Hey all, it's been a while and here is another chapter, I had to do several rewrites for this one, hence why it is so late, but I am pleased with the end result.
A massive thank you to AugustFrost12 and ChaoticEngle (love the name change by the way,) for your reviews.
Yes August, I deliberately aimed to move away from the 'serial killer on the loose' cliche when regarding Vincent's character, but it'll make sense in the long run.
Yes ChaoticEngle, I am glad to see that you noticed the Stranger Things reference and things are going to get a lot more interesting as the story continues to develop.
How exactly. . .I'll leave you to speculate. ;-)
Thank you to Twitchy Bella for both following and favoriting this story, there's much more to come.
Warning, this chapter does contain implications about suicide.
Finally, there is a song in this chapter as promised and it's 'Shadow of the Day' cover by Echos, I was inspired by the animation video by Jaze Cinema and GTApsycho, particularly the second half. I would recommend that you give it a watch.
Apologies for any grammar mistakes.
Past Regrets.
Chapter 41.
"The others are under my protection. . ."
The Puppet from Ultimate Custom Night
Jeremy pressed the play button on his computer through his use of the mouse, starting the replay of Phone Guy's fourth recording from the first pizzeria in the 1990s.
Everyone knew what it entailed as it was the most memorable of all the tapes with Phone Guy's voice coming through the speakers.
"Hello, hello?"
"Hey! Hey, wow, day four. I knew you could do it."
"Uh, hey, listen, I may not be around to send you a message tomorrow."
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!
There were several loud bangs of something repeatedly hitting a door.
Foxy lowered his head in shame, closing his eyes as he felt his memories stir. Not that he could actually remember committing the event itself, but he certainly remembered the morning after.
"It's-It's been a bad night here for me."
The nervousness in Phone Guy's voice was clearly evident, he was well aware of what he was in for.
"Um, I-I'm kinda glad that I recorded my messages for you, when I did."
"Uh, hey, do me a favour."
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!
The sound of a possessed Foxy hitting the door only grew louder, as did his insistence to gain entry.
"Maybe sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits in the back room?"
He had heard the rumours and now when staring death in the face, he did concede what his fate would probably be.
"I'm gonna to try to hold out until someone checks."
How exactly?
And he wouldn't have been the first night guard to have tired in their desperation to stay alive.
"Maybe it won't be so bad."
His optimism was severely misplaced, given the internally workings of those prop suits.
"Uh, I-I-I-I always wondered what was in all those empty heads back there."
Metal cross beams, voice boxes and internal wiring, all would cause immense agony to anyone unfortunate enough to be stuffed inside the suit's narrow confines.
Then came Freddy's signature jiggle, a light-hearted playful tune that would often foreshadow the end for many nightguards and this case would be no exception. Freddy closed his eyes; he could picture the scene perfectly.
There he was, fully possessed by the vengeful ghost child that resided inside of him, staring at Phone Guy intensely through the window with a cold and murderous expression on his face, whilst his head twitched and jerked about in an odd fashion.
He felt shame, never-ending shame for his part in causing so many deaths. Even though you would rightfully point out that he wasn't in control of his own actions at the time, Freddy still felt that he was responsible.
Phone Guy kept on speaking, although he was into his last words.
"You know. . ."
Then there came a deep moan in the recording, it sounded demented in its tone and drawn out.
Unlike Freddy, Bonnie or Foxy, Chica remained steadfast in her facial expression, staring longingly at the recording as it was displayed on Jeremy's computer screen.
However, in her eyes, you could see her torment, her regret, knowing what she did.
Phone Guy had immediately noticed Chica's presence as she made her move, closing in fast for the kill.
"Oh, no. . ."
"AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" a loud and aggressive scream was heard, causing many people in the room to jump in surprise, even though they expected it.
It was swiftly followed by loud static and then the recording abruptly ended. Phone Guy's death had been their last, but it had also been the bloodiest. Whether he was already dead by the time they stuffed them into those of suits was unknown, but as always in such cases they did not care.
Revenge was all that mattered in the children's' eyes.
Those recordings of Phone Guy's final moments were proof of that, as were so many others. Mike had been standing off to one side, leaning against the office wall as he watched the reactions of the Fazbears.
He could clearly see their pain and the guilt and regret in their eyes.
"Memories still fresh, for obvious reasons," he muttered under his breath. Although it was because of Phone Guy's advice and a lot of luck that he was able to survive beyond five nights.
He owed Phone Guy his life, but he could not repay him.
Pushing himself off the wall, Mike decided to speak plainly, it would be painful, but they needed to move pass the memory and focus on the present day. Although he knew that it wouldn't be easy given what Bonnie had told him about never leaving the past behind mentally, but he had to push them over the mental barrier.
"So," he began.
"Compared to the former night guards, the ghost children only took control at night, whereas the night guards seemed to be in complete control of their new bodies as those are just machines."
"Yet the Nightmares seem to have full control over their bodies as well, even though those bodies would have their own souls before they took over."
"So, with the comparison established. . ."
He gazed at with an inquisitive expression.
"Why have the ghost children not assumed full possession of you lot?"
He had a strike up a conversation to get the ball moving, districting them from the emotional pain of their past brought on by Phone Guy's last recording.
Yet he soon got an answer from Puppet, nonetheless.
"I suppose it is to do with the fact that they aren't strong enough to maintain a solid hold over us during the day," she said, going for a logical answer.
Then her eyes quickly darted away as she muttered softly.
"Save for moments when emotions are running high and of course during the night."
"They are still children, so I guess that still counts for something when it comes to trying to possess someone," Freddy added, he didn't seem to be so sure of his answer, but he was probably on the right lines.
"I would call it a blessing that we were able to prevent any major incident involving possession during the daytime, but that pales in comparison to what happened at night."
Freddy sighed, allowing himself to rest against the office wall as he attempted to reorganise his thoughts. The newspaper and online articles that lined the entirety of Jeremy's office were all links to a troubled past that he and everyone had tired running from.
Yet it always dragged them back. . .it always does.
Everywhere one looked it was like the past was screaming at them, begging to be revisited or relived.
Toy Freddy seemed to take a great deal of interest in one of them, leaning in to examine its contents.
The opening headline read as 'Freddy Fazbear's is closing'.
Beneath it were the words, 'After being open for a few months, Freddy's Fazbear's Pizzeria is closing its doors'. The new entertainers will be fired due to a serious neglect of their responabilites; however, the original entertainers are being kept in hope of a possible reorganisation of the company.'
Followed by a short statement from the company's CEO 'It's a minor setback. We are confident that we will reopen someday, even if it is with a much smaller budget." – CEO Fazbear Ent.
Toy Freddy sighed, allowing his head to rest against the article.
Jeremy was right, Phone Guy's tapes held next to nothing of use, just serving as another reminder of their dark past that seemed to follow them wherever they went.
As he closed his eyes, he could feel his mind drowning in the memories of 1987 as they swarmed him like a pack of ravenous vultures trying to feed off an animal carcass. Children cheering for him as he performed on stage alongside Toys Bonnie and Chica with the neon lights flashing and music blasting out of the surrounding speakers.
Then the sounds of screaming adults and children, with staff members trying to maintain order, but failing miserably. Then there was Mangle howling, as she was possessed by a murderous rage.
Finally, he saw himself standing in the stage area amidst the aftermath of what had probably been the worst day of his life, as police and forensics crews combed the area.
Within an hour, he had lost everything save for his own life, however he never expected anything odd from Fazbear Entertainment's contingency plans.
So, when they attempted to literally remove him and the other Toys from the picture entirely, to say that the rug had been pulled out from underneath his feet would be an understatement.
