Night 9: I slowly step into the deserted pizzeria, clutching Plushtrap to my chest gently. I couldn’t bear to leave him home alone, even though he assured me that he’d be fine. After I set him down in the chair, I grab the tablet and flashlight, order Plushtrap to stay put, and head off towards the backstage. I want to find Shadow and ask him why he did what he did. And maybe smack him with the flashlight a few times, too. I hear a noise behind me and freeze, waiting for claws or teeth to sink into my flesh. Instead, I hear a very sad, lonely voice behind me say: “Please, miss. Please help me.” The owner of the voice sounds as though he’s in a lot of pain. I know better than to trust anyone, but the voice sounds familiar for some reason. Against my better judgement, I turn around, and then gasp as my hands fly to my mouth. “P-Please…” The word barely makes its way out of the cracked, nearly-destroyed animatronic in front of me. “W-Who are you?” I ask quietly, my mind reeling. This looks like Foxy, but only if Foxy had been ripped to shreds, put back together again, and then burned beyond repair. “I-I’m Phantom Foxy…” he finally says, after trying to form words with his breaking mouth. His single visible eye locks onto mine, and my heart fills with pity at the desperation and pain in that yellow orb. “I’ll try to help you.” I meet his gaze and try to smile at him. He manages a weak smile back before his single remaining ear twitches. “They’re coming!” Before I can ask any questions, he grabs my hand. Just like last night, the hallway blinks out of existence. When I blink again, I find myself in a dark, musty-smelling room. Thankfully, Phantom Foxy’s hand is still gripping mine. “Where are we?” I hiss. His grip tightens slightly, but not enough to cause pain. “We’re in the hidden room, miss,” he replies. “My other friends wanted to meet you.” “Other…friends…?” I hesitantly look around, thankful that my eyes have adjusted to the darkness quickly. “He means us,” A quiet voice near my shoulder causes me to jump and turn around. A female Balloon Boy is standing just behind me, and she flashes me a quick smile. I manage a tiny grin back. “Greetings, Miss Ivy. My apologies for last night; I wanted to interfere, but death threats can be very persuasive…” This voice is a smooth, polite, and soothing baritone. I turn back to see a pair of blank, white orbs and a broken white grin. I want to back away, but P. Foxy gently leads me forward. “Shadow Bonnie told me you would be different from the other guards we’ve had the misfortune of meeting in the past,” he says, glancing over at me. “And he was right.” “S-Shadow Bonnie?” I question, looking into his white eyes. “There’s no need for fear. I am nothing like my brother.” His voice hardens a bit on the word ‘brother,’ I notice. “Shadow Freddy is your brother?” I ask, noting a bit of a resemblance between them. “Not really. But the Master created us both from the same shadows, so we always saw it that way.” Shadow Bonnie extends a shadowy hand, and I hesitantly take it. His grip is surprisingly gentle, and I feel a huge weight lift off of my shoulders as we shake hands. “Allow me to introduce the others,” he says kindly. The female version of Balloon Boy steps forwards. “This is Balloon Girl,” S. Bonnie says, and she bows before offering me a cupcake. I’m about to accept it, but then the Cupcake opens its mouth and reveals a miniature endoskeleton inside itself. “Hi! I’m Carl the Cupcake!” he says in a high-pitched, slightly childlike voice. “H-Hi…” I’m a bit shocked that the cupcake from the office desk is a part of this madness, but what did I expect? “And you’ve already met P. Foxy,” S. Bonnie says, turning to him. “There’s only one more member of the team to meet.” A broken, golden bear slowly limps out of the darkness. Both of his eyes are missing, and there are wires coming out of the hole where his right eye used to be. “I-I am W-W-Withered Golden F-Freddy,” he croaks. His condition is far worse than Springtrap’s was. “A-And I want to t-t-thank you for joining us,” he adds softly. I nod, too overcome with different emotions to speak. “So now you’ve met the team, Ivy. We’re all here to help you. The Master doesn’t know that we’ve switched sides, so we will occasionally have to attack you.” P. Foxy looks away, ashamed. “But don’t worry, we won’t kill you. We won’t even hurt you if we can get away with it.” Balloon Girl says, nodding to me. “Oh, and call me JJ, please. It’s my nickname.” “Okay, JJ. Thank you all.” I look around at all of these friendly faces, a feeling of happiness slowly taking over my heart. “I wish Springtrap could have been here for this moment. He kept telling us to introduce ourselves, but we wanted to wait until the others weren’t looking.” S. Bonnie sighs and turns his head away slightly. A tear trickles down my cheek and I try to hold in my sobs. JJ gently hugs me, and P. Foxy joins in, too. S. Bonnie fixes his blank eyes on the floor.
