Chapter 18: Small steps

The air in the third Party Room was so tense you could cut it with a knife. I quickly picked up another jigsaw piece from the puzzle's lid next to my sitting body and popped it in its place, then another, and finally, the last one.

"And… I win buddy!" I cheered, putting the piece in the last open space before throwing my arm up in the air; the now completed puzzle in its box was resting on my legs. In front of me, Jack raised his head from the unfinished jigsaw that was on top of his covered lap, still holding a piece in his hand.

"W-what do you m-mean?" he asked, confused.

"Well," I cleared my throat in a loud, proud way, "after three weeks of losing to you every single time, I finally…"

Jack looked at me curiously as he put the jigsaw on the floor… right besides two that were completely finished.

"Never mind." I huffed, putting the lid back on top of the box.

"I was g-getting bored waiting f-for you." he chuckled, tilting his head at me, "You're t-too s-slow!"

"Hey!" I shot back playfully, "I'm not too slow, you're too fast!"

We shared a warm and hearty laugh before the room fell back into silence. Looking back at his bright, pinpoint eyes, I was suddenly taken back to a smaller dining area, where a blood-drenched guard was crawling and begging for mercy at my feet. Then, I was throwing Jack violently on the floor, yelling at him, hurting him, as my own maniac laughter echoed in the background. I shook my head desperately, hoping to somehow get the haunting images out of my mind.

"What's wrong?" Jack's voice brought me back to reality. I realized that I was bent over, my only hand clamped painfully into a fist. Sighing deeply, I relaxed my hand and sat straight up again.

"So, umm…" I scratched my head nervously; how could I say this? "We... we've been though quite some stuff, you and me and everyone else. Some good stuff and bad stuff, well, mostly bad stuff." I let out a short sigh. Jack nodded understandingly. "But, the thing is… I just wanted to ask you if…"

I was interrupted by the sound of an opening door. We turned around at the same time to see Mini cheerily waving at us at the doorway.

"Hi Mr. Bonnie, hi Mr. Bucky!" she chirped. Jack turned his head away from her while I waved back. "So," she looked only at me, "we're about to play hide and seek. Wanna come?"

"One minute." I grabbed my puzzle's box, stood up and put the four boxes full of jigsaw pieces on top of each other next to Jack. "I'll be back soon," I told him, bending down by his side, "and bring some that we haven't finished too many times. Is it okay if you play with these in the mean time?" He nodded slowly. "Great, I won't take too long."

I stood up again and waved at him one more time before stepping into the hallway. Following Mini to the Game Area, I remembered these past weeks. Playing games with the Toys made us feel like kids again, and Jack and I were having fun redoing the same jigsaws over and over. I felt like I was starting to regain his trust, but getting him to open up to anyone still seemed impossible; just like finding a way to make him walk again, or not having him flinch back when I accidentally brushed him. He did understand what happened to the Toys, and I felt like he also knew that what happened that night was beyond my control.

I opened the grey door to the Game Area and saw my brother, Sarah and Ferny on one side of the large room and the other four Toys in the other side with Marionette in the middle.

"Mr. Bonnie!" squealed TB, running and skipping to me, "How are you?!"

"I'm good little me." I laughed back, ruffling his ears and making him giggle softly. "Darn! I almost forgot!" I brought back my hand, opened up the frontal plate of my chest and took out the little rose that was perched in a tiny hole. "It's your turn today."

"Thanks!" he chirped as I handled him the fake flower. He opened his own chest and secured it with a tiny piece of tape that was stuck to the inside of his plastic exoskeleton.

"Right in time to start Bonnie." called out Marionette, pointing at TB, Mini and me to go to our groups, "you guys are hiding and the Toys are seeking. Sounds good?"

I nodded, decided to make up for our past losses. At Marionette's word, the five Toys quickly turned around to face the bleak wall. My brother immediately called Sarah, Ferny and me over with a gesture.

"Okay," whispered Sean as the four of us formed a tight circle, "I was thinking about trying out the kitchen."

"I'm coming with you." added Sarah, "Brandon, Fer, any ideas?"

"I'll try the girls' bathrooms," snickered the latter, "they'll never try to find me there."

"That's… smart." whispered my brother, "A bit wrong, but smart. Don?"

"Guess that only leaves the vents for me." I sighed, looking at the panel besides the carousel.

"Have fun then doofus," teased Sarah before we broke up the circle, "and good luck."

The Toys were still facing the wall as I went in the opposite direction of my teammates. I quickly knelt in front of the vent, pulled away the panel and clumsily crawled into the tight space. Groaning, I went on for a few minutes, taking a few odd turns here and there when I realized something.

I had never gone in this vent before, and I was completely lost already.

"TB?! Mangle?!" I shouted, banging the walls of the vent, "Freddy?! Foxy?!... ANYONE?!" Scratching my head anxiously, I waited in vain for an answer. "C'mon guys, you know I hate staying in here for too long!"

