NatePat One-Shots

The Mangle

Last night's shift remained fresh in Matt's mind, he'd conversed with the Puppet, he'd been left alone for the remaining hour, and he went home without incident. The stringless marionette could be the one pulling the strings of others, but he seemed content with letting the animatronics roam freely. Matt supposed he would be, too. Who was he to play Master? To command something that used to be someone? When the Puppet had explained the story it had all fit together, but in a slightly difficult process. How had the Purple Man escaped prison? Why had the pizzeria reopened? What happened to Fredbear's Family Diner? Any questions were left unanswered and if they did get answered, that would lead to even more questions. Matt ignored the slight throbbing in his temples and walked down the dark street, 12 AM rolling around the corner as he opened the glass doors. It was as eerily quiet as it had ever been, but he was excited to talk to the Puppet again, he was much more human than anticipated. His body was composed of human-like padding and fabric for the safety of children, his mask was made of clay and wasn't actually part of his face. What he actually looked like remained a mystery to Matt, but he would respect his privacy. The theorist sat in his office and checked the cameras, noticing how everyone else had stayed at their posts except for a certain mangled animatronic. He remembered back when he was 5 years old, he'd witnessed Mangle getting torn apart and getting put back together in the crudest ways imaginable. Secretly, after the children had left and it was near closing time, Matt would flag down an employee and they would try and put Mangle back together.
Piece by piece.
Limb by limb.
Wire by wire.
But sometimes things had to stay broken, children needed to grow up, and employees had to move on. Matt became good friends with a certain employee named Jeremy Fitzgerald, who was now married to another former night guard named Mike Schmidt. Jeremy had helped Matt put the animatronic back together, they would've succeeded if it wasn't closing time.

"You must be in deep thought to ignore my advances, little theorist." Puppet hung upside down from the ceiling.

"Oh! Sorry, I was just reminiscing." Matt blinked up at the marionette.

"No worries, but I'd watch for Mangle." Puppet chuckled, landing softly on the desk.

Another mystery about the Puppet was how he moved around soundlessly, avoiding cameras and the ever-annoying Balloon Boy. Was his body extremely light? Was there some trick to it? As the Puppet sat on the edge of the desk Matt wondered a lot of things, what was his real name? Where did he come from? What did he look like? Matt yawned and checked one of the party rooms and found Mangle, staring into the camera while her endoskeleton counterpart simply twitched violently. Even on the camera her static fizzled loudly and her body convulsed, electricity shooting through her circuits and briefly locking up her servos before releasing her. Matt often felt sorry for how she was treated, snot-nosed brats were the worst kind of children and it seemed like Fazbear's was a hotspot for just those kids.

"Do you ever talk to Mangle?" Matt asked, flipping to a different camera.

"I do converse with her, yes, why?" Puppet craned his neck backwards to look at him.

"Is she alright?" Matt asked, focusing on the tablet.

It remained silent for a period of time and it seemed like the Puppet didn't want to answer, it was that or he was just in deep thought. Matt looked up from the tablet and found the mysterious animatronic gone, not even an inkling of him actually being on the desk. If it was a touchy subject then why didn't he say so? Matt wouldn't have asked. 3 AM rolled around and the theorist became concerned with the Puppet's whereabouts, if he was okay, and why he'd suddenly left out of the blue. No matter how much focus he poured into the tablet and check ventilation, he couldn't shake the feeling of loneliness that constantly plagued him. The main hall light flashed and revealed no one, only party streamers, kids' drawings, and an assortment of cardboard cutout pizza. No wonder the place hadn't been popular until now. Before long a strange sound rippled in Matt's ears, like nails on a chalkboard, and caused him to jump slightly. Was there something wrong with the tablet? The lights? No, everything was functioning as usual.

"Ahoy, matey!" A shrill, robotic voice exclaimed.

Matt fell out of his chair and looked up at the ceiling, laughing when he saw Mangle hanging from the rafters. Her body slunk onto the floor with a slight crash before she laughed along, attempting to straighten herself and her endoskeleton counterpart.

"Ah, such a young lad!" Mangle gasped, watching Matt stand.

"Actually, I'm almost thirty." Matt chuckled.

"And thirty never looked so good, little theorist." Puppet said from his position on the desk.

Matt blushed and he sat back in his chair as Mangle joined Puppet on the desk, both of them staring and waiting for a conversation.

"Ol' Strings here said ye' be worryin' over a broken watch!" Mangle laughed bitterly.

"I wouldn't call you that, but it was fun when I used to help fix you when I was younger!" Matt explained, the memories flooding back again.

Mangle went rigid and the theorist wondered if he'd done something wrong, but there was no way to tell. Silence swallowed any attempt at continuing the conversation, plus Matt was still unsure of angering a possessed animatronic. 4 AM was around the corner when Matt caught the hint of another memory, he was at least 6 years old at the time. Freddy and his friends were playing instruments, serving pizza, and playing overall, but Matt was the one child who was more interested in the kid near the Prize Corner. He held a small, purple teddy bear in his arms and was falling asleep while a little girl was trying to get him up. They were fairly colorless, wearing mostly black with the occasional colorful video game character. Matt watched as one of the employees escorted them to the back room and his concerns were drowned out by laughter, apparently some kids wanted to play with him and he'd said yes. Looking back on it now, Matt felt a bit guilty and he didn't know why.

"Aye, I remember ye'," Mangle sighed, smiling fondly. "Such a shy boy."

"A real pipsqueak if ya ask me!" Endo screeched, earning confused stares from all three.

"And since when are you allowed an opinion, little runt?" Puppet asked venomously.

Matt had questions, he wanted answers, but was it worth risking a friendship with two very important people? Could he live with that guilt? It seemed rude to ask someone about their past, especially haunted animatronics!

"Can I ask you two something?" Matt let out a breath.

The words had come out before he could stop himself, every syllable made him either inside, as if he didn't want to know the answers at all.

"Aye," Mangle nodded her head once.

"Of course, little theorist." Puppet said.

Matt chose his words carefully, would such a question lead to his demise? Would he even get an answer? The chances were so slim, these were people bound to these animatronic's, forced to live a nightmare for eternity. There was never any doubt that they'd be sensitive to the topic, especially of who they used to be. They were bound by code, by metal endoskeleton's, by their own thirst for justice. There was no telling what they might do to him.

"Is that all, little theorist?" The Puppet searched for confirmation.

"Uh, yes, that's all." Matt replied nervously.

They both gave a robotic chuckle.

"I may be remembering wrong, but I believe they referred to me as Morgan!" Mangle giggled.

"Ah, yes, and my name was Nathan." Puppet mused.

sorry for the lateness
im a little peeved rn
but eh I'll get over it