Chapter Text
{Full charge.}
Freddy stepped out of the charging pod, checking Gregory’s Fazwatch automatically. He had headed off to Roxy’s Raceway with the fixed Staffbot head and left Freddy to charge, so logically… he was in the basement? Roxy was there too- what had happened? Why were they still?
[Glamrock]
Freddy jerked, looking around his empty backroom. He didn’t recognize the voice that had spoken… had someone hacked his internal communications?
[Good job, that’s exactly what I did. Listen… I found the kid, but… are there any prototype Glamrocks anywhere?]
He consulted his internal map. There was a cold storage hidden behind Bonnie Bowl, and another somewhere in one of the basements, but he had never found it. He had no idea if they even held prototypes. He had no idea if there even were prototypes.
[It’s a good enough starting point,] the voice mused. [Won’t take me too long to search both places.]
[Wait! What do you mean?!]
The voice didn’t answer, no matter how he begged.
Lowering his head into his hands, he collapsed in his chair. Left once again to his own thoughts.
<(\/)>
The familiar clatter of one of the big doors opening was what finally caused him to raise his head. His internal clock said it was almost six, he had spent half the night buried in his own world.
Curious, he stood and looked out his window to see who had come in.
It looked like Vanessa, but something just seemed off. Besides which, stumbling along behind her and clinging to her arm was a prototype version of Bonnie. Vanessa would never poke her nose where it didn’t belong, and messing with the prototypes was far out of her paygrade.
Prototype Glamrock Bonnie was the size of a child, maybe half a foot taller than Gregory had been and brown with patches of light blue, but it lacked the shoulder pads and jumpsuit Bonnie had worn.
The prototype’s eyes lit up when it saw him, but ‘Vanessa’ held him back. She whispered something in one long ear that seemed to subdue him, then left him leaning on a bench and approached Freddy’s room alone.
“As promised,” she gestured back at the prototype, “your little friend. Take good care of Gregory now, yeah?” Her voice was familiar, but it definitely wasn’t Vanessa’s.
“Gregory?” he asked, glancing past her to the prototype. “What do you mean?”
“He did not deserve to die,” she replied, “so I saved him. Keep him safe.” She then turned and walked away, straight through a door as if a ghost.
He looked back at the prototype. The little Bonnie was huddled in on himself, occasionally glancing at Freddy. He had clearly heard their conversation.
“She said she could give me a second chance,” the rabbit said, just loud enough for him to hear. “She said I could stay with her, that she had others like me there, but I wanted to stay here, with you.”
There was no further doubt in Freddy’s mind. This was Gregory, sitting outside his room and practically begging for Freddy to recognize him.
“Gregory,” he murmured and watched his ears perk. “Superstar… I thought I would never see you again.”
“I did too,” Gregory admitted. He stepped unsteadily closer, ears twitching. “I… can’t explain what happened, just that she gave me a second chance.”
Freddy glanced down Rockstar Row as best he could. He couldn’t see any guards, but he knew one would be by soon. “You need to find a way into my room, if any guards see you out there, they will take you back to cold storage!”
Gregory shuddered, lurching as he looked around. His eyes lit up and he bolted down the Row as fast as he could. He garnered no attention from Monty, but there was a brief exclamation of shock from Chica, and then Gregory jumped for the open vent. He caught the lip easily and pulled himself in just in time, as a guard stepped in through another door.
He didn’t even do a thorough sweep of the Row before leaving, just a cursory glance into what he could see of each room before moving on to the next hall. Relative safety, for now.
Freddy pulled his curtains shut. He didn’t want the guard to see Gregory when he came in. He didn’t want his Superstar taken away from him ever again.
The door in the back whooshed open, and Gregory tumbled out, landing on his rear in the middle of the room.
Now he could see what he couldn’t before. It was clearly an animatronic, clearly a Bonnie prototype, but it had to have been an early one, as it was covered in fur. Thick brown fur, dyed in a semi-rough approximation of what would become the painted markings on the finished Bonnie, and unruly hair a few shades darker than the rest of his fur. Moreover, his eyes were maroon instead of crimson.
When he stood, his new hight was made clear, as his feet were more like a rabbit's paws than normal feet.
Gregory raised an eyebrow at him, a perfectly fluid movement. “Is something wrong?” His ears fell down his back silently and his eyes widened slightly. He looked scared. “Freddy?”
Freddy shook his head. “Nothing is wrong, Gregory. I was just admiring the workmanship of your new body.”
Gregory smiled wide, bouncing in place and nearly falling over. “She let me pick! She said she would finish it for me, and give me a few special abilities depending on the body. Didn’t tell me what, though…” he trailed off, ears twitching, but upright again.
He had a choice, likely from every prototype, and he had chosen Bonnie. Not only that, but the animatronic had been nearly rebuilt in the span of a few hours, if he had to guess. [Chica?]
[Mmm? Freddy? What is it?]
[It’s about that kid…]
[Why are you bringing him up?]
[He got into an accident.]
[Meaning?]
[He’s dead.]
Chica actually screamed, an anguished cry that should have no place in these walls.
[Chica! Calm down!]
[You want me to calm down?! Freddy, a kid’s dead and you want me to calm down?!]
[He’s here with me! Someone brought him back!]
Shocked silence fell, broken when the clock chimed six.