Chapter 6: Encore!

*6:00 am

The rays of the ever punctual rising sun pierced through the windows, and a warm pink hue painted the interior of the restaurant.

A duet composed of the distant, muffled chirping of birds and the chime of a grandfather's clock, resonated through each corridor and room, forming a surprisingly pleasant atmosphere that not many people would expect out of an ordinarily hustling and bustling pizzeria.

Charlotte left her box, and welcomed the change in tone. Last night had been quite taxing for everyone involved, but today, she felt optimistic. Today was going to be the day where they would all get to know each other better, and maybe even take the first step towards friendship.

A part of her was nervous. She had been alone for a while up to that point, and while she got to know a few things about Susie and Brenda, the newcomers still probably hadn't managed to adapt yet.

Not letting that discourage her from taking the initiative, she exited the Prize Corner, and gracefully floated over to the stage.

"Good morning, everyone."

Freddy, Bonnie and Chica, who hadn't moved an inch since they got on stage, pivoted their heads to face her. It admittedly felt bizarre talking to something that appeared to be inanimate, despite how alive it actually was.

"Good morning-g," Susie said slowly. The other two remained silent, which didn't really help her case.

"So… Did you get a good rest?" Charlotte asked. Starting a conversation was proving to be more daunting than she had anticipated.

Freddy, Bonnie and Chica exchanged glances, before answering simultaneously with a headshake.

"Well… I can't say I wasn't expecting that… How about you, Grace?"

Pirate Cove was just as noisy as it had been a couple hours earlier. Ergo, not at all. The Puppet scratched the back of her head with her delicate fingers.

"Uh… There's no reason to stay in one spot all day, you guys! Today is Sunday, so the place is closed! You can go anywhere in the pizzeria! Don't you want to give it a try?"

The three children mused on those words. Brenda appreciated Charlotte's attempts at cheering them up. This was something she had done during the first few days as well, where it was just the three of them. She could relate to her for that.

Susie, meanwhile, was at a bit of a loss on what to do. Up to that point, every day had been a work day, during which they had to interact with customers. Not having that obligation felt unusual. It was funny in a way. Just a week ago, she loved this place, and every time she visited it was like a new adventure. Now, though, she couldn't even come up with one idea worth doing.

Gabriel was surprised by the way Charlotte was taking things. Her way of speaking made it seem like she had been here for longer than any of them. Perhaps that was the reason why she was making such peculiar suggestions.

As time kept ticking, Charlotte was beginning to grow disappointed. From her point of view, she was having a conversation with not one, but four rocks. While she understood that they needed time to make peace with what happened to them, she'd be lying if she said she didn't feel eager to just talk, or hang out with someone again, like an ordinary kid. She hadn't done so in so long, but perhaps she had been naïve in thinking that would change…

Just as she was about to leave, Brenda rescued the situation.

"I like the sound of that…but what are we-e supposed t-to do?"

The Puppet, seemingly incentivized by the question, gestured around.

"I mean, we are at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! Not only that, but we have it all to ourselves. Surely we can think of something!"

The figurative gears in Susie's head began shifting, until the perfect answer revealed itself to her.

"Oh! B-Brenda, come with me! I have to show you my favorite-te arcade game here!" she said excitedly.

With no further dawdle, Chica walked off the stage. Bonnie followed shortly after, and the two of them made their way to the arcade room, which was adjacent to Pirate Cove. Their voices and footsteps could still be faintly heard in the main show area.

Charlotte's spirits were lifted, as some life was brought into the building's halls. She turned her attention to Pirate Cove one last time. Floating up to the purple curtains, she spoke as softly as she could.

"Grace. You don't have to come out if you don't want to. I just want you to know that we're here for you. If you want to talk to someone, I'll gladly listen."

"..."

"Okay, I'll leave you be for now. Just, think about what I said, alright?"

"..."

Accepting that there wasn't much else she could do, Charlotte floated away. That's when she noticed that Freddy was alone, still on stage.

