Fanfic / Something Always Remains

Something Always Remains is an Alternate Universe Five Nights at Freddy's fanfic written by Nightmare1.

After Mike Schmidt is let go from a droll office job, the timing couldn't be more unfortunate as an ad in the paper calls for a night guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He knows the rumors and legends surrounding that old place. He knows about the missing children. But more importantly, he suffered his own tragedies there, ones with questions still unsolved.

Sensing an opportunity, Mike takes the night shift at Freddy's not for a paycheck, but to try to learn the truth before the old place goes completely under.

As each night passes, Mike learns something new: that the animatronics are haunted. That the crusty old janitor is hiding something. That what little information he has about his personal tragedy doesn’t add up. That his best friend is somehow involved in all of this.

And that all of the answers he seeks are tied to the mysterious yellow Bonnie suit buried in the hidden room.

Something Always Remains contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Vanna's mother, Bailey, gaslit her about Fredbear's after Vesper disappeared, threw out her favorite toys and made her watch, treated Vanna as the lesser twin compared to her “perfect” sister, and tried to financially control her.
  • Bonnie Wickes' parents weren't much better. They disowned her for marrying a black man, never supported her mind for computers, and after her husband disappeared, tried to “welcome” her back to the family at the cost of giving up her business. It got so bad, Bonnie disowned them right back and banned them from her property.
• Acting Unnatural: Vanna already knew Mike was lying, but what sealed it for her was him not touching his coffee.
• Action Girl:
  • Vanna not only joins Mike at Freddy's the last two nights, but she watches his back, uses the cupcake to stop Jeremy from killing Mike, tricks Greg into thinking she’s Bonnie Wickes for a time, beats the Smiling Man with a chair - twice - and goes after Will to keep the Smiling Man from hurting him.
  • Bonnie Wickes counts as well. She stops Greg from choking Vanna and uses her suit to imprison and torment him.
• The Adjectival Man: Purple Guy is referred to as the Smiling Man.
• Aerith and Bob: Names like Mike, Jeremy, Greg, Bonnie, and...Vanna and Vesper. Utilized as a plot point, because Vanna is an uncommon name, and it was one reason why the Puppet recognized her as Vesper's sister.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Vanna sometimes ruffles Mike's hair.
• Affectionate Nickname: "Little one" is Bonnie Wickes' nickname for the Puppet. This is actually a small hint that the janitor knows more than he's letting on.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The animatronics know the Smiling Man is still out there, and will do whatever they can within their programming to stop him. This can both benefit the protagonists, like Mike exploiting their inability to read faces and not wearing his uniform and backfire on them, such as when Jeremy kept winding the music box, and the Smiling Man exploited a rule that an animatronic must be accompanied by an employee to go into the back room.
• The Alcoholic: Bonnie Wickes’ favorite method of coping with her husband’s disappearance. She’s casually drinking wine in her first appearance, and gets progressively worse each time she’s seen drinking. She even keeps a locked mini fridge stocked with wine.
• Alliterative Name: Bailey Belrose, William Wickes.
• Alternate Universe Fic: The biggest thing this fic explores is what happens if Springtrap is found, empty, during Mike Schmidt’s tenure. Other events from other games end differently, such as the kid from Five Nights at Freddy's 4 surviving the Bite of '83 and Springtrap being haunted by Jeremy Fitzgerald instead of William Afton.
• Ambiguous Gender:
  • Spring Bonnie. When the animatronic is first activated, she’s female, then shut down, reactivated for a special event to temporarily replace the male purple Bonnie, shut down again, is referred to by gender-neutral pronouns until the next reboot, then reboots as a female, until the reveal that she is haunted by a male ghost, with a proper pronoun switch...and then is found to have not one, but two ghosts inside it, with the second ghost being female. The pronouns then switch to whichever ghost has more control at the moment, with an occasional gender-neutral pronoun thrown in when it's not clear who's in power. By the end, she’s female, and displayed as such.
  • Mangle is only referred to with gender-neutral pronouns, as is the Puppet.
• Anachronic Order: The main storyline takes place in 1993, but a lot of events prior to that come into play via numerous character’s memories and flashbacks, as well as items like journals and newspaper clippings.
• And I Must Scream: The ghosts can't speak or be heard once trapped in a vessel unless someone who wants to hear them and has the right mindset is nearby. It's especially worse with the missing children, who have to rely on the animatronics to speak for them, but the adults can use their own voices. The worst case easily goes to Freddy Wickes, who was Buried Alive and spent over twenty years trying to be heard.
• Anti-Hero: Bonnie Wickes was a sweet person in life when she wasn't drunk. Now she just wants vengeance against her murderer, no matter the cost.
• Apron Matron: Moira shows shades of this, particularly when arguing with an unnamed person on the phone when she finds out Jeremy is missing.
• Arc Words:
  • Old wounds.
  • Smiling Man.
  • “I'll always protect you.”
  • This isn't my face.
  • Our dream never died/ came true.
• Artificial Family Member: The Puppet is implied to be this to Bonnie Wickes. It becomes this to Mike, Vanna, and Will in the epilogue.
• Attack of the Killer Whatever: Murderous animatronics.
• Awful Truth: The Puppet hides the fact that Jeremy Fitzgerald haunts the Spring Bonnie suit for three reasons:
  • It's forbidden to speak of Bonnie Wickes' work, so it has to rely on Cryptic Conversation to point Mike in the right direction,
  • It keeps Mike looking for answers, and
  • It gives Jeremy time to properly awaken so the two can properly reunite.
• Badass Family: Vanna, Will, and Bonnie Wickes - while butting heads with each other - all have the same goal of bringing the Smiling Man to justice, and eventually agree on how. Mike and Jeremy assist.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • Scratching on the tiles is a sign Foxy is about to run. The last time this happens, it's Spring Bonnie instead.
  • Spring Bonnie in-general. Spring Bonnie is initially haunted by Jeremy Fitzgerald. When it first reboots, Jeremy disappears and comes back “online”. The second time it happens, Bonnie Wickes comes out to play instead.
• Batman Gambit: The plan to take down the Smiling Man relies on Greg being at Freddy's after hours when his shift ends, to clean up any loose ends.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Gregory "Greg" Mortman, the Smiling Man, wanted to be with Bonnie. He gets what he wished when Bonnie is with him. About to torture him to death.
• Beneath the Mask:
  • The janitor comes off as rough and uncaring at first. He's dealing with decades-old pain and trauma from numerous incidents over the years, and much like the restaurant itself, is crumbling from the weight of it all. He's actually really kind and understanding.
  • Vanna is usually upbeat and outgoing. It's a recent development. Just before she met Mike, she came to terms with a personal tragedy and cut off her family.
  • The Puppet. It's cryptic and almost playful at times. It not only has ties to every single main character in some way, it was at Freddy's since the beginning, is programmed to protect it, watched the death of its “mother”, and in a way, takes care of her dead niece.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Vanna’s makeup runs in unflattering ways and she sometimes has snot running down her nose from crying.
  • Bonnie Wickes is seen with messed up makeup as well, ugly cries when drunk, and was horribly mangled when she died.
• Berserk Button:
  • For Puppet, this activates when Bonnie Wickes or anyone she cared/s about is in danger.
  • Mike is this for Jeremy Fitzgerald.
  • Bonnie Wickes has three: insulting her marriage, messing with her work, and threatening her nieces.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Bonnie Wickes is sweet and friendly, until you murder her and try to ruin her business. Implied to be this in life as well, as seen with her funeral photos.
  • Jeremy Fitzgerald is the most mild-mannered character in the story. He also won't hesitate to kick ass if Mike Schmidt is threatened.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Vanna and Bonnie Wickes are described as tall and robust. Vanna in particular is “built like an Amazon.”
• Big Brother Instinct: A common theme is Jeremy protecting Mike Schmidt from danger. Mike also has this with Jamie Green.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Vanna using a cupcake to take down Jeremy Fitzgerald/Spring Bonnie before he can harm Mike.
  • Spring Bonnie running into the office to keep the Smiling Man away from Mike.
  • When Vanna shows up to save Mike from the Smiling Man while disguised as Bonnie Wickes.
  • The moment Bonnie Wickes makes an in-person in a manner of speaking appearance.
    • Topped only by Freddy Wickes quelling her rage.
