Author's Note: (time skip below is temporary, hopefully not confusing). To make this more continuous, I added a small segment at the beginning of chapter 1.
Chapter 2: Change
21 years in the future...
"Here's the keys to the backdoor, and the computer is right smack on the office desk, you can't miss it," the gruff man said to Pamela. "I would give you a tour, but this place is tiny, and honestly I wouldn't recommend leaving the office during your shift anyway. At least, that's what every other past security guard would tell you if they were here."
"And where are they now?" she asked tonelessly, pretending to be disinterested, would she receive confirmation of the rumors so soon?
"I'd imagine most of them have moved onto new jobs by now," the man said, waving her off as if she was merely an annoying fly. "Honestly the pay ain't that high, and most people don't want to work night shifts, but it's got to be done by someone."
"That's why I signed up," she replied, putting on the fakest smile she could muster. "Now the pay-"
"Is 120 dollars a week and that's non-negotiable," he replied in a tone that said this many times before. "If you don't finish the week for any reason, you don't get paid. It's in the contract."
"I understand," she nodded. Pamela wasn't here to make money anyway, she was here to investigate.
"Good. See you in the morning."
And he left, stepping out the entrance doors and into the cold night. Pamela locked the door behind him and straightened her hat. She turned to look back at the main stage, to peer at star attractions so to speak. Short sighted, and her glasses forgotten on her desk at home, she could only just make out the rounded outlines of a teddy, a bunny and a chicky on the stage. Completely motionless, completely dead, like the machines they were.
Was it really believable that...?
Nah!
But Pamela still suddenly found herself hurrying to the security office, not daring to look back once.
She landed upon the swivel chair with a huff, and briefly glanced at the stage through the main screen. Nothing had changed, nothing had moved. Part of her felt stupid for expecting to see anything, these new machines, different from the old ones, were just the same as this crappy version of the pizzeria; cheap and falling apart.
Pamela sighed and kicked at the desk, allowing the chair to spin while she bonelessly regarded the ceiling.
This place sure had changed since the last time she had been here. Everything looked run down. The animatronics looked different, even the building looked different. You twit, the company moved buildings didn't they? After that nasty incident with that janitor and the missing kids, she scoffed at her own forgetfulness.
It was hard to believe that any of that messed up shit had ever happened, at a family restaurant of all places. And to think that she had visited that pizzeria when she had been younger, when that creep had still been working there...it made her shudder to think what could have happened.
And why was she here? She didn't need the money, her family still supported her to some extent, along with the addition of a student loan. It wasn't out of boredom either, if given the choice between bungee jumping or lying in a bed, she would gladly have chosen the latter. No, she had to see for herself if the rumors were true.
That people were still dying at this damned place even long after the murders years ago.
Minutes ticked by, and before she knew it, hours were gone.
Pamela drifted in and out of sleep at the desk, trying desperately to keep her eyes open. Why oh why had she taken this blasted job again?
Heh, maybe the night guards here all died of boredom...
She peered at through the cameras again, just to give herself something to do; then nearly felt her heart stop as she noticed there were only two animatronics upon the stage. Then the phone rang.
The noise startled her, and she forgot about the cameras, sliding her chair over to pick the phone up.
"Hello?" she asked cautiously. It was now 3AM and she suspected this was either a prank call or someone had dialed the wrong number. "Fazbear's pizza place, this is the night guard speaking."
"I'm a previous employee, used to work the night shift too, my name's Mike," said a male voice from the other end, it wavered nervously. Was this a prank?
The name Mike was familiar though.
"Oh, yeah, the manager mentioned something about you being fired," she played with the phone cable between her fingers; the last employee had been fired due to unprofessional conduct or something similar. Speaking to him could be very useful to her investigation. He didn't fit the usual pattern, unlike the other night guards he hadn't vanished.
"And I couldn't be happier," Mike replied, he laughed nervously. "But listen, you need to check those cameras. The animatronics. There is no way of putting this lightly, they will kill you if they catch you."
"I've already heard this rumor," but what might have been a near laughable idea in the day suddenly didn't seem so funny in the dark dingy office. Pamela could have sworn she heard something move in one of the hallways.
"Well, you better believe it. If you see any of those big bastards leering in through the windows, you slam those doors down fast. Do not hesitate. They-Will-Kill-You. Understand?"
"Aren't they supposed to be kid-friendly and harmless?" Pamela half-joked, getting up out of the chair and moving towards the left door. "Why would they want to kill me? Would they even understand the notion of what death is?"
"There's some bull-shit about them thinking you're an endoskeleton without its costume on, so they think it's their business to stuff you, bones and all, into a suit that will crush you," Mike snarled. "But I don't believe it, these bastards want you to hurt, I think they know what they're doing."
