Author Notes

New chapter. Hope you all enjoy. :)

Chapter 16

Telling Them

"Do…you think she could make that chair combust if she keeps staring like that?" Bonnie whispered to Freddy.

All the animatronics were currently leaning to peek in through the office doorway.

Ruby was in the office.

Ruby was NEVER in the office.

Why was Ruby in the office?

"Wonder what's bothering the lass?" Foxy murmured, a frown curving his mouth down.

They all were wondering that. Ruby had stomped into work that night and immediately holed up in the office. She hadn't said a word and looked to either be thinking deeply about something or trying to psychically set the chair ablaze.

Of course she was sitting on the table, she just couldn't be normal.

"…should we ask?" Goldy wondered uncertainly.

They exchanged looks.

"Rock paper scissors?" Chica suggested.

No one really wanted to be the one to go. So Goldy cheated and disappeared before they got started and the four played a few matches. Bonnie lost and was shoved into the office.

"Uh, Ruby?" he asked nervously as she looked up at the intrusion. "Everything okay?"

She blinked a couple of times at him before that murderous gleam vanished from her eye and she groaned.

"Sorry Bonnie. Just got some things on my mind. Didn't mean to make you guys worry." She rubbed her face and sighed.

"Anything we can do to help?" the rabbit asked, relieved that the menacing atmosphere was gone.

Sure they were on friendly terms with the night guard but she was still very unpredictable. At least she apologised sometimes now.

Sometimes.

"No don't worry about it. I don't even know if there is a problem yet." She leaned back on the table, precarious balance becoming even more unstable. "Thanks though."

She flipped idly through the cameras and smirked in amusement. "The others do know that they're hiding right in view of the camera right?"

Bonnie snickered. "Yeah, they're waiting at the end of the hall in case things get violent."

Ruby shook her head. "I'm not that bad. But where's Goldy?"

"Bailed on us like a coward." The rabbit sniffed in annoyance.

This time she laughed. Giggling she started rapidly switching between the poster and kitchen. Bonnie caught on and started laughing too.

"You're evil you know that?"

"Why thank you!" Ruby grinned brightly just before Goldy appeared with a squeak.

"Bailing on your friends is not nice sunshine." The girl's smile grew wider as she leapt at the suit.

Goldy went down under Ruby's bear hug and groaned. "I hate that summoning thing."

"Bear hugging the ghost bear." Bonnie was laughing again.

The others decided to come see what all the commotion was about and were rather confused to see the two hug-wrestling on the floor.

"What's going on?" Freddy asked, perplexed.

"Punishment hug!" Ruby sang and tightened her hold.

It was really difficult not to laugh at such a thing and only Freddy managed to remain calm.

"This is going to be a long night." He sighed as Foxy grabbed Bonnie in a headlock.

Ruby sat on a table at the back of the room while the animatronics watched another Harry Potter movie. Goldy had thrown a fit when they said that they wanted to watch Pirates of the Caribbean instead and insisted on finishing off the series of magical movies first. At this point Ruby was considering getting the suit the series of books but she worried that the bear would never socialise again if she did.

She watched the 'bots with affection but her smile slid off her face as her mind turned to darker thoughts. She'd done a little research when she'd gotten home the previous night and the results were still weighing heavily on her mind.

Ruby scaled the steps to her room quickly and impatiently paced while her computer turned on. She wouldn't be able to sleep unless she found out about these 'new animatronics'.

First she checked the restaurant's website and found the same poster she had seen on the way home. Seeing it in the light she paused. They looked, well, shiny. Kind of plastic looking. Nothing like the cuddly animatronics she knew. (She didn't care if no one else agreed with her there, to her they were cuddly. Not that she'd ever mentioned that around any of them yet.)

Under the poster were the words 'THE TOYS ARE COMING TO TOWN!'.

"Toys?" Ruby murmured as she sat back. "Is that what they're called? They do kind of look like dolls I guess."

There wasn't any other information on the site except a small paragraph saying that the management was excited to have found these animatronics.

Found.

Ruby frowned. The management didn't order them? They looked way too similar to the current gang so did that mean that they had been used at a Freddy's establishment before?

She drew her legs up onto the chair and rested her chin on her knees.

She was getting a REALLY bad feeling about all this…

She sighed softly to herself. Once again, the internet was no help. There was hardly any information on the pizzeria out there it seemed.

She leaned back against the wall and flipped through the cameras again. Nothing out of the ordinary. She just couldn't seem to focus on the movie, what with all these thoughts buzzing through her head. She looked up and noticed Freddy looking at her.

Deciding that Freddy was probably the best choice to talk to about this (the restaurant was named FREDDY Fazbear's pizzeria after all) she pointed towards the hallway subtly and slipped off the table to quietly make her way out, indicating that he must follow. He nodded and stood, making some excuse to the others who were too caught up in the movie to really notice that anything was off.

