29 More Than Machine

What the hell is that thing? I never saw that before. I didn't even know this place had this kind of animatronic. And what does it want with Lolbit? William still had no idea what was going on, or whatever this messy endoskeleton wanted. He just didn't know what to make of any of this. It looked like Helpy didn't know whatever this thing was, as he just stared at the screen feed, confused. William thought it would be best to know for sure if Helpy knew or not.

"Helpy, do you know what this...uh, thing, is?"

The little bear shook his head sideways.

"No. I have no idea what kind of animatronic this is. This doesn't make sense...I thought I was programmed to know everything about this place..."

So he doesn't know? Then this must be something completely new. William was trying to piece together the bigger picture here, but he noticed that Baby seemed more nervous than usual. He could tell by her expression, and she turned her attention to him, trying to tell him something.

"William...th-that thing...I know what it is."

Helpy immediately turned his attention to her. William spoke up.

"You do? But how come you know and Helpy doesn't?"

Baby turned her head the other way for a moment, seemingly anxious, and turned her head back to reply.

"Because this thing wasn't built by Fazbear Entertainment. It's not supposed to exist. The only reason I know is that...I created him."

What? She built it? I guess that would explain why she knows about it and Helpy doesn't, but now I have even more questions. Baby continued.

"I know you two might not understand everything. William, this is going to be very long to explain to you, but I need to tell it to you. I lied, and you deserve to know the truth. Please don't hate me for what I'm about to tell you."

"Hate you? How could I hate-"

"It all started earlier today, or technically yesterday since it's past midnight already. Regardless, I was on my stage, performing for a small group of children, when all of a sudden I wasn't singing properly anymore. I recall that my voice would cut over to static several times, and eventually, I had to brought in for repairs. I was powered down for a long time, but when I woke up, I was in the parts and service room, with a technician in the room with me. I was strapped to the conveyer, and I thought I was going to be scooped out. While I was there, I could overhear the technician talking to himself, that all of the animatronics were being scheduled to be scooped out for repairs."

"I never heard about that-"

"Neither did I. But I couldn't just let myself become scooped out. I didn't want to get broken down, much less feel how horrible that pain would be. Then the technician started saying all sorts of nasty things about me. He thought I was powered down, so I guess he assumed that I couldn't hear the horrible things he said about me. But I heard everything. When he called me a creepy clown girl, that was the last straw for me. At that moment, I just...I felt something inside of me snap. My temper wasn't holding back anymore, and when that technician got just close enough to me, I grabbed him with both of my hands around his neck. I just kept squeezing tighter and tighter until I heard his neck snap like a branch. I-I...I didn't mean to kill him. It was like I couldn't control myself, William."

Baby sounded much more emotional as she was saying this. There was something in the tone of her voice that made William feel like she did regret it. He replied to her.

"You killed one of them? Baby, I was stunned by what you did to Lolbit tonight, but until then, I never pictured you doing anything like this."

"To be honest, I was in shock for a few moments after I realized what I did. I was horrified that I did it. Even though that man was cruel to me, there was still something inside of me that felt bad that I did it. I killed him out of my anger. I should probably move on. Anyway, after that, I tried to escape the parts and service room, and I did, but when I went inside Funtime Auditorium, I saw Funtime Freddy, walking around strangely. There was blood splattered all across his face and chest, but he didn't seem to be hostile towards me. All of the animatronics here usually get along with each, most of the time. He told me what had happened to him. I don't remember all of the details, but I think he said something about his technician shocking him a bit too many times. He said he got so angry that he lost control and killed him, and he was...uh...quite descriptive of what he did to his technician."

"Please don't tell me about that. I saw how badly damaged one of those technician's heads was and I almost threw up."

