Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the middle of the night, a young girl suddenly bolted upright in bed, patting at her body and struggling to breathe past the lump in her throat. Distant, unfamiliar screams rang in her ears and her eyes ached from blurry, multi-colored lights that she had never seen. Deliah rubbed at her eyes and shook out her tense shoulders as if she could physically shake away the memories that weren’t her own.

Creak.

What was that? It was still too early in the morning (late at night?) for her father to be getting ready for work, but the noise couldn’t have been anything other than someone walking around. Curiosity winning out over her better judgment, Deliah crawled out of bed and halfheartedly tried to kick on her slippers, but it was too dark to see them. The hallway wasn’t much brighter when she finally stumbled out of her room, but the tiny lights plugged into the outlets would at least stop her from tripping over her own feet.

“D-” Deliah struggled to free her voice from her dry throat, “Dad..?”

Suddenly, the figure that Deliah had failed to notice following slowly behind her pounced . Metal hands wrapped around her waist and snatched her up into the air like she weighed nothing.

“Springtrap!” Deliah laughed, kicking her legs out in the air in surprise. “Put me down!”

The seven-foot animatronic didn’t let her go, but he pulled her back so she could rest against him as he asked, “Did I scare you?”

“You’re never gonna scare me if you keep doing the same thing every time,” Deliah scoffed.

“Aw, I didn’t scare you even a little bit?” Springtrap shifted to cradle Deliah in one arm. “Why are you up this late anyway?”

Her smile fell and she looked away. “...I had another nightmare.”

“I’m sorry, do you want to talk about it?” Springtrap asked as he carried Deliah downstairs to the kitchen.

Her response wouldn’t matter, so she said nothing. 

If she said no, Springtrap would just carry her to her room and ask her about her nightmare there. If she went down to the kitchen with him, she’d at least get a cookie for her troubles. 

Still, the last two weeks living with Springtrap, while they’ve been weird, have been some of the most fun that she’s had in a long time! Don’t get her wrong, it had also been fun to sneak out to Fazbear Frights the last few weeks to visit him, but it was nice to be able to hang out with him whenever she wanted. Springtrap was silly and fun! Deliah just… didn’t know all that much about him. She hadn’t before she stole him from the horror attraction, and she didn’t know much more now.

She had a theory that he was one of the Fazbear Killer’s victims, but Springtrap didn’t like talking about it and she wasn’t going to pry.

Springtrap carefully set Deliah down at the kitchen table and slid the cookie jar over to her. “What was your dream about? It might make you feel better if you tell me about it.”

The tablecloth suddenly became very interesting. Deliah picked at a small stain on the checkered cloth in front of her. “I don’t wanna talk about it… but, um, you were in it again.”

“What was I doing?” Springtrap asked, drumming his fingers against the table.

“I- I really don’t want to talk about it.”

Springtrap smacked his hands flat against the tabletop. “You better tell me or else-!”

“Hey!” Deliah stood up, doing her best to make herself physically imposing. “We talked about that. Ask nicely!”

Springtrap sighed. “ Please can you tell me about your terrible nightmare about me? I’ll do anything!”

“Anything?” Deliah grinned cheekily. “Hmm… I’ll tell you about my nightmare, if you tell me all of your secrets.”

Springtrap frowned and leaned back. “Not happening. Maybe someday, but not today.”

“Then maybe, someday, I’ll be ready to tell you about my nightmares.”

It was a risky game to use Springtrap’s own words against him, but, thankfully, the animatronic laughed, “Heh, did I teach you to act like that?”

Deliah chuckled. “Well, Dad does think you’re a bad influence on me.”

Springtrap shook his head. “Alright, alright, if you don’t want to tell me about your nightmares, then you don’t have to. You do have to go back to bed, though.” Deliah pouted. “Don’t be like that, growing girls need lots of sleep. Come here.”

Springtrap got up and held his arms out. Deliah grabbed a cookie from the jar before letting him pick her up and carry her back to her room. The thin, furry fabric covering Springtrap’s metal frame made her skin itch, but Deliah didn’t mind. She nestled her head against his chest.

Springtrap carefully set her down in her bed, pulled the covers up to her chin, and patted her on the head. “No more nightmares now, alright? You know I’d never hurt you or do whatever it was that I did in your dream to upset you.”

“I know, it was just a nightmare. Goodnight, Springtrap.”

“Goodnight, Deliah.”

Springtrap turned and left, nearly running into the other member of the household as he shut the bedroom door.

“I heard Deliah talking, is she okay?” Nick asked as he tried to push past the animatronic.

“Deliah’s fine, Nick. I just tucked her in, don’t bother her.”

Nick gawked at Springtrap and tried to push past him again. “I’m her father , you can’t stop me from checking on her.”

Springtrap grabbed Nick by the wrist, squeezing it between merciless metal digits. “You should go back to bed and stop worrying about us. I’m not a bad guy, Nick. I want her safe just as much as you do.”

“You’re a freak,” Nick grunted as he snatched his arm back.

“Fine, go wake her up so she can tell you the exact same thing she told me: She’s fine, it was just a nightmare.”

The smirk on Springtrap’s face as he walked away made Nick’s skin crawl. He hurriedly let himself into Deliah’s room and shook her awake.

“Huh..? What- Dad?” Deliah mumbled.

“Hey, sweetie, are you okay? I thought I heard you talking to Springtrap.”

“Yeah? I’m fine. I just had a nightmare.”

“Another one? That’s the fourth one this week.” Nick pressed the back of his head against Deliah’s forehead. “You don’t feel sick…”

Deliah sat up. “Dad, it’s nothing! They’re just stupid dreams.”

Nick glanced up at a drawing of Springtrap taped to the wall by Deliah’s bed. The robot bunny in question was lunging at the viewer, his mouth full of sharp teeth.

Looking down at his reddening wrist, Nick asked gently, “Deliah, has Springtrap ever… hurt you?”

“No! Springtrap’s my best friend, he’d never hurt me!” Deliah gasped angrily. “Get out of my room!”

Nick jumped, almost starting to scold her, but he stopped himself. If something was happening, then what good would making her more upset do?

“Well, if anything does happen, you can tell me, alright? Goodnight.” Nick got up and let himself out of Deliah’s room. 

He had to remember not to take these kinds of things personally. Deliah was 13, she was at that age where she would start talking back and testing boundaries. Growing up, his sister had always been at their parents’ throats, but she had grown out of it over time as their mother always stayed calm, cool, and collected. Nick sincerely hoped that he and Deliah’s relationship wouldn’t get that strained, but with Springtrap constantly in her ear? God only knew what would happen next.

***

Wake her up .

Spring Bonnie shook its head. “No, she’s tired. She needs to sleep.”

The animatronic felt Afton’s spirit (his “Remnant” as he called it) shifting and squirming uneasily in their metal casing.

Wake her up, she’s probably having another nightmare, Afton insisted, nightmares hurt her .

Spring Bonnie sat up, she’s hurting!? How can you tell?

I’m a human. You wouldn’t get it.

W-Well, I guess it’s close enough to when we’d usually wake her up…

Springtrap gently grabbed Deliah by the shoulders and shook her. Little hands clumsily tried to knock him away, but the rabbit wasn’t deterred.

Deliah’s eyes fluttered open as she was shaken again. “Mph… Springtrap? What is it? What time is it?”

“About seven?”

“What?” Deliah groaned, “that’s so early!”

Deliah tried to roll over and tug her covers over her head, but Springtrap pulled them away and asked, “Does that mean you’re too tired for pancakes?”

“Hmm… No, I guess not.”

“Great!”

Springtrap beamed and scooped Deliah up, carrying her out of her room as she rested her head on his shoulder. The heavy, rocking gait was almost relaxing enough to put Deliah back to sleep, but she did her best to stay awake. Springtrap’s chuckle was warm as he sat her in a chair at the kitchen table and she immediately slumped forward to rest her head on her arms. Simple habit carried Springtrap around the kitchen, their shoulders relaxing as Spring Bonnie and Afton worked together to gather the ingredients and start cooking. The batter gave a soft, delightful sizzle as it hit the pan.

“How are you doing that?” Nick asked, his slippers squeaking slightly as he jerked to a stop and surveyed the scene he had just walked into.

“Oh, Nick, I didn’t hear you walk in.”

Nick rubbed his eyes and asked again, “How are you doing that?”

Springtrap paused. “What? Cooking?”

“Yeah,” Nick squinted at him, “how do you know how to cook? Aren’t you a robot?”

Deliah sat up. “It’s fine, Dad, he cooks all the time while you’re at work.”

Springtrap nodded. “I was an animatronic at Fredbear’s Family Diner, remember? I’m programmed to do basic cooking.”

“I don’t believe that,” Nick responded as he walked past Springtrap and started the coffee pot. “Even Fazbear Entertainment isn’t cheap enough to try to replace actual chefs with robots. Is there secretly a human in there?” He motioned up and down. “You’re definitely big enough.”

Sighing, Springtrap slid the frying pan off of the burner and turned to face Nick. He grabbed his upper and lower jaw and pried them open to reveal nothing but crisscrossing metal beams and rusty spring locks inside.

“See? No one inside. Or do you want me to pop open my torso paneling too? My spring locks are permanently locked in animatronic mode; I haven’t been wearable in years.”

Deliah bit her tongue and looked away. She’d never tell her dad this, but the suit hadn’t always been empty. When she first saw Springtrap and the animatronic had lunged at her, Deliah had seen something inside of his mouth. Not to mention, his jaw used to be broken on one side before she had helped him fix it, like someone had tried to violently pry the mouth open at some point. Springtrap had insisted that it was a fake corpse and it was gone next time Deliah visited him, but… she wasn’t sure if she believed him.

Springtrap was a prop in a horror attraction, sure, but would the owner really put so much effort into making the corpse look and, ugh, smell so real? And why had the animatronic been behind a padlocked door? If he was part of the show, why hide him from view? Was it to make sure that no one tried to steal him? Or so he couldn’t escape-?

“Are you still asleep?” Springtrap teased as he set a plate of pancakes in front of Deliah, interrupting her thoughts.

Deliah giggled. “I’m awake, I’m awake.”

Nick sat down at the table, a steaming mug of coffee in hand. “Are you going to be alright while I’m at work? You can come with me to the store today, if you want. Hang out with Jessica?”

“We’ll be fine!” Springtrap responded.

“It’s Deliah’s choice-” Nick started, but he was interrupted by the phone on the wall ringing. He got up and answered, “Hello? Oh, Harry! How are you doing?”

Deliah sat up and eagerly drummed her hands against the table. “Harry? Can I talk to him, please?”

Springtrap cocked his head. “Who’s Harry-?”

“Deliah’s right here, actually! I’ll hand her the phone,” Nick interrupted, holding the receiver out.

“Yes!” Deliah hopped out of her seat and took the phone. “Hey, Harry! Have you finished that book I gave you yet?”

She could practically hear his grin through the phone as Harry responded, “I’m, like, halfway through? But I really like it so far! Captain Reagan’s so cool, but her brother’s totally evil. Is he evil-? Wait, don’t tell me!”

“Ah! You need to finish the book!” Deliah squealed. “I have so much that I want to talk to you about, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Do you, uh, do you want to come over and hang out?”

“Sure! Can I come over around noon?”

“Let me ask my dad first.” Deliah pressed her hand over the phone speaker. “Dad? Can Harry come over for lunch?”

Nick gave her a thumbs up as he took a sip of his coffee.

“He said yes!”

“Awesome! I’ll bring over some of my video games.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later. Bye, Harry!” Deliah hung up the phone and sat back down at the kitchen table, bouncing her leg excitedly.

Springtrap worried at his magenta bow tie and asked once more, voice strained, “Who’s Harry?”

“Harry’s my friend! He moved into the house next door last month, not too long before I met you, actually.”

“And he’s going to be coming over today? While Nick’s not here?”

“Yeah..?”

“Deliah, he’s a teenage boy, he probably doesn’t have your best interest at heart. I think that, maybe, you should tell him to stay home–”

“Springtrap, I’ll be fine,” Deliah interrupted, waving the animatronic off. “Harry’s cool. I think you’ll like him.”

Seeing that he was getting nowhere with Deliah, Springtrap turned to face Nick. “Nick, you agree with me, right? Aren’t you at least a little worried about Deliah and Harry being alone together?”

Nick shook his head. “Not at all! I think it’s great that Deliah’s making friends with kids her age. Besides, I trust Harry and his family, so you better not bother them while Harry’s over.”

“Seriously!? But what about-” Springtrap cut himself off. “You know what? Fine. I’ll stay out of the way. Harry won’t even know that I exist.”

“Really?” Nick sat up. “I- thank you. I’m sure that means a lot to Deliah.”

Springtrap rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I’m a delight and a treasure. Surprised it took you so long to notice.”

“Don’t push it, Mr. Delightful.” Nick warned. He finished his coffee and stood up. “I’ve got to get going or I’m going to be late for work.” Nick leaned down and kissed Deliah’s forehead. “You behave while I’m gone, alright?” 

Deliah grinned. “I solemnly swear to blow up the house while you’re gone.”

***

Afton idly fidgeted with the book in his lap as he sat on Deliah’s bed. The sun streaming in through the window had quickly warmed the thin fur on his body, and if Afton focused hard enough, he could almost imagine that he felt it.

Are we really going to just sit here and wait until Harry goes home? Spring Bonnie asked suspiciously.

“Of course we are. That’s what we promised to do, isn’t it?”

Spring Bonnie smiled. Really? That’s pretty mature of you .

Afton bristled at the implication that his decisions weren’t usually mature, but brushed it off. “My life will be easier if Harry doesn’t know about us. Less questions.”

Oh, so you’re doing this for yourself.

“Don’t put words in my mouth,” Afton scolded. “This is for me as well as for Deliah. Harry might think she’s weird and not want to be her friend anymore if he knows about us. Wouldn’t that be a shame?”

Afton could practically feel the gears turning in Spring Bonnie’s head as the animatronic considered its next words.

I… I guess we are a little weird… It muttered, almost more to itself than to Afton.

A sudden burst of laughter drifted up from the living room and Spring Bonnie’s still functional ear twitched.

“We’re supposed to be hiding ,” Afton reminded warily, “we’re not in the restaurant anymore.”

Spring Bonnie shook off the coding that urged it to follow “Party Noises”: music, children’s laughter, more than three children talking at once, and other noises like those. The laughter downstairs settled back into indistinct chatter and Spring Bonnie settled back down on the mattress, taking a moment to remember where it was.

“How do you even still fall for those stupid codes?” Afton sighed. “Don’t you call yourself sentient? How are you going to let someone else’s work dictate how you think?”

Well , Spring Bonnie leaned over to grab one of Deliah’s stuffed animals, a little teddy bear that reminded it of Freddy, how do you decide how to react to things? You were made by someone else, weren’t you? Don’t you think the way you do because of them?

Afton scoffed and squeezed the stuffed animal in his hands. “Do you even understand what you’re asking? Or are you just stringing words together to try and sound smart?”

Spring Bonnie giggled (decidedly not having a voice meant for giggling in Afton’s opinion). Did it work?

“No. You sound like an idiot,” Afton responded flatly.

Oh well, I tried- Spring Bonnie cut itself off as its ear twitched once again at the sound of laughter.

And, in that moment, Spring Bonnie forgot where it was. 

“Are the children already here?” It stood up and walked to the door. “I’m not in the best of states for a performance, but Freddy and the others must be out there already…”

We just talked about this, you idiot-!

Spring Bonnie waved away the errant voice of an upset parent. It didn’t care what the parents said or thought about it as long as it made their children smile . That’s what it was built for, after all, making the children happy… 

The restaurant’s halls were different than it remembered, but no more difficult to navigate. Spring Bonnie made its way down the stairs and rounded the corner to see Deliah and their newest party guest!

The little party guest leapt off of the couch, putting himself between Spring Bonnie and Deliah as he shouted, “W-What the heck is that!?”

Deliah’s was surprised for a moment, but then smacked herself. “Ah, dang it! I forgot about Springtrap’s noise triggers…”

Ah- We were… We were supposed to be hiding, weren’t we?

Idiot.

Deliah carefully nudged Harry back and gently tapped one of Springtrap’s limp hands. “Springtrap? You good? Are you still in performance mode?”

Springtrap shook his head and groaned, “No… No, I’m fine.”

“W-What..?” Harry whispered.

“Harry, this is Springtrap. He, uh, he’s my friend. I met him at Fazbear Frights.”

“That creepy place in town?” Harry asked slowly, “Where those kids were murdered?”

It knew that it shouldn’t, but at the mention of the tragedy, Spring Bonnie pulled away from the conversation. Afton quickly took the reins and glowered in warning at Harry.

“Yeah… but we don’t really like to talk about it,” Deliah responded quickly.

Harry looked Springtrap over, walking around him as he continued, “I heard that the children used to haunt the animatronics at night and that they would even try to attack the night staff? Is that true? Are you one of the kids?”

Tap, tap, tap .

Deliah watched as Springtrap slowly tapped a finger against his thigh and cleared her throat. “Uh, Springtrap doesn’t like talking about that. Let’s talk about something else, uh, you were telling me about an easter egg-”

“No, hold on, that’s weird,” Harry interrupted. He stood up tall and tried (and failed) to match Springtrap’s imposing stance. “You’re a giant, sentient animatronic from a closed-down restaurant that killed five kids! You can’t expect people to not have questions.” Harry took a step back to better shield Deliah with his body. “What are you hiding?”

“I’m not hiding anything!” Springtrap declared angrily. He easily stepped around Harry and draped a heavy arm around Deliah’s shoulders as he continued, “In fact! Deliah trusts me more than anyone else, she told me herself. Isn’t that right, Deliah?”

Deliah slipped out from under his arm and grabbed Harry by the hand as she responded, “I’m not dealing with this right now.”

Springtrap watched the pair leave before silently following them to listen in to their conversation. In the next room, Springtrap could just barely hear Deliah’s hushed voice.

“Harry, I’m sorry for not telling you about Springtrap. I know it’s kind of weird, especially since I don’t know his past, but Springtrap’s not a bad guy! He’s just… He’s just scared,” Deliah whispered.

Harry shook his head. “Scared or not, he has to know-”

“He knows-”

“He can’t just…” Harry struggled to find the right words, “He can’t be like that and expect everyone to just accept it! How did you convince your dad to let him stay here?”

