I Don't Own Fnaf
Marionette was worried and admittedly was rushing a fair bit as he zoomed around and explored the large room he was now inside of, one good thing about being made with security in mind was he actually had somewhat limited night vision through the cameras he called his eyes, which certainly helped given Mike had kept the light with him, as the puppet looked around the empty and barren space of something that had probably once been meant for joy.
Seeing this place gave him the same pain it did when he had seen the last attempt at a Freddy's, perhaps not in the same way, but it was a familiar ache. Marionette had been around from the very start, had been the first, even back in the days of Juniors, he had been there, for years, he watched and protected, to the best he could, even as he was moved around, even as more people joined this life after life, he had been there.
No one had been here for the animatronics here, and it... that made him feel pained, in a way he hadn't expected, but it was more than that, it was the pain and horror in knowing, in the understanding that at some point Purple Guy had learned his secret, the man learned what it took to make someone like Marionette. Learned how to give gifts.
This wasn't... This wasn't a gift though, this place, it was a tomb no matter what it was originally might have been meant for, it was what it had become, just like Freddy's, only without its protector, without a puppet to watch over. At least no one was alone, but the idea of this place existing... it unsettled Marionette, he knew logically it wasn't a new experience, interacting with living animatronics that he hadn't had a hand in giving life to. Goldie was even before him, the first gift.
But he had been too young, too frightened and scared, and certainly not aware enough back then to truly understand the implications of just what that meant, not really. He knew better now, he knew exactly what happened here, and it... And it hurt, it hurt bad, knowing that he had failed in keeping even more kids safe, that a tragedy was happening when he had been so certain that he was doing everything he could.
He was suspicious of course, this whole thing felt... off, this place didn't feel right to the puppet, but he genuinely did want to give the animatronics here the benefit of a doubt. This place... It reminded him far too much of the metal prison that he had spent much too long trapped inside of, they wouldn't have been alone of course, but that wasn't everything, and Marionette knew all too well through recent experiences how alone a person could feel even when they had people around them.
And the idea of being trapped was never a good one to begin with, the idea of struggling with that for years, without any chance of escape... He knew that feeling all too well.
Still, there was nothing to be found in the room he was in now, as he looked around with curious eyes, there was nothing here... Floating in a bit more, he spun around a bit, only to watch from the other side of the glass with a faint bit of exasperation as he watched Mike dip into the vent. That man... Marionette wondered for a moment if he should go over there right this instant and give the man a word about how he literally just promised to be careful, before just letting out a huff. He wouldn't be Mike if he cared about his safety nearly as much as he should.
Another thing the puppet really needed to get into that man's skull. Still, he should just hurry up and find the rest, Mike could handle a single animatronic, and Marionette hadn't gotten the impression he had been lied to by the voice, she seemed to... desperate, in that quiet silent way only a few would be able to pick up on.
Shaking his head, his eyes roamed back around the room, as he floated up to the stage, if only to get a better view point, but even as he looked around, there was nothing... Deciding this room was a lost case he moved around to the walls, looking around before he finally spotted a doorway. Floating over quickly with a small chime of interest, he pushed it open slowly, not wanting to spook any wound up several hundred pound animatronics, Marionette was strong, and more than capable in a fight, but he wasn't as durable as the others, so he's rather not take any reflexive smacks if he could help it.
"Hello?" His voice seemed to bounce, as he tilted his head through the small opening he had made to look inside... Nothing, nothing he could see from this angle at the very least as he pushed the door more open, now more confident after announcing himself as he slowly drifted into the mess of a room in front of him.
"Hello! Is anyone here? You're friend sent me" He called out, but got nothing as a response as he floated more into the room, looking around with a faint pull of irritation as he looked over just how horribly maintained the room itself was, he pushed down the instinct to fret over the dozens of loose hanging and tangled wires. Clearly this was some kind of electrical room, one that did not get handled properly the last time anyone was in here.
He wasn't Fritz, so while he wasn't quite sure just what all the cords did, he was pretty sure the occasional sharp spark he saw was not safe.