"No way, they're machines. Surely if they're broken someone could fix them."
"Did you ever hear about the bite of '87?"
"Yes," Pamela replied boredly. "The fox robot chewed on some poor boy's head. I've heard the story. But that animatronic was put out of commission years ago, it was malfunctioning, wasn't it?"
"Foxy is still in the building. But that's not the point, the others will kill you too if they get you."
Pamela thought back to the days when her father had taken her to the pizzeria, years and years ago, back when the pizzeria had still been known as Fazbear's Family Diner. And she could still remember the animatronics moving around, with near permanent smiles upon their plastic and felt faces, laughing and singing with the children. At no point had she felt threatened or intimidated back then.
"Mr Mike, or whatever your name is, I've got to say that is the stupidest rubbish I have ever-" just at that minute she hit the switch to light up the left hallway.
And standing directly in front of the doorway was an immense figure.
Pamela dropped the phone with a clatter, the plug to the wall coming out of the socket in the process. She had forgotten just how big the animatronics were. Bonnie had to lean down to look through the doorway.
Without hesitating, she slammed her hand down upon the door panel, and it slid shut with a satisfying *THUNK*.
Pamela could feel her heart racing in her chest. The rumors couldn't be true, surely? Maybe if she just opened the door again, the animatronic would laugh and start singing a happy irritating tune, or something equally benign. Perhaps because they were shut off during most of the day the animatronics tried to fulfill their functions at night, seeking out anyone present just so they could perform as they had used to.
Surely it wouldn't kill her?
Pamela could not bring herself to open the door again.
Knowing her power was limited, Pamela took the torch from the desk and shone it out the window rather than turn the hall lights on again.
Bonnie's pink glass eyes reflected the light back at her from the other side. Eerily he stood right against the reinforced glass pane, peering into the office.
Pamela stumbled back, cowering.
"Why are you doing this? What are you after?" she forced herself to ask. The animatronic merely stared back blankly. "Respond, I know the animatronics here can talk!"
"Huh huh, hey there, little miss, it's way past closing time. You should head home," the giant rabbit said, voice crackling with static. Pamela remembered from her childhood that Bonnie had always sounded somewhat goofy on stage, now he just sounded deranged. "Please let me in, little miss."
"Shouldn't you be on stage?" she snapped, fear getting the better of her. There was something just so creepy about this damned place. The animatronics had yet to prove anything beyond creepy though. "Is it true the animatronics here kill night guards?"
"Kill is a strong word. A bad word," Bonnie shook his head uncomfortably and looked back down the hall towards the stage as if expecting to see someone else there. "You mustn't say bad words, it's unkind."
This wasn't going anywhere.
"What will happen if I open the door?" she asked less directly.
"Please, little miss, you must let me in quick, huh huh. The others won't like it if they find you here," Bonnie ignored her question. "Especially Freddy. He gets really grumpy when people are naughty like you."
"You're naughty, leaving your stage," was her childish response as she tried to figure out what to do. Bonnie seemed fairly harmless, if not perhaps creepy due to his stupid dialogue and design. Still, she wasn't going to take any chances. "Go away."
She turned the torch off and stepped away from the door to end the encounter, but damned Bonnie was still speaking to her from the other side.
"If you let me in, it won't hurt," there was suddenly a tone of urgency in his mechanical voice. "It will be just like going to sleep, painless, huh huh. I won't abandon you like the others will when your heart stops beating."
Wait, when your heart stops beating?!
Pamela flicked the torch on, Bonnie was still staring through the window, glass eyes glowing white in the reflected torch light. She hastily flicked the torch off again. Freaking heck, there was absolutely no way she was opening the door now, the rumor had just been pretty much confirmed. The animatronics did kill night guards, and the company obviously didn't care for her life because they had still hired her anyway.
But why? Were the animatronics really so badly damaged that they could not be fixed? For how long had management not cared that the "kid friendly machines" had transformed into homicidal maniacs?
Bonnie was still pleading to be let in. Pamela wanted nothing more than to run away and hide, to get out of this cursed building and hear a normal human voice again. Away from this insanity. Maybe solving the mystery wasn't that important.
And then she remembered the others. She turned her flashlight on just in time to see a yellow shape approaching along the other hall.
She closed the door just in time.
Chica peered in through the glass as well, Bonnie immediately ceased talking.
"Whatcha doing, Bon? You being stupid again?" Chica's voice was grating, scratchy, like nails upon a chalk-board. "Always mess everything up, dontcha? We might have got in if you had kept your big mouth shut!"
"I did try, but she saw me first," Bonnie replied to Chica. "I tried my best."