Even now nearly thirty years onward Toy Freddy was still dumbfounded by how fast things had gone south.
He could see himself, standing in the main stage area, now being thoroughly examined by police and forensics with his mouth wide open in shock and his wide eyes expressing a deeply seated feeling of dread.
Yet in a particular moment, he had been staring at the face of another person.
Mangle. . .
Her yellow eyes expressed a thousand emotions and yet all could be linked back to regret, remorse, sadness, shock, and fear. She stood there in police custody before Toy Freddy, trembling from head to toe in the terrified anticipation that her life was now officially over and that there was no coming back from this heinous incident.
Yet Vincent had framed her and only the proof that she had been injected with a chemical that caused her to be hyper aggressive, with the additional lack of strong evidence towards a viable motive for why she acted out saved her from the prison cells.
Although it didn't stop Mangle from mentally beating herself over the death of a staff member and allowing Vincent to get away with murder.
Soon she had grown to hate herself, almost as much as Puppet did, but perhaps nothing could match her own feelings of self-loathing.
Out of the corner of his eye, Toy Freddy could see Mangle closely examining a pinned-up newspaper article and judging by her sorrowful expression, it was probably the one concerning the death of the staff member she bit.
Just like before, Vincent had lit a fire and walked away as it burned, becoming a wild inferno as he watched with satisfaction from a safe distance.
"Dammit all," Toy Freddy sighed, turning his hand into a fist that stuck the wall with a considerable thud.
"What the hell happen?"
He wanted to move on from this, he hated having to revisit the past, but it seems that every question he wanted answered led him back here.
And as much as he loathed it, he had no choice but to revisit.
"Jeremy," he called out, sounding wearier he would like to admit, but the ill effect of getting a six hour sleep was already taking its toll.
"Play the tapes from our pizzeria, all of them please," he ordered, trying to sound direct.
Jeremy didn't object to his request and proceeded to pull the audio records of the Toys Pizzeria, arranging them to start at the beginning.
Toy Freddy's eyes narrowed as the first recording began, in his peripheral vision he could see Toy Bonnie looking at him. She seemed to admire his determination; he could see her green eyes having lit up with praise.
Suddenly a memory flickered before his mind's eye.
"How long will it take for you to notice me?"
Toy Bonnie had said those words around thirty years ago. . .and she was still waiting.
Her feelings for him had never changed, even though he had ignored her advances repeatedly, being blind to the obvious.
She loved him, it was as clear as day and everyone else probably knew it as well.
But did he truly love her in the same way?
He certainly loved her in the same way that he loved Toy Chica, Mangle, Balloon Boy, Puppet and everyone else as a person does towards members of their family.
Yet how did he feel about actual love?
He knew how Freddy and Bonnie felt about each other, even though numerous crises had forced them to put those feelings to one side. Yet their love was deep, even if they did not express their feelings in a clear manner. They understood each other, having been together since the very beginning and it was from there that their feelings grew.
Right now, Toy Freddy didn't have a clear answer towards how he felt about Toy Bonnie, it was like he was seeing her in a brand new light. Yet he certainly remembered how he felt back at the factory when he held Toy Bonnie in his arms as she clung to him.
He felt a warmth surging throughout his chest in that moment.
In that singular moment of her embracing him did all the memories of her interactions with him connect like a jigsaw puzzle, falling into place to form a picture that broke through to him like a blot of lighting.
He remembered that he needed to tell her something, give her an answer, but he needed time to work things out first, before he could have that conversation.
There were many other things that were demanding his mind's attention and as always, the current situation held the most importance.
He had to push those other concerns to the back of his head and keep them there.
Hopefully, he could do some much needed soul searching before this was all over, but underlying his confusion was a sense of fear.
In truth he was afraid of upsetting her, of finding out that he didn't really love her, the same way she loved him.
It would be one sided as it had been since she first held feelings towards him.
He remembered the time when he had fallen on top of her in the storage room back at their pizzeria, with their faces so close together that they could kiss.
"Toy Freddy. . .I. . .I. . .I need to-"
She had wanted to tell him, to open her heart up and probably give him the most obvious example of her feelings towards him.
And even then, he had overlooked it by a massive margin, rarely bringing the incident up again.
That must have hurt her, all of those moments, or opportunities that was the perfect time for him to notice her feelings, and there were more probably more similar moments than he could remember.
He then remembered seeing her look sad, disappointed and dismal in the aftermath of many moments that they shared over the years.
"How long will it take for you to notice me?"
He had hurt her. . .
Without meaning to of course, but still he had hurt her feelings and here she was nearly thirty years on, smiling at him with both admiration and care.
She was still waiting, despite all the pain that she had endured in silence.
Toy Freddy felt horrible, almost disgusted with himself for being so inconsiderate, despite never meaning to do any harm.
"How could I do that to her?" He mentally asked himself, feeling his inner disgust grow like a forest fire.
Of course, only he could answer back, but he didn't want to.
Not now though with everything else going on, but he knew that he would have to deal with this crisis of the heart soon enough.
He would give her the answer to that question she had asked so many years ago.
"How long will it take for you to notice me?"
Nearly thirty years as it turns out, that had to be a record keeper somewhere, not that Toy Freddy would ever want to hold that title.
"Ok, I got them all lined up, starting them now."
Jeremy's announcement tore Toy Freddy's attention away from his internal problems, bringing him back to the present.
Right now, the present is what mattered, so Toy Freddy would give it his undivided attention. . .for now.
Then Phone Guy's recordings began.
The first call had already been heard when they were playing that 'Five Nights At Freddy's' game and it didn't contain much other than explaining the new features of the pizzeria and how to manage the night shift.
The second call focused on the Originals, revealing them to be kept in the backroom, although that was already common knowledge to every staff member.
Then came the third call.
"Hello hello! See? I told you that you wouldn't have any problems!"
"Did...uh... Did Foxy ever appear in the hallway? Probably not. I was just curious. Like I said, he was always my favourite."
That comment made Foxy smile, it was nice to know that even when he had been forced into retirement, he was still appreciated.
Pity that he had a hand in killing the guy. That memory suddenly turned all his joy into ash and the smile vanished from his face to be replaced with a look of regret that seemed to cause him emotional pain.
Then Phone Guy touched on a painful memory.
"They tried to remake Foxy, Foxy, ya know?"
"Uh, Toy Foxy, Foxy's replacement looked too scary in her original look, or perhaps off putting is a better word, didn't mean to overexaggerated there, so they gave her a new look to appear more kid-friendly and had her assigned to Kid's Cove."
"To keep the toddlers entertained with acts and stories, you know... But kids these days just can't keep their hands to themselves, plus there were accusations of the children bullying her."
Then Phone Guy sighed, forewarning those listening that the bad news would continue.
"The staff literally had to stitch Toy Foxy's clothes back together after every shift. So eventually they stopped trying and I am ashamed to admit it, they just left her to deal with it, with the children treating her as a 'take apart and put back together' attraction."
"Now she's just a mess in her outfit. I think the employees refer to her as just 'The Mangle', given her state, poor girl."
Mangle lowered her head, her face expressed only sorrow as the memories of her bullying at the hands of rowdy children were dragged back up.
Phone Guy's recording ended with him dismissing the rumours surrounding the company, no doubt the rumours were related to the tragedies that had previously befallen the company. With him reporting that there had been no unusual activity on the premises from the day shift guard.
Jeremy watched with a blank expression as the recording switched over to the one for night four. He already knew of its contents and felt that this was something of a waste of everyone's time, given that nothing new was being discovered.