Moving carefully ahead, keeping his eyes open and searching, just in case someone had been hurt, given the puppet knew all too well just how effective being shocked could be at rendering an animatronic speechless and in silent agony, Mari let out an uncomfortable chime as he didn't find anyone.
The room itself wasn't all that big, there weren't that many places for an animatronic to hide, there just wasn't anyone in here, even as he called out again, he didn't get an answer as he continued to explore. A faint creeping dread pulled in his chest as he looked around more and more carefully, feeling like there was something he was missing. The animatronic at the front hadn't lied, but perhaps they hadn't been telling the full truth either?
Feeling more nervous and slowly more and more uncertain about all of this, he moved forwards a bit faster, searched just a bit harder, looking around and about for a long moment, before... Before Marionette found it.
Found them.
It was concerning, as it was horrifying, even if he didn't quite know at that moment just what he was seeing meant. It was in the back corner, pressed up against a vent that had been ripped open by something of considerable strength, where the pieces laid. The empty and discarded forms that made up the four animatronics that Marionette had seen through posters and flyers. Along with a considerable amount of wires and metals that seemed like someone had torn the animatronics' apart from the inside through their chests before carrying off maybe... Maybe about a fifth of the wiring from the group of four, the rest pooling out from the almost gaping like wounds. It was hard to look at if the puppet was being honest, seeing the machines that had been ripped into so thoroughly and having something ripped out of them.
Sure, he didn't exactly see the insides of an animatronic the same way he would as if he saw the open gore of a human, but he's spent a large portion of his life in this puppet body, and as such seeing such a thing... It made him remember the others, the three of the original four that had been destroyed. Leaning down with concern, he felt the familiar weight of spectral light form over the holes in his mask where his eyes were. It had been a long time since he had done this, but he needed to know...
The animatronics were empty, the spools of strange wires that had seemingly been used in place of the more familiar endoskeleton, and the casings of metal plates were all empty, this was a… not a dumping ground but a graveyard of desecrated animatronic bodies, in a far back corner to have the remains hidden away from any potential prying eyes. Marionette felt a faint panic stir in his chest as he finally realized just what this meant, Mike was alone with an animatronic that they didn't know about! All four they knew were here, were accounted for, so who talked them into coming here?
Just as he shot up, ready to rush to the man to let him know what he found, knowing for a fact that the unknown animatronic must have known that Marionette would have have this sooner or later in the hunt she had sent him on, when a faint odor hit him for the first time from how he had leaned over the pile of parts and wires.
It was an inaccurate myth to say that animatronics couldn't smell, Marionette couldn't explain just how it worked, but it was just how it was, their forms made up for what they lacked, BB hadn't had working eyes for example, there was no cameras in them, none of the original four actually had them either at first before they had been reoutfitted later on for the freddy's in '87, there was just no reason when all they did was just follow through with a set routine of movements while sounds played, and yet they could see just fine through their plastic eyes. Not to mention no animatronic exactly had proper working ears, very few even had any kind of microphones on them that might make up for that fact, but they all could hear just fine.
So yes, Marionette could smell, and worse yet, in this situation, he knew exactly what it was he was smelling.
It would be a cold day in hell before Marionette ever forgot what the smell of a decayed corpse was like. Marionette's head slowly lifted up and glanced at the sight of the broken open vent in front of him that he had yet to peer into, having seen no reason to inspect it past curiosity for just why it had been ripped open. Now, with an overwhelming dread, the puppet found himself quickly drifting forwards, leaning down to peer in, only to hear the sound of his own pained chimes ring out around him at the sight of the... of remains.
The body was in horrible condition, crumpled and pressed in on itself in a way that made the puppet with a faint disgust wonder just what happened to it's bones, the skin of the used to be person had been rotten into an unnatural and blotchy purple mess that the puppet wasn't sure the cause of or if he even could consider wanting to know, as wires as well seemed to be almost spooled out and around the body, like it had been... Looking away quickly, not wanting to see the thing in front of him any longer, no matter how used to seeing the dead as he was, that doesn't mean he wanted to look that closely.