• Big "NO!": After Bonnie nearly gets Mike a second time, he isn't having it.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Vanna's family has, in no particular order: disowned a relative for marrying a black man, forced a child to grow up in the shadow of her dead/missing twin, maintained the lie that said twin was “taken by angels”, attempted to take over Fredbear's Family Diner upon the death of the disowned relative, tried to get the disowned relative back into the fold when her black husband was no longer in the picture, and one father left his remaining daughter alone with her crazy mother. Any questions as to why Vanna - and her Aunt Bonnie before her - cut them all off?
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Greg Mortman is kind, charming, and seems concerned about the fate of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. It's because he's the Smiling Man.
• Black Comedy: In-Universe.
  • Mike holds back laughter when Will comments on Bonnie Wickes’ foresight making her death less messy. He was talking about legal affairs, but considering the way she died...
  • “The devil take him, the same way he took my son.” Aunt Bonnie tried…
• Blatant Lies: Jeremy did show up for work, despite the statements to the contrary. He was also hurt. In fact, about the only truth told in that scene is that the bite victim is someone else.
• Blood from the Mouth: Both Bonnie Wickes and Jeremy Fitzgerald do this after taking a spring lock through the neck.
• Blood-Splattered Innocents: The Puppet - as its programming was still childlike at the time - when it witnesses Bonnie Wickes’ death.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: The animatronics, particularly Puppet. It's capable of reasoning, and making “moral” choices, but it also follows its own (and sometimes programmed) rules to accomplish a goal.
• Body Horror: Par for the course when the spring suits are involved.
  • If a ghost actively haunts its vessel for too long, it will gradually start to resemble it, like Vesper Belrose starts to become a more humanoid version of the Puppet.
• Book Ends:
  • Mike arrives in uniform his first night, feeling misplaced, like a dead man walking, and like he was someone else because the uniform reminded him of Jeremy and his unsolved disappearance. In the end, he comes for his first night at the re-open, after Jeremy’s disappearance is solved and his ghost moves on. Mike is no longer haunted by the past, excited to come to work, and looks like himself when he sees his reflection.
  • Vanna is first seen wearing a red coat. She receives Bonnie Wickes’ red polo at the end.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: Downplayed at first, as it's implied Mike and Vanna already bonded over Jeremy and Vesper's disappearances, but brought forward when the janitor informs Mike and Vanna that he knows what's it's like for someone you love to disappear.
• Both Sides Have a Point:
  • When discussing what to do about the Smiling Man, Mike and Will point out that Mike is the best bait to catch him in the act. Vanna thinks it’s crazy for Mike to risk his life.
  • Done again when Bonnie Wickes and Jeremy are fighting for control of the Spring Bonnie suit. Bonnie thinks the Smiling Man deserves death for the horrible way he’s killed others. Jeremy doesn’t think more bloodshed will solve anything, and given how dying in these suits ties a soul to them, points out that they’d have to spend eternity with Greg if he dies.
• Brick Joke: The picture in Waylon’s office. It’s a picture of Bonnie Wickes, which Waylon sees every day. In the aftermath of the last night, Vanna is still disguised as her aunt, and Waylon does a double-take due to recognizing her from the picture.
• Broken Bird:
  • Vanna puts up a good front, but she grew up in her twin sister's shadow, was lied to about her accident, spent years trying to live up to an impossible standard, and had to cut off her toxic family to end their gaslighting. She’s very jaded when it comes to the subject of family.
  • Bonnie Wickes. Married the love of her life and lost him, stressed herself running the business they were supposed to build together, turned to drinking, and by the end of her life, mostly just confided in the Puppet.
• Brutal Honesty: Vanna will tell Mike what's for, especially when she thinks he's lying or about to do something stupid.
• Buried Alive: Freddy Wickes’ fate.
  • This is also more or less the fate of Vesper Belrose. She was playing hide and seek and hid inside Puppet's box, in the back room where it wasn't publicly showcased just yet. After Vanna's mishap with Spring Bonnie, the animatronic was brought to the back room and, having no where else to put it, placed so it was sitting on top of the box, effectively trapping Vesper inside. She had an asthma attack, couldn't cry for help, and eventually suffocated.
• Bury Your Gays: Poor Jeremy Fitzgerald. It’s Justified in that it’s implied he was fired from a previous job due to homophobia, which is how he ended up at Freddy’s, then averted because Bonnie and Freddy Wickes, a straight couple, are chronologically murdered first, and Bonnie’s death was just as graphic as Jeremy’s. Further averted by Mike, who’s bisexual, and Vanna, a proud asexual, both making it out of the story alive.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The Smiling Man spares William Wickes only so he can later try to frame him for Mike’s murder.
• Character Development:
  • Mike struggles with something that happened in his past, and pushes most people away due to it. He eventually learns to let go, accept help, and move on.
  • Vanna goes from Broken Bird to Action Girl. She also starts off being jaded about family to building a new one when she finds an untainted branch of the family tree.
  • Puppet was built to give gifts. It was later reprogrammed to protect the establishment, and has to come to terms with taking actions that conflict with its base programming.
  • Due to all the tragedies tied to it, the janitor has all but given up on Freddy Fazbear's to the point he’s nonchalant about it closing and callous to new night guards, as they never last. He starts to care for Mike, and due to it, begins to fight for the business again.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The cupcake. Twice. First when Vanna uses it to knock Jeremy away from Mike, then again when it's used to hold a recording device.
  • Vanna's letter. the card inside is given to Puppet to confirm its suspicions that Vanna is Vesper's twin.
  • Vanna's sweater. She uses it as a makeshift uniform shirt when she joins Mike on the night shift.
  • Bonnie Wickes’ polo shirt. Vanna uses it to disguise herself as Bonnie.
  • The spare endoskeleton. Not only was it Fredbear's, Freddy Wickes uses it it make an "in person" appearance.
  • Waylon's filing cabinet. Greg uses it to trap Will.
  • Any photograph not part of an album or framed. Both of Mike's missing photos come back into play, and the ones Vanna gets from Will gives her something to base her latest makeup style on.
  • Puppet's hard drive. Bonnie Wickes hid some of her secrets on it, including back-up software needed to unencrypt her code.
  • The journal. It implicates Greg as being on the premises when he wasn’t supposed to be there, gives him a clearer motive for Jeremy’s murder, and gives credence that he murdered the missing children.
• Chekhov's Hobby: Vanna is almost always seen with makeup on. She ups her game in the final act. She also used to take ballet, and as shown below, she hasn't forgotten that grace.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Mike knows Foxy likes to scratch on the tiles before running, and learns how to time keeping him out. This comes in handy when the Smiling Man is pursuing him.
  • Vanna gracefully slips off the couch without waking Mike. She later uses similar grace to escape Chica and Freddy.
  • Greg Mortman is good at picking up on and remembering small details. It allows him to recognize Mike and see through Vanna's disguise when the initial shock wears off.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Mike’s series of fucks after Spring Bonnie smashes the bathroom mirrors.
• Coattail-Riding Relative: Briefly touched on. When Bonnie Wickes first opened Fredbear's Family Diner, some of her relatives “came out of the woodwork” looking for a piece. She just gave them Fredbear figurines as a thanks for their “shared effort” and made sure none of them got a dime when she passed.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: The Smiling Man mocks both Jeremy Fitzgerald and Bonnie Wickes before watching them perish in the Spring Bonnie suit. It doesn’t kill them immediately, and draws out their deaths when it finally snaps.
• Comfort the Dying: The Puppet is prone to this:
  • It tried to "fix" Bonnie Wickes by hugging her.
  • It held Vesper in her last moments.
  • It stayed by Jeremy's side when it realized it couldn't save him.
• Cool Uncle: Will was this to Freddy and Bonnie Wickes. He even took care of Bonnie when Freddy disappeared. Bonnie Wickes was also the Cool Aunt to Vanna and Vesper Belrose.
• Creepy Child: Vesper Belrose. She speaks in monotone, uses programming terms, and her ghost form has started to physically resemble the Puppet.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Death by spring suit.
  • Death by falling into a hole, breaking your spine, then being Buried Alive.
• Cutting the Knot: When Bonnie Wickes and Jeremy Fitzgerald are fighting for control over the Spring Bonnie suit (and with it, whether or not to spare the Smiling Man's life), the initial options are let him live and go to jail, or kill him and share the space with a third ghost, with all three of them fighting for power. Bonnie realizes she has an advantage over Jeremy and Takes A Third Option: she built the suit and knows how to work it, so she changes Spring Bonnie's codes to lock Jeremy out of control of the suit - and in the event of his death, the Smiling Man as well.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Pretty much every main character:
  • Mike lost his parents at nine, then lost his foster brother a decade later.