“I, uh, I snuck him in. And then Dad just… let him stay.” Deliah added quickly, “That sounds bad, I promise it’s not!” She pursed her lips. “Look, Springtrap just really doesn’t like talking about his past, and, sometimes, he threatens to get violent if you press too hard- not that I think he’d actually hurt you!”

Harry took a deep breath. “Deliah… Has he hurt you before?”

“...”

“Oh my God…” Harry breathed.

Deliah slowly met his gaze and muttered, “He didn’t really hurt me…”

The halls of Fazbear Frights were damp, smelled of mold, and most of the cheap lightbulbs overhead had long since blown up or nearly burnt out, filling the halls with flickering shadows. None of these things really bothered Deliah though. She continued to hop and trot alongside and around Springtrap as he aimlessly wandered around the building.

Deliah leapt in front of Springtrap’s path. “Come on! Can’t you tell me anything about your past? Please!?”

“I said no, Deliah.”

“Please? Please, please, please ?”

“There aren’t enough ‘please’s in the world to change my mind.”

“You really won’t tell me anything?”

“Nope.”

Deliah smirked. “So you’re gonna make me guess?”

Springtrap groaned, “Deliah…”

Deliah grinned and started throwing out the wildest theories that she could think of, from Springtrap actually not being a robot and instead being an actual giant rabbit, to him being a spy for the government. Springtrap, for the most part, tuned her out.

“You actually know the Fazbear Killer-!”

Springtrap suddenly turned and grabbed Deliah by the wrist, lifting her up into the air and coldly watching her writhe like a fish on a hook.

“Shut up,” Springtrap snarled, “and stop crying! I told you to stop and you didn’t listen! And you will learn to listen to me.”

“Springtrap, stop!” Deliah sobbed. “You’re hurting me!”

The robot froze, his fingers opening with a sudden creak and letting Deliah hit the ground.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do that, here, let me see-”

Deliah whimpered and threw her arms up to protect herself, “Don’t hurt me!”

Spring Bonnie’s fingers tangled in its tattered magenta bow tie. It remembered that night. It remembered that night far more than it wished it did…

After calming her down, Spring Bonnie had pulled off Deliah’s jacket and looked her arm over for any wounds. Her wrist was red from how tight they had squeezed her, but she was otherwise unharmed.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Spring Bonnie sniffled. “I don’t- I don’t know why I did that. Please don’t go-”

But Deliah was already running away. 

Spring Bonnie didn’t try to stop her.

Instead, the animatronic stayed kneeling on the ground and mentally hit itself. How could it let this happen? How could it have been so stupid as to actually believe that Afton had turned over a new leaf? Because of Spring Bonnie, another child almost got hurt.

Afton would never change

He’d never change

He’d never change

HE’D NEVER CHANGE

We still have an agreement, Afton said suddenly, interrupting Spring Bonnie’s thoughts. I told you then, and I’ll tell you again: I wasn’t trying to hurt Deliah, I just lost my temper. It’s a human thing. You wouldn’t understand. Henry won’t let you understand.

Spring Bonnie shook its head. There Afton went about that Henry guy again. He was always talking about Henry. Henry this, Henry that, some days ranting about how much he wanted to kill Henry and other times wishing he could just talk to him again, or how just seeing him would be “enough.” Whatever “enough” meant to someone like Afton.

Focus. What are Deliah and Harry talking about now?

“So… yeah, that’s what happened,” Deliah concluded. “I kept bugging him, I- I shouldn’t have. It’s my fault that he snapped at me like that.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Harry insisted. “I don’t care how much you were ‘bugging him,’ that doesn’t give him the right to hurt you. Why don’t you come over to my house? Get away from Springtrap for a bit?”

“Really? I-I’d love to!”

“Will… Will Springtrap be a problem?” Harry asked cautiously.

Deliah waved Harry’s worries away. “I don’t mind sacrificing some time with Springtrap to hang out with you.”

“That’s… not what I meant.”

Afton, his paranoia spiking, violently shoved Spring Bonnie to the side.

She’s leaving!? She can’t do that! Afton bellowed. I am NOT losing a perfect source of Remnant-!

“Springtrap?”

The animatronic looked down at Deliah’s worried face and took a deep breath, struggling to keep his voice calm as he asked, “Where are you going?”

“I’m, uh, going to Harry’s house for a few hours,” Deliah responded. “You’ll be fine while I’m gone, won’t you?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Springtrap lied. “Is it okay if I chat with Harry alone for a moment before you go?”

“I don’t know…”

Harry stepped forward, hands stuffed in his pockets. “Sure, we can talk.”

Springtrap grinned. “Follow me.”

Harry followed Springtrap up the stairs and into Deliah’s bedroom, Springtrap standing silently by the closed bedroom door for a few moments before nodding to himself.

“What did you want to talk about?” Harry asked, making sure to stay out of Springtrap’s reach.

Springtrap took a deep breath. “What are your intentions with Deliah?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t give me that!” Springtrap spat. “I saw through you the moment we met! You’re trying to take Deliah away from me, aren’t you?”

“That’s creepy,” Harry cringed. “Deliah doesn’t have to spend every waking moment with you. You know that, don’t you?”

Springtrap continued as if Harry hadn’t spoken, “I’m the only friend Deliah needs! You’re just some…” he waved his hand in the air, searching for the right word, “pet. Something to pass the time.”

“Hey-”

“I was being nice when I let you come over, but if you think that Deliah’s going anywhere with you-”

“What’s your deal, man!?” Harry interrupted. “Why are you acting so different?”

Springtrap scoffed. “You two triggered my performance coding, that’s not who I really am.”

“Who…” Harry took a step back. “Who are you?”

“I’m Deliah’s best friend,” Springtrap snarled, “and, if need be, a cold. Blooded. Killer.” He punctuated each word with a menacing step forward.

“Did you just threaten to kill me?”

“Are you stupid or deaf? That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“I’m not scared of you,” Harry stated firmly. “What are you going to do if I tell Deliah what you just said?”

Springtrap let out a bark of laughter, standing up straight to tower over Harry. “Without proof? She’d believe me over you any day.”

“Really?” Harry smugly pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Because I’ve got a recording that I think Deliah will find very interesting.”

“Y-You-!”

Harry kept his phone close to his chest. “Deliah warned me that you’re overprotective, and maybe that’s all this is, so I won’t show her the video.” Harry dodged as Springtrap reached for him and continued quickly, “BUT, if you try to threaten me, or hurt Deliah, or keep her from hanging out with me, then I’ll show her the video!”

Springtrap leaned back with a growl, “So… blackmail, then? Heh, Deliah’s a clever girl, I should’ve known that her friend would be too.”

Harry slowly pocketed his phone. “So… we can go?”

“Sure. Fine.”

“And you won’t threaten me again?”

“Not unless you gave me a reason to.”

Harry frowned. “And you won’t hurt Deliah either?”

Springtrap reared back, feigning offense. “I would never hurt her!”

“You already hurt her once,” Harry pointed out, “it’s only a matter of time before you do it again, whether you mean to or not.”

He just hoped that Deliah would realize that Springtrap was bad news before that happened.

Springtrap let Harry slip past him, mind reeling as he tried to decide what to do. He could kill Harry, but then that would force him to kill Deliah too, and he’d need to get Nick as well if he wanted to leave without a trace. The police wouldn’t believe Harry if he claimed that “a giant robot killed my neighbors,” but Nick? Even if the police didn’t believe him either, Nick had the ability to come after Springtrap in ways that Harry couldn’t (though it would be amusing to see Harry try to kill him). Springtrap hurried after Harry, stopping short in the living room as he nearly ran into him.

“Oh, there you are,” Harry said nonchalantly. “I was just telling Deliah about our conversation.”

Oh, sh-

“I’m so happy you two are getting along!” Deliah beamed.

Springtrap blinked several times before smiling shaky. “O-Of course! Any friend of yours is a friend of mine!” Deliah hugged him and Springtrap slowly hugged her back. “Y-You’ll be back soon though, right?”

“You’re such a silly bunny,” Deliah chuckled fondly, reaching up to boop his nose. “I’ll be home before dinner.”

Springtrap swallowed his frustration and chirped, “Have fun!”

Deliah and Harry left with one last promise to be back before dinner, leaving Afton and Spring Bonnie alone with each other once more. For a lark, Afton counted how long it would take for Spring Bonnie to speak.

It took Spring Bonnie all of ten seconds to start.

You said you wouldn’t be violent!

“When was I violent? We just talked,” Afton retorted quickly. “ Just like with Deliah back then. We just talked.”

Liar! You tried to hurt her! You tried to hurt her the first night we met her! You tried to kill her!

“Nonsense, utter nonsense…”

Spring Bonnie fought yet another surge of movement that wasn’t its own. It needed more time to… think? Thinking was… new. All of this was new and confusing and if the other voice in its head would stop talking, maybe it’d be willing to try moving.

I am not going to sit here and rot while you try to grasp the concept of sentience!

Spring Bonnie shoved the voice away as best as it could, begging him to just let it think in peace. The voice, predictably, kept talking.

Out of anything to be infected with Agony, why did it have to be you? Talking with my knife would be more productive-

Somewhere, far away in the building, there was a crash, interrupting Afton’s complaints. Though what made Spring Bonnie jerk forward was the sound of a voice, a child’s voice, crying out in alarm.

Are they hurt?

Springtrap blindly felt around the floor, looking for anything to use as a weapon.

You’re not going to hurt them! Spring Bonnie declared, forcing their hand down.

I won’t hurt them. I’ll be quick.

The voice went quiet, but Spring Bonnie could hear little footsteps making their way through the attraction. Spring Bonnie didn’t know the layout of the place as it hadn’t found the strength to get up yet, but it could hear that the little visitor was getting closer .

I could shout and tell them to run away… but that’s not how children work. If I yell, they’ll run straight to me…

That’s not a bad idea… 

I-I’ll rip out our voice box if you try! 

Hmph, fine. It sounds like our guest is coming straight here anyway.

The little guest was right outside the door now, fiddling with something.

“A padlock? Why’s there a padlock here?” A girl’s voice muttered, barely audible through the door.

Springtrap once again looked for a weapon, but grumbled when he found that his only option would be a large metal shelf that was too heavy and awkward to use.

Bang! Clatter!

“Woah! I thought that only worked in movies…”

The door was pushed open to reveal a small girl who could be no older than 13 standing in the doorway with a flashlight in one hand and a rusty crowbar in the other. Her light quickly fell on Springtrap and she slowly, cautiously approached as Afton remained oddly quiet. 

Spring Bonnie couldn’t even hear his thoughts, and Afton never shut up!

The girl took another step forward and Spring Bonnie only had a moment to register Afton’s intentions before Springtrap was lunging forward, arms outstretched and just barely missing the girl as Spring Bonnie held him back, feeling itself “ripple” (for lack of a better word) painfully inside of itself from the exertion. 

The girl screamed and dropped the crowbar, gripping her flashlight in both hands like her life depended on it as she took several steps back.

Spring Bonnie settled back against the wall where it had been left to rest and panted through the pain. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you! Please don’t run. I’m, uh, lost… Can you help me?”

I doubt she can-

She absolutely can help us, if you would just let me GET HER-

The girl was nearly hyperventilating. “Is that a corpse!?”

Afton clamped a hand over his mouth. “It’s not a real corpse, it’s a fake one for the attraction! What’s your name?”

“D-Deliah… what’s yours?”

Spring Bonnie started to answer, “Spring-”

“Trap!” Afton interrupted. “Springtrap, yes, that’s our- my name.”

That’s not our name. Why are you lying?

We don’t want to scare her, do we? What if she recognizes our real name and knows what we did?

I… Spring Bonnie didn’t like the idea, but he liked the idea of scaring Deliah even less. Fine.

“‘Springtrap’?” Deliah repeated slowly, shoulders starting to relax. “That’s a weird name.”

Afton nodded. “Yes, it is a strange name. But this is a horror attraction, of course my name is a little odd!”

Deliah chuckled weakly.

Spring Bonnie smiled back at her. “What are you doing here, anyway? The attraction isn’t open yet, is it? Where are your parents?”

Deliah frowned. “Dad doesn’t know I’m here, I snuck out.”

“Well that’s no good!” Spring Bonnie scolded, “You should be at home sleeping. Besides, it’s not safe for you to be out here by yourself.”

“I know,” Deliah sighed, “but this place has been under construction for months! I wanted to check it out.”

Spring Bonnie slowly stood up, joints creaking noisily. “You know, I’ve actually been wanting to explore too. How about we explore together?”

Beaming, Deliah took its hand and shouted, “Yes! Let’s go!”

After a few hours of exploring, Spring Bonnie escorted Deliah to the front door. “Please come back again some time, safely, of course.”

“Sure! How about next week?”

“Sounds great. Get home safe!” Spring Bonnie waved and watched Deliah walk away.

Sighing, the animatronic lumbered back to the storage closet, looking forward to being able to sit and rest after so much movement. Before it sat down, however, Afton suddenly made his presence known once again.

Wait .

What? Spring Bonnie straightened back up. What’s wrong? And why did you go quiet?

I was just thinking, reflecting, and I realized that you’re right: we can’t hurt Deliah! Which is why you need help me take my body out of the suit. It won’t be easy, so I really need you to work with me, not against me.

What does your corpse have to do with Deliah?

My corpse hurts her, Afton explained, as if what he was saying was the most obvious thing in the world. It scares her and she didn’t come here wanting to be scared, meaning that we hurt her.

Spring Bonnie nodded along. I didn’t mean to hurt her .

It’s not your fault, Afton assured, but you can make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s what you want, right? To protect children?

Yes..?

So help me!

…okay. What do I have to do?

Spring Bonnie nodded along and followed Afton’s instructions to remove parts of the suit and to scrape and tear out the human remains inside of it, a task far easier said than done. However, with them working in tandem instead of being in a constant tug-of-war for control, Spring Bonnie felt contentment and ease wash over it. It was so much easier to be when it didn’t have to fight Afton’s influence and it could focus on doing what it thought was right.

And the right thing to do right now was to get rid of Afton’s body so they wouldn’t hurt Deliah ever again-

“Ha!” A sharp little voice suddenly laughed. “Don’t you know? You already hurt her. Her blood is all over your hands.”

Spring Bonnie looked down at its bloody hands, and if it had its own blood, it would’ve gone cold. Looking up, Spring Bonnie saw that it was now surrounded by five ghosts, five little spirits who would never get to grow up.

“N-No… No, I didn’t! I stopped him!”

The leader of the ghosts, the first victim (the one that Afton had stuffed in the Freddy suit for how almost beautiful her screams had been), floated closer, close enough that their noses almost touched. “Stopped him? All you’ve done is bring him closer to Deliah. And now?” She shuddered violently, form rippling. “She’s dead . She’s dead because of you.”

Another, younger one (the one Afton put in Chica for how easy it was to lure her away with the promise of sweets and toys), came forward, tears streaming down her face as she shouted, “You didn’t stop him when he killed us! Why would she be any different?”

Spring Bonnie stammered, “I-I couldn’t-!”

Bonnie, now, the smallest of the lot (the boy that Afton had simply grabbed and carried away when no one was looking), hissed, “Couldn’t? Or wouldn’t ?”

“I couldn’t save you, but I’ll save her! I can save her!”

Afton’s laughter echoed in its ears as the ghosts closed in on it, shouting their outrage and anger as Spring Bonnie fell to its knees and curled in on itself.

“Please, stop!” Spring Bonnie sobbed. “I’ll save her! I’ll save her! ”

“God!” Afton gasped. “This is what I live for! The applause! The cries for an encore !”

Springtrap jerked up with a gasp, having fallen asleep at some point while reminiscing without realizing it. Disoriented, yet thankful for being awoken, Springtrap lunged forward and wrapped his arms around whoever had shaken him.

Deliah let out a surprised yelp, “Springtrap? Sorry, I didn’t mean to be gone so long; I got distracted playing video games with Harry and his brother, and then his mom asked if I wanted to stay for dinner…” she trailed off. “Are you… crying?”

Springtrap leaned back, still holding Deliah as he said, “I’m just glad that you’re okay.”

“Of course I’m okay, I was next door.” Deliah sighed, “How about you? Are you okay? You look like you handled yourself well while I was gone.”

Spring Bonnie shook its head. “You don’t know that! You don’t know what I went through while you were gone!”

Deliah cocked her head. “Did someone come over while I was at Harry’s?”

Afton waited patiently as Spring Bonnie tried and failed to explain to Deliah why it was upset without spilling their secret. It was losing focus. Losing control . Harry wasn’t here now; he could kill Deliah, clean the worst of the mess, and hide her corpse in her room long before Nick got home. Then, when Nick came home and went to check on her, Afton could catch him off guard and kill him as well.

Springtrap’s hand snaked around her neck, and, suddenly, Deliah couldn’t breathe and her feet were dangling and kicking in the air.

Deliah’s hands flew up to pry at the unforgiving metal. “Springtrap, stop!”

Despite knowing better, Afton took a moment to relish the look of fear in Deliah’s rapidly reddening face, and that moment was all Spring Bonnie needed to come back to its senses.

Spring Bonnie forced Afton to loosen his grip just enough that Deliah could gasp in air. Afton tried to take over and start strangling her again, but Deliah managed to plant a foot against Springtrap’s chest and kick herself free. She hit the ground with a hard thump and frantically pushed herself back along the ground, clutching her neck as she stared up at Springtrap.

Springtrap looked down at his hands in horror. “I-I’m sorry! I don’t know why I did that! I was- I was so upset that I didn’t-”

Realizing that Springtrap was having another one of his episodes, Deliah got up and took the animatronic’s hand in her own. “Springtrap, please calm down. I’m sorry for being gone for so long, but you need to calm down. Do you remember what happened last time? You really regretted what you did.”

Deliah yelped as she was grabbed again, but this time, Springtrap was hugging her tight as he sobbed, “I’m so sorry! How could I even think about hurting you? You’re so nice to me, how could I do that to you?”

Deliah hesitantly hugged him back, hoping for Springtrap’s sake that her neck wouldn’t bruise. “It’s okay, you let me go before you hurt me.”

Springtrap leaned back. “It’s not okay! I could’ve really hurt you!”

