Can We Keep Him?

Chapter 1: The Plan

November was chilly in the north-east. The leaves on the trees had gone from brilliant greens to fierce reds and yellows, painting the streets with fire as Autumn approached it's end. There hadn't been any snowflakes yet, but there was plenty of frost coating the grass in the mornings. People had gone from jogging in shorts and tank-tops to walking by in fluffy coats while clutching cups of coffee or hot cocoa in their hands. Parents no longer pushed their babies past in strollers – getting a coat on an infant or toddler was simply too much trouble, so the daily walks stopped in favor of romping inside toasty houses. Busy men and women took the bus or drove their own cars instead of wandering down the sidewalks, choosing warmth over a leisurely walk to work.

In the quiet side of town, the cracked sidewalks had begun to see even less use. Thanks to some bad apartment fires that had happened last year, many people had been forced to move out. Property values had also dropped when the elementary school was closed, a brand new one large enough to cater to the whole population opening on the other side of town. This had led to many houses being left empty or owned by the banks, unable to be sold. The businesses on these quiet streets were hit hard as their customer base left – several had closed in the past few years, and even a Starbucks had needed to move closer to the center of town in order to keep running. Among those closed and decaying properties was Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria.

The restaurant had once been a large draw for children, both from the town itself and all the surrounding counties. The outside was bright white-washed brick, with large windows around the main doors. A sign, which had once lit up with neon, had proclaimed the restaurants name beneath the face of a smiling brown bear with blush and a top-hat. The restaurant had catered to all tastes, with play areas for toddlers and children, an arcade for teenagers, and a menu that included hot dogs, hamburgers, french-fries and, of course, pizza, along with a hefty desert list.

All these amenities had paled in comparison to the true marvel of the restaurant: the animatronics. Highly advanced for 1987, the restaurant had opened that January and revealed six walking, talking miracles. The most popular was, by far, the Fazbear Band. A large bear, Toy Freddy, a chicken with a cupcake, Toy Chica, and a blue bunny with a guitar, Toy Bonnie, had wowed the children as they sang songs. The animatronics had been intelligent enough to remember the names of children, recognize repeat visitors on sight, and catalog the children's favorite songs, deserts, and pizza toppings. They were even able to walk around the main floor when not performing, hugging the children and talking with their little customers on a one-on-one level. Toy Foxy, a pirate vixen with her own little stage, told stories to toddlers and the younger children. Balloon Boy, a small animatronic with a built-in helium tank that was attached to his lips by a hose, blew up balloons and handed them out to the children.

The last animatronic was one that had been with the company since it's early days. The Marionette, who lived in a large purple and blue present box in the Prize Corner, had been one of the first animatronics made, alongside the original Fredbear and Spring Bonnie. He sometimes seemed much smarter than the other animatronics, at least to the employees who worked at the restaurant. One man described him as 'always thinking,' and claimed the animatronic freaked him out. The children loved him though, since he handed out prizes for their tickets. Sometimes, if a child was only a few tickets away from a prize he would 'accidentally' miscount their tickets and give them the more expensive prize. It always made his mechanical heart warm when they would beam, holding the hard-won toy to their chest and thanking him before skipping away to show their parents and friends. There was nothing The Marionette loved more than to make a child smile and feel special.

1987 had been a long time ago to the denizens of this building, however. It was 1993, and six years ago they had been shut down after Mangle, who had been torn apart and put together by the toddlers so many times her circuits were fried, had accidentally bit a day guard named Jeremy in the head. The store had been shut down days after, and then left to rot while the owners scrambled to squash the bad press. They announced a new store on the other, busier side of town and had locked the building up tight, sealing away the animatronics and dooming them to years of solitude.

By all rights, the six animatronics should have ceased functioning within months of being imprisoned in the decaying building. The Marionette, luckily, had some super-natural tricks up his sleeve. He never explained how he had gotten his powers, and the Toys never thought to ask. He gladly used them to keep the power running and the water flowing. After messing with a few switches and placing a few fake phone calls, he'd managed to bamboozle the water and power company to keep supplying the restaurant with what they needed, though the representatives he'd spoken with would never remember that they'd agreed to that. All six of them worked together to keep the restaurant as clean as possible, and the puppet used his magic to fix what he could. Six years had taken it's toll, however, and there were cracks in the drywall and dents in the floor that he simply couldn't repair.

They weren't bothered by encroaching urban decay, however. The six were only ever bothered by one thing: their loneliness. Sure, they had each other, and the Toys all loved each other. They were a family, after all. That didn't replace the joy they felt when entertaining children, though, and every day that went by without a customer chipped away a bit at their plastic smiles. Six years into their isolation, it was beginning to show.

Toy Freddy ceased his constant humming and no longer rehearsed his joke routines, and stopped writing new songs for the band. Toy Bonnie stopped obsessively practicing his guitar. Toy Chica stopped pursuing her cookbooks or rummaging about the kitchen, imagining the dishes she would create for the children. Mangle stopped creating new pirate stories and instead focused on repairing herself as best she could – something she wouldn't have dreamed of doing when the threat of being dismantled by the children was still present. Balloon Boy helped Mangle with her repairs or worked on cleaning his corner of the restaurant, the Arcade Zone, and stopped blowing up balloons – he had a limited amount of helium left and didn't want to waste it.

