Archive of Our Own

If there’s one thing Gregory regrets, it’s his friend getting involved in this entire mess. To be completely honest, he didn’t drag Cassie to the Pizzaplex. That was all the mimic and its ploy to get itself free, using Gregory’s voice and Cassie as a catalyst.

But still, the fact remains that it was successful in its task. Cassie freed it, deactivating the only thing that could possibly stop it and when trying to escape, Gregory had to cut the lines.

It hurt asking Vanessa and Freddy to do that, but they had no choice. If Cassie could get out, then the mimic could get out and that’s not something they could have roaming around.

The mimic, Afton, a burnt down pizzeria underneath the Pizzaplex. Gregory hates that place.

He was lucky enough to get out with Freddy, despite it just being his head, and being able to free Vanessa from Afton’s control. Ever since Vanessa has been freed, she’s taken it upon herself to help Gregory in any way she possibly can. She learned some stuff about engineering and coding and applied it to Freddy. It seems she has experience ever since Afton was in her head. Turns out having a man who knows engineering and programming and forces you to build animatronics and endos as well as craft a virus to control an entire Pizzaplex taught her a thing or two.

It also was a big help that the Pizzaplex had some warehouses around the city. This helped with their gathering of resources. Gregory basically stuffed everything he could possibly see into his bag, leaving them with a lot of leftover supplies. If she wanted to, Vanessa could basically build another animatronic, but with what happened at the Pizzaplex, she, understandably, wants to stay away from that.

She fixed Freddy up, somehow managing to make him an entirely new body. It’s similar to the one he had before, but obviously a bit different. His voice box still somehow worked past all the bots destroying it and he still has his original head, keeping Chica’s voice box and Roxy’s eyes. So it’s good to say that Freddy still has some good upgrades, with a sound to divert any threat and eyes that can see through walls. Vanessa couldn’t give him Monty’s sharp claws however, so that’s a loss, but one Gregory is okay with.

But the most important thing about Freddy’s upgrades is that Vanessa managed to fix Freddy’s stupid battery. Now the animatronic can go for a while without needing a charge instead of dying in five minutes (which it feels like to Gregory while he was running for his life in the Pizzaplex.)

But even with all these preparations and upgrades, it was still a surprise when Gregory learned Cassie was going into the Pizzaplex. The place the three of them have been avoiding for months seems to keep drawing them back in.

Throughout the entire night, Gregory was practically screaming into the walkie-talkie, trying to get Cassie’s attention, but whether it was being blocked or they had a bad signal, he couldn’t get to her. Not until it was too late. She saw the mimic, she set it free, and while Gregory tried to lead her to the exit, a realization dawned on him. If Cassie got it, it would get out too and they couldn’t have that.

So it was with a heavy heart that he dropped that elevator, one of his best friends having to be condemned to the Pizzaplex.

It hurt and Freddy hasn’t stopped comforting him since.

The house is silent, only filled with the occasional sounds of Freddy’s metal body moving and Gregory’s crying. Vanessa had gone to make breakfast, but, just like Gregory, she doesn’t have an appetite. All the events that they saw last night are still haunting them.

So instead of staring into the void in the kitchen, Vanessa takes to lounging in a living room chair, staring distantly at the wall while Freddy rubs his hand down Gregory’s back.

“Why?” Gregory wails. “Why can’t it just stop ?”

Vanessa takes a deep sigh, lowering her head as her hands go boneless by her side. Freddy glances up at her. The poor night guard has been through hell. Her mind had been taken over and she was forced to do things she would never do, like hurt children, take control of the animatronics and order them to hunt. She was equipped with a stupid bunny costume, with a knife in her hands, prancing around the mall like a ballerina.

None of them mention anything when they both see her flinch at the sight of either a bunny or a knife.

“You know that’s not how it works, Gregory.” Vanessa stares down at the ground. “The secrets of the Pizzaplex are harder to deal with than burning it down. If that was the case, it would’ve all been finished within the Pizzeria underground.”

She stands up from her chair, probably too antsy to just sit down and do nothing. She starts pacing around the living room, letting the minutes tick away on the clock as the trio do nothing.

Finally, she glances outside, taking note of the warm sun that has settled across the land.

