Entering the love chapel, Saphira shines her flashlight down the hallway. She was glad that there was no longer a strong smell of bleach here. With no strong chemical to deal with, Saphira made her way down to the bar at the end of the hallway to check first. There was no sign someone has been here since the place closed for the night. The glasses were hanging where they were supposed to and they were all very clean. She sighed as she turned around to check the rooms. She didn't do much as she just opened the door to do a quick check without going inside.
As there was no sign of anyone, she walked out of Chica's Love Chapel into the hallway. She did not see a sign of any of the other animatronics just yet, so she knew they were likely still playing some basketball. She did hope nothing would get broken, as she knew the animatronics probably were not fully aware of their own strength. But she did have confidence that they were responsible enough to ensure nothing got broken. At least the older animatronics would be.
Saphira walked over to the empty part of the wall in the hallway, feeling for how she could open the door into the basement. She needed to find it again. She ran her hand over the bricks slowly and carefully, pushing on them to try and find the door. She didn't care about the dusty feeling that she could feel on the surface of the bricks as she rubbed her hands over them. It was easy to brush off. She did glance at a nearby vent in case a Freddle happened to be watching her. There could be one, but it wasn't trying to stop her.
She smiled when she finally felt a brick give and push before she pushed the door open slowly. She heard it groan loudly, though with the rain still hitting the roof loudly, it was unlikely any of the animatronics would have heard it. She smiled to herself, shining the light down into the basement and stepping onto the stairs carefully and began to slowly walk down the stairs. The wooden stairs creaked under her weight, making her grimace a little as she disliked the sound, as she made her way down to the base of the stairs.
Once she was on the floor, Saphira could smell the musky, dusty air around her as she shines her flashlight around. She walked over to the old cabinets and storage boxes, wondering if there was still anything inside them. There was an old folder in the filing cabinet at the other end of the basement. So she could not help but try to open one of the cabinets. She opened the door slowly, grimacing a little as the door creaked loudly and hurt her ears a little. She shines her flashlight inside and it was empty. She was a tad disappointed, but she checked the next few cabinets and they were empty too. As were the storage boxes.
She turned away from the old, decaying furniture to continue walking. She shined her light down at the floor to see the original animatronics from the past. She still could not believe these were the original animatronics from so long ago. And they were never alive like the ones she knew now. These were proper animatronics with wires and metal inside. She looked at each animatronic curiously, the withered state of them was somewhat sad. It was hard to believe that someone replaced these animatronics with living animatronics for the sake of some evil intention.
These guys were at least an inspiration for what Afton wanted…and he's succeeded.
Saphira sighed as she walked around the animatronics to make her way to the right of the room where she would find the large tube that she had found before. Saphira walked over to the old desk that was beside it and placed the flashlight on it, leaving it on so she could see what she was doing. And she placed the paper onto the desk and grabbed out one of the pencils to begin sketching the tube. She wanted to get as much detail of it on paper as possible. She would not just sketch this tube though. There were files in the filing cabinet filled with information as well.
Once she sketched the tube, she turned to the old cabinet to pull out the files that were still in there and carefully opened them so she would not rip them. She found the file with the the title The Plan to Build Live Animatronics. This was the first file she had found before and she wanted to go through it again, and write down notes and sketch anything that caught her attention. After all, she didn't really get to read it last time since the dust caused her to sneeze so much.
Her nose did get tickled a little bit from the dust, but she was not yet sneezing, which was a good thing. She opened the book carefully and she immediately saw the plans that were laid out for building the living animatronics. It was all incredibly interesting to her. She wrote down the important things she was finding in the book. Mostly about what he needed to do in order to get the organs and such needed for the internals of the animatronics. Saphira knew this sort of thing might not necessarily be helpful in the future, but Saphira wanted to understand Afton's motives way better. And this was one way to do it.
As every game has a way to win. So I might as well try and make some moves to try and beat Afton. But I am not sure how I will even beat him.
She turned a few pages and raised an eyebrow at some of the older drawings Afton had drawn. These drawings were strange as they seemed to show sewn bodies, instead of animatronics with metal exteriors. She shook her head, and decided to ignore that. It was strange that is what Afton started with, so it was good he moved onto metal endos instead. Saphira was aware that while the exteriors of the animatronics were metal, so was their skeleton. The rest of them, or most of them, were organic.
She did not see any odd animatronics, she mostly saw Fredbear, Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy through most of the pages. She hummed softly to herself as she kept writing down notes as she would find some other writing that was interesting to her. She kept turning the pages until it became clear most was repetitive. Though when she thought she was giving up, she found pages full of tube ideas and the technology needed for them. She quickly began to write that down as it was more important stuff.