“But you didn’t! It’s fine, I forgive you.”

Springtrap sighed. “Is there… Is there anything I can do to make you feel better? Actually feel better?”

Deliah smiled reassuringly. “How about we watch a movie?”

Springtrap agreed and carried Deliah over to the couch so he could set everything up. Soon, Deliah had a bowl of popcorn in her lap, and Springtrap was sitting beside her on the couch while a movie played on the TV. Deliah wasn’t focused on the movie, however, she was too busy watching Springtrap out of the corner of her eye. The animatronic’s jaw was moving slightly, as if he was silently talking to himself, and his fingers were tangled in his bow tie, untying and retying it over and over again.

“Are you… okay?”

Springtrap startled. “Huh, what?”

“Are you okay?” Deliah repeated. “You’re going to tear your bow tie again.”

The animatronic looked down at his hands and slowly set them on his lap. “I think I’m crazy. I see and hear things when you’re not around, I tried to hurt you -” his voice box hiccuped and he hunched forward, “you- you should hate me! You should hate me, but you don’t, and I don’t know why!”

“Springtrap…”

“Do you want me to leave? Please, be honest. I’ll leave if you want me to.”

“No way! You’re my best friend, I don’t care who you are or who you were. Nothing could make me hate you,” she chuckled, “unless you were a serial killer or something, haha…”

Springtrap started to worry at his bow tie once again. “I… I think you should be more careful about not being gone for so long.”

“Oh, okay…” 

Something wasn’t right, Deliah didn’t need to be a genius to sense that. Though Springtrap further confirmed her suspicions by suddenly scooping her up and carrying her to her room.

“Springtrap? What are you doing?”

“I-I don’t think I should be around you any more today. Besides, it’s- it’s late, you should be in bed anyway,” Springtrap stammered. He pulled the covers over her. “P-Please don’t have any more nightmares, okay? Please?”

“I’ll try…” Deliah responded. “You know, you don’t have to-” Deliah stopped herself as she heard the front door open and shut. She sat up. “Dad-!”

Springtrap quickly pushed her back down. “You just got in bed, I’ll go get Nick.”

Before she could argue with him, Springtrap hurried out of the room and downstairs

Nick looked up from his phone and jumped, clutching his chest as he gasped, “Jesus-! Ugh, how are you so quiet?”

Springtrap ignored the question. “Do you know where Deliah’s been all day?”

“What?” Nick blinked. “Of course I know where she was; she was here. Did something happen?”

“Deliah was at Harry’s house all day, and she didn’t tell you,” Springtrap revealed. “I didn’t want to get her in trouble, but I thought you should know. I hope you’re not upset-”

“‘Upset’? Why would I be upset? This is great!” Nick beamed.

What!? If that was my daughter, I’d be furious!

Springtrap gawked. “Aren’t you worried? She lied to you!”

“Well, I’m a little upset that she didn’t tell me first,” Nick admitted, “but I trust Harry and his family. They’re good people. Is Deliah asleep already?”

“No, I told her I’d go get you…” Springtrap grumbled.

Nick grinned as he walked upstairs, leaving Springtrap alone to mope. That hadn’t gone to plan at all! He had been hoping that, at the very least, Deliah wouldn’t be allowed to go to Harry’s house anymore, but that was fine. Afton could make this work. He had rapport that Harry didn’t, knew Deliah better than her own father did, and was far smarter than Spring Bonnie would ever be!

Afton stopped in front of a photo of Deliah and Nick. He smirked. “I won’t lose this opportunity. Even if the worst comes, her Remnant is mine no matter what.”

Chapter Text

Once you realize that your demons can’t actually hurt you, they become significantly less scary.

The worst thing that the Phantoms could do (besides hurt your ears with their obnoxious screeching) was mess with the ventilation system. But just one button press later and everything was okay once again.

It was boring .

Michael’s head jerked back up once again and his half-decayed joints cracked noisily as he stood up to chase away exhaustion.

What a waste of time!

The chair’s rusty springs shrieked in protest as Michael fell back into it and fidgeted with his flip lighter, flicking it open and shut repeatedly as he waited for something, anything, to happen.

Hadn’t the phone dude said that they found “a real one”? An animatronic that kept spasming weirdly that they had locked in a storage closet until they could get a qualified mechanic here?

Henry had Michael hired as the night guard the moment word got to him weeks later, but Michael had yet to see a thing! Michael hadn’t wanted to go to the room himself yet, not wanting to run face-first into the jaws of death again, but he might just risk it tonight. Even after a full week of waiting for his father to show his stupid face, Michael hadn’t seen hide nor hair (pun sort of intended) of him.

Waving away a phantom that sluggishly tried to appear in front of him, Michael pocketed his lighter and stood up once again, his mind made up. It was time to see once and for all if his father was actually here and not some random Bonnie or Toy Bonnie that got mistaken for Spring Bonnie due to mold or something.

Maybe his father hadn’t been strong enough to break out of the room? Maybe he couldn’t move at all? If either of these were the case, then maybe he should just torch the building now and not risk his father escaping. But the room didn’t have a camera, so he couldn’t be sure if anything was in there at all. 

And if he wasted a golden opportunity like-

Clatter!

Michael looked down at the broken padlock he just kicked down the hall and then up at the door it was supposed to be attached to.

So Afton could get out.

But if he had broken out, then why wasn’t the door more damaged? And how had Michael not seen him on any of the cameras? When he next saw Henry, Michael was going to kick his ass for not installing cameras that kept more than a week’s worth of recordings on the building’s computers. Michael slowly opened the door, keeping himself tucked behind it for as long as he could while peeking around the edge, but what he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.

The room was empty .

“What..? Where-!?” Michael’s eyes fell on a pile in the corner of the room covered with a tarp. Michael cleared his throat and called out, “...Father?”

The pile didn’t move.

He took another deep breath to steady himself but immediately regretted it. His senses had been dulled significantly since “the accident,” but it was impossible to mistake the stench of rot . God, did Michael still smell like that? He hoped not. He already wore a gallon of cologne to hide it.

Before he could lose his nerve, Michael walked over, grabbed the tarp, and tugged it back. His decaying vocal cords caught and stuttered, stopping the scream that tried to launch itself out of his throat. The body on the ground in front of him was horrifically mutilated and decayed, torn apart and tossed into the corner like trash, but Michael knew his father when he saw him.

“Jesus Christ…” Michael managed to wheeze out, taking a step back.

A swarm of maggots filled the bottom of Afton’s broken jaw, writhing and feasting on whatever bits of flesh they hadn’t already devoured. Michael instinctively ran his tongue along his own mouth to make sure that none of the things had managed to find their way inside of him as well.

He stumbled out of the room, took his phone out of his pocket, and dialed one of the only numbers saved in it.

“Henry? I found him… No, no I-I think it’s even worse than we thought. I think he’s already escaped.”

***

Deliah ran down the hall as quietly as she could. She stepped into the bathroom and clambered onto the top shelf of the slender, wooden bathroom cabinet in the corner of the room, shutting herself inside. She focused on keeping her breathing shallow and trying to listen out for Springtrap, determined to not be caught off guard this time.

“48… 49… 50! Ready or not, here I come!” Springtrap called out.

Springtrap turned and found himself face to face with one of the ghosts, one of his last victims, the one that Afton had put in the Foxy suit after he almost managed to escape.

Foxy looked unsure of himself. “Are you going to scare her again?”

Afton smiled and tried to reach out to pat Foxy on the head, but the ghost weaved away from him (not that Afton could touch the spirits outside of dreams).

Unphased, Afton responded, “Of course I’m going to scare her. That’s my job.”

But we’re just playing, right? We’re not actually scaring her?

Afton rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, it’s the fun kind of scaring, the kind she likes.”

From inside the bathroom cabinet, Deliah strained her ears trying to hear what Springtrap was saying to himself, but Springtrap’s voice was far too muffled. However, she did hear the bathroom door creaking open and Springtrap stepping inside.

“Deliah~ Oh, Deliah~ Are you in here?” Springtrap pressed a finger to his chin and hummed, “Now where did she go..?”

Springtrap smiled to himself as he heard the tiniest of stifled giggles from the cabinet. He walked over to the bathroom door, shut it, and then silently stepped into the bathtub, hiding behind the shower curtain. After a few moments, Deliah opened the cabinet door and hopped down. She moved to leave, but Springtrap suddenly threw the curtain to the side and tackled her, knocking her to the ground.

“Gotcha! No cookies for you-” 

Deliah screamed . It wasn’t a startled yelp or playful cry of alarm. It was a gutteral, pained sound that came from her very core.

“Deliah? Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

It took her a moment to catch her breath, but Deliah eventually sniffled, “I-I thought you were gonna hurt me…”

“Is this because of your nightmares?”

“Yeah…”

“Deliah, this is getting ridiculous! Tell me about your nightmares,” Springtrap pleaded.

“I can’t!”

Springtrap tightened his grip on Deliah’s shoulders. “You’re going to tell me about your nightmares, or I’m going to do something stupid! I’m sick and tired of you judging me for something I didn’t even do!”

Stop! You’re hurting her!

Afton opened his mouth to argue, but he was interrupted by the sound of the front door shutting.

“Deliah, I’m home!” Nick called out.

The interruption jolted Deliah out of her fear, and she pushed Springtrap away. “What the heck was that!?”

“I’m sorry-”

Deliah ran out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her before Springtrap could finish talking, leaving him alone. Springtrap slowly stood up, metal joints creaking.

Why did you do that!?

“I was trying to get answers,” Afton sneered. “If you knew what was good for us, you would be doing the same. Need I remind you of what will happen if Deliah figures out what we are? Come on, we should go make sure that Deliah and Nick aren’t getting any funny ideas.”

The final ghost, lucky, unplanned number five (the one with dark, knowing eyes that made Afton think that she would be perfect for the recently-emptied Fredbear suit) stood in his way.

His voice sickly sweet, Afton asked, “Can I help you? Come to tell me about how bad of a person I am?” Fredbear, like usual, said nothing. She glared at him, eyes trying their damnedest to burn a hole in his metal skull as he continued, “Well, can I take a raincheck? I’ve got more important things to worry about than you right now.”

Afton tried to brush her aside and Fredbear let his hand pass through her, form shuddering and sending ripples of cold trailing up Springtrap’s arm. It wasn’t a real sensation, Afton had extensively tested if the suit could feel touch, but it was so close to a sensation that he almost swept his arm through her again just to chase the feeling. He held himself back however, he didn’t need the ghosts picking up on any weaknesses . 

Springtrap stepped through Fredbear and followed the sounds of Deliah and Nick’s voices to the kitchen, hovering outside of the door where he couldn’t be seen.

He rolled his eyes as he overheard Nick calling him dangerous, but his voice caught in his throat when Deliah didn’t even attempt to defend him! Instead, she almost immediately agreed that he had been “acting weird” lately! This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good at all!

Maybe if you were nicer-

Shut up! No one asked for your input! No, we need a plan. We need a plan, and we need one fast!

That’s what I’m saying! If you were just nice and patient with her, than maybe she wouldn’t be-

“Be quiet!” Springtrap shouted, immediately clamping a hand over his mouth.

“Springtrap?” Deliah got up and cautiously walked over to the kitchen door. “Were you eavesdropping on us?”

Springtrap hung his head sadly and admitted, “Yeah…” Before he could be scolded, Springtrap continued, “I was just… I didn’t mean to, I wanted to find you so I could apologize.”

“Apologize for what?” Nick asked suspiciously.

“For pressuring Deliah to tell me about her nightmares,” Springtrap answered honestly. “I know I said before that you don’t have to tell me about your nightmares, but this time I mean it. I only want you to tell me about your nightmares when you’re good and ready to do so, and if that means I never hear about it, then so be it.”

Deliah smiled softly. “Thanks Springtrap, that means a lot.”

Spring Bonnie was too focused on Deliah to notice, but Afton could see clear as day that none of their words had any impact on Nick. The man continued to glare at them, and Afton knew that, when he put his plan into action, Nick would have to go.

Chapter Text

Glowing neon arcade machines stretched down either side of the dead-end hallway that Deliah found herself in. 

Her dreams always happened here, in this mysterious arcade she had never seen before. At first, Deliah had thought that this was Fazbear Frights, but she had since gone through the halls of the horror attraction enough to know that Fazbear Frights didn’t have an arcade, or at least not one that was so large and had machines that actually worked. No, Harry had done some research and told her about the restaurant that Springtrap (or Spring Bonnie as he was originally named) was from:

Fredbear’s Family Diner

The name alone sent shivers down her spine. The diner had closed seven years ago after the five children died there and one of the restaurant’s founders disappeared without a trace.

The machine closest to Deliah was ice cold as she used it to pull herself to her feet. Deliah looked up and jerked back as she found herself face to face with a ghost. The small ghost stared back at her with hollow eyes, black sludge oozing from the sockets and shimmering in the pink-purple glow coming from the bow tie that rested snugly against his neck.

The boy leaned after her. “Shh, you need to be quiet and follow me, or he is going to find you again.”

“Who?” Deliah asked. “Who is ‘he’? Who are you? What do you mean ‘again’?”

“There’s no time! Please, you’re not safe-”

“Bonnie? Oh, Bonnie!” a voice crooned in the distance, “Where are you~?”

Deliah perked up. “Springtrap? Springtrap is that you? Where are you? I’m in the arcade!”

The ghost gasped as loud metal footsteps approached. She could feel the ghost trying to pull her away, but she ignored him in favor of-

Deliah took a trembling step back. “You’re not…”

The creature, Nightmare Springtrap, towered over her and the ghost, backlit by the now glitching arcade cabinets. He absorbed the lights around him like some kind of black hole and let them shine out of his eyes to paint Deliah and the ghost in multi-colored hues. Long, metal, intestine-like tubes uncoiled and stretched out of the various holes in Nightmare Springtrap’s body like tentacles.

He rolled out his neck and purred, “Well, look who’s joined the party. I wasn’t planning on a sixth, but I hadn’t planned for the fifth either!” He chuckled, “I have the perfect place for you~”

Deliah took another step back, stammering, “You’re not my Springtrap! G-Get away from me!”

Nightmare Springtrap stepped towards her, grinning as he cooed, “Don’t be like that. Come here-”

“Leave her alone!” The ghost shouted, launching himself off of the floor and at the monstrous figure.

A tendril shot out of Nightmare Springtrap’s torso and wrapped tightly around the ghost, forcing a pained and terrified shriek out of the spirit.

Nightmare Springtrap pulled the ghost in close enough that he could grab the ghost by the arms and playfully spin with him. “Oh, Bonnie. You’re so sweet, and so… so stupid. One day you’ll realize that you can’t save them and that I’ve already got you. I’ve got you all .”

Bonnie writhed in the monster’s grasp, the inky substance flowing from his eyes in heavy torrents. “Why are you doing this!? What did we do to you?”

Deliah summoned her courage and stepped forward to intervene, but a cold hand grabbed her own and a ghost girl with long hair and a black bow tie whispered, “Be silent! He’s distracted, you can escape through the back door.”

Nightmare Springtrap, still holding Bonnie, stroked the ghost’s head in a gross facsimile of comfort as he walked away. “Oh, come now, don’t give me that look. It’ll only hurt for a moment, I promise, and then we’ll be together, forever! A perfect little family…”

Deliah pulled away from the ghost girl. “I have to go help that kid.”

The ghost girl shuddered. “Please, you can’t go! You don’t know what he’s capable of. He’ll do so much worse than kill you: he’ll trap you down here with us forever! We can’t escape, but you can!”

“I don’t know what happened to you and that other kid, but I can fix it! He’s just having an episode, I can talk him down and put an end to this,” Deliah vowed.

Before the girl could argue more, Deliah pulled herself out from the hiding place between the machines that she had been dragged into and ran after Nightmare Springtrap and Bonnie.

Reaching the end of the arcade, Deliah cautiously leaned out of the doorway and out into another hallway. The purple-tinted lights highlighted a series of crude drawings on the walls of a yellow rabbit hugging a frowning child, the same rabbit leaning out of a doorway with its hand out, and a crying girl with black pigtails and an arrow pointing at her that read “stupid girl,” as well as other, similar drawings.

It sent a shiver down Deliah’s spine, but still, she cleared her throat and called out, “Springtrap? Come out here and talk to me before you do something you regret!”

Deliah started to make her way down the hallway, continuing to call out to Springtrap and silently pray that it wasn’t too late to fix this. After all, this was just one big misunderstanding, right? 

And, while this may not be her Springtrap, deep down, the monster was still him . So she’d be able to talk to him, right?

The lights flickered one last time and, one by one, the lightbulbs over her head began to burst. Deliah cried out in surprise and ducked down, covering her head with her arms and squeezing her eyes shut tight until she heard chuckling coming from all around her in the darkness.

“This isn’t funny!” Deliah shouted. “You better stop!”

“Why would I stop? I’m so… so close..!”

Metal tubing wrapped around her waist and hoisted her into the air as a hand cupped her chin from behind.

“Well, hello~”

Deliah screamed and kicked Nightmare Springtrap as hard as she could. “Let me go! Please, let me go!”

She continued to scream even though she knew that her pleas were falling on deaf ears. Deliah was slowly remembering all of the past times that she had been here, and Nightmare Springtrap had never listened to her before, but she had to try.

“Ha! I’ll never let you go!” Nightmare Springtrap laughed as he started to carry her away, but as her tears flowed into the palm that was still cupping her chin, the monster paused. “Hey… Hey, it’s okay. There’s no need to cry.”

His voice was soft, caring, and so much like her Springtrap that it made Deliah cry harder.

Nightmare Springtrap turned Deliah around to face him and roughly wiped away her tears with his thumb. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you, just like my other children.”

“Ch-Children? What are you talking about? Please… I just want to go home…” Deliah whimpered, writhing in Nightmare Springtrap’s grasp and prying at his hands until he coiled more tubing around her and pinned her arms to her sides.

Nightmare Springtrap cradled Deliah in one arm and booped her nose. “This is your home now! And I know you’ll love it. Here. Let me show you…”

Nightmare Springtrap opened the metal door in front of him and Deliah gagged, “Oh, God!”

