Some Things Are Better Left Buried

By: Miss-DNL

Chapter 3: Assembly

Music was playing in the animatronic repair room at the newly constructed Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. The paint crisply lying on the walls, a pleasant pastel blue, with dots of pink, yellow and white specks meant to look like confetti. Titles black and white like a chess board still shiny and new waiting to be broken in. The metal shelves were unmarred by scratches, and was housing spare parts for the animatronics. On one shelf was a row of masks, hollow shells ready to be fitted with parts. This left a rather haunting visages of empty eyed animals, a red fox, white fox, chicken, bear, bunny, and child. At the end of the row was a simple jester mask. On other shelves were boxes of various mechanical parts waiting to be used.

Against another wall was a metal table with the blue prints for the animatronic Clifton was currently working on finishing up. It was the last one he needed to finish. Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, Balloon Boy, the Puppet and Mangle were already finished. Although with Mangle Clifton considered "finished" to be a bit of a strong word. Considering that it'll be taken apart constantly. At least he managed to adjust its build to be more actually meant for it to be taken apart. Ball joints really helped with that he felt, but still he'd need to replace parts on it more often in the future. He felt a bit sad for the poor white fox, he had a kid of his own and he knew the utter hell kids could put their toys through.

Regardless of his thoughts he was hard at work finishing the animatronic, he'd saved the best for last. The titular Freddy Fazbear. Personally he was more of a Foxy fan but Freddy was a close second, the bear was the mascot after all-hard not to like him at least a little. Not to mention he was a little dapper with his top hat and bow tie. At the moment he was doing a little fine tuning on Freddy's endoskeleton. While each endoskeleton was the same, some tuning had to be done for the individual characters. Didn't want a Chica moving and sounding like Freddy and such. An endoskeleton was a blank slate that needed to be molded into the specific character.

Clifton hummed along with the song's tune, not really paying attention to the lyrics at the moment. His mind was very focused on his work, it had more important things to process than the words of a song. Focusing his vision to one point he slowly turned his screw driver, turning a screw until it was tightly in its socket. Smiling he pulled back and admired his handy work.

"There, voice box in." He said to himself.

He rubbed his chin, running a mental check list though his mind. Snapping his fingers, he set down his screwdriver and went over to a bin sitting on of the shelves. From inside it he pulled out two blue animatronic eyes. Turing back to the endoskeleton he quickly screwed them into place. Going around to the back of the head he did a quick test on their response time.

"Alright, first the left one," the left eye winked, "good, now right," wink from right, "and the blink." Clifton smiled as the endoskeleton blinked on cue. He cheered eager to put on the finishing touches, "Alright! Let's get the suit on."

Piece by piece he put the animatronic's costume on, which was a bit more tedious than one would think. Clifton had to make sure each piece was properly attached to avoid it slipping off, didn't need Freddy's hand flying off during a show. All while avoiding hurting himself with the beams and cross wires. He'd already cut his fingers while suiting Bonnie up, just a little cut on the finger but boy did it sting. Once the bear was suited up Clifton set Freddy's top hat on his head, bow tie on his chest and lastly his microphone in his hand. It was just a prop but was also the final piece.

Putting some back into it, Clifton put Freddy on a moving dolly and began wheeling the animatronic out of the mechanic room's and to the stage. The main show stage was just outside his repair room but he had to through the back stage in order to get the heavy bot up onto the actual stage. The back stage was where all the magic happened there the door to the control room was. Hidden away from the eyes of the children that would soon watch Freddy and his gang's show. Humming the tune of the song he'd been listening to Clifton dropped Freddy Fazbear at the head of the trio.

