thx (guest): Well, I don't think I'll add a 'canonical' answer to who Douglas likes in the story, though during the making of the first FNIA episode I briefly considered creating a relationship between Douglas and one of the girls (I was actually thinking Mangle).
Is this the last…chapter? Story? Well, one more chapter (that being the epilogue) will follow after this one. As for a sequel…I don't know. I at least intend to let the series rest for a while. There're some other stories that I want to work on, and there is some school that I have to work on.

Chapter ten: Proto-fox

10:00 p.m.

"So," Griffiths said as he entered the main dining room with a cup of coffee. "We're alone now. I sent everyone else home early—" He stopped when he saw the empty stage.

"I think the anime-tronics noticed that, sir," Douglas dryly said, putting all of his effort into keeping a straight face. "Not sure where they are right now."

Griffiths looked at him. "You mentioned that at least three of them were skilled tricksters?"

"Golden, Chica and Foxy, yes."

"And now they're freely roaming the restaurant?"

"Yes…" Douglas froze. "Shit."

Freddy—who stood in the doorway—chuckled. "Relax," she said. "They aren't in any position to play tricks on you at the moment."

Douglas blinked. "Hey, Freddy. Didn't see you there."

Freddy smiled, then looked to Griffiths. "I see we have a visitor," she said. "Although I suppose that calling the manager a visitor isn't very appropriate."

Griffiths looked a little uncomfortable, but he remained polite. "I hear my reputation precedes me," he said. "I hope I haven't butchered it too much."

"Not at all," Freddy reassured.

Douglas smiled to himself. These two were probably going to get along. "Hey, if you don't mind," he said to them both, "I'm going to check on the others."

Griffiths nodded. "Go ahead."

Douglas left. Griffiths looked at Freddy, who had grabbed a chair and sat down on the other side of the nearby table. "I…suppose this explains a lot," the manager said as he, too, sat down, still a little apprehensive. "I trust you've been good friends to Douglas."

"We do what we can."

"I'm glad," Griffiths said. "You'll have to forgive me—it has barely been a day since I found out about your sentience."

"That is quite alright."

"You know more about why Douglas suddenly got so interested in the company's past, don't you?"

"We actually asked him to investigate," Freddy said. "We heard rumors about those old animatronics you encountered in the warehouse."

Griffiths glanced away. "And my first instincts when I heard about them were to disassemble them."

"That wasn't your fault. We've kept our sentience a secret for years."

"Because you were afraid of what I would do."

Freddy nodded, looking a little ashamed. "After watching all those guards flee," she softly said, "we didn't want to take any risks."

"A wise decision," Griffiths sincerely said. "Truth be told, I'm unsure as to what I would've done if I had found out. Regardless, now that I do know, I'll see if I can't make some upgrades to any of your working conditions I may have neglected."

As Douglas approached his office, he soon saw that one of the newcomers—the balloon vendor who looked human—was sitting in his chair. She was curiously looking at the tablet, changing to different cameras. She looked up—quickly putting the tablet down—as Douglas entered the office.

"Hey," Douglas greeted. He glanced at the tablet. "Am I late?"

"No. I just wanted to try out the chair."

"And then you got distracted by the tablet," Douglas concluded.

The recruit stood up. "I suppose," she dismissively said. "Anyway, how're things going? After that adventure this morning…"

"You already reminded me that telling Mr. Griffiths about your sentience was her idea," Douglas dryly said, referring to the puppet. "And that you were the only one who agreed." He paused. "It was actually Afton who spilled the beans, though…"

"That's not what I meant. I mean how does it look right now? With your boss?"

"Oh, that." Douglas' tone turned serious again. "Well, he started a conversation with Freddy, so…good, I guess. I really think he can get used to the idea of sentient animatronics."

"I'm glad." She smirked. "Guess Mari's idea wasn't so bad after all."

"Well, I think the way it was delivered also contributed to… Wait, 'Mari'?"

"Since no one else here has come up with names, the two of us have been experimenting a bit. Mari is short for marionette. She seemed to like it when I brought it up." She shrugged. "I mean, she's been calling me 'Brunette' for obvious reasons, and I'm okay with that."

"'Brunette'," Douglas repeated. "Well, if you're both comfortable with that…"

She smirked. "You don't think they're good names?"

"I didn't mean that!" Douglas said, though he was smiling. Maybe he would've felt more uncomfortable at her teasing seven weeks ago.

Huh, he thought. I guess I have changed since starting my job as a night guard.

"You want to sit?" Brunette asked. "You are the guard, after all."

Douglas shrugged. "Eh. You can stay seated if you like—"

"Douglas," a third voice said. Douglas turned to where it came from to see Freddy approach from the hallway.

Douglas frowned. "You're done talking with Mr. Griffiths already…?"

"No," Freddy said. "But there is someone at the door. Kyle went to investigate."

"Someone's at our door? At this hour?" Douglas turned to his desk and grabbed the tablet. As he flipped through the cameras, his eyes widened.

"What is it?" Brunette asked as she stood up.

"It's…Afton," Douglas whispered. "Bill Afton. Griffiths let him in."

"What on Earth is Afton doing here?" Freddy asked.

Douglas put down the tablet and walked past Freddy out of the office. "I'm going to find out," he said.

Foxy and Mangle were already present when Douglas appeared in the main dining room. He frowned at Afton, who was looking at the red she-fox in particular. Griffiths—who was holding an old official-looking document in his hands—appeared shocked.

