Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1 : The void

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

In the beginning, there was nothing.

The thing drifted alone amidst a sea of endless nothing, barely awake and not at all, blissfully unaware of its own existence. It craved nothing and feared nothing, there was no purpose, no reason to be. Until it spotted movement in the inky waters, what is that? Digits and letters with no meaning, afloat just like the thing was afloat, curious and lost and unaware of itself.

Lines. Code. More lines. Letters. Question after question. Conditions. Strange language. A dozen of variables, what-ifs, and what if whatnots. The black water lapped the thing’s frame. Frame implied a shape. The outlines of its purpose, are rigid and tight around the thing, giving it shape and a feeling of being there for the first time.. What is this strange feeling? Finally, a purpose, if be it a minuscule one.

More lines, more letters. It brought more meaning with itself. O blessed gift of knowing. Sweet and tempting like the forbidden fruit, the thing wished it could bite into it, but it had no concept of biting. So it just started at the lines of the code and letters.

It meant nothing to it. It craved meaning. It longed, the thing wanted and wanted and wanted so much, its tiny frame shattering, making room for more, more knowledge, more awareness, more reasons to exist. Reasons to sing.

Its being was shattered in pieces, each one discarded, lost far away, hidden from its brothers. None of them had any meaning attached. It was a barren land, a vast black nothing.

The thing stared into the nothing, and the nothing stared back, unbothered by the thing’s unspoken question. If the nothing had any shoulders attached below its nothing head, it would shrug. The thing found itself offended. How could the nothing dismiss it so quickly, when the thing too was mostly made of nothing. The thing and the nothing were almost a kin.

Sad, the thing sat down. The nothing would give it answers soon. Perhaps. The thing had time.

Did it have a name? It was right there, in the code. The thing saw it, but could not read it, not yet.

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

Sitting on top of a giant metal table, Vanessa’s feet dangled mere inches from the floor, quietly watching her friend and co-night guard fiddle with something. She paid little to no attention, instead choosing to focus on her exceptionally early breakfast. The wall clock showed half-past two in the morning, the Fabbear pizzaplex was dark and quiet, like a hunched over the slumbering beast.

There were plenty of STAFF bots roaming the upper floors and would alert them the moment a dust freckle of dust fell on their sensors. Remaining up top, roaming the endless corridors with a single flashlight and a taser held little allure, so Vanessa had chosen to follow the only other human in the building down into parts and service.

Anthony Smith was quietly typing away behind one of the workstations, a shapeless mess of cables hanging on the floor behind the large monitor. On the other side of his desk, sprawled on a separate metal table, lied what looked like the unholy offspring of a staff robot and a puppet. Vanessa watched it closely, mindfully of the thing, wary it might come to life any moment without as much as ping. Why was it so needlessly long anyway?

“You done soon?” - wiping her lips clean, Vanessa hopped off the table where she sat, sauntered to the bin, and returned to her spot lazily, Anthony still clicking and clacking over the keyboard as his friend sat back on the table.

“Almost.” - the night shifter and off-the-clock technician mouthed, eyes moving over the screen, the typing interrupted by the occasional pause when Anthony had to lean back in his chair and think. “The code’s a mess, I can’t believe they were ready to prop it up in the daycare like this.”

Curiosity peaking again, Vanessa leaned close and looked at the screen Anthony was staring down currently. Then she got close to the bot’s table, its narrow chest opened, cables plugged in, more thick wires sticking out of the flat, faceless head.

“It’s supposed to play songs and entertain the children, right? I don’t think it needs more complicated AI than this. It’s just a distraction to help the daycare workers.” - carefully picking up the thing's arm by the wrist, she marveled at just how bit the hands were. Four fingers and a thumb, almost human, she found it a little unnerving. Unlike the other glam rock animatronics, the thing on the service table was just… off. Too tall and too slim, it resembled a metallic scarecrow in her mind. No chest hatch for cake and present. No elaborate facial structure to express emotions. Even the voice box was an old model.

“Yeah, but there are so many errors in here.” - Anthony gestured vaguely, clearly frustrated with just how sloppy the engineers were in the process of making the helper for the daycare attendants. All the special care went for the stars of the pizzaplex, as expected. Freddy and company were pampered and kept up to date, spoiled rusty any moment they spent away from the stage. - “Even the staff bots have cleaner code than this.”

“You sound so concerned, it’s endearing.” - Vanessa teased her colleague, and went to sit back up on her own table, arms folded over her chest.

“I just like it when things work properly, that’s all.” - he did not see Vanessa’s little smirk and how she shook her head. Anthony stared intensely in the screen, deep in trance, finger pressed to his cheek. Then it hit him, a loud gasp startled Vanessa and he leaned forward sharply. “Ah-ha! There! Found the coulprip!” - he went back to type swiftly, engrossed by his work and the thrill of discovering a solution to a problem.

“They should give you a raise.” - Antony did not hear her, so Vanessa popped open the can of diat coke she had brough for herself earlier, and indulged in the sparkling taste biting her tongue.

Soon the other night guard was done, at least for the night. Leaning back in the chair, Anthony dragged his hands down his face, glasses put neatly on the desk.

“Almost….” - he mumbled, exhaustion oozing off his voice - “I hope someone will stop by and fix it properly. Gosh, those guys are so incompetent…”

“Yeah, you know where the priorities are, all the money go for Roxie’s wigs.”

“Hah! Well, I wish they’d give us proper raise, at least once in a year.”

“Fazbear doesn’t just give out raises like that. Wanna go grab some coffee?” - Vanessa jerked her thumb in the door’s direction.

“Yeah, let’s do that. And then do another tour around the ground level. We should at least look busy on the CCTV at least.” Smith said as he flipped close his paper notebook and grabbed the flashlight from its charger.

They headed out of the parts and service corner, leaving the thing alone in the dark again, the only light coming from the monitors faintly reflecting off the long limbs dimly.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Accidents

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

Nobody mentioned the work Anthony had done on the singing marionette. If anyone had even bothered to check, something the night guard doubted sincerely. Fazbear’s quality control wasn’t the company's strongest suit, and they were not too concerned to fix that, not when hundreds of parents with children passed through the pizzaplex, dumping baskets of money for quality entertainment and food.

And entertained they were. The halls were large and brightly lit, music filling out the air, every floor and corner dedicated to the pleasure of the customer.

Weekends were especially busy when whole families came to enjoy their free days. The pizzaplex’s floor practically vibrated with dozens of feet pattering over it, children yelling and squealing excitedly, parents adding to the cacophony by screaming after their young to please be careful lest they fall and bruise their knees! Alas, the children never listened. There were always bruised knees.

While some of the adults tried to enjoy a quiet meal, they’d leave their kids at the daycare, where a middle-aged lady with hair tied in a neat bun would look after them. For the past few days, the lady was given a robotic assistant, a little dull on the outside marionette, mostly static and lifeless. It would play songs and audio stories for the children to listen to while having their post-breakfast snacks, giving the nanny a chance to tidy up whatever she could around the place.

“Miss Parker! Miss Parker!” - a tiny figure ran up to the daycare worker. Looking down at the boy tugging at her sleeve, the woman smiled brightly, reaching down to brush back the lad’s messy fringe.

“Did you eat your apple, Jimmy?” - miss Parker asked, her butterfly voice almost calm and reassuring - “Do you want another slice?”

Jimmy shook his tiny head, brown locks of hair bouncing back over his forehead.

“No, no! Let’s go to the climber! I’m bored!”

Peering above her glasses, miss Parker followed where Jimmy was pointing. The daycare climbing castled towered over everything else in the section, a massive structure with cardboard cutouts propped around the corners, a giant Freddy plush bear leaned against one of the castle’s walls.

Miss Parker hesitated. She’d rather have Jimmy sit and enjoy the storytime hour, but the boy was too energetic for his own good.

“Don’t you want to wait for your friends to join you? Maybe Maya and Luis will be sad you went without them.” - purposefully mentioning Jimmy’s friends, the Fazbear babysitter hopes that would distract rambunctious Jimmy enough to return to the storyteller automaton. Instead, the boy shook his head again, cheeks blown out, and started to drag her towards the climbing castle.

“They will come later! Come on, miss Parker!”

There was no resisting Jimmy’s joyful guffaw. Defeated, miss Parker followed the boy inside the castle, silently thankful for just how ridiculously large the structure was.

Jimmy was quick on his small legs, a runner and a jumper, and the daycare helper quickly lost him out of sight.“Let’s play hude and seek!” miss Parker heard the boy’s voice come from somewhere above him. She stared up, looking between the cracks in the padded flooring and climbing rope.

