The trek to the security office was quiet. I was alone again, but I felt hopeful once more. I held one tape in each hand, joyfully swinging my arms as I walked. It was late at night, and while I was exhausted from the day, this feeling pulsed through giving me boosts of energy. I felt so relieved when Vanessa let me go. My suspicions of her evaporated. She really was just trying to do her job, and it isn't her fault that the animatronics were falling apart.

The office was the same as Roxy and I had left it. I turned on the monitor and slipped in one of the tapes, as if it were muscle memory.

The static on the screen dissipated and revealed the man's familiar face. Just like the rest, he was setting up the camera, and when he stepped back, the animatronic in the room with him was none other than Foxy. At least I thought it was Foxy. Its structure was similar to Roxy; it had a large snout and fluffy tail, but it was red and had an eye-patch on one of its eyes. Foxy stood to the left of the man, and there were two chairs to his right. Foxy grinned widely, watching the VHS guy intently.

"Foxy here is designed to be a great story teller, one that captivates both children and adults alike. He can make up stories on the spot, allowing for infinite tales and making him fun to revisit. Are you ready to test it out?" the man announced. Foxy nodded ecstatically.

"Alright, I'll be right back," he said. He walked out of frame, and I heard a door open. Foxy looked around the room with his one eye, eventually landing on the camera. He winked, I think. His head tilted as he closed his one visible eye, so I thought it was a wink. The door opened again, and the man walked in with a kid holding his hand. "Foxy!" he said. It must be the same kid from Chica's tape. He sounded around the same age, most likely four or five. He looked similar to his dad.

"Aye, matey!" Foxy replied, "You wanna hear one of my exciting tales?"

"Yes!" the kid yelled. His dad helped him sit on one of the chairs, and he sat on the other, notebook in hand.

"Alright, kiddo, listen and listen closely," Foxy said, bending down and waving his hook around, "for my tale is not to be taken lightly! It be a story of adventure and greed, a legend come to life!" His pirate accent was something straight out of a movie and then exaggerated even more. Even so, the kid's eyes widened in anticipation.

"I had snuck onto a ship, one that was rumored to be loaded with all kinds of treasures. I was caught by a crew member, and he alerted the ship. They were going to throw me overboard for sneaking on, but I proposed a game of blackjack; winners received the prize of a lifetime, while losers were to walk the plank into the blue ocean!" Foxy's movements were the most expressive of any of the animatronics I had seen on tape. These were early prototype versions of the cast, and so their movement was limited, while Foxy's whole appeal was his ability to dazzle the audience. Unlike Chica, Sun, and Moon, he was free to roam around, and he circled the VHS man and his son as he told his story.

"I was confident I'd win. Luck always be on my side! But I lost the rounds, the crew definitely cheating to win. I wasn't willing to admit defeat, and so I drew my sword and challenged the captain!" He mimed sword fighting an invisible figure. "We fought, all while the crew threw their weapons and aided their captain, when suddenly the water began to rise!"

The sound of crashing water played, most likely from inside Foxy. If I had to guess, he was installed with sound effects to match his stories. "A monster the size of Skull Island faced us, it's slimy tentacles wrapping around the boat and crushing it!" Foxy positioned himself close to the kid, his arms up as if he were haunting him. There was a thunderous roar, and the kid yelped in surprise. Foxy stepped back and his ear twitched. The VHS man started taking notes. He was probably writing about Foxy's reaction to his kid's emotions.

"'We have to work together!' I told the captain," Foxy said, continuing his story. His tone had changed though, as if the story had gone through a quick rewrite to fit a narrative that'd work better for his audience. In this case, he scared the audience, and therefore had to take a step backward and make it more lighthearted. "If the ship went down, we'd all drown, and there'd be no clear winner. He agreed, and together the whole crew and I fought against the monstrous squid! We slashed into its arms, and as a team we won our fight, saving the ship and all the gold within it! We celebrated together with games and apple cider, the captain welcoming me to the crew," Foxy said proudly. "I couldn't stay, I had my own crewmen to return to, but as a parting gift they gave me one of their most precious jewels; the elusive jade necklace!" With his hook, he pulled out a cheap golden necklace with a green jewel embedded in it. "Woah!" the kid gasped, almost falling out of his seat when examining it.

