Lucid Dreamer (1/2)
part 2
Gepard notices that it's been. Quiet lately. Like weirdly quiet. TOO quiet. He hasn't seen Sampo Koski in almost a week, which is about the longest he's ever been absent. And he is NOT worried. He's not! So what if they've been getting along more lately! So what if Gepard sometimes looks for him in his favorite hiding places! So what if he's been dreaming about blue hair and green eyes! It's nothing!!
But they're….strange, these dreams. Gepard doesn't usually remember what he's dreamt. It's out of his mind seconds within waking up. But these stick with him, they won't leave him be, they feel different somehow.
He dreams of Sampo bringing food to the frontlines and eating breakfast in his tent with him. Sampo always sneaks him extras. He dreams of chasing Sampo through the alleyways, Sampo sometimes letting himself be caught, Gepard sometimes catching him, and trying to ignore how it feels more like a game now more than anything else. He even dreams that Sampo tags along with him on one of his few civilian days. Sampo runs errands with him, prattles about inane bullshit while Gepard picks out groceries for the week, drags Gepard into some bakery he's never been to but he thinks Serval mentioned once.
And sometimes, it feels so close to reality, that Gepard half expects to see Sampo, shamelessly swaggering into the frontlines with all the guards' breakfast like his wanted poster wasn't only recently taken off the walls of Belobog. He's disappointed when it's always someone else instead. He tells himself his disappointment is ridiculous and if Sampo wants to go prowl around the Snow Plains or wherever he is, then fine. It's not any of his business.
…But it IS his job to investigate any unusual criminal activity relating to the frontlines. And the frontlines are Sampo's usual haunting grounds, and this is unusual activity, and Sampo IS technically a criminal, so it is absolutely part of his duty to look into this - is what Gepard tells himself the entire tram ride down into the Underground.
Natasha tells him he's gone, and Gepard has to steel himself. He knew Sampo made enemies wherever he went, there are a lot of people who would love his head on a platter, but he didn't think-
Natasha corrects him that she means literally gone. As in off-planet. Sampo always leaves her a note before he goes anywhere, so she knows not to expect any supply runs from him. He should be back in exactly two weeks. Thank the Preservation.
Gepard goes back home. He waits.
The uneasiness doesn't leave him.
"Where did you go?" Sampo stops dead in the middle of some story about Seele, and how you'd think someone with as blunt a mouth as her wouldn't have so much trouble asking a woman out, even if that woman IS the Supreme Guardian, and stares at him. He nearly fumbles his cigarette.
"Ahaha, what do you mean, I'm right here?" Sampo smiles at him the same way he always does. Gepard has no idea why he asked. It just popped out. He can never tell when Sampo is lying, anyway.
"I don't know. I feel like I haven't seen you in a long time." Gepard idly mouths at his own cigarette. He almost never smokes, but he wants to ration their stocks of Blizzard Immunity, and it helps with the cold. It's seemed colder lately, for some reason.
Gepard flicks his lighter once, twice, sighs at the third time because a metal prosthetic and thick gloves make the damn things so difficult. Sampo reaches over and wordlessly kisses the end of his cigarette to Gepard's, lighting it. "Thank you."
Nothing happens for almost a full 30 seconds. Something churns behind Gepard's ribcage. Because Sampo never leaves a "thank you" hanging. This is the part where he gives his spiel about how helpful and kind he is and Gepard either brings up how long his rap sheet was before Bronya helped clear his name, or just stares deadpan because seeing Sampo squirm is weirdly satisfying.
"…I'll be back in one more week."
Gepard jolts awake in his cot, mouth dry and eyes bleary.
The hell.
The next dream he has, Sampo looks tired. Sometimes he seems normal. Sometimes he says strange things, like how he wishes he'd gone to some restaurant in Belobog. Ate his favorite food more recently. Brought something with him. Gepard asks why he can't do that now. Where would he bring something? Sampo only shrugs. His rebuttals have less energy.
Gepard doesn't know if he wants to dream more, or less.
He ticks down the days on his calendar. Natasha hasn't told him any different. She promised she would if she got any kind of message. Sampo returns tomorrow, from whatever vacation or seedy business dealings he's been off having. He is not excited about it. He is not looking forward to it. He's not!!
Gepard falls asleep late that night, unable to settle. He dreams again.
He's alone. There are tons of people everywhere, the frontlines are always crowded. But he's alone. They all pass right by him as though he were a ghost. Gepard starts to walk before he realizes his feet are even moving.
He checks the trashcans in the dead end alley. He checks the supply crates that someone always stacks too high because they don't feel like finding more space for them. He pauses to check the soldiers that march past him, watching their footprints in the snow.
He finally finds Sampo on the rooftop along the northernmost wall, the one that looks out over the plains, towards Everwinter Hill, towards where the Stellaron had once been kept. With a full moon and an entire land of white snow, Gepard can almost see clear out to the horizon.
