I warned you.

The last thing Gregory saw was a faint red light that reminded him of a few dancing pixels. Then everything was just snuffed out into nothingness.

Meanwhile, the head of Glamrock Freddy was buzzing with emotions that no animatronic should ever have the ability to feel.

Decommissioned. 

His... Superstar was decommissioned. Gone. Dead. 

He was holding his lifeless body like it was a broken ball joint doll. Limp and cold, oh so cold, he was not supposed to be either. Nor were the walls supposed to be rusty red. Surely someone had just spilled some cherry soda and staff just hasn't cleaned the area yet. Yes. That must be it. 

The alternative was... unacceptable. 

It was not true. It could not be reality. Gregory was just asleep. Children needed sleep, they couldn't stay awake past midnight for too long. Of course the boy had just fallen asleep on his little feet. Yes. Of course. Why had he not thought of this earlier? Young Gregory deserved some rest.

He didn't deserve this.

So Freddy brought him to his room first. There he laid the boy on his sofa and waited patiently for him to wake up again. He scanned for his soft breathing, which was so quiet that not even his perfectly calibrated sensors could register anything. Which was fine. It meant nobody would find him and little Gregory could just sleep all of this stress and worry off. 

When something wet fell out of him and disappeared below the sofa, Freddy was immediately up and searching for the mystery object. He knew it was below the leathery piece of furniture and it was round enough to roll away from his searching fingers. Illusive as it was, eventually Freddy got it. It just could not escape the entertainer and his experience in dealing with lost toys. He raised his clawed hand in victory.

And he promptly squished it in his massive paws.

It had been an eye. A brown eye, now only gelatinous mush dripping from his fingers, had been the little escapee he had been looking for. Freddy didn't like this at all. Gregory needed two eyes! Once he woke up he would be furious if one of them was missing. At least he himself would be if one removed his ocular components. So, he had to think. Human eyes were not that much different from animatronic eyes, right? He could fix this. He could help his superstar! 

He failed his job before. Now he could make up for it.

By now Gregory was all stiff. His internal structure must have locked up. His own endo-skeleton did that sometimes as well and Freddy knew how to deal with it. All he needed to do was to drag Gregory down into parts and service for a little maintenance and he would be as good as new. It did wonders for Chica after her midnight snacks, and for Monty after his tantrums. Yes. Parts and service would be able to save Gregory. Then they could continue with their quest to find an exit.

By now Freddy's head was sparking. The strain on his personality chip had melted a small part of it into a blackened plastic droplet. There surely were above safe temperatures inside his electronics, but now was not the time for Freddy to think about this. Gregory came first. He would always come first.

"Just wait, Superstar, I will get you fixed up. I promised to keep you safe, and I do not break my pr- o̵͐͋   ̵̣̖̗̤̬͐͆͌͗̀̓͝ͅp̴ŗ̸̬̉̑̒̏͠o̵̎̄͊͛m̸̉͘ - promises!"

The boy was gently placed on the metallic table before Freddy selected basic maintenance on both his superstar's endo-skeleton as well as shell repairs. This always made him good as new. It would fix Gregory too. Then they could apply a lick of paint and call it a day. Yes, yes. Everything was going to be alright. The strange snapping and cracking noises coming from the machine and the table were new, but then again Freddy has never been the one to operate the machine. Up until this moment, Freddy had always been the one on the table. 

The list of broken components was shocking. Every few seconds it asked for a new piece or even raw materials like pure metal, glass or plastic. After his haul he could proudly say that he could build another Gregory if he so desired. Thankfully Fazbear entertainment had kept some of the smaller prototype frames around. His own were too large to be an option, but those? It could work.

The replaced parts were thrown into the waste disposal hatch. Freddy didn't pay these any more attention than a guilty glance. So much was damaged, so much was broken. Alas, he should stay positive. Looking on the bright side of things, his Superstar would soon be okay again. He would add another band-aid on his other cheek and tickle that lock on his head again. That had worked the last time; it would work again now.

Freddy sparked a little more. His system integrity and stability both dropped a bar. Or two.

Maybe three.

When the machine powered down and the maintenance cylinder opened once more he was eager to get Gregory up and running again. In his head, Freddy was counting the time a system start would take, and who would have guessed? His superstar woke just as he finished counting to zero.

But... why was he screaming? Was he still in pain? 

Freddy wrapped his arms around his ward, muttering sweet reassurances and promises that were ignored instantly. He only stopped when deep blue claws tried to dig into his own seams.

"Gregory! Be careful. You may damage my outer shell this way."

The pressure stopped immediately. The little claws and small paws let go as if Freddy was a burning hot stovetop. 

"Why?" His boy asked.

Freddy needed a moment to piece together an acceptable answer, "you were broken. I brought you here to fix you." 

"By turning me into one of you!?" 

Now, that roar was uncalled for. 

"You are not one of us. You are you, Gregory. I am afraid I do not understand." The lead singer admitted, because damn it he was no medic, therapist or mechanic.

"This?!" Gregory held up his arm, "you see nothing wrong here?"

"This is your arm. Am I supposed to see something? Gregory! Are you still hurt?" 

Before Freddy could bury him in concern once more, Gregory shuffled away from him. Was his ward afraid? Had Freddy done something wrong? None of his internal logs showed another malfunction. All of his software was running smoothly, albeit in safe mode. He simply did not understand what was wrong.

"Superstar-"

"No! Just, no. Give me a moment. I need- Freddy I need a moment. Please. Just a few, I need to think." 

He did not wish to part with Gregory so soon, but as he left the room he made sure to ruffle his ward's hair to cheer him up. 

The click clack of plastic on plastic strangely enough did not even register in his audio sensory system. Well, neither did the tearless cries after he shut the door.