I Don't Own Fnaf
Jeremy could feel the tension rip through the air as they had the stare off with the mess of wires tangled and over themselves, more a blob of piping than any animatronic that he was used to, but still apparently the animatronic that had hurt one of his friends so horribly, he could feel the echoing fear radiating off of Janet, that panic that was still nowhere near gone, only slightly dimmed from being removed from whatever it was that had caused her such fear. The panic radiating off Mari, the anger off of Goldie and Foxy, the blinding concern of Fritz...
And the unmistakable terror pooling out of the animatronic in front of them. It was startling, but Jeremy did his best to ignore it as the wires in front of them all shifted and slowly, unsteadily began to try and rise up into some kind of shape, everyone tensing, unsure about just what was going to happen next, when finally the wires spoke, their voice unlike what had been described, not being that of a young woman's, but a crackling high pitched man's voice.
"W-w-well hello again!" The voice was loud and boisterous, it contrasted with the uncertainty and fear rolling off in such strange mix of so many emotions, that it really just hammered home for Jeremy that there was more than one animatronic in front of him, it was a mixed mess of feelings, honestly to the point it was getting harder and harder to figure out just what they were feeling the longer he spent focusing on them. It was very strange, even as Mike, with that same confident bravado he always held, stepped forwards like his hands weren't lightly trembling, his voice stronger than Jeremy's would have been.
"We were just leaving, got any problems with that?" The man's voice held a dangerous lit to it that made something cold roll itself down Jeremy's spine, but maybe that was because of the faint riding wave of terror that rolled through Ennard. It felt impossible to think of before now, but... But it seemed almost as if Ennard was more scared of Mike than Mike was of Ennard.
What had happened the last time they had been down there to get such a reaction from someone they had mortally injured?
"N-Nope! Just seeing what-t the commotion was all about!" Mike made to move, nodding over to Fritz who was still supporting Janet, as the two began to move, in a wide circle around the animatronic, Mari suddenly next to Mike, hovering dangerously close to the man, as Jeremy had been ready to follow, in spite of the knot that was beginning to form in his chest, when the animatronic spoke up again, "W-wait! W-why the rush!"
The animatronic was panicking, it made Jeremy nervous, even as he found himself being the one to speak, knowing even without needing to feel it for himself, Mike's rising temper.
"We need to get Janet up top, it's important" Jeremy wasn't still sure why, but he trusted that Mike knew what he was talking about, even as Mike snipped onto the end, his voice tense but still in control.
"She got the nightmare treatment" The reaction was instantaneous, the entire pile of wires that was half raised up flinched, the tremor rushing through the entire animatronic's frame, each wire whipping around in a look that reminded Jeremy of the few times he's seen snakes getting in fights either each other. It was incredibly unnerving, as the animatronic let out a low, long static hissing sound. Mike seemed to hold no pity, saying blandly, "Glad to see you have some level of empathy. We're leaving, try and do anything and I-"
Ennard cut the man off.
"I-I won't! W-we're not like that anymore! Promise! A-Are you all leaving?" Jeremy found himself speaking again, he wished he could keep himself silent.
"Why? Do you want to talk?" Mike shot the man a disbelieving look, but Jeremy couldn't help it, as instead he just waited on an answer, as Ennard, who on closer look had a number of eyes in the pile of wires, all slowly moved away from Mike to look at Jeremy. It was somehow even more creepy than it sounded, as Jeremy tried to not let his instant regret show even as the animatronic spoke.
"We want out of here"
"Not happening, I've reached my quota for missing internal organs, see you never" Mike clearly didn't care about keeping the talk going, as he ushered for them all to get moving, Fritz was more than willing, leading Janet out, as the animatronics began to follow the man's lead, while Jeremy was stuck staring ahead at the wires that were still looking at him, he could feel the fear creeping back in, but it was different, it... It wasn't from one of them, it was from the idea of being left down here.
Jeremy really needed to figure out how to stopping the bleeding in his heart, because he knew what he was about to do was stupid, he knew better than what he was going to do, but the others couldn't feel what he was feeling, couldn't understand the depth of the well of emotions in front of them, couldn't recall conversations with the others on his side of the fence about the idea of redemption.
In that moment Jeremy wasn't thinking about what this animatronic had done, he was only able to think about how unnerving and cold the walls around him felt, about the things that they knew this animatronic must have gone through, about the kids that had once been in those suits, about his conversation with Mari, about how even if the puppet and Mike couldn't truly give the animatronic a shot in this moment that didn't mean he and the others wouldn't in their steed.
It was stupid, it was a decision made purely out of his own guilt with his own thoughts and memories of Mangle, of the last few months of pain he couldn't hope to relieve from his closest of friends, it was so many things, and in the end, it was enough for him to keep speaking.
"If you want I can stay down here, only for a little while, but I feel like we still have a few things to talk about" Jeremy could feel the way everyone was staring at him, he tried to not squirm, even as Mike said, his voice firming up.