Stopping a moment Clifton looked out at the main party room, long rows of tables stood bare for the time being but the size of the room made it look grander than it was. From left to right Clifton scanned the room, chuckling to himself as he spotted a few drawings tapped up to the wall. Since they weren't open yet they of course weren't drawn by children but rather by the few staff members they had at the moment, to encourage children to allow theirs to be put up. Namely Gregor and himself, but honestly with their skill it was hard to tell that it wasn't children that had drawn them. Amusingly enough Gregor, who was a bit snippy at times, had gotten a bit to enthused about it and had managed twice the amount than Clifton had, which was three. Then again Gregor had more free time, even if he was head of security for the pizzeria. Seeing as they weren't open yet, there wasn't much to secure. Until now with the animatronics finished. Hopefully finished that is, he still had some startup tests to run.

Heading back to the backstage Clifton resumed humming to himself, letting the dark drape over him as he moved along. He stopped when he heard a noise, a soft mournful noise. Standing a moment, the mechanic fixed a look of confusion his face, he'd just caught the sound at the tail end of it. Having a child of his own though he knew it sounded like the weeping of a child. A noise that tugged at his heart. Looking over his shoulder for a moment, he turned his whole self around. Clifton searched for the source of the sound but there was none. He was alone behind the tall red curtains of the main stage and there was no place for someone to hide.

Clifton rubbed his calloused hand on the back of his head, brows still creased in confusion as he muttered to himself, "Must have imagined it…" Shaking his head the mechanic shrugged it off.

Knowing that Gregor would want to see him run the startup tests Clifton exited the back stage and headed to the security office. The small room was tucked away just behind the reception desk. Walking down the hall, his heels' clacking on the linoleum floor with a subtle echo sounding back to him. Coming near the doorway to the office Clifton perked hearing the sound of a phone being picked up. He chuckled softly as his cohort began going through his answering spiel, Phone Guy really was a suiting nickname for him.

"Hello, hello, this is Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, I'm Gregor, how can I help you? Are you calling about one of our open job opportunities?" Gregor greeted casually as he leaned back in his chair, it was a rather standard rolling chair but it was comfortable enough. Feet perched on the security office desk he listened as the person gave their response. Nodding he pulled his feet down, scooted back up to the desk, and looked at the schedule sheet that was in front of him, "Oh hello miss Hudson, yes, we saw your resume and we think you'd fit right into the night shift."

Listening to the person's response Gregor blinked spotting Clifton standing in the doorway of his office. Holding up a finger, indicating he needed a minute. Gregor continued his conversation with the possible employee, "Yes, we'd like to give you an interview soon as we can." Writing the appointment down on the calendar he nodded, "Good, good, me and my boss will see you a couple weeks from now for your interview miss Hudson. Have a good day."

Hanging up the phone on its home port Gregor swiveled his chair over to the side to face his cohort, "Hey Clifton, what is it?"

"Just thought you, our resident fan boy," Clifton stifled an amused chuckle when Gregor shot him an irate look before rolling his eyes. Holding the sides of the door way the mechanic nodded his head towards the main stage, Gregor following the action with his eyes, "would like to know that I've finished building the last animatronic."

The news got the guard to sit upright, expression surprised, "You already finished Freddy? That was fast!"

Clifton grinned, proud of himself and his success, "Well, after doing Bonnie, Chica and Foxy I had the method down pat for the main guy. Come'on I'm going to run the startup tests after I get the boss, thought you might want to see how it goes."

Gregor stood up but his glimmer of excitement halted a moment, he looked at the mechanic carefully, "Wait, I'm not going to get smacked like the last time when you were working on Chica am I…?"

Clifton frowned in vague annoyance, feeling like he was being accused of something, "I told you not to stand so close while I was testing her arm responses. That was on you."

The guard placed a hand on the back of his neck, rubbing it tentatively hearing the reprimanding tone in Clifton's voice, "Okay, you're right. Sorry about that." He smiled at his cohort in hopes of amending the tension he'd made, "I'll come see them get started up, but I'm going to keep an ear out for phone calls."

Watching Gregor gesture to the phone Clifton uttered a soft chuckle, letting the past insult slide with ease, "Course you will, you're the Phone Guy!"

