...
Going Home in a Box
Chapter Twelve
As soon as midnight hit and the doors were sealed, Natalie went to do her first rounds of the night. She went out into the atrium and did a quick loop around the middle floor. She briefly stopped at the escalator and considered going down to see Freddy, but then hesitated. The last thing she wanted was to get him in trouble. The thought of him being locked up in his room was already giving her a bad taste in her mouth.
Still, she got back into the elevator and returned to the lobby. She was considering grabbing a soda now, but she was still feeling fine and didn't like the idea of it sitting there warming up while she waited. She would just return to the office and do a crossword to pass a little time. She stepped out of the elevator.
Something was wrong.
It was hard to explain, but Natalie was suddenly hit by the feeling that something was off. A kind of creeping fear that suddenly seized her and made her look around quickly. She felt like she was being watched, or like the feeling she might've felt walking to her car in the dark and suddenly hearing a noise nearby, but there was nothing there. The lobby was comfortably alit, and she couldn't hear anything. There was no reason to be afraid.
Yet something was wrong. Swallowing it as best as she could, Natalie slowly made her way down the stairs and approached the lost and found. She hoped that once she was settled in the office, she would feel a little safer.
Alas, this wasn't the case. She didn't feel any better inside of the office. She checked the other two doors that led out behind one of the counters to make sure nothing was there, then shut and locked the office door before settling into her chair. She did a quick check of the cameras around the lobby and couldn't see anything there.
"I'm just a little creeped out being here alone. Psyching myself out, that's all," she convinced herself.
Yet Natalie still found her eyes frequently returning to the office window and the stairs outside. Checking to make sure someone wasn't creeping up on her even though she knew she would've seen it coming. She couldn't focus on anything and the thought of getting coffee was out the window, because she didn't want to go up those stairs and she really didn't want to walk the long way through the lobby.
Eventually she broke open the crossword book and tried to work on a puzzle to ease her nerves. This started to work and after a few minutes she started to have a distraction going. The mood still felt a little off, but she was able to deal with it.
She was pulled from that distraction by a soft thumping that sounded like footsteps.
…From above her.
Natalie instantly shot forward and was back on the cameras. She clicked the Faz-Pad's camera and after a few seconds the feed showed up.
Nothing. There was nothing up there.
Except she could still hear the slow thumping of something padding around up there. She moved the camera around to readjust, watching it drag itself with a lag it didn't usually have. It couldn't be in the café, so she started checking the other cameras in the area. The computer wasn't switching cameras as fast as usual. Instead of a snappy response, there was a good two to three second delay between every change.
"What's going on here? Why're these so slow?" she thought. She huffed to herself. "Of course! The second I need the cameras and they suddenly start acting up."
The sluggishness was only succeeding in making her more uncomfortable as she continued to search. Yet she wasn't seeing anything in any of the cameras and the noises above her had suddenly stopped. She was beginning to feel increasingly uncomfortable and slowly turned her chair, considering getting up and investigation.
Only to catch a glimpse of movement disappearing around the corner at the top of the stairs. She turned her head quickly but not fast enough to see what it was, or if it was there at all. She couldn't even make any details of what it was. Like it blended in with the wall, or like it didn't exist at all. But it had to because it being there explained why it wasn't above her head.
She stared at the top of the stairs for a long moment before realizing that she wasn't breathing and inhaling sharply to feed her aching lungs. By the coloring and height, it could've been a Staff Bot, but it didn't explain the footsteps or how it could've gotten down the stairs. The footsteps still hadn't returned either, leaving the place eerily quiet.
"…I'm going to have to go up there," Natalie said, grimacing immediately afterwards. She reached over for the flashlight and tested its weight. It would be a decent enough weapon against a human, but even though the footsteps were light she wasn't convinced that was what was upstairs. Taking a deep breath, she stepped outside the office door and looked up the stairs.
Then proceeded to walk straight out into the lobby. She was going to cut them off from escaping and save herself from getting jumped in a stairwell, with the latter being more important. It hiding behind the corner was too much of a red flag to waltz right up there after it. Instead, she headed upstairs and quietly stepped into the Faz-Pad. There was nobody inside.
Keeping as quiet as she could, she made her way to the other door. She leaned against it before slowly creeping it open and shining her light inside.
The small kitchen was also empty. She breathed a quiet sigh and pushed the door open the rest of the way only for her light to glint off a knife lying on the counter. She stared at it for a second and knew right away that it wasn't supposed to be there. She had come through here to make coffee plenty of times yesterday and it wasn't here, and it wasn't dirty, so Chaz and Stanley hadn't used it. Not that they would bring a dirty knife into this kitchen anyway.