“Let’s go for a walk,” she states, already moving to grab the gear to cover Freddy. Miraculously, Freddy can somewhat hide in public, if he’s covered head to toe and Gregory and Vanessa just say that he's a bulky human. Something they mention about genes causing him to look like a giant.

That does confuse Freddy a bit, because based on all the data he has of Fazbear entertainment, he’s not the biggest animatronic to exist. Actually, he’s around the normal size of an average male, but it does help a bit when blending in.

Gregory reluctantly gets out of Freddy’s hold, figuring that a walk is a good idea. It’s nice to clear his mind and just get outside.

So Freddy follows.

Vanessa drapes the clothes over Freddy, pulling the giant hood over his head and securing it to make sure his metal snout doesn’t poke out like a sore thumb. He then gets into the rest of his baggie clothing, trying to hide him from the people outside.

It was strange when they first did this. Freddy was the star of the Pizzaplex, people would cheer anytime he walked into a room. Now outside however, Freddy can’t show his face. Vanessa described that an animatronic outside in the world would cause panic and they can’t have the police called on them. She also explained that if Fazbear Entertainment found their main attraction wandering around the streets, there would be chaos.

So Freddy stays hidden, just acting like a normal friend to Gregory and Vanessa. Sometimes people call him a brother with the way he treats Gregory and Freddy has heard Vanessa mention something like a “dad friend”. So Freddy thinks he’s all of those combined, whatever that means.

With his outfit on, they head outside the house. Like the paranoid people they are, all three of them check their surroundings before deeming it clear to continue. When they’ve had animatronics on their backs and a murderer in one of their heads, they’ve learned to keep their eyes on the shadows.

The walk is normal, the sun beating down on their heads, just walking along the street to pass along the time.

To keep Freddy hidden from people who look too closely — but honestly just to get away from the noise of the town — Vanessa leads them down a path outside of the city. Gregory has officially proclaimed it their hill, seeing as they come here all the time. After they got out of the Pizzaplex, Vanessa having been freed, they came to this hill, all with icecream in their hands. It was like a perfect happy ending then, but that was then and this is now.

Maybe they should focus on today instead of back then.

Gregory watches the scenery out here, all the wind dancing through the trees and the beautiful flowers living their life, no problems to worry about. Wouldn’t it be nice, to just be a plant living on this earth, with nothing to think about except for instincts?

If that was the case, Gregory wouldn’t have to be constantly thinking about the Pizzaplex.

But at the same time, he wouldn’t have freed Vanessa and Freddy if he were just a flower. He wouldn’t have uncovered the secrets of that sinkhole if he was just a tree. He wouldn’t be able to experience this life if he was just grass on the ground.

So there are pros and cons.

Vanessa leans up against the tree, tilting her face towards the sun to soak it all in. Freddy stays close to Gregory, basically like a protective shield, but he glances around the field, absolutely enamored by the flowers.

When he took Freddy outside for the first time, it was amazing. He got to see people in their natural environment and saw the real way plants grow. His eyes were practically saucers when he first saw it all.

Now, he doesn’t have the same reaction, but he loves it nonetheless.

Out here, away from civilization, Freddy doesn’t have to hide. So he sets his baggy clothing on the ground, lying next to Vanessa, and then strolls through the grass, his mechanical paw lowering down to brush the blades.

Gregory takes a deep breath, trying to focus his thoughts. He’s okay, he did what he had to. Cassie didn’t deserve what happened to her, but he couldn’t allow the mimic to get out. What the thing can do… its power. There’s a reason the M.X.E.S security program was keeping it trapped down there.

But… Why did Cassie have to go? Why did the mimic have to use his voice to trick her? He tried for hours to try and stop her, but the mimic had its hands tied securely around the rope. His plan was foolproof and Cassie fell into it.

Gregory lost a good friend last night and he hates it.

Isn’t he out here to not think about that? Clearly it isn’t working.

Gregory slumps down to the ground, wiping the stray tears and snot appearing on his face. Why? Why? Why?

His thoughts are just going down a rabbit hole (HA!), spiraling deeper and deeper into despair. His friend, the one who had nobody show up to her party, is gone. He was there for her when she was crying, he befriended her and attended her party. Nobody showed up and she was absolutely heartbroken, so Gregory walked up, gave her a tissue and talked to her about it.