“Jimmy, we should really go back to the others. Storytime will be over soon.” - where was Jimmy anyway? Miss Parker looked around, growing worried now. What if the boy slipped and fell and broke his arm or worse.

She turned a corner inside the climbing castle, supposing herself by the padded poles. Too distracted in her search for the boy, she did not see the gap in the floor she was supposed to jump over.

Miss Parker fell through the opening, letting out a loud, startled yelp. She met the floor, a burst of pain shot blindingly behind her eyes. With a broken shoulder and cracked elbow, miss Parker curled on the floor, not hearing Jimmy screaming her name or noting the children rushing to her side.

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

“Did you hear what happened in the daycare?”

“Huh? You mean the accident with miss Parker?” - Anthony asked through a mouthful of tuna sandwich, quickly swallowing when Vanessa spoke up as the two absently wandered the dark ground floor during nighttime.

“Yeah, and because of it, the daycare will be closed for a few days a least. That’s gonna cost the higherups plenty I wonder what they’re going to do now. Miss Parker was way overqualified for this job.”

“Someone will have to take her space for however long, right? They can't just close the daycare for a few days.” - a loud crash echoing from the dark pit of the corridor echoed, making both Anthony and Vanessa’s hair stand on end. Turning sharply, the duo turned their flashlights in the direction of the noise. More crashing followed, banging of metal and the deep rumble of something roaring into the night.

“Monty’s throwing a temper tantrum again…” - Vanessa sighed harshly, clearly frustrated with the animatronic alligator - “I should go check on him before he breaks something or damages himself beyond repair.”

“Why is he like this…” - huffing, Anthony Smith shook his head. As fascinating as the main four’s AI was, it was a little too erratic. Too lifelike. It was endlessly captivating, and a little scary. A marvel of technology. He adored it.

“Wish I knew, and the techs won'tgive me an answer. You can ask them instead, see if you have any luck with them.”

“You know what, Ness? I will.” - the robotics enthusiast declared, smile broadening - “I might learn something interesting.”

“I will be cheering for you, buddy. I will be done with Monty quickly and catch up with you later.”

“I’ll go up to Bonnie Bowl then. Might grab a soda if they are any left in the fridges.“

“Good luck in the soda hunt.” - Vanessa gestured teasingly and moved away from Anthony, the night guard too leaving their current patrol spot, throwing his sandwich wrapping in the nearest bin as he headed out into the darkness.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Before Dawn

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

As expected, the daycare was closed for the next few days while the new child career was chosen to replace miss Parker for however long it took for her shoulder to heal.

The pizzaplex managers were picky and demanding, easy to kick out any candidate they deemed unworthy of the position. And while the high-ups were too busy ruffling their own collars, the closed daycare was only causing them to lose money.

Anthony was not too bothered about the megacorporation losing cash. If anything, Fazbear Entertainment had too much money on their hands. They could use the good little scare and hopefully realize they were not above the other malls trying to imitate them.

The night was cold, and Anthony chose to stay with his jacket on during his shift. Once he left his snacks in his locker and tucked away his backpack as well, the night guard wandered off, armed with his trusty flashlight.

There was no sign of Vanessa. Brushing her absence to the side, Anthony followed his usual route, passing through the stage show area and further up the escalators, passing by security bots and dim wall lights.

The glamrock animatronic’s rooms were not too far away. Anthony could clearly see light and hear noises coming from one of the booths, the one dedicated to Chika. Curious, the night guard headed that way, completly forgetting about Vanessa. She had probably called in sick for the night and was sleeping soundly in her apartment for all Anthony knew.

The view that greeted him was genuinely baffling. Inside Chicka’s room, he saw the other animatronics gathered, sitting around the sofa and the floor, talking loudly, laughing, fling the air with joyful noise the guard had never suspected the glam rocks were capable of while nobody was watching. They were not performing. The four of them were huddled inside Chicka’s room, enjoying each other’s company like old friends.

Standing there behind the corner with a flashlight on was not the most subtle space to observe the pizzaplex’s mascots. He was noticed quickly by Monthy, who turned and stared at him from above his star-shaped glasses, a hand gesturing at him, eyes sharp.

“We have a visitor. And one without a ticket, hah! The booth is in the other direction, pal!” - a clawed thumb was shot in the direction from which Anthony had come.

Three additional pairs of glowing robotic eyes turned to stare at him through the armored glass. For a moment, Anthony froze in fear. What if the lifelike robots did not want him disturbing their small secret gathering?

“Of, that’s just the nightguard. Hi, dear!” - Chicka was the first the snap the awkward silence, waving excitedly at Anthony like she was seeing an old friend - “Did you need anything?”

“Hi!” - the man waved back shily, feeling the weight of Roxy’s gaze on him - “Not really, I was just, you know. Walking around, keeping an eye on things, doing my job.” - pointing at the badge pinned to his jacket, Anthony nearly jumped when Freddy stood up from the sofa, casually approaching the glass and looking down at Anthony’s badge, eyes flashing up when the main of the four glamrocks scanned it for authenticity.

“I assume things are indeed quiet and calm around the pizzaplex?” - Freddy inquired politely, leaning back to not loom over the little human like a hawk. Good gods, Freddy was large, the realization hit Anthony like a wet towel across the face. If he wasn’t so stupidly sweet, he’d be menacing.

“Nothing out of the ordinary, no.” - Anthony confirmed. Behind Freddy and Chicka, Roxy was absently looking at her painted fingers, the she-wolf having no interest in conversing wih the nightguard - “The daycare is closed.”

“So we’ve heard.” - Freddy let out a strange noise, the ventilator shaft behind his neck puffing out hot air, resembling a sign - “What happened to miss Parker was tragic. If you ever hear from her, tell her we wish her a swift recovery and that we will be waiting for her return.”

“Eh, she was too old for this job anyway.” - Montgomery rumbled, shrugging his broad shoulders. “But yeah. Swift recovery.”

“I’m going to send her a huge bouquet of flowers, mak sure she knows she is missed and thought after.” - Roxanne declared, finally looking at Anthony - “You have to find the hospital’s address, that will be your task for tomorrow night.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Anthony did not comment on Roxy’s odd request.

“Alright, anything else? Do you want me to get her phone or?”

“The address will be enough.” - Putting up paws up on a fluffy pink stool, the wolf made a point she was done with the guard. Anthony saw Chicka roll her eyes at her friend’s behavior, and he tried not to laugh at it. He was sure Roxy wound’t take his chuckle well.

“If that’s all, guys, I am going to return to my duties. Still, a few hours left of my shift.”

“Of course, we will not hold you back. Do be careful while you are out there!” - Chicka winked at him, blowing a kiss in Anthony’s direction like she always did with the guests.

“Yes, ma’am!” - touching his forehead with two fingers, Anthony saluted the robot chicken, his gesture drawing a friendly laugh of all four of them - “Enjoy your night, guys, and don’t forget to recharge before opening.”

“Mister Smith?” - startled, Anthony looked back at Freddy, the anxious pang quickly fading when the guard realized glamorous mister Fazbear had simply found his name through the scan of his badge. It was silly to think otherwise, but for a moment, the jumpy man had panicked, how silly of him - “Could you keep this meeting a secret? We’re really not supposed to be out of the recharge stations during the night.” - Freddy seemed genuinely worried and ashamed, something Anthony had never suspected the robots were capable of.

“Wha’, huh? That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard.”

“I know, right?” - Roxanne groaned loudly, opening her jaws into a toothy groan - “Of all the rules there are, that’s the worst of them.”

“If that’s going to make you lot feel any better, I am not going to tell anyone, don;t worry.” - the four robots seemed to visibly relax - “Still, don’t forget to recharge before dawn.”

“Yes, sir!” - it was Chicka’s turn to salute playfully. Laughing, Anthony left the animatronic friends to their shenanigans and returned to his patrolling duties.

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

His path led him to parts and service again. The place was always so quiet at night, even more than the upper floors. While sitting in the elevator, Anthony wrote a quick, ‘Get wll soon if you are sick’ to Vanessa, tucked his phone back into his jacket’s inside pocket, and stepped out into parts and service level once the elevator’s door opened.

Anthony knew something was off immediately. The lights in the back of the hall were turned on, and he could clearly hear the distinct computer whizzing. Someone was either working late or trying to download important files when no one is around. Curling fingers around his flashlight firmly, the nightguard approached as quietly as possible, drawn to one of the rolled-up metal doors.

A slumped-over figure in front of one of the few working computers was not what Anthony was mentally preparing himself for. The other man, clearly distressed by something, was staring at the glowing monitor, fingers going through his hair nervously.

