Chapter Text
Daniel walked down the dark, empty hallway, the animatronic gears and wires shifting and making sound with every step he took. Vree vree, vree vree. He turned the corner and looked at the darkened stage. The new restaurant hadn't opened yet, so he didn't have to worry about... security. He was disgusted to even think about the word. Tommy had suggested they all go to see their replacements, and Daniel had nothing better to do. So, he walked over to the new Foxy and looked it over before saying,
"So they've replaced me with a bunny."
"My name's Foxy," said a slightly metallic, clearly pre-recorded voice, "what's yours?"
Daniel jumped a little and looked at the white metal fox in front of him. That was unexpected. I guess they don't have a proper night mode, either. The part of Daniel that was a people-pleasing animatronic still felt a strange need to entertain, even though he himself knew nobody was around.
"Hm, well, I guess it would be Foxy-", he started, but the other animatronic cut him off.
"I'm Foxy.", she said. He would never get over their shared name. Mainly because his older sister used the word when referring to boy bands and actors like John Travolta, it just made him feel a little odd whenever he used it.
"Right, sorry.", Daniel apologized, "Then... I guess it would be Daniel."
"Hi," said Foxy, then suddenly, her voice changed and Daniel heard a recording play back in his voice. "Daniel."
"Woah, far out.", Daniel marveled, "They really do use some sick tech on these guys don't they?"
"Yes.", said Foxy, in the same pre-recorded, robotic voice. Daniel figured they all must have been programmed to say things like 'yes' and 'go on', but it was uncanny how accurate that answer was.
"Hm, you know, I heard that, since we're obso- obsi- old, we aren't going to be used anymore, so they'll just use us for spare parts.", he told her, deciding he had nothing better to do than bounce his thoughts off a, for once, emotionless animatronic.
"Really?", Foxy asked.
"Yeah. You know, maybe they might replace my other hand with an hook if yours ever shorts out."
Foxy laughed. It wasn't all that unsettling to Daniel, considering the uncanny valley had stopped affecting him years ago, but something about it was... off. Like it hadn't completely come from some emotionless piece of metal with fancy tech. It made him... curious, to say the least.
"Hey, Foxy?", he said.
"Yeah.", she replied, still being robotic, yet also a bit... not.
"Do you really understand every word I'm saying?"
"Yes."
Daniel was still really skeptical, so he decided to test it out.
"Do you... feel any way in particular?"
"Maybe.", was her only response, but she found it in her to shrug. She hadn't moved a muscle (or... gear or something) the entire time until then.
"It could just be you're programmed like this, but if that were so, why would they do that? I know for a fact lots of kids are scared to death of animatronics, and wouldn't bother asking questions, you know."
"Really?", she asked. The very few toggle-able features on her face looked surprised, and she brought her paw up to her chest, like she was being over dramatic.
"Yeah.", Daniel told her, "But you're really nice... I think..."
Foxy played his voice recording right back at him, "You're really nice."
Daniel was now, officially, slightly creeped out. He didn't know what to think. Was she really responding, or was she just following her programming? He'd heard the workers saying something about all the new animatronics having advanced AI technology. He didn't know what AI meant, but he guessed it was sort of like those robots on TV who could make decisions for themselves and sometimes did things like that evil robot from 2001 Odyssey. He couldn't remember the name. Finer details of his previous life, his actual life, got blurrier the longer he stayed like... this. If they really were like those robots, Foxy responding like this would make much more sense. However, it would also make all of them considerably more scary. Daniel became lost in thought, and he only snapped to attention when he heard the hollow tap of metal on metal and Foxy replaying his name.
"Daniel."
Daniel looked up and saw the... concerned? look on her face. It was hard to tell the expressions on anyone's faces he knew anymore, but the new animatronics had more joints to make their expressions more versatile, so he was fairly certain that was what she was trying to convey.
"Oh, sorry.", he said, "I was just trying to get the skinney on you."
"I'm Foxy.", she told him.
"I know that.", he tried to explain, "It's just... I don't know. I really wish you could just talk normally, like my friends and I. This would be a lot easier."
There was a silence, which was interrupted by a lot of odd sounds from Foxy. It startled Daniel and he looked at her as she seemed to be trying really hard to do something.
"L-," she stammered out, clearly giving excruciating effort, "li- like this?"
Daniel's eyes widened and he stared at her as she tried to recover.
