Author's Note

Hello, everyone! It's about time I got back into the fan-fiction scene. Years ago I posted the first two chapters of a Five Nights at Freddy's fan-fiction called Under the Golden Surface before scrapping the whole thing and going on hiatus. Why did I delete it? Simple: I didn't like it. From its main character, to its tone, to some subject matter that I wasn't sure I had the chops to handle, I expected the story to end up as one big mess and nipped the problem in the bud. As for the hiatus, let's just say that real life got in the way.

To make up for the whole situation, I decided I wanted my first fan-fiction after ending my hiatus to also be a Five Nights at Freddy's fan-fiction. I may be a fan of video game franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario, and Kirby, among others, but most of them began before my time. FNaF is an exception. In this case, I was a fan from the time I was first creeped out during Markiplier's Let's Play of the original FNaF, to the lore-heavy, novel-laden, merchandise-leaking era of FNaF that continues to this day. Since I have such a connection to it from its past to its present, I find FNaF to be a very appropriate topic for my first post-hiatus fan-fiction.

Anyways, I won't keep you any longer. Happy reading!

- KromeDome97

Chapter One: Opening Day

"Woo-hoo! Bonnie's Rockin' Gym, here we come!" cheered six year-old DiDi as she flew past the gates of the newly-opened Freddy's Fantasy Park. The forest of dark braids on her head flailed with every clop of her black Crocs on the path below her, as did the skirt of her glittery, pale-yellow dress. All the while, she bore a wide smile that could outshine a lighthouse, anticipating the day of fantasy and fun she was about to have.

"Foxy Cove! Foxy Cove! Foxy Cove!" chanted DiDi's three year-old brother Caleb, who scuttled not too far behind. He occasionally slowed down to adjust the straps of his baby-blue overalls and scratch his buzz-cut head, but he always sped back up in no time.

"Careful, guys! Don't run off too far ahead now!" called their mother, a young woman named Candace, who jogged just fast enough to keep her kids within arms reach. A half-empty iced latte rested in her right hand, and a leather purse stuffed with supplies and brochures dangled from her left shoulder. She wiped droplets of sweat from her brow with her free hand, brushing her short, black curls in the process, and cursed herself for wearing a charcoal-gray blouse as the heat of the mid-morning sun came down on her. Uncomfortable as she was, she couldn't help but grin at the sight of her kids running around with glee. It was a much-needed change of pace.

Oh, Jeb, mused Candace, gazing at the sky, I hope you can see how happy they are from up there.

With that, Candace found herself back in that room in Heracles Hospital, where she said a final goodbye to her husband before the pancreatic cancer sucked the last drops of life from his bedridden form, where she let his hand slip out of hers one last time before hospital staff carted him away, where she turned to DiDi and Caleb's reddened, crying faces before whispering two essential words of advice: "Be brave." Although Jeb passed two months ago, the wounds inflicted by his death were still fresh, and the dark cloud of his absence still hung over their household. The opening of Freddy's Fantasy Park was a welcome opportunity for Candace to take her kids' minds off of the tragedy, if only for a few hours, but she probably needed the distraction even more than they did.

A light tug on her blouse pulled Candace back to reality. Apparently, DiDi came back to her side without her noticing it, and Caleb was mere inches behind DiDi.

"Hey, Mama! Where are we gonna go first?" inquired DiDi excitedly.

Candace and her kids were still in Fazbear Plaza, the hub of the park that lied just past the gates. The plaza's circular, brick path had vendors of cold drinks, frozen treats, and Freddy Fazbear apparel scattered on it's edges, and a handful of round, metal tables and chairs bundled towards the center. This section's main attraction was the wide, wooden stage; at least, it would be once the curtains were parted, and Freddy and his mechanical band performed on it. Otherwise, the only interesting thing to look at on the stage was an ornate valence which read "The Fazbear Four" in golden block letters. To the left of the stage was a path to Bonnie's Rockin' Gym, a sea of wood-chips peppered with colorful playground equipment. To the right was a path to Chica's Kitchen Coop, a little building charmingly styled after a chicken coop, true to its name, from which a potpourri of pizza, hot dogs, and burgers fragranced the plaza. Finally, a path behind the stage led to Foxy's Treasure Cove, an outdoor arcade housing an array of pirate-themed carnival games. The choice of where to go first was daunting, to say the least, so Candace left the decision to her children.

