Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

       A woman with unkempt dark hair and clothes trudged into a decrepit, gimmicky haunted house through the back entrance as she was instructed, her last resort for any sort of income. It was dingy and, honestly, horrifically musty, but money was money, and rent — or at least a part of it— was due by the end of the week. It was when she discovered her need, that just so conveniently a "friend" of hers from middle school rung her up. It was as if it was just yesterday… Because it was.

       "What is it, Jeremy? I'm not up for this bullshit right now, I don't have time for whatever crazy stunt you're trying to pull off, so just get it over with." She groaned.

       Through the reciever buzzed a grating Californian accent that was far too sure of itself, "Jane~ No worries, my man! I am fully aware of the situation you're in, and that's exactly why I'm calling you, now! I figured I could give you, and my other good buddies a hand!" Jane adjusted her grip to hold her phone to her ear with her shoulder, skewing the angle she was looking at all her rejected job applications with.

       "… Oh yeah? What is it, get it over with."

       "So, you know that creepy-ass restaurant with the robot animals Mike's dad established and then got shut down way back?" Jeremy began to explain, but was promptly interrupted by Jane.

       "The one with the child murder scandal? No thanks."

       "Woah woah woah, wait up, Jane! I swear this isn't what you think it is. Hear me out, dude!" Jeremy urged, just as she was about to hang up.

       "What could you possibly say to justify your reboot of it that won't be immediately shut down?"

       Jeremy cleared his throat, only giving Jane a hint to guess that he was nervous, "That whole child murder thing was like… Thirty years ago, right? Way in the past, and the kids these days only really know of it as a scary story, right? Some kind of urban legend. I was thinking, Mike inherited all this perfectly good land after his dad passed, and didn't want anything to do with it. So I'm gonna buy it from him and make it into a totally new immersive haunted house!" He paused to wait for an audible reaction, but the silence simmered just a moment too long, "So uh… Yeah. Pretty good business idea, right?"

       "Jeremy, I'm hanging up."

       "Wait!" Jeremy pleaded, "I'll hire you!"

       Jane's finger hovered over the button as she deliberated, looking between the phone and the applications again.

       "Listen, this recession's gonna be a dick to you, but me and Mike can help out, alright? Let us take advantage of the resources we have and band together, alright? Mike's already accepted covering the night shift, so we just need someone here during the day while the place is renovated."

       "…" Jane furrowed her brows, crumpling her rejected applications and dropping them in the trashcan beside her desk, "What's the pay like?"

       Jeremy let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, you'll have nothing to worry about- Er… Well, this is a startup, so I can't pay much right out the gate, but we will be once we have some customers coming in! Halloween is pretty soon, after all. For now, the basic $7.25 an hour, but you'll have bonuses!"

       "It's… Better than nothing, I guess."

       "Awesome! You think you could come tomorrow morning, then? We can talk plans once you're here."

       Jane opened that hardly-decorated back door to find the interior was even mustier than the exterior. A persistent filth seemed to hang in the air, as well as some asbestos, she'd guess. A red, glowing exit sign hung above the door, and just parallel to it was the entrance to the security office, which looked like it was occupied not that long ago, but its resident had left something unfinished.

       A console was open on the wall, displaying that many of the systems that seemed pretty important were offline, so she rebooted all of them back up, coughing into her elbow. A certain regret was starting to pester her brain, but she couldn't back out now. Sunk cost and all that. Her coughing seemed to alert someone, who she saw approaching from the corner of her eye, a quick swivel of the head as the ventilation system kicked back on and cleared the air of a decent part of it's filth.

       Jeremy met her intense look with a slight frightfulness. "Ah- Jane! good to see you! Glad to see you found the console, managing that will be really important here… Prevent this whole place from burning down— Can I just say, you're already nailing the part! You fit into the environment perfectly!" He tried to elevate the mood. Tried.

       Jane looked down at herself, in clothing less clean than optimal, and with a harsh squint of her eye, scoffed, "Thanks."

       Jeremy realized his wrong and quickly tried to correct it, "Oh, no- I mean-" But he realized it was pointless, sighing, "Sorry. That came out wrong."

       "It's fine." Jane sighed, bringing herself back up to full height, just barely taller than Jeremy. "What do I need to do? Well- I assume you need this." She pulled out a folded up bunch of forms from her pocket and handed them over.

       "Oh, awesome. Thanks, Jane-" He took the papers, "Well, it would've been nice if Mike was here too, but it looks like he's taken off… Fair enough, I can guess, he wasn't looking too hot. You're essentially just gonna be doing what he was. The place isn't open yet, so don't worry about any visitors, but you're just gonna do that—" He pointed to the console, "Make sure all the systems are up and working, make sure there aren't any problematic messes or people in here, while I go out and find materials from the old pizzerias."

       "The old pizzerias?" Jane raised an eyebrow, glancing around. It was then that she realized she recognized most of the decorations in here already… "Those costume parts… You're stealing them? What the fuck, Jeremy?"

       Jeremy urgently shushed, "Keep it on the down-low—Nobody needs to know about it. I'm doing my best to make this place as authentic as possible. Good merit for the release, yeah?"

       Reluctantly, Jane clicked her tongue, "You know Fazbear Entertainment still exists, right? And it's bigger than ever? They're gonna get your ass in court."

       Jeremy dismissed, "Come on, they don't even have security guards hired half the time. They're not gonna notice. We have Mike as a scapegoat anyways. He can always pull the sympathy card-"

       "Jeremy." Jane said coldly, provoking a shiver out of the man. "Stealing from a corporation is one thing, but using a person for your own personal gain is another. Don't pull that shit." She furrowed her brows, "And get a better fucking backup plan."

       It was only when Jane looked away that Jeremy let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, "Jeez, don't be such a hardass… Fine. But I'm still going out to retrieve materials, alright? Make sure the building stays in one piece. Can you do that?"

       "I can." Jane said plainly, taking her seat at the desk next to her.

       "Good… I'll… I'll be back in a little while." Jeremy promptly exited the building.