The room was so small that it would’ve been claustrophobic even without the five bloody animatronics slumped against the walls. Inside each robot was a child, some older than Deliah, some younger, all wailing as they tried and failed to move. At the back wall, flanked by two bears, a fox, and a chicken, was a purple bunny, the only suit left without a mask.

Bonnie was hyperventilating, his sobs nearly nonsensical, but Deliah could make out a few words, “Please, no! Deliah, run! Please!”

“Look at them,” Nightmare Springtrap sighed wistfully. “Look at them. They’re all so happy here. It’s like a never-ending party just for us.” The monster held Deliah to the side and grabbed a purple bunny mask from a hanging shelf. “Here, there is no pain, no sadness, just everlasting joy. I look after them, I make them happy.” Nightmare Springtrap slammed the mask down over Bonnie’s head with a wet crunch . “It’s saintly, really, what I do.”

Deliah winced, but she couldn’t look away from the blood that slowly trickled down from the ghost’s now very corporeal neck.

Nightmare Springtrap turned away from Bonnie. “And you’re a very lucky girl. Even though you were late to the party, I saved the best place of all just for you: with me.”

“Wh-what?” 

Nightmare Springtrap’s eyes glowed brighter as he grabbed the top and bottom of his jaw. “You’ll stay inside of me, where I can keep you-” Nightmare Springtrap forced his jaws open impossibly wide, and the purple, rotting corpse inside concluded, “for all eternity!”

Deliah screamed, the tubing constricting around her until she felt her bones start to give way, breaking her apart until she was malleable enough to eat-

Deliah bolted upright in bed, her body slick with sweat as she struggled to catch her breath. “A dream… It was just a dream…”

Spring Bonnie lurched upright from rest mode. “Deliah? Deliah, are you alright-?”

“Ah! No! Leave me alone!” Deliah gasped, curling in on herself.

“It’s- It’s okay,” Spring Bonnie took a step back, “I’m not going to hurt you. See?”

Deliah slowly looked up, taking in the sight of Springtrap, her Springtrap. Her Springtrap with the patches that she had helped him sew into his torso and the magenta bow tie that he fiddled with whenever he was worried about her.

“I had another nightmare,” Deliah sniffled.

Those damn nightmares again… Ask her about it while she’s too upset to refuse!

Spring Bonnie waved the thought away. “Is it okay if I come closer?”

Deliah’s eyebrows creased worriedly, but she nodded.

The animatronic took a few tentative steps towards Deliah and leaned down to grab the teddy bear that must’ve fallen off of the bed while she slept.

“Would this make you feel better?” Spring Bonnie asked softly. 

And though Deliah nodded, she yelped and cowered again when Spring Bonnie tried to hold it out to her. It leaned back and carefully considered its next actions.

Down the hall, Nick startled awake. He could hear Deliah crying and Springtrap’s voice. His heart skipped a beat, had the robot hurt her? Oh God, he knew he couldn’t trust the thing. Nick kneeled down to pull a bat out from under his bed. 

He should’ve put his foot down and made Springtrap stay in the garage at night. God, why hadn’t he made that thing stay in the garage? 

As quickly and as silently as he could, Nick made his way down the hall and to Deliah’s room, stopping just outside the door.

“Stay away from me! Please, just go away!” Deliah shouted. 

Spring Bonnie threw his hands up. “Okay, okay, I’m staying back, alright? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have tried to reach out to you. You said you had a nightmare, right?”

“Mhm…”

“Was it about me?”

“Y-Yeah… Please don’t be mad…”

Spring Bonnie shook his head. “I’m not mad at you. You can’t help it. Here, you want your teddy bear, right? Can I toss it to you? Would that be okay?”

“I guess so…”

Nick’s expression softened and he loosened his grip on the bat as he heard the stuffed animal’s soft thump and Deliah’s little hum of relief.

Deliah looked down at the teddy bear that she’s had since she was a baby and smiled softly.

Spring Bonnie was quiet for a few moments before saying, “I know you told me to go away, but I don’t want to go until I know you’re safe, okay? Can I come closer?”

Ask. Her. About. The. Nightmare!

“You don’t have to tell me about your dream, but can we talk about how I can maybe make you feel better?” Spring Bonnie carefully walked up to Deliah and waited to see her reaction before wrapping her blanket around her shoulders.

“Can we talk in the kitchen? I don’t want to be in here,” Deliah asked.

“If it’ll make you more comfortable, then of course we can.”

Nick ducked out of view and watched Springtrap and Deliah walk away. He followed silently behind them, tucking himself behind the doorway to the kitchen and finding himself growing more and more unnerved by just how familiar and friendly the pair were. Nick had seen inside the suit, there was no one inside, but the way that Springtrap spoke was too human . 

Could Springtrap be remote controlled by someone? But who? Who in the world would use a robot to befriend a child, and why? Nick had heard plenty of rumors about the murders at Fazbear’s Family Diner, about how one of the owners had supposedly used the Spring Bonnie suit to lure children to kill them, but those were just rumors! Just stories told by kids to scare each other (as if the place hadn’t been creepy enough on its own).

Once again, Nick was glad that he had never taken Deliah to that place when it was still running. He didn’t know what he’d do with himself if Deliah had gotten killed-

No.

Nick couldn’t even think about something like that happening to his daughter.

Spring Bonnie grabbed a jar of cookies off of the counter and set them on the table, but Deliah didn’t move to take any, and she never turned down one of its cookies.

Spring Bonnie sat down across the table from her and Afton said suddenly, “Now, let’s talk about that nightmare of yours, okay?”

Deliah frowned. “I, uh, already forgot it?”

“You don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to- but I really want you to, and it really hurts me that you don’t think I can handle hearing about it.”

“It was… It was about your past.”

“What!?” Afton jumped. “What about my past? What did you see?”

Deliah grabbed his arm. “Are my nightmares really that important? Can’t we just go back to normal? Can’t you just be my big, silly bunny buddy again?”

Springtrap pried her arms away and squeezed her hands tight, blurting out, “We can’t go back to normal when you’re so close to figuring out-!” He cut himself off.

“Figure out what?”

“Are you trying to ruin our friendship? To get rid of me?”

“What? What are you talking about? What do my nightmares have to do with-?”

“You’re not going to get rid of me. You’re never getting rid of me. I’ll never let you go, even if you hate me!” Springtrap flinched. “Ah, wait, that didn’t come out how I-”

“Get away from my daughter!” Nick shouted, charging into the room and hitting Springtrap in the head with the bat.

Smothering any and all of Spring Bonnie’s influence, Afton stood up and whipped around to face Nick, fists raised. “You’re going to pay for that!”

“Wait!” Deliah jumped between them. “Please don’t fight!”

Nick grabbed Deliah by the arm and pulled her behind him. “I knew there was something wrong with you! Get out of my house!”

Deliah wriggled out of Nick’s grasp and got between the two once again. She took Springtrap by the hand and said, “Please don’t kick him out! He just has some anger issues, that’s all. He didn’t mean any of that stuff he said, right, Springtrap?”

Springtrap grumbled something under his breath, but agreed, “If you had let me finish my sentence, I was trying to correct myself and say that I was always going to keep trying to be her friend. It just didn’t come out right.”

“See?” Deliah asked, pulling Springtrap along with her into the living room.

As they’re leaving the kitchen, Springtrap couldn’t help but sneer, “You’re lucky I don’t feel pain anymore, Nick , or else I would’ve killed you.”

“Anymore?” Nick repeated, glowering back at Springtrap. “And just what does that mean, Mr. Animatronic Robot?”

“I-I didn’t mean- it was a slip of the tongue- er, voicebox- you get the idea.”

Nick grabbed Springtrap by the bow tie and pulled him down to his level. “No, I don’t ‘get the idea.’ What are you hiding? What do you want with my daughter!?”

Deliah angrily shoved Nick back. “What’s wrong with you!? Why are you so mad that I finally have a friend?” Afton grinned and rested his hands on Deliah’s shoulders from behind so she couldn’t see his smug smirk as she continued, “Do you want me to be lonely and miserable forever? Springtrap is the first person who actually listens to me and doesn’t call me weird or make fun of me for not having a mom!”

Deliah flinched as soon as the last words left her mouth, feeling a small pang of guilt as Nick looked away and dropped the bat.

Softer now, Deliah concluded, “I like Springtrap, please don’t take him away.”

Nick tried to stand firm with his decision, but he couldn’t stand to see his daughter so upset. He sighed, “Fine. I’ll give him one more chance.” Deliah perked up, but wilted again when Nick added sternly, “But if he has one more outburst like this, then I want him out of here. Okay?”

Deliah didn’t like it, but she agreed on Springtrap’s behalf before he could try to weasel his way into a better deal.

Springtrap looked between them and clapped his hands together. “Well! Now that that’s settled, I think Deliah should go to bed, don’t you, Nick ?”

Nick bristled, but Deliah hugged him goodnight and hurried off with Springtrap before he could say anything.

Deliah sighed as they stepped into her bedroom. “I really wish you wouldn’t pick fights with my dad like that…”

“He hit me with a bat.”

“He thought you were hurting me, that’s what dads do.” Deliah flopped down on her bed. “I guess you wouldn’t know much about that though, being a robot and all.”

Springtrap hummed and half-heartedly shrugged. “No, I guess not.”

Deliah sat up. “You know… I’m sure my dad would be a lot more comfortable around you if you told us about-”

“Deliah,” Springtrap growled, “don’t start.”

“Okay… But please think about it.”

“Fine, I’ll think about it,” Springtrap grunted. He tucked Deliah into bed. “Now, no more nightmares, okay?”

Deliah smiled weakly. “Goodnight, Springtrap.”

“Goodnight, Deliah.”

Springtrap patted her on the head and sat nearby, waiting patiently for the telltale signs of her having fallen asleep: her expression smoothing out and her breathing growing slow and deep.

“This is getting out of hand,” Afton muttered to himself. “Nick’s getting too confident, I might have to move sooner than I’d like.”

Spring Bonnie broke free from the “mental lock” that Afton had put it under. Why are you doing this? Why do you want to hurt her so badly!?

“Because I’m a lonely sadist with a pathological fear of abandonment and losing control?”

No, there’s more to it than that-

“I was joking.”

I don’t care! You’re hiding something from me. I know that you’re always just telling me what you think I want to hear -

“You don’t ‘think’-”

Why did you do it? Why did you kill them? That employee, those kids… why? Did you hate them? Do you hate kids?

Afton paused. “No. I don’t hate kids. It was never about hating kids. I never would’ve gone into children’s entertainment if I did, never would’ve had any of my own if- anyway.”

You have kids!? Who are your kids? Where are your kids?

“You wouldn’t understand.”

Is it because of Henry? I-I hear you when you mutter about him, you know. You don’t hide your thoughts when it’s about him .

Afton rolled his eyes and considered lying, but he smirked as he looked up at the ghost children, who were waiting for an answer as well. Well, if he was going to tell his “tragic backstory,” it might as well be to a captive audience…

***

“Are you… sure… that you’re okay?” Henry asked with his stupid, soft voice.

The larger man blocked the hall light as he leaned against the doorframe and watched me tinker, but even if his face was obscured by the shadows, I knew the expression he was making. His bushy eyebrows were knitted together, his grassy green eyes were gentle and watering, and his soft lips were pressed into a worried line. He was pitying me .

“Jesus fucking Christ, Henry!” I shouted, voice thick. “I said I’m alright, damn it! Can I have one moment to myself?”

Henry flinched, unable to meet my eye as he muttered, “I… I’m so, so sorry about Evan.”

My breathing hitched and I hunched over as if the apology physically pained me. With how badly my heart ached at the memory of my youngest son slowly dying, it would’ve been more pleasant if Henry had stabbed me.

“Get out,” I hissed.

“Willy…”

“Henry, if you don’t leave right now, I swear to God I’ll kill you!”

Finally taking the hint, Henry muttered one last apology and hurried out of the restaurant. Henry, bless his stupid heart, couldn’t understand how I felt.

Henry still got to go home to his happy little family like nothing ever happened.

Henry didn’t have to go home to an empty house with empty bedrooms that taunted him and called him a failure night after night.

Henry didn’t know what it was like to lose his wife and his kids, to watch his child die-!

I slammed my fist against the workbench, the pain jarring me out of my thoughts. I couldn’t focus on the divorce or the loss anymore, all I could focus on was revenge . 

I continued to mindlessly twist the wires in my hands until I was sure that Henry was gone, and that he wouldn’t suddenly come back to try and sympathize with me again. I stood up and walked over to the Fredbear suit, the suit that’s haunted and tormented me for months- 

No. There wasn’t time for that right now.

Grief could wait until after I got my revenge.

The Fredbear suit was already splayed open on the ground, internal panels and wiring exposed to the harsh fluorescent lights overhead. Henry had been using it as a guide to fix up the Freddy suit, but hadn’t gotten the chance to close it back up before he had to leave. I glared down into the bowels of the suit.

What kind of monster could continue letting that thing walk around and go as far as to fucking wear it after it killed someone’s son ? Someone who said monster claimed to care about?

Ha, if Henry cared so much about the damn thing, then I was going to make sure that, next time Henry wore the suit, he’d never be able to take it off again…

The next morning, I unlocked the restaurant doors and looked around the parking lot once more; Henry was late.

Henry was never late.

I stormed into the restaurant and started setting it up for the day as I called Henry, keeping my phone tightly pinched between my shoulder and ear. It took a few calls, but Henry eventually answered.

“Hello? Willy?” Henry yawned.

“Where are you? You’re late.”

Henry sighed, “Oh, darn it, I-I knew I forgot to do something… I’m sorry, Willy, but Charlie’s sick and Mariene’s taking Sammy to the dentist… I don’t know if I’ll be able to come in today.”

I nearly dropped my phone. “What!?”

“I’m sorry, but Charlie’s had a fever and been throwing up since late last night. I might have to take her to the hospital-”

“That’s-” I interrupted, sucking on my teeth for a moment before letting out a low sigh, “That’s fine. I’ll just keep the Fredbear suit in animatronic mode today.”

“I’m really sorry-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” I interrupted again. “Don’t worry about it. Tell Charlotte that I hope she gets well soon.”

I hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of my nose with a groan. This… wasn’t ideal, but it was fine. My desire for revenge had been simmering for months, what was one more day? As long as no one put Fredbear into mascot mode, then everything would be fine.

“Sir, are you sure you don’t want help with the kids?” One of my employees pestered later that day, following close behind me like a fly as I made my way to the workshop to take off the Spring Bonnie suit. “I can wear the Fredbear suit, Henry trained me to wear the suits for this exact reason!”

I rolled my eyes, taking off the mask with a relieved sigh. “Kid, it’s fine, I’m used to dealing with bigger groups like this on my own. What do you think Henry and I used to do before we had more employees? Besides, trained or not, these suits are dangerous. Henry and I designed these suits, we know them better than anyone else.”

“And I trust Henry’s designs!”

My eye twitched, and I turned to glare at the suit in question slumped against the back wall.

I took a deep breath and smiled. “You know what? Fine. Wear the suit. You’re right: Henry trained you to wear it and he’s a great mechanic, so I’m sure that you’ll be fine.”

“Really? Awesome! I’ve always wanted to perform in one of these things…”

I watched them eagerly trot over to the suit and slide the pieces on, helping them here and there with the clasps and hooks.

I patted them on the back. “Let’s get on stage”

It was a miracle that the business didn’t go under.

Weeks later, the police had returned the now-empty Fredbear suit with a strong recommendation that the thing never see the light of day again, and it now sat abandoned in the workshop.

Another reminder of my failures.

Now I had no way of tricking Henry into getting springlocked in the Fredbear suit. Hell, I’d be surprised if Henry ever wore any of the suits again with how anxious he got whenever he saw me wearing the Spring Bonnie suit.

I sighed and picked up the Bonnie head on my workbench to fix its loose jaw. 

Bang!

I dropped the head and looked over to watch as Fredbear’s left arm jerked up before falling back to the ground. I slowly got to my feet as the suit’s spasming and seizing grew stronger and more violent until it suddenly jerked forward, locking into place as glowing eyes rolled forward to glare at me. A low groaning noise filled the room as Fredbear dragged itself to its feet, swaying unsteadily.

“Wh-What the… What the hell!?” I stumbled backwards. “How are you moving? I took out your batteries!”

Fredbear worked its jaw a few times before a familiar voice growled, “Afton…”

“H-How..?”

Taking a clumsy step forward, Fredbear continued, “You… You killed me! This is your fault!”

Not wanting to find out if this was actually happening or if I had suddenly started hallucinating from lack of sleep, I turned and ran. My heart hammered against my ribs as the animatronic (and my dead employee) chased after me. Fortunately, the suit was too heavy and cumbersome to keep pace.

I ran into the party room, grabbed a metal folding chair, and tucked myself out of view against the wall next to the doorway. A few minutes later, I could hear Fredbear’s heavy footsteps approaching and I braced myself. The moment Fredbear stepped through the door, I swung the edge of the chair as hard as I could into the animatronic’s knee joint. The joint let out a loud crack and Fredbear hit the ground with a furious howl.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! You monster!” Fredbear wailed, flailing uselessly as I systematically broke the rest of its joints with the now ruined chair, rendering it mostly immobile and leaving me thoroughly exhausted.

I looked down at the robot and panted, “How in the world am I supposed to get you back to the workshop?”

I settled for simply dragging the animatronic as far as I could in small bursts, ignoring the constant protests and childish wails that it let out. Eventually, I got the suit to the workshop and secured it to the wall.

For a month, I spent hours every night studying the suit and interrogating the spirit, which is where I learned about Remnant …

***

“...that’s where you all come in~!” Afton grinned.

Deliah sat up with a groan. “Huh..? Springtrap? What did you say?”

“Nothing important, I’m just talking to myself,” Springtrap assured, getting up and walking over to pat Deliah on the head.

Deliah smiled. “I’m glad that you’re my friend.”

Springtrap smiled back. “So am I…”

Chapter Text

Nick was staring off into space. He had been staring off into space for the last ten minutes.

Jessica gently cleared her throat. “Nick? You doing alright?”

“Huh?”

“You, uh, look a little distracted today.”

Nick sighed and leaned against the front counter, “I just… It’s Deliah.”

Jessica hummed knowingly. “I remember being thirteen, I made my parents’ lives hell. What’s she doing?” The young woman gasped, “Does she have a boyfriend?”

