Parts and service was more dimly lit than I remembered. The light inside the protective capsule shone the brightest, an almost blinding bright blue. Freddy laid inside, and I was about to turn on the monitor and begin the upgrade process when I noticed a black laptop sitting on a chair beside him. The only way inside was to start the upgrade, so I selected the eyes option and the door opened.

I investigated the laptop. Its screen was black, and when I tried to turn it on, it asked for a password. The laptop itself was plugged into a port wedged between his head and neck. I didn't want to risk ruining the upgrade while having this computer plugged in, so I pulled out the cord before following the capsule's instructions.

I sat on top of Freddy's stomach like I'd done before the previous times. I opened his face plates and saw the endoskeleton underneath. Even though I've seen many of these endoskeletons, seeing it inside of Freddy's face casing was unnerving. It was just a reminder that he, Chica, and Roxy are all hunks of metal built to be nice . Their personalities are pre-programmed, and while they are all different they are still designed to protect children. If everything they do is part of their programming, are they even sentient?

No, they must be, right? Roxy was built with the intention of being what she described as "a sheep in wolf's clothing," but even so she refused to follow that role and developed her tomboyish personality. I had to stop thinking about this before falling down a rabbit hole into what sentience and awareness even means.

I took out Freddy's eyes. They made a clicking sound as they unlocked from their sockets. Unsure where to put them, I tossed them to the side and pulled out Roxy's old pair. I pushed the eyes into Freddy's sockets and put together his face.

Just like the previous two times, I played a game of Simon says to calibrate the eyes, and soon enough the exit opened and Freddy turned back on. He stood up and scanned me up and down.

I approached him with open arms. "Freddy! It's so great to see you–"

"Stand back," he said, pushing me away. He covered his eyes with his hand, and then moved them out of the way, and then covered them again. He did it several times before I asked him, "Is something wrong?"

"Everything looks different," he said, looking around the room. "It's like I can see through things."

"That would be because I gave you a new pair of eyes. You're welcome," I said pridefully.

He turned in place, looking up and down as if searching for something. "Incredible," he whispered underneath his breath. "Where'd you get these?" he asked.

I paused. I knew they were from Roxy, but how would he react if I told him that? But it's not like I can lie to him either; at some point he'd see Roxy missing her eyes and piece two and two together. I was just going to have to fess up.

"They're, uhm, Roxy's," I said, nervously holding my hands together. Freddy's ears perked and he stared at me. "What?"

"She attacked me, just like Chica did, but it's okay! I figured it out, I know what's causing them to lash out! Once we stop it, we can fix her–"

"Gregory, what are you doing?" He stomped his foot and I felt the floor shake beneath me. He continued to yell, "You can't keep breaking them and say you'll fix them like that makes it okay! They are my friends, how dare you use their parts like this!"

My heart dropped to my stomach. I looked down at the floor, not wanting to see Freddy's face with his new eyes. I already feel guilty about what I've done to them, but I'm doing it to save myself. I don't want either of them to die, and when this is all over I just wanna hang out with them again, but if I have to destroy some of their parts to be able to live through the next few nights, I don't really have a choice. Does he not realize how much they mean to me as well?

He brought his hand up to his eyes and said, "I need to take these out."

"No! No," I said. "You can use them to spot the other animatronics through the walls. They'll be an important asset to defeating Vanny."

"Vanny?" Freddy said, confused. I had a lot of catching up to do with him.

"Remember when we went back to Fazer Blast? And the security office had Vanny written on the wall? Well, I've seen it! It's someone wearing a bunny costume, and it's hacking into the animatronics systems! It used Chica to get to Roxy– oh, and now Chica has expendable limbs I guess? You've missed a lot," I said. I couldn't explain this all in one quick breath, I've discovered so much since the last time I've seen Freddy.

"Hm..." Freddy thought for a moment. He looked at all my new wounds, specifically the scrapes I had gotten from jumping out of the kart before crashing into the wall. He sighed. "Let's get you patched up, and you can tell me everything."

I told him everything, and when I say everything, I mean everything . I started with Roxy and I's adventure the night before, right when Freddy and I were separated when leaving Fazer Blast. I told him that, together, we interviewed Sun about his predicament and learned that there are no attempts on fixing Moon, and that we also stalked Vanessa for a while and her odd conversation with some unknown entity. Then, the next morning, we were preparing to ride in the go-karts when Vanny appeared, along with this new modified Chica. The two fought, and eventually Chica overpowered Roxy and she too joined the darkside, and that I hit her with the go-kart and took her eyes.

We were by the first-aid station once again. He wiped up the dried blood from all my scrapes, and what was left was the bare skin that had already begun the healing process. It was a dark pink, and it lined up my face, arm, and leg, all the places I had come into contact with when I landed on the concrete.

"Do you know anyone named Michael?" I asked. Freddy was beginning to take off my old bandages and replace them with new ones as well. "No, why?"