       Jeremy felt a certain weight on his conscience, and a resentment now… Maybe hiring Jane wasn't the right idea. They knew eachother for so long, Jeremly felt obligated to try and help when his Auntie mentioned she was struggling about a month ago. But now, she just waltzed in and tried to dictate how everything was run like she owned the place? Somewhere inside him, Jeremy felt an urge to assert himself as the one in charge, but he knew better than that… And that messing with Jane wasn't something he wanted to deal with the consequences with, social or otherwise.

       Turning on the ignition of his car and driving off as he pulled up his navigation app with his other hand. At the very least Mike cooperated with him when he called. Took a little more convincing than he'd like, but Jeremy was determined to make the best out of a bad situation… And handing over the original Fredbear grounds to the big Fazbear Entertainment didn't sit right with him, after everything… He was glad to figure out Mike thought the same.

       And that led Jeremy back to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza that day, the old run-down building. Jeremy picked up one out of a couple sets of keys from the coin tray and examined them… Mike had gotten himself hired, and subsequently fired at every place within the last couple weeks just to get the keys for Jeremy. Yeah, this plan had a little more to it, though Jeremy wasn't sure why Mike would roll with such a crazy idea. Or how he pulled it off in the first place. He opened the glovebox and fished around with his hand until he successfully pulled out a flashlight. A very professional one, like the ones technicians use. It'd been in the van for years, Jeremy figured he might as well use it.

       Stepping out of the car, he approached the entrance, the remnants of old, withered police tapes fluttering in the wind from their torn ends, and unlocked the front door.

       The place smelled just like it had back then… Well, with the odd foul odor or two in the deep corners of darkness, but that was also typical, to Jeremy's memory. The wide dining hall, the stage where currently no characters stood… Now that seemed a little strange. According to Michael, it looked like it had been left almost untouched. Oh well. Jeremy flicked on the flashlight and began to delve deeper into the darkness, into where the light had gone out and a leak somewhere made dripping sounds echo down a poorly-insulated hall. Doors lined the thin walkway, and each time Jeremy reached one, he fished for a key to open it.

       A party room, another party room… Kitchen… It was only when he came to the last door at the end of the hall, and the only key he hadn't used, labelled "SAFE", that he opened the door to find…

       "Holy shit… Jackpot…!"

Chapter Text

       Well, one thing was to be said about the job. It was boring as hell. Jane literally had nothing to do all day yesterday. Jeremy didn't get back for a long while, only a couple minutes before the end of her shift, and she had just been scrolling Tumblr on her phone while occasionally maintaining the systems on the console. There was a morbid curiosity she had about what would happen if she just left it, but Jeremy's warnings about the building being set ablaze didn't sound appealing enough to try… One had to wonder how maintaining a building so actively hostile was legal, but it was built in the 80's. She'll have to tell Jeremy to get someone in here to fix it up sometime, lest they fall victim to any early lawsuits. One couldn't be too careful around Freddy's, right?

       It was the following morning, and still with as little money in her pockets as ever, Jane found herself with nothing but a slice of white bread for breakfast… And lunch… and if she wants to be fancy, she can put some jam and butter on it for dinner. "Calories are calories," she justified to herself. A security guard uniform laid across Jane's bed, given to her at the end of her shift. It looked cheap and uncomfortable, like a costume; it probably was, considering the gimmick of the whole place. A plastic, golden badge molded with Freddy's face was pinned to the breast pocket, it looked like something you'd get from the prize counter—actually, Jane remembered you could actually get one of these from the prize counter back at the first Freddy's Pizzeria, but then they got put away for the reboot. All for Jeremy's insistence of "authenticity", she guessed.

       As Jane was driving down the road to her new workplace, she couldn't believe she felt like she was already forming a routine in her head. Was she really that desperate? Maybe it was that she was already going through the motions so relentlessly before, that any change of pace seemed overly welcome, but goddamn. Jane thought she was better than this.

       The tires crackled against the gravel on the ground as she pulled into the parking lot and swiftly climbed out of her car to head into the building. It was as she was approaching the door, she noticed some strange, dark stains looking like something leaking was dragged into the building… Oh god, she didn't go and get herself involved in a murder scandal, did she? When she reached for the handle, it moved at the same time she did, startling her as the door opened and she came face to face with… someone oddly familiar, though she couldn't place the name.

       "Er… Hello." She greeted, as they simultaneously paused.

       "Hi." The man in front of her answered with an unattractively rough, and somewhat nasal voice… But the tiniest hint of a British accent in that one word told her all she needed to know.

       Furrowing her brows, "Michael? Is that really you?"

       Michael adjusted a black medical mask he was wearing nervously. He was dressed in that same security guard uniform she was in, spare for a few customizations like gloves and a scarf, that only served to cover more of his skin. Strange, considering he was so vocal about how much he disliked being so covered up back when Jane knew him better. Something significant must have changed that. "I… Yeah. It's me."

       Only one question came to her mind, "… What happened?" The silence simmered uncomfortably for a few seconds before Michael pushed past her. "Wha- Hey! Michael, answer me!" She urged, grabbing his shoulder as soon as he was in reach again. His reaction was oddly hostile, snapping his shoulder away as he faced her again with a certain intensity in his eyes.

       His gaze traveled back up to the door, and the stain that had appeared to lead up to it; then back to Jane. "There's something new in there… Be careful around it." And without another word from either of them, Michael got into his car and drove away.

       Jane frowned, grumbling, "Has everyone I knew as a kid turned into cryptic asshats?" She entered the building once again, immediately checking everything around the office. Console was on, good. It looked like a couple new decorations were added. Cameras…

       Jeremy was in the room on Cam 10, along with someone else… She didn't recognize the guy, but he was also dressed in the security guard uniform. Probably a new coworker of hers, or Michael. Depends on which shift he got. The pair remained there, talking about something in a hidden room from the cameras, which seemed like a little bit of a security risk to her, but oh well. Then, they started to move from room to room, a low mumbling echoing down the halls indicating that they were talking. Jeremy was probably giving him the tour. She couldn't help but wonder why she didn't get one. But eventually, they reached the office.

       As the pair turned the corner, Jeremy warmly greeted through the window with a wave and something she couldn't hear fully, but got clearer as they stepped towards the proper entrance, "-briel, this is your coworker here, managing the office!"