  • Vanna lost her twin sister, was forced to grow up in her shadow, was controlled by her mother, and had to cut off her family for her own sanity.
  • The janitor is the last living member of the family that started Fredbear’s...on his side, anyway.
  • The Puppet was created to bring joy, lost its “mother,” is haunted by the Crying Child, had its role shifted to guarding the establishment through questionable means, and it keeps being defeated by the Smiling Man.
  • Bonnie Wickes dealt with being disowned by her family after marrying Freddy, lost her husband, had someone try to steal her work, and was killed by someone she once considered a friend.
• The Darkness Gazes Back: A few times, Mike only sees the animatronic eyes in the dark.
• Dead Person Conversation: The janitor has one with Vesper Belrose. Constantly used whenever Mike or Vanna talks with an animatronic.
• Deadpan Snarker: Mike and Vanna both do this constantly. They even snark at each other at times.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Touched on with Bonnie and Freddy Wickes, a mixed-race couple in The 60s. While being partial minorities themselves (Asian/European), Bonnie's family disowned her for marrying a black man. Bonnie was also denied a job (aside from a secretary) at Afton Robotics because she was a woman.
  • Downplayed with Jeremy Fitzgerald, who suspected he was fired from a job for being gay in The '80s. It was what lead him to take the night shift at Freddy’s.
• Determinator: As in the main canon, Mike Schmidt and Jeremy Fitzgerald for their respective runs at Freddy's and facing the animatronics night after night.
  • The Smiling Man. He's been working on his goal of destroying the restaurant's reputation for over twenty years, and it doesn't matter who he has to hurt or kill to do it.
• Didn't See That Coming: The Smiling Man could account for employees being at Freddy's after-hours. He could account for strange happenings and unreliable programming since he disabled the animatronics so they couldn't assist Mike or turn on him. He could even account for Spring Bonnie being haunted. What couldn't he - or anyone else for that matter - account for? That Spring Bonnie was haunted by two ghosts.
• Dies Wide Open:
  • The janitor explains he found Jeremy's body in this state.
  • Puppet watched the life fade from Bonnie Wickes' eyes as she passed away.
• Disappeared Dad: Vanna's father left her family because he couldn't handle Vesper’s disappearance.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The Smiling Man killed Bonnie Wickes, several children, Jeremy Fitzgerald, and tried to destroy Bonnie's business, all because she didn't reciprocate his advances.
• Distressed Dude:
  • Poor Mike. He gets rescued by Vanna, then Jeremy, then Vanna again. The first time he got saved by Vanna was from Jeremy.
  • The janitor gets locked in the fridge, and has to rely on Vesper and Vanna to get him out.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: It takes Jeremy time to adjust to the Spring Bonnie suit once he fully awakens. He bashes a bathroom stall, breaks a mirror, and almost hurts Mike.
• Door Stopper: The fic clocks in at over 253,000 words.
• Double-Meaning Title: Does “Something Always Remains” refer to the Spring Bonnie suit leftover from the days of Fredbear’s, the murderer still being around, all the further questions about the restaurant's past that come up when one gets solved, or how each of the main characters had something “remaining” in the pizzeria?
• Drowning My Sorrows: Bonnie Wickes is prone to this, and even keeps a locked mini-fridge full of wine for this express purpose. Puppet eventually wisens up to it and hides the fridge key to keep her from drinking again.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady / Lady Looks Like a Dude: Spring Bonnie’s appearance changes based on the timeline. If it’s before 1973, she has long lashes and a purple bow around her right ear. If it’s 1983, the lashes and bow are gone, as she is now replacing the male purple Bonnie for a special event. After that, s/he looks like Springtrap: old, decrepit, and falling apart. This trope is most prominent when Jeremy and Bonnie Wickes are fighting over control of the suit, as presented gender may not match the gender of ghost currently controlling it.
• Dying Alone: It would have been the case for most of the main ghosts if not for the Puppet. This was the case for Freddy Wickes, however.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Every main character.
  • Mike Schmidt: Lost his birth parents, lost his foster brother, goes through a week of hell, is nearly killed by one of his best friends, is beaten by Greg, and fired. Most of it just to get closure about what happened to Jeremy so he can move on.
  • Vanna Belrose: Lost her sister and had a traumatizing accident the same day, grew up in her missing sister's shadow, cut off most of her family for her own sanity, works at a bar to afford her degree, and risks her life to help Mike. She takes over Freddy Fazbear's as Bonnie Wickes' successor.
  • Jeremy Fitzgerald: Murdered in an attempt to frame him for the murders of the missing children, was mentally frozen in the last terrifying moments of his death for six years, trapped in a form that exacerbates his claustrophobia, nearly kills Mike, and has to wrestle Bonnie Wickes - who actually knows how to work the Spring Bonnie suit - to save the man who murdered him. When all is said and done, he is able to properly gain closure with Mike, then crosses over in peace, along with the Wickes couple and the missing children.
  • William Wickes: Lost his nephew and niece-in-law to the business he helped them to build, kept the business and Bonnie's collection out of sentiment, and has been so worn down and mentally affected by everything that's happened that he only just comes in to tidy up, and worse, can't hear Puppet or the others due to it. Then he finds out one of his old friends was behind everything, takes a beatdown, and has to close the business he struggled to keep open. He manages to find a bit of family and reopen once more under new management.
  • The Puppet: originally built to give joy, it was reprogrammed to make hard choices for the betterment of the establishment, witnessed the death of its “mother,” is unable to speak in order to keep her secrets, is haunted by its “mother's” niece, and forced to leave hints and clues to accomplish its goals because of the restrictions placed on it. It constantly failed to stop the Smiling Man, and ends up disassembled in its last battle with him. It gets rebuilt and works alongside Mike and Vanna in the reopen.
  • Bonnie Wickes: Married a black man in The '60s, and was disowned for it. Her husband disappeared, leaving her to run their business alone. She died without finding out what happened to him, and was murdered by a close friend who then made it his mission to destroy her business. She reunites with Freddy before crossing over.
  • Freddy Wickes was buried alive in the building foundation and spent the next twenty-six years figuring out how to control the building's wiring to communicate what happened to him.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Gregory Mortman correctly guesses that the Spring Bonnie suit is haunted based on Mike’s interactions with it. He incorrectly deduces that the ghost he’s currently dealing with is the calmer, more mild-mannered Jeremy Fitzgerald. No one knew there was a second, more vengeful ghost haunting it.
• Exact Words:
  • “Even if it was sitting in the back room right now, there’s not really anything we could do with it.” Mike’s unknowingly right that Fredbear is in the back room. He's also right in that there's nothing he, Vanna, or Jeremy can do with it...but Freddy Wickes can.
  • “She was with someone who truly cared about her in her last moments.” Said with an implication to mean Gregory Mortman, but actually refers to the Puppet.
  • “Maybe it remembers something.” The Spring Bonnie suit does remember something: that its safety controls were tampered with. Also, that Jeremy’s murder wasn’t its first.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The whole story takes place over the course of a week, with the epilogue taking place two years later.
• Evil Plan: Can’t take being rejected by a woman you love? Murder her husband, murder her, then ruin her life’s work.
• Eye Color Change: The Puppet's backlights change from blue to white, depending on whether or not it's running on its own programming or possessed.
• Failure Is the Only Option: The Puppet always gets defeated by the Smiling Man.
• Fainting: Vanna does this whenever she gets too overwhelmed, especially if accompanied by the smell of cake. Mike does it during his final hallucination of being buried alive.
• Family Business: Fredbear's Family Diner was owned by Bonnie Wickes, niece-in-law to William Wickes, who converted it to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza after her death to keep it away from her disowned family, and then gives it over to Bonnie's niece, Vanna Belrose.
• Family of Choice: When Mike lost his parents, he went to live with the Fitzgerald family. While he kept his surname, he's as much a Fitzgerald as any of them.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Bonnie Wickes and Jeremy Fitzgerald are both graphically murdered in the spring suits. A bit more downplayed with Vesper Belrose, who suffocated, and whose final thoughts are revealed, but the actual death isn’t shown.
• Fate Worse than Death:
  • Being trapped in the vessel you died in and unable to communicate.
    • Moreso if you're stuck reliving your death.
  • A potential one gets mentioned: sharing eternity with your murderer.
