prolaterian

[prolaterian]

9 - Manhunt 2 | Absurdist Phone Guy Stuffed in a Suit

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49318093

Fritz Smith

Fritz was utterly exhausted, having spent the entire night (and then some) poking and prodding at his soul and developing a migraine that he could only describe as reminiscent of being shoved into a Freddy head. Too bad robots couldn’t use Advil, or else he would have greedily swallowed an entire bottle, consequences be damned – he was already dead, after all.

Jeremy had already left, the mechanic promising to drive them later that night. He scoffed – tonight would suck for everyone involved. Poor Jeremy had to spend all day at Freddy’s, then immediately return for their nighttime expedition. Fritz was no better off, a pit forming in his stomach at the thought of being so close to where he met his demise. Even the night guard would have no reprieve – it was Friday night, when the animatronics were the most active (or so he heard, seeing as he only made it to Thursday), and he felt sorry for adding a new animatronic into the mix. At least Fritz wouldn’t be trying to murder the guard, but he couldn’t possible know that.

If they didn’t do this though, he reasoned, things would be much worse. He still didn’t quite believe Bon-Bon was telling the truth, but he couldn’t bear the thought that his distrust would lead to children dying. No, they had to track him down. And, as a small voice in his head recalled, he’d go crazy with boredom if he just did nothing.

Fritz knew he should keep experimenting with his soul, but he wanted to be in good shape when they investigated the establishment… and, he felt completely drained by last night’s excursion. Instead, he lazed around until Jeremy arrived, reading and watching the TV, the boredom strong but not yet powerful enough to push him back into experimenting with his soul.

……

Jeremy Fitzgerald

Jeremy was driving home, his day at work somehow leaving him excited to scout out the pizzeria with Fritz later that night. It had only been around a month since Foxy was repaired and deemed performance-ready, and yet some crafty teenager had already managed to sharpen Foxy’s normally-blunt hook to a needle’s point. It was a wonder the poor kid that discovered it left the building with a deep scrape and not a puncture wound.

He let out a sigh, remembering how the latter half of his shift was spent repairing the hook and dealing with Foxy. Why they couldn’t make the damn thing out of plastic was beyond him, but in the end, Foxy’s hook was good as new, if slightly shorter.

Eventually, Jeremy arrived home, a muffled laugh escaping from him as his gazed landed on the pink animatronic fox spread out on his couch, too engrossed in some sort of cartoon to notice Jeremy’s arrival.

He took his coat off and made his way to the couch. They had some time to kill before their expedition, and loathe as he was to admit it, Jeremy was dying to learn more about the insanity surrounding everything that kept Fritz alive against everything he considered rational. Maybe it was simple curiosity, or the thought of what he could make, but he was ravenous for knowledge in a way that he hadn’t been for a long time.

As he got close, Fritz finally noticed him, his ears perking up as he waved Jeremy over.

“Any luck figuring out this bullshit?” Jeremy asked, gesturing to Fritz.

“Not really. Well…” Fritz paused, thinking back to the previous night. “Sort of.”

He recounted his painful experiments to Jeremy, explaining the strangeness of his animatronic-bound soul. The mechanic listened with rapt attention that slowly devolved into confusion as Fritz’s tail progressed. Eventually he summarized his conversation with Bon-Bon which left Jeremy confused and more than a bit curious.

“Have you tried it? ‘Blending in’, I mean.” Jeremy asked, suddenly much more invested as the possibilities began to form in his mind.

“Well… not quite.” Fritz admitted. “I haven’t actually done anything since then. I wanted to, but I was so tire-”

“Well go on then!” Jeremy interrupted. “Don’t back out now – give it a shot!”

Fritz looked at him funny but complied nonetheless, hauling himself off the couch and closing his eyes, apparently turning his focus to his soul. Together, they tried different ideas, bouncing ideas off of one another. Fritz did his best to avoid anything painful, but an hour of experimentation still left him with a dull headache – nothing compared to the previous night, however. To the glee of both animatronic and human, they had the occasional breakthrough – mostly Jeremy seeing and hearing brief flashes and echos – but nothing useful came of the experimentation. Despite that, the duo were content – the mere fact that Fritz could mess with Jeremy’s senses was reason enough to keep experimenting. Eventually though, 12AM rolled around, and they set off to investigate the pizzeria.

Even though he wasn’t playing dead this time, there was only so much space in Jeremy’s truck, so Fritz would still have to ride in the bed. Like last time, Jeremy covered Fritz in a tarp to hide him from curious onlookers. He also opened one of the windows behind the cabin, which, to his amusement, Fritz shoved his snout through so they could communicate. With that, they were off.

“So, how has Freddy’s been since I… lost my job?” Fritz asked.

“Shit as always.” Jeremy said, smirking. “You’ll be happy to know that Foxy’s back, even though that just means more work for me. Did I tell you about the kid that got stabbed?”

Their conversation continued onward, Fritz reminiscing about his time as a guard and Fritz explaining the intricacies of animatronic repair (something that Fritz was very grateful for Jeremy’s knowledge on). Eventually, their conversation veered into the plan for when they arrived.

“I reckon we just scope the place out. Peer through the windows and see if the animatronics are crazier than usual.” Jeremy suggested. “I brought a pair of Walkie-Talkies with us, so we can stay in touch once we arrive. I can stay in the car, just in case we need to get the fuck outta there.”

“That sounds fine. Just peering in. I really hope I don’t cree-” Fritz responded, cutting out suddenly.

“What’d you say, Fritz?” Jeremy asked, taking a brief glance back at the animatronic. The fox’s eyes started into empty space, hollow and unmoving.

“Shit!”

Fritz began to pull off to the side of the road, but stopped when he heard a familiar high-pitched voice.

“Where’d the night guard go?”

“Fuck if I know! I never thought he was narcoleptic, but didn’t he fall asleep a few days ago?” Jeremy asked. “Speaking of which, don’t get any ideas now that Fritz can’t reign you in.”

“Nope, this isn’t like last time! I don’t feel him here anymore. And don’t you worry, I don’t mind spectating – I’m not up to anything, promise!”

“Wha- you don’t feel him anymore?” He asked, a shred of panic filling his voice. “That asshole better not be dead!”

“I guess there’s nothing to do but keep driving and hope for the best,” he sighed. “By the way, Bon, you really don’t care about being stuck in Fritz? Your chip can always be moved over to a different animatronic.”

“That’s how it’s always been for me; it’d be silly to change it. Besides, is there really a difference?”

“Huh?”

“I see the same things as the night guard, I hear every conversation he has and feel his responses coming out of my mouth. Sometimes, I can’t tell which one of us is at the wheel. Would it really make a difference if I was in control?”

Jeremy paused, considering Bon-Bon’s words. “Of course there’s a difference. You’re talking to me, aren’t you? But maybe that difference is so small that it’s hard to really notice.”

“Maybe,” Bon-Bon agreed. “I guess that’s a bit silly of me, but it’s fun watching this story unfold before my eyes.”

They continued the car ride in silence, both silently praying for Fritz’s return. Jeremy became more tense as their destination got closer, each passing moment without Fritz seemed like evidence that he was gone for good. As the building came into view, his worries were interrupted by a sound from behind him.

“-p that night guard out too much. What the hell?”

“Finally awake, huh?” Jeremy asked, relieved that his friend had returned.

“What’s going on, Jeremy? We’re here already? How is that possible, we were still at th-”

“Relax, Fritz. You just passed out. Gave us quite a scare, but it looks like we all made it in one piece.”

“I… passed out? How’d that happen? It was like I was there one moment and here the next.”

“Who knows! Maybe your soul wiring’s faulty. We’re here now, and we need to get exploring!” Jeremy exclaimed, already half-way out of the truck. He helped Fritz out of the tarp, then tossed him a Walkie-Talkie, which Fritz quickly shoved inside his chest cavity.

“I’ll stay in the truck. If he’s here, run back. I don’t really think we’re prepared to deal with him, and the less he knows about us, the better.”

“Alright. Just one sweep around the building and a bit of peering through the windows, and I’ll be right back!”

……

Fritz Smith

Fritz set off towards the pizzeria, the neon lights making it feel like a refuge that he knew it wasn’t against the cold night. He walked through the parking lot and around the sides of the building, occasionally pressing his face against the windows – a feat made much more difficult by his snout. There was movement, but it just the expected wandering animatronics. Fritz shuddered, pitying the night guard who was probably fending for their life at the present moment. He wondered if he should help them, but figured that his presence would only make things worse.

He reached the back of the building and quickly breezed past it, since there were no windows or other places worth spying on. The other side was similarly uneventful, and he only caught the briefest traces of movement. Returning to the front of the pizzeria, he was left with mixed feelings. On one hand, he was relieved that he didn’t have to confront William (or the animatronics controlling him), but if William wasn’t here, he had no idea where else to look. Suddenly, he heard the glass farthest away from him shatter and watched in a mix of horror and amusement as a wooden baby chair careened through the window and out into the parking lot. After taking a moment to compose himself, Fritz jumped into action.

Quickly, he took out the Walkie-Talkie and hoped Jeremy could hear him.

“Uh, something pretty bad’s happening. I’m going in to check it out.”

“What? Fritz, I don’t think I can put into words how fucking awful that idea is. Get back here, right now!”

Fritz promptly ignored Jeremy’s protests, rushing into the building through the now-accessible window. He didn’t know what he’d face on the other side, but he was prepared for anything, and quite a bit tougher than he was last time he was here.

……

Notes

I’m really excited to write the next chapter! Sorry for the cliffhanger, it should be out tomorrow (depends on how hard I grind; just so you know, more comments = harder grind).