Cassie was a true friend and he had just killed her.

Before his thoughts can go any further, Freddy perks up, his robotic ears twitching as he stares into the distance.

Gregory flinches at this, causing Vanessa to open her eyes and stare at the two.

“Freddy?” she asks, hand inching towards the gun that she has permanently strapped to her waist.

The bear squints his eyes, his ears continuing to twitch. “I hear something…”

Now Gregory and Vanessa have sprung up, the two following Freddy’s sight.

“What is it?” Gregory asks, slowly walking behind Freddy’s leg. It’s basically instinct now that he hides behind the protective bear whenever something happens.

Freddy goes silent, Vanessa and Gregory too scared to make a single sound. He keeps his eyes out on the horizon, waiting for the hint of the noise.

Finally, he gets it.

He darts closer without any warning and Vanessa and Gregory are found scrambling after him.

“Freddy!” Vanessa yells, grinding her teeth down at the runaway bear. He pauses for a minute, glancing side to side as he listens for the voice again.

“Roxy!”

This time, Vanessa and Gregory pause, hearing the sound too. Freddy glances back at them, his eyes wide with worry.

“There’s only one Roxy I know,” Vanessa states. Gregory, who is too spooked to speak, can only manage a slow nod as he swallows down his fear. Freddy reaches down to hold his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze before darting after the voice once again, Vanessa hot on his heels.

They keep going for a bit until they come upon a cliff. At the edge of this cliff is Cassie, covered in dirt and gunk, screaming downwards.

Gregory can barely get a glimpse of Roxy’s hair, the green strand poking out over the rocks. Her claws dig deep into the ground, giving her surface as she tries to climb back up.

He can’t believe it. His friend is alive.

When Cassie comes to, it's dark. There's the faint sound of dripping, probably from the water in those caves she explored earlier. A weird ambience echoes across, like the wind singing a deep solo.

Her eyes are slow to open, but she manages them to blink wide.

First thing she feels is the pain in her legs, specifically her right one. Glancing down at it, she can definitely say that it’s broken, bent in weird angles.

Her arm hurts too and it wouldn’t surprise her if it was broken as well.

Falling down an elevator would do that.

That’s right, she fell down in an elevator. An elevator Gregory dropped. All to stop that… thing.

How could he?

She came to this Pizzaplex because she got a message saying that her friend was in danger. She ran headfirst into this abandoned place because Gregory was hurt and all she got in return was him cutting the lines to the elevator, leaving her in this hell hole.

How could he?

She struggles to get up, her voice cracking and tears streaming down her face as she moves. She doesn’t want to make too much noise in case that weird copy animatronic is still down here.

That thing tricked her, acting like Gregory to get her to shut down the security. It got her to set it free.

She was played for a fool and she walked right into the trap.

Gregory… he knew about this all. How long has he known? This is all happening and he couldn’t stop her? The Pizzaplex has been closed for ages . Has he known since then?

Maybe she’s being too harsh. He did say he was trying to contact her all night. It’s possible that thing was preventing a signal from getting in. But still, telling her which direction to go and then on her way up to the surface, he just drops her?!

When (don’t think if) she gets back out, she’s going to give Gregory a piece of her mind.

In the midst of her struggle, Cassie hears the scraping of metal across the floor. She freezes in place, willing her body to stop aching. Her breathing is heavy and she tries her hardest to keep  it low, but the sound is getting closer so she thinks she failed.

She turns her head away, too frightened to glance at her death.

“Cassie?”

Her eyes shoot open, a gasp shooting from her mouth. Roxy?

Or maybe not. Could it be that thing again, this time mimicking the voice of her favorite animatronic?

She slowly tilts her head back, glancing at the broken elevator shaft and cave walls around her. From around a rock, a metal foot steps out. Cassie can’t help but flinch at the sight.

Thankfully, the next thing to pop out is a fringe of green hair, followed by an animatronic skeleton head of a certain wolf. The rest of Roxy’s broken body follows.

It’s not that bad guy, it’s her friend, here to save her.

“Roxy!” she calls out, tears falling down her face as her throat stuffs up. She can’t believe it. The animatronic she deactivated, the one she tricked with Gregory’s voice, the one who ran down here to save her despite being shut down, has come to save her once again.

