'(Y/n)... help me...'
You jolted awake, gasping like as if you were a fish out of water.
It was that voice again.
Just when you thought it was finally over, it wasn't. it was far from over; it was not the end.
You checked the clock; it was 9 PM, it was near your shift again.
You remembered what happened last night, Moondrop, Sundrop, Freddy, all of them.
You mentally reminded yourself for a brief moment, you should probably apologize to Sundrop tonight, and maybe, make amends. You had to admit, what you did to the poor animatronic was not cool. Especially, since its basically your first meeting with the guy. He must've had bad experiences that caused this kind of perception.
You got up from the comfort of your bed, not feeling sleepy anymore. You pulled up your phone from the tableside desk, browsing through the internet for certain things.
What does it mean when someone whispers in your dream? You searched, scrolling through the millions of results given to you by a few milliseconds, thanks to the internet.
"To hear whispering in your dream, suggests that you need to pay attention to something, or listen to someone more carefully..." you read out loud, feeling the dread deep in your pit as you read, your voice turning hesitant to continue in reading the next contents.
"Pay attention to something, or listen to someone more carefully... what does it mean? What do I have to do?" you spoke to yourself, sighing as you excited the browser, placed your phone on the tableside desk and fully got up on your feet as you swung it over the edge of the bed. Your soft, bunny slippers giving your feet the warmth it yearns for as you headed to the bathroom.
It took you around fifteen minutes to brush your teeth, take a quick shower, and dress up into your night guard outfit which you washed earlier this morning. Feeling refreshed as you partially dried your hair with a towel. You didn't bother fully drying it, since it will air-dry as you make your way to work.
You finally went downstairs, grabbed your things, your keys, and locked your apartment door. It was another night, with the eerie animatronics and probably accompanied by the whisper.
The 2 kilometer walk from your apartment, to the Pizzaplex didn't take too long. Leisurely, it took you around 30-45 minutes. Whatever the length of time is, you managed to get there by 10 PM.
Surprisingly, you saw Vanessa there, conversing with another employee who seemed to be in an eager haste to get out of the place.
You tilted your head and headed inside through the doors, passing by the people who exited the building. You waved. "Vanessa!" you called out.
Vanessa paused in communicating with the employee and turned to glance your way. Her greenish amber eyes looked at you with pure disinterest as she lazily turned to face you, crossing her arms in return. "What do you want." She asked, well... more like 'demanded' for an answer.
You shifted for a moment, seeing the employee which she was talking to, simply give a gesture of farewell and headed off to leave, alongside some leftover customers from the facility and what seems to be a group of kitchen employees.
"I just wanted to ask, they said, you were on leave last night, but you were the one who released Freddy from Parts and Service." You said, looking at her eyes who was sharp yet blank.
"And?" she replied, seemingly uninterested with conversing with you by all means possible.
"I wanted to know, what you were doing here in the Pizzaplex yesterday." You made yourself clearer, since she seemed to be in a hurry to cut the conversation short.
"I left something in Parts and Service, I passed by Freddy by chance. I left soon after." She replied.
Soon enough, more and more of the citizens in the Pizzaplex, both employees and customers, exited the building. Only a handful were left, some could be seen in the main lobby, exiting from the elevators with their bags, ready to call it a night.
"How? I mean, the barriers are closed—"
"I have my I.D., I'm also a night guard." She cut you off, not really wanting to drag this longer than it has to.
"I-I see... I'll stay in the security office, if that's okay with you." You spoke in conclusion of the conversation smoothly.
"I don't care, just don't bother me." She ended before turning to leave, not even waiting for you to give even the slightest of a reply.
You scoffed; well, that was convenient of her. But isn't she always like that? Jeez, other employees who talks to her must be luckier than you.
"Alrighty then..." you said to particularly no one before using your ID to clock in your shift rather early and headed straight to the security office.
It was just like as you left it, minus some clutter here and there. You unlocked your locker at the back and hid your stuff there, taking your holster belt alongside your things in the process. You had your phone, your tablet, your flashlight—well, you decided not to bring your taser for the time being. After what happened last night, you'd prefer to remain as harmless as possible. Its not like something bad would happen, since none has occurred lately—which involves the need to use brute force against a human threat.
It was still an hour and forty-five minutes before your shift officially begins. You don't know why you're always going to work rather early. Maybe, it's because you have nothing to do at home? Or in your life even?
Well, it's good for moral credit. Who knows? You could be the employee of the month!
That sounds like a bonus pay, mmhm!
To pass time, you checked your phone and began browsing once again. You planned to continue your little searching, you began reading articles and narrative experiences from people online. Some of which is similar to what happened to you, but one thing made your case unique.
One, it was spoken by an unknown person, two, it seemed to be asking for help. Not to mention, the occasional visions of the utility tunnels for some strange reason.
