Chapter Text
Ennard knew he shouldn't have let him go. It was only for an hour, meeting at the Fazcafe with James Wight. They needed a voice actor for Sunny and Moony in their cartoon and after hearing Scott’s work in other cartoons he had done, they wanted to propose the idea and have him try out a few lines. It was daytime, there were workers moving in a bunch of equipment, and when Scott hung up the phone, he didn't even sound nervous. At least, no more nervous than he typically sounded.
Though both the clowns knew that something was up when one hour turned into two, which turned into three.
Scott had driven Michael over to the house before he left for the meeting, knowing Ennard would be as anxious as him over it and wanting him to have some sort of relief- or distraction- while he was gone. It was him who actually spoke up about his absence.
"Why don't you give him a ring? If he can't answer, I'm sure he'll decline it quickly and you'll know he's safe." Michael didn't trust the Pizzaplex, but he also doubted anything would occur at 2pm on a sunny Thursday afternoon during a scheduled meeting. Ennard agreed, leaning over the side of the couch the grab the phone and dialed the familiar number.
The phone rang. It rang and it rang, and it rang. Soon after that Scott's voice came on, chirping to leave a voicemail so he could get back to him as soon as he could. He quickly set the phone down, not wanting to accidentally spark it. They all gave each other a look, joints tight and the air was silent.
Something was wrong.
-
Meanwhile, at the Pizzaplex, Wight had approved Scott of being the perfect Sunny voice actor. In fact, when Scott wasn't confirming the position quick enough, he began to offer a few added Pizzaplex benefits on top of the money he would earn from the cartoon. Toys and trinkets, food court discounts, a free pass into the Daycare for his two nephews he should not have mentioned.
"I-I would really love to! Just... let me check on a few things. Uh, y'know, gotta make sure nobody... technically owns the rights to my voice?" He wasn't sure how believable of an excuse it was, but the other man was quick to schmooze along with it, reassuring him that even if he said no, he'd stay in contact. It didn’t come off as reassuring as it was meant to. Scott couldn't help the nervous sweating in his palms, swearing he could see the old owner of Fazbear Entertainment in his face... but Scott knew he was gone. He knew it was his paranoia seeing things, even if it was hard to believe it in the moment. He shook his head lightly, head pointed into his lap as he tried to stay calm.
Soon Wight excused himself, letting the other man leave on his own time. Scott pulled out his phone as he stood from the table, intending on calling Ennard and contemplating if he should get a little snoopy. Though he had a mild temptation, he couldn’t help but hope the clown wouldn’t latch onto the idea. He’d rather get home and out of this looming building, feeling a light headache starting. He assumed it was the neon lights.
However, he wasn't aware of the person listening in on their conversation, certain that he'd found the perfect fit. Scott didn't expect the surprise attack, phone flying from his hand and under the seat. Map Bot knew he was doing the right thing.
-
Sunny's fingers twitched lightly, right at the fingertips, dragging against the floor. His sun spikes twitched in and out, ever so slightly, just enough to show his sentience. A foot twitched with a small jingle, his leg jerked up into himself, his shoulders tensed. Freddy breathed out a mechanical sigh of relief, resting a hand on the Daycare Attendant's back, just above the hook of the jester lying face down on the ground.
It hadn't been instant. Freddy was glad that he was around, having just recharged minutes before. He'd be able to wait with the man for a while, offering him any sort of comfort as he came to.
Sunny let out a slight bit of static, pushing himself up on shaky arms before falling back to the ground in defeat. His eyes dimmed and then relightened, as if blinking, head twisting a few inches with a light creak.
The fatigue wore off the moment his eyes slid to the right- beneath the dome that was filled with light, leaving the change unnoticeable- and met the bear's bright gaze. He jumped up, doing half a flip with a choke of static and then landing heavily on his back. One hand was in front of him defensively, the other keeping his balance as he used his legs to push him backwards across the concrete floor. Freddy pushed himself into a half crouch, half standing position and reached a hand out towards the animatronic.
"It is okay, I will not hurt you." Freddy reassured from a distance. Sunny scrambled back into a pile of half-used paint cans, twisting unnaturally to find the source of the clatter before readjusting his course. Though it was now that he looked at his long fingers in front of his face, giving out half a laugh in a stunned manner. He flexed those long fingers lightly, gaze still heavily trained on the orange bear towering over him.
