Epilogue: Picking up the Pieces

"…And just one more wire annnd…" Nathan said, screwing the mount into place, "Finally done!"

Nathan had spent the entire day working nonstop on Bonnie's face assembly, finally managing to get the damaged connections reattached to her endoskeleton's face, which had been spared of any major damage. As soon it was fixed, Bonnie moved every connection, checking every expression she knew how to make.

"Lookin' good, Bon," Nathan said, yawning. Foxy noticed.

"Ye should go home, bucko," he said, "Get some shu'eye." Nathan shook his head.

"Chica's arms still need to be attached, and I want to do a full check up on both you and Freddy," Nathan replied, and yawned again, "But I could use a nap." Foxy nodded.

"This way, mate, Mike se' up somethin' for ye," he said, standing in front of Pirate's Cove. Nathan stopped.

"In your Cove?" Nathan asked.

"Aye," Foxy replied simply, "Plen'y o' peace an quiet. I should know."

Nathan pushed open the curtains, revealing an illuminated lantern sitting next to a plain air mattress. Foxy brushed past the mechanic and sat on his chest onstage, looking at Nathan expectantly.

"I best be gettin' ta chargin', hate ta run ou' o' power again," Foxy said with a wink, and his yellow eyes dimmed. Nathan sank onto the mattress, and soon fell asleep.

Hours later, the chime that sounded at six am rang out, startling Nathan awake. Looking around, he saw that Foxy was already moving, heading outside into the Dining Area. Nathan followed, finding the others standing onstage. Chica looked at him.

"Not to be pushy but, I'd like my arms back on," she said. Nathan waved her over.

"Alright, come here. I'll take a look at your mouth too," he said.

"Sounds good," Chica replied, and carefully stepped off of the stage, crossing the Dining Hall to the work area Nathan had set up. The mechanic pulled Chica's right arm out of a box, and went to work attaching and replacing wires and motor lines.

A few minutes later, Arianna arrived, stopping in surprise upon seeing Nathan still working.

"You're still here?" she asked.

"Yep," came his flat reply, "Twist a bit to your right, Chica." The bird complied.

"Alright then. Keep me updated," Arianna said.

"Will do."

Freddy descended into the Dining Hall and began his usual practice of making minute adjustments to the room's layout. Nathan smirked.

"Just going right back to it, huh?" he asked. Freddy just grinned.

Onstage, Bonnie had gathered up paper and her collection of crayons from Backstage, carefully dropping down onto her stomach and beginning to draw, humming slightly to herself. For a while, the room was silent save for the occasional scrape of a chair, Bonnie's humming, the crinkle of paper, and the various noises that accompanied fixing a robot.

An hour and a half later, and Chica's right arm was fully reattached. She tested it out , swiveling it about in her shoulder and wiggling the digits.

"Works like a charm, Nate," she said. Nathan nodded, and his stomach growled. Chica looked at him.

"Was that you?" she asked, puzzled.

"Yeah. I'm hungry," he said. Chica grinned and headed for the Kitchen. "Hey!" Nathan said, "Get back here!"

"Twenty minutes, Nate," Chica said, waving her only arm dismissively. Nathan rolled his eyes and began tinkering with Chica's left arm.

Twenty minutes later, Chica walked out balancing a pizza on her one hand, plopping it down on a table near where Nathan was working.

"If you're gonna fix me, do it with a full stomach," she said, and refused to let Nathan work until he ate several slices. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Happy?" he asked, "Get over here, you're still just right-handed." Chica chuckled.

The rest of the day was spent fixing Chica, and by the time midnight rolled around she looked almost exactly like before being damaged, arms and all.

"Thanks Nathan," she said, giving him a hug. The mechanic returned it gladly.

"Don't worry about it," he said, "It's what I'm here for."

The door at the entrance suddenly swung open, and Mike arrived for his shift, with Phil following him.

"Hey guys. Wow, looking good Chica," Mike said, "You do great work, Nathan."

Nathan chuckled from where he stood, wiping his hands on an oily rag, brushing his slightly shaggy hair off of his face.

"That's what I do," he said, "Who's your friend?" Phil crossed his arms.

"I thought I'd leave a bigger impression than that," he said, and Nathan recognized his voice.

"Phil!?" he said, "I heard you left town or something, after the lawsuits." He walked over and shook the ex-guard's hand, leaving a smudge of grease. "What happened to you?"

"It's, um, kind of a long story," he said, "But there are some friends of mine I'd, um, like you to meet. If you have time." Nathan frowned.

"What kind of friends?" he asked.

"Metallic," Mike replied, "And they need your help something fierce." Nathan sighed.