"Found you." Sampo stiffens, and Gepard is almost prepared for him to sprint off the roof. He doesn't. But he doesn't relax either. Gepard sits down next to him and stares out at the wastelands.
"…I fucked up." It wasn't what Gepard had been expecting. Sampo never 'fucks up,' Sampo just gets into incidents that are entirely, supposedly, not his fault and that he just happens to always be within the vicinity of.
"What did you do now?" It must be really bad if Sampo is coming to the Silvermanes for protection.
Instead, Sampo ignores his question completely. "See out over there? Right on the other side of that mountain. There's a safe house that way. It's hidden under a lot of snow and dead trees, but it's there. And in that safe house is a box full of letters. I need you to deliver those letters for me."
Gepard's brow furrows. It's a weird favor to ask. Sampo would never tell anyone where his hidden safehouses were. It defeated the whole purpose of a hidden safe house.
Something is wrong, something is really really wrong.
Gepard turns back to look at him again and startles, all of his questions dying in his throat, because the entire left side of Sampo's head is suddenly matted down, dark and sticky, his skin is dyed red red red-
"In three more months, there's gonna be something big happening." Gepard grabs Sampo's hand and it feels slick and warm against his palm. "I won't be here. So I need you to do my end of things for me." Gepard tries to keep hold, but something is fading, something is slowing, the sun is coming up but the colors are all wrong, everything feels like encroaching fog, Sampo's hand slides right through his. "I was gonna come back with my mask to finish setting the stage, but…" Gepard makes a frantic grab for Sampo's wrist, the air twists, he comes back empty-handed. "They have you. And you're the Iron Wall of Belobog. So it'll be ok."
Gepard finally manages to find his grip, snatches the front of Sampo's dark wet jacket and yanks him forward to hold onto him, and this close up, he can see it better, his colors are bleaching out, leaking outside the lines as if Sampo will become part of the background, as if he's fading into the strange fog that's been closing in on them. His fingers are already starting to feel empty again.
"Wake up."
Gepard jolts awake, uncurls his hands from where they're fisted in the blanket, scrubs the dampness off his face. Breathes. Breathes. Breathes. Today is supposed to be the day.
He throws on his civilian clothes, and he goes down to the shipyard the IPC had built. He finds a spot where he can see every person that returns to Belobog, and he waits.
And he waits and he waits and he waits.
No one he recognizes appears.
56 notes
·
View notes
Wait I thought that everyone knew in canon that Bonnie was decommissioned?
This is gonna be a long answer so I'll put it under the cut. Very slight spoilers to an easter egg in Ruin
Apparently there's some confusion about this in the fandom but to reiterate to everyone who doesn't know; No one knows that Bonnie was shattered and is still within the Pizzaplex
No one.
Not the technicians, not Fazbear Entertainment, not the other animatronics.
To everyone in canon, Bonnie just up and disappeared one day under mysterious circumstances.
But Lonnie! you ask, your eyes innocent and wide. That doesn't make any sense! How could a giant 7ft robot disappear???
Well, according to what we learn in Ruin, he didn't actually disappear. We as the audience know where he is and know what happened to him. Everyone else? They have NO clue.
Your first key in to this is when Gregory first sees Vanny and tries to inform Freddy. To which Freddy responds with There are no rabbits at the Mega Pizzaplex. Not anymore.
We've already seen the animatronics go through hell and back and still be functioning. We've also see how FazEnt is REALLY unwilling to change or fully decommission animatronics because of how much it'll cost unless something impossible to cover up happens (Ie. the Missing Children Incident, The Bite of 83 and The Bite of 87)
As far as we knew, Bonnie hadn't done anything that drastic. None of the Glamrocks have, so what on earth could warrant him not only being fully decommissioned, but also completely wiped from the face of the Pizzaplex?
We get the answer to this question in bits and pieces throughout SB in the form of the dufflebag notices. There are two (three if you're annoying like me) very interesting ones that allude to Bonnie's fate.
Re-Theme, MISSING, and Monty Mischief
What do all of these have in common?
Well, they tell a story, albeit a very patchy one, but a story nonetheless.
Now, its important to note here that while Bonnie was still active (either as a band member or after his retirement) Monty Golf was very much an established attraction. This means that Monty wasn't made or pushed into the Pizzaplex to replace Bonnie outright. He was just another animatronic who spent his time in his own little place and did his own thing.
In Monty Mischief, we learn about how we're to stop Monty.
ERRANT BEHAVIOR REPORT - Monty didn't show up for the main stage performance again. We found him in the same place we always do, the catwalks over Monty Golf. We can't have a repeat of last month. Someone hit the hole in one and the hurricane bucket knocked him down. Both legs were broken and required emergency parts and service work.
Monty heads onto the catwalk every now and then, which is dangerous for him because the catwalks are prefaced by the blasters and Hurricane bucket. So, Monty is in danger of getting whacked off the catwalk and getting damaged.
In MISSING, we get our first clue into what happened to Bonnie on his final night active
SECURITY REPORT - 12:24AM - Bonnie is seen leaving his green room in Rockstar Row heading East towards the atrium. 2:40AM - Bonnie enters the East Arcade. 4:12AM - Bonnie enters Monty Golf.