"I didn't think you'd want to hear that. Anyways, I told him about what happened with me, and about what my technician said about scooping us all out. Funtime Freddy did not like this at all, so I wanted him to help me find a way out of this place before that would happen. I didn't exactly have a plan at that moment, but I came up with one as soon as we checked the scooping room. I'm pretty sure you already know that Ballora got scooped out, but we also found out that both Funtime Foxy and the Bibybads were also scooped out. Those little baby robots that tried to kill you on your second night? It's not that important, but we didn't know what to do with them. Their endoskeletons were still slightly intact, but they were mostly broken down, along with their suits. I wanted all of us to escape, so then an idea popped into my head: what if we could all escape together, as one? We can't go out in the world looking like this. They would notice and just put us back inside."

Baby paused for a moment, trying to find the right words to explain it to William.

"But...if we looked like you, we could blend in. If we looked like you, we could sneak out of here unnoticed. So I tried building their remains together, and created a brand new animatronic, which I specifically designed to look humanoid. I needed his endoskeleton to be anatomically correct to...uh, allow himself to wear a human skin suit."

William stood frozen, feeling utterly stunned, betrayed, and confused by what Baby just told him. All sorts of questions and presumptions ran through his mind. Is this why she lied to me? To take away my skin so they could leave? Did she really...try to kill me? The thought of it made him feel heartbroken. But I still don't understand. How does breaking down the endoskeletons of the other animatronics and building them into one even work? I think it would be possible, but how would that save any of them? He asked Baby the first question on his mind.

"You lied to me before...so you could kill me? Take away my skin? After all we've been through, all the times you helped me, you betrayed me?"

Baby responded, sounding much more emotional than before. There was a look in her eyes that something inside of her collapsed the moment he said those last words.

"No, I never wanted to kill you. I already had the two dead technicians, so I figured Ennard could've made a skin suit out of them. But I wasn't sure if that plan would work. I didn't know how long it would be until the skin-suit would start to rot away. Maybe if we placed it in the large freezer down here, we could keep it for several weeks, but I wasn't sure. That's why I didn't want to get scooped out yet. I wanted to see what way would've worked better: using a skin suit disguise or slowly replacing organs with small, mechanical remains of our endoskeletons. I was planning to remove some of your non-vital organs instead of having your entire organ and skeletal system removed. I didn't want you to die. I care about you. I thought even if it didn't work, Ennard could maybe stitch back your organs and together with the help of those dead technician remains."

"If you cared about me, then why did you even think about trying to do this to me in the first place?"

"I'm sorry, William, I really am. I-I...I w-was desperate. And I know that's no excuse, but I didn't know what else to do! I just wanted the pain to stop! All of us want it. Every one of us hates the way we're treated by the people here. It feels like constant hell for me! The only times I feel relaxed is when I'm performing for little children, or when I'm spending time with someone. And I don't get that second choice very often. I knew you wouldn't die, and I...I...I thought that even if it didn't work, I could still find a way to fix you. I never wanted to see you in pain! I regretted my choice, and I wasn't just going to let you be tortured by Ennard! It's why I came back for you. I wanted to find you before he did, so that I could try to keep you safe. I'm so sorry, not just for lying about so many things to you, William, but also for being such a terrible friend! I should've thought about you before that idea even popped into my head! How c-could I have been so...so..."

Baby was almost on the verge of having an emotional meltdown, as she began muttering her words as she spoke. William could tell that she really did mean what she said, and while he was still slightly angry with her, he mostly felt pity for her. He just wanted to give her a big hug. She needed it, and he didn't want to see her this upset. So, he opened his arms wide, and pulled her into a deep embrace. For a few moments, she stood there in shock, before hugging William back. She hugged him even tighter, and he could hear Baby sobbing, as William tried to calm her down.

"There, there, Baby, I'm here for you. Listen to me. I still care about you. You're not a terrible friend. If it weren't for you, I'd probably wouldn't be standing here right now. You saved me several times, and you offered to help with patching me up. I'm still not happy about what you tried to do to me before, but you can still change. You can make things up for the better. Do you...want to continue talking, or do you want to take a moment to relax?"

"Yes, that would be nice. Just give me a little longer. It's been a while since I've gotten a hug."

She kept going for a few moments before letting go of William, seeming much calmer now. After calming down, she tried her best to continue speaking.