"I'll see what I can do," he answered, "I can't look for another few days, I'm still working on this lot."

Phil nodded in understanding.

"Of course. They're not going anywhere. I was going to stop by myself," he said, "Anyway, uh, Mike said I could stay here?" Bonnie called out from the stage.

"Of course you can!" she said, "There's lots of room!" Phil smiled, and turned to Nathan for instruction.

"Pirate's Cove," he said, "Say hi to Foxy for me. I'm gonna go home. See y'all tomorrow."

Without picking up his tools, Nathan walked out the front door, getting into his truck and driving off. Mike headed for the Security Office to set up for the night, while Phil went to Pirate's Cove to do much the same. He ran into Foxy just inside.

"Ahoy, lad," he welcomed, "Gettin' yer shu'eye?"

"Yeah, just for tonight until the police figure out what to do with me," Phil replied. Foxy nodded.

"Alrigh' then. I'll leave ye be."

Phil watched the pirate leave, and collapsed on the air mattress that was set up. He closed his eyes, and lost himself in the memory of a better time.

1980

"Marty, sweety, slow down," Florence Whitmore said, "We'll get there, don't worry."

"Yes grandma," Marty replied, stopping his sprint.

Florence was a kind, elderly woman, with a motherly plumpness and wrinkles that made her seem like she was always smiling. Her gray hair was short and curled, sitting atop her head like a cloud. Marty, her grandson, was spending the day with her, and she thought that a fun thing for lunch would be to visit the new restaurant that had opened only two weeks prior.

Marty himself was your average kid, all knees and elbows with a few missing teeth. At six years old, his blue eyes lit up with wonder at new things, and he would scratch at his short blonde hair whenever he was thinking about it. He had heard about this place at school from his friends, and good thing too, as there was a good chance that he never would have heard of it otherwise. No fanfare surrounded the opening of the business.

Stepping through the entrance, they were greeted with a large room filled with long tables, and a stage sitting in the corner. Hallways extended to other buildings, and children ran around everywhere. The smell of fresh pizza permeated everything, and the air was filled with happy music coming from the animatronic performers onstage. The grandmother and grandson went and sat at an empty table, a smiling employee pointing them towards the ordering counter.

"Go ahead and order and pay up front, then we'll bring your pizza out as soon as it's ready!" she had said, before moving on to help another patron. Florence nodded and grabbed Marty by the hand, leading him to stand in line next to her.

"What do you think, dear? Pepperoni?" she asked. Marty shook his head.

"Cheese!" he said. Florence nodded.

"Sounds tasty!"

As Florence ordered, Marty watched the robot band. It consisted of a brown bear, blue rabbit, and yellow bird. As he watched, the bird looked at him and smiled, waving. Marty waved back, awestruck, and watched as the robot went back to singing.

"Grandma! The robot waved!" he announced excitedly. Florence chuckled.

"I'm sure she did, dear," she said, leading him back to their table and placing a laminated piece of paper with their order number on a stand in the middle. She sat with a sigh of relief and pulled a book out of her purse. She turned to Marty.

"Why don't you go play over there?" she asked, pointing to the Game Area where children ran about. Marty nodded, and promptly went about exploring the restaurant.

One of the first places he visited (and the one that had the most children gathered around it) was the Show Stage, where the animatronics' show had just ended.

"Well boys and girls, that's the end of our show," the bear announced with a tinge of disappointment in his voice.

"That's right, Freddy, but don't worry, we have another one coming up real soon," the yellow bird added.

"That's great, Chica! I can't wait to play more songs!" the blue rabbit said. Chica laughed.

"Oh Bonnie, you always say that!" she said. Freddy laughed as well.

"Come on, gang, let's go see what's happening in the restaurant!" he said, and the animatronics did something Marty wasn't expecting: they stepped off the stage.

Now Marty had not been anywhere that had animatronics before, but a part of him understood that it was truly bizarre to have them walking around. The robots were immediately swarmed, and Marty found himself being pushed out of the mass of kids.

Saddened by being excluded, he meandered over towards the Game Area, which had begun to clear out when word spread that Freddy and the others were offstage. By the time Marty arrived, it was him and a few other children riding on the carousel. Marty wasn't interested in riding, and instead sat down on one of several chairs (probably intended for parents) and started to people watch. In doing so, he didn't notice the figure loom up behind him.

"Hello!" a cheerful voice called out from over Marty's shoulder.

Marty whirled around, startled, and was face to face with another animatronic, this one human and not much taller than himself. It wore a striped shirt and a matching propeller beanie, and held a sign in his left hand reading "Balloons!"

