[JUST ONE HEAVILY-EDITED CHAPTER] SpringTrap x Marionette (Human AU)

Chapter 10: Stranger

For old time's sake :)
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Goldie and Mari both turned around in surprise, expecting to be confronted by a certain blonde bunny. But Goldie's surprise became his dread when it wasn't the person they were prepared for.

A man was standing at the doorway, brows pointing down in anger. He was wearing dark gray suspenders on top of a shirt of the same color, and seemed to have little to no hair beneath his bowler hat. His glossy oxford shoes left Mari wondering how his arrival had been so silent. The guy was a stranger to her, but Goldie looked like he knew him, and clearly Goldie also feared him.

"Mister C-Chester? What are y-you doing here?" Goldie stammered, shaking a bit. Mari turned her head to Goldie, extremely confused now. This man... who was this man? How powerful would someone have to be to scare Golden Freddy?

"I should be the one askin' you that!" Chester exclaimed in sudden rage, "You have no business out 'ere!" He grabbed the newspaper and looked at it. "Why'd you have this in your keep? You tryna spread rumors or somethin'?!"

Goldie shrunk in his spot under Chester's vicious glare, which was actually on the paper instead of him. "No! No, no, of course I w-wasn't spreading rumors, I swear. I was just... showing it t-to a friend," he replied, gesturing Mari with his hands.

"Just showin', uh-huh... Yeah that's most definitely what you're up to," Chester said, sarcasm ripe in his voice. His eyes widened, "D'you know how this can damage the company?!" he yelled, "Such atrocious news about Fazbear entertainment!"

"B-but sir, it isn't even from our time," Goldie said, trying to get away even if it meant breaking someone's perception of time and space. He truly was afraid of Chester, the fierce aura around the man made him uneasy.

"Does it matter?!" Chester continued yelling, "Would people laugh at it jus' because 's not from our time?! Imagine a kid or a parent seein' this. Rumors would spread like wildfire across the city! It could shut the restaurant down!"

As Chester kept on yelling and as Goldie kept on listening with his head low, Mari was left there, dazed. What was on that newspaper, was it really terrible news?

... Had SpringTrap done something?

Her head cycled through many options, arriving at the darkest ones... Goldie came here to talk about SpringTrap after all. She tried to convince herself that it was all assumptions. But the more she thought about it, the more reasons she found to confirm it...

She needed more information.

Wait a second, why am I even bothering to think about this, or rather... him?

Her train of thoughts was disrupted when she heard a sudden outburst of anger. She looked to see Chester scolding Goldie like a parent scolding their child, his voice dripping authority.

"An' I will never see or hear anythin' like this happenin' ever again, understood?" He said with a finishing tone, a hint of 'this conversation ends here.' Goldie nodded weakly, and watched Chester turn on his heels and leave, newspaper in hand.

Once he was gone, Goldie looked at Mari, shock engraved alongside humiliation on his expression. After sheepishly avoiding eye contact for a while, he also went.

Mari just stood there in her box, where she was the whole time. She thought about it — twice — and then said to herself, determined: I have to find that newspaper.

...

Chester made his way towards his office, the gears in his mind turning over his encounter with the embodiments of an empty animatronic suit and a puppet. What would've happened if he hadn't went there on time? Fortunately, he had overheard the talk between them, and even seen a bit of it. Enough to decide that an intervention was necessary.