Once out the room the bear raised an eyebrow. "So you want to tell me what's got you so deep in thought?"

Ruby leaned on the wall as she thought her words through. "You guys have been around for a while now right? Worked at different incarnations of the pizzeria?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes. We worked at the first Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. There was a diner before it but only Goldy was around then."

Ruby looked surprised. "Really? Didn't know that."

She filed the piece of information away to mull over later. For now she still had questions.

"Were there ever…any other animatronics at a pizzeria? That you know of?" she watched his reaction carefully.

The bear stiffened and his eyes narrowed. He was silent for a moment, looking at her intently before he slowly nodded.

"Yes. Once. A group of animatronics…replaced us."

It was clear that the memory was painful to think about. This time it was Ruby who stiffened.

"Replaced?!" she hissed, barely remembering to keep her voice down.

Freddy glanced at the group but they were still really into the movie.

"Yeah…They only lasted four weeks though."

She blinked in surprise. "Four weeks?"

He nodded. "Place closed down. Don't know what happened to them after that. At the next location we got repaired and got back to work."

Ruby really didn't like that they had had to get repaired. Just what had happened?

"Why do you ask?" he was staring intently at her again.

She sighed in frustration and banged the back of her head against the wall behind her as she leaned back.

"Saw a poster advertising 'New Animatronics'. Don't know much because apparently the internet doesn't know that this place exists." She watched him stiffen again out of the corner of her eye.

"I see." He murmured, frown deepening.

"The website said that the management found them though. So I'm wondering if it's not the bunch that you mentioned." she sighed.

He rubbed a hand over his face and groaned. "I really hope not. Was there a description of them?"

"There was a picture. They looked like plastic-y rip-offs of you guys honestly. With a lot of make-up."

He snorted out a surprised laugh. Seems like he liked the description. After the moment of amusement though, his expression turned serious.

"It's the same guys, isn't it?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, which means they're bringing a whole new problem with them too." He covered his eyes, looking exhausted.

"What's going on?" Chica's voice interrupted them before she could ask him to elaborate.

They turned to see that the others had paused the movie and come over to see what was going on.

Goldy didn't look happy about it and she kept sneaking peeks back at the frozen image.

Ruby glanced at Freddy and he sighed deeply before turning to face the others fully.

"Ruby saw a poster advertising that the Toys are being brought here." He explained gently, like he was breaking really bad news.

Their reactions were immediate and extreme.

Goldy's eyes snapped away from the screen and she looked completely horrified, mouth opening slightly as if she wanted to speak. Chica let out a squeak and began wringing her hands nervously, looking fearful. Foxy growled, slamming a fist into the wall next to him.

Bonnie's reaction was what really worried her as his expression clearly stated that he was not with them anymore and was instead reliving some very unpleasant memories.

Ruby's protective instincts flared up big time and she had to clench her fists to prevent herself from doing anything too rash.

"Are…are we…being replaced…again?" Chica asked softly, eyes downcast.

Ruby clenched her jaw as Freddy placed a comforting hand on the chicken's shoulder. If robots could cry, there was no doubt in her mind that the animatronic would be in tears.

"Don't know Chica. All it said was new animatronics." The bear murmured softly to her.

"When." Foxy growled.

All eyes turned to Ruby and she forced her jaw to relax. "Poster said a month."

Goldy let out a soft whimper as her eyes darted from one friend to the other. Bonnie still looked like he was in a trance.

"Bonnie? Hey come on Bon. You with us?" Foxy's anger lessened somewhat as he gazed worriedly at the rabbit.

Bonnie blinked a couple of times and took in a shaky breath. "Y-yeah. Sorry."

Silence descended on the group. Ruby glared at the floor, furious at whoever could make her friends react like this. Eventually Foxy coaxed Bonnie off to the side to talk quietly while Freddy kept Chica calm a little ways away. Goldy stood with Ruby, watching everyone with concern.

"What happened?" the night guard asked softly, not looking at the suit.

Goldy looked at her, uncertainty warring on her face.

"The restaurant doesn't know about you so they couldn't have replaced you." She spat the word 'replaced' out like it was poison. "So I know you saw what happened. What happened to my 'bots?"

Her voice was even throughout but the fury was barely concealed. Goldy's heart jumped happily at the protectiveness suggested by the words 'my 'bots'. That was what made the decision for her.

"The management…they thought that the gang was getting too old. That they weren't going to bring in new customers. So they got new animatronics. Called them the Toy generation. All the advertisements said that they were 'new' and 'better'. It broke everyone's heart. Entertaining kids…it's what we're made for. To take that away is…it's really cruel."

Ruby didn't miss that Goldy had said 'we' but decided to stay quiet for now.