• The Fettered: As much as they want to see him brought down, Mike, Vanna, the janitor, and Jeremy Fitzgerald draw the line at murder. Bonnie Wickes, however, has no such qualms.
• Figure It Out Yourself: The Puppet refuses to tell Mike about who’s haunting the Spring Bonnie suit, because it believes it’s better for Mike to see it for himself. Slightly justified in that Mike is already questioning his own sanity, and direct proof helps to curb it. Further justified in that Jeremy is still "waking" up and remembering his old life, and that Puppet is forbidden to say anything about Bonnie Wickes or her work, including the Spring Bonnie suit, not that Puppet knows Bonnie Wickes is haunting it.
• First-Name Basis: The janitor refers to Mike as “kid” until Night 4. It takes two more nights for Mike to learn his.
• Flash Back: The main story takes place in 1993, so this is used frequently to touch on events in 1983 and 1987 (both important years in canon), Mike’s current terror compared to how things used to be, Puppet's back story, and what happened to Bonnie Wickes, Vesper Belrose, and Jeremy Fitzgerald.
• Fluffy the Terrible: All of the deadly animatronics have non-threatening names.
• Foil: Mike and Vanna. Mike is short, younger, and is still mourning a tragedy after six years. He has a hard time moving on, adjusting, and is often closed up. He also has/had two loving families. Vanna is tall, older, and has since grieved over her tragedy. She doesn’t let the past affect her as much, and is a lot more open. Her family is broken. Mike’s apartment is barebones and dreary, while Vanna’s is cluttered and full of life.
• Foreshadowing: Almost every chapter has foreshadowing, often for multiple things. The first chapter alone has about four examples. Some of the major ones throughout the story:
  • Vanna is over six feet tall, has olive-gold skin and green eyes, and likes wearing purple. Much like a certain animatronic.
  • Spring Bonnie twitches every time Vanna's name is mentioned.
  • The blond employee in Mike's memories.
  • In the very beginning, Mike notices the animatronics smell weird, particularly when they get too close. At the end of the week, he notices they’ve been cleaned, which hints to something being off.
  • Pay attention to who knows about the rainbow wall, as these characters are tied to Fredbear’s Family Diner.
  • The lights occasionally go out for a few seconds. Because Freddy Wickes is trying to leave the building to go to a new vessel.
  • The video game cabinets randomly turning on are Freddy Wickes learning how to control them so he can make his presence known.
  • The friendship song. The first time it's sung, it’s in a memory with Young Mike and Young Jeremy. When it comes up again, it’s Chica’s way of hinting to Mike why they wanted him to find the Spring Bonnie suit.
  • Mike’s car is referred to by its full model make, an ‘83 Suzuki FX. He shared the car with Jeremy Fitzgerald, and it’s one of the only things left of him after he disappeared.
  • The picture in Waylon's office.
  • The first memory with Johan Schmidt. Foxy saw a tall blond man with light-colored eyes enter the back room alone with a child. A tall blond man with light-colored eyes was responsible for the murders.
  • Johan questions why Bonnie has a girl's name. The character originally was a girl, and named after her creator.
  • Mike has a brief thought that Vanna could fit inside the Spring Bonnie suit. It’s haunted by her aunt, who not only built it, but was a similar size in life.
  • Spring Bonnie’s voice box is a clue that two ghosts are haunting the suit. Jeremy doesn't know how to use the voice box, but the person who built the suit does.
  • When Mike talks with Jeremy about what happened in the six years he’s been gone, Jeremy makes subtle movements after 6am. This is because the Spring Bonnie suit was never programmed with time limitations, and it comes in handy later.
  • “Figured you might remember her and her sister.” Greg does not.
  • The dates, particularly if they're obscured. Due to the Anachronic Order, this sometimes hints to or reveals plot points.
  • There’s a sign warning about video surveillance outside the restaurant. Meant in regards to the cameras, but as Will owns the building, he can place any recording equipment he wants.
  • The ad in the newspaper. It’s still running, which is how Greg enters the story.
  • In 1987, the Smiling Man is wearing a blue shirt instead of purple, allegedly due to being called in last minute. Six years later, Mike uses this trick to ensure the animatronics don't confuse him with Greg, who had to wear purple as he was just coming off the day shift.
  • There's a game by the stage no one likes playing, that little kids in particular tend to avoid. Freddy Wickes is buried nearby.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Most of the animatronics. Becomes a plot point when Mike becomes bothered about Spring Bonnie having five fingers.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Vanna (sanguine), Mike (choleric), the janitor (melancholic), Puppet (phlegmatic).
• A Friend in Need: Vanna and Mike met when he first moved in next door and accidentally entered her apartment instead of his. Vanna noticed his grim demeanor, and “adopted [him] like some lost puppy,” figuring he needed a friend. She was right. Jeremy disappeared the year before, and Mike wasn't handling it well.
• Friend to All Children: The animatronics. This is also the reason the Puppet trusts Mike, and helps him: he protected Jamie Green from his bully of a big brother and prevented him from having his neck snapped.
• Friends Are Chosen, Family Aren't: Vanna cut off most of her family (for good reason), and is closer to Mike than anyone. Seems she picked it up from Aunt Bonnie.
• From Bad to Worse: Mike found out who murdered Jeremy. Turns out the Smiling Man remembers Mike and knows he’s a loose end.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: The Smiling Man is a normal man who was jilted by a woman he loved and made it his mission to destroy everything she ever loved. He is now a feared serial killer.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Bonnie Wickes. Not only did she build the animatronics, she built functional parts like the audio-activation sensors.
• Gas Lighting: Bailey Belrose did this to Vanna to try to convince her Fredbear's never existed.
• Genius Bruiser: Bonnie Wickes built the suit she's trapped in, and knows how to use it effectively.
• Ghost Amnesia: Jeremy Fitzgerald starts out with this, but gets his memories back with some help from the Puppet.
• Ghost Memory: This is how Vanna relives Vesper’s last moments. It’s also how Mike figures out Freddy Wickes was buried alive.
• Ghost Reunion Ending: The missing children, Jeremy Fitzgerald, Vesper Belrose, and Bonnie and Freddy Wickes linger just long enough to thank the Puppet for its assistance in getting them justice.
• Ghostly Goals: The missing children want to “go home.” Bonnie Wickes wants to avenge her murder, and every murder committed on her property. Jeremy wants to ensure Mike is okay. Freddy Wickes wants to be reunited with his wife.
• Genius Loci: The pizzeria. Drawings on the walls change, strange sounds are heard, electronics turn off and on, and strong memories can be re-lived, all of it to lead the protagonists where they need to be. This is because entire building is Freddy Wickes’ vessel.
• Gentle Giant: Freddy’s stage persona is this. Fitting, because he and Fredbear were based off of Freddy Wickes, who was implied to be this in life.
• Get It Over With: Greg Mortman knows there's no way to appease Bonnie Wickes, and he attempts this. Unfortunately for him, Bonnie's in a To the Pain kind of mood.
• Girl Next Door: Vanna is a literal example, though she does exhibit a few associated traits, being Mike's best friend, supportive, a good listener, and pretty blunt about what she thinks of some of Mike's decisions.
• Girlfriend in Canada: This:
  Vanna: Caught up with a girlfriend? Boyfriend, then? Both?
  Mike: Pretty sure one of them’s yours.
  Vanna: And both on a trip to Canada, riding unicorns with Bigfoot.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals:
  • Vanna had stuffed toys of Fredbear and Spring Bonnie that were thrown out when Vesper disappeared. When Vanna finds duplicates, her first instinct is to cuddle them.
  • Bonnie Wickes had a large, commissioned Fredbear given to her as a gift. Like Vanna, she associates it with someone she loved and lost: her husband, Freddy.
  • There's a gender inversion with Mike and his Chica doll.
• Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: All the animatronics show this at some point, but the Puppet has them the most frequently.
• Gold-Colored Superiority:
  • Spring Bonnie isn't bound by the 12am - 6am rule, is shown to possess enough strength to bash in metal walls, and depending on who's currently haunting the suit, is quicker and more deadly than the other animatronics. Bonnie Wickes, one of the ghosts haunting the suit, had gold thread on her polo, and was the only staff member who did. She knows all the inner workings of the suit, including how to change the codes to deny access to Jeremy.
  • Downplayed with Fredbear/Freddy Wickes. He's missing his golden suit and is just an endoskeleton. That said, he's the only one who can keep Bonnie Wickes from her murderous rampage.
