Chapter Text
Gregory stopped by Freddy and sniffed softly. The Parts and Services cylinder was doing its job on trying to repair the animatronic, but it was taking a long time. Every once in a while, the computer would flash a warning signal, telling Gregory that a new part was needed in order to finish the job. But after the 11th time of the warning popping up, and having to harvest the parts from someone else, Gregory was tired.
“Gregory. We could just upload his files to some other endoskeleton. It would be just like your own Freddy.”
“No! I want my Freddy. The one that saved me…”
Vanessa sighed and placed her hand on the boy’s shoulder. She stood there for a moment with him as the cylinder continued its work. So far Freddy’s head, arm, and legs were fully mended; now they were waiting on his torso and pelvis. But those were the most damaged parts and needed the most time.
“Alright. But do not forget to take him out before 6AM. The managers will not appreciate a Freddy with a busted shell. They will scrap him if you don’t hi-“
“I know! Monty said he would help me again.”
“Okay. Well, I have to get back to work, come find me if you need anything Greg.”
All the boy did was nod as Vanessa patted his back before leaving. He continued to wait patiently as the machine worked. No matter what, he would not leave Freddy’s side. Large mechanical arms came down and started welding pieces of metal back to the insides of the bear. Every time wires made connections again, Freddy would twitch, and the lights would turn on momentarily behind his eyes. Those small instances made the boys heart leap. He kept hoping that one of those times would be when Freddy would wake up.
A few hours passed and Roxy made her way into the P&S room. She saw the boy asleep in a ball beside the door of the cylinder. By this time, Vanessa had added Gregory to the night watch protocol and now he had free access to the entire facility. But she almost always found him here, waiting for Freddy to come back.
Roxy carefully picked the boy up and made her way to the closed off security closet where he had been hiding for the past week. She laid him down and wrapped the blankets around him, before turning back and locking up the room. Outside Monty stood, waiting for the cylinder to stop its work so he could go inside and get Freddy.
“Do you think this will work?”
“I don’t know. The boy is really hoping it does.”
“That’s what I don’t understand,” Roxy stated as she walked inside to help unstrap Freddy from the chair. “How can the boy have so much hope? We know that it would be easier to upload his memories and core into another one.”
“He doesn’t want that though.”
“I know, but it would be easier.”
Monty sighed and his fans whirred a little louder as he picked up Freddy’s body from the chair. Although Freddy was the tallest, Monty had no problems picking him up and taking him out of the cylinder. The bear’s circuits lit up a little and a few fans turned on as his eyes opened. Freddy scanned his surroundings but could not see his boy.
“Gr-g-g-greg-ory?”
“He’s asleep. Monty is…”
Before Roxy could finish her statement, he turned back off. She flinched and rubbed her forearm. Neither her nor Monty could look at Freddy’s face as they moved him into the salvage closet.
“Im going to find Chica. She can get some food for the kid.”
“Good. Ill head back to our rooms. Day staff will be making their way over soon.”
Monty left through the working elevator tunnel and made his way back upstairs to Rockstar Row. He was just going to go back to his room and charge, but he stopped instead outside of Freddy’s and stepped inside when the door opened for him.
“Hey there Monty! You need something?”
The gator looked up at the “new” Freddy standing before him. It felt strange to just have seen a broken version of his friend just a minute ago then to see him standing perfectly fine before him. But hadn’t that happened to all of them before?
“No… just wanted to come check on yah.”
“Oh, well, thank you Monty! I am doing super today! All of the children were happy to see me again.”
“Yah you are quite popular, huh?”
“You are too Monty!”
“Not really, but thank you.”
“No problem! By the way, how is that kid doing? You know, Jeffery?”
“Gregory. And he is doing fine. Chica is bringing him food and Roxy is going to take him to the roof for some sun later.”
“Awesome! Will he come visit me?”
