his personality, he knew his likes and dislikes, and plenty of things about him, but little about his life before they met, and absolutely nothing about his life as a human. "What about you? How did you get stuck into Freddy's? You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."
"No, I would like to tell you. Especially now that you told me about you. I should return the favor," he insisted. Meanwhile, Mike pulled up onto his side so that he could watch him. His unquenchable thirst for the secrets of Freddy's reared its ugly head and he tried to force it back as he watched attentively. "I spent most of my childhood in Freddy's and I absolutely hated the place. Already back then there were rumors and… Suspicious circumstances. I'll leave it at that." He managed to keep a light tone regardless of the dark subject matter he began to unveil.
"I was a terribly miserable child. I was scared of everything, I cried all the time, and I had few friends. All I wanted was to stay away from Freddy's, but my father worked there, so I spent most of my days- and all my birthdays- staring at a clunky old Fredbear animatronic. You think Freddy was cumbersome and unnerving? You should have seen Fredbear! Twice the size, dozens of springlocks, and his teeth- believe me, the teeth were unbearable."
"That was one hell of a time to add in a pun," Mike pointed out in amusement. Marionette chimed lower in amusement. "I don't want to make this weird, but how did you…?" He rolled his wrist to try and make a gesture to replace the awkward words that he didn't want to say. The Puppet caught on and was slightly amused. It was a dark amusement and usually he would discuss it, but Mike had been so honest that he decided to continue.
"The animatronics used to be left unattended during the day. This meant that children could easily get too close. Accidents could happen." Mike's brows furrowed as he noticed the familiarity. "You mentioned the Bite of 87?"
Slowly, Mike's eyes widened, and he straightened more in shock. "Wait a minute, you're saying that you-."
"I'm not sure where the rumor that it was Foxy came from," Marionette off-handedly remarked. "His involvement would've been minimal."
"God, that makes that bear pun so much worse," Mike blurted out before thinking. Then he thought about it for a moment. "But I thought the bite wasn't fatal."
"It wasn't fatal… At first. It took a few days. No longer than a week, I suppose. I can't say, because I don't remember it." Marionette gave a slight shrug. "But alas, that is my tragic tale. My cross to bear, if you would. I don't think about that anymore… Or I've thought about it less. Honestly, I've been so happy living with you that I haven't had time to dwell on Freddy's." He sent Mike a warm smile. Yet it was also sad. Not sad for the past or for their trials, but for the life they were about to lose.
"I see that look," Mike interrupted. Marionette looked back to the man again. "That spiral of despair look. Trust me, we're not desperate enough for that look yet. Maybe when we were driving in the car with no idea where we were going, but not now when we've crashing at a place that's at least five times the size of our crummy apartment." He then moved to lay beside the animatronic, propping himself slightly on the pillow and folding his arms under his head. "Maybe change the topic off of Freddy's."
"Isn't that ironic," Marionette quipped with him amusement returning, if a little forced. "We were just talking about getting stuck in Freddy's. Old habits die hard, don't they?" He gave another chime as he nudged the human with his elbow. Just that playful look was enticing, and Mike couldn't help but say the first thing that came to mind.
"You're cute, you know that?"
The Puppet went completely still and stared down at the human. From his frozen smile it was obvious that he was surprised by the comment. Which of course he was; Mike had certainly thought all these things but had never said it out loud. He couldn't imagine what cocktail of sleep deprivation and adrenaline he had needed to blurt out something like that. Mike should've probably apologized and took it back, but he didn't. For some foolish reason he stood behind this relatively unimportant statement. He waited for a reaction.
Then the Puppet gave one. He slowly shifted closer, watching Mike's face carefully, and then started to slowly lower beside him. He rested his head on Mike's chest and gave a small trill as he wrapped his arms tightly around him. He could hear his heartbeat slightly quick and gave a content trill, which evolved into a warble when the human started to return the gesture. Mike pulled the slender being against him. He could feel the chiming vibrating through the Puppet's back, tingling into his fingers, and it comforted him more than anything else. His body felt heavy and his eyes started to close.
"Yeah, you're adorable," Mike added. He gave a low chuckle and could feel Marionette pressing in tighter. His fingers tightened into the human's shirt as he rubbed his mask into the fabric. Mike lost all his vocal filter. "You are hands down the best thing that came out Freddy's. I'm not letting you go so quickly."
"You'd have trouble getting rid of me,~" Marionette trilled back. It was almost jarring to hear the flirtatious tone instead of the fearful one from earlier. Maybe this was a sign that the night was over. "Let me get the lights." The Puppet languidly raised a hand and the lights flicked off. "Goodnight, Mike…" There was something else that he wasn't saying, but Mike didn't press.