• Good Versus Good: Jeremy Fitzgerald and Bonnie Wickes were both kind, friendly people in real life. They were both murdered by the Smiling Man in the Spring Bonnie suit, and are both justified in despising him. Jeremy wants to spare his life and send him to jail. Bonnie, on the other hand, wants him to suffer and die like the rest of his victims. Neither can be faulted for their desired vengeance. Bonnie in particular was not only murdered, but was told on her deathbed that the Smiling Man was going to ruin everything she worked for, and thus more justly feels she has a score to settle.
• Good Parents: Johan and Charlotte Schmidt are shown to be this in flashbacks. Moira and Ronan Fitzgerald were this to both Mike and Jeremy. Mike is still on good terms with them.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Vesper Belrose suffocated, but her body is never shown. Instead, Vanna hears her dying thoughts, experiences her last moments alive, and pieces it together. Mike has a similar experience to piece together Freddy Wickes’ death. Averted with Jeremy Fitzgerald and Bonnie Wickes.
• Guile Hero:
  • Mike uses Waylon’s routine chewing out (even though it's actually Will who shows up when he invokes this) and Foxy's tendency to run to his advantage. He also realizes Greg probably recognizes him and uses himself as bait to trick him into a confession. Later, he picks up on the fact that Greg saw through Vanna's disguise and kicks him out of the office while Greg's still off-guard enough to not pay attention to him.
  • Vanna quickly figures out what's wrong with Mike, is usually the first of the two of them to pick up on a minor detail, uses her makeup skills and snippets of what Will told her - like the “Freddy-bear” nickname - to fool Greg into thinking she's her aunt, invokes the building's weirdness to remember her accident, and almost convinces Bonnie Wickes to spare Greg's life.
• Hallucinations: Happens to Mike with increasing frequency as the week goes on. Comes to a head when he has them away from the building. Vanna starts having them just before she joins Mike on the night shift.
• Happily Adopted: Mike considers Ronan and Moira Fitzgerald as his surrogate parents, and still has a good relationship with them. He also considered Jeremy a brother, to the point his disappearance took a heavy toll on him.
• Happily Married: Charlotte and Johan Schmidt, Moira and Ronan Fitzgerald, Freddy and Bonnie Wickes. Subverted with Vanna's parents, who separated after Vesper disappeared and never reconciled.
• He Knows Too Much: Jeremy didn't realize it at the time of making his journal entry, but this was one reason Greg targeted him.
• Heroes' Frontier Step: Jeremy Fitzgerald had every reason to let Bonnie Wickes take out Greg Mortman. He fights her instead to spare Greg’s life.
• Heroic BSoD: Bonnie Wickes goes through a short one when she realizes her husband has been with her this whole time.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The Puppet gets shut down in its attempt to save the janitor.
• Hey, You!: The janitor refers to Mike as “kid” until he's earned his staying power after Night 4. Downplayed with Greg, who calls him, “son” at times.
• Hidden Villain: The Smiling Man isn’t revealed to be Gregory Mortman until about two thirds of the way through the story.
• Hope Spot: “Hold on, Bon. I can’t loosen the locks, or you’ll bleed out.” Right before the Smiling Man removes one of the spring locks to make Bonnie Wickes bleed out faster, then adds, “Like this.”
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Downplayed. When Jeremy-haunting-Spring Bonnie has a crisis after remembering his last night alive, Mike, having pieced together what happened to him, goes to assist. Jeremy only recognizes Mike's uniform, which he takes to be the Smiling Man. This almost gets Mike killed as he tries to get through to Jeremy. He finally gets the idea to cry out, “It's me! Mike!” which stalls Jeremy long enough for Vanna to bean him with the spare cupcake.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: While going over some photo albums, Bonnie Wickes starts to pour herself another glass of wine, then forgoes the glass to drink straight from the bottle.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Bailey Belrose wears her hair in its natural waves; Bonnie Wickes preferred to straighten hers.
• If We Get Through This…: ...Vanna wants to visit Will and know more about his side of the family.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Downplayed. Jeremy reminds Bonnie Wickes that if she kills Greg, there will be more blood on her creations. He quickly abandons this argument in favor of pointing out that there isn't enough room in the Spring Bonnie suit for three ghosts.
• I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why: Vanna when she starts to more clearly remember the night Vesper disappeared.
• Improbable Weapon User: Vanna has an affinity for throwing chairs. The chairs in-general get used by various characters as weapons, because they’re readily available, but Vanna is particularly prone to using them.
• Informed Conversation: Anytime Mike and Vanna catch each other up on events, as well as Mike, Vanna, and Will coming up with an offscreen plan to take care of the Smiling Man.
• Inhuman Human: Bonnie Wickes and Jeremy Fitzgerald qualify, but it especially applies to Vesper, who was actively (as opposed to dormant) combined with her vessel for so long, she began to take on its traits.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: The Puppet has these when it's running solely on its own programming and not when Vesper is sharing control - then it has white pinpricks. This is especially shown in flashbacks with Bonnie Wickes.
• Interclass Friendship: A few.
  • Bonnie Wickes was friends with Greg Mortman before she started Fredbear's Family Diner and hired him on as an employee. Emphasis on was.
  • Bonnie Wickes had this with Will, too. He might have been family, but like with Greg, she was also his boss.
  • Mike forms one with William Wickes. At first glance, they seem to be on equal footing aside from seniority. But Will owns the building, which means every employee is under him, including the manager, Waylon.
• Interspecies Friendship: A lot of human characters form them with the animatronics. The Puppet forms one with pretty much every main character except Greg.
• It's All About Me: Everything the Smiling Man does is for selfish reasons. Murdered Freddy Wickes? To try to make a move on his wife. Murdered Bonnie Wickes? Because she rejected him. The missing children? To ruin everything Bonnie built because it reminds him of her. Murdered Jeremy? To have a scapegoat. Came back? To ensure Freddy Fazbear’s was done once and for all.
• It's Personal: One of the Smiling Man’s motives for the murders. Also the reason why all the other characters band together to stop him
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • The janitor starts off gruff and uncaring, but as the week goes on, he shows legitimate concern for Mike, and later reveals that they're no different when it comes to facing tragedy at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.
  • Waylon Kent is a belligerent, penny-pinching manager who gets pissed at employees being on the property even a few minutes after their shift, but he doesn't want to see them hurt or killed.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: The Smiling Man gets away with, in order: burying a man alive, killing his wife, letting a little girl suffocate, killing several other children, and murdering a security guard. He gets his comeuppance after roughly twenty years since his first crime when the ghosts of his victims take their vengeance and play a major part in his arrest.
• Kick the Dog: Killing kids is bad enough, as is putting someone in a spring suit, but reminding the victim they shouldn’t have even been here today, or telling them their legacy is about to be destroyed is a special kind of evil.
• Killed Offscreen: The missing children, Mike's parents, and Freddy Wickes. Even when Vanna and Mike experienced Vesper's and Freddy Wickes’ deaths firsthand, they were implied. Averted with Bonnie Wickes and Jeremy Fitzgerald, who both get gory descriptions of their on-screen deaths. Bonnie gets hers shown twice.
• Lack of Empathy: The Smiling Man. It's even briefly mentioned that at times, he seems to ponder over showing the correct reaction.
• Lampshade Hanging: “After everything you just told me, why in the blazes do you keep coming back?”
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Bonnie Wickes couldn’t have kids, so she opened Fredbear’s Family Diner to at least make them happy, and enjoyed being around her nieces. Puppet is implied to be a surrogate child of sorts.
• Madness Mantra:
  • Downplayed. Mike tells himself, “it's only a toy” to get through his second night. It helps him face off Foxy, who terrified him as a child.
  • “This isn't my face” is this for Spring Bonnie when she starts to realize “she” is a “he” who used to be human.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Ghosts can only work within their vessel's limitations, which is why the ghosts are mostly active from 12am - 6am. Imagine having the building as your vessel.
• Maligned Mixed Marriage: Bonnie Wickes, whose family is mixed Asian and European, fell in love with Freddy, a black man, in The '60s. The fallout on Bonnie's side drives one of the subplots.
• Manipulative Bastard: The Smiling Man shows shades of this to get Mike to stop looking for Jeremy and gets another employee to leave him alone with Bonnie Wickes to ensure her demise.
• Manly Tears: Mike has numerous crying scenes, but it doesn’t diminish him.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • The “only a toy” conversation. Mike’s father uses it to comfort him after Foxy scares him. Mike later uses it to ease Jamie’s fears of the animatronics. It doesn't work.