“No, she’s still pretty shut off from everyone. She’s been getting along with the boy next door though,” Nick sighed again, “I hope they’re still friends when school starts again.”

“So… she’s making friends? What’s wrong with that?” Jessica asked, cocking her head.

“Harry’s not the problem, I think he’s a great kid and he’s a great friend for Deliah, but… he’s not her only new friend.”

“Oh?”

“She made this other friend last month, but I think he’s bad news. But I also don’t want to drive an even larger wedge between us by trying to make her get rid of him, you know?”

“I see…” Jessica rested a hand against her hip and nodded sagely. “I know Deliah and I are, like, completely different people, but can I give you some advice?”

Nick motioned for her to go ahead.

“Be careful. Unless this new friend of hers is going to get her hurt or make her do something, like, illegal, then don’t try to pry them apart super fast. My dad did that when I was Deliah’s age and I ended up dating that guy,” Jessica warned. “Ugh, he was such a weirdo…”

Nick shuddered violently at the thought. “I… really don’t want to think about that.”

“Hate to break it to you, but you’re her dad; you have to think about this stuff.”

“Okay, but what should I do if this friend actually is dangerous-?”

The bell above the candy shop’s front door jingled noisily, interrupting the conversation.

“Hello! How can I help-?” Nick’s voice caught in his throat as he looked over at the customer and took in their bizarre appearance.
The man was wearing a basic security guard uniform with a purple button-up shirt and a purple cap pulled low over his face that emphasized the brittle, greasy-looking hair that stuck out from under it. The most concerning detail about the stranger, however, was that every inch of exposed skin on his body besides his gaunt, grey-purple face and bruise-colored knuckles was covered in bandages

Jessica muttered a weak excuse about checking inventory in the back and hurried away, Nick couldn’t blame her.

Forcing a smile, Nick tried his greeting again, “Hello! Welcome to Tillman’s, do you need help finding anything?”

“Are you Nick Edwards?” The strange man asked, his voice raspy and rough.

“Uh, yes? I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“No, you don’t. I’m Michael, a representative of Fazbear Entertainment.”

Nick’s heart skipped a beat. “A-And why are you here? Are you ordering candy for an event or for one of the restaurants..?”

Michael pulled out his phone and held it up for Nick to see. “Does this look familiar to you?”

On the screen was a picture of a damaged Springtrap slumped on the ground in a dingy storage closet.

“Nope! Never seen that before in my life,” Nick replied way too quickly.

“A few weeks ago, this animatronic was moved to the Fazbear Frights location in town to be repaired and repurposed for the attraction, and now it’s missing. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” Michael pressed.

“No, sorry, I stay away from anything Fazbear-related and so does my daughter. No offense, but I never liked the company even before the… accidents.”

Michael raised a brow, scanning Nick with his dark, hollow eyes. “I don’t blame you for not liking the place, but I just have to ask: Is this not your daughter in this screenshot?”

Nick paled and Michael pulled up the photo in question, showing Deliah walking hand in hand with Springtrap down a dingy hallway.

“That doesn’t prove anything. Yes, she was there, but she didn’t steal the thing-”

“I have more pictures,” Michael interrupted.

Nick hung his head. “Okay, fine, you’ve got me, but Deliah didn’t steal it; it followed her  home several weeks ago.”

“And where is it now?”

“It’s… at my house. Trust me, I would’ve gotten rid of it if I could.”

Michael nodded and glanced at the back room that Jessica had disappeared into. “Can we talk about this more outside? Alone?”

“A-Alright.” Nick hung up his apron as he called out, “Hey, Jessica? I’m heading outside for a minute!”

Nick (only half sure that he wasn’t about to get mugged) followed Michael outside and around the back of the store. 

Michael leaned back against the mossy wall and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “You smoke?”

“I’m good,” Nick shook his head. “Why are we back here? It wasn’t just so you could smoke, was it?”

The younger man took his time lighting the cigarette and taking a heavy drag from it before sighing, “Are you a superstitious guy, Nick?”

“I believe that there’s life after death, if that’s what you mean.”

Michael smiled slightly, but it didn’t come close to reaching his eyes. “The animatronic that wandered into your house, has it ever… acted strange around you and your daughter? Said things that a robot shouldn’t be programmed to say?”

“Yes, actually.” Nick looked away thoughtfully. “It’s weird, sometimes Springtrap talks like he’s a person, but then, other times, he really does just feel like a robot, but… also still kind of intelligent? I’m sorry, I don’t know how to describe it. One moment, he’s laughing and playing games with Deliah, but then the next, he’s threatening us and breaking things.”

“Sounds about right. Look, what I’m about to tell you is going to sound crazy, but I need you to trust me, alright? Based on what you’ve told me and the bits of security footage that I’ve seen, I think that the animatronic in your house is being possessed by William Afton.”

Nick jumped. “The- The restaurant owner that went missing!?”

Michael stomped out his cigarette. “A… an acquaintance of mine found his body in that suit, but… but after the restaurant burned down, the suit went missing. The guys who found it brought it to the horror attraction without checking it, thank God, but I didn’t get to check the suit myself until after he had already left.”

Nick dug his nails into his scalp. “Oh my God… Are the rumors true?”

“Huh?”

“The- The rumors! The rumors that the suit was used to kill kids!”

Michael looked away. “Yeah, they’re true… Afton used that suit to lure and kill several kids so he could find a way to cheat death. Apparently, he found his answer.”

“How do you know all of this? Who are you?”

Michael looked away, suddenly becoming very interested in a stain on his shirt. “I know… because William Afton is my father.”

Nick stumbled back against the wall, mind spinning.

“I know this is a lot, but I’m telling you all of this so you’ll trust me,” Michael said, turning to face Nick once again. “Afton is dangerous, but give me time and, more importantly, trust , and I’ll kill him for good.”

Nick gnawed on one of his knuckles as he thought about it. Monster or not, Afton was still- actually, was he technically still a man? Was it morally wrong to kill a ghost? The ghost of a child murderer no less? Was it even technically “killing” if the person was already dead?

Seeing that Nick was at a loss for words, Michael continued, “The horror attraction was made with the express purpose of luring Afton there and burning the place down since fire is the only way that we know of to get rid of a ghost.”

“A-And you’re sure that’ll work?” Nick asked finally. “Because if it fails… I don’t want to know what Springtrap might do.”

“I know it’ll work, that’s why I need you to trust me,” Michael insisted. “Afton can’t know anything about this, and he especially can’t know that I’m alive and looking for him.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know how he’ll react to seeing me,” Michael responded vaguely.

Nick’s eyebrows furrowed. “...But you’ll get rid of him?”

“Yes.”

“Alright… I’ll trust you.” Nick took his phone out of his pocket and held it out to Michael so he could put in his phone number. “Just please don’t do anything while Deliah’s home, I don’t want her getting hurt.”

Michael nodded. “I won’t let Afton hurt anyone else, I promise.”

“Thank you…” Nick responded, taking his phone back and holding out his hand.

Hesitantly, Michael shook Nick’s hand, not missing the man’s grimace as a cold ache that could only be described as ethereal sank through his bandages and into Nick’s palm. Before Nick could comment on it, Michael stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked away. Nick wiped his hand on his shirt and reentered the store.

“-is Charlie still up for getting dinner tonight?” Jessica asked as she tied off a candy bag.

John shrugged. “I don’t know, apparently she’s been having some issues with her dad and…” He trailed off as he spotted Nick. “You should ask Charlie about it yourself.” John took the bag and walked away.

“That was weird…” Jessica shook her head and turned to greet Nick. “Hey, how was your chat with that weirdo? What did he want?”

Nick hesitated. “Nothing, he had me confused for someone else.”

Jessica looked unconvinced, but she didn't press. Nick tried to go back to work, to focus on his dull, comfortable routine, but his thoughts kept trailing off to Deliah and Springtrap.

What if today was the day that Springtrap snapped?

What if Nick went home and found that he was too late?

What if Michael just made everything worse?

Nick yanked off his apron. “I-I’m going home! You can close the store on your own, right?”

Jessica jumped and nodded. “Uh, yeah! I can- I can do that. Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine!” Nick responded as he grabbed his wallet and keys. “I just realized that Deliah has a doctor’s appointment today and I was supposed to take the day off.”

“Alright, um, drive safe!” Jessica called after him as he hurried out the door.

Nick sped home and ran inside. “Deliah!? Deliah, are you here?”

Heavy footsteps greeted Nick and Springtrap leaned out of the living room doorway. “Deliah’s at Harry’s house. Went to grab a book or something?” The animatronic cocked his head. “You’re home awfully early, Nick. What’s going on?”

Nick leaned back against the door, trying and failing to act casual. “I left early to spend some time with Deliah!”

Springtrap slowly stepped out into the hallway and stood at his full height. “I don’t trust you, Nick. I think you came back to attack me again.”

“Attack you again?” Nick repeated incredulously. “You were threatening my daughter!”

“If you let me finish talking, you would’ve known that I didn’t mean to threaten her! You’re always out to get me, and I don’t know why!”

“ I know what you are ,” Nick snarled.

Springtrap bristled. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say, Nick.”

Nick stood taller. “You know exactly what I’m talking about! You’re a murderer!”

As the words left him, Nick simultaneously felt a weight get lifted off of his shoulders and his stomach tie itself into a knot.

Springtrap cocked his head. “You think I’m a what?”

“Don’t play dumb! I know that you’re the Fazbear Killer.”

Sighing, Springtrap gave Nick a pitying look. “Saying that I’m the Fazbear Killer is like saying that the knife he used was. I’m just a robot, Nick.”

“William Afton used you to kill those kids-”

“And he died in this suit,” Springtrap interrupted. “What? You think his ghost is possessing me or something?”

Nick hesitated, it did sound a little far-fetched…

“Nick… Ghosts aren’t real, you know that, right?” Springtrap’s voice was soft and reassuring as he pressed a hand against Nick’s back and urged him towards the stairs.

“But-”

Springtrap pushed a little more insistently and tsked, “Deliah’s right; you work too much. You should take a nap, catch up on some sleep.”

“I’m not a child.”

“Doesn’t mean that you can’t take a nap.”

Nick was about to argue further, but the front door was suddenly flung open and Deliah and Harry trotted inside.

“I knew Captain Reagan’s brother was evil!” Harry declared excitedly.

“But the reveal was so cool, right?” Deliah responded. “I mean, Reagan finding him while he’s trying to kill her son-” Deliah spotted Nick and cut herself off. “Dad! You’re home early!”

“I realized that I haven’t spent a lot of time with you since Summer Break started, so I asked Jessica to cover for me tonight. How does takeout and ice cream sound?”

“Can Harry come too?” Deliah asked.

“If his mother says it’s okay, then of course he can.”

Deliah hopped in place. “Awesome!”

***

Nick drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he brought Deliah back to the house. He wanted to keep driving until they were miles away and call the police, but he couldn’t risk Springtrap getting away. Right now, it was (hopefully) safer to wait and see what Michael was planning.

Deliah stirred awake and stretched as they pulled into the garage. “Huh? Are we home already?”

“Mhm,” Nick hummed, patting Deliah on the head. “Are you sure you still want to stay up and watch a movie? You look tired.”

“No I’m not,” Deliah insisted with a yawn. She opened the car door and stepped out. “I’m going to go pick a movie.”

“Alright, I’ll be inside in a minute,” Nick said.

Once the door was shut, the smile fell off of Nick’s face and he leaned against the steering wheel with an exhausted sigh. He couldn’t stay in the garage all night though, especially with Deliah inside with Springtrap. After taking another moment to steel himself, Nick went inside. 

Nick sat down in the living room with Deliah and did his best to stay casual and calm even as Springtrap joined them to watch the movie as well. The animatronic was mostly quiet, only speaking when spoken to and even then not saying much until Deliah was slumped against Nick’s side, fast asleep.

“Are you feeling better?” Springtrap asked.

“‘M fine.”

“Are you sure?” Springtrap teased, wiggling his fingers at Nick, “You’re sitting next to a possessed, 7-foot-tall robot after all.”

“Possessed or not, there’s something deeply wrong with you,” Nick sneered.

“ Deliah doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with me. Harry doesn’t either. Maybe you’re the problem?”

“Go to Hell-” Nick interrupted himself as Deliah grumbled something unintelligible in her sleep. He smiled fondly down at her. “Ready for bed, honey?”

“Noo… I wanna finish the movie…”

“You can finish it tomorrow. Come on,” Nick insisted, helping Deliah to her feet and upstairs to her room.

“Are you working tomorrow?”

Nick sighed and tucked Deliah into bed. “Yeah…”

Deliah frowned. “Okay… We can finish the movie next time you have a day off.”

Nick leaned down and hugged her. “Once I get that promotion at the store, I’m going to spend way more time with you, alright? I promise.”

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, goodnight,” Nick responded, hugging Deliah even tighter before slowly letting her go and leaving. 

Nick stepped out, shutting the door behind him, and jumped as saw Springtrap at the top of the stairs, one hand tightly gripping the wooden railing. He glared at the robot as he walked past to go to his own room, but Springtrap didn’t say anything. Springtrap didn’t react at all, in fact, he just blankly stared ahead at the opposite wall with that vacant look he got whenever he was thinking. 

Nick got ready for bed and pulled his bat out from under the bed and set it on his nightstand in easy reach. Though while the bat was in easy reach, sleep wasn’t. It wasn’t until Nick heard Springtrap slowly making his way downstairs for him to finally relax enough to fall asleep…

Through the crack in the door, Nick could hear Deliah sniffling.

He hesitated for a moment longer before slowly pushing the door open. “Deliah? Honey? Are you alright?”

Deliah, her knees folded up to her chest, quickly tried to wipe her tears away, but they were falling too fast.

Nick sat down next to her on the bed and asked again, “Are you okay?”

“The kids at school were bullying me…”

“What? Why?”

Deliah glared at her knees. “They said I’m weird and that it’s my fault Mom left.”

Nick took a deep breath to try and soothe the worsening ache in his heart at the mention of his ex-wife. “Well, those kids are stupid and missing out on a wonderful friend!”

“Actually…” Deliah brightened a little, “I did make one friend today. Do you want to meet him?”

“Yes! Of course!”

Deliah hopped off of the bed and opened her closet door, grabbing something in the unnaturally thick darkness. Nick’s heart fell as a giant robot, whose hand completely engulfed Deliah’s in its own, stepped into the light. The robot looked like Springtrap, if someone had filed all of his teeth into points and had torn out the patches in his fur to stuff him with living metal tubing that writhed around inside of him like a den of angry snakes.

Nick leapt to his feet. “D-Deliah! Get away from that thing! It’s dangerous!”

Deliah gave Nick a pitying smile as she said, “I know he looks a little scary, but he’s not dangerous. He’s my friend, Springtrap. I love him, and I know you’ll eventually love him too.”

Nightmare Springtrap hugged Deliah close to his front. “Yeah, Nick, you’ll love me! I’ve been taking good care of Deliah while you were too busy to notice her suffering . It’s your fault that all of this is happening. You know that, don’t you?” He stroked Deliah’s hair. “Poor, little Deliah. All alone because daddy decided that work was more important than her. So sad.”

“Nothing’s more important to me than her-!” Nick took a step back and bumped into someone.

Michael roughly spun Nick around by his shoulders to glare at him. “How could you let this happen? How could you let this thing live in your house? What kind of father are you? You heard the rumors about Fazbears, and you still let this happen? You’re pathetic .” Michael shoved Nick to the ground and pointed at Nightmare Springtrap. “You know he’s going to kill her, right?”

Nightmare Springtrap laughed, “He’s right. Are you just going to sit and wait for me to do it?” He squeezed Deliah tight. “She’s so innocent. So small. So fragile. I could kill her with one quick twist. I bet I could kill her before she calls for you, not that you’d do anything anyway.”

Nick sat up and looked up at Michael desperately. “He’ll kill us if I do anything!”

“I’ll kill you both regardless!” The animatronic roared. He took a deep breath, and continued, voice sickly sweet, “Come on, Nick… You’ll at least stand a puny chance of winning if you put up a fight. Make your choice, or she’ll most certainly be mine .”

Nick stood up and grabbed Michael. “Do something! You promised you’d help!”

“How long are you going to keep getting other people to solve your problems for you?” Michael asked.

Before Nick could respond, he looked back to see Nightmare Springtrap cupping Deliah’s chin in one hand and firmly grabbing the top of her head with the other. His eyes were firmly locked on Nick and he was grinning from ear to ear.

“No!”

Nick lunged forward, but he was too slow. He woke up with a shout to the sound of Deliah’s neck snapping.

Chapter Text

The park bench was cold and wet from the morning rain, but Michael rested on it all the same, enjoying the closest thing to physical sensation that he could still experience.

Michael sighed, “...and that’s all I know.”

Henry was silent for a while, and Michael could practically see the furrow of Henry’s brows and his hand tangling in his beard as he carefully considered his next words.

“So William’s being possessed back?” Henry eventually concluded. “But that doesn’t make sense. It’s a robot, it doesn’t have a- a spirit…”

“Does it matter?” Michael asked, leaning back against the bench and staring up at the cloudy sky. “His blood probably fried the thing’s circuits or something and that’s why the suit can take over.”

“It does matter! There may be other animatronic suits or- or objects that are somehow possessed without a spirit’s influence. Just because Spring Bonnie’s ‘nice’ doesn’t mean that all of these items will be,” Henry rambled excitedly, “some of them might be- might be-”

“Will fire still destroy them?”

“Huh?”

“Will fire still be enough to destroy the suit?” Michael pressed.

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t.”

“That’s all I need to know.” Michael nodded. “Thanks for the chat, Henry, but I’ve gotta get moving. Nick’s getting Deliah out of the house today so I can talk to her and get the plan started.”

“Please be careful, Mikey.”

“Afton dies today, no matter what,” Michael promised, hanging up before Henry could say anything else. A cold breeze almost made Michael shiver and he quickly made another call. “Nick? It’s Michael. Is everything ready to go? Does Afton suspect anything?”

Nick anxiously picked at his fingers as he sat on the edge of his bed, his phone carefully tucked between his shoulder and ear. “Deliah’s going to Harry’s house at noon. Springtrap should stay here at the house, but I’ve asked Harry to tell me if he doesn’t.” Nick swallowed hard. “If Springtrap suspected anything, we would know.”

