A/N: Hello guys, welcome back to the fic. Once again, my apologies for the big delay between chapters. Believe it or not, I truly want to update as often as I can, but with the responsibilities of this new semester it's getting very difficult to find a good moment to write. Priorities are priorities, so I cannot guarantee that you won't have to wait as long for the next chapter.

In any case, to those who are still following: thanks for being here. Now, this chap will hopefully give you a few surprises or two. It was originally part of a bigger chapter, but I decided to split it since it was getting too long.

Also, there's a little announcement at the end regarding an idea I've had for quite a while. Without anything left to say: happy reading and happy Easter! And if you want, let me know how you liked this one ;)

Chapter 30: A night to remember

The best way to describe what I was feeling, is hunger. A powerful, dominating, blinding craving for something, anything, that will fill a gaping hole inside of you. It's not desire, it's need.

In my case, it was a need to kill the guard on his last night of the week.

But that hunger paled in comparison to whatever it was that came out of Buck's empty black eyes. The only time he had smiled was when he used his seal to make the others join our game. Their scared, high-pitched screams that filled the quiet nightly air as his power corrupted them were like music to our ears.

But as the night progressed, it became clear that our prey had gotten better at avoiding us. Even if we all entered his office constantly through both vents and the hall; even if we didn't give him a chance to breathe; even with Buck's ability to assault the guard with ghostly images if himself, the man put on his mask, flashed his light and kept us away.

When there was less than an hour remaining, Freddy and I stepped into the service room just to see Buck sitting on the floor, idly tracing circles on the checkered tiles as if nothing was happening.

"What are you doing?!" I growled at him, frustrated. "You said I couldn't do anything, and you're sitting here being useless! I should..."

A single glare from the golden bear's empty eye sockets left me without voice. "You're so impatient." he mumbled in his cold, slow and breathy voice. "I was thinking." Without standing up, he turned his whole body to face us, and asked "What can you remember that's not from your games?"

"You mean the memories of the kids?" replied Freddy. Buck nodded slowly. "Nothing." continued the brown bear, "It's like we're completely different people." He paused for a moment, before snarling "And it's better that way. I don't want to know anything about those pathetic brats."

"Without them, we couldn't exist." reminded Buck in an emotionless tone. "In time, they won't be a problem. But until then, we only have these hours." He paused, and I wondered why it felt like he had trouble speaking. "Because of my seal, I can remember a few things from the kid inside of me." His words awoke a spark of interest in Freddy and me. "Did you know that the guard is a relative of Bonnie's kid?"

"H-he is?" I stuttered, surprised. "What else can you remember?"

"The guard's name. Those are the only interesting things." answered Buck casually. He stood up, and facing Freddy, said to him "Tell everyone else to hide from the guard until he doesn't have his mask." The brown bear answered with a nod.

"And why would he let go of his mask?" I asked defiantly, "He's not an idiot."

Buck walked to me and put a freezing-cold paw on my shoulder. "He cares for you Bonnie. And that's why he will be dead soon." He let me go and walked to the door. "Come with me. Let's pay him a visit."

I approached the lit-up office slowly through the quiet party room hall, not bothering to hide myself from view. As soon as I was close to his room, the young man in purple quickly put on his mask, aimed his flashlight at my head, and fired a beam of blinding light.

"Jeremy! It's me!" I hissed as I turned my stripped head away from the light, covering it with my hand. "It's me, relax!"

"Brandon?!" blurted out the surprised man right after my cassette recorder repeated my words. Still shielding my face from the light, I nodded. After a second or two, Jeremy finally turned off his flashlight. "How are you back to normal? It's not 6 AM."

Shrugging, I replied "I'm not sure. I was talking to the others in parts and service, when suddenly everyone started to lose consciousness. I was the last one to fall asleep and the first one to wake up." As I stepped into his office, I remembered that he still had his mask on.

The young man only looked at me in silence. "You did it Jeremy!" I resumed joyfully, "Now that your mandatory week is over, you can get moved over to the dayshift!"