At the sound of Cassie’s voice, Roxy’s head shoots in her direction. She takes big, yet hesitant, steps, too scared she might trample the little girl, as she makes her way towards her.

When she gets close, Cassie reaches her hand out, brushing against the animatronic’s knuckles. “I’m right here.”

Roxy flinches, her ears shooting up before they calm and lower down. She kneels down next to the girl, trying to see what’s going up, but growing frustrated with her lack of sight.

“What happened?” she asks instead, hoping to get some insightful information.

And get it, she does. Cassie tells her everything she’s experienced since she walked in the Pizzaplex. She talks about the message from Gregory, the hiding from Monty and Chica. She mentions the weird AR world and the glitching bunny that was always following her. She mentioned Gregory somehow doing these incredible things to help her. (She should’ve seen how it was all a trap when his voice sounded off or he was able to do things he shouldn’t have been able to do.)

All the while, Roxy listens. Her ears move up and down with the realizations of Cassie’s journey. She doesn’t interrupt once and lets the girl finish with her entire spiel.

“I’m sorry,” Roxy finally states when Cassie finishes. She rubs her broken claws along Cassie’s bruised and scraped up hand. “You don’t deserve this.” She glances up, as if glaring at something above. “I promise you, when I see Gregory again, he’ll regret ever crossing you.”

Cassie can’t help but laugh at the sentiment. Here Roxy is, blind apparently because of Gregory. (Roxy yelled something, demanding her eyes be given back to her and seeing as of how Gregory is her number one enemy, Cassie can put the story together.) Instead of the wolf being angry for her own sake, she wants to hunt down Gregory for Cassie.

Like a true friend would.

Cassie, albeit her injuries, lifts herself up enough to wrap her arms around the animatronic. Roxy stills at the movement, but matches the hug.

“You’re safe with me,” she promises and Cassie believes her.

When she moves away from the hug, Cassie yells as her leg is moved, grating along the rocky, dirty ground. Roxy takes notice of this, immediately focusing on Cassie.

“What’s wrong?”

“The fall from the elevator broke my leg. I can’t walk.” She hides her face in her shoulder, shoving her mouth into the cloth of her shirt to keep her from wailing. She doesn't want to look at the mess her limb is in right now.

Roxy’s arms wrap around her, this time gently maneuvering around the leg to lift her up. Cassie turns towards the wolf, confusion on her face.

As if reading her mind, Roxy answers. “You can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous. We’ll find a way out.”

“But Gregory-”

A growl emanates from Roxanne’s throat. “I don’t care what Gregory has to say. I can get you out of here.” She then places Cassie on her back, the little girl wrapping her arms around Roxy’s broken body to keep her in place. “I’ll be your legs, you’ll be my eyes.”

Cassie only nods before Roxy starts moving.

For once in her life, Cassie is absolutely ecstatic to see the sun. After being shoved down in the Pizzaplex, she thought she would never get to notice it again. Every day she would wake up and go about her daily tasks and never once would she think about the sun in the sky and how nice it felt. Instead, she may groan at the heat, or squint at the annoying light that keeps getting in her eyes. But now, she can’t help but feel grateful.

Even Roxy seems to be completely amazed. Despite being blind, she keeps moving her head up towards the sky, as if trying to soak in the light. Her claws keep moving from Cassie’s hands to the grass down below, trying to experience nature as fully as she can.

The little girl does her best to try and describe everything for the wolf, telling her the colors of the world around her. She describes the buildings, the cars, the people. She never really thought she would do this. It’s like trying to describe earth to an alien.

For her entire life, Roxy has only known the Pizzaplex. She’s roamed its halls countless times, practically understanding the place like the back of her hand, but now she’s out in the real world and it’s so much bigger.

To avoid any people, Cassie has led Roxy to the fields away from the town. She can’t have people freaking out over her animatronic friend.

Somehow she’ll think of something to do. Their first order of business should be to fix each other up. Cassie keeps bringing up a way to find a way for Roxy to see, but the animatronic wolf is stern with the fact that Cassie needs medical attention first.

While Cassie would love to go to the hospital to fix her leg and get rid of this pain, she knows Roxy won’t be allowed anywhere near and after what happened in the Pizzaplex, she’s not letting Roxy out of her sight.

So she’ll figure something out… eventually.

