Some Things Are Better Left Buried

By: Miss-DNL

Chapter 27: Recompense

Gregor had his back pressed up against the wall as he hid underneath the desk in the security room. He kept reminding himself that this was just a dream, none of it was real, but all of his senses told him otherwise. He could hear the monsters shifting in the halls; waiting for the right moment to charge in and get him, feel his back getting lightly scrapped by a jagged crack in the wall, and smell something foul in the air. Gregor couldn't tell if it was the decay of the building around him or the monsters themselves. None of its real, Gregor told himself again despite the information his senses kept telling him. He rubbed his hear, there was also an odd buzzing sound that'd occasionally drift in and scratch at his ears like an annoying gnat.

He gasped as he heard a manic, jarring noise that sounded like a sped up, whirring, growl shake through the air. One of the tiny Freddy's, that the larger nightmare Freddy housed inside him, was near. It sounded like one for now, wherever it was, but the other two and the big bear himself couldn't be far behind. He'd already been assaulted by hellish cubs before. Their living den father hadn't taken too kindly to Gregor shining his flashlight at them.

Nightmare Freddy wasn't the only one with a minion, nightmare Chica's cupcake also sported long sharp fangs. It seemed more independent than the nightmare cubs but Gregor felt no better for it. Through it all Puppet seemed keen on harassing, insulting and berating, him while trying to drag him out of the office with his strings.

Gregor pulled his legs up closer to him as the whirring growl grew closer, it still seemed to be only one of the mini-Freddys. He readied to flash the cub-sized abomination soon as he caught sight of its glowing beady red eyes. The sound of metal claws hitting the ground occurred erratically, the small creatures were even twitchier than their larger, or real life, counterparts. Click, click-click, click, click…click-click, click. The growling became harsher, the machine creature possibly growing irate with him not being in plain sight, but soon after it shuffled further in. Gregor felt the hairs on the back of his neck raised when it released a shrill, ear grating, shriek, that caused its machine body rattled at its own voice's force.

A thud from the top of the desk alerted Gregor that the thing had jumped on top. He gritted his teeth, that wasn't good if it figured out he was underneath it could just lunge at him. Anyone would assume that nearly automatically, but with the monsters he couldn't tell. In the end, it didn't matter how smart they were. All he had was flashlight and they were giants with talons and fangs. They didn't need to be very smart to rip him to shreds.

Click, click, click, click, click. The jittery monster seemed to be pacing back and forth on top of the desk, metal scraping against metal, each scrap a sharp jab at Gregor's ears. Gregor's heart jumped every time he saw its claws peek over the edge of the desk. It'd only take the thing one sudden thought then in the next moment it'd be at his throat. At any moment, it could lung at him, its snarls alerting the others to join in. The moment didn't come. The nightmare cub sat square in the middle atop the desk its claws hanging over the edge. Gregor almost felt like the gremlin was taunting him, mocking him with the fact he could do nothing to deter it.

Next, to his terror, the shaky thing called for its cub mates by way of short, successive, shrieks. Down one of the halls, seemingly the right, he heard a pair of shrieks and a deeper roar that sent a shudder through him. Gregor clutched the flashlight tightly between his hands, telling himself to stay where he was. Not that he had anywhere else to hide. He'd tried shutting both doors at the same time but whenever he tried the first door he'd closed would pop open. Unsaid rules had been placed upon him and he was being forced to follow along.

There were only a few rules from what he'd gathered so far. One being the doors. The animatronics only seemed to come one at a time to each door and the vent. He'd also noticed most of them had specific doors they went to. The ones exempt from this were the minions, Fredbear, and Puppet.

A pair of hurried, small, mechanical footsteps jerked Gregor's attention back over to the right doorway. The two other nightmare cubs sounded their arrival to their sibling, and it responded in turn. Gregor pressed his back up further against the wall as one darted across the room and much to his dismay opened the left door, which he'd previously had shut. With one jump and a sound click Gregor was more in danger than he'd already been in. Now he had the possibility of another monster.