It was the same result with the tape for night five, going over information that was already known, centring around the lockdown continuing, moving the nightguard onto the dayshift and as well as trying to contact the original owner of Fredbear's Family Diner. The restaurant where Goldie and Springtrap had started out from before being sold to the emerging Fazbear Entertainment. However, the owner, Freddy Fredbear was not contacted and any enquiries that the company had involving him went unresolved.
Night 6, however had Phone Guy panicking, yet the context was different.
"Hello? Hello…uh…what on earth are you doing there, uh didn't you get the memo, uh, the place is closed down, uh, at least for a while."
Why would he be referring to the lockdown again, if he had made it clear that the Toys' Pizzeria was meant to be closed?
The fear in his voice was clear as he spoke.
"Someone used one of the suits! We had a spare in the back, a yellow one, someone used it…now none of them are acting right!"
The mere mention of a yellow suit resulted in mixed expressions from everyone, anger, sadness and pain.
The yellow suit was the SpringBonnie animatronic from Fredbear and Friends that could be used as a suit, but back then the full details were not known. However, it was now clear that Vincent had played a pivotal role in creating this horrific mess.
"Listen j-just finish your shift, it's safer than trying to leave in the middle of the night."
Phone Guy was not talking about the Toys' Pizzeria, but instead he was referring to the Originals' Pizzeria and the first Missing Children's Incident. Somehow this tape had got mixed in with the others, even though it held no connection to them given its context.
The rest of the tape concerned Phone Guy talking about how the current nightguard would be moved onto day shift for a birthday and not to stand too close the entertainers, whilst he took the night shift whenever the Pizzeria reopened.
That explained as to how he ended up in the role.
With the tapes from the Toys' Pizzeria finished, Jeremy without even being asked, started to play the additional tapes that he had, with these not being related to either pizzeria.
"Ok, these are the last ones, not that I expect much, but here we go," he remarked dispassionately.
However, in stark contrast to the other tapes they immediately struck gold as Phone Guy's voice echoed back through the computer's speakers.
"In relation to any rumours you heard about the company's future projects, well they are true, the directors' board are intending to create animatronic entertainers in order to ensure a sustainable base with lower costs and less risks compared to having to use human performers."
"The blueprints for at least three projects are being laid down right now, with the aim to establish them sometime in the near future."
"Therefore, all employees should-"
"Wait, stop the tape laddie!" Foxy yelled, stepping forward until he was standing right over Jeremy with his hand outstretched as if he was reaching for the pause button itself.
Jeremy immediately compelled, stopping the tape in mid speech.
"Animatronic performers, low costs and less risks," Foxy mumbled to himself, trying to tie two threads together.
Instantly Foxy turned in Balloon Boy's direction, staring intently at the boy.
"Does this sound familiar to you?" He asked, and the boy instantly nodded before saying with confidence.
"Well the part regarding animatronics yes, definitely, everything else I guess is true, but there were many animatronics, some even looked like the Toys, particularly the Rockstar animatronics."
"So, it is indeed true that they were aiming to build animatronics and replace us," Bonnie said, in a dismissive, but annoyed tone which matched her demeanour from earlier.
"And obviously Vincent has the blueprints and the Nightmares can recreate anything they like in the dreamworld, so that's put two and two together rather nicely," Chica remarked, turning to lean against the wall as the feeling of tiredness crept over her.
"And there are dozens of them, including the former night guards and the Nightmares themselves, and yet we are actually considering taking them up on their offer of a 'meeting'!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in dismay.
"They threatened to take action against us if we don't turn up, so we are in a tight spot, plus we might be able to surprise them if they don't expect us to actually appear," Toy Chica remarked smoothly, although she sounded concerned.
"If this is all a bluff that is."
Her words earned her a weary reply from Chica.
"Things are getting crazier by the day it seems and your sense of optimism hasn't been damaged," she mumbled, allowing her mind to drift aimlessly as she tried to ward off sleep.
"How I envy you. . ."
"However, with regards to a non-related issue," Balloon Boy began.
"I do wonder what has happened to Rachel, she hasn't reappeared since going silent when the Nightmares 'saved' me from the night guards?" he enquired, sounding quite concerned for the girl's welfare.
"I am worried as to what impact my near-death experience might have had on her."
He instantly felt the comfort of Puppet's hand on his shoulder.
"Knowing what the children get up to, Rachel is either dominant, or currently in the spiritual realm, but we won't know until she decides to make herself known."
Her voice was plain, but there was a sense of irritation in it.
"Our conversations with them have always been one sided since the beginning, they contact us when they want to, whilst we get no say in the matter."
"But she is still around though and that what is matters," Toy Chica remarked in a reassuring tone.
"We are their anchors; they will always return to us, so we just have to go with the assumption that she is occupied somehow."
"However, they always seem to be successful in making themselves known whenever the opportunity for revenge appeared," Mike muttered in a serious tone, recalling his memories of his time as a nightguard and the near death experience that he had been forced to endure.
"They were addicted to the desire for revenge," Mangle explained, earning a response from Mike.
"They still are, they may seem to be innocent now regarding a twenty year period of inactivity, but if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, they will kill you regardless," he said, with his gaze having harden to match his serious tone.
"They've learnt to trust again to some extent," Toy Freddy added.
"At least they can tell you and Jeremy apart from Vincent."
"And how many hurdles does one have to jump to get to that level of trust?" Mike enquired, turning to face him, although he already knew the answer, referring to his own experience.
"I'll keep playing the remaining tapes, I think we're onto something now!" Jeremy excitedly exclaimed, reengaging everyone's attention as he switched over to the next one.
"As always, if there is ever an emergency, please go to the designated safe room. All locations are filled with one extra room. This is hidden to customers and entertainers, and it is always off camera," Phone Guy explained, his voice booming through the computer's speakers.
"Safe room, wait. . .stop the tape!" Goldie ordered and Jeremy did so.
Goldie then turned to look at both Freddy and Chica, he simply said two words.
"Nightmare Freddy."
Their shared experiences of the man instantly brought back raw memories and visibly they looked haunted.
Freddy spoke first, he could roughly guess what Goldie was referring to.
"I knew that he had been hiding in the pizzeria, I remember seeing the place in his memories when our minds briefly connected during my first encounter. I saw him in a small decayed room that was dimly lit, it must have been the safe room for our pizzeria as it looked fairly isolated from the rest of the building."
"I had no idea, I never got the chance to look into his memories, not that I would ever want to," Chica muttered, sounding repulsed by the idea of what lay inside the Nightmare's mind.
Then Mike spoke up, sounding rather surpised.
"I never knew about there being a safe room during my time there, but obviously I wasn't informed, and you guys certainly didn't know."
As did Jeremy, although he sounded more used to the idea.
"I did hear some rumours about there being a safe room at the Toys' Pizzeria when I worked there, but it was just rumours at the time, I don't know if it was ever used though."
"The next tape must follow up on this," he said, now sounding convinced that they went onto something significant.
The succeeding tape played as followed.
"Un, hello, hello, hello, I am informing all employees that in the light of the tragic events in 1983 and the sudden disappearance of the SpringBonnie suit from storage, restrictions are now being implemented regarding the previously mentioned safe rooms. These rooms are now being sealed at all remaining locations, including this one. Work crews will arrive to construct a false wall over the old door. Do not mention this development or even the existence of the safe rooms to anyone, company's orders."
"That explains why we never stumbled across it, we were not informed of its existence and it was covered up convincingly well," Bonnie remarked smoothly, although her purplish reddish eyes displayed a sense of irritation.