"What about you? Don't you want to join the others?"

He lowered his head, as he formulated his response.

"Maybe-be later."

"...Fine," she shrugged. "Do whatever you want."

Gabriel couldn't help but be caught off guard by her slight curtness. She had been so inviting just a moment ago… Whatever the case may have been, she left him alone, and followed his band mates.

So, then. It hadn't been his imagination. Something within this pizzeria had indeed changed over the course of the week. And now, he learned first hand what that something was.

He lifted his hands until they came into view. Through the mask's eye sockets, he saw his palms which, instead of skin, were coated in brown fabric and faux fur. This was…going to take a while to get used to.

But it would happen eventually. He wasn't happy about it, but he was still here, alive, and with a purpose. Even after…what happened to him and the others, he was still here.

That's why, despite it all, he had to carry on in any way he could, until revenge would become theirs.

…

An indeterminate amount of time passed, during which, the dining room had brightened considerably. The rest of the band still hadn't returned from the arcade room.

Bracing herself, Grace lifted her hook, and drew one of the curtains as subtly as she could. Leaning forward, she let her long muzzle peek out of her cove, allowing her to get a quick look at her immediate surroundings.

Confirming that there was truly nobody around, she decided to leave her cramped little stage. Whatever the outcome of that decision would be, it certainly couldn't be worse than continuing to stay inside. Honestly, part of her still couldn't believe that this was actually real.

The dining area stretched out before her. Everything looked blurry, as though she had myopia. The animatronics' vision sensors just couldn't compare to the human eye, it seemed. Even so, she could still make out basic details.

The lights were off, further cementing that no one was meant to be here on this day. In a way, it almost felt surreal.

She had always been a little curious to see how it would feel to be inside a shop, a mall, a school or other such establishments during a Sunday, but she hadn't ever been able to experience something like that.

In a way, she finally managed to quench her curiosity. Small victories. Continuing to look around, her eyes met Freddy's, whom she was surprised to see standing on the same spot.

She couldn't remember the boy's name, or any of their names besides Charlotte's, so she felt hesitant to strike up a conversation with him.

Hence her surprise when he eventually did so.

"Good morn-ning, Grace."

Subconsciously, she raised her right hand and gave him a small wave. That's when she remembered that a hook had replaced it, so she corrected herself by using her left hand instead.

Damn… She was right-handed, too…

She shook her head, feeling the difference in weight and mobility. Unsure of what to do, she kept standing there, between the tables, lost in thought.

Gabriel felt the need to say something, but couldn't determine what that was. Actually, no, that wasn't true. He knew exactly what he needed to say. A sensitive topic though it was, part of him wanted to discuss their deaths.

"Forgive-ve me."

Foxy's head visibly jolted.

"What? What-t are you talking about?" Grace asked, using her voice box for the first time since last night.

Well, Gabriel had already started. There was no way he could back out of it anymore, for better or for worse.

"I saw…that man take you away-y. I was too scared to do anything until it was too late."

Grace thought back to what she could recall from those dreadful final moments of hers, and angrily shut her jaws. She had been so stupid. She hadn't even told her father where she was going! How would he have known to call Freddy's? Why would he even call her at all? Why would he care!?

As Foxy started twitching again, Grace suppressed her pent up emotions as mightily as she could. For her sanity first and foremost, she could not spend a moment longer wallowing in despair. She'd done enough of that last night to last her a lifetime.

From Gabriel's point of view, it looked as though Grace's building rage was directed at him with surgical precision.

"I'm sorry-y."

"Stop. Apologizing. For such idiotic reasons! Are you stupid!? It's not your fault!" Grace shouted out of the blue, catching the poor boy completely off-guard. It almost sounded like she was more angry at his words, rather than his actions - or lack thereof.

"..."

As Grace kept trying to remember details concerning what was practically the last day of her life, an image took shape in her mind's eye.

"Hey…I remember… There was a boy sitting near-r me. Sad looking. Was that you?"