In other news, did you know that I planned the last chapter, this chapter, and the next chapter all to be a single (2000 word) chapter? Funny how that works.

#fnaf #fanfic #fanfiction #five nights at freddy's #absurdism #philosophy #ao3 #writing

[prolaterian]

8 - Manhunt 1 | Absurdist Phone Guy Stuffed in a Suit

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49318093

Fritz Smith

“This is getting nowhere”, Jeremy exclaimed, his exasperation diminishing ever-so-slightly after arriving home. They (Jeremy, really, as Fritz couldn’t quite leave the house) had been searching for clues that might lead them toward William. Jeremy had asked around William’s whereabouts, hoping that some of the day staff at Freddy’s could yield answers, but all he found were shrugs and looks of confusion. It seemed no one was so much as acquaintances with William.

Fritz was no better off, his present condition leaving him an involuntary shut-in. It wasn’t as though there was nothing to occupy himself with in Jeremy’s house, but it all felt like busy work. The boredom was dreadful, and it put a sour taste in his mouth every time it brought back memories of the warehouse. He needed to do something. If he had to spend even a few more days stuck inside, he’d go crazy.

Whenever he could, Fritz occupied himself with cooking, the one thing he could do that was actually helpful. If there were any benefits to his animatronic form, it was that he had no need for oven mitts, but that small silver lining was far outweighed by the fact that he couldn’t actually eat any of the food he made.

He was in the middle of searing a chicken breast, which he swiftly learned to handle with paper towels after a particularly slimy encounter, when Jeremy arrived. Fritz shared his plight – it’d only been a day, but he was dying to get their investigation underway.

“Hey Fritz, what’s that smell?” Jeremy asked, stepping into the kitchen and visually flinching at the sight of an animatronic manning his stove before composing himself, thankful that Fritz was facing away.

“I figured I’d make something. I’m going a bit crazy with boredom.” Fritz replied, scooping the chicken onto a plate and setting it down on a small table. “Enjoy!”

“Uh, thanks”, Jeremy replied, looking down at the moderately-charred chicken. “You sure this isn’t poison?”

Fritz gave no reply, and Jeremy went on share his attempts at information gathering, picking-at but not eating his food.

“I asked pretty much everyone that worked there during my shift, but not a goddamn person had any idea about- OH FUCK ME, Fritz! The heat kills the germs in the chicken, you didn’t have to dehydrate it as well!”

Fritz gave him a wry smile. “I never claimed to a be chef.”

“Oh whatever,” Jeremy continued, still eating the chicken, “the point is that unless we manage a miracle, we’re basically shit out of luck. No one seems to really know who William is, which I guess makes sense since I haven’t seen a news report on haunted animatronics. The dude definitely kept to himself and kept a tight wrap on info surrounding him.”

Fritz considered this, letting out a sigh in the process. If Jeremy had no ideas, he definitely didn’t. He wracked his brain for everything he knew about the animatronics piloting William’s body, but was interrupted by a voice he hadn’t heard all day.

Let me talk!

Fritz relented, giving the rabbit control over his voice box.

“The pizzeria, dummies!” Bon-Bon exclaimed. “That’s the only place they know. Freddy always dreamt of ‘doing real performances’ in the outside world, and William will want to get more souls for his experiments there.”

Jeremy frowned, looking at Fritz with confusion. Fritz felt the same way, although he wasn’t quite sure where to look.

“What do you mean ‘get more souls’?” Jeremy inquired.

“You think William is still alive, even with those animatronics inside of him?” Fritz asked at the same time.

“Of course not, silly! His body’s probably rotting away, but his soul’s still in there. He definitely won’t be too happy about that though, so he’ll probably grab a few kids from the pizzeria again to try to fix himself.”

Dread filled the room at Bon-Bon’s words, Fritz and Jeremy making eye contact.

“Wha- What do you mean, Bon-Bon? William saved my life, he’d never do something like that!” Fritz exclaimed, horror filling his face. This gave him pause, his mind lingering back to his time with William, before realization dawned on him. “Wait, that’s not really true, is it? All he did was stick me into this shitty suit and lock me underground. Fuck, it’s better than that warehouse, but that’s no comparison.”

“I’m not sure why you guys are so surprised. How do you think he learned so much about souls?” Bon-Bon asked, his usually-upbeat demeanor breaking away into bewilderment.

Fritz felt the puzzle pieces locking together in his head. His time in the warehouse had clearly clouded his judgment. Just as he began to realize the implications of what Bon-Bon was saying, Jeremy put all of his concerns into words.

“Shit, Fritz, I don’t know if we can do this. We can rough up a couple machines no problem, but we have no idea what that guy’s capable of.” He let out a sigh, before continuing. “But, I’m not quitting. If Bon’s telling the truth, then this is much, much worse than we thought, and I really don’t like the idea of William being free.”

“Fuck it,” Jeremy continued, “let’s check it out tomorrow night. Not quite how I envisioned my Friday going, and my boss won’t be too happy, but it’s not like we have anything to lose!”

“Besides”, he added, “I never noticed anything weird during the day, so it’s probably safe.”

Jeremy stood up to put his plate away, while Fritz was still processing his words.

“NO!” Fritz exclaimed suddenly. He’d been distracted by what Bon-Bon brought up, but he realized the idea of returning made him sick.

“I died in that place, Jeremy! Half my bones shattered when they shoved me in that damn suit. I’m not going back!”

Jeremy grimaced, the previous excitement quickly draining out of his face. “Well, I suppose I could go alone.”

“No, those things will tear you to shreds! Look Jeremy, I can come. My body’s made of metal,” he punched his arm for added effect, “and I- I shouldn’t be afraid of some damn building. I’m- it’s just-”

“It’s alright Fritz, we don’t have to go inside. Let’s just scope the place out, look through the windows, and see if anything’s wrong, alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

“Right, well I’m off to bed. See if you can figure some of that soul magic out.” Jeremy waved, walking over to his bedroom. “Oh, and please don’t make breakfast!” He shouted, before closing the door.

……

Fritz sat in silence, trying to figure out any clues to his current predicament. It wasn’t as though he could leave the suit – he was dead, after all, and as much as he despised being a robotic fox, he didn’t want to die. Even so, there must be something that could help him now, right?

Bon-Bon had been no help either, as the bunny’s knowledge didn’t seem to include how souls worked, just that they existed and could be shoved into animatronic suits, which really wasn’t helpful to him right now.

He thought back to what Bon-Bon had said about William. He really didn’t want to believe the rabbit – William really had rescued him – but he couldn’t discount the fact that William undoubtedly experimented with human souls, and it made him sick imagining where those souls had come from. Fritz let out a chuckle, realizing that all signs pointed to him being another experiment. Despite that, their goals were unchanged. They’d still track William down, alive or not, perhaps with a bit more urgency with the knowledge of what he might do given the option.

The thought of finding some way to improve his condition still nagged at him, and Fritz decided to take Jeremy up on his suggestion and learn more about his “soul magic”. Like before, he focused inward, seeing-without-seeing everything that his soul touched. Before, he focused on the minute details, but after all his training he understood it well enough to focus on the big picture.

Fritz gazed out, and what he saw astonished him. He’d seen his insides with Jeremy’s camcorder, but the ‘soul bits’ and the ‘machine bits’ were nearly indistinguishable on film. This was something completely different.

He could see everything his soul was bound to in perfect clarity. It looked like a raging fire, or a highway, or a waterfall. Fritz found it nearly impossible to think about, much less describe. He recognized the familiar metal maze, highlighted by torrents that felt like color but different, the sight before him exhibiting an infinite array of different hues that he somehow perfectly understood. The not-colors seemed to race down the tracks of the grid, stopping at every intersection to avoid a collision, although he couldn’t find any discernible pattern to how the “traffic” organized itself – the waves of colors seemed to simply know what to do. Strangely, each time one of these waves stopped at one of these intersection, little drops of color seemed to bleed off of it and form clouds in the surrounding air. Fritz felt incredibly overwhelmed, yet he couldn’t look away.

The first thing he tried was to control one of the color waves. Fritz imagined it stopping, which, as expected, did absolutely nothing. He tried speeding them up and slowing them down, to no avail. In a burst of enlightenment, he focused on changing the color of a wave, and stood transfixed as it slowed to a stop, simultaneously cycling through every hue that ever was from then until the end of time, all compressed down to a single moment.

Fritz shook his head, the confusion dissipating but suddenly replaced by a fiery pain as another wave smashed into the one he had stopped, both exploding into a massive cloud of shifting hues. He only caught a glimpse before being rocketed back into the real-world, the pain making itself known through a series of growls and snarls.

When the pain finally dissipated, Fritz felt a buzzing at the edge of his mind and realized that a familiar hand puppet was trying to reach him.

Are you okay, night guard?Bon-Bon asked, a tinge of worry in his voice.

“Haha, yeah. I uh, learned how to give myself a nasty headache on-demand. I know a bit more about my soul now. I think.”

Oh?

“I was able to create this weird sort of energy, but it hurt like hell and I don’t know if it’s useful for anything.”

Energy? I remember William rambled about that once or twice. He wanted to make his robots blend in, “the perfect killing machine” or something like that. I don’t really care about it, but maybe that’s something you can do.

Fritz pondered the rabbit’s words, a little taken aback. If he could blend in, that would solve all his problems! Heh, well, the biggest one, at least. He didn’t like the idea of a “perfect killing machine”, but that was probably more of a William thing than a soul energy thing. Hopefully.

“Thanks Bon-Bon. Maybe this is worth looking into after all.”