"Then how did Vincent get access to them, if Nightmare Freddy was placed inside a room that was supposedly sealed?" Toy Bonnie asked, her tone sounded both curious and suspicious.
"Well, he certainly didn't break in, we would have known that," Toy Freddy remarked, earning him Toy Bonnie's attention as he continued to make his point.
"He must have had a means to unlock them, like a key perhaps, but if Nightmare Freddy was in one pizzeria, then where were Nightmares Bonnie, Chica and Foxy kept?"
He had a suspicion, but he hoped that he was wrong.
It was then that Toy Chica spoke.
"The recording said that the safe rooms in all locations were being sealed, but referred to the events of 1983 in past tense, so this recording could be taking place around the time our pizzeria was open," she said, sounding almost fearful about the idea.
"And there weren't any other locations open at the time, so that just leaves one and this is Vincent, he wouldn't miss the opportunity to use our Pizzeria as a means to advance his agenda."
"The question is when would he have done this lassie?" Foxy asked, feeling as though they were on the verge of discovering something significant.
"How far back does his connection with these monsters go?"
Goldie provided an answer, speaking with clarify and a strong sense of conviction.
"Deep, Nightmare Fredbear directly told me that their links to Vincent go back quite far, with that in mind I would reckon that Vincent and the Nightmares have been working together at least since the 1980s."
"So, technically that would mean Nightmare Freddy was housed inside our home whilst we lived out the darkest years of our lives?" Chica muttered, connecting the dots despite her weary state.
Goldie turned in her direction, looking quite serious in his expression as he nodded before replying.
"Yes, it does, but he was probably in a form of habitation or deep sleep, but the fact that Vincent has gone so far to bring them into play hints at a more terrifying realisation. Remember when Vincent suddenly turned up at our pizzeria one day in 1994, I think, and he confessed to us that he was one who murdered the children?"
"Yes, he just turned up out of nowhere and he told us everything, but he wouldn't say why he did it," Freddy replied, sounding rather annoyed at the memory.
"He deliberately avoided giving us an answer, he toyed with us."
Goldie nodded, before developing his point.
"He wanted us to know that it was him who had caused us so much grief, that he was responsible for engineering those horrific life destroying events, but he wouldn't explain his motive."
"Putting everything together, it is obvious that he has been implementing a long term plan against us, be it directly or indirectly."
Goldie then sighed, putting his hand to his head.
"We should have recognised this sooner, why else would he suddenly come back?"
"I truly thought that he was gone from our lives, we never got a reason for his actions, but he did leave us alone," Freddy stated, sounding disappointed, probably in himself for being so naïve.
"Yet he was never going to leave us alone, he intended on coming back," Toy Freddy remarked, sounding annoyed before quietly muttering.
"He always comes back. . ."
"He was merely waiting. . .for us to make a move and somehow he knew when we were going to leave the pizzeria, why else would he arrive when he did," Bonnie said, firmly seizing the moment to finish Goldie's point, she could see it clearly.
Her reddish purplish eyes narrowed, and her face harden, making her expression look cold.
"Having worked against us for such a long period, three decades at least, no one would devote so much effort like Vincent has done. . .unless it is personal."
"It has to be personal, why else would he been trying so hard to undermine us," Puppet muttered, scowling at the thought of the man.
"How I wish I could beat the answers out of him, but we can't, however the Nightmares have given us an opportunity to gain answers for them," Freddy said, sounding ambitious for once.
"This is risky make no mistake, but if played well we could gain vital answers to the questions that have dogged us our entire lives."
Mangle, however, did not share Freddy's optimism on the matter.
"We are risking our own lives if we go and meet them in the dreamworld like they want us to, they can recreate whatever or whoever they like whether they've seen it in real life or in our memories," she stated fervently.
She had folded her arms with her white ghost like hair having fallen over her eyes, but her tone set her expression.
Fear. . .
"We'll die, like BB told us, they need to kill us to set themselves free, we will effectively be giving ourselves to them, it is obviously a trap."
Then Freddy interjected.
"Actually, that shouldn't be the case, not with lucid dreaming," he said cautiously, gaining everyone's attention.
"You did say that you were going to tell us about this plan of yours," Goldie remarked smoothly.
"Now would be the time."
Freddy gave him a small smile of reasurement, before speaking as he stepped forward.
"Lucid dreaming is when the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and can to some extent control the environment around them, they can shape the dream."
"Most recognise that they are dreaming whilst they are sleeping and a few can deliberately train themselves to lucid dream, although it is not easy."
Freddy's blue eyes lit up, indicating his interest as he spoke humorously.
"And before anyone asks, I mostly got the idea from Nightmare Freddy and the way he interacted with my dream, I suppose I should thank him for it, ironically of course."
"The rest was from the descriptions of other peoples' encounters with the Nightmares."
Then his tone became serious.
"This is risky, but if we are able to gain control over our own dreams then we can prevent them from using their favourite tactic of bringing to life anything from either our memories or their own. None of us are have heard about 'Happy Frog', 'Pig Patch', or 'Rockstar Foxy', 'Music Man' and 'Lefty', but the Nightmares saw their blueprints and used their abilities to make them real."
Freddy then sighed and his confidence seemed to fade.
"A lot of this is based on theory and yes Mangle, you are right we would be simply walking into a trap, but we could play into their confidence and then use our newly gained abilities to turn the tables and remove any extra support they create and outnumber them in a battle of wills so to say."
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news Freddy, but the dead night guards are not creations of the Nightmares, but actual spirits, they are real. So how exactly would we handle them if they cannot be removed?" Toy Bonnie asked, sounding somewhat downcast.
"I agree, I suppose you can't mentally wish them out of existence, what are the rules of Lucid dreaming exactly?" Mike enquired, looking confused.
Freddy turned to face him, his facial expression was now blank, but his eyes displayed a serious nature.
"Honestly, I don't know for sure, but if our collective experiences are any indications, then once mastered we can create anything with enough willpower to sustain it," he replied firmly.
"Although I don't know how I was actually able to connect my mind to that of Nightmare Freddy's, my memory becomes blurry at that point, but perhaps it could be a means to drag the information out of them if the method is understood better."
He then turned in Toy Bonne's direction.
"Regarding the former night guards, if we cannot prevent them from turning up then we can at least immobilise or hinder them for a while, whilst we keep our focus on pinning down the Nightmares."
He then smiled confidently.
"Trust me, they won't be expecting it, their trap will instead become ours, our playground to put it 'nicely'," he said, going dark in his tone at the end, hinting at his inner desire for revenge.
"Yet, this idea of yours is very much dependent on us mastering the ability of Lucid dreaming and then being able to hold our own against those who are probably masters of this sort of thing," Bonnie stated firmly.
She then lowered her head as if in disappointment, before speaking softly.
"The risks Freddy, the Nightmares might want us to come along, but that doesn't mean that they will let us leave."
"I can testify to that, it is within their nature to be deceitful, they will double cross us come what may," Chica added confidently, folding her arms.
"Needless to say, I want to turn the tables on them, surprise them for a change," she muttered coldly, with her eyes narrowing, showcasing her darken mood.
"You have my support Freddy."
Freddy smiled at her words, turning to face the others before speaking.
"With Goldie being able to enter dreams, he can keep an eye on us as we try to master this ability, it is probably best to train two at a time."
"With all of us being capable of controlling our dreams the Nightmares will be outnumbered and we can dictate the terms."
"And then what happens?" Puppet asked calmly, her white dots for eyes shone vibrantly with interest.
"Because if we succeed in this endeavour and capture the Nightmares, then we have the choice of either letting them go or killing them after we got the answers we want."
