So yeah, I recently got into FNAF's. This is a little fic surrounding the first game, don't know how long it will be but there will probably be a sequel if I ever get it done since FNAF's 2 is out. This particular fic is about Foxy- I imagine he's overdone by now, but there yah go- and how, through the new security guard (Mike) he comes to the conclusion that he and the other animatronics don't have to be monsters. There will be one, and only one, OC: Mike's daughter, Rachel. She will be a driving force behind this story. I won't give that 'Don't like don't read' BS, I am quite welcome to criticism and such. Flaming will not be appreciated but what can I do, I'm probably halfway across the world from whoever's reading this anyway.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Understanding

Chapter 1

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. What a place.

Mike Schmidt didn't quite know why the heck he had chosen to be nightguard at this place; it was bizarre that it had managed to carry on running all these years. Especially after the whole '87 incident. He walked in through the doors, the lights were very dim and the joint just felt...gloomy. The man of thirty two felt a momentary pang of sadness; he'd used to come here often as a kid. He'd adored watching the animatronics doing their little band thing and free-roaming, entertaining everyone. His favourite had been Foxy at the Pirate Cove area; he'd always wanted to be a pirate back then and the robotic fox had hardly helped to discourage this notion. Of course, the Bite of '87 happened and his mother had gotten paranoid to the point where she never let him go back to the pizzeria ever again. He hadn't even been there when the incident had occured. He'd been grief-stricken for a whole year, especially when he found out from some friends that his favourite animatronic had gone out of order, but eventually just got used to life without Freddy's.

As he got older he had heard of another incident regarding the mysterious disappearences of five children and some guy dressed up in a Freddy Fazbear costume being behind it. That day Mike had just shaken his head; one of his old favourite places in the whole world was slipping away from it's former brilliance. He had long left his home area, gotten a job, been married. He even had a kid now. Of course the relationship had gone awry when his wife, Maureen, had turned out to be completely psychotic and ended up packed into a mental institute short of nearly strangling him and their child, Rachel.

Rachel had gotten a little quiter after that and Mike could no longer hold onto his job, so he had decided to move back to his mother's with Rachel until he could get a better job. His mother, a kind but traditional woman, had taken them in gladly but warned Mike that he had to find a job soon, she couldn't afford to look after him as well. Mike started looking for a job, any job, and unknown to him Rachel, now sixteen years old, had started going to Freddy Fazbear's- which was, amazingly, still running but in nowhere near as good a state as it had been before. The teenager had always heard of Freddy's from her father when he used to tell about his childhood, and had taken a liking to it. Mike hadn't known of this until she had off-handedly suggested to him that he work there, since they were apparently looking for a night guard.

And so here he was. He hadn't been too annoyed with her about not telling him, he saw no reason to be, but his mother had sternly told the girl to stop going there. "Place is cursed, I tell you," she had murmured irritably. "Down in the dumps, down on it's luck, it's just not safe anymore. It's going to be shut-down end of this year, you know that? You be careful too, Mike. I know you need a job, but that joint..."

It had been relatively easy signing up. He had met the manager- a balding, tired looking man named Joseph- and the contract had been signed within minutes. The wage was paltry and quite below average, but Mike wasn't a choosy fellow. He was a man of few words, and the only thing on his mind was earning them enough money to hopefully get out of the states and settle in a country abroad.

Walking across the party hall from the entrance he glanced up at the animatronics on stage; they were silent and unmoving. For now. Mike had been told that apparently, the robotic animals were malfunctioning and moving about at nightime; no real issue, all he had to do was slam down a couple of doors and he'd be alright. Though there was also the issue of power? He shrugged to himself; better to find out. He looked away from them; he'd probably be seeing them up close and personal soon like he used to as a kid. The idea creeped him out but he could do little about it; besides, they were kids attractions. What could go wrong?

Passing Pirate Cove, he noticed the curtains were closed and a "Sorry! Out of order" sign was outside it. He looked longingly at it; even now he wished his old favourite hadn't gone through the controversy it had. He couldn't see a thing, though, and with a low sigh he moved on, and down the hallway, into the office. Taking a look at his shabby surroundings, he checked his watch; 11:59. Better get started. He sat down in the chair, and took out the screen that would allow him to access the camera's remotely, taking note of the battery power flickering on the side. He'd have to be careful with that.

The digital clock on the screen showed 12:00, and then came the first phonecall.