Someone could've been moving things around during the day, but she had a hard time believing they would leave a single knife out in the open. Especially a large kitchen knife, either a chef or a carving knife.
It felt like a threat. Maybe that was her paranoid mind imagining that, but it was significant enough to make her feel vulnerable. Vulnerable enough that she picked up the knife and proceeded to shove it underneath what looked like a dishwasher. She wasn't going to be caught on camera carrying around a knife and she wasn't leaving it out for someone else to find it. She would hear if someone came digging for it.
It wasn't until she started standing up that she noticed something was blocking the light from the doorway behind her. She snapped her head and flashlight back in a sweeping motion- but there was nothing there. This time she wasn't as certain about what she had seen, looking back at the counter and her position, and realizing it could've been her own shadow. Unconvinced, she strode to the door and threw it open.
Again, there was nothing. Huffing to herself, she turned back into the kitchen to go for the stairs. She opened the door and upon seeing nothing, hastily made her way down the steps to catch anyone who might've heard her coming.
But there was still nobody there. The footsteps had quieted, the lobby was silent, and she was left alone. With nowhere else to turn, she returned to her little office.
"Was that a paranormal thing? I mean, Freddy's alive, so maybe this place could be haunted? Like back in the warehouse… Please not like back at the warehouse. I can't handle that amount of insanity," Natalie thought as she approached the computer. She looked at the screen and noticed a red dot flashing on the map. "What now…?" she muttered and leaned to look.
The alarm was going off on the first floor of the atrium. In fact, it looked to be right in the snack bar area that Chaz and Stanley said they had been working in.
"What, did they leave something on in there?" Natalie wondered out loud. Suddenly her eyes popped open before she hastily jogged out of the office. "Please don't be a fire. Please don't be a fire."
She hurried out into the lobby and up the stairs towards the elevator, turning in place while she did to see if she could catch sight of anything suspicious. She didn't, but she didn't know if that was a good or bad thing considering that she was certain she had heard and almost certain she had seen someone. Part of her was eager to leave the lobby from just that alone.
Soon she was down on the first floor of the atrium and after a bit of searching found her way to the kitchen door. She found someone waiting for her, a Staff Bot dressed like a chef who flagged her down as she approached. It wheeled back from the slightly ajar door and gestured stiffly at it. She could already hear noises from inside before she started to push it open.
The kitchen was large and dominated by stainless steel, which made it all the more disorienting when her flashlight reflected off of so much. She could hear a weird sound coming from further into the room. It sounded almost like tearing cardboard mixed with some rustling and the occasional clatter of something scraping at the floor. Natalie carefully made her towards the back while hugged against the wall before she came around a prep table and saw the source.
There was an animatronic crouched down on the floor. Its white and pink head and back faced her as its hands tore at the flimsy carboard of a pizza box. A torn open trash back lay before it with its contents spilled around its legs. There wasn't much there. A lot of it looked like plastic wrap that things might've came from. She watched as it drew its head back with a ripping noise and realized it was eating the pizza box.
It didn't take more than an instant to recognize that this was Glamrock Chica. Natalie didn't have to see her face to recognize her body type.
"Chica?" she dared to asked. Chica lurched upright, her head raising so fast that her casing clattered.
A hand reached out to grab ahold of one of the tables. It was smeared with grease and redness, which Natalie recognized as pizza sauce, and helped the chicken shaped animatronic pull up to her feet. Her motions were both stiff and loose, her standing in a wobbly pigeon toe before suddenly turning her torso and snapping her head back to face the blond. Natalie flinched back.
"I'm sorry. This is a restricted area," Chica said. Her voice as automated and stiff as her motions. She turned to face Natalie all the way, head half tilted, and beak smeared in the remains of Stanley's pizza. A piece of cardboard even stuck out. Her zombie-like motions and glassy stare made Natalie extremely uncomfortable, so she found her voice quickly.
"Not for me it's not. I'm the security guard," she boldly announced. In a split second, as soon as she said that something changed in Chica's demeaner. Her widened pupils shrunk, her leering pose drew back, and her posture relaxed.
"Oh?" Her eyes quickly traced over the blond's uniform before returning to hers. "Oh! I'm sorry, I did not recognize you." She tilted her head even more. "What are you doing here? You should be in one of the sectional security offices."
"The staff bot outside sent me an alert and I came to check what was up. What are you doing in here?" Natalie asked. She kept the authoritarian tone; it was her only line of defense at the moment.
