Worry and Grief (FNAF)

Disclaimer, this is part of my AU, there are going to be things that aren’t accurate to the original lore

Dirty. Dark. Silent. Foul Smelling. This is the current state of Mayor Paul Garison’s house. The sleep deprived broken leader sits reclined in his lazy boy. Pictures. Toys. Storybooks. Clothes. They are scattered about the living room as Garison stares in anguish at a photo of himself with his precious Fritz sitting in his lap, her soft freckled reddish face beaming at the camera with her red bangs glimmering in the flash. The Mayor’s heart tightens, fearing that he may never see that warming smile again. He chokes up a bit, his eyes watering. The Mayor slowly puts the picture on the coffee table and stares off into space.

Garison wipes his eyes with his fuzzy stained sleeve, then moves his hand down to scratch his fiery red beard. Taking in a sharp intake of air, he clenches his beard and stands up. He can’t just sit in his own filth all day. Even if he isn’t going to do anything important, he’s desperate to get up and do… Something. Anything.

He had taken time off to mourn for the disappearance of Fritz, leaving his Deputy Mayor in charge. Therefore work is off the table. Not that he is in the state of mind to go to work.

The Mayor carelessly makes his way through the mess on the floor, stopping to look at a picture of his father holding Fritz for the first time. He closes his eyes to think back to that day.

”Fritz? You decided to name her Fritz?” his dad chuckled as he smiled down at her red, round, sleeping face.

“Well yeah, me and Olivia hadn’t decided on a name, and I thought Fritz sounded pretty.”

His father slowly glanced at him with an amused face, then looked back at the infant. He laughed.

“What’s the joke?” Garison questioned his father.

“Oh Paul, I thought I raised you to be smarter.”

Garison couldn’t help but laugh nervously “What!? what am I missing?”

His father grinned at him. “Fritz is a boy’s name. It’s short for Frederick…”

“… Ooh… Well that’s not good…”

“Eh leave it, it is a pretty name, and I doubt any other kids will realize that her full name is Frederick.” his father grins again.

“Just Fritz… Her name is just Fritz, not short for anything.” Garison smiles. His father rests Fritz on his lap, his right arm cushioning her and his left arm wresting proudly on his son’s shoulder.

The Mayor smiled to himself, the pain slightly easing away.

“That’s it Garison… Just appreciate the good times you had with her. They’ll find her.” He says to himself. He takes one more glance at his disaster of a living before heading up the stairs. He glances down the hall at her room. A sheet of notebook paper is taped to the door, warning any trespasser, “No losers allowed or you will have to walk the plank (Except for Mayor Dad, he’s an ok loser)”

He sneaks over to the door, as if he is in danger of waking up a beast. Lifting his fist, ready to knock on the door, he hesitates. His tense shoulders loosen as he lets out a sigh and opens the door. His breath catches in his throat, as he smiles at the little red haired girl sitting in the middle of the floor, playing away with her toys, without a single care in the world. There’s nothing to care about, she’s immortal, like the main character of a book. The whole world revolves around her and nothing bad will ever happen to her. The little girl returns the smile.

Mayor Garison opens his watery eyes and steps into the empty room. Compared to the rest of the house it’s a wonderland. Toys are put away, books are on shelves, clothes in dressers and the closet. The bed is made with cute little stuffed animals sitting in front of the pillows, waiting for their friend’s inevitable return to play with them again.

He glanced up at the glossy painting above her bed. At the top it read “CELEBRATE!!!”. Underneath the party starting word are three animatronic characters, Garison always thought those characters were uncanny. Although Fritz and the other kids seems to enjoy them. The poster shows: Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken, and the main bear himself, Freddy Fazbear. Absent from the poster is Fritz’ favorite character, Foxy the Pirate Fox, mainly because he is on a separate stage from the main characters.

Garison stares at the poster… Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. The place where 4 children, including his Fritz, went missing. Multiple times The Mayor had almost closed the place down out of grief. Though he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Henry Emily and William Afton are both good men who worked hard in sweat and blood to get where they currently are, it isn’t their fault this happened. To add to that, both of them lost a child this year as well. Henry lost his Charlotte, in April. William lost his Benjamin-Vinn, or BV was what his family and friends called him, in June… on his birthday. Garison couldn’t take away the special world they created as well.

Garison walks up to Fritz’ small vintage dresser. He sets his hand on it, petting it as if it were a soft, fluffy, sleeping cat. He glances at the photo with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed picture frame. It’s a photo of Fritz, in her favorite red turtleneck sweater and denim vest, making silly faces for the camera with a latina girl about her age, wearing a brown skirt, a yellow raincoat, and her jet black hair in pigtails. This is Cassidy Janet, Fritz’ closest friend. They certainly had a special friendship. Garison could see the excitement and liveliness Fritz’ eyes when ever the two could hang out. Garison looked at Cassidy, pulling the sides of her mouth

open, sticking her tounge out with crossed dark emerald eyes. Fritz’ fingers are poking up behind her head, making bunny ears.

Poor girl… She lost all three of her best friends in one year. Charlie, BV, and now possibly Fritz. Does her young mind grasp this? Does it keep her up at night as it does for Garison. The last time he had spoken to her after Fritz’ disappearance he offered her to come over to his house sometime for him to make cookies and hot cocoa to share with her. She hasn’t kept up on that agreement yet, which relieves Garison. He didn’t want her to see his warzone of a house, or the fact that her fearless leader is dressed up like a homeless man.