"I don't know. Is there something you guys can't wait to do here?" she asked.

"Ooh, ooh, I really want to try out the slide at Bonnie's Rockin' Gym!" squealed DiDi, who practically jumped up and down with anticipation.

"Foxy Cove! Foxy Cove!" repeated Caleb as he pointed in the direction of Foxy's Treasure Cove, likely expecting to win an extravagant prize.

"Alright, we can go to Foxy's Treasure Cove first. I wanted to go there next, anyways," DiDi relented, lacking the typical stubbornness of her age group, "Maybe I'll win something really cool at one of the games!"

With that, the decision was made, and Candace led her children past the stage and into the aisles of games in Foxy's Treasure Cove. From target-shooting games run by carneys dressed as sailors, to a Whack-a-Mole clone with swash-buckling fennecs as the moles, to a high striker with a rubber sword in place of a mallet, there were myriad games for the kids to choose from. However, Caleb's attention was drawn to a claw machine labelled "Foxy's Pirate Booty", lovingly painted to resemble a treasure chest. Inside it were plushies of the entire Fazbear gang, but one toy stood out from the rest: a gold, sparkly teddybear, with eyes as black as the buttons on it's woolly, white vest and the top hat on it's head. Many adults would have considered the plushie unnerving, but whether it be its shininess, uniqueness, or perhaps something deeper, something about the golden teddy-bear entranced Caleb. He reached desperately for the glass containing the golden teddy-bear, and his mouth hung open as he eyed it in awe. DiDi did not fail to notice.

"Hey, Mama! I think Caleb really likes that yellow bear," noted DiDi.

Candace knew where this was going, so she fished out a quarter from her purse and handed it to DiDi, "Alright, DiDi. I'll give you one try on the claw machine, since Caleb isn't tall enough to reach the controls. Careful though, I hear these things are rigged."

DiDi cheered and pressed the quarter in the allotted slot before grabbing the joystick. Her palms dampened around it as she carefully aimed the claw above her plushie of choice. She double-, triple-, quadruple-, and quintuple-checked if she positioned the claw just right, her vision darting between it and the golden teddy-bear. After nearly a minute of deliberation, she pressed the scarlet button next to the joystick and let Lady Luck take the wheel. The claw opened and lowered at a mockingly slow pace, as if engineered to bring DiDi's anxiety to its peak. Reach its peak it did, for the lower the claw got, the more apparent it was that she aimed it slightly off-center. If she was going to get the golden teddy-bear, it was going to be close.

Soon, the claw had reached it's lowest point and began to close, but a prong of the claw caught the hook of a nearby Foxy plush. DiDi started and gasped, sure that she messed up her only chance. Yet, by some miracle, the hook slid off of the prong, and the claw clamped on the golden teddy-bear's left ear. She breathed a sigh of relief, but she knew she wasn't home free yet. She still had to watch the claw rise as painfully slow as it lowered, and with the plushie dangling from it by only an ear, she knew that one wrong move would send it crashing down into the pile. Eventually, the claw reached its highest point, then inched steadily closer to the drop-off hole. Both DiDi and Caleb locked eyes with the plushie the whole way, as it swayed to and fro, teasing them with the idea that it could fall at any moment. Neither of them blinked once. Even Candace found herself jittering with suspense, or maybe the iced latte that she just finished was working its magic. Either way, against all odds, the claw made it over the hole without incident, and it dropped DiDi's bounty out of the machine and into her arms. DiDi giggled the adrenaline away and squeezed the bear with all her might, then handed it over to Caleb, who did the same. Candace chuckled too, pleasantly surprised.

