Decommissioned (FNAF Murder Mystery)

Chapter 2

Monty had never found it easy to fit in with the rest of the group, not even before he was told to fill in for Bonnie. Even Roxy seemed to get along with everyone faster than him, her enthusiasm making her popular with the crowds and the band despite her temper. But somehow, they never liked Monty as much as her - as much as the rest of them.

So the contradiction he felt the first time he went on stage in Bonnie's place was hard to ignore. The way the crowd cheered for him was different than it'd ever been. They cheered this time like they did for Bonnie, but still he felt guilty, as if his new claws didn't match up to Bonnie's paws. He got the popularity he'd always longed for, but at what cost?

After the show, he felt even more out of sorts. He watched as Roxy and Chica gathered around Freddy, systems too clouded to make out what they were saying. All he wanted was some alone time, so he trudged past the three without a word. But right before he turned the corner to his dressing room, he let himself look back at Freddy, whose eyes were filled with.. suspicion. His gaze was almost dark, an unfamiliar sight for him. He wanted to ignore it, but a thought plagued his mind that he couldn't quite shake.

Does this have to do with Bonnie?

He felt a chill at the thought and the need to explain himself somehow, but the look on Freddy's face made him want to do anything but approach him.

So he turned back around, finding his dressing room with a drag in his steps.

He set down the bass, leaning against the wall by his poster and letting his eyes wander on the two items for a moment too long.

This instrument didn't belong to him. It didn't match the face he saw on the poster of him on stage, or in the couple of mirrors brandished on his walls.

It was Bonnie's. And it'd always be his. This bass, that spot on stage, it was all made for Bonnie and Monty couldn't change that. But he couldn't change how he felt about it either.

He felt a surge of anger rush through him but the mutter of his bandmates' hushed chatter, a reminder that they were still nearby, kept him from acting out. Turning his head away from the bass to block it from his view, going with his first instinct to head to the golf course. It was closed to the public for what was said to be "renovation," so Monty knew it'd be a better place to collect his thoughts.

Calm. Quiet.

He moved slightly faster this time, taking desolate shortcuts to avoid the crowds of children, parents, and workers alike as he scoped out his route to the golf course.

Just as he thought, it was more serene in the Gator Golf course, the grim darkness providing a strange sense of comfort unparalleled by his dressing room.

But he couldn't stop the whir of his head toward a corner of the room, eyes set on the few metallic remnants scattered on the ground. Remnants of what once was a fully functioning animatronic - just like him - and was now a scrap piece in the back room.

"Monty, pl- M-M-Mont- don't l-leave me here, M-M-Mon-Monty.."

Bonnie's voice was clear as day, as if it was all happening again. Riddled with malfunction, woven with treacherous memories..

He looked away.

Calm... Quiet, he told himself. But it persisted.

"Hey, it's just you and me, alright?" Monty remembered his own words, the usual aggression in his tone, then he remembered the broken metal, the snapped wiring, the clatter as Bonnie collapsed against the floor...

"D-don't.. I don't w-w-want to-" Bonnie's voice box sputtered and Monty could only watch as his metal limbs went limp, his resistance against his system failure faltering so suddenly.

"Calm," Monty muttered out loud, claws writhing against his head in frustration. The voice in his head only grew louder, Bonnie's stutters and glitches overlapping endlessly.

"Well, at least you'll.. y-you-you'll be there to take my place, w-won't you?"

"QUIET!" Monty swung at the neon sign beside him, the bright lights reading Monty's Gator Golf shattering and flickering beneath his claw marks. His mechanical growls accompanied each swing he made at the sign, eventually picking it up and hurling it at the very spot he'd watched Bonnie say his last words. With a crash and an electrical sputter, the lights went dark a final time.

As his yells died down, he finally cooled down enough to notice the clanking sound from behind him, something like footsteps. He turned his head just enough to see what the source of the sound was, met with a familiar face of orange and blue.

"Monty?" Freddy's head poked out from the entrance to the golf course, and soon the rest of him came into view as well. Monty didn't move. He could still hear a waver in Freddy's voice, something unnatural about the sympathetic front he tried to put on. "What's the matter?"