Chapter Text
Freddy:
Dancing with Bonnie was incredible.
I left the bowling alley hours later feeling as if my wires were alight with life. Not even the fact that my greenroom was so far from the alley could bring me down.
I walked across the atrium with a smile a little larger than the one I usually wore.
“F-ff-freddyy-yyy-y…”
I felt a chill go down my spine as a raspy voice hissed out my name. It sounded more like nails being dragged down a chalkboard than it did actual words.
Fear making my shoulders tense, I tilted my head up towards where the sound had come from.
“Moon! Oh, thank goodness it’s just you. You gave me quite the scare!”
Moon was strung to the ceiling by his flying wire. He was just doing his nightly rounds of the plex as he always did.
Except…
The flying animatronic tilted its flat faceplate at me, the fixed smile seeming unnerving rather than friendly.
Moon didn’t answer me. Instead, he swooped down from his place in the air and landed in front of me. He touched down on the ground so close, I had to take a stepback in fear that we would collide. The entire time, his eyes stayed transfixed on me.
Strange, Moon was always so careful when lifting off or touching down, no matter how many people were around. He was always terrified of accidentally kicking a child.
Moon, normally so stern and poised, was slouched over in a hunting prowl. He nearly looked animalistic with his long, dextrous fingers held in front of his body like claws. The biggest difference was in his eyes . normally a calming blue, they were now a violent shade of red .
Not like Monty’s red which held a certain warmth to them, like a burning bonfire.
No, Moon’s eyes practically shouted ‘danger’ and ‘run’. the two red pinpricks swung around as his faceplate swiveled unnaturally on his neck, turning like a wheel.
I took another step back.
“Moon, are you alright?”
Once again, he didn’t answer.
I looked my friend up and down and tried to find what was wrong with him.
My eyes landed on his fist, pale fingers tightened around an object dancing with purple electricity.
Bonnie’s star shades.
The acrylic-cut lenses were surrounded by purple sparks that disappeared into them. Almost as if they were being sucked into the lenses. Moon was gripping them so tight, they were bound to crack soon.
“Aren’t those are Bonnie’s glasse-”
Moon hissed at me. Like, really truly hissed at me as he pulled the glasses to his chest. I swear I even heard some clicks in there like a predator defending its spoils of a hunt.
He looked at me, thoroughly disgusted. He may have had a grin fixed onto his face, but his sudden loathing was clear in his unnaturally red eyes.
He let out a second, smaller hiss in the silence, clutching the glasses closer to him as if I’d try to take them again.
All I did was reach out.
I wasn’t going to snatch them and I wasn’t moving particularly fast. It was more out of instinct to reach for my friend's hand so he wouldn’t break the glasses.
But, Moon reacted like… that.
“Rule breaker… Trying to trick ME… Won’t work, won’t work.”
His voice still had the chalkboard rasp to it and I resisted the urge to cover my ears.
“Moon-”
I reached for his arm, not the glasses.
Pulsing purple sparks shot down Moon’s arm, lacing around my paw. The same ones that were going into Bonnie’s glasses.
Lightning fast, the strands of purple pulsed up my arm, covering my body. I was momentarily paralyzed.
No, not you- Not yet.
A voice sounded out in my head. It wasn’t a line of programming or code, or even my own inner sentience. It sounded like a human man. An agitated human man.
Just as strangely as the sparks came over me, they… absorbed? Into my metal? Wait…
No, They weren't absorbed. They disappeared under my paint for a second, before they reappeared like beads of water and showered onto the floor in a flurry of popping sparks, disappearing for good.
The purple sparks vanished without a trace and I had to wonder if I even imagined them in the first place.
“Oh stars , what happened? Why does my back hurt?”
Moon straightened up, returning to his natural posture and height. His eyes were also back to their normal ocean blue.
He held his head in one hand and his back with the other.
“I thought I already went to parts and services to get my back fixed… god- ”
He arched backwards and I heard a socket click into place.
“Wait a second- Why am I here?”
I was still reeling from what just happened as Moon swiveled his head in a much more normal way side to side, taking in his surroundings.
“I was just in the daycare…”
He raised a hand to his head again. The one with Bonnie's glasses. He didn’t even seem to notice he was holding them.