A few more games later, they were off to Bonnie's Rockin' Gym with their new, gilded friend, after which lunch at Chica's Kitchen Coop would be in order. Just as there had been many games to play at Foxy's Treasure Cove, so were there many pieces of playground equipment to climb in Bonnie's neck of the park. Of course, DiDi was partial to the twisting, turning, twelve-foot tube slide, the lower end of which was given google eyes, a rounded nose, and bunny ears to evoke that guitar-toting rabbit. Caleb wished to hop on the royal-blue, spring-supported rocking horse with a comfy, bright-red saddle - not that you could call it much of a horse, since it too bore Bonnie's mug. They also could have reached for the sky on any one of eight swings, explored the expansive lookout that led to the aforementioned slide, or climbed to the top of a foreboding dome of metal bars. Sadly, they'd have to wait to do any of those things, because Candace began to experience the all-too-familiar feeling that comes with finishing a large drink.

"Kids, Mama has to use the big girls' room real quick," Candace notified her children after cursing under her breath. She power-walked to a conveniently-placed cubical building with a labelled door for each sex, beckoning her children to follow her. All the while, a wonderfully peppy voice on a nearby loudspeaker informed patrons that the Fazbear Four's debut concert was ten minutes away.

Before stepping into the women's restroom, Candace had some instructions: "DiDi, stay right here and make sure your brother doesn't wander off, okay?"

The girl nodded and gave a little salute. Candace, satisfied with the response, rushed to the nearest toilet. DiDi kept watch over Caleb as promised, while he jumped around with the golden teddy-bear in hand, drawing the attention of a freckled boy with ruffled, dirty-blonde hair. He wore bleached jeans and a brown tee-shirt with Freddy Fazbear's friendly face printed on it, in stark contrast to his own, and he didn't seem much older than DiDi herself.

"Whoa! Is that a Golden Freddy plushie?" the boy prodded, pointing to Caleb's teddy-bear, "That's the rarest Freddy plushie there is! Lemme see!"

Caleb's eyes widened, and he pulled the teddy-bear closer to him.

"Hey! My mama says you need to use the magic word when asking for things!" scolded DiDi, who stepped in front of Caleb with a protective stance.

"Screw the magic word! Gimme!" the boy yelled before shoving DiDi into the dewy grass and snatching the golden teddy-bear out of Caleb's hands. Caleb tried to rush the boy, arms outstretched to take his teddy back, but the boy held him back with one hand and kept the toy aloft with the other. He snickered at Caleb's desperation until DiDi stood herself back up and charged. With that, the boy knew he would soon be outmatched.

"Fine!" he screamed, "If you won't let me have Golden Freddy, then I won't let you have him either!"

He pushed Caleb hard enough to stagger him, ran to the side of the building, and threw the plushie at a nearby dumpster before DiDi could catch up to him. Though he was aiming for the top of the dumpster, he came up so short that the toy slid under it instead. Still satisfied with the result, he flashed a rude gesture that he didn't fully understand and ran off. Presumably, he was going back to his parents, who were unwise to his act of petty cruelty.

"Jerk," muttered DiDi, who turned to Caleb and found him on the verge of tears, "Don't worry Caleb, I'll get your teddy back."

Caleb sniffled and tried to crack a smile. "Thank you," he blubbered.

DiDi led her little brother to the dumpster and lay face down to retrieve the toy from underneath.

"See, Caleb?" DiDi reassured him, "Your teddy-bear's right under he- "

Instantly, she froze and stared under the dumpster. Through the shadows, a pair of beady, pinprick eyes of white light stared back. The thing attached to them, whatever it was, made a faint, metallic hiss that sent chills down her spine. Most of the thing's features were obscured by the darkness, but DiDi swore she could make out a wicked smile full of dagger-like fangs. She didn't dare move.

"Caleb," quivered DiDi, "I want you to run away from here. Tell Mama there's something really scary, and she has to - "

A set of cold, metal claws sank into her skinny arm before she could finish her instructions. DiDi tried to let out the shriek of the century, but the thing pulled her into the void with it, and her shrill cry for help faded into silence. The pinprick eyes disappeared, and Caleb was left alone, dripping with cold sweat and quaking in his toddler-sized shoes. The first thing Candace saw as she stepped out of the restroom was her little boy tripping over himself as he bolted to her, wailing unintelligibly. His tears were practically leaping off of his face.

"Caleb, what's going on?"