Then her eyes darken, as did her gaze and her tone became noticeably cold in its delivery.
"Personally, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to give them a taste' 'of their own medicine before finishing them off."
Bonnie spoke and her tone was just as cold, if not icier.
"A quick death would be too merciful in my eyes, given the hell they've put us through."
"I agree to that motion lassie," Foxy added, his yellow brownish eyes burned with a deep inner desire for vengeance.
"Even if they can come back in a new human host, Vincent probably won't be able to bring them back so quickly giving us a window of opportunity to deal with him personally," Toy Bonnie remarked, sounding very delighted by the prospect.
"Speaking of which, how do we handle Vincent?" Mike enquired, still leaning against the wall.
"I doubt that he will be standing idly by whilst the Nightmares do their thing."
"Very true Mike, Vincent should be our main priority and I don't like not knowing his intentions," Puppet muttered, spurring everyone else to ponder the man's whereabouts.
"He will have something up his sleeve, he always does, and we'll have to react to it when it does arrive, I don't doubt that the Nightmares and Vincent are coordinating their movements," Toy Freddy said assuredly.
"So, we have something of a plan then?" Jeremy asked, turning to look in Freddy's direction whom he seemed to be pleased with having faced no objections to his idea despite the risks involved.
There were several nods of approval, cementing that this was now the way forward.
Seeing this, Freddy immediately moved to take control of the situation.
"We can start soon, the earlier the better, even though we are all somewhat sleep deprived," he stated firmly.
"Actually," Jeremy muttered, running his hand through his hair.
"We have another issue to decide upon."
He then immediately turned to face Goldie, whose attention had been caught by the surrounding articles. However, the nature of Jeremy's next words swiftly gained Goldie's attention.
"We need to burry Springtrap soon, otherwise he'll. . .start to decompose, unless we were to put him in a freeze."
"As I said previously Goldie, you get the right to decide on how he should be buried."
Goldie seemed to hesitate at first, but he soon gave his answer.
"As stated previously it would have to be a proper burial, I know he would have liked to maintain a physical presence instead of being cremated."
He then looked away towards the wall, on the other side which lay the lounge where Springtrap's body was being kept.
"For the sake of having limited time on our hands, we should burry him soon, nothing fancy, but it must be respectful for what he has done for us and me especially."
Immediately, there were several nods of agreement from the others, it was only right that they gave Springtrap the respect he served for having pulled them through a dangerous period at the cost of his own life.
"We'll give him full honours, even though it'll have to be in my backyard," Jeremy muttered, leaning back in his chair.
"It'll do Jeremy," Goldie replied, sound pleased but weary.
"Above all things SpringBonnie would have wanted to be close to us and when we recover what we've lost then we'll take him with us to our proper home."
He was of course referring to the pizzeria in the hope that they could return it to its glory days.
"We'll all pitch it, we'll give him a proper send-off worthy of his name laddie," Foxy stated, raising his hook arm as a sign of respect.
"And in the end, he is still here with us in many ways," he said softly, earning many nods of approval from the others.
"So, we burry Springtrap and then proceed with Freddy's lucid dreaming idea?" Mike remarked smoothly, finally pushing himself off the wall and stretching his muscles.
Looking across the room, everyone seemed to have given their consent one way or the other.
"The question is now do we try to catch up on some sleep?" Chica asked, feeling the urge to yawn.
"I think that we can try without incident, even though the Nightmares are deceitful, it would be odd for them to set a time and then to attack us anywhere, plus if they wanted to become free by killing us then they would have done it already," Bonnie remarked, although the thought of it being so easy for the Nightmares for to kill them sent a shiver down everyone spine.
"I agree with Bonnie, the Nightmares would have chosen three pm for a reason and despite their nature, I would be surpised if they were to ignore it and just attack us anyway the moment we fall asleep," Toy Freddy stated, sounding firm in his conviction.
"If we are to sleep then it should be where one sleeps and another one watches for an hour before switching over," Toy Bonnie said, stretching her muscles after having stood stationary for so long.
"Just in case they actually do come back."
As before they were many nods and mutterings of agreement.
"Ok, the time is roughly 7amish now, so if we want to do this sleeping schedule now, to get it out of the way with and then everything else can be sorted out," Jeremy remarked, whilst fighting off the lure of sleep.
He needed to deal with a few things first before he could enjoy the luxury of sweet slumber, even if were only to be for an hour at most.
"So, what happens with the tapes?" Balloon Boy asked, turning to face Jeremy, as some people started to file out of the office.
"Hopefully, they'll never be heard again when this is all over, in fact I'll properly delete them the moment they become irrelevant, but I'll do that with the agreement of everyone else."
He then held his hands out, gesturing to the various articles and pictures that lined the surrounding walls.
"Including this lot, as long as it all holds some importance to our situation it'll stay, although I certainly won't miss it," he said, sounding relived by the prospect of clearing the room out.
Balloon Boy smiled, for he was entertained by the prospect of getting rid of all trace to the past, even if it was a faint dream at the moment given their circumstances.
Jeremy smiled in return, although he seemed to be weary, staring at a screen for so long and being tired was not good for the eyes.
"By the way Jeremy, thank you for the hot chocolate, sorry that I allowed it to become cold," Balloon Boy muttered, feeling embarrassed by the fact, but Jeremy waved it off, it was trivial.
"Just use the microwave to reheat it BB, you clearly had a lot to say at the time, it doesn't matter."
His response resulted in a smile from Balloon Boy, who then turned and headed towards the kitchen. Slowly, Jeremy was left to his own devices as one by one, everyone steadily left the room with Jeremy turning back to face the computer screen.
Instantly he began to close down all the windows.
"Rest in peace Phone Guy, I sincerely hope that you are at peace wherever you are, unlike our dear co-workers," he muttered, more than low enough to avoid anyone from hearing him.
He paused to sigh, before continuing.
"I fear we will have to go through a lot more pain before this nightmare ends."
In that moment he thought of Springtrap, seeing him in his mind's eye lying on his lounge floor.
He had sacrificed everything to get Goldie back and even with Goldie's abilities at hand, the odds were still stacked against them. Yet to lose Goldie again and everyone else in addition would only serve to make Springtrap's death all the more tragic. Jeremy mentally frowned as he stared at the screen, but his attention was now elsewhere.
"Even if we do win, it will come with a heavy price, I wonder if Vincent has anything to lose. . .save for his life of course," he muttered bitterly.
Then a dark thought entered his mind, but he quickly dismissed it, instantly hating its content.
"No, that is not how I would like things to end, but since when did I have the chance to dictate fate."
And with that dismissal Jeremy threw himself into his work, although the dark thought continued to echo in the depths of his subconscious.
Mangle could feel her entire body trembling as she seated herself into the chair at Jeremy's kitchen table.
By now everyone else had gone off to do their own thing, besides taking turns between sleep and guard duty.
She could feel her memories stirring from the deep depths of her subconsciousness, begging to be relived and Phone Guy's tapes had brought them all back.
The sounds, the sights and the feel of those moments had been rekindled in realistic detail and her mental dam was crumbling.
She could feel her head throb and the mental strain to hold them all back was now being physically expressed as Mangle tighten her fists and gritted her teeth as the pressure continued to build to heights that she could not stand against.
The past was calling to her, luring her back and in the end, she could no longer resist its pull, slipping into its embrace.
November 1987 Hurricane Utah
Today was nothing special, but for Mangle it was an off day. In other words, the other Toys had the burden of the performance schedule, so she could just rest, whilst the entertaining of hordes of children were someone else's priority.
