Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Garret ran with a smile next to his toy plane, and Charlie was at his side laughing happily as she followed him.

Mike gave a goofy smile as he watched them. He loved Pine Valley, it was so full of life and had so many trees compared to Hurricane which was almost completely desert, it was worth the hour long drive to get here.

A noise caught his attention, and he turned in time to see his mother using up his entire supply of ketchup.

“How about some burger with that ketchup?” Henry asked mockingly as he flipped one of the meats, Mike had been so happy that he came with them camping, his uncle always made things more cheerful.

“Ha, ha.” The woman laughed sarcastically, it was one thing she and Mike had in common: sarcasm , but when she did it, most people found it charming. “Everything’s better swimming in ketchup.” She replied and then turned to her son and gave him a wink. “Right, Mike?”

The boy smiled wider as he poured the rest of the bottle onto his burger himself, they both liked to put way too much ketchup on everything they could as it made everything spicy and sweet at the same time, it was their thing.

“Oh no.” His mom said after accidentally knocking over a can of cola, it wasn’t coke, he remembers very well that it was one of those brands that were ‘no brand’ that his uncle had smuggled them in from work. “Henry, pass me the rag next to you.” He remembers the man following the order by putting the spatula aside, it almost fell when he turned to pass the trap to his mother, but he caught it at the last minute.

“You almost got away.” His uncle said, causing his mom to roll her eyes in amusement.

At this point Mike was done with his burger and ran off to play with his friends. “Garrett! Charlie! Don’t go so far!” His mother had yelled, he remembers looking back slightly and seeing both his brother and cousin nodding before running off in the direction of the camping tent.

A frisbee almost hit Mike while he was distracted.

“Why didn't you catch it, Becky?”

“This is why I told you guys that we shouldn't let the girls play!”

“Shut up Dennis!”

Mike had leaned over to pick up the frisbee, then looked up and saw his friends pouting at each other, their parents had agreed to let them come since they were all considered ‘big kids’ now (although it was more so because there would be two adults, but let the kids have their little lies), and sometimes he was surprised at how well he could remember their faces.

The boy in the middle quickly noticed him and started waving his arm frantically with a smile. “Mike! You finally stopped shoveling insane amounts of ketchup and are you coming to play?” He said, causing the other two to notice the kid.

Mike gave a cheeky grin at his friend's comment, but as he was about to respond, he heard voices arguing loudly, and as he turned around, he was met with the sight of his brother Garret watching him from the back of a purple Fairmont, next to his mother crying at the picnic table-

Then the alarm went off.

Mike was moving quickly around his house, no matter how many times he woke up at six in the morning, he somehow always found a way to still be late every day.

“Abby, it’s time to wake up!” The adult said as soon as he entered the room, his gaze went to the perfectly made and forgotten bed, so with some regret he turned to the far corner where a small pillow fort and some feet stuck out. Many mornings he wondered why he even bought a bed (mattresses are expensive). “Abby, we have to hurry, you only have 5 minutes.” Through the folds of the sheet he could see how the girl closed her eyes tightly, making the older boy snort. “I already told you, closing your eyes won’t make you invisible .” That made the black-haired girl open her eyelids to pout, but then she narrowed them pointing at her older brother’s head. “And wishing my head would explode won’t give you laser vision .”

“You’re mean, Mike.” Abby replied, causing the boy to freeze in place for a moment, but he composed himself when his sister spoke again. “Why do I have to go to school?”

The adult took a moment to sigh tiredly as he looked at the girl. “Abby, we talked about this-”

“No, you talked about this.” The girl replied back, crossing her arms as she glared at the older boy.

“And what did I say?”

“… That if I didn't go to school, I would grow donkey ears like Pinocchio.”

“Exactly, and you don't want to grow donkey ears, right?” the brown-haired boy asked, raising his eyebrow.

The girl looked at him with a worried expression, and for a second the older boy let himself believe that his little threat had worked. “Mike, you do know that that movie is actually fictional, right?”

<<Forget it, it's just a failure.>>The adult thought to himself with disappointment, he questioned himself about how he had obtained such challenging sisters in his life, but the only common denominator was himself, so it was probably his fault. “5 minutes, hurry up.” He let out a sigh, storing his thoughts in a box.

They ended up leaving 15 minutes after the initial 5, since Mike made sure that Abby ate at least a little.

They both got into their car and the boy drove as fast as he could (possibly breaking several traffic laws) until they reached Abby's school, it was one of the few that had a psychologist who actually graduated in child psychology. The girl made a face and went inside without saying goodbye to Mike, but he tried not to think about it too much by putting his feelings in his mental box, and instead he hurried off to work.

“Sorry I’m late.” Mike said as he put on the last part of his uniform as quickly as he could.

“It’s okay, I’ve already taken your orders from tables 4 and 5, will be on the short end, but 6 will take a little longer.” His partner replied, handing him what he supposed was his own notebook along with a chewed pen.

“Thanks, Ness. You’re a lifesaver.” The brunette replied as he grabbed the notebook to start checking the orders, his partner said: ‘It’s a pleasure’ as a response. Ness was a college kid who studied a four-year journalism degree online, but he was already on his sixth year as he kept delaying his degree constantly, mainly because the kid kept putting in extra classes and workshops from other degrees, the guy would possibly be the smartest person Mike had ever met for all the random facts he knew. Of course, if it weren’t for the fact that the guy was a compulsive conspiracy theorist.

Seriously, you couldn’t have a conversation with the guy for more than 5 minutes without him trying to bring up one of his theories about how the NSA was making a program to spy on text messages, or that Atari had buried cartridges in a New Mexico desert.

“Order of Pancakes with extra bacon!” Sally shouted, the cook of the place who weighed around 80 kg of pure muscle, and who was an ex-con with a sour face, Mike was sure that both he and ‘Sparky’ (Spencer) used the cafeteria as a money laundering facility for another business. That would explain why the salary was so good and that they didn’t have to share their tips (plus, they didn’t ask for much documentation to work ) but the boy wasn’t going to say anything, he probably would have done something shady too if he had stayed with his father. “Mike, did you have breakfast?”

The named man grimaced at the question. “No, I barely had time to make Abby a proper breakfast.” The gruff man in front of him wrinkled his crooked nose before silently passing him a plate of eggs and toast. “Sally, no-”

“Bah! Take the plate already, boy.” The cook said with a scowl, looking like he wanted to spit but quickly remembering that he was in a kitchen. “If it weren’t for me, you’d probably be bones by now. Besides, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!”

“In fact.” Ness said, butting into the conversation. “There’s quite a bit of evidence that points to breakfast being a fabrication and lunch being the most important.” The college boy looked ready to pull some paper out of his bag under his apron, but Sally pointed an oily spatula at the boy, interrupting him.

“You don’t even dare pull out any of your pie charts.” Ness frowned but complied by putting the paper back in. “Also, you need to stop telling people that breakfast isn’t important! We’re an all-day place, every meal is important here!”

In the end the newspaper boy only went to deliver his orders after being scolded, while Mike alternated between serving his tables and eating his late breakfast.

As soon as he finished his shift at Sparky’s, he got into his car and went to pick Abby up from school at full speed, since she was leaving in less than three minutes and he was twenty minutes away, but thanks to his incredible skills behind the wheel (‘A danger on wheels’ his dad had once fondly told him) he was able to get there in ten. His sister was already waiting for him at the entrance with Dr. Lillian at her side, which made the adult take a moment to prepare for the awkward conversation he was possibly going to have.

“Hey, Mike.” The girl said calmly, before walking towards him, clearly excited to be back and not looking upset, so at least it doesn’t seem like she got into some kind of fight.

“Hey, Abby.” The boy replied tiredly before offering her his hand, which the black-haired girl took as if it were nothing, then turned his gaze to the woman in front of them. “Dr. Lillian.”

“Mike.” The psychologist said back, trying to be calm in her tone of voice, but that only indicated to the adult that this was going to be an exhausting matter. “It’s about Abigail’s drawings.” She informed him as she raised a paper envelope towards him, which the brown-haired boy took with resilience. “It caught the attention of the art teacher that they have taken a somewhat… worrying tone. ”

The eldest Schmidt sighed tiredly. “I’ll check it as soon as I have time.”

The woman in front of them nodded but then bit her lip nervously, so there was probably more . “Your aunt also asked for an appointment tomorrow during recess to talk.”

His sister’s grip on his hand tightened, but Mike only felt more like going to sleep, even though he had another shift left, so he just put it in the box. “I’ll come tomorrow at noon.” He replied resignedly and the psychologist nodded again before heading back to school.

Both Schmidts stayed there for a few minutes in silence before going to their car.

“Max will be home to take care of you, behave.” ‘ Don’t make her lose her temper ’ is what he wanted to say, Maxine was one of the few neighbors who spoke to the siblings and was the only one of Mike’s friends who could babysit his sister during his shifts.

“Why can’t you take care of me?” Abby asked as she pulled out her notebook and continued drawing.

“You know why.” The older brother answered back, but only received a hum as an answer and then they both stayed silent for a few seconds. “... Does anyone hit you at school?”

“No.” The black-haired girl answered without looking up.

“Do they talk bad about you?”

“No.”

“Do they exclude you?”

“No.”

“So why don't you like going to school?” The boy asked while drumming his fingers on the surface of the steering wheel, out of the corner of his eye he could see how his sister just shrugged her shoulders while still focused on drawing.

“I just like being in my room more than anywhere else.” Abby answered simply, Mike didn't know what to say since he too for a time preferred to stay in his room all the time, only coming out when he felt too bad because of his mother's pleas or to watch television during his sleepless nights when he was too terrified of his room. But the difference was that Abby only felt comfortable in her room while Mike was too scared and guilty to leave it.

… He put those thoughts back in the box, and both siblings remained silent for the rest of the trip.

“Dream theory?” Jeremiah said with a raised eyebrow at the book in front of him, it was a small book with a maze and a little rabbit in the corner, he opened it to begin reading a passage. “And though the dreamer remains asleep, he walks through a memory as if experiencing it for the first time anew. Not longer a passenger, but as an active participant.” The man looked at him curiously at the last words.

Mike shifted uncomfortably in his spot, not only because the older man’s eyes were now on him, but also because Jeremiah often talked to him like he was his 16-year-old son even though the boy was 5 years away from turning 30.

Jeremiah was a mechanic most of the time, but he took a part-time shift as a security guard at the mall because it offered dental insurance—bad, but at least they gave it. He was also one of the few men there who wasn’t a grumpy old lone wolf , so when Mike came to work, he didn’t hesitate to stand by Mike’s side as his ‘caretaker.’

“Do you really believe in this?” The man asked curiously but also in disbelief.

“Yeah.” The younger man replied, sipping his soda and then taking a bite of his ketchup burger (‘His ketchup monstrosity’ Jeremiah had pointed out earlier). “Not only does it say you can go through the memory as if it were happening for the first time, you can also interact directly with it.”

The boy gave a quick glance at Jeremiah who was thoughtful at his answer, before snapping his fingers in resolution. “Summer of 82, I traded a mint condition Cal Ripken Jr. rookie, for a used copy of Missile Command.” The man began as he dipped a French fry into the yellow cheese that came with the fries. “I wish I could participate in that memory, and actively kick my own ass.” Mike wrinkled his nose a little at the story, his partner usually told stories from his past as a way to help the boy, or gave him advice in the form of football metaphors, since the guy used to be a player. “And you, Mike? What would you have liked to do differently?”

The young man remained silent, thinking carefully about how to respond: the truth is that there were many things he would have liked to do differently (specific moments that he wants to erase forever), he could have done many things better, but he accepted a long time ago that he could no longer change anything, so instead of dwelling on the ifs, he focused on what he lost and hadn’t realized he had until he himself ruined it .

“It’s not something I want to change.” Mike moved the remains of the food on his plate that danced in a sea of ​​ketchup. “It’s about being able to enjoy them a little more.”

Mike Schmidt felt like death.

As he drove his car, he couldn't help but want to lock himself in his room and just be dead to the whole world for days, but he couldn't really do that, so he held back the urge to pass out by putting it in the box, and instead parked it in the driveway of his house.

He hoped that Abby had listened to him and hadn't bothered Maxine too much, and that she had eaten something this time. The girl usually avoided eating and only gave in when Mike begged her for several hours, but knowing her, he better prepare himself for disappointment.

The brunette turns off the car's engine and then leaves, sliding heavily with his backpack. His head was pounding after fighting with multiple mothers who couldn't understand the fact that they couldn't just abandon their child in one of the mall's stores and then leave the establishment to go to another to 'see what else there is' (seriously, why are there so many? And why are most of them named Karen?).

The volume of the television was blaring from outside the windows and Mike could guess that Max was watching the shopping channel again, he couldn't help but let out an amused smile at this fact as he pulled out his keychain to open the door.

The boy's gaze, which was about to put the key in the lock, stopped on a pink sheet stuck on the surface of his door.

It was a notice of late rent.

Mike's day could only get worse, right?

Chapter Text

He woke up in a start, he was in his room, but there was something wrong, it wasn't really his room, everything was wrong but at the same time it felt so familiar, it caused a disconcerting feeling in his head as he tried to catch his breath and tried to avoid crying while he clutched the flashlight to his chest.

A noise came from the left hallway, he quickly crawled from his spot in front of the bed (he never wakes up in it, always on the floor no matter how many times he had laid down in it to sleep, but with what was underneath, maybe it was for the best) to the white door which he quickly opened with one hand and shined the flashlight in the other into the hallway flooded in darkness, there was no rabbit there.

Still shaking, he turned towards the center of the room, hugging his legs as he held back the urge to cry, was so focused on keeping himself calm that he almost missed the laughter mixed with the sound of springs frantically moving.

He quickly turned around and pointed his flashlight at the small figures that were moving ominously on the bed with their horrible giant heads, as if they were some kind of demonic Bobbleheads. When illuminated, they instantly hid under the bed as if they were some damn goblins.

He backs away from the beds a little in concern, he knew that those damn things didn't usually move beyond placing themselves on top of the bed, but he would be lost if he ever thought of letting his guard down.

He jumps when he hears pots being moved and banged from beyond the right door.

He swallows the fear that was stuck in his throat before moving at full speed on all fours to the white door and somewhat shakily turns the doorknob that illuminated in less than a second seeing an ominous figure at the end of the hall. He closed the door almost hitting himself on the wood of the entrance, and then rested his forehead against the surface of the door feeling the nerves coiling in his chest as he waited to hear footsteps moving away.

He stays there for who knows how long, every time he starts counting, every second makes him more and more nervous so he ends up giving up almost instantly, he wants to cry, he wants to cry a lot, but that would be very hypocritical of him, especially since he used to make fun of him for this very thing.

He quickly returns to the middle of the room as soon as he knows they're gone, sometimes he's afraid that the flashlight will eventually stop working and he won't be able to see them coming for him.

He hasn't heard anything in the closet yet.

With some resilience, the boy slowly crawled to the front of the room until he reached the white closet doors, and with a lot of fear in his being, he yanked the doors open seeing… A Foxy stuffed animal.

He wants to yell at it, tell it that it isn’t his favorite anymore, that he hates it (although he hates all of them now, but that doesn't make his hatred for the fox any less real), that it's his fault that this is happening to him, but that last part is a lie, it's his own fault, only his, his fault, his fault, his fault-

He closes the doors again before going back as fast as he can to the middle of the room, he had wasted too much time sinking in there, he doesn't know which of the other three will come, but just in case he lights up the bed and only finds a Freddy stuffed animal looking at him with its shiny eyes.

He hugs his knees again, staying as quiet as he can, sometimes even holding his breath, so he can be alert to any noise from any of the hallways.

On the left side.

He crawls over there quickly and opens the door, instantly freezing when he sees the corpulent figure in the hallway. If the boy hated the other four, with the animatronic in front of him it was another matter, it caused a feeling that twisted in his chest almost crushing him and just like that it made the tears come out without him being able to do anything beyond staying frozen.

When he swears that that thing seems to move even a little, he slams the door shut and then leans against it in a vain attempt to prevent the nightmare bear from entering as best he could. Another laugh is heard, this time coming from the right hallway.

He runs, not crawls, no longer feeling the need to avoid making noise, he's letting out wet sobs at this point as he almost carelessly opens the door and lights up the dark hallway revealing Fredbear, he's closer to the door than on the other side so he closes it quicker and starts hyperventilating.

The laughter again, but now it's inside the room and he can't help but let out a whimper before he peels himself away from the door to the closet which he opens wide only to be startled by seeing those red eyes in the darkness of the closet. He immediately slams it shut.

At this point he's a snotty, wet mess, but then the voices reach his ears.

“Hey guys, I think the little man said he wants to give Fredbear a big kiss!” There is laughter.

“No, please.” He whispers under his breath, begging for them to stop.

“On THREE! One… Two…”

There is silence before a wet crack is heard behind him and he turns to find Fredbear’s head on top of the bed, blood beginning to flow from between his sharp teeth. Michael wants to vomit-

“Mr. Schmidt!”

Mike snaps out of his dissociation when he realizes he's being spoken to, it takes him a couple of blinks along with a few minutes for his mind to catch up to where he was right now.

“Oh god, you're high isn’t it?” A female voice speaks, it's not the same one that called him but he can still hear the disgust in her tone. “I can't believe it was you that the courts gave custody to.”

The boy's mouth is faster than his mind. “Well, that makes two of us.” The woman in front of him looks at him with a frown, so the brunette quickly rectifies. “I was joking.” Most people didn't usually appreciate his humor, his sarcasm usually annoyed others and his jokes at his own expense worried them.

That’s when it hits him: it’s noon, he’s in his sister’s school psychologist’s office with Aunt Jane and her lawyer, they’re in their meeting about Abby’s custody. Speaking of Aunt Jane, she was sitting there looking at him with a wrinkled nose while her lawyer stared into space with a worried face, Mike felt sorry for him, who knows how many times he had to deal with the woman while the boy only had to do it once a month.

“You’re a mess.” The woman says with disgust towards him, and the brunette doesn’t think about going against her because it’s true: he hadn’t had a haircut in a long time, his morning beard needed a shave and his dark circles under his eyes were permanent at this point. “I just need a judge to see you once and they’ll know that they should have given me custody from the beginning.”

“A judge already saw us both and still decided that I was the best one to have custody, so I don’t know what that says about you.” Mike answers, giving the woman a challenging look, turning red with anger. He expects her to scream, to try to hit him, the boy knows how to deal with that, but Jane doesn't do any of that and instead turns to the psychologist.

“See? He’s a fucking thug, that’s why Abby is the way she is.” Mike instantly stops feeling relaxed and sits up straight to face the woman, he doesn’t mind being picked on, he’s used to it, he can even keep things to himself, but bringing his sister up is hitting too low.

“What do you mean by that?” He asked through gritted teeth, he must have sounded harsher than he intended as Aunt Jane jumps slightly in her seat but still keeps her frown.

“Look at her!” The woman says pointing with her arm towards Abby in the middle of the frenzied mass of students at recess, Mike bites his tongue to keep from telling her that pointing is rude. “A normal girl doesn’t just stand in a corner alone drawing, she obviously has some kind of retar-”.

“Miss Williams.” Dr. Lilliams interrupts her with a frown, her tone is scolding and makes Aunt Jane take a deep breath to calm herself, closing her eyes for a minute before speaking.

“That girl needs stability that this… alienated person can’t give her.” ‘Crazy’ is what she was going to say (Mike knows this, she called him that the first time they met at the hospital), the woman hits her lawyer a few times who is startled but quickly opens his briefcase (he wonders what he was thinking when he dissociated, even though his psychologist had told him it wasn’t normal for people to do that). “And that’s why you’re going to do us all a favor and sign this.”

A document fell into Mike's hands and he almost let out a snort, here was the real point of this whole meeting, the papers to give up rights over a minor, he had a drawer full of these in his house that he prohibited his sister from opening. Every month Abby's aunt held a meeting where she tried to threaten and intimidate the brunette so that he would get scared and sign, or else she would take him to court, but Mike knew that no court would give custody to the woman, only once did this come to trial and although he doesn't remember much about that day, he knows that Aunt Jane must have had something really wrong if Abby had been given to him.

The blonde stood up from her spot with her lawyer following her a few seconds later. “We both know it’s for Abby’s own good, Michael.” The named man grimaced at the use of his name, he hated when anyone didn’t use his nickname, but he didn’t say anything as they both left the room.

The room was filled with a tense silence as Mike flipped through the pages without interest. He was pretty tired and wanted to take a nap, but his sleep schedule was too screwy for him to try to add small irregular breaks.

“You’re not planning on signing that, are you?” The psychologist asked as she does every month, of course he’s not going to do it, but he still doesn’t answer anything causing the doctor to continue. “Mike, you can’t do this to Ab-”

“She has a house of her own and not rented.” The boy immediately answers, it’s like walking in circles, at this point he feels like their discussion is rehearsed. “She has one job with a normal schedule, I have two jobs and I still can't make ends meet.”

The woman in front of him looks at him with pity making him feel uncomfortable. “Abby loves you, Mike.”

“She barely talks to me.” He replied bitterly before getting up from his seat towards the window where his sister could be seen being undisturbed by the noise around her, only focused on her crayons. “She doesn’t even notice me, if I disappeared she would probably continue drawing.”

“... You know, drawings are the windows to children’s souls.” The doctor said before getting up from her seat to begin to slide in beside him. “And do you know what all of her drawings have in common?” The tone the woman used was calming, making Mike a little uncomfortable as he wasn’t used to being spoken to like that. “You, you are her world, Mike. You can’t give up on her so easily.”

It was for this reason that the boy didn't like talking to Abby's psychologist, the woman always seemed to know just the right words to say to convince Mike, but he wasn't going to let himself get his hopes up that much. "I don't think I can afford the rent increase, and even if they don't give custody to Aunt Jane if she ends up taking me to court, I doubt they'll give custody to a homeless man."

Dr. Lilliams found herself biting her lip at his words before turning back to her desk. "I've heard good things about this agency." She said handing him a paper card, the young man looked at it for a few minutes before taking it with resilience. "Maybe you can get better paying jobs or an extra one with flexible hours."

He wondered for a second if it was normal for psychologists to get so involved in their patient’s life, but Mike didn’t really know, Dr. Lilliams has been in Abby’s life for three years and the only one the boy had had hadn’t lasted more than 4 months before his mom pulled him out of therapy because it wasn’t working.

He glanced at the simple card with a white background and text written as if it were from a typewriter, he’s never liked employment agencies, he’s pretty self-conscious about not being able to offer much, so he didn’t like the idea of ​​going to a place just to have them repeat to him what he already knows.

“Thank you.” He whispered under his breath to the psychologist, putting his thoughts away in the box, she gave a sympathetic smile in response.

Mike's two current jobs weren't obtained through an employment agency, the one at the mall he got by asking around at the place, and the one at Sparky's was found through an ex-convict who was also a security guard in the first job, a friend of Sally's.

He had never had to go to an employment agency until now, so he hadn’t really had any idea what to expect from the place. Upon arriving at the establishment, the first thing he saw was a mostly white room filled with fold-out chairs with a bunch of people looking almost or equally tired as Mike himself, plus a reception desk where a tired old lady handed him a piece of paper with a number on it.

Now he found himself here in the middle of a room with gray walls surrounding him, bunny decorations you’d see in an old lady’s house, and a smiling man that gave him the creeps.

‘Steve Raglan’ was what the nameplate on the man’s desk read, he was dressed semi-formally as if he were a school counselor instead of a vocational counselor, but his shirt was perfectly ironed and his tie was properly straight; his smile while looking friendly without showing his teeth, also looked a bit too rehearsed, especially when it didn’t reach the man’s silver eyes.

“You’re a special case, Mike.” The man commented in a sweet voice that made the boy want to squirm in place but he forced himself to stay as still as he could and avoid looking away when the man’s eyes narrowed at him. “Four jobs in one year and all of them getting fired for bad behavior? The last one of cleaning didn’t last the entire week.”

Mike clenched his fists as he bit his lip. “They were my first jobs.” Was all he could say, not going to say more, even if the man’s raised eyebrow made him nervous and with the wish of vomit. He had had his first few jobs on his own, but he couldn’t handle the stress that came with customer service, so his dad had to help him get a job as a sort of ‘archivist’ until a few years later after he had to pay rent on his own. “I was just getting out of some troubles.” he finished adding after a few minutes of the man staring at him.

The counselor put on a thoughtful face, but his eyes were rather judgmental. “I really want to help you, Mike. But it seems like you don’t even want to be here.” The man named can’t help but shrink in his seat at the tone, which made him feel like a little kid being scolded. The man with glasses opens his folder again (the first time he only glanced at his summary). “I’m just trying to figure out who you are, mister Mike Schmi-”

He stops halfway through his last name, raises his eyes to look at him properly, then rereads his file over and over again as if his mind is having trouble grasping information, but finally raises his gaze again to look at him one last time, and looks at him with a strange understanding, searching through his features as if he were confirming something with every second he analyzes his face. Now a thoughtful face appears (almost imperceptible, but Mike still recognizes it), along with a calculating look, as if he wasn’t looking at the brown-haired man and instead he was looking at a puzzle.

“Is everything okay…?” The boy forced the words out of his throat, this seemed to get the man out of his mind who sat up straighter (more) and gave him a different smile that put his nerves on edge.

“Coffee?” The man with glasses asks with a smile that now shows all his teeth (Mike doesn’t like it at all, it makes him feel like Mr. Raglan is mad at him and is putting up a front until it’s the right time to explode), and he stands up before the brunette can give him any kind of answer. “I’m going to be honest with you, Michael.” He hates it when they use his full name, it reminds him of things he doesn’t like, but for some reason it doesn’t occur to him to even make a face at the man who is making himself a cup. “With your work history, your options are pretty limited.”

Mike clenched his fists in anger, he already knew this, which was why he didn't want to come here just to hear what he already knew. He wanted to get up and go straight home, but he remained frozen in place with his head down (when did he lower it?) as the counselor sits back down in front of him. 

He feels his gaze as he takes a sip of his coffee in a crushing silence, any kind of pleasant atmosphere that had been intended at the beginning of the meeting has disappeared at this point.

A smack of a cup against the table nearly makes him jump out of his seat. “But, I might have something for you.” His voice is velvety smooth, but it makes the brunette’s hair stand on end. “I’m not going to lie to you, the work is hard and the pay is pittance, but the hours… The hours are the worst.”

He feels cold in his bones, but he forces himself to look up at the smiling man. “What is the job?” The counselor’s smile spreads and Mike feels like a fool.

“Night security guard.” He answers as he pulls out another folder. “From 12 to six for five days, it’s from an establishment that was very popular in the 80s, it’s lost its past glory but the current owner is a bit too nostalgic and hasn’t demolished it.” Mike thinks about it, the night schedule isn’t that bad and as long as he gets 4 hours to sleep (although he won’t be able to do his sleep therapy), he could survive until the tourist season when the tips at Sparky’s are better (not that his city is a tourist attraction, but for places near the main road like the one at the cafe, it usually does well), so it seems like a good option to be able to catch up on the rent… Or that’s what he thinks until he grabs the offered folder and sees the fucking Freddy Fazbear Entertainment logo greeting him-

Mike almost instantly drops the folder letting out a quick “I can’t” before grabbing his coat and standing up, but somehow Mr. Raglan intercepts him by standing in front of him, and even though the boy knows from the start that they have a considerable height difference, it suddenly seems to be more like he is a small child facing a scary figure.

The counselor's gaze is cold but his stony face lets out his fake smile from the beginning again as he hands him a card that he nervously takes. "Just... Think about it, okay?" He says, passing by him and giving him a squeeze on the shoulder that makes him physically tremble (he swears for a second that he saw out of the corner of his eye how the man let out a satisfied smile at this) but as soon as he releases him, he runs away from there immediately.

Mike really doesn't like employment agencies.

He drove as soon as he left the job agency to a gas station as far away from the agency as he could only to throw up in his bathroom.

Then he had to drive twice as many miles as he planned to get home, so his gas budget was way too low for his liking, which didn't help with the scratchy feeling in his throat.

Mike parked in front of his house, and stood for a moment with his forehead resting against the steering wheel as he tried to breathe more calmly to relax while locking away any negative emotions before he had to force himself to go inside.

When he feels stable enough not to collapse as soon as he enters his house, he gets out of the car and walks through the door, greeted by the sound of the television and the smell of melted cheese. “I'm home…”

The only one in the room is Max, who doesn't pay much attention to him as she watches the TV that is on the sales channel, twisting a lock of her hair. "I wish someone would buy me a ring." She says with a sigh before looking at him, clearly implying that the words were directed at him.

When he met the girl, she was in a 5 year relationship with her high school boyfriend, they were almost always together and the few times when Mike didn't find his neighbor next to the boy, she would talk to him excitedly about the things they were going to do for their next dates... That was until one day Max showed up at the hospital with a black eye next to his boyfriend who wouldn't stop screaming until Mike hit him in the mouth, that day he lost his job as an archivist, and he came to believe that her boyfriend would sue him but he never saw him again (he only asked about him once and Max's brother just laughed very loudly).

“I made mac’n’cheese.” The girl said after Mike didn’t say anything to her comment, getting up from her place while turning off the television. “I left you in the fridge.”

“Did Abby eat?” Mike asked while putting away his jacket.

“What do you think?” The girl answered simply, shrugging and giving him a sympathetic look, the brunette could feel his shoulders fall knowing what the answer was.

The young man sighed but then shifted somewhat embarrassed in his place knowing that the next thing could go wrong. “Listen, about your pay…”

“Okay, you can give it to me another time. Anyway, I know where you live.” Max started to leave but not before turning around to give him a smile. “Bye, Mike.” The girl looked him in the eyes, and he wasn’t stupid, he knew that his neighbor felt some kind of attraction towards him, sometimes he wondered if he should kiss her to see if there was really something there, just because the black-haired girl seemed to like him, but the truth is that even though Max was one of the few people who talked to him and wasn’t really obligated to talk to him, he still didn’t feel any connection of that kind.

Mike isolated himself from others for most of his teenage years, but he did have a close connection with one of his old friends who still kept in touch with him at that time. While the boy locked himself in his room, Jeremy would sneak in his window to make sure he was still alive; when he moved as far away from Hurricane as he could, the blonde called him every night and day if only to hear about the silly soap opera the brunette watched on his sleepless nights.

Jeremy was one of the few things that made Mike happy during his time of self-isolation, so the day he stopped calling him, well, let's just say the brunette's condition got worse.

“Bye, Max.”

Mike walked into his sister's room, he was there as usual, drawing, so the adult approached very gently to look over the girl's shoulder. "Hey, that good looking guy I recognize."

Abby instantly covered the drawing and looked at him with a pout and defensive eyes. "It's not ready yet." The older boy raised his hands in surrender and gave her space, then the girl took a purple crayon to start making lines on his face on the paper, he could never understand why she always drew him with them.

He began to undo the tie that was choking him all day. “Why didn’t you eat, Abby?”

“I wasn’t hungry.” She answered without stopping coloring, the older boy sat on the mattress tiredly.

“Abby…” He said tiredly but still unable to get the younger one’s attention. “Today wasn’t a good day, could you pause the drawing for a moment and go eat something? Please.” The last thing he said urgently, seeming to finally get his sister to look at him.

“... You're sitting on my friend.” The adult looked at where he was sitting even though he knew he wouldn't find anything, but he was too tired to think clearly.

“Ok, you win, if you want to go without food, do it.” Mike said getting up from his spot and started walking towards the door which he opened, but not before making one last attempt. “But do you know what happens to children who don't eat?” Abby looked at him with her distant black eyes. “They turn purple.” It was a silly thing that his uncle Henry used to tell Charlie, his brothers and him, but it always managed to convince his daughter to eat her vegetables at least.

Abby looked at her bed for a second before answering. “My friend says you’re an idiot.”

“But at least I’m real.”

Mike eventually gave in, heating up a plate for Abby in the microwave, which he then left on the girl’s desk for when she finally got hungry. After that, the brunette went into his room, took his pills, turned on his recorder that had a label that said ‘Mike’ written in red marker, and looked at the only eye-catching decoration in the place: a Pine Valley nature poster, then closed his tired eyes.

Garret ran with a smile next to his toy plane, and Charlie was at his side laughing happily as she followed him.

Chapter Text

Since before Mike moved to Minnesota, he had completely shut himself down: he had avoided going to school by skipping classes altogether, and had long since blocked the school’s number from his home phone; he would wander around abandoned places for most of the day or walk down the interstate highway fantasizing about escaping; and when he knew he was supposed to go home, he would lock himself in his room for the rest of the day, having barely eaten or drank anything, just staring at the ceiling while emptying his mind (dissociation, his psychologist would later explain), just really avoiding being in the world.

It was better to daydream than to actually sleep, since for several weeks his dreams had become a twisted nightmare that terrified him to the core, for weeks he hadn’t been able to rest well and that also affected him with hallucinations, sometimes, he swore that he saw one of the figures that starred in his nightmares rolling through the hallways of his house when he left his room, or he heard laughter next to him, one time he even swore that he saw a small figure looking at him from the windows of his house when he passed by them.

But it was worse when these were mixed with real things, specifically his father.

Sometimes, his father didn't look human at all when he approached him screaming or wanting to hit him, his figure blurred into a taller and more monstrous one like those in his nightmare, his voice sounded like a heartbreaking scream that stunned him, and his hands seemed like claws that wanted to tear off the brown-haired boy's face.

Everything outside his room was just terrifying, the first few weeks after the funeral he could get away with barricading himself in his room to feel sorry for himself and ignore his surroundings, then he had to start feeling bad in more open spaces when he has to go out, but as long as it wasn't the hallways of his house, it seemed Mike could handle it. He didn't talk to anyone until it got to a point where the boy himself believed his voice was no good beyond screaming and letting out his moans of pain, he didn't seek out his old friends either, he didn't want to talk to them, and he didn't want to know if they didn't want to talk to him either.

But in the end you can only ignore the world for so long before it catches up with you, luckily for him this wasn't with something bad this time.

Once the brunette was just staring into space waiting for time to pass into the next day (and hoping he wouldn't fall asleep), he was pulled out of his reverie by a persistent knock on his window that almost made him scream, his mind was confused as if he was in a fog, but he still stood up unsteadily towards the curtain to open it only to find a figure with a face he couldn't recognize. This silhouette motioned for him to open the window, and a little confused, the boy obeyed.

“Why aren’t you taking my calls?” The young voice cleared any fog that was in his head, and after a few blinks he could see the fucking Jeremy Fitzgerald entering his room through the window, who looked at him with his arms crossed when he didn’t answer. “Well, what’s your excuse?”

“… Jeremy.” Mike started after a few minutes of searching for his own voice, which came out hoarse and broken, as if he had cried. “What are you doing here?”

“Wellness check.” The other boy replied, looking around the room curiously but quickly his face scrunched up. “Your room stinks.”

Mike knew it, he hadn't found the energy to do basic cleaning of the place or wash his clothes... or change his clothes (he's been wearing the same threadbare Oingo Boingo shirt for the past two weeks), so the place wasn't a very pleasant environment when you really paid attention.

“Wellness check?” He asked, still bewildered and confused by the other boy’s presence in his room.

“Yeah, you haven’t answered any of the voicemails I left for you! I haven’t seen you in months, Mike, nobody has seen you in months.” Jeremy said with great concern in his words. “I’m pretty sure you’re close to failing for absences at this point if we weren’t watching your back. Dude, Carmen from 8th grade started spreading rumors that your ghost can be seen around the abandoned gas station.”

The brunette grimaced at the raven's words, Mike used to go there when he snuck out of school and his skin had certainly paled drastically during these months of isolation, so more than rumors, it was more of a misunderstanding.

Jeremy stayed for an hour or two, mostly catching Mike up on things he'd missed at school (he couldn't recognize any names), talking about what they were learning in class, and telling him about his own family. In the end the other boy had to leave to go home at his curfew (that was new), saying goodbye to the brunette who hadn't said a word during the time they were together.

The black-haired boy continued to come almost every day to talk to the brunette, he brought him his homework to do, always explaining the subject to him (although Jeremy didn't understand the subject very well either), sometimes he brought him snacks and candy, he suggested showing him some trick he had learned with his skateboard or he told him that Dennis and Becky were also worried about him (he never knew if this was true or not, but at some point he stopped caring).

These moments with the other boy were, in fact, the best part of Mike's day, who had begun to clean his room and take better care of himself, mostly to make the place more habitable for both kids even though they only saw each other for a couple of hours. It's not that the brunette's mind was suddenly fine, it was more that for a few hours, the brunette was normal, without hallucinations or whispers, like before the incident, but outside of that short period, he was only getting worse.

The best way he could describe it, is like he was sinking, drowning by the second, but every so often there was something to grab onto so he could rest for a few minutes before falling back into the depths again.

When he moved in, Jeremy gave him his number on a piece of paper and despite Mike's better judgment about letting the other boy drag him into his problems, he gave him a call telling him about his new house.

So they started talking day and night, every day at any hour, it got to the point where the phone would be heard ringing, the brown-haired boy would instantly be there when one of his parents would say 'Mike, it's for you.' His mother was worried about him talking to Jeremy so much, but when she saw him so relaxed and happy, she pretended to be okay with it; instead, his dad decided to put a phone in his room so he could answer calls there more comfortably, much to the boy's dismay.

He often questioned why the other boy kept talking to him after the incident (“Because we all agreed with the joke,” he replied once), but the brunette always found himself waiting for the next call or interaction with his friend, to whom he also began to send little things by mail: postcards with barely a word but with some detail that he found around, a drawing or he sent him photos of the landscapes of Minnesota (there was real snow and waterfalls here!).

Jeremy, on the other hand, sent him crushed snacks, rocks that he thought looked cool, comic books, music tapes, and even once sent him a picture when he dyed his hair blonde (Mike found the picture of the boy stretching his hair to show his roots so funny that he saved it in one of his school notebooks to look at).

When they reached the age of sixteen, the new blond told him about a new job he had gotten that would save him money to visit him, which excited the brunette although he was a little disappointed to know that they couldn't have as many night calls since he would be working during that time.

(He wondered if when he saw him, he would dare to bring their faces closer so he could join his lips with the blond's as he had sometimes thought of doing while they talked)

After a week of Jeremy getting his new job, he never called him again.

“Hey Mike.” The man jumped when he heard someone talking to him and looked up to see his coworker Ness sitting across from him at the booth in the cafe. “How did the job agency thing go?”

There was a down time at the restaurant, so Schmidt had taken a break at one of the tables in the place, apparently his coworker had also decided that it was the perfect time for small talk. “Not so good.” The tired man said with a sigh as he rubbed his eyes from the sleepiness he always had at all hours, while trying not to think about the panic attack from the day before.

Ness in front of him grimaced at the other waiter's response and attitude. "Weren't there any good job openings?"

“There was nothing for someone with my track record.” He answered his companion a little curtly, if he didn’t have a very punctual sleep therapy, possibly the stress of not knowing what to do would have given him a sleepless night like those of his youth (for a second he wondered if ‘The Restless and the Immortal’ was still doing reruns and if Vlad had fucking finally paid child support). “Well, there was one but…” Mike wondered if he should tell him the reason why he didn’t want the other waiter, normally he had avoided telling very personal things (the thing about the agency was because he asked Sparky if he knew of a place that hired at night), in the end he decided not to talk about it. “Look, I wouldn’t even think for a second about working at Freddy’s-”

“Freddy Fazbear Pizza!?” Ness shouted with barely contained excitement while the few diners turned to look at them, luckily for them the cafe was almost empty. “Like the restaurant ‘Freddy Fazbear Pizza’? Like the place where all those kids disappeared? Or where that guy lost half of his frontal lobe!? Or where they always disappear-!?”

“You better not be rambling out loud again!” Both waiters jumped at Sally’s voice as he peeked out the window where he left the orders. “You always end up scaring the customers with them.” The cook said as he pointed to the table occupied by two truck drivers who looked almost more or less intimidating than the ex-con himself. 

“Sorry, Sally.” Ness apologized with an embarrassed smile before turning to Mike with great excitement. “Is it really Freddy Fazbear Pizza?”

“Well.” The tired boy replied with a grimace. “At least it was something from Fazbear Entertainment.” The young man shrugged calmly before his sleepy mind caught on to something in his coworker’s previous ramblings. “Wait, what about ‘missing’?”

“Oh right, you moved when that had already happened.” The waiter said thoughtfully to himself but continued interrupting his companion who was about to ask how he had known that information. “You see, during the second half of the eighties, the restaurant began to go through several events that would cause all its branches to close over time, but the most striking was the one that happened here.”

Mike opened his eyes in shock. “Wait, there’s a Freddy’s here?” He asked in surprise but without raising his voice too much, as far as he knew, Fazbear Entertainment had only had about three Freddy's scattered around Hurricane, he would never have thought they were spread out that far, though he should have guessed when Mr. Raglan offered him the job as a security guard, he probably wouldn't have to drive what would be a full day to Utah.

“Yeah, just outside of town down this road near the interstate.” Ness explained before a glint appeared in his eyes. “But well, like I was saying, it’s said that some kids went missing there and were never found, there are a lot of theories about it but none of them have been confirmed.” At that moment, the waiter pulled out a diagram from the bag he carried everywhere where a ‘table of possibilities’ was displayed in large. “A lot of people believed the rumor that the kids were murdered, but no body means no crime, so they started theorizing about it.”

Mike looked unsure at the guy in front of him, knowing that the question that was about to come out of his mouth would possibly doom him for the next 20 minutes. “So… what’s your theory?” The college men's eyes sparkled as if he had always expected someone to ask him that.