"Having a midnight snack! Somebody left perfectly good pizza out to waste. I- I couldn't h-help mys-self!" Chica explained, her voice stuttering as she grew excited. She ran her free hand down her face to collect some of the remaining sauce on her fingers, then shoved them into her mouth. Rubbing it onto the inside of her beak with a squeak. "Mmm! So good!"
Something about the whole scene made Natalie lose what little appetite she had. She didn't show it though and kept an even tone.
"I see that. Alright, no big deal then. I just wanted to make sure nobody broke in again," Natalie said, trying her hardest not to look like she was staring. "I don't mean to break up your fun, but you should probably get back to your room. The tech boys didn't leave too long ago, and they already locked Freddy up for being outside his room."
"Mmm, okay! I'm all done anyways. There's barely any good food in here!" Apparently, the cardboard counted, Natalie thought. She watched as Chica started to lurch and stagger forward. Her footsteps seemed awkward, and her upper half seemed to sway as she made her way around the table and towards the kitchen door.
"Are you okay? You're walking a little weird," she dared to ask.
"Hmm? Oh! Sometimes when I eat too much, my battery gets a little… f-funny," Chica answered. Her voice warbling weirdly as she turned her head back to look at the blond. "I couldn't help myself! I LOVE pizza!"
"I guess that makes sense. I'm going to walk you back to your room just in case, okay?" Natalie suggested. Chica gave a nod and a hum, seemingly unbothered by this.
As soon as the Glamrock animatronic walked out of the kitchen, the chef bot zoomed back in, almost running into Natalie before darting towards the back. She sent a wary glance after it before following Chica out. "How alive are those guys?"
Back in Rockstar Row, Foxy had gotten himself up to third place on the scoreboard and found himself unable to budge past that spot. He continued playing try after try, but Freddy didn't seem to mind. He just watched from beside or behind, always eager to offer an obvious tip or a seemingly undeserved compliment- in Foxy's eyes. He was halfway through a lesser run when he heard thumping and his head shot up.
"Ya hear that?" he asked lowly. Freddy hadn't been paying attention but now that he did, he could hear the familiar footsteps of an animatronic passing outside. "Somebody's comin'!"
In all likelihood they weren't coming into his green room, but Freddy too felt a spark of fear and after looking back at the closed curtains, gave Foxy a gentle nudge on the back. One that Foxy almost recoiled from.
"Go through that door and hide in the back. I will take a look," he coaxed.
As suspicious as Foxy felt, he wasn't about to stand here and let himself get seen, so he hastily darted to the security door. Freddy pressed a button behind the arcade machine to open it and Foxy entered without delay. Freddy shut the door behind him before hustling over to the window and drawing open the curtains.
There was Chica and the new security guard walking right outside. The other animatronic's face was messy so she had probably been scrounging for food again. Natalie noticed him peeking out right away and he raised a hand to wave.
"There's Freddy," Natalie murmured. Chica looked over as well and rested a hand on her hip, waving with the other before blowing Freddy a kiss. He made a motion like he was catching it in his hand before she continued on. Natalie looked between them before catching up with her. "Is there something going on between you two?"
"I'm his arm candy!" Chica said in an almost bragging tone. Though then tapped her beak thoughtfully. "Or… No. It's more like he's a big hunk of gingerbread and I'm the icing that makes him look good… No! No, it's like a pizza! We're all like the parts of a pizza. Roxy's the sauce because she's saucy and wears red, Monty's spicy green peppers, I'm the melty cheese because I can be sweet sometimes, but I can be warm too! Warm and soft."
"What's Freddy, the dough?"
"Freddy's the crust," Chica answered. As she was saying this, they were approaching Monty's room and Natalie could hear what sounded like rapid, frantic bass strumming from inside. "He holds us all together, kinda."
"So, not because he's brown," Natalie said. This got a tiny giggle out of Chica. She nearly knocked over a velvet rope as she thumped towards her door. "Hey, careful," Natalie warned, grabbing and righting it. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Uh-huh! Thank you for walking me home, Officer Vanessa," Chica said. She turned back towards the door with a perkier bounce to her delayed steps. She kicked one leg up behind her and winked. "I think we'll be good friends very soon!"
"Sure thing. You can count on it," Natalie agreed. It wasn't until the door shut that she clenched her teeth upon realizing that Chica had somehow figured out her fake name without seemingly scanning her.
She didn't linger and quickly made her way down Rockstar Row. There was still frantic scratching from Monty's room, not even qualified as playing anymore. She kept her eyes ahead and started to approach Roxy's window when she noticed that the curtains had been opened. She slowly approached and looked in to see that there was another animatronic standing in their window.
