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gwenbrightly · 3 months

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(Re)Building the Future chapter 5

“She called me a monster,” Roxy says, backing away from the unconscious child. How can she justify being anywhere near Cassie after that?

“Roxy, I'm sure she didn't mean it,” Eclipse tries to comfort her. She doesn't seem to hear him.

“I mean, I know I can be a little competitive and maybe I'm moody sometimes but…” the wolf trails off. The thought of frightening a kid that badly hurts more than she'd like to admit.

“Sometimes?” Helpy repeats sardonically. A glare at the monitor he's hanging out on from Eclipse is all it takes to shut him up.

“Maybe she wasn't even talking to you. She could have been hallucinating. Those Moondrop candies are such powerful things and we did give her more than one serving size,” Eclipse suggests, frowning thoughtfully. Maybe giving Cassie the candies hadn't been such a good idea after all. One or two candies at nap time has never been a problem (for most kids, anyway). But they’ve given her way more than one or two. Probably more like one dozen. Or two. Suddenly, Eclipse finds himself wondering if they've given Cassie permanent brain damage on top of her damaged limbs… Oh Fizzy Faz, this poor kid!

“Honestly, I think you're both being over dramatic here,” Helpy announces with an eye roll. Okay, so maybe he’s being a bit harsh. But the constant panicking of everyone around him the past 24 hours has gotten old. Roxy looks like she’d like to strangle him (too bad), while Eclipse doesn’t look phased by his comment. Huh. Must be a theater thing…

“It’s not like this is the end of the world,” he continues.

“How would you know?” Roxy mutters, still offended. It does feel a little like the end of the world to her. All the Fazbear animatronics, herself included, are meant to bring joy to children, after all. Not strike fear into their hearts. Even if there has been the odd parent complaint in the past. Those are usually brought on by some Karen and her spoiled offspring not getting exactly what they want, when they want it, anyway. Oh, how she misses the days where the wrong flavor of birthday cake was their biggest worry. Everything has been so… broken lately…

“Easy. I see the bigger picture,” Helpy tells her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asks. Well, more like growls, but who’s keeping track of semantics?

“Roxy, Roxy, Roxy,” He says as though talking to a confused child, “think for a minute. Where did you get those horrifyingly outdated eyes from, again?”

“… oh…” Roxy brings her good hand up to her face in horror. Of course Cassie would remember the way it’s eyes looked in her first moments of consciousness. They had probably been one of the last things she’d seen before… How could she be so stupid?

“Now you’re getting it! Yeah, you should probably find some sunglasses or something,” Helpy suggests. He’s not cruel enough to suggest she remove the eyes just yet if there’s another (possibly more entertaining) solution.

“I’m sorry, can we back up for a second, please?” Eclipse interrupts, thoroughly confused by the direction this conversation has taken. “Where did Roxy get her new eyes? Am I missing something?”

“Oh, didn’t she tell you? Roxy stole em off of It during her epic battle royale earlier. No biggie!” Helpy explains casually. He’s actually pretty impressed by the way she had ripped them clean out of their sockets, truth be told.

“Roxy, did what?!”

/////

“Can’t this car go any faster?” Gregory asks, anxiously staring out the window. Usually he’s fine with the half hour drive between his new home and the Pizzaplex. Usually there’s no reason to go anywhere near it and having a bit of space from the place they almost died (multiple times!) is a good thing. Usually-

“Gregory, I’m already driving over the speed limit,” Vanessa tells him, making a sharp turn. There’s a bump as the car goes over the curb. “If I go any faster, we’ll get pulled over for sure, which will not help our situation!”

Gregory groans in disgust. Why does Vanessa have to be a responsible adult at a time like this? Cassie needs them!

“She has a point, Superstar,” Freddy observes apologetically.

Ugh. Two responsible adults are even worse than one.

“I bet if you let me drive, we could-” Gregory starts in innocently.

“There is no way I’m doing that. I’d like to live a little longer, thank you very much,” Vanessa cuts him off. The lack of faith in his driving abilities is so unfair. She has no proof that he’d get them all killed. Roxy being maimed the last time he ‘drove’ a vehicle wasn’t even really his fault (she’d had it coming)!

“Not to mention, you are far too short to legally sit in the front seat,” Freddy adds. Bold words for a bot that was built by a company with more OSHA violations than an oil spill.

“Freddy. Vanessa. Cmon, you guys… This is an emergency!” Gregory pleads. Vanessa ignores his puppy eyes, even though she can clearly see in the rear view mirror. Freddy doesn’t seem affected by it either. Can’t they hear Cassie’s screams ringing in their ears, too? Don’t they understand the gravity of the situation?

“We want to help Cassie just as much as you do,” Freddy tells him, sensing his rising fear, “but let’s save the reckless endangerment for once we’ve arrived at the Pizzaplex.”

“I’d be good with avoiding it there, too,” Vanessa mutters. What a killjoy. She slams on the brakes to avoid going through the red light up ahead, making Gregory momentarily grateful Vanessa made sure he was wearing his seatbelt before they left (for about five seconds before remembering that he’s supposed to be annoyed with her).