Freddy knew this wouldn't be the last time he'd be the face they would wake up to, he knew he needed to figure it out... but he felt so helpless. He stood up fully, lumbering down the hall towards the sun and scooping him up into one arm. Scott fought at him, pushing at his chest and hand, giving grunts of exertion- but his new limbs weren't anything compared to the strength of Freddy.
"Shhhh. I've got you." His eyes shone down onto that permanent smile, patting his forehead with two fingers as he would a child with a tight jaw. His face trying to give a reassuring smile through it all. Sunny calmed slightly, either out of weariness or acceptance, and his eyes grew dim as he fell into a shutdown state. He didn’t even fight it, his body going limp in the bear’s arms as his spikes turned in. Freddy gently carried him over towards the elevator in his room, humming the band’s theme song as they went up. He took the path out of his room and towards Roxy’s Parking entry, going through the gates and through the atrium to the set of elevators. Freddy let the second elevator take him to the lobby, sprinting into and around the Daycare and to the doors.
From here, Freddy let himself in. He glanced around the Daycare for a suitable spot to rest the animatronic, spotting the giant Freddy plush doll and resting him up against it, sitting back to watch him again. Freddy was concerned over the man but feeling more confident than he had in the past three days.
-
The only thing driving Ennard on at this point was sheer love. He'd pinned up large sheets of papers to the walls, blueprints to the different floors and sections scribbled out across them. He'd spent two nights looking for an entrance, finally finding one in the sewers- the last place he'd checked around the entire building. He cursed himself for not thinking to check if there were any hatches leading into the sewers previously... though it appeared they'd upgraded from a hatch panel to a stairwell at this joint. After finding his place of access, he spent the next few nights crawling through the vents and getting a good layout of the place. He'd scoured the basement, finding over a dozen endoskeletons. Refusing to let himself think Scottie could be in one of them. Or be in none of them...
He'd searched, avoiding a few main areas where a woman had been patrolling. He was surprised she never investigated the movement in the vents, sure she'd heard him at some point.
The laundry room felt like a maze... and that was where he'd found him, covered in a clean white sheet. Long past gone, colder than cold, but he still sent voltage through his body as though he could jumpstart his heart, pounding down on his chest with his large hands in an attempt to start up his heart again. Panic swelled as he felt Scott so lifeless, unresponsive beneath him. The horror wasn’t comparable to anything he’d been through.
Ennard couldn't describe the range of emotions that flooded him, he could hardly remember the few hours between then and his sudden realization he needed to leave before the place opened. He’d spent the time desperately trying to resuscitate him, only stopping when he thought he heard a crack. He’d sobered up immediately, unwilling to damage Scott’s body in his delusional attempts to get his human back. He remembered brushing a gentle hand down his face, wiping his hair out of his eyes. Staring at his face resting peacefully. At least his eyes were closed... maybe it hadn’t been painful. He made a mental note of where Scott's body was, not wanting to leave him to rot. He couldn't handle carrying him right now... and didn't want Baby and Michael to be jarred by him coming home with a body, even if it’s what they silently expected.
A bot had been dragged away from his body, down the hallway that he'd turned down to leave. It was shattered, a mangled mess, covered in blood. Blood… Ennard was quick to scoop up the bot hopefully, figuring it was the best chance of having picked up Scott's remnant. (Yes. This part is entirely inspired of Mable's lil thing about Ennard finding and fixing up Map Bot. Also, yes, Freddy beat the everliving daylights out of Map Bot. He’s a sweetheart, but he’s also protective.)
Michael was still over, not feeling safe enough to leave the amalgam at home. At this point it was clear that Scott was either dead or being held up somewhere. Neither of them tried stopping Ennard's search, wanting to help but neither of them had the flexibility that Ennard did.
"...is it him?" Baby asked, voice hollow.
"I'm not sure... if it's not... I found him. We- he's gone. We need to fix him." Ennard's voice was even more hollow, as lifeless as Scott’s corpse, with him not even having the energy to disguise his voice that warped on a middle line between his usual one and his true one. Just needing to figure this out. For Scott. Michael was quick to push himself off the couch and the two headed into the garage quickly, pulling out the tarp and getting out the tools. Baby feeling helpless, unsure of what she could even do... She sat there, the Baby cartoon playing through on mute... until the phone rang. She straightened, turning to it with eyes glowing green.
