Fritz and Fright {Fnaf au}

Remnant and Rabbits

The phantoms had spotted the rogue B.B. near the arcade, he was being huffy and was sitting on a box. They all surrounded him with varying levels of annoyed in their expressions. The smaller phantom glared at them. "Oh What? You Gunna Yell At Me? Don't Care. This Place Is The Pits, Can't Wait Till You All Leave So I Can Find A Better Place To Haunt." Freddy's (now Gabriel's) eyes narrowed. "You never were one of us. Were you?"
"Ding Ding Ding! You Finally Got A Clue! Good For You! Now Piss Off I'm Pouting" Susie stopped foxy who was clearly about to let loose a barrage of insults and slander. Instead she knelt down to the other phantoms level and asked. "If you weren't one of us, and you only wanted to cause problems... then why did you agree to help Mari?" This caught the smaller phantom off guard, flushing a dark green he looked away. "Because I'm Board! D-Don't Look Into It Okay!? What I do is none of your business! Now Piss Off!" This seemed to satisfy susie as she stood up and made a motion for everyone to follow. Soon the other phantoms left the room, most of them confused of what Susie seemed so satisfied about. Standing just out of sight was a purple shadow. They giggled at the minor interaction before skipping off, they passed though walls and rooms before settling in the basement, Springtrap was still there, huddled up into himself thinking. They knelt down next to them and grinned.
"I knew it, I knew it wasn't all gone" they soon noticed the presence of another next to them. The shadow bear had joined the room, holding his pocket watch.
"He's been here all day? Impressive. He seemed pretty insistent on moving after being stuck for about 30 years." The shadow rabbit stands and smiles at the bear. "You're back!"
"I never left, I'm always present" they stated simply causing the rabbit to giggle. "You know what I mean. They turn back to the rotten rabbit, their ears dropping. "What's going to happen to him?"
"Shouldn't you know? You know him so well" the bear raised a brown. The bunny shifted on its feet.
"I do.. but with how as he is now... hm.. it's not nice, don't like it. Nope!" They shook their head. The shadow bear chuckled. "I suppose it doesn't matter now." They took out their watch and clicked it open. "It looks like he will be arriving soon. Don't you have something you must do?" The bear reminded, causing the bunny to jump up.
"I'd never forget something so important!" They nodded before jogging off. The bear watched them leave before looking down at the rabbit, who seemed to be shaking.
"The past cannot he changed, but it can be observed, and learned from, to improve the future. Do well to learn from yours, perhaps it's not too late for you yet" the bear spoke before disappearing.
Springtrap slowly glanced to where the bear once was. His expression blank, and grim
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Ethan has never been so sore in his life,
He woke up slowly with a groan. He heard the tv still playing quietly in the other room, and finally the memories from last night flooded back to him.
"Oh right, puppet. Breakfast. Ow" he pushed himself up and out of bed, Hissing as his back protested the movement. He eventually pulled himself out of bed, took some Asprin, and tiredly walked over to his kitchen. Leaning against the counter, as if waiting for him, was the phantom puppet. She smiled as Ethan walked into view.
"Good morning Ethan, did you sleep well?"
The man looked over, and with a yawn, he gave a tired nod. "Yah, I think so, aside from the axe murdery bit I slept like a log." This caused the puppet to smile.
"Good! Now I checked your fridge the other night, it looks like you have enough for some eggs and bacon. You did promise to eat a full breakfast after all" She hummed while sitting on the counter, making it very clear she intended to stay and make sure Ethan actually did eat. Ethan chuckled and tried not to act like this was mildly uncomfortable.
But he guessed there were worse things to be forced to do than self care... Ethan needed to work on that anyway.
He got out the eggs and a frying pan and started cooking, since Mari was so insistent on keeping an eye on him Ethan decided Now was as good a time as any to ask her some questions.
"So uh... that shadow bear guy who keeps showing up in my dreams... do you know him?" This question caused the phantom to pause briefly. She slowly nodded. "Yes, I asked for his help In... explaining our situation."
