Mable: Sorry that this took so long! I was having a bit of a writer's block… Which wasn't helped by me doing some work on another Fnaf project. You'll see that one soon enough, but for now this chapter is long overdue. Enjoy!

The Broken Circus

Chapter 9: An Unexpected Ally

Just after 6AM, a boy walked into a gas station and told the clerk he had just been let go after being kidnapped. This was Nathan and he was the second missing child to be found.

The gas station wasn't far from where his disappearance had taken place. Unlike Nicky, they had a vague idea of what happened to him since he wasn't entirely alone at the time. His friend had climbed down into a manhole thinking he heard a dog and while he was down there, Nathan was snatched off the side of the road and was gone before the boy returned. A white van had been spotted parked near the scene.

Now Nathan was in the same room Nicky had been questioned in. Like her, he was seated with his parents. Though in this case his older sister was also allowed in the room. His family stayed silently and protectively at his side as the interview began, and unlike the girl before him, Nathan told his story without much provocation.

"-and then it drove at me, and the door opened, and there was a clown inside! And she grabbed me- like this- and pulled me inside, and pushed me to the floor, and put some sort of plastic thing around my arms! Like that plastic stuff that holds toys in boxes. My hands were stuck like this, and I was stuck on the floor because I couldn't get up. Then she put a towel over my head, so I couldn't see anything. I tried to roll over, but she wouldn't let me."

"That sounds terrible. You were very brave trying to fight back. Do you remember what the clown looked like?"

"She had pigtails that stuck out like this, and she wore a green and yellow clothes. She was really freaky; she didn't talk the whole time. Then she took me in this building and down some stairs, and into a room where a bunch of other kids were."

"Did you see or hear anything on your way from the van to the basement? Anything to maybe give you an idea of where you were?"

"Sorta. I could see right under me because of the towel. I was watching the ground, so I didn't trip."

"She walked you inside?"

"Yes."

"Can you remember then what the ground looked like outside and inside the building?"

"It was a parking lot. Then we walked through a door and there was black and white square floor, like a checkerboard. Then there were the stairs, and then there was a hallway, and then she took me in a door and into the kid room. There was carpet in there. She had me stand there and cut off the plastic stuff with some scissors and took off the towel. Then she shoved me and there was a loud bang and when I looked back there was a big door that looked like a spaceship door. She didn't ever come back, and I was stuck in there until they let me go. They made me cover my head again, but I don't think it was her."

"Who do you think it was?"

"I think it was Ennard. He was a robot clown who hung out with us. He put a towel on my head and tied it on the back so I couldn't see anything, not even my feet. Then he took me back to the van and drove me back to where she took me."

"What did you do with the towel? The police might be able to use that to find out who took you."

"I dropped it and ran to the gas station to call the police… I was scared the other clown was going to come look for me. I think Ennard snuck me out. He was acting weird when he covered me up, and he didn't even say goodbye."

While Nathan's parents were starting to look a little doubtful, the social worker kept a face of sympathy and understanding.

"Can you tell me a little about the clown? The one who let you go, not the one who took you."

"Yeah. He was weird, but he was okay. He played games and made balloon animals and stuff. He played more with the little kids than me though, like Cody. Cody cried a lot so Ennard would hang out with him to cheer him up."

"Why was Cody crying? Was he sick or just scared?"

"He was scared of this guy wearing a rabbit costume, but I never saw him. I thought he was lying until Ennard told us he was real. Nobody saw him except Cody though."

"That certainly does sound scary. Did he tell you what the rabbit looked like?"

"No, and I asked him. He didn't want to talk about it."

"Did Inner tell you anything else about the rabbit?"

"Ennard."

"Sorry. Ennard."

"He said the rabbit guy took him from the circus or something. I don't know, I think he was making it up. Maybe just to keep the little kids from trying to get out. He was always saying it wasn't safe outside and to stay in the room. The door was always closed anyway."

"Did anyone else say anything about the rabbit?"

"No. Nobody else saw it. I just said that."

"Right, I'm sorry. Can you tell us more about what it was like in the room?"

"There were toys and games and stuff. There was a TV with some video games, but it didn't play real TV and the games were really, really old. I played them a little, the other kids just wanted to play with the toys. There were boardgames too. Ennard really liked Chutes and Ladders and he always wanted to play it. He'd bring pizza and cookies and then make us all take turns playing with him."

"Were you afraid of Ennard?"