"Yeah, not happening, come on Jeremy" Jeremy did not like the way that Mike sounded way too much like a scolding parent. As he turned and just gave the man a look, Mike just matched it unwavering for a long moment, before his eyes shifted to look at Ennard, who still hadn't done anything, his face twisting up in uncomfortableness for just a moment, before he finally said, "Fine" Mike's hand moved to the side to Mari who was still hovering right at his side, the puppet let out a sharp chime for a moment, as the two caught themselves in a staring contest for a long moment, before the animatronic finally gave an slowly nod.
Before Jeremy knew it, Mari was moving over towards him, and without seemingly any word from the others, Goldie moved as well joining him, while Foxy just followed after Fritz and Mike, Janet being too important to get out of there than to risk starting an argument. Jeremy wasn't sure how he felt about that, but he just gulped and turned his attention to Ennard, and managed to say without too much nerves in his voice.
"We tried to help you before, but you refused it... You hurt Mike instead, really badly" Mari let out a low chime at his side, as Ennard flinched back, harshly, a bubble of something rushing forwards as the animatronic barked out angrily.
"H-He hurt us just as much!" Before their entire body seemed to flinch back as in another tone completely the same voice said almost desperately, "We didn't want to, it didn't work the first time, so we knew it wouldn't work now! It was her! It was her plan!" Jeremy had almost stumbled back and the other two nearly moved forwards at the first bout of anger, but then they kept talking and Jeremy just shifted a bit before saying carefully.
"A-and who is she?" Ennard twitched, almost violently, before rushing out, the high pitched voice glitching out at parts.
"Baby! I-it's all her fault! She was so b-b-bossy! W-we d-didn't get t-t-to do anything! It was all her!" Jeremy felt something twist in his gut at the rolling emotions coming from the animatronic in front of him, it was... incredibly difficult to tell if they were lying or not, there was just to much happening in one spot to try and pull the meaning from them beyond the broad feelings of anger and betrayal that the entirety of the animatronic seemed to roll off it's wired body.
"And where is she now? She's not with you anymore right?" Jeremy nearly jumped at Mari's voice, it was... cautious, and a lot more firm than he nearly had ever heard from the animatronic, the normal almost musical quality to it fading to nothing making him sound so much more serious. Ennard answered quickly, sounding almost gleeful.
"She's gone! A-after we got all chopped! W-we didn't want her anymore! Bye-bye Baby! HAHAHA!" The chills the sudden breaking laughter caused to roll down Jeremy's spine wasn't a little amount, as he just gulped, before saying carefully as the laughter trailed off.
"Even if that's the case... You still helped hurt someone, and you've done worse to others... But you want to leave? Are you sure that's a good idea" That cut off any of the almost manic humor the animatronic seemed to have still, as the wire pile stilled almost completely, the eyes that were inside the mask focusing on Jeremy directly while the others slowly shifted and rolled around.
"It wasn't our fault" The answer held none of the energy that the animatronic was holding before now, the constant switching of moods was playing harshly on Jeremy's head, even as Goldie spoke up for the first time, with none of the kindness or understanding that Jeremy was at least trying to reach for.
"You let it happen, you just went along with Circus Baby until it stopped being convenient, why the hell should we even entertain the notion you're nothing but a parasite wanting another chance to climb aboard someone on the outside for a ride" That finally got a reaction, Ennard's whole body twisted and writhed for a moment at the mention of just what their plan was for Mike, and Jeremy felt the waves of revulsion, desperation, and need flood through them, along with anger, as the wires lifted up as the animatronic roared.
"We're trapped! We just want out, we don't want to be down here, can you blame us?!" Goldie didn't even flinch, his entire body instead lurching forwards, like he was holding himself from moving forwards and wringing the neck of the wires, as he spoke quietly but with an intensity that Jeremy hadn't heard in a long time now.
"You killed my brother, I don't care what you say" Ennard flinched back, suddenly, as if hit, and for a moment Jeremy was worried the bear had done something, but then the feeling of shock flooded out from the animatronic, along with a crackling laugh.
"Ha! G-G-Good one! He's pretty spry for a dead guy!" Goldie just kept talking.
"No thanks to you" Mari chimed in next.
"You hurt him, and you ask us for help when we were already willing to give it before, you've wasted your chance as far as I'm concerned" Ennard was twitching more and more, and Jeremy was getting worried that the animatronic would be able to try something, instead they just continued to talk, though the 'patience' was beginning to slip and the desperation was beginning to grow from them.
"S-so that's it? Why are you here then? Why come back to this place?"
"Parts and answers, neither of which we need you for" Jeremy wasn't comfortable with how cold Goldie was being, nor how seemingly alright Mari was being with this level of aggression. As he finally spoke again, turning to look at the bear.
"Come on, they could still know something" The bear just huffed, unconvinced, as Jeremy just sighed before turning back to Ennard, "You said Circus Baby separated from you right? Where is she now? Is there any others here that we should know about?" That was the reason they had come back after all, at the end of the day, they were here to see if there was any others that were trapped down here, ones that hadn't done anything wrong to make helping them a moral dilemma.