“Cassie, how are you doing up there?”

“I’m still hurting, but alright.”

The wolf hums in acceptance, but Cassie’s attention is pulled down to the cracking she can hear under the animatronic’s feet.

“Roxy?” she asks, causing the wolf to pause. “Do you hear that?”

Now that she has stopped moving, Roxy notices the cracking noises around her. “What is that?” she asks.

Before either of them can get a word out, the ground breaks beneath Roxy’s weight. Cassie yells as Roxy loses her balance, tumbling towards the edge of the cliff.

Luckily, the animatronic manages to grapple hold of the ledge with her left arm, digging her claws into the dirt above. With her other arm, she scrambles for Cassie, finally managing to grab a hold of her shirt. With a fierce yell, she throws the little girl atop of the cliff.

“ROXY!” Inching along as best as she can, ignoring the pain in her leg, Cassie glances down at the wolf. Roxy reaches up to gain a hold with her other hand, but the rocks crumble under her left hand and Roxy drops.

Cassie feels her heart fall out of her chest as Roxy loses her purchase. She hears a scream emanating from her throat as she watches her friend fall. Even though she can’t do anything, Cassie still reaches out, hoping, praying , that she can somehow save her.

Right then, a metallic orange hand shoots out, grabbing hold of Roxy’s endoskeleton hand and green claws. Metal scrapes against rocks and dirt rises at the commotion, but Roxy’s fall stops.

Cassie glances up in shock, her eyes growing ten times as wide at the sight in front of her.

She must be dead now, or dreaming, because there is no way Freddy Fazbear is here.

It’s not possible. She saw him in the Pizzaplex, buried under the rubble in Fazerblast. His chest was caved in, his head was missing and like a monster from a child’s nightmares, his chest screamed, the jagged metal looking like menacing teeth. He chased her then and she had to run for her life.

And now he just came out of nowhere, shooting down to grab Roxy before she was too far out of reach. Even if Cassie managed to grab Roxy’s hand, the animatronic would be too heavy for her to save. Roxy would only fall down, maybe dragging Cassie with her. But Freddy is as big as Roxy, maybe even bigger. With his strength and the animatronic body helping him, he can lift her.

Behind him, Cassie now takes notice of two other people. One of them is a person she’s never seen before. A tall adult with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She wears a plaid shirt with black pants, her green eyes wide with worry.

And the second person is none other than Gregory. Gregory, who she thought was her friend. Gregory, who dropped her down while in an elevator. Gregory, who left her to die.

Both of their eyes are wide and Gregory looks absolutely shocked to see her alive and outside.

Serves him right.

“Don’t worry,” Freddy states, “I got you.”

Roxy seems to recognize this voice because her head shoots up and her jaw opens wide. “Freddy?!” She says his name with shock, but also a hint of menace underneath her tone.

“Cassie!” Gregory yells, darting towards her side. “You’re alive?”

She shoves him to the ground, the little boy tumbling in the grass. “No thanks to you!”

“Hey!” He shoots up, quickly fixing his hair. “You think I wanted to stop that elevator?! You think I wanted you there in the first place?!”

“Does it matter?!” She’s basically crying at this point, her words or anger being drowned out by her tears. “You left me to die!”

“I wanted to save you, Cassie, I really did, but how could I when that thing could get out?!” He frantically shoves his hands into the air. “I needed to make sure it couldn’t escape either.”

“You’re lucky Roxy was there to save me or my ghost would be haunting you right now!”

Gregory shoots back in a panic, “That’s not funny, Cassie!”

“Hey!” Both of the children turn their attention to the adult. She’s breathing heavily, switching her gaze between the two. Nothing more is said, but she successfully got the two to stop fighting… for now.

With a struggling sound from Freddy, Cassie turns her attention back towards the bear as he lifts Roxy up and away from the edge. Once her feet are on solid ground, she lunges, heading towards either Freddy or Gregory.

Before she can do any damage however, Freddy restrains her arms by her side, wrapping his big metal arms around her to keep the wolf still. Her legs kick out, the whirring of the worn out metal sounding out before she gets tired and lets it go. Instead, she aims to use her words.

“You stupid bear! How could you help that little monster?!”

“Hey!” Gregory snaps.