This stopped all of Monty’s programming and he dropped his head. Gregory had freaked out when he saw the “new” Freddy and had clung to his bag with his Freddy’s head in it. For humans it is weird to have an identical replacement show up so soon.
“I-I don’t think he wants to see you Freddy.”
“Oh… why not? Did I do something?”
“No Freddy. He just misses someone you look like.”
“His Freddy.”
Before Monty could say anything, Freddy spoke back up.
“I know I will never be his Freddy, but I would like to say hi.”
“Maybe someday.”
Monty gave his friend an awkward smile before the announcement rang that it was close to opening. He nodded before leaving the room and making his way over to his own. By this time repairs had gone through and fixed his room back to perfection. It was strange. He remembered destroying his room and ruining all the upholstery, but it had felt like a virus instead of his own programming.
Chica came through the floor vents of the security closet. She carefully balanced two pizzas, a milkshake, and a hotdog carefully on one hand whilst she made room on the floor for her to sit. Gregory slowly sat up and yawned before grabbing the shake and sipping on it. He took the hotdog to munch on while he watched Chica scarf down her first pizza. A giggle left him as he saw fake meat fall and stick to her shell.
“You are worse than me.”
“Well, that’s not nice.”
“Did Monty move Freddy?”
“Yep. He and Roxy have already made their way up to their rooms. After this I need to leave as well.”
“Where did-“
“He’s in the salvage closet. This vent will lead you to him. Wind-Up will close the vents after you.”
“Thank you…”
“No problem.”
They both ate in comfortable silence before Chica had to leave. She apologized then made her way through the vents and back out to Parts and Services. Gregory listened quietly to her leave before he changed and made his way to Freddy. Like Chica said, he was easy to find. When he got inside the room, he laid down beside the large Glamrock and laid his head on his stomach. His fingers traced the welded marks slowly.
“Gr-g-g-greg-ory?”
The boy shot up and straddled Freddy’s chest. Tears started to leak from his eyes as he hugged the animatronics neck awkwardly.
“Im right here Freddy. I am safe. Your friends are helping me.”
“G-g-goo-“
Before Freddy could finish his sentence, he shut back down. His fans gave one last whir before everything went quiet again. All except for the boys soft crying. He clung to his bear’s shell and carefully laid down on it so he could rest.
Hours passed before Wind-Up came through. He gently woke up Gregory and lead him out of P&S. The child yawned and quietly followed the tiny robot through the vents. It led him passed the main hall, past the hundreds of people waiting in line to see the show, and through some of the restricted areas where staff members could be found relaxing on couches. Wind-Up lead him to the diner where a similar animatronic to Bonnie was performing. They waited till everyone in the area was distracted before Gregory opened the vent and slipped out.
He then sat on one of the stools and ordered from the S.T.A.F.F. bot that was working behind the counter. Knowing he was on the employee list; Gregory happily took his food and ran back into the vents without worrying about paying. Once he was safe in an excess room, he chowed down. He heard the laughter and squealing from many children as they played and ate with their families.
After he had finished, he quickly cleaned up then went back to P&S. This time however he took a vent that led him over the stage. He could easily see the animatronics waving and getting ready to play for the thousands of people in the stands. When his eyes glanced over Freddy, his heart stopped for a moment. He missed his friend terribly, but he knew that wasn’t him. That Freddy did not know what they went through and how much Gregory cared about him.
Before he could let his thoughts wander more, he ran for it. The vents were like a maze. Luckily, he had a pretty good idea of where he was heading, and it wasn’t long before he found his way back into P&S. People were walking around, waiting for the icons to finish their show. They laughed and messed with a few pieces here and there.
Gregory watched as the animatronics finally made their way into the room. Each stood and waited for their maintenance workers to do small adjustments before they were sent back up to their rooms to great children. When their job was done, they left the P&S. The boy quietly popped out of the vent he was in and walked over the scrap storage where his Freddy was. It would be a few more hours before he could work on his friend again.