Chapter 25 Epilogue Part 1
It had been 7 months, just over half a year since Cooper was fired. He took that opportunity to turn his life around though. The heartbreak and pain only fuelled him to change for the better. He found a new casual job at a supermarket near him and started earning small amounts of cash.
It was enough for him to be able to barely get by with him being able to explore his passions and interests, those including music, photography, and art. He put all his eggs in one basket, but fortunately for him it paid off. He was passionate for the drums, the driving force of most songs, and practised and practised. He even grew his hair out to fit the part, barely recognisable to who he used to be. He had nothing else to do, apart from work.
With time came success, as eventually he began to teach the drums. He wasn't performing live, since that would've required a complete band, something he didn't have. But lessons would be a good start for an enterprise. Growing good enough to become a freelancer, Cooper started to undertake several events. This was where the money really started to roll in. Even then though, nothing extraordinary. It was around this time when his feelings for Roxanne began to fade and the heartbreak began to cease. The fire ran out of fuel.
Through time freelancing became inconsistent, and hit or miss. Some months being dry from any requests. Cooper didn't want luck to be a factor of work, so he decided to go for something more permanent, a full time drumming teacher for the local high school. It was fun for him, apart from the fact he had to deal with the youth. the constant cash flow helped him stay afloat, and helped his account balance swell, it let him quit his supermarket job. He was still missing something though. Something important.
He took weeks to think long and hard on the decision he was wanting to make, but eventually caved into his desires. One Friday evening, he drove home with a child in the backseat of his car. Not just any child though. Gregory.
Present Day.
The morning was an icy cool one, it was the start of winter and the ground was covered in the heavenly white shade of snow. The holidays had just begun and with them mounds and mounds of free time. Gregory and Cooper were outside their apartment, making snowmen rather peacefully, when a flyer flew past Cooper slowly. It was slow enough that he was able to catch it and read it.
"Gregory." He asked, trying to hide the excitement in his voice. Gregory turned his head and looked.
"One word. Pizza." Cooper raised an eyebrow. Gregory dropped the large snowball he held in his gloves and stared at his foster father with the widest eyes he could muster.
They arrived at Freddy Fazbear's mega pizza Plex at around 8:00am. the place was packed, with the holiday discounts dragging in more unfortunate easily-persuaded parents due to the neediness of their kids. Freddy was absent from his role as the greeter, which was odd, he was usually on station from 6:30 to 9. Cooper could barely remember that fact from his dayshift days. But it had been over half a year, things could have changed. Longer than that actually, since he never visited the pizza Plex during the day when he was the night guard.
Entering the establishment brought back so many memories, so many feelings. More specifically, as Cooper would quote it, that damn wolf. That god damn wolf. She was a feeling all on her own. He felt his love for her return immediately upon stepping foot into the mega mall. He wished it didn't. It was so taboo, so strange, for a human to have such feelings for a robot. He knew it back then, but didn't really care. But that was 'back then'. In the end it didn't matter if he wanted to love her or not, at the end of the day he did, and a feeling as strong as what he had for her would be no easy thing to shake. The fire had been ignited once again.
He was ultimately happy he was back though. So many memories. He couldn't wait to see his friends again, if they'd even remember him. But surely they world right? There was a slight bit of panic in the far reaches of his mind, but it was snuffed out by the excitement and happiness. He was sure Gregory felt everything he was feeling too, with the exception of his feelings for Roxy. He had so many questions fly through his mind, but only one of them stuck. What was their new night guard like? He was curious. He hoped the animatronics preferred him, out of whoever it was replacing him.
The two of them walked into the lobby where a staff bot greeted them. "Hi. Please take this map." It said in seemingly the most monotone and boring voice it could muster. Cooper took two and handed one to Gregory. Could've sworn you guys were always in the atrium... He thought.
"You shouldn't need it. Surely you remember this place." He sighed and smiled, glad he was back.
"It would take more than Alzheimer's disease to wipe my memories from this place." Gregory joked. He wasn't wrong though.
"Wow, what are they teaching you in school kiddo?"Cooper replied as he gently nudged his shoulder and chuckled.
The two walked up to a large line that was beginning to form in order to get party passes. Cooper looked to the left of him and read a small sign. "120$ for a single pass each?" He silently cursed Freddy's name. I feel bad for the parents that use this place for the day-care, must cost a fortune. He thought.
Eventually the line diminished to only 2 families in front of them, and they soon got their passes. They walked on through into the elevator destined for the atrium, where they could hear the screaming of children and the shouting of parents attempting to control them. The elevator doors opened up and the noise hit them like a heatwave. It didn't help that every child's scream and parent's shout was amplified by all the echoes due to the rock hard walls and roof. It was almost as if there was a competition for who could talk the loudest going on with everyone talking over the top of each other. They stepped out and both immediately wanted to step back in, but they didn't.
