2014 me: I'm writing a fanfiction! I'm so excited! I'm going to update this every chance I get! *proceeds to update story at least every second day*

2016 me: *uploads a short filler chapter after not updating for a month* nice

small shout out to StarCre8tion for correcting some mistakes in past chapters

Chapter 29

"Hey, are you okay?"

Goldie opened his eyes to see an odd yellowish-orange light. He furrowed his eyebrows, confused. He couldn't see much of anything. He squinted and spotted a weird looking shape within the light. After a few moments, the light faded somewhat, leaving behind a humanoid figure with wisps of yellow-orange mist curling off it. He and the odd silhouette were in a black room that was so dark, they may as well have been standing in a void.

It drifted forward. "Hello? Are you alright?" it asked again.

Goldie was confused. He'd never had a dream like this before. "Um, yeah."

The figure glanced around. "Where are they?" it muttered under its breath. "They're usually here by now..."

"Um, who are you talking about?" Goldie asked.

As though on cue, a bright light filled the room, and Goldie had to avert his eyes. When he looked back, the room was filled with more multicoloured sillouhettes.

A magenta one giggled. "Ooh, looks like we have a new friend!"

"Oh, lay off them," ordered a grey one standing in the back next to a dark blue one.

"I don't recall you telling us to back off before," an amber one remarked.

"And when you did decide that we should stop, you had to be all dramatic and give her this speech about why we're talking to only her," a violet one at the edge of the group griped.

If the grey one had a face, Goldie imagined that it would be smiling. "What can I say? I had wanted to be an actress in my life."

All the other figures groaned collectively. Aside from him, there appeared to be ten other silhouettes in all. "Please don't start telling us your life story again," an amber-coloured one sighed.

"What are you?" Goldie asked. He was seriously confused. He didn't seem to have the figure of a child anymore; in fact, he didn't seem to look much like a human at all. All he was was a slightly humanoid blob of yellow light. This had never happened before.

The yellow-orange silhouette shrugged. "Heck if I know. These guys have been annoying me ever since the night after I was built. I had a nightmare the first night, but after that, they started bugging me non-stop. This happens every night. But I suppose it's better than having nightmares every night, like you used to."

Goldie blanched. How did this thing know about his nightmares? What did it mean by "used to" have nightmares? He still had them every night! Well, with this one dream being an exception (so far). And what did it mean, it was "built"? That made no sense! Unless-

"Are you an animatronic?"

The question just burst out; he wasn't even thinking. But the yellow-orange figure nodded. "Hi, Goldie."

It didn't make any sense. And yet it made perfect sense. But he was still confused.

The yellow-orange figure must have somehow noticed how confused he was, because it started talking. "Don't worry, I was confused at first, but there's a pretty simple explanation for this."

"Well, mostly simple," a blue silhouette commented.

The yellow-orange one nodded. "Yeah. I guess it is kind of complicated. And it's a really long explanation, so I'm going to have to tell you later. We're running out of time. It's almost eight a.m."

"It's almost eight?" Goldie was taken aback. "But I just got to sleep!"

The yellow-orange silhouette shrugged. "I know, I know, it doesn't seem like it's been ten hours. That's the thing with dreams. They always seem shorter than they actually are. How about we meet up during our 2 p.m. break?" it suggested. "We'll explain everything then."

"But how will I know which one is you?" Goldie asked. He looked around. The silhouettes were fading, one by one, as he began to wake up.

"I'll come to you," it replied. "Just be in the security guards' office during break." Goldie nodded.

"I'll see you then!" the yellow-orange figure called as the silhouettes' light flickered out, and Goldie's vision went black.

xXx

Chica absent-mindedly tapped out a rhythm on her drums as she waited for work to start. It was 9:54, and there was a small crowd of children (with only two fangirls that she could see, thank god) outside the doors. She wondered why they didn't just open up the restaurant already.

She was nervous about her meeting with Goldie. What if he listened to her story and thought there was something wrong with her programming? What if he thought she was just making it all up to mess with him?

Just relax, Pink said in a calming tone. Everything will be fine.

Are you sure? Chica fired back.

None of the voices replied.

She sighed and set down her drumsticks. That's what I thought.

xXx

Goldie was also apprehensive about the meeting. He was curious as to which animatronic it would be. He hoped it wasn't Bonnie, Teddy, or Foxy. They could be nice at times, but those three were pretty self-centred and obnoxious. He decided he didn't want it to be Freddy or Springtrap, either. They were kinda nice too, but they were also really bossy.

