Chapter Text
Candy walked up to the stage and parted the curtain. Daniel's escapade last night had made her curious about the new Chica. There were all three of the shiny new animatronics, and standing to the far right was a slender yellow chicken. Candy was already kind of jealous. She knew it was probably at least a little shortsighted to be jealous of a piece of metal, but there was something about the original design that just bugged her. She didn't see why it made so much more sense to make the first version look nothing like a girl. Or a chicken. Every time a little kid had pointed to her and said something like, 'Duck-duck!', it really ruffled her feathers. (Pun possibly intended.) She didn't dwell on it though, because just then, all three of the animatronics turned their heads toward her in perfect, terrifying synchronization.
Candy jumped and backed up a few steps.
"Um... hi?", she said nervously.
"Hi!", Freddy said. Candy made a mental note that she might want to call this one something different, or things would get really confusing. "I'm Freddy Fazbear, and welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."
"Th- thank you.", Candy stuttered, incredibly unnerved, "I, um, was wondering if, maybe I could talk to Chica... a- alone. I just think it would be a little overwhelming, meeting all of you guys, you know?"
"Got'cha!", Bonnie told her. Chica stepped forward and smiled at her, holding out her hand.
"Howdy! I'm Chica! What's your name?", she asked, Candy was a bit surprised by the southern accent.
"I- I'm Candy.", Candy quavered, "How about we go somewhere else, just... the two of us."
"'Kay!", Chica complied, and started walking down the stage steps. Candy followed, thankful that they were leaving most of the creepy gallery behind. She didn't care how long she was in the body of one, animatronics just freaked her out. Especially in the dark. In the middle of the night. The feminine fowls left the stage and passed by Tommy and the new Balloon Boy thing, who waved at them and giggled. Candy hated that thing. Chica grinned and waved back. They continued into one of the party rooms, striped hats sitting in front of the spots, ready to be put on heads to help celebrate.
"Good.", Chica said, looking around to make sure nobody was around, like Candy had said.
"Great. So... um...", Candy hadn't thought this through. What was she going to say?
"How d'ya do?", Chica asked.
"Oh, um, fine. I was... wondering... Daniel met Foxy yesterday, are you... are you like her?"
Chica gave her a desperately confused look.
"I mean, can you... speak normal English, sort of, if you tried."
Chica concentrated. She'd never been asked a question like that before. It didn't exactly compute. But she searched her programming and gathered together enough sounds to make a response.
"I... s'pose.", she forced out. Her voicebox hadn't been built to do this and it made things difficult, but if it would make Candy happy, she was fine with it.
"Heh, I guess you kind of have to use the southern accent.", Candy smirked.
"Sorry.", Chica moped.
"Oh, no no no, it's not a problem!", Candy tried to reassure her, "I was just saying! You know?"
"Oh. m'kay.", Chica said, brightening up.
"Well, now that we know you can talk...", Candy began, "What do you wanna talk about?"
Chica had definitely never been asked anything like that before. She was just supposed to be nice and respond to the things children said. Candy... whatever she was, was definitely not a child, though. So Chica didn't know what to do.
"Dunno.", She told her.
"Oh, well...", Candy thought about what to talk about, "We could... talk about our friends, if you want to."
"Great idea, sugarcube!", Chica said. She actually had a recorded response for things like this.
"All right, I'll start.", Candy said, "My friends are... well, the ones I remember were a whole lot of fun! We had sleepovers and pranked... one of their sisters, a lot! It was so much fun! Then... something happened. Don't ask, I don't want to attract attention. Anyway, afterwords, I ended up like this and the only friends around were Freddy, Baxter, and Daniel."
Candy didn't want to talk about Amanda. Besides, she hadn't known her very well.
"Who. now?", Chica asked. She had been wondering who Daniel was, and now there were two more people. Though she was pretty sure she knew Freddy. Unless it was a different Freddy.
"Oh, you'll meet them, don't worry. It's actually impossible for you not to.", Candy assured her.
"Oh. When?", Chica pressed on.
"Uhmmm...", Candy trailed off, not knowing what to tell her, "Later. You will meet them later."
Chica tilted her head in that universal, 'I don't believe you' position before straightening itself back out. She smiled and said,
"'Kay."
"Great. So... what about you?", Candy inquired, "I'm guessing you and the other animatronics don't have many conversations. At least, none like this. Am I right?"
"No.", Chica answered, but then she realized she didn't know which question that answered, "Yes. Maybe?"
Candy noticed the deeply pondering look on Chica's face and realized what had been wrong with what she'd just said.
"Oh, um, sorry. I meant, do you have conversations like this with Bonnie and Freddy and all them? You kno- I mean, forget that last part."
"Oh. No.", Chica answered, becoming much less confused.
"I thought so. Maybe you could later, once they get the whole 'proper English' thing down. You know?"
"Yeah!"
"Well, um," Candy was once again at a loss for words, "maybe... you could actually get on that right now! I've run out of things to say, so maybe you should... go back, and I'll be on my way."
"Really?", Chica said. There was something in the back of her mind that was bugging her, though. What was it, though. Was it... a question? She'd never asked a question before. Or, at least, not an incredibly specific one, like the one that was forming in her mind.
"Yeah. I mean, would you rather stand here in awkward silence the rest of the night?"
Chica giggled. "No. But...", was now a good time to ask Candy the question? How would Candy answer? Chica wanted to know, but just about every circuit in her being told her no. That she wasn't supposed to ask questions, she was supposed to smile and nod and make people feel better. She was charming and extroverted, but she was definitely not supposed to be inquisitive. Still, she had some burning need to know. So she braced herself, and forced the words out of her voicebox.
"Wh- what are- What. Are. You?"
Candy froze. What kind of a question was that? Wasn't it... obvious...
"I- I'm...", Candy tried to formulate an answer, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized she had no idea what she was anymore. Most everyone thought she was a metal duck. They were wrong on multiple levels. Her old friends had thought she was just another girl. They had been right, but was that right anymore, now that she was... Baxter and everyone else thought she was just like them, but what were they? What? What? What?
"What...", Candy mumbled, staring at the floor. Chica noticed how confused and distraught Candy was, and immediately wanted to take back her question. Was this why she wasn't supposed to ask questions? Would all her questions end up like this?
"Sorry.", She told her. Candy looked up and cleared her head. There was no need to confuse her... again. She smiled and said,
"No, don't worry. It's fine. I just... I actually don't know anymore."
Chica's processors quickly came up with a much better question, even though everything else told them not to. Maybe she'd master this speaking for herself thing yet.
"Then. What. Were. you?"
"I- I was...", Candy trailed off. What would Chica say if she told her? Would she ask something else? Would she have to tell her about... it? But Candy thought, If Daniel can get through a conversation with one of them, so can I.
So she took a deep breath, and answered.
"I was a little girl. But... that thing that I was talking about earlier happened, and now... I don't understand what I am."
Chica took this in. What could possibly happen to make a little girl become... whatever Candy was? But Chica had the feeling she'd asked enough questions. So she nodded, and smiled, and said,
"You're ma' chicken chick!"
That was an odd thing to say, Candy thought. It was probably one of those things they were supposed to say to little kids, but for now, for Candy, it was as good of an answer as any to their question.
"Yeah...", she said, "That sounds right."