Night Five:

As the sound of Balloon Boy's recorded giggle echoed across Fazbear's Fright (The Horror Attraction), Jack followed the voice's ethereal counterpart. Balloon Boy was a quick little devil, and Jack had to hiss for him to slow down several times.

"Seriously, BB, quit running," snapped Jack as silently as he could. "I know you're eager and all, but if we go thumping and runnin' around this place we'll attract the attention of the wrong bunny."

Balloon Boy frowned and nodded, gazing up at the night guard with wide eyes, as though to apologize for his thoughtlessness.

"It's all right," Jack assured him. "Least I got my exercise for today. Sitting in that little swivel chair all day's gonna make me fat…well, maybe not. I was sweating out all the excess weight."

Balloon Boy made a face of disgust.

"Well, yeah, that's what you little creepos do to me," said Jack. "No hard feelings though."

Balloon Boy and Jack both heard a tiny noise and froze with fear, but Balloon Boy smiled and pointed over Jack's shoulder. Jack followed the young phantom's gesture and saw the source of the noise: the camera. The Marionette had decided to check in on them.

"We're all right, Pupp-erg, The Puppet," Jack said to the camera. "Move the camera to the left if everything's cool, to the right if everything's not."

The camera moved to the left.

"Good," said Jack. "Then keep your eyes on Springtrap. We're gonna look around the backroom, the employee's only place."

The little light on the camera flickered off. The Marionette was no longer watching them.

"Hope he…she...it's all right…what is the Puppet supposed to be anyway?"

Balloon Boy shrugged.

"Well, whatever. All right, let's head to the backroom."

Balloon Boy bobbed his head and took off again, this time slow enough that Jack was able to keep up relatively easily. The phantom and the night guard reached an old door that had a faded sign on it: Employee's Only.

"This is it," said Jack. He opened the door and looked down at Balloon Boy. The phantom was gazing up at the door with wide-eyed apprehension. When Jack beckoned him to follow, the child-spirit took a frightened step back. Jack, at first, wasn't sure what was wrong with Balloon Boy, but then he remembered that the Purple Man's victims had been murdered after being lured to the employee's only rooms.

"Oh," he whispered. "Oh…uhm…BB, why don't you stay here and keep watch? I'll head in and look for Bonnie."

Balloon Boy nodded gratefully and Jack carefully stepped into the dark room, leaving the door open behind him so that he could have some light and would hear if Springtrap started stomping towards them.

The backroom was a mess of mechanical trinkets and spare parts that Douglas and the Fazbear Fright excavation gang had apparently deemed not 'cool' enough to be prominently featured as part of the horror attraction. Animatronic limbs and rusted bolts and screws littered the floor, and in the corner there was a pile of false fur that had once been used to replace the animatronics' fur when it became worn down or stained.

Jack vigilantly stepped in, prepared to be ambushed by a harmless-yet-terrifying spirit at any second. No such scare occurred, however, and he crept towards the pile of fur.

"U-Uhm…" he stuttered. "H-Hello? I-I'm looking for Bonnie…"

There was no response.

"Please…I'm not here to hurt you…I just wanna talk…I'm a guard here…and I wanna help you and your friends…just talk to me a little bit…please…"

For a moment there was silence, and Jack was ready to sigh and exit the backroom.

But when he looked towards the furs one last time, a silhouette caught his eyes.

It looked like Springtrap's shadow brought to life. It even had a wide, toothy, and unnerving grin spread across its ebony face. The rabbit silhouette floated above the furs, grinning down at the night-guard.

Jack stiffened, but when the Springtrap-silhouette didn't move he determined that this specter had nothing to do with the murderer that the Marionette was currently distracting. The night guard took a careful step forward and stuttered, "B-Bonnie."

The shadow creature didn't move even an inch, and when it spoke its grin didn't move or falter.

"No exactly," it said in an almost amused manner. While the Puppet's voice was so raspy and strange that Jack couldn't assign the spirit that dwelled within a gender or age, he could tell when this shadowy Bonnie spoke that it was a male, and an adult male to be more specific. This wasn't the child-spirit he was searching for.

Shadow Bonnie (as Jack promptly decided to call him) didn't utter another word for some time, and so Jack said, "I…I'm sorry, but I…didn't think there were any adults here…adult spirits or anything…besides the one that's in Springtrap. I'm looking for Bonnie…I'm trying to find the kids so I can help 'em."