He glanced up at the clock above the stage as he lead a family to a table. 2:55 p.m. Just a few more minutes.

The family sat down, and he gave them a big smile. "Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's," he said, passing each of them a menu. "A waiter will come by to take your order soon. In the meantime, can I get you some drinks?"

As the three children whined for ice cream and their parents tried to talk over them, Goldie took a quick look around the restaurant. They seemed to be doing pretty well today. The kids must have gotten overwhelming for Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica up on the stage, because Foxy and Mangle had just called out that there was a treasure hunt in Pirates' Cove. All the kids, including the ones trying to climb up onto the stage, immediately rushed over to Pirates' Cove, screaming and yelling excitedly. Goldie knew that in a few minutes, the kids would get to be too much for the pirate foxes, and Mari and BB would call up a game of hide-and-seek.

While one of the parents at Goldie's table did their best to shut up their three kids, the other one gave Goldie their orders. "Um, could we get one lemonade, two chocolate milks, and two Cokes please?"

The orders were immediately saved into Goldie's software. "Coming right up," he said with a smile. He sent the orders off to Tia, who was in the kitchen. Since Goldie and Springtrap were given the job of managing phone calls and reservations, they'd been too busy to serve the food, so that job was given to Teddy and Tonnie. Tia was the only one in the kitchen, a job she seemed completely fine with. Besides, she was really good at making pizza.

A ringing sound resonated in Goldie's head. His and Spring's software was connected to the Fazbear phone line, so every time someone called, it would go straight to them. He looked around and saw that Springtrap was busy leading a family to a table, so he quickly answered the call. "Hello, this is Freddy Fazbear's, how may I help you?"

"Hello," said a voice on the other end. "Could I get two large cheese pizzas and two large pepperoni, please?"

Goldie filed the order in his head. "Coming right up. Your address, please?" The person told him. "Alright. Thank you," he said, and sent the order off to Tia.

Raina walked in the front doors and skirted around a group of children drawing on the chairs. "Any more pizzas I need to deliver?" She had decided to take on the job of pizza delivery, and for free. She claimed that she already got a sufficient amount of money from her clothing store, so she didn't need to be paid for another job. She already knew that Vincent and Scott were having trouble with finances.

"Just one more order that I know of," Goldie answered. He glanced back up at the clock. It was 2:58. Almost done.

xXx

Goldie was glad when their two hour break started. He liked working in the pizzeria, but sometimes the people just got to be too much.

He looked around at the animatronics in the dining room. Foxy, Bonnie, and Teddy were all there, which was good, because that meant one of them wasn't the person he'd be meeting. Neither Freddy nor Springtrap were there, but he was pretty sure they were in the bathroom, getting another one of Spring's oil leaks cleaned up. Still, it was still possible that it would be one of them. Some of the others presumably went off to the bathroom to change into their everyday outfits, but any one of them could be waiting for him in the security office.

Goldie let his mind wander as he began walking down the hall. There was something other than the meeting that he was concerned about. Ever since he woke up on Halloween, he'd felt- odd. And it wasn't the normal kind of feeling, like emotions and stuff, it was the rest of him. When he stepped outside to go home after the Halloween party, he shivered every time the wind blew his way. He was fairly sure that was "cold". When Tia and Chica had been playing tag inside the house and Tia crashed into him, knocking him over and making him hit his head on the coffee table, he was sure that what he felt then was "pain". He didn't know why that was happening, but he was hoping that whoever he was going to meet would have an explanation.

He reached the security office and looked around. No one was there yet. He'd have to wait.

He sat down in the chair behind the desk. After a couple minutes, he heard footsteps coming down the hall towards him. He looked up and saw Chica in the doorway of the office.

There was no way he'd be able to hide his shock. He'd been thinking about who it might be, but he'd never once considered Chica. She was so childish and carefree. It was hard to imagine her as the yellow-orange silhouette from last night. She was still wearing her frilly yellow work dress and orange stockings, but she'd taken off her apron and shoes, and she looked almost like a child.

He stood up. "Chica. Hi."

Chica motioned for him to sit down again. "Stay sitting. This is going to take a while."

He sat back down, and Chica pulled up a chair to the other side of the desk. "So, I suppose I should start with the nightmares."

This is gonna be good, said a voice in Goldie's head. He jumped in surprise and almost fell out of his chair.

Chica sighed. "I told you not to do that until after I told him," she muttered. Goldie thought she was talking to him, but then a different voice replied. Sorry about her. Continue.

