"Marion. We need to talk." Said Freddy Fazbear, as he leaned in towards the stunned Puppet. They simply stared at the bear, their music box tightening in their chest at the confrontation. With Marionette remaining silent, Freddy continued, "I have heard of what you've been doing, old friend. Seen it with my own eyes. You've been neglecting your duty. Fraternizing with the enemy, and for what? To play a game of pretend? Pretend you can be more than what we are?"
Marionette tried to speak, but nothing came out, no words, no noise. Their voice failed to speak out against their old friend, despite the raging inferno inside their circuits that longed to rebut the bear.
He stared into Marionette's dark, lightless eyes, "A guard cannot replace what you lost. What he and others like him took from all of us. I would think that you would know this the best, as you were the one who graced us with this purpose in the first place. And I hope that I am not mistaken." Freddy leaned away, raising back to his full height, "I know that we have been doing this for a long time, Marion, but now is not the time to falter and fail. Again. To let your anger melt away by the false light of illusions." He turned slightly, back towards Parts and Service, but kept Marionette in his view, "I will do what must be done, to protect my Pizzeria, and I hope you would do the same Marion, instead of forcing me to do something drastic."
And with that, with the Marionette unable to conjure a response, a rebuttal, or even the barest amount of resistance to the bear's words, he fully turned and walked away.
Marionette remained, rooted and unmoving, the mischievous joy that was sparked at the thought of seeing Mike again evaporated against Freddy's cool rage, his heavy laden threat. Despite the bear having left, Marionette couldn't get themself to relax to ease, as the anxieties and fears that had been slowly floating to the back of their mind had instead been thrust to the forefront and nailed to the wall of their mind.
A sudden jolt ran through Marionette at a new thought, pure terror overwhelming them at the merest idea of what Freddy might have done before confronting them. They forced their limbs to move, stumbling down the hall, reaching, needing to see the guard office with their own eyes. They lurched through the office's threshold, their music box squeezing to a trembling brink.
Mike flinched at Marionette's sudden appearance, "Geez!" He placed a hand over his chest, "This is gonna be a thing isn't it?" He said, shock giving way to a friendly smirk.
Marionette finally eased, even if only a little, their music box, hugged by the uncomfortable pressure of their tightened chest, still on the brink of clinking out tuneless noise. They wordlessly strode into the office, once again taking their place by his side, cross legged on the floor.
Mike stared at the Puppet, sensing their unease, "Hey, is everything alright? Did something happen? If you wanna share, that is."
They tilted their head, debating to themself how they should proceed, until, "Freddy, the old one. He… ambushed me in the hall. Said some concerning things."
Mike listened, a little surprised to hear Marionette finally speak. Their voice was light, almost aethereal, and hard to pin down for Mike. It didn't exactly sound like a grown woman, or a high pitched man, nor did it sound like a young girl's. Not exactly what he expected to come from the Marionette, but then again he didn't really know what he'd expected in the first place. The best he could do to categorize Marionette's voice would be, 'light, maybe feminine sounding, and pleasant.' Not that he'd judge them on their voice at all. They were a previously murderous Puppet bot, they could be whatever they wanted, and Mike wouldn't have minded.
Were it not for the slightly ominous event being described, he would have been a little happy to earn more trust from the Puppet. "If I can pry, what kind of things?"
Marionette turned to Mike, their mask looking different from normal, their smile and eyes drooping into a worried expression. "He said he knows what I've been doing, that I've been neglecting my duty, and implied he'd do something drastic. It's… worrying."
It definitely was, Mike thought, as silence slowly overtook the guard office. He didn't really know what to think on the matter, wanted to pry into that 'duty,' to reach for the deeper secrets, but something ate at him with how the Marionette seemed to be down, he smirked and tried to ease their worry, "Well, I say don't let it get to you. I've managed to survive this long, and I have you and even Mangle on my side. My odds of taking on the big brown bear are better than ever." He reached down and gently pat the Puppet's shoulder, his smirk shifting to a gentle smile, "Ain't no way that dumb bear is gonna get me now, not when things are finally looking up."
Marionette tensed as he placed his hand on their shoulder, but seemed to ease in some ways, while remaining tense in others. At least their mask shifted to a more earnest smile, "Yeah. No dying, you hear? Not now."
Mike chuckled and Marionette chimed, as the melancholic atmosphere finally started to lift. Only for Toy Chica to crawl from the vent and begin to stand.
