A/N: Sorry to keep you waiting guys, but I wanted to take my time with this one. I feel like the last two chapters weren't as polished as they should be and that there was room for improvement. Excuse me and thank you for your patience. I'll try to start earlier next time and actually be on time.
But besides that I'm really thankful for last chapter's reviews. Honestly, I didn't quite feel like I managed to capture the creepiness of Shadow Bonnie, and hearing you say that you liked that part means a lot to me. As you've probably noticed already Tape 2 is very different from Tape 1 so far, so your honest opinions on this new part of the story are very appreciated. And as always, let me know if you spotted an error and happy reading!
Chapter 16: Games and puzzles
Party Room 1 was the last place where Ferny and I looked for the tapes. But after pushing the folded tables aside, pulling everything out of the little shelf under the camera and even checking the open vent it dawned on us that they simply were not there. If Sean or Sarah had found them they would've started looking for the Toys, but with only a couple of minutes left it was clear that we failed to do either of the two. With downed shoulders and drooped ears, Ferny and I stepped back into the hallway.
"Are you sure?" asked Ferny once again, keeping his doubtful voice low so that the Toys wouldn't hear us.
"What else could it be?" I whispered back harshly, shivering as the skeletal smile of the Shadow reappeared in my mind. "He… It tried to break the seal on my body and kept saying something about playing with him."
"Sounds like a nice guy." snickered Ferny as we turned the corner and walked along the Main Hall.
"What?! I almost…"
"Died?" chuckled my friend, "I'm afraid we're all past that." His yellow eyes shone with the same sharpness and confidence as they did when we were alive; that little spark that I feared was forever lost after I found him covered in the blood of the guard.
"You're joking again." I whispered, "You seem… happy."
Ferny stopped walking and turned around to face me with sudden seriousness. After a few moments of silence, he sighed and leaned against a wall. "You have no idea how it feels… knowing that somebody died because of you."
"It wasn't your fault." I interrupted.
"I know, I know." he mumbled, tapping his foot. "You know, right before they took my battery away I was okay with that. I thought 'Better this than hurting anyone else.' Part of me just gave up right there and then. I didn't care anymore."
A big feeling of déjà vu came to me as Ferny looked at me with pained eyes. I was blinded so much by the pain of losing Mom that I forgot about his anger and guilt.
"I was kinda mad when I woke up again." he continued, "I thought that I'd only end up killing another guard or hurting one of you, that nothing good could possibly come from being like this."
"But you fixed me." I said flatly.
Ferny shrugged like it was nothing. "Sean, the Toys and me fixed you. When Sarah told me that you needed my help, I realized that I had two options. I could either keep feeling sorry and miserable for something that I can't fix, or I could help my friend." The yellow light from his eyes was filled with warmth and trust as he looked up at me. "Sometimes the best way to help yourself is helping someone else."
"Thanks Fer." I whispered, not knowing what else to say. He shrugged it off once again.
"Thanks to you too."
"Time's up guys!" called out Marionette from the Game Area, right before we heard some triumphant shouts coming from the walls. Ferny and I walked back to the Game Area just in time to see Balloons crawl quickly out of a vent, followed by Mangle and TC. At the same time, my brother and Sarah walked out of Kid's Cove with a disappointed look in their eyes, but with a big carton box in Sean's hands, much larger than the one with the tapes. Sitting on the bench where Ferny was reading, TB was brushing the petals of his rose with wonder while Junior, legs crossed, pretended to read an upside-down newspaper next to him.
"HA! In your face!" taunted Balloons as he stood up, shaking his round hand at Sarah with cockiness.
"Good game… you little scamp." she hissed behind him.
Balloons let out one of his mocking laughs. "Were you even trying Ms. Chica?"
Growling menacingly, Sarah began to take some big footsteps towards the boy-like animatronic, but stopped when TC jumped in front of her.
"Balloons, please say sorry to Ms. Chica." sighed Marionette.