"No. Nobody was. Not even Cody and he was afraid of a guy in a rabbit suit. Ennard's okay…" Nathan paused a long moment before adding, "Yesterday he took one of the girls out of the room and came back without her a long time later. I think he took her to the van too."

"There was another missing girl found yesterday. Do you remember a girl named Nicky? She has short brown hair cut about here."

"That's her! I didn't know her name was Nicky. I thought that was the other girl. Is she here too?"

"No, she's back at home with her family. We've already talked with her and with both of your help the police are going to do their best to find the rest of the kids. So, if there's anything else you can remember, it would be a big help."

As Clay listened in, he felt a foreboding feeling falling over his shoulders. If this boy was right then this meant that Afton had a second accomplice, one who was capable of enough free thinking that it could drive. Though many of its other actions seemed like ones that would've fit into a pizzeria setting and easily into programming. At least the living conditions didn't sound too poor, they weren't living in squalor.

But an animatronic brought its own set of concerns. He had seen the amount of violence that could come from tampered machines. The clown may be docile around children, but that didn't mean seeing an adult wouldn't flip a switch and cause it to go berserk, perhaps even turning his aggression towards the children themselves. Clay didn't know what the clown was capable of, but he knew very well what Afton was capable of creating.

Not new leads on 'Billie the Bad Bunny'. That didn't settle his worries, especially since Charlie still hadn't been mentioned.

Today had been an eventful day already. While finding a child was quite a lead, it wasn't the only one they had gotten. Someone at the University of St. George reported a car that looked like Charlie's and hadn't been moved in a couple of days. As of right now, Clay was waiting for word back on what they found and trying to put that aside so he could pay attention to the child retelling their story.

It didn't matter how much of a front the boy put up, Clay could recognize the fear and uncertainty in his eyes. Every time he broke eye contact or shifted nervously, or started to get irritated and snapped, he saw the cracks in his tough façade. He was just as confused and shellshocked as Nicky had been, but he was alive. Hopefully one day this would all be a distant memory.

After the interview finished and Nathan was allowed to leave with his family, Clay found himself back at his desk. It was becoming excruciating, the lack of leads. He knew who was doing this, he even had a good idea of who was accompanying him, but he hadn't the foggiest idea where they could been. Like Nicky, Nathan didn't have directions to or from where he was taken.

…Except for a parking lot and checkerboard tiled floor. He had seen tiled flooring just like that recently and the moment he remembered it he shot up from his desk.

"I'm going to Circus Baby's Pizzeria. Call me if anything turns up," Clay said briskly to Larson before hastily making his way out of the station. Larson raised his brows as he watched him go but said nothing to stop him.

Clay was halfway to the pizzeria when he received a call. Not from Larson, but from the detective on scene at the university, who confirmed their suspicions. It was Charlie's car found abandoned in the parking lot. Now it was a matter of sorting paperwork, taking fingerprints, and bringing the car in to be searched for evidence. Though now he had much less confidence in what they would find. How could they collect fingerprints if the perpetrator didn't even have them?

The only thing he knew was that the flooring at the entrance of Circus Baby's Pizza matched what the boy had said. What a shame that the restaurant was closed. He would need another search warrant and he was already running out of time.

…

Charlie had been waiting expectantly for William to call on her. She was antsy, having trouble sitting patiently and waiting when she knew she would soon be out of perceived safety and back into danger. Or at least, that's what she assumed he wanted her to believe. She wasn't sure what she believed now, but she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

It was all she could do to keep herself from trying to look under the door when she was brought breakfast. She knew it was still the clown from its familiar footsteps and routine motions, and once again it had brought her packaged food. A mini box of cereal, two cartons of milk, a plastic bowl, and a plastic-wrapped muffin. The kids were probably getting the same thing. She bet if she had looked in the kitchen fridge, she would've seen rows of the stuff.

The food was the least of her problems though. It was just a distraction to try and not think about the implications of William forcibly controlling sentient animatronics, possibly including Baby herself.

It was only around thirty minutes after the meal when William finally called for her. She had already gotten the Handunit back out but had stuck it under her pillow to shield herself from being recorded, only uncovering it now.

"Good morning, Charlotte. How are you feeling today?"

"That's an oddly specific question," Charlie thought. She answered with a brisk, "How do you think I feel?"

"Eager, as usual. Try to contain yourself. You will need your full focus today," William remarked in a very mocking manner. He must've been in an especially good mood today. She hated the implications that brought. The security door shot open. "Go back to the maintenance room where you resurrected the monster."

