Freddy Fazbear's Pizza - Saturday, December 11th, 1993

The doors of the restaurant swung open as Mike arrived at Freddy's for around 4pm to get lunch. It was more accurately a late breakfast for him since he woke up after noon, as he always did. Unfortunately, the night shift made meal planning rather awkward, along with other day-to-day tasks such as grocery shopping and planning get-togethers with friends. At least most of them worked at Freddy's as well.

Although he could have opted to make his food at home, he was curious as to what the restaurant was like during the day, especially since he'd just learned the truth about Freddy and his friends. It occurred to him that Jeremy would also be working at that time, so see him was an added bonus.

Freddy's was lively and very, very loud. The band was playing music, arcade machines blared, children laughed and screamed in delight. Mike noted that the entire building had a completely different atmosphere during the day. It was the last thing he'd think of as creepy if he excluded the animatronics. Despite them trying to become his friends, nothing would convince him that they were anything but scary. It wasn't as though it was their fault they had clicking gears and joints that made him think of bones being snapped.

He spotted Jeremy out of the corner of his eye, shaking him from his thoughts. Smiling brightly, he charged over to him.

Jeremy's eyes widened fearfully as he approached. Mike realized this and stopped, right before he was about to tackle-hug his friend. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare you! Um hey, Jeremy, how are you?"

He visibly relaxed. "I'm fine. W-Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza," he greeted with a vaguely uncomfortable grin.

"Oh, thanks!" Mike beamed. "How's the job?"

"I-It's, um…" Jeremy remained quiet for several moments, enough for him to grow worried. Finally, he said, "good."

His face brightened. "Awesome! So, uh, Thomas has you on greeting?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maxwell patrolling the restaurant, clearly on security duty. Thomas must've given him the day security role.

Jeremy smiled a little and nodded, seemingly quite proud of his job. With the serious brain trauma he'd undergone, it was probably best that he was only asked to repeat one task.

"That's great! I'm really happy for you!" Mike cheered. The door opened behind him as a family entered the restaurant. "I'd better not distract you! Good luck!" He then left his friend to work, hoping to give him a chance to do the best work that he could.

Mike seated himself at a table and ordered a small cheese pizza for his lunch, thankful that it came quickly. As he ate, he watched the band perform. Despite the corny nature of the songs, since they were clearly intended for children, he continued to listen and enjoy his visit. He could've sworn he saw Freddy make eye contact with him, even a possible smile. As much he found that alarming, knowing who they really were helped to ease his discomfort. Mike reminded himself that it wasn't their fault that they looked downright terrifying.

A few minutes into his meal, Maxwell had come close to his table. Mike mustered up the courage to speak to him, hoping he wouldn't be met with another hostile reaction. "Hey, uh, Maxwell!" he called out.

Maxwell turned his intimidatingly cold gaze to him, causing Mike to shrink back a little, but not completely retreat. "Um… Do you remember me? F-From the staff lunch, you know?"

"... Yeah. Mike, isn't it?" he clarified, his voice emotionless.

He nodded. Something about him just sent a chill down his spine, yet he couldn't figure out why. Mike was rather frightened by Fritz at first, but there was something different about Maxwell. Whatever it was, Fritz didn't have the same air about him. Mike reasoned that was probably just him being cowardly again, as usual.

"You're on night shift, aren't you?" Maxwell asked, sounding almost tired and unamused. Mike nodded in agreement. "What are you here?"

"J-Just coming in for a visit…"

Maxwell shrugged and went back to his patrol, clearly disinterested.

"H-Hey! Where are you going?" The younger man called after him.

His co-worker stopped but didn't turn to look at him, nor did he address him.

Mike swallowed hard. "Do you n-not like me or something?"

This was enough to make him pivot to face Mike. "What do you want, kid?" he spat, sounding calm but, it also carried an aggressive edge to it.

Mike jumped a little, not expecting the hostility. "N-Nothing! I mean, I just want to talk a bit. M-Maybe we could be friends or something..."

He rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed. "Yeah, like that's going to happen."

He stared, his eyes wide with hurt. Tears threatened to fall as he fought to maintain his composure.

Maxwell smirked. "What? You're going to go cry about it?"

"N-No!" Mike objected uneasily. He often found himself to be sensitive, something that often didn't work in his favour. Mike loved meeting new people, yet with it came a level of fear. It didn't matter whether he knew the person well or not; the criticism still cut deep. Maxwell was no exception.

He couldn't help but snicker at Mike's weakness. "I'll tell you this, alright? You wouldn't like me."

"Who says I w-won't?"

"Says me," Maxwell. "You hardly know me and you're already afraid of me. Don't try to lie to me about it. I can tell you're terrible at it; I can read you like a book, Mike. You find me scary and can't handle the fact that I'm keeping you at a distance. Correct?"