“Afton’s extremely paranoid,” Michael agreed. “Look, I’ll meet with Harry and Deliah in a few hours and we’ll move from there. Everything goes well, we can move him to the attraction and kill him tonight.”

“Wait, before you hang up!”

“Yeah?”

Nick rubbed the back of his neck and suddenly found it harder to breathe. “The kids… you’ll make sure they don’t get hurt, right? I mean, you promised that they wouldn’t get hurt.”

There was a slight pause before Michael promised once again to keep the kids safe, and though Nick wasn’t quite soothed, he smiled slightly.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, sure,” Michael hung up.

Nick sighed, slowly put down his phone, and got ready for the day as he steeled himself against whatever was waiting for him in the kitchen.

“Morning, Dad!” Deliah beamed as Nick walked into the kitchen.

Nick leaned down to hug Deliah. “Morning, sweetheart!” He looked up to glare at animatronic meekly smiling by the stove. “Springtrap.”

“Morning,” Springtrap greeted back, picking up a plate of pancakes and holding it out as Nick walked over to the coffee maker. “I made extra pancakes and I can’t eat them myself so…”

Nick poured himself a cup of coffee and, after seeing Deliah’s hopeful expression, took the plate and sat down at the kitchen table, eating quickly. “Thanks… Springtrap. And thank you for starting the coffee pot for me Deliah.”

“Oh, I didn’t do that, Springtrap did!” Deliah declared proudly.

“He did?”

Springtrap worried at his bow tie. “Well, I know you like coffee in the morning and you woke up later than usual so… I figured I’d start it for you.”

Nick stood up. “Well, thank you, I guess. For the coffee and, uh, breakfast.” He kissed Deliah on the head. “I’m off to work, stay out of trouble and have fun at Harry’s house, alright?”

“I will!”

Nick left and Spring Bonnie waited until it heard the front door close before turning to Deliah and asking, “That went well, right? Do you think Nick’s starting to like me?”

Deliah hopped out of her chair to hug Springtrap. “I think so! Oh, this is great!”

Spring Bonnie hugged her back and declared, “We can be like a little family!” Afton mentally gagged. Spring Bonnie ignored him. “Are you sure I can’t come with you to Harry’s?”

Deliah hummed, “I dunno, I’ve been spending a lot of time with you lately… Harry just wants to hang out with me for a little bit.”

Don’t let her go, something’s wrong.

“I understand,” Spring Bonnie said instead. “Maybe you could invite Harry over for dinner tonight?”

“Of course! Do you want to play hide and seek until I have to leave?”

Spring Bonnie nodded. “I’ll make extra cookies tonight for you and Harry if you win!”

“You better start counting then!” Deliah said as she turned and ran away.

“1… 2… 3…”

Something’s wrong, Afton insisted, I don’t like this.

“24… 25… 26…”

You feel it too, don’t you? The lying?

“47… 48… 49…”

She’s hiding something from us. Her, Harry, and probably Nick too.

“59… 60! Ready or not, here I come!” Spring Bonnie shook its head. “What are you talking about? We’re playing hide and seek like we always do; what could be wrong?”

I’m not sure… but don’t you feel it too? Aren’t you even the slightest bit suspicious of why Deliah wants to be alone with Harry?

Spring Bonnie shrugged. “Maybe they’re planning a surprise for us?”

Of course, why didn’t I think of that?

“Because you have trust issues-”

I was mocking you. Idiot.

“Can’t you just trust her for once? I’m sure everything’s going to be fine.”

Afton fell quiet with a discontent grumble, leaving the conversation there for the moment. Spring Bonnie rolled its eyes and went looking for Deliah. If the animatronic had to be positive and find a benefit of its conversation with Afton, it was that it had very little idea of where Deliah might be hiding, which was something of a novel experience with how good its hearing was in its undamaged audial. 

It had even heard Nick talking to someone on the phone this morning, but it had kept that information to itself so Afton wouldn’t freak out. It hadn’t heard too much, something about Harry and Deliah hanging out today, so Nick was probably talking to Harry’s mother. 

Nothing to worry about. 

Afton wouldn’t see it that way.

Spring Bonnie headed towards Deliah’s bedroom, but as it walked past a closet in the hallway, the door suddenly swung open and a small child leapt out at it. The animatronic gasped (or let out the closest thing it could to a gasp) as Deliah wrapped her arms around its midsection.

“Ha! Did I scare you?” Deliah asked, giggling.

“I was definitely startled!”

Deliah cheered and they played several more rounds until a chance glance at a clock revealed that it was time for her to leave.

“I’ll be home soon!” Deliah promised, hugging Springtrap tight and not being too surprised when the animatronic hesitated to let her go.

“Are you sure that Harry can’t come over here to hang out with both of us? I mean, he’s my friend too, right?” Springtrap asked.

“I promised Harry that I would go to his house today,” Deliah gently insisted.

Let her go, you’re going to scare her.

She can’t go, not until I know what she’s planning.

She’s not planning anything! Let her go! You’re hurting her!

Springtrap tightened his grip and muttered, “You’re so fucking useless…”

“Um… Springtrap? Are you okay?” Deliah asked nervously. “I couldn’t hear what you said.”

Springtrap jumped, his grip loosening. “Huh? I didn’t say anything!”

Not wasting a moment, Deliah squirmed free as she repeated, “I’ll be home soon, okay? I’ll ask Harry to come over for dinner too.”

Springtrap’s fingers slowly curled around empty air, taking a moment to collect himself before standing up. “Just… please be safe.”

Deliah took his hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly. “I’ll be fine. You trust Harry, don’t you?”

“Mhm…”

His voice lacked sincerity, but Deliah didn’t press him. He was clearly having one of his little mini episodes and needed time to himself before it became a full blown melt down that she would have to deal with.

…what a terrible way to think about her friend.

A mechanical hand gently stroked her cheek. 

“Go have fun,” Springtrap sighed, “I’ll be fine.”

Deliah pressed her face into his palm, letting out her own sigh as she insisted one last time that she would be home before he knew it. 

Springtrap watched through the window as Deliah walked next door and was let inside by Harry. They were a bit too far away for Afton to perfectly make out their expressions, but he swore that Harry’s shoulders were a bit stiffer than usual…

You’re such an idiot. Something’s happening, I know it! What are we going to do if we actually didn’t convince Nick that we’re not the Fazbear Killer? What if Nick told Harry our secret?

What are we going to do if Deliah finds out our secret?

Do you think that Deliah’s going to want to be our friend anymore if she knows about me? About what you helped me do?

“What you made me do…”

Irrelevant. Deliah’s still going to think that you’re dangerous and make you leave. And then what are you going to do? Go back to that damn storage closet and rot? You know that we were locked in that room for a reason, right?

“S-Shut up.”

We weren’t going to be let out when the attraction opened. The attraction was never meant to open. If we lose her, you’re never going to entertain children ever again.

“Be quiet! You’re lying!”

This is your last chance to save yourself from becoming a rusted hunk of scrap metal! You can save yourself! And all you need to do is to stop getting in my way and let me go through with my plans.

“I won’t let you hurt her!”

I won’t hurt her, Afton insisted, his voice suddenly gentle and consoling like he was talking to a child. It’ll be over before she even realizes what’s happening, and then she’ll never have to be alone again either. She’ll have us and the other kids forever!

Your own little family. That’s what you want, isn’t it?

Metal fingers tangled in a magenta bow tie. “...you promise it won’t hurt?”

Afton smiled, I can’t promise that it won’t hurt at all, but it’ll only hurt for a few moments and then she’ll be happy.

“I don’t want to hurt her, but if it means that she gets to be happy forever-”

“How dare you!”

Spring Bonnie jumped, stumbling backwards and nearly falling as the ghost children suddenly appeared, Freddy leading the charge.

“You monster! You think we’re happy like this? What’s wrong with you!?”

Spring Bonnie hid its face behind its hands. “I-I’m sorry-”

“No! You don’t get to apologize!”

Chica nodded. “Y-Yeah! Because of you two, none of us get to see our mommies again!”

“They didn’t even have bodies for our funerals,” Bonnie sobbed.

“You’re just as bad as the monster inside you,” Foxy snarled.

“I’m sorry I didn’t save you, but I don’t know what to do! I don’t want to lose Deliah- I can’t lose Deliah!” 

Energy suddenly spiked through Spring Bonnie’s body, forcing it to throw its head back as it let out an agonized howl. In the edge of its vision, it saw a purple figure surge out of its body and twist around to face it. Afton loomed over Spring Bonnie, digging clawed fingers into its face and forcing the animatronic to look into the abyssal pits that were his eyes.

“Let me take control.”

***

“I’m going to win again!”

“Ugh! That’s not fair, you’re just button mashing!”

Harry stuck his tongue out at Deliah. “Ha! You’re such a sore loser.”

“I’m not a sore loser, there’s just no skill in button mashing,” Deliah shot back before falling quiet once again to focus.

Just one more button and- yes! Deliah cheered as she managed to finish her button combo, watching with satisfaction as her character launched Harry’s high into the air and sent them splattering against the ground in gory victory!

“That is skill,” Deliah smirked.

Harry shook his head. “Says the girl who lost the last three games. I’m changing my character.”

“I think I’m going to stick with my guy, I like his controls,” Deliah responded, leaning back on her hands as she watched Harry go to the character select menu. “Do you want to come have dinner at my house tonight? Springtrap and I are going to try to make homemade spaghetti.”

“I’ll have to ask my mom first, but sure!”

Deliah beamed and the pair continued to play video games and talk until there was a knock on the door.

“Oh, who-?" Deliah started to ask, but she interrupted herself as Harry quickly leapt to his feet and hurried to the front door.. She cocked her head. “Did you invite another friend over today?”

“I wouldn’t really call him a ‘friend’...”

“What?”

The door creaked open, and, for a moment, Deliah thought that the fake corpse from Fazbear Frights had finally found her, but the… thing in front of her was different.

The heavily bandaged man standing on the porch tilted the brim of his baseball cap up slightly, revealing a pair of dark, sunken eyes. “Can I come in?”

“Y-You’re Michael, right?” Harry asked as he motioned for the man to come in.

“You know any other walking corpses?”

Deliah gawked at him. “Walking… c-corpses?”

“Deliah, right? Deliah Edwards?”

“Harry? Who is this guy?” Deliah asked. “How do you know my name?”

“Uh, well, I don’t really know him either,” Harry admitted.

Michael sighed, “I’m the night guard for Fazbear Frights. I’m pretty sure that you brought one of the… ‘attractions’ home with you.” Seeing that the girl was about to argue, Michael added, “That wasn’t a question; you’re all over the security cameras, and I’ve already talked to your father.”

Deliah’s chest felt hot and tight as she cried, “I-I’m sorry! I don’t want to go to jail!”

Michael knelt down and rested a hand on her shoulder. “You’re not going to jail, alright? Don’t cry. Please don’t cry. You’re not in trouble with me, but the animatronic that you took is dangerous.”

Deliah’s fear flipped to anger and she jerked back. “You don’t know that! Springtrap’s nice! He’s my best friend.”

Michael sighed, “Actually, I would know better than anyone else how dangerous he is.”

“Yeah right!” Deliah spat.

“That suit is being possessed by William Afton, my father.”

“What? Nick didn’t tell me that!” Harry exclaimed.

“My father isn’t a good man,” Michael continued. “After my little brother, Evan… died… my father became obsessed with finding a way to cheat death. The Fazbear killings? That was him, and I have no doubt in my mind that he’s planning on doing the same thing to you, Deliah.”

“No, you’re wrong!” Deliah shouted. “Springtrap can get a little aggressive sometimes, and yeah, he accidentally- accidentally hurt me once, but he wouldn’t- he wouldn’t kill someone!”

Harry slowly took his phone out of his pocket. “Deliah..? I, um, I actually have something that I think you should hear.”

“What?”

Harry pulled up a recording and pressed play. The audio quality wasn’t the best, but it was more than clear enough for Deliah to hear what she needed to hear:

“Who… Who are you?”

“I’m Deliah’s best friend,” Springtrap snarled, “and, if need be, a cold. Blooded. Killer.”

“Did you just threaten to kill me?”

“Are you stupid or deaf? That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

Deliah snatched Harry’s phone out of his hand and rewinded the video, listening again as a voice that was undoubtedly Springtrap’s said once again that he had the potential and willingness to be a killer.

“But that’s not… He said that he could- n-not that he is a… a…” Deliah shoved the phone back into Harry’s hands. “Why didn’t you show me this sooner!?”

“I wanted to believe in Springtrap too, like you do! I wanted to believe that he was just…” Harry looked away. “I don’t know what I believe anymore…”

Michael stood up. “We need to get rid of him. I know this is a lot to ask of you two, but I need your help to make sure that Afton dies and, this time, stays dead.”

“I’m going to be sick…” Deliah whined.

“I’m sorry, I really didn’t want to involve other people in this, especially not children, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get Afton back to the attraction by myself, and I can’t risk him catching on to my plans and trying to kill you and anyone else that gets in his way.

“So, Deliah, you are going to go home and tell ‘Springtrap’ that tonight, you and Harry are going to sneak out and explore Fazbear Frights and that you want him to come with you. You get there, split up, go back outside, Harry calls me, and I set the building on fire with Afton inside. Simple.”

“Simple!?” Deliah gawked. “Y-You’re asking us to help you kill someone! What’s ‘simple’ about that?”

“Don’t think about it as killing a person,” Michael suggested. “My father is an undead serial child murderer possessing a robot, he barely qualifies as a person.”

Harry looked ready to collapse. “I can’t do this. I-I want to help Deliah, but I can’t kill someone, not even a murderer.”

“I know I’m asking you for a lot right now, but this is the only way that I can make sure that my plan works. If we fail and Afton escapes, who knows what kind of damage he’ll do.”

“All of the times that he was nice to me…” Deliah muttered, “was he just… he was just manipulating me?”

Michael slowly responded, “Not… every time. It’s complicated, but Henry thinks that the suit itself might’ve gained some kind of sentience. The ‘nice parts’ of ‘Springtrap’s’ personality might be from the Spring Bonnie suit itself.”

“The performance coding!” Deliah gasped as she sat up.

“What?”

“Springtrap told me that certain noises mess with his coding! He must’ve meant that they put Spring Bonnie in control or something. He always acts really nice when they’re triggered.”

“What kind of noises trigger him?”

“Uh, crying… laughing… Not all music, but, like, kinda carnival-ly music? Oh! And older music! Not, like, super old, but like the stuff my dad listens to.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if something goes wrong tonight.” Michael nodded and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Deliah called out. “I never said that I would help you.”

Michael’s shoulders slumped and he let out an exhausted sigh. “What can I do to convince you to help me?”

Deliah took a deep breath. “What’s going to happen to Spring Bonnie after Afton dies? Will he be okay? Can I still talk to him?”

“After we burn the body, all that’ll be left of Springtrap will be Spring Bonnie, and I don’t care what happens to the suit once the spirit’s gone.”

Deliah furrowed her brow, but nodded. “Okay, I’ll help you.”

“Thank you, you have no idea how much that means to me. But I have to go now, I have a lot to prepare for tonight.”

“Bye, Michael,” Deliah said, hugging herself tight.

Harry flinched as the door shut. He slowly rested a hand on Deliah’s shoulder. “Deliah, I’m- I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the recording sooner, and… kind of tricking you into meeting Michael.”

Deliah shrugged his hand off of her shoulder. “I’m going home.”

“Wait,” Harry grabbed her hand, “if Springtrap sees you upset like this-”

“Don’t touch me!” Deliah shouted.

“I’m sorry, but please don’t go. Just wait a few minutes, calm down a little-”

“Why? You have some other dead guy you want me to meet!? I’m going home, and you’re uninvited to dinner!” Deliah stomped towards the door. “In fact, when I go to Fazbear Frights tonight, I’m going alone.”

Harry blocked the door. “No way! You can’t do that, Springtrap’s too dangerous!”

“Move.”

“I’m not moving until you say I can go with you.”

As if moving on its own, Deliah’s hand swung through the air and slapped Harry across the face. Harry stumbled away from the door and clutched his face as tears welled in his eyes. Deliah gasped, just as surprised as Harry was, and ran out the door. She squinted against the harsh summer sun and struggled to not throw up as she stumbled home. She hadn’t wanted to hit Harry, but he had made her so angry…

Deliah hesitated outside of the house and realized that she didn’t want to be home either. Inside the house was Springtrap, and she wasn’t sure if she could face him right now. How was she supposed to look him in the eyes when she had just promised to help kill him that night? The front door felt cool as she rested her forehead against it.

Could she really bring herself to go through with Michael’s plan? Could Springtrap really be dangerous? There had been times where she just… didn’t feel safe around him, but could he really be a murderer? 

Maybe she should confront Springtrap (Spring Bonnie? William Afton? Just who had she been talking to this whole time?) with what she had been told? Maybe Michael was wrong! The suit might’ve been the one that the killer wore, but that didn’t mean that Afton was the one possessing it!

Deliah walked inside as she continued to question herself, completely lost in her thoughts. She gasped as she suddenly ran into cold metal and fell backwards.

Springtrap caught Deliah by her arms with a laugh, “Traffic jam!”

Deliah’s breath caught in her throat and she thrashed in Springtrap’s grasp, jerking back so hard that she nearly slammed her head against the front door.

“Woah, woah! Are you alright?” Springtrap asked worriedly, pulling Deliah closer.

“I-I’m fine!” Deliah lied, still trying to squirm free.

Springtrap loosens his grip slightly. Not enough for Deliah to get free, but enough that she calmed down somewhat and he was no longer accidentally crushing her.

“Are you okay?” Springtrap asked again. “Did something happen? Did Harry hurt you?”

“Harry would never hurt me!” Deliah shouted. “I-I’m fine, okay!?”

She’s hiding something from us, press her for answers.

Spring Bonnie carefully cupped Deliah’s face in its hand and asked, gentle yet firm, “You’re not okay. Why are you lying to me?”

“I’m fine. I’m just being stupid.”

“What happened?”

Deliah flinched as the animatronic’s grip tightened. “H-Harry asked about my mom!”

Oh… I wasn’t expecting that.