This time it was none other than Roxanne Wolf, and from the facial structure alone Natalie could see the similarities to Foxy. The wolf was leering at her with half lidded eyes, hands on her hips, with one set of sharp nails tapping on her hip. The aloof look alone was a far cry from Freddy's friendliness. Unsure if it was just how she looked in general, Natalie raised a hand in greeting.
Roxanne proceeded turned away with a flip of her hair and confidently strode over towards her vanity, fluffy tail swaying behind her. Apparently, that chilly vibe wasn't just skin deep. Natalie wasn't really affected by it. If anything, she was more surprised that the animatronic actually had a tail and spent the brief walk to Freddy's window thinking about whether or not Foxy used to have one too.
Freddy was no longer standing at the door. Natalie peeked in the crack between the curtains to see him picking up some toys from the floor, including a huge plush of himself. He heard her at the window and looked over, and she sent him another wave, which he returned. It was sort of assuring to see that he wasn't sulking in his room so she continued back out of Rockstar Row so she could do her atrium rounds.
Little did she know, but Freddy was watching her closely. As soon as he could hear the security door out of Rockstar Row close, he looked around carefully and shut the curtains, then hastily opened the door to the back.
"Captain?" he called in quietly.
He looked around the backroom. It was a small, cramped space. Boxes of parts and supplies were stacked on shelves and carelessly on the shelves, and in the darkness they would cast intimidating shadows. There was an elevator in the room, but Foxy wouldn't have been able to use it himself, so Freddy crept in deeper. He came around the tight corner in the back and there he found where he went.
Foxy had found him staring at something almost beyond his comprehension. It looked like a sort of candy apple red tube with a big circular window in it. From the space inside and the height, it wasn't hard to guess that someone could easily fit into it. He assumed that person was Freddy and that idea made him both curious and uneasy. He looked over as Freddy came around the corner.
"What's this?" he asked, gesturing at the tube with his head.
"That is my charging station! When my battery gets low, I step inside and go through a charging cycle. My battery lasts around five hours between cycles, but there are charging stations across the Pizzaplex," Freddy readily explained. Foxy's looked him up in down in confusion.
"Ya run off a battery?" he asked. Now a battery would've made sense for a normal animatronic, or a set of pressurized hoses to make it move like it was alive, but they were alive. He had yet to see an animatronic that required a battery who had a soul in them. He didn't know how it worked, but he moved fine on his own without having to plug into an outlet. If Freddy had a soul in him then he shouldn't have needed to charge in some kind of sci-fi looking tube.
Brief doubt crept in for a moment as Foxy wondered if he had been wrong, but he shrugged that thought away immediately. Even with the stilted talking, there was too many quirks to be some kind of brainless machine. He was definitely alive.
The whole time he was thinking this, Freddy was talking.
"I do. We all do. Though not all of us require use of the charging stations. I am not sure how the others recharge their battery… Hmm… But from your confusion I am guessing you do not charge in the same way. How do you recharge yourself?" Freddy waited for an answer. Foxy was staring vaguely at the charging station. "…Captain?"
"Aye," Foxy said, more as placeholder answer to get a moment to remember what Freddy was asking him, and when he did he gave a proper answer. "We don't. Just a couple of hours of rest and we're back on our feet. No battery, no cables."
"That makes sense!" Freddy said. Foxy sent him a doubtful look. "I have heard that the old Freddy Fazbear animatronics were built to function without a cord and or charging stations. Do you know how it works?"
"Nah," Foxy admitted. He didn't feel comfortable enough to start talking death and souls with glamorized Freddy. "And quit callin' me old."
"Oh. My apologies, I was not trying to imply that you were."
"So, what, you don't sleep?" Foxy asked, still doubtful. "Don't get tired or feel weak?"
"I do feel tired when my battery runs low, and if it reaches critical, I can activate sleep mode, but it does not seem to recharge my battery. At least, I do not think it does," Freddy explained. "Perhaps the ones who do not charge sleep."
The two fell into silence as they continued looking at the ruby red charging station. Foxy still had so many questions about how it worked- if it went through his feet or shocked him like a taser- but he was becoming antsy again.
"They gone?" he asked.
"They are. Our security guard does not pass through here frequently, so I do not expect her back soon. You are free to come back to my room, it is safe," Freddy offered. Foxy just hummed low in his chest in wariness. He didn't realize Natalie was out there too. That had been closer than he thought. Perhaps that was a sign.
"I'm thinking it's about time I shove off," Foxy mumbled. He looked up to see the dejection in Freddy's eyes. "Don't give me that look. Ye knew me time was short."