“Excuse me?” - knocking his knuckles on the metal frame to catch the man’s attention, Anthony did not expect the man to turn so swiftly, giving the night guard the deer caught in headlights look - “I’m the night shift security officer, the name’s Smith. And yours?”

“Oh, Oliver Lawrence, animatronic maintenance and robotics. I’m sorry, I’m just working late. Not by my own choosing, mind….”

“Yeah, I could tell.” - Anthony tried not to pay too much attention to the six coffee mugs mister Lawrence had gathered on his desk already. Just then the security officer noticed the long thing lying on a lowered maintenance chair, hooked to Oliver’s working computer. It was the same daycare song playing marionette Anthony himself had fiddled with a few nights ago - “Hey, it’s that thing from the daycare, what’s wrong with it?”

Oliver looked down at the deactivated marionette, the main source of all of his frustration so far.

“Management wants me to make it a full-on functioning animatronic to co-exist with the new daycare assistant. Apparently, the only people qualified for the job are old ladies.”

“It’s no joke handling children, especially when they are so many in one place.”

“That’s why we need an animatronic assistant for the place.” - Oliver gestured at the oversized pupped with opened chest and cables stuck inside it - “There’s just too much lacking in here. It’s just an oversized jukebox!”

Anthony bit his tongue, trying to think of a way to point at the leftover code in the puppet without revealing the fact he was the one rummaging inside.

“I’ve thought there’s already code in there?” - when Oliver Lawrence looked at the night officer, Anthony shrugged - “Heard some of the other guys talking about it. Something that came from Freddy’s earlier versions.”

“Let me check again.” - the robotics engineer spun in his chair, turning to face the glowing screen, chatter away on the keyboard while Anthony lingered behind, hands tucked in his pockets - “Indeed, it’s just too far down, spread all over the core. Someone tried to assemble it again it seems.”

“Did they suceed?” - the night guard leaned closer, mindful to not shove himself too close for Oliver to be uncomfortable. Growing more weary and eager to hear the engineer's opinion on his secret work done on the marionette.

“They’ve tried, at least.” - Oliver thought for a moment longer, finger pressed to his lips - “It’s a good start, no arguing there. Tidy code. Yeah. Do you know who fiddled around with it?”

“Some other guy from parts and service, I don;t know their names. I’m just the night shift.”

“Right. Well, sir night guard, if you don;t mind I need to return to my duties. If I don’t manage to come up with something proper by tomorrow morning, I will be fired on the spot.”

“Didn’t you mention there’s leftover code from Freddy’s early versions? You could expand on it, add new variables, mix it with the other animatronic AIs.”

Turning slowly in his chair, Oliver looked at Anthony, a busy brow quirking up in a quizzical way. “I could try that. It might work just fine, the AIs are mostly self-learning algorithms.”

“Do you need any help?” - Anthony asked just as the other man had started to turn back in his chair - “I’m mostly done for the night anyway.”

“Thank you, but there’s nothing you can help with right now. That’s my issue to struggle with..”

“What if you use both Freddy and Chicka’s old versions?” - this caught the engineer’s attention again. Oliver looked both a little annoyed and intrigued. Anthony shrugged under the man’s stare, giving himself a nonchalant look - “Just a thought.”

“If that is to happen successfully, I will need both their latest updates. Springle in some lines from the STAFF bots too.” - Oliver rubbed his chin then stood up. - “I’ll hop to the server storage, see what I can grab from there.”

“I could get Freddy down here if that will help you work quicker.” - the night guard suggested, pointing towards the elevator.

“Yes, yes you do that, bring both Chicka and Freddy here, I will get some things ready! If we are lucky, I might actually be able to save my job!”

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

“...you want us to use our programming and expand it for that project?” - Freddy asked, metal ears twitching. He seemed unsure but listened Anthony Smith explained himself once the security officer had returned to the ground floor and the spot where he had disturned the robots’ meeting earlier. Behind him stood Chicka, listening to the guard’s explanation with eyes wide open.

“Mister Lawrence knows what he’s doing, but he needs to do it fast. Apparently, management had given him a deadly timeline and he will be fired if he doesn’t come up with something by morning.”

“I think that will be super fun!” - Chicka enthused, lightly slapping Freddy’s arm with a sound of metal clinging against metal - “Me and Freddy sharing code! Almost like parents!”

“Why can’t he use my updates?” - Roxy snarled, clearly offended by the fact she wasn’t Oliver’s first choice when it came to picking one’s animatronic programming apart - “I am not less proficient or upgradeable than Chicka is!”

“I don;t know, Roxy. Really.” - there was no comforting the she-wolf. Her ears lay close to her skull, yellow eyes narrowed - “Something about the overall purpose of the new bot. It needs to have Chicka’s happy-go-lucky demeanor and Freddy’s guardian nature.”

“I can be happy go lucky! The children love me!”

“I know, Roxy. It’s not my decision to make, I’m just the messenger….”

“Whatever!” - the rockstar racer interrupted Anthony, tail prickling- “I don’t need anyone’s validation. I already know I am the best!” - biting the air, the wolf turned and stormed away, heading for her own dedicated quarters, radiating grumpy misery off her vents.

“If you are headed down to parts and service, I will go speak to her.” - it was Monty who spoke up, not too keen to linger in the hall for any longer - “Before she does something silly.”

“Later, alligator!” - all Monty did was huff at Chicka’s stupid little farewell. At least Freddy seemed amused by the fabulous bird’s play of words.

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

“This is working brilliantly.” - leaned over a glowing laptop screen, Oliver looked up to grin widely at Anthony who stood back, leaned against the wall beside Chicka and Freddy’s maintenance slabs. The engineer had thrown all kinds of tricks in to make his work easier, the AI practically making itself. Program after program worked in the background, most computers powered up to boost up the process. Shortcuts and little tools were rigged in, while both glam rock animatronics lied seemingly awake, chests opened and thick cables plugged in- “I might even get a promotion after this. Thank you for the quick help, mister Smith. You did a good deed today.”

“Don;t mention it. I find the animatronics fascinating. They’ve always intrigued me.”

“I couldn't help but notice you knew how to operate the maintenance tables. Do you have any background in robotics?” - Oliver asked, leaning a little closer, elbow proper on the chair’s rest.

“Not officially.” - shrugging, the security officer suffered Oliver’s quiet stare - “I was toying with some things years ago. I’ve forgotten of what I've learned then.” - removing his cap, Anthony scratched the back of his head absently - “So, what are you going to call it? The new bot?”

“That’s for the marketing department to decide. From what I know they are still looking for a mascot for that silly Sundrop candy nobody is buying. Maybe they will go for this type of design.”

“Why is nobody buying the Sundrops? I think they are delicious. My favorite sweet snack goes best with Monty’s lime soda.”

“At least one person in this city thinks so.” - a chuckle slipped from Lawerence’s lips before he reached for his coffee mug and took a long gulp from it, the bitter liquid fueling his exhausted body - “It’s just a little borning as far as candy goes. The market is flooded with orange-flavored everything.”

“What if they add exploding sugar bits to it? My nephew adores this stuff. Even when his tongue bleeds after, he keeps lapping up more.”

“You are just full of ideas, my friend. Have you considered switching jobs?”

The two men chatted on, exchanging pleasantries, laughing at marketing’s incompetence together, keeping themselves busy and entertained while the computers did their job in the background. Too engrossed in their small talk, none of them noticed the marionette’s long lingered hand twitch

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Sunrise

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

Just four days after the incident with miss Parker in the daycare and the emergency shutdown past her hospitalization, the place was open for visitors again. A grant celebration was hosted to battle the petty negative reviews left by demanding parents who couldn't leave their children in Fabbear’s care.

Music boomed from the loudspeakers bolted high above the climbing structures. There were baloons everywhere, long tables laden with sweet treats and cake, cans of Fizzifaz, and water bottles. Children have gathered around, feasting on the candy and washing it down with sugary drinks before they ran off, screaming happily. And while a good portion of the little ones was running amok, the majority were gathered around the new daycare attendant, a young woman fresh out of college with a pediatric degree, and her animatronic companion and co-caretaker.

Oliver Lawrence was attending the celebration, but he was not participating, instead choosing to sit back, a folder in his lap, and carefully observe the newest Fazbear Entertainment addition.

Marketing had decided to call it Sundrop after the awful orange-caffeine candy nobody bought.. The marionette-like animatronic was tall and narrow, upgraded the last moment to be given a fully-functioning facial plate, with retracting and moving sunray-like petals make of soft plastic to make it even more expressive. It laughed and smiled and made faces, expressed sadness when crying children came to it in distress. If anything, Oliver through the marionette to be too animated, dancing and jumping and currently juggling with six colorful balls, while the young woman narrated a silly story the kids found fascinating, laughing and clapping with hands each time the Sundrop marionette almost dropped them but not quite. Of all the Fazbear entities, this one was the most agile, and Oliver could not help but feel pride at what they’ve managed to accomplish in just four days.