"Well your best wasn't good enough, was it?!" squawked Chica, then she regarded Pamela with cold glowing eyes. "Hmm, but I'll get the spare parts for the suit ready anyway. She doesn't look too bright, to have let us so near without noticing. If you don't get her this night, then I will. Or the others. They're more competent that you."
Chica left, but Bonnie didn't immediately follow suite.
"I will come back later, and so will the others. You must make a choice, little miss," he told Pamela. "Chica will put you into the suit while you can still feel, but I won't, coz that would hurt. And trust me, huh huh, you don't want to meet Freddy. He really doesn't care what hurts."
"You won't put me in a suit?" Pamela asked hopefully, but she had misunderstood Bonnie.
"Oh no, you have to go into a suit," and eerily Pamela could have sworn he looked amused. "That's just the way things are."
Back in the past...
It was nice to finally have a roof over his head again, Joseph thought, yawning as he rolled out of bed and slipped his slippers on. A nice hot coffee would do about now. He sleepily made his way downstairs, and promptly walked into a something hard and pointy.
"Foxy?" he questioned tiredly, surprised to find the animatronic sitting on (and blocking) the staircase, supporting what looked liked a multitude of cardboard boxes.
"Morning pa," he greeted him. "I be a support pillar for this fort me and Freddy be building."
"In the staircase?" Joseph questioned.
"Freddy thinks it would be easier coz there isn't much to build with and the room in here is narrow," Foxy must have picked up on the fact that he had done something wrong, because he was now shuffling his feet uncomfortably. Metal scraping against wood.
"And where is Freddy right now?" Joseph asked, the animatronic in question was nowhere in sight. But even as he waited for Foxy's reply, which was little more than a quick shrug, there was heavy creak of floorboards in the next room. Freddy had overheard the conversation, and fearing retribution, had chosen to hide.
Joseph wasn't too bothered.
"Foxy, I'm going to have to ask you and Freddy to move this building project elsewhere. Preferably the spare room," Joseph replied.
"Okay, dad," Foxy didn't seem too bothered. "Will ye come and look when we've finished?"
"Of course I will, just come and find me," Joseph chuckled and finally reached the kitchen. The smile on his face dying on the spot in mute horror.
What had happened to the kitchen!?
There were pots and pans everywhere, tomato sauce on the ceiling and peanut butter on the windows and burning toast in the toaster, and no sign of anyone anywhere.
Joseph's irritation evaporated immediately to be replaced by fear when he saw that the door that led out to the garden was wide open.
He ran, fearing the worst. Fearing that his creations had gone outside and ran off, gone exploring, or done something else childishly naive.
Instead he found Bonnie and Chica both sitting upon the grass. Staring out to the city, transfixed by the sight.
"How can the world be so big and large...and big?" Bonnie asked him when the two animatronics noticed he was there. "I don't understand."
"The world is a big place, " Joseph told them. "But the place you'll stay in for the rest of your years is not, so don't worry about it."
And thankfully they seemed satisfied with this answer, too stunned by the sudden revelation of the world's size to even consider curiosity.
"They are ready," Joseph announced. "Can I lead them through now?"
"Lead? You mean they can walk on their own?" the manager, Mr Ward, asked amazed.
"I took the liberty of incorporating some of the blueprints for my old designs, they are fully autonomous," Joseph beamed as the four were led in. Chica came first, then Foxy, Bonnie and finally Freddy, who was so tall he had difficulty getting through the door. Joseph waited with baited breath, fearing that any moment the manager was going to explode in a fit of rage: ask what exactly had happened to his four original designs. Especially Freddy, who now stood around 8 foot tall. For a moment he just stared at them slack-jawed, wide eyed.
Then Freddy stepped forward and bowed, taking off his hat to the manager, as practiced.
"Hey there, welcome to Fazbear's Family Diner," he stood to full height once more. "We hope you enjoy food and music!"
And there was an awkward moment in which nothing was said, and Joseph's tallest creation faltered, glass eyes darting to look at him uncertainly.
"Hahahah! They're fantastic!" the manager exclaimed abruptly, laughing. "I don't know what you did with them, but I like it! Almost made me feel like a kid myself, what with the size! Brilliant, brilliant. But are they safe? You got to ask yourself this kind of question in this situation, whether they might accidentally trample a child. Wouldn't be good for business, you know?"
"They are programmed to be fully aware of their surroundings, so that they don't trip, and this would include stepping on anything or anyone for that matter," Joseph smiled as he handed a cracked lunch tray to Chica and placed several plastic cups on it. She balanced it neatly. "They are all capable of learning too, so if they make one tiny mistake, they won't make it again."
There was promptly a crash, and it turned out Chica had dropped the tray.
"Hey, no fair! Foxy pushed me," she squawked when Joseph looked at her, she then apologetically bowed to Mr Ward. "I'm very good at balancing normally, mister."