"Mama! Mama! DiDi's gone! DiDi's gone!" the boy cried.

Candace's stomach churned, and her heartbeat doubled in speed, but she tried to keep a level tone of voice, "Caleb, where did you last see her?"

Caleb grabbed his mother's hand and pulled her to the dumpster, pointing to the space underneath. Candace kneeled down to check under the dumpster and found nothing but empty darkness. She prepared to ask Caleb if this was some kind of sick joke, but the look on his face made the answer to that question painfully obvious.

"Come on, honey," directed Candace, barely managing to keep her level tone, "We're gonna go get help, and we're gonna find DiDi. I promise."

Caleb nodded, and the two of them headed back to Fazbear Plaza for help. Meanwhile, the unnaturally happy voice on the loudspeaker told them that the Fazbear Four concert was five minutes away, as if that mattered to them right now. After desperately searching for an employee, Candace finally spotted a man in a plain, red uniform with a black bow-tie. A brass badge in the shape of Freddy's head was pinned to his shirt, and he wore a cap with the park's name patched onto it.

"Excuse me, sir?" Candace waved in the employees direction and sped towards him, "My daughter just went missing, and I need someone to help me find her. Could you - ?"

Without even glancing her way, the man sauntered right past her. She was left speechless, but she quickly found another employee, only to get a similar response. After three or four tries, she gave up searching the plaza floor and headed to the help desk, a tiny, wooden booth that hid just past the entrance. Maps and brochures for local businesses and events hung along the booth's back wall, and a woman who had to be at least twice Candace's age was stationed there, running her fingers over a black rotary phone. The attendant's wrinkled face scowled at nothing in particular before her eyes met Candace's.

"What d'ya want?" the attendant snapped in a hoarse voice. Candace curled her nose; the woman's breath carried the musk of tobacco.

"Ma'am, my daughter has been missing for at least five minutes, and I haven't been able to get anyone to help me find her," Candace explained, her worry and frustration clear in her wavering voice.

The attendant's expression shifted from indignation to concern, as did her tone, "Good God, not another one. I'm sorry to tell you this, miss, but your daughter is the fifth child to go missing today. I already called the police about the other four, and they're on their way now. You sit tight, and we'll tell them about your kid as soon as they get here."

"What?! Why isn't there a search going on now?!" Candace exploded, lakes forming in the corners of her eyes, "Why hasn't the park been closed down if so many kids were going missing?! Right now, some sicko could be doing who-knows-what to my little girl, and all you people care about is - !"

"I'm sorry, miss," the attendant interrupted, "I've done all I can do."

Candace took Caleb and stormed off without a word. She was going to find DiDi, even if she had to do it herself.

Meanwhile, the audience of the very first Fazbear Four concert was standing at attention, or sitting at tables, if they preferred. Giddy children ran and bounced around, and their hapless parents made vain attempts to tame them. The sickeningly cheerful voice on the loudspeaker read it's final announcement before the main event.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I'm proud to introduce Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken, and Foxy the Pirate Fox! Let's give it up for the Fazbear Four!"

A drum-roll and strums of an electric guitar built up to the reveal of the park's prized performers. The curtains began to open, and a chorus of cheers nearly drowned out the beginning of the Fazbear Four's introductory song, an energetic melody in which the drums and guitar were joined by some artful taps on a keyboard. Still, the cheering crowd soon fell silent, for when the curtain fully opened, all the crowd could see were the instruments lying about on the stage and a microphone sitting on it's stand, with no furry performers to use them. Irritated chatter, gasps, and the occasional cries of a baby or toddler soon replaced the cheers, and the employees stirred, equally as confused as the customers. A smooth, baritone voice, presumably Freddy's, could barely get the first line of the song out before the onstage speakers were shut off and the audience scattered. Between five missing children and four missing animatronics, the police would have their work cut out for them when they arrived.

One employee, a suntanned, college-aged man of average height, with stubble on his pointed jaw and chocolate-brown hair tied in a ponytail, tapped his coworker on the shoulder.

"Hey," the man spoke barely above a whisper, "I'm going to head backstage and see what's going on. If I'm not back in ten minutes, tell someone that I've gone missing."