"Guys?" Douglas asked. "What's going on?"

Foxy shrugged. "Beats me. Kyle and Billy just kinda walked in here."

Both Mangle and Griffiths snapped their gazes at her. Afton got a look of surprise.

"What?" Foxy said.

"'Billy'…?" Mangle softly said.

"Interesting…" Afton said. "I never told you who I was."

A brief silence. Foxy flashed a smile. "What? Doesn't pretty much everyone here know who you are? Bein' the legendary engineer who built the first 'tronics and all…"

"Well, his name is mentioned in several documents," Griffiths confirmed. "But none of them say what he looks like."

"So?" Foxy said. "I guess I saw a picture of him sometime."

"We don't have pictures of him here," Griffiths said. "Most documents that did have images of him have been thrown away—and as far as I know, you never had access to them."

"Sir?" Douglas said as he went to stand next to Griffiths.

The manager glanced at him, then handed him the document he was holding. "Bill gave me this just now," Griffiths said.

Douglas took it with a frown and started reading.

With the recurrent glitches most of the animatronics suffered from following their activation—these glitches included, but were not limited to, frequent blinking, jerking movements in the neck and limbs, and other seemingly random motions—the main three performers were shut down permanently, as all efforts to remove these glitches failed.

The fourth one was an exception; the crimson fox-themed animatronic known as Foxy displayed notably less glitchy behavior, and was therefore moved to a different location after deactivation. Here, Foxy's AI was reset. Over the years that followed, the animatronic was outfitted with more modern technology, eventually even receiving a completely new endoskeleton.

Using its virtually perfect AI as an example, more animatronics were created. Freddy's Restaurant ultimately came to exist, featuring a duo of gold-colored animatronic performers. These were eventually replaced by newer models, whose appearances were more faithful to the first animatronics'. In addition to Foxy's successor, the original Foxy was also added to this group.

Below the text, another piece of paper was attached with a paperclip. Sorry, Bill. I didn't even know they'd moved Foxy someplace else. I wasn't the one who unloaded the cargo from my truck, so I didn't get to see that she wasn't among them.
- H

Douglas blinked. Then he read the document again. Then he lowered it, his mouth agape, his gaze turning to Foxy.

"Can somebody please tell me what's goin' on?" Foxy finally said. "You're all freakin' me out."

"Give her the document," Afton ordered. Douglas did so.

Foxy proceeded to read it, holding it so that Mangle could read with her. As they read, their eyes widened, their expressions turned from neutral to incredulous to shocked.

When they were done, Foxy lowered the paper, stumbling as if she was drunk.

"I'm…" She stopped. "I'm one of the old models?"

Douglas exhaled, turning to Griffiths. "Sir," he said. "Shouldn't you…have known about this? You worked for the company when the old models were still around, didn't you?"

"I wasn't aware that Foxy would be kept intact for later use," Griffiths softly said. "I thought she was to be scrapped like the others. When I was a janitor at the old company—before it was truly a restaurant—I saw the old Foxy. When I saw the current Foxy years later, I recognized her similarities to her predecessor—but I assumed the creators merely wanted to pay homage to the past."

"The truth is," Bill grimly said to Foxy, "that they basically wiped your memory and gave you some technological upgrades. The others always pretended to glitch so they could hang out with me. You didn't have to; you were located in a more separate part of the building, so I could visit you whenever I wanted without anyone knowing about it."

"That's why your name sounded so familiar to me…" Foxy said as she sat down with her back against the wall. Mangle went to sit next to her. "Guess they couldn't wipe my memory completely…"

"Your sentience might make you less dependent on your programming," Griffiths speculated.

A moment of silence. "Maybe we should leave," Douglas softly said.

"Yeah," Afton said. "I, ah, still have some stuff to do myself…" He silently looked at Douglas with a gaze that said, "Make sure she's going to be alright." Douglas silently nodded.

Afton left through the front door. "Perhaps I should return some other time," Griffiths said as he moved in the same direction. "Is everything going to be all right, here?"

"Yes, sir," Douglas said, quieting his voice so only Griffiths could hear him. "I suppose I should…tell the others. With Foxy's permission, of course."

Griffiths nodded, then left as well. Douglas locked the door behind him.

He returned to the dining room, where he glanced at the two she-foxes. Foxy was sitting remarkably still, looking to the ground. Mangle turned her gaze to Douglas when he appeared.

Douglas proceeded to leave the room. He could break the news to the others later. Right now, he should leave Foxy alone.

"You're not goin' to ask for permission?"

He turned to Foxy when she spoke. She was still looking down. "You heard everything we said back there, didn't you…" Douglas said. "Well…I thought telling the others about this could wait, so…"

"You're not surprised that I'm upset 'bout this?" Foxy softly asked.

"Why would I be?"

Foxy shrugged. "I dunno. Guess there's no logical reason for me to be like this. Almost feels like I'm exaggerating."

Douglas stepped closer. "Foxy. You just found out that you got your memory wiped. A memory of a previous life. I'd guess it makes you look differently at…pretty much everything."

"I s'pose it does."

A brief silence. Douglas hesitated, glancing to the nearby hallway. "Should I…"

"Stay here?" Foxy said. "Yeah, definitely."

Douglas blinked.

Foxy glanced up at him. "I'd…appreciate that."

Douglas looked at her for a second. Then he nodded and sat down next to her.