Instead, the two started to slip into the rest they needed. Together they had made it this far and now they seemed safe enough to let their guard down. For the first time that evening, they felt safe.
Upstairs, Fritz was still awake. He had been too wired by the arrival of Mike and the Puppet to sleep. Especially hearing about this alleged black bear animatronic. He was soon gripped by curiosity and then was in his closet, where he had stored the boxes he was asked to hold from Freddy's. One of them contained blueprints and he was set to find both the bear's and the Puppet's. As it was, Fritz didn't entirely trust the Puppet- it could still sneak up and strangle him in his sleep- but its behavior did give of the illusion of something that was frightened. If an animatronic was afraid then there was a reason.
It took a long while of searching, but Fritz soon found both blueprints for the Puppet and for the black bear. He only recognized it because of its one defunct looking eye, as the blueprints couldn't show color. "Here we go… Wait, what is this?" Fritz asked in confusion. He expected to see the usual name, like 'Toy' Freddy, or 'Funtime', 'Celebration', 'Spring', something proceeding the Freddy's name. It was supposed to be just another Freddy's, but it obviously wasn't from the name.
"L.E.F.T.E. Lefty? Lure, encapsulate, fuse, transport, extract… Wait a minute… What is this?" Fritz read over it again. "Mike was right, this bear is made to capture something." He looked over the comments on the blueprints. One of which mentioned a 'Dream Wand Soother'. "Lullaby index could be the music box. Steady voltage, ouch. And… Bracelet code and receiver frequency." He checked the Puppet's blueprint and tightened his jaw. "Yeah, that all checks out. Definitely made to hunt down the Puppet…" He tapped his fingers on the blueprint thoughtfully. "…But why? Who would want to catch the Puppet if it was-."
A loud bang interrupted his thoughts. Fritz's head snapped back, and he looked out of the closet door. He paused a moment, waiting, and then started to slowly raise from his sitting position as he approached the door. There was another bang and he peered out of the closet, through the open bedroom door, and into the living room. His eyes widened as he saw the source of the noise.
Standing out in the darkness was the dark form of an animatronic bear. Its head was hunched forwards and it stared upwardly with a gaping mouth. One yellow eye stared up with a dead and dazed look while the other was blackened out. It was knocking its fist against the glass of the back door innocently enough. But then it drew back and brought down its fist heavily, and the technician could hear the glass crack. He stared in horror and tried to think of whether or not he still had a taser somewhere in the house.
Then, all at once, the fist came down and this time broke through. The glass panes shattered, and it reached though to grab the doorknob. Its large, clumsy hand couldn't unlock the door. It quickly gave up and began to break through the remaining glass and wood pieces. Any courage Fritz had fell through as he shut the closet door to hide. Being a walk-in closet gave him more room, but the door did not lock, and he was forced to keep it shut by holding it. The sound of breaking glass and wood continued until he could hear the distant sound of footsteps. It was crossing through the living room; it had no interest in him.
Marionette awoke the moment he heard breaking glass. He sat upwards on the bed as pinprick pupils glowed and looked towards the door. Something was in the house. The motion roused Mike, who began to sit upwards as well.
"What is it?" Mike asked groggily. He sobered up quickly when he heard a louder crack from above. His eyes widened as he blurted out, "It found us?! How in the hell did it find us?!"
"It's tracking me," Marionette murmured back. He shuddered as he felt the urge blare music of warning, but he knew it would do nothing. Fear soon followed, and his voice began to crack and fail. "Wh-What do we do?! Wh-re do we go?! It'll keep- it'll keep- it'll keep-!"
"Calm down. I can't have you breaking down on me," Mike half-said and half-begged as he took the Puppet's shoulders. "Now that thing's not in here yet, right? We'll just sneak out the front door, get into the car, and drive."
"Where?!" Marionette whispered in growing panic. "Where- Where can we- Where can we g-go?!" His voice devolved into static and dialing noises.
"Anywhere. We'll just drive. I've got an uncle living up north in the city, I've got cash, we got a car. we'll just go far enough that it can't follow," Mike assured. He hated the prospect of abandoning Fritz, but he had a suspicion that he would be fine, as the bear would follow the Puppet back out of the house. He got off the bed, grabbing Marionette's arm, and felt his way through the dark to the bedroom door. They were stepping through when the noises changed to footsteps crossing through the living room above. "Damn it, it's inside!" Mike hissed.
Marionette gave a panicked garble and started to retreat. However, Mike grabbed his wrist to stop him and drew him back. "Don't run, I have a plan…" he looked back to the animatronic. "You can still teleport right?" The striped one hesitated. "I saw you do it once. You can do it, right?" Finally, the other gave a shaky nod. "Alright… Then here's the plan: you hide and I'll hide… And I'll distract the bear so that you can teleport upstairs." The animatronic got a panicked look and grabbed onto his wrist with both hands. "Then I'll run upstairs after you. It might chase me, but it's going to be looking for you."