       "Gabriel, did I catch that right?" Jane took a guess, nodding towards the man following behind Jeremy. He had a handsome, dark complexion, but a shyness to him that pervaded his demeanor.

       "I- Yeah, that's right. And… Jane, I assume?" The man grinned placatively, "You're another scare actor, right? Excited?"

       Jane glanced to Jeremy, "Excuse me, what?"

       "Oh, what, man? You accepted a job at a Haunted House, and didn't expect to be an actor in it?" Jeremy dismissed, which got a reaction that wasn't particularly positive out of Gabriel. "Everyone's an actor! I'm an actor, Mike's an actor— Even the old as shit broken animatronic I found yesterday is an actor!" He said with a certain kind of gross pride.

       Jane blinked, "Jeremy."

       "Yes?" Jeremy blinked back, an innocent façade.

       "You're gonna need to explain what you meant by that. Finding an animatronic."

       "What about it?" Jeremy grinned with a smug coyness, as if he were intentionally trying to piss her off, but Jane knew better. He was just annoying and trying to prove himself. "I said what I said. I found one, a real one."

       "Didn't Fazbear take all of them when they rebooted the franchise? Like, they're all in a warehouse being rented out to parties?" She crossed her arms, observing all his little tells like he was a lab rat in her elaborate maze.

       And in a defensive fashion, his voice raised for a moment, but only a moment. "NOT all of them-" He realized his mistake, clearing his throat, "Not all of them. They never found this one." A sly smile appeared on his face. "You wanna see him?"

       Challengingly, "Of course."

       Gabriel glanced nervously between them in their staredown, almost sure they would break into a fistfight if he didn't step in. He set a hand on his friend's shoulder and coerced him away, Jeremy's soles squeaking on the floor as he was shoved away, "Alright, buddy, let's get this over with!"

       And to the animatronic in question they went, a detail becoming disgustingly apparent as they got closer… This thing smelled like shit. Jane held back a gag, "What the hell, Jeremy, did you drag in a corpse into the place? The haunted house doesn't need to be that realistic!"

       Gabriel sighed empathetically, "We could always wash it out, I'm sure it's nothing." A certain tone in his voice told her that he was lying to be gentle. She didn't like feeling so patronized, but she appreciated the attempt at comradery.

       Jeremy whistled as they approached the doorway at the end of the hall, opening it. "And here's our new mascot! … This weird, uh… Bunny thing, I think."

       Limply, an animatronic sat against the back wall to the room, only lit with the mold green lighting of the room it was just exposed to. Needless to say, the smell was even worse, but they'd already complained about it once, and didn't expect it to get better until they actually took action. Gabriel wisely decided to take a step back, but Jeremy eagerly invited Jane into the room to get a closer look. He flipped a switch in the room and revealed more of what this new mascot looked like, still in that green light, though an annoyingly different shade.

       The animatronic weirdly didn't look like there was any fur on it, but spare pieces stayed as if they were forcefully ripped off or rotted, only exposing a degraded, moldy foam shell, and a metallic endoskeleton inside of that… As well as some suspicious burgundy stains around a different, more leathery texture. It had weird, silver eyes that seemed to follow you wherever you looked, even though it wasn't constructed to make that optical illusion anyways. Long, bunny ears hung stiffly off it's head in two segments for each, though the left one was missing a segment of it's own, wires dangling from where it was torn from it's body. Jane stared at it with more intrigue than she'd like to admit, "Creepy…"

       "I know! Isn't it awesome?" Jeremy grinned, "It'll be perfect for the haunted house once we get it up and working again, just gotta figure out how to, y'know… Turn it on."

       "Well," Gabriel began, peeking into the room, "It can't have infinite power, maybe it needs a battery or charging station to hook up to?"

       "Ugh, you think so? It looks a little old for that, but… I can always head back to where I found him and see if there was anything I missed." Jeremy pouted, already feeling his pockets for his keys.

       Jane smirked, "Attaboy."

       Jeremy glared at her, finally finding his keys before announcing, "You two are going to be in charge of maintaining this guy. Make sure nobody steals him or anything, and wash that smell out of him if you can. I'll see you two later." And promptly, he head for the exit, once again.

       Jane and Gabriel seemed to simultaneously relax the moment he left, looking to each other with a very specific sense of comradery. A laugh was shared between them before they also took their leave and head for the office.

       "So we're seriously both gonna be actors for this dump?" Jane began.

       "Yeah, one of the big things about the Freddy's locations was that they were constantly hiring security guards for some reason," Gabriel fidgeted with his pin, "Forgive me, I've kind of had a fixation on these places since one shut down while I was at a birthday in it."

       "Oh, nah, you're fine. I just never really liked these places enough to actually go to one of them or dig deep into it, but Michael and Jeremy always talked about it around me in school, so- Yeah." Jane hummed.

       "You know Mikey?" Gabriel piped up, "Ah- Well, Jeremy did say he's only bringing in friends right now, makes sense. Anyways-" He cleared his throat, "We're not really acting in the traditional sense, which was kind of a downer for me, but- We just kind of have to look like we're doing the job. No biggie."

       Jane scoffed, "Good. I did not want to do more than I was planning to." Their steps echoed down the hall in harmony with the creepy sound effects played on the speakers Jeremy installed overnight. The place seemed oversaturated with detail already, Jane couldn't imagine any more stuffed on the walls. Children's drawings, tinsel decorations, paint 'mold texturing' on the edges of the walls… Actually… She wasn't sure it was paint. All the more reason to get to the office quickly.

       "You're really not into this job much, are you?" Gabriel inquired.

       "No, I'm really not." She answered bluntly, entering the security office and lazily taking her seat at the desk, "I'm only here because it's the only job that's taken me all month, and my rent's due by November 1st."

       Gabriel rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly, "Oh…"

       "And you're the one really into this job." She guessed, Gabriel's expression already telling her that she was right. Man, this guy was way too easy to read.

       An embarrassed grin took to his face, "Yeah… I, uh… This is the first acting gig I've landed, I've wanted to be one for a long time. And I'm thinking, maybe, who knows- I could get promoted to an actual animatronic role if this goes well."