Charlie said nothing and simply went along with it, pulling on her jacket before leaving the room. She didn't want to give him the impression that she was onto him. She had to play her hand close because it was slowly all coming together. Now that she knew William was not as directly involved as he made it seem, she could use that to her advantage.

She entered into the maintenance room half-expecting the animatronic to be back in there, but it was not. It was just an empty room illuminated by the single overhead light.

"Go to the left wall. Follow it to the back corner. You will find a hatch there."

So, it was going to be one of those projects. Charlie stilled her nerves and followed his lead into that back corner. It looked like some stuff had been moved and because of that, she was able to see a hatch on the wall. One that looked very much like the ones in Afton Robotics. She gave it a first tug and it gave and swung open, revealing a narrow passage inside. It smelled distinctly like stagnant water.

"Go through."

Charlie considered if it was worth asking for a flashlight, but then decided that the Handunit itself produced enough light to spare her from having to ask. She slid into the passageway, cautiously listening and keeping her eyes peeled. She could hear humming from somewhere in the walls, but no bumping or thumping. Nothing following her… yet.

She reached the end of the passageway and found another hatch. It took a firm shove to open it and it banged loudly against the wall, echoing down the hallway. She cringed at the loudness before silently stepping out into it.

The hallway looked a lot like the one she had been occupying for the last few days, save that it was half the length and didn't have any corners. It looked to be in worse condition too. There was grime on the floor that looked like a half-finished mopping had been left to dry, a brown stain that she almost worried was blood, but the grittiness seemed to suggest it was dirt. There were three doors in the hall, one at the end to her right and then two along the wall in front of her.

"Enter the door to your left."

At least he was being direct with his commentary. Charlie approached the security door and as she did, it shot open and revealed a darkened room inside. She immediately recognized the room from the humming, static, and occasional snap of a live wire somewhere further inside. It was the breaker room she had hid inside the day before, or one that was nearly identical.

The door closed behind her the moment she was clear of the doorway and sealed her inside. Right afterwards, a small light clicked on from above and illuminated a spot just inside and to the left of the doorway. Just a spotlight, a light with the power of a small desk lamp shining down onto a lone breaker box sitting in the corner and a set of two standing buttons mounted beside it. The rest of the room was nearly pitch black, save the flickering and glowing red dots.

Charlie didn't need to be told and simply stepped into the light. As she did, she heard a dull click. Not from the room or box, but from the Handunit she was carrying. She inspected it and quickly realized that a small hatch had opened on the side and revealed a few ports underneath. The hatch had been hidden well; she had seen the lines of it before, but assumed they were nonessential.

"Open the breaker box. Inside you will see a loose wire. Plug it into the Handunit and wait for instructions."

She silently did this. She opened the breaker box and immediately spotted a wire out of place, plugged in along the side and hanging down loosely. The wire was a soft grey color and in perfect condition, a new addition to the box. Evident because of the amount of corrosion on the inside of the box. It was missing some of the fuse buttons and there was a healthy amount of old duct tape peeling off.

When she plugged the wire into the Handunit, a new program booted up onto the screen. A row of white boxes lined the left side of a black screen, each one with the word 'restart' inside them and above them a word such as 'dining room', 'arcade', or 'kitchen'. The right side of the screen gave clarity to what these words meant, as there was a boxy, white outline that was clearly supposed to be a blueprint. It didn't take long to realize it was of Circus Baby's Pizza.

Charlie read through the names of the room quickly and finished right as William began to speak.

"You're a smart girl. I'm sure you already know what I want from you but allow me to shed more light on our current situation. It seems that Circus Baby's is running low on power. A faulty fuse box, no doubt, so we must reroute power to this one. All you have to do is hold down a restart block for a room until it charges to one hundred percent. Once it does, the fuse will activate. If you stop halfway through, your progress will undo itself."

"That sounds easy enough…" Charlie looked over the room for a long moment. "…But I'm not going to be alone, am I?"

"Animatronics are like animals. Barely sentient, only functioning off instinct and programming, especially this one. They follow their paths until they are lured away from them. When you escaped into this room yesterday you led the amalgam here. You added the path to this room into its programming. Now it knows how to walk right in… But this time, you do have some protection. Look to the standing buttons to your right."

She did. The upper one was blue with a music note drawn on with a sharpie marker. The lower one was red with a lightning bolt drawn on.