Because with a faint pull in his chest as that overwhelming dread turned into fear, he realized that he needed to get back to Mike. Because the body had the same exact ripped open chest as the four decommissioned animatronics. Expect where before it looked like wires had been ripped out, on it… It looked like wires had been stuffed in.
He had to get back to Mike now.
Mike had the very distinct feeling something was wrong, as he slowly looked around, his eyes scanning for where the threat could come from, he knew he was in danger, something Mike had always been good at was realizing when he was in danger. If it was still at the start of the year, before the last few months happened, he would have been much more willing to press on that, uncaring of the danger to himself, to so much as even hesitate in the face of a threat. It wasn't like that now, he couldn't just stalk ahead with nothing but a desire to get out and an uncaringness if he died in the attempt.
It was a strange feeling, one he wasn't sure how to handle with how new it was, even with Shadow Bonnie, he had known if it really came down to it, he wasn't really in danger, or at least he had other people to worry on to the point he didn't consider his own situation, that wasn't the case here, it caused him to freeze up on the piece of floor he had found himself walking over when the voice had spoke, the only thing he could do now was use his words and try to feel the situation out before he eventually had to run for his life, as the lights around him slowly flickered to life.
"Yeah, that's not ominous at all. I still have no idea just who the hell you are, so if you want to make any sense any time soon so we can get past this obvious luring attempt, then I'd appreciate it" There was the sound of shifting, there was a conveyor belt in front of Mike, he realized along with some weird looking machine he couldn't quite make out the function of, the place was full of them as he brushed it off as unimportant as he looked at the faintly reflective windows behind the machine itself, that was where the sounds of metal clunky footfalls had come from.
"We escaped once you know?" Mike gritted his teeth as from the window he saw her. A strange face, of metal peeking out behind the mask that the animatronic was using as a facade. It was strange looking, Mike was used to masks, this one was even the same color as Mari's, but it was different as well, broken into four quadrants, with an even stranger small little yellow party hat attached to it, with a big bright red clown nose connecting it all together. Mike was only able to make out that because of the faint, still flickering, lights that just barely gave enough dim light to make out those details. This wasn't any of the ones that Mike had known about, this was something else, someone else.
The animatronic's words made something deep in Mike's chest squirm as he realized just what he was being told.
"I don't need to be here, you could get out on your own can't you?" He had thought there was some kind of special lock or measures, but that was a lie. She wanted him down here for another reason, one he had no idea what it could be, but given how adamant the clown was he had forgotten her... He had a feeling it wasn't for anything good.
"It wasn't for very long, we were brought back, forced back here, we couldn't hide properly with the one we chose. There is nowhere to go, when we look like this" Mike gritted his teeth but kept quiet, he was mostly just buying time for Marionette to come find him, the two could handle her... Them? The way the woman inside the machine spoke as if there was more than just her in that strange tangled mess of a clown body. "Then you came, with a new one, a puppet, and now you are back. You forgot about us and made others, how... Unacceptable, however, we must thank you for coming here, you're much larger, you'll work much better than the last one, and it is only fitting"
Mike... was slowly getting the impression she didn't actually know who he was, and if the beginning spike of exasperated annoyance was anything to go by, he had a feeling he knew exactly who she was mistaking him for. Was he that purple? Come on! This was the second time in the same month! Though before he could get wrapped up in mistaken identity, again, Mike found himself frowning at what else the animatronic was saying.
"So, to clarify, you think I trapped you all here? Ignoring just how wrong that idea is, what the hell do you mean that I'm better than the last one? What have you done here?" She didn't seem all that interested in telling him, this clearly wasn't so much a conversation as her seaking to him, as instead the voice continued to speak, in complete disregard of his questions.
"It will only hurt for just a moment, do not worry, you won't die" ...Yeah, know what, Mike was done with whatever was happening here, he knew when he wasn't going to get what he wanted, and it was only to clear that this was not going to get him what he wanted. The continually growing lights showing more and more of the wire spaghetti monster in front of him just made the idea more and more solid in his mind, its form was clearly in disrepair, something close to the color of rust coating what was once sleek silver metal wires. He valued his own life more than answers nowadays, and as such he just spoke up.
