Night Five:
"All around the restaurant
Purple Man chased the Puppet
The Purple Man got to the room…
Gone is the Puppet…"
Balloon Boy watched as the Puppet frantically flickered between the different cameras and the systems monitor, tightening his ethereal lips as he watched the one who had once given him life become nearly overwhelmed with stress. The mere fact that the Puppet had switched from the calming tune of Grandfather's Clock to a frantic version of Pop Goes the Weasel was enough of a hint that things were going horribly wrong.
The phantom crept closer to the swivel chair that the possessed marionette sat upon. Plushtrap was beginning to slip off the chair, the Puppet's rapid and frenzied movements resulting in the toy slowly slipping from its perch. Balloon Boy would have picked up Plushtrap if he could, but unfortunately in his current phantom form he couldn't really touch solid objects.
He had never felt so useless. He had always been the smallest of the gang, too small to attack the Night-Guard when they had all been busily hunting him down, but back then he had at least been somewhat useful. He could sneak under the Night-Guard's desk and swipe his batteries when he was distracted, leaving the guard wide open for Foxy.
He smiled at the thought of his old friend. They'd been quite the team! Never successful, true, but they'd come close, and it had been invigorating to work with Foxy and the others to take down the murderer, to do something.
"BB, step back a bit, you're distracting me," said the Puppet curtly, and the phantom somberly backed away. Now he was just a distraction at best. If something happened, if Purple Man attacked…he wouldn't be able to help Jack or his friends.
Speaking of Jack, though, after the Puppet managed to lure Purple Man into the old arcade where he was at least relatively far from both Jack and the security office, the Marionette flicked to the camera by the exit. Balloon Boy stepped up to the screen once more and smiled when he saw Jack sitting beside Bonnie.
"Good, he found him," muttered the Puppet. It glanced at the smiling Balloon Boy and confessed, "Guess he's not as helpless as I thought."
Balloon Boy nodded. Both of them listened to what the Night-Guard and the ethereal rabbit were discussing.
"…and that's the last thing I remember…" Bonnie concluded, "We ran off…and…we were afraid he would come…Purple Man…"
"To hurt you? Or to hurt the kid inside?" Jack asked as delicately as he could.
"The kid…the kid…I don't remember his name, but…he was…he was his kid! Purple Man's!"
"His…you must be remembering it wrong…"
"Michael! Michael, that was his name, Mr. Michael Schmidt! I remember because we were scared he would punish us for bullying his kid!"
Jack stiffened. Michael…that's the same name Shadow-Bonnie gave…can't be a coincidence then…no sense, though, how could a parent kill a bunch of kids?
Jack himself was not a father, but he had friends who had kids and he knew that their parental affection towards their own children often led them to behave parentally towards other children. The parents he knew would never hurt another child specifically because they often imagined how horrible it would be if someone hurt their kid.
"Mr. Night-Guard?" said Bonnie apprehensively. "Did…I say something wrong?"
"No, no, Bonnie, that's just…confusing to me…I mean…"
While Jack and Bonnie conversed, however, and while the Puppet gawked at the screen, clearly just as confused as Jack, something caught Balloon Boy's eye. Something dark. He gasped and started desperately shoving his ghostly hand at the screen.
"Hey! BB! Knock it…!" the Puppet started to bark, but it looked to the area on the screen that Balloon Boy was pointing to and noticed the gloomy figure that was causing the phantom to panic.
"What the…" muttered the Puppet, but Balloon Boy was already out of the office and scurrying towards the exit to warn Jack.
He was too late, however. The dark figure giggled cruelly, causing Jack to leap to his feet and causing Bonnie to yelp in fear and try to hide behind the Night-Guard despite the fact that even in his phantom form he was easily two feet taller than the man.
Jack gazed up at the giggler and his heart fell to the pit of his stomach when he saw the shadowy figure, which looked like the silhouette of Freddy Fazbear, and immediately deduced that this was the creature that Shadow-Bonnie had warned him about.
"Shadow-Freddy," he whispered, and he heard Bonnie whimper behind him.
"Mr. Night-Guard," whispered Bonnie, his translucent eyes glued timidly to the ebony figure. Shadow-Freddy was hovering right above the glowing 'Exit' sign, grinning widely, his bright white teeth and eyes eerily standing out in the darkness. The shadowy creature giggled madly once more and Jack could sense that the rabbit behind him was becoming overwhelmed with fear.
"It's okay, Bonnie," Jack said in the most calming voice he could muster even as trepidation started to make its way into his tone. "I've got this, don't…"
"Chica's in the kitchen," muttered Bonnie, "She's always in the kitchen…."
"I…what?"
But when the Night-Guard turned around, Phantom Bonnie was gone and he was alone with Shadow-Freddy.
Hey guys! Bit of a shorter chapter here, but I got it done and decided to post a bit early to make up for lost time and because you are all awesome!
BTW: FNAF announcement! Scott Cawthon wrote a book for FNAF! It's available on Amazon right now! It's called Silver Eyes. I haven't read it yet, but I did buy it and I plan on reading it ASAP! And you guys should too! Go out there and support Scott, everyone, we wouldn't have this amazing franchise if it weren't for him, after all!
But also don't forget to come back and read my stuff :)
As always, special thanks to:
Kuraiku: Glad you think so!
Shippings
XxPeacegirl02xX: Thank you for the two reviews! You get extra authorial love (*Sends Hug*). I'm actually in Winter Break right now (I'm in college and we get a month off between semesters as part of our 'Winter Break'), so the next month or so should be easier on the updates.
As to your question on Lucas, I'm glad you brought that up because, in my haste to put the last chapter up, I neglected to look over my notes and remember to include that part of Lucas' motivation. Not sure if I'll get another chance to bring it up, so I'll just mention it here.
Aside from the obvious factor of his father's favoritism, Lucas has a second motivation for bullying his brother: his mother. Remember, Scarlett died very shortly after Henry died, when Lucas was a very young child (about seven years old, give or take). In fact, she died suspiciously shortly after Henry's birth. As if Henry, somehow, had something to do with her death. Michael knows that's not the case, but Lucas was (and is, he's only thirteen in this story at most) too young to know of or witness the specifics of his mother's medical condition. Therefore, it's only natural that he thinks his brother might have, inadvertently, caused their mother's death. So, in Lucas' mind, Henry has taken both of his parents away from him: his father because he hogs all of the affection as 'The Favorite', and his mother because, Lucas thinks, his birth resulted in her death.
On a lighter note, Peacegirl, I think your name might be harder to type than Shippings' XD. There are always so many numbers on Fanfic accounts. And X's. Lots of X's.
Mitsuki Shigamatsu: You've got that right…(*Evil Laugh*)
UnimportantDude: Humiliation conga is right; that's now the phrase I will be using when I become the butt of the universe again. (And also, contrary to what Michael said in the last chapter, I don't find Gone with the Wind boring at all. I actually watch it all the time with my mom. She always says I'm stubborn as Scarlett O'Hara.)
KingdomHeartsNerd: As you wish!
Thanks to all of you for leaving reviews! Wow! We're almost up to seventy! I think I'll go do my happy dance and then write some more!
Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing and favoriting and following! Go get Scott's book and then come back in about a week to see what happens next in this FNAF story!
Next chapter: Shadow-Freddy