Things immediately got worse when another nightmare Freddy cub bounded into view. It stopped and locked eyes with Gregor. The creature's rustic brown body shuddered violently before it opened its mouth and exposed its many needle-like teeth. Just as it was about to pounce Gregor immediately hit it with a beam of light. The hellish cub's hostility vanished and was replaced with what seemed to be pain, it shrieked loudly before bolting out way it came.

With an attack cry, another of the triplets lunged at Gregor and out of reflex he swatted it away with the flashlight, swinging the industrial torch like it was a baseball bat. The nightmare tumbled into the wall of the office only to scramble right back onto its feet, its sharp claws leaving scores on the dirty and cracked linoleum tiles. Gregor repelled it with his flashlight and the creature fell onto its back with an alarmed shriek. The plush doll-sized monster shook violently on the ground like it was having a convulsion.

Gregor had no time to enjoy his small pair of victories when a pair of small, beady, red glowing eyes came into view. The third of the triplets stared at him upside down from just over the edge of the metal desk. It pulled back, only for a moment, before jumping down and flinging its compact body at Gregor. The nightmare furiously slashed at him with its claws, Gregor could only keep his arms raised and let them take them take the damage.

Next came a bite to his leg, the other nightmare Freddy cub that was still in the room had seized the opportunity to sink its teeth in, eliciting a pained yelp from Gregor. The monster's teeth sank right into his leg and tore at it with each jerk the it made. It jerked his leg back, trying to pull him out from under his hiding spot, like a dog playing tug-o-war with a rope, then shook causing its teeth to shred away at his flesh. Quickly the one that had been trying to flay him caught onto the plan and grabbed onto his other leg. By the time Gregor gathered himself enough to make them both let go with the flashlight he'd already been pulled out in the open. The two monsters shrieked in pain as they fled out the right doorway and into the shrouded hallway.

Gasping in pain, Gregor pulled himself up to a sitting position, his legs sprawled out in front of him. He felt like he'd been attacked by a blender and his arms certainly looked like it. Both sides of his arms were decorated with claw marks, both deep and shallow ones; dark, sticky, red coated his skin. Flinching, Gregor peered at his bitten leg, his stomach knotted up at what he saw. Each tooth mark was clear and jagged from the others, and went in deeply. Trails of blood were trickling down the sides of his cream-colored legs, already small pools of it had gathered. He felt the urge to vomit at what looked like small bits of his flesh lying on the floor.

Gregor didn't know how he was going to move around with such a wound. He shook his head and reminded himself, It's JUST a dream! It's not real. None of this is real! The pain isn't real- get up!

He forced himself up to his feet. The pain that resonated from his leg demanded he give in, but he persisted. Gregor cringed in pain and panted from the exertion, blood was traveled from his bite wound in thin streams. That'd taken more out of him than he'd wanted, but at least he was able to stand.

Heavy footsteps reminded him that the twisted game was still going. He looked from one hall to the other, trying to determine from which way his hunter was coming from. Now he had two doors to choose from and he hadn't heard anything from the left since he'd shut it. It had to be from the right, he decided, that was where he'd heard Freddy's roar. However, he found himself concerned about the left doorway. Paranoia nagged at him to quickly go shut it, so then he'd once again only have to deal with the vent and right doorway.

Next thing Gregor new he was grabbed and hoisted up by his leg, leaving his torso dangling in the air like a useless hunk of meat. The pain from his gripped leg intensified from the strain of gravity pulling down on it. With a gasping cry, Gregor wildly looked around to see what had taken hold of him. His eyes were met with hot burning coals that were the eyes of nightmare Freddy Fazbear. When his frightened eyes locked with the monster's Gregor felt himself seize up. The ursine opened its tattered jaws and exhaled a low, breathy growl. From inside it the monster's cubs poked their heads out from moderately sized holes in its body and seemingly jeered at Gregor for being caught, eager to see the hunt come to a bloody end.

