FNAF Chronicles: A Prologue of Gold and Blood

by pinkstoryteller

Hello, hello! Welcome to the prologue of the "FNAF Chronicles". In this installment, when a young Jack Skellington comes upon "Fredbear's Family Diner", he meets and befriends the resident animatronics. For a while, things go pretty smoothly, but little does anyone know that things are about to go terribly wrong... (T and Horror tag for language and later scary events)

1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: *sigh* Great day in the morning Fanfiction. net, what is up with you? Here I was all set to post and you conked out on me and everybody! I'm seriously thinking of setting up an alternate account on Archive of Our Own and putting up all the stories I have so far over there as a backup. In the meantime, I got the mobile app version of this site so that I can read the stories I favorited…but, unfortunately, any PMs I've done didn't transfer over, so…yeah.

Anyway, let's get to why we're here in the first place.

…

BOO! Did I scare ya? …No? Ah well, that's OK.

So, I said that I would soon be putting up my first FNAF entry, and…here it is. Well, the first chapter of it, anyway. But, before I get into how I got here, let me update you on what's been going on IRL: Work is still the same, still looking for a career, and my Dad has had surgery done to remove his gallbladder. For a while now, he had been having itching, trouble sleeping, and coughing fits would very often become retching. Some trips to doctors offices revealed that he had gallstones, which may have been the root of the problem. The week before June 30th, he was feverish, weak, and shaking, so Mom took him to the hospital where he had to stay for a few days and get surgery done to remove his gallbladder. It was done with small incisions done by machines, so there was no big incision that would take a long time to heal and Dad was out of the hospital on June 30, thank goodness. …Unfortunately, there's a new problem in the form of some kind of cirrhosis on Dad's liver, but we won't know what it is until the results come in. And in the meantime there's all these follow-up appointments he has to set as well as trying to anticipate if something else may come up. And then recently my younger brother gave notice to a pressure in his chest. We took him to Urgent Care, but the doctors found nothing wrong. We kept an eye on him and it eventually went away, so that's good.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get into my path to this moment. I would have to say that it all started back when FNAF was still relatively new, maybe 2015 or so? Maybe. Anyhow, I do remember watching my brother playing the first game and sitting behind him, trying to be prepped for a jumpscare. Things were going OK…and then Foxy did his jumpscare thing and…well, we both jumped. After that, I never really showed much interest in the FNAF franchise, so all the games and associated media were pretty much nonexistent on my "interesting things" radar. Then the movie happened. I've only watched it once so far and I remember that Mike's side of things had me confused. Hey, maybe it'll get better during repeat viewings, who knows? And then, as I've probably said in other Author's Notes, I was browsing around on DeviantArt and came across Don Bluth-esque artwork of various FNAF characters created by an artist called Kosperry and was seriously amazed at their talent for emulating that artstyle. While that was going on, I found a fanfiction by Arctic Vulpix called "Expect the Unexpected" and was immediately invested; in fact, that was a big inspiration for the story that I'm about to tell. Some time later, I read Wikipedia articles of the various games and ended up watching a 6-hour playthrough on YouTube that went through "FNAF 1" to "FNAF 6: Pizzeria Simulator". The jumpscares definitely got me a number of times, and my opinion of FNAF 4 was that it was "demented" because of the situation the player found themselves in. Next came a playthrough of the then-latest entries: "Security Breach" and "RUIN", and they were certainly interesting. After that, my attention was caught by the various FNAF-inspired music videos on YouTube that people made, many of which I loved and actually made a playlist of on my Apple Music app (unfortunately, I don't have all of them, but I eventually will), which was followed by more fan videos on YouTube from creators such as Felhesznelenev (their Christmas specials are WONDERFUL as is the "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"-inspired "Names"), TwoDev-Sensei, Arcade Chick, Jaze Cinema, Hornstromp, Tomicoo, Abby SFM, Envious Razor, CastleDog8, and others. I also came upon some comic dubs by people/groups such as Cougar Mcdowall Va, Cook Boss88, Metkuratsu Mizuiro (their dubbing of the "RUIN" comic "Obsolete" by IceTigerKitten is AMAZING), and JFlare (it was because I was curious and the way things went down in one comic inspired a scenario for later; NOTHING ELSE.). I also checked out Markiplier's playthroughs of FNAF 1, 2, 3, 4, Sister Location, Security Breach, and RUIN. And then my attention turned to the fanfiction side of things once again (as it does) and I found more interesting entries, most notably stories by FrostByterFang and SpanishDexter here on this site. Oh, yes; I also found videos of people who did "rewritten" versions of "Security Breach", including one by KiwiQueenREWRITTEN (formerly KiwiQueen 13) that…well, for me, was a "whole new level of dark" that I didn't want to take a second shot at. Don't get me wrong, she did an awesome job narrating and editing sound effects in for an immersive experience and I did manage to make it through the whole main story, but when it came to what happened after…oh gosh, after hearing how the animatronics were treated in one chapter of the "epilogue", I was like, "This is definitely one book I don't think I'll give a reread to". It's still being put together though, so maybe I'll wait until the last chapter is up before I give it another go…fingers are crossed for a happy ending, though. Now, since "Security Breach" is still the latest in the lineup (aside from an upcoming new game based on a FNAF book), there is more content based on it out there, but I have found YouTube "audiobooks" that focus on the characters and events of FNAF 1-6 and they've made me start thinking about doing something similar…of course, I'm worried about funds, account privacy, and computer storage so…yeah, that's a bit up in the air. But, of course, there's always the next best thing: Putting something up on Fanfiction. net. And speaking of books, I do actually have two "Tales of the Pizzaplex" books that I bought in May: "Nexie" and "Tiger Rock". It's been mostly for research on the Mimic, but, who knows, maybe something from them will pop up later.

So…yeah, that's the long-winded story of me and my interest in this game franchise. And now, more explaining as to what I'm going to be doing with this, where this fits in with everything, and so on and so forth. Yay. Of course, the most obvious place to start is at the beginning and according to my various Internet searches, that would be the 1970's in "Fredbear's Family Diner", some time before "FNAF 4". Meanwhile, on the other side of the equation, we're taking a look back in Jack Skellington's backstory (well, FNAF is a horror game franchise, so I thought Jack being the one to initiate the crossover was the best idea); by the time this part of the story starts, he has been through my fanfic-verse version of "Hocus Pocus" (which takes place in 1993, I know, but different worlds, different timestreams). Other weird wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey things will occur later, but I'll save them for when the time comes. But what that means is that this is before his "taking over Christmas" fiasco and even before he even got his Pumpkin King title; to properly place this within everything else, this would take place after my fanfic-verse version of the series "Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated". Yeah, I know; too many ideas on the brain.

In the meantime, here's the disclaimer: I do not own Jack Skellington, he is owned by Disney and Tim Burton, nor do I own the characters of "Five Nights at Freddy's", they are owned by Scott Cawthon and Steel Wool Studios.

Now it's time for me to save my yammering for the end and get on with this story.

*Ring…* *Ring…*

Ah, and that should be the narrator. You might wanna pick that up.

---

Hello. Hello, hello. Welcome. If you're looking for a ghost story, you're definitely in the right place. You may or may not be aware of the story that's about to be told, but there are many versions of it. Or at least theories. I suppose you could say this is my own attempt to try to tie all these messy threads together. And I don't mean just figuratively messy; this story is not for the faint of heart. …You'll find out why. Or you may already know that. Anyway, now, I'm fully aware that there will be some who won't approve of this, but this is the way I've heard this tale, so why don't we get started?

Once upon a time (as most stories start), in a city in the state of Utah called Hurricane, there was a place called Fredbear's Family Diner. This place was the dream of two old friends who wanted to create a place where fantasy and fun came to life, and it did in the most unique way possible. You see, Fredbear's Family Diner was the home of some of the most unique talent known, way ahead of their time, especially in the 70's. Then again, the man who made them was a certifiable genius. …And I do mean certifiable.

Of course, like another man in another world, this man didn't exactly know just what he had made; after all, no-one ever expects machines with characteristics created by lines and lines of code to start having a consciousness, but that's what happened…though there was still a bit of denial at this point.

But that's neither here nor there; what matters is that the diner had three living AIs working there, that simple fact completely unnoticed by anyone. Of course, the visiting children believed that they were alive, but that could easily be chalked up to a game of pretend. However, there was one child who came to the diner one night who found out the truth and became entangled in a web of mystery, lies, and blood. And that is where our story begins…

---

Chapter 1

Halloween had come around once again. The moon was in its new phase, its bright face out of sight as if hiding behind a dark curtain, leaving only the stars and the lights of houses and street lamps to light up the night. The perfect atmosphere for scaring, as certain beings were doing at the moment. Already many trick-or-treaters had run off, leaving their bags of candy behind. Or some left with psychological scars caused by the frights they endured.

Yes, back then the denizens of Halloween Town were a tad ruthless at times when it came to doing their once-a-year job. Well, all but one, that is.

A young lad had broken off from the main group hours ago, not keen on joining in their version of merrymaking; he would likely be scolded for wandering off, but to him that would be better than spending the next day feeling sick to his phantom stomach. So, he mostly stuck to spooking feral animals in alleyways or masquerading as a decoration on front lawns to get a scream out of passing families (he tried scaring a teen trick-or-treater only once; they didn't take him seriously and further attempts didn't end too well).

In fact, he was still nursing an aching skull from when the teen accidentally knocked his head off during one said further attempt when he found himself in front of a curious establishment. The building itself would have looked rather ordinary if it weren't for the large, bright sign above the door depicting a golden bear with a purple bow tie and hat and a golden rabbit with just the purple bow tie and the words "Fredbear's Family Diner" just below them.

From the lights coming from the windows and the sounds of people inside, there had to be a Halloween party going on for those who stayed up late and as a last stop for nearly-tired trick-or-treaters.

A nearly skull-splitting smile spread across the young lad's face as eye sockets widened in glee and curiosity; now this was some Halloween fun he could get into!

"I know I'm not supposed to be seen by humans, but with everyone in costumes, they'll just think I'm a kid dressed up as a skeleton," he reasoned to himself. "I just have to be out of there and back with the others before dawn and no-one will know I've been gone."

