Ol' Big Ears

Day 5Bx4 - Grizzly / My Superstar

"Give me the child, Moon."

At the end of the room emerged Freddy. The same Freddy that carried Vanessa and Gregory out of the burning building before collapsing himself. The same one that had been Gregory's partner in crime that fateful night a year ago.

At least, that's who it appeared to be.

Between the twitching eyes, poor posture and contorted, possibly sadistic expression it was not the Freddy the two had known up till this point. Like Roxanne and so many others tonight, he had become a victim of the 'corruption'.

Gregory and Moon were on full alert.

Moon stepped in front of Gregory, ready to attack. In all his time he'd never seen Freddy act like this. There was something seriously wrong. But, despite the scene in front of him he was confident. After all, they'd already defeated Roxanne. And she was the 'strongest', as she often said.

Gregory on the other hand felt an immense sadness. He didn't want to hurt one of his best friends. He couldn't. He didn't want to believe Freddy could have gotten corrupted. He withdrew his knife.

There had to be some other way to solve this. How could have fallen like this? He was immune the first time around. What was different? Why was he waiting for them? Did he/they know about the plan?

Freddy was twitching, making small but erratic movements. Though he didn't breath, his stature looked as if he was panting heavily. His head rotated slightly as his eyes fixated on Gregory. The boy could see a mixture of uncertainty and rage bubble in the bear's eyes. "G-gregory, is that you? Y-you have *bzzt* come with m-me. Now. We need to go....back...to the underground." His voice was out of tune and distorted. There was a lot of insecurity in his voice, that he was having trouble believing his own words.

Then it hit Gregory. The state of the room, Freddy was struggling. He was still in there, fighting to take control of himself. He went to the one place he knew he could be repaired.

So it wasn't the same incident that happened a year ago! Freddy was still in there!

Freddy stepped forward, never breaking eye contact with Gregory.

Now Playing...

Artist: Fred Yaddaden

Song: Silence

"Y-you aren't yourself Freddy. Don't do this." Gregory said, worry increasing in his voice.

Freddy stomped. "N-No. This is not up for discussion, Gregory. You w-will come wi-i-ith me. NNnnow." He continued to 'breath' rhythmically. Finally noticing Moon's presence he looked at the attendant.

Moon had drawn his scarf, ready for any sudden movements. His eyes narrowed. "You..." Freddy pointed at the attendant. "You are keeping me from him. Give me the child, Moon."

Moon held steadfast. "I will not. I am protecting the boy." Moon stepped forward. Freddy growled at in response. "First you try to h-hide (Y/N) from me. N-now this. Y-you have overstepp-ped your bounds, M-moon."

Gregory interjected, hoping to reach Freddy's good side. "Freddy, I-"

"Quiet you!" Freddy stomped in anger. "You've been a b-b-b-b...bad...boy. You and YOU ARE IN TROUBLE" He shouted at the two of them. He struggled to call Gregory bad. He knew that the real Freddy had to have been still in there.

"Freddy! Listen to yourself! That's not like you."

"It is." Freddy said, growling in response.

Gregory took a step closer to the band leader. Before he could go too far, Moon put a hand on his shoulder, gently pulling back.