As the perverse version of Freddy readied to rend Gregor's flesh with its screw-like claws, Gregor's immediate thought was to defend himself with his flashlight. When he tried to raise his arm Gregor found his it was stuck in place. Confused, and Freddy seeming to halt for some reason, he looked back and formed a hard expression of dread. In the other doorway that the nightmare Freddy's cubs had opened stood Puppet's deteriorated nightmare form.

The bottom part of his mask had snapped off to form jaws for its anglerfish-like teeth. The front covering of his torso was torn up and mostly missing, exposing a metal ribcage. The tips of his spindly legs were bare and pointed like large needles. Instead of looking like a friendly gift giving pierrot inspired marionette, Puppet looked like a sickle clawed wraith. What was held back Gregor's arm were the strings that in the waking world were attached to Puppet's limbs.

"Game over, Gregor." Came Puppet's quiet, whispering voice, though his jaws never moved.

"N-No!" Gregor protested as he struggled to move.

Puppet seemed to glide closer, it's hot white eyes pinning Gregor into place. "Yes. It's time for you to start paying for your selfishness."

Gregor shot the child, no, monster, a glare, "I may be selfish, but I deserve something in my life." Reminding himself once more that this was an only a dream strengthened his voice, "You can't do anything to me. This is only a dream, nothing else! You hold no power over me! You're just a child hiding in a monster costume! And the rest are just your messed-up puppets! Your nothing! Nothing! I told you, you can't stop me. I will get what I want!"

Momentarily Puppet seemed silenced by his words, the light in its eyes was snuffed out and Gregor thought he'd driven his point home. This was not the case.

"You're just like him." Puppet's voice was low. The lights that were its pupils were still out, bringing a new skull appearance to its mask, the paint on it so worn and faint it may as well not be there.

Before Gregor could respond Puppet's face was right in front of his. The black, empty sockets, seemed to suck his focus right in. He couldn't dare look away. "You don't care who you step over or crush to get what you want. You believe you deserve so much, but you don't! You don't know what suffering is! All you want is a distraction so you don't see how sad your life is!"

Getting the feeling Puppet's rant was over, Gregor managed to flick the flashlight on just before Puppet jerked it away. As the flashlight jumped from his hands the beam of light stuck the puppet master in its empty eyes causing him to recoil away, hissing loudly as he clutched his mask. Puppet's long limb flung outward, tossing string that the flashlight was entwined in, away from himself. Jerkily nightmare Freddy moved away from the swinging beam of light as if he'd be set ablaze if it touched him.

In the confusion, Gregor pulled his leg free, the blood on his leg enough to allow it to slip out. His landing wasn't the most graceful however and he fell flat on his back. The calls of alarm from the nightmare cubs, still inside their moving nest, was enough to rush him to get to his feet. Quickly in a panicked scramble, he barely had anything else left to his plan other than to escape, Gregor hurried away from the hellish bear. Then he spotted it, the doorway behind Puppet. The monster's long thin legs were tipped in points but there was plenty of space for him to run past Puppet.

With not many other options, and the flashlight still getting flung around at the end of Puppet's string, Gregor ran for it. He ducked around Puppet's legs and went out the doorway. Not knowing which way was safe, he let his adrenalin driven mind pick his next direction. Gregor headed towards the front desk, hoping to hopefully hide there.

A large yellow mass standing in front of the desk told him he would not find safety here. The unholy version of Fredbear's head turned all the way around, a complete one hundred and eighty degrees, soon as traitorous gasp left his mouth. The sight sent an ice cold shot of fear straight up his spine and his hair stood on ends as he backed away from the abomination. Nightmare Fredbear began to walk towards him, backwards, its oversized mouth opening in a wide, multirowed, fanged smile. Much to Gregor's despair, he noticed that it looked like every one of the fangs were stained with red.

The garnish yellow bear's arms twisted around, pops of metal being bent in unnatural manner brought to Gregor's mind bones snapping, so it could grab ahold of him. Gregor took it as his cue turn and run. Even then he had to stop, at the end of the hall nightmare Bonnie stood with a similar fanged pair of claws. Behind him Gregor could spot a pair of bright glowing yellow eyes, nightmare Foxy. Gregor turned back around, maybe he could move around-his thoughts stopped when he saw Fredbear's mouth stomach had opened and a metallic tendril-like tongue lapped out of it, daring him to even try and get around him.