After making sure everything was in place and his little suit was looking spiffy, he strode up to the entrance with a confident air. He got there just in time to see an incoming family receive colored bracelets, likely an entrance pass of some kind.

No problem, he thought, until…

"Twenty dollars."

"Huh?"

"The entrance fee is twenty dollars."

Shoot. He should've remembered to bring money.

Then again, coming to this place had been on a whim.

"You gonna pay, or what?"

The person accepting entrance fees took a moment to look the prospective customer over and found himself raising an eyebrow. The costume was incredibly good, but the kid looked like nothing but bare bones; so thin that a gust of wind could blow him away.

"Uh...your folks here with you?" he asked.

The bone-boy squirmed a bit under the analyzing look; humans usually couldn't tell if a Halloween Town citizen was just a costume or not, not until it was too late, anyway, but this guy seemed to be getting suspicious. He also didn't feel like lying, but he wanted to explore this "Fredbear's Family Diner" for himself without anyone to spoil it.

"No, sir," he answered. "But I can take care of myself."

"Sorry, kid, but unless you have a parent or guardian with you and you pay the $20, I can't let you in. Look, I don't make the rules, I just make sure everyone follows 'em. And while you're at it, get something to eat; you're too thin."

"I'm just fine, for a skeleton, sir."

Whoops! He just had to let that human's comments bruise his pride, didn't he?

"Uh, nothing! Nothing!" the lad exclaimed before the employee could interrogate further. "I'll just...I'll just get going now, OK? Bye!"

With that, he took off like a shot and didn't stop until he spotted a large, metal box next to a wall filled with bags and jumped inside. Normally, that would be a bad idea, but the kid was used to bad smells and rotting things from his hometown; this was no different. And it matched his current mood, too. All he wanted to do was go inside and join the fun, maybe get a glimpse of those two animals that were on the sign, if they were actually there. I mean, the sign did show them, so they had to be there, right? And he had so many questions about them! Unfortunately, his big mouth and lack of funds had cost him a ticket in.

"Maybe I'll just stay here until everyone goes away," he mumbled sadly; he knew there was still Halloween to get back to, but his curiosity of this place was still going strong, and it wouldn't be satisfied until he had a look inside.

A pang of hunger from his phantom stomach alerted him that he was in need of a snack. He poked around to see what he could find and soon came upon a strangely decorated, floppy, and rather soggy triangle shaped thing. It had a thick, brown edge at the wide end and the rest was covered with a yellow-green skin over some red stuff underneath with some crinkled, round things on top. Personally, he would have liked something from home, like spookghetti and eyeballs, but he couldn't afford to be picky at the moment. He took a bite and took in the various slimy and overripe textures and smells; this thing was actually pretty good! He definitely needed to find out what this was and how to make it! Maybe he could share it with everyone else! No, wait a minute; Teach would probably ask him where he got the idea and that would mean telling him that he snuck off. Not a pleasant thought. And…ooh. No. Definitely no. There was no way he was going to bring the whole of Halloween Town down upon this place. This was his place, he found it first!

…And he couldn't get in.

Great, now he was sad again, and his appetite was now gone, as well.

With a sigh, he let the strange food drop before stretching his hearing; it was less noisy now, but he wasn't making a move until it was absolutely quiet.

He yawned and settled himself on the mound of bags inside; a little nap wouldn't hurt, he supposed.

---

"Finally, another day done!"

The guy couldn't wait to get home and sleep. He had to pity the night guard; he wondered how the guy made a living being a night owl. Maybe he was a vampire in disguise or something? Nah, he couldn't be. 'Sides, whoever heard of a vampire hanging out in a pizzeria where there was salt and garlic about?

"Welp, first the trash, then I can relax," the man grunted as he lugged his load out the loading dock door towards the dumpsters at the side of the building.

Kids were great, but boy howdy were they messy, and Halloween was definitely one of the more messier nights.

"Kinda makin' me wish I had that vampire super-strength…or…something like that to…help with this!" the late-night employee grunted as he pulled the bag, eventually making it to his destination.

"Ah, lid's open. Great. Just…please don't have a raccoon or something jump out at me, please?" he begged aloud to no-one in particular.

He heaved the bag up, lifted it over his head as best he could, and tossed it in.

"Ow!"

The man stood stock still. Did he just hear somebody yell "Ow"? Or maybe it was a yowl from a cat? Oh, please let it be a cat.

"Um…hello…?" the man called, his voice trembling. "Here kitty, kitty…"

The nervous man carefully stepped towards the dumpster, bracing himself for whatever might jump out at him. He started to lift the nearest trash bag…

"ROWL! YOWL! HHHH! HHHH! REE-OWWL!"

"AA-AA-AA-AA-AA…!"

"Ha-ha, works every time," the bone-boy chuckled as he climbed out, the human having run off from his wild cat impression.

He stretched his hearing once again and looked around as he checked his suit over and straightened it out; aside from the buzzing of the lights, all was quiet. That could only mean one thing: He had the area all to himself!

…But that didn't mean that he could get into the place.

Great, still stuck at square one, he groaned. I just wanted to meet those animals on the sign; is that so wrong?

A distant clang followed by a prolonged creak sounded off; it was as if a door had just opened. But that couldn't be.

Could it?

---

"No way."

The lad couldn't believe it; whether through carelessness on the part of the humans, luck, or fate, the loading dock door had been left unlocked and open.

Curiosity can be a blessing and a curse, and he was no stranger to both ends of that spectrum. After all, he had gotten curious about the Sanderson Sisters and what did that get him? Trouble with his teacher for sneaking off to follow the witches and multiple dances with a second death. But he did manage to help save Salem's children and free Binx from his curse, so at least not all the consequences were bad.

But those consequences, good and bad, were the reason why he was hesitating at the door. If he went in, he would probably meet those animals on the sign, but what was the catch? Getting involved with a curse? Another tap dance with a second death?

Or maybe there would be no catch. Maybe he would be able to make some new friends under actual friendly circumstances. Besides, he was dying to see the inside of the place.

Oh, what the heck? You're only undead once, right?

The bone-boy looked up at the sky; not a single beam of sunlight yet. He had plenty of time. He crouched down and slipped through the gap in the door. He took a moment to take in the quiet, eerie, almost familiar atmosphere before turning back to the door.

No, wait; he needed that door to get out. No sense closing off his escape route.

He looked around again and swiftly took cover behind some crates the second he spotted a moving, blinking red light in a ceiling corner. He remembered the story Teach had told him of how some old friends of his had caught a ghost pirate on camera and made it a point to be extra cautious if someone he was going to scare had one on. Sometimes it added some spice to the scare, other times it was a detriment, and there was no way he was going to get caught, not when he was just a few steps in!

He waited until the pinprick of red light was out of sight before nimbly leaping up the crates to get a lay of the land. Using the excellent night vision that all creatures of the night had been given, he made out more crates and four doors: The big one he just came through behind him, one door ahead, one on the left wall, and one on the right wall. Now it was just a question of which was the closest and safest. Going back was a big "no", so that left three. The camera turning back in his direction automatically ruled out the one on the right; he'd likely draw attention to whoever was watching, a night guard most likely.

So, which was it; forward or left?

The left one looked like it was in a darker spot than the one straight ahead and it didn't seem that the camera had that much of a range of motion.

He waited until the camera was turned again and made his way to the door in a flurry of leaps and graceful jetés worthy of a skilled ballet dancer. The door was locked, no surprise, but luckily the kid carried a bony skeleton key; he never left home without it.

The door hinges squeaked a little, but luckily he was quick enough to get through the door before the person behind the camera could notice.

Now he was in a hallway. With more cameras. Lovely.

It was a good thing the place barely had any lights on; more places to hide. He mostly stuck to the walls, only moving across when he had to. On the way, he passed doors that led to a janitor's closet, the kitchen (at least now he knew where one of the other doors went), and a supply closet with boxes filled what he had to guess were decorations.

Upon reaching the end of the hall, he found himself in front of two swinging doors (the ones that could open in and out). Curiosity running full tilt, he carefully opened one of the doors and took a peek.

He could make out chains hanging from the ceiling, what looked like a large table with a silhouette on it, and what appeared to be various, large, strangely-shaped objects. The smell of metal and oil reminded him of Doctor Finklestein's laboratory; was it possible whoever worked back here did something similar? I mean, whatever was on the table seemed like pretty solid evidence. But then, where was all that equipment that would help bring the creature to life?

This required further investigation.

He stepped all the way in and looked around. There weren't any red lights that would give a camera away, at least, not that he could see at the moment. He looked around at the walls to see the clutter lined up there; the strangely-shaped objects could now be identified as larger-than-usual animal heads. There was also a tall, thin statue with two round, closed eyes standing in a corner.

What kind of laboratory is this? he wondered. And why have something like this at place people come to? Maybe…it's a secret lab.

Nope-nope-nope-nope! Enough theories! You're here, so let's actually get some information!

With that determined thought haven been shaken into his skull, he carefully navigated his way around the room to find a light source. He managed to find a light switch near something covered by a tarp. He checked once again for camera lights, then flicked the switch.

Despite having no actual eyes, it took a bit for his vision to adjust to the light. When it did, the first thing his eye sockets found was a large, gold, four-fingered hand sticking out from under the tarp.

Should he?

Slowly, he lifted the tarp to reveal a forearm attached to the hand, which led to an upper arm, which led to-

WHOOSH!

"Whoa..."

It had a humanlike body structure and its appendages were segmented by joints, but the head shape reminded the bone lad of a picture of a bear he had seen once. The jaw was square-shaped with the bottom teeth visible, a purple top hat sat on top of the head while two, round ears stuck out from the upper sides, and if you looked closely enough, there was a purple bowtie hidden in shadow under the jaw. The eyes were also closed shut.

The young boy mouthed a "sorry" before slowly backing up. He probably should put the tarp back on, but he didn't want to chance waking it up. Once he was a good enough distance away, he turned around...and finally got a good look at what was on the table: Its skin/fur was gold-colored and it had a human like body structure, just like the bear, and once he got closer, he noticed that the snout was a light yellow while the belly was a lighter yellow. There were also two, long, segmented appendages sticking out from the top of the head that were rounded at the top and, once he managed to get on a stepstool, two black buttons on its chest and a purple bowtie.