The light takes forever to change back to green, and by the time it does, Gregory has begun anxiously doodling with his fingers on the window. The Fazcraft logo, a cow being abducted by aliens, Freddy in a cowboy hat, a duck with a clump of grapes, a FizzyFazz soda can, a frowny face. He’ll probably be stuck cleaning the marks off the windows later, but at least it gives him something to do besides worrying. Another frowny face. And another. Okay, maybe this isn’t working so good.

“Hey, look. It'll only be a few more minutes. Just hang in there,” Vanessa says when she notices his poor attempt to distract himself.

“Thank goodness. I’m running out of things to draw,” Gregory admits. And draws another frowny face. Because that feels easier than mentioning that every second he’s stuck in this car is another second that Cassie could be laying somewhere dying. Or dead. No- bad idea. Definitely don’t think about it like that. Giving up on his window art, Gregory stares out the window at the darkening sky for the rest of the drive. He’s out of his seat before Vanessa has even parked the car.

He races over to the entrance. It’s not looking so hot. The light of the full moon illuminates boarded up windows and scaffolding. The obnoxiously bright neon lights and signs he remembers from previous visits are all gone now. Broken glass litters the ground in more than one place. If the inside looks as bad as the outside, it’s a miracle that Cassie didn’t get taken down by tetanus long before it got to her. Freddy and Vanessa come to a stop next to him, similarly taken in by the scene.

“Well, I think I know how Cassie got in,” Vanessa muses just as Gregory is about to suggest using Freddy as a battering ram (there isn’t an obvious entry point at the moment and it’s not like it would hurt Freddy). She points a flashlight towards a child sized opening in the newspapered glass on one of the upper levels of scaffolding.

“Guess we better get climbing, then,” Gregory announces, one foot already on a ladder rung.

——

Footnote: If you have never watched a 350 pound animatronic bear try to climb construction scaffolding, you should know that it is simultaneously hilarious and painful to do so.

Freddy’s efforts are valiant, but it’s safe to say that if Fazbear Entertainment ever decides to finish repairing the Pizzaplex (which, let’s face it, they won’t), they’re going to need a whole new set of ladders, platforms, and railings. Flat surfaces? Haven’t heard of them. Dents and awkward slants are totally in now. Also, that hole in the glass has always been that size… why do you ask?

Gregory and Vanessa try to hide their entertainment at Freddy’s suffering, they really do. But in the end, they can’t help but share a moment of laughter as he clatters down the final ladder and onto the floor inside the Pizzaplex. Freddy pauses to glare at the contraption before joining them, acting as though it was placed there specifically to inconvenience him.

“Take this before we go any further,” Vanessa says, handing Gregory one of the flashlights she’d packed before they left (along with a first aid kit and several other items she thought they might end up needing). She isn’t too worried about Freddy, what with him still having Roxy’s upgraded eyes, but Gregory is already a tad accident prone without blindly stumbling through a pitch black space filled with deadly objects. She’d really appreciate it if they make it through the rest of the evening (or however long they end up stuck in this hell hole) without anyone else getting hurt and/or trapped somewhere.

Gregory waves the flashlight around like a lightsaber, nearly blinding Vanessa. She briefly considers legally changing his middle name to ‘Distractible’, but decides that it’s not worth the effort. The flashlight beam bounces off an assortment of debris, construction equipment, deactivated floor bots, cleaning supplies, and several spray paint messages left behind by previous trespassers.

“Wow…” Gregory comments, looking around the ruined lobby, “they’ve really let this place go.”

“You can say that again,” Vanessa agrees.

“They have really let this place go,” Freddy repeats, taking her literally. “I am a bit disappointed that Corporate would neglect things like this.”

“It is kinda sad,” Gregory agrees. The Pizzaplex used to be so impressive (Fazbear Entertainment had clearly put a lot of time and money into the place) and now it looks like the setting for a post apocalyptic thriller. He remembers being a little in awe the first time he saw the giant golden statue in the lobby. But now, especially after everything he’s been through, the place gives him the creeps. The things that have happened here are not worthy of any awe. Probably just anger and disgust, along with a healthy dose of fear.

“So, uh, question,” he says, not wanting to dwell on his lingering trauma, “how exactly do we get,well, anywhere in this mess?” There’s a gaping hole in the floor directly in front of them. Shipping crates and safety barriers block off another hole on the left side of the lobby.

Vanessa carefully picks her way around bits of debris and caved in flooring. It’s a shame Gregory hasn’t started watching the security footage a little bit earlier so they’d have a better idea of how Cassie had navigated this mess. Deciding the areas with the biggest holes aren’t worth exploring, Vanessa wanders towards the area that used to house the final set of turnstiles before the entry pass display. Somehow, this area has significantly less damage done to it. If you ignore the headless staffbot in the distance and the spray painted warning that says ‘Danger’. How very welcoming and not foreboding in the slightest!

“The floor seems a little more stable over this way,” Vanessa calls to the others against her better judgement.

“Time for some reckless endangerment,” Gregory announces, leading the way into what’s left of one of the gift shops.

#myfics #fnaf sb ruin #roxanne wolf #Helpy #fnaf fanfic #fnaf fanfiction #five nights at Freddy’s fanfiction #fnaf security breach #fnaf vanessa #freddy fazbear #eclipse #reckless endangerment #Gregory just wants to drive

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