Personally, I do not agree with the way Sun was characterized in this game. I refuse to believe he acts this mean with kids. I understand why some people might think it makes sense given how he banned Gregory from Daycare, but I choose to interpret that moment as Sun not taking time to think because he was upset about Gregory seemingly not listening to him, and the fact that Moon was an actual deadly threat to him and he wanted to get Gregory away from that. And also the virus that was in them both was affecting Sun in those moments as well.
I just can't bring myself to believe Sun would not only force kids to paint a certain way, but destroy their work even when they do so. In my mind, he just isn't that kind of guy. He had to either be affected by the virus, or it wasn't canon.
My half of the art trade with @pixlokita who drew me this beautiful Viera Conan
Gregory didn’t know what had called him to play that last Princess Quest Game after their ambush had failed. He tried to tell himself that it was important somehow. The games ran themselves without power, after all. But deep down he wondered if he hadn’t been trying to distract himself from the inevitable.
Yet somehow, against all odds, it had done something. The sounds of robotic carnage stopped and when he peeked out again the service bots were back to normal. Several of them had picked up Freddy and were carrying him towards Parts and Services. Gregory had wanted to call out, but didn’t trust the situation not to turn bad again, so he quietly followed until they put Freddy in the repair chair and left.
“Superstar, you did it!” Freddy exclaimed as he snuck in.
“I’m not sure what I did, but I’m glad it worked.” Gregory looked at Freddy. “Are you…are you sure you can’t leave the Pizzaplex?” He fidgeted with his shirt. He couldn’t stay any longer, he knew that. But he couldn’t leave Freddy either. Freddy was his in a way no one else had ever wanted to be.
Freddy looked sad through his broken shell. “I’m afraid not, Gregory. The energy consumption of my body can not be handled except by the recharge stations.”
“What about your head?” Gregory blurted out. “It was disconnected from you and working just fine!” Then he caught himself. “I’m sorry. That’s stupid. You’ve gotten so hurt just trying to help me and it’s really selfish to ask you to give up your whole body because I’m clingy and…” Oh no, he wasn’t going to start crying now.
“Gregory,” Freddy’s voice pulled him out of his own thoughts. “I think that is an excellent idea. The Pizzaplex is my home. But it is not the place I thought it was.I love singing and bringing joy to children. But I refuse to be bait by which to trap them. And just my head would be low-power enough to recharge.”
Gregory suppressed a sniffle “Then you’ll come with me?”
Freddy smiled. “Nothing would make me happier. Now let me walk you through the correct procedure.”
~
It took longer than Gregory would have wanted, but he managed to get a fresh shell on Freddy’s head and safely separate it. At least it was still before guests would be arriving. Freddy’s head secured in a duffel bag Gregory was determined to make his grand escape to…well, he’d figure that out later.
He peeked into the bag for reassurance. Freddy looked encouragingly back at him. “Go on, Superstar. I did what I could to carry you through the Pizzaplex. I need you to carry me out of it.”
But just as he reached the door he stopped.There, standing in his way, was Vanessa the Security Guard. But she wasn’t looking like she usually did. Gone was the aggressive angry posture and the manic bouncy movement. She didn’t look like an enemy anymore. Just a sad lady.
The two regarded each other for a moment. They had been nemeses all night, but something had changed. Maybe whatever had fixed the robots fixed her too?
“Want to get some ice cream?” She didn’t sound inviting,like she was trying to lure him, just tired.
Which is why he went with her, even as he clutched the bag with Freddy tighter. She smelled like smoke, he noticed, but no cigarette smoke. He followed her to a run down sedan, not something he’d pictured his arch enemy using.
“You should at least call your parents,” Freddy reminded him as he buckled in. “They must be worried.
Vanessa froze with her keys halfway to the ignition. She stared at the bag in disbelief.
“Not now,” Gregory hissed.
“Please tell me that’s your Fazwatch.” Vanessa groaned in a way that said she knew very well the sound hadn’t come from the watch on his wrist.
“Gregory, you’ve been in the Pizzaplex since well before closing. You have been missing for several hours.”
“Can we just go?” Gregory pleaded.
“You’re lucky I want to get out of here.” Vanessa grumbled as she turned over the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. “So Freddy, I’m guessing you were helping him after all?”
“I do not regret it.” Freddy said defiantly.
“I don’t either.” Vanessa admitted. “I wouldn’t have been able to.”
“Why are you different now.?” Gregory asked, still somewhat suspicious.
“You saw the Daycare Attendant. How he had a malicious self set to come out in the dark? He was a trial run for doing the same in humans. Friendly Sundrop becomes Malicious Moondrop.”
“And Security Guard Vanessa becomes Vanny.”
Vanessa’s grip on the steering wheel became white-knuckled.
“So you’re going to turn back into Vanny tonight?” Gregory asked warily.
“No. Even when I was in ‘control,’ Vanny was in charge. I couldn’t do anything to work against her or even ask for help. But somehow, this morning Vanny broke. She’s gone. And good riddance.”
“That is good to hear. However, Gregory, I will not let myself be distracted from the topic of your parents. They must be worried sick.”
“They’re not.” Gregory grumbled, in a tone very much conveying that he’d like to change the subject.
“Even if you had a fight with them-”
“They don’t exist.” Gregory snapped. “I don’t have parents. I never had parents. People who don’t exist can’t worry.”
“Oh.” Freddy’s voice was full of regret. “I did not mean to be insensitive. Your foster home or Guardian-”
“Doesn’t exist either.” Gregory said bitterly. “I was on the streets and then when I saw a gaggle of kids going into the Pizzaplex for a party I just sort of blended in. I didn’t have money for the arcade or anything, but I could eat plenty of pizza from leftover tables and the trash. I got washed up in the bathrooms or the showers from the mazercize area. I got new shoes from the lost and found. It was the best I’d had in a while…until it wasn’t.”