"Still don't know how I feel about that nickname…" Gregor commented dully as he followed the mechanic out of the room. Recalling Clifton's given reason of why he thought to tell him the guard shot the mechanic a look, "And I'm not a fan boy."

"So that's why you have a little figure of each of them on the security desk, and why the place is all decorated up with Fazbear merchandise?" Clifton said in a playful teasing manner, jabbing the smaller, younger guy in the side with his elbow. Spying the sharply annoyed look he was getting Clifton gave a light laugh, shaking his head at the younger's defensiveness, "Calm down, I'm just messing with you."

"I'm still not a fanboy." Gregor insisted firmly, he huffed sticking his hands in his pants pocket, "what else should I decorate the office with? I think it'll help build a family feeling for the other guards we hire."

Clifton hummed a moment, considering his statement but knew Gregor was just trying to cover up his collecting hobby. He hadn't known Gregor prior to this but when he let his guard down he could be an excitable dork. It'd only happened once but Clifton really wanted to see it again. So far his attempts had failed but he wasn't about to give up. He'd get the guy to loosen up a little. Giving a shrug he responded, "Guess that'd work."

He glanced at the guard, "By the way nice uniform, very purple."

Gregor perked at the comment then looked at his outfit, it was very purple, the official Fazbear security uniform. It was meant to stand out, so as to be easily identifiable to people. Not that Gregor had any issues with it, he liked the way it looked pretty professional. The work shirt was made of sturdy material, dark purple with black trimming and high collar. On his chest was a golden security badge featuring Freddy. Above it was his name tag. His slacks were also purple but of a darker color. His cap continued the purple trend, with a black bill, but the front was colorfully decorated with Freddy against what looked like a stage background. Underneath him was a sign looking piece reading "Fazbear Security."

"I like it." Gregor stated simply whilst adjust his black shirt collar. He furrowed his brow looking at the color, "It is a lot though."

"Hey, it's good, least it's not neon purple or something." Clifton pointed out, cringing a bit at the thought, "that'd be an eyesore, and besides girls like a guy in uniform."

His words managed an amused snort from Gregor, "I'll remember that when trying to pick up a girl in a family restaurant. A pizzeria security guard. Yeah, girls love'em."

"Hey, you never know." Clifton replied with a light shrug as they entered the main party room. Their boss of course was still in his office so the mechanic continued walking, "I'll go get boss, you take a seat."

Gregor watched his cohort trot off to the right of the stage and off towards their boss's office. Looking back to the stage, it was only partially brightened by sunlight streaming in from the two halls leading to the main room. With the partial lighting Bonnie and Chica were left half darkened half not. Standing in the middle Freddy was completely draped in light shadows. Taking the three in as a group it almost seemed like they were scheming something dark, and in the quiet of the room it was somewhat unsettling. Gregor shook his head, tossing the ridiculous feeling to the back of his mind.

Pulling his hands out of his pockets the guard walked up closer to the stage. Eyeing the three more closely Gregor rubbed his chin a moment, muttering, "Guess I can see why people find them creepy…"

He snorted at his own thoughts. Then blinked looking around, why weren't the lights on? Yeah they were trying to conserve power until they actually opened but it was past noon. Gregor scratched his hat covered head, in fact he could have sworn he turned them on earlier. Unable to remember if he had in fact done so Gregor dismissed the unimportant thought.

Climbing up onto the stage Gregor moved past Freddy, Bonnie and Chica to the backstage. Passing the shadow line created by the curtain, that sectioned off the back from the frontstage, Gregor went up to a somewhat hidden door. It was hidden enough that children wouldn't spot it during a show. Knowing it was there it was simple for Gregor to pull open, revealing the control room.

The room was small, smaller than the security office, would barely fit more than three people standing side by side. Yet it was packed with electronic equipment. There was a control desk with a keyboard of buttons, each sectioned off with labels reading Bonnie, Freddy and Chica. Above them were small television screens that'd display the stage. The video being fed from small cameras placed about the stage, but were on a different channel from the security cameras.

