A New Start
Chapter 4: The Rebuild and The Runaway

Ever since Freddy had seen that blimp and what it said, it seemed as if he had gone into a frenzy. As far as he knew, it was supposed to be 1987! Or at the very latest, 1988, going by what Bonnie had told him! They were only out for a few months at maximum, right? Then, why did that thing say '1997'? Surely, it couldn't have been that long! It couldn't've been ten years! Growing increasingly distraught, the bear had begun looking for something – anything – that could prove that it was still the year he thought it was. He dug through boxes and tipped tables over, growing more restless as his efforts proved more and more fruitless. Bonnie and Chica pleaded with the animatronic in their attempts to calm him down, but their words fell on deaf ears.

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“Freddy, what're you--”

Crash!

“What're you doing?! Freddy! S-Stop!”

This continued until finally, with the entire living room practically trashed, Chica managed to grab Freddy's arm as he entered the kitchen. He blinked as he was forcibly turned around, his eyes meeting Chica's. A few silent moments passed before the chicken-bot hardened her expression, tightening her hold on the other's arm.

“Now...”, she began. “You're gonna calm down. Then, you're gonna calmly tell me exactly what's got you so riled up,” she said with a certain hardness to her voice. “Got that?” Bonnie nodded in agreement.

“Y-Yeah! What's got you acting so strange, big guy?” he asked, holding his guitar as securely as ever.

Freddy silently stared at Chica, then at Bonnie. His processor was still moving at a mile-a-minute, and he was too... Well, confused to immediately respond. It was supposed to be 1987. '87. Not '97. How could this be? It's not as if...

...Scott lied...

“Hey!”, Chica exclaimed, grabbing Freddy's other arm and shaking both of the bear's appendages. “I'm talkin' to you! Pay attention!”

Freddy still hadn't responded as his gaze drifted across the room. He struggled to process what was happening, what was being implied by what he saw. He didn't want to believe it. He simply didn't. Scott couldn't have lied to them so blatantly! He was the manager! ...Wasn't he? Those few additional moments of complete silence were broken by the whirring of the motors in the bear's shoulder as he raised his arm. Chica and Bonnie turned as Freddy pointed at something on the far side of the kitchen. It was a calendar.

Curious, Bonnie approached the thing on the wall. He wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed it before. He's toured this house at least three times! He tilted his head as he looked the thing over, but completely froze as he noticed the number that was written on the face of it.

“1997...”

“Nineteen ninety--... what?”, Chica asked, lessening her grip on Freddy's arms. Bonnie motioned for the two to approach. Chica complied, but Freddy simply stayed where he was. He leaned back, letting himself rest on the kitchen wall.

“L-Look!”, Bonnie said shakily, pointing at the calendar. Chica eyed the thing curiously, her eyes widening as she made the connection.

“...Oh-- Oh dear...”

She backed away from the calendar, her beak open in a sort of gaping expression. If Scott lied about the year by such a huge margin, who's to say that he didn't lie about everything else? Who's to say that this was even a pizzeria? When she thought about it - New location or not, this place should've at least looked like a pizzeria. And from what she remembered of the old location, this place did not look like at all like that!

“...Fr-Freddy...”, Chica began as Bonnie continued to stare at the calendar. “Wh-What do we do about this?”

Freddy had put his hands over his eyes as he attempted to sort himself out. Scott lied. He wasn't the manager. He wasn't anyone. This wasn't the pizzeria. Logically, then, their objective should be to get back to the pizzeria.Freddy quickly uncovered his eyes and grinned with a newfound sense of confidence and purpose. Of course! It all made sense! Obviously, everyone would be waiting for them there! Adjusting his hat, then his bowtie, he simply replied,

“We get back to where we belong.”

Scott, meanwhile, had spent all this time getting the Mangle... un-mangled. He softly bobbed his head to the beat in his headphones as he worked. He screwed some bolts and unscrewed others. He cleaned and buffed some costume panels so they could regain the sheen they lost all those years ago. Overall, it was a very lengthy, yet enjoyable process!

And, finally, it was done!

Scott stood up, pressing the pause button on his MP3 Player and taking off his headphones as he gazed down at his work.

The Mangle-- Well, Toy Foxy (Or, simply Foxy) sat in front of him, still deactivated. A wire or two still protruded from the gaps between her suit panels in her head and legs, and one of her arms still had a faded tinge of blue from its former use as one of Bonnie's spares. It wasn't perfect, but... Well, it worked.

Scott sighed as he prepared to finally turn the animatronic on. He sincerely hoped that the bot worked, considering he knew almost nothing about how to build one. Plus, there was a mistake he made earlier with the others...

And he wanted to rectify it, starting with this one.