“You should not be eating out of the trash.” Freddy replied, but it was a weaker version of his usual tone of being upset with something Gregory was doing.
“So I should starve then?” Gregory asked bitterly .”Should I have let myself be caught rather than go into ‘forbidden’ areas? Should I die just because no one would miss me?”
“I would miss you.” Freddy said, the sincerity in his voice almost painful.
“I know.” Gregory’s voice cracked a bit. “I know. You gave up your body to stay with me.” He hugged the duffel a little tighter. “But I can’t follow a lot of stupid rules that’s normal for everyone else. Not and survive.”
“Gregory, I may not understand much about the world outside the Pizzaplex, or your world in particular. But I will support you as I always have. And always will. We’re in this together.”
Vanessa pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store. “Freddy, you probably shouldn’t talk in the store. I don’t know how long till they find out you’re missing and we don’t want to draw attention to you being with us. If you have to, go through the kid’s watch.”
Gregory saw Freddy looking at him, waiting for confirmation. Freddy still trusted him more than Vanessa. “She’s right. Fazbear Entertainment won’t be happy their star is missing.”
“&%& Them!” Vanessa snarled like a wild animal, with more life then they’d seen out of her since Vanny was banished.
“Language! There is a child present.” Freddy chided.
“They knew. They knew and they still…” She clamped her mouth shut, but they could still hear the scream in her throat. “Ice cream. Let’s just…let’s just get some ice cream.”
It was in complete silence that Gregory undid his seatbelt and slid from the car. Angry adults had never meant anything good. He half considered running for it there and then, but he knew he was just this side of exhausted. He wouldn’t be able to escape and running would only make her more angry, so he followed her inside.
Vanessa walked up to the counter and ordered a mint chocolate chip soft serve. “What do you want, Gregory?” she said in a much softer tone.
The lady behind the counter perked up. “And who’s this?”
“Nephew,” Vanessa lied through her teeth. “It doesn’t have to be ice cream if you don’t want any.”
Gregory scanned his eyes over the flavors (You do not turn down free food), but found his attention drawn instead to a freezer of various frozen treats. And advertised brightly on the side was a Freddy shaped popsicle with shiny gumdrop eyes. It was stupid, Those were for little kids with more brand loyalty to cartoons than taste. He should get something more filling, like a cheese filled pretzel or-
Vanessa opened the freezer and pulled out a Freddy pop and handed it to him. “It’s okay.” She said softly. “We all need some comfort right now.”
Comfort, huh? Well, he couldn’t argue with that.
She paid and they got back in the car. Vanessa asked him to hold her cone while they drove away. This time the ride was in relative silence. Gregory was afraid of another flash of temper, and maybe Freddy was the same.
They stopped in a park and Vanessa once again turned off the car. “I would come here on good mornings. Ones following nights where Vanny didn’t get to play.” She explained.
“Were there other kids?” Gregory asked, then braced himself for another shout.
“Too many.” Vanessa’s voice was heavy with grief. “It wasn’t all Vanny but…”
“The others?” Freddy asked. “Chika, Roxy, and Monty?”
“He was like a virus. Human or animatronic he’d get into you and twist you into whatever he wanted you to be.”
He who?
“Except for Freddy.” Gregory reminded her.
“Not always.”
“You mean-” The horror was clear in Freddy’s voice.
“Not kids!” Vanessa was quick to correct. “You never hurt kids. He used Monty and Roxy for that!” Monty was like him. He didn’t care who he hurt to get what he wanted. Roxy, though, was more like herself, desperate for validation. “He used you more for heavy lifting and moving things. It was when he tried to make you hurt kids, to catch Gregory, that you broke from his influence.”
“I’m why Freddy malfunctioned and got put on limited power?” Gregory asked in a small voice.
“No, the bastard who enslaved me did that. But he shouldn’t be active in the Pizzaplex for a good long time.” Vanessa looked satisfied with herself and Gregory again wondered about the smell of smoke on her. “Come on, our ice cream is going to melt.”
Gregory handed her back her cone and followed her up to a grassy rise. They sat in silence and watched the sunrise, Freddy’s head between them.
As she finished her cone Vanessa took a deep breath. “You want a job, kid?”
“What kind of job?” Gregory asked with no small amount of suspicion.
“House sitting.” Vanessa answered. “You watch my place, keep the plants watered and the dust at a manageable level and in return you get access to the apartment including all the food and video games inside. Freddy gets veto rights on TV and Internet access though.”
“And where will you be?”
Vanessa seemed to struggle with herself for a moment. “I was infected with his mind control while working as a beta tester for a Fazbear Entertainment video game. I wasn’t the only beta tester. I need to make sure what was happening here isn’t happening elsewhere.”
Elsewhere. The ice cream was suddenly sitting heavily in Gregory’s stomach. The disappearances and kids being hunted. How many places could it be happening at? He’d stayed past six am because he thought they had a chance of stopping it. And they had here. And maybe it was Vanessa’s turn to stop it elsewhere.
“What about Freddy? He’ll need to recharge his batteries.”
“I doubt that will be a problem. But I’ll leave an induction charger if you’ll need it.”
Why wouldn’t Freddy need a recharge? But the truth was, Gregory had no way to recharge him at all on the street. If Vanessa wanted to trap him, she’d had him in her car twice.
“Fine.” He allowed. “For now.”
Good. This at least got the kid off the streets and fed. She’d see if she couldn’t get some education website accounts up to get him caught up on education. She’d work with Freddy on that.
He’d saved her. The least she could do was try and save him. too.
#f1
#photography
#the amazing digital circus
#heated rivalry