“You… You were acting really strange, Moon. Are you okay now?”
Moon looked up, his smile no longer as garish as it was a few moments ago.
“Yeah, I don’t know what just happened, but it was probably nothing a short nap can’t fix.”
Shrugging, he pointed his thumb behind him towards the daycare with his other hand on his hip. Yep, that was more like Moon’s normal posture.
“Anyways, I’m gonna go sweep up in the daycare until the lights come back on cause god knows Sun won’t. Nice seein’ ya, Fredbear.”
He held his arms behind his back, swinging around on his ankles to presumably go back to the daycare. I watched his take a few steps, seemingly back to his normal self.
My eyes dropped to the glasses still in his hand. Although he wasn’t holding them in a death grip anymore, they gave one, short, lilac spark. The tiny flush of light disappeared into the star-shaped lens, once again leaving me to wonder if it was all in my head.
“I can take those if you would like me to.”
Moon turned his head around, giving me a confused look. I pointed to the glasses in his hand.
“Bonnie’s glasses. I can give them to him, it really wouldn’t take that long.”
I wasn’t about to say that it would also be great to see Bonnie again just one last time for the night.
“Bonnie’s…?”
Moon glanced down at his hands, noticing that he was holding the purple shades.
His eyes flickered red, just for a moment and he hissed once again under his breath.
“New rule…”
Just as quickly as it came over him, Moon shook his head, blinking himself out of his stupor.
“Erm, actually, I’ll return them. Sweeping can wait.”
He turned around, heading in the direction of Bonnie Bowl, despite the fact that it was rather far from where we were right then.
“Really? I can def-”
“Nah, don’t you worry your gay lil ass over it, I got it. ”
He waved a hand at my disgruntled expression.
“Language.”
Moon walked on like he didn’t hear, grabbing his wire and zipping off somewhere into the atrium ceiling. I couldn’t see him, but his signature mischievous giggles echoed around.
Moon was always… an interesting character.
I shook off the interaction as just Moon being Moon and continued on towards Rockstar Row. At this rate, I might not even make it to full charge by opening.
The long hallway before me stretched on, my room at the very far end of it. I let out an internal sigh at the way the row was designed before beginning my trek.
Chica was in her room, absolutely shredding a guitar solo. She waved enthusiastically at me and her energy was contagious. I smiled and waved back at her.
I guess I was expecting Monty to stay in Bonnie’s greenroom while he was out of commission since the gator didn’t really have anywhere else to stay. Bonnie insisted on staying in his alley, assuring me that it was fine since there was a charging station there.
I had a nagging feeling he wanted to stay for certain other reasons, like the purple bass stashed in the back that he was specifically ordered not to play.
He was definitely going to try to play it. I knew that rabbit well enough to know that much. I also knew him well enough to know that there was nothing I could do to stop him.
Sometimes I wonder why I lov- like spending time with him. He’s so stubborn I just want to sit and listen to him rant about everyone and everything under the sun. I could listen to him talk about quite literally anything for hours and hours without getting bored. Due to being one of the few of us who managed to bypass the faz-firewall and gain internet access, Bonnie had so many interests. His patchwork of knowledge was nothing short of spectacular.
Once, he found a small astronomy pocket book, most likely left by a scout on a troop outing or something. He spent the entire night pointing out the constellations, planets, and outdated errors in the ‘fun fact’ blurbs. I ran out of battery early the next morning and got an earful and a half from the mechanic.
But that night… that night was magical . Just like this one when I danced with him. I would endure thousands of dead batteries to hold onto that sort of feeling every night.
I realized that through my daydreaming, I had stopped walking.
My face felt warm, for some reason…
ANYWAYS - my point being: Monty wasn’t in Bonnie’s room.
Strangely enough, Foxy wasn’t in his room either as he usually was around this time, singing sea shanties and fussing about with his hair. Now that I thought about it, he cared about his hair a lot.
I gave the room one last look over before continuing down the hall. Foxy knew how to take care of himself, I was sure he’d turn up sooner or later in time to recharge for opening hours.