There were people everywhere, in the centre of the atrium, it looked like there were hundreds. That wasn't even counting the attractions and balconies. The second and third floor seemed to have scurried along with the people that inhabited it, like bees in a hive. The two looked around for the stars of the show, each one having their own star respectively. But they were nowhere to be found.
The place looked completely different at day, it brought the back dayshift memories that had been suffocated by the nightshift ones. If Cooper was ever to think of the place up to that point his initial thoughts of lighting would be the nightshift version out of instinct, maybe this visit would change that.
"Ok Greg, go have fun! Just don't get into any trouble and don't follow anyone in a creepy rabbit suit. Got it?" Cooper trusted him enough, Gregory was smart. He added the last line to make Gregory careful, it just made him sad. He wasn't going to let one comment make him bawl his eyes out though, and just ignored it.
Gregory leapt from Cooper's side and travelled with haste towards fazerblast in order to find Glamrock Freddy. Little did he know the animatronics were all situated in their green rooms before their first performance, all of them other than Freddy, who was supposed to be the greeter. Cooper watched him hustle before he lost him in a sea of people.
The drummer figured he'd use the time to play some golf, he wanted to see if he had gotten better or worse, he assumed the latter. It took a while to avoid everyone in his way but eventually his scorecard, club and ball were in his grasp and he was onto the first hole. Monty was absent as expected. A few minutes and jump scares by the alligator props later he was onto the last hole, below par. He took a deep breath and with it a deep swing. Hole in one. He still had it, nothing compared to Monty though, if he actually tried he could get a hole in one on everything.
Out of sheer coincidence and luck, the second his pen left his scorecard an announcement came on. "Attention guests, Freddy and the gang are almost ready for their first performance, the show will begin in the main atrium in five minutes. They can't wait to see you, and perform for you. During this time all convenience counters and restaurants are 15% off. Have an awesome day."
Guests immediately started flocking to the escalator, hoping to take advantage of the sale and get the best seats to the show. Cooper was in no rush, and exited the attraction with a mere three minutes to go. He had time and the sale was still on, so he visited the nearest convenience counter and got two photo passes for himself and Gregory, and also got two more party passes.
The show was about to begin, just as Cooper found Gregory on his own on the second floor. He had found a good spot with a beautiful view of the stage, and not many people around. The latter was expected, as almost everyone was on the ground floor hoping to get the best seats and views to the animatronics, something very few achieved.
The lights dimmed and with them so did the crowd's loud talking, reduced to a quiet murmur. The anticipation was through the roof as the show was about to begin. The stage's floor split open, as another announcement came on. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls," Light pink and light blue smoke began to fill the stage, The spotlights were turned on.
"Fazbear entertainment would like you to put your hands together," The spotlights had their lights changed to the signature light blue and pink and they were moved to shine directly onto the band as they emerged from the slow moving elevator. "For the one, the only..." The crowd was silent. Faint silhouettes of the band were visible through the almost opaque smoke.
"Freddy Fazbear!" The music kicked in at a blisteringly high volume, with the bass rocking the room, the vibrations being felt by the residents blocks away. The smoke was cleared with little residue remaining leaving the band exposed for the audience to see them shine. The crowd roared with cheers and applauded the band's spectacular entrance and presence.
The four owned the stage, with them practically bathing in the spotlights, soaking up the attention, as they were built to do. They were built to perform, and, oh boy did they perform. The audience loved them, with every one of Monty's and Chica's string plucks being rewarded with a sonic boom of an applause. Every one of Roxy's keystrokes and swings of her majestic tail and hair were rewarded with endearing fans making a storm of a noise for her.
Roxy's cockiness and confidence aided her greatly in her performance. She knew she was beautiful, she knew everyone loved her, and that only encouraged her to give out more seductive winks and more hair flicks to the crowd, who were completely eating them up. They adored her, and for good reason. It was no wonder she was the second favourite. This was Roxy in her element.
Freddy was confident, without the cockiness. He had done this millions of times before, and was bound to do it millions of times again. He was focused on his song, with the cheering and applauding of fans only acting as background noise. His lyrics were strong, and sung with passion. He was the poster child of this brand for a reason.
The crowd's cheers were never ending, it was almost as if they were an instrument of their own contributing to the band. Gregory was in love with them, it had been so long since he had seen then perform, it was magical. He watched on and cheered in sync with the band, making quite the noise.