“My theory is that the bodies were cremated, or at least semi-cremated.” He said with all seriousness in the world and before the tired man could ask what the hell he was talking about, the waiter pulled out a flow chart to show that cremation was the best option. “You see, the missing persons report wasn’t filed until a day later, which gives, approximately, 24 hours to hide the bodies. Pizza ovens can reach temperatures between 450 to 500 Fahrenheit, and although it takes twice the capacity to fully burn a body, they can still be burned until they’re unrecognizable enough if they’re chopped up, so they can be hidden better.”

For a long time, Mike thought Ness was the most harmless of all at Sparky's, now he's thinking he has a lot going for him to be a serial killer. “You… you've thought about this a lot, haven't you?” The tired man said looking at his partner with a new found fear as a drop of sweat fell down his forehead.

“Yeah, a little. But I've never been able to prove it, you know? I don't really have an industrial pizza oven at my disposal.” The waiter said pouting without noticing how Mike seemed to sigh in relief. “Although I did try to steal one from the pizzeria once.”

“You did what?” Schmidt asked with clear bewilderment on his face, he could even hear Sally behind him stopping from cooking to look at them.

“Yeah, but I could never figure out how to get in or how to get a giant oven out.” The waiter explained shrugging as he returned his sheets to his bag bringing a question to Mike's head.

“Do you have the graphs for all your theories or what?” The tired man asked as he looked at the large amount of paper in the bag.

“Of course! How can I support my theories if I have nothing to back it up?” The waiter quickly pulled out another sheet with pictures of pasta. “Like: Did you know that microwaved spaghetti is healthier than freshly made? You see, the starch in these-”

“Ness, you're getting off topic again,” Schmidt commented with an amused smile at his partner going off topic again.

“Oh, right! We're talking about Fazbear's restaurants!” The college boy said before swapping the pasta paper to pull out one with several dark silhouettes of animatronics and wrote above them: ‘Who makes the bites?’. “Say, have you heard of the bite of '87-?”

Mike got the hell out of there.

The figure walked through the dark hallways as quietly as could, as the wooden boards creaked quite a bit if stepped on them carelessly and didn't want to be discovered making this little prank. When reached the room, carefully opened the door before sneaking into the bedroom where could see the sleeping figure, and couldn't help but feel a feeling of excitement.

The group of friends had suggested the prank, and couldn't help but agree with them that it would be quite fun to scare her brother, so had almost immediately agreed to it.

As she walked almost on all fours through the room, take a look at the boy on the bed who was coiled like a snake between his sheets, with his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling gently. The masked one let out a smile as saw how the other remained quite unaware of her presence, making him the perfect prey to prank.

When was close enough without the other noticing, couldn't help but let out a mischievous giggle that stopped when the brown-haired boy moved a little, but not getting another reaction, relaxed.

Takes a deep breath having in mind the expressions of fun along with excited screams that said: 'Do it! Come on!' The kid jumped on top of the brown-haired boy roaring as loudly as could.

“Raagh!” The fox masked boy screamed jumping on his little brother who let out a terrified scream with tears instantly coming out of his eyes as the screams passed for sobs.

The pre-teen let out a giant laugh as he watched the younger boy break down into a crying and moaning mess, the infant didn’t have his stuffed animal that he carried everywhere with him, so he was agitatedly waving his hands around in search of any form of comfort. The older boy narrowed his eyes in amusement as the kid seemed so desperate to find something to calm him down, it made him want to let out a snort of amusement, after all, it was partially his fault that there was no one there for them anymore.

The little guy, realizing that there was no one here to save him, hugged himself, hiding his head in his legs as he let out the wettest sobs, almost sounding like screams of someone being murdered. These last noises no longer seemed funny to the soon-to-be teenager, and instead seemed nothing more than annoying.

The older boy grimaced as he watched his brother cry and break down in an annoyed manner. “Hey, you little crybaby. Stop your cries.” The kid only let out louder cries as he made requests to be left alone, which irritated Mike too much, to the point that he didn't hesitate to grab Garret by the arm while yelling at him: “Listen to me, you piece of-!”

“-ike, Mike! Please stop!” The childish voice somehow pierced the static noises in the brunette’s ears, who now realized that he was feeling something similar to being drowned by the painful pressure in his chest that was crushing his lungs, along with the loud gasps he was making in an attempt to get air back into his system. “Mike! You’re scaring me!”

He was having a panic attack, he realized not only by the lack of air, but also by his blurry vision and the fact that he couldn't hear well what was going on around him, so he had to follow the protocol that his therapist had told him in one of his many sessions.

First, he tried to take a deep breath through his nose and then exhale through his mouth, which he then repeated again and again; then, he closed his eyes to avoid the colorful spots around him from disturbing him so much; then he concentrated on things around him that wouldn't drive him crazy again, the texture of the mattress beneath him, the dresser he rested his head on, the sheets of the bed on his shoulders, the fabric of his own clothes, the strap of his watch; now, he had to imagine his happy place…

Garret ran with a smile next to his toy plane, and Charlie was at his side laughing happily as she followed him-

“Mike?”

The boy, a little calmer but not completely, slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust, the blur around him cleared up to reveal the solid silhouettes of the furniture and walls of his room, it must still be morning if the dim sunlight coming through his window said anything. His emotionless gaze fixed on the worried figure of his sister Abby, she was still wearing the pajamas he had put her to bed in at night, her hair was disheveled and held tight by an elastic from a fox mask-

From behind his mask, the boy could see how the red splashed on it while the sounds of laughter and music suddenly stopped-

The brunette jumped up and lunged to grab the spotted fox face away from his younger sister, but she quickly stepped back in surprise at the adult's sudden action, the latter after the failed attempt, tried to relax a little before trying to say something. “Abby… Where did you get that… mask?”

The black-haired girl bit her lip from all the tension of the situation, but she didn't look guilty at all by any means. “I found it in one of the boxes in the hall closet.” The girl said calmly, while swaying a little in her place without seeming to notice much of the horrified expression on the older boy's face, beyond a shrug of the shoulders.

When Mike had moved away from Hurricane, he had put everything in a box without looking, and upon arriving at his new room, he simply had no energy to unpack old memories, just living with the box until the moment he had to move to his current place where he hid it in a closet.

“Abby.” The boy began, his voice sounding breathless. “Give me that mask-”

“No.” The girl said calmly but fidgeting in place.

The adult had to take a deep breath before continuing. “Abby, it’s not yours to take-”

“You always say that we can't have things that we're not going to use.” The little girl replied as quickly as she could while crossing her arms. “You're not using it, so it's not yours anymore either.”

“Abby, this isn't the point.” The brunette's voice sounded desperate. “Just give it back to me so I can put it away-”

“No!” The younger girl screamed with wet eyes but not crying. “I like it! I don't understand why I should give it to you when you're being a little crybaby-!”

“Give me that mask!” The adult who had taken a step forward froze when a small spark of fear appeared for a moment in the little girl's black eyes. Mike had never wanted to provoke that reaction in his sibling, he had sworn to himself that it would never happen again. The situation had escalated too quickly and the brunette didn't know how to back off, so Mike, as he always did, ran away.

Schmidt was on the back porch of his house, smoking some stale cigarettes he had hidden a few years ago, since his teenage years he had tried to leave his smoking habit behind, and having cigarettes somewhere in his house without them at hand used to relax him at least a little, but today he had needed more than that.

Smoke was coming out of his mouth, very soon he would have to go to work at Sparky's and Max would arrive in a few minutes to take care of Abby, since today was the weekend, so the kid didn’t have to go to school. Behind him, the brunette heard the screen door creak open, then give way to small footsteps that advanced until they reached his side where the girl sat.

Neither of the siblings broke the ice, the eldest had his shoulders tense due to the presence of his sister, while she shifted uncomfortably in her place, clearly nervous. When the brown-haired boy was considering leaving because of the feeling that everything was going to explode again, a small folded piece of paper fell into his lap, the boy, with a trembling hand, picked it up and unfolded it.

It was a rather clumsy drawing, as if the hand of the person who had drawn it was unsteady while doing so; in it were two figures (a larger one with purple stripes on its face, and the other smaller one with a colorful jumpsuit) holding hands with sad faces, but their speech bubbles said: 'I still love you'. And Mike couldn't help but let out a wet moan as his eyes clouded over, beside him, Abby leaned towards his side in support, so the boy, with a trembling arm, surrounded his sister in a hug that buried the girl in his side.

Neither of them apologized, Mike had never been able to get those words out again since he was very young, and Abby was a girl who couldn't quite understand how everything had ended so badly in the first place.

But the brunette still cried, because even though he was a disaster that constantly destroyed the good things around him, the black-haired girl still loved him despite his flaws.

The two siblings hugged each other until their time together was over.

Steve Raglan was checking some documents when he received a call from his office phone which he answered immediately. “Hello?”

«Um… Mr. Raglan? It’s me, Mike, Mike Schmidt?» The counselor leaned back in his chair upon hearing the brunette’s voice.

“Oh, right. Are you Mr. I can’t and I don’t want to?” The man narrowed his eyes in amusement as he heard a sound of hesitation from the boy on the other end.

«Yes, it’s me.» The kid on the other end took a moment to sigh before continuing. «I wanted to ask if by any chance the security guard job was still available.»

“Oh.” Purr, imagining how the boy tensed up in fear upon hearing him, he sat up straight as he grabbed the folder with the Freddy logo on it. “I like to see that in the end if you reconsidered, I think you’ll find this job is perfect for you.”

Chapter Text

“Hi, honey.” Was the first thing the woman said when the phone finished ringing. It hadn’t been the best of months, for a while she hadn’t wanted to see or talk to anyone, but thanks to her husband’s words, she knew she should appreciate the little good in her life… that was still good. “How have you been?”

«Hey, ma…» She grimaced as she heard her son’s shaky, hoarse voice coming out of the phone’s speaker, she couldn’t help but grimace in guilt for not having called her child during all this time; yes, she was going through a bad time because of a loss that no mother should have to go through, not just once, but twice; but Michael was going through it worse, there wasn’t only loss, there was guilt and loneliness, and she doubted that her ex-husband would be any kind of support during these times (he never was, at least, not for her).

Clara bit her lip, aware that her son hadn’t answered her question, but she didn’t want to push the teenager or he might hang up. “I’m sorry for not calling in the last few days…” Months, it had been months really, but even though she felt she should apologize, she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, maybe that way it wouldn’t be so bad. “I hope you haven’t felt so alone.”

The woman stood there in silence, waiting with some anxiety for her son to continue the conversation, but the other side of the line remained with a disturbing silence for the mother, until a wet moan was heard from her son and she couldn't help but get worried.

“I really didn't want to leave you like this! I just needed some time after what happened with Garret-” The sobs from the brunette were more intense, and the woman couldn't help but want to hit herself. “I'm sorry-”

«I’m so sorry, Mom.” The boy almost screamed through tears, his voice sounding unsteady and his breathing echoing through the phone. «“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I’m really sorry.» A snort was heard. «I-I know I should have taken care of my b-brother better, I know this is my fault.»

For a very selfish and horrible time on the part of the mother, she had gone so far as to blame her own son for the lack of the minor, but her husband was able to get her to come back to her senses to realize how hideous her thinking was during her times of despair, so, hearing her son take the blame for the whole horrid situation was crushing her heart.

“M-Mike!” The woman's own voice also sounded on the verge of breaking, while her vision began to blur from her own tears, her hand trembled as she tightly squeezed the phone. “Sweetie, don't say that.”

A loud, wet sob sounded through the speaker, and for a second she imagined the kid shaking his head like he sometimes used to do when he was younger. «It was my fault, it was my fault, it was my fault-» The brunette’s voice seemed to be in a trance, sounding a little more hysterical each time, and the woman couldn’t help but feel a growing uneasiness in her chest.

“H-honey, please breathe.” The mother said, noticing that the teenager was hyperventilating. “Follow my instructions, okay?” Clara took a sip before continuing. “Breathe.” A wet inhalation was heard. “Exhale.” A very loud sigh. “Ok, you’re doing great, Mikey. Let’s do it again from the beginning, breathe…”

The next few minutes of the call went by like this, with the mother giving her all she could to guide the boy out of his hysterical state, and the latter trying hard not to faint in the middle of the call. When Mike sounded relaxed enough, the woman was able to take some of the tension off her shoulders, both of them staying in a semi-awkward silence.

«... Ma, I don’t want to be here anymore.» The teenager whispered tiredly and Clara could feel her own tears about to come out when she heard her son’s tone of voice, he sounded resigned at this point.

“It’s okay, baby.” The mother said, holding back her tears. “I’ll see what I can do.”

«It's pretty simple, it's just one job: watch the place and clean up if there's a mess.» Raglan had told him in an amused voice.

“Those are two jobs.” Mike had responded automatically, but he froze when he heard a clearing of the throat on the other end of the line.

The brunette got out of his car, it was almost midnight, and although the adult with two jobs inside him asked him to sleep, he forced himself to stay awake to walk towards the entrance of the abandoned restaurant. He hesitantly took out the key they gave him to the place, it had a rabbit's foot keychain (something really disgusting in the young man's opinion, but he hadn't wanted to say anything when the counselor gave him the keys, so now he had to put up with it), and with it he opened the front door.

«Maybe drunks and drug addicts have come in once or twice, nothing important.» The man with glasses warned and dismissed, while the young man shifted uncomfortably in his place. «Their security system is old, a circuit of cameras in the parking lot and inside, the electricity is very unreliable. So the security room along with their cameras have their own generator, so, make sure it doesn't run out before the end of the shift, that would be... Bad.»

The lever was lifted, and the restaurant was illuminated with a light that was too dim for his liking, giving a somewhat gloomy appearance to the restaurant that was already strange with its old furniture. Mike hadn’t been in a Fazbear Entertainment restaurant for thirteen years, so he feels a strange familiarity when he sees the square floor, but also a great confusion when he sees how the place was laid out, it seemed familiar and unknown at the same time, causing him great uneasiness, but he put that away in the box.

«Just keep your eyes on the monitors, it's pretty easy really.» The boy could feel the smile in the man's voice. «I'm sure you can't screw this up, Michael.» The named one shivered at the use of his full name.

Mike's office was weird, it had two doors, one that was connected by the restaurant's free area for diners, and another that led to the hallways for workers, both had something like scratches on their surfaces; the walls were mostly gray with a few posters of the animatronic band, a locker, some filing cabinets, a chair with wheels, and a table full of monitors; the generator Raglan was talking about was under the latter, so the brunette went to turn it on.

The monitors turned on showing the entire place, Mike let his eyes wander over the recordings, in his hurry to avoid spending the least amount of time in the open spaces of the pizzeria, he hadn't seen it well and couldn't help but look for differences in the images: the place had gray walls like all the other restaurants, but luckily these ones also decided to choose a checkered pattern on them with the lower half in red; the stage was in the center of the place like in others, right in the dining room, but this one was different; the dining rooms weren't simple folding tables covered by a blanket, they were booths with stained glass windows with images of the characters that mixed with the neon lights, gave a feeling that the place seemed cooler than it should.

The brunette looked away when his eyes were going to pass by Foxy's area, and instead he turned to the locker he had noticed before, Raglan had told him that his uniform was there, so he prepared to open it.

When his eyes looked inside the piece of furniture, Mike quickly let out a short scream that he instantly forced himself to keep quiet. Inside the locker on top was a somewhat dirty and worn golden teddy bear.

The brown-haired boy stood still as he looked at the toy that was keeping him restless, the plushie brought back certain memories that gave him a bad taste in his mouth, but after a few seconds of staying still waiting for something to happen, he finally forced himself to go over to grab his jacket and slowly closed the metal door. He couldn't help but feel that the bear was watching him during all his movements, but he locked his uneasiness away with the rest of the things in the box.

As for the jacket, it was an obnoxious purple color that was too flashy for his taste with ‘SECURITY’ written on it in bright yellow, he forgot how ugly the uniforms at Freddy’s were, but he put it on anyway with a grimace on his face before returning to his ‘workstation’.

Schmidt sat in the wheelchair, looking at the screens with a bit of boredom superficially without noticing anything strange, so he moved his gaze beyond the monitors to some shelves where he saw a tape that had a label that said: ‘Michael’ that quickly caught his attention, making him sit up straight and move to take it.

It was a VHS tape, his gaze felt somewhat confused until he thought of the player near the remains of the screens, and he put it inside the device before applying the Play button and one of the screens faded to black. For a moment the brunette wondered if something had failed, but quickly a voice sounded from the device.

«Hello, hello? Uhh…» The sounds of paper being shuffled were heard, and the next part was heard in a whisper: «First, there’s an introductory greeting from the company that I’m supposed to read. Eh, it’s kind of a legal thing, you know.» A clearing of a voice was heard before the screen showed a crude sign with the words ‘Welcome’ in front of a gradient blue background, being transitioned by some spark effects. «Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza: a magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life.» The monitor was now showing random videos of the pizzeria when it was supposed to still be active.

Mike shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he listened to the recording, the voice in particular made him uneasy, there was a familiarity to it that made the boy want to run away as well as stay, but he couldn't put a face to it either.

«Remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of children, and you need to show them a little respect. Right? Okay.» The brown-haired boy tensed when the image went on to show fucking Henry Emily in all his glory repairing an animatronic.

It's not that the security guard hated the man, his uncle had been at best one of the most important people in the young man's life during his childhood, at worst, another adult who didn't care about Mike beyond being kind and polite. The man had an antisocial, strange and work-obsessed attitude, very similar to the real attitude of the boy's father, but the difference is that at least the one with glasses did seem to care about his family. The young man always questioned why he should have the short end of the stick in the parents' lottery, and that made him too jealous of his cousins.

«The characters do tend to wander a bit. Uhh, they’re left in some kind of "free-roaming mode" at night.» The voice commented as the recordings played a scene of some workers dismantling the animatronics. «Uhh... something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long. Uhh... they used to be allowed to walk around during the day, too, but then there was the Bite of '91.» The brunette frowned at that, he didn't know of any kind of incident called that (besides, the boy had already left by then), in front of him, an endoskeleton moved. «Yeah... I-It’s amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?»

Mike let a chill run down his spine at the last sentence.

«I think that got a little too baleful.» A cough was heard as the tape showed a shot of the restaurant now empty but lit up. «M-maybe it’s better if I present you the stars of the show.» The image of a button with ‘showtime’ written around it was brought to the foreground, this was pressed by a hand from out of the shot.

The curtains opened to show how the animatronic band was going to start playing a song, but this was quickly cut off by static that had an occasional interruption with the phrase It's me and the face of a Freddy staring at him. "What the hell?" The boy whispered under his breath before approaching to give the side of the monitor a few knocks, as he sometimes did with the radio in his car that didn't work. After a few knocks, the strange transmission cut to a home recording of what seemed like Fredbear and Springbonnie performing, startling Mike.

The recording went back to normal as the brunette tried to calm his breathing with his heartbeat being so loud and fast that it almost completely overwhelmed his ears. «Now, concerning your job: the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uhh, if they happen to see you after hours, probably won’t recognise you as a person…» As the boy began to feel more like a person and less like a ticking time bomb, he couldn’t help but feel tired, even though he took a nap before coming here. «...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit…» Mike knew he should pay attention to what Phone Guy was saying, or that he shouldn’t fall asleep on the job, but his eyelids were pretty heavy, and he was so sleepy…

Garret ran with a smile next to his plane without his teddy bear in sight, and his cousin Charlie was at his side laughing happily as they followed it, Mike gave a goofy smile as he watched them, Pine Valley possibly still more full of life compared to Hurricane even now.

The sound of a bottle of ketchup being squeezed sounded beside him, and he turned to look at his mother putting an insane amount on his food.

“How about some burger with that ketchup?” Uncle Henry asked mockingly as he flipped one of the meats, remembering that he had agreed to come to cheer Charlie up, since her twin had decided to stay with their mom.

“Ha, ha.” The woman laughed sarcastically as she set the bottle aside. “Everything’s better swimming in ketchup.” She turned to look at her son and winked. “Right, Mike?” The named one poured the rest of the sauce on his burger.

“Oh no.” His mother said after accidentally knocking over a bottle of cola. “Henry, pass me the rag next to you.” The spatula almost fell off as the man turned to wipe the woman, but caught him at the last minute.

“You almost got away.” His uncle said, causing his mother to roll her eyes in amusement.

Mike finished his burger and ran off to play with his friends. “Garrett! Charlie! Don’t go so far!” He looked back to see his brother and cousin nodding before running off in the direction of the camping tent. A Frisbee almost hit him.

“Why didn’t you catch it Becky?” Jeremy said, it was sometimes weird to see his face without his dyed blonde hair.

“This is why I told you guys that we shouldn't let the girls play!” A black haired boy said.

“Shut up Dennis!” A tanned brunette replied.

Mike picked up the frisbee, looked up and saw his friends pouting at each other, Jeremy quickly noticed and started waving his arm frantically with a smile. “Mike! You finally stopped shoveling insane amounts of ketchup and are you coming to play?” He said, causing the other two to notice the boy.

The brunette let out a cheeky smile at his friend's comment, but when he was about to respond, he heard the voices of his parents arguing loudly, and when he turned around, he found himself facing the sight of his brother Garret watching him from the back of his father's purple Fairmont, and his mother crying at the picnic table-

 

I hear the secrets that you keep

 

He froze in place as he heard a voice, the sounds of nature had instantly gone silent and the people had disappeared in the blink of an eye, there was no one in Pine Valley besides Mike and the mysterious voice.

 

When you're talkin' in your sleep

 

The brunette gulped a bit in fear, this had never happened before, ever, so the fear felt all too real as he forced himself out of his shocked state and turned back from where the voice was coming from.

“I hear the secrets that you keep…” A childish voice sang softly, there in the middle of the meadow was a small brown-haired boy with a hat on his head, he was sitting while moving the earth beneath him a little swaying to the music. “When you're talkin' in your sleep”

The adult's throat felt like it was somewhat stuck as he looked at the unknown child who shouldn't be here, but his mind quickly tried to catch up. "Who-?" The security guard's voice faltered, so he quickly had to clear his throat, "Who are you?"

The younger boy didn't answer, the older one would have almost believed that he hadn't heard him if it weren't for the look over his shoulder that he gave him with a pout before lowering his gaze back to the ground. “When you close your eyes, and you fall asleep.” The child continued singing in a slightly louder voice. “Everything about you is a mystery”

“Kid.” Mike said tiredly, these dreams, even if they didn’t seem like it, were supposed to be pleasant, something for the adult to be able to cope with things in real life, but right now they were just stressful. “I really-”

“I hate singing that stupid song all the time.” The boy said cutting off the older one, looking angry as he more aggressively moved the stick he had been playing with in the dirt for quite some time. “But I can’t really sing another one, you know?”

The security guard grimaced at the tired, sad tone of the child. “Well, I guess it’s not that bad-”

“I’ve been singing for over a decade.” The younger replied, giving the man a death glare. “Do you know what it’s really like to repeat something over and over again until you’re tired?”

They both stayed silent, in Mike's dream that he had every night, for almost more than ten years. "It's crap." The adult opened his eyes realizing that he had said a curse in front of a child. "Don't repeat that-"

“Crap.” The boy in the hat said with a smile that said ‘eat shit’ and the older one could only let out a sigh of surrender. “You’re such an idiot.” That’s it, Mike won’t interact with a child again if he gets the chance. “But you’re fun.” The younger one finished before going back to playing with his stick, the smile on his face quickly turning into a grimace. “You’re not the golden rabbit, are you?”

“Who-?”

“You look a lot like him when he took off his mask, you’re purple like him.” The last thing he said squinting at him, Mike wondered if he was talking about the ugly security guard jacket he had to wear. “We had thought you were him, who are you really Mike Schmidt?”

The named one felt frozen in place again before answering. “I’m just the security guard.” The answer was too simple for the magnitude of the intensity of the question, if the kid’s disappointed look said anything, this one went back to playing with his stick making more stripes on the ground.

They stayed in an awkward silence again in which the older boy wondered when he was going to wake up, but the younger one broke the stillness again.

“He talks, he’s never talked before.” He whispered quietly, as if he was afraid someone would hear him. “He just cries really loud, his cries are really annoying, and… painful.” The boy had a shiver that he couldn’t contain, he stopped playing and hugged himself. “But he talks, he’s trying to talk to you.” The one in the hat looked at Mike with an intensity that scared him a lot. “We don’t like him doing it, we don’t like him.”

He didn't know what it meant, so the adult opened his mouth ready to ask-

BEEP! BEEP!

It was 6:00 AM, he had just finished his first night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

Chapter Text

The TV was on very low volume, but Mike didn't care as he watched what was happening with tired eyes.

«Why are you rejecting your son, Vlad?»

«That child isn’t mine, Clara!»

The brown-haired boy barely paid attention to the series, ‘The Immortal and the Restless’ was what it was called, his mother once told him that she used to watch the series too when he told her that he started watching it, and she told him that she used to like it because she and the main character had the same name. The show had long since ended, but they still showed reruns late at night.

«How can it not be yours? It’s your copy!»

«Maybe it’s because I never wanted a child in the first place!»

A noise alarmed the teenager who tensed up as he heard footsteps approaching but calmed down when a somewhat chubby figure walked through the door and he could recognize him in the light of the television.

“Hey, champ.” The man whispered, barely able to be heard over the voices of the show, he smiled kindly. “What are you doing?”

«Staying up late.» A voice whispered inside Mike’s mind, but it sounded too cheeky for the man who was trying hard to be nice to him even though it was already two in the morning, so instead he said quietly: “Watching The Immortal and the Restless.” He then looked away back at the screen.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the man nodding as he looked at the television and sat down next to him to watch the show as well, now Clara was threatening to burn down Vlad's mansion if he didn't pay child support.

“I remember this series.” The man began, drawing the tired teenager’s attention. “It used to be quite popular with people until Vlad and Clara’s son entered puberty, somehow the episodes became more cheesy and pointless than they already were.”

The younger just hummed lazily as he watched the blonde woman and the vampire fight over a torch the former had grabbed. “Did electricity really exist in your time?” It took him a second to realize what had come out of his mouth before he tensed up in worry, but as he looked at the older man, this one didn’t seem enraged like his father, instead he let out a small laugh.

“Oh, Mike. Never change.” The man said fondly before bringing one of his hands closer, possibly to ruffle the brown-haired boy’s hair, but the teenager’s instinct reacted faster and he dodge it, making the adult look hurt.

The semi-comfortable atmosphere that had been there, instantly broke into a tense one.

The younger boy could feel something tightening in his chest, he knew that neither he nor his mother liked it when he acted like that, but Mike couldn’t help it, his body always felt alert and on the verge of disaster, the quietness of the house didn’t help either, it made him feel like everything was going to explode on him at any moment. The paranoid thoughts were interrupted by the sound of paper being moved and he looked up to find a white paper bag being offered to him.

“I brought you this.” The older man said quietly, sounding like he was talking to a wounded animal instead of a boy on the verge of being an adult, but there was nothing condescending in his eyes like his father’s. “For insomnia.”

When he opened the bag he was surprised to find an orange bottle of pills, ‘doxepin’ was written on the label and he couldn’t help but grimace for two reasons: he would have to take another batch of pills along with his amitriptyline that his psychiatrist had prescribed him; the other reason was that the problem wasn’t that Mike couldn’t sleep, it was that he was afraid of things in his dreams. When he turned around to thank but explain about the nightmares to the adult, this last one handed him something else.

“I don’t really believe in this kind of thing, but several nurses claimed that it did work.” The man explained as he handed him a book, Dream Theory was the title. The teenager took it nervously looking at the maze on the cover with a blue background and a rabbit in the corner. “I know your dreams aren’t usually pleasant, but I think you can choose something that is.”

Mike was speechless as he flipped through the pages of the book, he was too tired to understand it but he still felt like it was too much, but when the adult stood up ready to go to rest after his night shift at the hospital, he knew he had to say something. “Thanks…” He bit his lip slightly before continuing. “Dad.”

The raven-haired man looked at him in surprise from behind his glasses, he was halfway across the threshold of the entrance to the room, but he quickly smiled at the boy with joy. “You’re welcome, champ.”

Jeremiah would be lying if he didn't say he was pretty worried about how tired Mike looked today.

Well, scratch that, he's always more than worried about the boy, and this one always looks tired, but the difference today is that somehow the young man doesn't just look like he didn't sleep (he knows he does), but he looked completely exhausted.

Mike's appearance had always worried him, Jeremiah knew that the kid was about nine years older than his own son, but still the man couldn't help but feel worried about the young man, especially when he was, in fact, the main caregiver for his little sister. He just felt sad that someone so young had to take on such a big responsibility at such a young age, on top of having to deal with two jobs and a rent that both knew was only going to increase.

Speaking of the brunette, this one was leaning against the surface of the table, only raising his head every so often to drink some soda or take a bite of his ketchup with some hamburger, the boy's attitude only made the older man make a face of concern.

Biting his lip, he decides to break the relative silence the two of them have been spending their break in. “Hey, Mike. Are you sure you don’t want to go get some coffee or something?” He knew the kid had sleep issues and maybe offering caffeine wasn’t going to help, but at least this option would allow Jeremiah to have a conversation where he could ramble on until he got to the root of the problem.

Something that sounded somewhere between a groan and a sigh came out of the brunette, and the older man felt the need to snort as if he was dealing with his teenage son instead of an adult, but luckily for him, he was able to stop himself. “I don’t need a coffee, Sally gave me one in the morning but this one didn’t cheer me up or anything.”

Jeremiah tried to remember the description of Mike’s coworkers from the other job, as far as he could remember, Sally was a tough guy who was in prison (unknown reasons) who was the main cook at the cafeteria, not to be confused with the guy who insisted that Mario was accidentally killing the people of the mushroom kingdom.

“So, why do you look so tired?” The older man took a moment to take a sip of his soda to look more casual. “Didn’t you get your daily hours of sleep? Did your coworker tell you his theory about the Blair Witch again? Problems with your new job?” Mike instantly tensed up at the last question, so he knew that was it.

When the brunette asked him if he knew of any place where there were vacancies for night shifts, Jeremiah felt bad for not being able to help the boy, already with his auto repair shop and the supermarket job, it's been a long time since he looked at the job market these days, the most he knew was the night guard at the supermarket, but that position was already occupied by the old and grumpy Bill.

“What’s wrong with your new job?” The older man said, adding some spice to the burger that had gone cold by this point. “You didn’t talk much about it other than complaining a bit about having to hire your friend, Max? for more time, and then you said that you already had a huge debt with her.”

Mike seemed undecided whether to tell him or not, so Jeremiah subtly slipped a few packets of ketchup towards him, the boy had as big a need for that sweet shit as his son did for mustard, who liked mustard? That disgusting thing, he will never understand teenagers.

After his bribe, the young man seemed more willing to tell him about the problem. “I… I don’t like the new place I’m working at.” The brunette admitted uneasily as he took the envelopes and placed them on the ketchup mess that was his fries. “It reminds me of things I don’t like to think about, things I would like that have never happened, things I know I can’t change, things I wish-” The boy cut himself off before popping a chip in his mouth after a moment of indecision.

“So, why don’t you quit your job?” The older one said, trying to be supportive to the young man, although he wasn’t quite sure he knew how. “You shouldn’t be in a place that isn’t good for your health, kid.”

Mike let out a big sigh before answering. “There are no other jobs.” He said tiredly, but not like someone who didn’t want to pursue the subject, just tired. But as he said the next part of his speech, Jeremiah would say that the boy had probably repeated the speech over and over in his head, trying to convince himself. “I’ve already asked everyone if they know of any jobs but no one knows, I’ve searched on my own with no results, and the counselor said no one in my situation could possibly have anything.” The older man made a rueful face, considering offering the young man his ice cream frequent customer card as a way of saying: I’m sorry. “… the worst part is that I fell asleep without doing my therapy.” The adult blinked as he realized the boy was still rambling.

“That… Isn’t that good?” the older boy asked, somewhat confused. “Sleeping without having to use sleeping pills? I mean, isn’t that the point of all sleep therapy?”

“The pills aren’t because I can’t sleep.” The boy began with a sigh. “They’re because I don’t like what’s in my dreams when I sleep.” The brunette began to ruffle his hair from stress. “The pills help me control what I see in my dreams, if I don’t, they take a horrible turn…”

Jeremiah didn't know what to say to this, his mind was blank on what advice to give the kid in light of the magnitude of his problem...

In the end he gave him a free ice cream with his customer card.

Max was uncomfortable in the restaurant booth, they had come when it wasn't Mike's turn, so she should feel relaxed that the boy didn't find them, but that thought didn't take away the heaviness in her chest.

“Hi, welcome to Sparky’s.” The girl listened next to her and tried to blend in more with the seat in the place. “Do you know what you want to order or do you want some appetizers?” Out of the corner of her eye she could see how ‘Aunt Jen’ was refusing the menus while her lawyer seemed to be somewhere between sad and lost at the same time.

“We’re not having lunch, just bring some coffee or something.”

“No lunch? Well, that’s not fun.” The waiter asked in a somewhat judgmental and joking tone. “Do you realize that lunch is the most important meal of the day?”

“I thought that was breakfast.” Max’s brother said in a bored tone.

“Some people say that, but you know, to get to the bottom of this we have to look into everything from food history to human physiology- Hey, aren't you Max?” The named woman was startled upon hearing her name and looked up to see a brown-haired waiter staring at her. “Yes, you are Max! Mike's friend, right? It's so good to finally meet you-”

“Excuse me, we’re having a private conversation.” The blonde woman said, her clothes were new compared to the ragged jeans of the brunette.

“Oh, sure. I’ll get you your coffees.” The waiter said casually, taking the order with a smile.

“So.” Max was snapped out of her nervous state of being discovered by the woman on the other side of the booth. “Are you sure there isn't anything there? No drugs, no alcohol, nothing?”

“I…” Mike’s pills felt heavy in Max’s pocket, the brunette had left them at his house the other night (something strange, considering that Schmidt used to carry them with him everywhere), and on impulse she had grabbed them, she could show them, taking pills was a bad thing, right? “... No, nothing.”

“You’ve got to be kidding…”

“Hey! My sister told him everything she knows, if there’s nothing else, then there’s nothing else.” Jeff jumped to her defense, neither of them liked this woman, but $200 wasn’t something to be sniffed at these times.

The blonde rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Oh, yeah. That my niece is a sweetheart and that her brother just spends his time sleeping.” The woman massaged her eyebrows for a few minutes, the waiter from before arrived and gave them their coffees before having to attend to a family that came in, the lawyer still had a blank look. “This is a waste of time, I don’t know why I’m paying you.”

Jeff pinched his sister's arm, she knew what he wanted her to say, she didn't want to, but at the look on her brother's face, she knew that if she didn't say it, he would. "He has a new job, as a security guard." The woman half-opened one of her eyes at her. "Without him, he can't pay the rent."

Now, the blonde looked at her with interest. “Really?” The woman stood up straight with both of her eyes half-opened at her. “So, if he loses this job he wouldn’t have a home and he can’t let Abby go out on the streets, so would he give in?” Max’s throat felt tight, so she looked down and nodded, unable to speak. “Well, that would be nice. But how could he lose this job then?”

“Maybe if someone came in and destroyed the place…” Jeff said, knowing that his sister would no longer be able to speak. “It’s their job to take care of it, right? Let’s say a group comes in and destroys it, that’s an automatic dismissal.” The blond leaned back with his arms crossed. “Of course, that would probably cost a few thousand dollars…”

“I shouldn’t listen to this conversation!” The woman’s lawyer (‘Dog’? I think she called him that once, he has that sad dog look), said out of nowhere, jumping from his spot ready to leave but the blonde grabbed his arm stopping them.

“Yes, neither of us should hear this conversation.” The woman said in a calm voice but with a look so cold that it made Max uncomfortable. “We should go now.” She said, opening her bag, then stood up (leaving her cup of coffee) and walked with her lawyer (Dull?) to the cash register where she paid for the cups of coffee.

She had left a large amount of large bills on the table where Max and her brother were.

Mike entered on his second night at Freddy's.

This time, he decided to look more determinedly around the place, he didn't really know what he was looking for, maybe something that would stand out or that was different from the other restaurants the brunette had been to before. Again, there wasn't much beyond the windows and the small space of the place that he had noticed the first time, but one wall in particular caught his attention, a wallpaper of pure children's drawings.

That wasn't as abnormal as the young man would possibly make it sound, all the pizzerias of Fazbear Entertainment used to have drawings that children made of their favorite animatronics, it was something so common that even the offices and break areas for the staff were filled with them.

The boy's cloudy blue eyes focused on one in particular that made his stomach turn a little: in the middle of the sea of ​​drawings on the wall, right in the middle and in front, there was one that stood out above all, it had a yellow rabbit holding hands with five other children (he also saw a small signature on the side of the sheet that was written vertically 'Cassie').

Mike felt sick at the sight of Springbonnie's drawing, especially considering that Fredbear's had possibly closed before this place opened. The security guard turned around feeling an invisible gaze on his back that he decided to ignore, and practically fled to his office.

As he walked to his workplace through the hallways that were simply gray bricks, he could hear a cry in the distance that made him stop, the sound of sobbing could be heard in the distance beyond where his office was, and although he was somewhat hesitant, in the end it was his job to keep an eye on the place in case something suspicious happened inside the establishment, and this was quite suspicious.

The young man forced himself to continue down the hallway despite his nervousness with the sound of a kld crying in the background. The hallways took him close to what he assumed was Parts and Services but the cries mostly came from a dead end, when the adult put his ear to the wall he could hear some whimpering sounds coming from behind them, they sounded like the crying child could barely breathe but they sounded like whispers at the same time.

Mike nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard footsteps behind him and as he turned around quickly, he let out a scream when he saw a figure behind him. 

It took him a while to relax enough and a few blinks to notice that it was Fredbear's stuffed animal from last night. "What the hell?" He asked looking around but seeing no one, he walked over to the toy to grab it. "How did you get here?" The golden stuffed animal didn't answer and instead continued to stare at him with its cold, black eyes. It gave him the creeps, but in the end he put any uncertainty in his mental box and decided to take it back to the office.

As soon as he arrived at the office, Mike left his backpack next to the toy on the office desk to open the locker and put the golden bear away, but when he started to remove the lock, he could hear several plastic things hitting a metal surface and this made him turn around immediately.

There, overturned on the desk, a box next to the plushie had its contents spread out over the surface. “What the hell is wrong with this place!?” The brunette growled under his breath before approaching the mess he had to clean up, but halfway through doing so, he saw that one of the cassettes had written on it: ‘Security Guard - Night 2’, unlike yesterday's VHS, the letter wasn’t purple, nor was it written in neat cursive; this was done with a blue pen, somewhat hastily and with shaky handwriting.

He looked at the other cassettes in the box, some had a similar inscription but with the night number progressing to night five, others had titles like: ‘89 Pizzeria-Night 1’ or ‘Springsuits-Animatronic Maintenance’.

Mike bit his lip as he watched the tapes, sue him (just kidding, don't do it), he was curious even though he knew it was a bad idea. He drummed his fingers in barely contained anxiety before deciding to go get his tape player, it was a gift from his dad when he started sleep therapy (he had brought it to play some music to stay awake this time), and put the cassette in.

‘Hello! Uhh... Well, if you're hearing this, and you made it to day two, uhh, congrats!’ The brunette blinked at the familiar voice, it was the same one from the VHS but the audio seemed poorer. ‘Uhh, I wanted to record a message for you... to help you get settled in on your work. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I’m... finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact, so... I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I’m here to tell you: there’s nothing to worry about.’ The boy let himself lean back in his office chair as he listened to the man speak nervously, the tapes implied that he was doing this on his own which was kind of nice if you thought about it, plus the fact that the man on the recording also thought Freddy’s might be a bit much made him feel good, you know, a little less crazy. ‘Uh, you’ll do fine! So... let’s just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay? I-I won't talk quite as long since Freddy and his friends tend to become more… active as the week progresses. Uhh... it might be a good idea to peek at those cameras while I talk; just to make sure everyone's in their proper place, ya know?’ Mike hummed before moving to turn on the cameras, just like the night before, nothing was out of place… The boy could feel his eyelids heavy.  ‘Uh, interestingly enough, Freddy himself doesn't come off stage very often…’

Garret ran with a smile next to his plane and his cousin Charlie followed beside him, while they laughed, Mike let out a silly smile as he watched them, Pine Valley once again marveling at his eyes with its landscape.

The clatter of a ketchup bottle made him look at his mother putting an insane amount on his food. “How about some burger with that ketchup?” Uncle Henry asked mockingly as he flipped one of the meats.

“Ha, ha.” The woman laughed sarcastically as she set the bottle aside. “Everything’s better swimming in ketchup, Right, Mike?” The boy poured the sauce on his burger with the bottle his mom left behind. “Oh no.” The woman said after spilling the soda. “Henry, pass me the rag next to you-”

“That burger looks disgusting.” Mike looked up immediately, in front of him was a curly-haired kid with bunny ears looking in disgust at the adult’s food, his family and friends instantly disappearing. “Why does it have so much ketchup?”

The brunette had to blink a few times before he could say anything. “Ketchup makes everything better.” The child in front of him gave him an unimpressed look before leaning back, kicking and humming. “What? You don’t sing?”

“Nah, just Freddy.” «Freddy?» The adult was going to ask but the boy in front of him looked at him with a mischievous smile. “You know, bunnies are my favorite! Tell me, do you like bunnies…?”

Mike’s shoulders shrugged as his mind against his will brought up the image of a golden bunny suit, with a purple bow looking at him with silver eyes that had recently looked at him with great contempt-

The security guard was pulled out of his memories by a small hand that grabbed his wrist and when he looked up he was met with the sight of the rabbit boy who was looking at him with wide eyes. “You've seen the golden rabbit too.” The kid whispered intensely as he tightened his grip on Mike. “You know who the man in purple is.”