"Because you couldn't do it yourself?" Ethan asked while cracking an egg into the pan.
"Be honest with me Ethan, would you believe me if I told you that a purple man used an axe to take down a large animatronic bear that could clearly overpower him?"
"Maybe." Ethan smirked as he took the pan off of the stove.
"Well, the point is not everyone is as accepting of the paranormal as you seem to be."
"Yah well I'm not exactly most people" Ethan shrugged while grabbing a fork, apparently deciding to eat the scrambled eggs straight out of the pan and forgo a plate entirely. The phantom looked at him and crossed her arms,
"Ethan."
"Whaf?" The man asked innocently with his mouth full. The puppet, seeming to realize this would be a loosing battle, just sighs with a tired smile.
"Don't let your bacon burn"
"Aw shut my bacon!" Ethan hurried to put the pan down and take the sizzling bacon out of the microwave.
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Walking back into the building Ethan saw the phantom puppet hover ahead, and a sudden chill that must have been lingering around him left. Ethan shivered, but got over it by the time he was in the office. "Okay so, what the plan?" Ethan asked as he looked up, phantom puppet was hovering by the window and answered.
"I'm going to go find the other phantoms and figure out what the situation here has been like. I'm not sure what Springtrap will do but... be careful alright?"
"Got it. I'll try not to pass out" Ethan grins as the phantom puppet disappeared. He leaned back in his seat and checked he cameras, oddly enough he couldn't find anything. No phantoms, no Springtrap, nothing. "...weird. Maybe everyone's taking a vacation?" He joked. Looking up from the tablet and back to the desk, his attention was caught by an out of place shadow. At first he thought he was seeing things, but when it was still there even after he checked the side tablet he knew it couldn't just be that. "Okay, weird shadow thing on the desk, lovely."
Then it blinked at him.
Ethan jumped back out of his chair and just managed to hold back a surprised squeak. The shadow toy tilted its head, and Ethan could slightly start to make out its shape. It looked like a rabbit.
"..oh right! Looking for a shadow bunny tonight. Didn't expect you to be so small." He joked, he could have sworn the shadow giggled. With nothing else to go on Ethan reached a hand out and grabbed into the toys torso
And Ethan's world went black
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Ethan woke up in a familiar blue box, but it seemed smaller than he remembered. He spotted a familiar balloon brat and Ethan shot up. "Hey! Hey you I got a question for you!" He pointed, but the boy didn't react, he didn't even move. "Uh, hello? Are you ignoring me?"
"They can't hear us here silly." Another voice giggled, Ethan whirled around and was face to face with the purple shadow bunny themselves.
"Oh hey! Long time no see." Ethan greeted, the bunny jumped over and gave him a quick hug, which Ethan was not expecting but it was quick enough he couldn't object.
"I'm so glad you're here! Come one let's go!" They said while grabbing Ethan's hand and pulling him along.
"Hold on! wait, where are we going?-" Ethan was cut off when suddenly the world buzzed and they were in the purple room Mangle was in. Ethan noticed that rude child from before, but like everyone else it didn't even acknowledge him.
"The kids outside, we've gotta find a way out of this room" the purple bunny happily explained. Ethan was a little shaken after the sudden jump, but managed to nod. "R-right, just. Maybe you could tell me before you do that next time? Please?" He squeaked out. Purple bunny nodded, sure thing! We've got a few more rooms to go." With a quick warning the two jumped into the next area, it was the Chica minigame, And Chica was currently frozen in time handing a cupcake to a child.
"Uh... hey can I ask you something?" Ethan asked while they were standing there.
"Hm? Yah what is it?"
"Uh... last time we met you were asking about second chances?... Uh can I ask why?" Ethan thought it was a harmless question, but the shadows grip on his hand suddenly tightened and it looked away. Ethan was about to apologize and shrug it off but they spoke.
"I was... I guess I wanted to ask since... Well it was sort of for a friend?... no that's not entirely right..." they mumbled. Pausing for a long moment before stating. "I guess... maybe I thought I didn't deserve a second chance?"