"Yeah," mumbled the masked guard, "it's over."

None of us said anything for a while. Strolling around the office casually, staring at a child's drawing on the left wall, I finally asked "Why don't you take off your mask?"

After a short silence, he replied flatly "What if someone is still taken over?"

Chuckling, I answered "Don't worry, no one is coming for you! You are safe and sound," I stared at him in the eyes, "I promise."

"Well, I'd rather not take any chances." countered the guard, taking a few steps back from me.

"C'mon Jeremy," I said innocently, "I just want to see your face."

The young man stared intensely at me. Then, he slowly raised his hand to his face and his mask; but he stopped suddenly. With his eyes still on me, he told me in a nonchalant tone "You know, I spoke with your dad last week."

"Fantastic!" I beamed, swallowing down my anger and frustration. "Did he mention me?"

"Yes." answered the guard harshly, "He was very surprised that you already forgot how he was killed over four years ago." Clutching the flashlight tightly in his hand, he glared furiously at me through the eyeholes of his mask. "You really think I don't know my own family?! How dare you use my little cousin's name?!"

A look of surprise took over the human's eyes as I started to snicker softly. Moments later, I was almost hollering with laughter; I leaned against a wall to avoid rolling on the floor. "Your little cousin's name?" I scoffed, finally getting my laughter under control, "You mean that brat that has been rotting for a year and a half?"

The young man's eyes now burned with rage as he clenched his fists. "He's still alive." he hissed through clenched teeth, "And you will never beat him."

Letting out a last short chuckle, I shook my head at his naivety. "It's a shame you won't live enough to see how wrong you are." Excitement coursed through me as I took big steps towards the man.

The human backed away from me quickly, towards the right side of the office. "You can't touch me if I have the mask!" he blurted out desperately as his back touched the corner of the room. At the same time, he rested his thumb on the flashlight's button.

"I shouldn't touch you if you have the mask." I corrected with a low, decided voice, stopping right in front of him. "This time, I'll just do what Foxy has always done: ignore the rules."

He was about to turn on his flashlight and I was about to grab him by his throat to stop him, when we both froze in place to stare at the golden animatronic standing at the entrance to the office like a statue. "Bonnie…" he glared at me with his empty, black stare, and mumbled slowly "You are a terrible actor."

"Save it Buck." I growled, "With or without his mask, I'm going to kill him now."

"Jack?" gasped the night guard with a sliver of hope, "Are you there?"

With slow movements, the withered bear looked at the man, shook his head and stepped into the office. Without taking his eyes off him, Buck stated flatly "You won't have to break the rules Bonnie. Like I said before, his love for the kid inside of you will kill him." Confused and irritated, I glared at him as he took a few more steps towards us and rested his gaze on me. "I have a plan B. And yes, you're in it." He stopped walking when he was in the middle of the office, and raised his opened hand in my direction. "But luckily for us…" His mouth curved ever so slightly to form a dark, eager smile. "You won't have to act at all."

A scorching pain in my chest put me on my knees, and seconds later a strangled cry left my recorder. I felt like my seal was on fire, and it was burning away to nothing.

Slowly and painfully, I turned my head to Bucky, and groaned "Y-you're… you're erasing m-me."

The small grin on Buck's face grew into a full sadistic smile as he tilted his head slightly. "Yes I am." His voice trembled with pleasure. "How does it feel?"

With a roar of pure agony I fell flat on the ground. Panting and whimpering with pain, I glanced at the confused and worried guard.

"Good job Bonnie!" beamed an overjoyed Buck behind me, "Scream! Cry! Let him know what you're going through!"

"W…why?" I hissed, "W-we're… in the s-same… t-team…"

"Yes. And sometimes you have to take one for the team." was Buck's indifferent answer, "I don't have a recorder. Tell the guard to give me his mask, or I will erase you completely."

"Wh-what's going on?" stuttered the young man in a panicked voice, "What is he doing?"