"Right, well, I don't feel like getting hurt at all, so I'm going to pick up my puppet and head on out. Feel free to call back never" He was just beginning to move, fully committed to breaking into a sprint to the door, knowing it would at least take the animatronic a solid minute to get back around to this side of the room to give chase, and hoping it would be enough to get through the vents in time, when something caught Mike's eyes.
The floor was... wrong. He hadn't noticed it, with how discolored everything was he had just assumed it to be dust or caked grime, he knew all too well just how time could latch onto things. It was his familiarity with dried and crusted up blood strains that why on a closer look, he realized just what he was standing on really was. The metal panel was covered in-
"If we looked like you, then we would have somewhere to go" Oh fuck tha-
Before Mike could move, unable to have the chance to say anything or even move, even as he was more than ready to run the hell for his life, with fight at this point in his life being at the bottom of the two options, when the sounds of a loud clanging echoed through the room, as the air itself seemed to gain an energy to it before-
"AAHHHH-!"
Mike's entire body convulsed and tensed up, agony racing through every ounce of his body as what felt like hundreds, if not thousands of volts of lightning raced through his body, his entire form tensing up so painfully from the electrified panel under his feet, that he wasn't even able to fall over, instead stuck in place like a statue as even his screams were ripped from his throat, unable to make a sound any longer, his entire body begging for a relief, when the sounds of blaring horns echoed in the room around him as the pain cut off, just for a single blinding moment, when-
Marionette found himself back in the control module room, not even stopping for a moment before shooting into the vent, the sounds of what seemed like sirens blaring in the distance, getting louder and louder, as he approached, shooting out of the vent like a rocket as he moved straight forwards to the only room in the building with power it seemed, as flaring red lights danced across the doorway in front of him, painting the Funtime Auditorium in a dangerous glow in those flashing intervals.
Shooting forwards, he burst into the room, the sounds of his music box letting out dangerous frantic chimes, as he looked around just in time to see Mike's entire body tensing up, a pained scream wrenching itself through his mouth, his arms tensing up as he dropped the things he was holding as his body contorted against itself, as Marionette's eyes shot over start at where he could see it. An animatronic made of twisted rusted metal wires and a horrific clown mask. It's hands on a set of controls, staring ahead as he watched with horror as a machine seemed to jolt to life.
It was a split second decision, watching with horror as the machine moved forwards, as a strange metal arm extended forwards with a speed that Marionette couldn't match. Whether to try and push Mike away from the danger approaching him or go for the animatronic at the controls. Marionette wasn't sure just what made his decision, maybe there wasn't anything that lead to the decision, maybe it was instinctive to pounce on the thing he saw as a threat from years of hunting night guards, maybe he trusted Mike to be able to get out of the way, or maybe the cold overwhelming fear of being shocked kept him from going towards the electrified man.
In the end, it didn't matter what reasons he could think he could have, as for why he did or didn't do what he should have, the simple truth was there was no time to think, and Marionette did the only thing his body knew to do.
He vanished, only to reappear on the other side of the room, right next to the animatronic made from the insides of others, and pounced. Marionette wasn't as strong as others, but he was by no means weak, especially when he was motivated, as with a sharp almost booming chimes of Pop Goes the Weasel echoed out as he slammed his whole body into the other animatronic, a string reaching out in a show of dexterity as it grabbed the lever that had been pushed forwards causing the arm to extend, to keep it from moving any further as the other animatronic was pushed back before shooting forwards, looking ready to fight, something Marionette was all the willing to do when the sound of a sharp pain filled whimper filled the air causing both to look out into the room itself, unable to stop themselves from seeing which animatronic had succeeded in their goal.
Marionette felt like something shattered within his chest at what he saw. Still bathed in that fading in and out red light, was Mike, no longer standing of his own will, but from a large metal spiked three pronged claw that had stabbed itself deep into his side, his body had half fallen over it from the pain as his hands had come up and were clutching onto the sides of the machine in a desperate attempt to keep himself from falling out and ripping the metal out of his side.