-
Sunny had been adjusting to his body quicker than Freddy had expected. He seemed to understand and grasp the concept of him being a robot right away, eager to try and teach himself how to control his body. He seemed to struggle the most with his balance, often forgetting to move his right foot to accompany whatever odd pose he tried, his body naturally settling into exaggerated stances that matched his character. Freddy had come in from a charging to Sunny sitting on the edge of his castle, staring in amazement as he rolled his foot around.
That wasn't to say that he'd taken it well. He put on a facade, but when Freddy would look back at the animatronic, he could see him clawing his fingers at his face, into the grooves of the moon. Feeling over the face he refused to acknowledge as his own, powering on with a single goal in mind.
His programming was strong. The more control of his body he gained, the stronger his programming took a hold on his mind- it appeared as if his mind hadn't fully merged with it when he possessed the body. Freddy wondered if that was common. He wouldn’t know.
Once he became in tune with his internal clock, Freddy knew that there was more to come. He'd been thinking that perhaps the Daycare Attendant's programming had faded when he'd become possessed, but it didn't appear so. He'd never forget that shocked movement after Scott had turned to him right before the hour and spoken his first words, staticky and broken, but still there. "Nighty ni-iiiight~" After that, he'd followed Freddy out of the Daycare and towards the charging station outside of the Daycare. Freddy wished he had had a warning of what was to come.
The lights in the daycare hadn't been shut off, not the ones connected to the generators, so Sunny hadn't ever had a full on transition in the way his programming ripped any control he had away from him once they'd stepped out of those bright generator lights. He let out a broken shriek, amplified to the max volume his voice could reach, feeling as if he was losing his body and soul. Clawing Freddy's arm desperately, who was panicking and unsure of how to help him through this, turning up the brightness in his eyes but it didn’t stave off the transition. He fell to the ground, pounding his fist against lightly it before falling still, fist resting on the cold floor. His sunspokes turned all the way in, his usual eyelights dimming and the bright red LED lights beneath them shining through. A laugh left him as Freddy left Scott with an apology and hustled to the charging station. The Moon approached the hole in the front, reaching a hand in and patting the top of his head, to the side of the melded on hat.
Freddy sat in the pod for a few moments as the Daycare Attendant went off, more agile in this form than he'd ever been as Sunny. Freddy didn't know if that should've scared him. It certainly didn’t ease him.
After that moment, Scott felt compelled to check in on the other animatronics. He didn't know if it was his programming itching this worry into his brain. It was like a drug- after that first time, it was much harder to ignore that compulsion to roam. Not that he would've had a choice once one of the technicians noticed the generator lights were on and shut them back off, threatening to fire whoever had turned them on. Scott couldn't cost someone their job.
He grew familiar with the softplay tunnels, the weird comfort of fitting in a tight place and the sense of joy that rushed over him every time he gave into his 'childish desires.' He didn't much like being in his room, not when it was so messy, and he was stuck with the endless loop of organized and clean. He learned how he liked to keep his daycare, craving children to come around so he could cater to them and let his programming shine through. He dreamed of hearing their squeals of excitement, to watch their feet bounce across the cushioned floor, to feel their hands grabbing at him and urging him to follow along and fuel their fantasies. He wouldn't even mind cleaning up after them! He was content in his routine. Not happy, but content.
He grew quick with his tuck ins, earning a couple extra minutes that his programming left for him to get back to his daycare and using it to explore the Pizzaplex instead. Though he never would risk being late, unsure if it was a compulsion tied to his organized regime or just his lingering fear. He knew humans had a way of forcing animatronics to bend to their will... hmm. It felt odd being the one to refer to humans as if he weren't one. Something in his head burned with a crippling pain that had him clutching his spokes desperately, a nearly maniacal laughter tearing from his chest as he waited for the pain to fade.
Between that and the shocking, it took his mind back to his clowns. He felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt- how hadn't he thought of them before?! Was the programming numbing his mind that much? Now his thoughts obsessively swirled around his clowns, his found family, yearning to be by their sides. Perhaps this desire outweighed his desire to pander to the children. The two came from separate places of his heart, leaving them incomparable. He missed them.
