Chapter Text
By all accounts, Freddy Fazbear was considered an unsalvageable IP. Most who knew of the character would rather he stay dead. Too many incidents tied to the character to where even bringing him up is a whole other can of worms to open.
Yvette wasn’t sure what the others saw in this “Freddy” guy. She didn’t have a Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza near her home back when they were open; most of what she knew beforehand came from commercials and from the rumors that surrounded the restaurants.
Nevertheless, a lot of the team was pretty fond of the guy, probably because they actually had one of those places to visit growing up. In a way she could kind of see why they specifically sought out the cartoon bear from their childhood. It still didn’t seem to be the most reasonable thing, but she didn’t really mind. In these cases, a job is still a job. She didn’t feel like pressing any further.
“Hey, Yvette, how’re the auditions going?” a voice called as another woman entered the room.
Yvette turned around, her eyes immediately meeting with one of her colleagues.
She shrugged. “I guess it’s going fine, Nora,” she finally said. “We already have enough local actors for the direct-to-video project. Hopefully, once the restaurant is ready, they might be available for the first few showtapes.”
“That’s good to know,” Nora replied. “The sooner the first showtape is ready, the more time me and the boys’ll have to program all the signals. And then there’s the mascots for the videos, though those ones will be puppeteered live.”
“...Do you think anyone will come here from Hurricane?” Yvette asked. “I didn’t have much exposure to the old Freddy’s restaurants, but I knew about the rumors. I heard there were protests at the first two locations.”
Nora pondered about it for a moment. “The team was careful to leave that town alone. We did promise to manage things differently from the original Freddy Fazbear team, but the people back there have already been through enough. We should try to tread this carefully.”
“Yeah,” Yvette said, “I wouldn’t want any of the younger ones to have to deal with that kind of publicity.”
Speaking of younger actors, Yvette noticed someone in the corner of her eye. A young girl had entered the room with Nora. She appeared to be about 10 years old, sporting a green t-shirt, jean skirt and a black and white jacket.
“Uh, what are you doing here, miss? The auditions are in the other room.”
Nora moved next to the girl. “Oh, sorry, she’s with me, actually. This is my daughter,” she said, gesturing to the girl, who had slowly hid behind her.
“Nora, I didn’t know you had a daughter,” Yvette noted. “Wait, you said a while back you weren’t able to…”
“Oh, Lottie moved in with me recently,” Nora added. “She’s a bit shy… and unsure of everything…”
As Yvette looked to the side, she could see Lottie feeling around the building, quietly observing every door.
Nora continued, “I think the lady at her old place said something about her having memory loss.”
Yvette was confused, “What do you mean? Like she has amnesia?”
“That’s what it sounded like,” Nora replied. “Police found her unconscious on the side of a road out of town. When she woke up, she couldn’t remember anything other than her name and her age. No records of her anywhere either.”
“I can’t imagine dealing with that at such a young age,” Yvette commented.
“I’m trying my best to support her in any way I can…” Nora replied, about to pat Lottie on the back, only for her hand to run into nothing. “...She’s not here, is she?”
“Most of the doors are locked, I doubt she went anywhere unsafe,” Yvette said, as she helped Nora search the building.
“Lottie?” Nora called. “Lottie? Where’d you run off too-” She immediately found her.
Lottie was in the workshop, somehow having already found the exact place where Nora sat when she programmed for the animatronic characters. She pressed a few buttons, and one of the characters came to life; a big brown bear sporting a top hat and blazer.
The bear blinked and looked around, before going straight into the demo showtape Nora had programmed the other day. “I’ll bet y’weren’t expecting me to show up, did you now?” a voice came from a nearby speaker. “The name’s Freddy Fazbear, pleasure to meet ya…”
The girl looked emotional, her eyes appeared weary with impossible experience upon seeing the bear. “I-I finally made him move,” she muttered.
After about half a minute of the bear explaining what he did for a living, things he enjoyed, etc. the demo ended and he went back to being stationary. Lottie got up from her seat and ran towards the character, observing him more closely. She brushed her hand across the articulated bear head, feeling her fingers slide across its synthetic fur. “It’s really you… Freddy Fazbear, right?” she spoke, as though meeting an old friend. “You look a bit different, but I’d know that face anywhere…”
She climbed up and hugged the character tightly. “I-I’m just surprised… I didn’t expect to see you again, especially this soon…”
Nora stood there, speechless and visibly confused. “What’s wrong?” Yvette asked.
“I don’t have anything Freddy-related at home,” Nora said. “Lottie never even knew about my job until today. She’s never seen or heard of Freddy Fazbear before.”
“Do you think she knew about him before?” Yvette asked. “Before her amnesia, I mean.”
Nora shrugged. “About Freddy? The last Freddy’s closed down back in ‘89. She would’ve been 5 at the time. I guess it’s possible though.”
Unbeknownst to them, Lottie whispered something to herself.
“My dreams were right. The sooner I’d find you, the sooner I’ll remember…”