Cooper watched, and silently admired. He wanted to look at the band as a whole, be impressed by all of them, but his eyes were drawn to the wolf. That god damn wolf. Something along the lines of obsession would describe his feelings for her quite well. She owned the spotlight, he admired her confidence, and everything about her, as did the rest of her fans.
Huge mechanical arms began to shift and clank on either side of the centre of the stage lifting medium sized platforms slowly, Roxanne and Montgomery each getting on one, with Roxanne taking the left and Montgomery taking the right. They were lifted high into the air with sperate spotlights being turned on just for them, as if they weren't getting enough attention. As the song drew to a close Monty's solo came on. His platform began to raise higher, to the point the guests in the front row couldn't see him. The bass itself was quite underwhelming by no fault of Monty's own, but how he moved and jammed to the beat was admirable.
Monty was slowly taken down whilst Roxy was slowly elevated. She lived for the attention, of which she was soaked in. She continued to flick her hair and tail, and she opened her mouth wide and stuck her tongue out, like a wolf panting. She was gorgeous. The crowd loved it, including Cooper. Her solo came on and she smashed it, she had left Monty in the dust. She was the best after all. It may have been because keytar is superior to bass, but that one is up for debate.
They were brought back down to earth both physically and mentally as their song ended. Despite having cheered for the whole performance, the crowd still had one last hoorar left in them. Through all the oxygen their lungs could muster, they expended it all on screams, cheers and whistles of adorement to the band. They were so loud lots of the little kids on the ground floor began to cry. Who could blame them.
Cooper and Gregory had been enthralled by the performance, like a moth helplessly floating to a flame. They were good. Better than good. Confetti was released as the band regrouped and gathered their bearings in the centre of the stage.
When Roxy had overcome the sheer animatronic adrenaline rush that was performing for hundreds, maybe even thousands, she took a good look at the crowd. It was around this time that her sadness would overcome her, but this time it didn't. She kept looking, with most faces being familiar faces, some being new. She noticed a character on the second floor balcony that looked so familiar, yet so not. She thought it was him. But if it really was who she thought it was, their hair would be different. She noticed a smaller character just next to him that she definitely did recognise. She stared intensely, with the two characters staring back, the one with long hair was smiling at her. He waved.
Before Roxy could do anything, the elevator descended and two figures were gone from sight. She told her friends, who were chatting about the performance. "Guys. I just saw Gregory. A-And I think I-I just saw Cooper too." She was shocked and overcome with emotion, it had been so long. So long since she had seen the ex-night guard, still the night guard in her heart. The only one she reciprocated feelings for. The fire had never died in her, but it had been fading, it was down to hot ash, until gasoline had been poured on it just now, with a whole bunch more wood. She was still a mess, but lesser of one since Cooper first left, but now he was back. Or so she thought.
The gang's conversation died and all eyes were on Roxanne. Especially Freddy's. He pressed on if she really did see them, he would have killed her if she had gotten his hopes this high for nothing. Roxy wasn't sure about Cooper, but she 100% saw Gregory.
"Roxy..." Freddy looked at her, as though she was the key to a free million dollars. "Did you see or did you not see Gregory?" He was straight forward, and didn't dance around the question.
"I-I saw Gregory, d-definitely, but I don't k-know about Cooper." She stammered. She didn't know why, she should've been excited, not whatever she was feeling right now. Freddy trusted her, she had upgraded eyes after all.
I guess she doesn't remember me...
He suppressed the thought and acted happy. "How good was that Gregory?"
"Amazing." Gregory was speechless, he added nothing to the one word response. He stared blankly at the stage where the animatronics had just performed.
He came back to the thought. Surely she just didn't recognise me... She was staring... Maybe it was my hair? "You want something to eat Gregory?" He hopped and skipped and danced around the thoughts, he didn't want them to ruin his time here with his son. "Yeah."
Roxy emerged from her elevator into her green room, fortunately without her bandmates, as their elevators had finally been fixed. She speed walked to leave it, but not before looking in her mirror and brushing her hair a few more times, she could never be too beautiful.
She exited her room and travelled through the relatively empty Rockstar Row, with only a few dayshift employees and staff bots occupying the area. The place was off limits to guests until the second performance had ended. During the current time the animatronics were able to intermingle and talk to the guests and customers. In two hours they would be needed at their attractions. But that was in two hours, Roxy had plenty of time to confirm or deny her suspicions.
She entered the atrium and dodged and weaved through a maze of people to get to the second floor as quick as she could. She was swarmed at every angle by kids who wanted her autograph and a photo, and those who just wanted to be around her. She would've been bothered by them but she had gotten used to it. Part of the job. This time she was bothered though, she had an objective and she wanted to reach it alone.
