Hello dears!

Welcome to the first Arc of my canon AU FNAF series, Until Death Shall Reunite Us. Like the series Introduction, When Fear leads to Joy, suggested you are now going to read how the various characters came to whever they are in the Introduction. Of course, the Intro had been-purposefully-very vague, so said Intro won't make much sense until the end of the series~

Note that this Prologue will contain all the little details about all characters presented here (age, hair color, eyes color). But if you want better visualizing, I have an ask blog for Until Death Shall Reunite Us. Find it at untildeathshallreuniteus dot tumblr dot com. There is already some visuals stuff from all characters introduced here, as well as a few infos.

Enjoy the ride!

Settings: Canon AU, so details have been changed (not counting theories). Which will become obvious when the time is right. This first Arc, Different Yet Alike; and there will be four Arc in total (corresponding, you guess it, to each game, though the order is of my own decision). The two main characters of the whole series are introduced in this Prologue; you will recognize one, but the other is not so obvious. Or at least, what might become obvious is not necessarily what is hidden for now. The four Arc will follow a chronological order from now on, meaning it won't jump back and forth between years. The second Arc will happen a few years after the first, etc.

Warnings: For now, nothing bad. One character has a mean brother, but no abuse of verbal, violent or sexual ways is going on (which I prefer to make clear). As the story progress, the mean brother stays; and eventually there will be blood, death of minor characters, and hospital. Somehow I feel like you might guess why.

Pairings: The whole of the series will have no official pairings. All relations are open to be read any way you wish. I might write side stories later for pairings, as What Ifs (what is X and Y were a couple).

Different Yet Alike

Prologue:

Today was the day. The most awaited day of the year, an event unlike any other. He had to be prepared, he had to make them proud!

"Michael Schmidt! Put down that make up right now!"

A squeak passed the five years old lips as he flailed before slipping down from the chair, watching himself fall backward in the mirror. Strong arms caught him, though he knew his daddy would have an unhappy face. So the little boy gazed up with wide azure eyes while biting his lips.

The man's face faltered, lips twitching to fight off a smile, since he was trying to be angry at his son. Except it was hard to do so when the little brunet's face was covered in golden coloured powder. It seemed his beloved son had meant to dress up in honour of his two heroes-which included matching his skin with their fur. Jonathan Schmidt could only feel glad his son chose eye shadow and not paint.

"... What happened here?" A too sweet female voice sounded.

Father and son shared a horrified look. Forget what he said, paint would have been better.

"Boys?" Maria Schmidt crossed her arms, one eyebrow lifting. "Can one of you explain why my desk, my mirror, my husband's shirt and my son are covered in gold?"

Oh no, the eyebrow! Little Michael couldn't let his daddy take the blame! "I-I just wanted to be all gold like Gold and Spring, mommy..."

Green eyes went on her son, biting her lips as his lips wobbled. The woman looked back at her husband, spotting the same why-is-he-being-so-cute-when-I-am-trying-to-be-angry look in the blue eyes of the man. The brunette sighed, walking to the two men of her life. She took her son from the black haired man, uncaring of the powder that went on her clothes.

"Michael, why didn't you ask us to help you?" Maria asked in a gentle voice.

"I wanted to surprise you two..." Michael sniffed. "Did I do something bad?"

Jonathan lifted his eyes to the ceiling, though the look his wife threw for a split second stopped any sound from leaving his lips. The man was well known for being weak to his son, after all. But as much as Maria acted as the cool head in the trio, she would feel as weak as her husband when it came to Michael. But what could they say, at the age of 19 for Jonathan and 21 for Maria, the little boy had been born. It had been an accident, they had not been careful enough; but the moment they had realized Maria was pregnant, they promised themselves to be the best parents they could.

And even before they held the little baby, they already loved him. Jonathan had been an orphan, and Maria's family had been rather... distant with her. So, the arrival of Michael had been a source of joy. He received their love since day one, though they knew better than to spoil him.

"It's not serious dear, but it's a bit troublesome." Maria replied her son honestly, but the gentle smile that formed comforted the little boy. "It might have been worse if you had used something else, possibly dangerous for you."