One of the people online mentioned about 'going' to the 'places' seen in the dream, but you wouldn't want to bother Vanessa by all means. She already made it very clear that she doesn't want to see you there, not ever.
Eventually, you spent most of your time browsing, reading, and listening to documentaries even. The monotone of the recordings in those documentaries somehow bored you out, you yawned and laid your head down by the desk table that was cleared.
You didn't notice how time passed, as you drifted onto unintentional slumber, the monotone of a voice of the documentary, lulling you to sleep.
-----------
"Wake up..."
"Officer (Y/n)? wake up."
You groaned, groggily lifting your head from the surprisingly comfortable desk, your phone shut off due to being out of battery, the light from the room somewhat blinded you for a moment, causing you to hiss involuntarily while lifting a hand to cover the light's beams from blinding you.
"What now..." you mumbled in annoyance, blinking for a few times before managing to clear your vision.
You suddenly froze, this place, is definitely not your room.
You saw paper cups with straws, monitors, keyboards, a phone, and so much other stuff.
You glanced at who was calling you, and to your sheer surprise, it was the big bear animatronic that was always with you for a few days now.
"F-Freddy?"
"Good to see that you're awake. I didn't wish to disturb your rest, but you have to continue your work." He said, handing you your tablet.
You hesitantly took your tablet and skimmed through it to see almost half of the tasklist was finished. Scanning and monitoring staff bots was completed. Only a few, trivial things are needed to be checked. Wait, who done it?
"Did you—"
"I did, I saw that you needed rest. This is a one-time thing that I will not perform again." He said, his tone strict and in a monotone-like manner.
"I see... thanks, Freddy, but you should've just woke me up, you know." You replied, skimming through the list of tasks to mentally remember which are the ones that you need to do. "But I'm curious, I thought you guys don't like us security guards? Why are you doing our jobs now?" you added, glancing up at him.
He kept his monotone of an expression. "I don't trust you; I'll be honest, but I won't mistreat you due to the fact. I saw that you were tired, so, I decided to be generous for the night." He explained, lightly making slight movement, making his ears move briefly in a wiggle, his eyes fixated on you.
"You know, we're not bad people. I won't try to force you to trust us but we really won't do you harm." You explained, placing your tablet down to try and reach out to him.
But upon instinct, he took a step back. "My friends and I... had our experiences. I don't trust you, not anytime soon." He said, his voice firm this time. "However, just because I don't trust you, doesn't mean that I will mistreat you. But do keep in mind that I will not be generous enough to do it again, you must proceed with your work." His voice was kind of low and hinted slight hesitance.
You decided not to pester him too much, you glanced over at the time, which indicated that it was 2:00 AM in the morning. It was a miracle that Freddy was able to finish most of the tasks in just an hour or two? Considering that he only goes out at 1:00 AM for some reason.
The reason to that, you didn't bother asking. You're already pestering this animatronic more than you should be doing. If you press any further, he may not be nice anymore.
"Well, I'll be going now, to do work." You excused yourself, getting your tablet and walking past him, of course, being courteous enough to say 'excuse me' before fully passing by him.
He merely turned his head to watch your retreating form before sighing and shaking his head.
He often pondered; he's helping you because he doesn't want you to be mistreated, is that the only reason why he's so keen on keeping an eye out on you?
He doesn't trust you, that's one big fat fact, but why? The more you're with him, the more that he feels the need to be by your side.
He released an audible sigh before leaving the security office. He navigated through the halls until he arrived by the Main lobby. He watched as he spotted you, rushing up the non-moving escalators, somehow, reaching the daycare.
He was about to go after you, but a voice stopped him.
"Freddy, can we talk?" he turned to look at who spoke to him; indeed, Monty was there, beside him was Chica and Roxy, all looking worried.
"Yes, we can." He replied, taking one last look at you before leaving with the other animatronics. He had himself tapped into your tablet, it will notify him if ever you are in trouble.
Freddy followed his fellow bandmates, reaching Chica's room which was slightly messy with pizza boxes littered on the table, but much cleaner than Roxy's, he supposed.
Freddy then took a seat on the swivel chair which was next to Chica's vanity, while the three animatronics sat on the couch, Monty being in the middle, with Roxy on his left, and Chica on his right.
The bear animatronic looked at his bandmates attentively, seeing Monty cross his arms, and a brief silence follows.
"What is it?" Freddy finally asked to break the silence, his brows slightly furrowed in question.
"We want to check if you're still functioning, you've been acting relatively different, ever since you accompanied the security guard in Roxy's Raceway." Monty claimed, earning a nod of agreement from the two girls beside him.
Freddy raised a brow at that. "Kindly elaborate, Monty. I don't see any changes within myself." He claimed, of course, his internal system briefly running a quick scan over his internal systems, seeing nothing wrong at all.