Ennard just grew silent, something that set a seed of worry in the center of Jeremy's chest, Mike had had a point about the idea of there being more animatronics that they didn't know about that needed help, but the man had truly and desperately had wished that wouldn't be the case, but the silence was somehow already telling the man everything he thought he needed to know. That was, until the animatronic finally spoke up once more.
"It's just us here, we're the only ones left. Baby's gone" Jeremy... Jeremy wasn't sure just what that meant, but he thought it was still answer enough that it mixed relief with dread in his chest, as Mari spoke up quickly, saying the words on the man's mind for him.
"What do you mean Baby's gone?" Ennard's body twitched anxiously before they finally said.
"D-Don't know, she's just... not here anymore, her body is gone and now so is she... We don't want to be alone anymore, we don't want to be stuck here" That last part had Ennard's voice finally breaking with something new, their desperation finally breaking to the surface fully. Jeremy knew Goldie could have cared less, and Mari, while clearly effected by the tone, wasn't going to back down from his position. But Jeremy wasn't them, and he felt something pull in his chest.
He knew he was going to do something irredeemably stupid if he stayed down here any longer, so with that he just gathered his courage and said.
"I'm sorry, but we can't take you with us today... We will be back though, so..." Jeremy couldn't think of anything else to say, as he quickly moved, the animatronics he came with flanking at his side, like they expected Ennard to lunge at him the second the animatronic was fully turned down from getting there way. Surprisingly to them all, Ennard didn't say anything else, instead just watched as they moved around, before slowly shuffling off in the direction of the parts and service room that they had just left.
Before long they were at the elevator, which Foxy alone was found already standing inside, waving quickly to them the second he had seen them, his relief palpable in the air.
"Yar! There yah all be! I was getting worried!" He said it with his normal energy and boisterousness, but Jeremy had a feeling the fox had already moved past that point, as he glanced at Foxy's hand, where the keycard was, the thing they needed to be able to get back to the surface, Foxy must have been sent back down to make sure they could get back up.
"How's Janet?" Foxy's energy instantly took a hit, as he could only manage to shrug.
"Dunno, I, uh, was sent to getcha soon after, I think she'd be doing better though, Mike seemed to know what was up" Jeremy just slowly nodded, his nerves turning back to concern now that he was remembering just what had happened that had made them leave so quickly in the first place.
Soon enough they were in the elevator, on the way up though, and quickly found the three that had gone up out next to the shed outside. Mike was leaning against the wall of the shed, while Fritz and Janet were both sitting down next to each other. Janet was slightly shaking while Fritz did his best to try and be there for her, his arm wrapped around her side, while Mike had been just staring off in the distance, strangely, for a second, Jeremy thought the man's skin was even more unsaturated than normal before he shook it off as unimportant.
Mike was the first to notice them, his gaze snapping to the three as they exited out the door, his eyes shifting to hold on the exit like he was half expecting something else to be joining them. In the end, when nothing showed itself, the man relaxed a noticeable amount, before saying towards Jeremy.
"How'd the talk go? Everyone still in one piece?" Jeremy just sighed, reaching up and placing a hand on his head to try and ward off the headache that was threatening to push on in, he was around way too many heightened emotions, even as he tried to press them away, it wasn't doing much good.
All the same, he spent a moment to explain everything that they had learned from the conversation, along with how Ennard had been acting and just how desperate they were to both be believed that it wasn't their fault and about how much they wanted out. Mike's face didn't so much as twitch or shift throughout the entire explanation, he just stayed there, listening until the end, before finally just nodding.
"Right, at least we know there's no one else down there... The fact that one of them is missing is concerning, but with how certain they were that they couldn't get out, I'm not sure just how Circus Baby could have gotten herself out. She's probably just being held up somewhere down there" Mike didn't seem all that interested in finding out however, not that Jeremy could really blame the man, but now that he had finished catching them all up, he glanced over at Janet, who was clearly listening in, and asked.
"How are you doing?" Janet's body let out an involuntary shudder as she eventually just shrugged.
"N-not... Horrible I guess. It's already kind of hard to remember what happened" That didn't seem right given that it had just happened, but Mike just nodded. Not looking surprised at the words, as he said in a manner that was kind of comforting, but mostly just confusing for Jeremy who wasn't sure what was happening still.
"It's like a dream, the second you wake up you start losing focus on what happened, and eventually you're just left with the impression of it... The feelings from the memories and not much less"
"That, uh... That doesn't sound too bad" Mike just shrugged, seemingly unwilling to explain that point further, which told Jeremy personally all he needed to about how 'not bad' it wasn't. Perhaps thankfully Janet didn't seem to notice, and if Fritz did, then he had other concerns in the moment, as he glanced up at Mike and practically demanded.
"What was that?" Mike's face twisted up, like he was remembering something vaguely unpleasant, which for him said something, as he looked away once more for a long moment, getting his words in order more than likely, as he finally spoke.