Right next to his room was one of the many elevators that lead into the sublevel of the Plex. The one we all used to get to and from Parts and Services. I was sure there was more than just the workshop down there, if the amount of digital security programs protecting the spare storage rooms meant anything.
Without warning, the elevator doors dinged open.
“ACK!! FREDDY?!”
An animatronic wolf stood in the open doors, scrambling backwards at the sight of me.
I had never seen her before.
She was a little taller than Chica with stark white hair. Although I had never seen her gray casing and bold red outfit before, there was something familiar in her golden eyes that I couldn’t quite place.
“I- Uh, I mean, Freddy! It’s so nice to see you ag- for the first time.”
She added the last but on rather hastily. Maybe I was just overthinking the familiarity of her gold eyes.
“Because this is the first time I'm meeting you . Ever… Ahem, uh-“
She shook her head, putting a smile on and sticking her hand out to shake.
“Sorry, that was weird- I’m Roxanne Wolf, but you can call me Roxy.”
The name finally clicked the puzzle pieces together in my processor.
She was the wolf character for the raceway being built. That’s where I recognized her from.
But… that race track wasn’t set to open for another good few months.
Also, I could’ve sworn the character on the poster had green eyes.
Nevertheless, I took her paw in mine. Roxy seemed nice. A little awkward and loud, but nice. Besides, fresh-out-the-box animatronics tended to be a little bit quirky. I mean, Monty tripped over his own tail and went crashing to the floor before he was even fully out of his crate the first time he was turned on.
My chest warmed in a fond way at the memory.
Seemed like we were getting a lot of new animatronics all of a sudden. If they were all as charming as Monty, I had a feeling I wouldn’t mind.
“Pleased to meet you, Roxy.”
Again, there was that air of recognition. That name…
I repeated it.
“ Roxy… Huh, that name sounds a lot like my friend Foxy’s.“
She visibly tensed. So she did know something. Maybe she knew where he was?
“Oh, have you heard of him?”
My eyes flocked back to Foxy’s greenroom. The bright lights shining down for no one, the red fox nowhere to be seen.
“Well duh, I- UH, I mean- Yeah, I’ve heard of him.”
A tense silence filled the air between us for a moment before she spoke again to break it.
“He’s in Parts and Services right now. I’m- um, filling in for him in the band until he’s all fixed up… That’s a good enough story…”
She mumbled underneath her breath in a way I couldn’t quite catch.
Foxy was in Parts and Services again? That meant that he had somehow malfunctioned or got damaged!
“How awful! Everyone seems to be getting hurt these days. Maybe I’ll pay him a visit-”
“NAH, YOU DON’T GOTTA DO THAT.”
Roxy suddenly startled and waved her hands out in front of her.
Was that… a pirate accent?
I opened my mouth to question her, but before I could say anything, she leapt out of the service elevator and dodged around me. She started walking backwards as she kept on rambling.
“HAHA- You probably have a lot of stuff to do tonight, like charge and um- stuff. Not that I know your charge cycle or anything! Because I don’t!! Uh- Because I don’t know you and we’ve never met before!”
I blinked at her, at a loss for words. We made eye contact for a moment in the now-silent hallway, those somehow familiar golden eyes looking at me with a frantic energy.
“Uh-”
“OKAY BYEE!”
With that, she turned right around and booked it out of sight, glossy green nails flashing underneath the neon lights.
Where have I seen those green nails before?
I didn’t have time to ponder on them for long because a new noise out of the darkness caught my attention.
For just a moment, I debated between checking out what the sounds of wreckage were and simply going to my room to charge. It was an easy choice.
I could go a few hours without another charge.
With Bonnie half out of commission and Foxy apparently down in Parts and Services, I absolutely couldn’t let anyone else get hurt.
Besides it quite literally being in my programming, all the animatronics were my friends and I felt the need to protect them.
No one was going to get hurt under my watch.
Ever.
I dashed towards the noises of something getting demolished, the sounds getting louder and louder as I got closer. My heavy metal feet thundered across the linoleum floor and I found myself standing in front of the foliated entrance of Gator Golf.
It was a new attraction made for Monty. I knew that much, but I had never been inside.
The crashing and banging had stopped a while ago, leaving the space still and silent once more, but I was sure that this was where all the ruckus was coming from.