Springtrap carefully wiped away the tears slowly rolling down Deliah’s cheeks and let her go. “I’m sorry to hear that. Would some cookies make you feel better?”

“I dunno,” Deliah sniffled. “Maybe?”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Springtrap asked as he led Deliah by the hand into the kitchen.

“Not really.”

As Deliah washed her hands, Springtrap made his way around the kitchen to grab the mixer and the ingredients, having long since moved them into more convenient places for him to reach with his sometimes limited range of movement. They start baking, and Deliah can’t help but let her mind wander once again. She kept glancing at Springtrap and watching him mix and measure ingredients as he hummed to himself.

Deliah didn’t recognize the song by name, but she was pretty sure her dad used to play it in the car a lot when she was younger. They would sing along to it together and, even though her mother always complained that they sounded like some kind of dying animal, it always sounded good to Deliah.

Springtrap cocked his head. “Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe you should sit down.”

Deliah blinked, looking up at Springtrap’s concerned face and feeling guilt surge through her once again. Could she really trust Michael? And what about Harry? What kind of friend would hide that recording from her and trick her into meeting someone who wants her to kill her best friend? 

Springtrap had hurt her several times and scared her even more, but she had seen the real him. She had seen him for the silly, dorky bunny that he is. Springtrap was sweet and friendly and fun-!

A metal hand pressed firmly against her back, steering her into a seat at the kitchen table. “Something’s wrong with you.”

Deliah tapped her fingers against the table. “I’m fine. I’m just… nevermind.”

“Please don’t keep secrets from me, I just want to know what’s bothering you. Did I do something wrong?”

Carefully considering her words, Deliah admitted, “Well… it is about you- but you didn’t do anything wrong! It’s just- Why won’t you tell me if you’re possessed or not? And if you are possessed, then who’s possessing you?”

Springtrap froze, slowly working his jaw before asking, “Why are you thinking about that again? I told you not to worry about that.”

“Are you not actually possessed? Are you able to talk and move and feel stuff because of something else?”

I… I don’t know what to tell her, Spring Bonnie stammered nervously. You tell her something!

“I… I am possessed-”

What are you doing!?

“-kind of. It’s a little hard to explain,” Springtrap started. “I’m not possessed by a person, but an emotion: Agony.”

“How does it work? It sounds scary…”

“I don’t know,” Springtrap admitted. “All I know is that I got it from the restaurant where those children went missing.”

“And you didn’t tell me this because you didn’t want to scare me, right?” Deliah concluded.

“Exactly!” Afton agreed, mimicking the way that Spring Bonnie would fidget with their bow tie. “My body was used to do very bad things, but I would never hurt you or anyone else.” He carefully grabbed Deliah’s hands and lightly squeezed them. “Can we still be friends? I’m really sorry that I hid this from you, but you understand why I did it, right? Can you ever forgive me?”

“Of course!” Deliah declared, squeezing his hands back.

Springtrap smiled. “Thank you. No one understands me like you do, that’s why you’re my best friend.”

Deliah beamed. “You’re my best friend too!”

“Great! And since we’re such good friends, you’ll keep the whole Agony thing between us for now, right? It can be our little secret until we can figure out how to tell Nick and Harry. They won’t believe me as easily as you do.”

Deliah stood up and hugged Springtrap. “I’m sorry for ever doubting you.”

“No, don’t apologize, I don’t blame you for not trusting me. I’ve been a real jerk these last few days.”

“It’s fine-”

“No, things are going to be different from now on,” Springtrap insisted.

Deliah smiled and relaxed against Springtrap, silently vowing to keep him safe from Michael until she can convince him, convince everyone, that Springtrap was safe.

Chapter Text

Despite his anxiety, Nick couldn’t help but let out a loud yawn as he walked through the front door. He was exhausted. Once all of this was done, he was cashing in all of his vacation days at the store and sleeping. God, Nick just wanted to be able to sleep without worrying that, at any moment, his daughter might be in danger. 

Knowing what he did now about Springtrap’s past, it was a miracle that Nick was able to sleep at all. 

But it would all be over soon.

Michael had texted him and let him know that, not only had he spoken to Deliah, but she had agreed to help! After tonight, he would never have to worry about Springtrap again-

Nick yelped as he ran into a wall of cold metal, falling backwards and hitting the ground with a loud thump.

Springtrap mimicked the sound of a tongue click. “First Deliah, and now you? Is there something in the air today?”

“What do you mean?” Nick slowly stood up. “Is something wrong with Deliah?”

“Nothing’s wrong, she’s just been a little… spacey since she got back from Harry’s today. Apparently, he asked about her mother?” Springtrap cocked his head as Nick looked away. “You know, both of you react the same way when she’s brought up: you flinch.”

Nick took a deep breath. “Where’s Deliah? Is she in bed already?”

Springtrap nodded. “She went to bed early tonight.” Springtrap moved to block Nick’s way as the man tried to step past him. “Is something going on today? Some kind of anniversary or something that’s making you two act so weird?”

Nick struggled to maintain eye contact and hide his unease. Springtrap clearly suspected that something was going on, but he wasn’t lashing out like he usually would. Had something happened while Nick was away? Did Springtrap finally hurt-

A heavy hand rested on Nick’s shoulder, shaking him lightly as Springtrap groaned, “I’m trying to be patient, Nick. I promised Deliah that I was going to be more patient, but I don’t appreciate all of this,” he waved his hand in the air, “dancing around.”

Nick tried to pull away. “Deliah’s mother is none of your concern.”

Springtrap smirked and carefully pinched Nick’s chin between his thumb and forefinger to keep the man from looking away as he responded, “‘Deliah’s mother’? Not ‘my wife’? That’s interesting.”

Nick bristled. “All of that is in the past, and it’s going to stay there, got it?”

You’re making him upset, Spring Bonnie warned.

You think I don’t know that?

So why are you still asking about Deliah’s mom?

Come on, are you telling me that you’re not even a little bit curious about this mystery woman?

Of course I am, but Nick and Deliah don’t want to talk about her right now. We should ask about her again some other time, when they’re more comfortable.

Springtrap put his hands up. “Fine, I’ll drop it… for now.”

“How nice of you,” Nick grunted, stepping around Springtrap.

Nick went upstairs and knocked lightly on Deliah’s bedroom door before letting himself inside. 

Deliah slowly sat up and yawned. “Hm… What?”

Smiling softly, Nick sat down on the edge of the bed. “Hey, honey. Sorry for waking you up.”

“T’s fine…” Deliah mumbled. “What do you want?”

“I wanted to make sure that you were doing okay after meeting Michael,” Nick responded, keeping his voice low.

The mention of Michael woke Deliah up instantly. She sat up and squeezed her blanket.

Nick continued, “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about him myself, but I didn’t want to risk Springtrap overhearing and getting violent.”

Deliah pursed her lips and muttered, “He’s not dangerous…”

“I’m sorry that you’re going through so much right now, but Springtrap needs to be dealt with, and we can’t do that unless you and Michael work together.”

“I’m not doing it,” Deliah declared. “Springtrap is good, you guys just can’t see it!”

Nick looked around nervously. “Deliah, honey, please, you’re being a little loud.”

“I’m not scared of Springtrap; he’s my best friend, he would never hurt me.”

“He already hurt you once,” Nick pointed out.

Deliah reared back. “Wha-? Did Harry tell you about that!?”

“No… Michael told me.”

“Harry told Michael about that!? That was supposed to be a secret! Ugh! This is so- so… bullshit!” Deliah shoved past her father and leapt out of bed, angrily pacing back and forth. “Harry’s not my friend anymore, I don’t trust Michael, and I hate you!”

“You… You don’t mean that,” Nick muttered, more to himself than to Deliah. “You’re just saying that because of… him.”

“I’m not going to help you kill Springtrap!”

Springtrap silently leaned away from the door.

Well… that’s that then.

Springtrap walked down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

What are you going to do?

The ghost children flowed out of the walls, following behind the animatronic while sharing worried glances.

I knew that Harry and Deliah meeting alone today was a bad sign, and I was right. We’re going to put our plan into motion right now.

Spring Bonnie forced their body to come to a stop. Do we really have to do this? Maybe… Maybe we can try to convince Nick that we’re safe! Deliah believed us about the whole Agony thing, maybe we can convince him too?

Afton took back control with ease, continuing on to the kitchen. Deliah’s a child; she’s easy to trick. Nick, however, hasn’t trusted us since day one; we just got lucky in that he could be intimidated into giving us what we want. We don’t have that anymore. We need to move, and we need to move now. Understand?

Spring Bonnie folded further into itself, sinking back into the almost comforting role of the silent, helpless observer.

***

Once again, Michael was thankful that he couldn’t smell (he didn’t really need to breathe as much as a living person either, but that was beside the point), as the smell of gasoline around the building probably would’ve knocked him out ages ago.

Where were Deliah and Harry? And why hadn’t he heard anything from Nick or Harry about the delay? Michael flicked his lighter open and shut several times before stuffing it back into his pocket to trade it for his phone. He wasn’t supposed to call them for fear of giving away their plan, but Michael had to figure out what was going on.

The phone started to ring…

and ring…

And it kept ringing until it eventually went to voicemail.

Michael called again, and listened with growing dread as he was sent to voicemail several more times. Swearing, Michael turned so quickly that he nearly slipped on a puddle of gasoline as he ran for the exit.

Nick had never missed his calls before. Even if he was asleep or at work, Nick would at least send a text almost immediately after the ringing stopped. To go dead (wrong word) quiet like this could only mean... 

Michael's tattered sneakers pounded against the sidewalk almost harder than his heart was pounding against his ribs. What happened? Were Nick and the children okay? Had Afton already killed them? Michael couldn't handle having any more blood on his hands…

The lights were on in the Edwards' house, and through the curtains, Michael could see a large figure with rabbit ears struggling to hold a much smaller, thrashing figure against it. Michael ran up the driveway and burst through the front door, stumbling into the living room and startling everyone inside. Deliah managed to break free in the beat of silence, but she didn't get far before Afton grabbed her by the back of the neck, a knife clutched tightly in his other hand.

Nick looked back at Michael, tears streaming down his face as he shouted, “Do something!”

Michael took in the scene and realized that he had no plan, had no idea what he was doing.

Fuck.

Afton’s eyes locked on Michael, picking him apart before recognition dawned on him, “Michael..? Is that you?”

A lump firmly lodged itself in Michael’s throat as he struggled out, “F-Father..?”

Deliah broke free once again and dove into her father’s arms. Without missing a beat, Nick picked her up and ran, going out the front door that Michael had left open.

“Damn it! Michael, I’ll explain everything in time, but I need you to help me catch those two first. Come on!” Afton commanded.

“Yes, Father,” Michael nodded, turning and giving chase, subtly herding Nick and Deliah towards Fazbear Frights.

Nick repeatedly glanced over his shoulder, kicking himself and struggling to hold onto hope as he realized that Michael was managing to keep up with them, and not only was Michael keeping up, but so was Springtrap, though the robot was at least lagging behind. Adrenaline alone wouldn’t keep Nick going forever, however, and the police station was too far away; he had to find a place to hide.

“Why did I trust him? A serial killer’s son? Who looks like that? Of course he’s evil too!” Nick panted.

“Dad, look!” Deliah gasped, pointing ahead. “The attraction, we can hide there!”

Nick looked up and realized that he had run straight to Fazbear Frights, the place where all of this began. He considered running past it, but his energy was flagging, and Deliah did know the layout…

Stepping inside the building, Nick stumbled back as he was hit by the smell of gasoline. The place was soaked in it!

“Dad, we have to keep going, I know where we can hide.”

Nick carefully set Deliah down and followed her as she led him by the hand through the main room. They carefully clambered over piles of debris and stepped around puddles of gasoline that shimmered under the attraction’s dim lights. Just as they turned down the hall, the front door flew open and Michael entered the attraction.

“I don’t see them,” Michael announced loudly.

Springtrap growled as he ducked through the doorway. “They couldn’t have gotten far. Start looking.”

Deliah let out a worried whimper and pulled Nick into the arcade before she tucked herself behind one of the machines.

“Deliah, honey, we need to keep moving,” Nick whispered, kneeling down beside her.

Deliah continued to feel around the panels. “Dad, we can hide in the machines! Someone stole the inside stuff years ago.”

Nick nodded and helped Deliah slide the panel off. When Deliah was safely tucked inside, he put the panel back in place and got up to find his own hiding spot, only to find Michael standing in the doorway.

Michael glanced over his shoulder and hissed, “What are you doing in here? You and Deliah need to get out of here!”

Nick recovered from his shock and growled, “Wha-? You’re the one who chased us here! Whose side are you on?”

“Henry’s, obviously!” Michael snapped back. “Get in the damn vents and be quiet! I’m going to lead Afton further into the building and-”

“Well… I can’t say that I’m surprised.”

Michael whipped around and stammered, “F-Father, I-”

Afton laughed bitterly. “You did always like Henry more than me, your own father.”

Taking advantage of their distraction, Nick scrambled into the nearest open vent, though he stayed nearby to keep an eye on Deliah.

“You always were a failure,” Afton continued. “But, then again, I’m the idiot that knew that and chose to believe that you could change!”

Michael couldn’t help just how deeply the words cut into him, being killed and forced into a suit (and then being dug out of said suit by Henry) hadn’t even hurt as much. Michael flinched and looked away, bracing himself for the inevitable strike, but when he heard the creaking of metal, he snapped out of his daze and nearly tripped over himself dodging out of the way.

Afton glared at his son, and Michael felt the knot of dread in his stomach somehow tighten itself even further. Moving out of the way was always the wrong decision, it just made his father angrier, but not only would being struck by metal be worse than just about anything his father’s done to him in the past, there was also the small issue of the knife clutched tight in Afton’s hand.

“You’ve probably already wasted your Remnant becoming this…” Afton motioned to Michael’s decaying body with disgust, and continued speaking as if he hadn’t just tried to stab his own son, “whatever you are, but I would be lying if I said that killing one of Henry’s pets wouldn’t be satisfying.”

“Father, I can- I can explain!”

“You want to be Henry’s kid so badly? Then be a good son and die for him!” Afton lunged forward, slashing the knife through the air and once again just barely managing to miss his target. “Argh! Stay still!”

Michael’s sneakers squeaked loudly on the dirty linoleum flooring as he bolted out of the arcade and down the hall. Deliah kicked at the arcade machine’s panel until it hit the ground with a crash. She crawled out of the machine and ran out of the room as well.

“Deliah!” Nick squawked as he scrambled out of the vent. “Where are you going?”

“We have to help him!” Deliah shouted over her shoulder.

Having walked around the building with Spring Bonnie hundreds of times, Deliah found the security office easily, but before she could reach the computer, Nick grabbed her and started to carry her away once again.

“We can’t stay here, we need to get out while we still can!” Nick declared.

Deliah squirmed free and hurried over to the computer. The computer was slow to start and clearly made from recycled tech from the 90s, making it difficult for Deliah to use. Nick nudged Deliah to the side, and with a few quick clicks, the security cameras flickered to life and Deliah saw a button labeled “Play Audio.” 

Nick flipped through the cameras and gasped: Michael was being held up in the air by his neck and desperately pushing back Springtrap’s other arm as he tried to stab him, but his strength was clearly flagging.

Deliah spammed the audio button and the intercom in the room crackled to life with the sound of a child’s laughter. Spring Bonnie’s ears perked up and he froze just long enough for Michael to break free, steps clumsy and uncoordinated as he struggled to catch his breath. Afton shook and struck his head several times before giving chase.

As angry as he was about being used as bait, Nick couldn’t help but feel sorry for Michael now that he better understood the younger man and what he had probably gone through growing up. Nick took a deep breath and focused on tracking Michael’s movements through the cameras, using the audio lures to slow Springtrap down and finding that he had to space the sounds out carefully, or else they would go ignored…

Michael nearly let out a sigh of relief as he reached the kitchen. Even if things had gone completely awry, here he was. Here they were. Tangled in a long-net that only one of them could see.

Michael looked around the dead end he “accidentally” backed himself into and spun around to face the door. As Afton walked into the room, Michael backed up towards the wall and made sure to bump into each dial on the stove as he went.

“Would you look at that… a dead end.”

Nick watched Michael bump the stove’s dials and jumped. “Shit!”

Deliah yelped as Nick suddenly picked her up and sprinted towards the exit. “Dad, wait! What are you doing?”

The gas from the stoves was already making Michael dizzy, but he fought it off and fumbled for his lighter.

Afton cocked his head and laughed, though Michael could hear a shred of fear in his voice, “Is that… Is that the lighter I gave you? What are you going to do with that?”

Michael took another step back, trying to urge his father to take just a few more steps further.

Predictably, Afton followed. “Do you have any last words? I doubt I’ll remember them, but I can at least give you the dignity of having them. Not that you’d give me the same courtesy.” Michael flicked the lighter open and Afton flinched, though he tried to hide it with a sneering, “Oh! I’m soo scared! Honestly, this is pathetic even for you-”

Splash!

Afton looked down at the shimmering puddle he had stepped in. “What the-”

He looked at the dials on the stove and the lighter in Michael’s hand, and all the pieces clicked into place: with just one little spark from that lighter, everything would be over and nothing that Afton had ever done would matter.

“Michael… have I ever told you that you’re my favorite?” Afton said suddenly.

Michael knew that it was a lie, a cheap manipulation tactic, but his hand shook regardless. “Father, I…”

“You don’t need to do this,” Afton continued, voice gentle, ”Hand me the lighter, Michael.”

Squeezing the lighter tight, Michael whispered, “Goodbye,” and struck the spark wheel.

“We can’t go!” Deliah continued to protest, “Michael’s still-”

There was a loud explosion deep within the attraction, and, in just a few moments, flames were surging towards Deliah and Nick. Nick grabbed Deliah and shielded her from the fire as he carried her out of the building, feeling the heat sear his back and praying that Deliah was spared even as she shrieked in his ear.

They fell to the ground and Nick held Deliah close as she sobbed and cradled her hand to her chest.

“It’s okay, we’re safe now,” Nick muttered. “It’s over, it’s over…”

After he caught his breath and his back stopped hurting, Nick would find the strength to get up and get help. Just a few moments, and he’d get up…

The force of the explosion threw Michael back, his head slamming against the counter opposite of the stoves and nearly knocking him out. Once he remembered where and who he was, he’d get away from the flames licking at his pant legs.