Freddy nodded slowly. Grace weighed the ramifications of that response in her mind. Gabriel had just said he had been sacred, yet still apparently chose to go after her. She wasn't sure how to feel about that…

"Why did you tag along-g? You'd be alive now, had you sat still."

Gabriel would have sighed, had he still had a respiratory system. The truth was that he wasn't ready to answer Grace's question, no matter how curiously she was looking at him. He just could afford to tell her. If she were to find out, then…

…

He would end up alone.

At the same time, though, he couldn't just stay quiet; this matter involved her, as well. For that reason, he went for a half-truth.

"I-I…did not trust that-t rabbit. I tried to find a guard."

Foxy lowered his head, as Grace, unsure how to properly respond, sank in her thoughts.

"Hey. Thanks-s. I appreciate it," she said in due time.

Freddy's head perked up momentarily. Before anything else could have been said, Brenda stormed back into the dining area, completely disrupting the tranquility that had settled over it. She was holding her plastic guitar over her head, as if it were a bat.

"Alright-t, Grace, listen-en up! You-"

She froze once she saw Foxy not only outside his cove, but also close to Freddy.

"Oh. Y-you two were talking?"

As if on queue, Susie and Charlotte came running and dashing into the room respectively.

"Brenda, don't do anything-g…rash. Oh," Susie started to say. "Ne-vermind."

"How did you get her out-t of the Cove, Gabri-el?" Brenda asked.

"Oi, I left by-y myself!"

"I-I didn't do anythin-g. We were just talking," Gabriel clarified.

"Really? Huh. I was ready to drag you out-t, but…that works, too. Ha ha!"

"How are you feeling, Grace?" Charlotte asked.

"...Better. By a pint."

The Puppet's index finger scratched her mask's chin.

"I see. That's good to hear. Would you like to tag along with Susie and Brenda, then? They wanted to get to know you better."

Bonnie and Chica nodded. Grace was still a little hesitant, but decided that a change of pace wasn't a bad idea. Taking that into account, she walked up to them.

"Awesome! Now I can show you my favorite game, t-too!" Susie cheered, as the three of them returned to the arcade room.

This left the Puppet alone with Freddy.

"Gabriel, was it?"

He nodded.

"Come with me. I need to have a word with you," she announced in a tone that didn't leave much room for disagreement.

Gabriel left his spot, and followed the Puppet down to the Prize Corner, across the stage.

"This is it-t! 'Fruity Maze'! Wanna play?" Susie asked, while gesturing towards the arcade cabinet.

Grace looked at it with bemusement, before lifting her hook. Thankfully, Susie quickly caught on to what she was trying to convey.

"Oh, don't worry! One-e hand is enough!"

Even though she still wasn't particularly keen on the idea, she didn't want to shut down Susie's efforts to befriend her. As such, she pushed the start button with her hook, and grabbed the joystick with her hand.

At that moment, a catchy 8-bit tune began emitting from the machine's speakers, and the sprite of a blonde girl popped up in the middle of a neon maze.

"The goal is t-to get all the fruit before time runs out. Ah, don't go out of bounds, or you'll lose!"

With all that in mind, Grace navigated the player character by awkwardly pivoting the joystick. Cumbersome though it was, she couldn't deny it was at least a little entertaining.

"Good-d thing the arcades are left in night mode, huh? We wouldn't have the to-tokens for them, otherwise," Brenda idly commented.

Grace continued playing the game, until a minute passed, and the timer ran out.

"Wow, you did quite well for your first time! Better-r than Brenda, anyway."

The blue bunny crossed his arms.

"Hey-y! That's…true, but why did you have to say it like that?"

Susie giggled, while Grace worked up the courage to speak. It felt weird to be a newcomer, she realized. Usually she was the knowledgeable one among a group.

"Your name is Brenda-a?"

"Uh, yes! Why?"

"Wait-t, you're a girl?"

