Chapter 1 available here
Drip. Drip. Drip.
That was the only sound that could be heard with the silence of those who resided in the cave. Beneath the ground of Hurricane Valley, Utah, there was a large, abandoned, cellar. The dim basement was meant to house the Nightmares. Who were they? The Nightmares were created beings designed by their Maker, to hunt and kill. Every Summer and Winter Solstice, they gave a sacrifice to the Maker.
Of the Nightmares, there were five. But originally, they would require human assistance. The Maker always chose one man to provide sacrifice through murder to keep him happy. This would last until their death. Whoever the chosen servant was, the Nightmares would bear twisted versions of images representative of the Servant.
Most recently, their Maker chose a man named William Afton to provide sacrifice. Afton was a man who designed animatronic mascots for a series of Pizza restaurants he owned. Naturally, the Nightmares would take the form of the animatronic mascots from his Establishments.
Over three decades before the present, Afton was killed, but he wasn't dead. Because thirty years later, using Essence meant to be sacrificed to the Maker, he was reanimated in a rotting animatronic body, which served as a tomb for his corpse. From that moment, he was known simply as 'Springtrap.' Now, Springtrap would have been useful for gathering sacrifice, had he not been hunting purely for himself. So from that day, he was cursed.
Because the Nightmares never lost their form even after Afton died, the Maker brought forth and appointed a new Nightmare to lead the team. Known simply as 'Nightmare,' he took on an even more ghoulish image of the old leader of the Nightmares, the one called 'Nightmare Fredbear.' Ever since, the Nightmares have retained their animatronic bodies.
The sound of water leaking on the cheap concrete floor was all that could be heard as Nightmare Fredbear sat, drifting off to sleep. The Summer Solstice came and went, and they managed to provide a sacrifice to the Maker. There was a slip-up that risked the exposure of their very life. Despite this, the Maker gave emphasis to his Nightmares that they needed to be more careful in the future.
Nightmare Fredbear began to dwell on the most recent events following the human populace. The Pizzeria that was recently built had corruption issues which they knew to involve Afton. However, they were mysteriously resolved, or at least according to the knowledge of the human populace. The Maker, however, could still sense Afton's existence.
Nightmare Fredbear's thoughts were interrupted when Nightmare stormed into the small room, looking visibly upset. Nightmare was always a cruel and angry being, but those qualities seemed to radiate off him in excess for an unknown reason.
"Fredbear... we need to talk," the large, black, bear animatronic said. He had a very deep, gruff voice and often wheezed mid-sentence.
"What is it that you require, Nightmare?" Nightmare Fredbear asked. His voice composed of three in one- that of a man, a whisper, and a machine.
"I have gathered the others. We have a situation on our hands... come at once," Nightmare commanded. As he spoke, the tone of his voice radiated a sense of stress. Something was terribly wrong.
The large, ghoulish, gold animatronic rose at once from the floor and followed his leader outside the door. Down a metallic, poorly lit cellar hall, Nightmare lead the golden bear to a larger room, taking the form of an old living space. Sitting on a purple couch were the other Nightmares. They consisted of a bear, a rabbit, a chicken, and a fox. Just like the original mascots of Fazbear Entertainment.
"Sit," Nightmare commanded. Nightmare Fredbear walked over to a rotting arm chair, and plopped down into the seat.
"Now... we have a situation on our hands..." Nightmare began. He began to pace the Living Room floor in front of the other Nightmares.
"The matter of William Afton HAS to be resolved... He disappeared several months ago, but we know he is still alive. Why, must the matter be resolved?" Nightmare asked, posing a question meant to get the others to focus.
"Well... we almost risked the exposure of our WORLD. We slipped up with the sacrifice to the Maker, and now... the humans have discovered the dead body WITHOUT injury. The Maker managed to take the sacrifice at last, but he left a trail... He feels it is best to destroy Afton and move on to another place. The problem? None of us know where Afton is at..." Nightmare explained.
"What about the Pizzaplex? That is the one place where Afton could be. I propose we search it! With enough power, we could force ourselves into the building at night!" Nightmare Freddy suggested.
The large, brown, orange-eyed, bear-like machine spoke in a deep, pure robotic voice. It was clear Nightmare Freddy was that of a rash, ambitious personality.
"...You fail to understand, Nightmare Freddy. We are trying to keep our existence a SECRET. And even if we were to sneak in... we would be easily detected due to our extraordinary size," Nightmare sighed, clearly unimpressed and irritated.
"We may not be able to sneak in, but perhaps our SIZE can be fixed," Nightmare Fredbear suggested.
Nightmare raised an eyebrow, turning his gaze toward the animatronic sitting in the dust pile that was an arm chair.
"And how would we do that?" Nightmare demanded.
Nightmare Fredbear sported an ugly grin across his face, the various metal teeth, some stained with blood, showing off and glinting in the light.
