The baby was crying again. The noise grated against his ears in a way that drove him insane. Not that he wasn't already driven to his last little straw since the little boy was born. Amelia still smiled as always, but her smile was strained and tired. After sleepless nights and days, she would practically collapse in on herself from exhaustion. They got a new house, they got a new life for this child. But that life was being wasted.

Her husband was a man that provided. They both took turns taking care of the baby until both of them were worn to the bone. They would shift from being a stay at home parent to an overtime worker. The cycle was endless. And the baby would never stop crying and complaining. That child was ungrateful, so ungrateful and unaware of how much they gave him. How much patience they had. How much Gregory himself was patient for him. But his patience was worn thin, and it was going to snap.

At first, the attention was split between him and the child, but eventually, that attention shifted all to the baby. He was left to himself all day, with the occasional small talk made his way. It was like he was a stranger in the very house he was welcomed so warmly in before. Sometimes, the husband would offer to play with him for the time being while Amelia was busy, but he didn't like that man. That man was the reason why this insufferable baby came along, that man always assumed that Gregory himself was born from the womb of humankind. Insufferable. He didn't want small talk, he wanted to be loved by Amelia, and Amelia alone. He wanted to be loved more than that damn child. Was that too much to ask for?

His hand was trembling on the nursery's doorknob, gripping it with a strength beyond that of a normal human, till the metal creaked beneath his cold, iron grasp. The baby was sobbing but Amelia and her husband were fast asleep, too deep of a sleep to notice. It was late, it was dark, and the baby was crying, again, and again, and again. Gregory's golden eyes glowed with a seething anger that would haunt anyone's restless dreams. It was a murderous rage, an animosity that tore everything around him to shreds, and when it passed, he always would question why everything avoided his touch.

The door creaked, a dim light of the nursery light inside shined in his optics like the flash of a predator's. The baby stopped crying as the door opened more. The chubby face of the child turned towards the sound, and all the baby could see were two gold pinpricks of dim light narrowing at him from the dark. There were quiet footsteps on the wooden floor, the golden lights approaching the cradle. A matra repeated in Gregory's head as he gently wrapped his cold fingers around the baby's delicate body.

First the child, then the husband.

He cradled the baby against his chest, the child gripped onto him weakly like Gregory was his mother, or his friend, or his brother. He could feel the disgusting feeling of the child's fingers and warm tears against his skin. He glared down at the infant with a dark expression, the child smiled up at him with innocent and trusting eyes. His anger spiked. How insufferable.

First the child, then the husband.

He approached the windowsill and brushed the silky curtains aside. He unlatched the window and it squeaked open, the curtains fluttered. He felt the cool nightly breeze gently ruffle his hair. The baby giggled joyfully at his side. He glared out the window, it was quite the drop from the second story of the house. But baby birds have to learn how to fly eventually, even if said baby was a cuckoo bird. A gluttonous cuckoo who stole all the attention from the other bird. Maybe that poor, little bird just wanted to stand up for himself before the cuckoo would try to push him out of the nest instead.

First the child, first the child.

He outstretched his arms till the baby was held out of the window. The child giggled joyfully as he was in the air. His cheerfulness made Gregory grit his teeth together in annoyance, his grip slightly tightened. The cuckoo bird needs to go, he doesn't care that the other birds loved the cuckoo. There's not enough space for both of them. There's not enough love for both of them. So, one of them had to go, and it was not going to be him. This child was a burden, Gregory was just doing them all a big favor.

First the child, then the-

"Gregory, stop!" A voice called out to him. Gregory paused in place, he looked over his shoulder and saw the silhouette of a man in the doorway. "Do not let go of the baby!"

The husband.

The machine glared at him with menacing eyes. He still held the giggling baby out the window, but he stopped his advances. Gregory never cared enough to learn this man's name, it never mattered to him. And it wouldn't matter now.

"Gregory," the man started, his voice trembling with anxiety. His hands were outstretched as if that would ease the boy's anger. "Gregory, I'm giving you a chance to put him back into his crib and we can forget about this."