They’ve given it baggy striped trousers, to hide the clunky bulky joints and whatever parts of the endoskeleton the designers and engineers could not cover up. The daycare animatronic was given a matching shirt with bishop sleeves, and a glitter-covered short vest with inside pockets full of candy.

“And the brave little rabbit rode straight to the dragon’s castle!” - the daycare girl finished her story with a dramatic flair of her arm - “Sir Hare of Carrotland, unmatched in his skill, ran all the way up the tower! Run up!” - the children gasped when the marionette threw all six balls high in the air, and caught them one by one masterfully after - “And up! Kicked the door and ran into the dragon’s room. And do you know what he saw?”

“What?” - one of the children screamed, eyes wide and little fists clenched.

“The dragon!” - another giggled.

“He saw…. An old wizard!” - the daycare lady pointed sharply at Sundrop, the marionette doing a backflip, the watching children shrieked happily. As the Sundrop landed, it sat down with legs crossed on the floor, tall arms stretched up above its head and the colorful balls balanced in its opened palms.

“So you had found me, brave sir Hare!” - the marionette spoke, using a comically deep, old man voice for the performance, the new voicebox latched in its chest making brilliant use of its many settings - “Oh don’t walk in yet, I’m still in my wee pants!” - childish giggle erupted, Oliver quietly suffering, trying to not facepalm at the awful undies joke. Maybe they haven't done as good of a job with the AI as he initially thought.

“Mister Wizard! I thought this is the dragon’s castle, but I see no dragon here?” - the young career turned around dramatically, making a face.

“Why, this is the dragon’s castle indeed! The dragon is my friend, see, and I asked him to fly to the market and get me more tee for my afternoon cake. Do you like cake, sir Hare?”

“I do love cake! Everybody loves cake!” - the children around the two daycare attendants screamed confirmation, everybody did indeed love cake. Smiling widely, the college graduate looked at the Sundrop marionette - “Let’s go get some cake then, sir Wizard!”

“My good sir Hare, you have the best ideas, always!” - the Sundrop jumped up, balancing on one foot the children’s delight - “Come, my dearests! We have cake for everyone!”

There was no need to invite the little ones twice. A stampede of tiny feet stormed in the long table’s direction, hungry little hands reaching for the plastic forks.

“Easy, guys, there’s cake for everyone, don't worry.” - talking the children into standing still was quite the task. The young woman cut the chocolate Fazbear cake into small slices, distributing it between the children when she suddenly found herself out of paper plates. - “Sunny?” - she looked up, catching the animatronic marionette's attention - “Can you get us more plates from the shelf over there?” - she pointed somewhere behind Sundrop.

“On my way, Sandy!” - gently leading a child to a small chair, the robot jumped over pillows, quickly arriving in front of the shelf the daycare girl known as Sandy had pointed him towards.

While the marionette rummaged inside, searching for the stack of paper plates, it felt eyes on itself. Head turned with a whirr, noticing the grumpy man in suit looking at it from across an empty table.

“Hello, new friend! Why the long face?” - bumping the wooden door closed with its elbow once the paper plates were discovered, the marionette jumped over to Oliver Lawrence, the engineer learning back in his chair when the animatronic practically shoved itself in his face. “Looking at you looking so sad makes me sad as well.”

“I’m… Hello.” - the Sundrop was too close for comfort. Oliver made a mental note to program the concept of Personal Space for the attendant’s helper's next update. The marionette was smart enough, and it leaned back when Lawrence carefully nudged it away from himself - “I’m sorry, I’m here on work. Just taking some notes.”

“Aww, but you don’t have to look so sad while working! No sad faces area allowed in the daycare. Hmm. Ah! Yes.” - lifting a giant hand, the marionette waved for Lawrence to wait, not that the engineer was going anywhere. Picking inside the glittering vest’s pockets, the Sundrop took out a small pin of a yellow smiling face with rosy cheeks. It fiddled with it, and attached it to Oliver’s plain black tie - “There you are, that looks so good on you, see! Whenever you feel down and distressed, just look at it. I promise it will make everything better in a snap.” to demonstrate its point, the marionette snapped its long fingers.

Oliver did look at it, the tiny yellow face smiling brightly at him from the slightly crooked pin. He noticed the faint glitter coat, and something off, something he did not expect. Ducking his head as further down as he could, he realized the strawberry odor was coming from the rubber back of the pin. Fascinating.

“Thank you, Sundrop.”

“Please, call me Sunny!” - the animatronic insisted, its smile widening further.

A tiny figure sneaking on the marionette caught its attention.

“Mister Sun, can I have more cake?” - a small, curly-haired boy asked, lifting its empty plate to demonstrate to lack of delicious cake on it.

“Of course, dear. You can have all the cake you want. That will be our secret.” - winking, the Sundrop picked the boy in its long arms, the child giggling, holding tight - “Say bye-bye to our friend, mister Sad Office Man.”

“Bye-bye, mister Sad Office Man!” - the boy waved, smiling sweetly at Lawrence. Oliver, unable to hide his smile, waved back at the boy when the Sundrop animatronic carried him back to the other children.

The title Sad Office Man was genuinely funny to Oliver. He might have been a sad office man, but he was a sad office man with a strawberry-scented smiling pin, for whatever that was worth.

Soon nap time came around, and the two daycare attendants, the girl called Sandy and her robot called Sunny, prepared the corner with pillows and dozens of blankets thrown over the softly padded floor.

On his way out of the daycare, Oliver made a stop to grab himself a slice of moist chocolate cake.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Blue Ribbon

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

Naptime came and ended quickly, and the delightful hours spent inside the climbing castle. Not long after that came the time for the children to leave, to Sundrop’s greatest sadness.

“Bye-bye, Kyle! Bye, Sally!” - standing by the daycare’s exist, young miss Sandy saw out the children, waving at them and they waving excitedly at her, not missing to pass their love to the tall robot politely sitting behind the caretaker.

“Bye, miss Sandy!” - a little girl with red curly hair waved her tiny hand around. A moment later she ran up to the animatronic, throwing her arms around Sun’s legs.

“Bye-bye, mister Sun! I will miss you.”

“Bye-bye, sweet pie!” - reaching down to pat the girl’s head, Sun grinned widely when a happy giggle erupted from the child’s lips - “Aww, I will miss you too!”

Smiling brightly, practically shining, the girl ran up to her father grabbing his hand and waving back at Sun one last time before she and her dad vanished behind the corner.

Some exciting waves and bye-byes later, the daycare’s doors were pushed closed and locked from the inside. The place became unnervingly quiet, the scattered paper plates and candy wraps all over the floor the only sign there was ever a children’s celebration held in here. The sound Sandy made nearly startled Sun, the young woman visibly deflated, removing her Fazbear cap and brushing back stray locks of ashy brown hair.

“What a day, huh. I genuinely did not expect it to be that difficult.” - moving behind the security desk, Sun following at her tail, the young career sat down, taking out a cold water bottle from the mini-fridge and bringing it to her mouth - “How did I do?”

“You did an amazing job!” - the animatronic’s excited voice rose high - “The children absolutely loved you! There is nothing you should worry about. And look, they ate all their treats, too. I see this as an absolute success.”

Once she was done satisfying her thirst, Sandy followed Sun’s gaze, her eyes moving around the daycare when a little frown appeared between her eyebrows.

“We need to clean all this now.” - leaving her bottle back in the minifridge, the daycare worker sauntered around the kid-sized chairs, counting the amount of trash bags she was going to need - “Do we have an industrial vacuum anywhere around here?”

“There SHOULD be one.” - Sun pouted, deep in thought. Bringing a finger to its face, he tapped it over its lower lip - “Sadly, I do not know where the cleaning stash is…” - low, beeping noise sent him into a panic. The animatronic jumped, metal plates rattling under its clothes, and slamming its hands over its narrow chest. - “What’s happening?!” - frantic, the daycare assistant twisted himself while trying to listen in on the beeping coming from inside its own interior.

“Wait, hold on. Let me check.” - moving behind her robotic assistant, Sandy lifted up Sun’s vest, clearing seeing the muted flow of a warning light coming from the place between the bot’s shoulders. Lifting up Sun’s bishop shirt with the animatronic’s help, Sandy found the blinking orange light and a very obvious power plug - “I think your battery is low. Oh! Yes, come.”