Now the adult felt somewhat uncomfortable by the boy's attitude, so he tried to make the kid let go of his wrist, but his grip seemed like iron. “Hey, could you let go-?”

“You have to help us.” The black-haired boy said to later began to climb on the picnic table to approach the security guard when he tried to get away. The child now seemed to have red eyes even though a few seconds ago they were black. “No, you have to help us. You have to give us that man-”

RING!

Mike opened his eyes, waking up immediately at the sound of a doorbell, which seemed like a bad idea since he immediately felt a pain in his wrist when he moved abruptly, causing him to let out a groan of pain before he threw to grab himself while he hunched over. The security guard heard heavy footsteps leaving hurriedly, and when he opened one eye, he saw a silhouette with long ears fleeing down the hallway.

Mike really didn't like police officers, all his bad memories always had them rolling around, their figure felt oppressive and painful now that he was over 16 and no longer a moody teenager. But Officer Shelly didn't bring any of those feelings back to him.

Vanessa Shelly, that's how she introduced herself, with her hair done up, a pressed uniform, and a cheerful smile compared to Mike's grumpy face, who at best, could be described as messy. The agent walked confidently into the restaurant as if she had been here hundreds of times, which could be true if she trusted what she had told her about patrolling the area and having to check the establishment every so often.

The woman's eyes filled with sadness and nostalgia as her gaze swept around the place. The brunette also used to get sad in the restaurant, but it wasn't in the same way of strangeness as the officer, but rather because of depression and horror. “I used to come here a lot when I was a kid, it was one of my favorite things to do.” Vanessa turned to look at him with a smile on her face. “Have you seen them in action yet?” Before the guard could say anything, the blonde moved towards the button on the wall that had ‘showtime’ written around it, which she pressed in a second, the next instant the stage curtains opened and the animatronics came to life.

«When you close your eyes and go to sleep

And it's down to the sound of a heartbeat

I can hear the things that you're dreamin' about

When you open up your heart and the truth comes out»

The brunette felt uncomfortable watching the show, not only because of things from the past, but because there was something in the robots' eyes that seemed... too alive.

“Hey.” The twenty-something turned to look at the policewoman when she nudged him. “Wanna dance?” Mike instantly felt uncomfortable by this invitation, and it wasn’t because Vanessa was a woman… he thinks. There was the fact that her appearance was too similar to Elizabeth except for a few minor details, plus she seemed to be the age that Garret would be if he had still been here.

Luckily for him, at that moment the animatronics decided to free him from his suffering by releasing sparks and instantly turning off. At this, the blonde grimaced before looking back at him, specifically at his ‘uniform’.

“You’re missing your badge.” And, with that the girl went to the gift corner without saying anything else and Mike was forced to follow her. The blonde moved to look behind the desk when she decided to speak again. “Do you know the history here?” The woman took a moment to look at him with half-closed eyes. “What happened in the late 80s?”

Mike winced as he massaged his wrist, it hurt like shit, but years of fighting, and beatings from his father had made him, not numb, but more resilient to the pain, hopefully it wasn't broken and he'd just have to put ice on it. “Some kids went missing, didn't they?”

There were sounds of the police officer searching, but she gave him a hum to let him know she heard him. “Yeah, it was a big deal, they had to close the restaurant.” The brunette bit his tongue to keep from saying that they should close all the Fazbear's restaurants. “Are you from the area? I think the owner tried everything to keep the matter as low-key as possible, most of the town didn't even find out at the time.”

“No, a coworker told me about it.” The guard winced and bit his lip, the pain for some reason hurting more since the woman talked about the 80s case. “He’s a real conspiracy theorist, the kind that makes theories about everything, he even has this theory about pizza ovens-”

A box full of badges with Freddy's face on them hit the counter as Vanessa stared at him with wide eyes. “Your partner is MATPAT!?”

Now it was Mike's turn to widen his eyes. “You know his blog!?”

Chapter Text

Maxine was fidgeting behind the wheel in the Freddy's parking lot. 

It was one thing to be an accomplice to a crime in a breaking and entering on an abandoned place; it was another thing to be an accomplice to a crime when there was a police officer nearby.

The brunette kept her gaze fixed as she watched Mike and the police officer leave the place, her brother was sweeping the place with his eyes looking for where he and his companions could enter. For a moment she wonders to herself what kind of situation happened last night for the brown-haired man to have to call a police officer, but they both seem to be too relaxed so it was possibly nothing bad.

The girl bites her lip as she watches Mike and the police car leave, there is tension in their truck, there has been tension since they left the coffee shop the day before. “Are we really going to do this?” The brunette asks quietly, she hates this plan, at first she just thought that this ‘job’ would be a way to scam a wretch, but this is too low, even for her.

“We got paid, right?” Her brother commented, giving her a quick, disinterested glance, but then he focused his gaze back on examining the establishment until it stopped at a truck entrance with a metal curtain. “Bingo.” He said before making a sign out the window to his mates and starting to unbuckle his belt.

“Yeah, but betraying Mi-… a friend?” Her shoulders rose as she realized she was almost about to say ‘Mike’, her brother always had problems with her being interested in someone after the fiasco that was her high school boyfriend.

“I’d rather lose a friend than lose the house.” The boy answers curtly, Max knew that the rent increase was the only reason they agreed to this stupidity, she wanted so badly to curse their idiot landlord. “Keep the car running.” That was the last thing Jeff said before closing the door of the truck, leaving his sister uneasy.

The boy walks until he reaches where his companions were waiting for him for this ‘hit’, he likes to say it like that, it reminds him of those bad movies about robberies that he sees on television. Together, they both go to a back entrance whose door is a metal curtain with a simple padlock that is easily cut with pliers.

The pizzeria is old, filled with that decor that malls had in the eighties, with a carpeted floor possibly full of trash, and a bunch of drawings and posters stuck on the walls (he swears he sees something that looks like dolls made out of plastic plates, what the fuck-).

“Remember, the most destruction in the shortest time possible.” Jeff told his two friends, both of them nodded distractedly at the order, but the ‘leader’ didn’t pay much attention to them. “If you see something of value, don’t hesitate to take it.”

They didn't think about it much before agreeing, the brown-haired man left the other two guys behind and when they were about to separate to start having fun on their own, the younger of the two stopped dead.

“Hey, do you hear that?” Said the black-haired boy, causing the older man to turn around with a raised eyebrow, clearly waiting for him to explain. “A beep, a rather loud beep is heard, like the one of a hospital monitor.”

The bearded man stood there for a few seconds, straining his hearing just enough, and the boy was right. There, almost imperceptibly, a beeping sound could be heard, like the ones you hear on a TV series, but that wasn't possible. Why would there be a heart monitor in a pizzeria?

“It must be some speaker that's failing or something.” The old biker said, not giving it much thought and even shrugging his shoulders. “This place is old as shit, I'm more surprised there aren't more broken things here.” Before continuing, he let an amused smile spread across his face. “Yet.”

The older man's comment amused the younger who smiled back, and they both separated to do their work. No one in the group noticed that the animatronics had disappeared... or that a stage light was illuminating a peculiar drawing,

Carl began to hit the Pinball machines with amusement, he hated those things, he never really knew how to play them well and always ended up losing because of this, so things seemed unbearable to him.

He hummed as he kicked the glass beneath him that had fallen, looking around the arcade and lamented that he couldn't take any of the machines, it would be sick if he had one of them in his basement room, but taking one of the arcade machines was like robbing an ATM, very cumbersome and time consuming (he had a lot of trouble when he tried that once).

While he was deciding what he was going to vent his problems on next or steal, a noise startled him, the sound of pots moving and crashing against each other coming from the kitchen.

“Hank?... Jeff?” When the boy didn't get an answer, he grabbed the baseball bat he had been hitting the furniture with. Somewhat hesitant, he walked towards the bedroom door ready to put an end to any setback to his plan.

The kitchen was an almost claustrophobic room, although maybe if it didn't have all the pots scattered all over the floor, it would possibly look somewhat 'accessible' or at least the floor could be seen. His gaze scanned the furniture around it, nothing seemed out of place and all the cupboards and drawers were open with their contents spilled on the floor.

Carl moved a pan curiously, he doubted that this mess wasn't something recent if he considered the fact that there wasn't any dust on top of the things thrown around compared to the counters, but that made him question how this happened. Did any of his other mates of crime do this?

A noise caught his attention from the mess in the place, it came from the refrigerator that now stood out for him when he realized that it was one of the few pieces of furniture in the room that wasn’t completely open. It sounded like some kind of sudden, metallic jolt from inside that alarmed all of the black-haired man's senses.

He slowly approached, avoiding tripping over any of the pots until he reached the cabinet, which slowly opened the metal door until he saw the inside of the refrigerator in front of him, finding a... Cupcake?

But not the dessert, well, yes, but this one was obviously not for eating, it was a giant cupcake with a plastic covering that was in the middle of the refrigerator and with two giant metal balls sticking out. Carl wrinkled his nose at the sight of the bizarre object, when he approached to take out the giant cupcake to see it better, it opened its eyes, startling him and making him almost fall backwards.

As the boy tried to calm his heart, footsteps were heard from behind him, and as he turned around he saw two red dots glowing before a chicken with a dislocated snout launched itself at him with a shrill cry.

Hank walked to the back, he had seen some nice pieces of machinery that were probably for those mechanical furries that advertise themselves with too many posters on the walls of the pizzeria, seriously, they are the strong point of the place, why do they still need so much advertising inside? Anyway, their pieces would probably bring him something.

He remembered Freddy's, he hated Freddy's, he was one of the few adults who hadn't supported them when they sold the wooded land to build the restaurant, he had thought it was a stupid thing that wouldn't last long, and he was right, but in the worst way.

When he was halfway there, an alarmingly young scream was heard that seemed to come from the center of the restaurant, which startled the bearded man who was already turning around when he saw a figure in the middle of the entrance.

He stood frozen for a few seconds at the disturbing sight of the large figure of almost two meters that was standing at the end of the hallway, overshadowing any feature it had, it had to be one of those fucking robots, he hadn't heard it move. Hank squeezed the crowbar he had in his hands, those things always made him uneasy when he was younger, and right now, that nervousness was resonating beneath his skin, so it wouldn't hurt for him to want to give it a few good blows to the head, right?

Before the motorcyclist decided to vent his frustrations on the animatronic, white orbs appeared out of nowhere from the silhouette, scaring him for a few seconds, he didn't know why, but the sight of them left him frozen.

He started to back away a little when he saw the figure, but when it started to take a step towards him, Hank didn't hesitate for a second before turning around in the direction of the spare parts room where he had been heading, but he was quickly approached by a mix of blue fur and red eyes.

Jeff was passing through the less glamorous brick hallways when he heard it, first a scream that sounded too much like Carl when someone had once broken his arm in a fight, and, another more hoarse and serious one that sounded too much like Hank.

He quickly turned around to quickly go back down the concrete corridor until he returned to the central area of ​​the restaurant and then he saw it.

Carl's body was sprawled on the floor with a lost look and a face in perpetual terror with a large mountain of something dirty yellow that shook on him releasing metallic and grotesque sounds. When he froze seeing the horrible scene, the creature that was on top of his friend, stopped to stand up straight and then turned its head in the direction of the brown-haired man at the entrance of the room.

It was the chicken of the group with the bottom of its beak dislocated with a large mess of blood and with its red eyes bulging that stared at him before from within, a recording of a female voice came out. «H-hey, friend. Y-you want a piece?» In the last part it raised a liver, making the brown-haired man retreat.

The still-alive boy quickly ran down the hallway he had come from, but when he heard another scream from Hank at the end of the hallway, Jeff without hesitation ducked into a door that he closed as soon as he entered and then leaned against it to prevent any of those metal demons from opening it.

He had entered an office of some sort that was too claustrophobic for his liking, but he ignored it in favor of going to the phone on the desk, grabbing the handset ready to dial for help, he didn't mind getting into shady things for money, but it was no use if he didn't live to enjoy the pay. The moment the horn was in his ear, fear flared up in his heart again.

There were sounds of a party in the background with a children's song playing about some blue boy, children running and screaming, but from them stood out the sound of some young people laughing, they sounded cruel and mocking; and then there was the most discordant, a child crying, his cries mixed with screams of terror and pleas for help.

He quickly hung up and when he looked up he could see on the screens how that cursed chicken was dragging Carl's body as if he were a rag doll, almost instantly he wanted to vomit and more so seeing on another screen the headless body of Hank receiving the same treatment from another animatronic.

Dum, dum, dum...

Jeff's eyes opened when he heard the humming, turning around and finally noticing the other door of the office where a shadow could be seen growing alarmingly, the brown-haired man quickly approached to close the door, but it was too late when a sharp hook appeared in front of him.

Max tapped her finger on the steering wheel of the truck, her brother had said that this would be a 'one in one out' so the fact that it was taking so long was quite worrying. The brunette bit her lip a little before deciding to get out of the truck and enter the restaurant.

Mike was dozing on the counter of his table when a knock on his front door woke him up instantly. He could hear Abby watching some show behind him (it's better not be his VHS of Restless and the Immortal) and with a quick glance at the clock he could see that there was still some time before he had to go to his shift at the supermarket (he had to thank Sparky for giving him the rest of the day off).

As he walked over to open the door, he expected it to be Max doing some sort of ‘wellness check’ or some sort of door-to-door salesman, but nothing had prepared him for the sight of Officer Shelly whom he had met that night, now standing in the doorway of his house.

“Michael Schmidt.” The blonde said with a stony look and a posture that was too firm considering how friendly she had seemed on the rainy night. “You’re in serious trouble-” Vanessa stopped dead as she looked at something behind the brunette who was surprised by what was happening. “Oh, who are you?”

“Are you here to arrest Mike?” The man was startled when he heard his younger sister’s voice behind him, turning to look at her, he could see a joking glint appear on her face as she blinked in an ‘innocent’ manner.

“Abby.” The girl looked at him with her big black eyes. “Please go back to watching TV.” The girl pouted but calmly walked back to the living room while her brother turned back to the officer with a tired sigh. “And no more watching Restless and the Immortals!” A groan was heard but he decided to ignore it.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed with surprise that the blonde was now holding a rather familiar orange bottle of pills. “Do you recognize them, Mike?” She said, shaking the bottle and then throwing them at him.

“My pills, how-?”

“There was a break-in at Freddy’s with serious property damage.” The blonde said with a serious face. “While I was looking around the place to note the damage, I came across these, which literally have your name written on them.” The brunette didn’t know what to say, he hadn’t brought his pills with him, how had they ended up at his job? “I have to make a report, and this is your only chance to convince me to leave this out of them.”

The woman seemed to be scolding him with her gaze and Mike couldn't help but be more than nervous, it brought back quite bad memories. He glanced at where his sister was watching the television with quite a bit of joy and made a decision. “We have to talk somewhere else.”

“When I was younger…” Mike’s throat felt like it was closing up, but he swallowed before continuing. “I did something really, really stupid when I was young, and I ruined everything around me.”

They were at the aqueduct near their neighborhood, they were far enough away that if they spoke at the right volume, his sister wouldn’t hear them, but they were still as close as they could be so the brunette could hear what Abby was doing.

“I fucked up, I fucked up really bad, Vanessa.” Mike bit his lip as his eyes felt cloudy, he could feel the blonde beside him tense up. “And I’m going to pay for it for the rest of my life.” He took a moment to breathe and calm down.

He had been undecided on what to tell the officer, he had never been able to tell what had really been the climax of the disaster that was his life, but everyone around him seemed to notice it anyway, Mike knew he didn't have the best look or the best attitude, so it was very obvious that he had a problem, but the real problem was that most acted as if he was a victim, they treated him like one, when he wasn't, he was culprit.

“Our dad was a man who was too understanding, or too kind.” The brunette let his mind wander in memories of the black-haired man who always had an almost genuine smile and always called him ‘champ’. “He always tried to give the best he could so I could get out of the deep shit I was in.”

Mike wants to stop, this is all very painful, his life had been painful moments with only relaxed intervals in which he could pretend that everything could be fine, but something always ended up getting worse.

He felt the blonde at his side leaning towards his side, as a support, the brown-haired man knew he didn't deserve it, but he let the pleasant feeling that this interaction gave him relax him to continue telling his story.

"When he left and Abby's mother abandoned her with me..." Mike's voice failed, that had been a very stressful moment with so many things going on while uncertainty almost consumed him. "I knew it was my turn to give back everything he had done for me."

The death of Abby's father had been one of the most devastating moments in the brown-haired boy's life, at that moment he had lost the last adult in his family who had watched over and genuinely cared for Mike, who had to suddenly become an adult himself with a little girl in his care.

“I know that many of the things he did for me I will never be able to repay, that's why I have to give my all to take care of his daughter.” For the first time during the entire conversation, the brunette dared to look at the officer who seemed somewhat enthralled by his story. “That's why I need this job, Vanessa. Please.”

The woman had a rather peculiar reaction to his plea: first, she seemed surprised by his tone, then she turned uncomfortable as she considered his words, but then she turned sad and compassionate (although he swears he saw a glint of jealousy in her eyes) before quickly getting up from her spot to turn around.

“I'm not going to write anything about the pills in the report.” That's what the woman finally said without giving him another look, her words relaxed the boy knowing that he wasn't going to lose his job today. “So you better be the best brother your sister can have, understood?” The brunette nodded anxiously, he knew he should always do that, it was the least he could do always.

With that said, the blonde started walking towards her patrol car that was parked on the corner of the neighborhood, but at one point she stopped uncertainty for a few seconds before turning her face back a little but still not looking at Schmidt. “It's very possible that you'll get a call from your counselor, so be prepared for it.” And with that she left without further ado. 

Mike's stomach felt like it was falling.

The brunette felt more than nervous as he waited for his phone to ring. Max was about to come to take care of Abby but maybe that wouldn't be necessary if the brunette ended up losing his job.

The boy felt himself in the middle of throwing up and screaming, he wasn't going to do either as his sister was close enough to notice that something was wrong with him.

He had never been good with waiting, waiting had always meant uncertainty and Mike had always been bad with it, he was more of a reacting in the moment, always ready to hit or scream back, ready to move, but when nothing happened instantly, it was worse.

He always felt fear gnawing at his stomach and uneasiness prickling from under his skin, this combination had always made his brain go off on tangents, what will happen to him? Will it end in screaming or hitting? Will it be worse this time? Could it be worse than it already was?

This is why he had hated his first 'real' job as a file clerk in the hospital waiting room where his dad also worked, as all the people in that small white room were like him; scared and restless, with uncertainty eating them from within and with their minds worsening their situations more and more, is it bad? Is it slightly bad or is it impossibly worse? Can it be worse? Is it getting worse? Will he survive? Will he ever wake up-?

A ring rang through the house almost silently bringing the brunette out of his dark thoughts.

“Mike!” He heard his sister’s voice from her room, she was in a bad mood since the day before he had told her that he wasn’t going to take her with him to Freddy’s despite her many objections and ‘arguments’ (tantrums). “The phone!”

“Yeah, I know!” The brunette answered loudly to the black-haired girl, listening to her drag her chair, possibly going back to drawing on her desk, the activity she had been doing for the last half hour without stopping. “I’ll answer!” He added without really any reason, possibly at this point his sister had disconnected from the ‘conversation’.

Mike took a moment to sigh and prepare himself, fear or not, he had to face the matter right now so he could figure out what he needed to do next, whether he still had a job or not.

With high spirits he picked up the phone, but whatever determination and courage he had mustered just a few minutes ago, instantly disappeared as he heard the cold voice coming from the speaker.

«Michael, Michael.» Steve Reagan's voice said with great disgust and a tone that sent shivers down the brunette's spine. «Always being such a disappointment, isn't it?...»

Chapter Text

«Michael, Michael .» Steve Raglan’s voice said with a great reproach and a tone that sent shivers down the brunette’s spine. «Always being such a disappointment , isn’t it?» The boy couldn’t help but shrug at the man’s words, as if he cared what he thought of him even though he was already an adult.

“I…” Mike’s voice cut off without him being able to say anything, he hadn’t thought much when he answered the call, or when Vanessa had warned him, but right now he found himself faced with the fact that he didn’t know what to say, should he explain himself? Should he beg?

«And you can’t even answer me, young man.» The brunette cringed further, this time nervousness began to sting under his skin. « Speak well , if you’re going to, and only do it when you’re spoken to first , got it?» The boy nodded frantically before realizing his mistake himself. «Answer me, do you understand?»

“Yes-” Mike was cut off before he could take a breath.

«Yes, what ?» Raglan’s voice was unyielding, as if he was trying to straighten the boy out with just his words.

“Yes… sir .” Mike’s throat felt dry at the last word, he hated having to be so passive in front of people, it reminded him too much of his time with his… father. After moving away, he always had a bad behavior against authority ( well, even before, but then he was worse ) since it always reminded him of bad times in his adolescence.

A satisfied click of the tongue was heard from the other side of the line, making the brunette tense up even more, who clenched his fists helplessly. «Very well, always remember to behave in the best way.» He hated the uncertainty of not knowing how angry the man on the other end of the line was at not being able to see his face: was he wrinkling his nose in disgust? Would he look at him with cold contempt if he were in front of him? Was his lip trembling with barely contained anger? Or maybe he was talking to him with the same fake smile with dead eyes from the only time they met face to face; for some reason, this last option only made the young man sicker. «Now, tell me, what is your justification ?»

Mike swallows before answering, feeling like invisible eyes are holding him frozen in place. “I… I-I don’t know what happened- I swear.”

«Don’t stumble over your words.» The counselor said in a sharp voice from the other end of the line, he hated how his voice made him feel, like he was still a dumb child too broken to stand up for himself. «I’ve told you before, haven’t I? Speak well .»

The brunette's vision began to blur, but not from tears, it was more like his body was beginning to fail under an invisible pressure that was suffocating him, but in the end he forced himself to answer the right way. “I locked the doors, I was there from 12 until a little after six. There was just no way I could have seen it coming-”

« Excuses, excuses , Michael.» The cold voice on the other end of the line interrupted him again, and if the boy could, Mike would have shrunk further into himself, but he had to settle for staring at the floor. «I don’t want to hear any of them. You’re going to fix this as soon as you get there, got it? Clean up the mess you made .»

“... Yes, sir.” The brunette said, keeping himself together enough to answer without shaking or whispering as the other man had ordered him to answer, Reagan hummed in satisfaction before hanging up without saying anything else, as if anything else, even a short bye, was a waste of time.

As soon as the call ended, Mike took a breath and instantly ran to the bathroom to throw up, ignoring how his sister at some point came to ask if he was okay.

His wrist hurt.

It was already almost 11 and Max hadn’t arrived yet.

He has tried to call her home phone several times but still has no answer and he will have to go to work very soon… Also, his sister stole his uniform jacket again.

“Abby, give me my jacket back now.” The brown-haired man said tiredly from the other side of the couch while looking irritatedly at the black-haired girl who let out a mischievous laugh as if this were a game.

“Not until you agree to take me with you!” The kid said with too much energy for the time of day.

“I already told you no, now get ready to be taken care of by Max.” Mike tried to go one way, but the girl on the other side of the couch automatically started running in the opposite direction, so he stopped, looking at her defiantly.

“My friends said that you will do it this time!” The child said happily with a triumphant smile and a great sense of superiority, her brother decided not to reply, trying to fight with the girl's imaginary friends always ended up being useless.

Instantly the two siblings began a chase around the piece of furniture, with the kid letting out amused laughs and Mike being quite tired, to the point that the man ended up crashing into the corner of the couch causing him to let out a groan while his sister stopped her escape to look at him worried.

“Ouch…” The brunette said as he hugged his knee, almost completely rolling up in the cushions where he fell, the boy was beyond exhausted by the whole Freddy’s break-in situation, the call with Steve Reagan, his weird dreams, not being able to contact Max and the whole chase with Abby. In the end, with a tired exhale he lay back on the couch letting his muscles sag like he was dead (maybe he looked too much like one, since his younger sister asked a little worriedly: “Mike? Are you still alive?”) and he just… gave up. “It’s okay, you can come.”

“Yay!” The black-haired girl said before throwing herself at her brother with a smile but eliciting a groan of pain from the older boy due to the weight of a 40 kg girl falling on his tired body. “He, he, he.”

“Now.” The adult began after catching his breath from both the run and the ‘hit’. “It’s time for you to give me back my jacket.”

At this demand, the kid just looked at him with her big black eyes and then she parroted in an innocent way. “What jacket?”

“ Abby .” The older boy said with a tone that clearly said he wasn’t going to take any nonsense as he stood up a little from his spot.

“ Mike .” The girl replied with a similar tone as she backed away a little.

In less than a blink of an eye, the brunette launched himself at his sister to tickle her sides, causing the infant to burst out laughing as she writhed in an attempt to free herself from her older brother's grip.

“Ha, ha, s-stop, ha, ha.” The black-haired girl said between giggles and twists.

“Not until you give me back my jacket.” The brown-haired man said with an amused smile.

“Ha, ha, ok, ha, I'll give it back, just- ha, ha STOP!” The girl shouted, waving her arms.

“Not until you apologize!”

“Ha, ha, NEVER!”

Mike knew he would probably find the pizzeria a bit messy when he got there, but he never expected it to be so trashed.

When he arrived with his sister, she was more than excited (unlike the brown-haired man who was just tired) until she saw some broken games and the stained glass windows of the characters in the diner smashed.

“What happened here?” The little girl asked in her broken little voice, as if she had seen a place she had known since she was a baby completely twisted . Her brother didn’t know how to answer her but when he saw a trail of blood barely visible from where they were, he took care to cover his sister from sight and with a ‘Come on, Abby’ he led her away from the dining room towards the office, always looking around for anything else bloody.

When they reached the security of the security office ( excuse the redundancy ) the older boy set about creating the pillow fort that his sister always made to feel comfortable at bedtime, they put everything they brought: sheets, pillows, blankets, stuffed animals...

Mike opened the office locker, it had occurred to him that it would have been nice if his sister had something from the place since she seemed to like it so much, and although he wasn't going to steal something directly from his work (and he seriously doesn't want anything from Fazbear, especially Foxy ) he thought that an old and worn stuffed animal would be the best option (besides, for some reason, the teddy bear didn't seem... so bad to him).

The brown-haired man searched through the small metal space, but to his frustration the golden bear seemed to be missing again, with some concern he wondered if one of the people from the break-in took it.

"Mike!" A voice interrupted his thoughts and the named one turned towards the pillow fort, where he could see his sister throwing a tantrum. “I still expect my ‘goodnight’ before I sleep!” The adult let out a loving snort, but still went to attend to the girl’s request.

“Good night, Abs.” The older one said, covering the black-haired girl who let a satisfied smile spread across her face, but it quickly turned into a worried expression.

“Are you going to be here while I sleep?” She asked somewhat nervously, which worried Mike since the younger girl was quite independent and didn't usually worry about being on her own, that was the brown-haired man’s job .

“Of course, Abs.” The adult immediately replied without thinking much, letting his hand go to the girl and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’m just going to clean up the mess from earlier and I’ll be here in less than a blink, okay?” His words seemed to please the girl who almost instantly fell dead on the pillow ( no, not really, please, never let it be like that ).

It's time to get to work.

Mike, somewhat hesitantly, leaves his sister's side to go to the main dining room, where he has to begin cleaning up the mess from the previous day's incident, much to his chagrin.

He looked around the establishment and couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the sight, from the beginning he knew there would be a big disaster, both Vanessa and Reagan made it sound like it would have been bad , but the brunette would never have thought that it would have actually been that bad.

First things first, he had to sweep up the glass, the animatronic shaped glass was a waste at this point ( but not the pinballs ), so it would be best to just move them, especially with his younger sister around.

After that was done, the brunette's gaze fell on the blood stain near the kitchen with a trail and he couldn't help but let out a more grumpy grimace, it wasn't the only one, there was something down the hall that led to what he was sure was Parts and Service, but Mike really didn't like blood.

He quickly went to the supply closet, grabbed some cleaning supplies, filled and prepared the bucket in the bathroom, and then got ready to go to the dining room to clean up the bloody mess. After all, if he doesn't want to see it, it would be best to clean it up quickly, right ?

“Do you think this is acceptable, Michael?”

The boy doesn't want to be here, he wants to go back to his brother's side, he wants to apologize as much as he can, promise him that he will be a better older brother, and good brothers don't abandon his siblings when they are defenseless, that's why he has to go back. He wants to go back, he doesn't want to be here ever again and much less see so much blood again.

“Answer me when I talk to you.” The brunette’s jaw was grabbed roughly and then turned in the direction of silver eyes that looked at him with great contempt and coldness. “So?”

Michael doesn’t know how to answer, he’s so scared that he wants to cry, but his father always hated crying, but at the same time he didn’t know what to say, should he explain himself? Should he beg? Either way, his silence seems to be the wrong option since the hand on his face pushed him down into the pool of blood, and god, he wants to vomit so badly .

The brown-haired boy, when he sees his hands stained with blood once again, jumps back, letting out a moan of fear, but his back quickly collides with legs, and when he raised his head he saw with terror the stony face of his father , who grabbed his wrist. For a moment the teenager feared that he would dislocate his wrist, like that time during a summer when Michael stayed inside all vacation for having taken something from his father's office, but the adult instead of punishing his son, just put a brush in his hand and then pushed him back to the floor.

“Clean up, Michael.” The kid wants to scream, everything around him is just too much, his father, the blood, Fredbear… but the adult didn’t seem to give in this time (joke, he never does, it always had to be the teenager). “ Clean up the mess you made .”

Mike’s gaze became blurry again and the air escaped from his lungs, his wrist hurt so much .

He had cleaned up most of the bloody mess, he felt a twinge in his knees though this time he hadn't cleaned until they were bleeding and his hands were torn by the carved ones along with the cleaning chemicals.

The brunette needed to get away, he needed to breathe , he needed to go to his happy place .

Barely together enough to put things back in their place (he'll throw the red water out in the morning), the adult runs into his office almost slipping and sits down as silently as he could in the chair, if he had stood for a second longer, his legs would have simply given out.

He tried to do the breathing exercises, in, out, in, out… But that wasn't working, the air never stayed around for too long and Mike had trouble just trying to get his body to obey.

The stains around him were too much, every little thing in the office brought an overwhelming amount of information to his barely functioning brain, so he tried to close his eyes, but every time he did this he only saw blood , blood on his hands, blood beneath him, blood expanding around him -

He searched to feel the plastic of the wheeled chair, but his mind only remembered the blood on his skin, the pain in his wrist, the coldness of the ground on his knees, the smell of chemicals, the screams -

His happy place, he needed to go to his happy place.

With a bit of clumsiness and urgency, Mike lunged at his backpack and began to search through it, thankful for his sister's ever-heavy sleep, she always slept well without help, as deeply as she could.

He quickly pulled out his tape recorder and pressed the play button, hoping to hear the calming nature sounds of Pine Valley flood his senses and wash away any bad memories… But that wasn’t what he heard.

«Hello, hello!» A familiar voice came over the speaker, making the brunette frown, he was sure he had put on the ambient tape, why was Phone Guy playing on his player? The brunette decided to ignore it and tried to try his failed breathing exercises again. «Hey, you’re doing great!» For some reason, after this comment, Mike’s attempts to control his breathing seemed to work, even though his mind was still racing. «Uh, most people don’t last this long! I mean, you know, th-they usually move on to other things by now…» Why did everything suddenly have to seem so much? He doesn’t want to be here, he wants to go to his happy place, he needs to go to his happy place, he needs to go to his happy place… «Uhh, I’m not implying that they died-»

Garret and Charlie were laughing happily as they played with the boy's toy airplane, it wasn't his favorite toy, but he liked it a lot because Uncle Henry had given it to him for Christmas.

Michael let out a silly smile as he looked at them, closing his eyes as he let the sounds of Pine Valley flood his senses, he loved this place frozen in his memory, far from the horrors of Hurricane-

“Do you like Foxy?”

The brunette abruptly opened his eyes as any soothing noise around him abruptly disappeared. «No, please, not this again, not today.» But despite his requests, as he turned his gaze behind him, he found a child in the middle of the wooded landscape.

The kid looked quite young, about the age he had last seen Elizabeth, he had a toothless smile, with freckled cheeks that seemed to match his reddish hair, a toy hook on his wrist and he had a look without any bad intentions directed towards the adult.

“What?” The brown-haired man asked, confused, the question reminded him of the rabbit boy's question from the night before, but this one was a more direct question towards the subject of animatronics as opposed to the more vague 'do you like rabbits?' (although he thought they were going to keep asking him about... him ).

“Foxy!” The child said again, waving his arms at his sides with barely contained excitement, then he began to make mannerisms with his fake hook-hand as he spoke. “The bravest sailor on the seven seas! The most wanted fox, the most dangerous pirate than Blackbeard or David Jones!”

The words were familiar to him, it was how the animatronic fox was introduced before he began his show where he told stories of his adventures at sea, he had it so memorized by years of listening to it so attentively.

“No…” He whispered under his breath, he was too tired to pretend to be a functional adult, much less to play along with the kid, so he told the truth: the fox brings so much bitterness and pain in his mind, that he simply wanted the animatronic to stay in a corner of his mind, darkened in oblivion.

The redhead seemed confused by his words, showing his bewilderment by tilting his head slightly with a frown and his mouth pouting. “But…” The freckled boy raised his hand and pointed at his head. “You’re wearing a Foxy mask.”

The brunette’s eyes widened, his breathing stopped for a second as his body froze in place, but then he hastily raised his hands to the side of his head where the kid had pointed.

And indeed, there it was in front of him after he ripped it from its place.

In Michael's small hands ( why did his hands look so small? ) was the reddish mask, the hollow eyes staring back at him (except for the patch part) and the plastic fangs seemed to glow tremblingly - why did the mask look trembling…? Oh, he's the one who's trembling.

Now the brunette was aware of his body's failure, he could feel his lungs screaming for air while his eyes began to feel watery, he could even feel tears falling down his cheeks as he heard the noises of that day return to his ears.

The sound of children screaming, laughing and playing pierced his hearing, along with the sound of arcades or ball games, all of these merging into a kind of white noise around the boy who began to let out sobs while asking over and over again: “Please, no, please, not again.”

Little Boy Blue plays in the background like some kind of mockery, barely heard over the everyday noise of the restaurant, it was a song with barely any rhythm and somewhat boring, possibly for that reason there was no one in the main room that day (or maybe they just didn't care).

Michael hates that song, it was almost ridiculous how much the song disturbed him, but there was a long process in making him go from having a panic attack when hearing the song to just being annoyed.

"Wow, your brother is kind of a baby isn't he?" Stop .

"It's hilarious. Why don't we help him get a closer look! He will love it!" He hates that voice, he hates himself .

"No, please!" He and his brother said in unison, but Michael instantly covered his mouth with his hands, how dare he pretend that he was the victim?

"Come on guys, let's give this little man a lift. He wants to get up close and personal!” He was shaking in his place as he tried to curl up into a ball, not wanting to see him. 

"No, I don't want to go!" The boy covered his ears as he let out sobbing moans.

"You heard the little man! He wants to get even closer! Ha ha ha!" Shut up, shut up, shut up - "Hey guys, I think the little man said he wants to give Fredbear a big kiss! ON THREE! One.... two....." Despite his better judgment, the brunette looked up at the last second against his will.

He watched for what seemed like an eternity as his brother's body thrashed as he tried to get out of the animatronic's mouth, but at that moment the bear's jaw dropped and then a large purple splatter spread over Michael, over his face, marking him as a killer -

Mike startled, falling out of his chair, breathing erratically through his mouth and having to blink several times to keep the tears in his eyes from spilling out as he tried to regain control of his body.

When he was better, the brunette slowly stood up, picking up his chair, looking around his desk and finding that strangely now the Fredbear plushie was on the table, right in front of him… Weird , possibly it was Abby who put it there-

The adult abruptly turned behind him to where the pillow fort his sister was supposed to be sleeping in was and…

Abby was gone.

Chapter Text

Michael lazily watched the animatronics show and he was fucking bored.

“Mike!” Dennis called out, drawing out the ‘i’ in the diminutive of his name, which, theoretically speaking, would render the whole function of being a diminutive pointless, but he guessed the other boy didn’t care enough as he leaned against the table. “I’m sooooo bored.”

“Yeah.” Becky seconded as she tapped her fingers against the table’s surface, her nails painted red, unlike the others who had them painted black (the brunette was scolded by his father for this for hours). “None of these animatronics are cool, singing silly nursery rhymes.”

“Well.” The kid in the Foxy mask began. “I don’t like it here either, but father insists on bringing Garret here and he’s too much of a coward to be left alone.” Michael said as he crossed his arms, not telling the whole truth: like the fact that they were brought here was because Henry was worried about them being alone all day; father not only forced Evan to come, but him as well; the boy wasn’t doing any big brother duties, the problem was that the younger one would get scared of being alone, so he would end up crying, thus snitching on his father.

“But everything here is so babyish.” Jeremy replied as he kicked his feet under the table, he always had too much energy in him and Mike was sure that sitting here was killing him. “I’m pretty sure we’ve all grown out of the phase of listening to kid songs and playing ball games all day.”

The half-English boy couldn’t help but grimace at his friend’s words, but he pretty much agreed with them, although he used to love coming to Fredbear’s (mostly for the pizza and the prizes) he had to admit that he never connected with any of the stars of the place, so he never saw the charm in staying here all the time, it really got too boring when Michael had to come every day.

“Hey.” Jeremy spoke again, drawing everyone’s attention. “I heard Drake from sixth grade say they’re doing a marathon of all the Star Wars movies at the town theater.” That not only caught the brunette’s attention, it also made the Freddy mask boy lift his head from the table and the girl in the group look at him with more than a little disinterest. “Maybe we can watch some of them before we have to go back before closing.”

“Those things don’t last like…” Dennis took a moment to count on his fingers the hours each movie lasted. “6 hours in total?”

“Are you really going to complain about having what will possibly be the best 6 hours of your entire life?” The Bonnie mask boy asked with a raised eyebrow, it was sacrilege for him that someone didn’t want to watch the best 3 movies in the world, art, is what he would say.

“Jeremy.” Michael called his friend. “I can’t leave Evan for that long, he’ll try to go to the house on his own again and father will have my ass to hunt.” His comment made the Star Wars fanatic boy pout.

“Well, let’s just watch the second movie.” Jeremy offered, throwing his arms up in surrender. “Anyway, it’s the best of the three, and we’re still late for the first one, like, ‘we just missed the Darth Vader presentation’ late.”

“It’s still 2 hours.” Becky pointed out, removing some of her nail polish mostly out of boredom. “We still have the same problem with Michael’s brother.” The words seemed to depress the group.

“Maybe… Could we take him with us? All kids like to go to the movies.” The boy in the Freddy mask said.

“Not all kids are afraid of the dark… Or those things.” At the last part of the sentence, the brunette pointed towards the duo of animatronics that were moving clumsily and abruptly, with a group of children under 7 years old squealing with excitement. His words seemed to deflate his friend Jeremy, who slumped against the table, and Michael really didn’t like seeing him like that, so he quickly came up with a plan. “We could leave him in the play area of ​​the cinema.” Everyone turned to him. “We would only watch the second one and we could leave him with a few coins to entertain himself.”

The whole group seemed to perk up at the brown-haired boy's proposal, and the latter, somewhat resilient, let out a sigh as he walked around the room looking for where his brother might be hiding today.

As he made his way through the tumultuous crowd of children under the age of 10 running around, he found the hunched figure of his younger brother under a table, he seemed to be talking to his teddy bear, the latter causing the teenager to roll his eyes in annoyance.

He could never understand the fear that the kid had from the animatronics that his father made when he insisted that his plushie was his favorite and best friend, even when it was a scaled-down version of Fredbear.

The boy avoided letting out a long-suffered sigh and instead prepared to walk towards the plastic table where beneath it the little kid froze upon hearing him approach. “Garret, get out of there, we’re leaving.” The infant looked at him with wide eyes from beneath the furniture at his words, not moving, nor reacting beyond hugging his bear, this irritated the older brown-haired boy who gritted his teeth in frustration. “Didn’t you hear me? Move.”

The child shakily shook his head in fear. “W-why? It’s not yet the time that dad told us we should leave.” He said haltingly before hiding his face behind the golden bear.

Michael's patience was wearing thin, he almost wanted to impatiently tap his foot against the ground involuntarily like his father did, but he wouldn't let himself do it for the life of him. "My friends are tired, so we're going out here and we can't leave you here, so let's go." The kid vehemently shook his head even behind the teddy bear. "What do you mean with that? You don't even like the place!"

His voice was loud even though he wasn't technically yelling, making Garret cower and hug himself as if he wanted to protect himself from the teenager, who at this point was beyond angry, the infant always asked not to be here, but now that Michael was doing something good for him by taking him away from here, the kid refused.

The teenager clenched his fists as he felt anger running through him, but even though his fury was telling him to hit the infant in front of him, he would never hit any of his siblings (or what was left), so he had to resort to something else and luckily for him, something came to mind. He let out a mischievous smile that terrified his younger brother and with a mannerism, he called his friends to come.

“S’up, Mike.” Jeremy said as soon as the three pre-teens reached where he was. “So, are we going to continue with the plan?” He asked, excited more by the prospect of going to see Star Wars than leaving here.

“We have a little setback.” He said with narrowed eyes, his words discouraged the bunny-masked boy, but the brunette only pointed at the kid hiding under the table. “The Crying Child down here doesn’t want to cooperate.”

His friends now looked annoyed by his answer. “Oh, so we’re not going anymore? Unfortunately for us we can’t just leave him here.” Becky asked as she crossed her arms.