"Sorry for scaring you!" the robot apologized, still happy, "Would you like a balloon?"

Marty nodded.

"Yay! What's your favorite color? Mine's all of them!" the robot said, extending a drawer built into his torso. Inside was a colorful array of balloons.

"Purple," Marty replied, and watched as the robot plucked a purple balloon from the drawer, closed it, and attached the limp rubber to his mouth. The sound of gas escaping sounded as the balloon inflated, looking like the robot was blowing a bubblegum bubble. The balloon reached a fairly large size, and the hissing stopped. The robot then took it out of his mouth and tied it off, adding a white string, then handed the toy to Marty.

"There you go!" the robot said.

"Thanks," Marty replied.

"You're welcome! Say, what's your name?" the robot asked, "Mine's Balloon Boy, but all my friends call me BB!"

"My name's Marty."

"Nice to meet you, Marty! I'm gonna go hand out more balloons! See ya later!" BB said, and wandered off in the direction of the most kids. Marty watched him leave, and looked up at the floating purple orb. It bobbed slightly, floating into the turbulence of an air conditioning vent. Marty continued to look around the restaurant, and spotted a door labeled "Kid's Cove." Figuring that it might be a sort of playground, he wandered over and peeked through the window.

Inside were a lot of small children and their parents, surrounded by colorful walls and a soft mat that sat on the tile. Standing in the corner reading from an oversized storybook was another animatronic, this one a white fox that appeared to be wearing makeup. Two of the children were at the robot's feet, tugging and pulling at the suit covering it, but the machine paid them no mind, focusing on entertaining them.

The story was soon finished, with the adults giving a polite applause while trying to get their little ones to clap too. The fox smiled and set the book aside before looking down expectantly at the two children tugging at her (it had to be female with the makeup) legs. The eye contact made them shy, and they backed away, allowing the robot room to move. It crossed over to the door, and after a short pause to plan its actions, opened it and stepped outside, hitting Marty with the door.

The robot snapped its head to the side when Marty cried out in surprise, and it quickly walked up to him.

"Oh my!" it said in a kind, motherly voice, "Are you okay?" Marty nodded.

"Yeah," he replied, "It just scared me."

"I'm sorry, I'll be more careful," the fox said, "What's your name?"

Introductions apparently happened constantly for these guys.

"I'm Marty," Marty answered, well-rehearsed.

"I'm Fiona Fox. Have you seen Balloon Boy around?" Fiona asked, head swiveling as she scanned the restaurant.

"That way," Marty said, pointing to where he caught a glimpse of BB's striped propeller beanie.

"Thank you!" Fiona said, and walked off in the indicated direction, soon gathering a following of children.

Marty continued to explore the restaurant, and came upon a long hallway that led to a smaller, much less fun looking room. Two men were inside, one wearing plain clothes and the other wearing a purplish uniform, and were, from the sound of it, having an argument.

"Sir, I assure you everything is very safe," the man in the uniform said. The other man didn't seem convinced.

"Safe? How can you tell me things are safe when you have those machines running around?" the man asked. From the look on the uniformed man's face, this was not the first time that argument was used, but remained calm.

"Our animatronics are the most advanced of their kind, and have explicit programming to be as safe as possible around guests and staff. If you have further complaints, I ask that you take it up with my supervisor. I need to do my job," the uniformed man said finitely in a level voice, and turned back to a small screen.

The other man huffed, and stormed out down the hall, passing by Marty. Curious, Marty made his way down the hall too, noticing the drawings stuck to the walls, as well as posters. The man sitting at the desk stared at the device in his hands intently, and pulled a two-way radio off of his belt.

"Hey Phil, you're gonna get a complainer in the next fifteen," he said. The radio crackled.

"Oh great," came Phil's reply, "Thanks for the heads up, Jeremy. Hey, can I move you to the night shift? You'd get more hours."

"Sure, I don't mind," Jeremy said, "Could always do with some peace and quiet."

"Thanks. Glad I hired you," Phil said.

"Me too."

Jeremy set the radio on the desk and continued to stare intently at the device. Marty watched, fascinated, and then sneezed. Jeremy looked up, and gave a polite smile.

"Hey kid," he greeted, "Just wanderin' 'round?"

Marty nodded.

"Why don't you go back to your parents? Or go play," Jeremy suggested, "I doubt you want to watch me stare at the cameras for the next few hours."

Marty shrugged, but didn't say anything.

"Shy, eh? Well, if you want to stay, there's a chair in the corner if you-," Jeremy began, but the radio crackled again.

"Jeremy, I need eyes on the Dining Area, someone just had a purse stolen, said he had a plaid shirt" a voice, not Phil's, ordered.

