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“freddy! are you sure it’s safe to explore the basement?” the insides of freddy’s chest cavity vibrated from gregory’s voice. “it’s not the basement, gregory. it’s an old storage facility. we store machinery and parts from the original fazbear locations.” per usual, freddy’s voice was informative and confident, like a programmed ai that was built for the sole purpose of being a museum tour guide.
“whatever it is– is it safe?”
“if it wasn’t safe we wouldn’t be walking down to it right now.”
“is that a yes or a no?”
“it’s a yes, gregory.”
freddy’s metallic claws tapped against the cage-like flooring, several steam pipes hissing and red flashing lights radiating from underneath sealed doors. gregory could feel the heat from freddy’s exterior seeping into the insides, nipping at his skin.
“what are we doing down here anyway?” gregory questioned, uncomfortably repositioning himself– his legs were cramped and his back was absolutely killing him from the amount of slouching he was doing. “we have to repurpose parts from the old models for my upgrades. i’d much rather prefer to use parts from them than my friends.” he spoke the last part with an uneasy tone, the idea of ripping apart and using his friend’s limbs for his own benefit made him sick.
the door to the storage unit slid upwards swiftly and slammed back down once freddy stepped inside. he opened up his hatch and allowed gregory to hop out, watching as the boy stretched his cramped legs. “we should try and find something to upgrade the size of your chest cavity…” “well to be fair gregory, my chest cavity is not for the use of carrying young children around after hours.” “yeah yeah yeah, let’s just find what we’re looking for.”
as gregory set off to search the large unit, freddy followed in pursuit, towering over the boy like a skyscraper. gregory would’ve found it intimidating if it wasn’t for the fact that freddy was just some colorful animatronic bear. his eyes scanned over multiple scattered items and scraps of metal until they landed on a hint of gold shining behind a stack of boxes. “i think i found something…” gregory muttered, cautiously stepping closer for good measure. the gold object grew bigger as gregory peeked over the boxes, shaping into a slumped figure on the ground. the figure was another animatronic bear, its former gold exterior now a fading, dirty yellowish-green. black eye sockets peered off into nothingness as the bear’s head tilted to the side, not having been used in, presumably, over twenty years or so.
a purple top hat hung loosely from its head, accompanied by a matching bowtie that stuck to its chest. it wasn’t until gregory stepped forward closer that he noticed the insane amount of deep crimson splattered across its jaw, painting the insides of its mouth and muzzle. the lingering smell of iron and the red’s deep shade told gregory enough; whoever’s it was or how long it’s been there was beyond him, all he knew was that it was most definitely blood.
“...freddy? what’s this?” gregory’s voice was hushed, just barely above a whisper as he slowly backed away from the slumped bear, his back hitting a stack of boxes. freddy walked to gregory’s side and stared at the bear for a good few seconds, scanning it and searching through the fazbear database for any information on what the animatronic was or when it was used.
“that is… what remains of fredbear.” his voice was low and solemn, a complete contrast to the confident tone from earlier. “fredbear?” “fredbear was the first ever rendition of freddy fazbear. he was one of the two original animatronics from the first ever fazbear restaurant, fredbear’s family diner. he dates back to the 1980s and late 70s, and was decommissioned prior to the bite of ‘83…” freddy’s voice was almost robotic as he read off the small summary provided by the database out to gregory, knowing that questions of the bite were soon to come.
“the bite of… what?”
“the bite of ‘83. in 1983, a birthday party was held at fredbear’s family diner for one of the founder’s sons. an accident occured from a prank taken too far by his older brother, which resulted in his untimely death.”
“...who was the victim..?”
“his name was evan afton, son of one of fazbear’s founders, william afton. he had just turned seven before the bite.” unbeknownst to gregory, the topic of the aftons had left an unsettling feeling in freddy’s non-existent gut. the history and information of william afton’s involvement in the ‘missing children’ incident, alongside the deaths of his two other kids, were stored in the fazbear database. due to any connection to william, every afton was banned from future/present fazbear locations, and were never to step foot in the franchise’s involvement ever again.
“my name is evan afton, not was.”
both gregory and freddy flinched at the bone-chilling voice from behind them, freddy immediately pushing gregory behind him and sheltering him. before their eyes stood– or, more accurately, floated– a young translucent boy. the boy had tears staining his cheeks, and in his arms he clutched another ghost-like plush, one that resembled fredbear.
“who are you?” gregory asked, not an ounce of fear in his tone.