“Oh, but we can.” His friends were now paying close attention to him. “We just have to make sure he can’t get out of here.” He said in amusement, making his friends share his smile even though they didn’t know what he was planning, and the child under the table looked even more terrified (was that even possible?), before the latter could run away, the group rushed to grab the little man.

The toddler began to scream and cry for the teenagers holding him to let him go, but despite his screams, neither the group nor anyone else in the restaurant did anything as the kid was led through the hallways that weren’t for the general public.

Michael led his friends to the Parts and Services room, where he quickly ushered the toddler inside and locked the door, instantly causing the doorway to be banged on along with the sound of crying. “If you want to stay so badly, you can ‘get familiar’ with them!” Pleas for him not to be left there were drowned out by the laughter of the group as they began to leave.

“Hey.” Dennis spoke up as soon as they walked out the back door of the establishment. “Are you sure no one is going to find him? I don’t want to get into any more trouble with my dad.”

“Yeah,” Michael responded automatically. “They don’t do maintenance on those until the night, we’ll be back by then.”

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” The girl with the Chica mask asked, turning around several times with concern. “He didn't seem very comfortable back there.”

“He'll be fine, he's just a whiner.” The brunette replied, already fed up with his brother. Not only did he have to take care of him on his own, he was also often talked to about it (specifically by Uncle Henry) and scolded about it. “The little man needs to toughen up, besides…” Michael allowed himself a moment to snort and put his arms behind his head. “It's ridiculous that someone is afraid of those robots.”

Mike was running down the hall, he heard a playful humming behind him as he hurried out, he froze for a second outside the office threshold as he noticed the tall figure of fucking Foxy at the end of the hall, he looked at him with his yellow eyes in the middle of the darkness before beginning to chase him to the party room.

Upon arriving, the adult could feel fear taking over his body as he froze at the entrance to the room, there in the middle of the main area was his little sister Abby… Too close to those giant metal traps that towered over her.

The brown-haired man drew strength from who knows where and launched himself at his sister to drag her away from the reach of the animal-shaped killer machines.

“Mike!” He heard the black-haired girl say below him as he squeezed her and backed away, always keeping his eyes on the robots, as if he were leaving them out of his sight for a second they would come towards them ready to break his neck like in his nightmares. The animatronics, though not yet charging at them with their out-of-tune screams, were staring at them, taking small steps towards them, further alarming the adult who was becoming more and more tense. “Mike, it’s okay!” When the man looked down to tell his sister that nothing was okay, he found a smile on the girl’s face. “They’re my friends!”

“What…?” The black-haired girl took advantage of her moment of confusion and broke away from his grip to stand next to Freddy. Despite the older one’s concern, the kid had a happier expression.

“These are my friends!” The girl said quite excitedly and then pointed at each of the members of the animatronic band. “This is Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica.” His sister paused, looking into the distance and then laughed. “And of course there’s also the great Captain Foxy!” Mike tensed for a second before turning to see where the girl had been looking and there he could see the aforementioned fox peeking from the threshold of the hallway with its head tilted slightly, it looked too… alive .

They all seemed too alive to be robots, Chica was carrying its cupcake in the way a girl would with one of those baby-shaped dolls, Freddy was swaying slightly while standing, Bonnie was squinting its eyes for no reason, and somehow Foxy looked playful.

For the last three animatronics, the almost blurry image of three children appeared in his mind, as if his brain was trying to tell him something by comparing them.

And this was remarkable since animatronics weren't supposed to show so many… mundane features? The point is that doing those little acts was something that needed too much effort in their construction that he was sure Fazbear Entertainment's animatronics didn't have, much less with how stingy they were.

Abby must have noticed his concern, since now she was the one who looked worried. “Mike? Are you ok-?”

At that moment, the clock on his wrist rang, it was 6:00 AM

The robots quickly stood up straight and stiffly, before starting to walk mechanically to their places, now without the little too human tics that they had in their previous behavior.

“Guys?” His younger sister spoke with a lot of confusion in her voice as she watched her friends act strangely from her perspective. “Where are you going?” The girl tried to go with them but her brother quickly grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Abby.” The brunette began softly, just because the robots were strangely passive with them didn't mean they weren't dangerous, Fredbear couldn't really move from its stage but it only took one stupid teenager for everything to end very badly. “It’s 6 in the morning, they should go to their places.” The black-haired girl pouted at him, but then didn’t try to break free from his grip.

When all the animatronics went to their places, Mike indicated to his sister that it was time to leave, which although the girl seemed somewhat reluctant, with a last look at her ‘friends’ she agreed to go through the halls towards the office where they had left their things.

The moment he entered the office, the brunette went straight to dismantle his sister's pillow fort along with her stuffed animals, but while he was at it he heard the girl let out a startled moan, alarming him. “Abby! Are you okay!?”

The black-haired girl looked almost pale as she looked at the desk, following the direction with her eyes he realized with surprise that she seemed to be scared by the sight of the golden plushie. The kid quickly backed away until she was closer to Mike and then hid behind him, never losing sight of the teddy bear that was just sitting there.

Suddenly, the brunette was confused, when he woke up with that stuffed animal he had assumed that it was his sister who had put it in front of him, so the girl's reaction now seemed too confusing to him... On the other hand, the fact that she had gotten too close to the animatronics also left him baffled, so possibly he was the weird one here.

He put his worries inside his box anyway, and patted the little girl's head before gently releasing the grip she had on him despite the infant's complaints, he went to grab the plushie and placed it in the office locker, where it should have been from the beginning… Although he hesitated for a second, he swore he could feel the sadness coming from the teddy bear as if it was asking him not to lock it there in the dark.

It seemed like a lot of things seemed to be alive at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

“Mike, I’m hungry.”

“Abby, wait, we’ll be home soon.”

Now both Schmidt siblings were walking down the road to get to their house so that both (the girl and the adult) could get ready to continue with their day, they could even get a few extra hours of sleep.

“But I’m hungry now.” The black haired girl complained, as soon as the golden bear was locked in the locker, the kid had returned to her previous simpler personality leaving behind how terrified she looked before.

“Can’t you wait a few more minutes?” The adult said moving the rearview mirror towards the back seats where his sister was surrounded by her stuffed animals and blankets, wearing a pout that told him everything: a resounding no , this made the brunette let out a sigh in surrender. “Okay, I’ll look for where we can eat.”

This made the girl smile and she let out a 'yay' with her arms raised, eliciting a small laugh from the brunette before he started thinking about where to go, it wasn't even 7 in the morning yet so there weren't many places open, with most possibly being the ones that were closing after the night shift, plus, Abby was quite… particular about eating.

With another sigh (but now a long-suffered one), he knew exactly where to go.

“Hey, welcome to Sparky’s. Do you know what you want to order or do you want-?” When the waiter took a break from speaking, Mike tried to sink as much as he could into the chair to avoid being recognized. “Mike!” He failed.

The man took a moment to breathe deeply to mentally prepare himself for the next 10 tortuous minutes (knowing Ness, it could be 20) before turning to his partner. “ Hey, Ness- ”

“I can’t believe you’re here! I swore you seemed to avoid coming in on your free time, I almost thought it was personal.” The college man commented, putting his hands on his hips and with an amused tone, but quickly noticed the other person sitting in the booth. “And who is this young lady with you?”

Abby raised her eyes for a second from her drawings ( where did she get the materials? ) to give the waiter a quick glance before turning her attention back to her friends’ doodles, but this didn’t discourage the theorist.

“What are you drawing?” The waiter asked softly as he leaned close to the black-haired girl, who with her shy attitude towards people outside her circle, only moved a little away from the guy, but didn’t cover her drawing. “Oh! Are they the ‘Freddy’s Gangs’?” The kid seemed to perk up at his words.

“You know them?” She is now starring a little too intently at the college student, much to the chagrin of her brother, who knows that she has just extended an invitation to the theorist to speak.

“Of course!” Ness blurted out excitedly as he sat down at the booth and set his tray aside on the table. “I am Minnesota’s top Fazbear Entertainment expert-!”

“You are the only one who is interested-”

“Which makes me the expert here by default.” The waiter points out. “I can tell you everything you want about the pizzeria, I’ve researched it and its sister establishments many times, I could even tell you what their menus were.” Mike let out a sigh of dismay as he leaned his head back against the backrest, Abby on the other hand, looked amazed.

“Can you tell me about their beginnings?” The black-haired girl asked completely interested, and Mike wonders if his sister’s excitement about doing things for Fazbear Entertainment is some kind of ironic punishment.

“Of course!” The waiter excitedly exclaims before standing up straight to begin speaking. “Freddy’s didn’t exactly start on its own; it was a restaurant made in the early days of Fazbear Entertainment, who was one of the largest distributors—”

“Actually.” Mike interrupts instantly, his eyes still closed. God, he wanted to go to sleep. “Fazbear wasn’t the one who created most of the animatronics or ideas; they came from a company called Murray or something like that, they had been contracted to improve the first suits, and then the concepts of Freddy's gang, but after a dispute and losses, Fazbear ended up buying the entire company.” It wasn’t the happiest or most inspiring story, but he knew part of it, though not all of it.

When everything else fell silent, Mike allowed himself to open his eyes and look at the seat in front of him, there was his sister with her mouth open in surprise and Ness with a raised eyebrow. “I didn’t know you knew the history of that place, I thought you didn’t like it.”

Now the Schmidt boy felt cornered. “Well, I used to live in Hurricane before, so it’s natural that I knew those things.” This was what seemed to surprise the waiter at last, as he opened his mouth to ask more, but another voice interrupted him this time.

“Ness! What are you doing slacking off!?” The ex-con growled from the kitchen, Abby didn’t seem impressed by the shouts and went back to drawing while the college student began to justify himself.

“But Sally , Mike brought his little sister to breakfast!” The theorist responded, causing the cook to look out the order window in his direction, he let out a sharp smile upon seeing them while the security guard just wanted to disappear.

“Until you finally bring your sister over here, brat!” The man with a net on his head said, then he pointed his greasy spatula at him, shaking it vigorously. “I bet you thought you could hide her from me forever, didn’t you?” Mike so regrets bringing his little girl to both of his jobs…

At least Abby ate her breakfast without much resistance, though.

When they got home, his sister finally seemed to faint from the whole thing, having fallen asleep amongst all her plushies, then Mike had to do the adult thing of picking her up without waking her up.

He carried the little girl in his arms, being extremely careful not to drop her while he figured out how to open a door with just one hand, and then he had to make it all the way to the kid's room without tripping over anything.

Abby tried to sink further into his neck when Mike was forced to leave her lying on her bed, there he stayed for a moment to arrange a curl of the girl's hair behind her ear, sometimes it was so rare for him to find moments of peace like this in his busy days.

He stayed there for a few seconds appreciating how peaceful it felt to not be late for something, but quickly got up to go take a shower to go to his next job, just because he is on the verge of a crisis doesn't mean he doesn't have responsibilities, besides, all the girl's things were still in the car.

As he was turning to leave the room, something out of the corner of his eye caught his eye causing him to stop in the middle of the bedroom doorway. Mike could feel his stomach drop for a second before he forced himself to walk towards the object.

There, on the desk in his sister's room, is a picture of the bite incident from '87.

Chapter Text

When Michael had finally left his father's house to go live with his mother, he never thought that this would last just two year of relative peace… Well, two year is exaggerated, it was 7 months since they moved before things went south very quickly.

First it started with his mother coughing a lot, they hadn't gone to a doctor at first, going to court was costing a lot and the medical bills too; then his mother felt a great pain in her chest and it was hard for her to breathe; in the end, her husband had asked her to go get a medical checkup, and that's when the final nail was hammered in.

Lung cancer.

Sure, it's not like the diagnosis made his mother suddenly have it, but it did make the brunette very aware of how serious things were and the last few months with his mom just felt like a quick blur.

At one point they were getting used to being a family now in Minnesota, trying to get over the problems they had dragged along from Hurricane, taking it easy… But suddenly Clara had a timer and no matter how much she and her husband tried, the end was inevitable.

Now Michael stood outside his mother's bedroom door waiting- … he doesn't know what he's waiting for, he'd come here every single day since his mother's situation got so bad that she had to be admitted, he'd stay as long as he could even when it meant falling behind at school (none of his teachers say anything to him, not about his homework, not about sleeping or skipping class, they just look at him with pity , as if he were the victim, but he's not , it's his mom who's bedridden), but suddenly it was very important that his dad and he were here, and he really didn't want to think about the implications of what that meant.

He doesn't like the fact that this has been going on for months, when Garret had been in the hospital, every second of the week had been agonizing, although strangely, these months had been less painful, maybe because he had already accustomed them to the idea of ​​waiting for someone they love to get out of the hospital, yes, that's why, because he really hopes his mother gets out of the hospital.

Michael likes to think that he had simply forgotten one of the three's birthdays (he hopes it's not his mother's, he's already a horrible son) and they are just there to celebrate it together. He doesn't really know how a hospital treats family members when their relative dies, when his brother died, the boy didn't find out until he went to visit.

He had simply arrived at the reception and a nurse who had recognized him had to explain to him that Garret's heart had stopped at exactly 12 in the morning despite their efforts to keep him stable. They had called later in the morning when it became clear that the kid wasn’t coming back, but the boy had been at school and his father hadn’t had the decency to come out of his workshop to answer.

…Michael had to be the one to sign his brother’s dissemination papers.

“Mike.” The named one was startled by hearing his name, snapping him out of his ‘dissociation’ as his ex-therapist had called him, and he quickly turned in the direction the voice came from, it was his dad who was looking at him with tired and sad eyes, but he kept a barely sustainable smile. “Champ, it’s time for you to go in, your mom wants to have a few words with you.”

The teenager’s stomach dropped at the man’s words, not only because of how bad they sounded, making uncertainty weigh on his chest, but also because of the look of pity he gave him, he hated it , but he didn’t say anything, he didn’t want to be rude to the man who had been more than kind to him, so he silently entered the room.

There he was again in a room with white walls that always made him sick, in the middle of it was his mother in a hospital bed connected to several things, she seemed so small compared to the emptiness of the room (her thinness from the treatment didn't help either) and the beeper of the machine to record her heartbeat kept him restless.

The woman tiredly opened her eyes towards him and when she saw him, she let out a worn smile that had seen better times. “Hey, honey.” She said in a whisper, sounding as if at any moment it would disappear.

Mike wanted to run away from there, hide and pretend that what was about to happen wasn’t going to happen, but his dad's hand on his back relaxed him a little with his warmth and support, and then helped him move into the room to where his mother was.

That was the day she died.

Abby's dad had been a very kind person.

When the brunette had gone to live with his mother, he had been worried about her husband, his mother had assured him over and over again that he would be fine here, that he would be safe with them, but Mike didn't know what to think about having a stepfather, his real father hated him, what difference would there be to one whose only connection to him was that he was married to his mother?

But the man had been completely different from what he had expected from any other adult he had met up to that point.

The first thing the man did was hug him tightly with his chubby arms and then give him a loving ruffle of his hair while saying: 'Welcome home, champ.'

This reaction had been disconcerting for the freckled boy, and the black-haired man must have realized it because he instantly apologized and then promised that he would wait for the boy to want contact before doing so, after that he began to show him around the house while telling him that if he needed any kind of help, he could always count on him.

This attitude left a deep impression on Mike, he had never had such… nice attention from an adult. His only father figures at that time had been a neglectful father at best, and abusive at worst; on the other hand, his godfather, although he had a kinder treatment towards the boy, was always distant and strange around him.

It was scary, but in the end it was kind of fine when he was the last dad figure who cared about him, being kind and patient with him, he even got to the point of questioning himself if his mother chose him because he was so viscerally different from his father.

And Mike owed the man a lot, he was the one who had made it possible for him to live with his mother, to get psychological support ( although it was only for a few months ), to be able to get away from Hurricane, his tape recorder, his book for his dreams, his pills, hell , he even offered to pay for his college entirely if the brunette hadn't insisted on working for himself to pay part of it ( he was aware that the man wasn't really rich ).

That's why Mike was indebted to take care of his daughter.

The adult looked up at the little girl who was currently in front of him eating some eggs, quite happily, apparently seeing possibly possessed animatronics seemed to lift her spirits.

Abby was quite similar to her dad, she had the same semi-curled black hair, along with her big black eyes that seemed to shine when she smiled, and skin that was too pale for the brown-haired man's taste. She would almost be the feminine and childish copy of her dad if it weren't for the fact that her shape was more similar to that of her mother.

While the girl remained quite ignorant of her older brother's thoughts, Mike crumpled the paper in his hand a little but then realizing what he was doing, he forced himself to release his grip a little.

"Abby?" The adult began softly, drawing the attention of the black-haired girl although she only reacted by giving a quick glance out of the corner of her eye. "I need to talk to you about something." At this he only received a disinterested hum from the girl making Mike sigh a little, but he continued. “You know how I used to have a couple of little siblings before you-”

The man looked up when he was interrupted by the sound of metal clashing, the girl in front of him had dropped her fork and was now pouting at the table, something the brunette didn't understand.

“Abs.” The adult reached his hand towards the infant, mainly to take a lock of hair behind her ear, but the black haired girl quickly backed away from her brother’s touch, who decided to go to the next part of the conversation. “So I need you to talk to me about this.” And at that moment the adult put the horrible drawing on the table.

The picture was of a scene that would haunt Michael for the rest of his life: it was Fredbear on top of a stage with his snout crushing the head of a child in a striped shirt, spreading a violent purple stain all over the page ( Mike tried not to think about how his sister always drew him with that same color splashing his face ).

The girl looked at the drawing as if it were something offensive ( funny if he considered the fact that she had been the one who drew it ), but also with something more than just nauseating the older boy, the little girl's eyes carried some disgust and anger.

“Abs…” Mike called again tentatively, he didn’t want to sound angry or upset so that the kid wouldn’t be reluctant to answer, but apparently this was counterproductive because in an instant the black-haired girl gets up loudly from the chair where she was to start running towards her room, and the brown-haired man of course went after her.

Mike was so tired of all this, he had assumed that his weird dreams were because he had returned to Freddy’s, but he realized that something else is going on, at least 3 children who were in his sister’s drawings were in his dreams, and they know things , things about him, about his brother, they have told this things to Abby.

So he wants answers, he doesn't even know what kind of answers he'll get, but he needs them.

“Abby!” The door is slammed in his face, and he can hear the girl screaming into her pillow in what he's sure is frustration, and all he can do is sigh, he'll try another time.

As the phone ringtones rang out over the speaker, Mike tapped his fingers impatiently against the table waiting for someone to answer. «God» The brunette thought to himself. «I would kill for a cigarette right now.» But instead of going for one, he just pulled a simple pack of gum out of his shirt pocket. As soon as he finished the conversation on the phone, he would put as much as he could in his mouth.

«Michael, hello.» The named one shivered as he heard the man’s voice pronounce his full name. «What do I owe this nice call so late?»

“Hello, Mr. Reagan.” Mike said as a greeting from the beginning, he received a hum from the other end as if he had done the right thing as if he were a dog, this almost made him grit his teeth. “I wanted to call about something about work.”

«Oh, of course, Michael .» The brunette hates talking to this man, but he didn’t have his boss’s number, and from what he understands, when you work with an agency you have to do everything through it. «I’m so glad you want to know more about your work.»

The boy gulped before continuing. “N-no, I actually wanted to quit, I’m not in a good mental state these days-” Mike was interrupted by a click of the tongue on the other end of the line.

«Do you really want to leave like a coward, Michael?» The named one hates many things about that sentence that the other man on the line said, how his tone of voice sounded so rude, how he called him a coward as if it were nothing, how he used his name as if he were a little child who needed to be scolded, how all these things together leave him frozen in his seat like a deer in front of the lanterns.

Mike bit his lip nervously before trying to answer. “I-”

«You’re not quitting , Michael.’ The brunette fell silent, swallowing some saliva as he lowered his gaze, as if the counselor was standing in front of him, looking down at him. «Do you think you have a choice? No, let me tell you, you don’t.» The boy’s stomach felt heavy at the man’s words. «You’re going to go to work today, and you’re going to finish your week because you can’t be so stupid to ruin this too, Michael.» There was a time when the young man responded aggressively, even these days he couldn’t help but let out the occasional sarcastic comment, but there was a dark time when he could only tremble at the shouts, now he felt like he was back in those times. «Do you understand, Michael?»

“...” The brunette was only able to snap out of his dazed state when he heard his name again. “I, I think– ah.”

«Don’t stutter at me, Michael.» The boy’s voice trailed off as soon as the man on the other end no longer seemed angry, but rather looked like he was coldly annoyed. «Tell me, do you understand, yes or no?»

“Yes-”

«Yes what?»

“… Yes, sir.” Mike heard a satisfying hum at his words before the call was hung up on the other end, the brunette stood there listening to the beeping on the other end for a few seconds before deciding to hang up the speaker.

…

He had to go pick up Abby from school.

Schmidt was on his fourth stick of gum from his pack when he parked his car on the street in front of his sister’s school, he stayed inside the vehicle for a few seconds chewing until the taste completely faded.

It was a small pleasure he let himself have, sometimes he regretted being a teenage smoker, mostly because cigarettes were fucking expensive and now every time things went wrong, he felt the need to smoke one to calm himself down.

When the gum stopped having any flavor and instead became a disgusting sticky mass with no flavor, the adult forced himself to open his eyes and then get out of the car to go get his sister.

He locked the door of his Pontiac with the key manually, the car had been bought second hand, the remote button didn't work, the engine used to fail every so often, and the driver's door used to get stuck, but it was drivable so the brunette didn't care enough.

He started to cross the street when an old voice tore into his ears and now his day had been ruined.

“Michael!”

The boy’s shoulders tensed at the sound of his full name, but in less than a second he forced himself to relax and continued walking towards the entrance of his sister’s school like nothing happened.

“Michael, I know you heard me!”

‘Just keep walking, keep walking. Hopefully you’ll get to the gate of the elementary school grounds before she gets close enough.’ But his thoughts only stayed like that, thoughts, because shortly after stepping onto the sidewalk he could feel someone grab his arm to turn him around.

“Michael.” Aunt Jane said again trying to catch her breath, she was slightly bent over, clearly tired from having to reach him in heels and with a hoarse voice ( possibly from smoking ). “We need to talk.”

Mike wrinkled his nose at the sight of the blonde woman, but didn’t hesitate to answer. “We’ve already talked about this, it hasn’t even been a week for you to do it again.” He answered somewhat dryly but forced himself not to sound too resentful with the adult in front of him who raised her gaze to glare at him.

The woman after her comment recomposed herself by standing up straight, fixing her hair and adjusting her suit, these simple acts irritated the brunette who wrinkled his mouth, especially with the plastic smile on the woman's face, she normally used this when she wanted to seem the best option and tried to convince the person in front of her to be by her side ( she was never good enough at it ).

“I came to ask you to reconsider your answer.” She said in a tone that was too sweet for the brunette’s ears, it sounded obviously false, so much so that it hurt, like seeing a bad actor or something killing a role.

The boy couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the blonde’s ‘sweet’ words. “We already talked about this, and I already told you my answer.” He said as he tried to free himself from the older woman’s grip but she only dug her nails deeper into his sleeve.

“And I’m asking you to reconsider.” The woman said through her teeth, possibly hoping to look passive aggressive more than anything, but failing at being passive as she pushed the documents to give up rights of a minor against his chest. “We both know that that girl is not okay.” She gave him a nasty look that she possibly used to terrorize the poor customer service workers.

Now Mike was the one who had lost the passive in his attitude. “There is nothing wrong with Abby.” He said in a tone that made the woman back away a little, but she still forced herself to keep her composure to her credit. “She may have trouble interacting with others but that’s not what you call her.” « Plus, her imaginary friends weren’t as imaginary as they seemed. »

“She really needs help, Michael.” The woman said, looking at him with a frown, revealing the wrinkles on her face. “She needs to be straightened out, something that neither you nor that headshrinker can do for her.”

Mike clenched his jaw at the word, straighten out, that was what his father called it when he locked him up when he cried, what he called it when the boy was punished without dinner, when he was yelled at, when he was hit; when he himself did all those things to his little brother because he was a ‘crying child’. 

The word sickened him.

The man walked over until he was in the blonde's face and she leaned back from how close he was, his face flushed with anger. “Well, we're doing better than you ever will, Jennifer.” With that he turned away, too tired to try and keep his cool with the woman. “And everyone seems to think so, I think you should be the one to reconsider things.”

Mike walked in without giving the blonde a second glance.

«Hey, this is Max, if you’re looking for me or my brother, well, neither of us are here, and yes, our refrigerator is running - click - Hey, this is Max, if you’re looking for me or my brother, well, neither of us are here, and yes, our refrigerator is running - click - Hey, this is Max…»

The brunette hasn’t been able to get in touch with his friend all day, he’s pretty sure there are ten voicemails from him on her answering machine throughout the day.

Of course, it’s not like he was hoping that somehow the girl would show up at the last minute to babysit, whatever was happening to Maxxine made it seem like the girl had hidden herself from the world ( Mike hopes that her ex-boyfriend hasn’t contacted her, although the brunette wouldn’t mind going back to teach the lesson from last time ), but Schmidt was worried.

“Hey Max, it’s Mike, I haven’t heard from you since yesterday morning, I don’t know if you heard my previous messages or if you’re ignoring my calls, just send me a little text or something to tell me you’re okay or something, we miss you and-”

The brunette hung up after giving his message and then massaged his temples, he didn't want to take Abby with him now that he knew that somehow the animatronics were 'alive', and although they didn't seem to want to cause any harm to his sister, he preferred to keep her as far away from them as he could.

The real problem came from not knowing who he could leave Abby with: Jeremiah, his first choice, had to go with his son and his debate group to Saint Paul for a competition ( Do debate clubs go to competitions? He wouldn't know, he was never in any club ); Ness ( he called him reluctantly ) had a meeting with his theater group ( he didn't know he liked that stuff ); and although he considered calling Sally or Sparky, since the mens always made sure to tell him that he could call them for help, they also said not to call them from 3 AM until 5, since they would be… busy .

Footsteps were heard until they reached his side. “Mike, I'm ready to go!” The named one only sighed more.

Chapter Text

“Abby, stop kicking.”

“I'm not kicking.”

Mike can feel some light bumps on his seat, barely noticeable, but still there. “You are kicking.” The brunette moves his rearview mirror to see his sister pouting in the back of the seat, but ends up adjusting herself to sit properly without replying further.

“I'm sorry, Mike.” The black-haired girl says, having the minimum decency to look somewhat guilty, but that expression is quickly left behind by a euphoric emotion. “But I'm so excited to see my friends!”

The adult's stomach dropped upon hearing those words, Abby's friends, the friends who are animatronics possessed by children, he had really tried not to think about it all day, but now he had to face the situation.

“Abby, we have to talk.” The kid didn't say anything, but he could see in the reflection how she looked at him with complete concentration after blinking. “I know you’re excited to see your friends, but we have to set some rules.”

“More?” The black-haired girl asked with a pout.

“Yes, more .” Mike replied without thinking for a second about giving in to those puppy eyes his sister was giving him. “Besides, it’s not like you followed the previous ones either.” The younger girl instantly turned her face away, hiding a mocking smile that clearly said ‘no regrets’. “First rule: if I’m busy and you want to go to another part of the restaurant, let me know, and make sure to give me the news while I’m awake .”

The little girl hummed as she looked out the window, still avoiding looking at him and acting so innocent.

“Second: don’t start messing things up.” Mike said before starting to explain himself. “I got into a lot of trouble because of yesterday’s mess, I don’t need to get into more trouble.”

This time the adult got a response from his younger sister, who nodded solemnly but still didn’t look at him.

“And the third rule.” Internally the brunette prepared himself for the complaints that would come in a few seconds. “Don’t get close to the animatronics-”

 “But Mike-!”

“Abby, no !” The adult said as firmly as he could. “And I’m not going to give in on this no matter how much you pout at me!” The girl looked at him with her lip trembling in the rearview mirror, but she was just as stubborn as he was, so instead of giving in, she crossed her arms before starting to argue.

“They’re not dangerous!”

“All animatronics are dangerous, Abby!” Mike replied as he took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. “Even the most harmless looking ones can…” The brunette bit his lip, unsure of continuing.

The girl increased her pout level looking like she was about to throw a tantrum, looking quite like Elizabeth . “They’re my friends, they would never hurt me.”

« Hey guys, I think the little man said he wants to give Fredbear a big kiss! ON THREE! One... two... »

“Just because someone loves you doesn’t mean they won’t hurt you, Abby.” His words seemed to be defining as the black haired girl stayed silent without replying this time.

The brown-haired man began to enter the parking lot of his work when his younger sister spoke again.

“Like Garret-?”

Mike slammed on the brakes in the middle of Freddy’s parking lot.

Vanessa was in front of the stage when both Schmidt siblings walked into the room in an awkward silence.

The brunette, when he saw her there, almost immediately wanted to turn around and go back to his house and pretend that nothing was happening, but his little sister, as she is, ran straight to where the animatronics were, passing by the police officer, startling her.

“Hey guys.” The girl smiled with such a cheeky expression at the rules her older brother had given her no less than 10 minutes ago. “Guess what we’re doing today!” And of course, the animatronics that had remained still during the time it took them to enter, moved as if nothing had happened, looking at the girl with interest.

The police officer quickly turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, as if she was questioning what was wrong with him for bringing his little sister to Freddy's after she told him the legend of the missing children; or perhaps questioning his talk of doing better (Mike is trying, really, he's just not good at it).

“I didn’t find a babysitter.” That quickly brought a disappointed look from the blonde, which might have hurt the brunette if it wasn’t for something in the police’s reaction that made him feel so indifferent, that’s because, when the girl opened her mouth to say something (possibly scold him) the man spoke again. “Did you know about them?”

Now it was Vanessa who looked cornered, she looked up for a few seconds in front of her at the gang of robots that were leaning over to listen to the black-haired girl (with Foxy even coming out of his cove) and whispered under her breath without looking at him: “We’ll talk about this later.” And she quickly walked towards the rest of the ‘group’.

Mike wrinkled his nose, but in the end he just let out a resigned sigh before following the blonde.

“We’re going to create the best pillow fort that anyone has ever seen.” The girl said, showing the drawing to the animatronics. “Although I think it will have to be more of a normal fortress than a pillow fortress, and of course, it will have to be big enough for some of us.” The girl glances at Freddy who puts his hands on his torso before ‘frowning’ in indignation, but drawing smiles from the other animatronics(somehow?), Abby also smiles shamelessly before blinking innocently and saying: “I'm talking about your height, of course.”

The animatronic quickly lets out a sound that was possibly a ‘snort’ and brings his hand close to the girl’s head to possibly ruffle her hair, but then Mike decides to intervene, quickly placing himself between them receiving a dirty look from the bear.

Vanessa hummed as she leaned over to be able to see the drawing. “Mmm, I think we could use some tables.” The blonde’s words made the black-haired girl’s mischievous smile widen while her eyes filled with excitement that someone would support her.

In a blink, Abby turned to look at him with her big black eyes full of expectation before asking: “Can we, Mike?” And now everyone turns to look at him as if he could actually stop 4 animatronics from doing whatever they want when he was literally helpless.

“Yeah, can we, Mike ?” Vanessa supports, sounding more mocking and mischievous in her request than her younger sister’s, as if she were a child too.

Now the brunette is in the unwanted position of being the responsible adult in the situation, something he definitely shouldn't be, he was never good at it, especially as a teenager who had to deal with taking care of two children because his pale ass father got drunk again or worked insane hours.

In the end, as always, Mike ended up giving in. “Okay, but then we have to clean up-”

“Yay!” The girl said, raising her arms with too much encouragement for her tired brother, though she was followed by the animatronics (Was it normal for them not to talk? Surely being… possessed? should help somewhat, right?)

The next few hours are pretty confusing for Mike, but not in the drunk-and-everything-is-a-blur kind of confusing way, rather, it’s like his body is on some kind of fort-building autopilot while his mind is constantly questioning every second if this is real.

Pre-teen Mike would wrinkle his nose if he told him about it, possibly thinking he was talking about an episode of Freddy and Friends; teenage Mike would possibly be more than confused that the things that terrorized his dreams made a pillow fort in such a playful, goofy way; and Mike from a week ago would possibly just wonder if the sleeping pills were finally getting to him too much.

The point here is that he never imagined that at some point of his twenties he'd be making forts alongside fucking Freddy Fazbear and his friends (Did Bonnie just fall over backwards? Well, he just gave a thumbs up, so it must be okay).

And now here he was lying on the carpeted floor that was probably littered with trash from the last 10 years, surrounded by machines that were several heads taller than him, all staring at the greasy ceiling of the pizzeria (did he just see that stain move? wait no, living animatronics is where he draws the line, he's not going to deal with new life forms).

Glancing to his left side, he can see Vanessa smiling with genuine joy and excitement, as if just doing this activity had been the best part of the night, something Mike didn't understand, he really didn't see the charm.

He didn't make many of them during his childhood, the only one of his siblings who liked making forts was Elizabeth ( he is seeing a pattern here ), who liked it because it made her feel like a princess with her castle; the brown-haired man himself didn't like them because he didn't see the point, and he was the one who ended up doing all the hard work when it came to making them; and Garret hated them, they seemed too small and dark, claustrophobic, which the boy always feared, so instead of the feeling of security they should give, they terrified him to tears (although technically everything made him cry).

The toddler preferred to stick to Mike and follow him everywhere like he was some kind of koala, which irritated the teenager. This was also one of the reasons why he liked spending time with his uncle, because when they were at the Emily's house, Garret would immediately let go of the brunette's side, preferring to be stuck to Charlie.

Everything became unbearable when she left.

The brunette felt a small tapping and when he turned around, he could see his little sister looking at him with a frown, as if she had realized that he was spacing himself out too much, for some reason this always bothered her. “I think it would be better with some kind of roof.” The girl said with a pout and Mike couldn’t help but agree, because he thinks the stain has moved until it is above them.

“I think there are some tablecloths in the restaurant's storage room.” Vanessa comments, getting up from her place, her words enlightened the black-haired girl, but the older one frowned as he watched her leave the 'fort'.

He bit his lip a little as he watched the other adult leave, they needed to talk, they needed to talk urgently. “Mike?” The man heard Abby call nervously and when he turned to see her, she looked worried.

“I…” The brown-haired man looked between his sister's face and where the blonde was going, undecided. “... I'll be right back.” The older one said, getting up to quickly go after the officer despite his sister's moan.

When the brown-haired man reached the blonde, she was rummaging through shelves and checking the boxes. “Where are those things? I swore they were around here…” The woman didn't seem to recognize him more than a vague glance, as if his presence wasn't a surprise.

“We need to talk.” The security guard said as he approached, but the blonde didn't pay attention to him.

The girl just hummed carelessly while looking around the boxes. “For the birthday parties, they used these special tablecloths that have a white star decoration on a purple background.”

Mike grits his teeth at being ignored. “Vanessa-”

“I’m sure Abby would love it.” The blonde emphasizes as if that was what was bothering the brunette right now.

The older one reminds himself that he can’t blow up at a cop again, getting out of jail isn’t cheap ( no matter what Sally says ), so he takes a breath before trying again. “Van-”

“I can’t find the damn thing now, though.” The officer interrupted for the second time while frowning.

The brunette, fed up with this nonsense, stomped over to one of the shelves to grab one of the boxes on top of the cabinet and with barely any delicacy, left it in front of the woman. “Here, there are the tablecloths you’re looking for.”

The blonde looked at him with a raised eyebrow but she still decided to open the lid of the box which only had a label with a horrible handwriting that said: ‘party things’ but surprisingly there were the starry fabrics that the woman spoke of. “How did you know they were here?” She asked with her eyes half closed.

Mike couldn't help but roll his eyes, not caring that the cop might arrest him for misbehaving towards an officer. “Freddy's doesn't like to wash their stuff twice, so they keep it there to keep their teenage workers from getting it dirty while smoking weed or eating stolen pizza.”

“And how do you know that-?”

“Don't change the subject-”

“I think you're the one changing the subject-”

“Vanessa-”

“What do you want me to say, Mike!?” The blonde explodes as if she were some kind of cornered animal.

“Oh, I don't know, maybe answer the big questions like, are the animatronics alive!?”

The woman looked at him with an unimpressed expression and spoke condescendingly. “Do you have to ask THAT? You have eyes, you've seen them move on their own.”

Mike was annoyed by the officer's tone, mainly because it had become very familiar to him. “Vanessa, I'm being serious.” The brown-haired man sighed as he ran his hand over his face trying to relax. “Since when did you know?”

The silence lasted for a few seconds and when he looked up, the man could see the other adult running her finger along the patterns on the tablecloth, not wanting to look at him, but in the end she answered with: “From the beginning…”

And now the security guard frowned. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”

The blonde turned her face further away from him. “… Would you have believed me?” Now Mike was the one who remained silent, many tragedies had happened in his life, but until now he had never encountered anything supernatural.

The boy bit his lip knowing it was better to move on to the next question that was running through his head. “The animatronics… the kids that disappeared… are they… ?” Mike couldn’t finish the question as he felt his throat closing up, but the blonde in front of him could guess what he wanted to ask.

“Yes, they are.” Vanessa answered quietly, looking at the ground.

“How many people know?”

“With you and your sister? … Four, most guards don’t stick around long enough to find out.” The girl raised her eyes to look at him this time. “They’re not usually nice to most adults, I think they’re more relaxed with you because of Abby, they usually scare everyone else away.” She said with a shrug.

« Four: me, Abby, Vanessa… And the owner? Well, that would make sense because he keeps the place going even if it’s closed. » Mike thought to himself, because there had to be a crazy reason to keep a Freddy’s in his opinion… But now there was something else rolling around in his mind as he looked at the blonde.

‘How do you know?’ and ‘Why?’ were questions that Vanessa could very easily deflect or tell a white lie, but the brunette was a guy who always screwed it up by never knowing how to handle things delicately and always aiming for the jugular. “Did you know them?”

The officer widened her eyes at the question but answered quietly: “Yes, they were my friends…”

Both stayed in a tense silence until the security guard broke by this time looking down at his feet and said: “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay…” The girl answered, shrugging her shoulders again. “Did you know them too…?” ‘Not until I started working at Freddy’s’, ‘Not until they told me about their disappearance’ or ‘Not until they started appearing in Abby’s drawings’ were acceptable answers, but Vanessa continued before the brunette could answer. “Your brother-?”

“No! No, no.” Mike tried to imagine Garret, sweet and fearful Garret: afraid of the dark; afraid of going to any Fazbear’s restaurant; afraid of animatronics; being one of these in a Freddy’s restaurant that was mostly in the dark, god, it would be horrible for him. “God, I hope not.”

At his words, the blonde nodded as she stood up with the tablecloths in her arms, but then the brown-haired man let his gaze wander and quickly found a curious animatronic; it reminded him of a porcelain doll, like one Charlie had, but the really curious thing was its mechanism (which was exposed) that he could recognize anywhere else, springlocks.

The other adult seemed to notice his gaze and as she followed it to see what he was looking at, the girl didn't hesitate to let out an amused smile before putting the pieces of fabric aside. “Hey, you want to see something cool?” The blonde said before grabbing a broom to bring it closer to-

“No!” Mike yelled as he grabbed the stick before it touched the ‘ribs’ of the mechanism, if he heard that sickening sound one more time, he swore he was going to vomit (or cry) in horror. Vanessa stared at him with wide eyes at his action, but before any of the adults could say anything, something came from outside. “What the hell is that?”

The blonde hummed before answering. “Sounds like a party.”

I hear the secrets that you keep

When you're talkin' in your sleep

I hear the secrets that you keep

When you're talkin' in your sleep

During that whole part, Freddy had turned to look at him fixedly, but as he continued with the «When I hold you in my arms at night», the bear continued to move frantically while the colored lights illuminated the stage.

Vanessa was right, apparently, while they were having their conversation in the storage room, the animatr- the children (Mike felt a shiver at the autocorrect) had gotten bored and decided to put on a show for Abby.

The brown-haired man let his mind wander for a moment at the eccentric landscape around him, he always liked Freddy more than Fredbear (but Springbonnie was his father's treasure even though it paled at how colorful the new restaurant was), so it wasn't so terrible for Schmidt.

A tap was felt on the guard's arm, and as he looked away from the group he could see Officer Vanessa who had put aside the tablecloths to start doing some little dance steps while looking at him. "Do you want to dance?" Mike let a snort escape his mouth but didn't say 'no' right away.

While the two adults were distracted, the little human girl walked over to her friends admiring how they moved to sing, marveling at how the music came out of them, so much so that she let her gaze wander to Bonnie's guitar and couldn't help but want to touch it to see if she could make music too…

Mike watched this movement out of the corner of his eye and was instantly running across the room towards his sister. “Abby!” He shouted before grabbing the little girl by the arm to pull her away from the sparks that were released from the animatronic, hugging her and protecting her from any harm, barely escaping an electrical burn.

His sister was fine, he pulled her away in time, but they was still too close to them, to their jaws, to their teeth.

« Wow, your brother is kind of a baby isn't he? »

“Mike?” The man squeezed the body tighter in his arms, trying to get away from the memory.

« It's hilarious. Why don't we help him get a closer look! He will love it! »

“Mike, you're scaring me-”

« No, please! »

He was gasping for air.

« Come on guys, let's give this little man a lift. He wants to get up close and personal! »

“Mike, breathe-!” That was another voice, who was it? He had to concentrate…

« Hey guys, I think the little man said he wants to give Fredbear a big kiss ! ON THREE! One.... two… »

Dark spots are appearing in his vision as something stirs in his arms and hands try to pull him from behind.

Crunch!

Chapter Text

The sounds of Pine Valley echoed around Mike as the sight of leafy trees kept the sunlight from hitting the boy directly, the sound of his friends and family seemed so distant, as if he wasn’t in the same place he normally was whenever he visited here.