With that, he took another plunge into his soul. This night would be painful, but if he was lucky, it might just bear fruit.

……

Notes

William is officially the bad guy. Yay!

Next Chapter

#fnaf #fanfic #fanfiction #five nights at freddy's #absurdism #philosophy #ao3 #writing

[prolaterian]

7 - Abilities | Absurdist Phone Guy Stuffed in a Suit

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49318093

Fritz Smith

Fritz and Jeremy had spent the next few hours pondering on what some of the mysterious components could do. Despite pouring over the question, they made little headway – the best theory they could come up with was that the metal grid was somehow related to Fritz possessing the animatronic. It wasn’t very enlightening, but it did make sense: everything else in Fritz’s body seemed “normal”, more or less – or at least as normal as something connected to Freddy’s could be.

Left with some answers – and a lot more questions – Fritz resolved himself to figure out what his new body could do. Somehow, his “soul” could control the animatronic’s movements, and he knew that he was able to force himself asleep. He let out a laugh – a strange thought manifesting in his mind: maybe he could use his soul to “feel” what was inside his body.

Had he still been human, he would have rejected the thought, but extenuating circumstances turned logic and reason on their heads. Fritz closed his eyes, letting out a shallow breath in the process. He sat in silence for a while, acclimating himself to his mind. The experience reminded him of the warehouse, but he quickly vanquished those thoughts – he had to stay focused.

He tried to move his arm through thought alone. He started by envisioning the movement, picturing what the action would look like, but it wasn’t enough. He dove deeper, imagining electrical impulses feeding into wires, traveling into the servos lining his elbow joint and emitting motion, accompanied by the barely audible click of precise movement. It wasn’t enough! He could feel it now. Taste it. In front of him – no, everywhere around him, inside of him – was an intricate lattice. It was completely colorless. In fact, as he soon noticed, he couldn’t see the lattice so much as he could feel it, every imperfection in its design made obvious to him. He could feel waves of energy roaring through it, slowly warping the lattice but ultimately leaving it unchanged.

He followed the energy, tracing its path as it moved through the lattice. As he moved forward, he noticed the lattice slowly rotating, its structure looking something like a spiral. As the lattice twisted, he watched as waves of energy crashed into its sides, and, with nowhere left to go, were violently ejected from the lattice. He once more followed one of those waves, gazing in astonishment as the energy took on a corporeal form, appearing somewhat like some of the particles in the lattice.

He followed the energy for a time, venturing out into empty space, before another lattice came into view. Strangely, this one appeared to be rotating. He watched closely as the particles of energy smashed into the lattice, no doubt the reason it was spinning. He gazed outwards, noting an expanse of similar particles, all crashing into the lattice.

Twitch.

Fritz’s eyes bolted opening, his vision immediately focusing on an arm that was slowly rising of its own accord. He swiftly regained control, wrenching the arm back down. To his relief, it complied.

Blinking back shock, Fritz took a moment to fully comprehend the implications of this. He realized, with elation, that he had managed to manually control his body. Sure, he could already move his arm normally, but this was just the first step.

Hours passed as Fritz became more and more comfortable with the process, the idea of interacting with the animatronic body directly becoming more and more intuitive. It still wasn’t quite as natural as walking, but after a bit of practice, it was nearly effortless.

Having mastered basic control, Fritz decided to up the ante. He knew there were motors to open his chest cavity and move his face plates – and while he had had some success with the chest cavity, he was completely unable to move the face plates. Applying his new new technique, he was astonished – and slightly repulsed – as he felt parts of his face lift up. This would take some getting used to. Haha, as if it was the only thing.

Moving on, he wanted to figure out what that strange disk did. He tried interacting with it… and was completely lost as to what its purpose could possibly be. He wanted to solve the mystery, but he’d be able to get to it later. For now, there was one thing he was certain he could interact with: the animatronic’s control board.

Fritz wasn’t exactly sure what he would be able to do with the board – after all, he could already use the animatronic to its full capabilities (or at least, what he thought its full capabilities were) – but William gave him access to it for a reason. It must do something.

He once again peered into himself, feeling the bits and pieces of metal that made up the strange grid and control board. He dove into it, feeling his thoughts meld with the electrical impulses that-

“Hey, there you are, night guard! Finally figured it out?”

Huh?

Fritz spun in a circle, eyes frantically darting across the room. He knew he had heard a voice, but from where?

“Over here, silly!”

He heard the high-pitched voice once more, searching fruitlessly for its owner. Someone was here, watching him. He felt his face plates lift up – he scoffed, clearly some instinct granted to him by the suit.

“Inside.”

Inside. Inside the suit. The control board. Was this the animatronic that had previously inhabited the suit?

“Hey, are you Fu-Funtime Foxy?” He whispered.

“Oh my, you flatter me, night guard! Actually, my name’s Bon-Bon. I’m a hand puppet!”

Fritz stopped in his tracks. A hand puppet? Now that the thing mentioned it, he did recall seeing one during some of his performances. “You mean like what that Freddy animatronic had? I think he had a blue one on his left hand. Or maybe it was his right…”

The puppet interrupted his train of thought: “Yup! That’s me! Well, looks like I’m not much of a puppet anymore, but that’s no matter; I’m just glad to be away from Funtime Freddy.”

How was this thing inside him? It’d make a bit of sense if he was talking to the body’s original owner, but strangely, he wasn’t. Haha, it seems they were kindred spirits – neither inhabited a body they could call their own. Fritz shook his head. He’d ask Jeremy about this later; perhaps the mechanic could shed some light on this mystery. In the mean time, he needed to figure out who this puppet even was.“I take it you aren’t the biggest fan of Freddy?”

“I’m sour at Funtime Freddy because he made a habit of throwing me. But I’m not really the biggest fan of any of the Funtime gang. They’re always scheming, plotting new ways to escape. Of course, I’ll just be along for the ride regardless. Oh! Night guard, that reminds me: they’re planning on killing William and using his body as a disguise to make it into the outside world with. It’s a silly idea, but they’ll do it and I’m afraid they’ll succeed.”

Huh? They planned to- oh, he got it. Fritz had once suggested that a night guard should play dead if they were discovered by an animatronic, but quickly took it back after realizing that the animatronics would probably view them as an empty suit and try to shove an endoskeleton inside of them. This sounded vaguely similar, although he couldn’t imagine how the animatronics would pass off as a person. It’d be a hilarious sight to behold, that’s for sure – well, not William’s corpse being piloted by an endoskeleton, just the endoskeleton trying to act like a person. Fritz shook his head. It might be helpful to discuss this with Jeremy, barring endoskeleton jokes.

Fritz carefully rose to his feet and leisurely moved towards the door.

“Hey, where are you going?” The rabbit puppet inquired.

“I’d like to talk to Jeremy about this.”

He hadn’t ventured into the house yet, so it took a bit of time to find Jeremy. The garage lead into a kitchen, which itself lead into a hallway. After only a bit of backtracking, Fritz spotted Jeremy in the living room.

“Jeremy!” Fritz called out.

Jeremy’s head shot towards him, wide eyed. “HOLY- Fritz. Something up?” Jeremy asked, quickly shaking off the startle.

“Uh, yeah, there’s… an animatronic inside me.”

Hearing that, said animatronic spoke in Fritz’s head: “Let me talk!”

Seemingly, Bon-Bon was just silicon and electricity. The control board was in fact connected to his motors and voice box, but somehow Fritz’s “soul energy” seemed to override it, rendering the bunny completely unable to control Fritz’s body. He began to lift this restriction but hesitated, not completely willing to turn over his autonomy. But he reasoned he could simply place the restriction back if things turned hairy.

As soon as the animatronic could speak, its high-pitched voice startling Jeremy once more: “Hi! I’m Bon-Bon!”

“The HELL?”

Bon-Bon briefly recounted what he had said to Fritz. Jeremy seemed somewhat intrigued but not nearly as shocked as he was when Bon-Bon was introduced. Fritz figured he should add a bit of context, explaining the events leading up to him discovering Bon-Bon.

After his explanation was over, Jeremy took only a few seconds to formulate a response: “That’s insane, Fritz, but not nearly as crazy as this whole thing.” He said, while motioning towards Fritz. “I’m pretty sure I know why he’s in you though. When I was repairing th- you, I noticed a data device wedged inside your face. It was undamaged, and I assumed it came from your control board – somehow – so I put it back there.”

Fritz pondered this, his thoughts abruptly cut short when his mouth began to move of its own accord. “Oh! I remember now. Part of the plan needed all the animatronics to merge together, and I was still on board when that happened. I remember we fought you, night guard, and then I woke up here.”

Hearing this, Jeremy smirked. “And by some crazy chance of fate, you ended up on Fritz here. You’re one lucky motherfucker, Bon.”

Fritz too had his own revelation. “So that… thing that attacked me is made up of the other animatronics. That’s the endoskeleton that wants to walk around in William’s body. You know, uh, that happened at least two days ago. If that thing’s plan was to escape, I’m pretty sure it’s long gone by now.”

Into the outside world, wreaking who knows how much damage. “We-maybe we can track it down? No one else knows what it really is. Hell, neither do we, but if we don’t do something, it’ll just keep killing people.”

Bon-Bon swiftly agreed with the suggestion, eager to get rid of Funtime Freddy, while Jeremy pondered it, reluctantly agreeing but only after they made sure the thing was really out and in the wild.

“Also”, Jeremy added, “I’m a bit curious if that thing’s haunted like you, Fritz. Can’t hurt to learn more about how all this bullshit works. Probably.”