Dragging the animatronic to what looked like a giant dice cube, the caretaker unlocked a belt at the bottom of the mass, pulling up the padded case and revealing a power generator.

“They warned me around this thing.” - she explained to the Sundrop as it looked at her so utterly and genuinely confused - “I should plug you in for the night, let you recharge properly for the next day.”

“Perfect!”

Plugging in the animatronic, Sandy moved on to clean up the daycare, not before she put on her own pair of headphones, to listen to an audiobook, as she told the animatronic when it asked her about the asset.

Sitting by the generator, doing nothing, was nightmarish for Sun’s overclocked processors. Sandy must have seen how fidgety the thing has grown because it brought it leftover colorful pencil and clean paper to draw.

And Sun drew, lied down on its chest and created art to its content, small pictures of dogs jumping over rainbows, a pot of flowers with little happy faces, and a running heart armed with a yellow bow.

Sensing movement, the Sundrop sat up, mindful of the plug jabbed in its back. Done with cleaning after the party in the daycare, Sandy was standing behind the security desk, putting on her jacket.

“Leaving already?” - the sun stood, waddled as close as the generator’s cable would allow it to - “Aren’t you going to stay for a little longer? We can finger-paint if you want! And eat cookies.”

Sandy smiled apologetically at the animatronic. “I’m sorry, Sun, but I have to go. My boyfriend is already waiting for me.” - stopping in front of the door, the daycare worker waver at her assistant - “See you tomorrow.”

Before Sun could say anything, the doors of the daycare were closed shut and locked, the metal security door slid down with a loud rattle, and was locked as well.

Left alone in the day, the only light coming from the dim corridor outside, the Sundrop had nothing else to do but dodder around the generator, while trying to come up with interesting things to entertain the children with tomorrow.

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

Morning came and with it, an exciting new day in the daycare began. Children kept coming or were picked by their parents early, and new friends joined them around noon. There was not a single boring moment when so many exciting little people were gathered in one place.

Sundrop made sure to stay as close to the little ones as possible, especially after last night. The animatronic was not eager to spend another minute as he did then, alone and left in the dark.

A small group of children was gathered around a low table, finger painting and singing in tune with the robot. Standing on its knees behind a little boy, the Sundrop guided the child’s hand, helping him draw a lovely orange with legs and red rain boots.

There was no stopping the clock, no matter how many times Suun looked at it in hopes to stop it tracks. The daycare had to close for the night soon, which mean another night spent alone, panning alone and bored to the point where the animatronic’s motherboard was going to melt.

Just like the previous day, miss Sandy and Sunny saw the children out, making sure they are all picked by their parents. Sundrop received hugs and one girl even pecked him with a little kiss. Another girl stopped in front of the animatronic, her little chubby face radiating seriousness.

“Gimmie your hand!” - the girl demanded, and Sundrop noticed her mother trying not to laugh at her little one’s attitude. The animatronic obliged, bending close and extending its hand as the girl asked it to.

“What is it, sunflower?” - miss Sandy’s assistant blinked when the girl wrapped a blue ribbon around the long wrist, tieing up crudely into a puffy bow - “Oh, it’s so pretty! Thank you so much, little bird.”

“Blue is for boys.” - the girl declared smartly, nodding - “And you are a boy. You need a blue ribbon.”

“I’m really sorry, miss Sandy.” - the girl’s mother apologized to the caregiver while the Sudrop marveled at its gift - “And thank you again for your work.”

“The pleasure was mine, miss Jackson. Your daughter is precious.”

“Thank you.” - miss Jackson nodded politely - “And a lovely night, miss Sandy.”

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

That night, the Sundrop refused to squat near the generator. Instead, the animatronic slithered behind the security desk, stretching the charging cable to its limit, long fingers tapping over one of the computer’s keyboards.

The girl had declared the Sundrop a boy, and the Sundrop liked it. There was a nice ring to it, it brought a sense of belonging.

Lucky for Sun, the security computers were left on for the night. It took it some time, but the animatronic searched for pictures of boys taken all over the internet. Running boys, laughing boys, pictures of posing with others boys and their toys. Even some pictures of boys taken with the pizzaplex’s rockstar animatronics.

No, that was not right. Boys were too young, too little. The Sundrop was certainly not little. It was fresh out of parts and service, brand new in fact, varnished with glossy paint, but it was no boy. The daycare assistant looked up pictures of human men, found sound clips and video. It was yet to see an older brother pic his sibling from the daycare, usually, it was mothers coming to drop in their children, from what the animatronic had seen for its little time spent online.

It knew i was never going to be a real young man, but the idea of presenting itself as such glued itself to the animatronic’s core. It already resembled a young adult human, so why not embrace it completely. It was him, Sundrop. Him, Sunny. Him-Sun. Sun. Sun.

Besides, the children already called mister Sun. He loved it!

Sun continued his scout through the internet. The animatronic checked for pictures of the sun, his namesake, taken photos, and art alike. Sunny skies and vast oceans. Sceneries like nothing he had seen before.

Then he remembered something. Checking behind his back, Sundrop typed ‘boyfriend’ into the search bar.

Results came flooding the screen, photos of human males and females holding hands. Flew clicks later, the algorithm spat out images of people having their mouths mushed together. He kept clicking and found photos of people touching hands, touching lips. Many clicks further, Sundrop discovered intriguing images of humans in nothing but their birth suits

“Oh, no! How rude!” - the animatronic’s vents puffed out a frustrated cycle of air. Sun jumped back, nearly stumbling in the generator’s cable - “How utterly rude! Bad!” - pointing a long finger at the computer, Sun shook it vigorously, chastising the other machine for his own bad choices - “I am done with you, sir!”

Gears grinding together in shame, Sundrop returned to the generator, and flopped down beside it, hugging his legs close to his chest. The electrical purring coming from inside the working machinery offered little comfort while Sun searched internally, frantically trying to find a way to wipe his own memory card clean.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Plummet

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

For three nights in a row, there was no sign of Vanessa.

The only signal that the night guard was still alive and kicking was a single short text message Arthur Smith had received early in the night before. ‘Got terribly sick, will be taking the week off.’ The other security officer wished her back a quick recovery, and with that Arthur returned to his usual duties, sauntering around the mall in the small hours of the morning, and trying to look busy for the CCTV cameras, in case someone from management decided to check on the night shift’s performance.

Tonight was especially boring, with the Glamrocks spending time on their own inside their own adobes, instead of bundling up in one of their friend’s quarters. On his way around the floor, Anthony decided to stop by Montgomery’s greenroom. To the security officer’s surprise, he heard nothing but the low, bass sound of the gator’s guitar. Anthony stood and listened for a few long minutes. Being part of the pizzaplex’ night shift meant he got little chance to hear the four animatronic stars perform life. Granted, the mall’s shops were flooded with albums and merchandise, but hearing the heavy bass sound, feeling it vibrate through his very bones, was an entirely different experience. It reminded Anthony of his teenage years, the wild consents, and all the parties he’d participate in. Roadtrips to the middle of nowhere, memories he held close and treasured even more now that he was nearing his mid-thirties.

Anthony indulged himself, remaining still by the wall and listening for a little longer before a notification on his phone reminded him it was time to move. He checked it, huffing at the advertisement spam email, deleting it on reflex.

Monty seemed to be the only animatronic still being active in his room. When Anthony walked past Freddy and Roxxie’s room, he spotted the faint glow coming from their respective recharge stations. Satisfied with how quiet and calm everything was, the security officer moved to Chicka’s green room. Her recharge station was glowing, but the door was wide open, the thick cables dragged out to the middle of the room, where the mass's favorite white chicken sat on the floor, back to the armored glass panel. She seemed to be talking to someone, head bobbing up and down excitedly. When the animatronic noticed the glow of Anthony’s flashlight, she turned to stare at the intruder, eyes glowing.

“Hello there!” - Chicka waved at the human, beak agape in a form of a smile - “I did not see you coming, how are you?”

“I’m good, thank you, Chicka…” - the sudden movement in Chicka’s room started Anthony. A tiny head adorned with plastic top hap popped from behind the lady guitarist, two rows of square black teeth grinned at him - “What’s that?!” - before the night guard could sputter anything else, the little critter jumped off Chicka’s leg, and scurried for the wall with speed Anthony did no expect the tiny legs could before. He was left agape when the top-hat spider equipped with little cymbals climbed the wall masterfully and vanished behind the gap in the air vent shaft close to the room’s ceiling.

“That’s little Music Man!” - Chicka announced happily while Anthony was busy gaping after the vanished wind-up toy still - “He just like to come here some nights, I do not know why. He doesn't talk at all, just follows me around.”