"You?... did you do something bad?" Ethan might not have known this energetic rabbit for long, but he had a hard time believing it would do something bad. The rabbit gave a sad smile and turned away.
"Let's keep moving" they declared before jumping to the next room. It was the freadbear stage and the two were on a platform. Ethan didn't want to let this go for some reason so he pressed for information. "Look if you don't want to say what possibly illegal thing you did that's cool and all. But I'm really curious now because you're immediately going into like moral debates and this is, what, our second meeting? Do you drop these huge morality bombs on everyone you meet?" This somehow got a laugh out of the rabbit. And it grinned.
"No only you. Everyone else I know either speaks in parables or is an actual child."
Ethan gave a nervous laugh at the statement before the rabbit suddenly pulled him over and jumped off the ledge, the world buzzed and they were suddenly in a new room, the room glitching with purple and grey static, the walls were lined with black, and Ethan could spot another grey child behind the barrier. "We need to get you to the other side" the shadow bunny stated, and Ethan nodded.
"I think there was an invisible wall in the balloon stage." Ethan recalled, and with a nod the two glitched into the blue room. Ethan walked over to where he remembered the Wall was and stuck a hand through, only to loose his balance and tip over the edge, thankfully the shadow still held onto his hand and teleported the two into the next room, where they fell outside the box and onto the floor of the void. They buzzed through a few more rooms until they were once again in the purple room, then the rabbit finally let go of Ethan's hand.
"This is where I have to go"
"Huh? Why's that?" Ethan asked. The rabbit smiled and shook its head, before wrapping its arms around Ethan in a hug. It would have probably felt nice if the shadow wasn't cold to the touch. Ethan tried not to shiver as it pulled away.
"Hope we'll meet again soon Ethan." The shadow said before walking away. Ethan gave a slow, confused wave before turning his attention back to the child. He had a job to do. As he approached he saw more details of the child, they had a short bowl cut hairstyle with a plain shirt over long sleeves, their pants covered well used tennis shoes. He looked up when Ethan got close. The man smiled. "Heya kiddo, wanna see a magic trick?" Ethan did a flourish before sticking his hand to the side, just as before the cake appeared and Ethan stumbled trying not to drop it. "Tadaa! Magic cake! This ones just for you buddy." The kid didn't say anything but made grabby hands for the cake. Ethan gladly handed it over and saw that look of recognition fill the boys eyes.
"Oh! You're mister Ethan right?"
"Yup, that's me, local disaster and cake delivering bunny man" he said with a grin.
"The others told me about you. I'm glad I got to meet you in person." The boy said quietly.
"Wait you're not a phantom?" Ethan asked and the boy shook his head. "Well uh, can I get your name then?" The boy smiles.
"It's Jeremy sir, thank you for helping everyone"
And Ethan's world went black
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Ethan woke up back in his office. He took out his phone and checked the time
2AM
"Okay that didn't take as long as I thought" he mumbled while standing up. He checked the cameras and was surprised to see that Springtrap hadn't moved at all from when he last checked.
"Huh? Is he pouting or something?" He mumbled to himself. But he looked up when he heard a familiar voice.
"Mister Ethan!" Phantom Chica appeared in the doorway and ran over to the man, she smiled happily, "it's so good to see you!"
"Oh hey Chica- no wait it's susie right?"
"Either works." The ghost giggles she sat on the desk and kicked her feet. "I remembered something, I thought you'd like to hear about it" she announced and Ethan shrugged.
"Sure why not, I'm all ears Suz" Ethan nodded with a tired smile, sitting back down in his chair the phantom stared recalling.
"When I was little I got a doggie, it was a golden retriever puppy! I called him cookie since he looked like a sugar cookie." she paused to giggle. "I really loved that dog, but sometimes it was really bad. Like how he's chew on the furniture and make messes. One time he tore up my favorite toy bunny. I got really upset, but I knew he was still a good boy at heart. He just did bad things if nobody taught him otherwise" she explained, Ethan chucked. "Yah pets are like that. I used to house sit for a couple that had a pair of Pomeranians, they were wild but I loved watching them." He chuckled at the childhood memory. The phantom across from him went silent, then spoke quietly.