You look familiar... the boy thought. And so do you, he added, turning around to look back at the uncovered bear.

The animals on the sign. These were the animals on the sign. He found them!

He would let out a cry of joy, but he didn't want to wake them up and alert the night guard to his presence. Then again, wouldn't the light being on have done so, anyway?

…Maybe it was time to turn the lights off.

He stepped back off the stool—

Creak.

What was that?

"Hello?" the boy called quietly, stiff as a statue at the noise.

No response.

Slowly, he turned his skull right. Nothing there but more clutter. Left; more clutter and two more doors at the other end of the wall. Down showed his own feet, the stepstool, and the single leg of the table the golden rabbit was laying on.

Up?

…

Whew! Nope, nothing there. Now he only had to—Hold on, where'd that shadow come from?

"I wouldn't mess with him if I were you."

The boy's phantom brain only took a second to take in the fact that the golden bear was now awake and standing behind him with a disciplinary look before it went into panic mode and he let out one of the loudest shrieks he had ever loosed in his afterlife.

Which in turn made it—her—scream loudly and back up quickly, her hat falling off. There was the sound of startled movement from behind as the shrieking boy backed up and hit the table, followed by a male voice shouting, "What the heck?!"

The boy shrieked, pivoted on his foot and ended up launching himself at the floor in a failed jump, the female golden bear called, "Spring, don't—!", and—

CLANG!-CLANG!-CLANG!-CLANG!-CLANG! "AAAAAAOOOOOWW!"

The boy laid there stunned. What in the name of Mary Shelley just happened?!

"OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh!" the golden bear fretted as she rushed to the table, her ears lowered and a look of worry on her face. "Spring! Hold on! Don't move! Don't move! I know it hurts, but you gotta stay still, OK?"

What did he do? What did he do? He didn't want to hurt anyone! Heck, he didn't even want to scare anyone! And now the golden rabbit—who he guessed was a friend of the bear—was hurt somehow and it was all his fault!

He was on the other side of the table opposite the golden bear before he knew it.

"What happened?!" the boy asked, his voice breaking a little from his guilt.

"He moved too fast and tripped his springlocks!" the golden bear answered. "Darn things are sensitive to fast movement and water; just be glad no-one was inside him!"

"Springlocks"? "Inside him"?! What were they?!

"Is…Is he gonna… Is he gonna die?" was the next, teary question from the boy. "I… I… I'm so…"

"Hey. Hey, kid!" the bear called gently, getting his attention. "Listen, he's not going to die, but he is gonna be in a lot of pain if we don't tighten these things."

The boy took a couple deep breaths to calm himself before asking, "H…How do we do that?"

"Well, first things first: We have to peel the suit back. Then we have to—Wait a minute," she said, a realization suddenly hitting her. "What do you mean 'we'? This is a dangerous procedure! And certainly not for a child to perform!"

"B-But—"

"No 'but's'!" the golden bear snapped. "I don't need anyone else getting hurt tonight."

"B-But… I…It… M-My fault. M-My…fix. I…I'm not looking to…to get…a-anything, but… My mistake, I fix it," the boy stated as firmly as he could, despite the shakiness in his voice and the tears that were still streaming from his eye sockets.

"Hggh… Goldy…"

The bear, Goldy, looked down at her friend, her brother; her brother currently in pain because some kid in a really good skeleton costume had somehow wandered in here and managed to scare them both. Well, yeah, she had scared him first, but that wouldn't have happened if he hadn't—How did that kid get in, anyway?!

"Le…Let…Let the boy h-h-help," the gold rabbit, Spring, rasped through the pain.

Goldy stared in disbelief. The pain was not making him think straight; that's what it was.

"But Spring—"

One of his hands gripped hers tightly and he looked at her with as firm a stare as he could muster.

"Let. Him. Help. Let. Him. F-Fix. His…mistake."

Well, that was that; there was no use arguing against Spring's "I will brook no argument" voice. She never could, even though she could've used her own against his. There were only three beings in the whole world who outdid them both in that department, but they weren't here at the moment.

A groan from Spring and a metallic creak broke the silence and Goldy sighed in resignation.

"All right. First things first, dry those tears; we don't need water making things worse," Goldy instructed the boy, who immediately whipped out a handkerchief and wiped his face. "Next, as I said, we need to peel back his suit."

"But he doesn't have a suit," the boy innocently pointed out.

A chuckle escaped Spring, in spite of the pain he was in.

Goldy, meanwhile, was starting to feel...what was it called...awkward? Yep, that was the word for it.

"Uhhm… Uh… OK, how do I explain this without freaking you out?" Goldy mumbled.

"I won't freak out," the boy stated.

"Are you sure?" Goldy asked, not quite believing the boy.

"Yeah. Nothing scares me," the boy claimed.

Which was true…but it wasn't exactly true, either.

"Well…uuunless it's a startled teenager with a bag and a mean backhand that almost knocks my skull off, then, yeah."

Liar.

SHUSH!

The golden bear tilted her head at that, but she decided to proceed with caution: "OK… See, the thing is, the springlocks are inside him. It's like…I have to set some broken bones in place, but to do that…I have to…uh…"

"She has to open me up," Spring cut in bluntly.

"Spring!"

"Wait," the boy's voice cut in this time. "You mean you have to open his body to set those springlock things back in place?"

An apprehension-filled pause filled the room for a beat or two.

Goldy was so not expecting the boy's countenance to light up.

"Well why didn't ya say so?!" he beamed. "I've seen Dr. Finklestein open bodies up hundreds of times!"

Oh-ka-a-a-a-ay… Now this was getting weird. Disturbing, even. What kind of place did this kid live in where he got excited at the thought of opening bodies?

"What are you waiting for, Ms; open him up!"

Another groan from Spring brought Goldy out of her thoughts and she felt for the appropriate break in her brother's plush/foam casing. She then carefully slipped her rather big fingers underneath it and gently pulled it open.

Goldy winced; all the "rib" springlocks had been tripped, completely hiding the space where the employee would usually fit when wearing Spring.

"Are they tripped anywhere else?" Goldy asked.

"My… My arms and u-upper legs," Spring answered painfully. "And I… I think… Aw, cripes, I tripped them all, didn't I?"

"I'm sorry."

Goldy just barely managed to not scream and jump about two feet in the air, which likely would have triggered her own springlocks.

"Jiminy Christmas! How'd you get over here so fast?!" she yelped; the boy had somehow gotten beside her without her noticing.

"I'm good at moving quietly," the boy grinned, rather cheekily, Goldy noted. He then turned his head to the inside of Spring and his eyesockets widened. "What are those?" he asked in awe.

"Springlocks. Designed for keeping our robot parts from getting inside the person wearing us," Goldy answered.

"You said that before," the boy pointed out. "What does that mean? What kind of creatures are you? Who created you? Why would anyone want to wear you?"

Inquisitive, aren't we? Goldy smiled. "All very good questions, hon, but first things first."

"Oh! Right," the boy blinked, getting his mind back on track. "So, how do we stop these springlocks from hurting him?"

"Crank…" Spring groaned.

"Oh! The hand crank! I completely forgot!" Goldy facepalmed, feeling stupid for not remembering.

"Where is it?" the boy asked.

"Should be on the…table," Goldy trailed off as she looked down, only to find that the needed item was missing.

"…Whoops?" the boy and Spring grinned sheepishly.

I swear… Goldy sighed. She then turned to the boy and asked him to look for a handle with a round connector piece attached at the top.

Without missing a beat, the boy took to the floor and started looking about. Luckily, he was able to find it quickly…though he was a tad alarmed at how close Goldy had come to stepping on it.

Probably best not to mention that.

"Got it!" the boy called, coming up with the needed item and handing it to the gold bear. "What do we do now?"

"We're going to carefully sit him up so that I can put the crank in. Your job is to make sure those springlocks move back into their proper places," Goldy instructed. "Now, some of them might be a bit more stubborn than others, so you may have to stick your fingers in and manually tighten them. There should be some sort of mini-winch where the locks meet the suit. If that doesn't work, you'll have to push them back into position. Listen, kid," she continued seriously, "this is an extremely dangerous operation; one wrong move and you will end up losing a body part. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," the boy nodded, an equally serious look on his face.

With that, Goldy began to gradually ease Spring up until he was in a good enough position for the handcrank to be inserted. After a murmur of "Righty, tighty. Lefty, loosey", just so that she remembered, Goldy stuck the crank into a spot in the suit and began turning it counter-clockwise, stopping when Spring groaned and continuing when he nodded slowly, reassuring her and telling her to keep going.

The boy, meanwhile, kept his eyesockets glued to the springlocks as they slowly moved. The majority of them were indeed moving back, pushing the circuitry back with them, but there did appear to be one or two stubborn ones. As soon as there was a decent opening, he stuck his spindly arm inside and gingerly felt for one of the mini-winches; he tried to turn it at the same pace that Goldy was moving the others, but Spring told him that it was OK to turn it a tiny bit quicker.

In the end, there was only one "rib" that had to be physically moved back into place, but other than that, the operation was a success.

Goldy gave a huff of relief as Spring carefully moved himself into sitting on the side of the table without trouble so that he could face his friend and sister and their unexpected guest.

"You did very well, young man. Well done, indeed," Spring complimented the child.

"Thank you, sir," the boy answered, still a little ashamed about having put the gold rabbit into that position in the first place.

Spring chuckled warmly at the formality, Goldy wiggling her ears and opening her mouth and tilting her head in order to emulate making a grin.

"Please, call me 'Spring'," the gold rabbit(?) requested. "My name is actually 'Spring Bonnie', but I prefer 'Spring'."

Something that sounded very much like an amused snort came from the golden bear(?) at that.

"That's only 'cause you don't want to be mistaken for a girl," she teased.

Spring gave the bear an indignant expression as best he could given he had no facial muscles to work with; his upper eyelids slanting down at a slight angle in a glare, his ears laced back. Then his mouth opened a little and the ears started coming back up, his lower eyelids also showing and green eyes giving a mischievous glimmer.

"Well, excuse me…Golden Freddy," he snarked back with a hint of an accent.