Bonnie fiercely stomped his foot on the floor, catching the others by surprise.

"Of course I-I-I am! Do I look-k-k like a boy to you!?"

"Well, excuse me, p-princess, I can't-t tell!" Grace retorted, arms crossed.

Brenda was about to say something, until she realized that, no, it really wasn't obvious. Not anymore, at least. She tried to calm herself down. Looking at Foxy's stance gave her the impression that Grace hadn't meant to be disrespectful.

"Sorry for yelling-g, I just get really angry sometimes. You thought-t I wasn't a girl because I'm Bonnie, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Don't worry, Grace!" Susie assured her, "When I first saw Brenda, I also thought-t she was a boy, because she has short-t hair!"

"Susie!" Brenda groaned, much to her friend's amusement.

"It's okay, I love you just the way-y you are!"

"...Good-d save," Brenda said, still a little grumpy.

Grace kept staring at Chica, before admitting what was occupying her thoughts.

"Uh, could-d you remind me what your name is? I…I forgot."

Susie understood that Grace must have been too focused on what had happened to her, so she wasn't mad.

"I'm Susie! Would you like to be our friend?"

Straight to the point, then. Grace looked at both of them. Truthfully, the directness of the question, and the sentiment behind it somehow made her feel…warm.

"Yes, I'd like that-t…"

"Awesome! H-High-five!"

Chica raised her right hand, not remembering that Foxy didn't have one. Once Grace waved her hook around, Susie instead raised her left hand, with which she was holding her cupcake prop, and used it to 'hive-five' Grace's hook.

"There! Now it's official!"

"...Thank-k you, guys," Grace said with gratitude.

"Nah, don't mention-n it," Brenda stated. "Ah, by the way, should-d we go and see how Charlot-te and Gabriel are doing?"

"Yeah, let's!" Susie agreed.

While the three of them walked over to where they had last seen the remaining two members of the group, Grace brought up one last thing, after considering it for a while.

"It's red."

Bonnie and Chica gave her odd stares.

"My favorite color. I never gave you an answer last night, so…it's red."

"That's nice…"

…

The Puppet had her back turned to Freddy. The counter was separating the two of them. Charlotte was seemingly busy organizing some of the plushies that were on display.

"I've been meaning to have this conversation with you for a while now," she began in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I could've had it last night, but I decided to give you some time to adjust to these circumstances."

Gabriel didn't say anything.

"I have some questions to ask you in particular, but I need you to be absolutely honest with me. Do I have your word?"

She had her head slightly turned, so that she could see him in her peripheral vision. Once he nodded, she returned to her task, by grabbing a Fredbear plush and placing it on the left side of the counter.

"Good. Tell me, then. Is the name 'Fredbear's Family Diner' at all familiar to you?"

Oh… They had only just begun, and Gabriel was already feeling like an ant under a magnifying glass.

"...Yes."

"Makes sense. It was quite popular, after all. In that case, you've surely heard of that tragic incident that occurred there two years ago, haven't you?" she asked innocently.

Alarms were going off in Gabriel's ears.

"You know… The one the local news distastefully dubbed as 'The Happy Death-Day Incident', or 'The Bite of '83'? The one that resulted in the death of 7-year old Sammy Schmidt, and the closing of the diner?"

"..."

"Well?"

"I have…"

"Hm… Let me ask you another question, then…"

Charlotte grabbed a Foxy plush, and placed it across the Fredbear one.

"Does the name 'Mike Schmidt' ring any bells to you?" Her tone was interrogatory, and calculated, quite unlike how it had been up to that point. She turned back to the shelves.

Gabriel started feeling the same way he did when he was about to be scolded by a teacher or his mother. He hated that feeling.

"Yes."

"What was he to you?"

He took a while before responding.

"He…was…uh...I just knew of him. That's all-l."

Charlotte looked at him head-on.

"I told you to be honest with me."

Gabriel nearly flinched. What was this girl's deal!? Was she a psychic, or a mind reader?

