A/N: Hey guys, welcome back! I know I'm a bit late, but I simply did not want to see this week pass by without updating anything. You don't deserve that, and besides I don't want to lose my writing rhythm. I spent a lot of time and effort on this chap, and I'm quite happy about the way it turned out. I wanted to make it long, since the last one was a bit short compared with what you've been getting since the start of Tape 2.
Well, I'm a bit tired so I'm keeping this short. Thanks again for being here and following the story, and remember that I really appreciate to read your reviews; they're a huge motivation. Take care guys, have a good week and happy reading! :)
Chapter 25: Bending the rules
"Get him!" I hissed from my dark viewing spot at the end of the Part Room corridor. Hiding in the shadows, we looked on in excitement at Foxy rushing down the pitch-black hall, his razor-sharp teeth and hook unveiled and ready for the kill. Competition was no longer a priority; all we wanted now was to see this guard in a suit, dead or dying. I remembered the joy of our first kill long ago; to relieve that excitement was becoming my addiction.
"Yes..." giggled Chica next to me, her voice trembling with anticipation, "Do it! Kill him now!"
Foxy was close to the office, about to do a final lethal dash at the unsuspecting human. The tired-looking man was still checking the monitors when he must've heard the metallic footsteps of the animatronic. The guard quickly grabbed his flashlight and shot a beam of blinding light at the red silhouette, making the fox growl in frustration as he covered his eyes and stumbled back into the nearest Party Room.
"Damn it!" hissed Freddy behind us. That was our last chance for tonight. The beeping of an alarm-clock barely started when the sound of heavy mechanical bodies crashing to the ground echoed through the building. Punching a wall in frustration, I glared at our slippery purple prize in the lit-up office. I expected him to be happy, to raise his arms in the air or taunt us for our lost.
Instead, I was delighted to see him burry his head in his hands miserably. He sighed deeply as he rubbed his tired, blood-shot eyes, trying to keep himself awake. I was already lying on the floor and there was no blood on my hands, but I was satisfied. Now, I knew that this was a war of wear and tear.
"Don't worry meatbag, I found out how to end your suffering." I cooed sweetly as I began to lose consciousness, "If we can't break your body first, we'll start by breaking your mind!" I let out a low, rolling chuckle before everything went black and silent.
And so, the last of Jeremy's second night played back in my mind as I came back to my senses on the Main Hall's floor. Was that blood-thirsty monster really part of me? This thought made me shiver and remember the words our killer told us over a year ago.
"There's evil inside of us, waiting to be free." said Walther, "And all that's needed for that liberation, for your real nature to grow into a magnificent fire, is a tiny spark. Eventually, you'll begin playing sooner and finish later. Your true and evil side will keep growing unstoppably, until it takes over that fake sense of humanity you so stupidly hold on to. Then we'll be the best of friends without the tiniest of differences between us!"
"Never." I hissed furiously at the haunting voice in my head, "We won't let that happen."
Groaning, I stood up and stretched my servos, while a single question repeated itself in my mind: Why didn't Jeremy quit after his first night? I painfully realized that if he came back for a second night, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't come back for a third.
The pizzeria was still dark and silent as I entered the Game Area. My brother, Jack, Sarah and Ferny were sitting on the Show Stage, whilst Mangle and Balloons were sitting together in a corner and Junior, Mini and TB stared out the window dreamily.
Sean looked at me, and balled his fist. "He came back Don." he hissed with frustration, low enough so that none of the Toys could hear him say my nickname. "After all that, he comes back."
"This can't keep going like this." said Ferny seriously, "Sooner or later, he'll run out of luck and it'll be over for him."
"We have to warn him again then!" replied Sarah immediately, "We'll leave him another note."
"He didn't listen to the first one," I countered, "so why would he listen to the second one."
My brother let out a stressed sigh. "And we never found those stupid tapes." he muttered, "Someone must've thrown them away when Freddy's moved here."
I nodded in agreement and sat on the floor next to him. "Jack, you're... uh... normal today, aren't you?" I asked, turning my head at the golden figure.
He looked up at me and gave me a little nod, before whispering "Y-your friends helped me g-get out of the room."
I looked at the red, brown and yellow figures. "Thanks guys."
Silence took over our group after they replied with a mumbled "No problem". It was hard to keep up a chat after you spent a night trying to murder a family member.
"So, we can't do anything?" I asked with a feeble voice.
Ferny tapped his foot, humming thoughtfully before confessing "I can't think of anything."
I realized that neither could I. "Brother?"
"I just don't know what to do Don." he replied, closing his eyes and sighing "This is just so… crazy."
With downed ears I got up and walked towards the three main Toys, their gloomily glowing eyes still staring out the window.
"Hey guys." I greeted, trying to lift up the mood, and failing.
"We did it again Mr. Bonnie." cried Mini, her girlish voice drowned in sadness. "How can we do something like that?!"
Sean stood up behind me and came by my side after hearing the heart-broken girl. "Look, whatever is happening, it's not your fault." he said immediately, "Just come with us, alright? I feel terrible as well, but we should be together right now. We still have a couple of hours."