Unconcerned with the show equipment Gregor turned to what he was here for, the power switches. Against the wall was a panel with labeled power switches, specifically the party rooms to keep children from messing with them during the day, and also the front desk. Glancing over the labels Gregor quickly spotted the spotted the one he wanted and flicked it to on.

With that done he left the control room, shutting the secret door behind him with a sound click. Once again to the unknowing eye the door may as well not be there. With the nights now on the room was awash in pleasant clear, brightness. It felt more alive now with the shadows chased away. Pleased Gregor let out a soft exhale to himself. Turning his head, he smiled seeing the tall Bonnie standing next to him, hand poised to start strumming on his guitar, eyes half laden as if bored.

"Must be good to have the gang back together, hm?" Gregor questioned the robotic bunny, of course he got no response and hadn't expected one. Walking to the front of the trio he eased his posture up a bit. Feeling a wave of nostalgia hit him at the sight of the three animatronics he'd admired as a kid finally brought back. He'd never gotten to see the second Fazbear Pizzeria just the third one, and everyone said the second one was better but as a kid he didn't care about that. Far as he'd been concerned his had been better even if it didn't have the fancier toy animatronics.

"What did I say about standing close to the animatronics when I'm going to do tests?" Looking over his shoulder Gregor saw Clifton walking back into the room with their boss. Judging by the smile on his face and light hearted tone he was joking, but his stiff waving him down from the stage said he had some seriousness to his words.

Obliging his request Gregor hopped down from the stage, simply saying, "Lights were off, I went to turn them on."

Clifton blinked seeming to have just realized the lights had been off. Like Gregor he dismissed the fact, deeming it unimportant. Climbing up onto the stage he looked back to the guard, "Thanks."

Gregor shrugged subtly in response to the gratitude. Standing up straight Clifton looked to his boss, "Want me to just get at it then?"

Herald Griffith nodded, "Yes, run all the tests you can." He looked over to the animatronics with a certain carefulness, "I want to be certain all the glitches have been removed."

Understanding why he was concerned Clifton nodded, one of the main rumors that was pestering them incessantly was the glitches. No parent wanted their child around defective robots, not when the infamous bit of eighty-seven had happened. A brief pang hit the mechanic in the gut, if something like that happened to his…Clifton squashed the thought and nodded again, getting a questioning look from Gregor but he didn't acknowledge it. Clifton masked his thoughts with a smile, "Sure thing boss, just sit back and enjoy the show."

Heading back to the control room Clifton flicked the light on for the room then shut the door behind him. Briefly he noted how small and tightly packed the room was, but it was enough for one person even if Clifton was on the big side. Pulling the control chair back from the desk he sat down and switched the system on. Seeing through the front stage camera Clifton grinned in anticipation when he saw the animatronics. In the front row seats was the head of security and the manager sat at a table, both waiting for something to happen. Clifton flexed his fingers a bit before cracking his knuckles, "Show time."

Out in the party room Gregor and Herald waited patiently for the animatronics to do something. Both sat up when Freddy suddenly lifted his head up, eyes suddenly coming to life. The bear's jaw moved up and as if having just woken up from a sleep. Bonnie followed shortly after, mouth opening and closing. Finally, Chica awoke her beak shifting its position before turning her head. Freddy turned his head as if to meet her gaze. After a bit of meet and greet the animatronics arms and hands began moving, up, down, clenching, turning and unfurling.

Herald began chuckling as Clifton began having the animatronics march in place to test their leg responses. Next Bonnie began strumming his fake guitar, head bobbing to some unheard music that he was supposed to be playing. The eyed cupcake on Chica's plate began blinking and opening and closing its mouth while the chicken holding it swayed her head from side to side seemingly singing. Freddy was waving to the crowd of two, mouthing words as he began turning from side to side, lifting up his microphone up to his mouth.