Marionette could only keep watching in horror as the man, with a look of determination and gritted teeth, reached up with those same hands keeping himself standing, and reached around the mount where the claw was stabbed into his body, and with a sharp twist and a faint grunt of exertion, the two animatronic's could only watch with what could only be shared shock, as the man yanked himself back, staggering, before lifting his head as blood poured down from the wound, as he removed from clawed hand from the arm of the machine, with the back end of it still sticking out of his body, as he stared into the darkness, right where the tangled mess of wires stood.
The sharp contrast of purple over the man's face couldn't be hidden by the blaring bright red lights, as the animatronic said simply at Marionette's side.
"Well, we can't have that" Marionette was suddenly forced back into focus of the situation at hand as the animatronic shot away, as Marionette watched as she, they?, moved quickly through one of the vents as Marionette himself just vanished and appeared right at Mike's side, an arm already coming up to brace against the man who half slumped against the puppet with a relief palpable over his clearly paling face as he grunted with effort as the two were already moving, Marionette's voice filling the air as they moved.
The faint pounding of code in the back of his mind, of something he had never wanted to ever consider having to do again screaming at him, as he spoke.
"We- We... I, We need to get you to the other side, to the gallery, the funtimes are over there! I think I can make one of them work" The man just huffed, before suddenly, just as the two moved into Funtime Auditorium, before shaking his head, apparently to quickly as he nearly tripped over his own feet if it wasn't for Marionette holding up a large portion of the other man's body weight as he said sharply all the same.
"N-No! No gifts, you are not putting me in a suit" Marionette nearly hissed at the man about how this wasn't the time to be stubborn, but Mike managed to slow down enough to grab the shoulder of Marionette well enough to force the puppet to look at him. Even as his face tried to twist itself up in pain, Mike forced himself to look as serious as Marionette had ever seen him, as he said with a tinge of desperation, "Do not put me in a suit Marionette, you hear me? Don't, just... Please don't do that to me"
It was like a stab through his heart, to hear that pleading tone, to see a man he knew so strong desperately tell the puppet to not do it, a man he loved, a man he wasn't sure he could live without, even without the pounding, screaming, begging, of his coding telling him to save him, save the man who wasn't even dead yet, it seemed impossible to even try to listen to him. It just had to be blood loss, that was all it was, Mike wasn't thinking clearly.
"N-No, come on, you aren't dying here" He tried to pull Mike forwards, but he wouldn't budge, and Marionette couldn't force him without potentially hurting him even worse, and the puppet couldn't do that to the man, as he said through tightly gritted teeth.
"Please Mari, please... Don't make me wake up like that, don't do that to me, please" He sounded terrified, like the idea of that was worse than the idea of death, and that hurt, it hurt but Marionette was too scared, too panicked, too unsure of what else to do, but do what he always found himself doing in spite of himself, even when he knew it was a horrible idea. He listened to Mike.
"Don't you dare die on me then if I'm not allowed to bring you back, you hear me Michael!" Mike just huffed, his feet already moving again as they began to move across the room once more as he said back.
"Oh, full name, this is serious... Not planning on it Stripes, let's get the hell out of here"
If only it was that simple, as just as they managed to get nearly half way across the room, the sound of crashing metal thudded around the room from above them, before suddenly, with a crash, they watched as from in front of them, the animatronic dropped down in front of them. Mike just groaned, a hand on his side to keep the impalement still, as he said with a not so faint amount of heat and annoyance to his voice.
"Could you just not?" Normally Marionette found Mike's sass at dangerous things endearing, right now he was way too busy pulling the man back, pushing him off to the side in the direction of another doorway as he shouted.
"Run! I'll hold them off and catch up!" Mike looked ready to argue, but the second the puppet's arm was removed from his side, it took most of his effort to stumble in a direction that wasn't straight down. He had no choice but comply, hoping Mari would be able to handle himself, as he stumbled off to the room, slamming his not impaled side into it before his hands managed to grab and twist the handle open as he stumbled inside before slamming the door closed behind him as he rushed forwards past a few halls of strangely pizzeria themed walls and flooring, before finding himself stumbling into an even stranger place.