Mini gave us a shy little nod. "I g-guess you're right Mr. Freddy," she sobbed, forcing a weak smile.
My brother smiled warmly at the small yellow animatronic as she came to his side. "Junior, are you coming?" he asked.
"Uh, sure Mr. Freddy." was the brown toy's answer. "Let's go."
"Mangle, Balloons, get up." called out Sean energetically, "You're with us as well."
The white fox and propeller-capped boy shot up from their spots; yellow and blue eyes suddenly a bit brighter.
"C'mon TB, let's go." I said cheerily to my silent counterpart.
He looked up at me, forcing a little smile. "I think I'll just stay here." he answered feebly.
"Bonnie, the arcades are over here!" called out Sarah.
"Just a moment." I replied aloud, before turning my head and looking out the window next to TB. "You'd rather be out there right now, right little me?"
A sad smile appeared on my counterpart's face. "Yeah…" he sighed, staying silent for a moment. He then began to rub his elbow awkwardly, looking down at his feet.
"What's wrong?" I whispered.
TB looked up at me, then let his green eyes dart to the place of the Game Area where everyone was. "Can I tell you a secret Mr. Bonnie?" he asked shyly.
"Anything." I pointed at the long hydraulic things above my head. "I'm all ears."
My counterpart giggled and shook his head. "Thanks." he mumbled with a smile, before it disappeared and his eyes began to reflect some kind of nervousness. "I've been having weird nightmares lately. They all start out in the same way. I'm here, at Freddy's, surrounded by kids that are laughing and running around the Game Area. I'm with them, and I'm happy, and there are other little kids with me. But, I'm not… me."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm human." whispered TB slowly, "I'm a kid, just like everyone else." Something cold went through me as he said those words.
"I'm like the kids that come here every day," he continued, "and the four that are with me are my friends. I know them somehow. We laugh and eat pizza and have a fun time, but then we can't find the person that's with us. We start to feel afraid, and we pass by the show stage where I can see myself and Junior and Mini doing the show. The place is closing down and we still can't find the person we're looking for. We pass by the Party Rooms, and we see a weird animam… animatronic. He's like you, only golden, like Mr. Bucky."
TB's held on to his elbow nervously, closing his eyes. "You don't have to tell me this if you don't want to." I said.
"It's okay. It's just a dream." was his unsure reply. "But it still feels so… real. We follow him to a Party Room and he closes the door behind us. It's really dark, but I can still see the golden rabbit… rip his head off." TB's voice started to quiver. "Someone s-screamed, and we saw that it was a m-man in that suit all along. He t-took off the above of the suit, then the down part, and stepped out. He was s-smiling happily, and he took out a long knife, a-and he came to one of the girls that was with us, and g-grabbed her, and… and…"
My counterpart's light green eyes filled with horror, as if what he was describing was happening in front of him. "And he cut her neck." he whispered. "Then, he did that t-to another of my friends, and another, and another, and… and then he went to me."
"Don't." I interrupted. "Don't go on if you don't want to." However, I confess that I said that because the horrible images of my friends' death and mine played back in my mind, and disturbed me as much as what TB was saying.
"I tried to scream, t-to run." My counterpart carried on like he didn't hear me at all. "B-but he grabbed me by m-my arm and put his hand on my m-mouth. He raised his knife, and before it came down I saw someone standing behind him. It looked a bit like a man, but his body was long and black. I saw that he had a white face. Then, I wake up."
"You don't know who it was?" I asked, completely puzzled.
TB shook his head. "But it was just a bad dream Mr. Bonnie, I'm sure it doesn't mean anything."
Just after he said that, we heard a familiar voice say behind us "Hey TB, hey Bonnie. You're coming or not?" We turned around to see Marionette looking eagerly at us with his white face, his black arms crossed patently.
"Let's go little me." I said, taking my counterpart by his hand. He seemed relieved after telling me his nightmare, and walked along with me. Looking at Marionette from behind, an idea suddenly crossed my mind. But I quickly shook my head, scoffing inwardly at my crazy theory.
No, that was impossible.
Fer had always been something of a nerd, or as Sean liked to call him, a wiseass. So when he found some old editions of National Geographic buried underneath a pile of tapes in the security office a few weeks ago, he was very happy about it. Mom used to say that you need an escape when things get rough and to get new ideas. Sometimes you need to leave the box for a minute and think outside of it. That afternoon, I wanted to at least do something good that night before turning into a killer. And after seeing TB stare dreamily out the window, the lightbulb above my head turned on.
We could bend the rules without breaking them. If we couldn't put the Toys outside, we would bring outside to them.
It was around 8:30 when we showed our counterparts the first magazine, and now it was almost 11. Everybody, including Jack and Marionette, was sitting around the magazine. It had been a great night so far.
Too great.
"…and they be pyramids." stated Ferny happily, pointing at the sand-colored monuments on the page, "They're very old, and very big." he continued, his voice sounding like a pirate trying to explain something to his parrot: slow, grave and happy.
Mangle stared down at the page from the ceiling, her yellow eye wide open in amazement. "What did they use them for cap Foxy?" she asked shyly.
