Yeah, okay, I know I said I wasn't going to post here again, but meh. I guess I lied.

People have been making the Marionette a male, even though technically it has no gender. So I'm going to switch up the standard and make the Marionette female. Of course, when it's an animatron I'll keep using the term "it", but when it's in it's human guise it will be female. :)

Yes, there will be Jeremy/Marionette later on, if it's not obvious, but when I'll get to it (if I do), will be a mystery. Anyway, enjoy, and I promise I'll have more of the animatronics in the next chapter.

PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (besides the laughing friend and the concerned friend). All belong to Scott C.

Jeremy wasn't sure what compelled him to say what he did. After all, he had been pleading for his life. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure what surprised him more; the fact that he even bargained to fix the scary animatronics, or the fact that they agreed.

Let's rewind back to last night.

It was his last shift, and Jeremy Fitzgerald was back up against a corner. He had Freddy stalking towards him, Toy Bonnie and Balloon Boy in the vents, and he could hear the Marionette's melody play loudly down the hallway. He had really screwed up. He was wearing the mask, but they already knew he wasn't an animatronic robot like they were.

"W-w-wait, please! Don't kill me! I can be useful to you guys! Please!" A sudden shriek as the Marionette finally makes its appearance, leaping over Freddy's head and pinning Jeremy to the floor. Freddy then walks over and grabs his legs, while the Marionette pins Jeremy down by sitting on his chest, it's hands wrapped tightly around Jeremy's neck.

"*wheeze*Pl-please...I'll...fix you...*hack*" Jeremy is clawing at the Marionette's hands, quickly losing air, black spots appearing in his vision as he looks up at the white painted mask. He doesn't realize that the pressure on his neck has lessened until the spots are gone, and he had three animatrons looking down at him. The Marionette is still looming over him, but now Freddy and no-faced Bonnie are looking at him with what he could assume was interest.

"I, I work with mechanics. If you let me live, I'll come back and fix you...I'll get your face back...and, and older Chica's hands...claws, I'll put those back for her...Please, I promise I'll fix you up really nice." Jeremy gulped at the end of his bribe, and the animatronics looked at each other. They were considering it!

"Tomorrow, you will come back...or else..." Freddy grumbled, and suddenly Jeremy was lifted up, and shoved into his chair rather roughly by the animatronics. With one last shriek in his direction, the animatronics left him. The Marionette lingered for a moment, looking at him with it's black eyes, and then stalked away, leaving Jeremy sitting in the security office dumbstruck until the rest of his shift was over.

Back to the present, Jeremy was currently sitting a popular cafe with two of his college friends, who were chatting away about one of their projects for their classes.

"-rmy. Jeremy!" Jeremy jumped, looking over at his friends. One was laughing at him, the other had a more concerned look on his face. "Dude, you okay? I know school work is boring but don't go on a space expedition without us!"

"Sorry, just...a little stressed out lately." Jeremy rubbed his hand behind his neck sheepishly. He hadn't meant to space out like that, but he was terrified of what was to come tonight.

"Ah, it's that job isn't it? The one at that pizzeria? Man, it sucks they gave you the graveyard shift. I wouldn't want to work there at that time. Those animatronics are freaky looking." Said the concerned friend, who shuddered at the thought, while the laughing one stopped laughing and gave him a look. "Those animatronics aren't freaky looking, they're awesome! I'd love to get a look at their circuitry to see what makes them tick!" Jeremy shook his head at his friends. He wouldn't dare tell them that the animatronics were killers, or that he was going to have to go back. Actually, what was making him go back? He didn't have to go back at all, and it's not like the robots could come and find him! They were bound the pizzeria. He had nothing to worry about. Sitting back, he listened to his friends banter and argue about the animatronics some more, when suddenly the laughing friend let out a low whistle.

"Hey, check out the little goth cutie that just waltzed in." He said, gesturing his head towards the counter. Jeremy turned around in his seat to see what his friend had been talking about, and he had to admit, she looked cute. She wasn't facing them, but she had shoulder length black hair that flipped out to the side. She wore a black dress that went down to her knees. and she had long black and white striped socks on. She was quite thin, her waist especially, and Jeremy took a sip of his drink as he mused; she was probably wearing a corset under the dress to make her look thinner. After she finished talking to the cashier and grabbing her purchase, she turned towards the three friends, and that was when Jeremy nearly choked on his drink.

The Marionette looked at Jeremy dead in the eye, and winked at him, and walked towards an empty table near the front of the store.

"Dude, she winked at me!" The laughing friend said, sounding excited. "No way man, she was totally winking at Jeremy." The other friend replied. "Go talk to her man, she might give you her number." Jeremy was working on autopilot. He stood up, and quickly went over to the Marionette, who was currently looking out the window at the passing people on the street. He sat down in the chair across from her...it, the Marionette, and was going to say something, but couldn't. Jeremy was so confused, and had so many questions that he didn't even know where to start.

"It's been so long since last I've been outside the restaurant." Spoke the quiet, accented voice, and Jeremy suddenly went stiff as the Marionette played with her hair. "Everything looks so...different. So foreign."

"What are you doing here?" Jeremy finally asked, and the Marionette looked at him. It's eyes looked normal, a dark shade of brown, and had black eyeshadow around them. She still had the same bright red lips, and her cheeks had become lighter, subtle in order to fit in more with the outside. She smirked at him, and shook her head. "Someone had to keep an eye on you. After all, you made a promise. You're going to fix my friends all up. We can't have you running off on us now." Leaning back in her chair, she entwined her fingers together. "Do you really think we were that stupid to let you walk out those doors and not follow you?"

Jeremy glared and turned away. He didn't want to admit that he was kind of hoping that was the case. Hands suddenly encased his own, and Jeremy whipped his head back to see the Marionette had leaned in close to him.

"I can tell you're a smart man Jeremy, and I really don't want you to die because of a stupid slip up like this. I'm trusting you to make my friends better, happier." The Marionette said softly, the intense gaze and blunt honesty from her threw Jeremy off. In the corner of his eye, he can see his friends freaking out. "If you break your promise, Jeremy Fitzgerald-" Jeremy shivered when she pronounced his name. It sounded so...exotic coming from her. "-then there will be..." and suddenly Jeremy was cringing in pain as The Marionette dug her nails into his hands, and he quickly pulled them away, leaving long scratches on the back of his hands. "...consequences." The Marionette finished, and Jeremy could of sworn he saw a spark in her eyes. Standing, the Marionette, placed a paper bag in front of him. "Here, I can't eat it, so you have it. You need a little more...meat...on your bones. See you tonight...Jeremy~" And just like that, she was gone, and Jeremy wondered if the entire encounter had been a daydream. However, when his friends ran over to him and shook him to question him, did she get her name, her number, anything, he realized that no it was not a dream, and that he did indeed just had a very bizarre encounter with the Marionette outside of the pizzeria. Now he was determined to go back to the pizzeria and fix up the older animatronic robots. Maybe they could give him some answers about their mysterious friend.

But first, he had to stop getting these awkward, inappropriately sexy daydreams out of his head.