I remained quiet, but no one answered. "Stay calm Brandon," I thought as I started to panic, "Just stay calm." With only the feeble red light coming from my LED's I kept crawling through the pitch-black vent for seemingly hours, humming random tunes nervously. "London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, my fair…"

I almost broke down in joyful sobs when I saw a panel in front of me, but there wasn't any light coming from it. Wondering why the place I'd come to was in the dark I banged the panel open and crawled out. "Alright," I chuckled, "who was the joker that turned the lights off?"

No answer. I was standing in a small, unknown and pitch-black room. A very thin layer of brown dust covered the filing cabinets and boxes in a corner, next to a small table. There were all kinds of junk and loose papers scattered on the floor. In the corner closest to me a dirty white blanket covered something that had the size and shape of a sitting man.

Once again, my weak LED's were the only thing showing me the way as I carefully approached the big white lump. Standing in front of it, I stretched out my hand, grabbed the blanket and pulled it away; only to let out a short yelp when two dead grey eyes stared back at me. I stumbled backwards in shock, looking away from the body in terror; but I had to see it clearly. And when I did, I shook my head at my own stupid scare.

"So, you must be Spring." I said flatly. The blanket didn't save the bunny mechanical suit from being covered with dust, but besides that it was in good condition. The metallic joints of the yellow-furred limbs were very different from the ones that any of our bodies had, so we couldn't salvage this thing to repair Jack or anyone else.

Taking slow, careful steps I checked the cabinets and the table's drawers, finding them empty. None of the stacked cardboard boxes looked like the one with our recorded tapes, but something made me check a box that was filled with greying newspapers. I picked up an old-looking clipping, and read the headline.

Monday, June 27th 1983
Kids vanish at local pizzeria – bodies not found

"That's it." I thought after reading the short article, "Those two kids and Marionette were the ones that Dave talked about when he met Walther, they became the two Shadows."

The next newspapers were just different versions of our murders. I realized that this room was the place where the kid's pizzeria I once loved kept its sick secrets. Struggling to push back the bloody memories, I dug deeper into the pile of paper until I finally found something interesting.

September 12, 1986

Brother of Fazbear tragedy victim pleads for further investigation.

Last night, 13 year-old Michael Schmidt once again walked into the local police department's headquarters without authorization, demanding the investigators not to close down the Fazbear Tragedy case concerning the murder of five children, including Michael's 7 year-old brother Jack. Although the prime suspect of the murders died a few short days after he cut his own wrists, the relentless boy is convinced that the real killer is still out there.

"I don't care what people think of me." he told our reporter shortly after being escorted out of the police department. "The evidence still doesn't make sense, and the man that killed my little brother is still out there. If the cops can't find him and make him pay for what he did then I will, no matter what or how long it takes."

I'd smile if I could, because there was still someone out there that wanted justice of us. "Don't give up Mike." I thought, "Please... just don't give up."

Standing up, I began to look for a way out that wasn't the vent where I got lost. I started to walk along and check the walls of the room before finally seeing a dark wooden door that was barely visible in the lightless space. Excited, I carelessly jogged to the door, stumbled on something that was tossed on the floor, and without any bit of grace, fell down on my side. Groaning and rubbing the side of my waist, I focused my weak lights on the long, segmented purple thing that was lying innocently on the tiled floor.

It was an animatronic arm; my arm.

I crawled to it, picked it up and stared at it with disbelieve. "I missed you, you beautiful piece of metal." I laughed, swinging the severed arm around my neck and walking back to the door… only to open it and find more of the wall.

"Oh, common!" I cried out, punching the uncovered wall… and getting my fist stuck in it. "Stupid cheap walls." I growled, releasing my fist with a furious tug and leaving a hole behind that finally brought some light into the room.

"Don?! Is that you?!" hissed Sean's shocked voice from the other side of the wall, "What… how did you… where…"

"Hi brother." I chuckled, "Umm… I got a bit lost."

After a few minutes and some nagging from my brother I was sitting on the kitchen's floor, cleaning my fur from the annoying white dust that the wall was made of.

"You really are something, aren't you doofus?" laughed Sarah as I brushed off the last bits of plaster.

"We leave you alone for ten minutes, ten minutes." added Sean while he shoved a kitchen shelf full of cans and bottles of oil and sauce in front of the huge hole in the wall, "Nice arm by the way."

"I know!" I replied cheerily, looking at the limb on the floor. "But we'll have to wait until we finish the game before we can get Ferny to reattach it."

"All in all, I'd say you got really lucky there." said Sarah, leaning against an oven.

"Yeah…" I hummed, right as the heavy door behind me opened up with a long creak.

Balloons stepped into the room with big, proud strides, crossed his arms, and laughed mockingly. "Three people hiding in the same place?!" he taunted, "And I thought Bugs Bunny was bad at hide and seek…"

The best part was that Ferny didn't lose because someone went in the girl's bathrooms looking for him. Mini's beak had fallen down again, so she went in there to reattach it in front of the mirror... but then she saw a pair of red ears rising above a toilet stall. Our -most of the time- really smart friend forgot that the stalls were made for little girls, not seven-feet-tall animatronic foxes.

"And I was so close!" he whined, finishing his story while Sean, Sarah, and I giggled cruelly in Party Room 4. "Anyways," he chuckled along, "let's see if I can fix up me ole lad over 'ere."