Sunny wasn't a rulebreaker! He really wasn't, and he didn't want to be banned from the Daycare himself. He was clever in the way he called down his cord- which he'd only figured out to call down hours before and was proud of himself for that- and looped it around the phone, dragging it to the edge of the counter and tipping it off, all while keeping every inch of his metal on the outside of the security area. It caught on the cord, clattering against the side of the desk, and he tugged the rope to bring it closer to him. Keeping a careful eye on the edge of the floor, the split between office and daycare, he typed in the first few numbers and-
There was a booming voice. "What are you doing?!" Freddy rushed through the door and over to the jester, who was cross legged next to the tipped phone. He looked down at the phone, then back up, silently explaining himself. "...and can you talk?" He... hadn't got that far. He wasn't able to force out words that weren't programmed into him, and even then, it was difficult. As though multiple voices were calling to his name at once, and his throat closed up when he wasn't sure how to achieve a single one. Freddy made a grabbing motion with his hand, to which Scott handed over the phone dejectedly before typing in the familiar number, which was harder to recall than it would've been if he were human. He also pressed the button to put the phone on speaker. His inability to speak didn’t mean he couldn’t hear their familiar voices.
Freddy sat next to Sunny, who looked towards the phone with a tilted head as the phone rang. Once, twice, and then it was picked up. There was a prolonged silence on both sides for a few long moments.
"Uh... hello?" Freddy asked into the phone, unsure of what else to say. Where would he even begin?! There was a click signaling that the phone had been hung up. Scott huffed with static as Freddy carefully tapped the phone to redial.
The phone rung longer this time before they both heard that same click, Scott straightening in surprise, glancing to the phone hopefully. Whoever was on the line still stayed silent.
"Ahem. I'm Freddy Fazbear!-" The phone got hung up again. Sunny let out a frustrated cry, pressing the redial button himself and yanking the phone from Freddy, who gave a sheepish shrug. His spikes jittered angrily, the fingers that rested on the floor to keep him balanced forming a fist. The phone was picked up almost immediately this time, and Freddy leaned over the Daycare Attendant to speak into the phone in a firm tone. The tone he might use to reprimand a disobedient child. "Don't hang up. He's going to try to speak."
Sunny held the phone close to his chest, speaker letting out a large amount of static as he tried to force the sound to shape into words, a soft whine appearing at the bottom of his voice the longer he struggled, feeling the pressure. As if this was his one chance to keep his connection with his clowns. But then...
"...Scott?" The voice whispered into the phone. It was Baby. He nodded, clutching the phone tighter to his chest with slight giggles- they knew it was him. Maybe they could take him home! A weird vice tightened around him at that. He loved home, he wanted to be home, with his clowns, with his cats…. but he also loved his daycare. He wondered if that was the programming talking. His fingers loosened, rubbing against the soft padding of the floor as Freddy spoke up.
"Uhm, he can't really talk just yet. But he's nodding." He recognized the soft gasp that came from the other side of the line, the faint sound of wheels rolling as she burst into the garage. "Ennard!" She called sharply, his head snapping up from their work and onto her. She looked down on the robot they were working on and quietly added. "...if Scott's on the phone, then what’s this thing?"
"Scott's on the phone?!" Ennard leapt over the robot, nearly tackling Baby for the phone and shoving it to his 'ear' with a clatter. "Scott?! Scottie, can ya hear me?!" Ennard could hear the static as Scott tried desperately to form words. Just Ennard, just a few sounds, please. Voice, please, just his name. "csssssttsss Ehh.. eshhhkt." Sunny let out a frustrated cry, tossing the phone at Freddy so his hands could dig into his spike mechanism. His spikes were flared, pointed all the way out and unmoving, and his eyes were dimmer than usual. He pulled his legs up to push his face into his knees with a whimper.
"He's... he's trying. I don't know why his voice is giving him so many problems. Maybe he doesn't know which one to use." Freddy explained. "He's right here and can hear you... I didn't know his name was Scott. I've been calling him Sunny." Ennard had no idea what more than half of that meant, but he didn't care. While there was a voice that reminded him this could be a trap, a lie, he couldn’t help but feel hopeful. "...ah! You probably are confused. He's got a new body... but it's still him! Mostly..."