Mike's jaw dropped. It was no mystery how he figured out Mike wasn't handling the situation well, how he figured out it the cause of it was baffling. Maxwell only seemed to keep getting more mysterious with every sentence he spoke.

"We don't really cross paths, so let's keep it that way." As Maxwell began to leave, he muttered just loudly enough for Mike to hear him, "I don't need friends anyway."

With that, he was left alone at the table. Much like when he'd met him before, he couldn't help but feel intimidated. Something about Anthony and Maxwell just felt off to him. Mike left the restaurant after his meal, coming to the conclusion that they may have been hiding something. Working at Freddy's had taught him that there were many secrets below the surface. He'd only uncovered one of them, and that one turned out to be pretty major. Whatever it was they were hiding, Mike was determined to find out.

The Howard Home - Saturday, December 11th, 1993

Anthony awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. Usually, he would have been pleased to hear the shrill sound as he guessed who may have been on the other end of the line. At six in the morning, however, it wasn't so welcome.

"Ugh... Who is it, honey?" his wife, Dianne, groaned from her comfortable spot, nestled at his side.

He rubbed his the sleep out of his eyes as he reached for the phone on the bedside table. "I have no idea..." Anthony lifted the phone to his ear and faked his usual chipper demeanor, despite his tired state. "Hello hello! This is Anthony Howard, how are you?"

"Wow, you're really up and at 'em, aren't ya?" a familiar voice replied. "I was worried about wakin' ya up."

"Fritz? Uh, aren't you usually heading home from work about now?" Dianne rolled her eyes and turned away from him, attempting to sleep once more. Out of consideration, her husband stood with the corded phone and walked as far away as he could and lowered his voice.

"Yeah, but I stopped to phone ya first. Listen, I need ya to come in today."

He chuckled. "You're telling me to come in? Last I checked, I was the assistant manager." Since the two had been friends and co-workers for years, he knew Fritz would take the comment as the lighthearted joke he intended it to be.

Fritz sighed without mirth. "Ya know what I mean." He usually laughed, or sound happy at the very least.

He laughed uncomfortably. "Uh, did something come up?"

"I guess you could say that. Come in this evenin'; I'll explain things there."

"... Okay, uh, I guess I'll see you after closing today."

"Yup. Meet ya there." With that, Fritz hung up, leaving Anthony to go back to bed for another two or three hours. He hoped to fall asleep quickly to make the best use of his limited time he could spend in bed before he needed to get going for the day.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza - Saturday, December 11th, 1993

A few minutes after Thomas had left work for the day, Fritz pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, where he found Anthony waiting for him by the door. He walked with purpose to give off the appearance of confidence. In reality, he had no idea if what he was about to do helpful or just plain well stupid. He hadn't uttered a word of it to Thomas and was more than aware that he was acting entirely on his own accord. Typically, that would be a surefire way to get himself fired since bosses always seemed to love it when employees made major changes without their permission. Yet, this was an ethics issue. This was a human being; his boss' son at that. Fritz took a deep breath and prepared for the worst.

"Ah, Smith, hello hello!" Anthony greeted in his signature style.

He ignored the man and continued on his way to the door.

"Wow, you're quiet today." He shrugged. "Not a problem!" Leading the way, he unlocked the door and stepped inside, with Fritz following behind him. "So, why are we here?"

"We're goin' to the Safe Room," Fritz replied.

Anthony's jaw dropped in shock. "Wait, what!? W-What's in there? How do you even know about those?"

"An old friend. And I've heard the recordings. Thomas kept them around for whatever reason."

"Alright then. I officially have no idea what you're talking about. Sure, I can wrap my head around how you discovered the Safe Room, but… an old friend? Really?" He shook his head. First the rude awakening, and now this. It was just going to be one of those days, wasn't it?

"Yeah, really," Fritz retorted. "It's a long story. Just get me into that room. Once you see, it'll all make sense."

He nodded and took off down the hall, searching through the multiple keys that hung on the key ring he always kept with him. Eventually, Anthony stopped at a well-hidden door at the end of the hall, inserting the key into a discreet lock. He twisted it and swung the door open. Yanking the key from the lock proved to be a bit more difficult than it should have been, but he managed to get it out and wandered inside with Fritz following close behind him.

"Well, here we are," Anthony began, to break the tense silence. "What are we here for?"

Fritz walked past him and started digging through the boxes with purpose. He was determined to get Gilead out of the isolated room as fast as he could. No one deserved to be deserted in such a cruel way. After several minutes of searching, he spotted a black top hat poking out of a box. A smile danced across his lips as he hopefully reached for the mask. Unfortunately, the hat belonged to a scrapped Freddy Fazbear animatronic, that plastic line from the '80s with the facial scanners. It was entirely useless as of now, even dangerous. Fritz was baffled as to why Thomas would keep such a thing. He angrily stuffed it back into the box, hoping to forget about it entirely.