“You just sat there and helped him hide as he attacked each of us one by one!” She kicks out once again, causing Freddy to resituate himself. “He took my eyes and you did NOTHING!”

“Roxy,” Freddy tries to plead, struggling with Roxy’s frantic movements. “The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you guys, you are my friends, but Gregory was in danger and you were not listening to reason!”

Roxy snaps at him, Freddy quickly dodging out of the way of her snout.

“I was left alone, blind, with nothing to see but darkness!” Her anger is slowly dying out, now being exchanged for words of sorrow as she starts to cry. “Nobody came to help me. No technician was there to give me back my sight. I was alone with the darkness for weeks , feeling my body decay. I couldn’t see what was happening around me and yet everything I knew disappeared all at once.”

The atmosphere around them all turned sad, like clouds gathering together and starting to just pour on them.

Roxy slowly goes limp, leaning her head against Freddy as she cries. Even without eyes and no way to actually produce tears, the emotion is clearly vivid.

“Roxy-” Gregory starts.

“Don’t!” she snaps, her mechanical tail flinching in anger. “I don’t want to even hear it!”

“Enough!” the adult yells out. All four heads turn to her.

“Vanessa?” Roxy calls out, tilting her head in confusion. Oh, so apparently this woman is named Vanessa and is someone Roxy is familiar with. “Vanessa, you-”

“I know,” Vanessa states, slowly reaching out to touch the wolf. When her fingers touch the metal, she flinches back, afraid of Roxy’s reaction, but the animatronic stays still. When she notices this, Vanessa places her entire hand on Roxy’s endoskeleton, rubbing down the rusty metal.

“I was supposed to help you, but it was my fault you got into this mess.”

“What?” Cassie asks, confused about everything. Who is this Vanessa girl and how does Roxy know her? How is this all her fault? Why is Freddy out here if he was trapped in the Pizzaplex? What was that thing that tricked her and why is it so important that it stays trapped that Gregory would basically kill her to stop it?

Vanessa takes notice of Cassie’s condition, a gasp escaping from her throat. She examines the little girl’s body, nodding to herself as she whispers quietly.

“Okay everyone,” she declares. “I know we’re all a little on edge and unfriendly with each other, we all have reasons to be. But right now, Cassie needs medical attention. So we’re going to act like we’re friends and go back to my house. We’ll all talk on the way there and explain things from each of our perspectives. Hopefully we’ll feel a little nicer towards each other after that.”

Reluctantly Roxy nods and as soon as she does, Cassie agrees as well.

Vanessa heads towards Cassie, lifting the little girl up as carefully as possible as to not aggravate her injuries. Cassie bites her lips in hopes to not scream at the pain. It hasn’t dulled down within the time she and Roxy have been walking, but she’s somewhat used to the stinging by now.

“Uh, Vanessa?” Gregory pokes her side, getting the woman’s attention.

“Yeah?”

“How are we going to get Roxy back?”

The answer to that question is a whole lot of stealth and a whole lot of luck. Somehow they managed to make it back to Vanessa’s home safely, all while explaining (and trying not to yell at each other) their sides of the story.

(Cassie reaches behind Vanessa’s back to hold onto Roxy’s paw. “I don’t get it. If Freddy is here, then why was he in the Pizzaplex?”

“Freddy’s never left my side,” Gregory explains. “He hasn’t been back to the Pizzaplex since we escaped.”

“But I found his body in the rubble. He attacked me.”

“I DID WHAT?!”)

(“I’m sorry, you hit Roxy with a car?” Cassie shoots Gregory the dirtiest glare she can muster. Gregory only shrugs, earning a huff of anger from Roxanne.

“I blame the assistant driver,” he states.

“Gregory!”)

(“So those comic pages I found were just scenarios?”

Gregory runs a hand through his hair. “You found those? Wow. Most of it was just my imagination, yeah.”

“And the other part?” Roxy breaks in.

“Oh, that Freddy blob head thing is real.”

Cassie chokes on air.)

(“Man,” Gregory leans against Freddy, the bear reaching a hand out to hold Gregory’s shoulder as the kid stumbles a bit. “Thinking back on it is rough. That stupid AI bunny was a mess.”

“AI bunny?” Roxy tilts her head in confusion and anyone can bet that if she still had her eyes, she would be glaring at Gregory in denial. “What are you even saying?”