"…He was a friend-d. We used-d to play soccer together."

Charlotte nodded, seemingly appeased. She returned to the prizes again, and picked out a plush of the Puppet. She placed it on the right side of the counter.

"Tell me about his family. What do you know?"

Freddy averted his gaze.

"His dad was-s the owner of Fredbear's… Sammy was his little bro-ther. He-he also had a mother and a sister, but I don't remember much about them."

"Is that so?"

A stretch of silence permeated in the atmosphere. Charlotte picked out a Bonnie plush, a Chica plush, and a Freddy plush, and placed them next to the Foxy plush.

"Did you and Michael have any mutual friends?"

"That's…right-t. We used to be a group."

Charlotte stopped to think for a moment.

"Before all of this happened, I had seen you a few times in this place, but you were always alone. I'm sure you noticed me. What I want to know is what happened to your group."

Gabriel's heart would have been booming by now.

"We…had a falling-g out."

"Why?"

"..."

"..."

The Puppet turned her back once more.

"Let me ask you this, instead. Which mask were you wearing…during the incident?"

She knew. She definitely knew. No doubt about it. No matter how many years would pass, or how much he would try to hide it, the guilt of what happened would never leave him. Even in this mockery of an afterlife, it was following him around like a shadow. What he had tried to keep secret from Grace, Charlotte had already figured out.

He covered his eyes with his hands.

"..."

"Please… I need to know," she requested in a begging tone.

"...Freddy…A Freddy mask."

"Tell me more. How did that make you feel?"

Freddy's hands did not move.

"I…We killed him… I can't get that-t ima-image out of my head-d. That sound. I felt so…horrible…"

"...So… Do you feel guilty, then?"

"...I do. But, that doesn't m-matter anymore. Things-s won't get better just because I feel bad…"

"...No. They won't."

"..."

"There is only one question left for me to ask. Do you want to make amends?"

Gabriel glanced at the Puppet with hesitation.

"How can I-I do that-t?"

In a heartbeat, the Puppet lunged herself at him. Gabriel slowly reopened his eyes, and saw her glowing white pupils, small like pinpricks, look back at him, as though scrutinizing his very soul.

"By making it up to me."

The boy didn't say anything, because, put simply, he had no idea what she meant.

"Make it up to me, Gabriel. It's the least you could do after getting my brother killed."

Freddy stumbled back, as shock did not allow him to do anything else.

"You seem surprised. I suppose it's because I never stated my full name before, have I? Let me fix that."

The Puppet backed off, before raising her altitude by a few inches and stretching her arms to the sides.

"My name is Charlotte Emily Schmidt. I am the daughter of Henry Schmidt, younger sister of Mike Schmidt, and twin sister of the late Sammy Schmidt."

Freddy's lower jaw slacked.

"What!? …But-t…what…what am I…How am I supposed-d to-"

"Be quiet! Do you have any idea of the damage you and your friends caused to my family!?" Charlotte shouted, her voice cracking.

"..."

Charlotte carried on, in a more controlled manner. A hint of bitterness was still audible in her voice.

"He was such a sweet boy…never harmed anyone. Always so…polite, and well mannered.

Mike and I visited him every day while he was in the hospital. Exactly one week after he was hospitalized, I took his hand in mine, and…and ruffled his hair. I promised him that we'd always be there for him, and that I would put him back together once he'd wake up. Do you want to know what happened after I made that promise, Gabriel?"

"..."

"He died! He died! In my arms! I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep! I couldn't study, or even go out with my friends. For weeks! Months, even! And after dad and Mike went to jail, it was just me and mom, alone and in grief!" she added, her voice wavering.

"I…I'm so sorry…"

"You want my forgiveness? Prove to me you're not the same bully you were two years ago! Then, I might just forget everything that you've done."

With no further input, Charlotte withdrew herself in her gift box, and kept as quiet as she could. Today wasn't as good as she had been expecting, but that was entirely her fault.

She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up.