Foxy stuffed the necklace back into his pocket and smiled. "Remember that the real treasure be the people you meet along the adventure." The kid laughed and nodded, reaching out and touching Foxy's snout.

The VHS man picked up his kid and carried him out of the room. He returned alone, a big smile across his face.

"Foxy, that was perfect!" he said. Foxy bowed dramatically, "Thank you, thank you."

"Just some minor adjustments, and then you'll be ready for the stage! Wow... I can't believe we're so close," VHS man said. He chuckled nervously and scanned Foxy up and down. "You're just like how I imagined you when I was younger."

I may not know his name, but I do know he inherited the Fazbear Entertainment franchise from his father from a previous tape. He must be referring to a previous Foxy that existed during his childhood.

The sound of the door opening played once again, and the kid ran into frame, this time wearing a Foxy mask and a fake hook. The mask looked old and moldy, and it was barely able to stay on his face, not only because it was far too big, but also because the mask itself was falling apart. The VHS man tensed up, while Foxy's tail wagged in excitement.

"Look, Foxy! I'm you! En garde !" the kid yelled, bringing out his hook to challenge Foxy. Foxy reciprocated, and they were about to begin to play fight when the VHS man spoke up.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked, his voice strained.

"At the warehouse," his kid said innocently.

"Take it off," he said sternly.

"But I like it–"

"Take it off!" he yelled.

Foxy quickly stepped between the two. His face was a mixture of confusion and protection. I wondered if this was part of his programming, to break up fights between kids and their parents. The VHS man relaxed his shoulders.

"Take it off, and go," he finally said. His kid did as he was told. He left the mask on one of the chairs and ran out of the room.

Foxy moved out of the way as the man walked to the chair and picked up the mask. He wiped it down, and dust fell off of it.

"What was that, matey?" Foxy said. It was awkward phrasing, but I blamed his program which forced him to have this heavy pirate accent with every sentence.

The man took a deep breath and sighed. "Just old memories... I tried to get rid of it years ago, but I just..." he rubbed his thumb along the top of the mask.

His face shifted into a somber look. "His blood's still on it," he whispered as he began to tremble. Foxy gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder and embraced him. The man didn't cry, but he did close his eyes and accepted the hug. "This is a bit embarrassing," he said, laughing a bit and eyeing the camera. Foxy let him go, and the man gave him the mask.

"Can you destroy it for me?" he said. Foxy nodded.

The man looked back at the camera, and he silently walked over to it and turned it off.

The monitor turned back to static. Thoughts of Foxy rushed through my head. He seemed kind and gentle, but in a chaotic way. Like Roxy. I can see the similarities they had, probably to keep the old fans happy once he was replaced.

Roxy. I wondered if she was still in that room engulfed in flames. She would've made it out by now, right? Chica or Vanny would've helped her out. She's not melting alone in there. My guilty conscience tried to convince me otherwise.

I couldn't feel bad now, I had other things at hand. The tape man's mask was another point of interest. Whatever it was had a big enough emotional impact on him that he couldn't destroy it himself. Whose blood was on it? He said he's had it for years, but how long is that? Two years, three, or five?

I tried thinking back to the previous tapes. In one of them, he mentioned both of his siblings being taken away from him by his father's animatronics. Was it his sibling's blood? Maybe there was an accident involving the animatronics that resulted in a casualty. He did describe his father as evil and his animatronics as unsafe. That's awful if it's true... But while I'm here in the pizzaplex, that could become my reality.

I mentally prepared myself for the next tape. I took out Foxy's cassette and replaced it with the next one.

The scene that unfolded was much different than the rest. There was no garage, no chairs, and no couch. Instead, it was a dimly lit side view of a desk that the man sat at. He was slouched over and his face was pointed towards the floor, making it hard to see. He held an old audio recorder. After a few shaky breaths, he pressed the red button to begin his audio recording.

"Father... It's me, Michael," he said.

A name. I finally have a name. His name is Michael. Michael, Michael. It was such a simple name, but I repeated it in my head over and over. I was relieved to finally have a name to this man's face. Michael.

"I did it," he continued. His voice was raspy, and even though he was shaking, he sounded calm. "I found it. It was right where you said it would be. They were all there. They didn't recognize me at first, but then they thought I was you."

