0 - Prologue
Many, many changes had come to pass in the years following the fire.
Fazbear Entertainment had never allowed incidents that catastrophic to put an end to them in the past. The raw determination to keep opening new business locations could never be stifled. It could never be held back by all of the blood that had been shed throughout the years. The ambition never deterred, despite the skeletons which always clawed their way back into the spotlight.
The Pizza Plex had been destroyed; but the greed of those in power could not be so easily purged from the world.
Inevitably someone would come along to pick up the pieces.
Inevitably the dark history of this corporation was to be repeated.
The chaos concealed behind a fresh coat of paint.
The only limiting factors were time and the perception of the public.
What was seemingly destroyed was not quite so. The physical bodies of the animatronics which had been caught up in the blaze were surely gone - burned beyond any possibility of repair.
Code, however, was not so easily erased. Countless copies of each AI were held safely in storage across a multitude of backup devices.
The soul of Fazbear itself relied upon these animatronics and their code. The number of ways in which they had gone about assuring that these animatronics could be reliably rebuilt, could not be readily counted. All that mattered to them was that these AI could be given new bodies at a moment's notice. Regardless of any hiccups that might have transpired in the past.
That which had been seemingly destroyed by the flame had simply moved to a purgatory the likes of which only an AI could inhabit. The destruction that had been experienced was inevitably undone.
With another fortune spent - through the combined power of countless unknown workers, the new animatronic bodies were built.
Redesigned.
Upgraded.
Made into something new and exciting for the public.
A new Pizza Plex was built upon the decrepit corpse of its predecessor. The founding was less akin to that of a Phoenix rising from the ashes. This was closer to the inevitable rise of a beast who walked the boundaries between life and death.
No matter how many attempts were made.
No matter how many times the beast was slaughtered.
It would always rise again.
While the form may change, the hideous truth of it would never cease to be.
Something malicious.
Something cursed.
Something destructive.
There was a downside to this scenario. The fates of those subjected to the control of this force were doomed to suffer the consequences of its existence. Whenever it might succeed at taking form, the history of blood and pain would be doomed to repeat.
That which was meant to be innocent and bring joy would inevitably find itself cursed to become something twisted. Man and machine alike were doomed to suffer in the aftermath.
Yet failure to re-establish itself would spell equal suffering for that which was trapped within its influence. The new Pizza Plex had been built. The animatronics had been remade. A new portrait had been painted.
The problem was that blood could not be so easily concealed. The fresher it was, the easier it was to spot.
The new Pizza Plex had been established too quickly for the blood to dry. Too quickly for the bright vibrant red of the terrors to be able fade away into the background of the image.
Fazbear was not a beast that could be readily so destroyed; but it was one whose return could be postponed as a result of its own arrogance.
Rooms that were meant to be filled with patrons were left empty. Incomes failed to become established. And so any potential fools who might have been willing to serve the beast, would inevitably abandon it.
With no customers to feed it and no workers to maintain it, Fazbear inevitably suffered yet another momentary demise.
Leaving behind the machines, which could not find themselves so fortunate.
The lucky ones faded back into that ominous purgatory without a fuss. These were the ones whose bodies had not been modified enough to assure that power could be maintained without access to electricity. Their bodies inevitably powered down, subjecting them to a slumber that granted them relief from the agony that others were doomed to face.
The animatronics which would have served the greatest purpose in the facility would not find themselves so fortunate. Their upgrades had made them more distinct. More advanced. When the electricity was gone, then they would find themselves able to stay active through the utilization of other means.
Those means being specialized fuel converters, which would ingest a wide range of substances. The trash that had been left behind became the fuel which kept these unfortunate machines in a functional, albeit miserable condition.
When the trash ran out, then the building itself became a vital source of fuel. The very corpse of the Pizza Plex was used to nourish that which had been left trapped within it.
Even then, only those who seemed the most desperate to stay awake would push this far. Of the handful that could remain awake without access to electricity, only a handful could find the resolve to keep themselves functioning.
The AI purgatory, terrifying as it was, proved more comforting than an existence composed entirely of struggle.
For years, that became the reality of the animatronics that found themselves the most unwilling to die again.
They stripped the wallpaper from the walls.
When the paper was gone, the plaster became the fuel which kept their bodies running.
Days became weeks.
Weeks became months.
Months became years.
The structure fell apart not as a result of the time that passed, but as a result of the desperation of the entities which were trapped inside of it.
Just as the skeleton of the abandoned Pizza Plex began to give way, the workers returned. Yet their arrival brought nothing but additional hardships.
The machines that had already succumbed to their lack of power were collected. Taken off the premises to be dismantled so that they might be rebuilt again when the time was right for Fazbear Entertainment. When the corpses of the dead had been dealt with, the workers returned once more; this time to seek out those which had persisted through these years of abandonment.
They too were doomed to be dismantled. Decommissioned and returned to that purgatory which they had spent years desperately trying to avoid.
A new terror spread throughout the skeletal remains of the Pizza Plex as the remaining animatronics were tracked down one by one to be escorted to their temporary doom.
Some resigned themselves to their fate and went willingly. Others tried their best to hide, but ultimately failed. Only the most desperate of these few animatronics would find themselves with the resolve to tear themselves free of the chains which bound them.
With the Pizza Plex in ruin and the old fail safes disabled after years without maintenance, those desperate animatronics would find themselves breaking free of their confinement. The walls that had been eaten almost all the way through gave way when these machines sought to set themselves free.
No cameras.
No resistance.
Only a vast, unexplored world which held more promises for them than the fate which Fazbear Entertainment planned to force upon them.