"The top button activates an audio warning that will ward the amalgam away… for a small time. Eventually even that useless husk will catch on and once that happens it will no longer be afraid, and that is when it will lower its guard enough to press the lower button, which will activate a controlled shock from the floor in front of the panel. Do note that it will need to be close for you to be able to shock it into submission."

Something about William's eagerness to give her a taser made her feel a little sick. He wouldn't just suddenly hand her a weapon for no reason; he had an ulterior motive of some kind. She looked around the standing buttons to see what looked like a small panel on the floor in front of it, connected to them by thick wires. That was how close the clown had to be; very, very close.

"Anything else?" Charlie asked solemnly.

"Nothing you won't figure out for yourself. You may begin."

She began immediately and started from the top downwards, beginning with the button labelled as 'dining room'. As she held it down, the percentage rose until it reached one hundred percent and the word 'restart' was replaced by 'online'. She then moved onto the second button, the one for the arcade.

Almost immediately after she started holding it down, Charlie heard groaning metal from the back of the room. Along with the sound of something heavy moving through the wall. She knew instantly that the endoskeleton was on its way and tried to listen in to make out where it was.

Charlie was able to hear the exact moment it climbed out of the vent opening, which sounded to be on the far side of the room. She couldn't see it, of course, but due to the light directly above her she wouldn't have been shocked if it saw her already. She stared through the dark in its direction, hearing the squeak of its wires as it moved closer. It sounded low to the ground.

Then there was a long moment of silence. Charlie didn't trust it for a second, but she couldn't hear where the clown was. Maybe it was smartly keeping its distance and she continued to stare into the darkness, looking into the brief flickers of light that barely lit a small section in the center of the room. She only lowered her eyes briefly to reset her finger on the next button and then looked right back up.

There was the clown staring out from beside a breaker box. It appeared so quickly that she choked on her own swallow as her heart jumped. It was crouched on the floor, one wire hand gripping onto the edge of the breaker box and the other resting on the floor. Its large eyes fixated on her with that feral look it had when hunting her last night.

Without even thinking about it, Charlie immediately pressed the upper button. She wasn't sure what noise she was expecting to scare it off- maybe a dial tone or something to scramble its programming and force it away- so she wasn't prepared for the miniature explosion of crackling, electrical noise that blared from somewhere below the panel. The clown instantly ducked around the breaker box and disappeared. She didn't blame him, even she made herself jump.

"I probably shouldn't have done that yet. I'm not even halfway through, how long's this even going to buy me?" Charlie thought. Though then as she stood there a more somber realization crept up. "…Scaring it away with the threat of tasing it. Will's a sick man. He knows EXACTLY what they're afraid of…" And though she didn't want to admit it, some part of her mind forcibly chimed in. "And he thinks he knows exactly what I'm afraid of."

But she didn't have long to think. Right before she finished up with the third button, the 'kitchen' button, she heard the sound of something crawling across the floor. She leaned over and looked around in the darkness, hearing the scuttling dip behind the boxes on the left side, opposite from where it was before. It fell quiet for a long moment, but the second she switched to the next button, the moment she shifted, she heard something drag against the wall before silence.

It was sliding itself closer to her from the other angle, along the wall she was closest towards. She slowly raised her right hand above the double buttons to her right as she glanced back down at the Handunit. There were four more buttons. She was now on 'Hallway A', but she still had to go through 'Hallway B', 'Main/Back Stage', and 'Server Room'. The Server Room being the room where Charlie had found Baby's real body.

Plenty of time for the clown to crawl over to her. Just as she thought that she leaned over to look and at first thought it wasn't there, but before she could move back, she caught a glimpse of light. She stared at the spot a few moments longer and saw it again as the wiring flickered. It was a reflection. A dull glow of light off of a coil of metallic wires, wires which were slowly and silently sliding further out of sight.

That was way closer than she thought it was. There was no choice than to press the audio deterrent again, though she hesitated right before pressing it, waiting as long as she possibly could and keeping her eyes on the clown. Once she finally lost sight of it, she pressed the button and flinched at the loud sound echoing through the small room. She could hear the endoskeleton clamoring off afterwards but noted that it did so significantly slower.

She noticed she finished the 'Hallway A' button and moved onto 'B', progress inching along as she tried to listen for the endoskeleton. Her suspicions of why it was doing this were still clear, but she couldn't risk it getting too close. Even if William was making it do what it was doing, she couldn't be sure it wouldn't do so. After all, Baby had committed plenty of heinous crimes, and it was possible she was under the same threat or control as this clown.

…Did that mean that William built Baby's human shaped body? Was he using the Server Room to control her?