"That I did. Do you think you will return?" Freddy asked. Foxy stared at him blankly.
"…That a question or invitation?"
"An invitation, of course! I had a lot of fun tonight. You are welcome here- just as long as you refrain from any more acts of delinquency."
Foxy couldn't tell if he was just so desperately lonely or if he was in for the long con. At this point he knew it had to be one of those, because he wasn't sure if what they had done should've been fun for Freddy. Unless he enjoyed watching people repeatedly try to beat his score on his skate game. Foxy had to nip this in the bud.
"I'll think about it."
Or he wasn't. He was honest though; he did need some time to think. If not about the bizarreness of Freddy, then about him charging in a tube. He started to head back to the door with Freddy in tow, only pausing to steal a glance at the elevator doors that he had noticed earlier.
"Where do they go?" he asked, continuing to the door.
"That elevator takes me down to parts and service," Freddy answered. Foxy came to a dead stop in front of him. Freddy stopping behind and taking a polite step back before the pirate sent him a look over his shoulder.
"Ye only brought me to yer room ta get me down in parts and service, didn't ya?" he flatly accused.
"I did think you may need repairs… but I meant what I said. I brought you to my room because it was safer, and because I cannot be seen outside it tonight."
Foxy hummed like he was questioning it, but in all likelihood, this was more of Freddy's blunt honesty, so he turned ahead and continued through the door. He started to head towards Freddy's door and was about to waltz through when he suddenly stopped on a dime before the door could activate.
"Wait… How long's she been gone?" Foxy asked.
"The security officer? She left Rockstar Row before I came to get you."
"…So she could still be in the dining room," Foxy mumbled. Now he was really feeling like a caged rat. He didn't want to stick around after that close call, but if he got caught and cornered by Natalie then the jig was up. He knew he was going to have to confess sooner than later, but he wanted that on his own terms. Not by getting caught in the act.
Freddy must've noticed how uncertain he was as he volunteered, "Perhaps you should stay a few minutes longer. Then I will escort you back to the vent. So if she is still out there, I can distract her long enough for you to get away."
Foxy had a suspicion that Freddy was just plying him for more time, but he did have a point and realized that he didn't have much choice. He hummed and stepped away from the door, considering it a long moment before nodding. Freddy didn't say anything- probably to not push his luck- and Foxy made his way back to the arcade machine.
"One more game," he said. He stared at the cartoon bear skateboarding on the title screen for a moment before turning to face the bear towering behind him, gesturing his hook to the cabinet. "Ya want it?"
"Are you certain? I am fine watching," Freddy offered. Though it wasn't hard to see how his eyes seemed to 'perk' with excitement.
"I be good. Show me how you've been gettin' them high scores," Foxy offered, waving for him to get on with it. It was going to be excruciating to watch if Freddy ended up getting another score higher than his, but he wasn't feeling safe enough to sink his attention into another try. He stood alongside the cabinet like he was keeping guard as Freddy started up the game.
"Now when you begin level one, you should hug the right side of the street and collect the first two slices of pizza. This means you will miss the stopwatch, but the first level is very generous with time. As soon as you get that second piece, you must move towards the middle before you run into traffic," Freddy began to explain. Hunched over with his eyes locked to the screen and his hands moving as though he had played it hundreds of times. "Towards the end move to the left-."
Foxy watched the screen with a nonchalant look and tried to not look too eager. It wasn't like he expected to play this game more than once or twice more, and only if he did decide to come back, which he wasn't sure if he even would.
To think that this was his main rival, hiding him in his little living room and showing him how to play a skateboarding game. It wasn't exactly the clash of the ages that Foxy was expecting.
…It wasn't exactly bad either.
Though things weren't the same on the far side of the Pizzaplex.
After a quick once-around the atrium, Natalie returned to the lobby feeling a little less creeped out. Or she did until she stepped out of the elevator only to hear an unfamiliar sound and look up to the elevator in the center of the room raising towards the ceiling. She hadn't seen anyone use that lift, she didn't even know where it went, but it moving was a telltale sign that someone had just been here.
"You've got to be kidding me!" she hissed and hustled down the steps to try and catch sight of whoever was in the lift through the glass on the other side. She just missed them, but this was enough to answer her questions.
Freddy might've used an elevator once, but the glass one was compact and far from Rockstar Row or even the daycare. She couldn't be certain, but this mixed with those pattering little footsteps made her believe it was a human. Maybe even the would-be vandal from the other night. She hastily ran back into the lost and found.