"Nowhere else to run." Without a sound, without him noticing, Puppet was looming over him. Gregor could do nothing as strings wrapped around his neck, coiling tightly. Puppet didn't shred him with his claws, no, instead the tall and lanky animatronic nightmare grabbed his throat and began to squeeze tightly. The man in child form gagged and choked for air, grasping desperately at his throat, trying to pry the Puppet's claws off him.

"Go on," Puppet began softly, before a drastic, sharp, rise in fury, "tell yourself it's just a dream! Tell yourself that you'll just wake up and it'll all be over!" Puppet's whispery voice seemed to crack and grow more unhinged as he went on, but Gregor hardly noticed this over his own situation. He'd already thought Puppet demented anyway. Puppet gripped Gregor's small throat harder, his voice becoming a scathing growl, "But…you won't wake up…I'm going to teach you what suffering is."

Panicked alarm bells were going off in Gregor's mind. His stern assurance that nothing could go wrong was been thrown out the window. His attempt to free himself from the skeletal animatronic was becoming less lively as darkness invaded from all edges of his vision. The other monsters were suddenly forgotten, the world around him was a dark grey haze, the only thing was still utterly visible was the vengeful Puppet. The monster's breath was cold and clung to him tightly that he himself was growing cold. Gregor began to have trouble moving, his limbs unresponsive and felt like there were needles dancing on his skin. Sound was drowned out, he could only really make out the sound of his weakening gags, but steadily a familiar buzzing noise grew in his ears.

The louder it grew the more Gregor could recognize it wasn't a buzz but a whine that quickly grew high in pitch. It was a sped up, corrupted, lifeline going flat. His windpipe being constricted tightly by Puppet's wrathfully tight, python grip, Gregor was unable to question the sound, but it sent a fresh new sort of fear through him. The sound of a flatline either meant a close encounter with death or being welcomed into its eternal embrace, never breath again. The mortal fear rose in Gregor until it manifested as a cold sweat all over his visible Caucasian skin.

Could this be a sign he was dying from his nightmare, that Puppet was staying true to his word? Gregor's mind began to grow too swamped with fog to continue articulating thoughts, but the fear was still very present. Gregor's struggle became near nonexistent. The less he fought the more evident a pair of red embers became in the shadows present behind the still very focused image of Puppet's hate filled empty grin.

Steadily the looming being became more and more visible. Its size was undefinable, it filled the hazy, shadowy space but Gregor couldn't tell where it started and where it ended. It had a wide boxy snout like Fredbear did. Red tipped fangs the length of knives filled its big maw to the brim. The surface of the creature seemed like it wasn't actually there, like black tinted plastic. Vaguely an animatronic endoskeleton was visible underneath, seemingly floating suspended at the center of the beast. Its jaws opened wide, far too wide to have been physically possible. The corrupted flatline flooded Gregor's ears, threatening to breach his eardrum with force of a tsunami.

Among the horrendous noise, Gregor heard something. A message, that made it all to clear. He was dying! The constriction of his throat, the suffocation, the pain of the strings digging into his skin – it was all real!

An immense surge of survival instinct tore Gregor violently from his nightmarish reality. So suddenly did he get shoved back into the waking world that he didn't fully realize it at first. Everything was still so hazy that the colors blurred together into a murky, muddy, mess that Gregor couldn't even tell what hue was created from it. His focus was still scattered and he felt lightheaded. Gregor felt cloth hugging around his neck and something light was on his back. His throat was forcibly tight. He was still being strangled.

Gregor flew up from the desk chair and a hoarse gasp flung itself from his mouth, but didn't make it far into the room. His hands clawed at his throat only to meet the almost plush arms of Puppet blocking access to it. He'd woken up into nearly the same situation that'd been in his nightmare. Now fully faced with his life being a few short minutes away from ending, Gregor fought like a corned animal to get his attacker off of him. He dug his fingers into Puppet's arms to the point Gregor could feel the thin metal bars at the center. Though the animatronic was frail, Puppet didn't submit to Gregor's desperation fuel attempts to pry him off.