It was the little things in life that made it worth living sometimes.
Her dreams were mashed together, intermixing and making no sense, but she didn't care as she slept peacefully in one of the corners of Kid's Cove.
However, that peace was about to be shattered in what was perhaps the bloodiest of outcomes.
She could feel herself stirring, slowly waking up, but instead of feeling relaxed, she felt restless, irritated and annoyed. Immediately she frowned in anger, feeling immense discomfort and wanting to 'leap into action' so to put it.
She rose off the tile floor, activating her endoskeleton belt that unleashed her endoskeleton arms, being two long metallic arms that reached for the ceiling. Her annoyance and rage only grew with time as she jumped up, with her endoskeleton arms gripping the ceiling and pulling her upwards until she was literally hanging from it.
Mangle breathed in and out in quick and frenzied bursts, as her eyes twitched with her pupils going wide like she was intently focused on something.
The sounds of children cheering outside had earned her undivided attention as she turned towards the open doorway.
Her yellow eyes narrowed as she gritted her teeth, the children, those bullies!
How they tore at her dress, insulted her and kept on kicking her down repeatedly.
She just felt this raging fire of injustice and vindication burning within, there were no conquences for their actions, but she had to live with it every day.
It was time for a change, she needed it. . .no, she wanted it.
Instantly she moved forward, using her endoskeleton arms for mobility as she crawled across the ceiling and out into the main stage area.
Suddenly she was hit by loud sounds and bright lights, with the sounds of cheering, shouting and singing.
The other Toys were on stage singing 'Happy Birthday' for one of the children, with a big purple 'Happy Birthday' Banner in green writing hanging over the stage. There were crowds of children, all cheering and jumping up and down amidst the celebrations. . .the whole room looked like a light show.
Mangle could only feel annoyance and anger at the display, where was her celebrations, the children didn't give her the same respect as they did to Toys Freddy, Bonnie and Chica. Her eyes narrowed even further as she hung from the ceiling like a predator waiting in the grass for the moment to make a move.
Her rage, her hatred and her desire for some form of justice were unquenchable until it had found some form of expression that could bring closure.
Yet. . .somewhere in the back of her mind, she was asking herself why she was thinking and acting in such vulgar terms.
What was she doing, why did she feel so enraged right now?
These questions were swiped away with the tidal wave of anger that was becoming senseless with each passing second.
Or at least it felt like that.
"Mangle. . ."
Suddenly, Mangle looked down to see Puppet in her Music Box staring up at her, looking quite confused as to why Mangle was hanging from for the ceiling.
"What are you doing, isn't today your rest day?" Puppet asked curiously.
However, she got no reply from Mangle, as she immediately turned her attention back to the horde of children who were eating up the Toys' performance.
She then moved forward, crawling along the ceiling, ignoring Puppet's cries for her to answer and instead eyed the children. They deserved to suffer for the pain that they had put her through, giving no appreciation towards the effort that she put into her acts.
Well. . .it is time to change that.
"Hey look it's Mangle!"
"Wow, it's Mangle, I didn't know she could do that!"
Suddenly a choir of voices arose as the children began to notice Mangle and were immediately enthralled by her hanging from the ceiling with her endoskeleton arms.
"She looks so cool like that."
"Can she do tricks?"
Yet Mangle didn't hear anything, only her own internal desire to recreate the torment that she had endured at their hands.
So many potential targets. . .
However, no sooner had she relished the thought, that small voice in the back of her head echoed its disgust.
"Why are you doing this?"
"This is not you!"
"Snap out of it!"
But Mangle paid little attention to her own moral objections as she gazed down at the horde of children. She gritted her teeth together in anticipation of what she intended to do as her eyes were now a fiery yellow widen in excitement.
There. . .one child in particular, a girl with blonde hair who had torn at her clothes about a week ago.
She would do just nicely.
Again, the small voice in the back of her mind raised its head at why she felt the urgent overriding need to do this, but Mangle rejected it, positioning herself for the right moment. It was then that she was noticed by the other Toys, who were surpised to see her up and about, although they masked it well, acting as if it were an intended part of their performance.
"Well, hello here Mangle, you have finally joined us at last," Toy Freddy stated with delight, extending his hand out to Mangle, welcoming her into the group.
"Wow, I never knew that she could preform that trick!" Toy Bonnie exclaimed, acting amazed and surprised, even though she knew that Mangle used her endoskeleton arms for such a purpose.
"Come on Mangle, preform some acrobatic tricks for us, I would like to see what you can do up there!" Toy Chica cheered, jumping up and down in her excitement.
Mangle heard them, in her state of her mind she could hear everything, the bright flashing neo stage lights, the loud blaring playful music and screams and cheers of the children.
And yet it sounded so far away, distant, washing over her with no impact present in her facial expression as all of her focus was on the girl, the bully.
Instead of joining the other Toys on stage, she hoisted herself into a downright position, looking as though she was indeed about to preform for the crowd which only caused them to cheer even louder
However, in reality she was preparing to drop down upon the children.
The girl in blonde hair was the one she wanted, focusing in her like a needle in a haystack, spying her out among the horde of jeering children who were ravenous for a performance.
Mangle's yellow eyes harden into two burning pupils of sheer hatred as she whispered to herself.
"The show is about to begin. . ."
Steadily, she made her endoskeleton arms loosen their grip on the ceiling as she lined up her angle of attack, slowly swinging back and forth and building up speed.
No one seemed to know what was about to happen and worked perfectly for her.
Yet that small irritating voice in the back of her mind refused to be silenced.
"Why do you feel the need to do this?"
"Why. . ."
"Something is wrong, this is not you."
Yet she shook those thoughts off, sharply answering back with.
"No, they need to feel what they put me through."
Then her endoskeleton arms let go and she dived forward like an arrow.
She fell fast and her shadow grew dark over the children as their eyes collectively widen in first shock and then fear. In those few seconds they saw Mangle in a new light, a fallen angel with a hate filled expression and all four arms outstretched like a monster desiring to grab them.
The Toys had only just realised what was about to happen, with their expressions rapidly shifting from confusion, surprise and then a horror filled realisation, their hearts were in their mouths.
Everything had slowed down and in those few seconds Mangle could see the fear in the children's' eyes. Their realisation that things were about to go very wrong, but to Mangle it was only fair game and she was too lost in the emotional overload of impending satisfaction to care about the serious consequences of her actions.
It didn't matter in the end and this could be her happiest day, for it certainly made her smile.
A sinister smile, but a smile, nonetheless.
The girl with blonde hair whom she had targeted looked as pale faced as the other children, with Mangle closing in on her specifically. Mangle's smile only grew as the feeling of revenge became evermore overpowering and she mentally commented.
"You will remember this 'performance' for a very long time. . ."
It later turned out to be self-fulfilling, as it was devastating.
Mangle lowered her head, closed her eyes tight and hugged herself, trying to stop the memory from playing any further, but a significant part of her didn't want to.
She wanted to suffer.
In the end she didn't get the child, but a staff member who had leapt in between them and she paid a horrific price. Yet Mangle had to endure an even worse price, feeling guilt, regret, remorse, despair and self-loathing for every waking moment.
She could never forget what she did and what she allowed to happen as a result of her actions.
The Second Missing Children's Incident. . .
It was because of her, the Toys lost nearly everything, and it was because of her that they became reviled by the public.
Everyone saw what happened that fateful day and no matter how much the other Fazbears insisted that it was not her fault given Vincent's actions, she didn't want to accept that.
She couldn't accept it because she wanted to hate herself. . .it was her fault and the blood was on her hands.