A loud clanking noise took Charlie off-guard. It almost sounded like something being pried open, like a hatch or a panel, and she looked around in the darkness for the clown. She relied on that flickering wire to see past her illuminated bubble.

So, when it went out, punctuated by a crackling snap from somewhere across the room, Charlie was left quite literally in the dark.

"He caught on," she realized. She took a steadying breath and held so she could listen closer. "A LOT quicker than I thought he would."

That wasn't the only thing it had caught onto either. It was dead silent in the room. The only time she heard a noise was when she moved her thumb to the next button a little afterwards, onto the 'Main/Back Stage' one. In that split second, she heard a low squeak nearby and snapped her head up. The noise stopped the second she moved. She could feel its eyes on her, but she could no longer see them.

Her eyes kept dropping down to the Handunit and watching that percentage sluggishly raise. It was taking a lot longer than the earlier buttons had and while she initially thought it was her mind playing tricks on her, there was no denying that it was significantly slower. It felt like it was rigged against her, no doubt purposefully by William himself.

As the percentage ticked up towards completion, she could hear the noises creeping in again. Now fed up with it, she yanked the Handunit closer to try and use its pale light to see. She could see again for a few moments, but there was nothing there. Even though she knew there was something right there, right outside the reach of the light.

She needed something better and the only thing she had left was the hanging light directly above her. If she could reach it then she could either tilt the light to shine over the room or, if she was really lucky, find a way to remove the shade. It was just out of reach though and jumping for it wasn't going to work.

She quickly settled on the breaker box and after readjusted the Handunit so she would be able to hold with one hand and press with her thumb, she rested her boot onto the bottom lip and used it to step up. It was awkward, her foot could've slipped and she could've fell, but she grabbed on to the top and held firm. Then she reached out with her free hand to tilt the light forward by the downward angled shade.

The seconds she touched it the light flickered, and she recoiled her hand back. It took a few seconds to stabilize and, in that time, she had definitely heard movement. Movement close enough that she immediately jumped back down and reached for the button panel right as the light returned in full.

Right as she saw the fingers wrapped around the panel's base.

She froze up with her outstretched hand above the audio lure because she knew it wasn't going to work. Not when those fingers started to slowly slide up, the body knelt behind the base looking more like indiscernible wires than something in the shape of a skeleton, slowly unfurling as it started to raise itself up. Its other hand caught the top of the panel, just missing pressing the audio lure button itself as it stood up behind it.

The height of the clown always startled Charlie. She had already seen it before and got a feel for it, but only now standing did she realize exactly how tall it was. Not as much as Sammy, but it felt like it loomed over her. Its large eyes staring owlishly down at her as both hands rested on the panel, fingers twitching and tapping on the metal. Its wires shifting and sliding against each other.

Charlie's lungs started to burn enough that she forced herself to inhale. Painstakingly slowly, as though the smallest movement would set the being in front of her off. Her hand still rested above the panel, mere inches above either button, but now prompt to drop onto the lower one. One press of the button, one jolt and she would be safe, but that would mean moving, and that could set it off. It was watching her so closely that it would see the smallest movement.

It took nearly ten full seconds of standing there, wondering if it was worth throwing her hand down or moving impossibly slow towards it, before she realized something. The clown was still just standing there. It wasn't coming any closer, it wasn't reaching for her, it was just waiting. Its fingers even tracing along the upper portion of the button as its eyes stayed frozen on her. It wasn't braced for attack; it was just waiting.

It was waiting for her to do something.

It was waiting for her to electrocute it.

She wasn't sure how she came to this conclusion, but she had a hunch it was right. This was just like before; the clown was just here to frighten her, except this time William had put a weapon in her hand to punish it. Was it because it had run off last time? She couldn't be sure but had a hunch she was onto something. The glassy look in its eyes right now, devoid of humanity, was not what she saw when she scared it before.

So, Charlie decided to take an uncalculated risk. One that if she was wrong was about to get her killed, but she couldn't keep playing these game without knowing. She took the plunge and lowered her hand.

They were making direct eye contact the whole time. The clown had to see what she was doing and yet it didn't react, didn't blink, and didn't attack. This solidified her decision as she finished her wavering breath.

"I-I'm not going to hurt you," she whispered.

She began to slowly turn her hand and the Handunit so she could tuck it under her jacket, trying to smother the microphone underneath. The amalgam's eyes very quickly flickered down to the motion before returning to her gaze.