Garison drags his feet over to Fritz’ bed, hanging his head down. He slowly sits down and looks around the room before putting his face in his sweaty palms. Keep it together Garison…. Keep it together, he lifts his head, with struggle as part of him wanted it to stay down, to weep into his hands. He grabbed the biggest of Fritz’ stuff animals, a big purple penguin. He stares into the penguin’s eyes for a good while before hugging it and laying down.

A delightful familiar smell puts The Mayor to ease… Tangerines. The smell Fritz’ favorite shampoo must have rubbed onto her pillows and stuffed animals off of her damp hair after taking a bath. Soon The Mayor drifted off into sleep, smelling the citrus smell. He felt as if he was holding his daughter again, as if she was never gone.

Moments later he is woken up by loud knocking at the front door. Garison groans and sits up, trying to figure out the noise he just heard. He hears another knock. Realizing it was the front door he jolts up and hurries to the front door. More knocking.

“Hold your horses, I’m coming!”, He exclaims as he nearly trips on the garbage thrown about on the floor. He quickly yanks the front door open, coming face to face with a police officer, with curly brown hair, his hands behind his back. He’s wearing a nervous expression. Chief Clay Burke, a good friend of Garison’s since childhood, they were college roommates, and he was his competitor when running for mayor.

“Clay…”, Garison grinned “Any news? Come on in!”

Clay eyed The Mayor’s dirty socks, baggy sweats, his stained red bathrobe and white t-shirt, and his messy hair. He raises an eyebrow, this is the first time he has ever seen Paul Garison so… unneat. Even as a child he was so organized.

“Mayor Garison… I…” Clay starts to say but is interrupted by Garison.

“Please Clay… we’re friends, just call me Paul. Please come on in.”, The Mayor leaves the door open for Clay and heads into the living room. Clay pauses, hesitating, before entering and joining him in the living room. Garison sits on his lazy boy while Clay sits opposite from him on the couch.

“Sorry about the mess….” Garison looks down, looking like a guilty puppy who knows he’s going to be scolded.

“Paul…”, Clay sighs, “Paul it’s fine. I understand what you are going through. If this was Carlton that was missing my house would be the same way. I would be in a dirty bath robe, doing lord know what.”

Garison continues to look down, he lets out a troubling laugh. “Yeah, then I’ll be the one over at your house putting up with your smell, trying to make you feel better.”

“… Yeah…” Clays gulps and bites his lip. This is going to be hard to say.

“How is Carlton anyway? After the whole incident with his friends and that Afton child.” Garison asks.

“Oh he’s fine… Still a little shaken up though. He hasn’t talked to that Michael kid as often since then. Feel bad for Michael. Lead something stupid that he thought wasn’t going to do any harm, but just ended up losing his brother and his friends. I can tell, he feels as guilty as hell, he’d do anything to get his brother back, and I reckon if he did… Well he would treat him like the center of the world.”

Garison nods “So do you have a lead on Fritz and those other kids?”

Clay takes in a deep breath, prepared for anything that will happen. This is what he was dreading. What he found will not do any good for Mayor Paul Garison’s state of mind. But he has to show him anyway. He reaches into his big baggy jacket pocket, and pulls out a red fox plush wiith yellow eyes and a black eye patch. Foxy.

Garison’s mouth slightly opens, he stares, confused. Something was off. He soon realized what it was, after a full minute of silence. Parts of the plush is a darker red, it’s stained with blood. The Mayor’s mouth dropped and his eyes widened. He could feel a pain that he almost felt when he got news that Fritz was missing, in which he pushed back in denial and hope that she was still alive. A feeling he hasn’t felt since his dearest Olivia died in labor. The dreadful, most painful feeling of God himself ripping Garison’s heart out of his chest, and showing it to him before crushing it to a pulp. A few more minutes of silence went by. He could feel his eyes welling up with tears.

“W-Where… Whe-Where did you find this?”, He demands with a shaking urgency in his voice. Clay sighs looking down. Tears rolling down his cheeks.

“By the freeway… Going out of town…”

“…It’s not her’s…” Garison says coldly.

“Paul I-”

“IT’S NOT HER’S!!!” Garison repeated angirly. Clay remained silent. The Mayor stood up, tears coming out of his eyes as if a dam broke. He walks around the coffee table, and gets on his knees infront of the couch, “Clay it’s not her’s. Please God, it’s not her’s.”

“…”

“T-There are thousands of these plushies being made. One bloody plush doesn’t mean that my Fritz is dead. P-Please Burke.. Please don’t give up… Please find her… She’s still alive… She’s still out there… Please…”

Clay leans forward and hugs his broken friend, “No worries Mr Mayor. I’m not done yet. I will do everything in my power to bring Fritz home. This was just a hence. I’m not sure if it is her’s or not. I’m not giving up any time soon and you will see your daughter again. You have my word.”

“…” Garison hugs back, he nods. Clay lets go and stands up. He gives Garison the Foxy plush.

“… just in case…”, He makes his way to the door, and looked back at The Mayor, “I’ll bring her back…”

Then he was gone. Mayor Paul Garison held the Foxy plush up to his face and sobbed into it. Within the distinct metallic scent of blood, he could smell something else fighting with the dreadful smell… Something sweet… Tangerines.