       "How sweet," Jane hummed, "You seem really passionate. Why wouldn't you have gotten into anything before?"

       Gabriel frowned, a focused look coming to his face as he reached for a metal fold-up chair, "I… Well, I can't really tell if I was just being too ambitious or not, but I always got really anxious during auditions, and I'd make mistakes because of that." Taking his seat, he tapped his fingers together, "And acting is a really unforgiving career to get into, I knew I should've expected that, but… You know, I was an excited kid when I was asked to decide the direction of why whole life! … Should've been wiser in high school and actually took some useful classes. Now I'm in debt for classes that aren't getting me anywhere."

       Jane glanced back at him, a certain empathy affecting her control over her expression, but… Gabriel seemed to be safe, "Hey, don't be too hard on yourself." Gabriel looked up from the floor to meet her gaze, a kind of hopeful surprise on his face. "I thought I did everything right myself. I took all the finance and business classes in school, did AP and Honors, still managing straight-As, but…" She chuckled bitterly, "A bad breakup with a girl I'd liked since sophomore year fucked me over, and she took all my shit. I was convinced she was just misunderstood for so long, until a coworker lashed out at me for shit she was doing that they thought I was compliant with… And, well, I was. But, now I'm obviously not, and I'm still making up for that loss…" She sighed, suppressing a tremor in her hand as she briefly stared in a random direction, reminiscing… Once she realized, she quickly refocused, "I guess, what I mean by all that is… You could've still done everything right and gotten fucked over, life just happens. So, just be glad you're on the upward trend, now."

       Gabriel smiled, "Thanks…" But then his gaze shifted upwards, and his expression completely dropped.

       Jane followed his gaze to the window, where— "What the fuck…?!"

       That animatronic from earlier, which had looked to have no ability to move before, and surely couldn't have been charged, was now staring at them with those lifeless silver eyes through the window.

Chapter Text

       He knew very little about what was going on… The last he knew, he was in unbearable pain, and would be for the rest of his life, trapped in that little, dark room for the rest of his days. He tried to count them at first, by the light that would shine faintly through the cracks in the wall. He didn't get much farther past 3 before he lost all feeling. His vision went dark, he stopped feeling hunger and thirst, his limbs went numb, his body stopped twitching. At some point, he had accepted he was dead, as difficult as it was. He embraced it as sleep, for his nerves were soothed from the pain as his blood had slowly drained from them. And for that time that's all he did, sleep… sleep… sleep for ten years, twenty, thirty. But little did he know he was simply hibernating, like a bear, ironic as it is. He was not awoken by the opening of his room, for he could not hear. He was not awoken by the light on his face, for he could not see. He was not awoken by the dragging of his corpse, for he could not feel… Except…

       Suddenly, he found that he could. He could feel, after all these years of numbness. He had figured that after all that time, the afterlife was simply nothingness, that endless sleep, but it appeared that his little experiment all that time ago… worked. Why had he assumed it hadn't? That was the question echoing through his mind as he could feel weightlessness for the first time in decades. That is to say, only certain feelings persisted. He did not feel that which was received by nerves, no, but he could feel that certain things were happening to his body without the pain attached. He could feel his bones breaking and splintering, he could feel how his eyes threatened to fall out of their sockets, he could feel the sharp impact as he was thrown into what he identified as the trunk of some kind of truck and the second impact as his body hit his suit right after, but that was all it was. There was nothing telling his brain that it was wrong, or even felt bad, just as if it were facts listed out to him, and that was… fascinating. Perhaps that was the upside to being dead, however debatable that state had become for him at this point. 

       Now was the question, what else could he do, now? Could he move? Could he see? Could he hear? Those senses seemed less accessible, could he put intention into it and make it so? He tried to feel for his ears, get some sort of sensory response from them, but… That wouldn't work, of course it wouldn't work, what was he thinking? His human body was useless! but what else did he have? He had… the suit fitted to it, of course! What if instead of tuning into his human body, he tuned into his mechanical one? Blueprints began to take form in his head, what did he remember after thirty years of sensory deprivation? The audio receptors and players… Yes, in the head and the chest. With a buzz, he could hear. It was predominantly static, but he could do it. Some things made it through… He could hear a distant engine humming, he could hear metal scraping against concrete. The feeling of vibration in his bones and that weightlessness again simultaneously led him to believe that it was in fact him, being dragged. Now, could he see? That might have been easier to try first, the suit's cameras are roughly in the same place.

       He extended his will to the cameras in the eyes, and… Suddenly, everything was bright, far too bright! He could not lurch his body in response quite yet, but oh how his instincts begged him to shield himself. Was this pain again? Did this mere machine possess the capability to harm him from the afterlife? Maybe this wasn't so good after all… Static filled his unblinking vision for the next several minutes as he slowly adjusted himself to the light again, only able to make out the barest contours of a hallway. Bars of white flickered across a fisheye lens wildly until… Suddenly, it was dark again. The static remained, but dulled, becoming more manageable. However, the darkness wasn't… true. He could now see the room clearly, as if it were normally lit, but it was clear this room was darker than normal, as if he had some sort of night vision. Did he install this permanent night vision into the endoskeletons? That would have been helpful to know before he died… And now once again, he was locked in a stuffy room for the foreseeable future. Great. But, maybe this was a chance to rest, and recalibrate himself to his senses… Figure out how to pilot this new, immortal body of his making in time for a new comeback! Even as a corpse, he would complete what he set out to do… 

       What a wonderful, wonderful opportunity he has given to himself…

       And just as expected, the door did indeed open again that night. Light once again filled his vision, but he still was struggling to move this godforsaken suit in reaction. Lucky for him, the door shut behind, and two new faces had entered. His temporary captors, he assumed… His ears— or rather, the audio receptors let him know that they were speaking, but he couldn't discern what they were saying. Perhaps he'd learn in time… for a moment, the static in his vision cleared as he focused on the face of the shorter one, and a primal emotion took over him. The man obscured his face with some sort of mask, so he could not recognize him, but it was as if his very soul rejected the existence of him. He had to know this man, but how?! 