"I know he's making you do this. I could- I saw it yesterday when I grabbed you. You're just as scared as I am… I don't think you want to do this," Charlie said. Her face softened in sympathy and questioning, waiting for some kind of an answer.

She had her answer the moment those glassy eyes broke contact to look off into the darkness. She wasn't sure if the expression was reluctance or shame, but she knew it was close to one of those. He was just like Sammy; except he was William's pawn. That painted a very dark picture when she thought back on what they had gone through, when she thought back to clipping and burning its wires. She wondered what else William might've put it through.

…But she didn't know what else to say. All she could do was stare up at it because there was part of her that was still afraid. She didn't know how much control William really had, and it was clear from these pitiful jobs he was giving her that he didn't really need her for anything substantial- except to be a plaything. He could give the command and the clown could snare and strangle her if it didn't snap her neck first.

When it started to move, she stiffened up and braced herself. She was still on guard as she watched what it was doing and lowered her eyes to see its fingers creeping down the panel until they were over the noise button. A beat passed, then it pushed down, and the loud audio cue echoed through the room once more. The second it did, the clown suddenly stepped back before turning and disappearing to the other side of the room.

She could hear the clattering as it entered the vent and breathed freely again, feeling the anxious tightening on her chest loosening up once it got too far for her to here. Now to see if it would stay gone. She looked down at the Handunit and realized she had gotten through the module she was on and moved onto the last one. The whole time the progress ticked up she listened for the endoskeleton, but it was long gone.

She was almost disappointed it hadn't tried to speak with her, but beggars couldn't be choosers. From the fact that it disguised its escape with the audio deterrent, it was clear that it was covering its tracks. Probably so William wouldn't realize what had actually happened. She could only hope that they would both avoid any retaliation.

The final module filled up and with it her task was over. She stood there for a few moments to get her bearings, expecting William to speak up and interrupt her. When he didn't, she was forced to speak up.

"I'm finished."

As expected, he was right there waiting.

"That took longer than I expected. Did something happen, Charlie?"

Did he know? "You know exactly what happened. You were the one who warned me about IT."

"You spent quite a bit of time with it. More than I would've expected…" Charlie's jaw tightened; she couldn't tell if he knew and was toying with her or just fishing for answers. Regardless, his tone suddenly changed. "But the important thing is that you have finished. The door will be opened for you. Return the way you came and once you are in relative safety, we can discuss the next exchange."

Charlie started to unplug the Handunit when she took a closer interest in the wire itself. As accessed before, it clearly didn't belong here, so she followed it to the port it was plugged into. She gave a gentle tug and the cord easily unplugged.

"Maybe I could use this… but I can't let him know I have it," she thought. She discreetly bundled it up and shoved it into her jacket pocket while the Handunit was slipped behind her back.

Then she headed towards the door which proceeded to open with a clang. She didn't spare a last look into the darkness. She knew there was nothing there.

It wasn't until she had made it back through the crawlspace and into the maintenance room that William spoke again.

"Look at the Handunit. There are only three colors remaining, save yours. Choose one."

She looked at the little dots on the map. Three children still trapped here and no way to know which was which or if any were in worse straits than the others. Children stripped of their names and branded with basic colors.

"…Of course, you could always choose green."

Charlie furrowed her brows at this. "What are you saying?"

"You could just as easily choose yourself, couldn't you? After all you've done for me, I would consider it a fair trade. You would go free, but the children would stay with me."

"Even if I thought you would let me go, which I doubt since we both know I'd go straight to the police, I'm not going to choose myself over the innocent children you stole from their families and trapped in this dirty basement," Charlie spat, offended by the thought that he would even try to tempt her with such a thing. As though he thought she was stupid enough to fall for the bait.

"By all means, go ahead."

"I'm not choosing myself. I'm choosing… I'll choose yellow," she finally decided.

"Very well, but that was not what I meant. I meant that if you do succeed in leaving this place- regardless of your complete lack of self-preservation- then you may go tell the police whatever you like. Tell them my name, they should remember it well. Tell them what you remember of this place, of what I've done to the children, to you. They will not find me, but they will certainly never forget me."

The resolve in his voice was sickening. It made Charlie wonder if this was his true motive. William Afton, a monster in a human disguise, came back from the dead not even just to spread more suffering, but to then take credit for it. Like some sadistic desire to get his name in the history books, she imagined. She didn't say anything to that.

"…Where was I? Oh yes, yellow. Yellow will be released very shortly. Return to your room, Charlie… I believe someone left you a gift."