  • Vanna says she strong-armed herself into Mike’s life. Much later, Mike says she strong-armed her way into joining him on the night shift.
  • Before Vesper disappeared, she told Vanna that, “you won tag, I get to hide.” In the end, Vesper “tags” Vanna and tells her she won hide-and-seek.
  • “Freddy-beeeeear!” The first time, Bonnie Wickes is holding a teddy bear meant to represent her husband. The second time, she’s gotten him back, in a way, and even as a bear! ...Well, the bear's endoskeleton, at least.
  • “I'm [the] older [brother]. I have to be [right]”.
  • “I’ll always protect you.”
• Meaningful Name:
  • Gregory Mortman. “Gregory” means “watchful and alert.” “Mort” is “death” in French. Watch out for the death man.
  • Vanna means “gold,” and she has a lot to do with the golden Fredbear animatronics.
  • Vesper is just “esper” with a V. An esper is an individual capable of telepathy and other paranormal abilities. Pretty fitting for a ghost. Also, “vesper” refers to the evening. She died in a way that greatly resembles falling asleep, and is usually active at night.
  • A wick is the part of a candle that holds the flame when lit. Freddy Wickes’ disappearance lit the “flame” of events, Bonnie Wickes kept their dream “alight” after, and William Wickes “picked up the torch”. His “flame” is dying, and finally goes out with the old generation when Vanna takes over.
• Mirror Monologue: More like mirror inner monologue, but both Mike and Spring Bonnie do this.
• Morality Chain: Freddy Wickes is the only reason that Bonnie Wickes doesn't outright murder the Smiling Man.
• Motive Rant: Greg Mortman goes into one to justify his murder of Bonnie Wickes.
  “I didn't know what to do! Freddy was dead. Everyone knew it! You wouldn't even give me a chance! You'd rather be drunk and miserable than happy with me!”
• Mr. Exposition: The janitor takes this role in one chapter when he explains the fallout from Bonnie and Freddy Wickes' marriage, and the series of events that it lead to.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Poor Freddy Wickes.
• The Name Is Bond, James Bond: Even references the Trope Namer:
  Greg: “Gonna leave me hanging, Mr…?”
  Mike: “...Sorry. Long night. Er, Schmidt. Mike Schmidt.”
  Greg: “You certainly look shaken, but not stirred, Mr. Schmidt.”
  Mike: “Ha. Funny guy.”
  Greg: “I try to be.”
• Near-Villain Victory: The animatronics are disabled, Will is incapacitated, Mike has been beaten to the point he can barely move, and in a few more seconds, Vanna will suffocate, then the other two will be easy to deal with. Looks like the Smiling Man’s going to come out on top. But none of the characters could predict Bonnie Wickes’ timely awakening.
• Never a Self-Made Woman: Averted. Bonnie Wickes had help from her husband, Freddy, and her uncle-in-law, Will, but Freddy disappeared just as construction for the building was underway, and while Will helped with construction and management, he makes it clear it was her dream and her show, and gives her all the credit for the restaurant's success.
• Never My Fault: The Smiling Man takes no responsibility for his numerous murders, and instead blames Bonnie Wickes for rejecting him.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Jeremy thought winding the box kept him safe. It actually prevented the Puppet from helping him, and ensured Greg's success in killing him.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Greg chokes Vanna, which cause Mike to cry out her name with enough urgency that Bonnie Wickes is summoned to kick Greg’s ass.
• Nightmare Sequence: Mike's first clue that there's a golden rabbit hidden in Freddy's. He later has another one about clocks, which is a hint to what happened to Jeremy.
• Not Good with Rejection: The Smiling Man killed Bonnie Wickes because she turned him down.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Happens a few times, particularly in earlier chapters, such as the first night when Mike freaks himself out over nothing, when the Puppet becomes active on Night 3 and while they move around, they don't do anything to attack him, when Bonnie sneaks into the office on the same night, and then on Night 5, when Mike again thinks he's alone and realizes the Puppet slipped in without him noticing.
• Not His Sled: Several times:
  • Mike Schmidt and Jeremy Fitzgerald are both guards and separate people, a popular fan theory in early days of fandom before canon confirmed them as aliases. They're not only separate people, but related as foster brothers.
  • The Bite of ‘83 has Mike saving Jamie (the Crying Child in that game) from getting his neck snapped by Fredbear.
  • The Bite of ‘87 is implied to be Jeremy Fitzgerald at first, as was a popular fan theory. The victim was a woman unrelated to any of the characters. Mike was there to witness the aftermath.
  • Puppet is haunted by a little girl related to the owner. Here, she’s the owner's niece, not daughter. Also, the owner is a woman.
  • Spring Bonnie/Springtrap is found behind the wall in the first game's location. The suit is empty, meaning Purple Guy is still alive.
  • The spring-lock suits can't get wet, or they'll snap. This is just a cover story to hide the fact the suits were tampered with.
  • Golden Freddy appears. He has a deep, friendly laugh instead of a little girl's giggle, because here, he's a representation of Freddy Wickes.
  • Security Puppet is Puppet’s final form after Vesper leaves it, instead of its first form when Charlie begins to haunt it.
  • Afton Robotics is a rival company that Greg intended to sell Bonnie Wickes’ work to, and aside from that, has little effect on the plot. It went under before he got the chance.
  • William is not an Afton, or the Purple Guy/Smiling Man.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Like in the games, if you take your eyes off an animatronic, they can get closer in seconds. One particular scene plays with this trope, however: the Smiling Man chases the Puppet under a table, and finds they disappeared. Figuring his prey simply slipped under the table cloth on the other side, the Smiling Man immediately looks across the table and to the hallway on one side and the video games on the other. With no discernable place for the Puppet to logically go, he finds them when he looks up in time to see the Puppet lunge for him. Justified in that the Smiling Man doesn't know the Puppet is haunted, or that it can get to the ceiling due to it.
• Offstage Villainy: Most of the children's deaths aren't shown, and Gwen mentions a cousin of hers disappeared near Freddy's.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When Jeremy Fitzgerald realizes he's trapped in the Spring Bonnie suit, and those spring locks are about to pop...
  • When Jeremy tells Mike who the Smiling Man is.
  • The Smiling Man when Bonnie Wickes shows up. Both her decoy and the real one.
• Once More, with Clarity: Bonnie Wickes’ death is shown twice: the first time is in the Puppet's perspective, where the actual snapping was implied to be an accident, with Greg taking the opportunity to get vengeance. The second time is in Spring Bonnie's view, after a memory in her database showed the suit had actually been tampered with prior.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Vanna thinks Vesper’s leading her to her hiding place. It turns out Vesper wasn’t actually talking to her at all; Vanna was simply hearing her last dying thoughts.
• OneLiner:
  • “Welcome to the night shift, asshole!”
  • “Have a seat!”
    • “Ladies first!”
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, as there are numerous Chicas, Freddies, and Bonnies. There’s a reason why Bonnie and Freddy Wickes are referred to with their surname in every trope they appear in.
  • There is some minor In-Universe confusion at times when the Wickes couple make their respective appearances.
• Open-Minded Parent: Moira and Ronan are very accepting that their biological son, Jeremy was gay, and tease Mike about his preferences in partners (though he insists his current relationship is platonic). Moira also seems a little confused, but accepting about Vanna being asexual.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Ghosts can only interact with the world through a vessel, and they can only do what their vessels can do. Which sucks when your vessel is a building. Good thing they can share vessels and move around with enough effort, though only one ghost at a time can take control.
• Out of Job, into the Plot: Mike was let go from a previous job and was searching for a new one when he stumbled upon the Freddy's ad.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Ronan and Moira Fitzgerald. Downplayed with Bailey Belrose, Bonnie Wickes’ parents, and the parents of the missing children.
• Parental Abandonment: Mike's parents were killed in a car crash. He was later adopted by the Fitzgeralds.
• Parental Favoritism: Bailey Belrose preferred Vesper over Vanna.
• Phone Call from the Dead: Phone Guy, but also Freddy Wickes and Jeremy Fitzgerald.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Mike and Vanna. Will had a similar relationship with Bonnie Wickes.
• Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: During the week, Puppet steals two photographs from Mike's wallet. The first is revealed to be Vanna at a club. The second is never shown, and the subject never mentioned until Puppet shows it to Spring Bonnie to jog the memory of the ghost inside, because it's a picture of said ghost: Jeremy Fitzgerald.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: The Smiling Man is calm and methodical. Mike has an attitude and swears like a sailor.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The Smiling Man is a misogynist, and implied to be a reformed racist.