"HEY!" the golden bear barked, her own ears laced back and upper lids slanted down in a glare. "That's GOLDY to you, mister! 'Sides, we're finally getting a Freddy that actually fits the name!"

"True, dear sister," Spring reminded. "And it's going to be the same with me and the younger Bonnie. That's why I prefer 'Spring'; there's less confusion that way," the golden rabbit told the boy.

"Who are they?" the boy asked, finally finding a way to get in on the conversation. "The other Freddy and Bonnie, I mean."

"They're gonna be the newest batch of animatronics created, once William and Henry are finished with them," Goldy answered.

"An…Ann…Anima-who?" the boy asked slowly as he tried to comprehend the term.

The two gold-furred animatronics couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the boy's confusion, but they soon grew curious.

"Have you ever heard of animatronics before?" Spring queried.

"No," the boy answered honestly. "I don't think I've ever seen one back home. Is that what you are?"

"Yes," Spring nodded.

"What does that mean?" the boy asked, curiosity on full.

"Are you familiar with electronics?" Goldy asked, deciding to start from there. "Television, phones, cameras…?"

"We have phones in my hometown," the boy answered. "And Doctor Finklestein has this big machine in his lab that he uses to bring his creations to life with."

"Is this Doctor Finklestein a mechanic?" Spring asked, his head tilted to the left and his left ear going the same way; an expression of interest. "Does he build things like Goldy and myself?"

The boy shook his head. "I've never seen him use any of that springlock stuff you have. He mostly uses bones, leaves, a bunch of chemicals, and skin and/or quilt patches to make his creations. Then he uses his machine to attract lightning on a stormy night when he brings them to life."

Goldy and Spring were quiet for a moment; this was…quite a bit to process. If they didn't know any better, they'd swear this "Dr. Finklestein" was a counterpart to the Victor Frankenstein character from that black-and-white Universal movie that often played during the Halloween season that Henry had shown them once.

"Yes. Well, anyway," Goldy continued after emulating clearing her throat, "Spring and I are a special kind of electronics. As you can see, we can move and talk on our own; we're like living animated characters. In fact, that's what the word 'animatronic' means: 'Animated electronics', 'animatronics'."

Now it was the boy's turn to be quiet as he processed the information. Considering what he had seen, the term certainly made sense. Yet, even for someone his age, he had a feeling that these animatronics were…different, somehow.

"Anyway, now that the crisis is over, we can get down to more important matters," Goldy said as she retrieved her top hat from where it had fallen. "Such as who are you and how did you get in here? No-one except us and the night guard are allowed in here after hours."

Oops; he should have expected this.

"Uh… I…I'm Jack. I-I'm from out of town," the boy said slowly, being careful not to say his last name or reveal that Halloween Town existed.

They weren't humans, but he couldn't take any chances; it was an unspoken rule that the Holiday World and the Real World had to be kept separate for the safety of both worlds.

…And there was the fact that Teach had almost scared him into a second death for telling Max, Dani, and Allison about where he came from. They had been the first friends he had ever had outside of Halloween Town, so cut him some slack!

"I'm sorry I snuck in, but I… When I came here and saw you guys on the sign, I wanted to meet you, but I didn't have any money to get in," Jack continued. "So I decided to wait until everyone had left. I still couldn't get in, though, not until that big door at the back opened somehow."

Spring and Goldy were touched by the fact that this kid wanted to meet them, even if they were a little disappointed in him for sneaking in. They were also curious as to how the loading dock door got opened. Either the lock on it was getting old (a likely possibility) or someone in closing was extremely careless.

"That's really sweet that you wanted to meet us, Jack, but sneaking in like this is wrong," Goldy told the boy. "Not to mention your parents must be worried sick about you."

"Well, as long as I'm back with the others by sunrise, I'll be fine," Jack said.

Now the two golden bots were really confused; what kind of parents would let their child go on a field trip unchaperoned, especially if they had a tendency to wander?

Hold on.

"You said you're from out of town, correct?" Spring queried.

"Yes," Jack nodded.

"And these 'others' came from your hometown as well?"

"Yes."

Spring hummed in thought as he chose his next words carefully.

"Are you and the others here on a field trip? I-I apologize if I sound confused, but this is the first time I've heard of a school from another town coming here for a field trip, on Halloween, no less. Especially since there isn't much to do around here, unless of course you count coming to this place, but you've said that you didn't even know about animatronics before now."

Oh boy, how to explain this one?

"Um… Actually, it's not a-a school trip, it's more of a uh… Uh…um… It-It's actually a… It's a…town tradition. You see, every Halloween, my town goes to different towns to join in the festivities. We're…pretty big on that sort of thing."

Spring and Goldy looked at each other as they took in Jack's explanation. They were both interested by this, but they couldn't help but think that there were some details missing. After all, they had never heard of a town tradition like that. Then again, the two of them had never been anywhere outside the pizzeria except for their respective creator's workshops. Maybe they could ask William and Henry about this later.

"So, if it's a town tradition, then why aren't you with everyone else?" Goldy asked, she and Spring deciding to roll with this for now.

Jack sighed. "Well, see, the thing is… (another sigh) They sometimes get a little…aggressive…especially when they scare people. I…I don't like that. I just wanna do it for fun, not to hurt anyone. And I would say something, but…I'm just a kid, not the k…the town leader. No-one would listen to me."

"But what about this Dr. Finklestein fellow?" Spring asked. "You know him well; surely he could say something on your behalf."

Jack shook his head sadly. "I was told by my Teach that people who have been in a place for a long time where certain rules have been the norm don't accept change that easily. They wouldn't even think about it; the old ways are safe, familiar."

"In other words, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'," Goldy quoted sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"I even talked about it with Dr. Finklestein and he told me something similar to what my Teach said. He also said, 'Unless something happens that makes the townspeople change their minds, I am afraid this is the way things are'. Doesn't mean I have to like it," the boy huffed in displeasure before brightening a little bit. "That's why I have a plan."

"Oh?" Spring queried, his head tilted and an eyelid half-down in a questioning expression.

"One day, I plan to become the town leader, that way people won't get hurt, but we'll still keep the spirit of our tradition."

"That's quite a goal you've set for yourself," the golden rabbit said. "I don't know much about that sort of thing, but it sounds like quite a bit of hard work."

"Oh, it is," Jack agreed. "But I'm willing to do it."

"Well, don't work yourself too hard," Goldy gently smiled. "You're still a kid right now, so enjoy it while it lasts."

Spring chuckled in turn. "She's right, Jack. After all, you only get one chance at being young. But I do hope you achieve your dream."

"Thanks, Spring," Jack smiled. "Hey, what are some of your dreams? Y'know, what would you guys like to do?"

The two animatronics were quiet for so long that Jack was afraid that he had said something wrong.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—" Jack started.

"Oh, no! No! It's OK!" Spring exclaimed, his hands up in a placating gesture. "It's just…no-one's ever asked us that before."

"We've been performers for as long as we've been online," Goldy explained. "And, well—"

"Frankly, that's none of your business."

Before Jack could turn to see where the new voice came from, a strong four-fingered hand picking him up by the back of his shirt saved him the trouble.

"Ah! Hey! What are you doing! Stop that! Put me down, put me down!" Jack yelled as he squirmed in the firm grip of…a tall, spindly figure dressed in black with white stripes on the forearms and lower legs wearing a white mask with purple tear streaks coming from the eyes that had a disapproving look that didn't quite fit with the red, round, painted cheeks. Or was that the other way around?

"Mari! What on Earth?!" Goldy exclaimed in disapproval, eyelids expressing a glare and her ears laced back.

"How long have you been lurking around here?" Spring interrogated the figure, his expression the same and now on his feet.

"Long enough," "Mari" answered sternly. "I'm surprised at you two. You do realize that we could all get in trouble for this?"

Spring sighed in exasperation. "Look, he's sorry about sneaking in; he just wanted to meet us."

"Then he should have paid the fee like everyone else," the spindly figure pointed out.

"I would have," Jack spoke up. "But like I told them, coming here was just a whim. Besides, I thought those things on your wrist was how you got in."

"You pay the fee, then you get the entry bracelet," "Mari" explained, the disapproving look still on his painted face.

Jack felt like a bonehead; of course that was how it worked.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"I'm afraid it's a bit late for that; you've already caused enough trouble, young man."

"Which, if you have been in here 'long enough', as you said, he actively tried to and has made up for!" Spring added.

Mari exhaled a growling sigh. "Which is yet another thing I have to scold you both for."

"Well what was she/I supposed to—?!" Spring and Goldy, respectively, began.

"Enough."

That sternly-given word alone stunned both golden bots into silence, but they weren't going to let the conversation end there.

Mari sighed heavily. "Look, I can understand you helping him since the technician doesn't come until morning, Goldy, but allowing a child to help is just careless."

"I—"

"I told her to let Jack help."

"Spring, don't make excuses for her."

"I'm not."

"It's true," Goldy corroborated. "He told me to let Jack help. And he did very well, despite having never been around animatronics before. Even you had to have seen that."

Another sigh; this time because he had to admit that she was correct. The child had kept quite a cool head and had been careful in his movements, only working the winches at a slightly quicker speed when told to. Frankly, the boy had looked like he knew what he was doing so well, that Mari was suspicious. On top of that, what child got excited at opening up a body? Either he had a dream of being a doctor (which was unlikely given the boy had said that he wanted to be his town's leader) or they had a blooming killer on their hands. He didn't want to take chances.

"Excuse me?" the young boy's voice chirped.

All eyes turned to him and he squirmed a bit under the attention.

"May I ask something?"

"What is it, hon?" Goldy asked, the endearment earning her a look from Mari.

A silence preceded the question as Jack looked between Mari and Spring, a detail having come up that made him curious again.

"Are you guys related?"

Whether it was the innocence in the question, the timing, Mari's stunned expression on his painted face (which was his eyes blinking off before coming back on at a brighter intensity), or all of the above, Goldy broke down laughing. Spring's shoulders began to shake from barely repressed laughter seconds after Goldy started.

"Looks like you've been found out, guys!" Goldy giggled, her ears wiggling. She then asked the boy, "What gave it away?"

"Mari and Spring have a similar accent," Jack answered. "I'm not sure from which part exactly, but it's definitely from England."