She stopped in her tracks and turned her attention to the crowd that had formed behind her. Everyone went silent and awaited what she had to say. "Alright Rockstars, A little birdie told me ice cream was 75% off for the next two minutes, go steal some cash from your parents' wallets. But if they're really poor, I've got coupons and vouchers..." She gave a sly smile as she flashed a few of them before handing them out to the large group. "Alright, now go, go, shoo, scram." To this day no one knows where she stored them.
The group began to disperse as relief shrouded the canine. "You're the best Roxy!" A small child said as she walked away. Roxy sprouted a smile. You know it kid. She turned her attention back to the task at hand.
She approached subtly, as to not look too odd if she did have the wrong guy, but she was almost certain she didn't. She wandered around a bit, slowly making her way towards him, catching glimpses when she could, all the evidence was there, this was her man.
Gregory and Cooper were talking about the performance and eating pizza, when Gregory suddenly went quiet and pointed behind Cooper with a slight smile.
Cooper turned around as far as he could in his seat before he met face to stomach with Roxanne, he jumped backwards, and in turn into the table from the shock, luckily not making too much of a mess.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Such a familiar scenario, hand in hand with a familiar scream, though drowned out by the endless noise of the kids. The terror on his face was soon replaced with joy. He tucked his chair in and greeted the wolf with a heartfelt hug.
"You gotta stop doing that..." he chuckled.
"Nah. Its funny." She replied so simply. They separated before they drew attention to themselves.
"Thought you'd never come back." Roxy began.
"Yeah, well... being fired is just a demotion to customer. Doesn't mean I can't ever return."
"No, I mean... You were gone for so long."
"Takes time to put a life back on track, it's not easy I'll tell you that now."
"I know, but you could've at least visited sooner, I was getting lonely..." she underplayed that comment significantly. The second he stepped foot out that door she was lonely tenfold.
"Well, sorry..." He didn't have the heart to tell her he had kind of forgotten his feelings for her, but it didn't have to be mentioned, as said feelings had returned stronger than ever.
"Anyways! Welcome back! How was our performance? Did you like it? You liked it didn't you? I bet I was the only thing you were looking a-" She was cut off. She was excited he was back, that was for sure.
"Woah, slow down! Yeah, of course I liked it, it was incredible!" Cooper spoke with the same tone Roxy did, her happiness was contagious.
She gave a wide, bright smile at him, before she turned to Gregory. "Welcome back Rockstar! It's been forever!" She walked up to the boy and hugged him. She took a step back. "You've grown. Like, a lot."
"It has been a while." Gregory replied.
"Your voice is deeper too." She looked towards Cooper. "Did you..." She gestured to Gregory.
"Adopt him? Yes." He finished the sentence for her.
"Yeah, that. It's just I know it can be a touchy subject for some people." She put a hand to her hair and scratched.
"Since when were you the sensitive type?" Cooper asked.
"It has been a while." She gave a wholesome smile. "Ooohh... What toppings?" She asked curiously as she noticed at the half eaten pizza. She was like a child on a sugar high.
"Plain cheese baby. The best. Ain't that right Greg?" He sat back limp in his seat, giving off a 'cool' appearance. Gregory followed suit and nodded.
"Oh my god, you are so incredibly boring." She looked upwards and drooped her arms.
"Yet you love me." Cooper replied with confidence, whilst grabbing another slice of pizza.
"Believe me, I don't know how." She joked.
"Oooohhh... Ouch." Gregory commented. Cooper gave him a sharp look. Roxy and Gregory exchanged a glance and smiled.
"Well, I'm so happy you're back. I'd grab a chair and talk and hug you more, but..." She gestured to the mob of people in the center of the atrium, and the crowd that was slowly gathering behind her.
"I get it. You have a job to do. Don't sweat it."
Roxy looked him in the soul and smiled. "Get yourself a photo pass and come by. I'll be waiting for ya."
Cooper flashed his passes the same way Roxy had flashed her coupons and vouchers.
"One step ahead of you." Cooper told her. they locked glances and smiled, before Roxy was swarmed with kids.
"Duty calls. See ya around." She walked off with a sway in her step, wagging her tail like an excited dog. She was followed by a horde of children.
They were about to resume talking when the wolf shouted at them.
"Gregory! I'll get Freddy for you!" She then resumed her stride.
That god damn wolf. He thought as he admired.
Yes a part 2 will be coming. Sorry for the wait... sound like a broken record at this point. To answer the question that no one asked, where have I been? Camping. Yeah can't upload when you're in the middle of the woods for a week. Also this chapter and the one that will follow were always panned, they were not just impulses. Just want to let you all know and make it clear that the chapter titled "the end" was never intended to be the end. Yeah, I know, crazy. Anyways! Have a good day/night and thanks for reading.