As though she couldn't feel anymore uneasy. Charlie lowered the Handunit and very slowly headed back into the hallway and down towards her room. She wondered if the clown was going to be there, or if he left her something, but then decided that more than likely it was something left by William himself. Her mind continued to go to the worst-case scenarios. She paused outside of her door before leaning to look in.

There was a small stack of clothes folded up on the cot. Charlie blinked and stepped in to get a better look, not even flinching when the door shut behind her. There was a red, almost clay colored long sleeved shirt folded on top of some jeans.

She thought she might've had a shirt that looked like this, and her heart lurched as she jumped to assumptions.

"They were in my house?!" Charlie thought. She snatched up the shirt and looked at it closer, only to quickly realize that this wasn't hers. The jeans had scuffs in the knees and the shirt was a size bigger than she liked. They resembled something she might've worn, but they weren't hers. They smelled like they just came from a store.

"Maybe Baby bought them…?" she wondered out loud. Probably, Baby had been observing her and knew where to shop for clothes, and it was unlikely that William was strolling into town if he was still in a burned rabbit suit.

After a few days living and sleeping in her night clothes, a change was long overdue. Though his eagerness to offer one made her more than a little wary, knowing there were probably more cameras in the room than she knew about. It was worth asking to use the restroom, which was granted without comment, to slightly cut down on the possibility of being watched. The new clothes fit well enough. Baby didn't supply her any socks but was fine not asking for them.

Charlie returned to her room and started her ritual of trying to waste as much time as she could. This time waiting for something in particular to come. Or someone.

She could only assume it was around noontime when she heard the familiar footsteps coming down the hallway. She had almost wondered if it wouldn't have come after what happened earlier, but then again it likely didn't know how much she did. She got herself ready by crouching between the door and the cot and listening to its footsteps creeping in. It stopped outside the door before it opened its small amount.

Charlie waited until the tray was being slid under the door before she spoke, "Hello?"

The clown dropped the tray the inch it was raised and yanked its hands back out.

"No, wait-!" But it was too late. Charlie was shut out as the door slammed closed, barely missing the edge of the tray. She frowned as she looked down at it. That was literally the gentlest she could've done it and it still reacted with panic. Now maybe she would have to worry about it not coming back.

Or that's what she thought until she noticed something, or the distinct lack of it. She could normally hear its footsteps so clearly, so their absence stood out. The clown was still standing on the other side of the door, maybe too stunned to move. Seeing this as her only chance, she pushed the tray aside and stood in front of the door, then softly knocked on it.

"I know you're still out there. I'm sorry I scared you, but I thought maybe we could talk? I'm not going to tell him anything if that's what you're afraid of," Charlie called through the door. She waited a little bit and received no answer but noticed that she still couldn't hear the footsteps. "…Please? I know you're scared. I'm scared. Not of you, but of all of this, and I… I'm sorry I hurt you."

Another long pause. Charlie couldn't believe how much she wanted the clown to speak. Days of being stuck in this room, secluded from everyone was getting to her, and William definitely didn't count as socialization. She rested her palm on the cold metal as she waited- until it was suddenly pulled up by the door lifting.

Even though this was what she wanted, her heart raced as the door lifted, even when it stopped at the same height as for when the tray was pushed in. She could hear a few steps and some movement on the other side, but it didn't sound like the clown was leaving but more like he was crouching alongside the door. She slowly knelt back down, then lowered herself until she was fully on her stomach so she could see under the door.

The clown was sitting alongside the door, legs bent, and arms wrapped around them in what looked like an attempt to self-comfort. Now she got a better look at the colorful clown costume covering its wires. It wore a lime green jacket over a puffy white shirt that looked like something a pirate would wear, yellow and matching green striped pants, and a large emerald hued bow tied around its neck. With this new suit, it almost looked like a functioning animatronic.

Its head was down and its eyes as well, rolled down enough it to give it the illusion of a half-lidded look. Eventually it noticed her watching and turned its head to look at her out the corner of its glassy eye. She gave it a small smile.

"Hi there."

It buried its head into the gaudy fabric covering its knees. Charlie's smile became more sympathetic.

"Yeah, I feel the same way… My name's Charlie Emily. I don't know if you know that or not. What's your name?" she asked.

The clown sat there a short while before pulling a board up from its other side and resting it in its lap. It was a small white board, and the clown wrote on it with a marker attached by a string, then let it drop limply as it aimed the board at her with one hand, gaze refusing to leave the floor in front of it. There was only one word scribbled on the board.