"Sure thing, Mike," agreed his coworker, who was barely paying attention, as he scarfed down a salami sandwich that he wasn't allowed to eat on the job.

Unaware and uncaring of the situation with the animatronics, Candace continued her search for DiDi, with Caleb still in tow. Perhaps it was a bad idea to take her toddler with her on this potentially dangerous journey, but Candace wasn't thrilled with the idea of leaving him alone and vulnerable in the car either, hot day or not. They were busy scouting the park's forested perimeter, when a woman's scream cut through the silence. She turned in the noise's direction and discovered a large, murmuring crowd huddled together. A handful of police officers were examining something on the ground, and one of them barked orders and gestured for the people to stay back. Candace hurried to the group and pushed her way through it. Her breathing reached a pace she didn't know was possible, and she kept Caleb's hand in a vice grip around hers. The closer she got to the front, the more clearly she could hear the nervous chatter around her, and it didn't bode well.

"Oh, God. This is horrible."

"Who would do something like this?"

"My boy! My baby boy!"

"Alright, people! I know you heard me the first couple times! Back it up!"

When Candace finally made it to the front of the crowd, she cupped her free hand over her mouth just in time to stifle a scream, then covered Caleb's young eyes. Before her were the bodies of five children, three boys and two girls, lined up side by side. Their necks, stomachs, and limbs were riddled with puncture wounds, and their chests were marked with deep, wide gashes, revealing pools of blood where their hearts once beat. Smack in the middle of the row was DiDi, her once-smiling face frozen in agony, and her hands gripping something that had long escaped her grasp. The golden teddy-bear was nowhere to be found. Soon, Candace could bear the sight no longer, so she pulled Caleb into an embrace tight enough to smother him.

Not again, DiDi begged silently as she fought a losing battle with her tears, Please, God, don't let this be happening again. You already took Jeb. Wasn't that enough? Please, don't take my baby girl away from me too.

Candace knew exactly how this was going to go. First, there would be questions, from family, friends, officers, the press. They would all want to hear her story, to make her relive the trauma of losing her little girl over and over again. Then, there would be the funeral, where she'd have to watch DiDi be lowered into the ground without jumping into the coffin with her. After that, the days would turn into weeks, and the weeks would turn into months. Everyone would move on but her, and she'd have to spend hundreds of dollars to cry to a therapist long enough to feel like a functioning adult again. When Jeb was taken from her, at least she was graced with the time to say goodbye and the composure to tell her kids to be brave. Fate was not so kind this time around. She had to wonder, could she take her own advice?

Regardless, there was one thing that wouldn't be moving on without Candace: Freddy's Fantasy Park. Only two days passed after the last few customers were ushered out, when the folks behind the place decided to close up shop for good. Between the child murders on its opening day, the lax response of its employees, and the still-fruitless search for Freddy and the gang, the executives realized that there was no point in continuing their little business venture. Freddy's Fantasy Park would not be remembered as a place where fantasy and fun came to life, but as the scene of an unexplained set of murders that would go down in history as the Fazbear Slaughter.

Closing Note

Tragic, that first chapter was; am I right? It took me way too long to get this chapter out, mostly because I struggled to balance setting the scene and describing the park with actually progressing the plot. This shouldn't be as much of a problem in later chapters, and I expect to get them out much more quickly than I have before, barring any real life issues that may or may not come up.

Fun fact: I originally planned to include a scene with Candace and the kiddos waiting in line to get tickets to the park, and DiDi would have asked her mom if Freddy Fazbear lip synced. Not wanting to burst DiDi's bubble, Candace would have answered that Freddy probably wouldn't have wanted to end up like Roxie and the Glam Gators, a made-up band that had a Milli Vanilli-esque scandal, with a name referencing characters from Security Breach. I felt like this part made an already-long chapter just a little too long, without contributing much to the plot, so I skipped right to the kiddos bursting past the gates.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this chapter. Since I have the entire story planned out this time (11 chapters, to be exact), unlike with Under the Golden Surface, I don't expect the story to end up in a weird direction that I don't like, so you can expect it to actually be finished.

Make sure to leave a review, and peace out.

- KromeDome97