The animatronic ringleader's gaze was always just in his steadily hazier view, his head slumped over his left shoulder. It bobbed and swung with his wild movement, giving the impression it was just a limp lifeless doll; as it should be, but it still had a presence, a miasma clinging tightly to it. From its wide smile came a barely audible hiss, declaration that Puppet wouldn't be letting go so easily.

The animatronic was clearly active, but how? They were only supposed to be active during the night!

With the lack of air making it to his brain Gregor quickly grew tired from his heated struggle. He began wheezed and swaying slightly from side to side, suddenly he felt so weak. No, no, not like this! Gregor reached back and grabbed Puppet by his torso and, with what was left of his strength, he tossed his attacker off. Puppet's body and legs flew over him; however, the animatronic wasn't fully off of him. Puppet still hanged onto Gregor with his arms, but its grip was noticeably laxer on his throat.

Gregor sucked in as much air as he could while he struggled to untie the strings wrapped around his throat. Much to his surprise Puppet didn't put up much of a fight, but Gregor could feel the monster glaring him down from his limp position. Finally after unwrapping the last of the strings from his throat, Gregor flung the gift giver across the room.

Deep, sore, breaths greedily sucked in air and filled his previously deprived lungs. His body shook and still swayed a little, like he was mesmerized with the fact that he could breathe freely again. His legs feeling like they were made of jelly Gregor steadied himself against the desk. A look of fear was still firmly fixated on his face. He didn't even have the nerve to turn his head to Puppet to gloat that his plan to kill him had failed. No, it'd come far too close to succeeding. All that he'd thought about how the animatronics worked was apparently not completely true.

"So close…"

Gregor turned his head to Puppet, his blue suffocated complexion traded for a pale one, dotted with sweat. His breathe was unsteady as if he were afraid he'd lose the luxury again if he tried to flaunt it. He stared at the limp form on the ground half expecting it to lung at him, but it didn't. Yet he remained unnerved, something had been off about what he'd heard.

"So close…"

The words came again. They were said in Puppet's usual whispery voice, soft yet clear. So clear that it sounded like the ghost child had said it right into his ears, but even that thought didn't seem completely correct. It was too clear. So clear despite the softness that it had blocked out any other thoughts he'd been having.

"So close…"

The words were coming from inside his head. Gregor backed away from the desk. He shook his head, disbelieving his own revelation. He felt invaded, more than when he realized the ghost had haunted his dreams. The child was in his head, invading his most private sanctum. Fresh fear bubbled up in his chest. He clutched his head and shook it, trying to dislodge the child's voice as it spoke again. It didn't work.

"You will pay for what you've done…We will break you. One way, or another."

Gregor's back bumped into the wall behind him. The feeling of something behind him, stopping him from escaping, made the Gregor feel like he was cornered. His shakes returned with renewed fervor and his heart broke into a panic. "Get out…" He breathed to himself, his pupils constricting as he stared at the carpeted floor beneath him. Everything in his mind felt violated, as if he could feel the child's prying eyes looking through every corner of his thoughts. It was a presence he couldn't escape from, not when it was in his head. He couldn't escape from something in his own mind.

"Get out! Get out! Get out of my head!" Gregor demanded, his nails digging into his own scalp, as his body shook like his bones were rattling inside.

This time no reply came. Gregor was left in an unnatural silence. He stood against the wall for support, if he didn't he felt like he'd tumble onto the floor and wouldn't be able to get back up. Gregor stared at the Puppet, waiting for something. The animatronic had to be messing with him. Yes, that had to be it. He wouldn't break. No, he…just wouldn't. Gregor knew he'd heard the voice and the thing had tried to strangle him! He wasn't crazy!

Then why had Puppet gone silent? Was the ghost child preparing to do something? Gregor cautiously looked around the office room, nothing was out of the ordinary. He felt vulnerable now. If the child did something that didn't require its animatronic vessel he'd have no way of defending himself. Yet, nothing came, Puppet hadn't even so much as twitched and the presence that'd come off him seemed to have vanished.