"I think B.B is like my dog, he's doing bad things because nobody taught him otherwise." Ethan was a little surprised by the statement.
"What makes you say that Chica-de?" Ethan inquired. Phantom Chica looked up.
"I know he did a bad thing, but I also know he's helping out in something important... if he was all bad he wouldn't do that. So I think... I think he's like my puppy, he just needs some training to get on the right track." She nods, sure of her self. Ethan ponders for a moment, then shrugs.
"If you say so. Personally I think he's more like a cat, or a ferret maybe, definitely a gremlin." Chica laughed. "A really angry ferret that bites your ankles" she sets into a giggle fit. Ethan quietly laughed then paused to think. Wasn't B.B. in one of those windows? Ethan checked the tablet to check if the coast was clear then stood up. Chica hummed. "Where are you going Mister Ethan?"
Ethan walked to the doorway and looked back with a smirk. "I'm Going to check on the angry ferret." And with that he jogged off towards the other room.
The B.B. drawing was still where it was before, innocently hanging on the wall. Ethan took a deep breath in and out. "Really hope these things aren't a one use only sort of deal" he mumbled to himself and reached out to touch the poster.
And Ethan's world went black
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Ethan opened his eyes and found himself back in the blue room. The balloons were floating again, but he heard a strange sound above him, like someone squeezing rubber. He looked up and found B.B. sitting on the ledge, squeezing a big red balloon like he was trying to pop it. Ethan waved to get his attention. "Hey, you good up there?" BB paused and looked over at him, Ethan could swear he didn't look that green last time he saw the boy here, he also didn't remember him having a bob haircut.
"Oh! It's You, Mister Big Shot. What Do You Want? Came For The Kid?" B.B. asked while continuing in vain to pop the balloon.
"Wait there's a kid here too?" Ethan blinked in surprise.
"Uh Yah Of Coarse There Is! He's Outside, Just Land On The Balloons." He explained, them quickly added. "So Get Going Then!"
"I will I will, buuuuut... I wanted to talk to you first" Ethan jumped up onto the platform the other sat on, and was briefly rewarded with B.B. looking up at him surprised.
"What? Me? Why? Aren't You Busy? Or Like, I Don't Know... Not Wanting To Associate With The Guy That Wanted You Dead?"
"To be fair, I'm not known for making good decisions, and I'm pretty sure you're not the only one that wanted me dead." Ethan chuckled as he sat across from B.B., the boy laughed.
"That's An Understatement! You're An Idiot!" He laughed harder, Ethan decided to just continue on.
"So uh... what are you anyway? Are you one of the kids or?..." this somehow got B.B. to laugh even harder, as he was now curled over onto the balloon that it was almost flat from the force.
"You Think I'm Some Flimsy Lost Soul??? You Dumb Human I'm No Child!" He laughs. Ethan bites the inside of his cheek, unsure what to make of this.
"So uh, what are you then?" All at once B.B. stops laughing and looks up to Ethan, a sharp tooth grin spreading across his face.
"I Have Many Names, But The Closest Thing You Humans Would Compare Me To Is A Demon"
"Oh" Ethan blinks. "That's cool. Does that mean Hell's real?" This snapped B.B. out of his creepy grin and back into laughing.
"If It Does I Didn't Crawl Out From It!" He laughs as he once again tries to pop the red balloon.
"Hm, well I'm getting the impression if I ask any more questions I'll get a headache so I'll just-" Ethan stood up and stretched until he heard his back pop. "Guess I'll see you around Billy."
B.B. went silent, looking up at Ethan with confusion. "Billy?? Did You Just Call Me Billy??"