It was clear that the Puppet was reluctant as he didn't want to leave Mike. However, before they could even argue, there was the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Mike looked around before pulling him behind one of the couches. Once crouched down, he whispered to him, "I'll run out, get the bear to chase me, lock myself in a bedroom, and while he's with me you teleport upstairs. He'll follow you back up, I'll come up, we'll meet at the car." Finally, the Puppet gave a nod of agreement.
Mike leaned over to peer around the couch. He could see the black bear start around the corner. It raised its head and a single yellow eye stared down towards the living room. It then rolled around, searching, and Marionette gave a shudder. Programming was trying to coax him in, but he fought it by holding onto the security guard's arm. Then, suddenly, the black bear must've decided that it didn't want to risk another escape. It raised the hand that clutched a microphone tightly in it and suddenly music started to pour forth.
'My Grandfather's Clock' began to fill the room. Mike felt a growing sense of dread, especially when he noticed the Puppet's hands loosening. Slowly the animatronic started to slide down towards the floor and the security guard just barely grabbed him before his mask could hit and either get damaged or alert the bear. "We're dead if I don't do something about that music! Running isn't going to do a thing if Mari can't move…" Mike looked again and watched as the bear started to lumber closer it was walking to the left of the furniture, behind the other sofa, and would soon close in. "If it's coming from that microphone it's toting around…"
Gently letting the Puppet down, Mike made his decision to act, and had a horrible suspicion that he would live to regret it. He quickly crawled towards a nearby table, unplugged a small lamp on it, and then rose from the ground with only it as a at once Mike jumped up and sprinted around the other side of the couch.
"Over here!" he called, catching the bear's attention. It turned on him with what almost seemed to be a dead stare. It had seemed so concerned by him earlier that its disinterest almost surprised the security guard. Then again, those times he had Marionette in sight. He used this to his advantage and charged in. As the bear reached for him with its free hand, Mike smashed the lamp into its face. It staggered for a moment but seemed almost entirely everything, Mike grabbed at the microphone and started to yank. The bear had a vice grip and he turned himself, getting ahold of the microphone and slipping it partially free.
Instead of being bolted into the fingers it was simply attached somewhere by wires. The other hand landed on his chest and suddenly slammed him back into the wall behind the couch. The air was knocked out of his lungs and Mike wheezed. He still didn't let go of the music making microphone and only tugged it harder until the wires snapped. Fabric fingers wrapped around his throat and tightened until he couldn't breathe. In a moment of panic, Mike thrust the microphone into the bear's blackened left eye and heard the glass of the eye crack in response.
The bear released an unholy animatronic shriek as its head fell back in pain. Mike continued trying to wail on the bear with the microphone, but the hand pulled him forward before slamming him back again. Now all air was gone, and the human was choking. He dropped the microphone and grabbed at the fingers on his neck. The second hand wasn't frozen, as Mike would've expected, and it grabbed one of his wrists in a vice hold before twisting. He wasn't sure what would come first; him passing out or it breaking his wrist. One or the other surely and spots appeared in his vision.
There was one last thought of Marionette, and then…
The sound of 'Pop Goes the Weasel' rang forth.
Suddenly something crashed into the side of the bear. It staggered, releasing Mike, and stumbled back as the thin, spiderlike figure climbed over and dropped down to the other side. Strings wound their way around the bear's limbs as Marionette drew himself away, legs on its back, strings pulling it tight enough to force both arms and head back. Mike watched in shock and awe- hand on his throat and gasping in air- as Marionette literally puppeteered the bear back. Then he was suddenly shoved by an invisible force that pushed him to the side, in the direction of the stairs. The human looked between the stairs and the Puppet, then dashed out of the room.
Without its music, Marionette was blinded by his own. All the hatred and anger boiled into this moment as he tried to force the bear down. It fell onto its knees and bent back, arching awkwardly, and he almost thought he was about to break through its limbs. This was not the case as the bear's belly suddenly opened wide, as though eagerly anticipating the Puppet to come inside. Just the sight of that open maw struck instant fear. Marionette released his strings and quickly floated to the other side of the room to get his distance. The bear twisted its body and crawled after.
With a wave of his arm, Marionette tore pictures off the wall and threw them at the bear. The bear still stood and continued to sprint after him. He hovered over the couch and as it crawled over the back he set his focus on the nearby TV. Stronger telekinesis threw it towards the bear and broke it over its head. For a moment it seemed to have been halted. For the briefest moment he almost thought that it was broken.