"They replaced the gang. Put them into storage. It was awful." She drew in a shuddering breath. "But what was worse was that they…they…I don't know what they were trying to do. Trying to fit the new tech into them or taking parts that they needed but didn't want to buy…"

Ruby's heart plummeted.

"The staff took parts from the gang. It was terrible. Everyone lost something. It was the worst for Bonnie." She glanced at the distraught rabbit. "I hated it. But those new guys, the Toys. They were horrible. Told them that they were old and worthless. Useless. Do you know how that wears on someone?"

She looked up into Ruby eyes with a pleading gaze. The night guard felt a crushing sensation in her chest and dark memories threatened to drag her down.

"Yeah. I do." She whispered, pushing the memories away.

She needed to be here for the 'bots. This wasn't about her.

Goldy looked at her in concern but Ruby just waved for her to continue, urging her to finish. She did after a moment.

"It broke their spirits. It was already tough with the ghosts making them go after the night guards. Then this happened and they got the Toys to do it instead. They weren't very good at it though. Eventually the ghosts got frustrated and made the gang do it anyway. It was a really dark time. After a week though, there was an…incident…at a birthday party." Ruby frowned at the vague description. "The restaurant closed and everyone was put into storage. We haven't seen the Toys since."

Ruby stared at the ground for a long time while Goldy watched her anxiously. Eventually Freddy and Chica moved over to them, obviously concerned with her stillness.

"Ruby?" Freddy asked.

Bonnie and Foxy looked over at the word and frowned when they saw her.

"What's-" the bear began before Ruby snapped.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" she screamed suddenly, losing the tenuous hold she had on her temper. "THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL THAT I'M LETTING ANYTHING LIKE THAT HAPPEN! I'M GOING TO GO CHAINSAW MASSACARE ON THE MANAGEMENT BEFORE I LET SOME-SOME-SOME GLORIFIED DOLLS REPLACE ANYONE!"

She spun around, breathing hard as she tried to rein in her temper. When that didn't work she resorted to kicking the nearest chair. When that still didn't work she began plotting.

"Fireworks. I'm putting bloody fireworks under the manager's chair for this. If they thought I was bad before…" she laughed. "I'm going to be an absolute nightmare now."

"Now, calm down Ruby." Freddy tried.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?" she yelled, spinning around again. "HOW CAN I CALM DOWN WHEN YOU TELL ME THAT THE ROBOTS THAT THEY'RE BRINGING IN HURT YOU LIKE THAT?!

She felt the tears sting her eyes and cursed the fact that she was an angry crier.

"THAT THEY MESSED WITH MY CHILDHOOD IDOLS. THAT THEY MIGHT BE COMING TO REPLACE MY FRIENDS?!"

She scrubbed furiously at her eyes as they stared dumbfounded at her. "And don't do that. Don't look like you've already accepted it as inevitable."

She glared at them, looking ready to hit anyone who disagreed with her.

Chica was the one to speak, surprisingly.

"Friends?" she murmured, looking shocked like everyone else. "But…we tried to kill you. Multiple times."

Ruby stared at her. "Yeah. But it wasn't your fault. It's not like I'm buddies with the ghosts. Of course you're my friends. Have been since I was a kid. I never considered you as anything else."

And now if that didn't make all their hearts melt.

"You're way too good for us, you know?" Bonnie gave her a watery smile.

She folded her arms. "Don't care what you say. You're stuck with me. And I swear that I'm not going to let those Toys take over."

She held everyone's gaze individually for a moment to let that sink in.

"Besides, letting a bunch of Barbie Dolls run the place? As if." Even though she was clearly still angry, that signature smirk shone through.

That got a breathless laugh from everyone.

"Guess we really should stop underestimating you, huh lass?" Foxy murmured.

She grinned at him, that manic light shining bright in her eyes.

"So, who's up for setting up traps everywhere tonight? There's a staff meeting in the morning that I have to attend so I'll get to watch the show." She started to bounce in place.

Freddy's expression grew stern. "No actual fireworks."

She pouted. "Spoilsport."

After a brief argument the mood was light enough that they all got into setting the traps. Ruby handed out stink bombs, glitter mines and paint bombs to everyone. She and Bonnie rigged the oven to throw flour when it was opened. Foxy filled the air conditioning system with glitter. Goldy stuck little buttons that delivered an electric shock in random chairs in the staffroom and Ruby left a lovely, paint filled grenade in the manager's office.

Revenge. Was. Sweet.

It was near the end of the night, when Foxy was setting another glitter mine, that he heard what he'd been waiting for.

"RUBY! I TOLD YOU! NO. FIREWORKS!" Freddy's yell echoed through the building and the fox chuckled.

Maybe.

Maybe things would be alright with Ruby's help after all.

Author Notes

So feel free to review. I read all of them and take suggestions and criticism seriously. FNAF 2 approaches!