The boy smiled at the ridiculousness of that suggestion. No, the husband wouldn't forget this. The husband would turn Amelia against him. They would point fingers until he was out of the house, and the cuckoo's mission would be successful. He would make sure that the cuckoo would never win. He just needed to think of a way to get rid of the husband right now. Two birds with one stone. Two cuckoo birds with one stone. First the baby cuckoo bird, then the other cuckoo that caused all of this mess.

His grip loosened on the baby. The child whined slightly. After the drop, he could kill the man without much commotion so that Amelia wouldn't wake. He could make up some story about how the husband ran off with the baby.

"Gregory? ... What are you doing?" A voice said tiredly from the doorway. He suddenly felt his entire body freeze, his inhumane blood turning into ice. Amelia stood next to her husband. Her eyes were confused, tired, and fearful. Afraid of him. No, no, no, it was already too late. He was caught. She saw what had become of him, or maybe she saw what he was all along.

"He's trying to kill the baby, Amelia!" The husband yelled urgently as he pointed at Gregory accusingly. The robot stiffened up as Amelia's eyes stared directly into his. "He's gone crazy!"

Maybe Amelia would somehow believe that her husband was lying to her, but the woman simply stared at Gregory. Her pretty eyes weren't angry, no, they showed an immense amount of aching betrayal, concern and shock. Somehow, that hurt him more than her anger would. She trusted him with her life, yet he showed that she couldn't trust him with other lives. Not with the life of her newborn child, and not with the life of her husband.

Gregory's hands retracted back from the window, he held the baby close as he sneered at them. He pointed at Amelia like it was her fault. "You've done this to me, Amelia! You took them in and now you must deal with the consequences!"

"What are you talking about?" Amelia responded, her voice raising slightly. "I took you in because I wanted you a part of my life and they deserve a place in my life just as much as you!"

"You abandoned me for them," Gregory responded, his voice cracking slightly as gestured towards the baby, smiling and giggling in his grasp. His golden eyes glowing wildly like he was rabid. "You left me behind for the likes of- of this thing! I trusted you, Amelia! I would lay down my life for you, and this thing is my replacement? A child!"

"He's not your replacement, Gregory," The husband said, butting in as he stood in front of Amelia as if to shield her. "He's your family. I am your family. And we'll love you just as much as him."

"Family? Family?!" Gregory grinned menacingly as he stepped back towards the window. The adults stepped towards him. "Amelia is my only family, you and this child are just extras who were invited along. She took me in! Not you or this baby!"

"You were wounded and I wanted to help you, but I can't help you if you start to cut off other people in my life," Amelia said softly with a strained voice. She had noticed the robot's agitation since she fell in love, she also saw how that agitation grew since she had the baby. Perhaps she thought he could change, or maybe he would fall out of it. She wanted to do something, but maybe there was nothing much she could do in the first place. It was her consequence for loving something that could never truly love her back. "That is why I'll have to let you go, Gregory."

Gregory's mouth shut as he held the baby close, his expression suddenly became pale and hurt. The baby was starting to sob. "What- Let me go? You're going to throw me out just like that?"

"I'm not going to call any authorities, I don't want you to get caught by the lab again," she said, remorseful. Her expression was guilty, like she felt bad for him and the circumstances he found himself in.. The baby burst out wailing, as if the child could sense the mood in the room. Gregory's eyes flicked to the child who cried in his grasp, his golden eyes hurt and outraged. The husband lunged at him during his distraction. The grown man wrestled with Gregory until finally managed to pull the crying baby out of the robot's grasp. The husband backed away, the baby in his protective grasp. Amelia pointed towards the doorway, not even looking him in the eye. "You need to go."

Gregory stood there, frozen in place as he watched Amelia back away from him. Her eyes were nervous and sad. For the first time, the robot's words got stuck in his throat. He didn't know what to say. He slowly and silently walked past them and out of the door. Out of the door of Amelia's life. Out of the door of his perfect future.

The only thing he ever wanted was someone's love, but the amount he wanted was beyond a human's capacity. He'd shed blood for it, he'd burn down the world for it, and that was why he could never obtain what he wanted. He could never truly love someone, because love required change, and he and his violence would never change.