"Alright, where are you?" she muttered as she pulled up the map. It looked like that elevator went straight up into the third floor and a quick check indicated that it did. She clicked on some of the cameras in the area and her brows shot up at the sight of a massive prize area just upstairs. Already loaded with prizes and as big as the lobby, it put the dinky little gift shop to say. "Mental note: do not tell Mari about this."
But while she saw toys and trinkets on numerous counters and tables, and even saw the top of the elevator itself, she couldn't find anyone. This time she wasn't nearly as willing to pretend that she had been mistaken.
"I'm going up there," she said. Maybe just to convince herself because the thought made her more than a little nervous. Taking a deep breath, she got up from the desk and strode out of the lost and found.
Natalie didn't know much about the room above the lobby. All she knew was what she saw in those brief glimpses from the camera, but there was on peculiar thing that only occurred to her now and that involved the glass skylight. Or what she thought was a skylight but was really more a glass dome into some kind of starry room. It was in the center of the ceiling, high above where it would've gone ignored.
Except that when Natalie sized up that elevator shaft with a tight frown, she caught a glimpse of something on that glass dome. Something standing in that dark room in the middle of the prize corner, mere steps from the elevator. She looked up at it and time seemed to stop as she realized what she was looking at.
It was white, slender, with crooked ears above its head and its hands pressed on the glass. It wasn't clear enough to make out more fine details. The whole thing a blur except for the vague silhouette illuminated by the light from below.
A rabbit shaped silhouette.
But Natalie knew from that one glimpse alone that it was not a rabbit. It had the shape of a human underneath that rounded head.
It stared down as she stared up, frozen on the spot with eyes wide and lips still tight. The feeling that struck her was unlike any she felt before. Seeing someone running around in a bunny suit should've been ridiculous, silly, goofy, but that was far from what she felt. There was something wrong with it and it filled her with a deep dread. The sickening realization that followed didn't help matters.
"That's what I saw on the stairs," she thought. That also fit what she heard upstairs. It had actually been something circling around her without her knowing. It had been in this lobby with her since she got there.
Just when she thought it couldn't get worse, it cocked its head and suddenly its eyes filled with a red glow. It wasn't anything too spectacular, just looking like a typical light-up Halloween mask, but something about seeing that light filled her tense stomach with stones. Like she was staring at something she wasn't supposed to, but it didn't last long.
Because the rabbit suddenly bowed out of sight and was gone. As though it had just dissolved into the darkness from whence it came, leaving her alone and unsafe, feeling like it could appear anywhere now.
She resisted the intense urge to make a break back for Rockstar Row to spend the rest of the night Freddy or Chica and instead turned and sprinted right back into the lost and found.
No chances this time. She locked the doors, blocked the doors with whatever boxes she had, and was on the cameras searching. She looked through the lobby first, then the Prize Counter, then the atrium, searching for any sign of the rabbit. She could find no trace, but it was while she was searching that she noticed that the cameras were working normally again.
Her hands were shaking at this point. It wasn't an animatronic, it was a human, but her gut feeling was telling her it wasn't human. She had never been afraid of an animatronic like this and still the rabbit scared her.
She continued searching the Pizzaplex, only pausing to look out the window and make sure it wasn't creeping down the stairs, then back to the cameras. Searching for any sign of life.
Until she found one. Except that it wasn't the rabbit that she found.
It was Freddy walking across the ground floor of the atrium followed by a figure dressed in black with a telltale red-orange mask.
"What? Wait, hold up," Natalie said, surprised. She angled to a better camera and zoomed in as best as she could to get a better look, though was now looking at the vandal's back.
It had to be the vandal too. It matched the description she heard, stalking closely behind Freddy with its head down. She estimated him a little shorter than her, wearing a hoodie with his hands shoved into the pouch and sweatpants. Something black and plasticky was wrapped around its feet, which she only noticed because it had gotten a little frayed by use. It almost looked like trash bag material. That mixed with that familiar striding gait made something click.
"Oh my God," Natalie said in utter exasperation. "Foxy!"
If she had any doubt, he started to quickly look around in paranoia. A twitchy, jerky sort of motion. Motions she recognized from a nervous Foxy. Not to mention that he was walking around with Freddy- no wonder Freddy was looking for him.
"He is so busted. I can't believe him," she grumbled. She watched as they walked out of the cameras line of sight, heading towards the snack bar area where she had been only a while earlier. Probably getting the same idea as Chica and going to raid the kitchen. She shook her head and clicked back to the lobby cameras, considering if it was worth taking off after him.