"And you might have fallen without me to catch you." Jonathan supplied. "Next time you want to surprise us, maybe get an accomplice." The man winked, pretending he didn't see the way his wife shook her head in exasperated amusement.

Michael widened his eyes, even if he was still very young, it didn't mean he couldn't understand if it was explained to him. "But if I really, really want to surprise both of you?"

Maria kissed his hairs. "You'll have to learn what you can and can't do. Lesson number one: don't use your mother's make up without asking her. She knows best how to use it." And she smiled at how he son nodded vigorously.

Jonathan clapped his hands. "Now, little family! We all need to get ready for this great day!" He gave a pointed look to his son. "It's a good thing I caught you so soon." He voiced with a deadpan voice, making the little boy blush as he pouted, aware his daddy was only teasing him.

Maria, for her part, put down Michael before she added in a false long suffering sigh, "It's a good thing I know how to deal with makeup. Or that we have other clothes." She added to herself as she glanced down at herself.

Father and son exchanged a look, before bursting in laughter when they noticed the state of the other. Ah well, at least they were already in good spirits before going to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. The family used to go to Fredbear's Dinner, however earlier this year it had closed as the owner became too old to take care of it. Michael had been very sad when he believed he wouldn't see again Fredbear and Springbun, the duo of bear and bunny animatronics entertainers of the Dinner; but it had also been widely known someone else had bought the animatronics and planned to open a new place.

A few months later, the Pizzeria had finished its construction, and posters had announced the day of its re-opening. In addition, it seemed there would be a pirate fox by the name of Foxy now. The two golden animatronics remained Michael's favourite, but he was very curious about the fox. He wasn't sure if it would be a nice pirate though...

But he would soon know!

The young boy nibbled his lips as he stood in the doorway of the living room, not yet showing himself to his brother. Little Drew knew what he wanted, and hopefully he would convince Jack. But even at the age of 15, his brother stayed immature. Despite being only 11, Drew was well aware his brother did not handle well the fact he had to take care of his little brother. Their parents were rarely home; and while they did have a housekeeper making sure they were fed and had all they needed...

Jack wasn't overly bad though. Just... mean. Sometimes Drew felt like Jack never realized how bad he would scare his younger brother. Because when Jack wasn't telling Drew to leave him alone, he liked to scare him. Jump at him from behind a piece of furniture, wake him up, startle him from behind: they were his favourites pastimes.

But this time, Drew hoped he could turn his brother's discontent at "being stuck" with him to his advantage. The dark haired boy had never gone to Fredbear's Dinner before, he had heard about it as their town was small; but it had not crossed his mind to go there. Drew had not been immensely interested in animatronics after all. But after some advertising on its reopening, an idea struck him. Now, Jack just had to see it the same way.

"Jack?" He called out softly, trying not to flinch when dark brown eyes snapped to him with annoyance. The older black haired male lowered his book.

"What?" He narrowed his eyes as the grey ones of his little brother lowered. "Speak, Drew. We're on holidays, let's not waste time yeah?"

"... You know how they are opening Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria today?" His brother nodded, frowning. "Well... I could go and... stay for a bit..?"

Jack's eyebrows shot up, a little smirk forming. "My, my!" He stood up, throwing the book on the couch before approaching Drew. The younger tensed a bit, unsure if he should expect a scare; though he glanced up in surprise when Jack ruffled his hairs. "Seems like the youngest Andersen is learning. You stay out of my legs and I get a bit of freedom. Maybe I won't try that trick with the doors tonight..."

Drew paled a bit. What could have Jack been preparing? And he wasn't about to dare hope Jack would actually drop a plot to scare him. This was just opening wide the door to said scare, pun intended.

"Okay, dress up. I'm getting you there." Jack moved to go to his room, not checking if Drew moved too. He heard the running steps after all. "I just I'll find someone to keep an eye on him." He added to himself, frowning. "Mother and father would murder me if I l let anything happen. They wouldn't be happy with problems." He rolled his eyes. "Ah well, it's 1987 not the middle age. They must have security."

To be continued...