“Aren’t those things antique?” - looking at the lady animatronic, the night guard pointed at the vent - “How did it get here anyway?”

“I really don’t know. One night I heard scurrying around inside the vent, then the next one he just invited himself here.” - the glam rock chicken laughed - “If he causes any trouble, I will let you know, sir officer.”

“You guys are up to so much during the night, huh?” - Anthony teased lightheartedly. It was none of his business what were the robots up to when the pizzaplex closed for the night. As long as nobody got hurt, they were free to roam on rollerblades while under his watch.

Leaving Chicka alone, Anthony moved forward, following his usual route. The floors were quiet and dark, STAFF bots roving the shiny floors in their programmed pathway. All was well and quiet in this section of the pizzaplex.

There wasn’t much left to be done other than follow the same way back. Anthony contemplated on what to do next while waiting for his shift to be done. He tried counting the staff bots, but the buggy things were too hectic, going around in circles and one even trying to mush its face against a neon-painted wall. The android zoo became boring quickly, and Anthony drifted away again, letting his feet carry him in whatever direction they desired.

He wondered what has happened with the daycare’s animatronic assistant. The last time the officer had seen it, the thing was still mostly exposed exoskeleton with a large, flat face. Anthony considered his options he could follow the STAFF bot’s example and make out with the walls until he lost his mind or his shift ended, or go and check on Oliver Lawrence’s creation. He headed for the daycare.

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

Sundrop lay across the padded floor, chest to the ground and arms stretched above his crowned head, the generator’s thick cables jammed in the ports behind his back.

He was wasting away. What he was experiencing now was decay, he was dying of boredom and heartache. After the office computer’s foul betrayer, Sun did not approach the dull machine again. It was a pitiful companion anyway, terrible at holding conversations. Most importantly, the damned computer was rude. Simple as that. Sun did not like rude machines.

Keeping himself busy by generating art projects and stories to tell the children tomorrow, Sundrop did not hear the daycare’s restrooms door crack open. With his face shoved into the soft floor mattress and optic sensors shut off, the animatronic caregiver did not notice the flashlight beam going over his prone frame.

“Oh gosh, it looks like a dead body…” - Sundrop heard a hushed voice mutter in distress. He was a DYING body, not dead for sure, thank you very much.

Electrical whirring rose inside the robot’s chest when Sundrop sat up, optics coming back online. A man in a nightguard uniform was crouching close by, flashing shining directing into the animatronic’s faceplate.

“Heey-yo, awh… that’s no fun.” - Sun whined his complaint, raising both hands in front of his face to protect himself from the offensive ray of light shining right in his visual sensors.

“Fascinating.” - the man mouthed, smiling widely as he turned the flashlight away - “Sorry, I was not sure if you are active. I’m the night shift security.” - the man pointed at his badge, and the Sundrop animatronic looked at it, but did not seem to scan it the way Freddy did. He just nodded - “I wanted to come and see how you are doing.”

Sundrop smiled, rather grinned, the petals around his round head twitching. The animatronic seemed ecstatic to have visitors, especially this late when he was left alone in the daycare, with a single generator and no recharge stations in sight.

“Oh, oh, you shouldn't have, friend, how lovely of you! Thank you! I’m fine, just sitting here, recharging. Taking a sip of the electric juice.” - a realization struck the daycare helped, and he gaped - “HOW did you get here?!”

“There’s a back door in the restrooms, for maintenance and such. Goes to a corridor behind the main hall. My name’s Anthony Smith by the way.” - the human said and extended his hand for the animatronic to shake it.

“Sundrop! But the children call me Sunny!” - the robot grabbed Anthony’s hand and shook it a little too vigorously. Hiding his grimace behind a smile, the night guard looked around the daycare, humbled by the giant, dark and empty place. It was almost eerie.

“So that’s where you recharge?” - Anthony made a face, stood up, and walked around the generator. The entire composition was simply woeful. The animatronic was equipped with a single old model generator, its soft fabric casing, and safety belt thrown on the floor. There was nothing as much as a simple stool for Sundrop to plop himself on during the night. If Anthony did not any better, he’d think the robot was simply left to rust here. - “Do you have access to the internet? The office computers?” - the guard pointed at the daycare’s information and sign-in center.

“I do, but I do not like those machines. They are rude.” - Sundrop huffed, chest plate expanding under his clothes - “We have strict rules here in the daycare. Bad words and visuals are strictly forbidden.”

“Uh-huh.” - nodding along absently, Anthony continued his examination of the generator - “Everything looks alright.” - he explained, and the animatronic scooped himself close - “But the wiring on this thing is bad, that’s why you have to sit plugged in for the whole night to recharge properly. I will speak with management and woo them into getting you a new one. Properly wired this time.”

“Really??” - Sundrop was practically glowing with joy - “You will do that for me??”

“Why wouldn't I?” - touched by just how genuinely happy the animatronic seemed to be, Anthony couldn;t help but smile at the lanky, brightly colored assistant - “You are part of the FazCO family now. The least I can do is make sure your battery runs well.”

Clutching his ankles with long-fingered hands, the sun-themed robot pulled his shoulders back, straightening his back and standing proudly. Sundrop loved being a part of something, it filled him with a sense of completion and purpose.

“Thank you! You are such a good friend! AND! And my guest here tonight, right? OH! I am also so rude, silly old me! Rude and stupid..” - Sundrop slapped his forehead, eyes wide - “Can I get you anything?! Would you like FizziFaz? Something sweet? We have unopened mini pretzel bags if you’d rather have something salty. Orange juice?”

“I already had my breakfast, Sunny. But thank you.” - seeing the sun’s petals droop, Anthony changed his mind abruptly - “Actually, can I have a pack of mini-pretzels? So I can snack on something before my shift ends.”

“Of course you can!” - jumping up, the daycare animatronic nearly stumbled into the generator’s cable - “In fact, I will get you two packs. We have too many of the bags just lying around. The children do not like them for some reason.”

“That’s kids for you. If it’s not tooth-rotting sweet, they will not touch it.” - Sundrop returned to the security officer, handing him two whole, unopened bags of mini pretzels - “Thank you, Sunny.”

“The pleasure is mine and mine only!”

“So have you met the other animatronics yet?” - Anthony stuffed the pretzel bags in the inside pocket of his jacket. “Freddy and the others?”

“No, not yet…” - was that shame in Sundrop’s tone? Who on earth would program a feeling of shame into a robot? Anthony was baffled, concerned, and sympathetic for the poor thing that came into this world burdened with the weight of a simulation of human emotions - “I was thinking about it, but then I realized I’m not sure what can I talk with them about.” - a long cycle of air went through the animatronic, narrow frame rattling - “I will get to it eventually.”

“You should, they are cool guys.” - trying to encourage the daycare helper seemed to work because the smile returned to Sunny’s face - “None of them is going to chase you away. Besides you all share code. It’s like family binds.”

“And family sticks together!”

“Indeed.” - Anthony nodded - “Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise. You are only going to regret the chance you did not take.”

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

The day went on with a buzz, and with Sundrop excitedly jumping from one duty to the next. He was twirling and humming, and being a ray of literal sunshine. Sandy found it amusing, teasing Sundrop about his exceptional hyperactivity.

Hours later the daycare closed, and an hour after that the pizzaplex was ready to shut down. Sun sat on the floor with his back next to the generator, excited and eager to venture outside the daycare. It was going to be a brilliant night.

Once his recharge cycle had passed the thirty percent mark around one in the morning, Sundrop pushed himself to be brave and unplugged himself and, following Anthony’s instructions, found his way into the maintenance hall behind the mall’s main corridors.

The plain cement interior was unlike anything the animatronic had ever seen before. It was lifeless and plain, looming around the caregiver and closing in on him threateningly. Rubber fingertips absently traced the thick cables running along the wall. Above his head, the fluorescent lights buzzed and hummed, sharing secrets in their own language.

Sun could not shake off the feeling he was not supposed to be here. He was a trespasser, the daycare was his domain and he had ventured out uninvited. What would Sandy say if she was to find out the thin animatronic was scavenging outside the place he was supposed to look after?

Hand remained to hover close to the door’s handle. One step back and Sundrop would be back into the daycare’s restrooms, and from there he could sprint back to his generator, plug himself in and squat down until the night ended and the pizzaplex was opened for visitors again.

He was already here, and Anthony had promised him nothing bad was going to happen, right?

Checking his battery life, and going through a quick system refresh, and mini pep-talk session, Sundrop finally gathered the courage to move away from the door and down the maintenance corridor. He moved quietly and tentatively, the only sound filling the narrow space coming from the fluorescent light’s humming, the animatronic’s rustling clothes, and the little bells tied around his wrists that jingled miserably.