With that, they resolved themselves to tracking down the dangerous amalgamation that was probably piloting William’s body.

……

Notes

Michael still got scooped, but it seems everyone has mistaken him for his father. Oh well!

In this story’s timeline, William is still alive before Sister Location starts (so he can tell Michael to work there), and it is chronologically the fourth game (after #4, #2, and #1). William finds himself stuck in his own suit at around the same time Michael gets scooped.

Oh, and now that Bon-Bon can talk, I need some way to differentiate between him talking through Fritz’s mouth or sending thoughts directly to Fritz (which isn’t so much telepathy as it is Fritz’s “brain” interpreting electrical impulses from the control board as sound). So, Bon-Bon’s dialogue will look “Like this.” and things he says just to Fritz will look Like this. It’s similar to how stories sometimes format thoughts/inner monologues, but these messages are still things Bon-Bon is saying as opposed his thoughts. If we want to know those, we’ll have to read something from his PoV.

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[prolaterian]

6 - Confession | Absurdist Phone Guy Stuffed in a Suit

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49318093

Fritz Smith

This was a disaster. Jeremy would find out sooner or later – he had all the pieces in front of him. With a sigh, Fritz began to speak. “Uh, look Jer-Jermey, I think if-”

“No more bullshit, Fritz.”

Fritz turned his gaze downwards, resting on the animatronic parts instead of facing Jeremy’s anger. “Al-Alright. They caught me, Jeremy. Uh, they got into my office. Stuffed me into a suit…”

Fritz slowly looked up, catching sight of an astonished Jeremy, his mouth agape. “That’s-that’s not possible!” Jeremy fired back. “This isn’t just a suit. There’s no room for a person.”

“I know. Haha, this isn’t the first suit I’ve been in,” Fritz explained. He recounted the events of the past few months to Jeremy, explaining how he’d been forcefully stuffed into a Freddy Fazbear suit after that golden bear entered his office. He went on to describe the months he spent trapped inside the warehouse, before being rescued by William and somehow appearing in a whole new animatronic altogether. After explaining the amalgamation of wires that had attacked him, the room was filled with a stunned silence. Looking towards Jeremy, he noticed him lost in thought.

“Shit Fritz, I don’t know how much of this I can believe. But frankly, I don’t have a better explanation. You’re sure you aren’t hiding with a remote somewhere around here?”

Fritz shook his head.

Jeremy took a deep breath. “Well, alright then. Whatever this is, it sure as hell isn’t boring. Okay. We can figure this shit out, Fritz, but I really need to get some rest. Don’t kill me in my sleep, alright?”

“I don-I mean-” Fritz stammered, taken aback.

“Oh, and you still owe me for the repair!” Jeremy hollered, shutting the door behind himself as he left the room. Curiously, he didn’t lock it that time.

All Fritz could do was stare at the door Jeremy left through, the pressure that had been mounting throughout the conversation replaced by shock. He sighed. He should really get some rest as well. Had he been able to do so back when he was stuck in the warehouse, his time spent there wouldn’t have been as dreadful. His new body was a different story though – he’d never actually tried sleeping, always assuming he couldn’t – and there were occasions where he would fall unconscious. He shrugged. It was worth a shot.

Laying down on floor of his garage, he began to think of sleep. He imagined peacefulness, dreams, the satisfaction of escaping responsibility and boredom. He focused on these concepts, drawing upon memories of his former life. How nice it was to shut down after a grueling day. How nice it was to-

Fritz found himself at the Jeremy’s workbench, his arm moving out as if to inspect a tool. He was groggy, had he been sleepwalking? He looked around, noticing that the entire garage had been reorganized, the various items strewn about having been placed into neat piles, boxes, and shelves. What once was a complete mess of animatronic parts had turned into relative order. Did Jeremy do this? He was amazed that so much could be done while he was asleep. Speaking of which, he checked the clock on top of the workbench – 3:26 PM. He had been out for a while.

With nothing else to do, Fritz spent some time reflecting on the events of the past few days. To think he’d been so afraid of Jeremy finding out about this mess. Well, he still was a bit afraid, but he supposed he could see how things turned out. Pacing around the garage, he couldn’t help but think of what Jeremy said while he was repairing him. “Why were you built like this? What the hell can you do?” What could he do?

Fritz knew this body let him sleep – somehow. He couldn’t do that in that suit he was… stuffed into. So what was different about this? Really, he was thinking about things while blind – he was in an animatronic, for God’s sake! – but even if he knew practically nothing about what was happening to him, he could at least start with the facts.

As far as he could tell, there were two big differences between his current state and that suit: the suit was just that – a suit; and, his body was clearly much newer than those old models. But even knowing that, the puzzle still didn’t make any sense. He shrugged. He’d ask Jeremy once he came back – he’d actually seen inside of the animatronic, so he probably knew more than Fritz about this. In the mean time, he wanted to know what he could do.

Fritz tried to think back to when he fell asleep. He had actually thought of sleep – envisioned it – instead of laying in bed in wait. Hah, seems like his animatronic body was better at sleeping than his old one. But that was no help either! He didn’t even know what he could do, how would he even envision it. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly heard the garage door open. Jeremy was home.

“Fritz, are you still the-” Jeremy asked before tapering off, his eyes growing wide at the scene before him. The garage had been completely organized. Sure, it was still full of junk, but at least that junk wasn’t strewn about. “Fritz,” he said apprehensively, “did you do this?”

Fritz was taken aback. “Wha- you didn’t? It, uh- I woke up and everything was organized.”

Jeremy looked at him, suspicion clouding his expression. “Fritz, I’ve literally been at Freddy’s all day. I even stayed up late to fix you.”

Fritz paused. Had he done this… in his sleep?

“I think I was sleep walking. My hand was moving on its own when I woke up. Maybe I was asleep when I did it?” He proposed.

Jeremy frowned at him. “That’s ridiculous. Shit, everything about this is ridiculous. Whatever, I’ll just run with it. Nothing else happened while I was gone?” Jeremy raised his eyebrow in inquiry.

“No, noth- well, I don’t think so. Jeremy, I was wondering, what did you mean when you said this animatronic had other abilities? I was just thinking that I couldn’t sleep while I was in-was in that warehouse, but with this new body I can…”

“Fuck if I know, Fritz. Look, your body- something’s off with it. I don’t know how else to put it. What if- why don’t I just show you?” Jeremy replied, picking up a screwdriver – one of the few things in the garage that hadn’t been moved – and approached Fritz. He gulped after unscrewing and removing the torso, memories of that strange grid resurfacing. “Can you see alright?”

Fritz couldn’t. His… snout got in the way, making the angle awkward. Improvising, Jeremy went into his house, retrieving a small camcorder. He then took a couple of shots, showing the metal grid and the components it was attached to. He then handed the camcorder to Fritz.

“See this here? I have no idea what this is. At first I thought it was some sort of support structure, but the design just doesn’t make sense. Not only that, but it’s connected to your control board and servos, as well as this device.”

“I thought it might be for data or power, but the design doesn’t work here either. Everything’s interconnected – this arrangement just wouldn’t work for either. And that device is only attached to the grid. Clearly, it has a purpose, but I just can’t fathom what it could be.”

Jeremy took a deep breath, remembering last night, then continued. “The strangest part is that it emits… something. When I moved my hand close to it, my hand felt hot and staticky – almost like I was in a thunderstorm. I thought it might be some sort of radiation or electric charge, but I’d probably be dead already if it were, and the camera doesn’t seem affected at all.” He gulped. If something showed up camera, it’d make sense. But why did this grid – whatever it was – seem to only do anything against him.

“Anyway, what really confuses me is that this metal – steel, clearly – should be- well, it should be shorting out and completely frying you. But it isn’t. And I don’t know why.”

Jeremy paused, looking at Fritz, who appeared equally bewildered. Fritz thought about it – a piece of metal, arranged in a strange grid, and completely going against what should happen. It was weird – haha, as if nothing about this wasn’t – but he felt like it had a simple answer. That metal wasn’t just there for show, after all. William put it there for one reason or another, he knew that.

Jeremy continued. “I think this was added after the fact. It just doesn’t fit the rest of the design, and it’s covering up part of the chest cavity.”

Fritz pondered this, then was suddenly struck by a thought. “What if it’s me?”

……

Notes

Fritz starts to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his possession of the suit. But they be able to uncover how to utilize the capabilities of his new body, or figure out the cause of the sleep cleaning (hint – someone put a data storage into Fritz that someone else intentionally omitted).

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[prolaterian]

5 - Repairs | Absurdist Phone Guy Stuffed in a Suit

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49318093

Jeremy Fitzgerald

Jeremy exited his truck, then carefully removed the tarp and ropes covering the animatronic. He knew getting involved in this – whatever this even was – was probably a bad idea, but he couldn’t bring himself to care anymore. Years of nothing at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria would do that to you. Sure, he helped keep watch over the restaurant, and fixed up the animatronics when a kid stuck a lollipop between its gears or something, but fuck him if that wasn’t the most uninteresting job on planet.

This was something at least. Something interesting. Something exciting. Carefully, he moved the animatronic onto the dolly, making sure to avoid damaging it further. Not like it could be damaged further.

He wheeled it into his garage, clearing a spot in the sea of tools and miscellaneous Faz-junk that littered the floor. He set the animatronic down, and got to work. No time to lose.

The first thing he did was inspect the face. Getting up close and personal with the thing still gave him the creeps – it felt like it could jump at him at any second – but years of this exact process helped him shrug his nervousness off.