"How are you doing that?", he asked her.
Foxy looked up at him before forcing some more words out.
"Really hard. Not used to."
"Well, maybe you'll get better. It might be harder for you than it was for me, considering... things."
"What- things?", Foxy asked, using his voice recording for the last word, which clearly lessened her strain.
"Oh, it's... nothing.", he said, not wanting to bring it up.
"What?", Foxy persisted, "Could help."
"NO!", Daniel shouted as all of his pent up fear and frustration and vengeance rose to the forefront of his consciousness. Foxy recoiled, clearly jolted by his sudden outburst. Daniel looked up at her and registered that she deserved an explanation.
"I- I'm sorry, but no. You don't understand. Nobody could be helped with what happened to me... to us.", he told her.
"What?", Foxy inquired once again.
"I... I don't want to talk about it.", Daniel said, looking down.
"Please.", said Foxy. Daniel let his eyes travel up to hers. How could he tell her? How would she understand? Why should she care? He'd spent the past few years running from it, and now it was staring him right in the face. Then, they heard lumbering steps coming down the hallway. Foxy immediately stiffened at attention, while Daniel looked at the shadow and recognized Freddy's shape. That was the funny thing about their new bodies, Freddy's name had always been Freddy. It was one of the reasons he'd had his party-... Daniel decided not to dwell on it. Besides, what Foxy was doing was starting to scare him.
She was standing ramrod straight and looking down the hall with a death stare. When Freddy finally noticed her, he froze. He didn't like the eerie look on her face.
"Foxy...", Daniel said, "It's just Freddy, he's a friend of mine."
Foxy blinked, then took a few steps forward. She stared at him, then seemed to relax. Daniel could swear he saw her eyes flicker.
"I'm Foxy.", she said, "Hi, Freddy."
Freddy didn't know what to say. He was surprised and incredibly creeped out by this new animatronic, especially since she just used someone else's voice. He turned to Daniel, deciding to get to the point.
"We heard you screaming," he told Daniel, "Candy suggested I go check it out. What's wrong?"
Foxy looked a bit put off by being brushed aside, but before she could say something, Daniel said it for her.
"I'm fine, but I think you're forgetting something.", he gestured towards Foxy who looked at Freddy with as much sass as an animatronic could muster.
"Oh, uhh... hi... Foxy.", Freddy waved awkwardly, and not just because he had a limited range of motion, thanks to the frustrating robotic body.
"Hi.", Foxy repeated.
"So," Freddy said, turning back to Daniel, "if you're fine, why were you shouting like that?"
Daniel didn't know how to answer that. He really didn't want to get into any details, and he certainly didn't want anyone to worry about him, so he remained silent. Foxy looked at him, then she began to concentrate.
"My fault."
Freddy jumped, then slowly turned to her.
"Did you just-", he began, but Daniel cut him off.
"Yes.", he told Freddy, who turned toward him, "I took Tommy's suggestion, and when I started talking, so did she. She's... having a hard time with not just using the prompts they programmed her with, and I think the fact that she's even trying to talk normally in the first place has something to do with... whatever AI means. We might want to ask Baxter about that."
"Wait, so...", Freddy began, turning once again towards Foxy. Foxy, however, was paying him no mind, and instead had a curious look on her face.
"Who are, Tommy-and-Baxter.", Daniel and Freddy marveled at her for a few seconds. Daniel didn't think she could actually splice together the voice recordings, whoever made her must have been some kind of genius... Well, he thought that about a lot of people. He wasn't caught up on most things, especially technology, after 1974, when... it happened.
"They're, umm," Daniel started, "more friends of ours. So is Candy, remember? Freddy mentioned her a few seconds ago."
"Yes.", was her only response.
"Well," Freddy interjected, "that still doesn't explain why you were making such a ruckus earlier."
"Oh, well...", Daniel searched for something to say, but Foxy, once again, spoke before a valid reply could form.
"My fault. I asked.", She still couldn't form complete sentences, so Freddy didn't really understand.
"What do you mean?", he asked, feeling more than a little ridiculous.
Foxy drew her eyebrows together, trying to find a way to tell him what she meant, even though her programming told her to just say something vague like, 'Yes'. Daniel noticed and decided to help her out. Freddy had already asked the question twice, anyway.