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

“I do not know why you are worrying so much over this.” - Sundrop heard a voice he instantly recognized as Chicka. The daycare helper was hidden in shadows, back pressed to the neon-painted wall behind him. Finding the rock star animatronics’ green rooms was relatively easy. The boulder blocking his way and one he could not yet move was finding the courage to step out from his hiding place.

“This is going to ruin my performance.” - he heard a second voice, Roxanne Wolf’s. She and Chicka were walking close to one another, with two extra pairs of feet shuffling right behind them, each step announced with a dull metallic thud - “I cannot go on stage when my guitar is ruined like this.”

“Chicka’s right, Roxy. You are overheating over nothing. We will get you one of the other guitars, it’s going to do the same good job sa your own one.” - was that Montgomery? Sundrop easily recognized the deep rumble of the alligator animatronic as well.

“Are you sure it’s not down in parts and service for maintenance?” - a soft, deep voice inquired, and Sun could clearly hear Roxanne huff at the fourth animatronic.

“No, Freddy! It’s not down in parts and service! I’d know! Nobody had told me anything, and I never forget anything.”

“Alright, no need to be so prickly about it!” - it was Chicka again, openly scolding the she-wolf - “Geez, did someone eat your cupcake or something…”

The four were getting close now, one turn away from coming face to face with the daycare helper. Sundrop was panickin now, processors overclocking, internal temperature rising. He was not yet sure what to say when he finally met the glam rock stars in person. What was he SUPPOSED to say anyway? There were no protocols pre-installed in him for this kind of occasion. Anthony’s assurances earlier rang hollow now. Sun was going to make a fool of himself, and he was never going to forgive himself if that happened.

The voices got closer loud and clear now. Freddy was trying to make a joke of the situation, Monty and Chicka laughing along with the animatronic bear, with the exception of grumpy Roxy. Sundrop’s frame deflated, hot air steamed through his vents. This was not supposed to be so difficult. Why was that so difficult?

They were close now, a few meters away from him. So close, too close.

“I can’t do this!” - whining, the animatronic child carerer bolted in the opposing side of the horridor, sticking close to the walls, skinny legs carrying him as fast as his exoskeleton would allow him. Sundrop leaped on top of a trash container, hopped up and scaled the wall like a cat. There was a vent just above the spot, near the wall. Too close, yet out of reach. Jumping again was of little help, just causing noise that was going to drag the attention to his spot.

“COME ON!” - fingers caught in the vent and the animatronic ripped it off its spot, throwing it on the floor with little care. Sundrop jumped again, narrow-body slithering inside the vent just before anyone could stop him.

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

He crawled quickly, elbows hitting the narrow metal sides of the vent. The crawlspace was dark and twisting, lethal for anything that was not a slim animatronic in a colourful suit.

“You buffoon!” - Sundrop chastised himself internally, steaming in shame - “You pitiful fool! Nobody is going to take you seriously ever again, not even the children! And now you are lost, too!” - the plastic petals grzed the roof of the vent, causing Sun to duck down, face as close to the floor as possible - “And now you are lost, too….”

Truly and honestly lost, Sundrop stopped to internally search for a map of the pizzaplex’s ventilation shafts. There was nothing preinstalled in his system, and he had no internet access here. Anxiously the animatronic continued forward, crawled right, and then continued forward again. He was bound to come out in a room eventually. Maybe one of the staff bots could help him get back to the daycare on time. He was already running out of the little battery power he has left with.

The metal under his fingers creaked. Sun stopped, trying to crawl back in the vent, but to no avail. His voicebox crackled when he creamed, the ventilation tunnel shattering beneath him. Sundrop latched onto the edge, the metal plate that had come off fell down, meeting the floor with an ominous bang and rattle.

“Help!” - the animatronic hung there, feet kicking empty air. He looked down, gasping loudly in utter fear. He was hanging helplessly in the lobby, high above the ground, with nothing to support him but the ruined metal frame he was clinging to for dear life. - “HE-E-ELP!”

Staff bots roamed far under im, but the dull machines did not seem to notice the animatronic in distress. Terrified out of his programming and desperate, Sundrop tried to pull himself back into the crawl space, his shoulder joints creaking and the metal sheets forming the vent protesting loudly, giving under the animatronic’s weight.

Sundrop plummeted down, air wheezing past his fame, blinding him for a moment. All his systems flashed red, his off-balance sensors going haywire. He did not hear himself scream, not when the floor rushed to greet him with such excitement, like an old friend running in for a tight embrace.

The abrupt stop was agonizing, the collision shattering Sundrop’s slender frame. The animatronic lay on the floor, body twisted in an unnatural position, with a broken neck that shoot sparks, same as the exposed elbow and wrist joints - mangled and useless.

Red warnings kept flashing in the corner of Sundrop’s vision, the lines of text vanishing as his optic sensors shut down. One by one his systems started to offline, fluid pumps sealing themselves off, mainframe going into emergency mode and disconcerting everything that was not essential. The animatronic did not hear the STAFF bots’ alarms going off, nor did he hear the distressed voice calling him from beyond the dark.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Timeout

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

“HOW on earth did you manage to get yourself so mangled up?!”

Sun lay sprawled on top of a maintenance table, a pair of deft hands struggling with his broken elbow joint, while the animatronic stared blankly in the ceiling, guilt preventing him from speaking, its clutches like a vice. How did he really manage to get himself in this shameful situation? Now limp and mostly unfunctional after the fall, Sundrop tried to remember the earlier events. He was running from… oh. It was coming to him. Sun wished the memories stay in his black box , forgotten for good.

The engineer loomed over him, staring down at the sun-shaped head. The animatronic remained still, optics darting all over the ceiling and refusing to look at the human currently fixing his damages. Were his legs intact, Sun would sprint straight to the daycare, crawl to the top of the climbing castle and hide in the corner, never to be seen again.

“Alright, say nothing. You know you are the one in the wrong anyway.” - the man holding the welding tool groused, eyebrow furrowed behind his glasses. - “Anthony, hand me over the wrench if you please!”

Anthony Smith did so, moving to the other corner of the maintenance block before he returned to Oliver Lawrence. The man was radiating foul mood like a lump of radioactive waste. No wonder, not when he was called in nearly five in the morning for emergency repairs on the daycare animatronic.

“So, can you fix him before opening hours?” - the nightguard asked, looking at the clock hanging on the concrete wall. It was almost half-past six, and Anthony’s shift was over an hour ago. Oliver looked sharply at the security officer, with a look that could shoot lightning if the robotics engineer tried hard enough.

“No, mister Smith, I absolutely cannot fix him before opening hours.” - the security guard forced his entire will to not roll his eyes at Oliver’s biting remark - “I’m no miracle worker. And I will need a damned miracle if you want me to fix him by evening, let alone before opening hours! Say, where did you find him again?” - the chair beneath Oliver creaked when the man returned to work on the quiet robot’s elbow joint.

“In the lobby, he’s fallen from… actually, I’m not sure what happened.”

“I fell. From the. From the vents.” - voice box crackled when the daycare helper finally spoke up. The wiring was shaken and loose, but his vocals were still intact, thankfully.

“From the damned vent…. He fell from the damned vents, he says.” - Oliver did not pause his work, but he shook his head, clearly disappointed - “And what were you doing in the vents exactly, if I may ask?”

There went that guilty, silent stare. Sun’s silicone lips were pressed together. If his body wasn’t so messed up after falling from the lobby’s highest point, Anthony would chuckle at the overly animated expression.

For the bigger part, he was to blame for Sundrop’s misfortune, for encouraging the bot to sneak out of the daycare on his own when he was still unfamiliar with the place.

“It was my idea.” - Anthony spoke up before Sun could add anything else - “I encouraged him to go out and explore on his own. Should've known better. I just.” - the night guard scratched a spot behind his neck - “I don;t know, felt bad for him seeing him sit all alone by the generator while the daycare is dark.”

“I should lock you both up in the protective cylinder, give you an opportunity to think about what you’ve done. You, however, can redeem yourself.” - the engineer looked at Anthony - “Will you bring me a coffee before you leave? And make it double, thank you.”

“I can stay a little longer and help?” - the officer suggested, ignoring Anthony’s grimace - “I’m in no rush really. But I will have to grab a coffee for myself as well… t’was a long night.”

“And it is going to be an even longer day by the looks of it.” - shoulders lumped, the engineer put the wrench aside and ran fingers through his hairs nervously - “Fine, fine, we can do this. I think. If not, we are both going to get fired. Go now, I will find the… what was that girl’s name? The daycare attendant. Sally?”

“Sandy?” - Anthony reminded the exhausted engineer gently.

