A New Start
Chapter 4: The Rebuild and The Runaway

Eversince Freddy had seen that blimp and what it said, it seemed as if hehad 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 fewmonths at maximum, right? Then, why did that thing say '1997'?Surely, it couldn't have been that long! It couldn't'vebeen ten years!Growing increasingly distraught, the bear had begun looking forsomething – anything – that could prove that it was still theyear 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 tocalm him down, but their words fell on deaf ears.

“Freddy,what're you--”

Crash!

“What'reyou doing?! Freddy! S-Stop!”

Thiscontinued until finally, with the entire living room practicallytrashed, Chica managed to grab Freddy's arm as he entered thekitchen. He blinked as he was forcibly turned around, his eyesmeeting Chica's. A few silent moments passed before the chicken-bothardened her expression, tightening her hold on the other's arm.

“Now...”,she began. “You're gonna calm down. Then,you're gonna calmlytell me exactly what's got you so riled up,” she said with acertain hardness to her voice. “Got that?” Bonnie nodded inagreement.

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

Freddysilently stared at Chica, then at Bonnie. His processor was stillmoving at a mile-a-minute, and he was too... Well, confusedto immediately respond. It was supposed to be 1987.'87. Not'97.How could this be?It'snot as if...

...Scottlied...

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

Freddystill hadn't responded as his gaze drifted across the room. Hestruggled to process what was happening, what was being implied bywhat 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 werebroken by the whirring of the motors in the bear's shoulder as heraised his arm. Chica and Bonnie turned as Freddy pointed atsomething 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'tnoticed it before. He's toured this house at least three times! Hetilted his head as he looked the thing over, but completely froze ashe noticed the number that was written on the face of it.

“1997...”

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

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

“...Oh--Oh dear...”

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

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

Freddyhad 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 beto get back to the pizzeria.Freddyquickly uncovered his eyes and grinned with a newfound sense ofconfidence and purpose. Of course! It all made sense! Obviously,everyone would be waiting for them there! Adjusting his hat, then hisbowtie, he simply replied,

“Weget 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 buffedsome costume panels so they could regain the sheen they lost allthose years ago. Overall, it was a very lengthy, yet enjoyableprocess!

And,finally, it was done!

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

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

Scottsighed as he prepared to finally turn the animatronic on. Hesincerely hoped that the bot worked, considering he knew almostnothingabout how to build one. Plus, there was a mistake he made earlierwith the others...

Andhe wanted to rectify it, starting with this one.

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

Theywere 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. Shelooked down at her body, her actual body,her eyes brightening. She bent her fingers into fists, slowly movingher arms. She then bent her legs as she attempted to get up. Maybeshe wasn'tbeingscrapped! Maybe this was a brand new--...

“U-Uh,hey! Hey there!”

Foxyquickly halted her efforts as she heard a voice. She slowly lookedupwards, her gaze soon coming across a figure that was standing infront of her. It took her old, disused eyes a moment to adjust to thedim light of the basement, but she soon made out the silhouette of aperson.

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

Foxyhadn't noticed the odd person before, but it seemed as if he had beenstanding there for a while. Maybe she was so caught up in her newbody that she hadn't noticed him! And, whoever had fixed her musn'thave 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-Areyou the ma-a-a-a-anager? O-Or the techni--”

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

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

“Fr-Freddya-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 rightnow...”, Scott said. “I... k-kinda lied to them. Prettybad,too... You see, it's, uh... It's been... It's been ten years sinceyou guys've been l-last activated and... And I figured that, if Itold them, they'd go crazy or something! A-And, well, I'm beginningto regret that whole thing... Especially considering you, well, youdidn't reaaaaaahooolycrap!”

WhileScott had been trying to break the truth, he buried his face in hishands in shame. Scott was never one to lie like he did before. Infact, 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 finallymanaging to get up. When he finally removed his face from his hands,the animatronic was standing over the man, gazing down at him withthose vacant, plastic eyes and those sharp, sharpteeth...

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

“A-A-Areyou 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 layingthere didn't seem all that bad at that point. “Just... remind me toget you patched up further later...”, he said in a slightlyfrustrated manner. Why was telling the truth so difficult?

“...T-Tenyears?”, Foxy asked a short moment later, head tilted overslightly.

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

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

Especiallywhen it's your own fault...

“Ca-CanI see the others?”, she finally asked as Scott got up and dustedhimself off.

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

ToyFoxy silently looked down at her feet, then up the stairs. Thoselong, steep stairs... She slowly nodded, imagining what would happenif she were to fall.

Scottsmiled. “Right. Well, just grab my hand and I'll help you up,” hesaid, holding out his hand toward the animatron.

Ittook a long time, and a lot of struggle, but the two had finallyarrived at the top of the stairs. Even with Scott's assistance, ToyFoxy had nearly fallen multiple times, almost pulling Scott down withher. But, finally, they had reached the top! And...

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

Fortunately,it wasn't broken.

...However,Scott noticed something quite unfortunate.

Thefront door was open.