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Thunk...
Thunk...
Thunk...
The sounds... the sounds of terrifying, heavy, stumbling footsteps approached as Gregory hid in an empty bin he found in the corner.
"Gregory..."
The voice...
"Superstar~" The voice he'd grown to love and find comfort in called out to him, eerily, glitchy, more sinister than he ever even knew was possible.
"Where are you?" Freddy called out creepily.
Gregory felt hot tears well up in his eyes. Why was Freddy doing this? Why was his dad doing this?
"Come on out~ ...I thought we were friends." The bear continued to taunt him.
Gregory couldn't help the small sob that escaped him, covering his mouth quickly to try and cover up his tracks.
But it was too late as Freddy's head snapped towards the sound, his jaw hanging lower than it should, his claws sharp, his eyes wide and purple, a look on his face that told Gregory he didn't even know what he was doing as he rapidly stumbled over to his hiding spot in the bin.
Gregory shrunk back as far as he could in his hiding spot, holding his hands over his mouth as he desperately tried not to make a sound.
Freddy hadn't seen him yet, but he was dangerously close to the bin the boy was in, looking around as he tried to find the source of the sound he had heard earlier.
"Why do you hide?" Freddy asked as he looked around, still not noticing the boy.
Gregory flinched as the bear suddenly turned in his direction, the boy's eyes going wide as he tried not to move.
Freddy's eyes searched to the side, looked at something on the wall behind the bin before they suddenly snapped on Gregory, locking onto him as he put his large hands on the egde of the bin.
"I only want to help..." Freddy cooed in a not at all sincere or convincing voice.
The animatronic slowly raised his hand, claws glistening in the dim light in the room.
Gregory looked away from the bear's face to look at his hand, before looking back at his face. "N- no... Fr- Freddy, please. It's me Gregory."
Freddy didn't seem to hear him as he continued to raise his hand slowly above his head.
"D- don't you remember? It's me Gregory the- the boy you helped." Gregory scrambled back into the bin as far away from the animatronic bear as he could get.
Freddy didn't respond or even react as he finally swung his arm down, his claws being the last thing Gregory saw as the boy screamed a final: "Please, Dad, NO!"
Before everything went black.
Gregory woke up screaming as he scrambled to sit up in bed.
"Gregory?!" He heard a worried voice ask.
"Gregory, are you alright? What is wrong, are you hurt?" He realized it was Freddy calling out to him as he felt gentle but firm hands grab his shoulders.
He unintentionally flinched at the touch, too scared to process that it was safe and okay.
His breath was fast, his eyes filled with tears that started to pour.
He was terrified.
Everything felt so fast and he was able to make out Freddy through his blurry vision.
The bear's eyes were full of worry and he had a slightly hurt look on his face.
Gregory felt bad about pulling away from the one person who cares about him, but he was just too scared to not.
He curled in on himself, hugging his knees tightly to his chest with a sob.
He wanted to calm down. He wanted to seek comfort from his animatronic bear father figure. He didn't want to cry. But he was just so scared of the nightmare that was still fresh in his mind.
At some point, Gregory heard soft music being played, followed by gentle humming.
He rubbed at his red puffy eyes and saw that Freddy was on his knees, silently holding his arms open in invitation.
Gregory didn't need to be told twice as his lower lip quivered, and he slammed into the bear with a sob.
In turn, Freddy's arms circled around him in a warm, comforting embrace as he pressed his snout into his hair.
Freddy continued humming to the music that was playing through his internal music box, and Gregory was grateful for it as he tried grounding himself on the sound.
Eventually, Gregory was finally able to calm down enough to where he pulled away to wipe the rest of his tears away.
He startled the tiniest bit when a furred hand gave him a soft wipe under the eyes, and he looked up to see glowing eyes looking back at him with oh so much gentleness.
"Are you alright, Superstar?" His dad asked gently.
"Y- yeah, um, sorry about... all that, Dad." Gregory tried to pull away, but was stopped by Freddy's hand on his back pulling him back to him.
"There is no need to apologize, my son." Freddy told him softly, cupping the back of his head.
Gregory's mind was still somewhat foggy, and he felt all his energy leave him as his crying made him feel more tired than ever.
Freddy wasn't helping as he started running his fingers through his hair.
Gregory felt his eyelids droop with sleepiness and he heard his dad chuckle softly.
"Why don't you go back to sleep, Superstar?" The bear murmured, gently pushing him to lay against his chest.
"But what if I have... another nightmare?" Gregory yawned in between his sentence.
"I will be here to scare off any bad dreams." Freddy reassured him.
Gregory wanted to stay awake to keep the nightmares away, but as sleep caught up with him, all he could do was nod.
He curled up in Freddy's lap, pressing his cheek to his chest with a tired smile growing on his face.
Freddy shifted to be leaning against the seats behind him so that he could be more comfortable as he held his boy close in a warm embrace.
Soon enough, Gregory was snoring softly as he fell asleep in the safety of his dad's arms.
Freddy smiled lovingly at his boy, gently running his fingers through his hair.
"Goodnight, my little cub." He whispered. "Sweet dreams."
And with that he went into rest mode, content on holding Gregory for however long necessary.
A few hours later, just before sunrise, Freddy came out of rest mode.
A noise outside the van jolted him awake.
At first, he thought it must've been an animal just passing by, since it got quiet again right after.
He sat there for a bit, listening for any signs that whatever it was was still out there.
He was about to go back into rest mode, when suddenly, his ears perked at the sound of more movement outside.
He looked down at the child still asleep curled up in his arms.
He felt bad for moving him in the chance that he might wake up, but he had to figure out what made the noise outside in case they were in danger.
The bear slowly shifted Gregory off of him, making sure he was comfortably tucked in, before he carefully and quietly got out of the van, gently closing the doors behind him.
Once he was outside he looked around to find the source of the sound he had heard.
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He could've sworn he heard something, but he couldn't see anything.
Maybe it really was just an animal from the woods or something.
Just when he was about to give up and get back in the van, he heard footsteps running behind him.
He whipped around just in time to see a figure that was in black run into the trees.
Without a thought, Freddy gave chase.
If he was in danger, so be it, but he refused to let Gregory be in danger if it meant the risk of him being taken away.
He chased after the figure for several minutes, catching small glances of whoever it was between the trees.
Faint light was in the sky now as the sun started rising just below the horizon, giving Freddy just enough light to see where the person he was chasing went...
If only, said person wasn't already gone.
Freddy skidded to a halt, looking around for any sign of movement through the trees.
The forest was silent. No sound was heard other than the creaking of branches as the breeze blew through them, and the sound of birds starting to chirp as they greeted the new day.
With one last look in the direction he last saw the figure, Freddy turned around and walked back to the van, his ears and eyes on high alert.
What he didn't realize is that there were two figures on a branch high in a tree, watching him.
"What do ya say we do?" The taller of the figures asked in a hushed tone.
"We go for it." The smaller of the two answered.
Another pair of tall figures from below peeked out from behind the same tree, watching the bear closely.
They looked at each other, giving a knowing nod before they all joined up and slowly trailed after Freddy from a distance.