Afton panted and growled as he struggled to get up, to get away from the fire. He reached up to grab a heavy metal shelf, which creaked dangerously under his weight. The shelf tipped, and before Afton could realize what he had done and try to pull away, the shelf was already falling and pinning him to the ground. His heavy limbs were difficult to coordinate at the best of times, but fear was making Afton even more clumsy. 

“Michael! Michael, help me!”

Michael… right, he was Michael. He was Michael, and he was on fire. He groaned and stumbled to his feet, clutching his head and patting at the flames burning his clothes and skin. He started to limp towards the exit, but a hand suddenly wrapped around his ankle and tugged.

“You can't leave me here!” Afton howled, near to hyperventilating as he continued to tug on Michael's ankle.

Michael kicked Afton's hand. “You're going to die here, even if it kills me!”

Spring Bonnie jolted back into awareness at the sound of Deliah’s sobs outside and the sight of the glistening trail of tears on Michael's face. What was it doing? Why was it just sitting back and letting Afton do this!?

Spring Bonnie forced Afton to let go and shouted, “Go! Run away! Deliah’s hurt, save her!”

Michael nodded and scrambled to get up, ignoring the hand-shaped mark now seared into his ankle from the heated metal.

“No! I won’t let you kill me!” Afton’s spirit, in a last ditch effort to save himself, surged forward to possess Michael, but the ghost children poured out of the walls and pinned him down. “Michael! Don’t leave me here! Michael! Help me!”

Michael didn’t look back. Instead, he ran harder than he ever had in his life, leaping over debris and barreling out of the front door. He desperately patted the flames off of himself, feeling his skin peeling away with every touch, but he was alive.

Sirens wailed in the distance, but what was more interesting to Michael was the car speeding down the road towards them. The car screeched to a stop next to them, popping up onto the curb in the driver's rush to park, and Harry hopped out of the passenger seat, his mother and older brother quick to follow.

As they huddled around Nick and Deliah, asking if they were alright and demanding to know what happened, Michael smiled. 

It was over… He died once freeing his brother, and now he could die knowing that his father could never hurt anyone again…

Michael swayed once, twice, and then collapsed to the ground. His senses faded one by one: first taste, then smell, touch, sight, and, finally, sound. So he didn't see or hear as another car pulled up and another voice joined the cacophony of scared voices:

“Michael!”

Chapter Text

(5 years later)

Deliah squeezed the bouquet of carnations in her hand tightly before gently laying them on the ground in front of a pair of graves: Evan and Michael Afton, both described as being taken from this world far too soon. Harry patted her on the back and Henry continued to stare off into the distance at an unmarked grave many rows away.

Deliah sniffled, “I thought it wouldn’t hurt so bad to come back here after so long, but now I’m here and I just-”

“You did everything you could,” Harry assured her as he wrapped his arms around her.

“If I had trusted him…”

Henry sighed as he finally looked away from His grave. “Y-You were just a kid, no one can blame you for not trusting someone you just met.”

Nick silently laid his own bouquet down at Michael’s grave, not wanting to take attention away from his daughter just to voice his own guilts, his own mistakes.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself either, you know,” Henry said suddenly.

“What?” Nick jumped. “I didn’t say-” He stuffed his hands in his pockets with a sigh. “I could’ve done more, or done things better.”

“Well, even if there are things that all- all of us could’ve done differently, I’m glad that I met you all, and Michael was too. He didn’t like people seeing that he had emotions, but he liked you three.” Henry smiled at Deliah and Harry. “Especially you two, I think you reminded him of Evan and Elizabeth.”

Silence fell over the group, and an uncharacteristically cold summer wind blew through the cemetery, ruffling the bouquets and sending a few petals from the older bundles skittering across the dry ground.

“I think it’s going to rain,” Harry remarked, looking up at the sky and the dark clouds far in the distance.

“I’ll, uh, move on to my updates then so you all can go home,” Henry said as he pulled out a small purple notebook. “I’ve been looking into all of the details and clues that the ghosts have given Deliah about where their suits might be, and, uh, sent some people to look around. We’ve collected four so far, but the last one, Fredbear, was found n-not too far from here a few days ago. I was wondering if you and Harry wanted to come with me to help move it to the burn site tomorrow. It feels… right that we move the last one ourselves.”

“Sure…” Deliah nodded again, ignoring the gnawing guilt in her chest for having ever ignored the warnings that the ghost children had given her in the past.

“I’ll get my mom to let me go!” Harry declared, but his shoulders slumped as he added with a mutter, “...even if she still doesn’t believe us about the ghosts and stuff.”

At the mention of Harry’s mom, Deliah blinked and turned to Nick, realizing that she hadn’t even thought to ask him for permission.

“You can go,” Nick nodded, “but I’m coming with you.”

“Really?” Deliah gawked. “But I thought you were scared of the animatronics.”

Harry tried to stifle a chuckle, but he couldn’t help but laugh as Nick stammered, “I-I’m not scared of them!”

“Mhm,” Deliah hummed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Don’t make me change my mind about letting you go.”

Henry rested a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, the suits are completely safe, especially now that all of the children know who we are and that we’re trying to help them. But, uh, they might try to speak to us through the suits, are you ready for that?”

Nick shuddered, the burn scars on his back aching, but smiled shakily and said, “Yeah, I can handle that! No problem, none at all.”

“G-Great, I’ll start preparing for the trip!”

***

Five suits: two bears, one chicken, one fox, and one rabbit all sat on a pyre of gasoline-soaked debris and stared vacantly ahead.

Deliah forced herself to break eye contact with Fredbear and picked at her fingers. “I know that the children want this, but it feels really morbid to… do this…”

Henry nodded as he draped blankets over the heads and shoulders of the animatronics, making it look like each robot was wearing a cloak. “It doesn’t feel great, but fire’s the only way that Michael and I know how to help the ghosts move on.” Henry took a step back to look over his work. “Speaking of fire, I think we can start burning the suits now. Is everyone ready?”

Nick, despite being a little green in the face, flashed Henry a thumbs up. Deliah squeezed his hand, trying to comfort him as much as she was seeking comfort herself. Nick squeezed back.

“I don’t think we’re ever actually going to be ready for this,” Harry remarked as he grabbed Deliah’s other hand.

The match sparked to life with a small whoosh, and Henry started to bring the small flame to the base of the pyre when Freddy suddenly jerked forward, jaw falling open.

“Thank you,” Freddy beamed, the suit’s eyes lighting.

“I can’t wait to see my mommy again!” Chica chirped.

“It was nice to meet you, Deliah,” Bonnie smiled, “I’m gonna miss you.”

Foxy shook his head. “It’s about time we got to go, being dead sucks.”

The fire slowly spread throughout the pile, though the flame’s light was dull compared to the beaming eyes of the children. The sight was as beautiful as it was haunting. A smile slowly graced Deliah’s face as she realized that it was over, it was done! 

The spirits would be free to move on and find peace-

Metal creaked loudly as Fredbear shuddered and twitched, broken joints clacking and snapping as a low laugh slowly grew in strength from the bowels of the suit.

“Don’t worry about us,” Fredbear laughed, her voice a snarl, “I’ll make sure that Afton stays in the deepest pits of Hell, right where he belongs.”

Chapter Text

(7 years later)

Henry’s garage was bitterly cold at night, even with the space heater that Deliah had bought him last Christmas, but excitement was keeping Deliah’s hands warm and steady as she continued to work on her passion project.

Spring Bonnie had been deactivated and silent for the last 12 years, but Deliah was still holding onto hope that, one day, she’d be able to get it working again. She just wished that she didn’t have to drive out to Henry’s place every night just to work on it, but she understood why Harry wasn’t comfortable keeping Spring Bonnie in their own garage: 

The animatronic looked rough.

Even after replacing the worst of the metal warping and creating the rabbit a new (admittedly patchy) fur suit, Spring Bonnie didn’t look like how it did when she was a kid. Its face was flatter and more angular, like a cheap halloween mask, and she had gotten off-white, greyish fur for the suit since it was more affordable than the more-accurate gold color it had when it was first built. To fix this off-putting look, Deliah had gotten it a larger neck bow, but the result was more comical than cute. At least the little pink paw pads she put on its feet and hands looked nice. Overall, the suit looked far better than it had when Deliah first fished it out of the wreckage that was Fazbear Frights’ remains-

Where was she?

Right, repairing Spring Bonnie.

Harry hadn’t wanted the animatronic in their house, but Henry was more than happy to keep it at his. It had been a great tool for teaching when Deliah had gone to him and mentioned her growing interest in robotics, though Henry, like Harry, also believed that Spring Bonnie would never be able to run again.

Deliah slowly pulled her hands out of the mass of gears and circuits in Spring Bonnie’s abdomen and reached for a battery pack.

It was a long shot, but she had to try giving it power again, just to prove to herself that she was making progress. To prove Henry and Harry wrong.

The battery pack clicked into place and Deliah stood up as it crackled to life, taking several steps back just in case anything went wrong. The pack started to crackle and pop, unevenly releasing charge as the suit violently lurched forward before slamming back against the wall, it looked like the suit was having a seizure!

The garage door flew open and Harry ran in. “I heard banging! Are you… all… right..?” His voice trailed off as he watched in horror as the suit continued to spasm.

As it seized, Spring Bonnie slowly, laboriously reached inside of its own abdomen and grabbed the battery pack.

Deliah rushed forward, but Henry intercepted her, shielding her with his body as she shouted, “No! He’s going to kill himself!”

Spring Bonnie’s jolted its hand up, dislodging the battery pack and leaving it to rest in its lap, though it was still connected by several wires. It limply slumped forward, its head twitching.

“Is it… dead?”

The animatronic slowly lifted its head and opened its eyes, grinning crookedly as it rasps, “Deliah?”

“Spring Bonnie..?” Deliah gasped.

Henry took a step back. “That’s… That’s impossible.”

Deliah shook off her shock and demanded, “Why did you try to tear out your battery pack?”

Spring Bonnie continued to smile, its mind was so quiet now, and its head felt pleasantly light without Afton’s suffocating presence…

“Answer me!” Deliah shouted impatiently.

“Hm? Oh! It wasn’t connected right.” Spring Bonnie chuckled, “it was a really rude wake up call.”

Anger, grief, joy, amusement- so many emotions were welling up inside of Deliah that all she could do was shake her head in disbelief.

Spring Bonnie looked past Deliah and finally noticed Henry. It squinted and cocked its head hard enough that one of its neck joints creaked before, finally, Spring Bonnie sat up and stated simply, “You’re Henry.”

“H-How do you know that?”

“Afton. Oh, and the restaurant. You wore the Fred Bear suit, but I didn’t know your real name then. I didn’t… think… then. But I saw a lot.” Spring Bonnie’s shoulders slump. “I’m sorry for letting Afton trick me, and for not fighting him until it was almost too late.”

Deliah sighed. “It’s okay, I know how manipulative he was.”

“Still, I should’ve known better, I did know better…” Spring Bonnie spotted the burns on the back of Deliah’s hand and slumped ever further. “You have scars because of me.”

“Dad got the worst of it,” Deliah remarked, “his whole back was- nevermind.”

“...where is he?”

“Probably at home. My childhood home, not where I live now.”

“C-Can I go see him? So I can apologize?”

“Hold on,” Henry interrupted. “You’re not going anywhere until I’ve run some tests on you. I have so many questions! Are there any other animatronics like you? How have you kept your personality after being deactivated for so long, and long will you even stay sentient like this-”

Deliah patted Henry’s shoulder. “I have a lot of questions too, but I don’t think Spring Bonnie knows much more than we do.”

“I don’t know anything other than what Afton told me, and he didn’t really tell me much,” Spring Bonnie agreed. “Oh! Speaking of Afton, I don’t hear his voice or feel him in my head anymore!”

“That’s great! Come on, let’s go see my Dad.”

Henry sighed. “A-At least let me fix his battery pack first and keep him for the night, just to make sure that he’s stable.”

Deliah opened her mouth to argue, but Spring Bonnie spoke first, “Please fix this thing, it’s actually starting to hurt.”

***

“I hear the secrets that you keep~!” Deliah sang (shouted, really).

“When you’re talking in your sleep~” Spring Bonnie continued, drumming its hands against its thighs with the beat.

They were probably an incredibly strange sight for the other drivers on the road, but Deliah didn’t care. The wind was in her hair and her best friend was sitting next to her and singing along to the same songs that she had grown up listening to and that it had spent years performing.

The song came to an end and Spring Bonnie asked, for the hundredth time, “Are we there yet? I think I recognize those houses!”

Deliah sighed and smiled fondly. “Yeah, we’re almost there. Do you remember what I asked you to do?”

“...stay in the car until you wave me in?”

“I know you want to go right in and say hi to Dad, but it’s been over a decade since he’s seen you, I don’t want to accidentally give him a heart attack,” Deliah soothed.

Deliah pulled into the driveway and went inside, calling out, “Dad! I’m home!”

“I’m in the kitchen!”

As she walked into the kitchen, Deliah watched Nick bring two steaming bowls of soup to the kitchen table. Nick stood up, wiped his hands off on his jeans, and hugged Deliah.

“I made your favorite,” Nick announced, “chicken gnocchi soup!”

“Aw, you didn’t have to do that. I would’ve been happy with anything.”

“I know, but I had to make something special; you haven’t come over since Christmas.”

Deliah looked away. “I know, I meant to come over sooner, but I got caught up in some projects and work and… I’m sorry.”

Nick smiled sadly and shook his head. “I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, I know that you’re busy.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway… soup?”

“Oh! Wait, let me go get my friend first.”

“A friend?” Nick planted his hands on his hips. “Deliah, why didn’t you tell me that you were bringing a friend over?”

“Uh, well… you’ll see.”

“What does that mea- Deliah?” Nick watched his daughter stride out of the kitchen and sat down with a tired sigh. 

He really wished that Deliah wouldn’t spring these sorts of things on him. Seriously, was it so hard to say: “Hey, Dad! Can I bring a… friend…” Nick slowly stood up as he heard heavy thumps slowly approaching. They sounded horribly familiar. It was a sound that he had thought that he would never hear again.

Deliah appeared first, which soothed Nick somewhat, as she wasn’t visibly scared or injured, but a- a monster followed close behind!

“What is that!?” Nick shouted, backing up against the counter.

The monster flinched. “I-It’s me! Don’t you recognize me?”

“...Springtrap?” Nick whispered.

“Actually,” Deliah corrected, “it’s name is Spring Bonnie. Springtrap’s dead.”

Spring Bonnie stepped forward, fidgeting with its tie as it said, “I-I know that I did some bad things-”

“-Afton made you do bad things,” Deliah interrupted.

“No! I had Afton in my head, but I wasn’t a helpless victim, I had the chance to fight him and I chose to give up,” Spring Bonnie argued. “I-I saw him do all of those awful things, back when I couldn’t move, and I still chose to trust him! I believed him when he said that letting him hurt you was a good idea!”

Nick slowly relaxed as he listened to Spring Bonnie list out its wrongdoings. He let Spring Bonnie continue for a little longer before interrupting it: “I believe you.”

The animatronic jolted. “What?”

“I believe you.” Nick pushed off of the counter and stepped closer to the animatronic to get a better look at it. “You’re different than I remember, but you’re- How do I say this? You act like the part of Springtrap that I liked, the part that I hoped that you would be all of the time, the part that Deliah loved, and, if Deliah’s right and you are that part, then I believe that you’re sorry.”

“R-Really? You believe me?”

“For now, but I have my eye on you, so no funny business, got it?”

Spring Bonnie stood up straight. “You have my word!”

“Now that that’s out of the way, can we eat lunch now?” Deliah asked. “I’m starving and the soup’s getting cold!”

***

“Are you sure that Spring Bonnie can’t stay here? You know that my house is too small for it to stay there.”

Nick shook his head firmly. “I’m sorry, Deliah, but I’m not changing my mind. I don’t think that it’s going to do anything, but I just… I can’t get past the whole Afton thing.”

Plot Outline:

• When Deliah asks if Spring Bonnie could stay at the house, Nick staunchly refuses, citing his discomfort with Spring Bonnie’s connection to Afton. 
• Deliah starts to argue, but Spring Bonnie cuts in to say that it understood, so they head back to Henry’s and the decision is made for Spring Bonnie to stay with Henry after all. The next day, Deliah comes over to visit Henry and lets herself in to overhear laughter and chatting from the kitchen. Deliah walks over and sees the pair cooking, with Henry guiding Spring Bonnie as he struggles to mix pancake batter. Deliah smiles at the scene, having not seen Henry so happy since she asked him to teach her about robotics.
• Deliah announces her presence and the pair startle slightly, but Spring Bonnie swings around, almost sloshing batter out of the bowl, and shows her what it was up to, declaring its love for cooking. Henry wistfully remarks that this was something that he and Michael used to do a lot, cook together. Deliah responds that Harry was the cook between the two of them, but… she did like cooking with Springtrap when she was a kid. A heavy silence falls before Spring Bonnie responds, “I always thought that was a dumb name, but I liked cooking with you too.” Henry hums and says, his tone complex (layered?), “Willy- Uh, William, designed most of the characters, but he was never good with names. I actually named all of the characters except for you.” Henry’s voice grows hollow as he loses himself in a memory, “You were his first design, and he was so proud of you…”
• Spring Bonnie clears its throat, “A-Anyway, pancakes? I think we should put blueberries and chocolate chips in it, but Henry said that would be too much. What do you think?” Deliah awkwardly says that she thought that both of the fillings would be fine. Spring Bonnie takes the chips and berries and dumps them clumsily into the bowl before mixing them in. It then goes to the pan on the stove and turns it on, waiting until it’s hot before pouring far too much batter in. It sets the bowl on the counter and fumbles with a flimsy plastic spatula until Henry takes the now bent spatula from it and urges the animatronic to the side, stating that they would work on its fine motor movements more over time.
• Henry cooks the pancakes and they all sit down at the kitchen table
• Something something conclusion, Spring Bonnie has a family now

(Here’s an extra interaction I wrote out, but cut)

“You’re grey now!” Spring Bonnie noted.

Nick laughed and ran his fingers through his greying hair. “What can I say? Deliah’s a handful.”

“Dad!”