The first thing he noticed was that there were parts that clearly shouldn’t be there. Like a suspicious data storage device wedged in between its wiring. “What the hell happened to you?” He muttered.

Using a pair of tweezers – well, he called them “tweezers”, but they were closer to tongs to in size – he carefully removed the device and inspected it. It was intact. “How did this get outside of you?” He shrugged. He’d put it back in later. Cautiously setting it down on his workbench, he continued the inspection.

The next step was to remove the outer casing. Strangely, this animatronic differed from the designs he was used to, being composed of an “endoskeleton” with removable plastic plates. Removing them was simple, each had a painted-over screw, which, when removed, would allow the plates to slide out. The extremities of the animatronic were undamaged, so he began by removing the torso. “Huh? What’s this?”

Inside was… something. Jeremy wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking at. The first thing he noticed was a sizable cavity inside of the machine. Perhaps for storage? He also noticed a very strange grid of metal connected to motors and the animatronic’s control board, as well as a strange disk-like object. What the metal was for, he couldn’t fathom. It clearly wasn’t support structure, nor could its purpose be power delivery – the metal had no insulation and, had power actually ran through it, it would likely fry the animatronic’s parts, or cause it to completely malfunction. Yet it was connected to areas clearly intended to receive electricity.

The strangest part of the grid, however, was the feeling it radiated. He couldn’t quite describe it, but moving his hand close to the metal, it felt hot and almost like he was in a thunder storm. He didn’t know what could cause it, but prayed it wasn’t a fatal dose of X-Rays barreling through his body.Shuddering, he took a closer look at the control board.

On the board, he noticed a spot very clearly intended for a data storage device. Like the one on his workbench. However it got out, he would put it back in. Gingerly, he picked up the device, carefully aligning it with the slot and pushing it was in. With that, the animatronic should at least function, even if it still wasn’t fully repaired.

Moving back, he took another glance at the animatronic’s strange features. It was completely unlike any he’d encountered. Like it had a different purpose all together. “Why were you built like this? What the hell can you do?” He whispered.

He moved his head upwards, taking in its face once more. This would be a project. But he could complete the repairs in a couple hours. If he neglected his sleep for that night. “Fritz, this better be worth it…”

Jeremy worked tirelessly, first cleaning out the animatronic of any loose bits. Next, he reconnected – and in some cases, replaced – the broken wires. Thankfully, the damage hadn’t affected any of the animatronic’s mechanisms, just the communication between them. After that, he used a spare – and mostly matching – eyeball to replace its missing one. Next, he removed its right face plate, examining and measuring it. He then constructed a mirror image of it, matching the paint before reattaching both face plates.

This was repeated for the other damaged parts. Having a reference – the undamaged side of the face – made the job much quicker. After 4 hours of labor, the repair was done. Well, at least in theory. Realistically, he’d have to test the animatronic, then repair all the broken parts that he missed. Oh well. The testing would be over soon enough.

The first thing he needed to do was put it into testing mode. The old animatronics used audio queues to handled this. With this one being much newer, he expected it to as well.

Slowly and deliberately, he said the activation phrase. “Enter. Testing. And. Quality. Assurance. Mode.”

The animatronic’s eyes looked towards him, but it gave no response. Strange. Though it was likely they changed the protocol at some point. Hopefully the testing would still work out.

“Move. Three. Steps.”

The animatronic complied.

“Turn. Five. Zero. Degrees.”

It turned, facing him head on, eyes still boring into him. He shuttered, then proceeded.

“Raise. Arms.”

Jeremy stifled a laugh at its new pose, it’s eyes seeming to glare at him.

“Lower. Arms.”

He proceeded like this, testing different components of the animatronic, before one stumped him. He knew that the chest and face plates could move, but he didn’t know the activation phrase for them. He couldn’t very well ask the machine to do it; it was programmed to respond to a specific, and limited number of phrases.

“Damn, I wish you’d open your chest cavity. I wonder what that’s for, anyway.”

The animatronic complied. That was not supposed to happen. Jeremy took a step back, eyes wide in fear. “What the fuck!”

Reigning in his fear, he tried once again. “Can you move towards me?”

The animatronic didn’t respond.

“Move. One. Step.”

It complied.

“Close. Chest. Cavity.”

It did as he asked. He made that phrase up, but maybe it was just what was programmed in? Shaking his head, he tried the first sentence again, thinking the animatronic was just picking up on some of the words he said.

“Damn, I wish you’d open your chest cavity. I wonder what that’s for, anyway.”

Despite uttering the exact same thing, the animatronic just started at him blankly. What the hell was going on? Jeremy left the garage, locking the door behind him. He had to call Fritz.

……

Fritz Smith

Yet again, he’d messed up. That was fine. Haha, he’d messed up that night too, but he was still alive – sort of. He’d live through this mistake as well.

He knew the door was locked, so he decided to explore the room he found himself in. If he came to it, he could probably force the door open. The garage was a mess of tools and animatronic parts. As his eyes danced before the sight in front of him, he caught sight of something. A Freddy head. Memories of the suit flashed before him, the pain fresh as though it happened only a few hours ago. He approached the head.

As he drew closer, he picked it up and examined it. Inside was a mess of electronics and jagged metal. It was amazing that his head had fit into that. Shuttering, he began to place the head down, when the door suddenly burst open.

“God damn it Fritz! What the hell kind of- THE SHIT?”

Fritz locked eyes with Jeremy. The man looked panicked. Frenzied. Suddenly, Jeremy leapt towards his workbench, grabbing hold of a cordless chainsaw and brandishing it menacingly. “Alright, GAMES ARE OVER! YOU better TALK RIGHT NOW, or I’M turning YOU into DUST!”

No. That couldn’t happen. If he got damaged, he’d just end up dead. Or worse, end up like how he was in that warehouse again. He bit back a shutter. He couldn’t do that again. Wouldn’t.

“Uh, Jerem- I mean- Calm down a litt-”

“FRITZ?”

God damn it.

Jeremy approached the animatronic in front of him, locking eyes with it. “Where the hell are you, Fritz? Two-way radio can’t travel THAT far, Fritz! I know you’re hiding here somewhere, and I’ve had enough of your bullshit for today.”

Good. That was good. He’d let Jeremy believe what he wanted to believe. Slowly moving upwards, he carefully placed the Freddy head on the ground. He then turned to face Jeremy, his eyes frantically searching the garage all the while.

Jeremy took a step back at that. “No, that isn’t possible. Unless you blew a couple million – which I know damn well you don’t have, Fritz – getting this thing as realistic as it is. How the hell are you even transmitting the video, much less aligning aligning both eyes correctly? I know your ass didn’t make the technological breakthrough of the decade, Fritz! What the fuck is going on?”

……

Notes

In case it isn’t clear, this is set somewhere in the mid ‘90s. It’ll be relevant later on, but just keep in mind that while VR / eye tracking / full-body tracking / mobile networks can probably let us create “realistic” remote-controlled robots today, none of those things really existed at the time.

You could pour a ton of money into getting a crew of people who each controlled part of the animatronic, but that would require, well… a ton of money. Which Fritz doesn’t have.

Alternatively, you could use VR and related technologies to do it, but those didn’t exist then.

So the fact that the animatronic that Fritz is “controlling” has accurate movement is baffling to Jeremy, since it shouldn’t be possible. He’d probably accept crazy tech (which the Funtimes pretty much are) or Fritz being a billionaire over what’s really happening though, but he knows that something’s up and can’t explain it.

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[prolaterian]

4 - Getaway | Absurdist Phone Guy Stuffed in a Suit

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49318093

Fritz Smith

The door was open, the light of the room beyond almost calling Fritz towards it. No matter what, he knew he had to escape – that creature would come back, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near it when it did. Slowly, he crept up to the hole in the door, peeking through and hoping nothing would stare back. Luckily, all that met his gaze was what looked like some sort office, and so he pressed onward.

To his left and right were vents. He’d always notice William enter from left, so he figured it was a safe bet, opening the vent and barely managing to squeeze inside. Fritz had never been a fan of tight spaces, and this vent was no exception. Haha, nothing compared to that Freddy suit though. He slowly moved forward – his bulky frame making traversing difficult, but not impossible. And soon, he was out!

What met him was a massive elevator, as well as two metal doors that seemed even harder to break than the one that creature had destroyed. He checked them both – locked. It was no matter; he remembered taking an elevator like this, and it only ever had one destination. Out.

Fritz walked inside and gingerly tapped the glowing button to his left. With a jolt, the doors swung shut, and the elevator began to steadily ascend. He was so close to being free. The wait was agonizing. 20 seconds passed by before he heard a ding and the doors swung open. It was dark outside, but not as dark as it had been inside the facility. He emerged into a small building that looked like yet another office. Through the windows, he could see the stars. Slowly, he stepped forward, metal becoming concrete, then dirt.

He was free. But so what? His body was in shambles, his left eye missing. Several pieces of exposed wiring let out sparks as he walked. And what would he do? Sure, he didn’t particularly like his old job, but it was something to do. Something his body could do. Christ, his animatronic body. It was better than dying, he supposed, but there was nothing left of him. No proof that he was anything other than this stupid machine. Could he even prove it to himself, ever know if his previous life was but a fabrication born of his mind? Fritz didn’t know. He pushed the thought aside. He couldn’t dwell on it. He needed to move forward.

He wished William was here. William could fix him – save him. But William was gone. Where? Fritz didn’t know. But William would surely understand why he left.