"Oh, trust me! I know alllllll about what's going on here. Alrighty, here's the deal: I should be over there in maybe... fifteen minutes. Thirty tops. You guys are at that blasted Pizzaplex, right?" "Yes, we are at my Pi-" "Great! Haha, I'll see ya there... there better not be any funny business going on here. I'm not afraid of you." Ennard showed he wasn't as carefree with what was going on as he portrayed with that threat before he hung up the phone. Sunny tensed at that. How could Sunny prove himself to Ennard?
Sunny hopped up, hooking himself to his cord and skipping along the floor towards his stage. He wasn't used to this, yet he still jumped up and felt the cord tightening, bringing him up into the air. One hand scrambled backwards to tighten on the fabric with a last second fear, the other hand reaching out in front of him as he visualized his movement, legs seemingly walking through the air. He'd timed it well, shuffling his feet downwards the slightest bit before feeling them both touch the ground. He gave a little hop onto his toes in place, letting his hook let go of the rope before dipping back behind the curtain.
Meanwhile, a sheepish Ennard called the number back, awkwardly asking where in the Pizzaplex they were. Freddy rattled off the directions from the main lobby, letting him know that he would meet him at the door to open it and to not be alarmed. "And if... you come directly on the hour, or minutes from it, be gracious. We recharge every hour, on the hour."
He glanced up towards Sunny's room curiously, setting the phone down once the person on the other side had disconnected. He could hear the light static from here. "Sunny? Are you doing okay?" Sunny's head popped out, stared at Freddy for a few moments, and then an arm popped out to give him a thumbs up. He dipped back behind the curtain to do... whatever he was doing. Probably obsessive cleaning.
Freddy sunk into his thoughts. Sunny was his friend, his pal, and he wanted the best for him. He was so happy that he'd get to reunite with those he loved. A pain scraped at the inside of his plates, gutting the space inside left for oversized birthday cakes... he knew Sunny couldn't go home with them.
Minutes later, he heard the lithe body crashing into the ballpit with a giggle, long arm held high with a piece of paper to keep it from getting ruined. Sunny skipped out of the ballpit, under the bridge and towards the slumped animatronic. He proudly presented his creation, still damp with the glitter glue. There were three similar sized beings, looking as if a child had drawn it. Done in crayon with glitter glue smeared over parts of it, including the party hat and skirt. He'd glued a pair of googly eyes to each person as well, and even stuck a few painted macaronis around it. There were a few spots where it looked like they might have fallen off.
On the left was some guy who looked to be in a gray jumpsuit, with a red nose and a party hat. On the right was a princess-looking girl with pigtails and rosy cheeks. In the middle was a guy with brown hair and sun spikes around his head... he assumed this one was meant to be Scott.
"Great idea! You're showing them that you know who they are before even seeing them!" Freddy praised, lightly patting Sunny on the head. Sunny let out soft static, trying to say something again but unable to get the words out, straining his voice box. "Just in time too, we should go wait for him!... or I should go wait for him. Sorry." Sunny huffed, dramatically falling backwards to sit and wait. Oddly enough, his body was contorted, legs folded above his head as he laid his front to the ground and rested his cheek against the padded floor. "...I'll be back, Supersun."
He sent one last glance towards the artwork before he headed for the door. It was nice to see Scott starting to accept his programmed urges.
Freddy walked up the stairs, skirting around a single cleaning bot as he headed up through the gate, avoiding the little chairs. He tapped his clawed foot as he waited for the gate to open, tediously slow, annoyed that they felt the need for such high security on their innocent Daycare Attendant. Anything monstrous that may now be inside of him was their doing, why must they punish him for it? Once it rose high enough, he ducked his head down to walk beneath it, continuing on his way through towards the other end of the hallway. God was merciful, as instead of another gate, the main entrance to the Daycare was a set of double doors. Freddy walked through them, closing them behind him and crossing his arms as he waited.
It was a few more minutes of scanning before he heard the scraping, jumping slightly as his eyes moved everywhere quickly, trying desperately to source the noise. He heard it coming up the stairs, unable to see the person. That was, until a clown face peaked around the stairs, scanning the area and seeing Freddy's feet, looking up slowly to meet Freddy's eyes with his heterochromic set. He'd been hunched in a crouch up the stairs- he must've been pretty stealthy if he'd been able to get to the stairs undetected by his bright eyelights.