"A gas that drugs a person into experiencing a kind of... controlled nightmare. I don't know how it works really, but it takes whatever fears you have in the moment and makes them a reality, at least that's the best way I have of explaining it. Last time I was here, I stumbled into a security office, like the ones at Freddy's, when I was running from Ennard. Something happened, I don't remember much of it, out of everything that happened that night, that's the only part that escapes my memory, but I remember the feelings of terror, and the feeling of being unable to breath. I figured it had to be some kind of drug from that, and it'd have to be air based for it to hit my system and for how quickly it faded after the initial... hit" Something clicked in the back of Jeremy's mind as Mike recounted the horrifying experience.
"That's why you asked us to be on the lookout for those things right? To see spots where something like that gas could be released" Mike just nodded.
"I wasn't sure I was exactly right about what it was, but it seemed the most likely, so I asked to see if we could find anything like that, but... I had a pretty good hunch about what was happening, I wasn't expecting that room to be there, but I'm not surprised either that something like that was there, we found another room that was like it in Circus Gallery. I bet a certain someone liked to run tests down here while he was trying to figure out just how the Gifts were supposed to work" Mari for the first time seemed to respond to what was being said as he suddenly let out a harsh chime at the reminder of Purple Guy's actions.
"What now?" Mike just grimaced at the puppet's question, a long moment passing as he glanced up at the sky, before saying.
"Nothing, I mean, we know it's down there, but we also know that there isn't anyone else down there that we have to worry about. We should just get the hell out of here and be done with this place" The man's voice was cold, to the point it startled Jeremy a bit. Jeremy knew the man wasn't exactly all that warm and fuzzy, his dry drawl usually didn't give off the idea he was the emotional sort, no matter how much Jeremy knew for a fact that was a massive lie. But maybe that's why it was so shocking to hear the clear cut certainty in the man's voice for such a cold declaration.
It's what caused him to speak before he could think of just what he was going to say.
"What about Ennard? We can't just keep them down there forever" Goldie was the one who spoke up next.
"I don't see why not, they can keep themselves company for all I could care" Jeremy shot the bear a look.
"You can't be serious, we can't just keep them down there like they aren't people!"
"And where exactly do you want to put them? Because if you suggest the warehouse, I'm going to remind you of all the ways I can't nor want to keep an eye on them when I'm already forced to be on rabbit watch. Or do you think they just happen to have suddenly become child friendly enough to be allowed any actual freedom" Jeremy opened his mouth, ready to give something as an option, but as it stood, nothing came to mind, because there wasn't anything he could think to say to that. As it stood he didn't know, they all knew Ennard was suffering under who knows how much programming affecting all of their conjoined minds, and there was no way of knowing or being able to just fix that right now, not without considerable work that they couldn't just trust the animatronic to not do anything.
"I mean... Maybe Bonnie can keep an eye out on them?" Goldie just rolled his eyes, like Jeremy was being ridiculous.
"Yeah, because he's so willing to help us out" Jeremy honestly was beginning to feel his own irritation begin to grow more and more, as he said more loudly than he wanted to.
"Well we have to do something!" He tried to not turn red as he felt everyone's eyes turn to look at him with that particularly loud outburst, as he just gritted his teeth before saying, "We can't do nothing"
He was met with silence for a long moment, before finally, and honestly, surprisingly, it was Mike that spoke up, resigned sounding, but not without the same clear cut determination that he always held when it came to things the man considered hard decisions.
"Jere's right... But we aren't going to think of some miracle solution right now, so let's just head back to town, we can all try and brainstorm something up later, right now we aren't going to get anything done" Jeremy wanted to say something more, but then he caught Janet, who was half laying against Fritz, who was clearly focusing most, if not all, his attention on her instead of the conversation happening around them, and then finally noticed the way that Mike was standing, or rather, leaning, on the side of the shed, an arm cupping against his side. He was in pain and clearly trying very hard to hide that from everyone.
Jeremy still wanted to try and at least get some kind of option on the table right now, but he knew he wouldn't be able to get it with them like this, not to mention Goldie was clearly on a warpath on keeping Ennard locked down there, this wasn't going to get them anything, so in the end, Jeremy just had to nod, saying softly.
"R-right... Let's get back, we can talk about this tomorrow"
They were loaded up before long, and then they were back on the road, though even as they drove away, Jeremy's mind stayed on the animatronic down below and all their conflicting emotions, wondering just who they were outside of all of that. Though, as the drive continued, as they made their way to the warehouse to drop off Goldie and Foxy, both saying they wanted to stay there, Jeremy's mind once more turned to the rabbit that was there, another animatronic that was held in a metal prison for far to long, and now was stuck there as well. It made something beneath his skin itch, though Jeremy didn't know what to think about that, the thoughts still wouldn't leave him alone.
The following hours after the visit was uncomfortable because of how normal it felt. Mike had felt the feeling before, after his shifts at Freddy's, and the first few days after his last visit below at AR, where after dealing with something so insane, only to be plunged back into reality head first and realize that not everyone's life was an insane as his. Mike wasn't the only one who seemed to have something of a reaction to it, as the second that Mari and he had gotten back home, the puppet was already in the kitchen, the scent of baking became a fixture to the air from noon all the way into the evening.