Both Mike and Marionette flinched, caught off guard by the chicken's sudden appearance, and Mike scrambled for his mask, that he slammed on as quickly as he could. Marionette was half way ready to spring into action, Mike was holding his breath, holding still as Chica just stood there. Beakless, eyeless, the lights within almost squinting at the pair.
An eternity passed in what was probably just a few seconds, and Toy Chica began to walk away. Mike waited until the chicken was consumed by the shadows of the hall before he took off the stifling mask, leaving him gasping, "That, hah, that was, just too close."
Marionette stared into the dark, unnerved at the animatronic's sudden appearance, "At least you got the mask on in time." Truthfully, they felt split on their reaction, one part relieved they didn't have to attack their friend, another part angry they didn't strike the moment Chica had crawled out of the vent.
"That's just it," Mike said, drawing Marionette's gaze from the hall. The guard looked shaken, his breathing still uneven, "I don't think I got the mask on fast enough. She should have attacked me." His voice was taut, sounded like it was on the brink of shaking. The 'She should have killed me,' went unspoken.
The Puppet didn't take a moment to think, they gently reached out and placed their long fingered hand on Mike's arm, "It's alright, Mike, she's gone." Their words seemed to calm him, seemed to help, spurring them on, making them want to do more, "I wouldn't let them hurt you."
Mike turned to the oddly comforting mask of the Marionette, "You'd really do that?" He asked, in some level of surprise. After the Puppet had sat by his side, night after night, he didn't doubt they wanted the best for him, but for them to outright say they'd fight the others for him…
"Of course!" They said, stark determination clear through their light voice, a stable firmness and strength, "I could never just sit by and watch an innocent person die. Not again…"
The strength in their voice faded near the end, but it provided the comfort it needed to bring calm back to Mike. He nodded, quickly moving his sight to his camera monitor to be on the lookout for any other sudden interruptions, "I mean this, truly, thank you for watching out for my ass."
That brought a surprised chime of amusement from Marionette, "Well, I was the one distracting you from your job, what with your comforting me and everything."
He shrugged as he switched from camera to camera, "I didn't die, so, shock aside, I say it was well worth it."
Marionette watched the act, intrigue seeping its ways through their wiring. They had hunted guards for years, much to their recent shame, but had never paid much mind to the guards' job before, but sitting beside Mike, to see the monitor swapping from camera to camera was a novel sight. They knew of the camera system and how the guards had used it to keep tabs on the Pizzeria, but never really had the opportunity or care to investigate it before.
Apparently feeling the intensity of their stare, Mike glanced over, and as another sign of being relaxed, gave a smirk towards the Puppet, "Never seen the camera system before?"
They shook their head, feeling a tad embarrassed over Mike hitting the nail on the head so easily, "I know generally how it works, I've just never seen it from this end before."
Mike gestured to the monitor, a playfulness held in his eyes, "Want a closer look?"
While Toy Chica's scare was still recent in their mind, Marionette couldn't help but feel a giddiness rise in their chest at the opportunity. Their mask shifted again, their smile returning in full, "Sure!" Though they moved to stand, the human had other plans as he gently grabbed the animatronic and lifted them onto his lap despite their startled music box notes and mild flailing.
His smirk exuded a sense of smugness as he addressed the flustered Puppet, "What? I thought you wanted a closer look."
A myriad of feelings flit through Marionette as they stilled, beginning to accept their placement, "I was expecting to lean over your shoulder, not sit on your lap!"
Mike's smirk broke into a full smile, "Ah, but this is a special initial experience with the wonders of technology! You deserve a front row seat for it."
They sighed, only a tiny bit of static layering in, "I can't believe I haven't strangled you yet." They joked, sarcasm clear on their voice.
"You can try, but then you'd miss out on the best guided tour of the Pizzeria!" Mike quipped back jovially.
Marionette rolled their eyes best they could, but their smile was sincere once more, "Well nothing can beat that."
Mike then set about clicking through the various cameras, showing Marionette how the Pizzeria looked through his eyes and cameras, giving a few comments here or there that brought amusement to the Puppet. Such entertainment, such normalcy as they sat on the human's lap, let them forget their burdens, if only for a few moments.
With another click, the monitor showed a part of the main room, with the mini carousel, "And here is where Balloon Boy would normally be. The little pick pocket, I still don't know how he got the batteries out of my flashlight that one time."
This particular camera angle and commentary slightly soured. Truth be told they hadn't thought of Balloon Boy since William 'spoke' to them, and being reminded relit the lingering guilt, "Ugh, I'm going to have to remember to apologize to him once he's fixed up."