"Yeah, stop being so rude BB!" nagged the yellow Toy.
"Thanks Mini, you tell 'em!" shouted Sarah, pointing a broken wrist at Balloons.
TC's head perked up slightly. "Mini…" she hummed, "I like that name Ms. Chica."
"It just came to me." said Sarah proudly, "It's better than KFC, isn't it?"
"Yes it is! It's so cute! Can you call me like that now?"
"Girls…" muttered Balloons bitterly, stomping towards the arcades behind the carousel.
Ignoring the couple of chatting girls I walked as quickly as I could towards Marionette. "Hey Bonnie," he said friendly, "what's…"
"We need to talk." I demanded, "You never told us that those Shadow things are dangerous."
"Shh, the Toys don't know!" he whispered nervously.
"I don't know, and I think I need to know."
"Alright, alright…" Marionette looked around uneasily before resting his eyes on my brother. "Hey Freddy, can you come with Bonnie and me for a sec?"
Sean nodded and put down the big box on the floor. Nobody seemed to notice when the three of us walked and limped into Price Corner. Marionette opened the door for us both and closed it as soon as we were in.
"Alright Pizza Boy," he said impatiently, "what happened?"
"So you're telling us," summed up Sean, "that a pitch-black Shadow that looked a bit like TB but larger appeared out of thin air, said that it was lonely, tried to break your seal by sticking its fingers through your chest and then disappeared when you shone a flashlight on it?"
"…yes." I answered weakly.
My brother and Marionette looked at each other with astonishment before turning their heads back at me. "I honestly didn't know they could be dangerous." said the latter, "I saw the Shadow that came from Bucky once, but that was years ago. As soon as it saw me it disappeared, like it was scared of me."
"Yeah… there were two Shadows," remembered Sean, "so where was the other one?"
I shrugged. "It did say 'Play with us.' instead of 'Play with me.' But I have no idea."
"They're definitely still here," said Marionette thoughtfully, holding his chin, "but it waited for you to be alone. I guess that maybe if we stick together we'll be fine."
I wasn't so sure about that, but my brother nodded with confidence at Marionette's words. "Alright then," groaned Sean, limping towards the door, "let's see what the little guys are up to."
Stepping back into the Game Area, we saw that the little guys were all glued to the arcades behind the dinner tables and carousel of the large room, growling and mumbling at the colorful screens and at each other. I realized that they were way too concentrated to hear us talk.
"Even Mangle's better at Duck Hunt than you brother." I whispered teasingly, getting a little growl from him. Close to his reading bench, Ferny was rummaging through the large box that Sean carried from Kid's Cove while Sarah looked at it with curiosity.
"Anything nice?" asked my brother, kneeling besides the box that was filled to the brim with old table games and decks of cards.
"Nope." replied Sarah as Ferny's hook dug into the box of a game of Operation. "It's not like the Toys would want to play these things. Since they found the key of the game's coin slots they're hooked."
"Sounds familiar?" asked Ferny sarcastically, looking at up us.
"Yeah…" I sighed, leaning heavily on my cane as I remembered how much Sean and I played in the old place between our murders and the reopening. "I think we broke every single high score three times… except one, huh brother?"
"Stupid hound." growled Sean, clenching his fists and making the three of us snicker quietly.
"Do we put them back into the Kid's Cove?" asked Sarah after recovering from the giggling.
I was about to say yes when an idea suddenly crossed my mind. "Brother, do you mind carrying the box to the party room where Jack is?"
"But why would you…" started Sean, before realizing what I had in mind. "Not at all Don," he said happily, "not at all."
As always we found Jack slumped down in a corner against the wall, tracing circles on the blanket that covered his legs and middle. He didn't look up at us as we entered the room.
"Hey buddy," I whispered softly, walking to his side along with my brother, "guess what?" On cue, Sean dropped the box with games by Jack's side. "We found a few fun things to play with!"
Ignoring Jack's sighs, I got on my knees beside the box, put the cane on the floor by my side and fished out the first game I saw.