Mike wanted to say something, wanted to try and comfort the puppet, see what was bugging him so badly. Just as much as he kind of wanted the puppet to comfort him, wanted to be asked, but at the same time he didn't want to be asked, he didn't want to think about it, even if his mind gave him no choice, but actually speaking about it felt like too much. And the idea of dropping that kind of mess of thoughts and feelings on Mari at the moment while the puppet was clearly struggling with his own things, made Mike hold off from saying anything at all.
He felt useless, but it was less painful than actually pressing the matter right in that moment, and Mike was so damn tired of being in pain.
It was well into the evening, Mike had more or less given up on doing anything but sitting in front of the tv and just letting whatever was on play over his eyes for most of the day, he didn't remember much of anything that he watched, his mind to busy going over everything that happened and trying to piece together things that he didn't want to deal with right now.
He hadn't noticed when Mari had finally left the kitchen and moved to sit next to him until the puppet had slowly ended up leaning against Mike's side, dozing off with an ease that the man himself was kind of jealous of, for a moment at least, before just being grateful that one of them was getting some kind of rest. He was tired, but didn't have much in the way of interest in trying to get any sleep.
He had the feeling his dreams wouldn't be ones that he wanted to deal with tonight, seeing that hallway and that bedroom made the nightmares he had already been having a bit too real for him. Even the other kinds of relief he held from the other things that they learned tonight, that the one who organized his... accident, wasn't in the main body of Ennard, for when they had to deal with the wire animatronic, and the fact that there wasn't a bunch of possessed smaller animatronics around, was at least something that should have gave him some relief.
And it did... Just not enough it seemed, Mike hadn't been ready to go back there, and as it stood he couldn't get the image of that dead rotten purple body out of his mind, the way it was half folded in on itself and pressed into that vent. It was only too easy to imagine that would have been Mike if something had gone wrong. Mike didn't like holding onto what ifs anymore, but this one seemed to stick with him more than he wanted it to.
The hours continued to tick on, the old grandfather clock against the wall told Mike it was beginning to get closer to the morning than it was to night, but he just still stayed there, staring blankly at the screen of the tv that was playing shows that Mike had never heard of before. He didn't care enough to really pay attention to what they were about. He just stayed there, at some point closing his eyes after a long moment to realize they were beginning to hurt from staring at the screen for so long.
He still wasn't asleep, but the darkness and faint murmurs of the tv was almost relaxing now that he wasn't burning his eyes, as he stayed there for a bit long, eventually shifting his thoughts into mulling over just what the hell they were going to do next. Mike did his best to keep it somewhat positive for his own mental well being, thinking about more than just AR, but about the Cove as well, when he felt it.
Mari, who was half laying into Mike, who had progressively over the course of his sleep, had moved closer and closer until the two were more or less laying across the couch, with Mike being laid on. Mike himself hadn't really thought about it, it was the only slight movements he had made in hours, more for the puppet's benefit than his own, but now, he just stayed silent, even as he just continued to lay there.
Then the trembling started, just for a moment, before that was broken up by a faint muffled into Mike's own chest, chime.
The man had been ready to move, to sit up and pull Mari into a proper hug, if it wasn't for how sluggish his body felt, for how tired and waning his mind was after being awake for far to long with far to many things going on in his head, he would have already done so. But the required force to build up that energy to move, to open his mouth and say something, didn't dome quite fast enough for Mari, as the puppet had shifted, rolling about before pulling himself a bit more snuggly against the man.
Mike could admit, a small smile was almost beginning to play on his lips, as he made the decision then to just maybe move a bit to hold onto the puppet... When Mari had shifted once more, lifting himself up, as Mike did his best to not squirm much as he felt a familiar hand reach up and place itself along his head, just for a brief moment, before he felt Mari's entire body flinch and suddenly he was gone.
Mike felt his face twist up a bit in confusion, as he moved to follow through with moving, only managing to have enough time to get his eyes open and a turn of his head to look around to see the outline of Mari's body hovering in front of the tv, switching it off before with that familiar effect of almost static, the puppet vanished. Letting out a faint grunt, Mike shifted a bit and pulled himself into a sitting position as he tilted his head as he looked around the now plunged into darkness of the living room.
That... was strange. Slowly shifting up onto his feet, which took more energy than he wanted to admit to, he had been ready to go exploring, some excuse trying to pile itself together in his head to give the puppet about why he knew Mari might be in need of company, when the familiar muffled toned of My Grandfather's Clock. Mike had to blink a few times before he realized he wasn't going crazy and the sound was in fact coming from somewhere, that somewhere being his old room, Mari's room, not that the puppet used it much anymore.
At least, Mike had thought not as he just stared in the direction of the sound before slowly moving back to the couch. Mike...
Mike just took a deep breath in, before slowly shifting to lay back down.
He was ready for whatever sleep had in store for him if it meant not thinking about whatever that meant for them.
Fritz was not alright with leaving Janet alone, the day of and even the day afterwards, but eventually Janet got tired of him smothering her, not that Fritz could help it, the amount of fear he had felt in that moment when the door had slammed shut on him was more than anything he ever wanted to experience again. It had been like every single fear he had ever had about getting close to someone because of Freddy's had been ripped out of his head and forced to become a reality.
