Freedom Lost [FNAF/UT] (Freedom AU Book 11)

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟

  Sophie blinked a couple of times. She was coughing, regaining the air that had nearly been knocked from her lungs a moment ago. Whoever that was had nearly cracked the wall with her body weight when he'd pinned her. Her eyes narrowed. That wasn't Puppet... right? No, what was she thinking. The obvious differences were there. The black tear tracks, the different face shape—it wasn't Puppet. But then, who had that been?

A loud slam of a door hitting a wall caused Sophie to startle. Looking down the hall the stranger had taken, she could hear the 'conversation' between him and her boss—whom the location of his office had been given to the stranger, via Sophie. Still in a bit of shock, she didn't make a move to stand yet as she heard the ruckus in the other room. This guy was angrily asking questions about his 'family', but she couldn't make out much more. Then something clicked in Sophie's mind. His family... Was this guy related to Puppet?

Standing up, Sophie finally went down the hallway to see what on earth was going on. Just as she came up to Dale's office door, she watched the man hit his desk, before trying to curl in on himself. The stranger was looming over him, holding Jenson's wrist in a crushing grip. "Then why don't I believe you?!" He accused. "What...?!" Dale's darting gaze landed once more on his office's open doorway, and this time, he spotted his 'star employee' standing there watching the whole ordeal. "S-Soph?! C-Call the cops-!"

"I..." The slim figure looked in her direction, an angry look still about him. His free hand came up to point at her. "LEAVE!" He demanded. No wanting any trouble, Sophie quickly nodded before turning to leave the building. Her shift be damned, she was getting in her car with the intent of heading to speak with Undyne again. To tell her about what had happened, about who she'd saw. From down the hall, Sophie could hear her boss call out to her, "SOPHIE!" She ignored him, and jogged out of the building—taking her keys from her coat pocket and all but spamming the unlock button.

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"Are you hurt?" Sophie shook her head no. "Good... I don't think that had been his intention, anyways." Undyne told her, all while a few other guards were working around the two. Sophie gave the captain a small look of disbelief. "What about Jenson, though?" She then asked. Sophie shrugged. "Between the two of us, it seems I was the lucky one... I'll probably find out more if someone calls to tell me about it." She figured. Undyne hummed, looking over to Faun—who was no longer a mere front desk monster for the Station. "Faun,"

"Yes, Captain?"

"Get in touch with the MTT Resort. I just want to make sure the Marionette returned with no issue." Faun nodded, and took out her phone. She stepped out of the room to make the call. "So, he is related to Puppet?" Sophie asked. Undyne nodded. "He's his father." The human's eyes widened a little in surprise. "Is he here on his own? Or is there more family with him?" Sophie simply had more questions to ask, obviously happy that more of the Anthros' families were finding their way to Newer Home. "Seems it's just him."

"Oh." Sophie responded. "Aside from all this, is there any more news you have for us?" Undyne wondered. Sophie shook her head 'no'. "I'm still looking." She told. Undyne gave her a pointed look. "Don't stop, you're doing great." She smirked. "Thanks, Captain.

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Still with his noticeable limp, Gold walked alongside Chica as the two went to rejoin the group for the night. She'd been quiet all day, keeping to herself in a corner. She didn't say a word, except something quiet here and there to her cupcake companion—who would give her equally quiet reassuring replies. The bear felt awful seeing her like this, but was unable to do anything to help lift her spirits. He wasn't the best in the field of optimism, that was more Francine's area of expertise... I hope she's okay, too. He thought to himself, briefly glancing off. "Gold?
"Hm?" Gold hadn't noticed that Chica had gone off to sit at one of the empty tables, to be by herself a bit without being alone. Springtrap was giving him a small, sideways look. "You okay?" He asked. The bear nodded once. "I was just... thinkin'. About my family..." Springtrap sighed. "Try not to worry about them," He told his friend. "They aren't here, remember?" Gold mustered an amused look. "It seems you're used to tellin' yourself that."

"Can you blame me?" Gold shook his head 'no'. "No, of course not.... Though, it has to been nice for you to not worry about Shine bein' sold off here and there this time around, right?" Springtrap nodded. "Yeah... it is." He then waved the conversation topic off. "Let's catch up with Puppet, alright?" The bear smirked. "Right."

Elsewhere in the building, Bon was on his own in the Cabaret. Sitting at one of the empty tables, he had his feet propped up on the surface, and his arms crossed in front of himself. He was taking advantage of the silence to contemplate... things... memories. Staring down the animatronic mockery of his brother, Bon couldn't help the unsettling feeling it gave him. Despite the bright color palette the thing had been designed to have, it still made him think of that terrifying animatronic rabbit that had been constructed to house the shadow's SOUL. Said same animatronic that was still on the loose... that would somehow still haunt his nightmares now and then.

Sighing, Bon closed his eyes for a moment to try and calm his nerves. Someone else joined him in the room. "Bon? You in here?" He opened his eyes, looking over to see Mangle. She wasn't in her 'mangled' form, as she simply walked over to him. The bunny took his feet off the table just as his sister joined him at the table. "Hey." She gave him a smile. "Hi. What're you doing?"

"Just... thinking, I guess." She raised a brow. "About what?" Bon shrugged, briefly looking back at the animatronic, then down to the ground. "Oh," Mangle reached out to put a hand on his forearm. "Well, try not to sit here and think too long about that thing... you know how you can get sometimes." Bon looked up at her with a puzzled expression. She seemed genuinely concerned. His confused faded. He'd briefly forgotten that she didn't have her memories. "I'm fine, Vix. Really."

"You're sure?" She only sounded half convinced. "Yeah, I promise. There's nothing to worry about." Bon told her. "Well, aside from Fred... but okay, I'll take your word for it." Bon's gaze fell a little again. He wished he could tell her, but he still hadn't worked out a non-alarming way to explain it. There was no short way to casually pass of how he somehow knew their brother was in a wheelchair. Rolling his eyes a little, Bon opened his mouth to speak again when a sound caught his attention. One of his tall ears turned in the direction it came from. "Bon-?"

"Sh!" He looked over his shoulder. There was the sound again. "... Do you hear that?" Mangle's eyes narrowed, as she too listened. "Yeah...!" It sounded like radio static. It was coming from the direction of the employee hallway leading away from the Cabaret. The static sounded again, followed by a voice speaking through the radio. "Copy. And Lolbit, there's news about Py. He-" The volume of the voice was quickly turned down, as whoever had the radio then took off down the hallway.

"What the..." Bon looked back at Mangle, both exchanging confused looks. But down the hallway, Lolbit was recovering from her momentary heart attack. She didn't mean to hit the volume button—now she probably got their attention. She wasn't ready to show herself to all the Anthros all at once. Having ducked into a broom closet, Lolbit was taking a few calming breaths. Static. "Lolbit? Do you read me?"

"10-4. You said Py made it to Newer Home." She quietly repeated into the walkie-talkie—which she kept on a string around her neck to rest on her chest. Static, followed by, "Yes, we had visual of him at the MTT Resort." Lolbit nodded. "Good... Good." The other person seemed to pick up on her curious tone. "Lolbit? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," She answered into the speaker. "Just accidentally gave myself a heart attack, it's nothing." She assured him. "Anyways, I'll keep you posted. Over and out."

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A.N. 'Til next Saturday, thanks for reading!