Had the ghost gone? There was no way of Gregor telling for sure. Alarms were still going off in his mind telling him that it was a trick. Puppet was waiting for him to get close so he could finish what he'd started. Gregor couldn't just cling to the wall forever though, he had work to do, he was running the pizzeria now. Gregor looked at the walkie-talky that he'd left lying on the desk, he could call that guard to come in and take Puppet back to the prize corner. Yes, that's what he'd do. Better to risk someone's life than his own. Yes, that's what he'd do.

Gregor kept his eyes on Puppet as he carefully, one tentative step at a time, walked over to the desk. If a loud noise was made right now he'd probably have a heart attack. A faint humming buzz drew his attention away from the walkie-talky, the computer was still running. Faintly he recalled that he might've heard that in the nightmare. Gregor looked at the screen, it was just covered in the supplies orders he'd been going over that were to arrive in the next few days from now. He'd half expected it to be covered it in some message typed out by Puppet.

Gregor allowed himself to exhale, the breath taking with it a notable amount of stress. He picked up the device and pressed the call button, "O'Conner." He said into it.

There was a moment's pause then a rustling sound before he heard Leroy's hesitant voice reply, "Oh, Scott I was just about to-"

"I need you to come to my office." Gregor cut in, not in the mood for whatever the guard was going to babble on about. He turned his attention to his unwanted guest, still lifeless on the floor. "There's something I need you to pick up." He said, to keep the easily panicky guard from thinking he was about to be reprimanded.

"Okay," Leroy replied slowly. He seemed to be waiting to be told just what he was going to be picking up. He got no explanation as Gregor released the call button, ending their short conversation.

Gregor let out a long sigh. He looked back and saw the desk chair was up against the wall, a result of his shooting up from the chair. The head of security pulled it back up to the desk and sat down. He took off his security cap and ran his hands through his dirty blond hair, his head was aching, a constant pounding came from his temples. It felt like there was a swarm of angry bees buzzing around in his mind that stung at random. Gregor pressed fingers against his forehead, trying to get his head back on straight. It didn't stop his headache but he did feel more gathered. He didn't need Leroy coming in and thinking he was losing it. Bad enough he needed an explanation as to why Puppet was in the manager's office.

He pressed his hands to his temples, O'Conner had better hurry up. He thought as he rubbed his fingers in circles, the headache wasn't waning.

Author's Notes: Yay! A good sized chapter! Been a while! Originally Gregor's nightmare was going to be longer, including more of the nightmares doing things but the thought became to crowded in my head. Also, I want to save them doing things for when I actually get to that arc in my au. As I've mentioned before I do plan on writing the whole thing out. I have some things up for the other parts but their going to be rewritten, their out of dates in some aspects.

Also, what Puppet says about Gregor is relatively true, but not completely accurate. Gregor is, in some ways, similar to Davey (Purple Guy). Obviously, Davey is much more extreme, but, Gregor has let people die to get what he wants. In the end, their both terrible in their own ways.

With this chapter, this day is almost done. One or two more chapters to go. I'm not 100% sure as I've had to rearrange events. Also, I managed to add Nightmare into this! Cookie to guess what it means in this, and another cookie for a guess on something else I hinted at with Puppet!

Also, I finished "The Twisted Ones". I'll keep my thoughts short, this author's note has gone on longer than usual already. My thoughts? Eh, it was okay, I guess. Better than the first book at least. I wasn't happy with the way Springtrap was used in it, and the "For one thing, I've been doing sit ups." line, has to be one of the saddest one liners I've read. I'm sorry, but it was just bad. Me and my friend did get a laugh out of it. Yeah, I saw the twist at the end and I won't say anything to it. I'm no theorist, I'll just wait for the next book, this one was a big set up for the next one. I'll have a more thorough thoughts on my DeviantArt "Miss-DNL" if anyone is interested.

Anyhow, hope you enjoyed this chapter!