"Arr, they be filled with mummies!" replied the pirate-imitator energetically, "When t' Egyptian's king back then, t' pharaoh, went to ole Davy Jones locker, his servants would mummify 'm so his soul could leave this world 'n rest in t' afterlife."
"Ooh…" chorused the amazed Toys.
"Aye, really interesting." smiled Ferny proudly, turning a page and showing a beautiful, rainbow-like hill of tulips with some windmills behind them.
"Hey, I know that!" chirped my brother, pulling the magazine in front of him, "That's in the Netherlands, right?"
"Aye lad!" replied Fer, "Mills were used t' drain lakes 'n swamps and t' create new land, or t' keep the land from floodin'."
"Wow, so they make mills to make sure the water doesn't drown them?!" exclaimed Balloons suddenly, "That's so cool!"
"They also make really good cheese and cookies." added Sarah casually.
"Yeah, always wondered what they were like." hummed Sean dreamily, "But those kills are really beautiful."
It took us a second or two to realize what my brother just said. "Umm, Mr. Freddy?" started TB worriedly, "Are you alright?"
"Uh, y-yeah, of course!" stuttered Sean uneasily, before putting a hand on his chest. "Beautiful mills, he he, that's… that's wh-what I'm trying t-to say." He let out a short groan. "I'm f-fine."
But we saw how his blue eyes started to fade and brighten slowly. "Uh, Freddy?" whispered Sarah nervously as we slowly backed away from the brown figure, "Are you sure that you're alri-"
"I'M FINE CHICA!" roared my brother before falling on his back, blue eyes flickering rapidly as his body twitched and shook for a few seconds. He clutched at his red-glowing chest, then let go as his eyes turned off completely; only to start glowing again with a cold and emotionless light.
"…I'm fine." whispered Freddy slowly, letting out a dark, grave laugh at our fearful faces. "It feels good to begin a party early, doesn't it?"
Before we could recover from the shock all five Toys suddenly fell to the floor, their torso's lightening up the room with a bloody red. I instinctively grabbed Jack by the arm and dragged him to the kitchen while the sound of my friends' bodies falling on the hard tiles echoed behind us. We opened the door and rushed inside.
"Wh-what happened?" asked Jack, "I th-thought it was too early."
"It is." I replied anxiously, "You need to hide now, or I'll…" A burning sensation in my chest drowned the words in my mouth. Howling in pain, I fell on my knees and raised my head with great effort to see a scared Jack in front of me.
Too late. We were too late.
"I'm s-sorry buddy," I groaned, "but you'll have t-to protect yourself f-from me."
He shook his head before begging "P-please… please don't m-make me hurt you."
His heartbroken eyes made me feel the urge to cry. In that moment, I realized that the only thing more painful than seeing the ones you love get hurt, is knowing that you're the one that hurt them. "F-forgive me." I whimpered, "Please… forgive… m-me."
The kitchen came and went in flashes of light and darkness as my body twisted and shook itself on the floor. Faster than ever before, I felt that freezing cold and that murderous need take over. The last thing I thought of was how eager that dark side of me must be to tear Jack apart with his claws…
And I was. Standing in front of my thrown-down body was the golden bear I had longed to… educate, since that first night of freedom so long ago.
"Good night Bucky." I purred sweetly as I stood up, making him take a few steps back. "It's good to see you again."
"Please…" he wept pathetically, "p-please don't make me hurt my friend."
I burst out in laughs. "Ha ha! That was good! You, hurting me?! Heh, no, that's not how it's gonna work tonight." Bucky kept walking backwards, glaring at me with a mixture of anger, fear and pain as I came closer to him. "Your little friend can't do a thing. Tomorrow he's gonna wake up with the blood of a guard in one hand and with your head in the other." The bear's back hit the corner of the kitchen; the lamp behind me made my shadow cover more of the animatronic as I walked up to him. "Unless, of course, you stop being so annoying and come play with us." I was now in front of Bucky, and stretched my open hand to him. "We can all be playmates then! Everything will be forgiven if you just forget about your friend and join us. We could have lots of fun together, more than you can imagine!"
"No." hissed back the golden figure, "I'll n-never be like y-"
"Wrong answer little bear." My open hand closed itself around Bucky's cold metal throat. "I wonder how that brat will feel when he wakes up on top of your broken endoskeleton."
"G-give back my f-friend!" roared the bear, "I want him b-back!"
A low chuckle escaped my throat as I tightened my steely grip. "How sweet. Don't worry, he'll remember you said that, just like every scream of pain you made as I tore your fingers out of your hand. Now, shall we begin?"
Suddenly, something made me let go of Bucky. I involuntarily backed away a few steps from him, cursing my feet mentally. "What the hell is happening to me?!" I hissed furiously as I felt my chest burn. In front of me, that same animatronic I was so close to tearing apart was now pointing at me with an open hand. Through my fading vision, I could see a faint red glow come out of his chest.
Growling out of pure hate, I clenched my fist with all my might. "You freaking coward!" I blurted out furiously, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!"
"Helping you." whispered the golden figure calmly, before everything disappeared to darkness and silence.