This story is part of the 'The Banishers' universe, and takes place during the events of Stage 01 and Let Me Breathe.

Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's or Five Nights at Candy's. Five Nights at Freddy's belongs to Scott Cawthon, and Five Nights at Candy's to Emil Macko. I do NOT own any of the characters currently featured in this fic (keep in mind that OCs may be introduced later on in the story).

Just to clear up a couple of things:

-No, this isn't a retelling of Five Nights at Candy's; it's part of 'The Banishers', and I intend to link this with the rest of the stories.

-The Rat and Cat Theatre is in Hurricane (which you fans of the FNaF Novels should be familiar with. Also applies to any readers of Stage 01).

-This is probably the most gruesome chapter currently planned. So you sensitive guys, fret not; in fact, it's possible you could skip this chapter.

Please view my profile if you wish for more information on 'The Banishers', or any of my other stories.

This chapter is an introductory chapter, so expect lots of exposition. The actual plot of this story will be starting in the next chapter, so stay tuned.

Enjoy the chapter, and read and review :)

WARNING TO SENSITIVE READERS: Blood, Gore, Alcohol Reference and Trauma.

Chapter 1

Brighter Memories of a Darker Time

Secrets are always there, everywhere you look. All people have them, some hiding theirs better than others. Some tell, others don't. Some lie, some just hide. But no matter what, a secret can always be found inside the mind.

Marilyn Schmidt had been able to read people's faces from a young age. She could tell what they were thinking, or what they were about to do. You could call it a good thing, or a bad thing. Because the bad things she saw were much worse than the good things. So bad in fact, you could call them… life scarring. Because you could forget the good, but never the bad.

Marilyn groaned, opening her eyes as if she hadn't in years. She stared up at a white ceiling, and frowned in confusion.

Where am I?

She looked to her left, and smiled as she saw a blue origami cat on a table next to her bed.

The bed.

She looked at it, panicking as she realised it wasn't her own. There was a vase of flowers on the table next to the origami cat, and an IV drip was plugged into her arm.

"This doesn't make any sense." Marilyn muttered, running her fingers through her long black hair.

"Where… am I?" Suddenly the sound of a door opening was heard, and Marilyn vaguely realised it had been there the whole time. A woman walked in with a clipboard, not noticing her.

"Where am I?" She asked, this time directing the question towards the woman. She looked at Marilyn, apparently startled.

"You're awake." She said after a moment or two, and a fake smile came over her face. Marilyn knew it was fake; the eyes were all you had to pay attention to. "Where am I?" She asked again, this time a bit threateningly. "Please, calm d-"

"WHERE AM I!?" Marilyn yelled, and the woman shrank back a bit.

"Y-You're in t-the hospital-al." She stuttered, and Marilyn frowned. "That… that doesn't make sense! You're lying! You shouldn't even be here! There aren't even any hospitals in the Deep-" Suddenly a realization overtook her, and she looked out the window to see clouds passing by.

"No." She muttered, putting her head in her hands. "This can't be happening."

You're not there anymore.

"No way."

You're not there anymore.

"No!"

You're not there anymore.

"NO!"

xXx

Now as she entered the building, she instantly spotted the Rat talking with a large group of children. Among them Marilyn recognised Tracy Horton, a girl she'd met a few days ago.

"Oh, hi! Your dress looks almost the same as mine! We should be friends!" That was what Tracy had said, and Marilyn hadn't questioned it. She had no friends but her brother, and he was on camp.

All the children were eager to play a game, and it was always the same at the Rat and Cat Theatre: Hide and Seek. You could call it the Rat and Cat's specialty. They were, after all, the main attractions of this place, and seeing them perform always made Marilyn smile.

Sure, unlike most of the kids, she knew that they were just men in costumes. She had no clue what they looked like on the inside, but she honestly didn't care. Because after all, it didn't matter if they were ugly and scary looking. They were still nice to her and all the other children.

To the right was the puppeteer, his face covered with makeup and his arms extended, holding the cross which controlled his ventriloquist puppet Vinnie. Vinnie had only been introduced a few weeks ago, and Marilyn found his design a tad bit frightening. His bulging eyes didn't seem friendly at all, and sometimes when he seemed to be looking at her, she felt as if she was looking a killer in the eyes.

But the other children loved him all the same, and so the creepy puppet with the enormous eyes remained as an attraction of the Theatre.

"Hey Hey Hey! CALM DOWN guys!" The Rat exclaimed as the crowd of children continued to jump up and down energetically. "HEY! I have an IDEA! Let's all play HIDE-AND-SEEK TOGETHER!" The cheers from the children became so loud that as Marilyn approached, she had to cover her ears.

"I'll stay here and COUNT to 100 while you all HIDE!" He yelled in order to keep over the noise of the children. "READY! SET… and GO!" Instantly the children ran off, and the noise level instantly dropped. Marilyn looked around for a moment, before realising with a jolt that the Rat was counting.

