Finding Freedom {Freedom AU} [Book Two](FNAF/UT)

Chapter Eight

  The Marionette sat silent inside his oversized gift box. Everyone else in the building was fast asleep, except him. After learning about the fire, sleep seemed impossible. He was torn with grief about it.

As he was sitting quietly, he heard a human walk into the room briefly. Then, they were gone again. It was probably an employee dropping a small box of party favors in the room. The location manager had decided they would turn his room into a small party room, which begged the question.

Where was Puppet supposed to go? There weren't many other rooms for him to be placed in, which seemed odd. It didn't make a lot of sense.

Later that night, the Marionette got out of his box when he could hear Ballora's music box playing down the hall. Come to find out, the melody was from a song called, Swan Lake.

As he got out of the gift box, Puppet briefly looked around the room. Storage and party favor boxes had begun to pile up, making the already small area feel very cramped. Noticing one of the boxes open, Puppet went to peek at it out of curiosity. The label on the side of the small cardboard box read, "POSTERS".

The poster on top was one clearly meant for the location Freddy and his gang were at. The characters in the image didn't look identical to the gang he knew, but for the company and customers, having the posters show photos of animatronics was good enough. Puppet picked up the poster to get a closer look.

In doing so, he noticed the poster underneath was one of the 'Toys'. And not of their animatronic counterparts. This smaller poster was taken of the 'Toy' crew that had inevitably perished in the fire. Putting down the first poster, the Marionette picked up the one beneath it.

He could already feel a tear or two begin to roll down his already now-tear-stained face. Puppet decided to fold the poster in half and place it into his box for safe keeping.

After doing so, he noticed a new paper document on the small round table that hadn't yet been buried in boxes. Picking it up, Puppet saw it to be a fax that had most likely been photocopied. The Marionette didn't hesitate to read it.

"You're leaving?" Funtime Foxy asked first after Puppet had told everyone what he'd read. "Yes, it looks that way." He answered, before Baby spoke up. "But, why? You've barely been here for that long!"

"Actually, I've been here a year. And the reason is because I wasn't supposed to be here in the first place." The Marionette explained. "We'll miss ya pal." Funtime Freddy then said, BonBon chiming in with, "Yeah..."

"I know. I'll miss you guys too." Puppet answered, a bit of sadness to his tone.

In the early hours of the morning, Ballora and Puppet were on the roof of the building again. Probably one of the last moments they'd be able to share in their quiet spot—as dubbed by Baby when she found out about it.

"I really am sad to see you leave." Ballora said with a sigh. "So am I." Puppet first said, before thinking of something more to say. "For what it's worth, I'll miss you." He admitted to her. Ballora's pink eyes went from looking to the distant horizon and met Puppet's—who were already looking at her.

"You will?" Puppet nodded, trying not to hesitate the gesture. She smiled. "So will I." Ballora reciprocated, as she took a step closer to him. In that moment, the past year flashed in Puppet's mind. The parts of the year where he seemed to grow close to Ballora. She seemed to be thinking the same thing, as she leaned in for a kiss. He wholeheartedly reciprocated the gesture.