The brunette looked around confused, he could hear his uncle’s distant ‘How about some burger with that ketchup?’ followed by his mother’s laughter along with her comment of ‘Everything’s better swimming in ketchup’, barely recognizing the words from years of dreaming of the same scene over and over again.

It was all so confusing-

“It’s really nice here.” The adult was startled by the childish voice, along with the loud barking, and as he turned around, he could see behind him a little girl playing with a dog that looked like a golden retriever.

The voices of memory instantly faded into the distance as he watched the little blonde girl with pigtails (god, why did they all have to remind him so much of Elizabeth?), who was waving what looked like a fake candle, back and forth while her pet ran after it and jumped in an attempt to grab it.

The girl looked up at him as she petted the golden retriever beside her who looked at her with all the adoration an animal could give. “I guess I can understand why you always come here every night.” The blonde looked around pouting at the sight of the rows of trees. “Although it also seems boring.”

Mike, who has already spent three nights with children intruding on his dreams, just let out a tired sigh as he ruffled his hair in an attempt to stay calm. “Let me guess, Chica no?”

The girl let a surprised gasp escape her mouth as she scratched behind both of her dog’s ears. “How did you guess?” She said with a wonder-filled glint in her eyes as she looked at the adult.

“The bib.” The brown-haired man pointed at her while blinking unfazed.

“Oh, that makes sense.” The girl muttered to herself as she looked at her outfit where the piece of cloth with the words Let’s Eat on it was, after that she went back to the task of petting her pet. Both remained in a silence that although most of the time Mike would consider it comfortable, right now it seemed suffocating, more like something was keeping him trapped here in his place, but when he was about to break the silence, the blonde spoke again. “You know, he hates it when we talk to you.”

The adult’s mind stopped instantly, taking a few seconds to recover. “... what?”

"Yes.” The girl says with a nod, as if that made her words take on more importance this way. “He always gets angry every time you leave without talking to him, he keeps saying it’s unfair .”

Mike wanted to get out of there, his mind was going to parts he didn’t like, but a part of himself that liked to punish himself made a question come out of his mouth against his will. “Who-?”

“You know who.” The girl said emotionlessly, suddenly the forest seemed too quiet for a few seconds, but quickly everything went back to its white noise and the blonde petted the dog again. “He really hates you.”

Suddenly, it’s like the dreamlike day is darker.

The girl smiles very smugly, as if her words had been a joke too funny and clever for Mike to understand (and enjoys that he doesn’t understand it), while the latter feels sick at the implications of what the girl is saying, what she is really saying .

(“Your brother-?”

“No! No, no.” Garret cries terrified in a dark room full of animatronic pieces, eyeless faces and hollow limbs, crying while he hits the door begging Mike over and over again to let him out, while the latter leaves the restaurant, laughing and ignoring his calls for help. “God, I hope not.”)

The conversation he had with Vanessa in that small closet resonates in the brunette's head, who hopes that the expression of the girl in front of him is more because she finds their faces funny and not because she can hear the conversation in the memory in the adult's head, enjoying his suffering, he likes to believe that none of the children trapped here would enjoy it, but Mike knows that isn’t the case, because he was one of those screwed up children who enjoyed the suffering of others.

The blonde remains a bit distracted, pacing back and forth with her dog following her, it was so weird and bizarre considering the older boy is going into what is possibly a panic attack (is that even possible? Or is it just nightmares?).

“Is he…?” Mike asks after a while, but he needs a bit more to calm himself down. “Is he really-?”

“‘Trapped here’?” The toddler interrupts, blinking at him ‘innocently’. “‘Like you guys’? ‘Is he one of you’?” The little girl puts her hands on her hips as she leans in a bit, letting out all those questions the adult just hadn’t been able to say. “Is that what you want to ask?”

The brown-haired man looks down as he nods, too much embarrassed to look at the girl, she reminding him of Elizabeth, the cruel Elizabeth who when she got upset with him, attacked him about how bad a brother he was for Garret and her, about all the things he did wrong, that it was possible that was why dad didn't love him, that dad just doesn't love him .

Back then he still cared about being a good older brother, so his words hurt, and about his father loving him, well... It took quite a few tragedies for him to finally leave it behind as he should have done in the beginning.

A high pitched beeping sounded in Mike's ears in the distance, it sounded like a heart monitor, he would recognize it anywhere, he had heard it several times, although this time it was followed by what he swore was a wail.

"Oh." The brunette turned his gaze back to the blonde girl in front of him, who let out a sad pout while her dog seemed alert, ready to attack. "I think our time to talk is over." The infant dusted off her dress without much concern and then turned her gaze back to him with a smile. "Goodbye, Abby's brother." The blonde waved goodbye, then her eyes focused on something beyond him. "Goodbye Cassidy."

"Who-?"

Beep! Beep!

Mike jumped up, taking a moment to breathe and calm down, but was alarmed again when he heard movement around him, but when he blinked to clear the blur of his sleep, he could see the animatronics getting up and leaving to their places.

They were in the fort they made with Abby, though everything was colored a dark purple, and as he looked up he noticed that the tablecloth Vanessa had been looking for was now laid out on top of them covering the tables and chairs.

At some point in his panic attack he must have passed out and possibly been brought to sleep under the fort (he could see Abby to his right out of the corner of his eye), though that seemed to imply that the kids had stayed with them as well.

As he let his heart relax a little, he almost jumped again when a figure quickly stood up next to him, but relaxed when he realized it was an agitated Vanessa sitting on the floor looking like she was about to go crazy.

When the blonde relaxed enough to be able to differentiate the things around her, she instantly turned to Mike when she noticed that he was also awake, she seemed to look at the brown-haired man's eyes again and again looking for something.

“Hey.” The older one began softly, trying to give a smile that he hoped would seem comfortable. “Did you also have a nightma-?”

“Was that Susie?” The officer asked, her eyes wide, and still breathing heavily.

They both remained silent, only the sound of the animatronics turning off in their places being heard, but the brunette was the one who ended up breaking the silence. 

“Who is Sussie?”

Mike had just put away the tablecloths they had grabbed for the fort when he heard it again.

At the end of the brick hallway he had to going through back to the main exit where Vanessa and Abby were waiting for him, he could hear the noises he had heard on his second night here.

Cries.

But now they were different, not only were they the watery moans almost in whispers from before, now they sounded not only louder, but also more aggressive.

At the point where the guard could hear it well enough without having to press his ear against the wall, they sounded like the most aggressive tantrum of a child, with tearful screams and parts where the voice cut off obviously as if the infant had to take breaks to relax before breaking out again into a shrill pitiful shriek.

A chill ran down the man's spine as a louder scream echoed through the place, for a second he wondered which of the kids was there, though he didn't really know their names, he guessed this one seemed to be pretty upset as the week went on, it was... sad in a creepy way.

In the end, the brunette had two more jobs to do for the rest of the day, and a little sister who needed to eat breakfast before sending her off to school, so he put it in its box.

When the security guard finally left the restaurant after setting things up, he took a moment to lock the doors, and double-check that the other entrances were also closed, even though they were never used that night…

He really didn’t want to talk to Raglan again.

With everything secured, Mike started walking as fast as he could without letting it be seen that he was running away. Tonight he went from a relaxed and relatively pleasant 'slumber party' to a night where everything turned into a nightmare at the end ( literally speaking ).

He was already in the middle of the parking lot while he was going towards his car when he could finally hear Vanessa (who was leaning towards the car with the door open) talking to Abby.

“Oh, really?”

“Mhm!” The black-haired girl replied looking quite cheerful about whatever topic she was talking about with the blonde. “Bonnie is my favorite, but don’t tell the others.” The last part was whispered with a knowing smile.

Ah, they’re talking about the animatronics, weird considering the whole child-ghost thing, but not so weird for a kid.

“Which one is your favorite, Vanny?” Nickname already? Wow, the officer is pretty good at getting along with little childrens.

The blonde hummed playfully before answering. “Well, I must admit, Chica will always have a place in my heart.” The adult replied as she adjusted the blanket they had brought over Abby. “You know, blondes together and all, we’re kind of best friends joined at the hip.”

Mike grimaced as he remembered the little girl inside the chicken animatronic, a kid with blonde hair who enjoyed playing with her dog (could animals possess things? Well, apparently they could, unless his pet was fake), but with a creepy smile that enjoyed unsettling him.

The brunette came back to reality when he heard the car door being closed calmly, and when he looked up he could see how the blonde was looking through the window at the figure of the sleeping girl with something resembling affection.

When he approached her, the woman didn’t move her eyes in his direction, but still acknowledged his presence saying: “We need to talk.” The officer said before making a sign for him to follow her although it wasn’t as if anyone would hear them talking considering it was 6 in the morning in a semi-abandoned establishment.

Both adults headed to the back where the blonde pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from inside her uniform jacket, lighting one of the cigarettes to give it a big puff.

The security guard's fingers moved restlessly at the smell of smoke and the sight of the pack of cigarettes, but he bit his lip to keep from asking the officer for one of them, and instead, he pulled out his pack of gum to start chewing one.

The blonde looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but didn't comment as she put the package back inside her uniform. “... Are all nights like this?” Mike turned to tell her no, that normally his sister doesn't almost get electrocuted and he doesn't have a panic attack, but the woman continued. “Do you dream... About them ?”

« Ah, that's it. » The brunette thought to himself, feeling somewhat embarrassed for being so quick to be defensive. “Yes, from the first day my brain shut down, I was having my usual dream, but suddenly this kid appeared singing, and well...” The guard took a moment to make a bubble and pop it before continuing. “Since then they haven't stopped appearing.”

Vanessa seemed to be trying to think through all the implications of Mike doing some kind of medium work just by sleeping. “Abby.” The blonde looked back quickly, checking to make sure the girl was still asleep. “She too…?”

The brunette’s mind filled with images of drawings stuck on a wall, all of him and his sister always accompanied by a striking group of children. “Yeah.” Mike replied, wanting a cigarette so badly . “I think since before I started working here.”

The girl looked at him quite surprised as she tried to understand his words, but possibly this was tiring as the blonde leaned towards the trunk while running a hand through her hair and taking another puff of cigarette. “Damn, this is fucked up.” The brunette couldn’t help but make a face of agreement.

Both adults stayed in an awkward silence with the officer staring into space as she finished her cigarette, and with the guard chewing his gum even when it had lost its flavor, only because it relaxed him.

When the woman's cigarette was almost completely gone, she threw it on the ground where she put it out with her foot. He was going to ask her what was wrong but the blonde spoke again. "What are they talking to you about?"

Mike's mind wandered, remembering every conversation he had with any of the four children. "The first ones told me that I had to help them, that I should give them the 'yellow rabbit'." The brunette brushed aside the implications that some gave that his brother was also there or the whole thing with Foxy.

At that moment the blonde looked confused and gave him a quick glance before speaking again. “I thought they liked him…”

The guard frowned at her words. “Why should they like Springbonnie?”

Now Vanessa looks terrified. “How… How do you know that name?”

The brunette frowned at the officer's reaction, but when he was about to ask her if she was okay, the woman's attitude changed radically, going from her nervous appearance to a stone face.

“Mike.” The woman said in a tone of voice that sounded more than threatening as the officer approached him and pointed her finger at him. “If you bring Abby here again, I-” The blonde seemed to choke on her fury. “I’m going to shoot you! I swear I will.” And with that the officer stomped away with a cold look.

The older one blinked several times, clearly confused by the blonde's sudden change in attitude, but when the girl started to walk away, the guard didn't hesitate to try to figure out what was going on. “Van-”

“IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR LIFE, MIKE!” The girl screamed, not caring even once that anyone could hear. “BUT DON’T DRAG ABBY INTO YOUR SELF-DESTRUCTION SPIRAL!” And with that, she got into her patrol car to quickly leave the parking lot.

The named one stood there, not knowing how to react, but eventually walked passively to the driver’s side of his car where he got in to start it and leave, although he remained there for a few minutes lost in his mind while the engine warmed up.

Behind the security guard, a fabric could be heard sliding and the seat creaking. “She looked so angry.” The brunette bit his lip out of nerves, but still refused to even glance at his younger sister in the rearview mirror. “Why does everyone always look at you that way?”

“Dad looked so angry.” Garret whispered quietly at the doorway, Michael was sitting in his room sulking after a rather unpleasant argument with his father. “Why does he always look at you that way?”

At that moment, the older boy raised his gaze with anger and pain in the direction of the younger boy who quickly shrank behind the stuffed animal his father had given him. Michael was furious with him for saying out loud the truth he never wanted to accept, so he stood up to approach the younger boy-

“It's time to go.” Mike said quietly with a watery look but still keeping his eyes fixed in front of him as he began to drive.

«You have a new message.»

«Uncle Henry, it’s me, Mike. I know we haven’t talked in… years, but I recently started a job and it’s really bringing back a lot of bad memories, but I can’t quit, I’m having problems with other people, and… I don't know, a lot of things from the past are coming out more and more, memories I didn't want from my father, also with these animatronics. I just... I'd like some advice please, or at least a greeting...? God this was stupid, I should hang up-

Mike? Who are you talking to-?»

«End of message.»

“Mike?” A childish voice was heard as the door opened slightly, a small figure leaned into the room searching through the mess only to find who she was looking for behind the bed.

The big kid was hiding on one side of his bedroom hugging his legs and hiding his face in them, clearly the boy wasn’t well at all, especially taking into account that he didn’t answer the girl's call. The latter shifted uncomfortably in her spot at the lack of response, but quickly adjusted her bun before entering the room and walking to stand next to the brown-haired figure who was in the shape of a ball.

“Mike, I came to apologize.” The little girl said in a firm tone, standing up straight, as if she were a businesswoman closing deals. “I didn’t really mean what I said before, I was just upset.” When the older boy was still the same, the blonde took out her last weapon. “I drew this for you!” At this last part, the brown-haired boy raised his head slightly to look at the girl, and gently raised his hand to delicately take the paper. This action alone seemed to relax the younger girl who broke her rigid position.

The boy’s silver eyes examined the drawing before letting a small smile spread across his face. “Hey, that good looking guy I recognize.” This drew laughter from the girl who sat next to her brother.

“It’s me, you and Garret!” The girl proudly replied with a giant smile on her face. “We’re all three together getting free ice cream from Circus Baby.”

“The ‘me’ always comes last, Lizzie.” The boy absentmindedly commented as he combed his fingers through the girl’s curls, who pouted at being corrected. “And who is Circus Baby?”

“He’s the animatronic that daddy made for me!” The blonde said excitedly, but then calmed down a bit as she twirled one of her locks with her finger. “You know, daddy says that if I behave well enough, he’ll take me to Circus Baby’s World Pizza next weekend!”

Michael wrinkled his nose at this last sentence. “But, next weekend it’s Mom’s turn, you know she’s planned this trip-”

“Hmm.” Elizabeth blurted out while pouting angrily. “I don’t care, Mike. I want to go see Circus Baby! Besides, if Mom really wanted us to spend time with her, she wouldn’t have divorced Dad-”

Chapter Text

He just had to get in, pack, and leave; get in, pack, and leave; it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes considering he'd taken most of his clothes and school supplies the first time he went to his mom's house when the court dates started; so it was just get in, pack, and leave, easy enough… But he still stood frozen in front of the door of what had been his home for most of his childhood, with its ancient structure and that horrible purple color his father insisted on putting on everything he could.

A hand came up to the side of his arm, and Michael remembered he wasn't the only one there; his mother was by his side as a support in case they ran into his father, but the woman's expression let the teenager know he wasn't the only one who didn't feel right about being here.

“...Okay, honey.” The blonde said with a smile. “Just go straight to your room and gather your things. Your fath- William , should be at work, and in case he gets home early, I'll be downstairs so he doesn't reach you.” The woman tried to reassure him, but her words barely managed to lighten the weight on the younger boy's chest.

Still, the teenager nodded so they both entered with Michael's key (which he was also going to have to leave here when he left) and now they found themselves in the living room of what had once been the Afton family home, now, only two of them remained (and if the brunette could, there would only be one of them at the end).

The landscape was dark: there were decorations on the shelves or the walls, but none of them seemed personal or thoughtful; everything looked either simple or antique, like heirlooms, but both Michael and his mother knew that William had bought all these things brand new; he just wanted them to look "elegant."

The brunette glanced quickly at the woman beside him, but her eyes were wandering around the house with a dismayed expression. Who knows what she's remembering: maybe she's remembering her last argument with William; maybe she's remembering her children begging her not to leave; maybe her mind went back to when everyone had to tiptoe around the house; or maybe she's thinking about when she and her ex moved here, still young and in love…

It would be cruel to ask her to come to where the rooms of her long-gone children are.

So the teenager decides to head up the stairs on his own, even though every step makes him feel nervous and dizzy, almost paranoid that one of them might come out to attack him. But even so, he doesn't turn around to ask his mother if she can accompany him, so he arrives alone at the door of his old room.

It's wrecked , that's the first thing he notices.

His room has always been a bit of a mess to some extent (no one could have expected a young teenager to keep it that clean), but there's a difference between being disorganized and having several of his things broken in what looked like a violent attack.

There were barely any salvageable items, possibly one or two boxes of stuff, three if he didn't pack them properly.

Michael entered the room, pulling the disassembled boxes out of his backpack and onto his mattress, where he quickly put them together, and then did the laborious task of deciding what he could take with him.

He put anything that wasn't broken, shredded, or scratched in the box, he wasn't even looking at them properly, maybe he'd just thrown in a toy he hadn't seen in years, but it wasn't ripped, so he put it in; a shirt he'd hated? If it's not ripped, it goes in the box; a souvenir from Fall Fest? If it's not ripped, then it goes in the box; Michael already knew the routine: cut his losses and move on.

The only exception came at the end, when he was walking through his room, he almost tripped over some glass on the floor. These were pieces of a picture frame that had been lying around, and out of curiosity, he decided to see what it was.

It was a old photo of him with his siblings, from a Christmas before his parents separated or his father got worse, sitting under a tree with gap-toothed smiles staring into the camera.

He remembers that when things started going wrong and he started getting angry, his mother brought the photo and put it on his bookshelf even though he didn't want it to, 'sometimes you have to remember the good times' she'd said with a smile to his pout. When she left, the brunette turned the frame upside down so he wouldn't have to look at it, and he kept it that way for the next few years, to the point where the boy had forgotten it existed.

And now it was here in his hands, with the glass broken.

Michael, without thinking much, delicately took out the photo to put it away, and then finished packing it with a few discs that weren't scratched even though their packaging was destroyed.

A box. His life up until now could fit into a single box, at least what remained of it that wasn't destroyed.

The boy thinks he should feel sad about this fact, but he can't find the energy to feel sorry for the turn his life has taken these past few years; it's as if he's numb.

...He should get out here.

As the teenager closed the door, leaving the wrecked room behind him and starting to walk back downstairs, he heard it… He heard a door slam shut behind him.

Suddenly, Michael feels frozen in place, a biting chill creeping into his nerves, and when he turns around, he almost hopes the person behind him is one of the nightmare monsters that haunted his dreams, but it's not, it's much worse . 

The shambling but still intimidating figure of his father stands at the end of the hall, staring at him from the shadows with his silver eyes, in his hand is a nearly empty bottle of gin, and his breathing is harsh as he glares at him.

“You…” The boy shudders at the anger in his father’s hoarse whisper. “ It’s all your fault, you damn br-! ”

The brunette runs off before his father finishes. He’s not supposed to be here , he should be burying himself in his work like he did when Mom left, like when Elizabeth disappeared, like when Evan left-

…

It just doesn't make sense for him to seem sorry now that it's Michael's turn to leave too.

"Honey?" His mother asked in confusion, clearly not having heard his father's scream at the end. He always wondered if the house had walls thick enough to prevent anyone from hearing it, he wouldn't know; he was always the one on the receiving end of the screams.

“You-” His father calls from the stairs. Michael reaches his mother's side and instinctively leans forward to protect her from the man's wrath, but for the first time in as long as he can remember, the blonde grabs him and pulls him behind her. “Do you really have the nerve to think you can escape m-?”

“William.” His mother says, her tone stony, but the hands holding the boy are shaking with fear, but luckily his father can't see them and exploit that weakness against the woman. “The door is open.”

That stops any attack from the man, William Afton will always be a man of character, a pleasant and visionary businessman who, no matter what, must always maintain his best image: his wife abandons him? Now he was a brave single father who walked away from a bad mother for his children; his daughter disappeared? He's a father completely devastated by his daughter; his son died? He's a poor man who didn't deserve his horrible son killed his baby.

But if anyone saw him for who he truly was, he'd never be able to recover from that.

Clara, without a second thought, hugged him tightly before quickly pulling him out the front door and into her car to drive away before the Englishman realized that none of his neighbors were home at this hour.

Unfortunately for them, the man noticed as they were getting into the car.

“IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR LIFE, MICHAEL!” He heard William shout from behind him. He got into the car, avoiding looking at him as he did so, and closed the door, though this did little to prevent him from hearing him. “BUT REMEMBER YOU’RE JUST LIKE ME! YOU’LL ALWAYS BE A FUCKING KILLER OF EVERYTHING GOOD AROUND YOU!” And with that, they drove down the street away from the parking lot, with the boy feeling his eyes watering but still keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead.

Five minutes passed before Mike decided to knock on the door again with his fist, waiting a little longer.

Still no answer.

The brunette bit his lip, his leg wanting to tap the floor impatiently, but he forced himself not to as he waited for something: a voice, a silhouette through the windows, something, anything…

He'd been here for a good half hour, and if he didn't want to be late for work, he needed to leave now, but the brunette was pretty worried at this point.

He'd decided to go to the girl's house to beg her to do him the favor of watching his sister, thinking his friend was angry with him, but now, after two days without hearing anything from her or her brother, he was more than worried.

Especially since their house seemed to be abandoned.

While the security guard stood uneasily in front of the house's door, waiting for a clue as to what was going on, a voice to his right caught his attention. "Oh, my dear . Are you looking for Maxxine or Jefferson?" Turning, he saw that the voice had come from a small, elderly woman bent over a cane.

Mike had to blink a few times before he recovered from his surprise, and after clearing his throat, he was finally able to answer. "Oh, yes. I'm looking for Max." The woman smiled as if he'd given the correct answer, although she narrowed her eyes in curiosity when he used the girl's nickname. "Do you know where she might be?"

The old lady's wrinkled face relaxes into a softer expression before she uses her cane to lean closer to the fence that separates her yard from his friends'. "Maxxine usually helps me keep up with my gardening every morning. She's such a helpful girl ." The brunette nods, agreeing with her words, which seems to encourage the woman to continue. "But a couple of days ago, she and her brother left one morning in their truck, and I haven't seen them since." The old lady says with a sigh and a hand on her cheek.

The woman's words worried Mike more than he had been before. It's been a couple of days since his friend last babysat for his sister, and he hasn't heard from her or her brother.

God, should he call the police? What was the time limit for someone to be considered a missing person? Has it already been more than 48 hours? A spiteful part of the brunette didn't want to have to talk to any authority figure, and he knew Max's brother wasn't the biggest fan of the police either, but he had to put his reservations aside to at least consider it. Maybe he could talk to Vanessa about it? He knew the blonde was quite concerned about the safety of anyone other than Mike... Although right now she was very angry with him-

“Oh, dear. If it's not too much trouble, could you please move some flower pots for me?”

“Oh, sure, of course.”

“Are you sure you can’t make it tonight?” Schmidt asked as he collected some plates and placed them on his tray before wiping the tabletop with a damp cloth for the next diners.

“No, I can't, sorry. My paranormal group is having a meeting to plan a trip to the Land of Oz in North Carolina for its annual fall opening.” The college student said the last thing with great excitement before approaching the other waiter to whisper: “In '75, there was a huge fire, the owner died under mysterious circumstances, and then the park closed.”

Mike backed away from the other young man's wide-eyed look as he asked with great concern: “Ness, have you slept these past few days?” He said, looking with some dismay at his companion's slightly more unhinged attitude ( though he shouldn't judge others' appearances by his own dark circles under his eyes ), but the latter just laughed somewhat derangedly .

“Oh, Mikey~ ” The waiter said, tilting his head and in a tone the security guard recognized as sleep-deprived madness ( personal experience ). “Sleep is a social construct. In fact, the hours people spend sleeping could be pretty well spent-”

“Ness.” Schmidt interrupted. “Sleep isn’t a social construct, and you seriously need at least six hours of sleep to avoid going crazy for the rest of the day.” The other waiter looked at him with a dead look at his explanation, before blinking slowly and awkwardly ( one eyelid at a time ). “…You know what, forget it.” The brunette said, giving up trying to make him see reason, he had also dismissed the idea of ​​him babysitting his sister after his serial killer laugh ( he was starting to get seriously suspicious of the guy ).

“Okay,” Ness replied, returning to his previous smiling demeanor. “Hey, why have you been asking around so much about someone watching your sister? You seemed to have it together before.”

Mike bit his lip, unsure whether to answer, but he’d been so stressed about handling things himself that he felt a little weak at the idea of ​​giving in. “My friend Max disappeared a few days ago. She’s usually the one who helps me take care of Abby, but she just hopped in her truck with her brother and left… ”

His companion stroked his chin thoughtfully, then spoke his mind before the security guard could ask. “Do you think their landlady told them something?” He asked, his gaze distant, focused elsewhere, but his words snapped the other boy out of his thoughts.

“What?” Schmidt blurted out, looking confused at the twenty-something, who quickly began to explain when he noticed he was paying attention.

“Oh, sorry. It’s just that-” Ness placed his tray on the counter before preparing to explain what was going through his head as if it were another one of his conspiracy theories. “A few days ago, your friend stopped by here with her brother to have a chat with a woman who was accompanied by a man in a suit, by the way, the woman was quite rude.” He commented, looking up with a pout. “But the important thing is that they seemed pretty tense over there, I think I heard your friend talking to her brother about the rent money after the lady left. I don’t know, they left quickly too.”

The security guard's mind was trying to process all the information he'd just been given, but his brain was still alert enough to say to the other waiter. "We have a landlord."

"Oh, so it must have been something else." The college student said simply, then grabbed his tray again and got ready to get back to work. But there was something swirling in Mike's mind that was trying to connect things, so without a second thought, he decided to ask.

"Hey, the lady and the man in the suit, what did they look like?"

"Oh, well, the woman was blonde with clothes that looked new, and the man seemed nervous or staring blankly, poor guy, looked like he wanted some lunch-"

Mike stumbles after slamming his car door. Normally, he'd be worried that this might damage the vehicle further, but that wasn't worrying him right now.

He'd had to keep his anger simmering all morning, promising himself a little time to let out everything he was feeling inside, but this whole plan was thrown out the window when he saw her .

The blonde, leaning against the school fence smoking a cigarette ( even though it was a school area, and smoking was implicitly prohibited ), was waiting for him to talk to him about the same topic as the day before, so when she saw him approaching, the woman stubbed out her cigarette on the brick before throwing it down the street and straightening her clothes to begin speaking. “Mike-”

“You and me. Over there. Talk.” The young man hissed, surprising the woman, who for the first miraculous time remained silent while staring at him with wide eyes, but the brunette didn't have time for that. “Now.”

The older woman seemed to snap out of that last part, as she quickly put her arrogant face back in place before walking alongside the brunette, away from the entrance but still visible to any pedestrian on the street.

When they stopped, the woman squinted at him as if Mike were something under her shoe before flashing a smug smile. “I guess you’ve finally reconsidered my proposal-”

“Why were you talking to Max and her brother?” His interruption made the woman stare at him, her eyes wide as a deer, but she quickly regained her composure and crossed her arms with a judgmental expression.

“What are you talking about? Who even-”

“Don’t try to play dumb to get out of this.” The man said through gritted teeth, already tired of all this week’s nonsense. “One of the waiters told me you were at Sparky’s talking to her and her brother there.”

The blonde once again remained impassive at his words before resorting to her second favorite route when things weren’t going her way: questioning the other. “And what are you doing questioning waiters? Honestly, I thought whoever was given custody of Abby would make better use of their time-”

“I work there.” The man said, cutting the woman off before she could get too far off the chat to leave.

The blonde opened her eyes again before grimacing. “No wonder the girl got alarmed when I asked to meet them there.”

“Now.” The brunette began before taking a step, causing the woman to unconsciously lean back, still trying to remain stubborn in her place. “Tell me why you were talking to Max and Jeff two days ago, Aunt Jen .”

The woman grimaced in annoyance, though Mike couldn't tell if it was due to displeasure at him calling her ‘aunt’ or the disrespectful tone he used. “Well, your little friend Max was just doing me a favor, you know.. .”

“Stop beating around the bush and tell me the real deal.” The young man insisted, tired of this pointless attempt to have a logical conversation with the woman.

The blonde clearly didn't like the fact that he wouldn't let her spin her web, and her expression suggested she was now determined to be hurtful more than anything. “She was helping me get Abby into my custody. You know , she knew how to recognize that the court hadn't made the right verdict.” The woman said with a cruel smile, and Mike…

Mike gritted his teeth as he let himself relax for a second, he knew he should take the woman's words with a grain of salt, it wasn't that she was lying , but it wasn't that she was saying everything literally either. But the brunette couldn't let this affect him, if it did, it would drag him down again like last time, so he just packed it into a box and threw it into the depths of his being.

Instead, the boy let his exterior remain unchanged, causing the woman to frown, clearly disappointed that she hadn't gotten the reaction she wanted. "You... You're a bitch ." Her expression was somewhere between angry and surprised. Schmidt wasn't going to explode like he used to in his teens, but he wasn't going to give him any room to retort either. "I don't know what your fucking problem is, and don’t pretend you don’t have a problem , really normal people don’t do this kind of thing, and you know it.”

The woman pursed her mouth, but for the first time since they'd met, she lowered her gaze as if she were embarrassed.

“Ever since we've known each other, you've had something against me, and I don't know what it is or what's bad enough to attack someone who was just emerging from her teens and in grief, beyond the fact that the law decided I was better than you at caring for a baby, but…” Mike took a moment to breathe, and for the first time he'd met the woman, he used his full height to look down on the blonde. “But I know that even if I weren't here, no one would let you have Abby.”

Now the woman looked quite sad, something he'd never seen before ( although they'd only met through small meetings about custody ). "I know we're not okay, neither my family nor I did right for my sister. We could have helped her with the things her illness did to her head that terrified her so much, we could have helped her, we could haven’t ignored her when she cried in fear, I could haven’t made fun of her when she screamed. There were a lot of things she didn't deserve to happen to her and that she needed, but we didn't do them , and now she's gone ." For the first time in their argument, the woman raised her gaze so their eyes met. "I just want another chance to do better, I wasn't the best sister, but I want another try so badly . I just need another one, please -"

…

Mike left without responding to the woman's request, as soon as she saw him walk away, she started to cry, but the brunette tried to ignore her in favor of picking up his sister, even though her words were still in his head.

« I just want another chance to do better, I wasn't the best sisterbrother, but I want another try so badly. I just need another one, please- »

He just put it in the same box where Max's was. He needed to get on with his day, maybe he'd check on it another time.

It was their fifth night, and with all the drama, he still hadn't found a babysitter for Abby, and taking her with him wasn't an option, not anymore, never again if he could...

The TV was playing behind him, he's pretty sure his sister wasn't actually watching it, but she liked having it as background noise while she drew at the living room table (p lus she'd get mad if he tried to turn it off ).

Mike bit his lip; he didn't know who he could turn to for help at this point... At least…

The brunette quickly dialed the number he'd recently learned and let his finger tap lightly against the tabletop while he waited for the beeps to stop so he knew the call had connected.

"Hey, I know we didn't end on good terms last time, but I need you to do me a favor."

Chapter Text

As the brunette was getting ready for his last night at Freddy's, his sister came out of the room carrying some board games the girl herself had invented in her free time, most likely to play with her friends (Could the ghosts inside animatronics play when their hands were so big? The images of the robots accidentally folding the figurines came to him).

"Mike." The girl called as she placed her hands on her hips, a sense of anticipation in both her voice and her eyes. "I'm ready to go."

The named one took a deep breath, knowing this moment would eventually come, but that didn't mean he was truly ready for it ( he was never ready for anything in his life ). "Abby." The black-haired girl looked at him quite expectantly when he mentioned her name. "You're not going with me."

In an instant, the girl's face crumpled from an expression of emotion to a more disappointed one, almost looking like she was about to burst into tears. "W-why?" She asked pitifully, pouting.

Mike quickly approached to try to calm his sister before she started crying. "It's just that I can't take you with me anymore! You know , it's the last night and I need to be really professional to get my pay." He said with rather exaggerated mannerisms, as if he were in a soap opera.

“But…” The girl said again in a brittle voice, taking a wet sniff (now she reminded him a bit of Garrett). “Are you gonna leave me alone?”

“No, no, no.” The brunette responded instantly, waving his hands, then he stood up to let out a sigh while scratching his head, trying to think through his next words. “I get someone to come take care of you.”

“Max?” The kid asked expectantly, possibly because she hadn't seen the girl in two days in a row, when it used to be common for her to see her every day.

“Not her…” Mike had to suppress a pained expression as he avoided his sister's black eyes. He still needed to figure out a way to deal with his friend's betrayal on his own, so for now he put it in the box. “No, it's someone else.”

Before the girl had a chance to throw a tantrum, there was a knock on the door that caught the attention of the Schmidt siblings, and the brunette quickly went to open the door for the person waiting on the other side.

"Hey." The blonde woman greeted as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear ( are those dark roots? ). She had a rather large cardboard box under her arm and was wearing somewhat simple clothing, very different from how he'd become accustomed to seeing her. "Is Abby here?"

The named one let out a surprised gasp before peeking out from behind the older one to look at the visitor. "Vanessa?"

“Hey, honey.” The officer said with a soft smile, she was wearing a gray tank top with an open purple flannel shirt over it, which, along with her loose hair, made her look so relaxed, unlike her appearance in uniform.

“Vanessa!” The kid quickly grabbed the blonde’s legs, who was surprised but didn’t try to move away from the little girl. “Mike doesn’t want to take me to see my friends.” The child pouted, which, the audacity , the black-haired girl just accused him to the police who give him an amused look at the girl’s words.

“Actually…” The adult woman began before kneeling down to the little girl's eye level and looking her in the eye as she spoke softly. “I already know that, that's why I'm here. I'm going to take care of you while he's gone.” The words made the kid let out a betrayed gasp.

“But I really want to see my friends!”

“I know, Abby.” Vanessa said, trying to calm the black-haired girl. “But today is Mike’s last day, he really needs to do his job and he can’t do it and take care of you at the same time. That’s why I’m here, right, Mike?” Now both girls looked at him, their sister pleading him through her eyes to be on her side, even though she was ready to “accuse” him less than five minutes ago.

The brunette took a moment to sigh before nodding at the blonde's words. "Abs, it would really be best if you stayed here tonight." « And every other if I ever make the mistake of taking this job again. »

Still, the girl didn't seem ready to let him go, so the officer took over again. "Hey, guess what I brought for us to watch together tonight?" That seemed to catch the dark-haired girl's attention, so the blonde moved the box from her side to the front. "Tapes of Freddy and Friends episodes!"

The kid's eyes lit up like never before at the words while her brother's face wrinkled, he remembered that cartoon series quite a bit, they were Garret's favorites ones, although Mike could never find the charm in them ( except for the Foxy shorts, because he used to think they were pretty cool ).

“Is there a series about the gang?” The black-haired girl asked with excitement and amazement as she marveled at the VHS tapes of the episodes. Curiously, the writing on the labels reminded him of the training tape from his first night at Freddy's.

“Mhm.” Vanessa replies, placing the box on the floor so the kid can see inside better. “From the early 80s to the end of these, a series was created like publicity for the restaurant. It was about animatronics traveling the world on tour.” The blonde says, like the walking Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza encyclopedia she truly is ( her knowledge of the restaurant was rivaled only by Ness, and he’s not sure that’s a good thing ). “Not all of them are here, but I have quite a few recordings of several of the episodes.”

Even with the information that the series was incomplete, the little girl didn't hesitate before grabbing the box and hurrying over to her old VCR to put on the first episode… Leaving both adults in a tense silence.

Mike bit his lip, unsure of what their relationship was like now after Vanessa threatened to shoot him. Although he'd dealt with pretending everything was fine after someone was aggressive toward him before, he wasn't sure if he could apply the fade-into-the-wall approach here as well.

In the end, the brunette decides the best course of action is to flee as far away from the awkward situation as possible. “Well, I think it's time to start heading back to the restaurant.” the security guard says, only receiving a ‘hmm’ from the officer along with a nod without her even looking in his direction, which Schmidt took as his cue to leave.

As the brunette started to walk out the door, the blonde's voice stopped him. " Mike …" The man turned to look at the woman, who lowered her gaze somewhat nervously, remaining silent before letting out a small: "...Stay safe." The boy was silent for a few seconds before nodding and leaving.

Today was his fifth night at Freddy's.

His last night at the restaurant feels heavier than the first, perhaps because he's grown accustomed to the sound of his excited sister or the chatter with Vanessa, even though that only lasted for two nights.

Although, to be honest, Mike never felt comfortable in the establishment from the beginning; even before the place was destroyed by the invaders, the place would always bring back too many negative emotions for him to consider feeling comfortable enough there.

Everything seems rather… dull when he walks through the front doors of the establishment, as if things have been even more downbeat this past day.

The security guard tries not to think about it too much until he reaches the part of the dining room where the stage was; the curtain was in place, which wouldn't be strange if it weren't there the day before when he and Abby entered the restaurant, almost as if everything was trying to stay in order.

« Try not to think about it. » Mike mentally tells himself while biting his lip. « It's your last night, you just have to get through tonight and you can ignore it for the rest of your life. » The thoughts aren't really comfortable, so the brunette finally speaks. "Abby couldn't make it tonight." He says to the unmoving curtains, glancing out of the corner of his eye, he also sees no action in the Pirate Cove, which was also closed.

The adult stands there for a few seconds, waiting for some kind of response, but when he doesn't get anything in a few minutes, the brunette decides it's time for him to start his work; after all, the sooner he starts, the sooner he'll finish.

Mike walks down the hallway, which is eerily quiet ( even the crying that had acted as a kind of white noise is missing ), now in a strange silence that only makes the brunette more aware of the strange feeling in his chest.

(“Is he… Is he really-?”

“‘Trapped here’? ‘Like you guys’? ‘Is he one of you’?” He hears the cries, the same sobs he grew up with most of his days, increasingly blurred in his memories, all behind that wall. “Is that what you want to ask?” )

“Try not to think about it.” The boy whispered under his breath as he put his backpack in his locker, he wasn’t saying this to anyone but himself. “Just… spend the night and don’t think about it.”

As he sits down in his chair after turning on the cameras and placing his recorder on the table, his gaze quickly falls on the tape from night 4 on the desk. He hadn't listened to it on the previous shift because as soon as they arrived at the restaurant, Abby had begun her plans to build the pillow fort, ignoring the rules he'd set.

So Mike decides it's a good time to listen to the tape, so he takes the cassette and then puts it in the device and presses the play button so that the sound of the phone guy's nervous voice will ring around the room as he looks at the security cameras.

«Hello, hello! Hey! Hey wow, day four... I knew you could do it.» The man's voice sounded hesitant, but Mike tried not to think about it as he scanned the screens in front of him, though the knocking sound in the background of the recording seemed alarming. «Uh, hey, listen... I may not be around to send you a message tomorrow.» That quickly made the brunette frown, and he quickly went to grab the box where all the labeled tapes were. «It’s, it’s been a bad night here. For me.» The sounds of knocking on the tape are getting louder and louder, and the boy feels more and more pressured to search through the recordings. «Umm... I-I’m kinda glad that I recorded my messages for you... Uh, when I did.» It sounded more and more like a post-mortem message or something, which was ridiculous, right? «Uh hey, do me a favor: Uh, maybe sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits? Uh, in the back room?» Which back room ? Is he talking about Parts and Service? «Uh, I'm gonna try to hold out... until someone... checks. Maybe it won’t be so bad .» All the tapes have been brought out onto the table, but Mike still checks the inscriptions on each one again. «I-I-I-I always wondered what was in all those empty heads... back there–» The knocking stopped, and now a music box melody could be heard, it sounded familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. «You know…» A noise is heard, but it's not something the brunette can recognize, though it sends a shiver down his spine. «Oh no…» A scream is heard, a scream that chills Mike's blood. It sounds like someone has recorded a dying child and twisted it into something angry and terrifying , but it's cut off when the call ends.

There's no tape of a fifth night, and the security guard suddenly doesn't feel safe.

His eyes quickly scan the cameras, searching for any trace of movement, but everything remains the same as when he entered. Even the curtains seemed to be in place, but that certainly doesn't calm him down at all.

Feeling his own unease beneath his skin as the inhuman sound returns to his head again and again, the brunette jumps up, almost knocking his chair back, but he ignores this in favor of rushing to each office door, locking them and then returning to his chair to stare at the screens, still seeing no change.

His last night at Freddy's feels uncertain and terrifying.

Pine Valley was heard all around hIm, birds chirping and branches rustling in the wind, and in front of Mike was a hamburger in his hands, beyond him, the sounds of his friends and family could be heard, except for-

“Mikey!” The named boy looked up at the voice calling him in the distance and couldn’t help but let a smile spread across his face when he saw who was calling him.

“Gary!” He exclaimed happily as the big boy launched himself into a hug, which Gary returned by wrapping his arms tightly around his brother, eliciting a giggle from the younger boy.

When the kid pulled away, the older boy almost didn't want to let go, but in the end, he let go so the toddler could sit on the picnic table with a smile, briefly, Mike wondering where Charlie was.