With barely enough strength to speak, I faced the guard and croaked out slowly "Listen to me meatbag. Give him the mask, or there will be nothing left of me…" A short grunt of pain interrupted me. "And nothing left of your little cousin."

Under his mask, the fearful eyes of the human stared at Buck and me alternatively, while I felt myself fading away. Soon, the man in front of me was nothing more than a darkened purple blur, and the burning in my chest was melting away into a dull throbbing. Realizing that I would be erased by my own teammate, I let my head fall on the floor.

"Here!" The guard's shout brought me back to reality. As my vision came back to me, I raised my head to see the young man's sweat-covered and unmasked face, along with his stretched arm that was holding the Freddy headpiece. With a hardened expression, he looked at Buck, then at me, and for one second at the light switch on the wall in front of him. Though I couldn't move anything else than my head, I wheezed in relief when I realized that I wouldn't be erased.

"You see Bonnie?" started Buck indifferently, "He's all ours now."

I was too exhausted to feel anger as he slowly walked next to my thrown-down body, until his huge metal foot was next to my head. The man's face remained steely as Buck tilted his head and grinned at him with satisfaction. A moment later, a loud clatter was heard as the remaining eight animatronics came into the office, surrounding the cornered guard. Chica and Foxy glared hungrily at him from my left, my counterpart smiled darkly at my right, and Mangle opened her twisted jaw above me.

"It was fun." said Freddy flatly, raising his shoulders calmly as his recorder parroted his words, "But every game must end."

"Agreed." answered the guard with confidence, before holding up his mask and calling out energetically to Buck: "I guess you want this now." The golden bear nodded slowly; the man smiled a tiny smile and brought back his hand. "Then… catch it!"

With a flick of his wrist, the night guard threw the mask just over the golden bear's shoulders. Still unable to move my body, I saw how everyone turned their heads around to follow the flying headpiece, giving the man a precious second to take a big stride towards the piece of wall between him and me, stretch out his arm, and slam down the light switch with his hand. Everything and everyone was in total darkness when we heard the mask hitting the floor.

"This isn't your everyday doofus!" cackled Chica from somewhere in the dark, "This is a special kind of doofus!" A short laugh rung through the room as pairs of small colored lights appeared in the black space; they were the glowing eyes of my playmates. "We can see you clear as day now."

She was right. Our vision quickly adapted to the darkness, letting us see the figure of the man standing in the same place as before, but bathed in the dim colored lights from the animatronics' eyes.

"Good." stated the guard nonchalantly, grabbing his flashlight from his belt. "You see, a little birdy told me that a bright light can actually reset your systems. In other words: you will shut down for some minutes." He aimed his flashlight at us, and putting his thumb over its button, finished "And a light becomes much brighter once you're used to the dark."

Before anyone could stop the man, a blinding flash filled the room. My playmates hissed in anger and pain as they shielded their eyes against it, but it didn't take long before they began to fall on the floor's checkered tiles, one by one. Without physical eyes, I managed to stay conscious as Buck fell on his back next to me. Mangle quickly swung her way towards the opened vent at the opposite side of the room and crawled inside, away from the light, as the Toys fell on their knees before shutting down.

A minute had passed, and the floor of the office was littered with mechanical bodies. Wheezing, the man turned on the office's light and came by my side, right in front of Bucky's inert body. Raising my head, I rasped out: "Why?" The young guard looked at me with confusion. "Why did you risk your life for someone that's already dead?"

With a sigh, he went on his knees and looked down at me pitifully, something that only made my hate for him grow. "You wouldn't understand." he whispered softly, "You may be part of my cousin, but you're completely different from him." Smiling that stupid, irritating smile at me, he shrugged. "When you care for someone that's part of your family, you'll be willing to do some pretty stupid things. And that bond is someth-"

A huge golden hand shot itself at the man's neck, and squeezed it until his skin turned purple. With a dead-serious expression, Buck stood up and hoisted the squirming guard into the air. "You blind, stupid human." he muttered, shaking his heavy head, "I don't have eyes either." Like a fish out of the water, the young guard opened and closed his mouth erratically and uselessly to breathe. "Unfortunately for me, our time is almost over." continued the golden bear casually, "I can't play with you like I wanted to, so I'll just have to make this quick."