       The man in question reacted to his presence as if he'd done something strange and threatening, and to his surprise, he discovered he did. Attuning back to his senses, he discovered his speaker had begun to mutter a low grumble and his torso had lurched forward, leaving his head hanging forward and his arm on the ground immediately in front of him, clawing… his long, mechanical ears covering most of what he could see of the man now. He had… moved. Not much, but he had, regardless.

       How very, very strange… The two men left shortly after that. He would have some more time to deliberate… He would find out who this man was, at all costs.

       Much later… Jane and Gabriel were trapped in a staredown with the rotting animatronic. Fear overtook the human party, reducing themselves to utter silence. Maybe if they didn't move, they wouldn't be targeted… That common thought lasted between the pair for a long while, until Gabriel began to cough, the air having gotten terribly stagnant and musty. "J-Jane… I don't think… He- It's gonna move…"

       Jane took a little longer before she relented, moving to reboot the ventilation system the moment she heard another burst of coughs come forth from her new friend. She swore she could've seen that animatronic's eyes… moving, adjusting, something it shouldn't have been able to do without power. But she was to be surprised when she looked up from the monitor to discover the animatronic had moved again. This time, to inside the office, right behind Gabriel, bending down to look at him. Embarrassingly, a small squeal of fear came out of her, stumbling to push herself away on her spinny office chair. "Shit!!!" But at least she wasn't alone, Gabriel joining in the squeal as he scrambled away towards Jane, who reciprocated his frightened yelp for help by pulling him close into a protective brace. She and the animatronic rejoined gazes in another staredown. Lowly, her voice trembled, "Y-You're not supposed to move…"

       Then, she actually saw it move, Gabriel did, too. It was proof, it actually can move on it's own! A teasing tilt of the head, and a slight opening of the jaw as if it was mocking her. "Holy shit… How is it… Moving?" She muttered in disbelief.

       "I have no fucking clue…!" Gabriel squealed.

       The animatronic slowly pulled itself up, back to its full stature, which was… a little underwhelming, if Jane were to be honest. Just about the size of a normal man. Typically, these things tended to be much bigger, to account for the distance children would see them from on the stages. One of the only times she'd gone to a Freddy's Pizzeria, she'd met Toy Bonnie, and one detail stuck out like a sore thumb in that memory. Toy Bonnie was easily taller than the doorway, not even accounting for the ears. This guy had to at least be a foot and a half shorter… Strange. Just as she was thinking that, though, the animatronic seemed to lock onto something else. Automatic sound effects played in the pizzeria now that Jeremy had installed the speakers, and a creepy children's laugh from the sound library played, drawing the animatronic's attention; turning it away and coercing it to exit the office. Both Jane and Gabriel glanced to each other and let out the breath they were holding.

       Gabriel laughed nervously, "Ah… Well, it seems like he has standard animatronic AI?" He cleared his throat, and pulled himself out of Jane's embrace to dust himself off from the grime he surely would've gotten on himself, but… Nothing. "To think one of the only clean things about this place is the floors…"

       "What does that mean?" Jane slumped back in her chair.

       "Oh, the floor thing? I just didn't get any-"

       "No, the animatronic AI thing." Jane clarified, "What part of that is normal, man?! He doesn't have any power, he's not supposed to move!"

       "I didn't say normal, I said 'standard.'" Gabriel pouted, "It's AI just recognized that sound effect as the sound of children, they're programmed to go towards that, so it did… It also didn't look like he was trying to hurt us, trust me, I've seen one try..." He stared into the distance in a very anime-esque fashion, which didn't amuse Jane in the slightest.

       "Gabriel, Gabe- Can I call you Gabe? Gabe." Jane sucked in a breath tensely, "Can you explain what the fuck the difference is between that thing—" Jane pointed to the window and outside the office, where their animatronic was not explicitly seen, but implied, "And whatever murder-bent animatronic you've run into? Please, I would love to know."

       "Well, uh… That's a bit of a touchy story. And not really mine to tell—" Gabriel disclaimed.

       Jane interrupted, "Ah, ah, ah— Don't give me that bullshit, we're in a haunted house, facing a probably haunted robot, let's be fucking honest here. Nothing says we're in a comedy, so let's be reasonable and give each other valuable information." There was a silence that was all but brief that followed, allowing her to realize that was a bit harsh, "Sorry, I'm just, uh… spooked by all that."

       Gabriel, still sore, but willing to make light, shrugged, "Can't be completely sure we're not in a comedy… But, oh well. What kind of smart guy archetype would I be without talking your ear off, I guess?"

       Jane chuckled awkwardly, "Now you're in the spirit."

       "I think the wording should be 'Now the spirit's in you'?"

       "Don't push it."

       "…Alright." Gabriel sighed, "You said you knew Mikey, right? Well he, JJ— That's what I call Jeremy, sorry— He, JJ, and I, along with a couple other friends were at one of the Freddy's Pizzerias in '87, right? Some more of Mikey's family were there too, but that doesn't matter, they always are. The animatronics were all performing on stage all nice and stuff, and like usual, we were chilling around Kid's Cove. We were a bunch of troublemakers back then, of course, and Mikey learned a couple things from his dad about how the animatronics worked, so we liked taking apart and rebuilding this one animatronic like Legos right in this blind spot for the cameras… 

       We didn't think this one was like the others in how they had child defense and protection AI built into it, but apparently it did, and one day, Mikey must've accidentally broke it because the thing started trying to bite at him. JJ tried to stop it, but— And I remember this vividly— His head almost got snapped up in the jaws." 

       Gabriel shivered, a certain look in his eyes as he reminisced, "You don't ever want that to happen to you, trust me. But, the animatronic began chasing Mikey all over the Pizzeria until some poor employee tried to seperate them and got bit himself right next to the entrance… Obviously, the place sent everyone home very quickly, but no one really left unharmed, in the mental department I mean. Mikey's dad chewed us out for weeks, er-… it seemed he finally had an excuse to... Real angry guy from what Mikey's told me."

       "Wow… Maybe we aren't in a horror movie in comparison to that…" Jane blinked, before glancing to the window again, hearing a quiet clanking that followed every laugh played on the speakers, "So… This guy we have here, we shouldn't be scared of him…?"