"Yah, I mean it sounds better than B.B., and from what you just told me you're not someone possessing an animatronic... unless the robots are also haunted by demons in which case holy shit that sounds metal as hell." Ethan chuckled. "But I mean all the other kids have names, thought you'd deserve one too." The man smiles as he grabs another nearby balloon to prepare for his void decent. B.B. stands up and looks at him. "Yah, But All Their Names Are Probably Dumb. I'm Keeping This Name Though! Because I Like It." He looked to the side and grumbled. "So Thanks I Guess"
"No problem Billy, now if you'll excuse me I've got to hurl myself into the void" Ethan announced while jumping down to the platform that connected to the invisible wall. Billy grinned and called down to him. "Need Any Help With That?"
"No thanks I think I can chuck myself into a bottomless pit perfectly fine." Ethan waved before holding the balloons tightly and jumping off the edge, he briefly saw Billy wave before he descended down into the void.
He soon landed on giant red balloons that made a pathway towards an area he hadn't seen before. Ethan, assuming this would lead to the aforementioned kid, jumped from balloon to balloon until he reached a blue platform with a grey kid curled up in the center, he had spiked hair and a stripped t shirt and shorts, his legs were covered in bandages and he had dirty sneakers. When the kid looked up as Ethan landed on the platform he could see another bandaid on the kids nose. Ethan waved with a free hand and did what he usually did in this situation. "Heya kiddo, I don't really want to let go of my balloons so you're about to see me attempt to hold a huge cake with one hand, I can promise this will be funny." Ethan grinned and stuck out said free hand for the cake, it appeared and Ethan scrambled to keep it balanced. The boy ended up snickering at the antics and Ethan eventually got balanced enough to walk the cake over to him and hand it over. Recognition filled the boys vision and he gasped. "Ethan! I'm really sorry I upset you before!" He suddenly stated while looking a little worried.
"Oh! Well you're foxy then huh? Don't worry it's fine, I'm over it."
"Funny thing is I think there was another reason the name Fritz looked familiar." The boy grinned, revealing he had a gap from a missing tooth. "That's my name too!"
"Wow really? Small world." Ethan blinked before Fritz got up and tackled Ethan into a hug, the man lost balance and fell back with the little kid still on top of him. Ethan laughed and pat the child's back.
And Ethan's world went black.
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Ethan woke up back in the office, he was about to check the time but noticed a shadow outside the window, he looked up and saw Springtrap looming outside. He immediately jumped to attention and sat up straight. "Ah! Springtrap! Hey! Wow! Did not expect to see you here!" He let out a nervous laugh as the rabbit looked at him. But Ethan noticed something different in his expression, instead of eyes filled with malice and hate, Springtrap held a melancholy expression. "So uh, you gunna try and get in today or..." Ethan mumbled, but the rabbit looked to the side and remained still. Ethan decided this was the perfect time for small talk.
"So uh... remember when you tossed me across the room? Got some nasty bruises from it, but hey I'm good now. Stuck the landing." Ethan could have sworn he saw the rabbit wince. Smart. Remind the rabbit about the time he almost killed you after he's clearly had some sort of crisis of morality. Genius move Ethan. He then got the worst idea in the history of ideas. "Heh, I guess you could say... with all this ghost and haunting stuff going on that I experienced some phantom pain!" He snapped and shot the rabbit a pair of finger guns with the dumbest grin imaginable.
Springtrap just looked at him and slowly blinked. "Yah you're right that was ghastly should have tried something less tendonous and more relata-boo-l." Ethan held back a snicker as the rotten rabbit looked more and more dead inside. "Okay sorry sorry tried to lighten the mood." Ethan chuckled. He they decided to toss in one more joke. "Guess puns don't hit like they used to, or maybe my comedy's getting old. But hey! That means we got something in common!" Ethan gave a goofy grin and made a dumb pose by stretching his arms out. The rabbit looked at him, and Ethan could just barely hear the smallest of chuckles come from it. It was probably a pity laugh but Ethan was beaming. "Hell yah, self depriving humor always does the trick." He laughed. Springtrap finally turned to leave, and Ethan gave a wave. "Well I'll see you tomorrow Springtrap" the rabbit didn't reply as he disappeared from view. Ethan looked down and checked the time.