"You're getting better with the accent!" I said as I was about to hand him over the loose purple arm, when an idea suddenly popped in my mind. "Fer… how similar are Jack's joints and servos to mine?"

"The same." he answered with a shrug. "Why are you ask-" His ears rose up in surprise when he realized what I had in mind. "Brandon, you're not really thinking…"

"Yes I am." My brother and Sarah looked at me with surprised eyes. "It's my arm, and I can do what I want with it."

"Don, are you sure about this?" asked Sean.

"Totally. Besides, what kind of person would I be if I kept breaking my promises?"

Jack was putting another finished puzzle on top of the stack at his side when we entered Party Room 3. He seemed afraid by the big number of people in the small space.

"It's okay." I whispered softly, sitting in front of him, "They're my friends, and they're good guys, remember?"

"W-why are t-they all here?" he asked nervously, looking at the brown, red and yellow figures with distrust.

"To fix your leg." I answered, "We can do it right now so you can stand up again, but we need to disconnect your battery so you won't feel any pain."

Jack looked at me with sorry eyes, and let his gaze fall down. "I c-can't." he mumbled.

"Yes you can buddy. All you need to do is trust in me." He raised his head again, looking at me in the eyes. "Please, just trust in me. Can you do that?"

He stayed quiet for a few seconds. Then he looked at my friends once again before turning back his head at me, and he nodded slowly. "But… I'm s-still s-scared."

"I'll be here by your side the whole time, and I'll make sure that nothing bad will happen." I promised.

"O… okay." Jack leaned his body forwards while I stood up and walked towards his back. I slowly leaned forwards, expecting him to flinch back when I touched the panel on his back. But Jack remained still and steady as I opened up the panel, reached into his torso and carefully disconnected the power cables from his battery. His body immediately went completely limp.

"Alright…" sighed Ferny, putting the toolbox that he was carrying on the floor, sitting next to Jack's broken leg and pulling his blanket aside, "Let's get to work."

Slowly and carefully, he disassembled the broken knee while my brother did the same to my loose arm, handling the salvaged pieces one by one to Fer. Using his one hand, he reassembled Jack's knee with the parts of my arm while I passed him all kinds of screwdrivers and wrenches. After about half an hour, it was done. My once whole arm was now a hollow useless exoskeleton, all its moving pieces now forming part of Jack's knee. With a final click, Ferny secured the golden knee back to the leg, stood up, and started to tap his foot nervously while I reconnected the power cables to Jack's battery.

"W-what…" he moaned weakly, shaking his head while he woke up.

"It's fixed!" I chuckled as his pinpoint eyes slowly started to shine again, "Try it."

Jack looked doubtfully at his repaired knee, but let out a joyful gasp when it bent. "It's working!" he cried out, moving his leg randomly a few more times. "It's w-working!"

"Nice job Fer." said Sarah, nodding at our mechanic.

"It's nothing guys, really." he dismissed, raising his shoulders. "I'm glad I could do something."

"So, can you stand up?" I asked, walking in front of Jack. "Do you need help?"

Shaking his head, he pushed himself up and took a few small steps, as if testing that everything really worked. Then, all of the sudden, he threw himself at me with open arms. "T-thank you…" he cried, hugging me close, "T-thank you s-so m-much."

Stunned, I looked around to see the joyful eyes of Sarah, Ferny and Sean focused on me and Jack. I slowly wrapped my arm around his quivering shoulders. "It's nothing." I hushed, patting his back, "We help each other, that's what friends are for."

Still sobbing with happiness he let go of me. Instinctively, I stretched out my arm. My brother limped to me and did the same thing, putting his hand on top of mine. He was followed by Ferny's hook and Sarah's yellow wing-hand.

"We haven't done this in a long time." she chuckled.

"True." I replied, "Jack?"

He looked at me with shy, doubtful eyes. "Is i-it okay?" he asked weakly.

"Oh, please!" I laughed back, "Just put your hand on top of Sarah's will you?"

"O… okay." He slowly lowered his big golden hand until it was resting on top of hers.

"THREE!" started Sean,

"TWO!" cried out Ferny,

"ONE!" shouted Sarah,

"FRIENDS TILL THE END!" I finished as the five of us threw our hands up in the air, laughing like there was nothing wrong in the world. For the next few months, we actually believed that.

But nothing lasts forever.

A/N: Sorry guys for not saying hello, but I'm kinda in a rush. As always, thanks for your amazing support this past week. I find it truly amazing that you're enjoying this little fic.

Now, I have some big news. This will be the last chap in a while. In a few days, I'll be leaving the peaceful, quiet island where I was born along with my immediate family, friends and pets and move to a big South American capital to start my university, so, kind of a big deal. I'll be really busy, really sad, and overall incapable to write anything halfway decent.

So, how long is a while? Hopefully less than a month from now. In any case, I'll post an update to let you know when exactly I'll start putting up new chaps. I'm praying that I'll be able to keep updating weekly after I get more-or-less settled down, but I won't make any promises. You guys have been incredibly supportive so far, and I have no plans to leave you hanging. This thing will go on, but I'll need some time.

So, that's that. In the mean time, stay safe, and happy reading and writing.