• Posthumous Character: Johan and Charlotte Schmidt.
• Pragmatic Villainy: The Smiling Man doesn’t keep a constant presence at Freddy Fazbear’s so he won’t be looked at as a suspect, and to retain his good image as an longtime Fazbear employee. He initially leaves Mike alone when he comes looking for Jeremy because the place is crawling with cops. He spares William Wickes temporarily with the intent of killing Mike and framing Will for the murder.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: “But you're going to wish he was.”
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: “Where’s. My. Freddy-bear?”
• Purple Is Powerful:
  • As in the games, the Smiling Man (Purple Guy) wears...purple.
  • The Puppet is a superior animatronic to the others, and has purple lines on its face.
  • Downplayed with Bonnie, who's the only animatronic who gets close to (intentionally) killing Mike.
• Pursuing Parental Perils: Played with. Mike and Vanna both do this, but in regards to their brother and aunt, respectively, not their parents.
• Rage Against the Reflection: When Spring Bonnie realizes what s/he actually is.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Bonnie Wickes built Fredbear's Family Diner, and she does not hesitate to put the Smiling Man in his place.
• Real Men Hate Affection: Averted with the Fitzgerald men. Mike and Jeremy aren't afraid to hug and cry when they're reunited, and Ronan Fitzgerald has no shame in giving Mike a quick hug when he comes home. Played straight with the janitor, particularly when he tells Mike he found Jeremy's body and when he reunites with Bonnie and Freddy Wickes.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Mike kept his old Chica toy, and even cuddles it while reading the journal.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Greg attempts this by pointing out Bonnie Wickes would rather be drunk and mourning Freddy than happy with him. Bonnie tells him she’d rather be alive.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Bonnie has red eyes, and of all the animatronics, got the closest to taking out Mike. Twice.
• Red Herring: A few.
  • William isn't an Afton, or the Smiling Man/Purple Guy.
  • Bonnie Wickes shows up as a ghost. Turns out it's Vanna disguised as her. Subverted when Bonnie Wickes shows up for real.
  • The spring-lock suits were activated by moisture... in theory. This was actually a cover story because the safety features were tampered with.
  • The first time the “red oil” is seen, it’s initially played off to be from Jeremy’s murder. It’s actually footage from Bonnie Wickes’. Look at what’s left of the errored-out dates on the timestamp and compare it to Bonnie’s murder flashback.
  • Johan Schmidt is this In-Universe. Foxy knows the Smiling Man is tall, blond, and has light-colored eyes. He follows Johan to protect Mike.
  • Mike's tape recorder.
  • The ghost speech. Ghosts can only talk to Mike and Vanna through a telepathic connection, represented in italics, until they're freed from their vessels, then they can be heard by anyone. The red herring comes into play in that Vesper appears outside of her vessel first, speaking in quotes like the living characters instead of in italics. This allows the audience to think Bonnie Wickes left her vessel too, allowing Vanna to fool the audience along with Mike, Will, and Greg.
  • The flickering lights and electronics that randomly turn on and off appear to be controlled by Bonnie Wickes. They’re actually being controlled by her husband.
  • On the last night, the car doors are left unlocked, and every entrance is open for a wee quick getaway. None of them get used.
• Red Is Heroic:
  • Vanna has a red coat.
  • Bonnie Wickes and Vanna both wear Bonnie's red polo. Both of them do their part to take down the Smiling Man.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Vanna is the red to Mike's blue. Their final battle outfits even make this literal.
• Related in the Adaptation: Mike Schmidt and Jeremy Fitzgerald are foster brothers.
• Relative Button: Do not threaten Bonnie Wickes’ nieces.
• Reminiscing About Your Victims: The Smiling Man does this combined with Would You Like to Hear How They Died? regarding Jeremy, and subtly about Bonnie Wickes when he’s choking Vanna, who at the moment, looks just like her.
• Robbing the Dead: Well, soon-to-be dead in this case, but it's how Greg acquires Freddy Wickes' wedding ring.
• Robot Names: Puppet in this verse is also known as P.U.P.P.E.T., which stands for Protocol Unit for Personality Performance Engagement Test.
• Say My Name: Mike does this when Greg hurts Vanna. It prompts Bonnie Wickes to finally wake up properly.
• Scary Teeth: In-Universe. Mike and Jamie don’t like Foxy’s sharp teeth.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The janitor agrees to keep quiet about Vanna joining Mike on the night shift.
• Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: Mike's whole reason for working at Freddy's was to find out what happened to Jeremy. After six years, he's the only one holding out any hope that he may still be alive.
• Shared Family Quirks: Vanna likes to tinker and rebuild electronics, cut off most of her family, is making her own way in life, and has a trusted, platonic male companion by her side. Just like Aunt Bonnie.
• Shout-Out:
  • There's a brief mention of “the Tim Burton film with the freaky Christmas toys”.
  • Walt Disney having a park full of animatronics that can't walk by themselves.
  • Mike had Alice Cooper posters as a teen.
  • Mike and Jeremy dressed as Jason Voorhees for one Halloween.
    • Some Fridge Brilliance in that Jeremy died on Friday the 13.
  • One of the Freddy's locations became a Laser Tag.
  • Vanna takes apart toys and appliances in her spare time to learn how they work. Two of the toys she takes apart are Teddy Ruxpin and Mickey Mouse.
  • Mike refers to Bonnie as a "bunny bastard bitch".
  • To some of the games/characters/features that (mostly) aren’t plot important:
    • Vanna collects ballerina figures. One of them looks a bit like Ballora.
    • The janitor mentions the first concept for the place was going to have a circus theme. He later shows Vanna the blueprints for it. They’re based off the actual blueprints from Sister Location.
    • Security Puppet.
    • Afton Robotics.
    • The audio-activation sensors from Ballora's blueprints come into play.
    • Mike’s father calls him, “sport.” At the end of the first game, you’re told, “Good job, sport! See you next week!” when you get your first paycheck.
    • Waylon sarcastically offers Mike $0.50 to fix the fuses after his shift. In the first game, you earn $0.50 for overtime.
    • The date of the memory where Puppet wakes after Bonnie Wickes dies is August 8. It’s the anniversary of the first game.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Bonnie Wickes calls out the Smiling Man's Love Makes You Evil / "The Reason You Suck" Speech by pointing out he murdered her.
• Significant Name Shift: After Night Four, the janitor stops referring to Mike as "kid" and starts using his name.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Mike’s favorite word is “fuck”. Vanna isn’t too far behind him.
• Speech Impediment: Bonnie’s programmed with a small stutter. Exaggerated with Spring Bonnie whenever Bonnie Wickes speaks. She uses a broken speaker, so her speech stutters, breaks, repeats, and goes into radio static.
• The Speechless: The Puppet was programmed to be this, as it's the only animatronic without a voice box. It can only speak to Mike and Vanna while Vesper haunts it, and only because they have the right mindset to hear it. It loses this ability when it gets dismantled and Vesper is freed.
• Spit Take:
  • Mike does this when Vanna mentions nothing happens on the night shift.
  • Vanna spits out her coffee when Mike tells her he knows who murdered Jeremy.
• Spiteful Will: Bonnie Wickes left pictures of herself and her animatronics flipping off the viewer and her last name with the W written larger than any other letter as a direct "fuck you" to any relatives attempting to contest her will.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: The Smiling Man only really raises his voice when he’s in pain.
• Sorrowful Stutter: Happens when Vanna is telling Mike about Vesper, when the janitor tells Mike and Vanna about Bonnie Wickes, again when Mike and Jeremy are discussing the aftermath of Jeremy's disappearance, and once more when the janitor tells Puppet Bonnie Wickes isn’t coming back.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Mike Schmidt and the janitor.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Bonnie Wickes’ family wanted her to marry a nice, non-black man and give up computers. She was denied a job at Afton Robotics for being a woman. Downplayed with Vanna in that her mother wanted her to have a “safe” career, and even better, get married. Both women give these suggestions two middle fingers.
• Stealth Expert: As in the game, Balloon Boy never appears on-camera. The main four animatronics except Foxy show varying shades of this.
• Stealth Insult: “She was with someone who truly cared about her in her last moments.” The way Will says it to is meant to imply he's talking about Greg, who was the last human to see Bonnie Wickes alive. At this point, Will knows, or at least suspects, that Greg murdered her. Will is actually referring to the Puppet, who did everything it could to help Bonnie, was devoted to her, and was by her side when she passed away.