"Monopoly?" I asked, raising the game's box. Jack shook his head and traced an X on the blanket.
"Okay, how about Operation?" Again, he shook his head and traced an X.
"Scrabble?" Jack shook his head…
"Umm, Parcheesi?" and traced an X on the blanket…
"Do you know any card game?" once again…
"Maybe checkers?" and again…
"Risk?" and again…
"Battleship? and again.
I gave out a defeated sigh, putting the last table game on the floor. I looked at my brother for help, but he just shrugged. "There are a few jigsaw puzzles left." he said, cocking his head at the box.
I picked up one of the boxes. "750 pieces, assembly time 60 to 90 minutes." I read out loud, "Ages 12 and up. He's seven."
"So?" huffed Sean, "We can help him."
I looked at Jack. His ears were popped up and his eyes seemed to be locked on the box with expectation, completely different from the cold expression he had a moment ago.
"Would you like to play this?" I asked.
Jack nodded immediately and whispered an excited "Yes."
"Great!" I grabbed the box and took the lid off; all the pieces were loose and scrambled, not showing at all the old-fashioned painting of a bear and a rabbit walking side by side through the woods that was printed on the box. Jack pushed himself more against the wall as I put the bottom of the box with the pieces and the lid on top of the blanket covering his legs.
"It's a hard puzzle, so we're gonna begin to help you out, alright?" I said as Sean sat by my side.
"If you w-want." replied Jack calmly, raising his shoulders.
I clumsily rummaged through the box with my only hand before grabbing a corner piece.
"Right corner or left corner?" I asked my brother. He shrugged as I put it in the left bottom corner.
"Hey, I think this one goes with that." he said with excitement, grabbing another piece before uselessly trying to connect it with mine. "Alright, maybe not."
For the next ten minutes, Jack occasionally shook his head at us while Sean and I tried to jam as many puzzle pieces together as we could with little success. I sighed as I looked at our progress: 15 pieces formed a green speck in the bottom of the large lid. We were pulled out of our trance by the sound of a turning doorknob behind us.
"Hey guys!" greeted Sarah joyfully as Ferny pushed the door open, "We're having a little arcade tournament with the Toys. Wanna come?"
"Thanks Sarah," I replied, "but we're already playing with Jack."
"Please guys," she insisted, "just ten minutes? I know how much you love those games and the Toys were begging me to call over Mr. Bonnie."
I looked at my brother. "Don't worry Don," he said, "I'll stay with him. This will take some time anyways."
"Alright then," I sighed, grabbing my cane and standing up, "I'll be right back Jack."
"O-okay." he stammered, completely focused on the loose pieces in the box. I walked back to the door and turned around to see him slowly pick up a single piece before leaving the room.
"My turn Small Bird!"
"You lost Boo-Boo Bear! It's my turn now!"
"Junior, Mini, no fighting!" nagged Sarah, making the two Toys shut up immediately and turn around to face us with startled eyes.
"What be the problem lads?" asked Ferny sternly, tapping his foot and crossing his arms.
"Ms. Chica, cap Foxy, he lost and won't let me play!" whined Mini, pointing accusingly at the brown Toy.
"Hi friends," greeted Junior, tipping his hat hastily at us, "I lost because she was pulling my hand!"
"Liar liar pants on fire!" mocked back Sarah's counterpart, putting her hands on her hips.
I looked at the lined-up arcades against the wall. BB was standing on a chair, struggling to turn the driving wheel of the Out Run arcade while Mangle used a torn scrap of her arm to pull the trigger of Duck Hunt. TB was the only one who wasn't playing; he was sitting on the carousel, looking at his rose with drooped ears and melancholic eyes.
"First of all," I interrupted, "why isn't TB playing?"
"He doesn't know how to play this game." explained Junior.
"Have you tried to teach him?"
Both Toys looked at me with surprise. "Umm… no." they confessed at the same time.