His first order of business was to find a way to fix himself. Doing it himself was completely out of the question. Had he tried, he’d probably end up more broken than that thing that attacked him. Someone else had to fix him, someone experienced with animatronics. Fritz spend a moment feeling his face, noting the difference between the jagged metal on his left side and smooth, immaculate plastic on the right. It wasn’t like he could just waltz up to a repairman. They weren’t like a doctor’s office, hah. And besides, he didn’t have insurance. Or money. Yet another hurdle.

He had money in the bank – around a couple hundred; Freddy’s didn’t pay very well – but in his current state, he’d probably find more luck walking up to a repairman than a bank teller. At least one might wait a bit before they called the cops. So, he had nothing. And with the damage he incurred, Fritz couldn’t help but worry he’d drop dead at any moment – he didn’t know what was and wasn’t a critical component. So, he’d have to get a bit creative.

The office with the elevator had a landline. He prayed it worked. Without a phone book, he was stuck with what lay in his memory – which was practically nothing. His best shot was probably Jeremy Fitzgerald, a previous night guard that had some experience working with the animatronics, but most importantly, one Fritz had bothered to stay in contact with... at least for a while.

When Jeremy had his accident, he may of slightly embezzled the details of the aftermath to his colleagues. Jeremy was probably still mad at him at that. It felt silly thinking about it now – he was in the body of a robotic fox, why should this be on his mind? – but he was afraid of facing Jeremy. Not as much as he was afraid of ending up like how he was in that warehouse, though. Fritz picked up the phone, punched Jermeny’s number in, then waited in anticipation.

No one picked up. Ah. It was still night time. Haha, he’d been putting off sleep for so long that he nearly forgot that others need it. Oh well, he could probably wait until tomorrow.

……

Midway through the day, Fritz dialed again. This time, Jeremy picked up. With no time to lose, he began to spin a tale to persuade Jeremy to help him. “Uh, hello? Are you there? One of the animatronics at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria has been acting up, and we have you on file as a potential mech-”

“FRITZ?”

Uh oh.

“Fritz, is that you, you motherfu-”

“Whoa, Jeremy, calm down. If you want to be removed from the list, I can-”

“YOU PIECE OF SHIT, YOU TOLD THEM IT BIT HALF MY HEAD OFF! And then you fucking vanished. The papers picked it up, you know? They printed my portrait as well. ‘Night Guard for Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza had Frontal Lobe bitten off by Animatronic’.”

“Look Jeremy, I-”

“And people recognized me, too! Imagine Fritz, if random people approached you and told you how sorry they were that you were mentally handicapped!”

“I’m sorry, maybe I shoul-”

“They’re called TOYS, Fritz! Their teeth are made out of PLASTIC! I WENT TO THE HOSPITAL FOR A CONCUSSION!”

Jeremy took a deep breath. “But that’s besides the point. I don’t know why everyone was stupid enough to believe your bullshit. Or rather, IS. You’ve been filed as missing for 3 months now! What the fuck did you do this time?”

Well, shit. The jig was up. His cover was blown, and Jeremy wouldn’t let this rest, even if he hung up right then and there. He could fix this though. It could still work.

“Sorry about that, Jeremy. It was- I mean, just a little prank, right? Who knew they would believe it? Anyway. Well- and don’t take this the wrong way, but I, uh, found myself in possession of a really nice animatronic, and all it needs are a couple of touch ups…”

“You STOLE one of them? Is THAT why you vanished?”

This wasn’t going as planned.

“I-I didn’t say that. I just want to get it nice and shiny again.”

“So you can sell it for more?”

“No, I-”

“Shit, why not? I guess I owe you a few favors – even though they should be all used up after your little prank. Besides, I’m bored as hell. Fine. I’ll help you out, but it won’t be free, and I won’t be your accomplice. This phone call never happened, got it?”

“Yeah, I-I can do that.”

“Cool. So, where’s your animatronic at?”

“It’s at a place called ‘Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental’.”

“Fritz, what the FUCK? What kinda shit are you pulling here? Whatever. I’ll be there in a couple hours.” Click.

……

As soon as Fritz saw headlights in the distance, he went still. Soon, Jeremy pulled up the the place, donning the gold and brown day guard uniform, underneath a high vis vest. Slowly, Jeremy approached him.

Jeremy looked around, glancing at the vacant parking lot before shouting his name. “FRITZ?”.

Of course, no one replied back. Fritz wouldn’t blow his cover that easily.

“What the hell, Fritz?”

Jeremy looked him dead in the eyes, then began taking in the animatronic in front of him. Jeremy then turned his head, carefully examining his surroundings, eyes lingering on the building with lights on in the distance before moving back to the suspiciously placed animatronic.“This is a fucking sting operation,” he said with a sigh.

Returning back to his truck, Jeremy retrieved a dolly and began moving it towards Fritz. Memories of the warehouse flashed through his head, burning bright as the sun with the all-too-familiar scene. Fritz steadied himself. This wouldn’t be like last time. He could move. He was in control.

Jeremy transferred his metal frame onto the dolly, then slowly moved him into the truck. “Sorry bud, this is gonna be a bumpy ride,” he muttered while using rope to secure the animatronic to the truck bed. Jeremy than put a tarp over Fritz, reigniting his panic as his vision disappeared. But once again, he calmed himself. He could still see. It was just a tarp.

Jeremy set off, the rough truck bed causing Fritz some damage, but that was okay. It was nothing compared to what he had already sustained. Soon enough, the truck went silent. They had arrived.

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[prolaterian]

3 - New Life | Absurdist Phone Guy Stuffed in a Suit

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49318093

William Afton

William woke up, the sun casting rays through his half-closed blinds. The day was stunning. It was gorgeous. He opened the door and walked down the hall, taking in the fresh morning air. He opened his office and moved the desk out of the way, opening the metal hatch below it and climbing down the ladder. He knew the animatronic would have awoken by now. That was, if it succeeded – which it did, he couldn’t spare time for failure. Not anymore.

He emerged into a room that looked like an office, three TVs assuring him that everything was in order in his home above. He opened the door, anticipation pooling in him like a tsunami. He gazed into the darkness, and something gazed back. It was awake. It was a success.

“Do you understand me?” William asked the machine. It appeared taken aback by his words, slowly processing him. In a rough, garbled voice, William could make out two words: “Tha-thank y-you”.

He shouted in response, his showmanship taking over: “Of course! You’re lucky, you know? Very lucky. Who else could bring one such as yourself back from the brink of death?”

“Do understand though, I have a job for you.”

He knew that this one was not like the others. He could not force it to kill. It would refuse. It would break. He wouldn’t get another opportunity if it did. But he would convince it eventually. For now, it was in its best interest to learn how to work its improved body. It would take up the same role as its predecessor until it could be used to its full capabilities. William explained this to it. It listened eagerly. As it should. This machine was his creation, and he’d be damned if he let it walk over him. If it resisted, he could always find a way to motivate it, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. It couldn’t retrieve more souls if it was damaged.

……

Fritz Smith

Fritz has happy. Elated. He had a job. Something to do. FINALLY! How long had it been since he did anything other than stare at that stupid warehouse? But no more!

His savior – William, he called himself – had somehow brought him back to life. He didn’t know how, and he didn’t care. He was alive! Really alive, not just imprisoned in a suit, left with nothing but his own thoughts. But that didn’t matter now. He couldn’t think of anything but the present, the past but a distant memory. His job would be to entertain children. He could do that. When the pizzeria had few staff available, Fritz would sometimes wear one of the springlock suits. He always hated those things; the springs slowly unwinding singing a melody to his untimely demise. Haha, too late now. But that’s besides the point. He wasn’t in a springlock suit – he wasn’t entirely sure what he was in, but that didn’t matter – and he knew how to do this job.

With his newfound freedom, hours went by like seconds. And in no time, he found himself being loaded into a van – the same one that had saved him from that warehouse, he thought – along with two animatronics: a pink and white bear that resembled Freddy and what looked like a ballerina. He was so used to seeing animal robots that that one felt… uncanny. But that didn’t matter. It was time for his job. His show. He was ready.

He emerged from the van, along with the animatronics. He had tried interacting with them, but they seemed… vacant. He knew they were part of the show, so perhaps they were turned off? Or maybe the night guards in them had been there for much longer than he had, hah. There weren’t people in the other animatronics. Probably.

Gazing towards the park, he couldn’t believe that all this was for one kid’s birthday party. He counted at least 4 massive bouncy castles, and over 50 people in the crowd. Straight ahead, there was a wooden stage. Probably for him. These people must be rich. He followed behind the animatronics, unsure of what exactly he needed to do. It was funny – in his old job, he was responsible for training the new employees. Now, he felt like one of them. That was to be expected with his career change. Haha, one hell of a career change this was!

As he walked towards the stage, he felt dozens of eyes on him and the animatronics. Unsure of what to do, he gave a small wave to the crowd, immediately regretting it when his savior seemed somewhat annoyed. He couldn’t go back to that warehouse.

As he stepped onto the stage, he heard music start to play. Shockingly, the music was coming from him, as well as the animatronics. Fritz quickly regained composure, however. He knew this show had to go perfectly. And perfect it did, anticlimactic as it was. He and the animatronics danced and sang – pretended to sing, really; he doubted the Freddy animatronic was any more talented than him, hah – and almost as quickly as it began, the show was over. It wasn’t the most exciting thing Fritz had ever experienced, but it was alright. He could do it. This was his job, and he would do it perfectly.

After the show, he and the animatronics descended from the stage, then walked forward, prepared to serve food. To his surprise, instead of cheaply made pizza, he was tasked with delivering steak to the guests – the others responsible for salmon and salad. Fritz wished he could eat as well, but just being able to walk around was enough. To his delight (and his savior’s), serving food went off without a hitch, and he soon found himself back in the van. He felt content – more content than he had been in a long time. This wasn’t the life he imagined himself living, but anything was better than that warehouse.