5AM
Ethan decided to ride the rest of the night out by kicking his feet up onto the desk and leaning back in his chair. For the first time in a while he felt completely at ease.
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6 am rolled around and after saying goodbye to the phantoms Ethan drove himself home. The sky was cloudy when he arrived home. Ethan wonders if it was going to rain. He gets himself into some comfortable clothes and grabs a snack, it's a cereal bar but hey better than nothing. "Maybe Phantom Puppet would be proud, I'm actually eating something" He chuckled. Soon enough he went to toss himself into bed. The exhaustion from a long day set in and he was out moment after crawling under the sheets.
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Ethan opened his eyes once again in the pizzeria, but he didn't see any animatronics. The shadow bear approached him with a calm smile. "We don't have to check the wall tonight, there's nothing there."  He explained, and Ethan nodded.
"Okay, So who's getting axed tonight?" Ethan lightly joked, which got a laugh out of the shadow. "You misunderstand, nobody is getting the axe this time." He made a gesture for Ethan to follow. Soon Ethan spotted what looked like a little girl, she had long black hair and a pretty outfit. Ethan knew she must have been another ghost since she was greyed out.
"Wait... who's that?"
"Oh? You don't remember your friend Mari?" The shadow bear hummed and Ethan did a double take. "That's phantom puppet?? But, she's so short??" The shadow shook his head with a smile as the two followed the ghost towards the safe room, and then entered. "Wait.. we get to go in the forbidden room?" Ethan asked and the bear nodded. "Oh sweet" he stated as he walked inside. The room was small and had a few old arcades against the wall, water was dripping from the ceiling and there was an old golden rabbit suit hunched in the corner. The purple man was kneeled next to it, almost in contemplation.
Ethan suddenly god a bad feeling in his gut.
On the other side of the room he saw the other children's ghosts appear, Gabriel, Jeremy, Susie, Fritz, and another girl with twin buns Ethan didn't recognize. Mari was leading the group as the purple man turned and jumped, he must have said something, but Ethan only got muffled echoes of anything spoken. Ethan scooted closer to the shadow bear and mumbled. "Is everything supposed to sound like it's muffled under layers of blankets?"
"Words spoken that have no significance tend to be harder to recall in memories" the bear explained, Ethan paused then asked.
"How are you able to show me things like this anyhow?" The bear smiles and shook his head.
"Nows not the time for that."  Ethan was about to press for more when suddenly the scene escalated, the ghosts where chasing the purple man across the room, even with muffled sound he could tell the man was screaming. This scene continued for a bit until the purple man looked over to the suit, suddenly grinning he ran over and quickly put the suit on. Ethan suddenly felt very sick to his stomach.
The man, now in the bunny suit, laughed. It was much clearer than he other words.
The click that rang through the room was also clear as day.
The man stopped laughing, and moments later there was a chorus of metal springs being released and a piercing cry of agony. Ethan quickly looked away just as blood stared to pool. He only dared to look back when the screams died down to painful moans. There was a large pool of blood under the twitching suit, and he saw the ghosts fade away. Ethan winched, then mumbled. "I knew it." That purple man was Springtrap. He thought this was the end, but moments later purple glowing orbs started to float out of the dead man's suit, they gathered next to it, and a foggy cloud of purple mist solidified into a very familiar shape.
"Wait that's- that's the Purple bunny." Ethan exclaimed, looking between the shadow bear and the bunny hoping for some kind of explanation. Thankfully the shadow bear gave him one.
"If enough remnant gathers it can form an echo, or a shadow of whomever spawned the remnant." Ethan nodded, and looked over at the two rabbits. The purple bunny was blinking in confusion, the man in the rabbit suit was still.
"It seems this is the end of our time together Ethan, but your job isn't yet done. Give them their happiest day." The shadow bear said while patting the man's back." Ethan jumped and looked back.
"Wait! What are you exactly?" He declared suddenly. The shadow gave him an odd smile and took out his pocket watch.
"You could say I'm always present. Until next time Ethan."
And Ethan's world went black.