"I mentioned that it would probably be harder for her to speak proper English, since... well, I didn't tell her exactly, but it was sort of... what was that word? Alluded to. Then, well, she asked, and that was when I started shouting."
Freddy's expression became more and more apprehensive as Daniel went on. When he finished, Freddy didn't know what to think, much less say.
"What happened.", Foxy asked for the third time that night. Daniel looked over at Freddy and queried,
"You think we should tell her?"
"Well, who's she gonna tell?", said Freddy. But he knew exactly why Daniel didn't want to tell her, and that was the least of either of their worries.
"... you're right.", Daniel sighed, "I'll tell her.", he turned towards Foxy who looked rather apprehensive herself, Daniel took a deep breath and began, "Years ago, I've lost track of how many, something happened. We- we were at Freddy's party, when... when...", he stopped, he couldn't do it, couldn't say it. He just wanted to book it out of there and never look back, never think about what happened ever again and just stop being like this. But when he looked up at Foxy, he knew he couldn't. He had to finish, had to tell her everything.
"He duped us. There was a worker who used an empty Golden Freddy suit to get us all to follow him to the back room and- and..."
Daniel's voice shook, and his metal joints shook with it. If he could, he would break down crying right then and there. But robots don't have tears, so all he could do was shudder uncontrollably as his words caught in his throat. He started hyperventilating and his legs suddenly couldn't hold him up. He collapsed on the ground as it became harder and harder to breathe. The events played at light speed in his mind. The man taking off the suit and that horrible smile on his face, how scared everyone else looked when-
"AAAAAHHHHHH!!! STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPST-", His total breakdown was interrupted by a weight on his shoulder. His breathing was intense and shallow, and when he looked up, he barely registered Foxy's face. He was suddenly aware of how dark it was and how sharp Foxy's teeth were. He shrank back from her metallic paw and moved away from her. She kept his gaze for a second before hanging her head down and straightening out.
"I'm sorry.", she said, "Doesn't matter."
Daniel stared at her while he ran over what that last sentence fragment meant. It finally occurred to him she was talking about the full story, how it didn't matter. That he didn't have to tell her if it was so bad. But as the tension seemed to leave his mind, he realized he wanted to tell her, wanted to say something about it. He looked up at Freddy who looked just as distraught. Daniel didn't want to drag him through it again, so he stood up and said,
"Why don't you go back and make sure-", but he was interrupted by two pairs of more frantic footsteps. He'd thought they'd come here eventually.
"What's going on!", exclaimed Candy.
"Are you guys o-", Baxter stopped when he saw Foxy, "kay..."
"We're fine.", Freddy assured them. "Daniel was just..."
Everyone's eyes went to Daniel sitting on the ground. He looked back at them and brought himself to his feet.
"Well," he began, deciding to start simple, "first things first. Everyone, this is Foxy. Foxy, this is Candy, Baxter, and you know Freddy."
Foxy smiled and waved at them, deciding not to scare them by actually speaking, as that seemed to be the only thing she was good at with her words. Candy and Baxter waved back, not quite understanding what the purpose of this was.
"And secondly," Daniel continued, "it's really nothing to worry about I was just... just..."
"Having a mental breakdown?", said Freddy, "Dan, I know exactly what's going on, you are not fine."
"Yes I am!", he shouted defiantly, "I was just... buggin' okay?!?"
"You call screaming at the top of your lungs BUGGIN'?!?!", Candy screeched.
"... Yes?"
Foxy looked from one person to another, wondering if she should speak. She really didn't want to scare them, she didn't like scaring people. She was supposed to be friendly and playful, and bring light and smiles where she went. That was what her programming told her. But everyone was restless, and there was so much tension, it made her uncomfortable. Then she remembered what Daniel said. If he thought she was nice, maybe his friends would, maybe she could help them forget... whatever it was. Maybe... she could make them happy.
"I'm sorry. I wanted. To know.", she told them, deciding apologizing was the best thing to do, "Don't need. To know."
The air stilled as everyone turned to Foxy.
"Know... what?...", Baxter inquired, knowing he was going to regret asking.
"I opened my big mouth," Daniel explained, "and she got curious."
"About what?", Candy asked, becoming impatient.
"About... what happened.", Freddy finished.
Everyone fell silent. Baxter and Candy weren't able to process what was going on, and Daniel, Freddy, and Foxy waited tensely for their response. When they didn't get one, Daniel broke the silence.