……

Something was wrong. Fritz was scheduled for another birthday. He had been waiting in anticipation for the past few days. But William was late. He was never late. Hours dragged by. Then days. Something was very, very wrong.

He spend days pacing his room, to no avail. The doors were locked. His savior was gone. Perhaps he had been abandoned? Fritz did not know, eventually being forcefully wrenched from his fugue by a jolt of electricity. It hurt. It hurt a lot. He ran to his stage. That was where he was meant to be, William had told him. His savior was back, and he didn’t want to disappoint him. He couldn’t go back to the warehouse. He could see him through the window. Fritz just had to wait.

……

William never came. A day passed and went, and yet nothing. No one entered his room. But that was alright. He could wait. And soon, he saw his savior come back. He waited and waited, yet nothing. His hope was draining. He didn’t want to be trapped in this room. Would not be trapped in this room.

……

William came back. Fritz saw him, slowly moving towards the door and moving into the room to his left. Fritz had explored that room, but it held nothing but machinery. Yet he had no doubt that William was in a hurry to fix something, and would soon greet him. Soon, William did emerge, yet slowly walked by. William did not greet him, instead appearing somewhat frightened. Something was wrong.

……

William came and went the next day. Something was wrong, and Fritz had nearly lose all hope that his savior would free him. Suddenly, he heard something slamming into the door on his right, dents appearing before a hole burst through, an amalgamation of wires and various electronics following close behind. The thing looked towards him, and, screeching, catapulted itself towards Fritz. He was terrified. Frankly, he hadn’t been this terrified since he was dragged into that awful spare parts room back at the pizzeria. But he wouldn’t die this time. He refused. Something was wrong with his savior, and Fritz feared that this would be the end. So, he fought – really, shoved his body mass towards the creature. Fritz did not know how to fight, and was far too scared to think rationally, so he threw himself at it. Again, and again. Parts of the machine came off, pieces being lodged in his own body. The thing took its own fair share from him, however, claiming an eye and several parts of his head and chest. It screeched once more, than ran from Fritz, going back through the hole in the door it created.

Fritz took a moment to catch his breath. Haha, or would have if he still had lungs. As the anxiety slowly subsided and his body began to stop shaking, Fritz slowly slumped towards the floor. That was too close. Way too close. And he feared it would come back. But, as terrifying as the encounter was, his door had been opened for him. He could leave.

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[prolaterian]

2 - Upgraded | Absurdist Phone Guy Stuffed in a Suit

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49318093

Fritz Smith

Fritz didn’t know anymore. It had been long. Too long. Maybe a year? Maybe less. Finally, someone entered the warehouse. He didn’t care anymore, silently pleading them to take him. Where? It didn’t matter. Anywhere but the warehouse.

His prayers were answered. He was lifted onto another dolly (or maybe the same one, he didn’t know) and transferred into another van. This one was different. Maybe it was different. He didn’t know. He didn’t care. It was better than the warehouse.

The drive was exciting. He couldn’t see much, but tightly held onto every little sound and smell. Every honk of a car, every whoosh of the wind or bark of a dog. The sounds slowly faded. He must be off the main road. He prayed he wasn’t going to another warehouse.

The van eventually stopped and he was moved out. He saw a sign: “Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental”. Fritz vaguely knew of this place, but why was he here? What the hell?

……

William Afton

Those idiots had one job. One FUCKING job. No, he couldn’t give in now. He was too close. The next breakthrough would be it. He was certain. It took them 4 months to send one phone call. ONE! But he couldn’t dawdle now. He couldn’t be stuck in the past. William knew his time was running out. He could feel it. The way they looked at him. They knew. They knew what he had done. He needed this breakthrough, and he would get it.

He had one. Finally. He knew they could possess the suits, those brats made that much obvious. But this one wasn’t his own. This one couldn’t lead back to him. He’d spent all those years in the dark, blindly experimenting with robots that had already been possessed. That research was important, but it was NOTHING compared to what he could achieve. Would achieve.

He knew how possession worked. Well, he knew enough. And at long last, it was finally time to utilize it. He would create a new one, using the parts from that Freddy suit. He could be precise this time, choosing what should and shouldn’t be possessed. Not to restrict it, but to empower it. What can one do with a plate of copper? Absolutely nothing. But by precisely removing pieces, circuits can be created. Technology could be created. He would do the same. No longer would his creations be a blank canvas, a soul haphazardly thrown towards it like a bucket of paint. They would be precise. They would be perfect. He needed to start at once.

He didn’t create a new animatronic, scrapping one of his earlier creations. Funtime Foxy. It was sad to see it taken apart, but he couldn’t dawdle. First, he removed the storage device containing the animatronic’s AI. It wouldn’t need it anymore; it would have a soul.

He then carefully cleaned out the putrid suit, removing the remains of the poor soul who was forced into it. A night guard, perhaps? He knew from previous experiments that removing the flesh would have no impact on possession, and he had no intention to keep it around. Then, he dismantled it, stripping the plastic from the metal and throwing it away. The soul wouldn’t be resilient if it was bound to something as flimsy as plastic.

He was left with a pile of metal. Of scrap. But he knew it was nothing but. A soul coursed through it, the haunted steel more precious than gold. He set to work immediately. Unlike with conventional electronics, the soul was smart. He didn’t need to trick it with diodes and transistors. It could do that work on all its own. Instead, he needed to create pathways that allowed the soul to interface with the mechanisms, as well as to concentrate its power when needed. A possessed machine could walk and talk, but it could never unlock its true potential. By limiting the soul, it could precisely control its own mechanism and magnify its power, allowing William to achieve the impossible.

His first job was to integrate the soul into the machine. Allowing it to use its power would come later. He first melted the metal. This would, of course, separate the soul from it. His fix? Contain the soul while working with the metal, then allow it to repossess the cooled metal. He didn’t know for sure whether would work, but he knew how souls worked, and he knew how to contain them. He was certain it would succeed.

He formed a fairly simple structure from the metal. It looked almost like a maze, thick but short pieces of rectangular metal moving outwards. These pieces of metal would then clump up as they moved outwards, merging at certain destinations. Most of these destinations were the animatronic’s control board, or directly attached to its motors. There were, however, a few pieces that connected to nothing. He would get to those shortly.

Opening one of his drawers, he picked up a small device. It looked like a black circle, and had one opening where a piece of metal stuck out. The idea behind the device was simple: souls radiated some of their power into the air as said power traveled through them. The device was simply a grid of tiny strips of metal, ensuring a vary large surface area, yet little enough volume so that the soul could control it. When attached to a soul, this device would allow it to send out huge bursts of its power. Unfortunately, it was unlikely that such a thing could interact with the emotions and thoughts of people around the animatronic – such things were too close to a person’s soul – but could very well affect their senses. An animatronic that could take any form. The perfect killer. William would have no trouble retrieving new souls after this one was complete.

Carefully, he picked up the device and welded it onto the haunted metal. It was complete. He left extra “ports” on the metal, in case he created new machines that it could use. But he was satisfied with his work. It had taken hours to complete – nothing in comparison to the months spent on the animatronic and the device, however – and he was exhausted. He could test it tomorrow.

……

Fritz Smith

Fritz woke up. He couldn’t remember much of what happened after entering this facility. That was alright. He could remember the warehouse all too well, and this, mercifully, wasn’t it. That warehouse wouldn’t be so bad if he could move. Even if he could just turn his head. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t even remember what moving felt like anymore.

A finger twitched. Then another. Surprised, he looked down. LOOKED! WITH HIS HEAD! IT COULD MOVE! But what he saw made his blood run cold. This was not the Freddy suit he was stuffed – the thought made him shutter – into. This suit was shiny. Metallic. Something was wrong. Hah, as if it wasn’t already. But that didn’t matter. He didn’t care. Slowly, he got up. He took a step. Then another. He could move again. He could even walk. This wasn’t possible. This SHOULDN’T be possible. Fritz didn’t care. He could move again.

The room he was in was dark. He didn’t care. He turned his head to the other side of the room. A corpse stared back, empty sockets boring into him. His corpse. Something was wrong. He didn’t care. There was a door to his left. It looked like it was made of metal. Like someone wanted to keep something out. He didn’t care. He slowly opened the door, and was met with more emptiness. There was a stage in front of him. He walked towards it. It was made of metal – just like everything else – with red curtains obscuring a quarter of it. He stepped onto the stage and caught sight of a mirror to his right. He stared into it, mesmerized. Something started back. It was an animatronic – a pink and white fox. He raised his left hand. It raised its right. Something was wrong. Something was really, really wrong. Fritz panicked, bolting off the stage before his vision suddenly went dark.

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[prolaterian]

1 - Night 4 | Absurdist Phone Guy Stuffed in a Suit

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49318093

Background

If you just want to get into the story, and don’t really care about the philosophy, you can skip this part. Otherwise, read onward!

The goal of this story is to explore Phone Guy after Night 4, as well as absurdism. You don’t need to know anything about absurdism – or philosophy, for that matter – to understand and enjoy this story, but I’d still recommend reading the Wikipedia article on it if you have some time to kill. It’s a good read.

The idea behind absurdism is basically that we, as humans, want to find order in everything around us, but the universe we live in is absurd. There are important questions – “Why is there something rather than nothing?”, “What creates consciousness?” – that can’t really be answered without running into some pretty major roadblocks. Try coming up with an answer – if you dig deep enough, every conclusion leads to there being something very wrong – absurd – with not just our universe, but any universe we could conceivably live in.