       Gabriel shrugged, "In theory, yeah."

       Jane had a… not-so-wise idea that followed. Involved a little money, potentially some candles, herbs and incense if she wanted to get fancy… Ugh, she sounded like one of those 'herbal medicine' people in her head. But no, she was just… Curious about something. "Then, what's your thoughts about finding out a little about him?" She raised an eyebrow. "Get a Ouija board, maybe a radio, make a ghost-hunting bit out of it?"

       Gabriel's voice choked, "I-" He blinked, glancing between the window and Jane, "You can do that if you want. Just because I don't think he's dangerous doesn't mean I'm gonna put myself in the line of fire, miss."

       Jane laughed, getting up out of her chair, "Your loss, this might be the most exciting thing on the job until Halloween."

       "Sure, and I'll make sure we don't die from the fumes while you go get your 'enrichment'" Gabriel grumbled, taking her place. "Just make sure to actually come back and do your job…"

       The next day, Jane came prepared. She'd managed to convince Jeremy to give her some company funds and get some "spooky decorations" for the haunted house, and walked into that building in the morning with a bag full of TikTok-Witch esque knickknacks. She'd gone down a small rabbit hole on YouTube when she actually got home, getting into the gritty, dirty details of communicating with ghosts, as unrealistic as it seemed, and wrote down all she assumed would really work in a spare notebook she had lying around. It could've been her diary at one point, but she didn't care much for it now.

       All she had to do now was find where that animatronic had gone. Except… Who else would possibly meet her at the door but Michael, of course. The green lighting inside spilled into the dimness of a fall morning at 6 AM, and into her eyes, of course. And the moment Michael saw her, he froze, staring at her like he was trying to decide what to say. Her patience was tested. "What is it, Michael? I don't have all day to clock in."

       Michael was still silent for a while, the only thing signalling he was still alive were his labored breaths behind that mask he wore, quietly wheezing in and out with the rise and fall of his chest. Then, he said, "Jeremy told me about you suddenly wanting to get some decorations… Don't do anything stupid."

       "Like what?" She couldn't get over the gruffness his voice had now, like from the moment she lost contact with him, he just started chainsmoking nonstop. It made it hard to take him seriously.

       Michael answered, "Messing with that animatronic."

       And yet, Jane was caught off-guard at being read so accurately. The look he had watching her was so sure, she couldn't play it off either. "Why shouldn't I? It's not like I'll actually touch him or anything."

       "We both know that's a lie." Michael scoffed, brushing past Jane as he made his way to his car, which Jane hadn't taken notice of how strange and familiar it was… A purple Corvette. "Of course you will, you're stubborn, like me. Just do me a favor, and don't get killed, will you? Between you and me, I'm the only one who has more than one chance to survive a mistake."

       Jane's eye twitched as he began to climb into his car, the dim lighting highlighting the edges cleanly in green, "Are you gonna give me cryptic warnings this whole time, or are you gonna tell me anything useful? That animatronic hasn't shown a single hint of aggression."

       Michael paused, his door remaining open despite being buckled in already, "Interesting, but still… I'm not in a place to tell the full story." And that's when he shut the door, starting up the engine.

       Jane groaned loudly, "This is what I'm fucking talking about, Michael! You and your— … And he's gone. Awesome." She massaged at the bridge of her nose, "At least now I can go in and figure out what's up with the haunted rabbit…"

       She found the office already occupied by Gabriel, who waved at her earnestly, but then his enthusiasm declined with the question he was asking, "Hold on a second, are you actually going to come back and do your job? Seriously, we gotta take turns, right?"

       "Oh yeah, of course! I'll be like an hour or so, and then you can go and face the haunted robot." Jane said plainly, as if it were nothing more than a chore. Gabriel appeared to be intimidated by the thought, and an urge to clarify overtook him.

       "No, I'm not going to 'face the haunted robot.' I will patrol the area, typically. Like a normal security guard." He clicked his tongue.

       Jane started to make her way down the hall, "Yeah, yeah, you'll run into him again eventually!" Now it was time to try and find this guy again. She clutched the straps of her bag and started to find her way down the hallways. It was almost impressive how disorienting the building was, guess that fits for a haunted house. But, she couldn't find this animatronic at all until… She got to the hallway at the very back, the room where she first saw him… And there sat the animatronic in the exact same posture in the dark, as if yesterday never happened. But, she had evidence on her side that he did move, Gabriel could prove it. There was nothing to be worried about… She thinks, at least. With a deep breath and a settling of the tremor in her hand, she began to prep the area.

       Jane emptied her bag onto the floor, an assortment of various items that would make her look crazy to anyone without context, especially anyone from this small Utah town. First, she assembled purple candles in a circle; she saw somewhere that purple was the best for calling on spirits. Might as well, you know? She made sure the candles were safe and could be quickly put out, just because of all the fire worries she was told about earlier. Then a couple more things. A notebook and pencils; in case she wanted to write anything down, a pendulum on a chain; for a variety of "divination needs", a radio, and a Ouija board. She's always been told never to use this alone, but- Looking up at the animatronic that was supposedly deactivated at the moment, she obviously wasn't alone! Now, setting the board in the middle of the circle, she lit the candles and turned on the radio to a static frequency.

       "Okay… You. You can move, somehow, without using any power." She began to explain, as if he didn't know exactly what he did yesterday, so conversational. Very conversational. "Sorry, I should introduce myself. I'm Jane Campbell… And, I have no idea what to call you…" And… no response. She couldn't see his eyes twitching in the same way as before, but they were pretty conveniently hidden by his ears… Jane didn't feel like checking behind them. She moved to the Ouija board, "Well, let's try this, then. I've introduced myself, why don't you tell me your name?"

        Something flickered inside him.