"I found more of those VHS tapes. Quite a bit more... He said his name was Michael," I replied. "You mean Sun's designer?" Freddy asked.

"He was Chica's and Foxy's designer too," I said.

"Really?" Freddy said, now much more interested in the conversation. He has only watched the first tape given to me by Sun, and I never told him about the other tapes I found.

I nodded. "It was cool to see their prototype versions," I said.

"I haven't heard the name Foxy in a very long time," Freddy chuckled.

Roxy had told me she was his replacement after his Pirate's Cove started to lose attraction. "When did Foxy leave?" I asked.

"Two years ago, I believe. It was quite sad to see him go. I just hope he's still doing well," he replied.

"He's still alive?" I questioned. I had been explicitly told that Bonnie had died, and that he was no longer in the pizzeria. I knew Foxy was replaced, but I assumed he was decommissioned too.

"As far as I know. He was taken to one of the rental places. You can rent him out for birthday parties," he said.

Rentals, like the warehouse Michael described in one of his tapes. They too would rent out animatronics for parties. I wondered if Foxy was at the same warehouse Michael had talked about. Still, it was nice to know that he wasn't dead like Bonnie. I supposed it made sense; if Foxy was still in good working condition and just wasn't making enough money at the pizzaplex, using him as a rental was a good business opportunity. It allowed for a new animatronic to take his spot and let Foxy's old fans still see him.

"What were their tapes like?" Freddy suddenly asked.

"Oh, well," I said, "he was testing Chica's taste buds. She got to eat a bunch of sweets, I'm kinda jealous. And Foxy told a story about sneaking onboard a ship and fighting a massive monster to Michael's kid." Freddy laughed, "Chica did love her treats. And Foxy's stories were always... something."

"Oh, I almost forgot," I said, "I had a chat with Vanessa."

"Hm? How'd that go?"

"She's letting me stay till Saturday."

"Really? Wow... How unlike her," he commented. I shrugged, "I think she just feels bad for me." She made it sound like she thought she was protecting me from my home by keeping me here. She's probably thinking of things to do before sending me home, like calling CPS.

"I'm surprised," Freddy said. "You're a lot more open than when you first came here."

Am I? I thought back on my relations with the animatronics, and I guess Freddy did make a point. My initial plan was to avoid being caught by any of them, but so far all they've done is shown kindness, except for once Vanny joined the fray. I allowed myself to get comfortable around these animatronics, even though I was so against the idea at first.

I guess Roxy did throw me at a wall but I can't blame her after what I did to Chica. Once she heard my story, she was more than willing to stay by my side. They're all good people. I wondered if I should see Monty soon. He's the only one here I haven't been able to really talk to.

"I guess... I should talk to Monty," I said.

"Hahaha...! No," Freddy laughed.

"Huh? Why not? You said it yourself when we first met that he'd protect me," I asked.

"After breaking Chica and Roxy? You still think he'll protect you?" he said.

"Well, you're still protecting me, and Roxy understood once I told her everything. I'm sure Monty would do the same," I said. I was optimistic that Monty would be like the others. He was the last animatronic I had to befriend.

Freddy finished applying fresh bandages, and he brought his face close to mine as he said, "Monty isn't what you think he is. Stay away from him." My head flooded in confusion. What's up with Freddy? He's sending so many mixed signals about Monty. First, he'll kill me, then he'd actually help me if he found me first, and now we're back to murder? Which is it?

Freddy stepped back and began walking towards his door to the elevator. "C'mon, it's time for you to rest."

"I can't, I have a time limit now. I need to finish up by Saturday," I said.

Freddy shook his head. "You still need your sleep. You'll feel more energized then," he said. I wanted to argue, but sleeping right now was probably the better choice. I'd been through a lot today, and now it was time for a break.

We went back to Freddy's storage unit behind his room together. I laid back on the familiar chair and Freddy tucked me into bed. He walked out to his room, and I was alone again.

I tried to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw Michael tearing into his body. The dimly lit office, his desk and floor covered in red, the face of agony he made as he tore out the remaining machinery. I was haunted by it as much as I was intrigued by it. I've never seen gore quite like that, and while I've been subjected to lots of pain throughout my lifetime, nothing tops what I saw on that tape.

He was the key to everything, I could feel it. If he is the owner of Fazbear Entertainment, then there's no doubt in my mind that he was aware of the horrors here, especially with that last tape in mind.

That machinery... Did he build it himself? Was it something meant to keep him alive? He did say he was supposed to be dead. It's wiring was much rounder than the endoskeletons in the basement, so maybe they were artificial organs. But why would he need artificial organs? My theories were long stretches that made no sense when combining them all together.

Is he still alive now? I hoped so. He looked like a good father, even if he yelled at his kid that one time. Arguments happen sometimes, I know that better than anyone. Did he make Freddy too? Bonnie and Monty? I had so many questions about him.

It took quite a while, but after a little waiting, I finally fell asleep, asking questions that I believed I'd never get the answers to.