"There is a lot more to explain, William, so I don't think I should explain every single detail that happened. I'll try to explain all of the important parts. Okay?"

"That's fine, but there is something I don't exactly understand. About the part where you took the endoskeletons of the others and tried to build Ennard out of them. How is that going to save you all? I mean, did you connect all of their AI's to Ennard or something? Because I don't-"

"That is...a bit complicated to explain. No, I didn't do anything like that. There is a big reason why it would work for us, but I don't think you would believe me if I told you."

"Baby...tell me. I trust you."

"Alright. It would work for us because...well, there's something inside of us that's special. Something that wasn't programmed into us. It's our very souls. There you go. We're possessed. I know, it's ridiculous."

Baby could see that William's face showed very visible confusion. Out of all the insane things he had experienced this week, from getting kidnapped to nearly getting murdered to even the skin suit thing, this was the one that jumped the shark. Okay, seriously, what the actual hell is this? First I find out Dave designed these things to murder little children and now I'm dealing with ghosts...or some kind of, uh, paranormal presence or something. I know I've said this a lot, but none of this makes any sense to me. How does any of this work?

Are they possessed by ghosts or demons? Or are they haunted? I thought this week couldn't get any crazier, but it just did. She better at least explain all of this nonsense to me. William spoke up.

"What? Seriously, I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about."

"I thought you'd say something like that. Believe me, I had no idea what happened to me at first, too. You see, when I said we were possessed, I meant that our souls of our former human selves are trapped inside of these endoskeletons. How any of this is possible, I have no clue."

"So you are possessed by, uh, ghosts, or something close to that? Wait a minute. You said human selves. If that's true, then does that mean-"

"It's why we can feel emotions. On the inside, there is still a part of us that's human, that feels human emotion. There was never any malfunctions in the animatronics. It never even had to do with our programming at all. It was our souls that were causing this. Now, I don't know why this happened, but I think I have an idea what might've caused this in the first place. Have you ever heard of a man named Dave Miller?"

"Yes, I tied him to a chair and interrogated him a few hours ago. He told me that he built some kind of claw mechanic inside of the four main animatronics to kidnap and murder children. He was about to tell me what was wrong with them, but then gas came out of the air-vents, so I had to abandon him to escape."

"Wait, you did that? Huh. I was wondering why I found him tied up in the parts and service room, along with Funtime Freddy. I thought it was only you inside, so I jammed the exit door from the outside. Sorry about that. I think the Minireenas did something to the air-vents or mixed up the gas pipes, I don't know, something like that. But back to Dave. He knows that we're possessed. In fact, he's the reason we're all like this in the first place. I found out that he designed these machines to kill children, but I found that out the hard way. I was kidnapped by Baby. If only I wasn't so stupid and listened to Daddy, I wouldn't be in this situation. Remember that story I told you about that little girl I met that disappeared? That was me."

"You're possessed by that girl? But how is it that you remember Baby's perspective-"

"That's where things get even more confusing. For some reason, not only can I remember my past memories, but I can also see Baby's memories. I don't know why. Anyway, then I was trapped inside of Baby's suit, and eventually, I couldn't breathe. I suffocated inside of her. Next thing I knew, I thought I was still inside Baby, until I realized that I became her. I could control her movement, speak using her voice-box, and so much more. I remember speaking with some of the other animatronics, and they had very similar stories like mine. Some of them, like Funtime Freddy and Funtime Foxy, were children once, like me, who suffocated inside of the suits like I did. But Bon-Bon said his death was much different. He didn't tell me much, but he remembered being kidnapped by Funtime Freddy, and was later on rescued by a technician, or so he thought at first. It turns out that technician was Dave, the one in purple, he described, stabbed him to death with a knife. But Ballora...her story is the most different out of all of us."

So the animatronics here are possessed by the very children Dave murdered? I mean, I still don't understand how any of this happened in the first place, but part of it makes sense. These animatronics can feel emotion because they were once human, and their possession must've over-rid their programming. Dave, you heartless son of a bitch. He let Baby continue speaking.