Garret smiled brightly as he swung his legs, somehow looking different though the boy's brain couldn't tell him what, though he pushed it aside in favor of enjoying time with his younger brother (Weren't there other people here? Everything suddenly sounded... emptier ).

From nowhere, a hand thrust a paper plate with a hamburger on it in front of the younger boy, causing the infant's eyes to light up at the sight of the food, almost drooling. This elicited a small laugh from his older brother, who tried to hide it behind his hand, however, this must have been ineffective, as the toddler turned to look at him with a pout.

The sound of a bottle being squeezed was heard, but Michael ignored it in favor of mockingly sticking his tongue out at his brother. “How about some burger with that ketchup?”

“Ha, ha.” Garret returned the gesture, eliciting a more open laugh from the older boy, and the kid let his face return to his original smile. “Everything’s better swimming in ketchup.” His mother's voice sounded distant, but the brunette didn’t pay much attention to it. “Right, Mike?”

Michael blinked as the bottle of talking condiment was positioned in front of him, he quickly grabbed it and poured a large amount of sauce onto his burger, eliciting a noise of disgust from the toddler next to him, who, upon turning to look at him, could see him looking at the ketchup in disgust. So the older boy, showing how mature he is, grabbed the food and took a big bite, causing the condiment to splatter all over him. 

“Blegh,” Garret blurted, sticking out his tongue, the older one would have laughed at his brother’s reaction if it weren’t for the possibility of choking from the food in his mouth. The younger one decided to ignore his older brother in favor of grabbing the mustard that was also on the table and pouring an insane amount on his own burger, which, disgusting, in Michael's opinion. “Mmmm.” The boy exclaimed with delight as he took a bite of his mustard monstrosity, which made the older kid look at him with amusement. “I really love hamburgers!”

The older of the two rolled his eyes at the younger's words. "I thought you loved pizza." He knew the adults' conversation wasn't over yet, but somehow it now seemed to blur in his ears.

“No, not anymore.” The toddler’s gaze seemed to drift as his brow furrowed. “I don’t like it anymore. I feel sick of it .”

That quickly made Michael frown this time, his younger brother loved pizza, it was the only good thing about going to their father's business, the free pizza. But now he seemed disgusted at the thought of it, even though he'd been devouring one of them the previous few da- when was that?

The older boy was brought out of his thoughts when he felt a grip on his arm and when he looked down, he saw Garret staring at him with his big brown eyes. “Mike, Mikey, let’s play together!” Before the younger boy could respond (whether to refuse or accept), the toddler spoke again in an urgent tone. “Please, Mikey, we haven’t played in so long!”

The older one's mind quickly went back to thinking, because the younger boy's words felt strange, after all, the last time they played together was... How long has it been? He couldn't remember, not even what happened the day before, maybe it had been a long time since the last time.

“Very well.” Garret seemed to perk up at his words, causing Michael himself to let a smile spread across his face as he tucked one of his younger brother’s curls behind his ear. “What do you want to play?”

“Hide and seek!” The toddler excitedly exclaimed, clutching his golden stuffed animal to his chest (Had he been carrying it this whole time? He remembered an airplane, had he gotten confused?) and swinging his legs.

“Okay!” The older brown-haired boy responded with the same energy, quickly getting out of his seat, followed by his younger brother, who literally jumped up to stand beside him. “Do you want to count first, or do you want to hide?”

“I want to count! I want to count! Let me count, Mike! Please!” The younger boy begged animatedly, putting on his best sad puppy dog ​​eyes at the older boy, who tried to giggle at his younger brother's behavior. This wasn't so unusual; the toddler didn't like hiding and preferred to seek, since he tended to be bad at hiding because he didn't like dark places.

Michael nodded at his brother's request, and the face of this one brightened visibly again before running to one of the trees surrounding the camp to begin counting (the toddler took a moment to look at the older boy one last time before starting to count, as if afraid he would disappear if he didn't see him) so the older brother quickly fled to the center of the forest looking for a place to hide.

As the brown-haired boy ran through the trees, his excitement fading as he searched for a place to hide, he realized that everything around him seemed... strange .

The lines of trees around him seemed to grow thinner and thinner, as the sunlight seemed to disappear, turning the environment darker with each step the boy took. Suddenly, the sound of leaves and branches beneath him seemed to diminish, and as he looked down, the brunette realized that instead of grassy ground, he was now standing on a black tile half-buried in the earth, looking ahead, he could see more of these and some white ones appearing on the ground in the forest landscape.

The further he ventured into the forest, the more the landscape around him seemed to distort, as if it were closing in around him, almost making the place seem more and more claustrophobic .

He stopped when he heard a moan, it didn't sound like crying, more like someone having to stop themselves from screaming in anger, which made a shiver run through the brown-haired boy who, upon looking ahead, was surprised to see that now the entire forest around him was swirling into a dark room with several bodies around it, a chair with several metal parts that he couldn't recognize and a child hugging his own legs in the middle of it all, surprising the older boy to see it.

“...Who are you?” The brunette asked in confusion as he looked at the kid in front of him, this one raised his face slightly to look at him with an angry eye from behind his blond hair. “What are you doing here?”

“ You… ” The child’s voice sounded strange, like a whisper in his ears that grew closer and further away at the same time. “ You were supposed to help us… ” Mike shivered again, but now more so because of how cold he felt around him. “ You’re… the only one of them… that he didn’t order us to attack… ”

Now the brunette's body began to tremble, he didn't know why, but the kid in front of him gave him a strong sense of escape, but his body was frozen in place. "I don't know what-"

“ The golden rabbit trapped us here… ” The blond’s voice sounded as if he were having trouble speaking. “ But… he is the one who forces us to listen to him… ” The child’s body fell to the ground and began to crawl with considerable difficulty, causing Mike to take a step back in shock, it seemed as if the blond was having trouble moving his own body. “ He… talks more when you're here… but… He leaves us freer, too. ” The closer he got, the more the brunette wanted to run away, but he could only stay there, trembling.  “ So, it has to be you… the one to help us… ” The blond’s eyes seemed increasingly unhinged with each word he uttered. “ You have to give us- ”

“I told you not to talk to him.” Michael jumped up and turned around to see his younger brother standing a few feet behind him, holding his Fredbear plushie and wearing the striped shirt he'd seen earlier, but now there was blood dripping from his curls. “I told all of you not to talk to him.”

“Gary, are you okay?” The boy said, ignoring the whimper of the strange kid behind him who seemed to be in pain. He took a step toward his younger brother, but the kid didn't look at him as the worrying amount of blood continued to run down his face.

“He’s my brother.” The infant said, possibly looking at the blond behind him as he stomped his foot as if throwing a tantrum. “It’s his last night here, and it’s my turn to talk to him.” He stomped again, but this time everything around him shook, nearly tripping the older boy. " It's not fair that you guys talked to him all these days without letting us talk." Another stomp and the landscape shook again, but the kid didn't stop with that single blow. "It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair..." Garret repeated over and over as he hit the ground, causing the forest landscape to begin to shake and crumble. “ IT’S NOT FAIR! ”

"Garret-" Mike interrupted himself as he fell into darkness, the world crumbling around him and when he looked up, he could see his brother staring at him from where he fell. Most of the kid's face was now obscured except for his glowing eyes, while a trickle of blood trickled down his face from his bandages.

" I found you, it's your turn to find me. "

BEEP! BEEP!

Mike opened his eyes and stood at his desk, his breath seemed to be lacking, he tried to get as much air into his lungs as he blinked to clear the blurry vision. He was in the security office, and what he had heard had been his alarm clock.

The security guard placed his hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating a thousand times a second, but it almost stopped when he looked down at the screens and saw, in terror , a very familiar stuffed animal in front of him…

He had spent his fifth night at Freddy's.

Chapter Text

«Michael, I must admit I'm surprised .»

The name one's hand tightened at the condescending voice coming from the phone speaker; he hadn't expected to receive a call from Raglan when he was done that week.

«I didn't expect you to be able to make it to the end of the week considering your... history .» Even though it must have been impossible, the brunette couldn't help feeling that the employment agent wasn't referring to his work history.  «Although you did try to quit early, like a coward , didn't you?»

Normally, he wouldn't let himself be spoken to like that, but when it was the man with glasses speaking, he couldn't help but feel a little weak , as if he were completely defenseless against him.

«So congratulations, you've done what you were told, well done, boy.» The last part was said mockingly, as if he were talking to a pet instead of another adult. «I guess you're supposed to be rewarded, aren't you?» Mike didn't reply, he had the feeling the man didn't want to have a conversation from the start and only liked the sound of his own voice. «Your check has just been sent through the mail; it should arrive tomorrow morning, so keep an eye out for it.»

Abby was watching TV in the back of the room, Vanessa, although she had left a few minutes before he came back ( so he hadn't been able to talk to her once more ), left the VHS of the animatronics cartoon, so his younger sister has been watching them for quite some time.

«You see, it's not that difficult to do what you're told, Michael.» The named one felt so dizzy at the man's words, a strong urge to vomit was barely contained, although the migraine he'd been having since closing the pizzeria for the last time was in full force, pounding into his head. «You can leave the keys in my office first thing Monday, I need to give you a few last words about your future prospects.» The boy couldn't even think about what he was going to do that night; it was as if his own daily routine was suddenly too much for him at that moment. The voice on the other end hummed. «Until then, Michael -»

As soon as the job agent seemed to finish speaking, Mike quickly hung up the phone, cutting off the man's voice that was still ringing in his ears.

The brunette took a moment to rub his hands against his face, when that didn't help at all to relax him, he began massaging the sides of his head while trying to better control his breathing.

The voices of the cartoon animatronics seemed so annoying to him at that moment, but he couldn't find it in himself to get upset about it ( nor to yell at Abby to turn down the volume like he used to with his other siblings in his youth ). The truth is, he didn't have the energy to do anything .

God , it was barely morning and he was already a mess .

He was supposed to hold himself together like the adult he was supposed to be, going to his jobs and taking Abby to school, but right now he just felt so tired and his head completely messed up.

…Maybe he should take the day off from both jobs, just for today. He should also call his sister's school; he didn't feel he was in a fit state to drive anywhere.

Likewise, it seemed it was time for him to go through a box he'd been leaving gathering dust for too long.

Michael was a fairly ordinary child at first: he had a father who worked full-time, a mother who stayed at home, and a younger sibling he'd wanted for a long time, that turned out to be twins with very different personalities, but equally interesting.

The boy would like to say that was his happy time, that it had been a golden moment in his life when his only worries were watching his cartoon and stealing the occasional cookie without the adults finding out…

… But that wasn't the case.

His father's indifference to his presence was obvious ( although sometimes it seemed like irritation ), his mother had tried her best to compensate for this lack although it was obvious to him that she didn't want to be a mother in the first place, and the brunette, like any other child, simply craved positive attention from his father. These rifts in the family often started arguments between his parents.

The twins had been born as a way to repair the marriage, the typical "a child will save this relationship" thing when they already had one, and yet they couldn't even get along.

( He still remembers his mother putting him to bed and, before saying goodbye, asking him if he'd like a little brother or sister, and Michael, as the child who was mostly deprived of other children to play with since he wasn't even in kindergarten yet, had quickly said yes with great excitement. )

Somehow, when the twins were born, everything got worse…

Not because there were now two babies instead of just one, but because the problems that were supposed to magically disappear only seemed to multiply.

Michael would like to say he hadn't blamed his siblings, since even though all they did at the time was cry and scream, he loved them in a tired way, the kind that wears you down over time ( but it was still a kind of love )… But it was hard not to resent them when a less-than-optimal situation became worse with the arrival of the babies.

Clara, his mother, who previously couldn't help but feel irritated by the idea of ​​her husband ignoring their firstborn, was now beyond annoyed and tired of not only having to care for a toddler who was too energetic for her to keep up with, but also having to support two babies without her husband's help.

On the other hand, William, who usually didn't like spending time with his son because he found him annoying, ended up sinking deeper into work as much as possible, avoiding spending time at home and with his two newborns.

It was as if everything was fracturing at such a rapid pace that when the twins were five years old, their mother, fed up only after one stressful day, ended up filing for divorce.

It was a bittersweet situation, but the woman tried to make it as positive as possible: she'd told them they'd now have double rooms, and their house could be in a different neighborhood, hopefully one farther from the pizzeria. All of these things hadn't mattered much to Michael, moving might mean he wouldn't see his father, but that was relative, since even now he didn't see him much; hopefully, his house would be closer to school and his friends, so he could spend more time with them; he assumed he'd feel homesick at some point, since he'd lived there most of his life... but to be honest, he didn't like his house very much.

So the boy could say that he felt somewhat expectant about this, not that he was excited, but he did count the time the whole thing took, waiting for the end to know what he was going to do with his life.

They were called, not telling them much other than that they were just going to be asked who they wanted to stay with, their mom or dad, he doesn't remember who told him, if it was his dad's or his mom's lawyer.

But anyway, that's how Michael found himself standing in front of an empty courtroom, alone with his parents in separate parts of the room and a judge by his side asking him which parent he wanted to live with, and the brunette without a second's hesitation said he wanted to go with his mom, he didn't say anything else and nobody asked him why; Garret was next, even though he was only about six years old, but his father's lawyer insisted ( something that must have raised some red flags ), the boy, frightened by so many people staring at him, especially his father's cold eyes , ended up crying in the middle of the courtroom until Uncle Henry ushered him out; in the end, his sister Elizabeth was next, unlike the other minor, kept smiling and humming, and when asked who she wanted to be with, she being a daddy's girl ( or at least the only one of the three he could stand ) quickly said this latter, but before they took her off the stage, the girl began a story about how her mother was an alcoholic and drug addict who left them starving ( of course, she didn't say drugs and alcohol directly, but she hinted at syringes and bottles ).

Michael didn't know at the time why his sister was lying, and he knew she was lying because their mother always made sure they were together all the time so she could take care of them more easily, but when he saw his father smiling subtly out of the corner of his eye, it hit him: he was the one who told them to say that , to both twins, but Garret chickened out.

They ended up in their father's care.

The boy couldn't help but feel a certain hatred for his sister, rejecting her when she asked to play with her or ignoring her when she threw tantrums. He stayed away from her as much as he could, mostly supporting a sad Garret who wouldn't stop sorrowing because his mom was gone, the older boy tried to calm him down even when he wanted to cry himself.

Even though his father did all this to maintain majority custody of them, he still ignored them and spent most of his time working, so suddenly Michael became the new caretaker.

And the boy hated it.

The kid, who could barely make his own sandwiches, now had to take care of two whiny, crying siblings. Don't get him wrong, though, he loved his siblings, but that burden wasn't something he was prepared for at this point in his life, much less with his mother suddenly gone.

Their mom, who was supposed to have done this to get them away from the heaviness of the Afton house, with whom they were supposed to spend their weekends, was now missing from their lives with no news of what she was doing or signs of life, so they spent their weekends at Uncle Henry's house or at Fredbear's.

And the boy hated either option, he couldn't have fun at Fredbear's with his friends because he had to calm Garret, who found the animatronics terrifying even though he loved their TV show; likewise, his uncle's house didn't bring him any real joy either.

Henry, although he also worked a lot, was always with his family when he got home. Even with his uncle's lack of social skills, he still spent time with his daughter and wife, whom he loved deeply, played with his daughter, and did activities with his wife.

It made Michael very jealous, but he never said anything, mostly because it would make his uncle, who seemed worried about him, ask questions like: Why does that make you jealous? Just a father-child bond? Why don't you have it? Doesn't your dad love you ? And the boy didn't want to admit the latter because he wasn't ready to accept that reality yet, so he just kept it.

It was the first thing he boxed up.

At the end of the first year after his parents' divorce, his mother re-entered his life, and things... got slightly better .

Being away from the Emilys' family atmosphere or the exhausting nature of being at Fredbear's was a pleasant experience in comparison, allowing him to relax without having to take care of his siblings or feeling bad.

His mother often took advantage of their full weekends to take trips, going to museums, restaurants other than Freddy's, theme parks, or in the calmer cases, just going to his grandparents' house before they died.

It was as if for 48 hours he could feel like a child, happy and light, without having to worry about his brother's incessant crying or his sister's bad mood, just focusing on having fun. Likewise, his anger toward Elizabeth diminished more and more, as if having his mother back made the betrayal he'd initially felt disappear, and he felt lighter every weekend of the year.

After the success of the franchise with Fazbear and his own restaurant with Uncle Henry, her father decided to do something on his own, his own restaurant with his own animatronics: Circus Baby . Michael didn't pay much attention, the animatronics weren't to his liking; Evan was terrified of anything that moved and shouldn't; and Elizabeth was ecstatic.

One of the weekends his mom planned to take them camping with their uncle and cousin (the brunette even got to invite his friends), their dad held the grand opening of his new establishment: Circus Baby's Pizza World. Of course, Elizabeth, being the daddy's girl she was, chose not to go with their mom that weekend and instead stayed with their dad.

That was his last happy day.

They'd been playing and eating hamburgers, feeling so good about being so far away from Hurricane, surrounded for the first time by a verdant forest teeming with life instead of the desert that was their hometown.

Just as Michael was about to go play with his friends, his father had arrived at their campsite and started arguing with his mother. Apparently, William had come with some drinks on him ( though not completely drunk ), so his mother got angry that he was interrupting her time, however, the argument ended with her crying while Garret was taken away by his father, leaving Michael behind.

Elizabeth had disappeared .

Suddenly, they could no longer spend weekends with their mother or go to their Uncle Henry's house; the remaining Afton siblings were left alone .

Michael hadn't been able to understand why things were the way they were; no one wanted to explain , so the boy began to resent everyone around him, and since Garret was the only one close to him, he lashed out at him.

Not that he'd wanted to at first, but having to care for a scared toddler while he himself was still a young person and was grieving in some way but unable to take the time to process it makes the resentment build in layers, like a painting: the first is light, but the more you slowly add, very quickly it becomes too noticeable to ignore… Michael wondered if that was how it was with his mother; maybe that's why she ran away.

It all escalated to the incident at Fredbear's in 1987.

Michael locked himself in his room or wandered off, not wanting to be with anyone or talk, withdrawing from everyone, although there weren't many people around at the time; a few days later Charlie died and Uncle Henry stopped trying to reach him, and father, as always, had focused on his work as he do all his life; he thought he'd have forgotten about him at some point if it weren't for the drunken nights he decided to take it out on the brunette.

But, then Jeremy literally broke into his room and slowly brought him out of his almost completely depressed state, to the point where when his mother finally called after what he assumed was a period of mourning, the boy had the strength to ask her to get him out of there, to take him with her.

The process was technically quick, though the brunette had enough time to pack most of his clothes to discreetly move them to his mother's house. The bruises and the fact that he didn't say anything bad against his mom in the custody proceedings during the divorce made leaving with his mother easier.

His stepfather was more than excited to help Michael move on, he not only tried to get him into therapy ( which his mom pulled him out of, thinking it wasn't working ), but he took a job across the country at a lower pay rate at another hospital so they could move, and even adopted him so he could change his name.

Now he was Mike Schmidt , and he packed everything that was Michael Afton into a box.

Things were easier: most of the people at his school didn't know what happened, so Mike wasn't afraid to confront them; his stepfather had gotten a nice house without any purple in it; he and his mother began to grow closer, like they had been before Lizzie disappeared; and whenever he felt too alone, he could count on his friend's constant contact.

One day, Jeremy stopped calling him or answering his calls.

A couple of months later, his mom got sick and died of cancer.

He and his dad were suddenly in some sort of mourning period before Mike even turned 16, and a few months later, when Mike was about to turn 17, his dad brought ‘Polly’ to the house.

Polly was a petite, slender girl with thin blond hair and wide-open eyes as she looked nervously around. The woman was barely 14 years older than Mike himself, but his dad wouldn't stop say that they were ‘meant to be together’, so the brunette said nothing and packed any feelings he had into a box.

It was obvious Polly didn't like Mike, every time she saw him, she looked scared, so the brunette looked for a job to avoid spending time at home. His dad had told him there was no need, but the boy convinced him with a speech about wanting to make his own way, and Dr. Schmidt was so proud that he bought into the lie ( although he did help him get a job as a file clerk at his hospital after a few jobs that ended badly ).

His dad's new wife was usually quite scared and shaky, staring off into the corner of a deserted space and then acting scared, but his dad still seemed to love her too much, so when she got pregnant, they got married. A few months later, Abby was born.

It wasn't that Mike didn't like having a new sister, but Polly's terrified expression around him, combined with his past experiences, convinced him it was best for him to stay away.

A few weeks after Mike turned 18, his stepfather was in a serious car accident that required major surgery.

They were all there as soon as the man was taken into the operating room, hours passed until Polly stood looking at him and the baby girl in her arms, and without blinking, she passed the baby (who was barely a few months old) to him in his arms, and then walked in the calmest manner he had seen her act in this time that they were together, out of the waiting room.

An hour passed and she didn't return; another couple passed and Abby woke up, so Mike had to step outside for a moment to calm her down; another couple passed, and he was given the news that his father hadn't survived, so the brunette found himself alone again . Abby's mother didn't return, and at the time, Mike didn't blame her, a still-young woman with a dead husband, a newborn baby, and a stepson that was a young adult who wasn't his or her husband's.

And that's when the brunette realized what his situation was like: he wasn't alone, he had Abby, he was barely 18, barely finished high school, no college degree, and two hospital bills... Mike put it in a box again.

While signing the death papers, he met Aunt Jen, who introduced herself as the sister of his father's wife, and that's when another piece of the puzzle appeared: Polly was crazy .

Schizophrenia and paranoia, to the point where her parents, not wanting people to know they had a clinically mentally ill daughter, kept her locked in their house until she ran away, she spent time hopping from one psychiatric ward to another, running away from her family, and that's where she met Mr. Schmidt .

Apparently , Mike's stepfather was the type of person who liked to feel needed and help people in any way he could, a good quality for a doctor, but possibly not for the people around him. The moment the blonde left the hospital looking weak and needy, he quickly approached her, barely saving his career because he wasn't a psychiatrist, so he wasn't dating his patient.

( Mike's mind flashed back to his mother's antidepressant pills he'd once seen on her dresser, and to a conversation his uncle had had with William just after the divorce, he hadn't understood or heard it well in that moment, but he remembers the word 'suicide' in it. )

The woman in front of her declared that she was now going to have custody of Abby because Mike was a boy with nothing , and the brunette almost agreed out loud, but a hint of pride wouldn't let him say it.

The custody trial passed almost in a blur for Mike, and even though he didn't hire a lawyer, the judge decided he was a better choice to care of a kid, something that truly surprised him.

Mike had to sell the house his dad had bought because it was too big and the hospital bills were even bigger ( they were still paying for his mom's treatment ), moved into a rental home with their savings, and government support went directly to Abby's education, along with anything else she needed.

He changed jobs, took multiples, lost a few, got a good school with a therapist with a good track record when his sister's adorable features were no longer age-appropriate , and every problem he had just put in a box while he tried to stay afloat.

And now he was here, with the box containing all his things from when he was Michael Afton, looking at an old photo of him with his biological siblings at Christmas while thinking about everything he hadn't allowed himself to think about.

He questioned if he'd done the right thing all this time, if there had been a moment where he should have stopped, if he'd been just... run away .

Mike bit his lip before standing and walking to the phone where he dialed a number. "Hey, could you come over?"

Abby was woken from her sleep by her brother's hand, which automatically made her feel happy since it meant that for the second time, her brother was staying home in a row.

"Hey, Abs. It's time for breakfast." The girl smiled before getting out of bed and running out the door, followed by her brother, the smell of pancakes and bacon reached her, and she couldn't help but feel excited.

She stopped when she saw a female figure with blond hair in the dining room, she turned to look at her and smiled.

“Hey Abby.” Aunt Jen said, in their home, where she shouldn’t be , with all the bad things she brought with her. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Chapter Text

“Abby, please open up.” Mike called, knocking softly on the door, but from the other side, the screams didn't stop, in fact, it seemed the girl had started throwing her things around the room.

“Young girl, this is not appropriate behavior for a lady.” Aunt Jen said with a grimace of disgust at her niece’s attitude, but under the gaze of her older brother, the woman had to adjust her words. "Although I understand you're going through a very stressful time and need to vent it somehow." The woman's ‘kind’ words didn't seem to be fruitful, as the black-haired girl's screams only seemed to intensify.

Both adults could only resign themselves, with the boy sighing at the situation, but in the end, the two went into the living room, having to wait for the kid to calm down on her own.

“Abby has trouble with the texture of most foods after breakfast, so macaroni is one of the few safe things.” Mike explains as he puts on his coat, the security jacket had been left at the restaurant after his last day of work.

“Okay, okay.” The woman says, her gaze sliding over the already wasted lunches on the table, though Mike can’t tell if it was due to the disgust of wasting food or the greasy ( possibly the latter; he’d seen quite a few diet pills in the woman’s bag ). “When will she calm down?”

“Just wait… An hour or half an hour, possibly the first one.” The brunette said as he grabbed Freddy’s keys, and let his fingers run over the multiple keys strung together. He always wondered what the rustiest one was for , but at the time, he decided to ignore it. “If she calms down but doesn’t want to go out, a friend left some tapes of an old cartoon she loves. Just let them play and she might come out.”

“Of course.” The woman said with some skepticism, but the boy decided not to give it too much thought; he had to refill his prescription. “Mike.” The brunette stopped walking toward the door to look at the woman. “About the papers…”

Mike bit his lip once more at the question, his mind quickly drifting to another drawer he'd avoided looking at for a long time, filled to the brim with documents the blonde woman was talking about. But even now, he didn't feel like exploring and reading the document thoroughly; he was still too cowardly for that .

"Later." The brunette finally says, after a few seconds of uncertainty, the blonde in front of him doesn't seem happy with his answer, but she seems to refrain from pressing the issue, something the adult internally appreciates. "I have to go." Came from the boy's mouth, as he returns to his task of continuing his journey.

" Sure ." The woman said, turning around, grabbing one of the coffee cups and then walking over to the kitchen sink, possibly to throw it down the drain. "See you tonight." And indeed, she threw it down.

The young adult, who was already crossing the threshold, paused for a second at his sister's aunt's words, and taking a gulp, he only whispered: "Goodbye." Before continuing on his way.

When he arrived at Freddy's, he didn't really have a plan beyond sleeping, which still sounded as pitiful as the first time he thought of it.

But he needed answers , he needed a direction as to what to do or where to find his brother, and the missing children were his only clue to finding out where Garret was.

He needed to find his brother.

He needed to go with him, by his side.

He needed to help him like he hadn't before.

He needed to free him from whatever prison he'd been in because of him.

He needed to clean up the mess he'd made.

So, with great determination, Mike unlocks the establishment's padlock to enter, almost knocking the lock aside as he swung the door open, causing it to crash against the wall. But he didn't give it much thought as he walked down the hallway, almost erratically.

The first thing that greets him upon entering the pizzeria, beyond the checkered tiles and greasy walls around him, is the sound of a beep, but not a beep like a cell phone, no, one he recognizes perfectly...

And it makes him want to throw up or curl up in a ball.

The brunette swallowed the saliva stuck in his throat to continue walking down the hallway, feeling quite heavy with every step he took, always staring straight ahead, as he felt as if someone was watching him , which almost made him sweat, but he didn't hesitate to continue.

When he reaches the main area, he doesn't see any of the animatronics, just like the night before, the curtains are closed and he knows from previous days that they weren't going to move unless it was closer to nighttime. But he assumes they're alert, that they know he's here, so Mike talks to them even if he doesn't see them.

“I need to talk to all of you.” As soon as he says the words out loud, the air around him feels more oppressive, as if he's doing something he shouldn't, it's like the time when he used to live with his father. “My brother Garret, I know you know him.”

He still doesn't get a reaction from the ghost children, though out of the corner of his eye, he swears he can see the curtains of Pirate Cove moving slightly, but from the small gap in them, he knows the animatronic is still in the same state.

“I need to talk to him.” He needed many things, but he must do this, so he asks: “I need you to take me to talk to him, please.” He says in a choked tone as his fists clench. “I’ll do anything, just, let me talk to him one more time.”

Suddenly, the beeping he’d heard since he entered the restaurant disappears, leaving an eerie silence.

Mike takes that as his signal .

The brunette walks through the halls of the STAFF until he reaches the small office where he's been confined at least four times, and quickly begins to arrangement his things to pursue the same dream he's had for almost 10 years.

He takes out the player that's been in his bedroom for who knows how long, and begins to play the sounds of distant birds and rustling branches.

As he sits in the chair, he realizes he has no scenery to look at, since he doesn't have the poster from his room, so like when he's having a panic attack, he closes his eyes, imagining a row of tall trees, with rays of sunlight between the branches, and a lawn beneath them.

He remembers that that weekend his mother had planned a trip away from the desolate wilderness of his town, to a forest full of life with pleasant camping weather.

He'd invited his friends, while his Uncle Henry came along at his brother's request so Garret could have his cousin to play with, so the trip was meant to be the best of those days, it was supposed to be the greatest.

That day wasn't great at all.

When Michael opens his eyes again, he's no longer in a pizzeria stuck in the 80’s, but at the same picnic table he's been sitting at every time he goes to sleep all these years, with a hamburger in front of him.

But everything feels wrong .

His mother is eating another hamburger in front of him, while telling an anecdote about one of her neighbors, he isn't listening, but he's sure she told him about it in a different situation, but that's not the point of the oddity. She's supposed to be talking to Uncle Henry while he's cooking the meat on the grill; she shouldn't be here in front of Mike.

Beside him, he can hear a child's laughter, and as he slowly fix his gaze in the direction of the noise, finding a Garret sitting, enjoying his meal while kicking his feet with a childlike energy the brunette hadn't seen even in the last few years the infant was alive

Neither his Uncle Henry nor his cousin Charlie are in sight.

“What the…?” Michael begins in confusion before realizing with horror that his voice sounds too youthful, like the night before, but now he's too self-conscious to recognize that it shouldn't be like that. “That's not what I asked for-”

“But it's what you want, isn't it?”

Mike suddenly turned around, there were the five children staring at him, all with some detail reminiscent of the animatronics they were trapped in, except for the kid from last night. The blond boy stood before the group, like the ringleader, wearing a mischievous smile.

"Isn't that right? Living before things went wrong, before everyone started leaving, before you messed everything up ." The adult could feel his shoulders rise at the kid's words. "And we can give you that."

“Hey, Mikey.” The boy turned around upon hearing his childhood nickname and saw his mother, who looked somewhat concerned. “Are you okay, honey? You look a little upset.” His mother’s concerned voice reminded him of her last years with him, but these memories contrasted with her appearance, as she didn’t look as worn out as she had been when he’d moved in with her, or as exhausted as she had been in her last moments in that hospital bed.

The brunette looked away from the warm image in front of him to look back at the children, and it was as if the entire living forest setting had become eerie, with the trees feeling like suffocating walls and the colors turning colder, as if it were fake.

"This isn't real ."

“But it can be real.” The kid in front of him responded immediately, he didn't know his name, nor the name of any of the children in front of him, but he knew which animatronic they belonged to, except for the blond one. “We can make it real, we just need you to give us something in return.” The kid narrowed his eyes at him with an unsettling smile. “You just have to give us Abby.”

Everything in Mike froze instantly, as his mind conjured up the image of his younger sister with her look of betrayal when she saw Aunt Jane in his house, her eyes filled with fury and tears.

"I-I..." The blond seemed to enjoy his indecision.

“She would love to be here with us. It's very obvious she doesn't enjoy being with you, she doesn't even seem to care if you're around.” The adult grimaced as he remembered all those times when his sister felt so withdrawn that she didn't even notice him. “And you can stay in your dream world as long as you want.”

It was no secret that Mike didn't enjoy his life (he hadn't enjoyed it even before the biting incident), but now, the only way he could keep going was by locking everything away in a box to avoid thinking about it because that would only sink him faster. And he's been sinking for nearly ten long years without any respite, only getting darker and darker .

"Or, well, there's always the third option-"

" They're right, Mikey ."

As the beeping of a heart monitor reached their ears, the missing children instantly tensed, their faces worried (even the leader's smile faded), all of them looking deathly pale and with fear.

Michael wasn't any better. He nervously turned his face so his gaze was in the direction the voice had come from. "Garret?"

There, beside him, was his brother, standing on the picnic table seat, smiling cheerfully while wearing his favorite striped shirt, the same one he wore the day his head was crushed because of the older boy's guilt .

"We can be together, Mikey!" The kid said immediately, jumping off the seat and onto the grass before grabbing his older brother's hand. "We can stay and play in Pine Valley forever , never having to go back to father's cold house, just us having fun like brothers."

The adult's throat tightened as he knelt in front of his younger brother, he looked so alive and vibrant here, so different from last night when he was dripping blood, or when his face was covered with a pile of bandages.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mike noticed the missing children frozen, their faces blank as they stared straight ahead, bloodstains appearing in random places on their bodies and with darkened eyes, making his breath catch in his throat at the sight.

The younger brunette's small hand grabbed his face to direct him back forward, away from the sight of the bloodied children and back to his younger brother, who was looking at him with tears in his eyes, resemblance him how the kid look before his birthday, when the older one had been a damn bully.

"Please, Michael." Now Garret used both of his hands to grab the older brunette's, his lip trembling like it did when he was a sobbing mess, especially when he used to have an extremely bad nightmare at night. "I just want my big brother back."

Mike had never felt so weak since that time he apologized to his younger brother in that hospital bed, even the sounds of a beeping heartbeat brought him back to that moment.

The older one bit his lip as his own eyes felt moist, he could do this, no , he had to do this, for his sister who disappeared without him around to care for her; for his mother who had to endure a disastrous divorce, the loss of two children, and her own illness; and for his younger brother, whom he ended up condemning.

Feeling sentimental, he let his hand tuck one of his brother's wild curls behind his ear-

(Abby tried to burrow deeper into his neck when Mike was forced to lay her down on his bed, there, he took a moment to tuck a curl of her hair behind her ear. Sometimes, it felt so rare to find such moments of peace in this busy days.)

Mike pulled his hand away as if he burned him, making Garret look hurt, but for the first time in years, the older brunette paid no attention to him.

The boy's mind went to Abby, his sister whom he'd been caring for for years, whom he'd promised himself he'd care for for these eight years, the same girl who used to smile mockingly at him or run around until she gave up and let him hold her.

The same girl he'd abandoned to be here.

“I can't do that, Gary.” The older boy said softly, grabbing the toddler's hands again.

“What...?” The kid asked, somewhat pained, squeezing the adult's heart, but he couldn't focus on that, or on the stopped heart monitor.

(“You are her world, Mike. You can’t give up on her so easily.”)

But unlike what he expected, his brother didn't look sad like he normally would have in the past, no, he looked angry. "No!" The toddler yelled, pulling his hands from his older brother's grasp and balling them into fists at his sides.

"Gary…" The older boy tried to start gently, but the kid in front of him began to frantically shake his head.

“No, it’s not fair!” Garret yelled, stomping his foot, and like last time, the world around him shook accordingly. “Why does she get to have the ‘good brother’ while I had to have the shitty one ?!” The toddler’s words made Michael flinch, he knew he hadn’t been a good brother, but hearing it from his own sibling was another matter entirely. “It’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair…” The kid stomped harder each time, shaking the dream even harder. “ It’s not fair! ”

In the last part, the beeping of a heartbeat that had stopped echoed loudly around his ears.

Suddenly, his younger brother wasn't standing in front of him, but the same Fredbear from his nightmares . The forest had disappeared in favor of that oppressive room of his dreams, and Michael was thirteen again.

The teenager let out a scream as he saw the literal figure of nightmares in front of him, when it let out a roar that resonated to his bones, the brunette quickly turned around but collided with the figures of the children, who were now crying something black, their childish figures twisted until they became the other animatronics that hunted him in his dream, all of them let out their inhuman screams that made him want to vomit.

The teenager who had fallen to the ground tried to crawl back, but quickly collided with a metal structure, and looking back in terror, he saw Fredbear's jawbone of sharp teeth with glowing red eyes. It lunged to rip his head off with a scream that-

 

Mike opened his eyes and almost instantly regretted it.

He let out a scream when he saw something shaped like Freddy's head approaching him, metal saws glancing ever closer, ready to rip his face apart.

He tried to move away, but quickly realized his wrists were trapped no matter how hard he tried to move them, he was in some kind of torture chair, is what his mind can realize as he races along with his breathing. His eyes darted around, trying to find something to help him, but he felt nauseous at the sight of what appeared to be corpses inside springlock suits, and he wanted to cry when he saw his neighbors in some of them.

A white fox on a metal table momentarily caught his attention.  

Suddenly, his fingers found what appeared to be a loose screw in the chair's metal handles, so with great trepidation, he began to turn it, all the while screaming as he watched the torture mask slowly approaching him.

When the screw finally fell to the floor, his hand quickly went to his other grip, quickly disengaging the safety lock. He then ran out of the chair, receiving a light scratch when he stood up and his cheek met the sharp teeth of the metal piece for a microsecond.

Mike stumbled out of the room (which appeared to be Parts and Service), exiting through the doorway as the continuous beeping that had been going on since his dream continued, only to flee to the emergency exit door.

When he reached the door, he tried to open it, but realized with horror that it was locked, he tried to shake it in vain when he heard it...

«Dum, dum, dum...»

The brunette turned around in terror upon hearing the recording of the humming, and watched in horror as a Foxy arrived at the end of the hallway, his only visible eye glowing an almost blinding red as it stared at him.

They stared at each other in tense silence for a few seconds...

And then Foxy let out another inhuman scream before charging at him at full speed, causing Mike himself to let out a cry of fear as he began to pound more frantically on the door with his side.

When the brunette finally delivered the final blow that opened the door, Foxy reached the boy enough to cut near his ribs, eliciting a scream from him, but the adult, driven by pure adrenaline, didn't let himself collapse in pain and quickly covered the bloody wound. He clumsily and at high speed tried to flee, only to receive a slash across his back, this time digging deeper into his flesh.

“Aaah-! Ugh.” Mike nearly stumbled in pain, but instead of letting himself fall forward, he forced himself to keep going, almost skipping as he propelled himself across the rainy parking lot. The pain in his back and side was stabbing, but the brunette couldn't stop in case he was being chased, even as his vision began to darken at the edges. 

He had to keep going, he had to run, he had to go to Abby, he had to -

Michael collapsed in the Freddy Fazbear's Pizza parking lot.

Chapter Text

Everyone assumes Abby is withdrawn, and distracted, but that's not true. She has a mind completely attentive to her surroundings, she just doesn't focus on the same things as everyone else.

For as long as the girl can remember, she's been able to see things others can't: pitiful shadows that appear and fade, purple blotches on people's skin, the colors that sometimes persons give off, and most of all, she can see other people's dreams in her own when it's time to sleep.

The girl never understood why she could see this, even though it seemed like other children and adults couldn't. 

It was something unique to her and only hers , hers to notice and to understand.

She never really thought about what these were, the dark silhouettes could be as small as her own size, or as long as she had to tilt her head back a little to see them, like those of adults size, but she had always seen them out of the corner of her eye, always there, so she never worried.

She supposes if she had to worry about anything, it would be the purple spots, marks that seemed to appear on people's skin, marking them. But it didn't matter when she saw those marked people and saw them wipe them away, they were still there, undisturbed, like freckles, but Abby knows they're not natural like these last ones.

But her brother, Mike, has always had them for as long as she can remember, and it never seemed to affect him, so the girl didn't pay much attention to them either.

Although the colors surrounding people sometimes warned them whether they would be nice or rude, light colors meant people would act kind, but dark colors meant people would be rude and cruel.

This was part of her waking world, not as something that seemed surprising to her, just striking , like seeing things through a special lens, as if she always had a special kaleidoscope lens all her own, but without so many colors and distortions that it made her dizzy.

But when she slept, it was different .

Sleeping was like walking along paths in the park, surrounded by grass, but if she left the cement paths, she would end up in a different area of ​​the park with its own things that made it special, with its own people, their own dreams.

But many times Abby was the only one who could walk the paths that led to other people's dreams, she loved it too much: some had quite pleasant ones, full of bright colors and figures; or on the contrary, gloomy ones with overly detailed characters, but still looking great.

And one day, a day that had been very calm for her but seemed too hectic to her brother, who looked too tired, like a living dead person (it would be so great to have a zombie brother), the girl decided to help him.

The black-haired girl, in fact, loved her brother very much: he was the only one she could remember so firmly, like a cloud she could always find in the sky or a pleasant tree she could always see on her way home.

Something familiar and always there around her, always giving Abby a sense of security—that was what Mike was .

So of course, she thought visiting him in her dreams was the best idea, because while in the real world the girl was too young to be able to do anything for her brother or improve their situation, in the dream worlds she could do whatever she wanted and be whoever she wanted.

So the girl excitedly headed toward her brother's dream, hoping to have a fun time... but then she saw it.

In a sunny forest filled with life and warmth like none found on most days in Minnesota, in a landscape filled with sunbeams as if it were a TV show, where a happy family was enjoying a picnic.

There was a woman she didn't recognize who seemed smiling and concerned (she wondered later if that was their mother); a man with glasses, smiling but looking like he'd rather be on his own (it's weird, like Mike and her... Is that their dad?); some older kids running and playing with a Frisbee in the distance; two childrens the same age playing with an airplane around the trees; and her brother, who no matter what he looked like, she could recognize anywhere...

But she didn't recognize the happiness he was feeling.

Her brother seemed as young and carefree as she'd ever seen him, for as long as the girl could remember, the brunette had always looked like he was about to collapse, but not here. Here, he looked light and smiling as he looked at the people around him... No, not at people exactly.

At him, Garret .

He was the one with the most detailed face, as if her brother's mind was forcing itself to remember every feature of the little boy's face, as if he were the most important thing in the world, with it all revolving around him. Even his presence made the older boy smile.