"Fritz, what are you looking for? Don't tell me it's that old thing…"

He gritted his teeth. "No, it's not. I'm lookin' for-" he cut himself off when he saw an old suit in the corner. A golden bear with a black top hat, missing an endoskeleton… and an ear. "That's it!" Fritz exclaimed as he rushed over.

Anthony's eyes followed him. "That piece of scrap? Really? What do you need that for?"

"I need ya to help me get him out of here."

"Not until you tell me why you're pulling that out. Clearly, you've listened to the training tapes. Need I repeat myself?" Seeing the lack of response, he sighed and cleared his throat, "Uh, hello? Hello, hello! Uh, there's been a slight change of company policy regarding the use of the suits. Um, don't. After learning of an unfortunate incident at the sister location, regarding multiple and simultaneous spring-lock failures, the company has deemed the suits temporarily unfit for employees. Safety is top priority at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, which is why the classic suits are being retired to an appropriate location."

Fritz rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know what it said. Not important. Although, I am very impressed that you managed to quote yourself that perfectly."

He ignored the playful remark. "Don't you get it? Those suits are dangerous! They're back here for a reason! If Thomas sees that you've pulled them out-"

"He'd thank me."

Anthony's eyes widened in shock. "Excuse me?"

His voice remained firm. "Ya heard me. He'd thank me. Ever wonder what happened to those kiddies back in '87?"

"Well, yes, but I don't see how-"

"They died. Remember how they caught that guy on tape? They made the right call to throw him in prison." He sighed. "Anthony, their souls haunt the suits or somethin' like that." He gestured to the classic suit at his feet. "This here is Gilead Fazbear. Freddy wanted me to get him out of here. So, if Thomas knew what's happened, he'd be grateful that we got his son out of this prison of a room."

The assistant manager stared in utter confusion and amazement. Unlike most people would in his current situation, he did not question the validity of the information he was receiving. Being with Fazbear Entertainment since the early days of Fredbear's Family Diner meant that he'd heard and witnessed several bizarre occurrences. Ghosts haunting the animatronics didn't really strike him as being out of the realm of possibility. Although, it was hardly what he was expecting to hear. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. No wonder they got so quirky at night. The poor kids haunting those suits must've been very bored, to say the least.

"Uh… Wow, that's something." He cautiously approached the suit, lifting the mask gingerly, as if he was afraid it would try to bite him, upwards to look into its eyes. "G-Gilead…? Are you there?"

After a few moments, a voice replied in an upbeat damaged voice, "H-H-H-Hey k-kids!" This caused Anthony to flinch, almost dropping the head he was supporting.

Fritz frowned. "That can't be right… Come on Gilead, I know you're there."

The cheeriness in the voice drained very suddenly as he realized that he had failed in his attempt to trick the staff into leaving. They weren't convinced that he was just a regular animatronic. "A-Anthony…? Fritz…?"

"Yeah, it's us." Fritz knelt beside Anthony.

Gilead didn't move, speaking through the closed mouth of the mask. "How did you… know I was here?"

"Your brother told us," Fritz answered. "We know what happened, so ya don't need to try to hide from us."

"I've been listening to you two the entire time," Gilead continued. " You know it's too dangerous to bring me out of the Safe Room."

"Ya can't move, kid. That obviously makes ya so dangerous."

Anthony ignored the comment, focusing on the task at hand instead. "What if we put him in Pirate Cove? It's closed, so no one will go looking back there."

"Hm… Well, I'm sure that Reynard kid wouldn't mind havin' a friend," Fritz added.

"Reynard! My, it's been so long since I've seen him."

"What do you mean?" Anthony asked.

"Oh, he and I have been friends for years!" Gilead enthused. "I've really missed him and the others…"

"That's settled, then." Fritz lifted part of the suit and Anthony took his cue to help. It didn't weigh as it appeared to, considering the fact that the heavy metal endoskeleton was missing. He would've carried it himself if it wasn't so bulky. With careful maneuvering, the two men eventually managed to bring Gilead to Pirate Cove, setting him down on the stage, propped up against the back wall.

"Thank you so much, both of you. It's really quite nice to be out of that room."

"Ya have Freddy to thank for that," Fritz insisted. "He's the one who told us about ya."

"I'll, uh, see what I can do to help you move again. I-I'm really sorry, I was just doing as I was told. Had I known you were in there…" Anthony rambled.

"Anthony, it's alright. No hard feelings."

The voices of the three of them talking drew Foxy's attention. Out of curiosity, he wandered over to investigate. "What's going on he- ...Gilead?"

"Foxy! Hey, how are you? Did you miss me?"

He couldn't help but smile. Foxy would have never guessed that he would be reunited with his friend. A grin crept across his face as he looked down at Gilead, more than happy to have the company.

Anthony and Fritz started to leave, to give the two of them space to catch up for the years they were separated. Before they could get very far, Foxy stopped them.

"Hey. Thanks… Thanks for bringing him out."

Fritz smiled. "Just doin' my job."