He was still shaken about it, something the man hadn't ever thought he would be again, but with the situation with Mike not too long ago, it had just been... Way too real. All the same, he had to get his mind off of it somehow, and even if he didn't want to leave his apartment, not wanting to be to far from Janet no matter how silly she thought he was being, he still had plenty of tools around for the things he wanted to get done before the work week started again.
He spent most of that time thinking over the situation with Ennard and the things that Jeremy had brought up, admitting that the man had a few points, and as well working on the things that he had gotten from Afton Robotics... Mostly that last one if he was being honest, there were a lot of things to unpack there, the main one being the handunit. He had found one, the screen had been cracked, and it looked like someone had thrown it around at some point, but it was still something.
He had found it down the conveyor belt, probably where it had been thrown originally, but had honestly almost forgotten about it completely until he had gone through his bag after they had gotten back home.
The screen was a massive pain, the thing flickered and moved around a lot, but from what Fritz could tell, after powering the thing back on and hooked the thing to a charger, it was mostly a visual thing, even as he cracked the thing open and rooted around the insides for a bit to make sure the thing would work as intended, it seemed so, and with that he tried to make use of it.
Of course, that's when things got complicated, powering it on had been easy, he had used the thing before back at the Freddy's in '87, if only for a little while, but it was still somewhat familiar, even if it had been years since then he messed with one. And apparently he had forgotten something important about them, as once the thing was turned on and he tried to use it to do anything, a now familiar voice blared out loud enough to almost be deafening.
"Hello! It appears that it has been quite some time since this device was last turned on, this means we will have to go through some matters to allow you proper authorization for this device. I am of course a model five of the Handyman's Robotics and Unit-Repair System, but you can call me Hand-Unit. I will be helping you get back to work in a timely and orderly fashion. To begin, please enter your name and your company issued username"
Fritz had nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the voice from where he was sitting at his dining table, as Janet, who was on the small couch off to the side in plain view gave a little snicker as he quickly fiddled around the thing to find the volume dial.
From there, he just paused for a moment, before reaching over to the side of the table that was covered in papers and written notes that had been slowly growing over the course of the last year or so, as he rifled through them for a long moment before finally finding the notepad with the information they had been using for just about everything. Entering into the hand unit the name William Afton along with the username that Mike had given him. Fritz had honestly expected that to work, but instead there was a short warning sound as the voice came back, not as loud thankfully.
"I'm sorry, but your information does not match the information recorded on this device, please enter the correct information in accordance to your employee information to continue" Fritz just frowned for a long moment, unsure just why that hadn't worked when Janet spoke up, standing and moving over to look at what he was messing with more closely.
"Maybe it's locked to a particular employee so it can't be accessed by anyone on file?" Fritz slowly just nodded.
"I figured Afton would want his information to be an all access pass, but I guess not... Great, just great, all that effort to get this thing and we can't even use it" Fritz didn't like complaining, much but it was always something, and he hadn't really been able to relax properly in days, this was just another straw on his back. Thankfully, before he could work himself up anymore, he remembered something, as he leaned back and quickly moved a bit to begin once more looking through the papers, as Janet asked curiously as she moved over to take some of the papers as well to look through.
"What are we looking for?"
"Employee files, there were tons of them at AR, I don't know if we took them all or not... Not, they aren't here at least, where's my phone?" Janet just pointed over to the kitchen counter as Fritz got up and quickly moved over, flipping it open and clicking down to his contact list, finding the one he was looking for and hitting call.
Goldie was contemplating murder.
He was serious, the damn rabbit was pressing on his last nerves to the point he had to actively keep himself from doing something that he'd be nagged about later. As it stood, he was pretty sure no one would cut him any slack for getting revenge on Bonnie for the animatronic just being an annoying little brat. At first it had seemed like Bonnie would at the very least stay clear of him out of what the bear assumed a general understanding that he was not someone to piss off.
But over the last few days, leading up to the trip to AR, the animatronic had been getting progressively more and more bold in his actions. Starting with just being around in line of sight, to complaining loudly about just anything he could think of, to playing some of the arcade cabinets at blaring sounds in the middle of the night until the bear had no choice but to go out and practically chase the damn rabbit off. Now, after AR, his annoyance was only growing.
Returning back to his warehouse after the mess that had happened, the bear was more than ready to just try and relax, Foxy joining him, probably wanting company himself, not that the bear minded. He had honestly not thought about the rabbit up until they had walked into the warehouse, with the sound of the van leaving off in the distance, as they wandered in. Goldie unsure just what to say but expecting Foxy to fill the silence like he normally did, when the sound of a crash echoed out from the backroom that Goldie spent most of his time in.
The two barely had enough time to send each other a glance before Foxy was off, halfway to the offices in only a moment, while Goldie was lagging behind, but still making good speed over, the constantly ball of energy from their time down under the surface hadn't yet going away enough that they were primed and ready for anything.
