Question of Freedom {Freedom AU} [Book One]

Chapter Six

  Waking up, Gold made no move to get up, or do anything really. There wasn't much point. Taking in a deep breath, the bear said, "Another night, eh Spring?" No answer came from the bunny. Blinking, Gold glanced about. "Spring?" Still no reply. Squinting to see in the dark, the bear stood up. He walked around, slowly feeling through the dark hoping to find his friend. "Spring?!"

Meanwhile, upstairs, the gang were all beginning to go about their business for the night. Chica and Bonnie had already gotten off the stage, and just as Freddy was about to do the same, his brother suddenly appeared in front of him in a blink. Nearly falling backwards from shock, the bear clutched at his chest. "Gold! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," Gold quickly apologized. "Have you seen Spring?" Recovering from his momentary fright, Freddy shook his head 'no'. "Why? Wasn't he downstairs with you?" Gold gave the same answer Freddy had. "I couldn't find him."

"Find who?" Puppet asked, approaching the two. "Spring. He's gone!" Gold explained, looking over to his friend. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, an idea came to the Marionette. Looking around, he spotted Foxy. "Hey, Foxy?"

"Aye?" Approaching the fox, Puppet continued. "Can you come with me? I think I'm going to need that hook of yours." Nodding, Foxy followed after the Marionette as he made his way to the basement.

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"What're we lookin' for, matey?" Pulling on the string for a single light bulb in the basement, Puppet answered, "Boxes. Oversized ones, specifically." He explained, looking around. "Erm... there don't look ta be any in 'ere."

"I see... that..." Trailing off, the Marionette went quiet. "Puppet-?" Foxy was given a silencing glance, as though being asked to listen. "You hear that?" Puppet whispered. Listening closer, Foxy heard what sounded to be pounding and yelling. "What is that noise?"

"I'm... not sure. Sounds like it's coming from there." Puppet answered, pointing further back in the basement. There, the two saw a door. It camouflaged really well with the rest of the wall, probably explaining why both Gold and Spring didn't see it. Taking hold of the handle, the Marionette found it to be locked. "Foxy?"

"Aye." Taking the cue, the foxy knelt down in front of the lock. He was able to pick at it with his hook to unlock it–likely breaking the lock's mechanism in the process. "Thanks." Puppet thanked, entering the room before Foxy. The sound from before got louder, as they entered a room full of boxes and crates. A few stacked in the corner were moving in sync with the sounds.

Without taking a moment to think, Puppet brought his hands up towards the stack of boxes–his magic glowing from the palm of his hand. Then, what looked to be gold, magical marionette strings were suddenly pulling at boxes, moving them out of the way as Puppet manipulated the strings with hands. Foxy watched, eye widened a little at what he was witnessing. The box in question was soon layed gently on the ground before them.

"Foxy, help me pry it open." Puppet asked, as he knelt down to the crate that was being shaken from the inside. In what seemed like no time, Foxy was able to almost effortlessly break open the crate. Before he could get to the last nail, though, the lid was forcefully broken off. Spring shot up with a growl, sending packing peanuts flying all directions. "Spring!"

"What took you so long?!" He practically spat, looking to Puppet. "Hey, you're lucky we found you at all! They could've very well sent you off to a warehouse, never to be seen again." Huffing, Spring said nothing in response to the Marionette's valid argument. Standing up, Puppet watched as Foxy lent the bunny a hand in standing up. "Come on, you two. I have to talk with everyone.