"He's pretty good at this." Gregor commented to his boss as he watched the silent show, all it needed was the sound and lights.

Sure enough a moment later the lights in the room flicked off and the show lights turned on. Red blue and yellow beams focused down on each of the mascots, red on Bonnie, yellow on Freddy and blue on Chica. To add to the building party atmosphere a light ball dropped down and began tossing specks of dancing light around the room. The speakers droned to life and began to play the Freddy Fazbear tune, a catchy, upbeat, welcoming tune clearly meant for children.

There was a brief dull tone when a voice came over the intercom, "Hey kids it's bit early, but since we have a special party of two Freddy and the gang have made an exception to put on their show early!"

"Hm, yes," Herald said answering to his guard's previous comment, "And having fun with it."

Gregor quirked a brow picking up on his boss's tone, it sounded like he had something in mind. Looking at the moving animatronics he had an idea of what it was. The two went silent as Freddy looked towards them, microphone up to his mouth to create the illusion he was using it.

The bear's voice was loud, jovial, and warm even with its mechanical, metallic edge, "Hey kids, it's time to party! And I heard we have a special birthday boy with us today!"

Gregor frowned noticing the bear was looking at him, "Why is he looking at me?"

His boss's only response was a subtle laugh the guard just barely heard over the talking bear, "Let's wish the birthday boy a great day the best way we know how! Song!"

Herald chuckled seeing the embarrassed, annoyance forming on Gregor's face. Figuring he'd better stop the mechanic before his guard decided to hauled him out Herald spoke up, "Okay, tell him that's enough."

"Gladly." Gregor grumbled, unamused as he pulled his walkie-talkie from his hip, "That's enough Clifton, the manager has seen enough."

From the other end the mechanic answered, not bothering to hide his amusement, "Alright, alright. Does he want me to test the others today or wait till tomorrow?"

Gregor looked to his boss who was watching the animatronics power off, turning back to their lifeless statue-like states. The show lights turned off and the regular one turned back on, the light ball retreating back from whence it came, and the music shut off. Once everything in the room reverted back to the way it was Gregor delivered the question, "He wants to know if you want to test the other ones today."

"No, this is good enough for now, we still have time before the opening to run the rest of the tests. Not like we'll be using them until then." Herald Griffith answered normally, looking at the animatronics. Freddy, Bonnie and Chica were staring blankly out ahead of them seemingly focused on the far wall that didn't even have any drawings on it.

"Well, run the rest of the test later Clifton." Gregor relayed to the mechanic over the phone.

"Got it." Clifton answered quickly. A moment later the man came out of the control room, and gave a muffled chuckle when he saw the ticked look on the security guard's face. Didn't take him long to figure out what had annoyed the younger man, after all he'd done it on purpose. The mechanic held his hands out innocently at his side, "What?"

Gregor rolled his eyes, deciding not to comment back. It'd only encourage the older man somehow. Seeing the boss get up from his seat Gregor watched him go up to Clifton as he got down from the stage. The guard straightened himself in his seat, interested to see how the mechanic would take the offer that was no doubt coming his way. First though, the result of what they'd done this for.

"Everything looked good from where we were sitting, but what do you have to say on it?" Griffith asked.

While running the mental notes he'd made in his mind Clifton rubbed his hands, "Overall they all responded spot on to the commands, but I think I need to tweak Chica a little. Her response time was a little slow."

"But no issues?" Herald pressed casting a brief glance at the animatronics before looking back to the mechanic as he responded.

"No, there weren't any errors. Just a little delay time on our chicken." Clifton reassured the manager. The man tilted his head towards the bots while continuing with a question of his own, "So now that I've finished building them and won't run any more tests today, guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

Herald Griffith tucked his hands behind his back, "Yes, about that. I have a proposal for you Clifton Schwartz." Quickly he waved his hands to dismiss any thoughts it might be bad, leaving the mechanic looking somewhat confused, "You seemed to be a natural at getting the animatronics to perform."