• Stealth Pun: The games are called Five Nights at Freddy's. The building is haunted by Freddy Wickes, making this a literal case of spending five nights at Freddy's.
  • Jeremy's watch belonged to his grandfather, literally making it "My Grandfather's Clock" - Puppet's theme and the song the music box plays.
• Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: All of the animatronics except the Puppet. Puppet is an exception because it was directly programmed to guard Bonnie Wickes’ work and vision.
• Tears of Fear: Jeremy Fitzgerald when he realizes he's trapped with the Smiling Man, and then when he wakes up in the Spring Bonnie suit.
• Tears of Joy: Bonnie Wickes is prone to this, particularly after receiving a large teddy bear as a “gift” from her missing husband and finding out her missing husband has always, in a way, been with her, but other characters have done it too.
• Tempting Fate: “It's not like he's going to just walk through that do—”
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Vanna is a large, tall woman, while Mike is small and wiry.
• To the Pain: Bonnie Wickes isn't shy about pointing out she not only has control over the Spring Bonnie suit, but she can drag out Greg's death as long as she wants so long as she doesn't hit anything important.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: In an attempt to force Vanna to forget Fredbear's ever existed, Bailey Belrose told Vanna that her sister was taken by angels, and heralded Vesper as the “perfect” twin. Naturally, Vanna despised how her sister became “this weird deity” in the Belrose household, and was treated as second best by not only her own mother, but the rest of her relatives.
• Took a Level in Badass: Several characters.
  • Mike starts out as an Action Survivor. By the end, he utilizes his knowledge of Freddy Fazbear's to remain a step ahead of the Smiling Man, and even kicks him out of the security office.
    Mike: Welcome to the night shift, asshole!
  • Vanna the second she joins Mike on the night shift and proves to be a formidable ally.
  • The Puppet once Bonnie Wickes directly programs it to intervene and keep her life's work safe. From that moment on, it becomes the Smiling Man's greatest foe.
  • The janitor, normally content to keep to himself and just clean up the messes around Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, including the ones involving the numerous tragedies, gains one when he directly confronts the Smiling Man.
  • Jeremy Fitzgerald, a normally polite and caring young man who couldn't really defend himself the night he died, freaked out when he realized his undead fate, and feared the Smiling Man even in death pulls a Big Damn Heroes moment when he saves Mike from the Smiling Man by picking him up and throwing him out of the room, then practically dares him to try again. He then fights Bonnie Wickes to spare the Smiling Man's life.
  • Bonnie Wickes. After her death, she took a level when she finally got vengeance on her murderer, utilized her full knowledge of the Spring Bonnie suit to her advantage, and took control of the other animatronics.
• Tragic Keepsake:
  • Mike has his old Chica toy and Jeremy’s journal.
  • Vanna's living room is full of them: a lot of the ballerina trinkets cluttering her shelves belonged to Vesper.
  • The janitor has a room in his house full of these as well, as a good chunk of his Fredbear/Fazbear collection belonged to Bonnie Wickes, particularly the stuffed bear he commissioned for her, and masks of Fredbear and Spring Bonnie. Given how things went, the entire Fazbear building, and even the Puppet may count as well.
• True Blue Femininity:
  • Vesper Belrose died while wearing a light blue party dress. Many of her and Vanna’s ballerina trinkets have blue coloring, in reference to Ballora, who has a blue/pink color scheme.
  • Vanna’s photo, which is a prominent plot point, has her wearing a blue club dress.
  • The Vanna sketch and the ballerina card representing the Belrose twins have their female subjects wearing blue.
• Trying Not to Cry: Mike and Vanna both do this at some point.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Mike, Vanna and William. For a short while, there was also Mike, Vanna, and Jeremy.
• Twofer Token Minority: Vanna is a threefer, being mixed-race, female, and asexual. Her Aunt Bonnie and her twin sister, Vesper, count as well, both being mixed-race and female.
  • Gwen Carlisle is a black woman.
• The Un-Favorite: Vanna is this in her family. Downplayed with Bonnie Wickes, who wasn't so much The Un-Favorite as she was a disappointment.
• The Un Fettered:
  • The Smiling Man will hurt anyone who gets in his way.
  • As mentioned above, Bonnie Wickes has no qualms with taking his life. Her husband is the only reason she backs down.
• Unfinished Business: A Heartwarming example: after being freed, all the ghosts continue to exist until the Puppet is rebuilt so they can thank it for its efforts in saving them before disappearing to the afterlife.
• Unknown Relative: Vanna doesn’t know that the janitor is her great-uncle.
• Unnecessarily Creepy Robot: Invoked In-Universe. Mike wasn't bothered by any of the animatronics as a child, but as as adult, he wonders how he ever got close to them.
• Un-person: Vanna's family did this to not only Bonnie Wickes, but her entire life's work and her husband's side of the family.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Defied. Mike, Vanna, and William Wickes come up with a plan off-screen. It goes pear-shaped before it can even be executed.
• Use Your Head: The Puppet's preferred method of attack.
• Villainous Breakdown: The Smiling Man starts his when Will calls him out for Vesper and Bonnie's deaths, disassembles the Puppet, beats down Will and Mike, has a momentary freak-out when he sees Bonnie Wickes Back from the Dead, chokes her doppelganger, has the real Bonnie Wickes imprison him in the Spring Bonnie suit, berates her for not going out with him, gets told why he's a terrible person, gets a few limbs broken, and is then barely conscious when the police and ambulance take him away.
• Villainous Crush: Greg Mortman to Bonnie Wickes.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: In-Universe.
  • Vanna is briefly confused to learn Spring Bonnie was originally a girl.
  • In a flashback, Mike wonders if Toy Bonnie's redesign is an attempt to allay this.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Mike pukes on-screen twice: the first time after a near-miss from Foxy, and the second time in a Flash Back after seeing the results of the Bite of ‘87. The janitor almost does after Bonnie Wickes breaks the Smiling Man’s arm.
• Walking Spoiler: Jeremy Fitzgerald, Vesper Belrose, Bonnie and Freddy Wickes.
• We Would Have Told You, But...: Vanna kept her plan secret from Mike and Will so they would think she actually was Bonnie Wickes long enough to help Greg to buy it. It worked. Mike’s genuine shock at seeing her convinced Greg that Vanna was Bonnie just long enough to kick him out of the security office and lock him out.
• Wham Line:
  • “...Mom?”
  • “ Freddy was my nephew, and...that’s how I got wrapped up in all this.”
  • “ Jeremy Fitzgerald isn't here right now. But you're going to wish he was.”
• What Happened to the Mouse?: What happened to Jeremy Fitzgerald’s and Vesper Belrose’s bodies? Vesper’s is implied to have at least been put in a bag and taken somewhere, if Chica’s memory of the event is anything to go by.
• What Have I Become?: Jeremy Fitzgerald has this reaction after realizing he's haunting Spring Bonnie.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Mike says this almost word for word to Vanna after she blatantly and unapologetically steals something from the janitor.
• Whispering Ghosts: Happens a few times, particularly during hallucinations and building weirdness.
• Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Hard drives from the 60s - 70s realistically wouldn't be able to hold years of data and video, yet somehow, the Puppet manages. Can be Hand Waved as Bonnie Wickes’ inventions were ahead of Walt Disney, so her hard drives might have had more holding capabilities, or Puppet knew what to sort out as insignificant. Slightly justified with Spring Bonnie, as s/he was only active for short intervals at a time.
• Woman Scorned: Rare male example. Greg Mortman isn't too happy about being spurned by Bonnie Wickes, who he thought he had a chance with. He murders her, her husband, several children, Jeremy Fitzgerald, and is on a mission to destroy the restaurant she built just because she rejected him.
• Would Harm a Senior: The Smiling Man has no problem beating down William Wickes.
• Would Hit a Girl: The Smiling Man watches as Bonnie Wickes chokes on the spring locks, knew Vesper was trapped in the Puppet’s box and did nothing, and choked Vanna after beating her with a chair.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Smiling Man killed several children. Man, is there anyone he won’t harm?
• Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: The Smiling Man does this to Mike once he has him on the ground and informs him he’ll be sharing a similar fate to Jeremy’s.
• Your Makeup Is Running: Vanna's mascara runs at least twice. So does Bonnie Wickes’ when she gets into a drunken fit after finding out someone was trying to steal her work.

---