"On it," Jeremy replied, and scanned his eyes back and forth. He picked up the radio again, eyes glued to the screen.

"I think I got him. Plaid shirt, jeans, short brown hair. Kinda big," Jeremy described, and saw the other guard start moving his way.

"I got him… Shit, he's running," the other guard said, and Jeremy was already out of his chair and sprinting down the hall.

The hall leading to the Security Office connected to the entrance, where the thief had to be headed. Marty watched as Jeremy emerged directly in front of the offender and tackled him, knocking the man to the floor. The other guard ran up several seconds later.

"Jeez, Jeremy, you use to be a cop?" the other guard asked. Jeremy shook his head.

"Nope, Army," he replied, and picked up the purse from where it had fallen, "I'm gonna go return this."

Marty followed Jeremy into the Dining Area, noticing that he limped on his left leg, which was strange since he didn't seem to be hurt from the tackle. The victim took the purse gratefully, to which Jeremy apologized that it had happened in the first place, then returned to the office. Marty watched him go.

"Marty!"

Marty suddenly heard his grandmother's voice. She was a few tables away, and he walked over, sitting across from her.

"Marty, there you are! Your pizza is here," she said, "Are you having fun?"

Marty nodded enthusiastically, and took a large bite out of his piece of pizza.

The next day, while Nathan did a full inspection of Freddy and Foxy, Phil returned o the abandoned Freddy Fazbear's. He had confessed everything the previous day, finally releasing all of the guilt and shame that had built up over the years. In exchange for his confession, his own trial was to be held after Gerald's, with consideration of the situation he was in taken into full account as well as deciding he did not need to be in a holding cell. Gerald's trial was set to take place in several days.

Out of respect for the victims and their families, it was decided very quickly that none of the hearings were to be made public, with the only information being that he was finally caught. Several other crimes, mainly of assault and kidnapping, were connected back to Gerald, and tacked on to his growing list of transgressions. The infamous Kid Killer was finally caught, for real, and that was all the justice system was willing to comment on the matter.

This was what was on Phil's mind as he stepped back into the restaurant. A sort of peace had settled over the place, the dark halls seeming somehow brighter and more welcoming. Wandering about, he spied the Toys onstage, frozen in a neutral position, Mangle lying in a heap in her corner, and Balloon Boy standing in the Game Area, a freshly inflated balloon grasped in his hand.

Squeaking wheels sounded behind Phil, and he whirled around, fearing one of the Toys might see him. Instead he was greeted by Marion, swinging slowly as his support system stopped, eyes glowing. Phil froze, not sure what was going on.

"Hello Phil," the puppet said, in a calm, comforting voice.

"Marion?" Phil asked, "But I thought you were-,"

"Just a puppet?" he asked, "I am, but puppets are controlled, correct?"

Phil frowned at the question.

"I guess so…"

"I want to congratulate you, Phil, for telling the world of what Gerald did to us," Marion said, lowering down to be on Phil's level.

"…Us?" Phil asked. Marion nodded.

"Us. You, the animatronics, me, the children. All those lives ruined from one man's evil," Marion said, voice just as calm.

"Well thank you, but…" Phil said, rubbing his head, "How are you… talking? Moving? You don't have your own A.I."

Marion looked to the side for a moment, before the glowing pinpricks flicked back to face Phil.

"You remember what this place was like, before all of the tragedy?" Marion asked, "Full of laughter, happiness, wonder?"

Phil smiled at the memory.

"Yeah. Everything was so… good then. The animatronics were happy, the children were having fun…" Phil trailed off, lost in the moment. Marion brought him back.

"I was there too. Watching. That's what I've always done," Marion said, "Watch."

"Watch what?"

"People. I had always been fascinated by people, and their lives, and emotions," Marion related, "I would always watch those I considered special, or unique."

Phil pondered Marion's words.

"Who are you?"

Marion was silent for a long time, before his optics blinked once.

"Do you believe in ghosts, Phil?"

A/N: Nice and short, with a little bit of mystery to spice things up. Thanks for joining me on this night, which ended up taking much longer than I anticipated. It was a heck of a ride, and didn't always hold up in parts, but now we move on to other things, like Night Seven. Details will be announced with the first story in that set, and a new Golden Years one-shot is in the works as well. Personally, I've always wondered how Chica learned to make pizza. That's right, it's a Chica episode! Sarcasm and dry humor await.

This series has progressed farther than I ever could have hoped for, so thank you all for taking this adventure with me. Stay tuned, more JANAF goodness is on the way!

-DeltaV "Flashbacks: Because just telling you what happened sucks."