I tentatively stepped inside.
“Hello?”
The golf course was warm and humid, the lights turned down so low I could barely see. The rivers snaking along the floor emitted a soft glow and the LED lights lining the ceiling were just bright enough to see by.
I let my optics adjust to the dim lighting, taking in the beautiful scenery.
Or… What would have been beautiful scenery.
The subtly earthy smell of fresh chlorophyll hung thick in the air, leaves and plant bits scattered across the floor. An entire tree lay felled on its side, wood chips splintering off the rough, broken stump.
My breath hitched in my throat as my eyes roamed the course, discovering more and more wreckage in every direction. Gouged out holes in the trimmed green, exposed walls where one would’ve assumed for there to be foliage, and mounds of plant matter, too mashed to even be identifiable.
And at the center of it all…
Sat Monty.
On his knees, staring down at his hands, slowly opening and closing his sharp claws against the heel of his hand in thought. The dark stains covering them revealing exactly who was behind all the destruction.
“... Monty?”
He jolted, whipping his head around.
It must have been something from the dark lighting, but for an instant, it looked like there was something purple draining from his eyes before they returned to their normal vibrant red.
“Freddy?...”
He sounded disoriented for a moment, but then shook his head and panic flooded his expression.
“Freddy! This ain’t what it- Ah didn’t-”
Flustered, fragmented sentences spilled from his mouth as he scrambled on the grass to face me.
“Please! Ya have to believe me! I didn’t mean for this to- to-”
He broke off, putting his head down in his dirty claws, breaths coming in short and fast.
I did the one thing I was programmed to do best.
I walked up to him until I was right in front of him, lowered myself to my knees, and wrapped him up in a hug.
“Hey… hey, it’s alright.”
I felt his form shake against me, but after a few seconds, I felt him raise his arms around me in return.
“...it happened again.”
His voice trembled and Monty clutched me tighter.
“I-I don’t know what’s going on, but I promise ya it ain’t me. Ah’m- Ah’m not angry or nothin’... Ah don’t know why… this keeps happenin’. Honest.”
I hummed tunelessly to encourage him to talk more, running my claw through the red mohawk at the back of his head with the side of his face pressed into the crook of my neck.
Surprisingly, it was soft.
“I’m… I’m not an angry person. Ah swear. What happened with Bonnie… Now this… Ah swear on… on whatever I have in this life, I’m not an angry person.”
Despite the evidence clear on his hands, I believed him.
He had only been around for half a day. He didn’t have much to swear on.
“I know, Monty. I know.”
He shuffled impossibly closer into the hug and I felt his eyes close against my casing.
“M’ not…”
We sat in silence until Monty stopped shaking. By then, I didn’t even have enough power to make it to my room and I had no idea what time it was.
“Come on, Monty. We should recharge before opening.”
I pulled back with a bit of hesitation, holding the gator at his shoulders.
“Recharge?”
Those warm red eyes held me in their gaze, setting my chest ablaze with a need to just pull him into another hug and simply not let go.
“Yes, it’s a thing we all must do every night to keep ourselves running. Come now, I’m sure there’s a station here somewhere.”
I helped him onto his feet, holding his claw in mine, not minding the slight tackiness of the dried plant matter. He stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance.
It made me question just how long we had been kneeling on the floor for.
Sure enough, there was a station located in the back.
Monty looked nearly dead on his feet, so I ushered him into it first, assuring him that I knew where all the other ones throughout the pizzaplex were and that I could just use any of those instead.
It was sweet, the way he cared.
Right before I turned to leave, a tug on my hand got my attention.
“Freddy? Can ya- um, like maybe not tell anyone about… this? ”
Monty’s eyes darted to the floor, avoiding mine.
“I’m still new and I don’t want everyone ta think Ah’m just some kinda ragin’ monster right off the bat, y’know?”
The pieces fit together in my processor and I nodded in understanding. I tilted my head to the side, feigning confusion.
“Tell them about what?”
“Well about the- Oh.”
Monty caught onto my smile, stopping in his tracks and smiling a bit back as well.
“Pshh, aight then. G’night, Freddy.”
He chuckled, sliding the door to the recharge station shut.