The Marionette watched his family crumble before him and decided that he wouldn't have it. He kept an eye on the Toys from his box, plotting how to lift their spirits. Now, as November arrived and the leaves began to fall earnestly in preparation for winter, he got an idea.

Well, he didn't get the idea, per-say. His best friend, Golden Freddy, popped in and gave him the idea. They had been friends since the early days of the business. Both were blessed with supernatural powers, including teleportation. Gold, as he was nicknamed, was able to pop by the old restaurant whenever he wished. Marionette was able to go to the new location as well, which he did frequently in order to nick whatever cleaning supplies or small endoskeleton parts his family needed. As much as he hated to admit it, the new location was doing very well, despite only being open a few years. They were already far outpacing the profit the Toys had earned, and he couldn't help but feel jealous of the original animatronics whenever he saw them perform.

Gold popped in that Friday afternoon for his usual conjured cup of tea and gossip session with his friend. They sat in the empty prize corner, chatting about nothing in particular. Marionette detailed a rather funny disaster involving Balloon Boy, Toy Bonnie, and a can of left-over brown paint that had the golden bear in stitches. Soon after that, Gold mentioned something that got the wheels in Marionette's head turning.

"Did I tell you we've got a new night guard?" Gold munched on a tea biscuit – a perk of supernatural powers being that they had taste buds and could eat, if they wanted to – and watched as the puppet leaned forward, eager to hear about whatever fate befell the guard. While the original animatronics weren't bad mechs, per say, they did have a glitch where they saw anyone in the restaurant at night as an endoskeleton and would try to put them back into costume. Gold tried to make sure they didn't succeed, but sometimes he slipped up and the guard died. Marionette didn't exactly advocate for the guards deaths, but it was always interesting to hear how the humans either avoided it, or how they reacted when they were caught for good.

"No, you didn't," the puppet purred, "Do tell."

"It's some kid, named Mike or Mark or something," Gold waved his hand, as though dashing away that detail as unimportant. "He's survived four nights so far. Four! And he's coming back tonight, apparently. He's a stubborn kid, apparently really needs the money for something."

"That's no small feat," Marionette agreed, topping off the bears cup from the teapot he'd summoned. It was decorated with dancing honey-colored bears in pink tutus. Years ago the pot had infuriated Gold, but now it just made him grin.

"Kid's got guts," the bear agreed, mixing in a lump of sugar. "Apparently he's homeless, too. Heard management talking 'bout how they'd seen him sleeping in an alley or something near the restaurant. They weren't too happy – were talking about firing him after tonight. Something about homeless vagrants being bad for business."

Marionette froze, his tea cup halfway to his mouth. "A homeless kid?" He asked, the cogs turning behind his mask.

"Yeah. I don't envy him, being stuck out in this weather." Gold nodded to the main room, where the floor-to-ceiling windows showed an icy evening beginning. "Hope the kid finds somewhere to stay soon; I heard some of the employees talking 'bout how it's supposed to start snowing tonight."

Marionette didn't answer – he had a thousand-yard stare going on, his eyes trained on something past Gold's shoulder. The bear rolled his eyes and sipped his tea, knowing that when the puppet started plotting something, it was dangerous to try and snap him out of it. He still had marks on his arm from where the angry puppet had bit him one time, though the bear had never puzzled out how he'd done it with that mask on.

"Gold," he finally said, his voice slow and far away, "Would it trouble you if I came by tonight? I believe I may have a – a use for this young security guard."

"Really?" The bear raised a brow as he stared at the puppet over the rim of his teacup. "I didn't think you liked boys."

The puppets red cheeks glowed brightly as he caught what Gold was insinuating. "Not that kind of use!" He snarled, throwing a chocolate biscuit at the bear. Once his friend had stopped laughing, Puppet leaned forward and whispered his plan, insisting that it be a surprise for the other Toys.

"Do you think the others will agree?" He finally asked, once everything had been laid out.

Gold leaned back, scratching at his chin in thought. "I think so. I mean, they still think this kids an endoskeleton. They won't bat an eye if I say you want to take care of it tonight."

Marionette sipped his tea through a wide grin, happy to have finally found a solution to his biggest problems. "Excellent. I'll be there tonight, shall we say, one o'clock?"

"I'll see you then," Gold tipped his hat as he drank the last of the tea. Without preamble, he vanished from sight, leaving Marionette to prepare for their new...guest.

AN: I really need to stop writing. So this little plot bunny bit me and wouldn't let go.

Please REVIEW and let me know if you WANT TO SEE MORE! I have a few ideas for how this story could go, and I want to HEAR from the READERS about what they LIKED OR DISLIKED and how I can IMPROVE. THANKS in advance!