"What are you doing, Saphira?" Saphira yelped as she jumped and turned her head, grabbing her flashlight and pointing at the person who was standing there. "You should not be here." She was surprised to see Springtrap standing right there, and talking to her too. "The others are still playing their basketball. And I noticed you were there playing with them."
Saphira took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart. "Well…I have more important things to do at the moment, Springtrap." She glanced down at the notes before she turned to him. "But…I appreciate the concern. I did not expect that you would have been the one to come looking for me…but…" She smiled at him as she was grateful. "You now know where I am."
Springtrap glanced at the desk before frowning slightly. "Are you trying to mimic Afton or something?" She was immediately surprised by his assumption. "Because…it kind of looks that way…"
"N-No…NO! Of course not! That would be stupid." Saphira let out a light chuckle and shook her head. "That's crazy talk, Springtrap. No, I am trying to understand his mind. That is all I am doing right now, Springtrap." She looked back at the paper and put her pencil down. "I figured that if I could understand the way he thinks, that is why I read through those diaries, that maybe I could figure out this game that he has me playing."
He seemed a bit unconvinced. "Would that not make him angry?"
"He would have sent Freddles down here if he was angry, Springtrap. He would have seen me searching for the door to open down to this basement. But…" She stepped forward to him, and he tensed before stepping back. "We need to talk, Springtrap. I really…I really want to speak to you. And now that we are alone…"
"We have nothing to speak about." Springtrap shook his head with a soft growl. "You need to come upstairs. You told me how you felt…" He clenched his hands a little as he glanced down. "I was stupid for saying anything…"
"Springtrap…" She stepped closer to him and managed to grab his hand, making him flinch and frown at her. "I am sorry for hurting you. You just caught me off guard…and I probably said things that were because of how confused I was." He said nothing, he only stared at her. "And…I am sorry for how I said it." She tightened her grip on Springtrap's hand for fear of him letting go. "I do love you…" He blinked and looked at her in surprise. "But as a close friend." Saphira's heart hurt to say that she just wanted to be friends, and nothing further than that. Because Saphira did feel love for him, she just didn't want to fall into Afton's trap. Springtrap seemed to be hopeful too as he softened his expression. "And…I want to stay friends. Can't we? Because…I really need a friend."
Springtrap pondered on her words for a moment before he frowned and huffed at her. "I believe you already found a new friend. Nightmare is awfully friendly with you." Saphira softened her expression as she could see that Springtrap was still hurting. "You probably don't need me anymore…you found new friendship with the new animatronics…especially since Nightmare, like me, is the only one of his kind."
Saphira took a deep breath and responded to him gently. "Would you rather if they had attacked me? I think getting off on the right foot was better for all of us, Springtrap." He still seemed unconvinced. "Nightmare might be fun to be around…but I barely know him. It is you who I know. I don't want you to be replaced, because you can't be replaced. Not to me." She moved her hand a little, and Springtrap glanced at his hand as he felt her small fingers slide between his. He widened his eyes in surprise and glanced at Saphira her curiously. "You and I have known each other for a long time. We have both been hurt. Nightmare not ever understand what we've been through, nor do I ever believe we will have the same bond. You are my best friend, Springtrap. I want to stay friends. Can't we do that?"
Springtrap was shocked by how she was holding his hands. Even though she claims she loved him as a friend, Springtrap did not believe that. He couldn't. But he also knew that by pushing her away, she would pull away from him. He did not want that. "Well…I…" Springtrap glanced away from her, his eyes glancing down at the withered Freddy on the ground. He wasn't entirely sure how felt about old animatronics laying around here in the basement, but they were simply sitting here and rotting. "Saphira…you hurt me…" He slowly looked back at her. "A lot. I guess I was being a little…too forward…and I am sorry that I caught you off guard. But…my feelings for you…I…I can say they have not changed. You must understand how hard it is."
Saphira nodded as she understood as tears fill her eyes. "I do…I understand a lot." She rubbed her thumb on his hand gently, which made Springtrap question whether she truly just wanted to be friends, or if she did desire something more. "And that is why I am sorry for hurting you. I know that I probably have a lot of making up to do. Would you allow me back in to be your friend? I hate that we are still not talking. And…" Saphira glanced back at the desk for a moment and looked back at his silver eyes. "I am trying to figure out exactly what game Afton is playing. I already have made a bit of progress, but I am still clueless."
"Don't you think that will only lead to more pain for yourself?" She shrugged as she could not answer that to Springtrap. "Well…I suppose I can tell you something. I overheard Mike earlier today when he was walking through the Haunted Classroom. I think he was on the phone to Afton…anyway…the point is, he sounded annoyed and apparently there is a plan to close the pizzeria for some time…though…" Springtrap did not seem happy by that as he knew that meant they would be left there. "I think it is under the lie of a renovation or something. I am not sure, but whatever that means, they are trying to trap you here. If they close the place, they might force you to stay here with us."