Now this notice doesn't explain much. But once you look deeper into it, you start to find some odd tidbits within the notice that doesn't make much sense.
At nearly 12:30am, Bonnie left his green room and headed East towards the Atrium (which is the big squarish space in the center of the Pizzaplex) To explain it better cause the map is a big nondescriptive, the Atrium is that huge area with the main stage and all of the tables that leads to each attraction
Bonnie went EAST (or right) from Rockstar Row (which is the area right above the Atrium, where all of the animatronics themed rooms are) So assuming he was standing in his green room and he walked out, he would have walked down the rightmost path, where Roxy Raceway and Bonnie Bowl are located. (On the map, that would be the lefthand side. I know, that's confusing directions wise, but it would have been HIS right being the MAP'S left)
He went towards and entered the East Arcade (which would be Fazcade according to the map. The West Arcade is the Super Starcade)
Now, Bonnie left his room at 12:24 and got to the Fazcade at 2:40. That's almost 2 hours and 16 minutes of movement time.
Now we as the audience know that it doesn't take 2 and a half hours to clear a straight walking path. Gregory (and even Freddy) can clear that distance in less that 30 in game minutes. So what took Bonnie so long?
Normally I would say that maybe he was being stopped by kids or something, but this was well after closing. There shouldn't have been any kids or autograph opportunities, and unless Bonnie was walking at a snail's pace or in slow motion, it shouldn't have taken him so long to get to the Fazcade.
The next time stamp is even weirder. At 4:12am, Bonnie entered the Monty Golf (Directly across from Roxy Raceway on the righthand side of the map while below it is the Daycare)
It took Bonnie an extra 1 hour and 32 minutes to round the rest of the Pizzaplex (assuming he didn't stop and do something in the Fazcade) and end in the Monty Golf. And then from there, the name of the transmission is "missing" and there are no further time stamps, implying that Bonnie never left Monty Golf after that point and there are no further reads on his location.
So, he spent 3 hours and 48 minutes going to two specific points on the map only to vanish without a trace.
The next notice, Re-Theme, we get a bit of the aftermath of Bonnie's disappearance.
MANAGEMENT REPORT - The bowling alley needs a re-theme. While most of the Bonnie art was removed, kids keep asking, 'Where's Bonnie?' Do we have an officially approved response?
This is a notice from management themselves. Apparently, even though Bonnie hasn't been active for a while at this point, there still isn't a company approved response for WHERE he is. Not what happened to him, WHERE he could be. This means that after Bonnie entered Monty Golf according to the timestamp and never left, they must've searched the area and ended up being unable to find him, which led to them quickly changing gears and throwing Monty forward to take over. (Which is another discussion all together, I personally don't believe Monty hurt Bonnie, despite what the game wants you to believe)
In Ruin, we see what became of Bonnie and where he actually was after all of this time.
In the rundown Bonnie Bowl at the end of the alley, there's a sign that fell to block off the pin mechanisms against the alley wall. Deactivating all of the patpats (Wet Floor Signs) in the Ruin campaign will cause the sign to be removed, leading to a little rabbit (haha) hole. Going through the hole leads to a storage/recycling area for the bowling balls (I'm not bowling alley literate, its that machine that catches the balls and sends them back to the sleeve thing near the seating/scoring area so you can get your ball back)
And, laying there amidst the ruined machinery and surrounded by four patpats, is Glamrock Bonnie
He's apparently been there for a while, but he looks relatively untouched from the decay and ruination of the other animatronics (probably because he wasn't moving around and instead was completely stationary) ((some people mention how he seems to be missing his endoskeleton/major machinery but this post isn't about what happened to him/how he was shattered, this is just about his disappearance and subsequent location))
The fact that Bonnie has just been laying here, untouched, his only company being a few bear-eared patpats, means that NO ONE knew he was back here. If the technicians or FazEnt knew he was back here, they would have repaired him. And we KNOW that they could repair him from any state of disarray or damage because we've seen and heard of this happening before (Monty with his broken legs, Vanessa mentioning to Freddy how they can "slap his shell onto another endo" if he keeps misbehaving)
And even if Bonnie couldn't be repaired enough to take the main stage again, they could at least repair his shell or make him a permanent fixture at the Bonnie Bowl and complete retire him without leaving him in the back of a bowling alley to rot away.
Now how he got back there, I've got a few theories but again, that's another post for another day. But it's a bit sad to learn that Bonnie never really disappeared. He'd been injured in some way and went back to his home to basically die, and no one knows what happened to him. Not even Freddy, who loved and misses him so much, who probably would have been so happy to learn that Bonnie was right there the whole time and all they needed to do was repair him
But he doesn't know.
No one knows.
And since that scene is an easter egg and not an actually scripted story event, there's a very good chance that no one will ever know Bonnie's final resting place.
And that's so very sad
243 notes
·
View notes