Canon

After A Second Chance

November twenty first.

A mostly inconspicuous date. Sometimes it landed close to Thanksgiving, sometimes not. In any event, the day held no significance for a lot of people. It was just another day of the month, after all.

Not so for Vincent.

For him, it was the day that hell had broken loose on his life.

On November twenty first, 1965. Vincent's life was ruined. A drunkard with a death wish had careened through the streets in his car. The man had hit several cars, knocking many of them off the road and causing one particular child to be paralyzed from the waist down. While the drunk man had come to a quite final stop at a tree, he had managed to total one vehicle. Said vehicle happened to be the one that Vincent's family was in. The only survivors were a five-year old Vincent, and his younger brother Marcus.

November 21, 1967. The orphanage that Vincent and Marcus had found asylum in had shut down due to the caretakers' negligence. The Tollini brothers wound up on the streets.

November 21, 1978. Vincent Tollini made a drug run for a man named Antonio Veron just four months prior, during which he accidentally killed a little girl with brilliant violet eyes. One month ago, a burly man had threatened Marcus with a knife. Needless to say, Vincent took drastic measures that ended with the man's knife embedded in his jugular. On the twenty first, however, Vincent obtained a job with Antonio Veron. A permanent one. One that led to a continual downward spiral for Vincent Tollini.

In 1987, Vincent learned that ghosts were very much real, and that they were the reason the animatronics went haywire.

In 1993, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza closed for the last time, causing Vincent no end of frustration as he tried to persuade the miserly owner of the franchise to give him the old Fredbear suit, for old times' sake.

In 1994, Vincent died.

For Vincent Tollini, the twenty first day of the eleventh month had a horrible reputation.

Which was why, on that particular day in the year 2010, he was overly cautious.

Vincent had taken care to avoid doing anything that would turn this day into a repeat of all the previous experiences.

At first, all was normal. The kids were enjoying themselves thanks to their day off of school, the animatronics were having a blast playing with and entertaining the children. It seemed like everything was normal.

Up until they closed for the day, and everyone vanished.

"Guys?" Vincent shouted, trying to locate the animatronics, "Where are you?"

They've decided that you're too much of a problem, and have abandoned ship. Nightmare said scathingly. Obviously.

"Very funny, smartass." Vincent would've smacked Nightmare, if doing so didn't require extradimensional powers. "How about being useful for once."

Vincent! I'm wounded, truly! Nightmare manifested itself in the corner of Vincent's vision, taking on the form of a demonic creature with glowing red eyes and massive claws. The creature placed an oversized hand over where its heart would be, if it had one. I've done nothing but help, and here you are insulting me. Clearly I need a better PR manager.

"Cut the theatrics," Vincent muttered.

Fine. Be that way. Check the basement. Nightmare's manifestation vanished, then reappeared by the kitchen door.

"Are they in there…?" Vincent asked.

Hell if I know. It's just the first place I would look. Nightmare shrugged, the dissipated into wisps of shadow.

"As useless as ever…" Vincent pushed open the kitchen door and looked around. The kitchen was oddly empty today, usually Chica would be in here preparing food for the next day. Over by the freezers was the stairway down to the basement, which Vincent immediately started towards.

As soon as he was down the stairs, the trapdoor slammed shut, and the lock clicked.

Whoops. Butterfingers. Nightmare's red eyes appeared in the darkness. My mistake.

"How the hell did you-" Vincent started, then stopped. "You used my magic."

Guilty as charged. Nightmare grinned.

"Why though?" Vincent stumbled up the stairs, walking through Nightmare along the way. He felt along the trapdoor until he located the lock, then started digging through his pockets for something he never left his room without.

Spring's idea, really. He said that- Nightmare cut itself off. Damn. Nearly spilled the beans.

Vincent finally located his master key and fumbled with the lock, trying to figure out how the key was supposed to be oriented. "Spilled the beans on what?"

Nothing. Nothing. Nightmare said. Just know that I'll be stuck with you, even if the others do, in fact, leave you behind.

Vincent froze, the key slipping from his hand. "What?"

Forget I said anything. Just the ramblings of an ancient entity. Nightmare dismissed what it said. You may wish to try the lock picks.

"Every year, on this god-forsaken day. Every goddamn year…" Vincent muttered as he grabbed his lock picking kit from his other pocket. "Every year, life decides to screw me over. First my parents die, then I'm stuck on the streets. Next thing you know, I'm dead."

Nightmare didn't seem to have a snarky response this time. In fact, it didn't have any response. Nightmare had gone uncharacteristically silent.

Click

The trapdoor's lock opened of its own accord, and Vincent pushed up through the door. Despite the light now flooding into the basement, Nightmare was still nowhere to be found.

"Not really my problem." Vincent muttered. The pale man walked out of the kitchen just in time to see a pitch black figure vanish into the Prize Corner. With a question on his lips, Vincent walked into the room that was the center of the pizzeria.

Immediately, the sound of 'pop goes the weasel' played through the room, and the lid of the Puppet's box began to open. Vincent cautiously approached, taking slow, silent steps until he reached the box. When he reached the box, he peered over the edge, expecting the Puppet to jump out at any moment.

Instead, there was a present. A white box with a violet ribbon wrapping around the sides and tied into a bow at the top.

And a tag.

For: Vincent Tollini

From: Your family

"What the…?" Vincent reached down and picked the box up, weighing it mentally. It wasn't heavy, but there was definitely something inside.

"Happy Birthday, Vince."

Vincent turned around, and a look of surprise appeared on his face. They were all here, having left whatever hiding spots they were in. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, Fredbear, Spring, Billy, Vix, Tia, Ben, Theodore, Mike, Percy, Fritz, and…

Marion, having shed her puppet body and standing directly in front of him. She held out a cake and smiled. "Make a wish."

"How did you know…?" Vincent asked, looking down at the box in his hands and then back up at the others.

"Your birth date was in the old records, back when Robert Godwin owned the company." Mike answered.

"And I told them." Spring raised his hand. "I didn't expect Nightmare to lock you in the basement. I just wanted it to stall for time."

"So you -all of you- planned this? For me?" Vincent was stunned. "Why?"

"Because you're a part of the family, Vincent," Marion said, "You're our murderer, but also our protector. Open the box, Vincent. It has something that I'm sure you'll love."

Vincent looked down at the box in his hands and slowly began to undo the ribbons. His deft fingers removed the lid, and he smiled.

"This is probably the best birthday I've had. Ever."

Just a short chapter to celebrate Vincent's thirty-fifth birthday. Or Fifty-first. I dunno how it works, what with the whole 'being dead' thing.

I would just like to remind everyone that this is an AU, and as such does not follow the FNaF canon. It definitely has its roots in the canon of Five Nights at Freddy's, but it has and will take major detours from the canon.

Now, thank you all for reading. Please leave a review to let me know what you think.

Now read on!