The urge died quickly. She had more important things to deal with than Foxy. She could- and would- tell the others tomorrow, but right now there was something much worse prowling around. At least he was with Freddy, she decided, though she did feel creeping worry settle in. She really hoped Freddy was a good guy.
As she was still searching for the rabbit, Freddy escorted Foxy all the way back into the storage area and right back to the vent. Foxy expected him to put up a fight about leaving, but Freddy stuck to his word and watched as he tossed in the backpack and began to climb inside.
"Captain," Freddy interrupted. The pirate stopped halfway into the vent. "I apologize, but there is something I must ask you. I did not want to ruin our time together, but I am afraid that I must know."
Foxy dropped his head with a huff. "Here it comes," he thought, expecting to be asked to stay. He pulled out his head from the vent. "Better ask while ye can. What izzit?"
"…Who is Afton?"
Foxy went rigid- thankful that he pulled himself out of the vent or he probably would've smacked his head on it. The name caught him off guard for a few seconds… until he remembered that he had written that name in his graffiti. Freddy had gotten the name from him. It didn't make the question any less uncomfortable, but it made it much less suspicious.
"Ya never heard that name?" Foxy asked.
"I am afraid I have not…" Freddy replied. His eyes glowed with curiosity. "Who were they?"
"He was a monster," Foxy answered, his voice low and heavy. The bear picked up on that solemn tone and decided not to ask further questions. Instead, he watched the pirate stare at the wall for a long moment before looking back. "Can I ask you something now?" he asked. "You don't have to answer it."
"Go right ahead! I will answer as best I can," Freddy willingly agreed.
"…Where'd you come from?" Foxy asked. The bear looked confused. "Take no offense. I mean only… Where? Ya couldn'ta just popped out of a clamshell."
"Why, I came from here, of course!" Freddy answered. Foxy shook his head.
"No, no, you ain't gettin' me," he said and then clarified further. "Before this place. Before this… thing got built. Ya came from somewhere."
"Err, no. I was built here," Freddy said. Foxy rolled his head back with exasperation until the other also clarified, "Underneath this facility are the production lines they used to build me. Such as Parts and Service, but not limited to."
This caught Foxy's attention and he thought about it for a long second, yellow eyes tracing along the floor. He remembered Marionette said there was a massive basement, so that made sense- that was also more than a little concerning, but he couldn't think of that right now. He nodded, satisfied with this answer but not done.
"Gotcha. 'Nother question if I may?" Foxy offered him a hand in gesture. Freddy gave him a high-five, almost as a reflex. The pirate stared at him for a long moment before recovering enough to continue. "You remember anything before that?"
"Before what?"
"From back down there. Before ye were Freddy."
"What? I… I am not certain… No, I couldn't. How could I remember something before I was… myself?" Freddy asked, suddenly recognizing the paradox.
"Guess ya can't… Forget it. I just be havin' some kinda… existential crisis. That's all," Foxy quickly excused. He looked at the ground for a long moment before asking, "Can ya keep this between us? What I said about Afton."
"Of course, but if you ever want to talk more about it then I will listen," Freddy offered. Foxy had to remind himself that the animatronic before him was especially lonely and trying any tactic to get him to stay. "…If you will come back."
"I'll be back," he said with defeat. He then began to climb back into the vent. "One o' these days. Don't get yerself locked up lookin' fer me."
"I will be very careful. You take care on your way to your pizzeria, Captain," Freddy said after him. He continued to peer into the vent as Foxy crawled away and waited until he couldn't hear him before leaving.
Foxy, meanwhile, had a lot on his mind. The situation at the Pizzaplex, Natalie's role, some kind of animatronic building facility, the Pizzaplex building and repairing its own animatronics, and his rival- his real-life Silver Fox- being too friendly and empathetic to even wish ill will towards. Though his thoughts on Freddy were aimed in a much different direction now, one that connected to that factory under the ground.
Animatronics were being built underneath Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex.
And Freddy only remembered being Freddy because he was fresh blood.
Needless to say, Natalie didn't do any more rounds that night. She only dared to leave the lost and found once to use the bathrooms in the daycare hallway, but she spent the entire time on high alert. Thankfully, the only thing waiting for her when she came out was a Staff Bot who then followed her out of the hall and began cleaning the floors outside the elevators. She felt unsafe and alone, and direly wished that morning would come.
Exhaustion crept in, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the night before. She wasn't sure if it was because of how long she slept today or because she was too hyper aware of her surroundings to relax, let alone sleep.
Yet as vigilant as she was, she didn't see the rabbit again. Not even when she swore she could hear it somewhere in the lobby. Not even when the cameras slowed to a crawl.