Until its hand reached over the back of the couch and grabbed for him. Marionette backed up until his back abruptly hit the mantle of a fireplace, but it wasn't far enough and in an instant the hand that once held the microphone now clamped on the end of his striped leg. His eyes widened, his music blared, he grabbed onto the end of the mantle to brace himself, and he fought with whatever he had. What that would be was his other leg, which he started kicking with, and struck right into the broken hole that had once been the bear's blackened eye.
The bear shrieked as it had before, and the Puppet knew he found its weak spot. He reached across the mantle and grabbed for the first thing he could- a snow globe. He instantly cracked the object into the side of the bear's head. One of its ears broke off and it was the first sign of concrete damage. Now focusing on destroying what he could, Marionette focused his attention on the bear's hat. Being that it was bolted down, he wouldn't be surprised if it was hiding something underneath, and he wanted it destroyed. He grabbed for it while the bear tried to struggle back.
His fingers started to slide underneath the hat to pry it off. Any second it would be revealed, and he was completely focused. So focused that he didn't notice when the hand slipped further over his leg until the loose wires were against his stripes, pressing in deeply past the fabric.
He started tug the edge of the hat off when a sudden jolt of agonizing pain struck him. All over, rushing through his inner metals, shutting down his mind and causing and of his control to give. It wasn't until he was released to stop the voltage that he realized he had been electrocuted by the bear, and obviously not on accident.
Marionette landed heavily on his back underneath the mantle. He could only twitch for a few seconds and regained his ability to move slowly. His arms returned first, and he used them to drag himself back across the carpet. His eyes never left the black bear, which was now trying to awkwardly get itself over the back of the sofa. It would've been comical if it didn't suddenly hesitate, turn its head, and stare him down. It was as though it suddenly realized how defenseless he was. He couldn't hover, he couldn't teleport, and he didn't know how long it would be until the shock wore off.
Even a lifeless machine knew that the Puppet was defenseless. It was in this moment, seeing him helpless, that it suddenly made a familiar shushing noise. Then it coaxed him again, though not through music, but through words. It spoke.
"I've been looking for you… I'm so glad that I found you..."
It was her voice, but it wasn't her.
Marionette scrambled back into the corner that led to the guest room that Mike and him, had stayed in. His mask was contorted in fear and the shaking returned as he tried to fight his own body. He tried to lift himself, but it failed, and teleportation was impossible if he couldn't even lift himself. He watched as the bear finally slipped over the back of the couch and slid to the ground too smoothly. It was slow as it started to crawl after him. Its thick fingers dug into the carpet and dragged its heavy body towards him as it started to close the gap.
With a burst of limited energy, the Puppet crawled back into the bedroom and shut the door. He reached up and felt for a lock on the doorknob, but there wasn't one. The best chance was to hold against the door and somehow hope that he could keep the bear out. He could feel the hands patting the door. Then there was a shuffling and a groaning noise as the bear started to stand at full height. Even though he couldn't see it, he knew that was what he was hearing, and he pressed harder on the door. Of all the times to not be stuck in a room, to want the door to be locked, and yet the option wasn't there.
It was then that the bear's hushed voice whispered through the wood of the door.
"There is room for you inside… Only room for you. Come inside… And I will never let you go…"
The Puppet shivered and continued to try holding the door back, but it wasn't enough.
A loud bang shook through the wood of the door. At first it seemed like the bear intended to break down the door, which would've given him time to hide in the wardrobe. Instead, the bear managed to get its hand on the knob, turned it slowly, and then rammed its full weight against it. The door started to slide open and Marionette pushed back, legs against the bedframe, but the force on the other side was unrelenting. An arm reached around the door and the hand started grabbing for him. Panicked, the Puppet dodged the grasp and crawled out of the way, but he knew he was trapped.
Mike had been right; the room was nothing but a dead end, and the further he crawled back the tighter the space became. Soon he was pressed to the wall between the bed and the wardrobe, staring with pinpricks of panic. The bear slammed open the door and began to stagger through. Its tall frame eclipsed the light of the doorway as it turned its head and stared him down. Marionette managed to find his music, but the warning of the tune did nothing to subdue the bear. His threats held no water, and instead the bear shushed him again.
"Shh… It will all be over soon…"
The beartrap's front opened and revealed the gaping maw of the storage tank inside. The Puppet shuddered and tried to look for a way out, but it was closing in, and he had nowhere to go. This was it; the bear had won, Mike was gone, and the Puppet's fate would be sealed as soon as he was trapped in the suit. He knew it was too good to last- there was always a catch of some kind. The bear was his new box, and he wouldn't be escaping this time.
The bear was right. It would all be over very soon. It reached out for its prey with its dark fingers.
And then came an almighty cracking noise.