"95…94…93…" Panicking, she ran around, but found that all of the hiding spots were taken. Children were crammed under the tables, hidden inside the cupboards. Once she attempted to stoop down under a table, but the child there pushed her out.

"Hey! I'm hiding here!" He whispered angrily. "Go find you own hiding spot!" Sighing, Marilyn doubled back on herself, unsure of what to do. But that was when she saw it; the Cat exited the Staff Room, hurrying to get to the stage. But in his rush, he had left the door open. Marilyn looked doubtfully at the door, questioning whether morality or participation was more important.

"FOUND YOU!" The Rat exclaimed in the background, followed by countless gasps as groans as he said the words over and over again. "FOUND YOU! FOUND YOU! FOUND YOU, TOO!" Marilyn glanced back nervously one last time, before running into the room and shutting the door behind her.

Marilyn looked around the room, for a place to hide. There was a table, on which lay Vinnie the ventriloquist puppet… no, she'd be noticed easily. She looked at a small desk next to the door, with the script laid out on it. She read over it with interest, and eventually found something which stood out more than the rest of the words.

"The Cat's name is Candy." She said, and smiled. "I kind of like it…" She looked under the desk, and frowned. It was too open. Suddenly she noticed a small bin on the other side of the door, and stared, perplexed at its contents. There were two drawings, one of the puppeteer and one of the Cat. They were both scrunched into balls, and had been thrown crudely to into the bin. This puzzled her momentarily, but not enough to have her forget why she was in this room.

Marilyn turned around and smiled when she saw what might be the only good hiding place in the room. A closet stood opposite her, and it was definitely big enough for her to hide inside. She squinted as she saw something next to the closet; a framed piece of paper, reading DIPLOMA and something about acting. Marilyn shrugged, opening the closet door and entering, before shutting it again.

Several moments passed, and it had been so long that she was beginning to think that, for the first time, she had won a game of Hide & Seek against the Rat. Her heartbeat began to slow down, and she smiled as she heard silence.

But she celebrated too soon, as just then, the door slammed open. The Rat stepped inside, his permanent grin appearing to stretch.

"I saw you walk in here kid!" He said, and Marilyn gulped as he stepped forward. "I'm gonna find ya!" He was dangerously near the closet, and he seemed to be looking directly at it. But before he could get any closer, another man entered the room, this one clad in makeup. Marilyn realised it was the puppeteer, and shrank back a little.

"What are you thinking? You can't show up here in that condition!" Now less scared than curious, she leaned forward a bit as the conversation continued to unravel.

"Relax man, I only had a few-" The Rat began to protest before he was cut off by the puppeteer.

"Do you have any idea what would happen, if any of the parents found out that one of our actors is drunk!?"

Drunk?

Marilyn frowned as she thought of the word. She had asked her father once, unaware that he himself was drunk after a party.

"Daddy, how do you tell if someone is drunk?" She had asked, and he pointed towards a few cars ahead of them.

"You see those 6 cars, Mary?" He had said. "A drunk person would see 12." Marilyn had stared, long and hard, before finally saying, "But Daddy, there are only 3 cars."

As she thought of the memory Marilyn almost giggled. She clapped her hand over her mouth, and a soft muffled sound escaped her mouth.

That was close.

"Think of our careers!" The puppeteer continued to rant. "Think about the children!"

"What ABOUT the children!?" The Rat exclaimed, taking a threatening step forward. "They LOVE ME! I'm the most popular character in this FREAKIN' SHOW! Don't be jealous that I've got talent and YOU DON'T!" Marilyn suddenly realised that her dad was being easy on her when he had explained intoxication. This Rat… this wasn't the one she'd come to know over the last week.

"You have no idea what you're talking about." The puppeteer huffed angrily, and took a step forward. "Take off that costume, you're going home." The Rat growled menacingly, also stepping forward to meet the puppeteer's eye.

"No, I'm gonna go back out there, and keep this damn show ALIVE." That was enough for the puppeteer. He strode forward, and began to reach for the Rat's head.

"NO YOU'RE NOT! TAKE IT OFF, NOW!" He grabbed the head, and began to lift it up with so much force that the Rat began to cry out, a string of curses wafting off his tongue, which Marilyn wouldn't even understand for the next 10 years.

"CUT IT OUT!" The Rat shrieked, and grabbed the puppeteer's neck. Marilyn watched fearfully, as his leather-padded fingers tightened around the puppeteer's throat, and he began to make weak choking noises. Step by step, the Rat began to push the puppeteer towards the wall, and Marilyn began to realise that the puppeteer was right.

He really is drunk.

The puppeteer began to speak again, growling softly.