As soon as Mike had entered the office, the animatronics dropped their facade. Bonnie and Chica were the first to actually move, flexing their forms as Freddy merely watched them, not moving anything except his eyes. Bonnie looked at him, and the bear nodded. The purple rabbit proceeded to move off-stage, as did Chica, and they moved their seperate ways. There was an endoskeleton about that needed stuffing, once again...

As the three band animatronics plotted to kill the 'endoskeleton', the one neglected sat in the shadows of his little Pirate Cove, not bothering to look through the curtains. Foxy was mildly apathetic. Yet another human came in, another animal for the slaughter, and once again he would have to bear witness to another innocent killing. He was steadily starting to care less and less for the humans- it was fine for the others. They thought every security guard was an endo, but Foxy knew better. He always had. He used to love the children; he had spent more time with them in the past as Pirate Cove's titular pirate than the other three ever had. He knew humans. He knew what they felt and looked like, enough to go beyond his accursed programming. He had to deal with a guilty conscience every time the others killed a guard, but he envied them somewhat- for as long as they saw the guards as an endoskeleton they would be guilt-free. They loved humans and children too, and never once in the daytime did they harm anyone- Foxy unfortunately was the one exception, but that was an accident.

He could hardly be blamed for some stupid kid climbing up into the Cove and onto him; he hadn't minded, he quite loved children, as mentioned before. But the girl had been frisky, started pulling at random exposed wires and metallics, and for his own defense he eventually was forced to pull her off. Before he put her back down though- and gently, he might add- she had pulled one last circuit that caused an electric pulse to override some other circuits and the next thing he knew his jaw was lodged in the girl's skull, and in a fit of panic he pulled out only to deal more damage still. That incident back in '87 had cost Foxy and his companions any chance of free-roaming in the day again, and worse, Foxy his own performances.

He had since fallen into disrepair, and the others had started to move about at nightime as compensation for being unable to do so during the day. They weren't bad; they really, really weren't and he was glad they still visited him sometimes, but they just couldn't seem to process that they were murdering an innocent human everytime they tried to stuff him into a Freddy Fazbear suit, even when Foxy tried to tell them that they had gotten it all wrong. They didn't believe him, and he was left, rejected, to listen as they went and terrified the guards until said guards inevitably died. Once or twice he tried to intervene, and sprinted down the corridor to the office to warn them- just his luck that the guard typically got frightened out of their mind by this act and often bolted out of the room, straight into the arms of another animatronic. Foxy would then be congratulated for his 'help' and the human would promptly be stuffed into a suit and killed. Foxy would probably spend the next few days intensely hating himself, but he was starting to cope now. He realised that there really was no point anymore and it was probably better to just let his companions kill the guards; he would even throw in the odd sprint to the door every now and then just to add his two cents and keep Freddy happy, who often got annoyed the longer the 'endoskeleton' evaded them.

They were good. All of them were, anyone who got to know them would be able to see it, but unfortunately the three band-members lacked simple...understanding. And Foxy was steadily becoming a nihilist. As the new guard entered the premises and looked momentarily at Foxy's quarters, the animatronic was curious enough to wonder why the other had lingered, but not enough to have a peek. In the end he was another person waiting to be stuffed, and that was one more death to add to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza's reputation. Apparently they were going to close.

Foxy hoped not. No matter how bad things were, he didn't want to be shut down. He didn't want to...die. He was a machine, yet he had thoughts; he was not alive, but he at the same time...was. He wanted to figure out what it was that had kept them alive for so long; he was fairly sure there weren't any other animatronics like them that were so lively. So...humanlike, sometimes. He had the oddest flashes of memory, strange as it sounded, of being a child. It was absurd; he had always been an animatronic. But...he couldn't quite figure out when he had become sentient. In anycase, too many things were unanswered and Foxy wanted too much to see if he could still redeem himself and his friends for this place to close, and for them all to be just shut down.

But what could he do? If he could sigh, he would have done so in rather much of a rejected manner. He couldn't even speak properly like the others anymore, since his jaw was broken. They understood him but it got annoying. He just brought his knees to his chest and waited for the chaos to start. Maybe, for the sake of his slipping caring for humanity, he could try and get this human to learn some sense, stay alive and get the heck out of the place. It would make him feel better before he was shut down if he could at least do something good for himself.

That settled it. If the guard survived the first night, then he, Foxy, would try to keep him safe. He only hoped it would work this time.

So yeah, that's the first chapter. Not much, just to establish where everything stands. I will write more of it, hope you like, and please review. It will give me the incentive to carry on, which I really do want to.