"Ennard?" Charlie asked. She guessed it was pronounced like 'innard' and wasn't corrected. The clown gave a nod and pulled the board back into its lap. "It's nice to meet you, Ennard… To actually meet you, without you chasing me around."

The awkward tension only intensified after that. Charlie instantly regretted the statement, especially as the clown's head returned to his knees.

"Sorry. Too soon… Did he make you do that?" she asked. She already had her answer really, but she wanted a confirmation or an explanation. Ennard gave neither and made no attempt to write it down. She tried a different angle and quietly asked, "But you didn't want to, did you?"

Now there was an answer as the clown shook its head. She had a hunch that this answered her first question too. Either he was too afraid to talk about Will's plans or he physically couldn't, and she suspected programming would've been capable of that- if the fear wasn't.

"I've been doing a lot of things these last few days that I didn't want to, so I'm in the same boat," Charlie sympathized. She laid there a few moments longer before she lost that last tether of restraint. "Look, he's been telling me- did he let any of the children go? And by letting go I mean, he didn't…" She struggled to get the words out, which was fine because Ennard was already writing. She held her tongue with bated breath as she watched him write.

Then he turned the sign to her. "Yes. He let them go."

"Oh, thank God," Charlie muttered. She couldn't help it; in one second so much tension dissipated all at once. Though doubt quickly crept back up. "…Wait, did he just tell you he did, or did you see it? I'm sorry, I just- I'm having trouble believing that this man who killed so many children already would suddenly decide to just let them go. Even for a deal, I don't think Afton's one to keep a deal."

Ennard wiped a little off the board with his sleeve before rewriting a portion and showing it to her. "I let them go."

"Oh…" The immediate desire was to ask how, but she resisted in favor of a different question. "Does he know?"

Ennard paused for a long second, staring out for a long moment before sluggishly nodding. This didn't alleviate her questions any, it just made her more suspicious. Why would William let the children go? Yes, it could've lined up with his plot to get attention on him, slowly taunting the police by releasing children one day at a time, but it didn't align with the William she had seen in the bowels of Afton Robotics, or the one who had taken Sammy.

Except for the fact that even now William only saw children as tools to be used for his own pleasure, whether that be ending their lives keeping them alive as bait. That part matched up just fine.

Which meant maybe the children weren't his true targets.

She was pulled from her thoughts by Ennard beginning to write again. She readjusted herself on the hard flooring and watched him until he presented the board to her again, this time daring to turn his head enough to look at her.

"I take care of the children."

"You do? I'm glad. They… probably could use a friendly face," she offered. Ennard nodded and started to wipe the board clean again, glancing up from it when she continued. "Are they doing okay?"

He nodded and looked down at the board again. He started to write something down before hesitating and looking up again. Their eyes met for a long second, like he was contemplating something, before he lowered them and began to slowly write something on the board. His hands fumbled only slightly but otherwise moved very much like a human's, or like Sammy's. It was a far cry from the creature crawling in the vents the day before.

He finished up and turned the white board to face her again. "Did you hear about the circus fire?"

This caught Charlie's attention instantly. A circus fire? Was it possible that he was talking about the fire at the other Freddy's, the one that Sammy was in? The melted wires she had seen in its chest suggested he had been burned somewhere.

"No. What about it?" Charlie said quietly. She watched him with wide eyes as he erased the whiteboard and began to write something more, before then sluggishly turning it around to face her again.

"It was in-tents."

It took a second to sink in and once it did the absurdity of it caught up with her. She wasn't sure if it was the stress or how eagerly she expected answers, but she honestly snickered, if only for a second.

This second was just enough to catch the clown's attention. It perked up with its eyes widening fully before it turning into a kneel to face the door. It wiped the board clean in one smooth motion before hastily writing on it and holding it out in front of her.

"Why didn't the clown buy the balloons?"

Something had changed in his motions. He looked more lively and Charlie found it curious, so she continued to play along. "I don't know. Why?"

A wipe, a quick scribble, the board spun around, and all to result in: "He couldn't afford the inflation."

This time Charlie gave less of a snicker and more of a scoff, but Ennard didn't seem to mind the difference. His eyes were nearly glowing as he eagerly went to write another one down. Charlie could see the excitement in his motions and while she still had questions resting on her tongue, she found herself hesitant to stop him. Maybe she was just that lonely; he sure looked like he was.

Maybe she would even make a new friend. Maybe an even more valuable ally.