Now that the night guards had returned in the form of their metallic death traps with help from the Nightmares, there existed the frightening prospect that 'Helen' could easily make a return as well, possibly in a horrific form. The possibility now existed and the anxiety it caused wouldn't leave her.
The sound of chair legs scrapping across the floor released her from her trip down memory lane, she turned in its direction.
It was Puppet, slowly pulling a chair up alongside her.
At first Mangle thought it was odd, but when she saw the girl's face she immediately understood as to why she was here. Sadness and pain were clearly present in Puppet's facial expression, especially in her eyes and her lip seemed to be trembling.
"I know what is on your mind Mangle," she said, her tone was soft, but also emotional.
"Phone Guy's tapes brought it all back for me too, as did all the articles I felt like I was being judged with the past staring back at me."
Mangle didn't say anything, giving Puppet the opportunity to continue.
She sighed, closing her eyes briefly before reopening them.
"I tried to do the right thing, but it only made our situation worse and I could have tried harder to stop him."
She paused before continuing, obviously trying to keep herself composed.
"I blame myself for causing the pain, I allowed you and the others to become vulnerable and then I made you into a monster, or a puppet for a vengeful spirit."
"The night guards have every right to feel enraged, they are the true innocents in many ways."
She paused and lowered her head; she was trembling ever so slightly.
"I could have tried to find actual evidence to back up my claims, I could have confronted Vincent more openly, I should have been more proactive and I didn't, and now things have gotten worsen, I dragged everyone into my mess because I didn't try my hardest."
"I am responsible for your pain Mangle, he did the act, but I allowed him to get as far as he did until it was too late."
Puppet's voice was soft and low, evident that she trying to keep her emotions in check, whilst reviving her failures in great detail.
"It was only when I saw hm in the SpringBonnie suit luring five more children away that I acted and even with Freddy's help I still failed."
"In my haste to find a solution I made things lot worse by giving the lost souls a new home inside of you lot, without your consent, but I wanted to alleviate their suffering."
"Yet, I actually created an even bigger problem, giving vengeful spirits a means to act out, and I turned to silence, which underlined my guilt, until I confessed, but that only served to highlight my mistakes."
Mangle sensed that there was an underlying message to Puppet's words.
"Don't hate yourself, hate me instead, you are in pain because of me."
Whether this need to be blamed originated from her desire to take the pain away from others or because Puppet wanted to hate herself was unclear.
Knowing her though, and the way she viewed herself it could very well be both.
"You want me to hate you, I don't think that I can hate you anymore than I did back when you told us the whole truth," Mangle muttered.
She then looked away, staring at the kitchen window through which the faint glow of the rising sun on the horizon could be seen.
"You want me to hate you because you feel that you deserve it, like I do. All we see is our mistakes because the consequences are still being felt today."
"And your mistakes only came about because my failings," Puppet remarked, sounding very sullen.
"I see the fallout every day and it just reminds me of my mistakes, Phone Guy's tapes brought it all back in horrific detail that I cannot suppress them anymore."
Then her tone dropped, becoming so quiet that Mangle struggled to hear her despite being seated next to her.
"I watched you descend into despair, wretched with the guilt of causing that poor woman's death."
Mangle slowly turned to look back at Puppet, the girl was shaking all over and her eyes displayed a strong expression of regret.
"You cried, screamed at yourself for committing such an horrific act, you hated yourself, the bright aura that you expressed when you first arrived was gone and I knew that it was me who had helped to cause that trauma."
Although her tone was low, she sounded sorrowful, steadily becoming intangible as she continued to speak, evident that she was becoming quite emotional.
"I turned you into a murderer, in effect I used you Mangle, even though I was far out of my depth in what I was trying to achieve."
"I want to take on the burden of your guilt, everyone's guilt in fact so I can free you from your pain, all the agony falls on me, what I put you and the others through Mangle was my fault, as well as Vincent's."
Her tone become more emotional as she spoke, and Mangle could see tears building up in her tears.
"We both inflicted the pain, so we might as well be the ones to remove it, if I were to die then the only thing I desire is to take Vincent down with me, I would break the cycle."
"I would do that if it allowed me to fix my mistakes."
Mangle felt shock at Puppet's words, her eyes widen.
"Puppet. . ." she began softly.
"I don't want you to die, none of us do, I thought that we all wanted to see this nightmare through to the end, together."
Her tone also become emotional as she spoke.
"We forgave you for what you had done, we understand why you did it, you were only trying to do the right thing."
Puppet turned to look at her as she continued, the girl's expression was sorrowful, but also determined.
"You don't have to hate yourself to such a degree that you think killing yourself in the act will fix these problems."
"It is my fault, I made those choices that allowed the children to have the means to pursue their vengeance, I have to fix it!" Puppet shot back, now she looked aggressive, her eyes had narrowed, causing her expression to harden.
"I couldn't save you then, so let me save you now."
However, she seemed to realise that she had raised her voice and looked away, probably feeling shame for having got so aggressive. Yet she asked in a low tone, having seemingly lost her aggressive edge.
"Did you ever hate yourself so much for what happened to Helen that you were tempted by the idea to kill yourself as a means to end the pain?"
"Or that the weight of your failures meant that you were unworthy to live?"
Her eyes flickered back to Mangle's, examining her reaction.
"I did, as you already know, you are stronger than me on that front Mangle."
"Actually. . .I did entertain the thought, shortly after we had been smuggled to the Originals' Pizzeria," Mangle replied, sounding downcast and expressing a look of shame.
"I felt that I was largely responsible for making us lose our home, for forcing us to go on the run and seeing the other Toys look so crushed by the reality that I have unintentionally created, I felt nothing but unending despair and hatred for myself, I wanted to die, to end the pain and to let them know that I was sorry for making them suffer."
She paused to fight back the emotions that were building as the memories of those dark days in the 1990s flickered to life before her mind's eye.
"What stopped you from carrying it out?" Puppet asked, she sounded genuinely curious and concerned.
Mangle sighed, letting out her inner stress.
"I knew that deep down they didn't blame me for my mistakes and during my darker moments, I could always reach out to them to make me feel better even if it was brief," she replied firmly, feeling composed in that moment.
"You could say that I was in a better mental state compared to you, but we were both a psychological mess, although I would have never dragged anyone else into my self-loathing, if I ever did take the 'plunge'. . .to put it nicely," Mangle muttered, successfully soothing her emotions and keeping the trauma under mental lock and key.
"I would. . ."
Puppet's voice was so low that Mangle swore that she misheard.
"You what?" she asked.
Puppet looked stoic in the face and her eyes were now unreadable as she spoke.
"In the light of the ever increasing body count of the children's murder victims, the rotted state of our living conditions and the fading hope of ever finding Vincent Afton in order to free the children's souls, I could clearly see what I had created."
"Their demented laughter, their murderous rage and their rampant bloodlust, the children had turned into monsters consumed by vengeance and we had no choice in the matter but to be their unwilling vessels, knowing that any real world consequences for their actions would fall on us."
Puppet's voice was now cold and direct as she spoke.
"Things were getting worse by the day and we were all suffering to no end."
"Everything had become a grinding routine, we had lost the ability to be happy as we turned away from the rest of the world, nothing changed."
"Then when it was announced that the pizzeria would eventually be closing its doors with Fazbear Entertainment going under, any lingering hope that our circumstances might change for the better died."
Mangle just stared at Puppet, with the former looking more and more shocked, as the latter continued to speak in a detached tone.
"I had entertained the idea at first in the aftermath of having told you and others the truth as to how things ended up this way, as well as a few other moments and then again when we were informed that the pizzeria would soon close."