"Monty's right, you've been acting differently. Usually, you would care less of what the security guards do, but to do their work while letting them sleep? This is unlike you, Freddy." Chica spoke, shaking her head in return.
The bear animatronic gave a frown. "She's tired, isn't it more plausible to let her rest, in order to prevent any unwanted accidents from happening?" he retorted calmly, his eyes half-lidded with calm poise.
It was Roxy's turn to contradict. "Didn't you say, you don't trust any employee in this place? Especially, night guards? After what happened that night..." she trailed off...
Freddy looked away, that night, he still remembers clearly on what happened that night. It was something he regrets the most. But he can't do anything about it, it was his choice.
Monty decided to break the newly formed silence. "Look, Fred, we care about you. We don't want you to get hurt again. You said it yourself, you don't trust her, but why are your actions contradicting your previous words? It doesn't make sense. Who knows if she tapped into your system, or maybe, she might be hacking you to act this way." He reasoned, of course, the last part, is very much unlikely based from his observations of you.
Freddy shook his head. "Yes, I don't trust her, but I won't mistreat her. If she's tired, she should rest, lest she gets into unnecessary accidents. On the other hand, I saw that she is curious, and her curiosity might get her into trouble. We are programmed to protect humans in the presence of a threat. My systems recognized that Officer (Y/n) is prone to getting hurt, which made me keep an eye on her." He reasoned.
Well, in all honesty, the last one was a lie. They are programmed to protect, yes, but under security protocols that makes them initiate defense protocols. On the other hand, they are incapable of hurting anyone due to their security protocol.
Especially, Freddy himself. He is the 'mother computer' of the animatronics, he has the highest protocol security measures, he is the most security-advanced animatronic. Due to this, he has the special protocol of forcing animatronics to obey his commands, as his security protocols will enable him to protect them.
Of course, he will not use such protocol. As he mentioned yesterday, he knows how animatronics are more sentient than any human would think, he wouldn't force them to do something which is against their will.
"Really? Sounds to me, you're starting to care for the night guard." Roxy spoke, though the amused expression she held never ceased from existence.
"N-No, you got it all wrong, I just don't want any unnecessary accidents to be taken care of!" this caught the brown bear off guard as he raised his hands to deflect whatever they mentioned.
"Right, we'll keep your words in mind, for now. But might I remind you, we're not interacting with them for a reason, and you know what that reason is. You were the one who decided on that set up." Monty ended, getting up from the couch, his long tail lightly swaying from behind.
Freddy could only advert his gaze. "I know... I remember my decision. But my mind is settled on the fact, Officer (Y/n) is not a bad person, she's simple-minded. Don't worry, I can assure you that I will not let my guard down." He spoke too, standing up from the swivel chair.
"I second that notion, she's pretty nice when I talked to her earlier. She's just afraid of our... stares..." Chica spoke up, rubbing the back of her neck during so.
Roxy shook her head. "Well, we have to, alright? Who knows, if we let our guard down, we may get hacked again, we may get hurt." She spoke, lightly on a monotone.
Freddy nodded. "I can assure you that the incident before will not repeat, my security protocols will not allow it. Should anything relevant or similar occurs in the near future, I will ensure everyone's safety." He spoke, his ears lightly moving forward as he lowered his head. "... even if it means shutting everyone down momentarily." He added.
The room became heavy with the tensed atmosphere. Being shut down, is something that they feared the most. Since being shut down, is basically similar to a human dying, the only difference is that if they are shut down and never turned on, they're as good as dead. On the other hand, if something went wrong, they can be shut down, and the protocol for hard reformatting can be initiated.
They'll still live, of course, if they're turned on after, but they won't remember anything, as they are reformatted. If that occurs, it will be like as if they are another person. They wouldn't want that.
"If you excuse me, I have something to do. I will see you all later." Freddy concluded, giving out a gesture before heading to the door, the hot-pink colored door automatically opening upon his exit.
The other three animatronics were left in silence, that is, until Roxy shook her head.
"No matter how advanced Freddy is, his sentience is what drags him down, it's what makes him..." she drags off for a moment. "It's what makes him human..." she finished.
"Not only Freddy, but also us. It's just that, Freddy is prone to be emotionally attached to people, its what will cause his downfall." Monty shook his head, glancing back at the girls. "I'll keep an eye on him, you two can observe that girl. If she's not as bad as Freddy mentioned, maybe, we can hand her the smallest amount of trust which we can give." He ended as he too, left the room.
With you on the other hand, you entered the Daycare through the first-floor entrance, pushing the double doors open with a swing.
The area was basically the same as yesterday, only, light filled the room, and some toys littered the ground. Bouncy music was playing through the speakers which are hidden from sight.
