A New Start
Chapter 3: The Lie of '97

It was almost noon by the time Scott had woken up. He sat up in his bed and put one of his hands to the side of his head, instantly coming on with a headache. Last night... Last night was a drain. Last night, before all of... 'that' happened, he had made sure to turn off his alarm clock so he could get the maximum amount of sleep. I mean, it was Friday night after all, so why not? However, that...

That didn't really work, as you can see.

Still halfway-asleep, Scott dragged himself out of bed. He dragged his feet as he made his way toward the bedroom door, ignoring his room's condition. Just another thing he had to fix later... He was pretty glad he had a whole bunch'a coffee downstairs, though. All he needed to do was drink some of that, and he'd be ready to deal with whatever the world had in store! But to do that, all he had to do was to get down there. Just had to get down there and brew up a nice... frothy... cupp'a--

“Mornin', pal!”

Scott jumped at the voice and grabbed both sides of the doorway, freezing in place. He hadn't been awoke for a whole two minutes, and now he's hearing voices? He looked left in an effort to find the voice's owner. Then, he looked right.

Oh.

Toy Bonnie was standing a few feet away from Scott, clutching his guitar happily. When Scott had finally looked in his direction, the animatronic waved.

“...O-Oh, uh... Morning, Bonnie,” Scott said, beginning to calm back down. Despite the fact that the animatron looked significantly less creepy during the day, Scott couldn't shake the memories of the previous night. “I... I see you've found your guitar,” Scott added, glancing at the aforementioned object. A small part of him wondered how the bot managed to find it in the first place. He thought he stowed it deep in the basement. Toy Bonnie nodded in reply.

“Uhuh! It took me almost all night, but I found it!”, the bunny said, holding it up in triumph. “You wouldn't believe where it was, either! I found it in a box in some dark, kinda spooky lookin' room down some stairs! Th'box also had some weird, like... parts in it too. Like, animatronic parts... You would'a thought the staff'd make my guitar easier to find...” Toy Bonnie's voice drifted off a bit as he put his hand to his chin, pondering something. “...S-Say, speaking of animatronics, could I ask you somethin'?”

Scott nearly jumped at the question. He had been spacing out in all the time it took for Toy Bonnie to speak, and had only come back to focus just now. Being tired does that to you. Plus, there was that weird feeling you get when you start to hold a conversation with a robot...

What, don't you get that feeling too?

“Oh, yeah, sure. C'mon, you can ask while we walk,” Scott replied before motioning for Toy Bonnie to follow him as he began to walk down the stairs.

“Well, firstly... When are the others supposed to come on?”, Toy Bonnie began. “I noticed that while I've been up all night, the others were... Well - deactivated!”, he explained. “What's with that?”

“Well, that's simple,” Scott said as the two reached the bottom of the stairs. “I haven't turned them on yet.” They turned, heading into the kitchen. Once there, Scott got to work on brewing his much-needed drink. Toy Bonnie, meanwhile, stopped to take a look around the room, processing Scott's reply. He soon returned his gaze to Scott, head tilted.

“But why not?”

Scott shrugged as he focused on his coffee maker, trying to get it to work. “Haven't had the chance to.”

“...I guess that makes sense...,” Toy Bonnie uncertainly replied after a bit of thinking. Maybe this pizzeria had only recently opened! “Oh – I just realized! I haven't asked your name yet! It's-- It's Scott, right?”

Scott paused, then looked at Toy Bonnie. “How'd you know?”, he inquired, brow arched. Toy Bonnie shuffled a little, seeming a tad bashful.

“I heard you talking to yourself last night...,” he finally said.

Scott blushed. “...Oh,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. He really should stop doing that...

“Yeah... Say, what'cha doin, anyway'?” Toy Bonnie asked, approaching Scott.

“Just makin' some coffee,” Scott replied as the animatronic peered over his shoulder.

And so, Scott got to live his lifelong dream for the better part of an hour. The awkwardness of the previous situations faded away as he got to speak to his favorite character about various miscellaneous things. Once the coffee was done, Scott drank as he watched Toy Bonnie practice playing his guitar. In contrast to last night, today was definitely much calmer and more enjoyable. That is, until Toy Bonnie asked...

“Hey, when do we open?”

Scott nearly choked on his coffee. He quickly swallowed what was in his mouth and sputtered. After a while of casual conversation, the question had come so suddenly, and he wasn't quite sure how to answer it. On one hand, he could simply go...

'We don't open. It's been ten years since the actual pizzeria closed and now, you live in my house. The children you used to perform for are all in college or grown up, and have probably forgotten about you.'

Wouldn't work, would it? The poor bot would most likely be shocked and, well, depressed. So, instead...

“U-Uhh... Soon,” He vaguely replied, before taking one last sip of his cupp'a joe. Satisfied with that answer, Toy Bonnie beamed.

“Great! You know, it feels like I haven't performed in ages. Say, you should probably get the others turned on too. Can't have them lazing around while I do all the work, y'know! Heheh!”, the animatronic said jovially, before turning around. “While you do that, I'm gonna have another look around. Gotta make sure I know my way around this place!”