"I should finish, but I can't do that with all of you here."
"No. Don't have to.", Foxy said.
"You can't do that," Freddy agreed, "you were a complete mess just two minutes ago, you-"
"Need to finish what I started.", Daniel cut him off.
Freddy stood there for a second before nodding.
"Alright. Come on guys, he'll catch up, I know that much."
Candy and Baxter reluctantly followed Freddy, and once they'd all rounded the corner, Daniel looked at Foxy, who had a befuddled look on her face.
"Why?"
"Like I said," he told her, "I need to finish what I started."
Foxy drew her eyebrows together, then relaxed.
"Okay."
"So... I was at... when he led us to the back room. He- he...", Daniel took a deep breath and forced the next words out as fast as possible, "He killed us! The phony took a butcher knife that he probably stole from the kitchen and just slaughtered us! He didn't use the knife... exclusively, but I don't want to go into detail."
Foxy was horrified. Could someone really do that?!? Why would they do that? What had to be wrong with the way you're built to make someone do anything remotely close to that? It didn't make sense.
"The monster was probably just going to leave out bodies to rot, but then... Tommy came. Heh, the poor kid probably thought he was doing us a favor. He took the animatronics and stuffed us into them. I guess it was to give us new life and help lay our souls to rest or something. We probably would've just been... wandering or something if he hadn't done that, but I wouldn't know. It was a little difficult to overcome the programming, we couldn't even move very well at first, but we got control over everything within about a week or two. That's what I'd meant, when I said it would probably harder for you to speak with... your own words."
"I'll try.", she said.
"Great."
Daniel looked at the ground, not knowing what to do next. He knew he should probably catch up with the others, but he didn't want to just leave Foxy here. Foxy was waiting for him to say something. Something in her programming told her to wait for him to speak, then respond. But as the silence drew out, she began to think he wasn't going to say anything unless she did.
"When?", she asked.
Daniel looked up at her.
"I told you, I don't know how long ago it was..."
"Try."
"Well... Freddy's birth-day is November 21st, and the calendar in the backroom said... nineteen... seventy... four...?"
"Today is. November 21st, 1986.", Foxy forced out. She had an entire database on these things... actually, that wasn't true, there was a calendar right behind Daniel. However, she could run the numbers through her algorithms and came up with the time gap in less than a second, "Twelve. Years."
Daniel was stunned. It had felt so much longer than that, and yet... it seemed like it couldn't have been that long. Foxy, meanwhile, suddenly had a question.
"How old?"
"I...", Daniel trailed off. They were all about the same age. Well, except Amanda, she was much younger... poor thing, but Freddy was only about a month older than Candy, and since Freddy had turned seven that day...
"Freddy, Baxter, and I were seven. Candy was six.", he didn't want to say anything about Amanda. Before Daniel could do the math, however, Foxy had finished.
"Nineteen. Candy is. Eighteen."
Daniel let this sink in for a few seconds. He wondered how old his sister would be, but he was never all that good at math, so he didn't even try figuring it out. Besides, there was something else bothering him.
"But I don't feel nineteen.", he told Foxy, "I'm only seven. I have a sister who's sixteen and a cousin who's... and I- I want my mommy..."
Daniel felt really stupid, but he couldn't stop the sobs that racked his body. Foxy looked at him for a second, and for just a moment, she saw him. She saw the lost child somewhere behind all the prosthetic fur and wiring, and she wanted more than anything to make him happy. So, she walked forward and put her arms around his shoulders.
"Will I do?", she asked.
Daniel cut off a sob and looked up at Foxy. She was smiling just like his sister used to when she was trying to cheer him up when he scraped up his knees after falling off his bike... or their tree house. She would always smile just like that and tell him he had way too much positive energy to be sad. He took in a shallow breath and put his arms around Foxy.
"Totally.", he told her.
When they let go of each-other, Daniel felt like... a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He couldn't explain it, but he felt much better than while he'd been walking down the hallway.
"I should probably get back to the others."
"Okay."
Daniel turned to go, but as he started walking, Foxy said one final thing.
"Let's be Fox Friends!"
It was probably one of those cute phrases they were supposed to say to the kids who came in, but Daniel knew what she meant.
"Yeah, I'd like that.", he told her, walking out the doorway, leaving Foxy with a huge smile on her face.