Saphira was not exactly against the idea of staying in the pizzeria with them. She had a place to sleep, even though she would be willing to change the mattress of one of the beds to be safe. "I…I have heard that from Mike himself." Springtrap was immediately surprised. "Yeah, before he left for the night, Mike told me Afton wants to do some big renovations to the pizzeria next year. He does not know when…and it is only a couple months before the new year."
"Interesting…" Springtrap hummed thoughtfully as the fact that Saphira was told by Mike about it meant that it was likely going to happen. "To tell you the truth, the place does get shut down for a few months when there are renovations being done, so that's not exactly unusual for this place, but…I am surprised he told you." He could not help but feel that was deliberate. "If Afton wanted you to know about the renovations, then they are definitely planning something."
Saphira nodded in agreement as she too found it fishy. "Which means it is imperative that I learn more about him." Saphira lets go of Springtrap's hand, and he almost tried to take her hand back as he had liked it. But as Saphira went back to the folder, she closed it and walked back over to the cabinet to see what other folders there were. She pulled out another and saw the time Merging Living Flesh and Metal Together. She figured that it could be another animatronic book, but as she opened it and began to go through, this one was different. "Woah…" She looked at the images. It was an image of a strange endo skeleton, with scribbled plans about this endo being able to change its shape. And this followed by an arrow pointing at a human. "Springtrap, this is different…"
Springtrap walked closer to Saphira, looking at the page curiously. It took him a moment of studying the page closely for him to realize that something was strange about it. "Yes, you are right. This is different. It is almost as if…" He leaned a little closer as he looked at the page and frowned deeply. "This endo is meant to put on a human as a costume."
Saphira stared at the picture before she became nervous. "You don't think that is what he is planning to do to me, right? I mean..." Saphira swallowed nervously as she stared at the image. "This looks old, but still..."
"Don't be ridiculous, Saphira. If that was really his plan, he would have already kidnapped you." That was true, but Saphira still was nervous about the idea. Afton clearly had some other plan. Springtrap placed his hand on her shoulder gently. "I think you are looking into it a little too much. This might have only been an old idea."
"But so are living animatronics. That folder about living animatronics looks like it was written twenty years ago or something, and..." She gestured to Springtrap and he understood what she was trying to day. "Here you are. Without this man, you wouldn't exist...which..." Saphira realized it was kind of twisted because she was essentially thankful that Afton made the animatronics this way. "Errgh...I don't like I have to be thankful to him that you exist...but...I guess it's the way it is."
Springtrap understood what she meant. He too did not like that he had to thank Afton that he was even alive. A part of him hated that he was alive, as most of his life has known hurt. So he wished he didn't have to be here to just feel that almost his entire existence. But he was also thankful. He was here with Saphira. Sure, she has hurt him, but he still cared about her. And she still cared about him too, even if she has denied any deeper feelings for him.
"It is the way it is. But I would not worry that he intends to stuff some metal skeleton into your body. That seems a little outrageous to me." Springtrap just let out a chuckle and he gave her a kind expression. "This is clearly worrying you too much. Maybe you should really get out of the basement. Besides, I think you are getting a little to obsessed with all this. Take a break. I get the feeling you are keeping your mind occupied because you feel guilty for what you have done to me."
Saphira did not want to admit that it was the case, but she was also worried. Her curiosity was really driving her to learn more about Afton and his plans. "I guess you are right. My mind has been thinking up a lot of things...so I guess that I have been focused on all this...I can't help it though. I need to do something...and you know that I do."
Springtrap knew that, but he was still worried she will get into deeper trouble. "Come on…" He reached down to take her hand gently into his. "You need to stop worrying. Let's get all your stuff together and get out of this basement. I am surprised you aren't sneezing up a storm in here. But I guess you might have sneezed a lot the dust out last time."
"Ha, ha, very funny." Saphira smiled at him as she gathered the paper and pencils, though Springtrap helped as he kept a hold of her hand. She did not mind though, she guessed that Springtrap was simply wanting to be very close to her. He likely has missed her, despite how persistent he has been in staying away from her these last couple days. "You and I should go do something while the others play their basketball. Maybe…" She took a moment to think about it as they make their way towards the stairs. "Air hockey?"