It seemed as if Mike's world revolved around Garret...

...

Abby snapped out of her brother's dream immediately.

In the days following the discovery of Mike's dream, the little girl couldn't help but feel bitter and resentful for quite some time.

The black-haired girl didn't usually talk much to children her age; they often saw her as odd when she talked about the shadows and the spots; the adults, on the other hand, seemed frustrated with her, as if she were doing something wrong.

But not her brother.

Even when he looked at her like a difficult math problem to solve or an incomprehensible riddle, he always made sure she was happy, and even without fully understanding her, he try to, and used to play with her. No matter what, the black-haired girl could always count on having her brother by her side.

Abby's world revolved around Mike, but this world didn't seem the same, and that frustrated her in ways she couldn't understand.

The black haired girl didn't know how to describe the feeling that filled her, she had never felt anything like it until that moment, the closest thing was like one time she fantasize about eating pizza for the weekend, only for it not to happen in the end, making her somewhat sad, but this situation was worse, and therefore the feeling was much worse too.

The girl didn't know how to deal with it or what it meant, but she knew one thing for sure in that moment surrounding the jumble of her feelings:

She hated Garret.

She knew it was unfair because she had never really met Garret. She should even like him because he made Mike happy, but this very thing made her hate him so much that when she thought about that dream, she just wanted to hide in her fort until the bad emotions and bad thoughts went away.

She hated how relaxed her brother seemed, unlike how tired he seemed during the day; she hated how the atmosphere seemed so naturally cheerful when sometimes their house felt sad; she hated realizing on other nights of walking that her older brother was always dreaming the same dream; and most of all, she hated that sometimes when Mike looked at her, the girl often felt like her brother wasn't really looking at her, but rather saw someone else …

But most of all, she hated how sad Mike looked when he woke up.

Abby felt so much hatred she couldn't understand, but most of all, she felt like she was doing something wrong, as if having these emotions was a bad thing, and maybe it was, since Garret seemed to make her brother happy, but it made her so angry .

So the little girl just kept them for herself.

Abby's house has always had things that should never be opened.

One example is the entryway drawer, which never opened, just sat there gathering dust, but neither she nor Mike minded that fact.

And then there's the closet, the closet that the eldest had only opened once since they moved into the house, and that was to put some boxes inside, never to be touched again for the next few years they'd lived in the house.

But the dark-haired girl had opened it several times.

She usually did it when no one was around or when Max was too distracted. The girl would sneak over to the closet to open it and go through the boxes there, boxes covered in dust and with tape so old it was literally curling up on itself as it lost its adhesive.

The dark-haired girl used to love digging through these whenever she could, they were full of interesting toys, Ninja Turtle t-shirts that looked pretty nice, rocks that gave off a small amount of nice colors around them, old comics, tapes that looked like the ones Mike used for his player but with weird words written on them in barely understandable handwriting, and she even came across a picture of a weird blonde boy once.

It was fascinating to see all those old things, as if everything inside that small box was frozen in time, although there were other things she didn't like to see (she frowned at the Christmas photo).

But above all, there was the most important thing: the mask.

It was a fairly old fox mask with some cracks on its surface, somewhat dusty, with some parts of its paint missing, and a dark brown stain staining the top of the object. It also emitted very dark colors, as if it were connected to very bad things.

Likewise, Abby took it to her room when she heard her brother's car pull into the driveway.

She hadn't thought much about it; she hid it under her bed and then started drawing until Mike called her to have some frozen pizza for dinner, thus forgetting about the mask she'd taken from the forbidden closet.

Until she went to sleep, and that night, instead of wandering in her sleep as she usually did, she found herself in an establishment full of booths with colored glasses, arcade machines that let out tons of sound, and two stages, one larger than the other with a red curtain.

Abby had never been anywhere like this before. Her brother didn't usually take her places like this because he wasn't there for long or didn't have the money (at most, it was the supermarket where he worked), so being in a place so full of things that overstimulated her senses excited her a lot.

Besides, she wasn't the only one there!

Of course, there wasn't a literal party filling the place to welcome her, but there was a group of kids at one of the tables who seemed very surprised to see her there, as if she'd appeared out of nowhere (she supposes it was like that for them).

But they all quickly took an interest in her, crowding around her with an excitement that, while not necessarily seeming to be emotion, still seemed too excited to know about her.

They asked her about her favorite activity, which was easy, drawing; they questioned her if she preferred rainy or sunny days, and the girl would have to explain that she'd never actually been on a sunny day, but that it sounded better than the constantly cloudy state of Minnesota; they asked her what her favorite animatronic was, to which the black-haired girl asked what that was, so they explained it to her in the next few minutes; easy questions to answer or explain, but then there were other, weirder ones:

«How did you get here?»

She just went to sleep.

 

«Do you know what this is?»

Clearly a dream.

 

«Do you know Freddy Fazbear's Pizza?»

What?

 

«Which animatronic are you trapped in?»

... How?

 

«Did he trap you too?»

...

 

«Have you seen the golden rabbit ?»

... A rabbit?

Before the black haired girl could get answers to her own questions, she was woken up by her brother, who waking her up to take her to school so they could both begin their daily routine, during which she wouldn't see him for the rest of the day until the evening.

She didn't return to the establishment full of stimulation, with the children who had strange questions for the rest of the week, or the next, or after the third, but even so, her mind didn't let go of her doubts even when she didn't visit them again.

She tried to resolve some of her doubts with Mike, trusting that her brother, being older, would probably have the answers that she wants! But when she asked him about animatronics and Freddy's, he started breathing strangely, so Abby couldn't get any answer. After he calmed down, the brunette acted as if nothing had happened and then went to work when Max arrived.

It was that feeling of not being able to have something she wanted again, and the girl felt so upset the following days that the black-haired girl was constantly one minute away from throwing a tantrum.

One day while she was drawing, one of her favorite crayons ended up falling under her desk and rolling under her bed, so, somewhat irritated, she went to get it out from under the bed, but she not only got the crayon, she also got the old fox mask that she had forgotten the last time.

She looked at the old thing in her hands in surprise, trying to remember how long it had been there, but the thing still emitted such bad colors that she decided to put it back under her bed, out of sight, and go back to drawing.

That night she dreamed again with the children and the strange place.

They were surprised to see her again, and like the last time, they overwhelmed her with a ton of questions, but this time they were more insistent with them, so the black-haired girl felt a little dizzy, which the only other girl in the group noticed it and asked the others to calm down. In the end, they decided to just play games to relax, which... was actually quite nice.

When she woke up again, her mind quickly made the connection after having that dream again: it was the mask. Touching it, for some reason, led her to the establishment with the weird kids.

That night, she put her theory into practice by holding the mask again for a long time before going to sleep, and just as she had thought, she returned to the place.

Every time she returned, the children told her things about him, and in return, she told them things about herself.

They told them they were at a restaurant called Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, that it was a theme restaurant with animatronics (they even showed her the show), that they were brought here by the golden rabbit, that they couldn't leave the place, that they were trapped here…

She, on the other hand, told them about her favorite cartoons, her amazing pillow forts, the foods she liked, her brother who always looked tired, rainbow-sprinkled ice cream; all these things that seemed to amaze them…

She told them about Garret… And to her surprise, they knew the boy too—in fact, they hated him too.

That greatly relieved the girl, who had found herself feeling crushing guilt for having negative feelings toward the other kid, though knowing that others also shared those kinds of feelings somehow made her feel less bad for having them in the first place.

The raven-haired girl carried the mask with her everywhere to make sure she could meet up with her friends, and only once did she make the mistake of showing it to her brother.

In Abby's house, there are things that are never supposed to be opened: one of them is the entryway drawer, which was never opened until just once a month by Mike, only to be forgotten for the rest of the time, just gathering dust.

But the girl knows what her brother stuffs in there every month, and she doesn't care much to think about it, since the fact that her brother only opens the chest of drawers once was proof enough for her that he disregards the ridiculousness of those files.

The custody relinquishment papers should have been the only thing from her aunt that would have allowed into this house… but that day Mike had decided to break that illicit promise between them.

"Abby, dinner's going to get cold if you don't get out now." Said Aunt Jane, the horrible Aunt Jane who, although she didn't have the purple marks like her brother had, had a painful aura to be around because of the horrible colors she gave off.

The girl, instead of responding, just stubbornly buried her face deeper into her pillow. It was one of the things she and Mike had in common: their stubbornness , though sometimes, they could give in for each other, but only sometimes.

Her room, in her opinion, was a mess: her pillow fort ( which she'd worked so hard on ), was now a shambles with all the soft things she cherished scattered everywhere; she'd knocked over some of the chairs that were around her when she'd screamed; and in her anger, she'd scratched out her brother's drawings on the wall with a black marker.

Now she found herself exhausted in her bed after so much excitement, it was like being shut down, as her friends told her , so she only had enough energy to curl up inside herself, hugging the Foxy mask.

“Young lady, at some point you're going to have to stop this unacceptable behavior and come out.” The girl didn't respond; she simply ignored the woman as she hugged herself closer, her indifference seemed to annoy the adult. “Oh my god, you're just as neurotic as your mother-” The black-haired girl paid some attention to the mention of her mom, she knew Aunt Jane was her aunt because she was her mother's sister, although she recently learned that her aunt wasn't her brother's aunt. “Just go out, okay? When you get out, I'll reheat your food for you.” The girl didn't say anything, even though the blonde used a softer tone, this inaction from the kid made the adult one sigh before walking away from her door.

Abby lifted her face from her pillow when she was sure her aunt had left, and saw that it was already dark outside the window. Several hours must have passed by this point, and Mike still hadn't returned to get the woman out of her house, which only annoyed her more.

While the girl was lost in her mind, a female scream echoed down the hallway, startling her, then she shrugged when she heard something big hit the floor.

The girl bit her lip, afraid of whatever the sound was, but despite her fear, she decided to check it out, even though it could have been a trap set by her aunt to lure her out.

The girl slowly opened the door but saw nothing through the crack, so she tiptoed toward the living room, hearing no sound from her aunt or any ruffian, as her brother had warned her. When she reached the living room, she saw, horrified , her aunt's collapsed figure on the floor, causing her to let out a scream.

«She- is- okay, Ab-bee.» The named girl quickly looked up upon hearing the voice, and as she did, she noticed the television turned on, revealing tapes of the Freddy and Friends show on the screen. «She- is- just- sleeping.» To speak, the TV switched scenes in a strange cut-and-paste that made her dizzy.

It took her time to process the strangeness of it all, but she quickly realized something when the edges of Foxy's mask began to tuck into her chest, like some kind of strange realization. "Guys? Is that you?"

«A-B-Y, message- for- you.» The girl blinked a little before approaching the television screen, surrounding her aunt's body.

“What are you doing here? How are you doing this with the TV?” The girl asked, genuinely curious, it's not that the black-haired girl couldn't interact with her friends outside of her dreams, but they had never been able to interact with any physical object.

«There's no time!» A cartoonish Freddy blurted out almost singing, and was holding a pocket watch. The girl bit her lip before nodding to show she agreed to put her doubts aside, then the scene changed again. «We- need- your- help !»

The black-haired girl blinked in surprise before speaking worriedly. "My help? Are you in danger? What should I do?"

«You- should- go to Freddy Fazbear Pizza!» A bear wearing a hat said jovially, his friends smiling at him, but then the cheerful scene changed to one of a very angry pirate fox pointing his hook at her. «NOW! ARG .» That last part made the girl jump, and without hesitation, she turned around and sped out of the room, almost tripping over the adult's body.

Abby headed toward the garage, where she grabbed her dusty bike ( she knows how to ride it, she just doesn't like it no matter how much Mike insisted ), grabbed a flashlight, taped it to the handlebars, and headed out the back door into the darkness of the night.

The girl took one last look back at her house before looking into the dark landscape. She decided to turn on her new bike light, place the fox mask on her head, and start pedaling as fast as her little legs would allow.

She had to go help her friends.

Chapter Text

He hears crying , but he also hears screams and insults coming from the other, as if the second voice were really angry at the first, who wouldn't stop sobbing with frantic screams... Both sound too young, as if they were small children.

He's in a room that's too dark for him to see his surroundings properly, but with some squinting, he can see abnormally large silhouettes with strange and disturbing shapes that give him a feeling of running away, but he can't move; it's as if he's trapped here.

« It's Me » He heard a barely intelligible sound amidst the furious screams and cries, only able to perceive it because it felt like it was being whispered in his ear, sending shivers down his spine. « It's Me, It's Me, It's Me, It'sMe, It'sMe » Lights appeared on what appeared to be the head of one of the silhouettes, like eyes. « It's MeIt'sMeIt'sMeIt'sMeIt'sMeIt'sMeIt's Me- »' In less than a blink of an eye, the head jerked toward him, staring down at him. « I̶̞̓̈́̅͛̍͊̓͛̚͝T̸̖̳̬̱̤̃̎̄͂̍̒̈́͊̎͜ͅ'̴̟̈́͑͝Ş̴̡̢̞̰̜̭͎̼̰̌̀ ̵̡͉̯̬͙̩̳̳̣̝͕̾́͌́͌̓̕̕̕̚͜M̷̡̢̼̎̎̆͒͆̊͋̌E̶̛͚̭͕͎̙͍̱̊̒̾̓̉!̸̢̧̧̲̯̣̞̙̘̣͇̈́͌̃́̀̇͆̋̎̐̈́̊̕͘͜ »

A Freddy face, with what appeared to be human eyes and blood pouring from their slits, appeared in front of him, shaking as if he were convulsing and letting out an inhuman scream-

"Aaah!" Mike yelled as he woke up from his sleep, fully awake after the, hopefully , nightmare, but quickly, as he did this, he writhed around clutching his side with his face scrunched up. " Ouch -"

“Don't get up so abruptly, you'll reopen your stitches.” Said a slightly overly aggressive voice before a hand pushed him back into a lying position instead of the sitting position he'd been in.

The brunette tried to blink away the pain clouding his vision, but he also realized that whatever he was lying on was metallic and cold, which immediately alarmed him, because, you know , the last time he woke up in something like this, he was almost had his face severed by a Freddy mask ( the twists and turns of life ).

“Where are we?” He asked, still somewhat dizzy and shaken, but his mind quickly focused on the figure beside him, and he quickly realized it was Vanessa in casual clothes.

“In a police warehouse.” A tired-looking Vanessa answered as she packed what appeared to be rolls of bandages into a police kit on a small metal table next to them. “I found you passed out in the parking lot… you were pretty badly hurt.”

Memories of a red-eyed Foxy chasing him and then attacking come flooding back, Mike wants to laugh at the irony that his old favorite animatronic, the same one he used to torment his brother , was the one who attacked him. He's sure Garret would find it funny now.

Garret…

« No, it’s not fair! Why does she get to have the ‘good brother’ while I had to have the shitty one?! »

"Abby!" The brunette immediately flinches and tries to get up from the metal table where he's lying, but the officer seems adamant as she tries to lay him down again. "You don't understand! I have to go home for her-"

"She's not at your house, Mike." The woman replies with a frown, seeming quite concerned but barely holding herself together. "I went to your house after I brought you here, but when I got there, I only found a blonde woman collapsed on the floor."

The older one's stomach dropped at this information, because he'd told himself before that keeping his sister away was the only way for her to be safe from the mess he'd gotten himself into, but now he knows he was wrong. The situation wasn't just bad, it was worse than he'd ever imagined.

Mike quickly got off the metal table on the side where the blonde wasn't, avoiding being pushed back down again. "I have to go to her, I have to-"

"The animatronics won't hurt her." Vanessa said, trying to reach him across the table, but the brunette had successfully moved out of her grasp, so she couldn't reach him. "The kids like her-"

"Garret doesn't."

There's a heaviness that settles between them and throughout the room at the mention of his brother, though he's pretty sure it's for different reasons: on the older one's part, it's guilt, because he can't help feeling that this whole situation is his fault; but the officer, on the other hand, seems surprised.

“Garret? You… You talked to him?” The blonde says in surprise, as if the idea were impossible, as if she hadn't discovered a few nights ago that Mike could somehow speak to the souls of dead children in his dreams. “That can't be… He doesn't even talk to him.”

The brunette, who is tired and hurt, is fed up with this game they've been playing where the officer only says cryptic things and expects him to forget them. Besides, he's never been good at not going for the jugular. "Who's 'him'?"

Vanessa's expression seems terrified, like a little girl about to be punished, but her voice never falters when she says: "The golden rabbit."

“Hello?” Abby asks softly as she enters the restaurant, the door was unlocked and there are only two cars parked outside, one of them her brother’s. “Guys?”

The first thing the girl notices as soon as she arrives at the restaurant is that it's unusually dark, like, not only is it off, but it also seems like the shadows are getting darker by the second, and they look like they're moving, alive ; but she knows that if she were to get too close to them, she'd start to shiver from the cold.

The second thing she notices is the beeping that seems to echo from the hallways. It's constant, and the sound makes something in the raven-haired girl's ears hurt, as if there's something wrong with them, although she can't quite put her finger on it...

But she doesn't let any of that scare her, because her friends are in trouble and have asked for her help; hell , for all she knows, her brother could be in trouble too. And even though he's in the corner of the dirty traitors now, the girl still loves Mike very much, so she's going to save him so she can scold him for almost abandoning her with the stiff Aunt Jane.

The girl began walking down the hallway, using the flashlight she'd used to illuminate her bike ride to see where to go, feeling increasingly uneasy as she didn't notice anyone around.

"Guys?" Abby asked again as she reached the middle of the dining room, still without meeting anyone or hearing anything other than the beeping that continued to echo through the establishment. "Someone? … Mike? "

Suddenly, the lights in the room she was in turned on, just as all the arcade machines began to play the music from their games. Although the beeping sound continued to come through the speakers (and now even more agitated), it was drowned out by all the noise.

Before the girl could properly question what was happening around her, the curtains on both the main stage and the Pirate Cove stage opened, revealing the animatronics behind them, who began to move.

«Hey Birthday kid! This party is for you and only you.» Freddy's voice echoed, sounding a bit like his cartoon counterpart. «So we want you to enjoy it, from part of Freddy's Fazbear's Pizza! Come on, guys! Let’s Rock!» It was the last thing the animatronic said before music began to play throughout the restaurant and the stage lights began to play along with the melody.

You tell me that you want me

You tell me that you need me

You tell me that you love me

And I know that I'm right

'Cause I hear it in the night

The girl's mind was quickly distracted by the colorful spectacle of the stage lights along with the performance of the animatronics, since it wasn’t common for her friends to use the voice of robots, she couldn’t help but feel amazed by the spectacle.

Although she didn't feel entirely at ease, her mind began to tell her that the whole thing was nothing to worry about, that maybe her friends had just tricked her into coming to their surprise party, even though it wasn't even her birthday.

Maybe that's why Mike came here and left her at home.

Maybe that's why her friends only spoke to her now.

Maybe that's why Andrew hadn't spoken to her in a long time, the other kids said to her all the time that he gets punished a lot because he “couldn't keep his mouth shut” .

Yeah, maybe...

Abby couldn't stop clutching the flashlight in her hand as she watched the show.

The colorful lights were so distracting as the animatronics' movements that the little girl hadn't yet noticed how reddish the latter's eyes were.

Mike gritted his teeth at the answer. “What golden rabbit, Vanessa? Springbonnie?” The named one looks so much like a little girl as she looks away and nods, so the brunette has to relax himself a little before continuing. “Who’s wearing the Springbonnie costume, Vanessa?”

The blonde hugs herself, as if she needs to contain herself as much as she can, she seems uneasy and scared when she does so, and she doesn't seem to want to answer. "The man behind the massacre…" The girl's voice trails off at the last part, seeming hesitant to continue. "…My father."

The brunette doesn't know how to react to this information; it's as if he's numb as his mind begins to make multiple connections between all the things around him that he'd left behind in favor of continuing.

The officer moves frailty toward one of the shelves in the warehouse to grabs something that was immediately handed to him, and when he grabbed it, he saw it was a picture of a man in the same suit his father loved more than his own family; next to him was a black-haired girl with pigtails, and in her arms, he saw the same plushie he'd seen all week, the one that looked too much like his brother's-

Suddenly, everything clicks, and he realizes something that infuriates him. “ You… knew from the beginning what was going on.” Mike says, recalling those people trapped in the suits. “You knew they were killing people…”

“They weren’t innocent people, Mike…” The girl says, a little apologetically, a little too defensively.

“That’s not the point, and you know it, Vanessa!” The older one finally explodes; he feels so tired, irritated, and in so much pain right now that his ability to hold on has been reduced to zero. “Don’t try to give me some kind of moral lesson about who to kill and who not to, when you’ve seen me hanging around with Abby in the same restaurant where your father murdered children!”

“I tried to warn you, Mike!” The officer lashes out, not with the same force as the brunette, but still remarkable in a way. “I did it my way, but I tried to make you realize how dangerous it was!”

“Warn me how?!” Mike shouts in a fed-up tone, raising his arms in question. “Threatening me? Telling me cryptic things? Thank you very much! You were so helpful.” The last bit is delivered with such a degree of sarcasm that the officer backs away a little. “Why couldn't you have done something useful, Vanessa? Huh!?”

The blonde, instead of responding to the brunette like the other times, did something he hadn't expected: the girl hugged herself into a ball, breathing unevenly (she almost seemed to be crying, but there were no tears) and trembling uncontrollably. “Please stop, Father.”

Mike hates getting angry because he always remembers someone once commenting to him (he can't quite remember who it was) that he looked a lot like his father when he do it, his face twisting as much as his tone of voice. Even though there had been a time when Michael had wanted to please his father, that comment made him feel so bad .

Vanessa's words reminded him of that fact, bringing him out of his furious stupor, and he quickly buried his face in his hands to sigh like his dad had taught him. « We just need to breathe a little before we continue, champ. » He used to tell him, he wished he'd been more like him, always wanting to help others, instead of like his father.

Finally, when he'd relaxed enough, he stepped away from the blonde to give her space before speaking. "I'm sorry, Vanessa. I shouldn't have yelled at you." Something felt wrong that the first time he'd finally worked up the courage to apologize , it wasn't to his sister, but there was something just right about doing it to the officer, too. "But... I need to protect Abby, I need..." Mike took a deep breath before continuing. "I need you to tell me about your father."

The girl had stopped shaking so much, and after a few seconds in which they were both silent, the officer nodded, still covering herself with her arms, but then lowered them without looking at the brunette anymore. “Yes, I know.” The blonde said, taking a breath, seeming paranoid, as if talking about this would make her father jump out of the shadows to punish her. “I think I should start with my father's name so you understand.” Vanessa looked him in the eyes before continuing. “My father is William Afton.”

…

“No.” It's the first thing Mike says, almost instantly, he doesn't even sound skeptical or annoyed, just as if it were a fact. “No, you're not.”

The blonde's gaze fluctuated between surprise and disbelief. "What do you mean-? Mike, I'm not lying to you!" The named one stopped looking at her, his mind barely listening to what the girl was saying. "My father is William Afton! The same one who-"

"No, you're not!" The brunette exploded again as he walked away from the blonde, grabbing his hair, but he didn't sound angry like the other time; he sounded hysterical, almost scared . "I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING SISTER NAMED VANESSA!"

…

There's a silence that stretches between them, a tense one where Mike doesn't even think about the words he's said and just grabs his hair.

"You're Michael Afton." Vanessa blurts out, and the named one wants to throw up.

Garret was crying.

He hated the darkness.

He hated Andrew's enraged screams.

He hated Freddy's.

He hated that he couldn't escape from here.

He hated that Father never spoke to him comfortably.

He hated him.

An enraged scream came from the boy, causing Andrew, who had been trying this whole time to intimidate him into letting him go, to fall into a trembling silence, possibly worried that he would lash out at him, but Garret didn't care.

He was so full of hatred for Michael.

He hated how much he enjoyed tormenting him when he was alive.

He hated the fact that he killed him, leaving him locked up here at Freddy's.

He hated how he'd grown up while he himself had stayed 9 forever.

He hated how tired the older boy looked now, or how he seemed two seconds away from collapsing.

He hated how nice he seemed now.

He hated how kind he is when it came to taking care of Abby.

He hates remembering the few times he was kind to him, and that when he compares him to the adult Michael, he realizes he's much kinder now than before.

Therefore, he hates Abby because she can have a nice Michael taking care of her, while he had to suffer the bad one.

He hates them so much, and he wants to hurt them so much, he wants makes them to suffer as much as him.

A heartbreaking cry escapes his throat as he remembers the pain of his own death: he remembers his own screams, remembers the teeth tearing and the jaw crushing, all his fears merging into a single moment…

He focuses on the animatronics distracting Abby, if she likes being here so much, she can stay, but if he has to suffer, they will all suffer equally.

He focuses on the bodies of the adults inside the other springlocks, some were bad adults, others weren't, but Father never liked them staying for long, and now Garret only has his father.

He focuses on his plushie, Fredbear. It's in the locker, and although he could move it around the pizza place, there's nothing he wants to see in it, so he let him there.

He'd like to know where Michael was, he was supposed to stay with him, he had to , he owed it to Garret! But he tries not to think about it, father will take care of it, he'd promised.

For now, he just has to make sure the other children stay in their roles.

In a hospital bed, there's a small body hooked up to a bunch of machines, his head completely covered in bandages.

Just outside the room, a young boy was crying and covered in blood, his father had taken him out of the room, though he was still able to apologize.

But there was someone inside, a man in a suit standing next to the bed, he had a blank expression on his face, his eyes cold, but if you looked hard enough inside them, you could see a kind of darkness worried about the bandaged figure.

The man dragged one of the white chairs in the room to the side of the bed, sitting on it as he grabbed the kid's hand, holding it steady, perhaps hoping that would cause something, but if the constant beeps on the heart monitor indicated anything, it didn't.

But even so, the man just leaned closer to the small figure and said bluntly: "You're broken."

A silence stretched out without any reaction from the infant.

“We’re all your friends.” He said, his voice sounding a little dumb and with a grimace, but he quickly returned to his normal tone along with a serious face. “So you still believe that?”

Still no response, just a breath forced by the machines, and heartbeats.

“I'm still here.” The man said, staring up at the ceiling, though the phrase sounded far from comforting. “I will put you back together.” The man finally promised, staring into the distance with a deeper darkness in his irises.

A large beep sound echoed around the room.

Chapter Text

Cassidy smiled almost wildly as she drew on the paper and kicked her legs while she lay on the floor.

Today was her birthday! Or well, at least her party.

She had never imagined before this that she would ever have a birthday party, but now she was here! Having a one with all her friends at none other than in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

The girl twirled one of her black hair ponytails around her finger as she finished coloring the yellow rabbit in her drawing, this one was holding hands with her and her friends, all looking so happy.

She loved Springtrap so much, when he put on the suit, suddenly any fear she sometimes felt when seeing him disappeared. It was like seeing someone completely different who spoke to her in such a lighthearted way that the girl couldn't help but feel so at ease.

It was magical .

The girl's smile widened as she thought of the rabbit strolling, bringing joy to the children around the establishment. This thought filled her chest with a certain sense of pride as she remembered that she knew the man.

The scratching stopped instantly.

She didn't understand the man dressed as Springbonnie.

The man had her calling him 'daddy' instantly, constantly telling her that she should say she'd always lived with him, that he'd been her father from the beginning, that there was no doubt about it, and not act in a way that made everyone else ask questions.

This didn't bother Cassidy as much as she thought it should; after all, she didn't like talking about where she came from, and she liked that the man claimed her as his daughter without further ado.

She'd like to make him proud at least once.

The black-haired girl shook her head, snapping out of her thoughts, she shouldn't let herself get so caught up in her own mind, today was her birthday party! Even though she didn't really know when her birthday was, it was a joyful day!

She should be celebrating and playing with her friends while listening to the animatronic band sing songs, going to the arcade for almost free, and eating all the pizza they could get their hands on until they were almost sick.

Speaking of cheer up…

The girl's gaze quickly fell on the figure of a big golden rabbit handing a balloon to a blond boy who was looking at him intently (he must be new to the restaurant; she'd never seen him before), and she let a smile spread across her face in excitement.

"Daddy!" she shouted as she stood up, then ran toward the rabbit figure, who turned around upon hearing her. "Look at the drawing I made!"

“You’re Michael Afton .” Mike listens, and wants to simply hug himself as tightly as he can until he disappears from the warehouse, but he’s lost his chance to leave and pretend nothing had happened a while ago. “It really is you.”

The brunette shook his head repeatedly, because he's long since stopped being Michael Afton, or at least he's trying , he's really trying: he's changed his name almost completely, he's avoided having outbursts as much as he could, he's changed his haircut to a more formal one, hell, he's even managed to neutralize his accent to the point where no one even notic-

But he always came back to it, no matter how much he tried to run away from it, somehow the world wouldn't let him.

“ You… father… Your father!” Mike wants to yell at Vanessa again, telling her that this man stopped being his father a long time ago, and he's pretty sure this last one stopped considering him like his son longer ago. “He murdered all those children…”

For a second, the brunette feels annoyed by the statement, gritting his teeth, but then he remembers who the officer was really talking about, and realizes an undeniable fact.

“Didn't you just say it was your father who was behind the murders?” The boy says, facing the blonde, who now looks uneasy at his words, cowering like a child. “Besides, I'm not the one who knew he was a murderer and I covered up for.” The brunette takes a step toward the officer. “So tell me, Vanessa. Who are you and what do you have to do with William? Because as far as I know, I've never had a sister.” « At least, not more than one at a time. » He thinks to himself, remembering Abby and Elizabeth for a second.

The woman looked down, avoiding eye contact with the brunette, but after a few minutes of silence, she finally spoke. “...I AM your sister.”

Mike decides to take the high road, so he takes a deep breath to ward off any urge to explode at the blonde again, and even with his eyes closed, he blurts out: “How?”

“Your father adopted me before moving here, by then, he'd already changed his name.” The girl explained, hugging herself. “I didn't know why, at first, I thought it was because he was lonely. But… ” The officer bit her lip. “I think he needed me as bait to attract another kid. You know, there's no better way to make a kid believe he's safe than to make them see that there's more of them.”

The older one's mind immediately flashed back to his father, angry that Garret couldn't make friends, demanding that he make some or bring someone home, and he instantly wanted to throw up.

“But after the incident of the party, he started moving from city to city, taking me with him, always hoping I would attract more children, that I would help him.” The girl seemed so delicate as she spoke, as if just speaking loudly in her direction would make her break down. “He even changed my name along with his own.”

Mike remembered his own name change, something that happened after his dad's adoption, an act of love and a genuine desire to help; on the other hand, there was no real care in what William did for Vanessa. "What used to be your name?" The officer finally looked up at him. "What was your name before he changed it?"

“...Cassidy.” The blonde said, and the man's mind quickly went to his dream about the little girl trapped inside Chica, as well as the drawing in the abandoned pizzeria. “Cassidy Jackson.”

The brunette thought for a moment before blurting out: “You drew the drawing, right? The one on the mural.”

“It was supposed to be a ‘thank you’.” The woman says instantly, as if she had to justify herself. “It was the first time I was able to celebrate my birthday with a real party, at a themed restaurant, and with a family… But he’s using it for something, I don’t know what, but he’s always been too aggressive telling me to leave it there, I hate seeing it so much now.”

Mike's head starts to hurt; this is all too sudden, and he doesn't feel like discovering the ( possibly literal ) skeletons that William has been hiding in the closet (springlock suits? ) these years while he was able to get away from him .

But another part of him thinks about Vanessa, wondering how old she was when she drew the picture, she was 7 or 9 when she drew it? He's always felt the blonde was around Garret's age, but he's never really questioned it.

“...How old were you when he did that to your friends?” The boy finished questioning, though there was some hesitation in his voice, as if he wasn't sure he was asking.

The woman flinched again before answering. “...Eleven.”

If his calculations are correct, that means all of this happened less than a year before he moved here, he never heard from William again after his custody was taken away, as his mind had been too busy recovering.

The fact that it was in the same city he ran away, made something twist in his stomach, as if William was trying to tell him that he couldn't escape from him, but it was illogical; the man would never do so much for any of his children.

Mike sighed before speaking. “Va- Cassidy.” The girl turned to look at him; she didn't seem confused by being called by that name, even though she seemed used to the fake one, perhaps never quite letting go of it. “I have to go save Abby.”

The blonde took a deep breath before speaking. “Yes, I know.” She looked him straight in the eyes. “I'm going to help you with it.”

The show was quite awesome , although her friends seemed a little less so… Aware, awake? She doesn't know the exact word, but it's as if they aren't quite there, like Mike sometimes seemed to act.

Suddenly, Chica stopped dancing on stage, standing still and staring at her while the others continued their act.

"What happened, Chica?" The black-haired girl asked hesitantly, feeling somewhat uneasy about her friend's attitude who gestured in her direction. "Do you want me to come with you?" The animatronic nodded. "Okay, lead the way."

The robotic chicken stepped off the stage and then walked, a bit too robotic ( at least in Abby's opinion ), toward the girl, then, it signaled ‘follow me’ with her hand again and began walking down the STAFF hallways.

The girl felt a little hesitant about whether or not to follow the other kid, but when she looked back and saw that the rest didn't seem concerned about her friend's absence, the black-haired girl decided to follow her without much thought.

…

She kept a tight grip on the flashlight in her hand.

Mike struggled through the ventilation ducts, feeling his backpack hit the metal walls as he moved forward, if Va- Cassidy's advice was correct, he'd reach the side of the main area.

"The easiest way through the pizzeria is through the ventilation ducts." The blonde had said as she searched some shelves in the police storage area. "They're big enough for a large adult to move through."

“Why are they so big?" The brunette asked somewhat hesitantly, a little afraid of the answer he was going to get.

The woman stopped what she was doing to look at him, her face blank. " He likes it when they crawl through them toward the guards."

When the lid clattered to the floor, the man had to grit his teeth to keep from cursing, and instead, as carefully as possible, he exited the duct, realizing he was in the arcade area now.

As he left, he looked around, not noticing that no animatronic had yet decided to attack him, possibly because of the loud music and the sounds of the arcade machines filling the restaurant.

He paused for a moment and saw both Bonnie and Freddy on stage, singing the same song as last time, seemingly unaware of his presence… Neither Chica nor Abby were seen around.

"Technically, possessed animatronics are just machines with someone trapped inside, so anything that could destroy a machine will do, like an axe or something..." Vanessa says, looking down somewhat dejectedly.

"But...?" The brunette asks, sensing that this isn't all the girl wants to say.

"They're still my friends, Mike." The blonde replies, her face twisted, her voice sounding so fragile. "I don't want them to hurt any more than they've been hurt."

As Freddy sings, he feels something cold and slippery beneath his feet, so for a second the bear pauses his performance to look beneath him, causing Bonnie, beside him, to stop and look at him curiously.

There was a large pool of water beneath them for some reason.

And then they both felt an electric shock run through their bodies.

"Electricity can cause a fault in their circuits." Vanessa explained as she ignited a type of baton/taser that released a spark from its two prongs, the blonde had previously said it was used for animal control. "It won't stop them permanently, but it will buy you some time."

The brunette watched as the pair of animatronics fell to the stage floor, almost completely off, he knew that wouldn't stop them long enough; he should move, but he took a quick look around.

Foxy's cove was closed, he didn't know if that meant the animatronic was there or lurking outside, ready to attack... He didn't know which option he preferred either.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a small shadow moving away down the hallway.

“Abs!” The man shouted/whispered before starting to run in the direction of what he knew were the staff hallways.

“Come with me.” Mike bites his lip, knowing what he’s making is a selfish request, but he feels a strong need to be selfish at this moment. “For me, for Abby, for them, and most of all, you owe them.” He knows he’s being a bit manipulative, but often, in this family, that’s all it they had.

“No.” The blonde quickly shakes her head erratically, but there’s no hesitation in her voice or her demeanor. “I-if he ’s there, I won’t be much use to you.” The stutter in her voice isn’t due to hesitation, but rather fear , pure fear familiar to the brunette, who watches the girl hug herself.

The man grimaces in sympathy. “...Heh, he really did a number on both of us, huh?”

Neither he nor she comments on those words.

“Chica.” The girl says as she looks at her friend beside her with some uncertainty, both the mask and the flashlight in her hand weighing on her alarmingly. “ W-what are we doing here?”

The animatronic doesn't say anything beyond maintaining her blank stare, which greatly disturbed the black-haired girl.

The room where they were was penetratingly dark, she couldn't see beyond several large silhouettes around her and something that reminded her of a dentist's chair (i t's been a long time since they went to Mike's although they always go to hers ), but what worried her most was the animatronic, turned off and with its stomach open in front of them.

Before Abby could ask anything, the chicken's dull gaze lit up bright red, and then it launched itself at the girl, lifting her by her sides, eliciting screams from the living infant.

"Aaah!" Abby screamed as she was lifted, she grabbed the blonde's hands as her feet met in the air, quickly tore her gaze away from the ground, which was getting further and further away from her, and fixed it on her friend. "Chica! What are you doing?!"

The animatronic didn't respond, but instead practically threw the girl into the porcelain doll-like robot with its insides having something that looked like ribs, causing the black-haired girl to thrash and kick in an attempt to avoid being put inside.

She didn't know why, but she had the feeling that if she was put in there, something very, very bad was going to happen to her.

As she struggled to avoid being pushed inside, the doors of the darkroom were suddenly flung open, stopping Chica for a second (her eyes flickered to a dark color with a bright spot before returning to her previous reds), just long enough for the child to escape her grasp and see who had entered the room.

"Mike!" She shouted before running toward the named one.

"Abs!" The brunette blurted out as he opened his arms toward the girl, who threw herself at him, and they hugged. But when they heard the chicken-shaped animatronic advancing toward them, the adult quickly placed the child behind him and pulled the taser from his belt, pointing it at the robot. "Stop!"

The animatronic tilted her head as she squinted, now that they were away from the music, the black-haired girl could hear it—the beeping of a heart monitor, it almost made her think of her own heartbeat, which must have been sounding erratic right about now.

When the giant chicken began advancing toward them, her beak jaws opening and a screech about to begin, Mike didn't hesitate for a second to fire his taser, striking the yellow robot.

Suddenly, the animatronic's limbs trembled uncontrollably as electricity coursed through her body, but the brunette didn't stop until the chicken's eyes turned from bright red to their normal colors before collapsing to the ground.

And there the two siblings stood with a stunned animatronic, within seconds, the younger one's cries could be heard.

"Abs." Mike said as he put the taser aside and knelt down to check on the girl. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He asked, grabbing her by the shoulders, but the girl just shook her head.

“I-it wasn't t-them.” The black-haired girl said between sobs. “T-they told me to h-help them, b-but I don't know if I can.” The kid burst into tears again.

“Hey, Abs, it's okay.” The adult said as gently as he could, wiping the girl's tears away. “I know I've been an idiot for a while, but I promise you, starting today, I'll be better.” The kid nodded, sniffing to relax. "Okay, come on.” He said, standing up and extending a hand to the girl, who tentatively grabbed it, then they left the room filled with corpses inside animatronics.

Mike swore to himself that he would get at least one sibling out of this place alive.

In a hidden room in a restaurant, the carcass of an animatronic collapsed on the floor, it was turned off, with no lights in its head sockets, and a sob could be heard coming from inside of its chest.

Outside the room there were five animatronics, most of them moving around in confusion, but also angry, searching for the man in the rabbit suit.

But there's someone inside the room besides the empty shell, a man in a bunny suit standing next to the golden bear-shaped animatronic; he has a tired expression on his face, along with his cold eyes, but if you looked deep enough into them, you could see a rather intense and morbid darkness .

The adult, although standing close to the crying figure leaning against a wall, made no further moves to approach and comfort the carcass as it cried in the darkness of the room.

But still, he said in a cold tone: " You all are broken. "

A silence stretched except for the increased crying, and also sounded like a screaming angry voice coming from the suit's chest, and blood began to flow from the vents.

“ Now, they’re all your friends. ” He said, still impassive, even as the animatronic’s limbs began to move with barely contained anger. “ You’re gonna make them believe that, isn’t it? ”

The slurred words became more intelligible, but at least the crying seemed to stop.

" I'm still here. " The man said, grimacing as his mind flashed back to a certain teenager who had run away like the coward he was. " I'm gonna fix all of you. " The bespectacled man's mind flashed back to a little blonde girl with green eyes; she too needed to be put back together; his whole family needed to be put back together. " I'm gonna put all of you back together. "

The screams stopped, and the only thing heard in the room was the constant, live , beeping of a heart monitor.

When he left the room, no animatronic followed the golden rabbit, even though he wasn’t wearing the head of the suit, and a single light illuminated the room toward one specific wall.

Chapter Text

Both siblings ran down the hallway, hoping to quickly reach the restaurant's back exit, when they heard something seemingly coming in the direction they were going, and Mike knew he had to act.

"Abby." He said as he heard the humming coming toward them through the hallways. "I need you to go around to the other side and hide." At his words, the dark-haired girl shook her head vehemently.

“No, no.” The girl said, looking at him with tears in her eyes. “I don’t want you to leave me again.” The toddler said, tightening her brother’s grip on her shoulders.

But then, the sounds of metallic footsteps grew closer, so the brunette knew they didn’t have much time.

“I'm not going to abandon you.” Mike says, although a part of him wanted to look away from his sister's eyes. “I just need you to go ahead of me, I'll be right behind you after a while.” The brunette promised, although a part of him felt like a lie, he was going to do his best to make it true.

The girl didn't seem to trust his words, but when the footsteps grew faster and more frantic, she was forced to simply nod before running down the opposite side of the hallway, disappearing around a corner.

When his sister was no longer in sight, the young man gulped before turning around as the footsteps finally sounded at the end of the hall.

