Sander sides FNAF AU

Quiet Apprehension

Night 5, 12:01 am

Thomas watched the new manager stroll outside. He leaned in, observing pixels showing the devil locking entrance doors and disappearing out of the camera's view. The night guard watched clock numbers on his computer dwindle up. Patience. Until the coast was absolutely clear, he needed to be patient.

12:10 am

     Yep. Good enough.

     He charged to the main stages, flicking on dinning lights beforehand. One animatronic turned to face him, the other zoned out: staring into nothing.

"Guys—holy shmokes—why didn't you tell me what William's last name was?! He talked to me!"

     Roman leapt off his platform and placed two anxious hands on the guard's shoulders. His light flickered in a panic. "Never mind that! Did he say anything about us?!"

"Uh—"

"Because Talyn's gone, Logan's still deactivated, Patton's acting weird—" He nodded his head to the unmoving robot, who kept smiling and staring at nothing. "—and...Virgil!"

The fanciful persona bolted away, shouting the other's name. Within moments, a crash sounded off in the near distance.

     A greater state of bewilderment embraced Thomas. He stood still, processing what the flashes of panicked words meant. Surely, nothing out of control happened during his absence. Right?

     He turned to the silent child, waving a hand.

"Hey, you okay?"

     Patton's head slowly creaked around, never blinking. "Hi! I'm Morality, welcome to Fun Family's Pizzeria!"

     The robot extended an open palm, speaking in a different voice, sounding lower in pitch and throwing in cartoonish laughs.

"High-five, kid! You sure know how to smile, haha!"

Thomas remained stiff. He glanced at the mascot up and down, noting the absence of physical damage.

"Are you...is this—?" He could not put his confusion into words. "Hello?"

"Hahaha! Hi! The pizzeria is brighter with you around!"

     It was like watching someone else posses the face and body. The human thought back to Logan's muffled words about triggering memory cues to 'bring back the sense of one's self'. Worth a shot. He extended a hand to the smiling machine, re-enacting one of their past exchanges to the best of his remembrance.

"You don't like lying. But...they told you it was for everyone's own good. Maybe, this time, truth is better. So, no lies between us?"

Patton's hand gently patted the top of Thomas' head, giving his sangria-dyed hair more of a messier appearance than it already was. The metal man then gave a thumbs up.

"You've been such a great customer! Care for a song?"

     His heart sank.

The animatronic positioned his arms and wrist to play an invisible instrument. He prepared to air-strum, but dropped the act instead.

"Uh-oh. My rock guitar is missing. Sorry pal!"

     He used to have that? It seemed odd to imagine him with a guitar, must've been a long time ago since the mascot played it.

Back to the situation—

     His brain spewed out ideas for another way to retrieve Patton. Should he tamper with the mechanics? Re-wire the programming on his own? Flick a cup-full of water and hope the electricity resets everything? No, too harsh. Maybe if he—