In the last minutes before she could leave, Natalie made her way carefully up the stairs and into the Faz-Pad kitchen. Making sure the door was shut and secure, she carefully crouched down, back to the corner instead of either door, and reached with her fingers for the knife.
Her heart sunk when she found that it was no longer there. She got out of the kitchen quickly and started watching her back even closer. When six came, she immediately clocked out and made her way to the doors. She only looked back once before getting in her car and driving away.
Natalie let herself into the house and started making her way inside when she realized she wasn't the only one awake. Fritz was sitting on the couch, shutting off the tv and leaning his head over the back when he heard her come in.
"Hey," he greeted with a warm, tired smile. He must've set an alarm because he hadn't been up long. She smiled at him, but it must've not been convincing as his own faltered. "What's wrong?"
"Just… Hold on." She set down her things on the table, pulled off her hat, and kicked off her shoes behind the couch before circling around to sit beside him. It was clear that she was tense. She laid back into her couch, but her motions seemed delayed, as though she was nervous. He could tell immediately that she was stressed but was glad she wasn't as tired as the night before.
"I didn't get to see you in uniform last night. It looks great on you," Fritz said, trying to ease the tension. It worked a little, getting a tired smile out of the blond.
"Oh yeah? I'm hoping you didn't only agreed to me getting this job to see me in it," she lightly teased.
"It wasn't to wrangle up tipsy robots all night," Fritz retorted. He hated doing it when he got a smile out of her, but he returned to his concerns. "How'd tonight go?"
The look on her face said it all. The way she blankly stared ahead as she recounted the night in her head was all he needed to see to know something had gone wrong. He reached out to take her hand, triggering her to take a deep breath.
"It went… Bad," she confessed. "It started off okay and it went downhill so fast that I…" She took a shaky breath and stared off at the coffee table before steeling herself enough to look him in the eyes. "Fritz."
"Nat?"
"There was someone in a bunny costume stalking me all night," she said. He had a slow look of shock appear on his face. "It wasn't an animatronic. I thought that at first, but the way it was shaped, the way its footsteps sounded- it wasn't. It was someone wearing a costume… I think I might've been a woman. The shape kind of looked like it." She cut off to make a cupping motion with her hand. "Not that I could see much when she was thirty feet above me."
As lost as Fritz was looking, that look of fear had never left his face. "Did she do anything?" he asked.
"She threatened me with a knife, sort of. She left a knife out in the open for me to find and then came back and got it after I tried to hide it… But I got the message loud and clear. If her circling me like a vulture wasn't clear enough," Natalie muttered. She sat there a long moment before adding, "I think we have a problem."
"We have a huge problem," Fritz agreed. He sounded nearly as shaken as she did, though for different reasons. Not that the prospect of someone running around in a bunny suit wasn't terrifying enough, but that wasn't the only thing he was worried about. He pulled her into a hug, which Natalie gladly accepted. Her hands tightly clutching to his back.
"We'll figure this out," he promised, already planning on getting ahold of a taser for her to smuggle in.
"Yeah…" Natalie trailed off for a second. Leaving them sitting quietly in the dark living room. "…I should've warned Foxy."
"We can warn him tomorrow," Fritz assured. Only then recognizing the oddness of the comment. "Why Foxy?"
"Because if he's going to be over there hanging with Freddy he needs to know to watch out."
"What do you… Oh, okay. I just caught up," he said, exasperation creeping into his voice. "We'll deal with that tomorrow too. Nobody's going to be up yet… Except maybe Foxy."
"And I've had enough of Foxy," Natalie finished. She slowly drew back with a sigh, resting her head on her hand for a moment before reaching back to pull her hair down. "Let's go to bed."
"Okay," Fritz agreed. He guided her out of the living room with a protective hand on her back and tried not to dwell on how unsettled he was. They could deal with it and the morning, and with how serious this was, they would be.
Neither of them realized that Chance had been standing on the landing of the basement stairs.
He hadn't meant to listen in. The plan was to walk upstairs and welcome Natalie home after her ordeal, then let her sleep and get answers tomorrow. He knew how tough this job was, even though he was biting at the bit ever since they had told him about the living animatronics in the Pizzaplex he still wanted to support the woman who had been supporting him.
It was an accident to come in when she was talking about the rabbit, and he had been so stunned he stayed frozen on the landing. He hadn't even found his voice when they got up to leave, he just continued standing there thinking about what this could mean for all of them.
He hoped it was a copycat. He really, really did. It would still be a nightmare, but he would take anything over the real deal.
Thank goodness Henry wasn't here to see this.