"You're not wrong," Spring grinned. "Mari's said that that's likely due to William's influence."

"Is William an animatronic, too?"

"What?! Good heavens, no!" Mari snapped, finally coming out of his stunned state. "He's a human. Our creator, to be exact."

"So, he's like your dad?"

Mari paused for a minute, once again making Jack worry.

Before the bone-boy could squeak out another apology, Mari spoke in a matter-of-fact tone: "We…do not have parents. As machines, we are made, not born. William is our creator, nothing more."

"What about 'Henry'?"

"Human and another creator, nothing more."

"OK, Mr. Raven," Jack mumbled in annoyance, moving his head in the manner of an eyeroll.

"I beg your pardon?" Mari queried; if he had eyebrows, one of them would have been raised in response to the boy's comment.

"Edgar Allan Poe? "The Raven"? Y'know, 'Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore".' That's all that bird says, and that seems to be all you're saying about William being your dad and Henry being your…your…uncle, I guess?" Jack scowled.

Mari held back a fourth, long-suffering sigh. "I'm merely explaining how things are," he answered.

"Yeah, but did you have to make Spring and Goldy upset with it?" Jack asked back. "You're like that one kid who likes to ruin everyone's fun."

Mari was about to say that he hadn't made the others upset at all, but a chance glance at them made him see lowered ears and despondent looks on the golden bots.

The child was rather perceptive, he had to give him that.

"As the first created out of the three of us here, I do have a responsibility in ensuring our safety and educating the younger of us when William and Henry aren't around," Mari stated.

"Wait. So, you're the oldest, Mari? By the way, is 'Mari' short for something?" Jack queried.

Hmph, inquisitive child, aren't we, Mari thought in amusement. Aloud, he answered, "To answer your second question, my name is 'Marionette', but only to those who I know well. As for you, 'Puppet' will suffice. Understood?"

"Yes, Mar—I mean, Puppet," Jack answered.

"And to answer your first question," Puppet continued, "I was the first animatronic William created, so, yes."

Jack's gaze then turned to Spring and Goldy. "So then, who's…?"

"I am!" Goldy and Spring both answered confidently.

"Um, excuse me?" Goldy inquired in a rather accusatory tone.

"What?" Spring asked, not sure what the problem was.

…Which was enough for the golden animatronic bear to start ranting: "What do you mean, 'What'?! I'm pretty sure I was awake before you!"

"I'm afraid you're quite mistaken," Spring countered, his mouth slightly open to visually emulate the cheeky grin in his voice. "I was the one who woke up first. In addition, William had started building me earlier than Henry did with you."

"Oh-ho no, I'm pretty sure I was up earlier; my programming was being tested before yours!"

"Saying you're 'pretty sure' isn't much of a convincing argument, Goldy. Besides, how can you be sure? Did William or Henry ever say so?"

"Y'know, I could ask the same question about your claim."

It was taking just about everything Jack had to not start giggling at the banter between the golden bots; they really did sound like squabbling siblings…not that he really had a frame of reference.

As for Puppet, he just stared blankly at his younger siblings before bringing his free hand to his face; this whole ordeal was giving him enough of a migraine already without…this. The spindly bot then gave the equally spindly boy a look; well, given how stiff the painted mask was, normal facial expressions were impossible, but somehow Jack knew that Puppet was silently asking, "See what you started?"

Jack just sheepishly smiled and shrugged his shoulders as best he could; he was pretty much saying "Sorry" and "Oops?" at the same time.

"Wait here," Puppet sighed as he put Jack down. "This calls for use of both my hands."

Jack just stood and watched as Puppet walked over to the golden bots, let their argument drag out for a minute longer, then grabbed the joint between the top and bottom of Spring's right ear and the joint that connected Goldy's left ear to her head with the speed of a magician's flourish and pinched them.

"I think that's quite enough," Mari scolded, slightly raising his voice so as to be heard above Spring and Goldy's pained complaints. "I can't believe you two got into such a trivial argument when the answer is simple: Spring was the next to be created, then you, Goldy. Honestly, all you two had to do was ask me instead of deciding to act so childishly."

"Ugh! OK, OK! We got it! Ow! Now will you let go before you pull something!" Goldy demanded, Mari's fingers pinching a certain point in the joint itself where the wires in the ear and head connected.

There was one more pinch for good measure before the two were released.

"Really, Goldy, you know I would never do such a thing; it would give the technician too much grief to deal with so early in the morning," Marionette assured her as the two bots massaged their respective ear joints and tested them out. "Speaking of which," he continued, attention now back on the uninvited guest, "I think it's high time we escorted this wayward waif off the premises."

Goldy really wanted to protest, but instead she sighed, her ears drooping. Mari did have a point; it would soon be morning and with it would come the morning staff. If they found Jack here, there would be way too many questions, including some she was sure Jack would not be up to answer.

Spring's thoughts were likewise; besides, the lad did say that he would have to be back with his fellow townsfolk before sunrise.

Jack seemed to pick up on this and said, "Well, it was nice while it lasted. At least I got to meet some new friends."

Goldy perked right back up, her lower eyelids showing partway and her ears wiggling in lieu of a smile. "And it was a pleasure getting to talk to you, dear. I'm just sorry that I scared you."

"And I'm sorry that I scared you back and hurt Spring," Jack added.

"It's all in the past, my boy; don't worry about it," Spring assured.

"I just wish I could come back and visit," Jack sighed.

"Aw, but of course you can!" Goldy beamed. "Next time you come around, just pay the fee and you'll be able to see us perform! Well, me and Spring, that is; Mari's got his own spot near the front."

"What do you guys do on stage?"

"I play the banjo and/or the guitar, while my dear little sister sings," Spring answered.

"You sing, too!" Goldy reminded.

"Really? You guys must be very good!" Jack smiled.

Spring lightly chuckled while Goldy wiggled her ears again.

"They are, but that's—HEY!" Puppet began before Spring tugged his arm.

"Mari, do you really have to-" Spring began before he was interrupted in turn:

"Be careful you boneheaded buck! I don't have quite the same insides you do or did you forget?!"

Spring rolled his green eyes. "I didn't forget," he grumbled loudly. "Also, 'boneheaded'? Really? And third, Jack's right; you are acting like some kid who just wants to ruin everyone's fun." He then put up a hand to his mouth and whispered, "Why ruin the magic by telling him that the reason Goldy and I do what we do so well is due to our programming? Let him believe what he wants to."

It was Mari's turn to "roll his eyes", but he relented and didn't say anything more on the subject.

"Can I see you guys play?" Jack was asking.

Goldy giggled. "You will," she promised. "Just drop by for one of our shows."

"Oh, I will!" Jack beamed.

"Just don't—" Puppet started.

"—forget the fee. I know," Jack finished.

"Correct," the living puppet animatronic nodded. "It will cost you twenty dollars to get in."

"I know. The guy at the front door said the same thing. And then once you guys are done, I could come back here and we could talk—"

"No."

"B-But—"

"No. Absolutely not. This area is not for children."

"Oh, come on now…" Spring sighed; he actually wanted Jack to come visit him and Goldy after hours again. There were so many things that he wanted to ask the boy about.

"Mari, can't he—?" Goldy started.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no! How many times do I have to say it?!" Puppet interrupted angrily. "He's getting lucky tonight, but after this—"

"You. Wouldn't. Dare," Spring growled, ears laced back 45 degrees and upper eyelids expressing a glare.

"You forget that I am not just some…carnie…who hands out prizes," Puppet growled, the term "carnie" coming out as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. "I also help in security matters."

"In the morning!" Goldy pointed out in exasperation.

"And at night. I do rounds around the diner at least twice."

Despite not having facial muscles like humans did, Jack could tell that Spring and Goldy were shocked, and it wasn't just from the positions of their ears (Goldy's were up as high as they could go and Spring's were ramrod straight) or that their mouths were agape; there was something about their eyes that conveyed the emotion. Something…alive.

"Marionette!" Goldy shrieked. "You're supposed to power down at night to recharge! Do you have any idea what you're doing to your battery?!"

"Oh, forget you telling William or Henry about Jack, wait until they hear about your little nightly expeditions!" Spring threatened.

"Go ahead!" Puppet exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air before stubbornly crossing them across his thin chest. "I will not change my mind!"

"You're such a meanie!" Goldy pouted. "Why aren't you willing to let us have at least one visitor?! Just one!"

"You d**n well know why or do I have to remind you that we're not supposed to fully show ourselves?!"

"MARIONETTE! LANGUAGE!" Spring and Goldy shouted.

"SORRY!" Marionette yelled back rather sarcastically.

A tense, silent Mexican stand-off ensued, neither side wanting to back down.

Spring groaned internally; of course he remembered the warning Henry gave them! Of course he didn't exactly understand everything, but if it was for the safety of his siblings, that he could grasp. But Jack hadn't meant any harm! He hadn't even known what he and Goldy were before now! And even when he was told, that didn't stop the young, costumed boy from interacting with them or asking if they had dreams or complimenting them on their abilities as if they were actual living beings.

Sure, the children who came to the diner acted like Spring and Goldy were real, but that was purely out of a child's imagination.

Jack was… Different. The way he talked to them, reacted to them; he had even thought Spring was going to die when his springlocks tripped, for goodness sake! No-one had ever cried for him before. No-one had ever asked him what he dreamed about or if he ever thought of anything beyond his current life. Not William, not Henry, not even William's own children. Charlotte, Henry's daughter, had talked to him and the others a few times, but it was nothing like how Jack talked to them.

The thought of the boy made the gold rabbit remember that he was still here and broke eye contact with Mari to check on him.

It was like something had reached inside and was pinching something in his chest.

Jack was still standing there, but his head was lowered, his gaze on the floor. His thin arms were wrapped around himself. His breathing sounded normal, but there was occasionally a hitch or two.

Then a drop of some kind of clear liquid fell from somewhere on the lad's hidden face and Spring's ears lowered to the sides of his head as the pinching sensation in his chest increased.

They had had a fight right in front of him and now the lad was probably blaming himself for it, Spring thought as he closed his eyes in shame and balled his hands into fists. He didn't want that to happen! His job was supposed to be making kids smile, not cry! If only Mari wasn't so obstinate, so…unfeeling! So…so… Shoot!