“Oh no, Glitchtrap was a mess.” A growl can be heard underneath Vanessa’s breath. “Stupid thing had control of me and the entire Pizzaplex.”

“Had control of you?” Cassie asks. How is that even possible?

“Yup, I was stuck inside my own mind with him. I couldn’t fight back when he took control.”

“She chased me around with a knife in a silly rabbit costume.” Gregory jumps up in front of Cassie, a smile etched on his face while Vanessa hides away in shame.

“Let’s not mention it…”

“I can’t believe it.” Roxy shakes her head at Vanessa’s words, eating her own scoff from earlier. “That thing had control of you?”

Vanessa nods in agreement. “That’s why you all went crazy that one night with Gregory. The virus took control of you too, forcing you to attack him. I think when you saw Cassie, it may have rebooted your system to be child friendly again, like what happened to Freddy when he broke down on stage.”

Only a single thing can be heard after Vanessa’s explanation.

“WHAT?!”)

(“So you single handedly broke apart an entire Pizzaplex mall?” Cassie raises an eyebrow in suspicion at Gregory. That little child successfully evaded all the animatronics, broke them apart, and escaped while freeing Vanessa and running off with Freddy’s head.

“Like it was hard?” Gregory smirks, only to be lectured by Freddy.

“Gregory, be nice.”

The kid gives Freddy a sad smile, shrugging as he gets serious to answer Cassie’s question. “It was a lot and scary at times. I didn’t tell you because well… a lot of things happened.”

“I can see.”

“But you understand why that Pizzaplex had to go down.”

 Cassie hides away in Vanessa’s shoulder. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry about that, by the way.” Gregory glances down at the floor in shame. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Maybe fixing Roxy and I up can be the start of my forgiveness.”

Gregory doesn’t look up at her, only nodding in agreement. “Yeah, I’d like that.”)

(Cassie thinks back on Gregory’s words, paying attention to his ways of disassembling all the animatronics. They were all brutal, but she has to state that Monty got it the worst. Poor alligator lost half his body. It’s weird thinking that he was the way she found him because Gregory dropped a bucket on him.

“You never mentioned how you defeated Bonnie.”

All of the members of the party look up at her words.

“What?” Gregory asks, shock evident on his face.

“Bonnie.” She states it again like it was obvious. “Didn’t you have to fight him too?”

“I never saw Bonnie,” Gregory admits and when the questions start flowing through Cassie’s head, it’s Vanessa who replies.

“Bonnie got broken down forever ago. No one has seen him since.”

Cassie looks up, only now realizing how they have all stopped. Freddy is stuck frozen, eyes glued to the floor. Roxy, despite still being blind, stares off distantly, her body still too. Gregory’s eyes are wide, glancing from Cassie to Freddy in fear.

“Then…” Cassie feels reluctant to say this, but she presses forward anyway. “Then how did he get like he was?”

“You saw him?!” Vanessa shoots towards her in surprise.

“Yeah. His chest was all scratched up and destroyed, one of his ears lay broken next to him. His face was… messed up.”

A sudden breath comes from Freddy. He clutches Roxy closer to him and the animatronic wolf turns to stare at Cassie.

“Where, Cassie?” her friend asks. “Where did you find him?”

She takes in the entire group's sullen and shocked expressions, the silence threatening to choke them all.

“In a little room hidden behind the bowling lanes in the bowling alley. There was a vent leading to it up higher on the wall.”

The only answer to that is silence.)

Upon getting to Vanessa’s home, she immediately checks Cassie for anything wrong that she can physically see. After doing her examination, she commands Freddy to scan her, using his eyes from Roxy (the entire group has deemed to keep that a secret until their graves) to see any internal damage that she may have to work with.

Cassie and Roxy were both shocked with the three’s reaction when Freddy noticed a chip in Cassie’s head.

The craziest reaction belonged to Vanessa who did her best to gently take the chip out, making sure Cassie was alright, before smashing the stupid thing under her boot and then forcing Freddy to set fire to it using his igniter finger.

Even though Roxy couldn’t see a thing, she still stood back straight in surprise.

After that incident, the group did all they could for Cassie, cleaning up the blood, getting her some bandages and splints for her broken leg and fractured wrist. It isn’t the best kind of solution, but without a hospital, it’s all that Vanessa can do at the moment.