The man twisted and kicked hopelessly as Buck opened his wide, long mouth, revealing two rounds of blunt cartoonish teeth. A look of pure terror came over the guard's eyes as his head was brought closer and closer to the bear's awaiting jaws, ready to close down on his skull and end his life.

But they didn't. Buck's hand suddenly let go of the man's throat, and the human dropped to the ground. With his mouth still open and his hand still raised, the golden animatronic fell flat to a side as the office's alarm clock beeped monotonously. Immediately, the world darkened as I lost myself in a deep sleep.

It was 6:00 AM. The man had survived his five nights.

"Jeremy Fitzgerald, you actually made it."

That was Sarah's voice. I slowly woke up on the floor of the office with a throbbing pain in my head and a faint heat in my chest. As I sat up, my brother walked up to me, and without waiting for me to stretch out my arm, he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me on my feet.

"It's over private!" he cheered, shaking my shoulder as he looked at me with overjoyed blue eyes, "Jerry survived the week!"

"H-he did?" I mumbled, confused and half asleep, when the night's memories finally came back to me. "HE DID!" I pulled Sean into a tight hug with my only arm, and turned around to see Jeremy talking with Ferny and Sarah close to the entrance of the office. A warm feeling of relief flooded my body when my cousin turned around and smiled triumphantly at me.

"As always, the Toys need a bit more time to wake up." continued my brother, pointing at our counterparts that were laying motionlessly on the floor. "Mangle is still somewhere in the vents, but she's either asleep or trying to find her way to us, as herself."

I nodded absentmindedly, before I noticed the thrown-down golden animatronic close to the middle of the office. "And Jack is also asleep?"

Sean raised his shoulders. "Don, you saw how much power he has and how much he used. I'm guessing Jack is simply exhausted."

"Okay." I sighed, raising my gaze from my unconscious friend to my celebrating friends and cousin. Smiling happily, Jeremy ran to me and gave me another warm, familiar hug.

The embrace turned bittersweet when I remembered everything that he went through because of me. "Jeremy," I mumbled in a low voice, "everything I did, everything I said… I'm sorry."

"Don't blame yourself for that." he replied casually, letting go of me. "That's in the past. What matters is that we're together, right?"

"Right." I answered with determination, deciding to enjoy the moment.

"I have to be here for a birthday in the morning," continued Jeremy, "so I'll just stay and grab some shuteye before the place opens."

"And next week you'll be on the dayshift?" I asked eagerly.

Nodding, he replied "That's the idea." Jeremy turned around and went towards his desk, unfastened his flashlight from his belt, and laid it down next to the fan. Then, I remembered something.

"Jeremy, you were saying something before Buck tried to bite you." I told him, "Something about why you kept coming back, even if we're… not alive."

My cousin stared at the ceiling thoughtfully, then turned around and looked straight at me. "Yeah, I remember what you mean." He took a few seconds to remember, and said: "When you care for someone that's part of your family, you'll be willing to do some pretty stupid things." Looking at the floor, he let out a little chuckle. "And that bond is something that can never be broken, even if that person is gone. Dead or alive, we'll always be family."

"Always?" I questioned unsurely.

Jeremy raised his head and smiled. "Always."

A/N: Always is a big word.

Now, the project. To give all these characters a bit more depth, I decided to do a separate fic about their lives before the beginning of this story. This new fic, Before they were lost, will give us a bit more insight on who the five main kids actually are. Besides them, expect some similar background stories for Marionette, the Toys, Jeremy, and another someone who will appear in this fic eventually. The first chapter is actually done, and hopefully I'll put it up on Friday. If you want, you're more than welcome to check it out :)