"Heh, well when you know a thing or two about programming it's a little easier. That and knowing what button does what helps." Clifton answered with a humble shrug. He turned a wondering expression back to his boss, "What are you getting at exactly boss?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to handle the performances with the animatronics. At least with our three main stars here." Griffith announced motioning to the trio still standing motionless on stage. The elder gentleman gripped the inner edge of his brown leather jacket, "You're pay will be adjusted for this. It'd offer a steadier pay income than when we need repairs or adjustments on the animatronics. Having you repair a broken arcade game or heaven forbid a toilet wouldn't be a good use of your skills."

Clifton was momentarily silent as he took the news in, slowly he answered, "So your saying I'll get paid more."

The manager nodded, "Yes you'll be getting a more regular income, along with the moments when the animatronics need repair. Take it as a promotion of sorts. From part-time to full-time."

"But I'll have to come in more regularly?" Clifton asked, Griffith nodded accordingly. Clifton held his hand out to confirm the deal, "I think I can do that, not like putting on a show for kids will be a bad thing. I accept."

"Good to hear Mr. Schwartz." Herald replied shaking the man's hand and wasn't surprised by his strong grip.

"Am I going to get a snappy looking uniform too?" Clifton only partly joked, as he pointed at Gregor whom only arched a brow at him. The younger man trying to decide if he was teasing him or not.

"Yes, but yours will be different." Herald answered casually taking his hand back, "That aside. We'll be seeing you tomorrow." He turned his head to Gregor who seemed to have expected it, "You should sign out too, you'll be covering the night shift until we get more guards."

Gregor nodded, then he blinked remembering something, "I have the dates of the interviews on the desk in the security office. Do you want me to go get them?"

Herald quickly shook his head, "No I can get it myself."

The security guard seemed a bit confused by this but dismissed it, one less trivial thing to worry about. "See you tomorrow then." He said as he began to walk away.

Shortly after Clifton headed out as well. Once the two were gone Herald Griffith was left alone. The three of them were the ones heading the restoration project, a few others that were helping had already left for the day shortly before Clifton had finished Freddy. Oh well, their loss, brief as the moment was it been the little had been magical. Yet, he could shake the memory of what he'd seen upon finding what lay within Springtrap. It was just a hallucination he knew that much, as neither Clifton nor Gregor had seen anything. Somehow though, it managed to etch every detail into his mind.

Griffith shook his head, it didn't matter, Springtrap was sealed away. He'd made sure of that. Soon as possible and fast as possible he'd had the room sealed off. There was no way it could get out.

Pushing the dark, looming thoughts as far back as he could into his mind Griffith walked himself to the security office. In doing so he passed the prize room. The sound of music playing stopped him dead in his tracks. The manager turned his head towards the prize counter, currently devoid of any prizes it coldly bare. The lights being turned off only emphasized it. The only eye catching things were Balloon Boy, his smile ever present and his eyes almost looking glassed over as it stared straight ahead of himself.

Where the music was coming from though was where Herald was looking, the other eye catching thing. It was a big blue and purple box, big enough for a person it fit inside if it weren't for the presence already inside. The Puppet. Suddenly the haunting music came to a halt, leaving a chill to Griffith's bone.

Without another Herald Griffith quickly headed to the security office, grabbed the interview schedule and left after shutting everything off. He could get his work done at home.

Author's Note: Freddy and the gang are back. Meaning things are about to begin.

Another thing I should mention, there is some inspiration from the Five Nights at Freddy's book The Silver Eyes. As flawed as it was I did enjoy parts of it and it did help inspire me to write this story. The mention in this story is that the animatronics do have people controlling their movements during the day. I think it leaves more impact to shock, and frighten, people when they move at night. In this the whole "free roam" thing is a big lie to help cover things up.

Hope you enjoyed.