"Let…me…GO!" He pushed with all his might, sending the Rat flying backwards, arms windmilling in panic. Marilyn gasped as his head smashed against the table holding Vinnie, whose arm fell off the table from the following wobble. The costumed man fell to the floor, no sound coming from his mouth. She watched, terrified as she noticed that where the Rat had hit his head, there was now a red patch of blood.

He's dead.

She couldn't comprehend what was happening; she didn't know what to do. She was trapped in a closet with a murderer right outside.

I just saw someone die.

She panicked as the puppeteer looked at the costumed body, and his voice became fearful.

"Hey…Hey! *****? ***** are you OK?" Marilyn growled as her mind seemed to block out the man's name.

What is happening to me?

"Come on man, this isn't funny!" He took a step forward, then shrank back. "…oh no…no no no!"

Suddenly the door was opened again, and the Cat walked in. Marilyn wept silently as she prayed that she'd be able to leave.

"What's with all the…" The Cat began to say, but stopped when he saw the body on the floor. A small pool of blood had begun to drip from his head, and was now even wider than the Rat's costumed mask. "What happened!?" He exclaimed, and the puppeteer made a panicked motion.

"LOCK THE DOOR!" He said, and the Cat obeyed, quickly turning around the shut the door, twisting the small lock in the door handle. He looked back and walked up to the puppeteer. "I…I didn't mean to, it was an accident, I swear! He just, he…" He started saying. Sweat had begun to form on his face, and now two tear streaks had formed from his eyes, causing his white face paint to drip off.

"We have to call an ambulance, and…and the police!" The Cat exclaimed, and the puppeteer's head drooped. "We have to tell them what happened…" A new expression overtook the puppeteer's face, and despite his face paint making it much more difficult, Marilyn could still read him. He was formulating a plan…and it didn't look like it would be a good one.

"No wait, ***** was always a bit unstable, he'd been drinking…" Marilyn ignored how her mind blocked out the name, this time more focused on what was happening. The puppeteer; he was planning to cover up this incident.

"…we found him like this, yes…that's what we have to tell them, we found him dead in here." Marilyn gulped as the puppeteer's eyes brushed briefly over the closet.

"Listen, it was an accident, an honest mistake…" Marilyn listened, still surprised at the goodwill of the Cat. "We have to tell them what really happened!" As he said that and headed over to the telephone, the puppeteer's head hunched, and Marilyn realised she couldn't see his face. She couldn't read him. "B-but, I can't…"

The Cat began to enter the number, and the puppeteer turned. She could only see his face for a moment, but the expression was clear; it was the face of a killer.

At that moment, she wanted so badly to jump out of the closet and tell the Cat to turn around. He was a good man, and good men didn't deserve to die. But her mind told her no. And the mind always won.

His hands quickly grabbed around the Cat's neck, just as the Rat had done to him. His gloved fingers began to tighten, and the Cat strained against his grip. Marilyn clapped her hands over her mouth, so she wouldn't scream.

"…w-what ar…are you…d…doing…?" He croaked out as the puppeteer continued to tighten his grasp. "I…c-can't…b…" As the Cat's body collapsed onto the table, the puppeteer threw him into the wall, his face expressionless.

He strode over to the other side of the closet, and as he did so Marilyn held her breath. He looked at the sheet of paper reading DIPLOMA for a moment, before quickly rushing back to finish entering the number into the phone. He picked it up, and waited for a moment.

"Hello? Police? You have to hurry over here! My coworkers, they-they're dead, both of them!" Marilyn wept silently to herself, as she prayed that the puppeteer would leave the room. Someone said something on the receiving end, and the puppeteer hesitated for a bit, before speaking again.

"I-I just heard something, it sounded like a rustle…I just came in and they were both dead in here."

There was a small sift of anger in his voice, as someone on the other side spoke again.

"You don't understand, we run a theatre, the show's beginning and- The Rat and Cat Theatre, you know where it is? Good."

More noise came from the other side, and the puppeteer tensed.

"Yes? Yeah? O-Okay, I'll do that. Yes… I'll tell everyone it's cancelled today. No, nobody will come in here. Okay, thank you."

He placed down the receiver, and looked back at the paper.

Please don't open the door.

He ignored the closet, and quickly stuffed the paper into one of the boxes in the corner. With that, he turned and ran out, slamming the door shut.

After several moments passed, she could hear the puppeteer shouting, and suddenly there was a noise which was clearly the people running out of the building. As soon as the noise had passed, Marilyn opened the closet door. The blood from the Rat's head was still dripping, and the Cat just sat there, his body motionless.

On the outside, Marilyn was silent. No sound came out of her mouth. But on the inside…she was screaming. She had just witnessed to men get killed. And the killer himself would probably get off scot free. She sat down on the floor of the closet, and wept as the sound of sirens was heard. Perhaps time would pass. Perhaps she would get over this one day. But nothing could make her forget this.

Nothing.