...So it was with a shout from Foxy, and the sounds of squabbling, that Goldie found the internals of his suit twitching with pressure at the sight of Bonnie being held against a wall by the fox as his eyes flickered around the room to see the arcade cabinet that he had spent most of his time on having been tipped over and having crashed onto the couch that he used. The right arm of which had been snapped off, though the lights on the arcade machine was still flickering on to life, showing at least that hadn't been broken, as he felt something dangerous press in the back of his mind as he held back from saying anything.
Instant the bear just marched forwards where Foxy and Bonnie were both practically yelling whatever it was at each other, as he reached out, grabbing onto the stripped bare metal arm of the rabbit, his hand clasping on easily as with a harsh yank Bonnie let out a cry as Goldie marched over to the doors, and with a grunt of effort on his springs, tossed the animatronic out before slamming the door shut behind him.
In the long moments afterwards, he just listened to the sound of complaining and jeering from the door for a long moment, just staring at it, doing his best to hold back the rushing building temper trying it's best to convince him that it would only be to easy and so very earned to cause Bonnie to think twice about ever messing with his things again, but before he could send the brat to a hell of Goldie's personal making, Foxy had moved over, and placed a hand on his shoulder, getting his attention before he could commit.
It was annoying, but after a long moment, the sound of squeaking metal echoed out as his springlocks finally began to unwound themselves back to a point where his entire body wasn't straining against itself from his emotions. After another long moment, he turned to Foxy, asking simply.
"Help me get the machine back up?" The fox just gave his shoulder a pat before moving to do so.
The next day continued on, they left the office for a while, just to mess around with some of the things, but Bonnie over that time seemed to realize that the two were keeping each other accountable and therefore wouldn't rip the rabbit limb from limb, even if both probably wouldn't mind to much the other doing just that. It was aggravating, and he was going to have words about this with the others at some point, but right now he just dealt with it, they had enough going on with animatronic relocations as it was with Jeremy's inane morals thinking Ennard was somehow not going to do something they'd all have to deal with if they gave the mess of wires a chance.
It was still nice, hanging out with Foxy usually was, but it was marred with that constant annoyance, even as he did his best to not think to hard or long about the trip down below, the things that he had been told were concerning, but frankly it wasn't anything he cared about that badly. There wasn't some small army of animatronics out there that needed their attention, there wasn't some new crisis at play that meant everything was a breath away from falling apart, it was fine, and that was easy enough for Goldie to focus himself on.
It was around the second day after returning back to the warehouse when the call came, Foxy had been busy off in the shelving area where a lot of the old props were, most of them not having a reason to be moved to the Cove. Foxy however had gotten that Halloween event week idea stuck in his head and he was determined to see what all they would have to work with to 'spice' the Cove up with, along with trying to get Goldie into a brainstorming session about what kind of routines that they could do.
Goldie, frankly, did not like nearly every aspect of this showman stuff outside of the actual performing, and even then he still wasn't really sure if he should enjoy it to begin with, he was still doing it mostly because he just didn't have a strong enough reason to say no to whatever ideas Foxy had, so he just kept going with it. Admittedly, being able to hold a conversation with other people outside of the few who actually knew about his situation was sort of nice, even if he had to do it through the guise of just having a couple pre-recorded lines like Foxy did.
Still, point was, he was less than interested in that kind of thing, and Foxy hadn't yet quite reached the point where he was pestering Goldie to call his brother to get Marionette over here so the two could go crazy with whatever ideas that they could think of and eventually drag the bear into helping with.
All that to say, Goldie was alone in the office, and the phone was ringing.
Lumbering over to the phone that was hanging off the wall, Goldie just reached out and plucked it off the hook before holding it up to the side of his head, as he waited a moment before saying.
"Hello?" He was waiting for a familiar voice, there were only three people that would call, so it was very surprising when there was a sharp hitching sound of what the bear thought was surprise from the other end of the line as he said again, a bit more interestingly, "Hello? Is someone there?" After a long moment, a slightly stuttering young woman's voice came over the line.
"U-uh, yes, hello! I- uh... Who is this?" Goldie was much more interested, even as he replied back dryly.
"I think I could ask the same thing" The woman on the other end just stayed quiet for a long second before finally answering.
"S-Sorry, I think I have the wrong number" The line disconnected a moment later, and while the bear was left confused, there really wasn't anything to be said about it, wrong numbers did happen, though he wasn't sure just how common they were, given it's never happened to him before. Eventually he just placed the line back on the hook and decided it would just be something interesting to tell the fox. Slightly, admittedly though he'd never actually say it, disappointed that she had hung up so fast, with the thoughts about talking to new people having just been on his mind, it was a weird happenstance, but nothing he could fix now.
At the very least he had thought not, but a few minutes later the phone line was once more going off as he just stared at the thing, wondering if the lady had used the wrong number again, as he picked it up and said casually into the line.
"Wrong number still" He ignored the vivid embarrassment that flooded through his system when it wasn't the woman's but instead Fritz's voice that spoke back to him.
"I- uh, what?" Goldie quickly corrected himself.
"Nothing, why are you calling?"
"Right, uh, could you do me a favor? We have those old employee files in the cabinet over there right?" Goldie glanced over at said file cabinet, before saying out to the phone.