Puppet then turned to face Mangle, her expression was hard, but stoic and her detached tone remained the same.
"Finally, to top it all off, there was our paranoid over an investigation being launched into the missing night guards, they would find something no matter how hard we hid the evidence and the end result was obvious to anyone who knew the truth."
Then she unveiled what her 'idea' was.
"I would have barricaded the pizzeria inside and out, locked us all in and then set fire to the building."
"We would all die an agonising death, but it would be brief, the pain would stop, and the suffering would finally come to an end."
Mangle's eyes only widen further as Puppet's tone steadily became emotional.
"I would save us from the repercussions of society, our name would no longer be dragged through the mud anymore."
"The entire pizzeria would have been turned into a hellish maze, expect there would be no exit, no escape."
She had started to tremble.
"The children would hopefully be forced to move on, and we would finally know peace, the horror that I helped to create would finally die."
She exhaled, sounding rather shaky.
"I know that Vincent would still be alive, but he wouldn't be our concern anymore."
"I would have freed you Mangle, you would no longer have to feel any guilt or regret, just peace."
"And if I couldn't do it. . ."
Puppet then looked away, feeling immense shame for her former intentions.
"Then I sincerely hoped that Vincent would come back and finish us all off in the same way, thus freeing the children's souls as well as freeing our own."
She then rested her head on the table, allowing herself to rest, having unburdened her soul.
"I was prepared to do anything, even if it meant death. . .to break the cycle."
Mangle said nothing, but continued to stare longingly at Puppet, the reality of what she said was still impacting her. Meanwhile Puppet found herself mentally drifting into her fantasies, into what she hoped against hope could have happened back in those dark days to end the nightmare.
(Begin song here)
We see Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria and the surrounding community at night.
The building is dark inside with its gloomy hallways filled with rubbish.
Dim light from malfunctioning monitors flicker in and out of focus.
The faint sound of childish laughter and buzzing static fill the stale night air.
"I close both locks below the window."
Everything is a reminder to an infamous past.
"I close both blinds and turn away."
The outside world doesn't exist in here.
"Sometimes solutions aren't so simple."
There is no way out.
"Sometimes goodbye's the only way. . ."
We see Freddy possessed, looking through a fuzzy monitor screen in the office.
"And the sun will set for you."
We see the other Fazbears, also possessed appearing on other screens.
"The sun will set for you."
We then see a prop suit in one of the back rooms.
"And the shadow of the day."
It is covered in blood and gore.
"Will embrace the world in grey."
Its face is a fixed expression of agony.
"And the sun will set for you. . ."
It suddenly jerks forward, shifting about uncontrollably.
Its face plates slowly open as it twitches in pain.
We see Puppet possessed, roaming the desolate dining area.
"In cards and flowers on your window."
She gazes around curiously.
"Your friends all plead for you to stay."
She runs her hand over a faded 'welcome' poster.
"Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple."
A single tear falls from her eyes at the sadness of it all.
"Sometimes goodbye's the only way. . ."
We see the possessed Fazbears, twitching throughout the decaying building.
"And the sun will set for you."
Their demented groans and moans fill the air.
"The sun will set for you."
Then Puppet hears a noise behind her, she smells gas.
"And the shadow of the day."
She slowly turns round.
"Will embrace the world in grey."
She sees Vincent Afton standing behind her, holding a lighter.
"And the sun will set for you. . ."
He smiles at her, dropping the lighter and suddenly the room erupts into an inferno.
The ravenous flames rapidly spread throughout the pizzeria.
The Fazbears wail in pain as they are consumed by the intense heat.
Puppet screams, collapsing to the floor as she and Vincent are devoured by the flames.
The ghost children slowly rise out of the dying Fazbears towards heaven, as their vessels are destroyed by the fire.
"And the sun will set for you."
Everything goes up in flames, the screams die out.
"The sun will set for you."
No one is spared.
"And the shadow of the day."
The building begins to collapse.
"Will embrace the world in grey."
The Pizzeria burns as everyone meets their end.
"And the sun will set for you."
We see the Pizzeria's iconic sign crumbling under the flames.
"And the shadow of the day."
The entire building is lost to the fire.
"Will embrace the world in grey."
The nightmare ends here.
"And the sun will set for you. . ."
Slowly the camera pulls back to reveal the pizzeria completely ablaze, with smoke and open flames rising towards the clear night sky.
As the final notes play out, we see the pizzeria slowly disappear into the distance, becoming a bright dot of light.
This is it.
This is how your story ends.
Or rather how it should end.
End communications. . .
(Song ends).
Puppet felt a hand touch her shoulder; she knew it to be Mangle.
"Death is not the answer," she said in a soft tone.
"I felt what you did back then and to some degree, I still do, but I remember saying to Nightmare Freddy once that all we have left is eachother, but we dream on wining back what we lost, he could kill me, but my dream is immortal."
Mangle's tone was warm and sincere as she spoke, although it was something that Puppet would normally associate with Toy Bonnie or Toy Chica.
"Despite your claims of failure and hating yourself, you are a strong person Puppet, properly the strongest person I know given what you endured."
Then Mangle paused, before asking.
"Why didn't you carry your plan?"
Puppet didn't reply, propping Mangle to ask her again.
"Why did you not burn the pizzeria down with us inside, you said that you seriously considered the idea multiple times?"
Still nothing.
"What was more powerful than your own self-hatred back then?"
There was silence. . .then. . .two words.
"Vincent Afton."
Then Puppet moved her head, so that her eyes were visible, and they seemed to be alive with anger.
"My hatred for that man turned out to be stronger than my own hatred for myself."
"Every time I considered it, I felt that I would be letting that bastard win and I would have given up in finding a way to reverse all of his carnage."
She then rose upright, as the anger in their eyes died down.
"That is what held me back from stepping over the edge and I am extremely glad that I didn't, because even though we are going through dark times right now, we're still together."
Mangle nodded and smiled.
"Yes, and if we have been through hell already," she began.
"Then why would it be any different this time," Puppet finished, her eyes glowed with the realisation of that fact.
Suddenly, she reached out and hugged Mangle, who wasn't expecting the action, but she appreciated it all the same.
"Thank you, it was nice to have this talk," Puppet whispered, burying her head into Mangle's neck.
"We both are messed up," Mangle replied, hugging her back.
"But we can be put back together one way or the other."
Then Puppet felt Mangle sigh.
"I know that I will properly have to face my mistakes soon, in the flesh," she muttered, and Puppet could feel a shiver go up Mangle's spine.
She immediately knew who Mangle was referring to.
Helen. . .
"I know, but someday everyone has to face their demons, internal or external," Puppet said calmly, although she did fear seeing the former nightguards in the flesh, given the way Balloon Boy had described their appearance.
"But you won't be alone when confronting it though," she remarked, earning a small chuckle from Mangle.
"True, I like to think that our hardships have made us closer. . .or at least I hope that's true."
She was clearly joking at the last part and Puppet smiled, suddenly feeling rather sleepy, her lack of sleep had finally caught up, as her eyes lids started to feel heavy.
"I think whatever happens next, we'll stick together," she muttered, resting her weary head on Mangle's shoulder as her desire for sleep became overpowering. Yet she was able to utter one last thing before she finally fell asleep, feeling happy at the thought.
"In the end, we're still one big happy family. . ."
I wonder if any of you are finding the chapter sizes to be too big, although I try to make them compact and have a sense of closure.
Other than that, thank you for reading, I'll aim to upload another chapter around Halloween and I intend to increase the horror factor!
Please Review :-)