"TB!" I called out, making the bunny's ears rise up as he looked at me, "Let's play, I'll teach you."
"Umm… don't worry Mr. Bonnie." he mumbled shyly, rubbing his elbow, "I'm okay."
"C'mon, it's the simplest one!" I insisted, "You'll get it in no time, trust me."
"But, Mr. Bonnie…" started Junior, looking at the fought-over arcade with pained eyes.
"Bums to your buts young man." I replied, imitating Mom's saying, "You both had your play time and you can both play later."
Crestfallen, Mini and Junior silently shuffled to another arcade. TB stood up and skipped towards the game.
"It's mine and Mr. Freddy's favorite." I told him as he grabbed a coin from the plastic cup on top of the machine and popped it in the slot. "You're the little yellow ball and you have to eat all those little white dots to beat the stage. You move around with the little stick."
"That's all?" asked my counterpart.
"Nope. You see those colored ghosts? When they're like that and they touch you, they kill you. But when you eat one of those big balls, they turn blue and you can kill them."
TB pressed start, and immediately a familiar jingle appeared along with the words "Ready?" on the screen. To my surprise, he cleared the first stage after only losing one life.
"You sure you haven't played before?" I teased.
TB laughed and shook his head. Grabbing the controller with both hands, he got halfway through the stage before losing. "Can we play again, please?" he begged.
"Why not?" Junior and Mini were already playing other games with Sarah, Ferny, Mangle and Balloons. TB grabbed another coin, and pressed start again.
"Left!" I shouted, "Up! Right! Up! UP UP UP… aww. Hey, we got to stage four. Not bad!"
I couldn't play without both hands, so for the past ten minutes TB had been playing for me. I told him where I wanted to go and he moved there.
"You're good Mr. Bonnie." he said with awe.
"Practice makes perfect little one." I boasted, enjoying that for once I wasn't the youngest. "I'll be back later, alright?"
"Alright!" chirped TB, running towards Ferny and Sarah. "Cap Foxy, Ms. Chica, I learned how to play Pac-Man!"
I walked back to the Party Room with a small feeling of accomplishment in my head. "Brother, can you open?" I called out when I got there.
No answer. I managed to push open the door with my shoulder and saw Sean still sitting where he was when I left.
"Don," said my brother, turning his head around to see me with a pair of baffled blue eyes, "he finished the thing in fifteen minutes."
I slowly walked towards the pair, looking at a completed painting of a bear and a rabbit walking through a dark forest like two dear friends resting on Jack's lap.
"He did this…"
"Alone." completed Sean. Jack shrugged and looked up at me, his little pinpoints of eyes shining brightly with more pride and happiness I've ever seen in them. When he looked at me like that, I simply started laughing. Loudly, unchained, I laughed and sat by their side.
"Brother, are there more puzzles?"
"Five in this box, and there are more boxes in Kid's Cove. But I think we'll need more than that." he chuckled.
"T-thank you." whispered Jack, looking away from me shyly.
"Thanks to you too buddy." I replied, because it was true; sometimes the best way to help yourself is helping someone else. For that golden instant when Jack's eyes brightened up, the past didn't exist; every bit of sadness and despair inside of me melted away like a dark cloud on a sunny day. We were just three kids enjoying a little happy moment.
A/N: It just wouldn't be the 1980's without Pac-Man, would it? As you saw the Toys have multiple nicknames, but I think I'm going with Junior for Toy Freddy and Mini for Toy Chica. It just sounds better than TF, TC, and TB. I didn't want their names to be so similar since they're actually quite different in personality.
People with autism often have a certain talent or skill way more developed than the average Joe, and in this case Jack is a jigsaw puzzle genius. We'll see more of him in the next chapters as he will be a very important piece in the huge puzzle that's this story.
Finally, I have something special planned for you all next week. It's a little surprise I'm looking forward to writing! Take care guys and happy 4th of July if you live in the US, since the next chap should be up the 5th. See you then and have a good week!