A soft gasp from Goldy and the sound of servos winding down told Spring that the gold bear had also seen the fallout of the argument and was feeling bad, as well. When he finally opened his eyes, Goldy was already giving Jack a hug and soothing him.

Spring glanced back at Marionette, his ears going back to their laced-back 45 degrees position and his upper eyelids lowered in a glare, silently saying, "See what you did?"

Marionette just sighed quietly and put a hand to his face. He was just doing his job; it wasn't his fault that Spring and Goldy decided to turn this into a full-blown argument! They were told the rules and it was their job, as well as his, to uphold them! And that meant doing his due diligence in telling William and Henry what had occurred so that they could ensure that this would not happen again.

Marionette knew that neither William nor Henry had any idea how the spindly bot became sapient—and, frankly, he had no idea either—but once somebody in the "immediate family" had caught on, it was clear that the world would not be ready for something like this. Of course, when Spring and Goldy were brought online and began displaying sentience as well…that prompted a vigorous investigation as well as a reiteration of the rule that the animatronics were, under no circumstances, to reveal that they were "alive".

It was a puzzlement, that much was certain. William was the one responsible for creating the programs themselves, but he had chalked up the first discovery to having "caught lightning in a bottle"…though he became quite…nonchalant about the whole situation once the same thing happened again.

Mari had a sneaking suspicion—as he was sure Henry did, as well—that William had done something, but…

"…Shh, it's OK. It's OK. It's not your fault."

The marionette animatronic was pulled from his thoughts by Goldy's voice as she continued to soothe the costumed boy.

"I d-didn't want to…" Jack started.

"Ah-ah-ah, none of that now," Goldy gently interrupted, carefully tapping the boy's nose. "It's not your fault that Mari's a bit OVERprotective," she briefly glared at the marionette when she said that last word. She then continued in her usual cheerful tone, "Besides, we drive each other crazy all the time; I think it's just a sibling thing. But we still care about each other."

"That's true," Spring nodded before adding, "even though some people decide to make it difficult."

"You two are never going to let this go, are you?" Mari groaned.

"Nope!" the two gold bots chirped cheekily.

Another sigh and a facepalm along with a mutter of "Cheeky devils" that got both said "cheeky devils" and Jack chuckling.

"Well, look at that!" Goldy beamed, ears wiggling once again. "Guess you're not such a big meanie after all, Mari! You feeling better?" she asked, addressing Jack.

"Yeah. Yeah, a little bit," the boy answered between giggles. "I really didn't mean to put you guys in a bad situation and the last thing I want is to get my friends into trouble."

"No-one is going to get in trouble," Spring said reassuringly before giving a glare to his older sibling and growling, "Right?"

"What if we made a deal?" Jack asked when Marionette gave no response. "And it doesn't have to be in money."

"What do you mean?" Goldy asked.

"You expect us to believe in your word?" Mari scoffed.

"Well, there's actually another way to make a deal. I heard once that to keep a secret, one person would give another person a valuable object."

"Really?" Goldy asked, interested.

"Oh, I know where this is going, so don't think you can try to be cle—"

"How about we listen before we make any snap judgments?" Spring interrupted Mari once more, this time by holding up a hand. "Go ahead."

"As long as the person kept their promise, they kept the object. If they broke it, they had to give it back. But in this case, what I'm thinking is using it as a sort of second admission; like how I have to pay twenty dollars at the door to get in whenever I come here. You guys give me a valuable object for me to use as a second admission to see you after hours and I'll give you my word that I won't say a word. But, if I come without the object, I'll have no choice but to go home at closing, and if I break my word, I'll have to give the object back and never return. Whaddya think?"

Mari was loathe to admit it, but…that actually made some logical sense. And, in a dark part of what constituted his mind, he would hope that the boy did forget his "valuable object"; the less exposure to outsiders, the better. Honestly, he would rather the young boy not come back at all, but he didn't want to bring the worst-case scenario down on them. Then again, the boy would probably not be coming back anyway; he did say that he was from out of town. Hopefully it was way, way out of town, like on the other side of the country.

"Sounds like it makes perfect sense to me," Goldy said.

Spring nodded in agreement before turning to Mari. "Well? Surely you can see the logic in that proposal."

Yes, but I have a feeling that I'm going to regret this, Mari murmured silently. "Yes, I do," he said aloud.

"Then you'll—?! Oh Mari!" Goldy squealed happily.

The poor marionette only had time to stutter "Wait" twice before being scooped up into a near-crushing bear-hug.

"Oh, thank-you-thank-you-thank-you-thank-you…!"/"Oof! GOLDY! WILL YOU PLEASE—?! Ow! R-Release me, you over-affectionate ursine! Spring, don't just stand there laughing your head off; HELP ME!"

Goldy eventually let Mari go without any prompting from Spring, who was still working on getting himself under control.

"Thank you," Mari said stiffly as he made sure that he was still in one piece. "As I was saying before I was interrupted," he growled the word out, "I do see the logic in it and I suppose we might as well try it out…seeing as I'm outnumbered here. But," he continued sternly, addressing Jack now, "you must solemnly swear that you will NEVER, EVER tell another living soul that the three of us are sentient."

"I swear it," Jack stated in his own serious tone. "Not even the dead will know about it."

None of the bots were sure if Jack had added that last sentence in jest considering how serious he was, but Mari, despite everything, decided to accept it. The sooner this was done, the sooner the boy would be out of their lives.

"All that's left now is to choose a 'valuable object', I suppose," Mari said. "Unfortunately," he continued, looking around the room, "anything in here is too valuable to part with."

It was then Goldy reminded cheerfully: "But you have all those valuable toys and knickknacks at the Prize Corner! Surely you can spare one!"

"Now hold on! He doesn't even have any tickets!"

It then that Spring brought up: "Don't they also have a monetary value?"

Well, bol…shoot. No getting out of that, then.

"Very well," Mari sighed.

He then told the others to wait while he "took a quick peek" and hurried off to do so. Jack asked Spring and Goldy what that meant, but they weren't sure.

A few minutes later, Mari returned and gave them the all-clear. With that, the three animatronics and the lone bone-boy made their way to the Prize Corner.

---

The Prize Corner was pretty much as the name stated; there was a simple 70" counter displaying small knickknacks and doodads like miniature plastic toys, little bouncy balls, plastic Slinkies, and the like. Of course, any of those tiny toys were crafted in the images of the diner's two "golden" stars—as well as a small amount of Marionette figures—so as to keep with the theme. The same went for any of the bigger toys and plushies on the shelves behind the counter, although Jack did spot four other, different plushies locked in a display case near the back wall: A blue-eyed brown bear wearing a black bowtie and a little black top hat, a red-eyed purple bunny (well, in the dark, it looked purple) wearing a red bowtie, a pink-eyed yellow chicken (no, not like the ailment) with three "tufts" on top of its head and a bright orange beak wearing a white bib that read "Let's Eat!" in bright-yellow bubble font, and a red fox with a yellow left eye while the right was covered by a black eyepatch; a hook was on its right hand.

"Who are they?" Jack asked, pointing to the aforementioned four plushies. "I haven't seen them yet."

"Those are the new animatronics that will be created," Mari explained. "As for why you haven't seen them yet, they're still in the planning stage, but William and Henry are already hard at work on them. I guess you can say those plushies are like a…preview? Anyway, getting back to business," he continued, "here is your choice of 'valuable objects'. Take your pick but be warned that whatever you choose will be added to your 20-dollar admission when you come back."

Jack perused the shelves from the front of the counter, trying to see which one he wanted. Obviously, he wasn't going to get one of the plushies that were in that glass box, which was a bit of a shame; the fox looked pretty scary with its hook and eyepatch.

The large plushies were way too big for him to carry, so that was out. He didn't want one of the plastic toys, so that left the smaller plushies.

There were only three choices, really, but which one? Which one? Which one? Which—?

Ah-ha!

Jack reached up and gently tugged on the forearm of Mari's suit like a child would tug on someone's sleeve to get their attention.

Mari looked down to see the costumed boy beckoning him down. He got down on one knee only to now see the boy beckoning him to come closer.

Really? If the child made a choice, why doesn't he just say it out loud? All the other children did it. Then again, this boy wasn't like most children. And Spring and Goldy were giving him prompting looks. Ugh, fine…

Mari leaned in to hear what the boy had to say…and was surprised. He wanted that one?

"Really?" he asked, just to be sure.

The answer was "Yes, please".

For the first time that night, Mari actually smiled (well, he would if his stiff mask permitted it). He looked up at the younger bots and shook his head, his shoulders going up and down from silent chuckles, making them give confused looks. Perfect. That would make what would happen next that much better.

The living marionette stood up and walked behind the counter before carefully shuffling through a section on the second shelf, looking back at the boy as he guided him to the right plushie. It didn't take long before he got the "That's it!" reaction and pulled the chosen object off the shelf.

The priceless looks on Goldy and Spring's faces were exactly what Mari hoped for. Especially Spring's…since Jack's "valuable object" of choice was a Spring plush.

"Awww…!" Goldy cooed, her ears wiggling happily.

Spring was still too stunned and touched to say anything.

Mari, meanwhile, directed Jack's attention to a tag on the plush's ear; on one side was its worth in tickets, and on the other side was its value in dollars and cents.

"So you add that to the 20 dollars for the entrance fee, and that's how much you currently owe. Understand?"

Jack looked hard at the number and worked out the math in his head. It was a big number, that was for sure. But, in his mind, it was worth it.

"Yes sir. Thank you," Jack said. He then walked to the other animatronics, his thin arms wrapped around the plush's body, hugging it close. "I'll take very good care of it," he promised, a big skull-splitting smile on his face.

Goldy wiggled her ears again. Spring finally managed to come back to reality and carefully knelt down before gently rubbing Jack's head in a friendly manner.

He didn't have a sense of touch like a human did, but even Spring noted that something seemed "off" about the child's own costume. He said nothing, though.

"I don't doubt that," Spring said, a smile in his voice and his lower eyelids partly showing.