       His vision gradually returned. Confusingly, the moment it hit 6 AM, his consciousness cut out, as if he were stripped of power. Maybe that's the time, the antithesis of a "Devil's Hour" for his intents and purposes, ironically taking the number of the beast itself. But, none the matter, he was now faced with something new… As his cameras powered on, he found himself staring down at a Ouija board. Movement was always difficult to encourage without momentum, so it took him a moment to lift his head and observe what else was in front of him. That girl from yesterday was now sat in front of him, close enough to read her expression, especially with the candlelight she had nearby, making the contrast in her face much more apparent. She looked like she was… expecting something. Reasonable, he had already exposed himself quite plainly yesterday as having his own will. Had she asked him a question while he was gone? Reluctantly, he tuned into his speaker in his chest, his mechanical jaw instinctively falling open. But…

       Jane watched the animatronic power on, and look at her, directly. There was a certain intimidation she felt, now suddenly burdened by the acknowledgement that, holy fuck, ghosts are real, and she's talking to one. Her voice caught in her throat for a moment as the animatronic's jaw hung open and a speaker that resided in his chest brokenly skipped over itself in an ocean of static. It stopped, and then tried again, and again. She interrupted him, "Are you— Are you trying to tell me your name?"

       Unsurprisingly, being closer also let him hear better. His name… That must have been what she asked him. He stopped his attempts to communicate by his speaker. It was obviously pointless, but could he manage to actually affect the Ouija board…? He was reluctant to reach any further outside his body. She must have taken his deliberation as an answer, because she reached for something else, just outside of his periphery, and held it up to him. "What about this?" She asked, "Is this any better?" Perhaps… It wasn't as much of a threat to reach outside as he assumed, anything to gain more of an upper hand, more control. He had to be honest to himself, he was grateful for this strange girl's help. He attempted to attune to the radio.

       A strange garbling emerged from the static, a cacophony of clashing frequencies as he tried to control it, but, Jane flinched back at the harsh sound.

       Maybe he should wait, and try to master that ability before trying to use it. Affecting external forces may prove to be more difficult than anything else in this strange mode of existence. Instead, his gaze moved back down to the Ouija board, which the girl followed. "Yeah… Maybe that's better," She relented, "Ow…" She went through enough trouble, he supposed she deserved an answer. She was about to reach for the planchette, but he lunged his arm forward towards it, causing her to flinch. He didn't appreciate it, but didn't find it unreasonable either. As he tried to relearn how to map his small modicum of control over this body to bend to his will, he moved the planchette jerkily.

       Jane scrambled for her pencil and notebook as he moved the planchette, "O-Oh, let me…" She watched him carefully, noting down his choices. "W… I… L… L… I… A… M…" as the animatronic's hand fell, she reached for confirmation, "William…? Is that your name?" Something hydraulic began to whir in response. She couldn't believe it, she'd just properly met a ghost. An anxious smile took to her face, "I-… It's nice to meet you, William."

       He moved the planchette, to "Yes." This was turning out to be very, very interesting…

Chapter Text

       That previous night, Michael had pulled into the parking lot at the same time as Jeremy, late at night. Gabriel looked to just have left, along with Jane. As Jeremy climbed out of the driver's seat of his pickup, along with him came a large, black garbage bag. The trunk's contents were tied down with cords, as if it were threatening to explode out of the top.

       Michael scoffed, "More decorations? Really? You're going to make the 'fire hazard' thing seem more like a threat than a warning." But, Jeremy remained quiet as he dragged the bag out, "Hey, do you need help with that?" Jeremy looked up at Michael, finally, doubtfully.

       "You think you can manage that?" Jeremy asked, not with any hurtful intention, but clear concern.

       "Just because I'm slowly decaying doesn't mean my body doesn't work anymore." Michael returned with an edge of incredulousness. But, Jeremy didn't look quite convinced. "It won't kill me to carry a little." Michael reassured.

       Jeremy sighed, "You're the boss."

       "No, you are." Michael jabbed with a hoarse chuckle.

       "You're on the night shift, you're your own boss." Jeremy couldn't help a somber smile. Good. Michael smiled back, as he was handed a bag fished from the trunk, supposedly the lightest one from the top.

       Michael's state had not been a happy one for the past couple months. As much as he'd been doing, his little quest for revenge had only dragged him into the metaphorical pits of hell, this one counting. Jeremy wasn't fully aware, but he'd been growing privy to the threat the new "animatronic" they'd pulled in was to Michael, but he didn't know the full truth. Tonight would be the first moment he questioned that safety.

       "So, it's been a night since we saw that thing move." Jeremy started, warily. "What's the situation so far?"

       "I wouldn't stay here much longer if that's what you're asking." Michael hummed, "But otherwise, I haven't found out much more about him." He lied. During the day, he had been scouring the internet for anything to do with this discontinued rabbit animatronic, but he hadn't found anything, despite his memory telling him otherwise. Just discarded copies of the current brand Fazbear animatronics, and he was fighting to remember the name of this type. One would think it would be burned into his brain after the incident, but like every past sin of Fazbear's' it seemed to be buried six feet under. That was, until tonight.

       "Well, I think I could've found something, actually, it's in that bag you're holding." Jeremy noted, "They were in the same place I found the thing, so plug them into the cassette player and tell me you find them useful." Michael stared at the bag he was holding with slight contempt. He'd never escape these late-night messages, would he? Just the same routine as before, Michael supposed.

       After the entirety of the trunk had been unloaded, and Jeremy and Michael bid their goodbyes, Michael retreated to his office. The clock hit midnight, and the tape began recording, a voice that he hadn't heard in a while crackling familiarly on the low-quality microphone it was recorded on. To think he'd heard the last of this guy.

       "Hello? Hello, hello?" The voice began. The phone guy, Ralph, if Michael's memory served him right. Despite indirectly witnessing his death through one of these tapes in his first job, his presence seemed to infect—no, haunt Fazbear's, in it's own way, separate from the actual children he'd learned legitimately were haunting the company. Michael found that he couldn't help but to share in a bit of camaraderie with a fellow dead man, as much as it annoyed him. The recording continued, "Uh, welcome to your new career as a performer/entertainer for Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Uh, these tapes will provide you with much needed information on how to handle/climb into/climb out of, mascot costumes. Right now we have two specially designed suits that double as both animatronic and suit. So please pay close attention while learning how to operate these suits, as accidents, slash injury, slash death, slash irreparable and grotesque maiming, can occur."