"I have just the plan."
~~~
The day was busy at the Pizzaplex. Saturdays were always extremely eventful, and this was also in July. Freddy and his animatronic friends were all on stage, playing songs for the children. Whenever they weren't doing that, each animatronic was at their respective attractions, taking pictures and signing autographs at Rockstar Row, or hosting birthday parties.
Currently, Freddy was in Rockstar Row, signing autographs for young children. With Party Passes, many rowdy kids with tired-looking parents would come and go. Pictures, autographs, and talks were a recurring cycle for the bear animatronic. That was all he did during the evenings of days such as this. It may have been tedious, but this was his life, and it was in his programming to do it.
Before closing came, one child that stuck out to Freddy entered the room, all by himself. The child was a boy with dirt-blonde hair and crystal-blue eyes. He appeared to be four feet tall. This boy wore clothing that resembled the colors of Freddy. He was clearly a fan of the bear animatronic.
"Well, hello young one! What may be your name?" Freddy asked joyfully.
"My name is Trent," the boy replied in a squeaky voice. He clearly could not be older than ten.
"Ah, Trent! Very nice to meet you. I am Freddy Fazbear, head of the Glamrocks and mascot of the Pizzaplex. How are you today? Doing well?" Freddy asked.
"I'm alright. The band was very impressive! And I like the food," Trent answered simply.
"Well, would you like a picture? An autograph?" Freddy requested.
"Actually, I have a few questions for you!" the young boy said. He spouted a goofy grin as he said this.
"Really? Ask away, little one," Freddy said.
"What's your favorite color?" Trent asked happily.
"My favorite color, is, uh..." Freddy trailed off as he thought about an answer for the child.
"Uh, orange," the bear animatronic said at last.
Trent's goofy face fell a tad as he processed the answer that Freddy gave him.
"Is it because you're orange? All the other animals' favorite colors were THEIR colors," Trent demanded.
"Well, no. Orange is the color of fire. Every time you see a fire, there is a sign. When the fire burns, the old is gone, but there is room for the new. Orange represents all KINDS of good things. Joy, peace, the end, the beginning! I've seen it myself," Freddy explained.
Trent's face transformed to that of awe. Hearing Freddy speak about things of this nature was surprising, to say the least.
"You know, you're smart for an animatronic," Trent said.
Freddy raised his eyebrow at the boy's response. Children of this age did not really talk about the true nature of the band mates.
"Animatronics? What- how are you...?" Freddy asked. Trent's awe look changed to one of thought.
"It's obvious. All the animatronics have AI, meaning they are programmed to be smart. And it really shows! How they do the same things every single day, without tiring, or getting bored. But there's something different about you. This is recent, but you act more like a real person. I can see it in your eyes!" Trent said.
Now, it was Freddy's turn to be in awe. Was his true nature being displayed THAT easily? When Vanessa gave the police her testimony about Glitchtrap, she left out a number of things, such as herself being Vanny and Freddy being a possessed animatronic. Only Freddy himself, Gregory, and Vanessa knew of these details. But that final detail looked like it was going to reveal itself anyways.
"You are a very smart child, you know that? I'm surprised you are capable of making these observations at your age! But don't worry about how we are programmed. Just stay in school, and if you do well enough, perhaps you may be a technician here one day!" Freddy encouraged.
"It was good speaking with you. Goodbye!" Trent said happily. Quickly, he skipped out of the room, presumably to leave the Pizzaplex.
"Well, THAT was a very interesting child," Freddy sighed.
Closing time was around the corner and Freddy finally had some time to himself. But he began to ponder the boy's words. He appeared different from the animatronics. Was it that noticeable? How many people came to that conclusion? Was it going to come out Freddy was possessed by the soul of Michael Afton?
Freddy was preparing to speak to his father, William Afton, overnight. This was a time that he was not looking forward to. During each meeting, Afton was very clear that he wasn't going to speak with him. There was something the old beast was holding back.
An hour later, the Pizzaplex finally closed. Freddy made his way to a still-closed Roxy Raceway and found the back door that led to the elevator to the Sinkhole. When Freddy emerged from the old lift, he found the familiar open chasm, which was under construction to be built as part of the Pizzaplex, and the familiar ruins of the old Pizzeria that laid on the ground the Pizzaplex does now, half a decade ago.
Inside the Ruins, Freddy walked down a newly-built set of stairs that led down a hole to the bunker where Gregory originally confronted William Afton. In this same, dimly-lit bunker, the possessed animatronic was chained.
"Well, if it isn't my beloved son, MICHAEL," Afton spat as Freddy entered the room.
"Father. I believe we need to talk," Freddy said grimly.
"Well, I suppose I don't have anything better to do," Afton sighed.
"I've grown in this form. Just like you likely have in the SpringBonnie suit. Do you think the people can see me?" Freddy asked.