And our universe is absurd, mind you. GPS (the thing your phone uses to figure out where you are) wouldn’t work if the people who made it didn’t account for TIME TRAVEL! This one’s worth reading about as well, but the gist of it is that time moves slightly differently for people on Earth than for satellites in orbit. Wild! And that’s one of the things we actually understand about the universe.

What most people do is look away from the absurdity. They don’t dig deep enough to reach it. But as soon as you do, it will haunt you. You will try, over and over again, to reconcile with the universe, and it will not work. You will never find an answer that doesn’t just lead to more questions.

There are ways to cope with this. One is to keep trying – after all, if no one sought answers, we wouldn’t be where we are today, in terms of technology. But unless you’re willing to dedicate your life to these questions, seeking them out will simply serve as a reminder that the universe doesn’t work the way you think it should.

Another way is absurdism, the idea that instead of trying to force an absurd universe to have order, we should allow ourselves to forgo order and embrace absurdity. Normally it’s used for what I described, but it also works nicely with someone facing the impossibility (absurdity :P) of living as an animatronic.

Okay, textbook mode is over, and will stay off for the rest of the story. I know I just did a big info dump, but I promise that the story will be a story and won’t just force-feed you philosophy.

Also, please keep in mind that I’ve done almost no writing in the last few years, so this is bound to be rough. Especially for the first chapters.

Oh, and if you notice any mistakes, please let me know! Don’t be afraid to leave comments or critiques – the worse that can happen is me thinking “Holy shit! A comment!”

……

Fritz Smith

Fritz did not want to be a night guard. Sure, the pay was decent (well, half-decent, seeing as it was Freddy’s), and he was well aware of the danger, but the gravity of it only really dawns on you after you actually work the job, y’know? Especially after the 4th night.

He supposed there was nothing inherently wrong with the role. It was a job, just like any other, and he’d seen his fair share of horrors during his years at the company. It was the stress. It would be the death of him. Hah, if he didn’t get stuff in a suit first, that was. It wasn’t the robots that scared him. Freddy’s had made damn sure of that, seeing as his first day on the job had him calling an ambulance after that poor kid had his head chomped in half. No, it was the anticipation. The waiting. Haha, the power being limited didn’t help one bit either!

The power. His power was at 32%. It was 3:37 AM. He wouldn’t make it, couldn’t make it. He knew that. It didn’t matter. As if that shitshow of a company would do anything for him. He’d spent his whole life here, and for what? Even if somehow made it through, he’d just end up right back here again. He wouldn’t even be acknowledged if he stared the CEO right in his eyes. With his eyes. Hanging out of the suit. Hah.

The minutes drudged by, his power seemingly moving faster. He wouldn’t make it. He knew that. Hah, no one would be there to fill tomorrow’s shift. They had someone for next week though. His power was at 15%. He picked up the phone.

“Hello, hello! Hey! Hey wow, day four... I knew you could do it”.

Gulping, he said his goodbye. “Uh, hey, listen... I may not be around to send you a message tomorrow”.

Something banged at his door. It was on the right side. Chica. 13%.

“It’s, it’s been a bad night here. For me. Umm... I-I’m kinda glad that I recorded my messages for you”. He felt tears streaming down his face. He had to stay strong. “uh, when I did”.

10%. He wouldn’t make it. He knew that. “Uh hey, do me a favor: Uh, maybe sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits? Uh, in the back room? Uh, I'm gonna try to hold out... until someone... checks”.

5%. He was frantic now. They would be here soon. Bonnie was at his blind spot. He checked the cameras, only keeping them powered for a split second. Hallucinations were dancing across his vision, the faces of the animatronics that had tormented him for the past 3 nights. He saw them in his room. Haha, that wouldn’t be a hallucination soon.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad. I-I-I-I always wondered what was in all those empty heads... back there-”

He checked on Bonnie. He was gone, but there was a strange poster left behind in his wake. It was a Freddy head, golden instead of brown.

He looked down from his camera. The face was still there. It was in his office. “Oh no”.

It jumped at him, screeching and tearing at his face. Despite its rough handling of him, Fritz was unharmed. That would change shortly.

The power went out. Fritz let out a whimper, tears barreling down his face. He was being moved. He shut his eyes tight. He knew where he was going anyway. The trip over was paralyzing. He knew what would happen. He fought, but the animatronic’s grip was too strong. He was trapped. Haha, he’d be free soon enough though.

Warning: Gore

They were in the room. He never liked that room, the walls decorated with empty heads and animatronic bits. Not empty for long. It started with the legs. The legs weren��t so bad. He felt the metal bits tearing deep gashes into them, letting out a scream in the process. It felt like jagged claws were running down the entirety of his legs, digging through skin and muscle, barely stopping at bone. Suddenly, he felt a mounting pressure. He didn’t fit. Oh no.

The darkness around him became red as his ankles simultaneously shattered. His tibia was next, the bone fragments embedding themselves into the already torn muscle, some finding their escape from his body. If only he was as lucky as them. He wouldn’t escape. He knew that.

Content with the results, the animatronics put on his new arms. Just like a sweater, hah. The arms were worse. Unlike his legs, the wrist posed no issue. The fingers were another story. They broke. All of them, compressed backwards by the walls of the suit and turning his hand into a bloody mess. His hands cracked as well, the appendages appearing more like round clubs than the tools he so dexterously used to keep the animatronics out. Haha, fuck all that helped.

The torso was simple. It came apart into two pieces. If only the other parts were the same. Oh well. The torso was simple. He felt the metal prongs digging in to his own torso, shattering ribs and embedding inside his skin as his plastic coffin was forced onto him. Click. The torso was attached.

Fritz thought he knew pain. Half of his bones were shattered, his hands a bloody mess and his feet facing vertically. He was wrong. The head (Freddy, he realized) was forced onto him. The opening was too small. Either the Freddy head had to change, or his own skull did. Crack. The mascot head was intact. His own was not. Bits of metal raked down his face as the head was pushed downwards. His sight was swiftly taken, as was his nose, the latter flattening. The skin along his skull and face was slowly peeled off, muscle and all. Click. He felt a fiery pain in his now-useless eyes. Suddenly, the pain ceased, and he felt jagged metal where his eyes once lay.

The job was done. The animatronics left, their heavy stomps the only indication without any eyes or ears to tell. He had survived. He wished he hadn’t. Maybe the new night guard would find him, hah. The pain slowly faded, his own thoughts disappearing as well. His wish was granted.

Gore Over

Fritz was awake. The pain had vanished. He could see again. He could hear again. The nightmare was over; he had reached the afterlife. Or… no, this was wrong. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the light, what he saw was definitely not his body. It was an animatronic’s. Heh, maybe that night guard found him after all.

Fritz could see. He could hear. What he could not do, was move. His muscles were definitely way too torn up for that, or maybe the doctors paralyzed him to prevent further damage. Hell, maybe his spine snapped while the torso was being put on. The suit. He shuddered at that thought, the agony of last night burning bright into his mind.

He took in his surroundings. This was not a hospital, nor was it an ambulance. He was in a car, a van of some sorts. He could hear the sounds of traffic around him and see the roof of the car above him. He could feel the movement under him. Shit. He shouldn’t be here. He should be in a hospital. Then, it hit him. He’d said it himself: “Upon discovery of damage or if death has occurred, a missing person’s report will be filed within ninety days or as soon as property and premises have been thoroughly cleaned and bleached and the carpets have been replaced”. He tried to yell. He tried to scream. Nothing came out. He was trapped, and everyone surely thought he was dead.

The minutes should have been agonizing, but all he felt was relief at being taken away from those animatronics. He was glad the pain was over. It made no sense though, why had it vanished completely? Shock? Regardless, he prayed that it wouldn’t return.

The van stopped, and he heard two people exit. When the door opened, it dawned on him that it was nighttime. Had he really been unconscious for that long? How the hell was he still alive? Unable to voice his concerns, he watched as he was moved from the van to a dolly, then slowly moved into a warehouse. What the hell?

The warehouse was small and, for the most part, empty. He saw a few animatronic parts laying around, but that was it. He was moved onto the floor, then the two people left. Fritz was alone.

……

No one returned. It was night again. The warehouse had windows. It had been roughly 24 hours since he was left here, maybe even more. How the hell was he still alive?

……

Fritz was sure weeks had passed. He couldn’t tell anymore. There was nothing. Nothing to do. Nothing to eat. Nothing to drink. He realized he wasn’t hungry anymore days back. Wasn’t thirsty anymore. Didn’t need to breathe anymore. Something was wrong.

……

It had been months, maybe? Fritz didn’t know. He didn’t think anymore, just stared at the ceiling tiles. He couldn’t even look around, his body still paralyzed. Why was he still alive? Why couldn’t he just die?

……

Notes

Whew! Looks like Phone Guy finally figured out what was inside those suits. On a serious – “serious” – note, I’ve always been a tad disappointed that Phone Guy’s story was over even before the first game ended. I’m glad he made an appearance in the later games, but it’s still a little sad that he’s basically a disembodied voice.

The plot will kick off in a few chapters, just know that, while I’ve tried to keep things as lore accurate as possible, it’s difficult. There isn’t a super good name for Phone Guy, so Fritz is gonna have to suffice. Canonically, Fritz is meant to have enough knowledge to tamper with the animatronics (I think), but Phone Guy definitely isn’t a technician, and knows next to nothing about how animatronics work.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Please leave a comment if you can – I love knowing there’s real people reading what I write :P

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[prolaterian]

#Im on that grind for the comments alone