Shadow Bonnie chuckled in a rather patronizing manner.

"Admirable, but I think I should warn you that that's also futile," said Shadow Bonnie. "I wanted to help them too once…but they didn't listen. They didn't trust me. I stopped trying pretty fast…"

"Well…maybe that was the problem," said Jack, confidence returning. "I'm not gonna stop trying."

"You're that determined? Really? What's in it for you? Are you related to any of them? Maybe you're a descendant of Fazbear's founder and you want to clear your family name…"

"Ha!" laughed Jack, "If my family owned Fazbear's I'd be sipping champagne right now, not running around a haunted restaurant. Nah…I just don't wanna leave them all alone. They're just kids."

Although Shadow Bonnie's grin didn't dampen, Jack could sense that his words brought sorrow to the adult spirit.

"I see," sighed Shadow Bonnie. "I said the same thing to myself…when I decided to stay…"

His translucent eyes met Jack's and he urgently whispered, "If I were you, Night-Guard, I would leave now. It's become even worse since I made my attempt. Don't copy my mistakes."

"I won't," Jack assured him, "I'll make 'em right."

"You're hopeless. Hopeless hero…" muttered Shadow Bonnie.

"Why are you here?" asked Jack curiously. "I thought the kids were the only ones here because of the Purple Man..."

"Michael."

Jack arched an eyebrow. "Who?"

"That was his name…once…ha…" Shadow Bonnie's eyes moved woefully towards an old arm that lay a few feet from the furs. "It's funny…I can barely remember my name sometimes…but I remember him…It's hard to keep your memories when you're like this, when you're just lingering for so long. But…I remember I scared a kid…I felt bad…guilty…it started all this shit, when I scared that kid…that's why I stayed…"

"Tell me," begged Jack. "Please, even if you think it's hopeless it might not be. I might be able to help you and the kids, but you've gotta tell me everything you know."

Shadow Bonnie looked back up at the steely-eyed night guard and examined him for a moment before a sigh emerged from his grinning maw.

"There's not much to tell you, Night Guard," he muttered, "but I'll do my best…"

Holy hallelujahs, guys! You REALLY came through for me on the reviews last time! Eleven reviews for one chaper! Unprecedented! It made me feel a ton better!

So…special thanks to:

KuraiFriend (Mark might receive a happy ending…might…maybe…probably not…)

Darkmegaron 13

Secret

Guest #1

ToolTimeBiscuits

Guest #2 (I'll assume you meant to say 'that's really good' or something along those lines : )

ZoroarkLover

Little Kunai

3shadowprincess (yup, glad you noticed….more explanation to come…)

Guest #3-I update on Fridays if I can, and I try to make it weekly.

Finally, I want to thank unknown (Guest) for the review and reply to his/her request that I post longer chapters.

I don't like to do chapters that exceed 3 thousand words, and I have several reasons for this.

First of all, I think chapters that are between 1-3 thousand words are more convenient for you, the reader. In my experience, when a chapter exceeds that number I just don't have time to get through it in one sitting. That range of words is the sweet spot that gives just enough content without forcing you to sit down for an hour or so. The purpose of chapters is to break up the story so you folks have a good stopping point and can come back when you have the time and read at your own pace.

Second: Chapters exceeding 3k are hard to write and even harder to edit. If I have to spend weeks editing and writing without an update I'm going to burn myself out and the story may die. It's happened before and it's VERY important that I don't kill my desire to write. Remember, folks: this isn't my only story. I have other stories I'm working on for Fanfiction and other original works that I'm also working on right now. Plus I've got normal work and classes…in other words, shorter chapters keep my energy up and make sure that I don't get overwhelmed.

And lastly: shorter chapter make sure I can update regularly and have energy in what I write. I would rather write a thousand words and update weekly than write ten thousand and not update until the end of the month.

So it's HIGHLY unlikely that I'll ever do a chapter exceeding 3k. I apologize, but don't worry. This story WILL be completed.

And your reviews help give me the energy to keep working on it. We're almost up to thirty reviews and forty Favs/Followers! That's awesome! Thanks so much, guys, you're amazing! And please keep reviewing!

Thanks again!