Afton stared at his son for a long time. Thinking about the question he brought forth, he pondered his own past of an animatronic.
"Well, if you REALLY need to know, being an animatronic now is a lot more complicated than back then. They have technology now that they didn't when I was around. With million-dollar AI, those animatronics are supposed to TRY to act like people, but to you, it comes more naturally, since you were once a person. As the years go by, your mental state is going to revert to that of how you truly are. Mine was warped after, well, you know, what YOU did," Afton explained.
He finished the sentence with a tone of malice. It was going to be difficult to forgive Michael for what he did all those years ago.
"What happened all those decades ago was a mistake. But you murdered CHILDREN. You aren't fit to live. The only reason you are still being kept around is because you have information," Freddy replied, growing more and more impatient. Then, he walked up to his father, chained up against the wall of the room.
"Tell me, what else is happening in this place?" Freddy demanded.
"You aren't gonna learn a thing from me, boy!" Afton yelled angrily.
The night went through hours of Freddy and Afton yelling at each other, arguing about the things of their past. Freddy constantly tried to pry his father's secrets out from inside, but like every other night, he was unsuccessful.
Why did Afton refuse to reveal anything, Freddy thought. Was it because he did it simply out of a grudge? Was it anger, or was it fear? Deep down, something told Freddy that Afton's secrets were soon to rear their ugly heads.
~~~
It woke up at once. The creature discovered itself to be sitting in a small, wooden, white chair in a basement.
The creature stared at itself, trying to process his birth and existence. The small being looked down and discovered it was the size and had the appearance of a large doll. He had a yellowish-green body, with tiny arms and clawed hands. Then, he discovered a small mirror in front of him and saw that he took on the look of a small rabbit plushie, with tiny rips and an unusually high number of sharp teeth.
"What? Who am I?" the plushy asked. He had a high robotic voice that also sounded like that of a boy.
"...You, my friend, have a job," a deep, gruff voice called.
"Who said that?!" the green doll demanded.
"I am Nightmare... your creator. I call you, Plushtrap," the voice responded.
The creature, whose name was Plushtrap, turned his seat around to see a large machine, nightmarishly resembling a black bear.
"You... created me?" Plushtrap asked.
"Indeed. With parts given up by the animatronics, I built you in the image of the one we are meant to destroy, William Afton..." Nightmare confirmed.
"Destroy? I'm a little doll! I couldn't POSSIBLY kill something your size," Plushtrap exclaimed.
Nightmare let out a strange sound that nearly resembled a laugh. He shook his head at the hare plushie.
"I didn't create you to destroy him! I require you to... hunt him down. Once located, you will report back to me, and we will deal with it from there..." Nightmare clarified.
"Oh! That shouldn't be so bad. But I don't know where to even start. I don't even know what's outside of this room!" Plushtrap protested.
"Worry not... I designed you to be attracted to the scent of Afton. You WILL find him. Now... when you find the animatronic, do NOT engage. The whole reason I built you is to maintain our secrecy. I would HATE if you... violated your own purpose," Nightmare threatened.
"Right. Well, I will be off," Plushtrap declared. He hopped off his chair and began to walk out of the room.
"You best be careful, Plushtrap... I do NOT tolerate failure, and neither does the Maker," Nightmare warned.
"I'll do the job. Don't worry!" Plushtrap said in an attempt to be nonchalant. However, Nightmare wasn't slow to detect the doll's poorly veiled sense of fear.
This sense of fear, while not appropriate for a Nightmare animatronic, was becoming far too common within the group. Nightmare began to reflect on the most recent events. The Maker was clearly furious with him, as well as all his other servants. Should he fail in the future, Nightmare's punishment would be unbearable. The same would be enacted on the other Nightmares.
The Pizzaplex that Afton was allegedly being hidden in was not going to be easy to sneak in. If Plushtrap came back and reported the good news, a plan was going to have to be developed to enter the building. It would have to be during a time the building was closed to the public, and not just for one night, but for a longer period of time, several days to be exact.
According to the Maker, this Pizzaplex is the single biggest Establishment in history, and it would take time for the Nightmares to work their way through the building. They needed a way to buy themselves time. Then, Nightmare was hit with an idea.
"Also, while you are there... sabotage one of the animatronics. We need to close the building down," Nightmare commanded.
"You got it!" Plushtrap exclaimed happily. The small animatronic walked out of the room, following the natural scent Nightmare gifted him. When the doll was gone, Nightmare closed the door and began to think to himself.
"I created Plushtrap in the image of William Afton... but I wonder what will happen to him if the mission succeeds, or even if it will... I didn't program him nearly to the extent the Maker did, us. If he does not serve our purpose, we will be in trouble," Nightmare said.
But Nightmare had a feeling Plushtrap would come through.