"Yeah? You mean the ones from Freddy's or AR? I think the latter are on the computer"
"Afton's, and you're right, I remember seeing them in that mess of files, listen, could you go onto the computer and see if you can find any files on any technicians that worked there? I'm trying to get into the hand unit that I found and it's asking for some information" Well, it wasn't like Goldie was doing much at the moment anyways, as he said down the line as he moved over to sit in the desk chair, as he moved over, his hand dwarfing the mouse, but managing to get something of a grip on it, as he asked.
"I guess. Where are they going to be?" He got the answer and was ready to start... Only for the screen asking for his login information giving him pause, as he waited a long moment to get the information from Fritz, and then spent an even longer moment muttering curses under his breath after setting the phone down as he tried to tap the very small keys on the keyboard to get the information in. It took longer than the bear would ever admit for his own sake, but before long he was in, as he began to navigate through the files.
It seemed much easier when it was Fritz doing this, but Goldie had never used a computer before, never had much of a reason when everyone else could just do it without his input, so it took a while and a few tips about where exactly to look once he got into the many folders, but he did find them eventually, as he said over the line.
"Right... I have a Michael Brookes," Goldie actually paused at that, mostly because of the obvious, before continuing on, "A Henry Johnson, and Stanley Alolfe" He frowned after he mentioned that middle name as well, mostly wondering the chances of two people working at AR who shared names with two people who shared a past with Freddy's, it was weird, but unimportant, he didn't recognize a Stanley anyways.
"Alright thanks... Let's see here" Goldie listened over the line at the sound of what he assumed to be inputs, after two wrong answers it seemed, Fritz let out a sound of celebration as he said happily over the line.
"Got it! It looks like this is Michael's, or, was I guess... Oh, uh, do you have his employee access code? It's asking for that now" Goldie just leaned back forwards to look at the screen, closing out the other two now that they were deemed unimportant, as he said after a minute.
"Yeah, it's here" The bear proceeded to give the information over, and after a few more security questions, like birthday and favorite color, both of which were strangely listed on file, Fritz was finally in, as he said over the line.
"Thanks Goldie, this has been a big help, I'll see what I can get off of this, but I'll probably come over to the warehouse tomorrow morning before we open the cove and get those files on that computer that we couldn't access loaded onto this thing to see what all we might be missing"
Before long the call was over with, and the bear hung up the phone, and was once more alone.
All in all, it was still better than dealing with the pain in the behind that was the rabbit outside of the office.
This one has a lot in it doesn't it? Some more Ennard, seems like a few things are happening there... Honestly, I debated on if I just wanted them to be just straight evil for a while... But that doesn't really fit with the theme of this story, and even if Mike and Mari are acting fairly out of character for who they've established themselves to be because of the things that have happened to them, that doesn't mean the world is going to shift that out of order. In this case, in the form of Jeremy, aka the kindest lad of this story, and not completely by choice! That poor empathetic man has no choice in being a bleeding heart, but damn if I don't love him for it. I've really enjoyed focusing on his POV for the last few chapters, I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but he's my favorite character to write past Mike and Mari.
Speaking of Mike and Mari... I'm sure nothing is wrong there, and if anyone says I'm am emotional wreck over the things I'm putting them through then you'd be wrong... Totally... Look, I love drama, especially when it's been set up over the course of literally sixty damn chapters, but I'mma be honest, that scene was hard for my soul. I just want them to be happy! But I'm not letting them! I'm cruel.
Then it's to Fritz! With his handunit, he finally got one! And he managed to even get into it, which I'm sure that will have plenty of things to play off of in the future, but for right now that was mostly just for set up and to have a few more fun little names to be out there floating in the world. Michael Brookes... Wonder who that is, and if there happened to have been a sticker on that handunit once upon a time... Eh, probably doesn't matter. Then there's Goldie, who got a strange phone call... But I bet there's nothing there to worry about... Yep.
Look, now that we're done talking about the chapter... I don't usually go to out of the bounds of the chapter with these notes, because I really like explaining my thoughts an the things that happened in the chapters, but right now... I'm going to be honest, I have something to admit... I've been sucked back into the Magnus Archives fandom recently, and it's fucked with my brain so much, cause I am in fact a weird person.
Whatever media I'm listening to and experiencing at the time usually has some minor impact or makes me think about the stories I'm writing about in new ways... In this case, it's made me wonder way to deeply about what fears would want which of this cast of characters as which avatars. To be fair, this would have happened to whatever cast it was at the time, hell, this happened to me the last time I listened to the Magnus Archives when I was writing a story for a completely different fandom, but I figured it was interested at least in enough ways to mention here, cause I feel like these notes have been kind of lack luster recently.
So, just for a few character head canons that probably don't mean anything to anyone reading this:
Mike- The Eye
Mari- The End
Jeremy- The Lonely
Goldie- The Slaughter
Fritz- Desolation
Foxy- The Hunt
I'm honestly surprised that there wasn't any overlap to be honest. But yeah, there's my random thing for the week I guess. Anyways, See ya!