Scott nodded in acknowledgment, and Bonnie left. After putting his coffee mug in the sink, Scott got to work on the other Toys. He had unscrewed the backs of the remaining three's heads and made a great effort in removing their 'FacRec' Chips.

He wished he saw Toy Bonnie's chip when he was finagling with the bot's head last night...

Regardless - After making sure that Toy Freddy and Toy Chica were switched on, and allowing them time to actually boot up, Scott had gone and carried the mangled Toy Foxy into the basement. ...With much difficulty, concerning her weight. He had aimed to sort her out later. When he had come back upstairs, Toy Freddy (Let's just call him Freddy from now on, for simplicity) and Toy Chica (Ditto) were already up and about.

“...--isn't the pizzeria,” Freddy said. Scott only managed to catch the end of his sentence.

“Yeah, I know... You don't think we got... well, scrapped, do you?”, the other inquired. The first bot shook his head before replying.

“We couldn't've. If we were, we'd be in a warehouse or... or a junkyard. We wouldn't be here, would we?”, Freddy asked.Chica seemed to think it over for a moment, before responding.

“Yeah, I guess you're r--...”

It was at that moment that Scott cleared his throat and awkwardly waved, instantly gathering both bots' attention.

“O-Oh! Hi there!”, greeted Freddy, waving in a rather jerky, robotic way. “Are you the manager here?” Chica gave the bear an incredulous look.

“Are you kidding? He's obviously the technician.”, she replied, before looking at Scott. “Right?” Scott opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Freddy.

“He can't be the technician. He doesn't even have a uniform!”

“By that logic, he couldn't be the manager, now could he?” Chica snapped back. Realizing his own silliness, Freddy put a hand to his face. Chica triumphantly nodded before looking at Scott once again. “Say, Mr. Technician, how long've we been out? Feels like it's been years!” Scott gulped. He felt like he was this close to being found out. It would only be a matter of time...

“U-Uhh, n-not that long. J-Just a few months, actually,” he lied. Freddy grinned. “Well, that's a relief! Though, why did we have to be relocated here?” he inquired, turning and looking out the window. “This feels less like a pizzeria and more like, say, a house...” Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Scott gulped. Again. The longer this went on, the more he regretted not coming clean. He adjusted his collar, looking around a bit, and prepared to speak. It was now or never, and he'd rather go with the 'now'. Or, he would've went with the 'now', if it weren't for...

“Chica! Freddy! Heeeeey!”

Bonnie bounded down the stairs, nearly stumbling as he did so, and quickly wrapped Freddy in a nice, tight robo-hug. He wished he could hug Chica too, but his arms aren't long enough!

“It's been so long since I've seen you two powered on! At least, I think it's been a while! Maybe it hasn't! Oh, who cares?! I'm just glad we're aaaall together again!”, he exclaimed. Freddy gently, yet firmly pushed the bunny away before exchanging an uncertain look with Chica, who shrugged.

“I'm... very confused,” the bear finally said. Bonnie grinned.

“Don't worry 'bout that! I'll tell you everything while I show you around! C'mon!”, he exclaimed, eagerly pulling the arms of both bots. Reluctantly, they followed.

As the three left, he sighed and let his shoulders fall.

Well, that happened..., he thought.

There was absolutely no way he was gonna keep that rabbit, let alone all four, convinced that his house was a pizza parlor. It barely looked the part! He should've told them the truth when he had the chance...

But, let's not mind that now. Being ever the optimist, he figured that perhaps he could tell them later! Turning around, he made his way back down the stairs. At the bottom would be a single, dim light illuminating the mangled Toy Foxy as well as toolbox on the floor Next to both objects would be a much larger box, filled with various animatronic parts – things such as spare facemasks and panels.

Scott had a fox to fix.

For the rest of the day, Bonnie had given the other two bots a tour around the house. Occasionally, Chica would ask questions such as...

“Why's the Kid's Cove sign mounted on the wall like that?”

To which Bonnie would shrug in response. More often, however, Chica would call him out when he'd visit rooms that he had already shown. In fact, as the tour dragged on, that's all it became! It seemed as if, in his excitement, Bonnie forgot which rooms he had shown and which he hadn't. Much to Chica's chagrin.

Freddy, however, didn't care all that much. In contrast to Bonnie's and Chica's passionate feelings of excitement and frustration respectively, Freddy just felt... content. He felt that he and the others were given another chance. A weird, new pizzeria to roam around in, new kids to entertain and play with. They were all given...

A new start.

Freddy looked about as he followed the other two bots, silently enjoying his new surroundings. He soon slowed his pace as he came across a window, and took a moment to stop and look outside. He could make out so, so many lights nearby and in the distance. The lights of cars, buildings, and airplanes. The animatron let his artificial mind wander as he observed these strange things as they contrasted with the dark night sky. His gaze drifted up slightly as he saw something especially fascinating!

It was a large airship, lazily drifting above and in the distance. On its side was an electronic sign, displaying in yellow letters what he could infer was an advertisement. The bear squinted as he read what the marvelous blimp had to say.

'Celebrate the season of love at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! 50% discounts from Friday 14th to Sunday 16th 1997!'

'1997!'

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