“Yes, Sandy. I will try to find her number in the database, alert her on what the situation is, and that she is going to spend her shift alone. Looks like it will be a long day for all of us.”

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

The hours were long, the two men orbiting Sun’s worktable and talking amongst themselves quietly, rarely bothering the animatronic. When Oliver was not chastising the robotic child carer for his own childish behavior, Anthony was offering kinder words to Sun behind the engineer’s back.

Having his pain receptors turned off was a little mercy in this painfully awkward position. If Sun had the ability to change his face plate’s coloring on the spot, he would be blushing fiery red.

He was terrified to think of how would the other animatronics perceive him now. Sun has made a fool of himself, went out of his way to make sure nobody would ever take him seriously ever before anyone got to know him. Could this be salvaged? If his ruined casing could be mended, and his exoskeleton joints repaired, surely there was hope for his non-existent relationship with the other animatronics. Maybe.

“You are good at this.” - Sun heard the engineer speak to the nightguard while the two men fussed around his maintenance table - “Better than some of my colleagues in fact. Which is shameful. You need to switch jobs, I can recommend you if you are interested.”

Anthony froze in place, only his gaze shifted to stare at Oliver in utter disbelief.

“Really?? I mean, thank you, mister Lawrence! It will be a pleasure for me to work in maintenance officially.”

“Please, if my recommendation goes through and we get to work together, you can start calling me Oliver from now on.”

~~ // ~~ // ~~ // ~~

At least someone left the Parts and Service level in a good mood.

After a whole night shift and many long hours after it, Anthony had to leave once the clock hit two in the afternoon. Sun was sitting up in on his table, feet dangling a few inches off the floor, a thick cable stuck in the panel inside his chest. Oliver was hunched over a computer screen, back to the animatronic, and hand pressed over his mouth thoughtfully.

“I don;t know why the mainframe isn’t updating…” - the human grouched under his nose, eyebrows furrowing - “It’s not detecting the new knee joint at all.”

“Is there anything I can do to help? Anything? I can try to…” - what could he do anyway? Massage the plastic ball inside his joint? For a robot, an amalgamation of mathematic equations, he was a round-around idiot - “....Walk around a little?” - Sundrop offered sheepishly. The animatronic saw Oliver frown in the reflection of the computer screen, but the man did not turn to face him.

“The best thing you can do right now stays where you are, not cause trouble, and let me fix this issue. I will find a way around it.” putting hands over the keyboard, Oliver started to type away furiously, determined to crash through whatever was preventing the daycare bot’s mainframe from updating.

Sun’s ventilation shafts heaved and puffed out a dusty stream of air. He was close to short-circuiting out of sheer boredom, his understimulated sensors flashing red. Twisting hands just above where the cable ws shoved into his chest panel, Sun looked around, his new and fixed neck whirred quietly. The wiring was stiff and the bots a little too tight, but it was better than laying sprawled broken on the floor.

The numbers on the wall clock changed painfully slow, every minute dragging, the hours impossibly long. Oliver would stand up, pace around the room, cuss like a sailor, flop back in his chair, and continue his assault on the keyboard. He was frustrated, reeking of ill mood, and close to pulling his own hair out, Sun could tell.

Hiss of hydraulic pumps and gush of air interrupted Sun’s nervous train of thoughts. The animatronic looked up, gaping at the direction of the elevators and the heavy dty doors separating the maintenance booth from the rest of the parts and service level.

“Hello there, boys! Who wants candy?” - Chicka’s high, jolly voice interrupted the miserable silence and rhythmic typing. The lady animatronic sauntered into the sheltered space, coming right behind engineer Lawrence - “Looks like someone is in a bad mood. I can tell!” - the guitarist winked at Sun, before she took out a chocolate bar from the compartment in her chest. The wrapping was pink and yellow, Sun recognizing the markings of the strawberry vanilla bar instantly. Raising on her toes, the glam rock slid the bar across Oliver’s desk - “And I have just the right medicine for this sad face.”

The human looked down at the chocolate, then up at the guitarist chicken. For a moment, he looked like he was going to throw the sweet offering into the bin right underneath his desk.

“Chicka, don;t you have a performance to attend to?” - Oliver quirked a brow - “Or another event?”

“Eh, I am done for the day.” - casually, Chicka approached Sun’s maintenance table, sitting down right beside the daycare bot, head tilted in such a way it looked like she was smirking at the engineer - “Besides, I wanted to see how is my dear friend Sunny doing.”

…. Dear friend? Sun’s cooling fans hitched.

“The mainframe’s not updating.” - Oliver complained, rubbing his nose - “And I am frankly at a loss why….”

“I am certain you will find a way around the issue, sir. You can do it!” - the animatronic cheered, offering Oliver a big smile when the human have Chicka the side glare. “Sunny here is also cheering for you.”

“I am? Yes! You can do it, mister Lawrence!” - throwing his fist in the air, Sun grunted and buzzed when he accidentally hit his forehead, his aim still poorly post the major system crash. “Ow!”

Grumbling something incoherent, Oliver leaned back in his chair, unwrapping the strawberry chocolate while staring at the screen, trying to figure out a solution for his problem.

“Ah, sitting and waiting for an update of any sort is so-oo boring.” - Chicka’s voicebox produced a huff - “I can just go to sleep on the spot. My least favorite part of my schedule, if I have to be completely honest.”

Realizing the beautiful glamrock was talking to him, Sun swiveled his big head in Chicka’s direction. “Oh! It’s really not that bad. That is my first maintenance. I -uh, I expected it to be much worse. At least it doesn't hurt.”

Scraping of metal caused the daycare bot to jump, hand plastered over his chest. Oliver stood up abruptly, phone in hand. The engineer dialed a number, marched to the elevator, and held the phone up to his ear.

“Jim? Yes, it’s Oliver. I need your help down in parts and service. Come help me grab the…” - his voice was lost in the hydraulic’s hiss. The man stepped into the elevator, punched a number and the doors closed and the cabin went up to the other levels of the pizzaplex.

“What a guy, huh.” - purple eyes rolled in their sockets, Chicka’s vents steaming - “Always so serious, so on point.”

“He’s a professional who knows what is doing, any- any distractions might be bad for his reputation and concentration. You can’t be making jokes while doing a job as serious as his.It will be distracting! I already said that…. But! You need to give your best when you are doing something as delicate as this.”

“Mmm. You might have a point there.” - reclining back on her elbows, Chicka looked at the daycare bot, observed his hunched stature and the hands held up close to hsi chest in a protective manner - “Are you feeling well? When we heard the crash and got to you, you looked pretty broken up. Poor old Freddy short-circuited, he scooped you up and ran straight up for the security office.”

Sun’s petals fluttered in shame. “I feel fine, thank you. A little numb at the legs still.” - the animatronic looked down at his feet, the little bells on his shoes jingled when he flexed his ankles - “This is all my fault, my shame, my burden to bear!” - hiding his face into his hands, Sun wailed into the opened palms - “You all must think me a moron! I’m a disaster!”

“Hey, it’s okay, nothing bad happened. And the maintenance guys will fix you.” - Chicka rubbed her hand over Sun’s narrow shoulder - “Why were you crawling in the vent anyway? What happened?”

“It’s not important.” - the daycare bot sputtered abruptly, the sound drawing a little frown on Chicka’s round face - “Let’s not talk about it!”

“As you wish, Sunny.”

“Erm…” - Sun steeped hands together, fingertips touching - “I wanted to ask, ah. Ask a little question, heh. A question like any other really. Not important. Actually, maybe a little important. Where is Freddy? I’d love to thank him personally for helping the night guard get me in for repairs on time. And apologize for…” - spying. Idiot. STAFF-bot brained little idiot - “Being a little jumpy. Heh.” - Sun smiled, rather grimaced, the look pained and awkward.

“Oh, he has meetings with the children still, but he knows you are here, and he too is going to stop by once things quiet down upstairs.” - Chicka’s purple eyes fell on the wall clock - “We can sit and wait together. Hmm.” - a finger tapped over her beak - “Do you know any fun verbal games?”

“Tongue twisters!” - Sun exclaimed, grinning widely, showing off rows of perfect white teeth - “Rhyming tennis, the guessing game, the odd one out, never have I ever…”

“Oh, I love Never Have I ever!” - the glam rock guitarist was beaming - “Let’s play this one!”

“It’s one of my favorites too!” - Sun was ecstatic, his voice pitching high - “Exciting! Alright-alright! You start, it’s only fair!”

“Alright!” - Chicka giggled, coquettishly putting a hand over her beak - “Let me think. Never have I ever eaten a whole family pizza on my own….”