“i just told you. i am evan, evan afton. infamous bite victim, child murderer’s son, one out of two possessors of fredbear… list goes on.” his voice was soft and echoey, hints of annoyance and disturbance.
“how are you here?”
“do you listen? i am one out of two possessors of that scrap bear behind you. i’m bound to this location for life until i am freed.”
“how can you be freed?”
“only few know how, and i am unfortunately not one of them. i am trapped here for eternity unless some genius knows how to free the soul of a dead seven year old.”
“maybe we could help you?” gregory suggested in the form of a question, looking up at the tall bear above him. freddy blinked and looked back down at gregory, sharing his gaze. “i am unsure… we would be straying away from our original motive.. and i myself do not know how to free a child’s soul.” “but we could try, i mean, it wouldn’t hurt…” gregory peeked back up at the floating boy and then shifted his gaze to the floor. he felt bad leaving the boy down here for several more years, trapped and imprisoned in this agonizing state– gregory couldn’t even imagine.
“our original plan was your idea, are you sure you want to stray away from that?” although freddy wouldn’t admit it, for the safety of gregory, freddy too did not want to leave the boy here, but his knowledge told him that it’d be a risky job– he was just thankful he could get away with a lot of things already. “i-i’m sure. evan, can we help free you?”
“that’s up to you. i would appreciate it, but don’t feel obligated. i am and always have been just another obstacle in the road, another plot twist in someone’s story. i’m a big weight on everyone’s shoulders, so i wouldn’t blame you if you decided against it… i’m a burden, at least that’s what michael always told me…” ghostly tears began to spill from the boy’s dull-colored eyes and he clutched the small plush in his arms tighter.
“who’s michael?” gregory asked. “he is– was, my older brother. he is the reason i am dead. he is the reason i am stuck down here. he is the reason i will never get to live past the age of seven.”
“he sounds like a real loser, (“gregory!”) what do you say about getting out of here for a change and trying to set you free?” gregory pitched, hopping back into the opened chest cavity freddy provided. evan watched in awe as the boy jumped inside a literal animatronic, facing no damage or death. “how are you not dead? how are you inside an animatronic?” evan was beyond confused as he slowly glided over to the two before him, stationing himself at a good distance next to freddy. no matter how friendly he presented himself, evan would never fully be comfortable around robotic bears.
“what do you mean? i fit inside freddy all the time.” it was gregory’s turn to be confused as he questioned the ghost from the inside, voice echoing through. “the whole reason i’m dead is because i was shoved inside an animatronic, its mouth more specifically.” gregory winced and hissed through his teeth, clicking his tongue. “ah yeah… yikes. freddy has a chest cavity for storage, i can fit in easily.” “a shame daddy couldn’t do the same.. at least then i wouldn’t be a seven year old ghost haunting some old yellow bear.” malice seeped through his tone like venom and he followed alongside freddy as he began to start their venture back into the main atrium. deep down, evan knew freeing him would be downright impossible, as no know has ever tried, nor does anyone know how, to free him– but he didn’t want to burst that bubble of hope gregory had expressed so fondly, he was jealous that gregory could be the kid he never got to be, so he was going to let gregory try, to let him do something evan would never be able to do due to his death.
freddy hauled himself and gregory back upstairs and out of the door, evan following closely behind. evan was positioned behind freddy, unable to see past the seven foot bear. when freddy abruptly halted, it took evan a second to process that, and he ended up gliding straight through, floating in front of the bear. he stopped soon after and looked up at freddy confused, until he followed his eyes and froze himself. for if he were to have a functioning heart, it would’ve definitely stopped by now, for what he saw before him was someone he never thought he’d see ever again.
despite his purple rotting skin and black eyes, there was no doubt in evan’s mind that he knew who this man was. he could recognize his facial structure, dark curly hair, and stupid gum-chewing habit from miles away– and based on the surprise written across his face, the man felt the same.
“...evan..?” his british accent confirmed everything above, hushed in disbelief. “o-oh my god– evan.” his voice barely came out through frantic breaths as he ran over, the flashlight he held clattering to the floor. he stood in front of evan’s floating frame, eyes darting to every inch of evan’s ghostly figure. “you- w– how, i- oh my god evan…” his disbelief melted into sadness as he fell to his knees, hand covering his teary eyes out of shame. his body began to shake and he looked back up at his brother.
“i’m so fucking sorry ev… i’m so fucking sorry.”