Several meters in front of him was what used to be his favorite animatronic with its reddish eyes glowing, and with the horns' heartbeats increasing reminiscent of Mike's heart rate, as he felt his own heart about to explode out of his chest.

Instantly, like Chica, Foxy's jaw almost opened completely, revealing its sharp teeth as it raised its grappling hook and launched itself from the other side of the hallway at high speed toward the adult.

Mike had tried to quickly raise the taser gun he had used on the chicken animatronic, but he hadn't counted on the fox being so fast even after already facing it before, so he found himself being tackled to the ground by it while doing his best to avoid being bitten by the robot's teeth or having his flesh ripped by the hook.

When he fell onto the restaurant's checkerboard tiles, the pistol slipped from his grip, slipping away from him, but the brunette didn't mind it as much, as he had to use both hands to maneuver a metallic fox that was over two meters long and seemed determined to rip his head off.

Mike was doing his best not to die from decapitation or being ripped apart, but he needed to free himself from the large animatronic if he wanted to get out before something... or someone else got in his way.

The adult tried to kick the animatronic in its stomach, not to cause pain ( in fact, it was more likely that he had broken his foot with that move ) but more than anything, to give him a second to slide his hand toward his belt, where the cattle prod Vanessa had given him was.

It was a complicated task, considering that his blows barely did anything to Foxy beyond a slight discomfort, as he quickly returned to the attack, and the brunette had to use one hand to avoid multiple sharp objects at once.

But still, Mike succeeded when the sparkling cattle prod's tips touched the reddish animatronic.

A shock ran through the animatronic, causing its limbs to twitch. Unfortunately for the adult, who had been attacked by the robot a few seconds earlier, he felt a bit of the paralyzing electricity, eliciting a cry of pain.

It wasn't until the animatronic's body fell into a comatose state, slipping away from the tips of the cattle prod, that the brunette stopped feeling the electric shocks.

Mike took a moment to recover from the pain as he regulated it, but he was instantly able to get up, pushing the animatronic aside.

His body still felt somewhat numb after the confrontation, even his leg felt heavy, even more painful, but the brunette just gritted his teeth before starting to march ( limping a little ) towards the main area where, hopefully, neither Freddy nor Bonnie would be awake yet.

He had to go with his sister.

When Abby entered the stage area, nothing prepared her for the sight of her friends lying on the stage floor, what almost make her stumble, they looked as if they were dead , but she knows they weren't , they couldn't be...

The moment she hears metallic noises on the floor, she knows she doesn't have much time; her friends aren't being themselves, and the best option for her is to hide from them.

The girl searches around the arcade as she hears the noises getting closer and closer to her area, even as the music and those horrible beeps blare through the speakers at almost full volume, almost giving her a headache.

She runs to the ball pit as soon as she sees it, almost hysterical from the overstimulation her ears are receiving as she tries to concentrate on the sounds of whatever is approaching, and dealing with her own terrified emotions that want to make her stop and hug herself.

She sinks into the pool as best she can, almost closing her eyes as she gets into the pit, until she feels a considerable amount of plastic balls between her and the surface.

She hates the smell inside the place, smells like sweat and something rotten, like that time Mike was too tired to make anything to eat for a while, so the few things in the fridge went bad, but this is somehow worse.

The girl covers her mouth to keep the gasp of surprise from escaping completely when she hears something metal hit the floor loudly, it sounded too close to her for her liking.

Whatever was nearby didn't sound like her friends, her friends were usually quite large and heavy, so it couldn't move that fast- or at least, she thought they couldn't, she doesn't know anymore. But they sounded light and fast, as if whatever was moving was jumping.

When she heard the small knocks approaching her, she unconsciously shifted so she could squeeze herself closer, but stopped when she realized her actions caused the balls to move, causing it to stop next to the pit.

The girl's breathing instantly stopped, while at the same time a crushing fear settled in her chest, making her want to sob in terror, but she used all her willpower to not give in to the urge to make a sound.

A few seconds passed in which she could even feel a drop of sweat running down her forehead, just like in her cartoons, but instead of finding the situation funny, she had never felt more scared than she was in that moment.

But after what must have been about a few minutes ( though it felt like hours ), whatever was outside began to move away again, causing the girl to almost sigh as her shoulders slumped.

But her calm didn't last long.

"Aaaaah!" The little girl screamed as something lunged at her, knocking her back into the ball pit, that something resembling a head ( indistinguishable in the darkness ) tried to attack her and take a massive bite.

When her back collided with what must have been the edge of the pool, the girl barely hesitated for a second before leaping out of the ball pit at an impressive speed for her age, narrowly avoiding being bitten.

The black-haired girl takes a moment to calm her breathing, leaning against a game while clutching her chest where her heart was pounding. But when she looked up, she found whatever was chasing her on the edge of the ball pit.

It was Chica's cupcake, narrowing its glowing red eyes at her with a certain malice, almost freezing her in place.

Abby and the cupcake stared at each other, before having to flee again when the animatronic launched itself with its mouth open, letting out a horrible scream the girl had never heard before.

The girl began to flee through the arcade, heading for the area closest, the kitchen, but far from where her brother was, which should have worried her given the large separation, but the girl couldn't focus on that fact as she fled from her friend's pet.

As she entered the path leading to the kitchens, she saw a figure out of the corner of her eye, almost freezing her again.

It was Andrew, but... wrong . 

His skin was incredibly pale, to the point where it seemed almost white, his eyes were a black mirror, from which large curtains of dark rivers fell down his cheeks.

It was unsettling to look at, like seeing a twisted image of something familiar, which made something in her want to hug herself again.

But before she could react to any panic, the figure raised his hand with considerable difficulty (as if something was stopping him from moving) until he placed his finger in front of its mouth, signaling for silence, before a whispered ‘Follow me’ reached her ears, giving her a chill as she watched the figure move away.

With few options and Cupcake getting closer, the girl finds herself following the twisted version of her friend.

It eventually led her to a door marked ‘Supplies’ in bold letters, and Andrew vanished, almost scaring her with his sudden disappearance, but when she heard the animatronic coming bounding, the girl hid inside.

She just had to wait for the cupcake to leave, and then she could return to Mike.

Mike was breathing heavily as he clutched his side where his stitches had reopened, his leg had indeed been injured when he hit Foxy, so he was limping, but that didn't matter; he had to go with Abby.

He crossed to the main area where his sister was supposed to be waiting for him, but when he arrived, there was no one there, not even the animatronics.

The brunette swore under his breath as he looked around for his sister's dark head, hopefully hidden from any animal-like robots who might want to stuff her into a suit.

But as he was searching for the girl's figure, footsteps echoed over the music and beeps.

His mind froze as he turned his gaze to where the sound was coming from and saw what- who it was.

Springbonnie stood in the doorway of the restaurant in all his hideous glory, most of his torso hunched over as he stared at him with those almost white-gray eyes that had haunted him and given him so many nightmares when he was just a preschooler.

The golden bunny seemed to narrow his eyes at him before rising to his full height and beginning to take heavy steps in his direction.

Mike knows he's not a kid anymore, that he can defend himself— hell , he even has a taser in his hand and could run away if he didn't want another physical confrontation… But, he could never really face his father .

He stands there trembling as he stares at the figure that had always caused him so much fear ( as well as love ), and it's not until he's too close that something inside the brunette activates, and he begins to lift the cattle prod, but the suit's hand grabs him first, intercepting him, then proceeding to squeeze his wrist, causing him to let out a groan of pain as he drops the weapon.

“He, he, he, isn’t this adorable?” Said in a voice unaltered, not like he used to always do when he was in the suit ‘to be in character’. “Look at little Michael trying to be a hero, so disgustingly cheesy.”

The brunette wanted to throw up so badly, wanted to hug himself and go back to his happy place, but he knew he really couldn’t go there anymore.

In an attempt to... He's not quite sure what exactly he's going to do, he just knows he needs to get away from this man quickly , so he raises his hand to— maybe activate the springlocks on the head? But halfway there, a stabbing pain hits his palm, taking his breath away.

“Another attempted parricide , Michael? I thought you'd learned your lesson after that .” Painful memories of blood everywhere and subsequent blows come flooding back. He wants to cry so badly , but only lets out a scream of pain when the golden rabbit's kick knocks him back, dislodging the blade that was wedged in his hand. "You looked like you'd learned your lesson, but I knew you hadn't. You never learned no matter how many times I corrected you."

Several sharp pains course through the brunette's body, but he tries to ignore them as he backs away from his father's reach, who towers over him in much the same way he did when he was younger.

"You just had to finish your week and go back to your sister's, but little Michael can't do anything right, not even for himself." A knife thrust that the brunette barely dodged. “I told you a long time ago, didn’t I?” Another stab, but as he tried to avoid the blow, he ended up hitting himself with an arcade machine, and with his limp leg, he ended up falling to the ground with a groan, but he’s still crawling backward on the ground. “You’re just a killer of everything good around you.” And this time he kicked him, which, along with the metal and plastic cover, made everything in the young man hurt like hell and made him let out a scream.

Mike hates the venomous words coming out of the man, but he also hates the honesty in them, as if everything he was saying was simply the truth; he hates the fact that he can still remember the moment he said that to him, and that now he feels just as much like he did then; he hates being here, on the ground, crawling in an attempt to escape him , like a small animal fleeing a predator.

“Only the old, and fool, Michael .” He kicked him again, making him want to squirm, but he kept going. “Always making trouble and ruining everything around him.” Another blow, but this time where his stitches were open, almost making him faint from the pain. “You couldn't take care of your siblings properly .” Mike tried to retreat further from the golden rabbit's reach, but the next kick only landed on his limping leg, eliciting a groan from him. “Then you went and killed your own brother.” Springbonnie lunged and stomped hard on the slashed hand, eliciting a loud scream from the brunette. "And then abandon your father to clean up your mess." And now the man crushed the young man's chest hard, nearly breaking his ribs.

Both Michael's mind and body are on edge, his vision blurred by the tears pooling in his eyes, and even breathing or moving feels painful. So the brunette's mind, overwhelmed by all this pain and the situation in general, lets his self-talk mechanisms take over and does something he did when he was younger, something the Mike who moved to Minnesota never expected to do again.

Abby ran back through the hallways toward the main area.

When she hid in what appeared to be the closet at her home ( given the large number of boxes inside ), she didn't think she'd stay there for so long, but that thought proved wrong after a few minutes.

After hearing Cupcake actually jump away from her down the hallway, she took a few seconds to relax from the tense situation and moved toward the door to return to the main area, but when her hand was on the doorknob, a colder hand stopped her.

The black-haired girl froze for a few seconds and almost screamed when she saw the pale figure of her friend Andrew beside her, but even though she didn't scream, she couldn't help but jump away from the boy who has tears streaming down his face.

The kid indicated silence again, so the girl nodded, then the ghost pointed toward the door and shook his head. The girl was tempted to ask him why, but quickly closed her mouth, remembering her friend's instructions.

A few minutes later, she discovered the reason for the instruction.

«G-guys, it's show time!»

«We had a party to rock!»

«Kids, it's showtime!»

«J'arr! Gather crew!»

Voices that sounded like those from the show echoed through the door, while heavier footsteps were heard walking down the hallway.

Her only company at that moment was Andrew, who, although seemingly crying, remained imperturbable, he only moved for a moment to nod and then vanished the next.

The black-haired girl took this as a sign that it was safe to leave, and as soon as she opened the door, she ran toward the main area.

When she arrived at the dining room, she saw with horror that her brother was lying on the floor, quite badly injured, and above him was an animatronic she had never seen before, a golden rabbit with a purple bow.

Mike hugged himself until he was curled up on the floor in front of the rabbit, and with uneven breathing (he almost seemed to be crying but there were no tears), shaking uncontrollably, he said with a broken voice: “ Please stop, Father. ”

Abby gasped at these words, and perhaps her shock was too great, as the golden figure stood up straight before raising its hands to its head ( it was carrying a knife, a knife covered in blood ) and pulling it off, revealing it to be a suit worn by a human.

A very familiar human in a way, even more so when he turned to look at her, his silver eyes and brown hair very similar to her brother's except for the gray. But everything about him made her want to cry, especially with the large amount of purple in him, as if his entire body were that shade, and purple had never seemed so disgusting as it was at that moment.

The man gave her a smile that sent shivers down her spine. “Hi, Abby.” She recognized the voice ( it was the one that came from the house phone, the one that makes Mike always ends up so tired ) but now it had an accent. “Don’t worry, you and Michael will soon be able to fully join the family.”

Chapter Text

After saying those words, the killer left the girl aside to bend down and grab the young man's hair with his hand, lifting him up, eliciting a groan of pain from the latter. "Did you hear that, Michael?" The man said with a clear English accent as he approached the boy's face. "How would you feel about joining your little brother, the one you killed- "

"Stop!"

The three of them froze at the sudden shout, but the English man stood up quite calmly as he relaxed his crazed smile into a more controlled one, as if he were talking to one of his customers. “Vanessa, what a surprise to see you here.”

Vanessa stood at the entrance of the restaurant with her gun raised and her face serious, but if you looked closely at her hands, you could see they were shaking. “That’s the only warning I’m going to give you. Drop him and step back!”

The older man narrowed his eyes at her words, obviously displeased with her saying them, this simple action sent tremors through her body now. “You know that’s no way to talk to your father.”

Abby gasped in surprise before looking between the Englishman and the blonde, her reaction seemed to make the officer tense up, but this last one quickly gritted her teeth as she forced her body to remain firm.

“Dad, I swear if you don’t-!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” The man interrupted, waggling his finger with a reprimanding look, making Vanessa’s firmness disappear like a child being scolded. “Vanny, Vanny, my little bunny. ” The killer said with such disgusting and false sweetness that Abby wanted to throw up. “I’m just scolding your stupid older brother.” The Englishman commented as he lifted Mike by his hair, eliciting a groan of pain from him again. “But, for you, my little bunny, I’ll do as you wish.” It was the last thing the man said as he released the brunette. “Now, let’s talk .”

The twenty-something fell face first onto the floor, forcing the air out of his lungs as his chest hit the surface, causing him to bounce back up and to avoid falling back to the ground, the boy had to use his hands to stand himself.

"Mike!" He heard a high-pitched scream in the distance as heavy footsteps moved away from him, then softer ones came toward him, and the brunette wanted to yell at the girl to back off, but yelling would draw his attention to him, and especially to her. Small hands reached his side and cupped his face. "Are you okay?" His mind initially thought it was Elizabeth, but he quickly remembered that she never came to comfort him after a beating; she refused to see anything wrong with Father.

It had to be Abby, it couldn't be anyone else, and it was something he had to remind himself of all the time: that his sister was the one he had to worry about keeping alive, and that that meant living, even if everything else was miserable . Having a joyful life with his younger sister was more than enough reason to live.

He focused on the girl's touch, trying to relax into the knowledge that she was here, and that against all odds, they were alive, but his mind wouldn't relax. He couldn't see her, he couldn't open his eyes and see his father there, he couldn't see his father again; his body simply refused to let him.

"Mike, I'm scared." When he heard the tone, somewhere between fear and tears, the young man's eyelids instantly opened without him giving it a second thought, and he glimpsed his sister's distraught face, on the verge of tears, her hair disheveled and bruises or scrapes dotting her skin.

“Hey Abby.” The brunette says softly, though his voice sounds mostly tired and sore. “Don’t worry.” He raises his hand to his sister’s face, resting her head in his palm, while Mike swallows his groan as she’s now leaning her weight on the stabbed area. “I promise I’ll get us out of here.”

Her father dropped Mike to the ground, looking at him with great indifference as he tried to catch his breath again, as if the whole situation were normal; as if his son hadn't been pleading for a while ( the way she does, the way he told her to ), as if he hadn't been kicking him repeatedly as he crawled away on the ground, as if he hadn't stabbed him...

As if he hadn't tried to force him into one of those suits he created.

The girl gritted her teeth as tears gathered in the corner of her eyes, but she didn't allow herself to cry, it would be worse if she did; he hated it when she did.

When the man started walking toward her, the blonde automatically took a step back, her head snapping out of its flustered state and snapping back into a firm position. "Stop right there, or I swear I'll-!"

“But weren't you the one who told me to stay away from him?” Her father said, narrowing his gray eyes at her, but the lower part of his face twisted into a serene yet amused smile. “Unless you want me to go in a different direction.” His gaze shifted to where Abby was standing by the arcade, the raven-haired girl backing away the instant the killer's gaze fell on her.

"No!" Vanessa screamed, letting any fear she had echo in her voice without any filters, and she cursed herself in her mind when she saw her father's pleased face at her reaction. God, how she wanted to erase that look from his face...

How she wished she'd seen him like that more often as a child.

The blonde shook her head, pushing those thoughts away. This wasn't the time to fall back into that spiral she'd found herself in as a child, being raised by that wretched William Afton right in front of her.

When she decided to come here to help Mike, she hadn't given it much thought.

The moment he asked her, she couldn't , she knew she wouldn't be able to, she could never stand up to her father no matter what he did to her. Even though she could defend herself before in the orphanage, living with the man quickly extinguished any fire in her.

For a moment, she wondered if something similar had happened to Michael, but memories of her father angrily talking about him before the bite reminded her it hadn't.

Michael had been stronger than her as a child... or more stubborn.

Even though he knew what was coming if he stood up to William, he still never failed to confront him.

The blonde didn't know if it was bravery or stupidity, but it was something, a fire that, even after all this time, sometimes surfaced in him.

And that's why she came to help him when the thought of his father killing him hit her.

Bravery or stupidity, she was tired of people around her dying.

“All right, Vanny.” Her father calls, approaching her again, so she keeps backing away. She’s frozen in her tracks when it comes to shooting because even if she thinks about it, the truth is she never could, so she just backs away. “Let’s talk.”

“Listen, Abs-” Mike says haltingly, now that he wasn't in survival mode, his mind was making his body more aware of the fact that he was badly hurt and in pain.

The girl in front of him sniffed as she half-suppressed the urge to cry, even though there were already tears in the corners of her eyes. The adult didn't know why she wasn't allowing herself to cry, because he was watching her, or because of the situation.

A selfish part of him hopes it's the latter.

"I need you to do something for me." The girl, not even expecting to hear the request, nodded rather frantically. "Okay, listen, did you see the drawing over there?" The brunette pointed his head at a wall of the restaurant, and the black-haired girl quickly directed her gaze to the indicated spot.

The kid's eyes fell upon a drawing on the wall filled with these, but this one stood out because it was on top of the others, almost right in the middle of the upholstered surface. Appeared to be a drawing of a golden rabbit holding the hands of some children, they seemed instantly familiar.

The girl wrinkled her nose at the sight.

“You must draw a picture, Abs.” The named one fixed her eyes again on the wounded figure of her brother in front of her. “For your friends, you need to make them see the truth.” The man said, almost collapsing.

For a second, the girl wanted to ask what truth he was talking about, but she quickly realized what the boy's words meant: the drawing depicted the man in the golden rabbit suit as someone good and kind, but that was a lie; he was cruel, and mean, mean, mean .

«Have you seen the golden rabbit?»

That was the question her friends had asked her the first night they met, she hadn't understood at that moment, but now she does: not only had he brought them here, but he was the one who trapped them in the restaurant and inside the animatronics.

And he had planned to do the same to her.

The black-haired girl frowned at the last thought, before looking into her brother's eyes and nodding with a firm determination, she wasn't going to let that man go easily, and she'd promised to help her friends in some way.

"Okay, go quickly. There are some crayons in the security room." The girl got up to follow her brother's instructions, but not before taking one last look at him on the floor, looking like he was about to faint.

She had to hurry if she wanted to save everyone.

 

Little Boy Purple,

Come Blow Your Horn

Michael was gone, he wasn't sure to where, he knew he was leaving a trail of blood from the various wounds he had, but he couldn't follow them specifically.

The Doll's in the Meadow

Abby, Michael's new sister, was running toward the security office, but the boy wasn't with her.

He sent the others toward her.

The bunny's in the forlorn

Father is with the blonde, everyone who comes to work here calls her Vanessa, she calls herself Vanessa, father calls her Vanny, but the kids, when they think he's not listening, call her Cassidy.

That name feels more right.

He lets it go. Father should be able to handle her, he promised, he'd fix everyone, so he just has to help.

Where's the boy?

Who looks after the petite?

He doesn't have enough power to search the entire restaurant; controlling the animatronics to follow his instructions and preventing the souls from trying to retake control of the robots is too much.

Even teleporting Fredbear seems too much right now.

He's on the other side of the fence.

He feels it, feels it getting closer to him as his chest fills with anticipation.

His brother is on the other side of the wall that keeps him hidden from the others.

Fast asleep.

He feels that pull he felt the first day his brother came to the restaurant, the same one that tugged like a thread and he fell asleep, but he couldn't reach him, not at that moment.

He tugs at him again.

Will you call him?

"Garret." Michael whispers before falling asleep.

No, not I

For if I do

Hearing his name fall from his brother's lips, Garret feels the dark tears on his cheeks spill over more fiercely, as they have every day since he woke up trapped here.

He feels himself being dragged along with Michael.

I'm sure I'm going to cry.

He hopes he sees the light in the forest from last time again.

The black-haired girl closed the door as she entered the office and quickly looked around for any drawing materials, but when she couldn't find any at first glance, she started searching through the drawers.

As she was rummaging through the Post-it notes and tape, the screens on the desk suddenly lit up.

The kid jumped in her place as her face was instantly hit by a flashing light, looking ahead, she saw in horror as Chica walked slowly and dragged down the hallway leading to the office.

Without hesitating for a second, the girl dashed toward the door next to the desk, quickly standing against it as she heard the animatronic chicken approaching, dragging her leg as if it were asleep.

«H-hey guys, It’s Pizza niiiiight!» Chica burst out, and Abby nervously bit her lip, she stood there waiting for Chica to move away. Just when she thought it was all over, she heard something from the other door, so she walked away to go to the cameras, only to see in horror how Foxy was coming from the other side.

«Dum, dum, dum, dum…»

The black-haired girl crawled (almost tripping over the office chair ) to the other door at the back of the office and closed it, instantly hearing the fox running to the other side at high speed, humming.

Just as she was about to sigh in relief, her eyes caught sight of Freddy heading down the same hallway Chica had left, when he was in front of the door, he began to insistently knock on the surface of the entrance to open it, so Abby went to block it.

«Hur, hur, hur.»

But then the other door was knocked insistently on the other side, since it wasn't humming or saying a phrase about pizza, the girl could only assume it was Bonnie who was knocking on the door.

« I can't keep this up. » The black-haired girl thought to herself as she watched the door seem about to give way to the purple rabbit's knocking on the other side. « I need a way to stop them while I draw. »

The girl's gaze quickly fell on the locker next to the door where Bonnie was constantly knocking, and the idea quickly came to her.

At the top of her lungs, the girl went, and with all her might, she pushed the locker down, making it clatter loudly against the floor. But it effectively blocked the door, so the girl smiled a little more confidently.

She did the same with Freddy's door, putting everything in her to push the desk toward it, even though this caused the screens to fall to the floor, shattering the glass and eliciting a loud scream from her, but in the end, she accomplished her task.

With both entrances sealed, the girl quickly focused on drawing on the back of a high-voltage sign with some crayons she'd found at the last minute, positioning herself on the area furthest from the glass.

Once on the floor, she began to make the lines as quickly as she could while she heard the increasingly loud and frantic knocking on the doors, they somehow seemed to move the barricades she'd put up.

She began drawing the evil rabbit, sketching his angry face, although the image of that deranged smile flashed through her head several times, sending shivers down her spine, It was terrible and cruel at the same time.

She drew the knife like the one she'd seen in the hands of the purple guy, shining in the darkness, stained with blood-her brother's blood-, she tried to draw it as best she could on the blade, but it left a bad taste in her mouth.

She moved on to the figures of her friends, she'd drawn them a hundred times before, in various adventures in her games or in her dreams, but this was different; she wasn't drawing them in a happy situation like the previous times.

Now she drew them dead.

She lifted the paper when she finished, allowed herself to take a better look at the lines, and nodded to herself as she saw the finished image.

She hoped this would be enough.

One of the doors was knocked harder, startling the raven-haired girl, who turned to look at it and she could feel her throat catch as she saw a red glow from a crack in the entrance staring back at her.

The girl wanted to scream right there, but she quickly began scanning the room, her mind completely focused on finding a new exit, knowing there was no way she could get out through either door.

Her gaze quickly fell on a ventilation duct that seemed quite large, like, more than large enough.

…

She just hope the cupcake isn't there.

“Let's talk.” The man said calmly as he walked toward her, his eyes never hesitating to keep hers, as if a gun weren't pointed at him at that exact moment, as if he were in complete control of the situation. “Look at the little mess you made.” The Englishman commented, glancing around.

Cassidy gritted her teeth at the older man's words. “The mess I made!?” She whispered aggressively at the man, but she still kept backing away, and the trembling in her hands didn't disappear despite her defiant glare.

The man didn't point the knife at her, but his cold gaze was threatening enough in itself. "You were supposed to keep Michael in the dark ." He hissed at the end. "Keeping an eye on him to make sure everything went according to plan."

"Killing your son was part of your plan?!" The blonde screamed, having never felt more in danger than she had that week.

The man just blinked. “I was just tying up the last loose ends.” Her father said with a coldness that made her want to throw up, but she held it in. “But someone had to be lurking around and keep talking.” The older man’s tone began to sound a little more dangerous as he moved closer and closer to her. “And now there’s a mess to clean up.” The blonde found herself backed into the wall.

Once, when they moved to one of the many towns where her father continued his ‘research’, she ended up befriending a girl, they hadn't spent much time together, but Cassidy had felt a real connection there, so in a moment of trust, she had told her what her father was doing. 

She doesn't know if the girl believed her or not, but by the following week her friend had disappeared, and when she asked her father, he told her he ‘had to clean up her mess’.

…She no longer remembers her name, but she still remembers the chill she felt at her father's sentence.

“So, you'll stand aside like a good girl while daddy cleans up the mess.” The man says, pointing the knife at her. “Or you'll step forward and clean up the mess yourself for not doing your job.”

The girl gulps as she looks into her father's merciless eyes before deciding to answer. "It was two jobs."

Any strong emotion in the man's gaze disappears, turning into a passive disappointment, and before the blonde could react, a sharp pain surges near her stomach, causing a gurgle of blood to come from her mouth.

Cassidy looked down, noticing a knife in her gut, and when she raised her face, she met her father's disinterested eyes, as if it were nothing. " Daddy ." And Vanessa collapsed to the floor.

…

The heartbeat stopped.

Chapter Text

He opens the door as gently as he can, but the hinges squeak too loudly, making the little boy grimace, but he still forces himself to continue what he was doing.

"Mikey...?" The kid says again, his voice too low to be heard, but he still stands there for a few seconds, waiting for someone to answer.

The boy scanned the room, which would have been almost dark if not for the crack in the door: the place was a mess; he never knew if it was because his father didn't seem to care enough to tell him to clean it up, or if, since it was the only place that was his , his brother decided to keep it that way. After a few minutes of looking around, he could see the eldest's huddled figure in his bed, his back to him.

The toddler bit his lip before walking softly toward the other boy, when he reached the edge of the bed, he decided to try again to get the older boy's attention. "Mike? Are you awake...?" He asked as quietly as he could in case he was asleep, but even though he didn't get a response, his brother wasn't snoring.

Gently, the kid climbed onto the mattress, pausing every few minutes to check if his brother was reacting negatively, but at no point did he move or speak to tell him to stop or get off. Once on the bed, he lay down, curled up against his brother's back, he wasn't sure if the older brother wanted a hug, but this had to be enough.

“Mike…” He began in a whisper, in the distance, he could hear his mom arguing with his dad, they'd been arguing ever since the latter finished grounding his older brother. “Please, just give me a sign that you're listening.”

Minutes passed with only their parents' argument in the background, leaving the room in a tense semi-silence that wanted to make Garret cry, he even had tears forming in the corners of his eyes. But then his brother made a movement that seemed to scrunch up more tightly, and the younger boy could feel a part of him relaxing.

“Mikey…” The kid called again, burying his face against the older one’s back in a plaintive tone. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” The little boy said, almost on the verge of tears, some of them falling silently. “I really didn’t want Dad to punish you because of me.” His words broke into sobs at the end.

They spend some time with him crying on his brother's back in the darkness of the latter's room, at some point, he must have grabbed a portion of his brother's shirt, because when Michael starts to move, he's forced to let go.

When older boy turned around, Garret nearly gasped in shock, and almost cried right then and there when he saw the state of his brother's face after Father had called him into the office.

Michael's lower lip was split and bleeding; his eye was completely black and swollen; there were several cuts on his cheeks that stood out against his tanned skin, some of them even interrupting some of his freckles; and his nose was bleeding.

The kid tried not to show the horror he felt at seeing his older brother's battered face, but something must have escaped, because the latter gave him a pitiful smile and said: "Does it look that bad, huh?"

And the younger boy began to cry, he cried so loudly and  that he bet his parents could hear him, he wailed until his throat began to hurt and his cheeks began to burn from so many tears.

He hated crying, it made him feel so pathetic, his entire family hated the way he cried like a baby, even his mother, who tried to be as patient as possible with him, ended up getting fed up with him. But at the same time, it was the only thing he could do to release all those bad emotions he felt.

He hated crying, but it was all he had .

Michael slowly and tensely moved to hug him; he smelled of blood and dirt, and parts of his body were damp from his wounds; but the kid still sank into the hug. Although the sensation reminded him of the reason for the argument from a distance, he longed for some kind of comfort.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He whispered softly as his brother stroked his hair, he wondered if he'd apologized earlier, maybe the teenager hadn't yelled at him.

"It's okay." Michael said, he could imagine from his tone of voice that his gaze must be lost, like on previous occasions. "It's not your fault."

This was how things always went; Garret would do something that could get him in trouble, his older brother would take the blame for it, he would be punished, the kid would try to come closer as soon as the punishment was over, but his brother would yell at him and then go to his room; a few minutes would pass, Garret would go to the older brother's room to apologize, and Michael would forgive him.

Some would say it was some kind of cycle…

They just saw it as the Afton household routine.

“Hey, don’t cry, you know Father doesn’t like it that much.” The younger one was tempted to reply to his brother that, in fact, no one in the family liked it when he cried, but if he replied, it would make the older boy stop speaking to him so gently. “Shhh, shhh, look, this is what we’re going to do, okay?”

Garret wanted to ask what they were going to do: what could they do that would make this better? What were they going to do that wouldn't make this worse? Every moment inside this house felt like he was walking on eggshells… But he didn't say any of that. Instead, he just nodded, hoping his brother would take the movement as the answer it was, and not some kind of tic.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do: an oath.” Michael ran his fingers through his hair, Garret liked it when he did it, it always relaxed him and reminded him of how his mother used to do it the first time he had nightmares. “Every time we do something that could hurt the other, we’ll always forgive each other in the end. Does that sound right?”

No, it didn't sound right to Garret, because the fact that they had to take that oath meant this was going to happen again and again, they'd find themselves in this same situation again, maybe next week? He doesn't even want to think about that possibility.

But he doesn't know how to express these thoughts, doesn't know what words to use, so he just asks: "Do we have to…?"

"Yes." Michael replies, and when the younger brother tries to raise his face toward his older brother, the latter squeezes closer around him, preventing him from seeing his expression. "It's like Mom said, we're siblings, we should always forgive each other when we do something bad to each other."

The toddler doesn't like this, he doesn't like that he'll be the reason his brother gets hit by their father, he doesn't want to be the reason anyone gets hurt.

But he hates even more the idea that one day, Michael might not forgive him.

"Okay, Mikey." Garret says, tightening his grip on the stuffed animal that's been with them throughout the exchange. "I swear."

"Pinky promise?" The older one whispers, sounding quite tired as he pulls away and presents his smallest finger to him.

"Pinky promise." He whispers back, wrapping his own finger around his.

Thus the oath is made in the midst of a hug filled with blood and little desire to do it.

Mike dragged himself down the hallway, holding onto the wall. Luckily, he hadn't encountered any animatronics yet, but that alarmed him at the same time because it possibly meant they were after Abby, and that thought only made him quicken his pace even though it hurt too much to keep going.

The further he walked along the dimly lit path toward the brick wall, the furious cries became more and more audible, though they didn't stand out over the constant beeping of heartbeat.

When the brick wall appeared in front of him, the boy advanced toward it, almost throwing himself at it and even colliding a little, the cries were literally ringing in his ears, but Mike forced himself to remain calm.

He feels like someone is focusing their attention on him, not like eyes following him, but more like someone is completely aware of his presence, his movements, his breathing, his very being…

Knowing the presence was so focused on him, Mike let himself whisper: “Garret.” The crying paused, but almost instantly returned, softer . “I know you can hear me.” The brunette’s eyelids grew heavier, and his body struggled to stay upright, so he leaned further back against the wall. “Please, please… We need to talk-”

« Why did you come back? »

The adult's body froze for a second as a chill settled around him, he blinked a little, quickly realizing that the dark alley he'd been standing in had disappeared into an almost pitch-black landscape.

Mike turned around slowly, behind him was his brother... but not like in his dreams.

His brother's brown curls were plastered against his head, and from beneath them trickled a few trickles of blood, running down the kid's pale face, he had dark eyes and a dark trail of tears, as if he were crying constantly, like in life…

His clothes were the same as that day, down to the last horrible detail: like the rips where a piece had caught on a piece of machinery; but there was also the frayed part as Garret often had this tic where he would unconsciously pull on a thread in his clothes to relax.

The entire top of his shirt was also stained with blood .

Mike wanted to twist and throw up right there.

"Gar-" The older brunette was interrupted before he could finish saying his brother's name again.

« What happened to “Crying child”, huh? » The kid asked, tilting his head so abruptly it looked like he’d actually broken his neck (he felt a chill at this very thought). « Or maybe you’d rather use “Cry baby” more now? Hey, Mike, which one will it be this time? » The specter narrowed his eyes at him.

“Garret.” The boy said again, his tone firmer, trying not to collapse in place, even though all he wanted was to faint and get away from the situation he was in. “Please, don’t do this-”

« I begged you too, didn't I? » The boy jumped away from his spot when he heard his younger brother whisper in his ear, far and near at the same time, but when he turned around, there was no one behind him. «No, please!» The tearful, loud voice sounded in the distance, just like that fateful day, too exact to that day, as if he were a spectator. «No, I don't want to go!»

A few seconds later, that sickening: crunch! sounded.

« You didn't listen to me. » A chill crept up Mike's spine, but this time it didn't jump like the last time when he felt fingers pressing on his shoulder and a breath near his ear. « Why would I do that now ?»

The older one gritted his teeth before sharply turning around, this time, his brother was standing there, albeit at a distance, several feet away from him.

“You don’t have to do this!” He shouted, knowing the truth. “You don’t owe me anything, I know you don’t owe me anything , and I really haven’t done anything for you to make you listen to my pleas, so you don’t have to listen to me…” Mike took a deep breath. “But there is someone you owe.”

The ghost narrowed his eyes at him and whispered in the older one's ear from a distance. « I'm dead, Mike. » The named man shuddered at the rawness of the kid's words, and out of nowhere, his bloody face was inches from his. « I. Don't. Owe. Anything. To. Anyone. »

The older one grimaced before speaking. "The children you help Father keep trapped here, if-"

In less than a blink of an eye, Garret was back several feet away from him, so the older brunette couldn't see his expression.

“They don't deserve to be here.” The adult began, taking a great leap of faith. “They didn't deserve to be killed by Father, or to be trapped here, or to have you control them so they obey Father.”

There was something psychopathic in Garret's gaze upon him, even if he couldn't see his eyes from such a distance.

« I… » The adult closed his eyes as he heard the whisper in his ear again, along with his brother's cold presence, his voice now sounded as if it were split into multiple pieces, as if he were shouting, whispering, and speaking normally all at the same time. « ... Ḑ̴̡͕̮̖̓̉̀̔̆ḯ̷̫̦̯̕d̶̰͎͚̮̉̂͘͜n̸͓̎'̵̫̙̥͕̣̈́ţ̷̯̗͙̮̇͂ ̶̘̱̳̇͝͝d̴̅̋̋̀͜e̷̡̩͈̭̐s̶̠̠̝̀̔̀͘ͅę̴̤̙̂̉̌͝r̶̢͕̥͈͌v̷̤̏e̷̪̹̳̮̼̔͒ ̸̪̲͈̦̇̀̈ẗ̶̮̬̣̘́̏ö̸̪͍͙̘́ ̴̡̢̘̅̾͌ḓ̵̻̮̬̆͌ĭ̴̡̜͖̖e̵͕͛̓͗͠.̷̡̫͈͓̆̌͝ »

“Yes, I know.” Mike agreed, because if there was anyone who knew that fact to be true, it was the same perpetrator of such a horrible act who always told himself this for years. “I'm sorry-”

« S̶͇̖̞̖͓͌̽̕͠h̷̳͎̟͍̏̿̑̅͝ͅu̵̢̅̃̇t̷͚̭̟̻́͐̽̀͌̇͜ ̵̖̈́̂̇͒͂u̶̝̲͉͛͋͐͑p̷̪̟̐̾̏̃̕!̶͇̖̞̄̽͌ »

Suddenly, the older one fell to the ground, even swaying a little as if he'd been physically pushed, causing him to let out a groan of pain, even though the tiredness in his bones and the burning pain of his wounds had faded, the blow felt worse, as if it had hurt more than once.

When the adult opened his eyes again and looked up, he could see his brother's figure in the distance, further away than before, his back slightly rounded as his shoulders heaved with uncontrolled breathing, a single eye visible through the strands of hair covering his face.

« I... don't... want... to... hear... those ̵d̸a̶m̸n̷ words... » Garret's voice sounded shaky, as if he were trying to catch his breath or as if his heart was racing. « ̴̙̻̰̈́͂̃A̶̧̲̻͘͝G̶̱͈̣̋̄͋͝A̸͕̰̳̱̋Ǐ̴̱̇̈́N̴͚̲͇̯̆͘!̴̤̻̂ »

His throat caught again as more apologies wanted to escape, but he held it in and just nodded as he stood up.

The younger boy clutched his head as he curled up further into himself, as if trying to make himself smaller, and his body began to shake with the small tremors he made when he cried in life… 

He seemed to be having a panic attack.

Mike had never been in the position of being the one to witness a panic attack, much less one from a ghost, he was usually the one who had them, and he had to snap out of them on his own.

The older one, unsure of what to do because of the shock of the moment, but still wanting to help his younger brother despite everything, began to walk slowly toward the younger, always making sure to stay as calm as possible.

“Garret.” Mike whispered as he stood in front of the younger boy before kneeling down. “Can you hear me?” The toddler couldn’t even seem to look at him because of his wide eyes, but a slight nod was his signal of confirmation. “You’re having a panic attack, I need you to listen to me.” Mike moved his hands toward his brother’s, pausing every so often in case the kid wanted to move away, but he didn’t do it, and the older brunette held his hands softly. “First, you need to regulate your breathing, breathe in through your nose and then out through your mouth.” The toddler followed his instruction even though it wasn’t necessary to breathe. “Okay, one more time.”

They continued like this until the kid no longer seemed to be hyperventilating, but his gaze still looked lost and his teeth were clenched.

“You’re doing well.” The older boy assured, though he had no idea if he was helping. “Now I need you to close your eyes.” The infant squeezed his eyes shut. “Do it gently.” The creases and wrinkles disappeared. “I need you to tell me five things you can feel, is that okay?” The younger boy nodded at his words.

«I feel…» The kid began, he didn't sound supernatural like the other times, just like a little boy who had cried. «Your hands on mine…» The younger boy said confusedly. 

“Very well, continue.” 

“The warmth you emanate.” The kid's shoulders slowly slumped. “The fabric of my clothes, the cold of my skin, my hair plastered to my head…” 

"Now, think of your happy place..." The infant nodded again, seeming to concentrate deeply. 

Slowly, the darkness of the place receded as trees emerged, rays of light appeared, and grass grew beneath their feet.

They were in the forest of his -dream- memories.

Mike snapped out of his shock when he felt something small bump against his chest, when he looked down, he saw his brother, looking as alive as in his dream, the older one didn't hesitate for a second and hugged him instantly.

"I'm tired." Garret whispered. "I've been tired for so long."

The older brother bit his lip but said it out loud anyway. "I know, I'm sorry."

"...Why do you always apologize?" The kid whispered.

“We swore, didn't we?” The adult ran his fingers through the younger boy's hair. “Every time we do something that could hurt the other, we'll always forgive each other in the end.”

“...I hated that oath so much.” The kid admitted, making the older boy grimace. “I hated that we had to use it more and more, and everything seemed to get worse.”

Mike bit his tongue, it was useless at this point, but it was the only thing he could offer, at least for now. “I’m sorry.”

Garret slowly pulled away until they were staring at each other, his eyes were normal for someone alive, though the sparkle of youth and emotion was gone as he stared at him. “Make that really mean something this time, please?”

The security guard opened his eyes before sitting on the floor as he breathed heavily, his vision was blurry, but after a short while, he could see that he was in the alley where the cries were coming from…

He couldn't hear them anymore, nor the beeps on the monitor over the speakers.

Suddenly, it came to him. "Abby." He whispered in alarm before getting up in a rush of adrenaline, but as he was about to run back to the dining area, something caught his attention, so he set out to pick it up.

It was Fredbear, but not only was it the same teddy bear that appeared in random places during his shift, but it was his brother's, since it had his name on the tag. 

He'd never thought about where the stuffed animal had gone after so many years...

“Make that really mean something this time, please?”

Michael squeezed the teddy bear in his hand before speeding off toward the main area, ready to end this.

This time, he will do things right.