But that wasn't what surprised Freddy. What surprised Freddy was that this clown was clearly an animatronic, or some sort of endoskeleton, standing up to full height at the top of the stairs. Well, close to full height, as he stood in a defensive crouch. He appeared closer to Sunny's height than his own, though Sunny's posture was kept to keep him looking shorter, smaller, and Freddy wondered which of the two would end up being taller. He seemed a lighter colour than most endoskeletons he saw. Strangely enough, he wore a human's coat over his wires.
Freddy gave a friendly wave, as if he wouldn't have seen him. "Ah. That makes sense!" Freddy commented as he took in the broken-looking clown. Said clown tilted his head in questioning. "Sunny didn't even seem confused to wake up in his body. Scared, but not confused. I would've imagined it would be jarring. It makes sense that you're an animatronic!"
Ennard said nothing to that, wires tightening in a slight glare. He didn't like the way this bear spoke of his human boyfriend like he knew him, and he didn't trust this bear for a second. For all he knew, the bear was the one who took his human away from him. His hands were prepared to shock, ready to be led into a trap.
But he wasn't, he realized as the bear awkwardly opened the door and gestured for the clown to go inside. He kept his gaze on the bear... for the most part. He noticed an odd pod sitting up against the back of the brick wall, as well as a couple of bathroom doors and a sign pointing towards a painted-looking garage door. "Y'know, for a daycare, this doesn't seem very... inviting." Ennard commented, keeping himself a half a step behind Freddy.
"When the doors are all opened, that's when it's a place of beauty... I would imagine. Never been down here during the day. Other places feel more welcoming when they're open!" Freddy responded cheerfully. Ennard was unenthused, especially when realizing that meant they were locking Scott away. He nearly said something on it too, but the door opened when the pair came closer to it.
Now this looked more like a daycare. So many bright colors, as well as a slide down into a ballpit. Tiny tables were set up with between two and four chairs around each one, there were cubbies for the kiddos to put their things, and bouncy music was softly playing in the background despite how late it was. Freddy beckoned him with a hand, pointing down towards the play area where Sunny resided. Ennard peered around for a few moments, seeing a yellow animatronic sitting in the middle of the floor hugging his knees, bopping his spiked head back and forth, lost in his own world. Sunny. Ennard realized with a start that this was who Freddy claimed was Scott. If he were human, his heart would've started racing and sweat would be dripping down his face at what Scott had become.
"I don't think he can see us from up here." Freddy explained, moving a paw as he spoke. Ennard noticed that his mouth moved in sync with his words, which he found rather impressive. If it wasn’t programmed in, the bear took a lot of pride in his role. "I've waved from here before and he hasn't seen me. He doesn't do parties, he's meant to tend to the children in the Daycare. He wouldn't have a need to be anywhere else... which is why he cannot leave the facility. Not as Sunny. I'm... unsure if he can even see the exit."
Ennard abruptly stopped at that. He cannot leave. He cannot leave. He'd seen what programming could do to an animatronic, with Baby and the saferoom at her old pizzeria... but Ennard refused to believe there wasn't a way. He was much too optimistic, he’d come to far and gotten a taste of having Scott back. He couldn’t just listen to this unknown bear. He didn’t know his motivations.
"...if there was a way to break his programming, perhaps. Even if you managed to smuggle him out, he'd be back within an hour... I don't know if he knows. Don't bring it up. He's too excited to see you to ruin that now. He needs this." Freddy continued, stopping and turning around to look back at the clown. "...what's your name?"
"Ennard." He replied curtly, dipping his head down and walking forward. Freddy couldn't understand where this passive aggressiveness was coming from; wouldn't he be thankful for all Freddy had done to help Scott adjust? Freddy trotted back behind the clown, who was swiftly approaching the stairs and waited at the door for Freddy to catch up. "Just be warned. I won't go down without a fight." He said with false cheer. Freddy gave him a weird look.
"Fighting is prohibited in the Mega Pizzaplex. Please, do not try to fight anybody." He said before gripping a door handle with each hand, swinging the doors open. Ennard felt stuck in place, as if the tall play structure was caving in towards the door. It felt like a nightmare.