       Suits… Suits, it was a suit. It wasn't the casing of some other animatronic, that's why it didn't have any kind of cord or battery attached. Michael flipped on the cameras, things usually tended to ramp up on the second nights he worked at these places, so frantically, he checked for any threats. And there… There it was. Right at the top of the map on camera nine, that thing, whatever was in the suit, was standing. Staring right at him through the lens.

       The recording continued, "… Turning the crank will recoil and compress the animatronic parts around the sides of the suit, providing room to climb inside. Please make sure the springlocks are fastened tight, to ensure the animatronic devices remain fixed. We will cover this in more detail in tomorrow’s session. Remember to smile. You are the face of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza." And promptly, it clicked off, just as the monitor cut to black. Springlocks, a Springlock suit. That's what Michael was struggling so much to remember, how could he have forgotten? Maybe the decaying of his body was also packaged with the decaying of his mind…

       And as Michael turned to the other monitor to reboot the camera system in haste, he found himself in a brief, but heart-pounding staredown with a very familiar, now-dilapidated animatronic in the corner of the room, before it suddenly jumped at him, it's jaws swinging wide open to devour him whole. Everything went black.

       In the present moment, Jane had gotten decently far in her… Well, tedious interview with the haunted animatronic, when suddenly Jeremy barged into the room to see a rather confusing scene of Witchcraft, and the light that flooded in made the animatronic violently twitch and recoil, supposedly powering down as it fell limp. "Jane, what in hell could you possibly be doing with that thing? I thought you were bringing in decorations, not setting up an exorcism."

       "Oh come on, I almost-!" Jane messed with the ears on the animatronic, its rusty joints squeaking as it swung limply from it's hinge. Then, she noticed a particularly sketchy grime on her hands and regretted touching it in the first place. "Ugh… Jeremy, why'd you do that?!" She swung her head around to glare at him.

       "What are you doing? Seriously, a demon circle setup?" Jeremy gingerly gestured towards the scene, "And candles? Seriously not good, put those out immediately."

       Jane began "I-" and then firmly stopped with a pout, begrudgingly putting out the candles and gathering them up. "There's legitimately a ghost in there, and I think letting that light into the rooms fried it's servos or something. I was interviewing it! It told me its-, no his name-"

       Jeremy scoffed, "If there's a ghost in there, then you shouldn't be messing with it! You know about the whole child murder scandal, do you really want to be disturbing them from beyond the grave? There's no promising that they're gonna be nice kids, and now they have mecha suits." But, a curiosity despite his divisiveness persisted, "What was his name anyway? I bet the AI just gave you something completely random, like-"

       "William." Jane declared confidently. And Jeremy was stunned into silence, to her confusion.

       "…William?" Jeremy asked, suddenly more observant as he tried to discern whether it was real, or the fumes that made him hear that. "You said his name was William?"

       Jane nodded, somewhat unsure to why the mood had turned so dim, so suddenly. "What, like it's a big deal? Was that the first kid that went missing, or something?"

       Jeremy glanced back to the animatronic nervously, and then pulled Jane out of the room, closing the door behind them.

       "Wha-hey!" Jane fought, "Don't grab me, asshole!"

       "Did… Michael ever talk about his family around you? Like at all?" Jeremy probed.

       "Never, we only were friends because I wasn't interested in that, or any of the Fazbear's bullshit. He never brought it up, and I never asked. Probably for the better." Jane squinted at him, "Don't tell me he's related to whoever's stuck in that suit… What was it, his little brother that died and got all over the news?"

       Jeremy had the most incredulous look on his face as he stared Jane down, "No, no way- You-" He stopped himself, thinking, glancing around the room as if it would give him any answers, but he relented, "Listen, if I find out you talk about this with anyone other than me and Michael, you're fired. You cannot tell anybody what information you got from that thing."

       Jane peeled his hand off her arm in betrayal, "What the fuck? Are you gonna give me a legitimate reason why, or—"

       "That's not my story to tell." Jeremy said firmly, "Tell Michael about it yourself, he'll probably fill you in."

       "No the fuck he isn't!" Jane groaned, "Michael and you have been vague little shits about everything, so I demand that you are gonna be in the room with me, while we all be grown-ups, and communicate like we are!" Out of breath, Jane recovered herself with a sigh as Jeremy watched in intimidated silence, "…Sound good?"

       "Uh…" Jeremy looked away, "Yeah, sure… but, you'll be here overtime then. Capiche?"

       Jane nodded solemnly, "Make up for it with some food and that's a deal."

       "Food?!" Jeremy exclaimed, before being shut up with an intense glare with a side of murderous vibes, "Okay, okay, fine! I'll order pizza or something." It was then he noted the security camera watching them, "Oh… you don't think Gabriel heard any of that on the mic, did he?"

       Jane blinked, lying to ease the tension, "I uh… I think we were pretty quiet…" But, the camera didn't budge, and there wasn't any indication he was on it like one of the audio lures going off, so it seemed like they were safe…

       Jeremy met eye contact with her again and sighed, making sure to keep his voice low, "Just to be safe, Why don't you, uh… Go hose him down, wash him or something, the stench of that animatronic isn't doing us any favors. Pretend anything you talked about with me was a prank or something when you go back to the office, okay?"

       "You only care about being careful now, huh?" Jane clicked her tongue, only to see Jeremy's face flush in annoyance.

       "Just do it, Jane. We'll talk later." Jeremy huffed, briskly walking away.

       "Whatever…" Jane drawled, as she set out on her new quest to wash the stench of death out of the robot.

       A couple hours later, Jane returned to the office, tired, worn down, accompanied with a vacant look in her eye, to be greeted by Gabriel with a slightly frightened response, "Jesus Christ, Jane, what dragged you through hell and back?"

       Miserably, she answered, "I… Jeremy told me to wash the dirt out of the animatronic so it wasn't stinking up the place anymore…"

       "And… what, are you disturbed by the process of deep-cleaning?" Gabriel smiled unsurely.

       "No… No, it was…" Jane swallowed grimly, taking care to not share too much, like the way the animatronic writhed, and let out shrill metal cries from it's speakers, "It wasn't dirt that washed out. It was… blood. And it just… It wouldn't come out fully at all, like whatever died in it was still in there."