Scott walked behind the robotic fox and flipped the switch in the back of her head, before reattaching the rear panel. He quickly ran back round to the front of her as she shuddered and shook, slowly activating. Finally, with a low 'whirrrrrr...', her head raised slightly. The bot looked left, then right, scanning the room she was in. She kept silent for the time being, unsure of the situation. Was this what it was like to be scrapped? She instinctively began to bend some of her fingers in anxiety before realizing that they--

They were attached to... an actual arm! Not just a winding mess of limbs, a real arm! Her lower jaw lurched open in surprise as she realized this. She looked down at her body, her actual body, her eyes brightening. She bent her fingers into fists, slowly moving her arms. She then bent her legs as she attempted to get up. Maybe she wasn't being scrapped! Maybe this was a brand new--...

“U-Uh, hey! Hey there!”

Foxy quickly halted her efforts as she heard a voice. She slowly looked upwards, her gaze soon coming across a figure that was standing in front of her. It took her old, disused eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light of the basement, but she soon made out the silhouette of a person.

“...Wh-Whoooo-ooo-oooo-ooo are y-y-y-y-you?”

Foxy hadn't noticed the odd person before, but it seemed as if he had been standing there for a while. Maybe she was so caught up in her new body that she hadn't noticed him! And, whoever had fixed her musn't have gotten to her voicebox yet. It sounds as grainy as a wheat farm! And it's all choppy too...

“I'm... I'm Scott,” the man, Scott, replied.

“Ar-Ar-Are you the ma-a-a-a-anager? O-Or the techni--”

“No. No... I'm none of those,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose as he remembered a similar scene from earlier. Foxy simply stared, waiting for the man to elaborate.

“...As a matter of fact, this... This isn't even a pizzeria. This is my basement. You see, you live at my house. You all do. You, Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie.” With those last words, Foxy quickly reacted.

“Fr-Freddy a-a-and the others! Wh-Where are they?!”, she rapidly asked, resuming her efforts to stand.

“They're, well, they're upstairs. But-- I'm too ashamed to see them right now...”, Scott said. “I... k-kinda lied to them. Pretty bad, too... You see, it's, uh... It's been... It's been ten years since you guys've been l-last activated and... And I figured that, if I told them, they'd go crazy or something! A-And, well, I'm beginning to regret that whole thing... Especially considering you, well, you didn't reaaaaaahoooly crap!”

While Scott had been trying to break the truth, he buried his face in his hands in shame. Scott was never one to lie like he did before. In fact, that may have very well been one of the worst he's ever told. Especially when it was told to the bots he had hoped to befriend. However, as he was talking, he hadn't noticed the toy fox finally managing to get up. When he finally removed his face from his hands, the animatronic was standing over the man, gazing down at him with those vacant, plastic eyes and those sharp, sharp teeth...

He screamed and flipped backwards in his chair at the sight, landing on the floor with a thud. He groaned, rubbing his face with his hands...

“A-A-Are you o-okay?”, Foxy asked as she leaned over slightly.

“Yeah, I... Ugh...”, Scott replied as he thought about trying to get up. He quickly gave up on that venture, however. To him, just laying there didn't seem all that bad at that point. “Just... remind me to get you patched up further later...”, he said in a slightly frustrated manner. Why was telling the truth so difficult?

“...T-Ten years?”, Foxy asked a short moment later, head tilted over slightly.

Scott slowly nodded. “Yeah... Y-You guys were sold to a junkyard and you sat there for about a decade before... Well, before I bought'cha. So, now you live here.”

Foxy stood still and silent, thinking over what Scott had told her. Though – She wasn't sure what to think of it. It was all so jarring, being shut down at one point then being reactivated years upon years later in what you've just been informed is completely different place.

Especially when it's your own fault...

“Ca-Can I see the others?”, she finally asked as Scott got up and dusted himself off.

“O-Oh, sure, follow me,” Scott replied as he turned and prepared to make his way up the stairs. “...Wait – Do you need any help getting up these stairs?” he asked, looking back at Foxy. “I know it's been a while since you've, well, actually used legs and stuff. Pro'lly not quite used to the whole thing yet, right?”

Toy Foxy silently looked down at her feet, then up the stairs. Those long, steep stairs... She slowly nodded, imagining what would happen if she were to fall.

Scott smiled. “Right. Well, just grab my hand and I'll help you up,” he said, holding out his hand toward the animatron.

It took a long time, and a lot of struggle, but the two had finally arrived at the top of the stairs. Even with Scott's assistance, Toy Foxy had nearly fallen multiple times, almost pulling Scott down with her. But, finally, they had reached the top! And...

“...What the heck happened?!”, Scott exclaimed as he looked over his living room, his very, very trashed living room, as Foxy took a moment to rest. Papers were everywhere, misplaced drawers were on the floor, and even his vase was on the floor!

Fortunately, it wasn't broken.

...However, Scott noticed something quite unfortunate.

The front door was open.

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