He stepped outside and onto the streets, his expression dark and solemn. He slowly walked through puddles on the road, his eyes downcast as he blanked out. After a while, he slumped onto the sidewalk. At that moment, he felt like completely giving up. Maybe he could have considered an act of vengeance against her and her 'new' and 'better' family, but all he felt was a hollow emptiness. The only thing he thought of now was hiding somewhere and forcing a permanent shut down, never to be seen or known again. Forgotten.

He put his head in his arms. There was the sound of a far thunderstorm, but it never rained. The street lamp flickered slightly. Something bright and neon caught his attention after a while of sulking. Gregory's golden eyes looked up from his hands as he stared at it, it was a billboard. There were large, neon words in a bubbly font plastered on it. A burst of some sort of emotion flickered through him as he stood up from where he was, his back straightened in full attention.

He walked down the street to get a closer view of the billboard. There were huge silhouettes against the colorful background. Silhouettes of singing animals. Freddy Fazbear Co. Mega Pizzaplex. He was drawn to it in a strange and pulling sort of way, it was calling to him. He didn't understand it at first, but the words MISSION spun in his circuits over and over again. What mission? He wasn't quite sure himself. He recalled his origins, his fuzzy memories of his creator swimming through his hard drive.

His eyebrows furrowed as his previously defeated gaze shifted into a determined glare. If life wanted to crush him as much as it did, destroy him as much as it did. Then why heed to his misfortune? Why can't he just grab his life by the throat, strangle it until it stared him in the eye. Why can't he just tell his fate that he's the master of it? If this mission calls to him, then who is he to reject? If this mission was his purpose all along, then why run away from it? He's going to do what he was made to do from the start.

And god forbid he will do anything to achieve it.

_______________

Her legs wanted to trip over each other, and they ached with pain. It took all of the girl's willpower to keep on running. She heard them behind her, the buzz of their mechanical wheels and the clicks of their metallic limbs. There had to be over fifty of them in pursuit. She was mortified at the thought of what would happen if she got caught. He's going to kill her, he wanted to kill her.

She raced to the main stage. The giant holograms of the main animatronics swung and swayed in place, reaching to the ceiling. She passed by their feet and sprinted to the middle. She saw the elevator button and instantly clicked it, causing a part of the stage to go down. She jumped onto the sinking platform and went below the ground. The ceiling above her closed, but she still heard the robots scramble on top of the stage, searching for her. She managed to lose the band of bots, but it wasn't long before they'd find her again.

She's going down to Parts and Service. The large elevator doors opened with a screech. She quickly grabbed a metal tool and smashed the button of the elevator to make sure the bots didn't call it back up. She then ran urgently towards the giant glass cylinder that held Freddy inside, the bear was still strapped to the table, completely immobilized. She urgently opened the glass door and entered. The bear powered on at the sound of the lab opening, his yellow eyes flickering with sparse electricity. He weakly glanced at her with his damaged optics, his muzzle lifting into a strained smile.

"Freddy!" She cried out as she held onto his clawed hand, the metallic fingers twitched beneath her touch."Freddy! Please help me!"

She didn't know where else to go. There was nowhere else to go. Gregory already knew she was here. He knew everything.

"Superstar," Freddy said with his deep and scratchy voice, his jaw twitching to a happy smile. His clawed hand gently closed around hers. "Why are you here?"

"It's Gregory- he's- he's crazy! He's trying to kill me, Freddy!" She said with an exasperated voice as she began to undo the latches on Freddy's body that held him down to the operating table. Freddy frowned, his glassy eyes stared up at the ceiling. "I don't know what to do!-"

She was interrupted as the lights suddenly flickered off. Freddy's grasp on her fingers tightened slightly. She couldn't see that well, and she began to panic even more. Gregory's words rang through her head, he said he now controlled the entire building. He must've turned off the lights. But how much of that was true? How much did he control? Everything? Or was he just bluffing to scare her?

If she couldn't see, what could she do? Freddy couldn't see that well, either. She pursed her lips together as she remembered something important. She reached into her pocket and took out Roxy's eyes. She felt a pang of remorse in her at the weight of them. She failed Roxy, she felt like she failed them all, really. But she wasn't going to fail Freddy. He never failed her, he tried his best for her.

Now, it was her turn to try her best for him.