"I'll say it again, Mr. Arran, they are perfect!" the manager grinned at him. "But how good are they with children?" And with that comment he turned around a large blanket covered basket, revealing that a baby was sleeping peacefully in it. He laughed when Freddy managed to looked startled.
"My wife is out of town, her mother is very ill," Mr Ward explained to Joseph. "My little daughter, Blue, here is only a few days old, but I gotta care for her for the day. Perhaps it ain't very responsible of me, but this diner is my life. It's been mediocre as long as I have owned it, but that is about to change. But if I can't trust your animatronics around my daughter, then I wouldn't trust them around any other children. It's only fair, right?"
"They've never been around children before," Joseph began nervously, terrified that something might go wrong. His creations were so big and bulky next to a newborn. It wasn't safe, and it wasn't realistic. He cleared his throat. "What do you want them to do?"
"Just hold her," Mr Ward was relaxed, but Joseph felt close to ripping his own hair out - he could not afford for anything to do wrong.
But he had underestimated his creations again.
Freddy took the cue, being the oldest and biggest there. The tiny child fit in the palm of his hands easily, the baby woke slowly, she didn't cry. The others crowded around to get a better look.
"Why doesn't she talk?" Chica asked Joseph after a few moments had passed, and all the baby had done was stare blearily up at them, gurgling. "How come she's so small?"
"Everyone starts out small, and grow bigger as they get older," Joseph explained.
"We didn't," Bonnie said, confused.
"That's coz you lot are robots, while my little sweetie is human," the manager said, leaning forward to get a better look. "Ain't she precious?"
It was in their programming to be particularly careful with children, to be helpful and friendly, Joseph was relieved to see that all four were behaving exactly as he had programmed them. They all seemed very interested in getting a good look at Blue - albeit a little uncertain what to do with such a young child (Freddy in particular, still holding the child, look somewhat petrified. Bonnie on the other hand was much calmer).
"My name is Bonnie," the rabbit was telling the wide-eyed baby. "This is Freddy, and that's Chica and Foxy."
Blue didn't reply of course. The baby began chew on its fingers, wide eyes moving between the animatronics curiously.
"She's real calm, that's nice," the manager then lent to one side and whispered to Joseph: "To be honest I'm not all that good at this parenting thing. Blue's been bawling on and off ever since this morning when my wife went off to visit her mother, and I have no idea how to stop it."
"Shall we teach her to walk?" Chica asked Joseph unexpectedly.
"No, no, don't!" he replied hastily. "Just hold her."
Jeez, why hadn't he thought of programming this kind of general knowledge into his creations? All they knew about was how to look after children, and some basic vocabulary - everything else had to be learnt. Joseph decided the first thing he was going to do when he got his paycheck would be to make a new memory chips for the four in order to update their file directories.
"She won't learn to walk for around another year yet," Mr Ward chuckled, walking around the animatronics as he inspected them. He paused to rap his knuckles against Bonnie's back, listening to the hollow metallic sound it made. "Is there really no one in these suits?" Mr Ward joked to Joseph. "They almost seem alive."
He didn't notice the confused looks the four animatronics sent him, neither did Joseph, who merely smiled, happy everything had worked out.
Then Jiminy jumped.
The marionette had been told to wait in the lorry, the introduction between the manager and the animatronics after all was not supposed to feature Jiminy, and Joseph had planned to introduce him later on and suggest that the marionette get placed in the diner too. But Jiminy had grown impatient, he hadn't liked the way he could hear voices but be so far from them, he hadn't liked the quietness of the van, of being alone.
And so the marionette had disobeyed a direct order.
Jiminy had seen the child, and he had sprung forward without a second thought, up onto Freddy's shoulder to get closer. He, after all, knew that he was better designed for child-care than any of these great lumbering buffoons. But Blue, the baby, obviously did not think the same.
Simply at the sight of him, Blue began to cry, and cry, and cry, and cry.
Chica stepped forward and yanked Jiminy off Freddy.
"Watcha think you're doing? You scared the poor child!" she reprimanded the puppet. "You're not supposed to be here, get out!"
"You four are not programmed to look after a child so young, none of you know what you are doing," Jiminy hissed back furiously.
The manager had Blue back in his arms by now. Fury written upon his face as he turned to Joseph.
"Mr. Arran, these animatronics are fantastic, and I will gladly keep them," then he turned to jab his thumb Jiminy's way. "But that thing isn't to go near children as long as I draw breath. You hear?"
A/N: I hope the change in narration at the beginning wasn't too jarring. I've decided to have this story run parallel between the future and past: i.e. part of each chapter will be the night guard Pamela trying to figure out what exactly is happening at the pizzeria that is due to be closed down, while the other half will be set in the past.