Chapter Text
Eggs, Helpy, Gregory, Mini 6, and Chica were heading up the elevator to the West Arcade, the soft music making the trip seem disturbingly mundane.
“So,” Eggs started, wanting to break the semi-awkward silence of the suspiciously long elevator ride. “Freddy can’t join us cause of a glitch in his dancing subroutine? Really?”
“O-Oh, yes.” Chica seemed surprised at Eggs interacting with her. Which, fair, he did just dump a lot on those three like five minutes ago. “When he enters the West Arcade, his performance mode kicks in, and they had to shut him down in order to remove him.”
“And it was never patched?”
“Well… no, they just forbid Freddy from going to the arcade area now.”
“Cheapskates.”
“You really don’t like this place’s staff, don’t you?” Gregory, for some reason, seemed the least shaken by the confirmation that ghosts existed. Though now that Eggs thought about it, the boy was running around at five in the morning on nothing but sugar and caffeine. Not to mention being chased around by someone in a rabbit costume and being helped by a bunch of robots. Maybe he’s just past shock tonight.
“I don’t like anyone who’d work at a Freddy’s, but at least the old techs knew what they were doing… Or at least pretended to.”
The elevator doors slid open, revealing another garish ‘golden’ statue of the band. Purple lights ran up every wall, with countless cabinets sitting, some lifeless, others flickering on high score screens.
Mini 6 directed them off to the side, where a figure rested on a stage that made Eggs stop, his non-existent breath catching in his throat.
“Wow…” It was Music Man; it couldn’t have been anyone else. But by god, he was massive. His head alone was bigger than the old model’s entire body, cymbals replaced with a headset and a pair of hands big enough to hold Eggs like Eggs was holding Mini 6. He was also asleep, as in eyes closed and snoring asleep, instead of just being powered down. Eggs wondered why they’d bother, maybe some part of the show? Have him wake up in front of the kids? He doesn’t know, and doubts the answer would be satisfactory anyway.
On the wall right next to the stage was a powerbox, and from Mini 6’s gesturing that was their goal. So, while ignoring the fact they put the powerbox right next to tables, where any curious kid could flip it, instead of in a secure location, Eggs did just that. The robotic system voice kicking in.
“Good job. Safety Protocols deactivated.” Well, that’s not great, though Eggs trusted Music Man more than almost any other animatronic (besides Helpy of course, and Lolbit but they weren’t actually an animatronic). “Pram Zapped. Brun DJ protocols, Reticulating Splines.” Total nonsense. Either engineering terms had massively changed since his re-death, or whoever programmed the announcement played too much of The Sims.
“Uh… Eggs?”
Eggs was broken out of yet another train of thought (It’s GOT to be something to do with his new body, he never lost focus like this before) and turned around. It was only his many years of undeath that kept him from flinching back as a massive face was situated mere inches from him. Music Man had, somehow, moved from his sleeping position on the stage to right next to the group. His massive eyes flicked between Eggs, Helpy, Mini 6, and back to Eggs before making a familiar sound.
“Hey, good to see you too, Bud.” Eggs put a hand on Music Man’s face. “Look at you, someone got a makeover. I like the headphones.” Not so much the now spider-like body, nor the fact they removed the cymbals, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud.
A silent conversation passed between Music Man and Helpy before the big DJ moved back onto his stage, disappearing backstage. Helpy hopped off Eggs shoulder and started rushing off, clearly with a destination in mind. Eggs, Gregory, and Chica shared a look before following, the two robots bodyblocking Gregory from the sight of any of the Staff Bots.
Helpy led them upstairs and into a brick service hallway, which led into an even larger hallway. Boxes, shelves, and dozens of arcade cabinets littered the place, creating an almost maze-like environment.
At the back, Music Man was lying in a massive concrete tunnel in the wall, his head poking out. (Don’t question why Fazco would do that, don’t bother Eggs.) Once they approached, he pointed with one of his massive gloved hands at a seemingly random arcade cabinet.
‘Princess Quest II’
“Oh, hey,” Gregory walked up to the cabinet, putting his hand on the joystick. “I played the first one of this earlier.” Despite the flashing “insert coin” on screen, it booted to the main screen without issue for Gregory. “Why did Helpy lead us here, though?”
“Good question…” Eggs looked at the cabinet, ordinary and almost bland in appearance, then up at Music Man again. “Good question…”
He pulled back on himself again, looking into the Remnant. This time, it was only the fact he wasn’t fully in his body that kept him from flinching back.
The cabinet was flush with Remnant. A golden core, strangled with the familiar purple corruption. Two strings of golden Remnant stretched out of the machine and through the walls, one string more heavily strangled than the other.
Eggs tried to focus on Gregory’s gameplay and the Remnant at the same time, the princess avatar on the screen, the same strange gold as the Remnant, went through a broken castle, solving torch puzzles and even handling a doppleganger puzzle.
Then, the princess went through a door with purple cracks and…
A familiar office. A door and window on one side, a vent on the other. Not the exact same as any Eggs had worked in, but the familiarity was unmistakable. The walls, the safety stripes on the door, the screen, the fan, even that damn cupcake.
The game shut down a few seconds later, the entire cabinet powering off as the sickly purple corruption was burned away, letting the pure gold Remnant shine through. Likewise, the less corrupted string shed it’s corrupt Remnant as well, and the more corrupted one had the purple weaken. Whatever beating the level did, Eggs could only assume it wasn’t good for whatever not-father thing was behind this.
“Well, that was odd. What’s with the office thing?” Gregory turned back to Egg as the endoskeleton re-entered his body.
“No idea. But I can tell it has something to do with all of this.” Egg looked at Music Man and Helpy again, nodding. “You said you beat another like this? How did that one end?”
“Oh, the Princess entered some glitchy room with a giant purple ghost thing that covered the screen. I just thought the thing was broken.” Well, if that wasn’t a massive sign, Eggs didn’t know what would be. He turned back to Music Man.
“Do you know where the third cabinet is?” When both Music Man and Helpy shook their heads, Eggs mimed a sigh. “Right, well. That’ll have to be saved for later.” Eggs moved to the wall, a massive jump putting him on the lip, letting him brush his hand against Music Man’s face again. “Thanks, Bud. This actually really helped.”
“You’re saying this game has something to do with… with the murders?” Chica stuttered, looking at the cabinet like it might spring to life.
“Definitely, it was corrupted with the same energy you guys were. Gregory beating it purified the thing, but it looks like there’s a third one. Either way, purifying them can only help us, but that’ll be on the back burner for now.” Eggs looked at Gregory and Chica again. “Come on, let's meet back up with Freddy, then I’m thinking we could do with more people on our side.”