“I promise I’ll take you to a hospital when I can.” Vanessa moves on from Cassie to check up on Roxy.

“Please, you’ve done great already. Just… I want to make sure Roxy is okay first.”

Vanessa gives her a look of understanding, completely getting Cassie’s feelings towards the animatronic. She doesn't know how they did it, but Freddy and Roxy have somehow managed to get two children to hang on to them like a buoy in the middle of the ocean.

As Vanessa examines Roxy, Gregory pops up next to her, examining Roxy’s broken body and definitely avoiding her eyes.

As if sensing his presence, Roxy growls. “Don’t. I may not be attacking you, but don’t think you’ve been forgiven.”

Gregory slowly steps down and away from the wolf, silently nodding until he remembers that Roxy can’t see, to which he verbally responds.

“Well, Roxy,” Vanessa states, “I have some parts and I can get you back to be functional, but I may need to scavenge some more before you’re perfect.”

Roxy glances toward Cassie and a smile appears on her face. “I appreciate it, Vanessa. I just would like to see Cassie again.”

The smile spreads towards Vanessa as she heads towards the box of spare parts. “Don’t worry, you will.”

“Gregory.” Freddy holds the eyes out to the child. Said child is slowly backing away.

“How do you know she won’t attack me?!”

“We don’t,” Vanessa shrugs. “But I think you owe it to her seeing as you were the one to blind her in the first place.”

Gregory glares at Vanessa, quickly shooting towards Freddy with a pleading face, hoping the animatronic bear will get him out of this.

“Sorry, superstar…” The bear glances over at Roxy who is watching them, albeit not seeing. Cassie is sitting on a chair nearby, leaning in on the conversation. It was Vanessa’s idea to have Gregory give the eyes back to Roxy. A little learning moment between the two to get them to play nice. “But I think you both need this.”

Gregory sighs, picking up both eyes from Freddy’s hands. He slowly turns towards Roxy, her head tilting towards him.

She’s looking much better than she was when she escaped. Her face actually has a wolf structure to it now although it’s just a basic gray. Vanessa stated that when fixing up Freddy, she and Gregory raided some Fazbear Entertainment warehouses and Gregory took much more than he needed. Apparently the child was so concerned about fixing Freddy, he picked up any part he could see, even if that part was meant for the slimmer female animatronics and would not work on Freddy.

But thanks to Gregory’s panic supplying, they have many of the parts they need in order to fix Roxy up.

Vanessa started by looking inwards for any broken wires and fractured poles in her endoskeleton before working on her outer shell. They were lucky to get some painted parts, like the purple tiger print bracers and leg warmers, as well as Roxy’s clothes, but for the actual body of her shell, they would need to paint it manually. Another missing part of Roxy was her hair. Sadly, there was no stock of it in the warehouse, but Vanessa allowed Cassie to use some household crafting supplies she had to create new hair for the wolf.

Cassie took some liberties with it, braiding some parts, but letting it flow like a normal wolf’s mane would. All in all, she feels she did a pretty good job with it all.

And now it’s time for the final moment. Roxy has been silently sitting there as they all worked on her, just relying on her hearing to understand what was happening. She growled when Gregory got too close, huffed whenever Freddy got near, and was perfectly calm whenever Cassie came to help.

And now, she gets to see for the first time in months.

Gregory steps up on the stool next to the wolf. Roxy turns her face towards him, but otherwise doesn’t say or do anything. He glances down at the eyes in his hands, taking a deep breath before he reaches them both forward and clicking them into place.

The minute they click to her body, Gregory jumps back in shock, Freddy’s hand there to hold him up. Immediately they shut close, Roxy running a diagnostic on them before they can be used.

Slowly, the eyes blink open, the brown pupils glancing around the room. A gasp echoes from Roxy’s throat as her eyes seem to glow brighter. She then turns to Cassie and a smile breaks onto her face.

She reaches forward and gently wraps Cassie up in a hug, the braided parts of Roxy’s hair brushing against Cassie’s skin.

“My little rockstar has grown up,” she says and that’s all it takes for tears to spring forth from Cassie’s eyes.

They’re nowhere close to forgiving each other and from forgetting the trauma of their past, but at least this is a start.