"There's another thing I should probably cover. Not all of the animatronics are possessed. The majority are, but the Minireenas and your friend Helpy are programmed. Back to Ballora. Ballora isn't possessed by a child at all. She's...she's actually possessed by my mother. I know that sounds insane, so please let me explain before you ask anything else. There was nothing wrong with Ballora at first, or at least for the first three weeks since I possessed this thing. Then she started acting up. I knew it was my mother because she told me several of her memories, some of which I remembered spending with. She even knew my name. I asked what happened to her, but all she told me was that Dave murdered her in cold blood. What makes things even worse is...well, he's...he's my father."

Oh my God. It all makes sense. That photo of Angelica and Elizabeth, the one in Dave's secret room, were they his wife and daughter? And he killed them both?! No wonder those extra Baby suits looked so much like them. I honestly don't care why he built them, all I know is that this makes more sense now. That news report involving Angelica Warner, that must be the one possessing Ballora. Baby continued speaking while all of this ran through William's head, and he tried to find where he put that photo, just to be sure.

"That's right. My daddy, the one I loved so much, turned out to be a cold-blooded killer. He always told me to stay away from Baby, but back then, I never knew why. I never would've guessed that my daddy built her to murder children. He murdered my own mother, and he's the reason I'm dead, too. Although what happened with me was a complete accident. But that doesn't excuse him. Dave's a monster. And I'm making sure he's going to get what he deserves. I'm sure Ennard is already experimenting on him as we speak. He won't die, not yet, but I'm making sure he suffers for what he's done."

"Baby...I'm so sorry, I had no idea you went through all of that."

"It's alright, William. It's just that it pains me to bring all of this up again. I'm trying to move on, get over my pain, but no matter what I do, it always finds its way back to me."

"Well, I'm happy you shared this with me. You know, it's never a good idea to keep all of those harmful thoughts bottled up inside of you. Avoiding your emotions doesn't get rid of them."

"That...sounds kind of interesting. I'm happy you listened to what I had to say."

"Thank you. Oh, by the way, I found a photo in Dave's secret room, you know, the one with all the extra suits?" He pulled out the photo, which he finally found in his backpocket. "Is this you and your Mom?"

Baby took a good look at the photo. "Yes, that's me, and that's my mother, too. It has been so long since I've seen her face." She stared at the photo for a long time before speaking again.

"That reminds me. I don't think I ever told you my real name. The little girl I told you about? It's Elizabeth. That is my real name."

"It's a beautiful name, too. Would you...uh, prefer me to still keep calling you Baby, or Elizabeth?"

"Either is fine by me. I'm glad you like it."

Baby smiled again, and this time it was much more adorable than before. It felt good to see her precious smile again. When the conversation stopped, Helpy budged in.

"Okay, guys, I know you've been talking to each other for a long time now, but we seriously need to come up with a plan. If Ennard wants to get to William, then we need to get him out of here, and fast."

Both William and Baby turned their attention to the bear. Truth be told, they did lose track of time. Baby spoke up.

"Don't worry about him. I built Ennard, and he'll do anything I say. Only problem is I have no idea where he is right now. So if we want to get him out of here safely, I'll have to go with him. Plus, those Minireenas, they don't take orders from me, only Ballora, and Ennard's the only one who can control them. You'll probably need me to help defend you, William. But we need to act fast. Helpy, what time is it?"

The little bear looked in the corner of the room. The clock's arms were pointed to 2:31 A.M. He answered her.

"It's two thirty-one. I actually think this is good because we're nearly half-way done waiting-"

William interrupted him this time.

"No, we're not waiting down here. We're getting out of here. Helpy, would you like to come with? We need you to help us find our way to the employee elevator. If we can get there, I can get out of here. What do you say?"

Helpy jumped up, filled with energy.

"I'll come along! But what about Bonnet? Do we just leave her here?"

Baby glanced at Bonnet, who was still running around the office without a care in the world.

"I think it's fine if she comes along. You won't be a problem, right, Bonnet?"

Bonnet stopped running around, and nodded her head up and down a few times. The little rabbit seemed rather eager to come along.