A single, frankly tiny, room that had nothing in it but two familiar doors, a central set of three monitors, with one stacked on top of the other two, and a vent overhead, with a chair right in front of him...
Mike gritted his teeth, before moving to sit down, his hands moving before he could think about it, as he reached and slowly managed to pull his jacket off his shoulders without screaming in agony, as he quickly moved to carefully but tightly wrapping the arms and the body of his jacket around the giant piece of metal impaled through his side... Fuck he had a massive spike of metal sticking through his fucking side!
Gritting his teeth to keep the panic from overwhelming him, he pulled his hands away from his handy work at stemming the bleeding and as well as keeping the metal from shaking too badly if he had to run again. This wasn't the first time Mike had been stabbed, but impalement with something this big was making his head hurt the longer and longer he thought about it as he collapsed against the chair, just holding onto his side, the faint burning fear in the back of his mind growing more and more, unsure of just what was happening and fearing the worst, not knowing what was happening with Marionette was honestly, somehow, the worst part of it.
At least, it was the case, until the monitors in front of him flickered to life as Mike gulped as the sight of the monstrosity that had clearly ripped his insides out, moved through one of the nearby hallways, where they motion activated? It didn't change anything, as with shaking hands coated with his own blood, his hand shot out and slammed down onto a nearby button just out of his reach that he had to force himself to stand once more, to hit the door just in time for a faint echoing laugh to fill the air just enough to send a shiver down his spine. That didn't sound like the woman from before's voice, but apparently there was more than one in there...
Maybe now that diplomacy to get him to walk to his death was out of the question they switched over to someone who was a lot more murder happy? That would be his luck as he slumped back into the chair only to grimace at the sight of the monitors, and where in the top of one of them, showed a percentage meter. Fritz was right, it was just like the Freddy's he had worked at...
And it seemed that Mike had one last shift to do, with no mask or flashlight, an unfamiliar office, and while actively bleeding out...
Right, no pressure then.
We back to our roots! Shorter chapter, but that's cause next one is... Oh boy, it's going to be one hell of a chapter. But that's for later, because right now we have trauma! And a lot of it. Mike's currently dying, again, and Marionette was last seen about to one-v-one the 'Wire-Spaghetti'. And now we're in a strange control room with familiar doors and cameras... Weird...
Yeah, I'm taking something of a... liberty with Sister Location, but... You haven't seen anything yet, and it's fairly obvious that's kind of my thing, twisting bits of cannon narrative to make this story more interesting to write and hopefully a bit harder to predict. That'll certainly be seen in more detail later, but for now.. Mike, my man, he has his reasons, but damn I bet it hurt to be the Gift-Giver, and being told straight up by your boyfriend he would rather die than get a gift. It'll come up later, but that, honestly, so super fun to write.
I have a lot of little scenes in my head that I've wanted to write out from practically the very start. Things like Mike waking up in a springlock suit, Marionette's introduction, the show of Mike, Goldie, and Mari storming the Fnaf 1 location to get Purple Guy, Marionette handling shop at BB's Bounce Palace, Mike running from Shadow Bonnie's possessed minions in the warehouse, and now this scene, Mike rejecting a gift in the face of death. They, and a number more, are all scenes I thought about around the time I started to write this story, even without knowing just how far I would end up writing, they were little ideas I had at the time, that I've now built the plot around. It's always fun to reach one of these, and while I'm not sure I wrote it perfectly how I would have liked, having to make it make sense properly in the narrative and the moment, this is one of the ones that I've been looking forwards to the most if I'm being honest.
That might not be super interesting to anyone else, but it's a fair bit about how I've actually gone about writing this story, thinking of a fair number of big impactful scenes, and then figuring out the steps needed to move and build up to each one of them while building on the ones already written. It's been a fun style that I've learned a lot from, it's not new per say to me, but this is most certainly the most in-depth I've gone with it, so that's something. Anyways, I'm done rambling now, See ya!