I suddenly remember that PT is still in the office. My eyes widen and my heart starts to race. “Ivy? Is everything okay?” P. Foxy looks over at me in concern, his single yellow eye fixed on my face. “I-I left PT in the office alone!” I exclaim, my eyes darting around the room. “Calm down. I’ll go find him.” JJ winks at me before suddenly vanishing. I blink, and she’s still gone. “We can all do that. Except for Carl, but he’s easily portable.” I glance back over at Phantom Foxy and start breathing normally again. “Do you think he’ll be okay?” I ask quietly. He nods. “Oh yeah. JJ is really good at finding missing people. If PT’s a smart kid, he’ll stay put. Otherwise, she’ll teleport around the place until she finds him.” Shadow Bonnie’s reassuring words help calm my rattled nerves. I slowly exhale and look back as JJ appears again, holding PT in her arms. He looks up at me. The moment she lets go, he runs to my side and hugs me tightly. I pick him up, and he hands me something small and sharp. “PT, what is this?” I stare at the object, which appears to be a metal piece of something. My heart jumps when I see oil crusted around the jagged end of it. “I-It’s all that’s left of Springtrap’s body…” PT replies, tears in his eyes. “Nightmare and the others took it apart and threw it in a Dumpster out back. This was all I could save.” I feel a lump rise up in my throat. “Is this one of his claws?” I choke out after a few moments. PT nods, and a tear splashes into the palm of my hand. I didn’t even notice that I was crying. P. Foxy looks at JJ, who nods and vanishes again. I want to hurt Nightmare so badly. Wasn’t taking Springtrap apart enough? Did they have to add insult to injury by throwing his remains out like scrap metal? I think Shadow Bonnie can read my mind, because he puts a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t go after Nightmare. That’s what he wants. He wants you to be angry at him; to attack him. That will only make the hunt more fun for him and the other Nightmares. You must be strong and control your anger.” I take a shuddering breath and nod slowly. This is too much for my heart to handle. All of the emotions I’ve been trying to control are threatening to tear me apart. But S. Bonnie isn’t done talking yet. “You need to let it all out now. Then you will be more rational in thought, and that’s exactly what Nightmare doesn’t want. He won’t be able to break you as easily if you’re emotionally sound.” These words start my flood of tears. I fall to my knees, sobbing out all of the anger, betrayal, hatred, loss, and regret I’ve been holing up inside of my heart. I feel a huge weight lift off of my shoulders as tears rain down, soaking my uniform. I don’t have any energy to care. After about five minutes, my body refuses to let me cry any longer. I heave one final, dry sob before shakily getting to my feet. JJ reappears, holding a sliver necklace chain in her hands. “Will this work?” she asks P. Foxy. He takes it from her and turns it this way and that, nodding his head slightly. He even lifts up his eye patch and examines it with his other eye. “Yes,” he finally replies after a few moments. “This is perfect.” He then turns to me. “May I have Springtrap’s claw?” I reluctantly hand it over, almost afraid to let go of it. Phantom Foxy angles it in his hand before plunging his hook straight through it. I’m about to yell at him, but I hold my tongue as he unclasps the necklace before sliding the claw onto the chain. He then hands the newly-made memorial necklace back to me. “T-Thank you…” I stutter out, overwhelmed with a fresh wave of grief. I carefully put the necklace on, fastening the clasp with shaking hands. The familiar claw dangling at my neck brings a feeling of safety to me. It makes me feel like ST is still here, in a way. JJ smiles approvingly. “It looks nice on you, Miss Ivy,” she says shyly. I smile back at her. “I think Phantom Foxy should take you back to the office, Ivy. Nightmare will wonder where you’ve been for the past 4 hours.” I stare at Shadow Bonnie in shock. “I-It’s been 4 hours?!” P. Foxy takes my hand. “Whenever you’re ready, miss.” “We’ll see you tomorrow night!” Carl calls over to me cheerfully. I manage a slight grin and a small wave goodbye before the room blinks out of existence. A moment later, I’m back in the office. “G-Goodbye,” P. Foxy mutters before vanishing. I still have PT in my arms, and I hug him gently, his presence comforting me the way Springtrap’s used to. “There you are, Miss Ivy~” I freeze. Nightmare’s sickly-sweet voice flows through my brain, chilling my heart. “I was surprised that you weren’t in the office at all tonight…I wondered if you were hurt?” I shake my head, and I can see a smirk beginning to form on Nightmare’s lips when the chimes sound. I smile sweetly over at him. “See you tomorrow!” I coo as I sweep out of the office, the claw around my neck boosting my confidence. “It may be sooner than that, Miss Ivy~”