Chica nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but Goldie interrupted. "What was that?"

"Remember all those silhouettes from last night?" Chica asked. Goldie nodded. "That's them."

How about you just start with us? another voice suggested. I mean, he's already heard us. You might as well.

"Alright then." Chica heaved a great sigh. "Get comfy, Goldie. This is going to take a while.

"I only ever had one nightmare, and that was the one with the burning building and the man in purple. After that, these guys started talking to me. They interrupted my dreams and kept me from having nightmares. It was annoying, dealing with them, but I got used to it pretty quickly."

"Are they animatronics, too?" Goldie asked.

Chica nodded. "Yes, but they don't know it during the daytime. They're in these animatronic forms, but it's mostly just their software and programming and stuff that's keeping them running. These guys are actually ghosts, and the robots are just their vessels. The robots are just running on their own, for the most part. They're only completely in control the robots at night, or anytime they're asleep. The robots will do what their programming tells them to do, and during the day, they're exactly what they're supposed to be- just learning AIs." She paused to let that sink in, then continued. "I know it's really confusing, but that was the best way I could explain it."

"But why us?" Goldie sat forward in his chair. "Why just you and me?"

Chica shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea why they picked me. It could have been the fact that I was the last to settle into our bodies. I mean, Grey went on this big rant about how I 'went through more than the others did' and how I'm 'more experienced with suffering' or whatever, but she was just being dramatic."

"Grey? You mean the grey figure?"

The one and only, a voice said.

"But they picked you because of your nightmares," Chica continued. "Apparently, when your nightmares get to a certain point, all the other animatronics will remember, and they won't be in their right minds. They'll do something bad, and they're not sure that they'll be able to control themselves."

"But why do I have these nightmares?" Goldie asked. "What point do they have to get to to make this bad thing happen?"

Chica hesitated. "Well, the thing is, the two of us are also ghosts. Most of us were killed, but your death was- different. Those series of nightmares- the ones with the little yellow bear plushie- they're all leading up to your death. And they're real memories, too. Not like that dream you had before you woke up."

Goldie was surprised. She knew about the golden plush? And about the dream with Henry and William and the others? How did she find out?

We told her, one of the voices said. We had to explain.

Goldie took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. But how were you able to interfere with our dreams? And what is wrong with those memories? Why would that happen to someone?"

"Well, all of your dreams are memories," Chica stated. "Just one or two of them have been tampered with. None of us are quite sure about what happened in your life. The dreams with the plush would have continued every time you went to sleep, but these guys were able to gather enough energy to interfere and replace your dream from the night you tried to kill Fritz with a different memory."

Unfortunately, it was one that included me, a voice interrupted. Goldie recognized it as the voice of the dark blue silhouette. I was sucked into the dream with you.

"They were able to do that a couple of times," Chica said. "But your nightmares were still progressing. They had no choice but to dig around in your mind and surface of of your most traumatic memories to make you remember. They didn't have to do that with me, because we were all new to our vessels, and mine was the last to settle in completely. Your memories of your life should start returning soon, like mine did. But the memories of yours that have been changed- that's still a mystery to all of us. Only a spirit that's been conserving its energy for decades would be strong enough to change other people's thoughts and memories even a little bit. We're thinking that in that dream with Henry and William, some ghost played with your memories to make it seem like William was up to something. I remember meeting him once in my life, and he was as nice as a person could be. And that first nightmare that we had- we're thinking that the same spirit that changed your memory changed it so that the man in purple would look like Vincent. We think that there's some ghost that's angry with both of them that's trying to fuck up Vincent's life and maybe anger William's own ghost. Or it could be William himself changing the memories. Maybe when you get your old memories back we'll be able to figure it out." She stopped and took a deep breath. "Alright. I think that covers everything. Any questions?"

Goldie took a good long look at Chica. Despite the frilly dress and colourful stockings, she looked much less like a child. Her jaw was set, and her eyes practically shone with determination. She was definitely telling the truth, or at least she believed she was.

He took a deep breath. "Just one."

"Fire away."

"Will I start hearing all these voices?"

For the first time in the ten minutes they'd been there, Chica smiled. "Yep."

Prepare to be annoyed! a voice yelled in his head.

He sighed. "Oh, boy."

you have no idea how many times i accidentally typed "memeories" instead of "memories" in this chapter

anyway i'm going to try to get a christmas chapter up sometime next month but just don't be surprised if there isn't one