"Air hockey?" Springtrap was surprised she would mention that. "You mean that weird table, thing in the Toy Plaza, right?" She nodded affirmatively with a smile. "Um…I…I-I don't even know how to play it. I am not even sure if it is something I should play…that table kind of looks fragile…"
"Don't worry, I will show you how to play. But we should get these back to the office first." Saphira smiled as she shines the flashlight towards the stairs. She was relieved no one else followed her. She could still hear the rain, even in the basement of the pizzeria. "I am very glad that you came looking for me before, Springtrap. I…I know it has not been easy…"
"Please, let's not talk about it." Springtrap smiled at her as she looked surprised he interrupted her. "I appreciate that you are being thoughtful to me at this time, Saphira, but please let's just try and move forward." She nodded as she understood and agreed. "Good." They reach the stairs and Saphira began walking up them with Springtrap behind her. The stairs groan underneath them, and Springtrap could not help but think they would break soon. "Maybe it is best you don't come back down here. The stairs might collapse the next time you come down here."
Saphira did not think that would happen, but she could hear the groaning of the stairs underneath her feet, so she understood Springtrap's concern. "I will take that into consideration." She continued walking up the stairs and reached the top, and looked back at Springtrap with a smile. "Maybe you should go and wait for me in the plaza..." He immediately gave her a look that said he wouldn't leave her alone. "Fine...but I am just going to put this away...and check the tablet...I suppose all the alerts are going off right now."
"As they would be." Springtrap turned and he grabbed the door that Saphira pushed open and pulled it closed. Saphira waited for him patiently and jumped when another clap of thunder sounded above them loudly. "Damn, this storm is loud tonight. At least you are dry, and there shouldn't be any trespassers entering the building."
"The storm's making me jump too. I love storms, so they don't usually scare me. But the thunder is pretty much right above our heads, so it really does give a nice fright when it booms." Saphira reached out and Springtrap took her hand again, smiling at her. "I guess this will at least show the others that we have made up again "
Springtrap nodded in agreement as they walk down the hallway back towards the Haunted Classroom. They both ended up being silent while they walk together. A lot of things were on their mind at the moment, so it made sense. Springtrap was going over everything that happened a few days ago, while Saphira was thinking about both Springtrap and Afton. It was all playing on her mind, and she honestly was afraid of hurting Springtrap again. Especially after what has just happened basically. Now the two of them had to try and mend their friendship again, even though Saphira herself was not sure how that was going to go.
They made their way through the Haunted Classroom and walked to the main dining room. They both could hear laughter and cheers coming from within that room. They both glance at each other in amusement before Saphira opened the door and they walk inside. Bonnie, Nightmare, Freddy and Toy Bonnie were the first ones to notice Saphira and Springtrap. Bonnie himself was surprised, but he smiled as he was happy to see them together again.
Nightmare was also surprised, but he seemed a little worried as he was told about how Springtrap had attacked Saphira when she first started working here. He worried Springtrap might do that again. Freddy and Toy Bonnie were both happy for Saphira. None of them said anything to them, but Saphira and Springtrap were well aware of the glances being thrown at them, and it was not hard to guess what the animatronics were thinking.
They make their way out of the dining room to the office. Saphira was a bit relieved to not have the eyes of the animatronics staring at her as she walked by with Springtrap. It made her feel a little bit anxious, and now it made her unsure that she even wanted to play air hockey with Springtrap. But she did want to spend time with him, and doing something fun would make the both of them relax and they will be able to speak about things again.
"I guess everyone is already happy that we are friends again," Springtrap commented with a light chuckle. Saphira nodded in agreement as they walk by the office window and around the corner to the office doorway. "I am glad that we were able to talk. And I am looking forward to trying this air hockey. I am a little unsure if I will be good at it."
"It's a very easy game, honestly. You will be fine." Saphira walked over to her bag to slide the paper into one of her notebooks before she turned to Springtrap again with a smile. "I'll show you how to play it, and you will be fine."
Springtrap was still unsure, but Saphira ran over to him and took him by the hand to lead him away from the office to head back through the dining room to the Toy Plaza. He was mostly happy that he is getting to spend some time with Saphira. He well and truly was happy he had made a decision to look for Saphira. He had been worried about her before, but now they could be friends again. But Springtrap did hope to see if that was really all she felt. He was certain she had feelings for him. The way she grabbed his hand earlier was different to how she grabbed his hand before, and feeling her small fingers between his just made him feel happy. He hoped for that to happen again.
Once they made their way to the Toy Plaza, Saphira had to turn the air hockey table on, and Springtrap heard the low hum as the air was pushed through the tiny holes of the table. Saphira quickly explained how to play, and that the aim of the game was to get the puck into the other player's goal, and the way to hit the puck. When Springtrap realized it wasn't as hard as he thought it was, he quickly got into the game, and the two of them were quickly having fun together. Especially as they both decided to see who could get the score of five at first. For a short time, the pain both of them had been feeling was replaced by laughter. And it felt good.