That was when, after adjusting his hold on the plush, Jack gave the gold-colored rabbit a surprise hug. Spring was a bit startled at first, but he quickly relaxed and returned it.

Eventually, a trembling-with-joy Goldy couldn't stand it and promptly joined in by hugging Spring from behind; her arms went around his neck and her head went into the space between his ears, pushing them to the sides of his head. Spring warned her to be careful but didn't shrug her off.

Now there was just one thing missing.

Mari's double-take turned into fervent head-shaking at the others' "come here" looks…but he gave in. That is, after expressing his defeat by slightly bending backwards and letting out a groan. He then went over to Spring's right side, putting his left arm on Goldy's back and his left on Spring's right arm…and was promptly held there by Goldy's right arm, which she had discreetly moved.

Jack chuckled at the shenanigans taking place around him. He didn't have any siblings, but if this was what went on with them, then he certainly wouldn't mind having any. Now, how did one get siblings? Well, based on what he knew from these three animatronics, this "William" person made all three of them, so that meant that they all had the same parent. So it followed that if he wanted siblings, he would have to ask his own-

Oh.

That's right.

"What's wrong?" Goldy asked, having heard Jack sigh sadly.

She moved so that she could get into a better position to talk to the young boy, releasing Mari in the process. The living marionette sighed out a "thank you" before moving himself around to make sure he still could and that nothing was broken; one had to be careful with a wooden skeleton, after all.

Spring also broke off the embrace, but still kept a hand at the boy's back, ready to provide any comfort if needed.

"It's OK, you can tell us," the golden rabbit said.

"I-It's nothing," Jack said, hugging the plush close. "It-It's silly."

"Now, why don't you let us be the judge of that?" Spring asked.

"You can tell us," Goldy gently prompted. "No-one will think any less of you. Right?" she added in a warning tone to Mari.

"...Right," Mari agreed reluctantly.

"See? Now, why don't you tell us what's on your mind?" Goldy said gently. "If it's something we can help with..."

Uncertain silence hung in the air for a minute or two before the answer came:

"It's... Umm... (sigh) I...I guess I got to thinking. About what you said," Jack told Goldy, "about how you guys interact was how siblings interacted with each other. I...I don't have any siblings of my own, so...I really don't...grasp it completely. But...I-I guess I got to thinking that if this is what having siblings is like, I wouldn't mind having some of my own."

Goldy's ears wiggled and her lower eyelids came up in a smile.

Mari made a sound like he was clearing his throat before saying, "That's...quite a thought, but I believe that this is something you should bring up with your parents."

"And I would, but..."

The trailing silence made the three bots uneasy. This wasn't something that they had been programmed for.

"'But' what?" Goldy gently queried. "You think they would say no?"

"...I don't know. I...I can't exactly...ask them."

He honestly hadn't been sure what had happened; all he knew was that he remembered having parents, and then, the next thing he knew, he was the only skeleton in all of Halloween Town. Everyone in Halloween Town didn't remember anything about themselves before they arrived there, like they had some kind of "induced amnesia" as Teach had put it, but it was like Jack had gotten it twice. The only clear memory he had was being with them at the guillotine in the town square, nothing else.

Meanwhile, the three animatronics (yes, even Marionette) were stunned at this new development about their visitor. As far as they knew, every child that had come to see them all had parents and/or guardians in some capacity. They had no idea about orphans or wards of the court or things like that.

"D...D...Do you...Do you know...?" Goldy trailed nervously, testing the waters on this new subject.

Jack shook his head. "Not really. For a long time now it's just been me, my pup Zero, my Teach, and everyone in town. And everyone's great, aside from the whole scaring thing, and Teach has taught me a lot, so it's not like I'm completely alone. But..."

More silence ensued; no-one was sure where to take this conversation next. Surprisingly, though, it was Mari who offered:

"I...uh... My...deepest condolences on your loss."

"Thank you," Jack told the living marionette.

"But I don't see how that is something silly," Mari continued.

"No, it isn't," Jack admitted. "But this might be, considering the circumstances: I mean, since I don't have any siblings, and you guys really know more about this sort of thing than I do, maybe...maybe I could...maybe you guys could—"

"Are you asking if we could be your siblings?" Mari inquired, disbelief apparent in his tone.

"See? I told you it was silly," Jack sighed. "I mean, you guys don't even know me and you guys don't even trust me yet. But it's... I dunno... Being around you guys...it's giving me this...strange feeling, like I found something. I don't understand it, but it feels really nice and—Oh!"

The reason for that "Oh!" from Jack was because it was now Spring's turn to give the boy a surprise hug.

"Um…Spring? Are you OK?"

Spring pulled back but still kept a hand on the boy's back, making Jack look up at the green-eyed rabbit. The eyes weren't like real human eyes, but Jack saw...something. There was this look, this...spark that made him have that "found" feeling all over again. Was Spring having that same feeling? What did this even mean?

He then turned his head to look at Goldy and found her smiling again, wiggling ears and all...with that same look in her blue eyes.

Oh...what was this wonderful feeling?! He had to know! He had to ask someone! He had to look this up! He-

"I don't think that's silly whatsoever," Spring softly spoke just then, interrupting Jack's train of excited thought.

It took the bone boy a moment to process what Spring meant by that. "Y...You don't...? I mean, you really...?"

"Personally, I would be deeply honored," Spring said.

"Hey, I've got three younger brothers on the way, so what's one more?" Goldy piped up. "Especially when we can have so much fun driving Mari crazy together!"

Goldy, Spring, and Jack all burst out laughing at all the potential mischief they could cause together while Mari just groaned and facepalmed.

"Hey, Spring? Guys? What does that say?" Jack called, looking at a clock on the wall from over Spring's shoulder.

The bots turned to look and Mari gasped. "Good grief! We have half an hour before we open!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, when do you guys open?" Jack queried.

Spring explained, "Well, technically, the diner itself opens at 8 AM and closes at 11 PM. From midnight to 6 AM is the night shift, and between then and 8 AM, the morning staff and technicians basically come through and give this place and us a once-over. So..." He trailed off for a moment to get a look at the clock. "...OK, long hand means minutes...and that's hours...so...long hand at 6 and little hand at 5 means... Wow. Yeah, the time really flew; it's-"

"It's five-thirty in the morning," Mari rudely cut in.

"Thank you, Professor," Spring replied sarcastically, the tops of his ears and his upper eyelids dropping to half-mast. "How did I not know that before?"

It was five-thirty...IN THE MORNING?!

"Jack?" Goldy called, concerned by the scared, wide-eyed look that was forming on the boy's face. "You OK there, hon?"

"Is something-?" Spring was going to say, but Jack erupted into panic:

"Snips and snails and puppy-dog tails! It's dawn! I gotta go!"

The golden rabbit animatronic had just remembered that Jack had said that he had needed to be with his fellow townsfolk before morning when the boy leaped over his shoulder, making him, and the others, cry out in surprise.

"I'm so sorry! I'll be back by next Halloween with the money! I promise!" Jack called as he began making his way back towards the room the quartet had just come out of, which had been Parts and Services.

"Now, hold on a moment!" Mari started, him and the others taking off across the main party room to follow the child.

"Again, I'm really sorry for all the trouble," Jack pushed on, "but it was really great to meet you guys. I promise, I'll be back by next Halloween with the money. And don't worry, I'll take good care of this," he added, holding up the Spring plushie. "Thank you guys so much. Happy Halloween! Gratias vobis ago!"

With that, he ran off and the doors to Parts and Services swung closed.

---

"Oh no you don't," Mari growled, suddenly keen on stopping the child from dashing off. He turned to the two gold bots and instructed, "You two go back to Parts and Services; I'll take care of this."

"But Mari-" Goldy started.

"That's an order! Besides, if you two were to start running about you would both trip your springlocks and I think we've had enough of that for one night, don't you think? Now do as you're told and I'll see where he's going."

The living marionette animatronic was off as fast as his wooden skeleton and spindly legs could take him before the others could get a word in.

Once in Parts and Services, Mari looked around the room, trying to trace the boy's route. He had heard that the child had entered through the loading dock door, and there were multiple routes there, but since he came to Parts and Services, and there was only one other way into that room aside from the doors behind him…

He dashed through the doors on the left wall of the room and quickly moved down the hallway, going past the supply closet, the door to the kitchen, and the janitor's closet until he reached the door that led to the loading area. When he tried to open the door, he found that it was locked, just as it should be. Now, Mari had no idea that Jack had had a skeleton key in his possession and had locked the door on his way out, so the bot was profoundly confused.

He decided to try a different approach via the kitchen, but that was unsuccessful as well. He would have tried the route that was near the office, but he had a notion that that door would be locked, as well. Besides, he didn't want to chance it with the guard again.

Well, this was a fine kettle of fish; all routes were locked and that child was likely getting farther and farther away. He was hoping to intercept him somehow, but at this point, that would mean—

Oh no. Oh no. Oh, he couldn't be thinking… No! ABSOLUTELY. NOT. That would be a SEVERE breach of the rules! If he had been told once, he had been told a hundred times, never, ever go outside the diner! Being out there increased the chances of being discovered!

But he had to find that child, and, again, with all routes to the loading area locked…

He could borrow the guard's keys—No, no good; he already made up his mind that he wouldn't chance it.

He could always go back to the others and say that he had no luck; that was true enough. …But they would ask if he checked everywhere, and that would likely end up with them wandering all over the place, including outside.

…

"OH, HANG IT ALL!"

Mari stalked his way from the kitchen to the main entrance, silently calling himself some choice words that were not quite appropriate for a family establishment. Before he knew it, he had yanked the door open (which was unlocked; curious, yes?) and taken two steps outside before a breeze hit him and he stopped.

Mari stood there like a deer caught in headlights as the gravity of his emotional decision hit him. He was outside. He had broken one of the biggest rules Henry had set. He was—

WHY WAS HE JUST STANDING THERE LIKE A BLOODY IDIOT?!

That was enough to get him sprinting towards the back of the building, where he pressed himself against the wall and once again cursed himself with every obscenity under the sun.

All this for one child. All this for one, strange, way-too-thin child?! This was too much! He didn't know what was compelling him to take these absolutely daft actions, but he swore that one day he would ask William to remove it. He—

Oh. The loading dock door. Right. It was…closed? …And locked?