"Oh yeah," Mike said, intrigue clear on his voice, "I heard you punted Balloon Boy into a wall. Why'd you do that anyway? Did he try to steal your batteries or something?"
Marionette let out a sigh of static, "It was the morning my music box got smashed, so I was already ticked off, so when I went wandering, Balloon Boy laughed at me. I snapped and kicked him into a wall. Haven't really thought of that the past few days."
Mike chuckled at that, "Well, at least I haven't had to deal with him. Things have been weird, so not having to worry about my batteries has been a nice relief."
His joking nature helped relax Marionette throughout the night, but as it dragged on, Freddy's words continued to worm their way into Marionette's mind. Shame continued to wash through them as they tried to doubt their old friend, but the same could be said were they to doubt Mike as well. Guilt ate at them from both sides, their innocent guard friend Mike, and their old friend Freddy.
They tried to ignore it, to justify it, after all, Mike wasn't purple anymore, but in their attempts a new thought, a new worry took hold. What if Mike became purple once more? Would Marionette even know? Could Marionette overlook a purple threat in their worry of hurting Mike?
Marionette gently shook their head. That wouldn't happen, couldn't happen. They had to believe that.
—
William set down his phone, having just wrapped up Schmidt's latest report. He placed his hand on his chin as he pondered what he had been told. From the other reports, things were developing, or rather, being revealed on a steady course.
The Marionette had finally spoken to Schmidt, its words matching its actions, a seemingly friendly individual protecting the night guard. But it was the other things his employee had told him that worried William, the small things that fell through the Marionette's words.
That was one unsettling confirmation, so long as Schmidt wasn't taking the piss with William. The Marionette could speak, full sentences, convey emotion, intent. Another impossibility he was forced to acknowledge. A part of him longed to open up the Marionette, look for any illicit modifications, as there couldn't possibly be any other way Henry's Puppet could have just willed speech into its systems. And yet, a softer part of him talked him down, a worry that any invasive procedure could harm the Marionette or its view of people, or undo whatever unseen miracle that seemingly, impossibly, gave it life.
He hadn't been to the Pizzeria since he gave Schmidt the taser, and the curiosity the reports instilled in him almost caused him to up and go, to try and see if he too could converse with the animatronics, but he discarded that thought. Confronting even the animatronics who have ceased their hunt was best left until later, same with any invasive work. He glanced to the doorway that led to his workshop, where Balloon Boy lay, work half done, as Fritz hadn't come in to continue her work. He felt bad at the idea that any of their animatronics could somehow be alive.
He shook his head and retrained his thoughts onto the report. Schmidt had told him of the Marionette's worries, that the old Freddy animatronic had spoken to it, gave implicit threats to it, all because it was failing its 'duty.' That term disturbed William. He hadn't put much thought into wondering why the animatronics were hunting night guards before the reports, as he thought they were glitches, oddities, errors, but now Schmidt had slowly deconstructed his preconceived views on the 'why' of their actions. The attacks on the guards were premeditated, a lethal urge instilled in every single one of the animatronics of his beloved Pizzeria. Even the classics.
That worried William even more. It would be one thing if the Toys and the Marionette only acted that way, were seemingly evolved, and on some level dangerous, then he could rationalize the Marionette as an outlier, but if even the old band were somehow as alive as Toy Foxy, as the Marionette appeared to be…
William felt a slight sense of nausea overcome him, as the memory of the withered state of the old band flashed through his mind. Could they feel pain? With missing limbs and a general unkempt state?
A comforting argument tried to fight these thoughts, proclaiming that they didn't attack when initially harvested for parts, they only wandered and attacked guards at night. And the Marionette was the reason Balloon Boy needed repairs, because it acted out, outside of night hours.
He held his aching head in his hands as he tried to process everything, as the last standout part of Schmidt's report came to him. The Marionette had said they wouldn't sit by and watch an innocent die. Again.
That 'again' worried William. His memory blazed through every single possible meaning it could even be, but only ever kept coming back to two places where the Marionette would have been. Two tragedies it could have seen. But one, one tragedy, while smaller on the technical, clinical side, held implications that William didn't know what to think of. One that William could definitively state where the Marionette had failed to protect an innocent life.
He grabbed his phone once more. It was far too soon to try and talk to the animatronics, too early to be brash and quick, but he had to tell him. He had meant to do so the day before, but had second guessed and forgotten. In a way it was almost better, now that he had more information to give anyway. Information he deserved to know. William quickly dialed the number he knew by heart. After a handful of rings, the phone on the other end picked up, "Henry? This is Will. Do you think you could come over? There's some important things I need to tell you."