He moved his back onto the rest of the desk chair. "And I found her. I put her back together, just like you asked me to. She's free now. But something is wrong with me."

His hand traced alongside his stomach. It was too dark for me to notice at first, but now that the light reflected off of his hand, I could see his chest. He wore no shirt, but it was easy to see why. He had bits and pieces of machinery sticking out of him, and the skin he traced along outlined wires that were inside of him, about to pierce through his skin. I gasped, almost choking on the air I breathed in, and covered my face with my hands in shock.

"I should be dead, but I'm not. I've been living in the shadows. There is only one thing left for me to do now. I'm going to come find you. I'm going to come find you..." he repeated his last words with more conviction behind them. He stopped the audio recorder and placed it onto the desk.

Shaking still, he grabbed onto one of the parts sticking out of his chest. It was below where his heart would be, and I could sense that in his mind he was counting down. Three, two, one. With the strength he could muster, he tore it out of him, and a chunk of metal exited his body. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and dropped the piece on to the floor. He puked a puddle of blood onto the floor, and I also fought the urge to vomit.

He brought his hand up to another piece of metal. He was going to pull out this one too. I turned away, not sure if my stomach could handle watching that again. I listened to the sound of his flesh ripping from the monitor. His shrieks were even louder, and the sounds of his cough sounded metallic as he coughed up remaining parts.

Michael repeated this process several times until everything metal was out of his body, or at least until he was tired of removing it from his body. I didn't know it was possible to hear blood rush out of the body, or maybe it was just my own pulse pumping through my veins, but it was frightening nonetheless. He collapsed into the desk chair, and I looked back at the monitor for the first time since the first piece left.

His skin was no longer the same pink color it used to be. It was paler, and some of skin had started to decay, as if he was a living, rotting corpse. He was still shaking, and he hugged himself tightly as he cried.

What happened to him? When did this happen? I was shaking now too. How is he not dead? I just watched him tear out his insides, and he was bleeding out his open wounds. His wailing continued, a mixture of physical and emotional pain. He hung his head back while crying, curling up as much as possible on the small chair.

After a while, his cries stopped and his breathing eventually slowed. He wiped his face, which was practically stained by his tears. He looked at the camera and said, "It still hurts, heh."

I couldn't believe he was able to just laugh that off! Doesn't he realize what he just did?

He tried to get up, but he immediately fell over, toppling on top of himself. He groaned as he picked himself back up and limped towards the camera. He then turned it off, and the monitor went back to static.

What the hell was that? He... what? I was speechless, and somewhat traumatized. I've experienced a lot of things during my lifetime. I've seen some horrific nightmares within the last few days alone, but nothing competes that. I may not have been the one about to die, but the scene that had unfolded before me was so atrocious and ghastly. I could still hear the metal scraping off his skin.

I had to find out what the purpose of this tape was, or else I'd never be able to sleep at night. The timeline was starting to get confusing, so it was time to try and piece together what knowledge I had now.

Even though in the video he was so disgruntled, he was still unmistakably younger than the VHS tapes of him with the animatronic prototypes. That puts this before those tapes.

How, though? He had suffered some pretty severe injuries in this video, but there was no trace of it in the animatronic videos. Even if I were to believe he survived, he probably wouldn't be able to heal and function the same again after wounds like that.

I thought about the speech that he had given to the audio recorder. It was meant for his father, as he called to him at first. He had mentioned he was going to visit one of his father's warehouses in an earlier tape. Maybe that's the first tape, this is the second, and all the animatronics tapes are last. It makes sense in terms of what he says, but his own body is what's making me doubtful. I was going to drive myself crazy trying to figure this out.

The security office was starting to feel claustrophobic, probably due to my heavy breathing and inability to calm down. I pushed the thoughts of the VHS tapes out of my mind and thought about what I was going to do next.

Roxy's eyes rustled in my pockets as I left the office. Freddy should be in parts and service, just like how they had left him the other night. I could try upgrading Freddy with Roxy's eyes like I had with Chica's voice box. It'd give me practice with repairing the animatronics and will make Freddy incredibly useful as he could see through walls.

With one last deep breath, I made my way through the long hallways down to parts and service.