Mari looked around in disbelief; all the doors to the loading dock were locked, said door itself was closed and locked, and the boy had vanished without a trace.

All he could say about this was: "What on this good earth have we gotten ourselves into?"

---

Yeah, what have you gotten yourselves into, huh? But yeah, there it is; the first chapter of the prologue of my FNAF story…plus a page and a half of beginning Author's Notes. Don't worry, you are free to skip those; I just like telling people about my history with certain franchises, especially when I'm putting up a new story that touches on a different franchise, something I picked up from fellow fanfic writer DJ Rodriguez. Of course, the more avenues I explore and are inspired by, the more…extensive it gets. Like I said, you are free to skip the notes if they're not your thing.

Getting right into things, you can't expect this to be a FNAF story without the famous/infamous Phone Guy greeting. Kinda makes ya feel like you're sitting in the office about to listen to a rather long message (this story). Now, why Hurricane, Utah? Well, apparently that's the location FNAF takes place at. The movie showed it (I didn't pay it any mind, though) and it showed up again in one of SpanishDexter's stories (which is when I finally took notice). Man, and you thought New York and Los Angeles were the main USA crazy-event magnets, huh? So, yep, Utah in the 70's, and this particular world has not one, not two, but THREE living AIs already. That's pretty much a decade before the "Knight Rider" world! And, of course, this sort of thing was something that people would NOT be ready for, so it needed to be kept hush-hush. Now, if it will stay that way will depend on things.

Now, if I may loop back around to the subject of "Knight Rider", that was something I thought about as I read how Arctic Vulpix portrayed the animatronics; they had their own AI consciousness even when they weren't possessed. I believe I referred to the story as having some "Knight Rider DNA" because of that. It's likely that that's not an accurate assessment, but it's an interesting take on those characters nonetheless and one I intend to explore for myself. Now, I KNOW that's there's lore about Remnant and Agony, and all that other stuff, but I'm not someone who listens to fan theories (now, there is one that has caught my attention and I intend to use as part of a character arc but…that's later) so…yeah, hate on this as much as you want, but I'm sticking to my guns here.

If you know FNAF, then you're aware of the man who created these AI (I think I read in another story somewhere that William was the coding genius and Henry was the builder). …Yeah, William's definitely on a different level of "certifiable genius" than the late Wilton Knight. Of course, was he always like that or did some event trigger it is up for debate, but that's neither here nor there right now. At this point, the focus is solely on the young Jack Skellington and the three animatronics of Fredbear's Family Diner: Golden Freddy AKA "Fredbear" AKA Goldy (who is female in this version; an inspiration from Arctic Vulpix), Spring Bonnie AKA Spring, and Marionette AKA Puppet.

And they all meet up on Halloween because, well, that's the one night a year that Jack is able to venture into the Human World alongside the other Halloween Town citizens. This won't be Jack's first Halloween escapade either, it would seem. *sigh* Yeah, yet another story in the development closet. Of course, it may help if I actually see the movie first. As you've read, that particular experience has imparted a few lessons on the young skeleton…but of course he wouldn't be the Jack Skellington we all know and love if he didn't have his curiosity. And that curiosity is what leads him to the diner and then finding a way in when the loading dock door mysteriously opens. Now how did that happen? I'll leave that up to you.

Now, at this point there are no strange going's-on yet, so the only thing to worry about at this point is the night guard. …And disturbing the animatronics, which Jack manages to do despite trying to be careful; that in turn leads into a bit of a situation regarding springlocks. Now, those of you familiar with FNAF know about springlocks. For those of you who aren't, they basically keep the animatronic circuitry from turning the person wearing the suit into…a literal bloody mess. Yep, our "golden bots" were made to be both independent-working animatronics and character costumes ("wearable death traps" is a more apt description, I think). Now, why did I say that last bit? Because springlocks are tricky little things that could snap on a whim (if that were possible), so there's always a constant danger. Now, from research done on springlocks in FNAF (I basically went to a fandom. com site), I found that water is a trigger for them to go off. But what about the fast movement, you may ask? Once again, credit goes to Arctic Vulpix; there was an instance in their story where one of the springlock animatronics moved too fast, setting the springlocks off and the mechanic had to fix them with a handcrank, hence that scenario. The mini-winches for those springlocks that are inside the suit, however, that's a detail from Night 4 of the game "FNAF: Sister Location".

I honestly loved the rather bubbly-yet-serious-when-needed personality Arctic Vulpix gave Goldy, so I hope they won't mind my take on her (thank-you to Felhesznelenev for their work on Glamrock Freddy in their videos; big inspiration for how Goldy and the other bear animatronics will express themselves. Gah, those happy-wiggling ears are SO ADORABLE!). Again, hate on this as much as you like, but I'm staying with it and I'm not budging on the matter. You're also getting the rare treat of my take on Spring Bonnie AKA Spring before…stuff happens, so I hope you'll enjoy that as well (I had to do some research on rabbit behavior-ear positions, to be exact-to have Spring visually express himself properly). As for Marionette (once again, credit to Arctic Vulpix for the wooden skeleton detail)…yeah, he's not exactly likable at the moment, but try to understand his position in all this: He's the oldest in the diner, a stranger has just found their way in somehow, and—to him—his "younger siblings" seem to be paying no mind to the potential danger, so someone has to be the responsible one. I really hope you like the way the three animatronics bounce off each other as well as interact with Jack (yeah, this is going to leave the three animatronics with A LOT of questions). And I apologize for those bits of language on Marionette's part, but he was getting pretty frustrated at that moment and people tend to use some harsher vocabulary when they get angry enough.

Now, getting off of that, you may be asking about the $20 fee and the description of the Prize Corner in the diner…as well as the layout of the diner itself. Well, the first one called for some research on what pizzeria entrance fees were in the 1970's, which pretty much amounted to…that. The second one called for a rather long and sort-of fruitless search of how arcade/pizzeria prize counters in the 70's looked; the only thing I got from that was deciding to use the 70" counter; otherwise, if you know about the Prize Corner in FNAF 2, that's how it looks except for the different merchandise on the shelves. Now for the building layout. Yeah… I…actually did not look for a layout of Fredbear's Family Diner while writing this (not that there's one from any of the games, anyway) so I ended up using a layout of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria from the movie which was put up on Reddit (to find the image, type "Five Nights at Freddy's (Film) Pizzeria Plan/Layout" into your search engine, go to "Images" and find the image with that same title). I realize now that it's likely incorrect, but there's not much info on the diner's layout other than what other people have come up with, so…yeah.

Oh yes; speaking of Reddit, another big question you guys will likely have is about that mention of Jack's parents. Long story short, years and years back when I was on a "Nightmare Before Christmas" kick, I was apparently looking around at various tidbits on the web about the game "Oogie's Revenge" and found something on Reddit that mentioned Jack talking about his parents if the player interacted with the guillotine in the town square. I wanted to use that and then reference it for you guys to find that Reddit…but I can't find it. And I don't have the game, so I can't confirm it and I don't exactly have the time to comb through every single walkthrough of the game out there to find it so you may have to take my word for it. However, if any of you do have the game in your possession, maybe you can check and let me know? The "induced amnesia" thing is a detail I picked up in two "Nightmare Before Christmas" stories here on the site by CoronaPax and Aria of Life; basically when someone comes to Halloween Town, they lose all their memories of when they were alive. It's an interesting detail, that's for sure.

…Yeah…there's a lot of stuff I did while writing this. I just hope it pays off. But anyway, short story is: Jack wanders off, manages to sneak into the diner, meets the diner's animatronics, and causes a little bit of chaos. Luckily, even with Mari being all stiff, things get squared away and the young bone-boy gives his word that no-one will know of the three living robots' existence. Maybe it was a reminder of another story that I want to work on, but I decided to add the detail of Jack having a "valuable object" as a way of sealing his end of the promise, just like the Rawlins kids did in "Bedknobs and Broomsticks". And what does he pick? A plushie of the animatronic that he had gotten concerned about when his springlocks tripped. Why? Well, that's because it's going to be the key item for an event I have lined up down the line once…stuff happens. And then we get a little "adoption" of sorts, which I honestly had on my mind as I was writing and I think is kinda sweet. But then, uh-oh, it's almost 6 AM! I hope nobody minds my take on the schedule, but you would think that the early-morning employees would need some time before opening to get things ready and before the night shift starts to put things away. The Latin phrase that Jack shouts out before he leaves is basically a formal "thank you" to multiple people; it translates to: "I give thanks to you all", and it's another little detail I lifted from certain "Nightmare Before Christmas" fanfics that have had characters use Latin.

Now, why would Marionette run after Jack when he's clearly doing what he was supposed to be doing in the first place? Well, as a part of security, there are certain procedures to follow, such as detaining and holding for questioning, and, in a child's case, deliver them back to their parents. In Jack's case, it would be whoever is his guardian. So, Mari's plan is to hold the child here and have one of the morning crew call his guardian to pick him up. …But that plan is shot when it is found that Jack is nowhere inside the diner. Which leads Mari to do something unheard of: Go outside. I had a bit of a laugh when writing the moment that Mari just decides to go for it; I could practically hear the scene from Disney's "Sword in the Stone" when Merlin falls partway into the well and yells. I wonder if you did, too. But, anyway, Mari's outside for the first time and Jack has vanished without a trace. …Trying to comprehend what has occurred is not going to be a walk in the park, that's for sure.

Whew! OK, enough rambling; here are some questions:

What would you be doing if you were a Halloween Town citizen in Hurricane, Utah on that night?

If you were an employee at the diner, what would be your thoughts on this lone "costumed" child that showed up with no parents/guardians and no money?

When the loading dock door mysteriously opens, what would you do? What would be the first place you would explore inside the diner?

How would you help out when Spring trips his springlocks?

Any initial thoughts on Spring and Goldy? How about Marionette/Puppet when he appears?

What would be your thoughts on young Jack if you were one of the animatronics in the diner?

What would be your "valuable object" of choice?

What actions would you take in trying to catch Jack?

Next time, we get to see the aftermath of the night from the animatronics point of view, followed by Jack's. And then it's onward from there.

Hope you enjoyed! As always, please read and review! Thank you!