"Where could he be..." you mumbled to yourself as you turned off your flashlight, leaving it at a recharge station nearby the security desk. At least, in case the lights go out, you're ready. You didn't bring any weaponry with you; you wouldn't want to scare the poor Daycare Attendant once again.
Plus, having to let Freddy fetch you was embarrassing enough.
"Sundrop? Where are you? Sunny?" you called out, trying to see if he's around here, cleaning or anything relevant to the matter.
You heard shuffling, which seemed to be in the ball pit. You went closer, trying to keep your footsteps as quiet as possible.
Finally, you saw him, he seems to be removing building blocks from the ball pit, which seems to be reasonable since imagine stepping on a Lego? Ouch, especially, if you stepped on one after sliding down the slide from the second floor.
"Hey, Sundrop..." you waved, smiling meekly.
He turned to gaze at you, you could visibly see him tense up from your voice.
"Y-You again?!" he breathed out, jumping back to get as much distance away from you as possible.
"H-Hey! Calm down! I'm not going to hurt you, see? I don't have anything harmful on me!" you reasoned, showing your belt holster which only the tablet was strapped, the other things are absent, aside from your phone which was tucked at the back of your pocket.
"W...what do you want..." Sundrop muttered quietly, yet audible enough for you to hear. He seems to be heavily on his guard, not wanting to come close.
You breathed in. "I just want to apologize... I know, what I did is unjustifiable. I want to apologize; I won't do it ever again." You promised, you were never good with apologies, but you dearly hoped that the animatronic would at least warm up to you.
"... You still hurt me... last night..." he trailed off, keeping distance away from you, with him, still staying in the long trek of the ball pit.
"I don't know what I can do to convince you, but I'm really sorry. I didn't bring it with me, I'll never use it again, I swear." You held a hand out, trying to take small steps to at least get closer by an inch.
He looked away for a moment. "... It's alright... I was also... uncooperative." He looked up at you, slowly inching towards you in a crawling motion through the ball pit.
You smiled. "I'm glad, I wouldn't want to be enemies with anyone." You mentioned, shifting your movement from left to right.
"I accept your apology; however, you should leave. I'm not done cleaning, and Freddy is waiting for you." He motioned, pointing a finger towards the open doors of the first floor of the daycare, Freddy stood there, waiting patiently, his eyes glowing like a built-in flashlight over his gaze.
"O-Oh... I see... I'll see you around then, Sundrop?" you gazed back at the yellow animatronic sun.
"Sunny, you can call me Sunny." He got up to his feet, the smile more genuine than the permanent mold which masked him.
"Sure, Sunny. I'll see you around! And oh, please tell Moon, I'm sorry too." You spoke before waving, he nodded and waved back. You headed over to where Freddy was patiently waiting.
"What are you doing here?" you asked the 8-foot animatronic.
"Waiting for you. I fear, you might agitate the Daycare Attendant, I stood by in case." He claimed, turning to walk away which was out of the daycare, you following behind after grabbing your flashlight, of course.
"I just wanted to apologize to Sundrop, that's all. I wasn't able to see Moondrop." You mumbled, sheepishly following the bear closely.
"His real name is Sunshine, to be honest. He changed his name to Sundrop, in the name of his advertisement of energizing candies, and also, for Moondrop." He explained something, which piqued your interest.
"For Moondrop? What do you mean?" you asked curiously.
Freddy paused to look at you. "In the daycare, the attendant can switch between Sunshine and Moondrop, the light sensors installed at the back of his head enables him to sense daylight from night, which lets him switch to his counterpart." He began, continuing his trek which led to once again, the main lobby.
"Oh? I heard, Moondrop was for the night time." You added, which in turn, he nodded briefly.
"Yes, he was meant to be gentle, to put children to sleep. Since periodically, children take afternoon naps. This is why the daycare occasionally go lights out. However, due to a... programming bug, he was temporarily not allowed to be seen, which is also why the lights don't go out during the day." He continued, you two somehow reached the escalators which leads up to he second floor of the lobby.
"Oh? But what does that have to do with Sundrop changing his name?" you questioned, not really understanding why he's telling you this.
"No one likes Moondrop, due to his bugged-out programing. People tend to... forget him. Sundrop took up that name, since 'drop' is the second part of Moon's name. its to remind people that Moondrop is still there, and is still within him. They're like two siblings, living in one body. What happened yesterday, Moondrop sensed Sundrop's fear, which is why he is hostile towards you." He ended, crossing his arms.
"I see... I'll make amends, though, I apologized, I won't do it again." You promised, smiling brightly at the tall animatronic's way.
He gave up a nod. "That's good. I do recommend that you treat animatronics as if they're also human. We are... not just robots, we are sentient." He reminded before going off to get to Rockstar Row, leaving you by the escalator with your thoughts.
Yeah, its about time you treat them like living beings, enough of the hostility, enough of the inhumane treatment.